Tina Sullivan - April 2003 - All Star Sports

Time of Year: Spring
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: ASSR
Accommodations: Studio
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie, Infrequent
Comments: Tina and her brother's family made a very well documented trip in April and she was an infrequent visitor leading a clan of rookies. Though long, this is a well-written report, so enjoy.


Tina Sullivan -- April 2003 -- Walt Disney World (ASSR)

April/May 2003: The Rookie (and Near Rookie) Tour

Cast of Characters

Tina, 35 (but doesn’t look a day over, well, 34¾), your faithful scribe. Infrequent WDW visitor trying to graduate to Frequent and hopefully earn my Veteran Ph.D. First time staying on property. I work in publishing, and I like sunsets and long walks on the beach and puppies and . . . wait, this isn’t Blind Date!
Ian, 38, Tina’s older brother (emphasis on older). He owns a consulting firm. Ian and his family are rookies who will hopefully get a baptism of pixie dust and become converted to Frequent.
Sandy, 40, Ian’s wife. She owns and operates a daycare center, which makes her the perfect chaperone for the rest of us on this trip.
Adam, 14 (but for added effect, he says he’s “in his 15th year.” Still doesn’t make him ready to drive the family car anytime soon, though. Sorry, Adam.) Ian and Sandy’s son
Chris, 12. Ian and Sandy’s son and the thrill ride enthusiast of the group but prefers the resort swimming pool and the water park to the theme parks. Go figure.
Lynn, 10. Ian and Sandy’s daughter. Loves all things “princess.” Is it too late to save her?
Introduction to This Trip Report
How can I put this gently? If you like your trip reports short and sweet, this is not the trip report for you. It’s neither short nor sweet. In this trip report I tend to ramble on and on and rant a few times. However, I have been kind enough (or compulsive enough, however you want to look at it) to sum up my ramblings at the end of each day with lists (I love lists, because lists are GOOD!) that kinda give you an idea what I was going on and on about without having to wade through all the ramblings, and allow you to skip my few rants.

Let’s put it this way, if this trip report were a fabric . . . you might call it a busy floral print with stripes, checks, polka dots, and a plaid border thrown in for good measure! Or if it were a summer blockbuster at the movies, it would be full of screaming car chases, explosions, espionage, intrigue, bad fashion from 1989, and pan pipe music tossed in for no good reason. In other words, my first-ever trip report is WTMI (Way Too Much Information). So if you can keep your eyes pried open long enough to read it, then sit back and enjoy!

But first a word from our sponsors. Actually it’s a little help in decoding this trip report. After the heading of each day’s notes, I’ve put in italics the Fantasy Day, or what we planned to do that day. Followed by, as in real life, Reality, or what really happened on that day.

After you’ve made it through that, I’ve tacked on Raves and Raspberries, what we loved (raves) and what we hated (raspberries); Tips/Lessons Learned, anything that might help somebody else have a faboo vacation or avoid certain pitfalls or save money or whatever—my way of giving back; Magical Moments, my way of keeping a running tally of how many overt moments that were, well, magical; and Fantasy vs. Reality, to show where our plan deviated from what really happened. I told you this trip report was WTMI.

Acknowledgments
When I found MousePlanet, I read the trip reports regularly; and although I have enjoyed reading all the trip reports at MP, I have been especially influenced by some of the more prolific writers. My all-time favorite writers are Larry Wilmot, Sue Holland, Brian Bennett, Sheri Niklewski, and Mike Scopa.

Getting Ready to See the Mouse
This is my third trip to Walt Disney World (WDW) but my first trip staying on property. My first trip was in July 1985 with my parents and younger brother Todd. We stayed off-site (at the Hawaiian Village. Anybody know if that’s still around? I can’t remember if it was in Kissimmee or Orlando.) My second trip was in August 1997 with a friend. Both trips were 2-3 day affairs with too much crammed into too little time, and I had very little knowledge of WDW before going.

This time would be different.

Besides the many trip reports and info on MousePlanet, I also read The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (it has a sugar-free edge that I like), Deb’s Unofficial Walt Disney World Information Guide, MouseSavers, and, of course, RADP (I’m an “illegal,” copyright infringement pin-carrying member ;-).

After Ian and I talked about going, he asked me to make all the plans. He has no patience for sitting at the computer and reading for hours on end about the perfect time to arrive at WDW or what the best vantage point for seeing Illuminations is. Me? I’ll wear the cover off of a travel guide and research my destination for years in advance of going. No. Really.

I asked Ian and Sandy the basics of what they wanted—dining, accommodations, budget restrictions—and then I went into travel agent mode. I read information on various Web sites and compared prices and asked questions and stayed on RADP far too long reading every possible answer to every possible question I could have (and some I would never have) about WDW.

Gas, Food, and Lodging (or More Pre-Trip Stuff You Can Skip If You Want To and I Won’t Be Offended)
Gas. On the subject of how we would get to WDW, Ian decided he wanted to drive. Great! I love a good road trip, and I hadn’t been on one in quite a while. Since I wasn’t traveling solo, I wouldn’t ask to stop and see all the kitschy road stuff I like to see; but I would put in a request for a stop at any and all Stuckey’s that we may pass between Tennessee and Florida. Gotta buy that pecan log, people!

Ian had suggested that we rent a customized van. We both had visions of a van with a high top, plush carpet, captains chairs for all, a TV/DVD, and poor gas mileage. But when Ian went to look at the vans, all he saw were 15-passenger people haulers with a tiny TV/DVD flip-down screen. Not worth what they were asking and not exactly what we had in mind. So Ian decided that we should hit the road in Sandy’s Chevy minivan with a home-rigged TV/VCR/DVD plugged into Adam’s PlayStation 2. Don’t ask. All I can say is that it worked.

Food. Going into this trip, Ian had simple requests. Besides a price range for the hotel room, he wanted us to sit down as a family at least once a day to eat a real meal, preferably dinner, and not fast food. Being the adventurer I am, I could envision us at Restaurant Akershus or Biergarten or—

<<Insert sound of needle being snatched off a record player>>

“Um, I’d like to stick with, you know, regular food, Tina.” Regular food? I’m very adventurous as far as what I’m willing to eat. Escargot? Bring it on! Squid? Yep! Squid in it’s own ink? <<Gulp!>> Uh, ooookaaay, I’m game. Ian and Company? Not so much. Ian wanted to eat at places where the menu was pretty tame (read: American). That’s understandable. A) He’s got kids, and at least one of them is pretty finicky. They’re used to fast food and O’Charley’s. B) He didn’t want the vacation to be ruined because someone’s digestive system put up a fight with the food at Restaurant Akershus. Though I could have been way more adventurous, for the sake of the order (and to make sure the rookies had a good time), we found a happy medium and went with it. Hey, I like burgers and fries just as much as the next gal ?!

So I called and made priority seatings (PSs) for at least one sit-down meal per day and a few on the side for myself so I could enjoy more adventurous fare at lunch or late at night. I got everything I asked for except for a Friday night PS for Hollywood & Vine (H&V) for the Fantasmic! dinner package. Even the person at WDW-DINE seemed to be shocked that that day was booked solid for everything except the Brown Derby (BD). The prices at the BD were prohibitive for us, so instead of ending our week at WDW with dinner at H&V and Fantasmic! we would have to do the dinner package on Thursday and find something else to do Friday night. Bummer. Oh well.

Lodging. Like a good attorney, I argued my case to Ian for staying on property. Not having done the extensive research that I had, Ian did not see why staying at a Disney resort was such a good idea. He was more interested in us having plenty of space (a suite) at a certain dollar amount. After checking, I found that, yes, there are suites at WDW but, no, not for Ian’s ideal price. I suggested that we get two connecting rooms on property. I realized that Ian had to think of 5 people to my 1, but I persuaded him to look at all the benefits of staying in the World: early entry, easy access to Disney transportation, surrounded by the magic all day every day. Okay, so maybe that last one didn’t do much to bring him over to my side. And okay, when he first saw the prices of WDW hotels, he wasn’t sure just why it was we had to stay with the Mouse; but after my closing argument (which would have made Perry Mason or Ben Matlock proud), Ian was sold on the idea. So in mid-February, I made reservations for two rooms at the All-Star Sports Resort (ASSpR) for 6 nights at $99 per night ($110.88 with tax).

Then twice I was able to use discount codes found at MouseSavers to reduce our rate from $110.88 to $94 to $82.88 (with tax) per night. We were pretty excited about chipping away at the price as much as $28 per night. Then I heard about the Annual Pass (AP) discounts. I fantasized that I would buy an Annual Pass (AP) and get that elusive $59 rate and insure that I would be returning to WDW within a year. I had already been thinking about it, soooooo . . .

Just for giggles, I called the Central Reservations Office (CRO). I asked about the AP discount and if there were still rooms available at the ASSpR for $59 during the time of our stay. I was fully expecting CRO to say no, but then I was told “YES, there are rooms available for that rate during your stay. Would you like to reserve these rooms?” Would I? Of course!

Since the AP discount didn’t begin until the second day of our stay (Monday, April 28), I had to make two reservations for two rooms. We would check in Sunday, April 27 with a rate of $82.88 for that night and check out Monday morning, the 28th. Then we would check back in that day with the AP rate of $66.10 per night for 5 nights. Ahhhh! I love a bargain.

Countdown to Disney
I love to do countdowns before taking a trip, and this trip was no exception. Chris and Lynn shared my excitement. In fact, back in January, they were so excited that they wanted to find a fun way to countdown to April 27th. That’s when I came up with the idea to do a weekly Disney Moment (DM). Counting down the individual days (I think we started with over 80) was a little too long and drawn out for Chris and Lynn. So I suggested that we just count weeks, which put us at around 12. Twelve seemed a lot more manageable than 80.

So each Sunday afternoon, we would do something Disney related: watch the vacation video, watch the WDW theme park shows on the Travel Channel that I had taped, play Disney-related games, etc.

The final DM would be on Sunday, April 20th at the Disney store at the mall. But if you keep reading, you’ll see why that never happened or at least not the way we planned.

E.R. (The real one, not the one on TV)
About two weeks before our trip, Ian had surgery to extract some of his wisdom teeth. He had planned this so that he would have plenty of time to heal before going to WDW. A week later, however, he broke out with a mysterious rash and huge lumps while his lips, eyelids, hands, and feet swelled. Quite naturally the entire family was worried. Talk about shock and awe! We were both.

Sandy rushed Ian to the hospital, and the doctors had no clue as to why this had happened. They speculated that it was an allergic reaction to medication he was taking for post-surgery on his mouth, but they weren’t sure. The swelling began to go down, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

Then it happened again! On Easter morning, Sandy’s sister told me that Sandy had had to rush Ian to the emergency room again. Now, I was really concerned. I called Sandy to find that Ian was already home from the hospital. I saw him a little later, and he said that he felt fine, but I wasn’t convinced.

Several weeks before, I had planned to take the kids to the Disney store after the Easter service at church. This would be the final Disney Moment before our trip. While we were out there I was going to buy my annual pass, and I had offered to purchase the five hopper plus passes that Ian needed while we were out there.

Of course when Ian got sick, the last thing on my mind was going to the Disney store. I told the kids we would just wait and see what happened. I told them that we could always wait until the day before leaving for our trip if we had to. What I didn’t want to mention to them at the time was that it was possible that we might have to postpone the trip, at least until Ian was better. I didn’t say anything, but I had already prepared myself for that possibility. I’d rather push the trip back and wait to make sure my brother was okay than to try to go and not have fun knowing he wasn’t well.

The next day, I called Ian to check on him. He sounded a lot better. He told me that most of the swelling had gone down, but his feet and legs were still a bit puffy. Then he asked me if I had purchased my hopper pass. I laughed and told him that I was too concerned about him to be thinking of WDW. I told him that WDW wasn’t going anywhere and that if we needed to put it off for a while then let’s do that. He told me “absolutely not.” He said he would be fine by the time we left. In fact he wanted us to go to the Disney store later in the week to get the passes.

Whew! My brother was feeling better, and we were still going to WDW; but I warned him that I was keeping the number of the Orlando medical center on speed dial just in case!

Day 0, Saturday, April 26: Disney Eve
Fantasy Day: Meet Ian at the Disney store to buy our passes; buy snacks for the trip; last-minute errands; finish packing; go to bed early afternoon

Reality: On Disney Eve, as Chris called it, I was up around 7:30 a.m. I showered and dressed and then headed to the grocery store to buy snacks for the trip. For some reason I was craving trail mix, but have you seen how expensive that stuff is? Little bitty bags for $3-$4. I guess that was just to prepare me for WDW prices. Upon leaving the grocery store, I saw a car with a mouse ears antennae topper. I took that as a sign of good things to come.

I abhor malls, but the closest Disney store to my house is the one located . . . in the mall. To avoid the traffic that backs up like crazy on Saturdays around the mall, I asked Ian to meet me at the Disney store as soon as it opened at 10 a.m. The mall opened early for mall walkers, so I went in and sat on a bench in front of the Disney store waiting for it to open.

While waiting, I sat next to a guy who told the woman next to him that he is a truck driver based in Orlando. He said he lives in a condo not far from WDW property and gets to see some of the fireworks from his house when he’s in town. What a coincidence to sit next to this guy from Orlando! I took this as another good sign.

Once the store opened, I went in and bought my annual pass. A few minutes later Ian arrived, and he bought five 5-day hopper plus passes. We had a conversation with the CM about what to do if we lost our passes. Is that Foreshadowing lurking behind that Goofy display? Nah, maybe I’m seeing things. What could go wrong?

Ian and I left the store, made last-minute arrangements for that night’s departure, and went our separate ways to get ready.

After a few more miscellaneous stops, I went home. Since we were supposed to leave town at midnight, I had every good intention of going to sleep earlier in the day; but you know what they say about good intentions. Although I had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning Friday night/Saturday morning, I couldn’t fool myself into going to sleep that afternoon, even though I have no problems going to sleep any other time I’m not going to WDW.

Resigned that I wasn’t going to get any sleep, I got up around 7 p.m. and decided to watch The Lawrence Welk Show, a favorite of mine on PBS. I know. Color me hokey. Strangely enough, this week’s show featured the song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Another good sign?

I left home around 10:30 p.m., made a few stops—including one for coffee—and arrived at Ian’s at 11:55, ten minutes later than planned. Didn’t matter. They weren’t ready anyway.

Day 1, Sunday, April 27: “Minnie Mouse Dumped Me”
Fantasy Day: Depart Nashville at midnight; arrive in Orlando in the early afternoon; check in at All-Star Sports Resort (room ready <<crossing fingers>>); take a nap, swim, or just walk around All-Star Sports resort (ASSpR); go to Downtown Disney; take a spin on the monorail (sit up front <<crossing fingers>>); dinner at Chef Mickey’s; early bedtime.

Reality: At 12:01 a.m., I turned 35; and we pulled out of the driveway about an hour late (12:55 a.m.). We hit I-24 East, heading toward Chattanooga. The interstate was pretty clear, basically a walk on.

Okay, you know you’ve read too much about WDW when you start saying that places that are not crowded are “walk on’s.”

Anyway, we’re riding along in the cool of the morning. We’re about fifty miles outside of Nashville, and Men in Black II is in the home-rigged TV/VCR/DVD/PS2. I feel the slithery hand and hot breath of Foreshadowing, but I keep telling myself that I’ve made my list and checked it twice. I haven’t forgotten a thing.

“Do you have the passes?” Ian asked Sandy.

Silence.

“Um, I thought you had them,” Sandy said.

Silence.

More excruciating silence as Ian tries to remember and I’m wishing for all it’s worth that those passes are somewhere, anywhere, in that van. I’m crossing my fingers, grabbing at pixie dust, and wishing on a star that those passes magically, *MAGICALLY* appear. But Foreshadowing was having none of it. There was nothing left to do but turn around and go back.

It took about an hour to get back to Nashville and to Ian’s house where the hopper passes lay buried under some other stuff on the dresser. We chalked it up to oversight, excitement, and stuff on top of the tickets before laughing to keep from crying and loading back into the van. At around 3 a.m. we left Nashville for the second time.

Around 7 a.m., we were entering Atlanta. I had been dreading driving through Atlanta because of construction; but we found that the traffic/construction between Atlanta and Macon wasn’t that bad, although we saw plenty of pylons and construction workers out and about.

At 9 a.m., we stopped in Warner Robins, Georgia, for breakfast at the International House of Pancakes (IHOP). I had the pancake platter with a side of sausage links. Ian and Sandy split the breakfast burrito; and Adam, Chris, and Lynn had egg, bacon, and pancake platters. Ian treated me to breakfast since it was my birthday.

To get my fill of road trip kitsch, I asked Ian to stop at the Stuckey’s between Tifton and Valdosta, Georgia. I collect state (and some city) snow globes, state postcards, and state magnets. It’s also a family tradition to buy a Stuckey’s pecan log when we’re on road trips. At Stuckey’s I got a Georgia snow globe, a couple of postcards, and the pecan log. No luck on the magnet, but they sell those in Tennessee at truck stop gas stations.

We arrived in Orlando around 2 p.m., but thanks to a wrong turn, we had to backtrack and then ask directions from the guy at the tollbooth. We thought we were still going the wrong way until we saw Sea World and the sign for International Drive. I knew then that we were in the right area though Ian and Sandy weren’t convinced. We finally found Exit 67 (EPCOT/Downtown Disney) and exited. That put us at the ASSpR at around 2:30 p.m.

Just as I was getting out of the van, I realized I had not brought my driver’s license. I guess Ian wasn’t the only one to forget something (Shut up, Foreshadowing!). Ian does all the driving when we do go anywhere. I don’t know if that’s a comment on my driving or Sandy’s driving (I don’t think so) or just that he likes to drive. I never go anywhere without my license, even if I’m not planning to drive; but I thought, Oh, well, we’re here now. I won’t need it while we’re here.

“I need to see a photo I.D.,” said the smiling CM.

“Oh, good grief!” I said in my best Charlie Brown voice.

Ian saved the day when he produced his I.D. He would be responsible for one of the two rooms, so the CM was satisfied. Once we moved past that point, check in was a breeze; we were checked in after about 10-15 minutes. I asked for a printout of my PSs, thinking that I had read somewhere that I could ask for this upon arrival. I think the CM who was checking us in was new. He had had problems knowing how to swipe our credit cards, and now he didn’t seem to know how to print such a list. He finally said he would print up a list later and leave it in our room mailbox, which I took to mean that he didn’t know how the heck to do it and would get someone else to do it once we were out of sight.

We got all of our requests (I had faxed them in a few days prior). We were in the Touchdown Building on the second floor in two connecting rooms. When we got to our rooms, we found that we were facing the courtyard, the fake football field with the goal posts and the X’s and O’s. The kids loved that.

As soon as we dumped our stuff in the rooms, Chris and Lynn were ready to hit the pool. Unfortunately, the adults in the group were ready for naps; and Ian and Sandy didn’t want Chris and Lynn to go to the pool without adult supervision.

I didn’t really get to take a nap, though. I knew I needed to exchange my AP voucher for the real thing. I called the front desk to find out if there were any other locations besides the theme parks where I could get my AP. I thought I remembered reading that there was a place in Downtown Disney (DD); and since we were heading there later in the evening, I thought I could nap and do the exchange later. I was told that there isn’t a place in DD where I could get my AP. I’m still not sure about that, but I didn’t want to take a chance. I would need it the next day so I could check out and check back in under the AP discounted rate. Why oh why can’t the AP exchange be done at the front desk of the resort? Just saying. So I gave up my nap time, freshened up, and went down to catch a bus for EPCOT (EP).

At EP, the CM asked for I.D. I gave him my sob story about leaving my driver’s license at home. I was able to use my room key as I.D., but the CM told me that next time I should really have a photo I.D. Believe me, I won’t forget again. The CM asked me for my vital stats and while rattling off the info I gave him my birth date. The day had been such a long one that I had forgotten for a little while that it was my birthday. The CM completed the transaction, gave me my AP, and slid an EP birthday pin toward me. The magic had begun!

I caught a bus back to the ASSpR. I thought Ian and Sandy would be tired and still asleep; but they were up and ready to go. There would be no trip to Downtown Disney today, except for to transfer buses. The extra time it took to return to Nashville to get the passes left little time after our arrival at WDW to go to DD. I wasn’t that disappointed though. I’m not much of a shopper. Although I hadn’t been to DD before, the only things I really wanted to do was browse around the Virgin Megastore for Seventies music, get a free chocolate sample at Ghiradelli’s, and see just how big the World of Disney store really was. At the rate we were going, it looked like the monorail tour was out, too. We would try to fit it in later in the week.

I showered and dressed, and we all went down to catch a bus to get to Chef Mickey’s. I had heard that using Downtown Disney as a hub would be a pain since the bus makes frequent stops within DD. But DD would serve to be our best hub all week since the parks closed early in the evening or were mobbed at park closing after IlluminNations and Fantasmic! We took a bus to DD and then transferred to a bus headed to the Contemporary.

Rant on<< I thought Spring Break was over. Holy cell phones and tube tops, Batman! Where did all these teenagers come from? I groaned, thinking that I had happened upon Cheerleader Week, but I didn’t hear any cheers while we were there. I heard lots of other stuff I would have rather not heard, but I didn’t hear cheers.>>Rant off (for now)

We arrived at Chef Mickey’s for our 8 p.m. PS and waited 20-25 minutes for a table. The place seemed swamped. The hostess gave me a slip of paper and a beeper and wished me happy birthday.

We were seated around 8:25 p.m. Our server was very nice. He happened to be from Nashville and even knew one of my co-workers. Sing it with me. You know you want to. “It’s a Small World After All.” That’s right, join right in. “It’s a Small World After All. It’s a Small World—” Okay, I guess that’s enough or you and I both will have that song ringing in our heads all day.

Our server did several magic tricks at our table, and Sandy seemed to think he was doing it to flirt with me. My Available Man Alert honed in on the CM’s wedding ring and the fact that he was probably old enough to be my father, though he was handsome and it was hard to tell his age. I reminded Sandy that the CM was entertaining me for my birthday, not trolling for a date.

Adam—who up to this point was unimpressed with all things Disney, including the characters and all the napkin waving—loved the CM’s magic tricks. He even tried to duplicate the tricks, with hilarious results. We called him our Budget Discount Magician because he practically had to switch the broken toothpick for the unbroken one in front of our eyes while we all cracked up.

Heresy Alert On** I didn’t really like the character dining experience. I know you’re probably asking why in the name of all that’s good and pure would I schedule a character dinner if I didn’t like dining with characters. I didn’t know any better. This was a first for us; and I tried to like it, I really did. But it felt awkward and weird. I can see where it might be loads of fun (or horrifying) for children of a certain age; but for me it was cute for the first 5 minutes, then I was ready for it to be over. I could have talked to our server and watched his magic tricks all night, but the characters? Meh.**Heresy Alert Off

However, for the sake of the day, I decided to just go with it. Besides, our plates were piled high with food, so we weren’t going to leave. It wasn’t that unpleasant. We took pictures every time the characters came around, and the CM had told me to light a candle and put it in my birthday cupcake every time a character came around. I guess in the excitement of it all, I forgot to light the candles when the characters came and forgot to blow the candles out when the characters left. So the CM made a joke of showing me how to light candles. But when I would light the candles, they would melt so fast. I ended up with what Ian called a “candle cake” made of icing and melted wax. I still ate it. I’m sure the wax was fat free.

We all enjoyed the food at Chef Mickey’s. I was so full that I never made it to the dessert bar. I just ate my birthday waxcake—I mean cupcake. Once again, Ian paid for my meal because it was my birthday.

Mickey, Minnie, Chip, and Dale made a few more rounds before we left. Goofy wasn’t very friendly; he kinda blew us off. Chris shot up from the table to go dance with Minnie. A few minutes later he came back to the table with a long face. “Minnie dumped me,” he said. According to Chris, Minnie had motioned for him to come up and dance during the napkin waving dance number. When he got up there, they danced for a bit but then she moved on, thus “dumping” Chris. Oh, well. I’m pretty sure his tender heart will mend.

I had hoped we would be able to see the Electrical Water Pageant before leaving the Contemporary, but the CM told us it wouldn’t pass by until after 10 p.m. Nobody in our group felt like hanging around until then. Maybe we would catch it later in the week. We left the Contemporary, transferred at Downtown Disney, and headed back to the ASSpR.

I had booked our rooms at the ASSpR because guests there are usually the first ones on the bus and the first ones off the bus. It was only after one complete circuit on the bus to all the All-Star resorts that we realized how fortunate we were to be first on or first off. It wasn’t until later in the week that we ever had to stand during a ride. So 99.9898% of the time we always got a seat.

While we’re on the subject of buses, does anyone know what the “Special” buses are for? There’s nothing like being in 90-degree weather, dog tired, blistered feet, dry mouth, no shade, and a “Special” bus go whizzing past you. At that point, I may not look or feel so special, but for every one ASSpR bus still trying to get to the All-Star bus stop, there seem to be about 15 “Special” buses that go by. What gives? Just curious.

At the Grand Floridian, we picked up a passenger in an ECV. She was extremely frustrated because she couldn’t seem to maneuver the ECV into the bus. Our bus driver handled the situation like a pro. She was extremely nice and cheerful and was able to get the passenger and her ECV on the bus with no problem. This superwoman bus driver was also the first person at WDW to call me by my name using my Guest of Honor pin.

Once back at the ASSpR, Chris and Lynn—the Water Twins—wanted to hit the pool, but Ian and Sandy said no. It was late, it was cool outside, and Ian and Sandy were pretty tired and didn’t want the kids to go down to the pool without adult supervision. By this time, Chris thought Ian and Sandy were like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, except they were the Pool Nazis: “No pool for you!” I promised them that after a good night’s sleep, I would take them to the pool the next night, no matter how late it was, as long as Ian and Sandy approved.

Everyone except me was in bed by 11:30 p.m. I worked on my trip report notes, sorted out stuff for the next day, and called the front desk to ask questions about checking out the next day. I wanted to know if we could keep our same rooms and how early I could do the check-out/check-in thing. I was told that I could come down as early as I wanted to, and we were guaranteed we could keep our same rooms. Whew! Good. I had already unpacked (forgetting about the check-in/check-out), and I didn’t want to have to pack it all up and unpack it again. I set a Mickey wake-up call and was in bed by 12:15 a.m. The thinness of the ASSpR walls made it easy to hear bouncing balls and voices outside our door, but things settled down by the time I got to bed.

I fell asleep to my newly adopted mantra: I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation. I would need it later on.

Raves and Raspberries: (Raves) AP’s and the discounts they bring, birthday celebrations at WDW, the magician CM at Chef Mickey’s, and staying at the ASSpR because bus rides are easier (first on/first off). (Raspberries) Having to go back to Nashville to get passes, forgetting my driver’s license, AP voucher exchange, bus transfers, unsupervised teenagers with attitudes, character dining, lots “Special” buses to one ASSpR bus, and thin walls at ASSpR.

Tips/Lessons Learned: If you’re going to stay at a value resort, and if you don’t have children who will have a meltdown if they don’t stay in the Toy Story building, and if you really want to sit down most of the time when you ride the packed buses that serve all the All-Star resorts, for the love of all that’s good and sparkly, book your room at the ASSpR. It’s the first stop for pick-up and drop-off for the ASRs (except at the Magic Kingdom, where each ASR has its own bus).

Magical Moment(s): The CM at Chef Mickey’s. Literally. He performed several magic tricks at our table, featuring the broken/unbroken toothpick in the napkin, the burned/unburned match in the matchbook, and the coin and the saucer, among others. He was very nice, courteous, friendly, and prompt with our service. He tried really hard to make our dinner fun and my birthday extra special.

Overhyped Food/Attraction/Ride and How It Measured Up: Parmesan mashed potatoes at Chef Mickey’s. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being lowest and 5 being highest, I rate the parmesan mashed potatoes a 3. They were good, tasty even, but I didn’t find them to be to-die-for.

Fantasy vs. Reality: We didn’t make it to Downtown Disney other than to transfer buses, and we didn’t ride the monorail Sunday. We decided to put both off until later in the week. Famous last words. No one made it to the pool because, other than Chris and Lynn, the rest of us just wanted to take a nap. Speaking of naps, I didn’t really get one after we arrived at ASSpR because I had to go to EP to exchange my AP voucher. After one long day on the road and dinner at Chef Mickey’s, we didn’t get to bed as early as we would have liked, beginning a pattern of late nights the rest of the week.

Day 2, Monday, April 28: “Oh, so you’re a cast member?”
Fantasy Day: Go to Animal Kingdom; eat lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue; take a break; go to EPCOT in the afternoon; dinner at Cape May Café; IllumiNations; late dessert alone at Flying Fish.

Reality: Mickey woke me at 5:30 a.m., but I didn’t open my eyes until 5:40. Don’t stone me. I like early mornings. I’m at my best at dawn.

I showered, dressed, and woke Lynn, who was sharing my room. Everybody else got up around 6:40 since it was our intention to make it to the Animal Kingdom (AK) for early entry.

Lynn went with me to the lobby to take care of the check-out/check-in. I had the “good” fortune of getting a CM who had just come back to work from vacation, so he had a major attitude when I walked up to the counter. I kept repeating my mantra (I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation. Om.) to myself so I could handle the snap, crackle, and pop from the grumpy CM. I pasted on my best smile and was nice; and after a few minutes and the transaction was about done, the CM warmed up and admitted that he just got back from vacation and hadn’t made the transition back to working mode. I could relate to that. I cut him some slack and was on my way.

Instead of being at the AK at 8 a.m. for opening, we were in the food court eating breakfast. I had my favorite: pancakes and sausage. I have no idea what the others had because we seemed to all sit down at the table at different times. I thought the rest of the family was right behind me, but I was finished eating by the time everybody else got through the line and sat down. Our morning “entertainment” was watching birds steal food from a table outside. The owners of said food had put their trays down and then left to get napkins or something. The birds saw the humans’ absence as an invitation to breakfast. They picked off what they wanted and then scattered when the humans returned.

As I was walking through the line to get breakfast, one of the CMs said, looking at my Guest of Honor pin, “Oh, so you’re a cast member?” We both laughed.

After breakfast, we filled up our water bottles (Brita bottles all the way, baby!) and headed for the bus stop. If ice and water aren’t free in the food court, we owe WDW some major money! But, shhh! Don’t tell, ‘kay?

We arrived at the AK around 8:45, but by the time we stopped to get Sandy and the kids sunglasses at the gift shop right outside the gates, it was 9. We had missed early entry. By this time, there were long lines at the entrance. I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation. We got in line. As soon as we entered the gates we started looking for water bottle straps. No luck. Water bottle straps would become the holy grail for us the whole day.

While we were meandering around the front of AK looking for a shop that sold water bottle straps, we passed It’s Tough to Be a Bug (ITTBAB). I didn’t realize it was so close to the entrance, or maybe we had walked further than I thought we had. The CM stationed outside said, “Come on in. There’s no wait,” so we detoured from our search for water bottle straps and followed the path to ITTBAB. Though the CM had said no wait, we waited for over 15 minutes to get in. Did we walk that slowly that we missed the show?

The AK wasn’t open the last time I was at WDW, so this park was as new to me as it was to Ian and his family; but I had read so much about the AK, that I knew what to expect. I didn’t mind. My knowing in advance didn’t spoil anything. It was still fun, but it was especially fun to see the reaction of Ian, Sandy, and the kids to the special effects on all the rides and attractions. ITTBAB made Adam suspicious of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience and Muppet Vision 3-D later in the week.

After ITTBAB, we went to Kilimanjaro Safari (KS). There was a posted wait time of 25 minutes. I wanted to get a FastPass and do something else, but Ian thought it wouldn’t be that long. I don’t think they understood FastPass, at least not until later. The wait wasn’t bad in that it was in the shade and relatively cool, but it still took us 20 minutes, at least, to wind our way through the line. I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation. No hurry. No stress. Ah, now I feel better. I know I could have split up from the group and gone off on my own, but we really wanted to experience the rides and attractions together; so I stayed and toughed it out with everyone else.

KS was bumpier than I expected, but we all liked the ride. We saw a fair amount of animals (lions, giraffe, flamingos, hippos, monkeys, elephants) but none close up. We were sitting toward the back of the bus, so the story was somewhat lost on us. I tried to trick Chris and Lynn into thinking the bridge was really going to give way. I know. Bad aunt! They didn’t really buy it, but for a second, they weren’t sure.

We left Africa and headed to Dinoland USA. Primeval Whirl (PW) was a posted time of 15 minutes, but it was every bit longer than that. Sandy, being the trooper that she is, rode despite her fear of roller coasters and things that drop. Before the trip, she said she would ride everything, and she tried everything, bless her lil’ heart. When she got off of PW, she declared that she loved the ride. I thought it was waaaaayy more jerky and rough than I thought it would be, but we all had fun.

After PW, we rode Dinosaur. All morning Ian, Sandy, and I had been on the kids about taking care of their sunglasses. But what do I do? Before our special Dinosaur jeep could take off, I accidentally brushed my sunglasses off the neck of my shirt where I had put them upon entering the building. They landed on the floor on the opposite side of our jeep, but I was already buckled in and couldn’t get to them. The CM said she would hold them for me until the ride was over.

I loved Dinosaur. It was jerky but fun, and it actually scared me at times because I wasn’t sure what to expect. Let’s just say I was very ashamed of my ride photos. Color me embarrassed.

After the ride, I went to the gift shop and picked up my sunglasses. Whew! I would have hated to lose my Hollywood-style sunglasses—not too dark, not too light shades that look great in photos.

We left Dinoland and found Flame Tree Barbecue (FTB) for lunch around noon. We sat at one of the pavilions down by the water. It was cool and very peaceful. Sandy, Adam, Lynn, and I had the ½ slab of ribs. Ian, who doesn’t eat red meat, had the chicken sandwich. Chris, who claimed he wasn’t hungry, just had a frozen lemonade. He only ate/slurped/chiseled half of that and gave the rest to Adam, Lynn, and me. Each one of us took turns getting brain freeze by eating the frozen lemonade. Everyone tried to pawn their corn off on Sandy, since she’s the only one in the group who seems to like it on the cob. And the birds sat ready to dive bomb our plates if we left them unattended for even a minute. FTB ribs were okay, but they had a funny taste that made them not as good as I expected.

Over lunch, Ian, Sandy, and I discussed our plans for the evening. We wanted to go back to the hotel and rest, then go to EPCOT, followed by a visit to Wal-mart for some necessities.

We got back to ASSpR around 1:30 p.m. Ian, Sandy, and I were more than happy to take a nap, but the kids were bored. As soon as they were still, however, they were asleep. I worked on my trip report notes and then went to sleep. It was hard to get up, but we did around 3:30.

By 4:30, we were on a bus to EP. We got there around 5. We rode Spaceship Earth, a sentimental favorite of mine. It broke down 3 or 4 times while we were on it, but oh well. The kids didn’t like this ride at all. I think they expected a thrill ride in “the big silver ball.”

After Spaceship Earth, we headed to Ice Station Cool (ISC). Okay, I’m going to be the bad aunt again. While en route to ISC, Sandy called her daycare back in Nashville to check to make sure everything was okay. I told Ian that I wanted to check something up ahead but to meet me in ISC when Sandy was finished on the phone. I ducked into ISC and chatted with some of the people standing around the drink dispensers. I told them that I was going to trick my family into tasting the Beverly. They were glad to be in on my plot. <<rubbing hands together in maniacal glee>>

A few minutes later, my family came through the door. I explained to them that ISC offered samples of Coca-Cola from various countries and that they all tasted different. They were pretty amazed but excited by this. I went on to tell them <<giggle, giggle>> that it was a tradition to start off with the Beverly, the drink of Italy. The couple standing next to the drink dispenser was in total agreement. The kept telling my unsuspecting family how great the Beverly is. We all got our little cups, including me, and got some of the Beverly. I told them that on the count of 3 we would all take a swig. Meanwhile I was positioning my camera to catch their horrified expressions. On the count of 3, they swigged the stuff down and frowned, retched, and grimaced while I snapped their picture and laughed. <<giggle, guffaw>>

To be fair, I took a sip to show that it was all in good fun. Though I found the Beverly to be awful, it wasn’t as bad as I would have believed it to be. What’s that taste? Cough syrup? Adam swears up and down that he never drank it. He said that in the split second before he was going to partake, he saw the expressions on the faces of the rest of the family. We’ll never know for sure. We’ll have to wait until the pictures come back.

After ISC, we moved on to Test Track (TT). The posted wait time for the standby line was 30 minutes, so we jumped into the single riders line. It seemed, at first, as if we were going to walk right on; but somewhere along the middle of the line, everything slowed down. It sounds strange, but we probably would have gotten on quicker if we had gone through the standby line. We were going to get a FastPass, but we were planning to leave the park before the return time.

We finally rode TT. I was in the front seat with a couple. The woman was really scared, but her husband kept telling her to calm down. About halfway through the ride, I think she realized that she was going to be fine. Chris and Adam really liked this ride and talked about it pretty much for the rest of the week.

By this time it was about 6 p.m., and I knew that Future World (FW)was closing. We really wanted to go to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (HISTA), but I was afraid it was closed. I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. So we walked over to HISTA and found it still open. It was then that I learned that some rides/attractions in FW stay open after 6. I guess you learn something new every day. We did HISTA. Adam, Chris, and Lynn remembered the special effects in ITTBAB and were suspicious of everything that happened in HISTA. I kept telling them to relax and just have fun. I think they finally did, but I don’t think they liked HISTA as much as they thought they would when they first saw it on the vacation video.

While we’re on the subject of HISTA, the wait time was posted at 5 minutes, but we waited at least 15 or 20 to get into the pre-show. Is that normal? It got to the point where I began to ignore the posted wait times because they were about 98% wrong most of the time, falling on the side of longer waits rather than shorter, especially when the time posted was 5-15 minutes.

By the time we finished HISTA, we had 10 minutes to get to Cape May Café on the Boardwalk. I had never been to the Boardwalk, so I didn’t know just how far it was once you passed through the International Gateway (IG). We hotfooted it to the IG, but we were all pretty beat. I suggested we take the Friendship boat. We were already late, but at least we could sit and relax on the way over. Ian wanted to walk; but since we didn’t really know where we were going, he gave in. I thought the boat would put us closer than us just wandering around.

Well, we ended up wandering around anyway because we were told to get off at the wrong stop. So when we got off the boat, we asked for directions, but either we made a wrong turn or the directions we were given were faulty because we still couldn’t find it. I wouldn’t rule out the latter, because you wouldn’t believe how many CMs I came across who were either new or who really didn’t know how to get to anything two paces past where they worked. I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation. Om.

We finally got to the Beach Club. We had a 15-minute wait. The food on the buffet looked wonderful; but I was spent from our race walking and a heel injury decided to flare back up. (About a month before our trip, I had injured my heel at work. It had been bothering me, but I had tried to deal with it before going to WDW because I knew the excessive walking and foot pain would not be a good combination. I thought my heel was better; but after all the walking at WDW, I saw that it wasn’t. Sandy suggested that I get a pain reliever with Naprosyn® in it, preferably Aleve. Fine. That would be at the top of my shopping list when we went to Wal-mart.)

I ate very little because I was in pain. At the end of our meal, the waitress brought me a small chocolate cake surrounded by a thin sheet of chocolate. She had my family sing “Happy Birthday” to me. Then Ian and Sandy struck up a conversation with a man at the next table. He and his wife lived part time in Orlando and part time in Chicago. Sandy is from the Chicago area. He was very nice and asked Chris, Adam, and Lynn what they liked about WDW, what they had seen, and what they had ridden.

We left Cape May. We were supposed to have gone back to EP to see IllumiNations (IN), but we were too tired. That seemed to be a running theme, and it was only the first full day! We waited out by the lighthouse for a boat. While we were waiting, we could see some of the fireworks from IN and the last of the fireworks from Fantasmic! Cool! After another half hour, our boat arrived; and instead of returning to EP, we went to MGM. I figured that by the time we got to EP, IN would be ending and it would be harder to catch a bus as all the people who had been watching IN would be streaming toward the exits. I reasoned that it would be easier to catch a bus at MGM because by the time we got there, it had been closed for almost an hour; and I thought most of the crowd would be gone.

WRONG!

Can’t blame me for trying, though. But for the rest of the week, anytime we tried to catch a bus from MGM it was horrible. We arrived at MGM by boat and set out to find the bus stop for the ASRs. It was all the way at the end (of course). There were a lot of people there still, and it took forever for the bus to come.

I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation.

Finally, one of the buses marked “Special” came along and absorbed a lot of the people standing in line ahead of us. Then an ASR bus came, and we were able to get seats.

We made it back to ASSpR around 10:15. I kept my promise to Chris and Lynn to take them swimming. Adam and I went to the Surf’s Up pool and waited for Chris and Lynn to change into their swimsuits and come down. Adam’s going through a phase where he’s too cool to do the same thing as his younger siblings, so no swimming for him. I wanted to swim but my heel was hurting, and I just wanted to be still. A hot tub would have been nice though. I thought I’d just let Chris and Lynn splash around for a little while and then get us all back up to the room to go to bed.

While I was waiting for Chris and Lynn to come down from the room, I sat near the lifeguard’s chair. There was a group of younger teenagers (13-15) in the pool. They didn’t seem to have any chaperones around, and they were pretty wild. They were dunking each other in the water, each time seeming to hold someone under water longer and longer. I didn’t mind that they were having fun, but I thought an adult or older teenager should have been around to make sure they didn’t hurt anyone.

When Chris and Lynn got in the pool, I told them to stay in the area near the lifeguard’s chair. The teenagers had taken over the middle of the pool and by this time were taking running leaps and jumping on each other to submerge each other underwater. While I didn’t think the teenagers were interested in our little group, as wild as they were getting, I didn’t want Chris and Lynn getting hurt by accident. I’m not anti-teenager. No. Really. I just thought they were a little out of hand, and they seemingly had no supervision whatsoever. That wasn’t a rant. Really. It wasn’t.

The kids swam until a little after 11, and then we went to our rooms. Ian, Sandy, and I had already decided when we returned from MGM that none of us felt like tackling Wal-mart that night, no matter how late it stayed open. We decided to put it off another night, although my heel was hurting, and I could have used that Aleve. Instead, I worked through the pain to work on my trip report notes and was in bed by 12:30 a.m. See what I went through to bring this report back to you, gentle readers?

Raves and Raspberries: (Raves) Dinosaur at the AK, Spaceship Earth (although the kids didn’t like this at all), Test Track (The kids really liked this. I’d ride it again, but I wasn’t overwhelmed.), the chocolate birthday cake at Cape May Café, meeting nice people who don’t mind talking and sharing their experiences, and the Friendship boats. (Raspberries) missing early entry at the AK, inaccurate posted wait times, when the kids are bored, getting lost, heel pain, ASR bus stops being alllll the way at the end, and large groups of teenagers with no supervision.

Tips/Lessons Learned: If you have accurate directions, the Friendship boats can save a lot of walking and provide a nice, relaxing ride to where you’re going. When you don’t have accurate directions and you end up walking all over the place anyway, eh, it’s still relaxing; but it doesn’t save you any shoe leather.

Magical Moment: This may not seem magical, but the nice guy at Cape May Café gave me the warm fuzzies. Just a nice conversation with a total stranger. It’s kinda like how people are extra nice between Thanksgiving and Christmas but are just okay the rest of the year.

Overhyped Food/Attraction/Ride and How It Measured Up: Test Track. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, I would rate TT at 3 or 3½. Don’t get me wrong; I liked this ride. The concept is good; but after all the hype, I expected more, a 5 or off the scale. I’m sure that’s just me.

Fantasy vs. Reality: We didn’t make it to IllumiNations (IN), and I didn’t go to The Flying Fish (FF) for lava cake as I had planned. I’ve seen IN before, but I wanted my family to see it. I’m pretty sure they would have liked it. I forgot all about the lava cake after dinner. I had planned to go for dessert at the FF after IN; so since we missed IN, I completely forgot about the FF. No big deal really. I had to take my birthday cake from Cape May back to my room because I was full, so I had plenty of sweet stuff to eat later.

Day 3, Tuesday, April 29: Gag Alert: Overdose of Cuteness Ahead
Fantasy Day: Go to MGM; lunch in the park or at the ASSpR food court; take a break; return to Animal Kingdom; dinner at the Whispering Canyon; the Electrical Water Pageant

Reality: I was up around 5:30 a.m. I showered, dressed, and ate Pop Tarts for breakfast while everyone else was getting ready. We made a stop by the food court so Ian and his family could eat breakfast. This was pre-Wal-mart, so they still needed to buy breakfast at the food court; but that would change later.

On this day construction at the ASSpR bus stop started. By the time we left on Saturday, I still didn’t know what they were building. I just know that they took down most of the bus stop signs and put temporary ones up in different places. The Magic Kingdom bus stop was behind the huge star around front. Later in the week, the MGM and Mears stops would join the MK bus stop around front. EP and Blizzard Beach were on the end, as it was before but maybe a little further down with a temporary sign. The construction consisted of a long strip of pavement removed and a long hole dug in its place. Concrete dividers separated the construction site from the sidewalk. It seemed as if each day when we arrived at the bus stop, we had to look from side to side to see where we needed to go, because the bus stops seemed to change every other day or so.

We left ASSpR around 7:20 a.m. and arrived at MGM around 7:40. There were already people milling around, but no real line until a few minutes later. We entered at 8 for early entry and made our way to the Twilight Zone Tower or Terror (ToT). I never tire of walking through the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel. I love the creepiness of it, the abandoned articles, and the gobs of cobwebs.

Adam started to chicken out; but when he saw we were all going to go through with it, he tried to talk himself into it. Turns out, it was his favorite ride in all of WDW. He talked about it for the rest of the week. Our ride photo was hilarious. If it’s possible to laugh and cry at the same time, Adam achieved that during this ride. His eyes were open wide. He was grabbing Ian on one side and Lynn on the other. He had turned sideways in his seat, and the expression on his face was one of mirth and horror. We laughed so hard at seeing this. We teased him about it even after getting back home and regretted not buying the photo.

Chris absolutely hated this ride. He vowed, upon struggling up out of his seat, that he would never ride it again. I liked ToT. It was better than I remembered it from ’97. The new drop sequences are good.

After ToT, we went to Rock ‘n Roller Coaster (RnRC). We thought we’d need a FastPass, but it was practically a walk on, one of the few rides I can truly say that about. RnRC wasn’t here when I was at MGM in ’97, but I have to say it’s in my top favorite WDW rides. I. Loved. It. This comes as close to a good thrill ride (though tame compared to other theme parks’ rides) as WDW has.

We left RnRC and decided to ride again. Ian and Sandy sat out the second time around. Again, RnRC was a walk on, and we flew off into the dark with Aerosmith.

After RnRC our search for water bottle straps came to an end. At a vendor’s cart we bought the much-sought after straps for $3.25 each.

We were going to go to Voyage of the Little Mermaid, but I was starting to realize that the kids wanted rides, the more thrilling the better. Ian and Sandy were pretty much on the same bandwagon, so I decided that unless we had a lot of extra time, we would skip the shows. I had seen VotLM back in ’97, so I wasn’t too disappointed that we didn’t go this time; but I did want to see Beauty and the Beast and thought I would get that chance. I was wrong.

We did go to Sounds Dangerous mostly because I like Drew Carey’s show on TV. I thought it was okay, but nothing I would need to see again.

Then we went to Star Tours where I think Ian finally understood FastPass. It was a posted wait of 30 minutes. Ian was getting hungry, and it was getting hotter and more humid outside. I don’t think he really wanted to stand around for 30 minutes, even in the shade. So we got FastPasses and went to do Muppet Vision 4-D. I guess the kids had flashbacks of ITTBAB again. I think they liked this one better because it seems tamer than HISTA or ITTBAB. It didn’t seem as good as I remembered it, but I still like it.

After Muppet Vision, we did Star Tours. After Star Tours we went to Pizza Planet for lunch. I was disappointed with Pizza Planet, and it’s mostly my own fault. We had decided to go back to the food court at ASSpR to eat, but we were so hungry that we stopped at the first place we came to. We got what we deserved, I guess. Once we got in line, we realized that they served individual pizzas instead of large ones we could share. So little food for so much money. Hey, I know it’s the WDW way, but I still wish we could have held out and just gone back to the food court.

Okay, now if you love all things romantic, cutesy, gooey, and sickly sweet, maybe you ought to skip this next little part and scroll on down.

You don’t believe me, do you? But I really think you need to keep scrolling.

Did you scroll?

Okay. If you didn’t, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

While in line at Pizza Planet, I saw a couple wearing those awful bride and groom Mickey/Minnie ears things. You know the black top hat with Mickey ears and the white wedding veil with Minnie ears. Blecchh! Now if you’ve ever worn these and are now offended, I warned you, oh, a few lines up to keep scrolling, didn’t I?

Anyway, after rolling my eyes around to the nape of my neck and back (Your mother was wrong. Your eyes don’t get stuck that way.), I was able to hold down my breakfast and move further in the line. Oh, gosh, the humanity! Deliver me from cutesy, pootsy, bride and groom Mickey/Minnie ears! Ugh!

Now rejoining our regularly scheduled programming. If you scrolled past my rant above, you may now rejoin me here. Thank you for your support.

I ordered the Buzz meal (personal pepperoni pizza, salad, drink). I didn’t realize (silly me) that I had been given a cheese pizza instead. I guess it was all that eye rolling and retching (see rant above, but read the warning first). When we got to our table upstairs(!) my heel was screaming in pain. I asked Chris to take my pizza and my receipt downstairs and exchange the cheese pizza for a pepperoni one. Bless his lil’ pea pickin’ heart. He exchanged it with no problems. But for all the pepperoni I got on my new pizza, I joked with Sandy that I could have collected one pepperoni apiece from each person at the table and gotten as many as I ended up with. Geesh!

After lunch, we did the Backlot Tour. I thought of my younger brother Todd as we passed the façade for the house on The Golden Girls. For some reason he loves that show. Hard to believe a hard core Air Force guy sitting around yukking it up at the antics of Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia!

After the Backlot Tour, we were more than ready for a rest. We had decided over lunch to amend our plans and not return to the AK after our break. We would rest up until dinner instead; but we did agree that we really needed to make a run to Wal-mart, or at least my heel was shrieking this from my sneaker and threatening to boycott me and any future plans this week unless I bought painkillers immediately! Knowing we were going to Wal-mart, I didn’t even check in the gift shop to see if they sold Aleve. I didn’t want to even think of paying WDW prices for a small bottle of pain medicine.

Is it just me, or are the buses at MGM so much slower in arriving than at the other parks? Just me then, huh? Okay. By now the sun was at full mast and the walk to that ASR bus stop at the end of the line was excruciating, but we finally got a bus and made it back to ASSpR.

We returned to find that housekeeping had not been to our rooms yet, although I had requested early housekeeping for the week on Monday. My reason for requesting early housekeeping was because I knew we would be returning each day around noon for a break and I wanted to make sure the rooms were clean before we settled in to rest. I didn’t think this was an unreasonable request.

I had left a tip for housekeeping Monday, but they didn’t take it. Strange. It was in a very visible place and addressed to housekeeping. Tuesday when I called to request early housekeeping for the rest of the week again, I was told that someone would be right up. But since we were all getting ready to settle in for a long winter’s nap, I told the person I was talking to forget about providing housekeeping for the room that day; but we would take some extra towels. And I asked again if we could get early housekeeping for the rest of the week. She said we could and said she saw where it had been noted the day before, but she couldn’t explain what had happened.

Later, a housekeeper walked right into our room, twice! She knocked on the door, but didn’t give me time to get to the door. The rooms are small so it didn’t take me that long! She apologized but patronizingly told me that if I wanted privacy that I should put the “do not disturb sign” on. Hello? Maybe you should wait a minute between knocking and entering. Look into it. I was really nice, smiled, thanked her, and took the towels. Except for the part about being nice. And smiling.

Housekeeping continued to shine the rest of the week, too, as we ended up getting a total of 4 irons and 3 ironing boards between the two rooms and received spotty housekeeping. Way to go, Housekeeping! No tip for you!

That evening we headed to the Wilderness Lodge for our 7:20 PS at Whispering Canyon. We didn’t arrive until 8 though, so we ended up waiting about 20 minutes. No problem. We sat in the lobby and soaked up the atmosphere until we were paged.

Our server was especially nice and friendly, a welcome respite after our trials with housekeeping earlier. We had the skillet dinner, and Adam seemed to be the only critic. He told me later that he liked the buffet dinners much better than the skillet or family-style meals where everything is lumped together in one place.

At Whispering Canyon, there were pony rides and the Hokey Pokey (HP). I got up the first time for the HP, but ate through the second time. A particularly persistent CM (who reminded me of Christina Ricci) led the second round of HP and told the rest of the group to say something mocking to those of us who sat down instead of getting up. All in good fun, right? I knew about the participatory atmosphere at Whispering Canyon, and I joined in the fun as much as I could with my hurting foot. I also wanted to be able to eat before my dinner got cold. But the second CM to lead the HP was a little mean-spirited about those of us who chose to observe rather than get up (I guess you had to be there to know what I mean). I thought it was a voluntary thing, not mandatory. I still liked WC and would eat there again. And I’ll do the Hokey Pokey once and yell and cheer, but I still would like to eat, too.

We returned to ASSpR, and tonight there was no getting out of going to Wal-mart. My heel thanked me profusely. Ian brought the van around, and we loaded up and left the fantasy that is WDW for a bit to return to the real world. At Wal-mart, I bought the Aleve and a few Florida postcards, paid for my stuff, and found a bench to sit on to ease my foot. This Wal-mart had quite a bit of Disney stuff there, and if I had known I wasn’t going to make it to Downtown Disney before the week was over, I would have done a bit more souvenir shopping here. I had really wanted to get Todd (my brother) and his wife Darcy something.

Ian and Sandy loaded up on food, mostly breakfast stuff and snacks. After the shopping spree, we left Wal-mart and made a stop at Walgreen for a notebook for Chris. Since he was missing school for the week, his teacher had asked him to keep a journal of what he did at WDW. After getting the notebook, we headed back to ASSpR. I was in bed by 2 a.m. I’m on vacation. Om. I’m on vacation. Om. I’m on—ZZZZzzzzzzzz . . .

Raves and Raspberries: (Raves) Rock and Roller coaster, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Wilderness Lodge. (Raspberries) bride and groom Mickey ears (insert massive eye rolling here), Pizza Planet at MGM, housekeeping at ASSpR, bus to ASRs from MGM, and the Christina Ricci lookalike CM at Whispering Canyon.

Tips/Lessons Learned: If you want early housekeeping each day, you might have to resign yourself to calling EACH DAY. I hate to gripe. No, really I do. And I realize that I’m only one of hundreds of thousands of guests; but I think I made a fairly simple request that could have been honored but wasn’t. Oh, well, maybe I’ll do better on my next stay. It’s not enough to ruin a vacation, but it was just a little frustrating. Just a little. I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation. Om.

Magical Moment: Our server at Whispering Canyon was very nice. She whispered a quiet birthday wish to me as we were leaving.

Overhyped Food/Attraction/Ride and How It Measured Up: Rock and Roller Coaster. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being lowest and 5 being highest, Rock and Roller Coaster is every bit a 4½. I’d give it a 5 if the ride were a bit longer. Now this is a coaster! No, it’s not on the level of the Hulk at Islands of Adventure at Universal, but for WDW this is a good thrill ride. This is only one of two rides that we rode more than once. It doesn’t hurt that I like Aerosmith, too.

Fantasy vs. Reality: We didn’t return to the AK. We thought we might have time later in the week. The only things we really wanted to do at the AK was The Festival of the Lion King and Kali River Rapids, so we thought we could take a couple of hours later in the week and do those things. We also didn’t see the Electrical Water Pageant on Tuesday night either. Foiled again! I thought we would be able to see it from the Wilderness Lodge, but no such luck. Maybe later.

Day 4, Wednesday, April 30
Fantasy Day: Today is pretty much a free day, and we’re supposed to go our separate ways. The kids want to go to one of the water parks or maybe Disney Quest. So perhaps Ian and Sandy will take them to one or both of those places. I, on the other hand, plan to return to EPCOT, have lunch at Le Cellier, and then maybe revisit my favorite rides or attractions at AK, MGM, or EPCOT. We will all meet up at the hotel before going to dinner at OHana’s. We’ll see the Electrical Water Pageant on the beach of the Polynesian if we missed it Tuesday night at the Wilderness Lodge.

Reality: Although I had loosely planned the activities for the family during the week, I had told Ian and Sandy that by midweek, we might want to go our separate ways, maybe not even going to the theme parks. The kids, especially Chris, had been talking about going to one of the water parks since they had seen them on the vacation video. I encouraged Ian and Sandy to take the kids to at least one of the water parks. I told them I had heard good things about Typhoon Lagoon, but the kids wanted to go to Blizzard Beach instead. We decided we would meet up at the hotel sometime that afternoon to plan out the rest of the day, depending on how we felt.

That morning Mickey called at 5:30, but I didn’t get up until 6:30. It’s free day, remember? The rest of the family slept as I showered and dressed. I left the room around 7:30 to catch a bus to EP for early entry. I ate Pop Tarts while I waited for the bus. I didn’t have long to wait before the bus came, and I got to EP around 8:10.

Although the park was open at 8:00, the attractions didn’t seem to be open. I walked over to the Universe of Energy (UoE) and the doors weren’t open, and the entrance was roped off. The digital countdown clock you can see from the outside said that we had about a 10-minute wait.

I enjoyed the UoE, as always. In fact it seemed funnier than it was the last time though I don’t think it’s changed. I would advise having earplugs handy when you go in. The sign says that the attraction is loud, and that’s no lie. I had brought earplugs in my bag because I couldn’t remember which attraction had the volume cranked up extra loud. I just knew it was in EP. It didn’t take long for me to remember once I got into UoE. It was so loud I had to check to make sure my ears weren’t bleeding before slipping the earplugs in. Ahhh. All better.

After UoE, I went to the Living Seas (LS), a total waste of time. I didn’t really remember ever doing this, though I know I’ve passed by it. I watched the film. Can you say, “Update”? I think this whole area needs a facelift. Unfortunately, I think our state aquarium is far better than the LS. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Come on, imagineers. Put on your creativity hats and get something worth seeing going on at the LS—ASAP! (please?)

From LS, I walked to The Land and rode Living With the Land (LWtL). By the end of the week, I would kinda tire of all the slow boat ride; but LWtL didn’t disappoint. I still find it fascinating to hear about the hydroponic plants and seeing the agricultural displays. The only thing that detracted from the ride a little was the canned delivery of our boat guide as he stared over our heads into the distance, reciting his memorized spiel, and using the Flight Attendant Point (the sideways two-finger point) as we moved along. I know that the CMs have to say the same thing over and over and over again day after day after day, and this CM sounded as if he could have done the tour in his sleep.

Next up was Journey Into Your Imagination with Figment. Let’s just say that the only thing I liked about this ride was the e-mail photo station (Kodak) in the Imagination Center after getting off the ride. I liked the version from ’97 better.

I crossed over into World Showcase (WS) by way of Mexico. It was before 11, but WS was open up to China, and then there were ropes up. That meant that Mexico and Norway were open to walk around in, but I couldn’t ride El Rio de Tiempo or Maelstrom. I decided to take my seat in Norway to wait for Maelstrom to open—about 15 minutes. When it opened, I rode Maelstrom and then backtracked to Mexico to ride El Rio de Tiempo. I had been debating as to whether to buy an EP passport. Yes, I’m five; but I love that kind of stuff. I bought one in Mexico, and the CM directed me to where I could get the Mexico stamp inside the temple/pyramid.

I left Mexico and returned to Norway. I had decided that I wanted to get my passport stamped in every country and snack my way around WS. I bought a sweet pretzel in Norway to get my snacking off to a good start. Mmmm. Delicious! I got the one with raisins and white icing. I stopped and sat under the pavilion right beside the sweet shop. After I finished my pretzel, I filled my water bottle at the fountain there and found the water there to be one of the coldest of all WDW water fountains.

I didn’t go back to Mexico to get anything to eat because it was getting close to my 12:10 PS at Le Cellier, so I walked as fast as I could to Canada. Obviously, the pain medicine had not kicked in yet because my heel was still hurting. I made it on time, but it was still a 15-minute wait. I decided to cool off and relax in the darkness of the waiting area for O, Canada. I wouldn’t have time to see it before lunch, but I struck up a conversation with the very nice CM who was at O, Canada. She told me she is from Edmonton, Alberta, and showed it to me on her map. She offered to let me look at her map of Canada while I waited.

My pager flashed, so I returned to Le Cellier for lunch. It was dark and cool inside. I ordered the cheddar cheese soup and a coke with lemon. The soup was good, and I should have ordered more since I didn’t eat anything else. At first slurp, it tasted like potato soup. I was looking for it to taste cheesier, but it was still good; and the bread (sourdough, pretzel, and cheese [?]) was good, too. I was quite full and satisfied when I left.

After lunch, I saw O, Canada, still good after all these years, though it could use updating. I stopped by Trapper Bob’s (or was it Trader Bob’s?) to get a beavertail, but they weren’t going to be open until 3 p.m. It was only 1:15, and I wasn’t going to wait around. I would just have to come back later in the week.

Off Kilter was having a show at 1:30, so I claimed a spot for that. I had never heard them before, though I’ve heard plenty about them (yes, Sheri Niklewski, I’m looking at you) that I just had to hear what all the hype was about for myself.

Boy, did I have fun! Off Kilter was good. I’m not sure if I’ll become a hard core fan (again, Sheri, lookin’ your way!), but they gave a really good show. I enjoyed the music, and Randy (from Kentucky, I believe) joked around throughout the show. Toward the end, two boys (ages 3 and 6) got up and went to the center and danced. Off Kilter got a lot of mileage out of this. The 3-year-old must have just learned how to do the thumbs-up sign, because he would dance a little and then twirl around to his parents and give the thumbs-up sign. That was hilarious! I decided that the boys’ dancing was a cross between calisthenics and karate, but they were still cute as buttons!

Then the guys got ready to sing “Whisky in a Jar” (I think that’s the title); but in honor of the little boys dancing in front of them, they suggested that they change the title to “Milk in a Jar.” Randy kept giving the 3-year-old the thumbs-up sign and grinning; and Jamie would jump up and down or do something crazy, and the boys would mimic him (or vice versa).

After the show, I made my way to the bus stop via the rose walk in Future World. This was during the Flower and Garden Festival, and everything was beautiful. I had no idea that Dolly Parton, John F. Kennedy, and some other famous people had roses named after them.

I stopped at a vendor’s cart and bought a Mickey ice cream bar to soothe me while I waited for my bus.

About five minutes after I got back to my room, the rest of the family arrived. Good timing, huh? We shared with each other our adventures for the day. Here’s what happened to Ian and his family.

They slept in that morning. They got up, showered, dressed, and ate breakfast in the room before heading out to Blizzard Beach. They arrived a little after the 10 a.m. opening time. Ian thought Summit Plummet might have been too intense for the kids, but I don’t think he had to try too hard to convince them not to go on it. I think they were afraid to go on it. They did do the toboggan rides and the lazy river ride.

Then Lynn had a scare on the glider thing. Not sure what this is, but it seems as if you hang onto a bar and glide over a pool. Before you get to the end of the line, you’re supposed to let go and jump into the water. Anyway, Lynn didn’t let go; and when she got to the end of the line, her bar smacked into the wall (?). The impact knocked the breath out of her, and she fell into the water. She shouldn’t have been on this because she can’t swim, and the water was deeper than she could handle. But Ian and Sandy didn’t know how deep the water was. But a lifeguard jumped in and saved Lynn. Ian figures that the impact of the hit before she fell into the water knocked the breath out of her, and she panicked before falling into the water. Then she couldn’t breathe as she struggled to surface. Fortunately everything turned out all right.

After leaving Blizzard Beach, they ate lunch offsite at Las Vegas Buffet, a place we passed on the way to Wal-mart the night before. Las Vegas Buffet promised a variety of American, Italian, and Chinese food. Ian, a little weary from WDW prices, was suckered in. He thought that the price was right and that everybody would get something they liked. Instead of variety, they got mediocre Chinese food and not much else. Sandy and the kids weren’t too happy. Ian was pretty unimpressed, too, but more so because he’s the one who chose for the family to eat there. Sandy and the kids teased him about it, and Las Vegas Buffet became a topic we were told (by Ian) not to discuss for the rest of the trip. Hee.

By 3:15 p.m., everyone was settled in for a little shut-eye. We were back up a few hours later to get ready for our 7:10 PS at Ohana. Besides our tiredness this week, another running theme was our inability to get to any of our PSs on time. We arrived at Ohana at 8 p.m.—50 minutes late. Of course, we had to count the time it took to transfer at Downtown Disney since no buses go from resort to resort.

The CM at the podium at Ohana got nervous and turned to her manager to ask him to explain to me that our PS had been given away. (The policy is that 15 minutes after your PS time, they give your time slot away.) I don’t know why she seemed to think I was upset about this. We knew we were late and didn’t expect to be accommodated if they didn’t have any room for us. I let the manager get through a couple of words of his spiel before letting him know that I knew we were late and that I understood that we would have to wait. We weren’t in any hurry, and I ask if he possibly could squeeze us in later. If he couldn’t, we would understand. He said he could, but it would be 30 minutes. No problem. We went into the lounge to wait. See, I’m not uptight. I’m on vacation. Om. I’m on vacation.

We were seated at 8:30 by a very sweet older CM, who took a curiously circuitous route around the dining room to get to our window seats. Not that we were in any hurry.

Our server brought out the appetizers, but I could have made a whole meal out of that. Later, I wished I did. The wontons and peanut sauce? Loved it! Holy nectar of the gods, Batman! The beef, turkey, and shrimp came out later; but they didn’t hold a candle to the wontons and peanut sauce. Even the pineapple and caramel sauce was bland in comparison. Chris wanted to hog the fruit since he loves fruit of any kind. We had a bowl of wontons left, and I sweetly asked the CM if I could take these to go, but he told me I couldn’t. Hmm. Me no likey. Oh, well. I will be looking for wontons and peanut sauce immediately when I get back to Nashville.

The beef was terrible. I really like red meat, but this stuff was undercooked and smelled funny. We asked that it be cooked a bit “done-er,” Southern-speak for “well done.” They did, but I still couldn’t eat it.

Once again, my family was led in a chorus of “Happy Birthday,” and I was given a cupcake. I guess when I made our PSs and I mentioned that someone in our party was having a birthday while we were at WDW, the note was attached to all of the PSs for the whole week. I’m not complaining though. It was fun, at least for me. I’m sure by midweek, my family was kinda tired of “Happy Birthday,” cupcakes, candles, and snapping pictures of my mug grinning like a Cheshire cat.

After awhile, I looked out the window and saw the beginning of the Electrical Water Pageant. I thought we’d catch it from the beach after dinner, but I had forgotten how late it was. Except for a bit of overhang that blocked some of our view, we had a really good view from our window seats. We all enjoyed seeing this, and I was glad that we had finally gotten to see it after two other attempts.

At Ohana there were coconut races and hula hoop games. Chris and Lynn did the coconut race around the dining room, and Sandy hula hooped with Lynn while a CM played the ukelele. Such a Kodak moment!

As we were leaving Ohana, I asked Ian to take a picture of me beside the Ohana sign. It was the last picture on the roll of film in my camera. After I did my best Vogue pose, Ian steadied the camera to take my picture. He had been teasing us all night about the tiki gods at Ohana. Inside joke, and you’d have to be there, but it was hilarious to us. So instead of saying “Say cheese,” as you normally do, Ian told me to say something else related to our inside joke. It was so totally unexpected that I burst out laughing, ruining my model’s pose and, I’m sure, making the most horrendous face. Then I realized that it was the last picture on the roll of film, and I pretended to attack Ian. We all got a good laugh out of it, including some other people who were standing around outside the entrance to Ohana. Adam had brought his camera, so Ian was able to salvage the shot at last, but not before I threatened Ian to not make me crack up before taking the picture.

We laughed our way out to the monorail stop. I hadn’t told the kids anything about riding up front, because I didn’t want them to be disappointed if we didn’t get it. They had already been asking repeatedly when we were going to get to ride the monorail. As we lined up for the next monorail, I discreetly went up to the attending CM and asked him that if no one else in line had asked to sit up front, could my family and I sit up front. He smiled a huge smile and said, “Why of course! No one else has even asked.” He told me that only four could sit up front though; and when I told Ian and the crew what was going on, Ian and Sandy told me that the kids and I could ride up front and they would ride in the regular compartment.

I hate to say it—no, I don’t—but I was just giddy at knowing that I could ride up front. When the monorail arrived, we made our way up front, and it was such a treat. Our conductor wasn’t very talkative, but that’s okay. He was still nice, if maybe shy. He told me that since the monorail we were riding was a Contemporary Resort monorail, if someone there asked to sit up front, the kids and I would have to give up our seats for them. That seemed reasonable, since we were just making the loop from the Poly and then back again. I did ask though that if no one at the Contemporary asked to sit up front if Ian and Sandy could come up front and one of the kids and I could trade with them. He said we couldn’t do that because if other passengers saw us switching up, they would want to do it; and he couldn’t do that. That didn’t seem as reasonable. Me no likey. But I’m on vacation. I’m on vacation.

We finished our ride. The kids loved their time up front. I just can’t believe we got it on the first try! We arrived back at the Poly and then headed back to ASSpR by way of Downtown Disney. We got back around 11, and I went to bed soon after. A fairly early night for me during our time at WDW. Ian and Sandy took a bus to DD so they could go to Pleasure Island, but Sandy forgot her driver’s license so they couldn’t get in. Ian said that basically all they did was take a very long bus ride—for nothing. They returned to ASSpR and decided to call it a night.

Raves and Raspberries: (Raves) World Showcase, free day, Ohana, window seats at Ohana, wontons and peanut sauce at Ohana, and riding with the conductor on the monorail. (Raspberries) The Living Seas, Las Vegas Buffet, and the beef at Ohana.

Tips/Lessons Learned: #1: You might need earplugs in the Universe of Energy. If you have time in your stay at WDW, take a free day (or several free days interspersed throughout your stay). Like the afternoon breaks, it will refresh you and recharge you. #2: Make sure you bring a photo I.D. Sandy and I should have remembered this.

Magical Moment(s): Getting to see the Electrical Water Pageant from our window seats at Ohana. Watching Sandy hula hoop with the kids. Getting to sit up front on the monorail.

Overhyped Food/Attraction/Ride and How It Measured Up: Riding up front with the conductor on the monorail. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, I would rate our ride a 4½. I would give it a 5 if our driver had been just a squint more talkative. I don’t think he was unfriendly; I think he was an introvert, maybe kinda shy, and it was toward the end of what I’m sure was a long day for him. He was nice, but the ride seemed kinda solemn. Otherwise the view was spectacular, and the CM who met us at the Polynesian stop and helped us ride up front was super nice. Okay, I’ll give it the ½ point simply because we got to sit up front on the first try. So it’s a 5.

Fantasy vs. Reality: Since it was a free day and we were playing it by ear, it wasn’t hard to do everything we wanted to do. The only thing I didn’t get around to was going back to the AK or MGM to catch some of the stuff I’d missed. Other than that, I think this was a fabulous day.

Day 5, Thursday, May 1: Still Magic After All These Years
Fantasy Day: Go to the Magic Kingdom; lunch in the park or at the ASSpR food court; afternoon is fre,e and we’ll play it by ear; return to MGM; dinner at Hollywood & Vine (Fantasmic! dinner package); after Fantasmic! I will go to Pleasure Island alone

Reality: We wanted to get to Magic Kingdom (MK) for early entry. I had saved MK for last because it’s my sentimental favorite, and I still think it’s the crown of WDW.

We got up, showered, dressed, and ate breakfast in the room. Earlier in the week, Ian and I had talked about getting refillable mugs. Ian didn’t think the refillable mugs would be much of a bargain for him and his family. I didn’t think it would be much of one for me either. We like soda, but we don’t drink much of it, even on vacation. We mostly stick to water and Kool-aid. And even though I think there was lemonade or fruit punch in the food court, Ian and Sandy had bought fruit punch at Wal-mart and we drank that mostly.

It was raining when we caught the bus to the MK. We arrived around 8:30. Ian debated whether to buy ponchos. I had a disposable one in my bag that I was ready to whip out on a moment’s notice. It wasn’t a hard, driving rain nor a cold rain, so Ian decided it was best to tough it out. He also thought it would let up soon. Adam and Chris were a bit wimpy about it, but when asked if they wanted to carry ponchos around for the rest of the day when the rain let up, they decided they probably didn’t want ponchos. I decided not to use mine and toughed it out with the rest of the family. The rain let up around lunchtime and it just misted the rest of the time.

Our first ride was Space Mountain. Ian, Adam, and Lynn really seemed to like this ride. Then we went to Peter Pan and then on to It’s a Small World. I warned everybody that the song might get stuck in their heads, especially if we got stuck in there. We didn’t get stuck, and the song didn’t get stuck in our heads either. “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” took care of that later.

We moved on to the Haunted Mansion, which received high marks from all. Then we went to the Hall of Presidents (HoP), an attraction I was really looking forward to. I really enjoyed this show. After HoP, I stopped in the gift shop and bought a book on presidential first ladies, a kids’ book on American history, and a handheld 50 states flip-fan guide thing-a-ma-doody. I already had one for the presidents that I had bought last year in Nashville.

I had my purchases sent to my room, and then joined the rest of the family on their way to the Country Bears Jamboree. The kids didn’t really like this; it was too corny for them. Not surprisingly, I liked it. We left the Country Bears and went to Pecos Bill’s (PB) for lunch. Sandy had the double cheeseburger basket. I got the hot dog basket. The kids got the hamburger basket, and Ian got the chicken wrap basket.

During lunch, a child at the next table had a meltdown, complete with shrieking, screaming, food throwing, and contorting himself into odd shapes to thwart his parents from getting him out of the high chair.

Rant on<<I’m not a parent. I don’t even play one on TV. But for the love of all that is good and peaceable, would it kill parents to take their child out of a ride, attraction, or restaurant when it is clear that the child is unhappy, sleepy, hungry, wet, dirty, or just plain being a brat? I don’t claim to know what was wrong with that child. Could have been a lot of things. I’m sure the parents just wanted to finish their lunch quietly and leave; but one thing I do know is that I paid a lot of money to go to WDW, and I would have appreciated it greatly if the parents of said child would have helped the rest of the diners at Pecos Bill’s to enjoy their overpriced meals by taking the child out and “helping” him a little, interpret that as you will.

I’ll stop now before readership of my trip report goes down any further. But I suspect if you’ve made it thus far through this windbag of a report, you’re a glutton for punishment, so why stop now?>>Rant off

The parents finally took the child out, after 25 minutes of eardrum-spitting, migraine-inducing shrieks and screams. I guess everybody in the dining room giving them the stink eye finally worked. People, if your children aren’t having any fun, especially the younger ones, it’s probably time to pack it in for the day, you think? The parents returned a little later, but Junior wasn’t done. He shrieked some more and threatened to turn himself over in the high chair. The beleaguered parents finally caught on, gathered up their stuff, and got the hay outta Dodge, to the relief of the rest of us dining at PB’s. I almost felt like applauding. Oops! I said I was through ranting. I guess so, except not.

One bright spot in our lunch at PB’s was the cheesy hidden Mickey Adam found on my tray. I had put liquid cheese on my hot dog, and some of it had dripped on my tray forming a hidden Mickey. It doesn’t take much to amuse us.

We left PB’s and rode the riverboat. It was still drizzling rain a little, but it let up along the way. We thought it time to head back to the hotel, but on our way out of the MK, we would hit a few more rides. We rode Snow White then the Tea Cups. Ian didn’t want to ride the Tea Cups because he thought it might make him nauseous. He was right. He probably should have sat that one out like Adam did. The rest of us had fun though.

Our last ride of the day at the MK was Alien Encounter. I had never ridden this before; but after all the talk, I was curious to see what this was all about. I don’t regret riding it, but I don’t think I’ll ride it again. I didn’t enjoy it and neither did anyone else in our group. Lynn was sitting beside me, and during the scarier parts was heard screaming, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”

We got back to ASSpR by 2:30 and crashed. We got back up a couple of hours later and got ready for our 5:30 PS at Hollywood & Vine (H&V). We caught a bus for MGM and got there around 5:35. We checked in at H&V and were told that it would be a 15-minute wait. Adam and Chris staked out a table out front to wait while Ian, Sandy, and I walked over to sit in front of the water on a bench.

We were called for our PS (no pager here) and went in. The food was really good. We received our Fantasmic! priority seating pass from our server.

After eating, we tried to catch a show at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. We got in for the last show of the day. I had been really looking forward to playing this; but we hadn’t been able to play Tuesday, and it didn’t look good for Friday either. There were only two rounds, and none of us landed in the top ten. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

At this point everyone was a little more willing to see some of the shows, but since it was almost 7, everything was closed. We tried to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Animators Tour, but both were closed or were closing. We decided to just start walking toward the amphitheater for Fantasmic! so we wouldn’t have to rush so much later. We stopped by a candy store because Chris and Lynn wanted something sweet. I looked for the infamous chocolate covered marshmallow thingies Sue Holland talks about in her trip reports. I think I saw it, but it looked more like a rice krispy treat covered in chocolate than what I had envisioned so I didn’t get it because I didn’t think that was it. But I wish I had gotten it because I think that was it. They even had the M&M kind. Darn it!

Lynn got a candy bar, one she could have gotten at home but at WDW it was about $2.00 more expensive. I didn’t say anything because it was her money and she could do anything she wanted. She wasn’t hurting anybody by paying too much for the candy bar. Chris got a jawbreaker on a stick packaged in a plastic bubble with mouse ears. It took him hours, and I do mean hours, to eat that thing. It started off white, but changed to yellow, then to blue, and I think it made it to green, too. It left his lips a nasty color, though. Later he bought one to take home with him, and it took him most of the trip home to eat it. I can’t talk. Growing up, my brothers and I would spend our nickels and dimes on the most awful assortment of junk at the corner store. Remember the packets of flavored powder with the chalky white stick? You know you do. ‘Fess up! Then there were the long sticks of bubble gum that lost their flavor after the first 3 minutes.

Anyway, back to WDW. We walked from the candy store to the front of the amphitheater. Silly me. I forgot that with the priority seating pass, you have to go to the “secret super spy” entrance over by Oscar’s gas station. So we had to walk all the way back, turn left, find Oscar’s, and turn left again. We went through the fence door and followed the yellow line to the amphitheater. We sat in the Ursula section where we met a nice family from Pittsburgh. We talked with them for a while before the show started.

My nephew, a notorious tightwad, saw those spinning things that have digital messages on them, like “Happy Birthday” and “Whassup?” He really wanted one. He kept trying to find out how much they cost. When he found out they were more than he wanted to spend, he tucked his wallet back in his pocket. The guy from Pittsburgh teased him and told him, “Go ahead, you’re on vacation; spend a little money.” After the show, Mr. Pittsburgh told Adam to “make sure you spend some of that money before you leave. Don’t go home with what you came with” or something like that. Adam just smiled.

It was our first time seeing Fantasmic! and we all enjoyed it, especially Ian and Adam. Ian said he had never seen anything projected on water screens before, so that was neat to him.

After the show, I told Ian that I thought we ought to wait awhile and let some of the people exit before we tried to leave. Since it was probably going to be a long wait, we might as well sit and relax while everybody else ran over each other trying to leave and catch the buses.

I think Ian and Sandy were getting a little impatient, because we didn’t stay behind too long. We made our way out of the amphitheater and toward the exit. We walked to the faraway ASR bus stop where it was mobbed. We waited a while for a bus. Two came. The first one absorbed many of the people ahead of us. The second one was pretty full by the time we got to the head of the line, and Ian opted to go for it. We ended up standing up, and it wasn’t pleasant. The bus jerked and swerved its way back to ASSpR, throwing me every which way; and I’m sure I was a lot more familiar with my fellow bus mates than I, or they, would have liked for me to have been, what with all the bumping and crashing into each other that went on during that ride.

We finally got back to the ASSpR, and I stopped by the gift shop to check to see if my package from the MK was there. I didn’t think it would be, but I didn’t have anything else to do. I stayed with the kids while Ian and Sandy made another attempt to go to Pleasure Island. This time Sandy forgot their hopper passes so they could use their plus options. I guess they didn’t want to pay the admission price to get in (I wouldn’t have either knowing that with the hopper pass I could get in “free”), so they came back to the ASSpR and called it a night. “Déjà vu all over again,” as Yogi Bera would say.

I was in bed by midnight, in LaLaLand before my head could hit the pillow.

Raves and Raspberries: (Raves) Magic Kingdom (especially Liberty Square and Frontierland) and Fantasmic! (Raspberries) parents who won’t help their children when they’re having meltdowns, Alien Encounter, and long waits for buses at MGM.

Tips/Lessons Learned: The Fantasmic! dinner package really is worth it.

Magical Moment: Meeting the nice family from Pittsburgh.

Overhyped Food/Attraction/Ride and How It Measured Up: The Fantasmic! dinner package with priority seating. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, I would rate the dinner package a 5. That’s right. You heard me. A five. This was one of the few, maybe the only, PS we showed up halfway on time for as a group. I think we were only 5 minutes late. The food at Hollywood and Vine was delicious, and getting priority seating at Fantasmic! made the event more special, especially since it was the first time at Fantasmic! for all of us.

Fantasy vs. Reality: Instead of lunch back at the food court, we ate lunch at Pecos Bill’s in Frontierland at the MK. I didn’t make it to Pleasure Island since I made the brilliant move of leaving my driver’s license in Tennessee where it wasn’t doing me any good at all. Other than that, we did everything we planned to do.

Day 6, Friday, May 2: Move Along (to the End of the Row). Nothing to See Here.
Fantasy Day: Breakfast PS alone at Kona Café to try the Tonga Toast; return to the Magic Kingdom; lunch at the park or at the ASSpR food court; nap in our rooms; dinner at the California Grill while watching the fireworks at the MK from a window seat<<crossing fingers and wishing upon a star>> Pleasure Island alone

Reality: We had been trying to figure out why, toward the end of the week, WDW seemed to be swamped with teenagers. I was beginning to think we hadn’t avoided Spring Break after all. Ian asked a CM, and he told him it was Grad Night, when the MK closes early to the general public and opens up for high school seniors and their chaperones. Ah, I had forgotten. Though the chaperones of said teenagers seemed to be in very short supply, there was no shortage of teenagers, accessorized with puca shells and cell phones—plenty of cell phones.

Mickey woke me around 5:30 a.m.; but since we weren’t trying to get to early entry for any park, I decided not to get up until almost 8. I ditched my PS at Kona Café where I was going to try tonga toast for the first time. Next trip, I told myself as I rolled over and went back to sleep.

We decided to revisit the MK and finish what we started yesterday. We left our room around 9, and caught a bus for the MK. When we got there, our first ride was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. This was fun. I scored 333,000 the first time. It was easier to steer and shoot than I thought it would be, but I really couldn’t tell if I was hitting the targets or not. I just locked my finger into trigger-happy mode and blasted away. Ian and his family had so much fun, they wanted to do it again. Okay. Why not?

We went in for a second time, and I scored 121,000. I think I beat Ian each time. I can’t remember what Sandy and the kids got, but I think it was in the low thousands.

We left Buzz and Zurg and headed to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountains and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (BTMR). Ian, Adam, and Chris sat Splash Mountain out because they didn’t want to get wet. Lily-livered boys! So the “girls” went instead. That’s where “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” got stuck in my head and still is as I type. Ian snapped pictures of us as we came down the drop.

Then we headed to BTMR. I barely remembered this from my visit to WDW in ’85. BTMR really had me fooled though. It clack, clack, clacked its way up the inclines . . . and then nothing. I was really looking for something with a few more drops; but it was tame.

We left Frontierland and made our way to Adventureland. First stop, Pirates of the Caribbean (PotC). After leaving PotC, we wanted to eat at El Pirata y El Perico, but it was closed. I was pretty hungry, but we pressed on. Ian and Sandy decided to stop and see the Tiki Birds show, but I really wanted to find a Dole Whip. So Ian, Sandy, Adam, and Chris went to see the Tiki Birds, and Lynn and I tried to find the Aloha Isle stand. I asked a CM at a vending cart, but she didn’t know. She had to radio somebody to ask. She pointed me in the general direction. We passed the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse and finally found it.

Short line but long wait since it was lunchtime, and there seemed to be only one CM working the counter. We finally got to the front of the line, and I ordered Dole Whips for Lynn and me. This is one of the much-ballyhooed snacks of WDW on RADP, so I just had to try one. I’ll give it points for being pineapple and for being cold. Other than that, I was underwhelmed; but I’d probably eat it again when in Adventureland.

Lynn and I ate our Dole Whips while we waited outside the doors to the Tiki Birds. When Ian, Sandy, and the boys came out, we were all ready for lunch. Chris wanted to ride Aladdin, but the line was extremely long, about a 45-minute wait at least.

I had heard some good things about Plaza Pavilion; so I suggested it to Ian and Sandy, and they said okay. We walked to Tomorrowland and stopped at Plaza Pavilion for lunch. I had the Italian stack sandwich. Chris had chicken fingers. Lynn started out with some kind of salad, but didn’t like it, so Sandy gave her half of her Italian stack sandwich. I can’t remember what Ian had. Something with chicken I’m sure.

Over lunch we talked about our plans for the rest of the day. I had decided to skip our usual midday break and head to EP. I really wanted to return to World Showcase. I hadn’t finished my passport nor my snacking around the World. Ian and Sandy wanted to go back, too, because they hadn’t seen everything when we were there Monday evening.

We knew we should either take the boat or the monorail to EP. We ended up taking the monorail. If I were going to have a meltdown, I would have had it when the CMs crammed all the people waiting for the monorail in 3 compartments when there were obviously several empty compartments. I have no idea why they did this; maybe they have a perfectly good reason. But when it’s hot, humid, and your foot’s hurting, it needs to be a pretty good reason why I have to stand nose to armpit with strangers when there are plenty of empty compartments.

I’m on vacation. I’m on—

Forget that! It didn’t make any sense!

Anyway, we got to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) and stood around for a while waiting for a monorail to EP. The next train that came in, we were told, was out of service. We would have to wait until they cleared that train off the track before we could get another train. It took about 20 minutes to do this. A few minutes later, another train came and we boarded it. This time we were allowed to board wherever there was an open compartment.

We got to EP; and once inside the gates, we sat down to discuss our plans. Ian and his family would go to Journey Into Your Imagination, Living With the Land, and Universe of Energy. They would return to Test Track if they felt like it. They really didn’t have a desire to go to the World Showcase. Meanwhile, I would go straight to the World Showcase. We would meet back at the hotel.

I entered the WS via Mexico. I bought churros. Other than getting sugar up to my elbows and feeling gritty for the rest of the day, the churros were good. I thought they came with chocolate dipping sauce. I guess not. I had eaten a sweet pretzel in Norway Wednesday, so I stopped in just long enough to get my passport stamped. The perfume in the shop smelled really good, but I was on a mission: passport stamping and snacks. I didn’t want to take the time to browse for perfume. Maybe next time.

Next stop, China. I stopped for ginger ice cream but they were all out. I was curious about the red bean ice cream so I got it instead. Big mistake. Must. Gargle. Away. The. Taste! Yuck! This stuff was horrible. I tried valiantly to eat it. I’m a card-carrying member of the Clean Plate Club, but I couldn’t finish it. After ditching the ice cream, I searched for the Kidcot station to get my passport stamp. The woman at the table ignored me at first. Although I showed her my passport and asked her to sign it. There were a few kids around, but they were working on their masks. I asked again, and she ignored me. I asked again, and she grudgingly took my passport and stamped it. She was the only one who didn’t write anything. By this time, I didn’t care. I just wanted out. On my way out of China, I caught a little of the acrobats. It was good, but it was getting oppressively hot outside, so I pressed on.

I may be forgetting the order of my stops after China, but I think the next stop was Germany after I breezed past the Outpost. Let’s say it was. I got my passport stamped and bought a chocolate covered pretzel. I couldn’t find anything else that was interesting to eat. Next time I’m there, I’ll have to look again.

In Italy, I got pistachio gelato, got my passport stamped, and watched the masked harlequins (?) dance. This was interesting. Then I watched a little of the living statue. The handler called a girl up to stand in front of the statue. The statue took the girl’s visor off her head and dangled it from her wrist. Every time the girl would leap to get it, the statue would move her arm higher. Finally the girl unfastened the visor by opening the Velcro tab on the back. The statue was stunned. It was cute.

I moved on to America. Just as I was walking up, a costumed CM asked a group of Boy Scouts to come up and say the Pledge of Allegiance. The Boy Scouts led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then I went inside. American Vybe sang before we went into the theater.

This is when I noticed that a lot of people who visit WDW have “center-itis,” a not-so-rare disease that afflicts people who visit large theaters and concert halls. Center-aholics, and you know who you are, have an overwhelmingly selfish need to sit in the center, believing that they’re nabbing the best seats available for themselves, regardless of the rest of us. Despite pleas from CMs to go to the end of the freakin’ row already and reminding them that every seat is a good seat, those with center-itis walk along the row, plop down about mid-way, leaving a traffic jam of others in their wake. They sit defiantly in their ill-gotten center seats, daring anyone—even Walt himself—to tell them to move along. You either have to cross over them or sit wherever.

If you suffer from center-itis, I beg of you to seek treatment. It really is rude and obnoxious. If you grab the center seats, then where does that leave the rest of us? Maybe we wouldn’t get center seats either if we all moved along to the end of the row, but at least we’d have a fair chance. If you refuse to seek help, may I at least recommend that you wait before entering a row, count the number of people it would take to put you smack dab in the middle, and then get in line. At least, the rest of us can move on with our lives and on to our rightful seats. Thank you for your support.

I left America and almost got a turkey leg, but I wasn’t that hungry; and I had nowhere to put it for later either. So I moved on to Japan. Ah. Kaki goris. This ought to be nice, cool, and refreshing. I ordered the rainbow kaki gori and found a nice place in the shade to eat it. This is another of those highly recommended snacks that I just had to try, though I had my suspicions. It sounded much like the Sno-Cones from back home. I was right. Though the kaki gori was good, it was not different than the shaved ice treats I could get in Tennessee.

I passed through Morocco on my way to France. It was almost 5, and I wanted to have time to get back to ASSpR, shower, and change before our PS at the California Grill that night. I decided to give up on the passport this trip. I would bring it back with me next year and finish getting the stamps. I didn’t want baklava in Morocco, since I eat that pretty frequently in Nashville. On to France. I didn’t see a place to get snacks, but I found the place where the movie was shown. I don’t remember ever seeing it, so I stopped. The next showing was at 5:30, 30 minutes away. I started to leave, but the woman next to me told me how beautiful it was, and I was really wanting to see it. I stayed. It was beautiful, and I’m glad I stayed.

Okay, I had stayed in WS longer than I had planned. I passed through the United Kingdom since I had fish and chips in ’97. My last mission: to get beavertails. I stopped by Trader/Trapper Bob’s and it was open. I couldn’t decide between strawberries and cream and hazelnut chocolate. I asked the CM if I could have half and half on one because I knew I couldn’t eat two. She said sure and put the strawberries and cream on one half and the hazelnut chocolate on the other half. I sat on a bench at the entrance to WS and ate. Mmmm, good!

Another rant. Bear with me. Rant on<<I think it is wonderful that ECVs and strollers are available at WDW. Really I am. But by the end of the week, I was beginning to think that WDW ought to offer special classes for those who operate the ECVs and strollers. Maybe “Strollers and You: How to Avoid Rolling Them Over the Ankles of Pedestrians.” Or how about “ECVs: How to Share the Walkways With Pedestrians.” Believe me when I say that I’m empathetic to parents who must use strollers, with all their paraphernalia and assorted children either in or out of the stroller. And I’m ever so glad that seniors and others who need to be mobile can use the comfort, convenience, and ease of the ECVs. But if you could just learn to steer, roll, and guide your particular mode of transportation, I would so much appreciate it. I know that we pedestrians can be a pain, too. Walking right in front of you, not allowing you to be able to keep a steady pace; and for that I apologize on behalf of pedestrians. Maybe one day we can all learn to walk, roll, and ride in peace and harmony.>>Rant off

I made my way to the bus stop. Some teenagers from New Jersey kept me amused, but I began to feel sick. I was nauseous. Too many snacks. Must. Get. Back. To. My. Room. Arrggghhh!

The bus finally came, and I promise I had to find a focal point so I wouldn’t lose my lunch. The bus’s motion didn’t help. Over and over I had to keep telling myself that I could keep my lunch down. I made it back to my room, but just barely. I won’t go into the gory details. Nope. Not even if you pay me.

I had hit the wall, and I was done. I didn’t think I could go any further. I think it was the combination of heat and food and heel pain—maybe a little heat rash, too; but whatever it was, I was done. I was going to tell Ian that they could go on to the Promised Land, I mean, the California Grill without me; but when he came over to check on me, he didn’t look so hot either.

He told me that when we had parted earlier that afternoon, he and his family had gone to Journey Into Your Imagination, Living With the Land, Circle of Life, and Body Wars. Once off Body Wars, they were a little queasy and more than ready to return to ASSpR. They never made it to the Universe of Energy. I think they ate in the food court and then crashed in the room. Ian said that they were all tired and wanted to stay in for the night and would I mind? Mind? Nope, big brother.

Ian suggested we get pizza. There was some discussion as to just how we were going to do this. We finally ended up deciding that Ian and Sandy would go to Pizza Hut and bring back pizza. I hated to be the one staying back at ASSpR, but I had no desire to fight my way through dinner hour at the food court, and I didn’t feel like even getting dressed to go to Pizza Hut.

We ate pizza (pepperoni, cheese, and veggie) in our rooms once we all felt better. We were in bed around 11 p.m., but no one really went to sleep. Ian wanted to leave around 2 a.m. Saturday morning, but I didn’t think this was going to happen. We finally all fell asleep.

Raves and Raspberries: (Raves) World Showcase and EP passports. (Raspberries) I started to say that there wasn’t anything I didn’t like on this day but I forgot about Grad Night and missing dinner at the California Grill. Oh, and ECVs and strollers that nip at one’s ankles and “center-it is.” And how can I forget getting sick after leaving EP?

Tips/Lessons Learned: Between “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, Tips for Today” on the WDW information channel at ASSpR and “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” played on Splash Mountain, this song can really get stuck in your head, more so than “It’s a Small World” in my opinion. Watch out for strollers and ECVs. Let them have the right of way or you may get your ankles nipped.

Magical Moment: By this point, everything was magical to me.

Overhyped Food/Attraction/Ride and How It Measured Up: On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, I would rate the snacks in the World Showcase as churros-Mexico (3), sweet pretzel-Norway (5), red bean ice cream-China (-1), chocolate covered pretzel-Germany (2), gelato-Italy (4), kaki gori-Japan (3), and beavertail-Canada (4½). The churro was good, but nothing special. I thought it came with chocolate dipping sauce. Maybe I just missed that, but I didn’t get any. The sweet pretzel I had Wednesday was very good. Perfect. Definitely a repeat item. The red bean ice cream was horrible. I guess I shouldn’t blame the ice cream. I really wanted the ginger ice cream and probably should have skipped the red bean concoction. The chocolate covered pretzel was okay but nothing special. I should have looked around for something a little more interesting. The gelato was good, but the kaki gori wasn’t too different from the Hawaiian Ice or Sno-Cones served in Tennessee with fewer flavors available. It wasn’t bad by any means, just not very special. The beavertail was very good, just messy with the toppings.

Fantasy vs. Reality: The plans for this day were pretty much dashed from the beginning. I didn’t make it to Kona Café for the tonga toast. Since we ate lunch at the MK and I decided to snack my way around the World Showcase, I didn’t have lunch back at the food court at ASSpR. I regret not going to the California Grill. I was really looking forward to it; and since we didn’t make it to the California Grill, we didn’t see the fireworks from there. I’m not sure we would have anyway since it was Grad Night at the MK and it closed early to the general public.

Day 7, Saturday, May 3: Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
Fantasy Day: Stay longer at WDW! Nah, I guess not. Leave Orlando (until next time) early in the morning; make sure I get state snow globes in Georgia and Florida; arrive in Nashville late evening; take cameras/film to be developed; rest and enjoy another two days of vacation before returning to work

Reality: I woke up at 1 a.m. after about 1½ hours of sleep. We left our rooms around 2 and headed for the lobby. I wanted to settle my bill. The CM told me that the computers were down for accounting so we couldn’t get a printed copy of our $0 balance bill, but she wrote out a receipt and promised to mail a computer printed copy to my address when the computers came back up. (About a week later, I did receive the copy of the bill.)

While I was waiting for the CM to get my bill ready, there was a group of twentysomethings in the other line trying to talk their way into a Florida resident discounted room. Long story short, they swore that they stay at the ASRs all the time and that they always make the reservation the same way—in the name of someone in their party who doesn’t even live in Florida. Supposedly, somebody in their party is from Florida, but she didn’t make the reservation in her name, which is what WDW requires. She claims that CRO said she could use her mailing address, which she claims is in Florida, to satisfy the Florida resident requirement. I’m assuming she lives anywhere but Florida. The guy doing all the talking was trying to outtalk the CM, who—because the computers were down—couldn’t verify any of what the guy was saying. She volunteered to call CRO, but the guy claimed he had already been that route. The CM had to call her manager out front.

This is exactly why I quit the hospitality business years ago. You’re stuck at the desk in the wee hours of the morning. You’re just trying to run all the days’ reports so when the sun rises, you can grab your free employee breakfast from the restaurant before you leave so you can crash in your one-bedroom apartment before doing it all over again that night. Oops. Flashbacks to 1990. Sorry.

Anyway, the manager ended up giving the fast-talking guy and his supposed Florida resident accomplice the discount. Sigh. What lengths some people won’t go to to save a few bucks. And no, I wouldn’t go that far.

We finally settled our bill and loaded into the van. In the spirit of forgetfulness, Lynn forgot her pillow in our room. We had all brought pillows from home to use on the van. Since we weren’t out of the parking lot yet, Ian parked and made a quick sprint to our room and got the pillow.

We left WDW around 2:30.

We stopped somewhere on the toll road for gas. Once on 1-75, Ian made good time—almost too good for Sandy’s liking.

Somewhere between Valdosta and Atlanta I dozed off. When I woke up, I thought we were going to stop for breakfast; but with Nashville in his sights, Ian didn’t want to stop for something as trivial as breakfast. So Lynn and I dug around in the myriad of bags in the van and came up with leftover pizza and Crunch n’ Munch for breakfast. Yum yum. The boys slept through our gourmet feast.

When we reached Chattanooga later, we made a few stops. Ian’s company is based in Chattanooga, so he showed me his office there since I hadn’t seen it. Then we stopped at a restaurant called Smoky Bones for lunch. The ribs were excellent.

After lunch we made it to Nashville in the early afternoon, exhausted but happy. At the request of the kids, I ended up spending the night at their house. Good aunt.

Raves and Raspberries: (Raves) Nice CMs even though it was 2 in the morning when we checked out, pizza and Crunch n’ Munch, and Smoky Bones ribs. (Raspberries) fast-talking twentysomethings at 2 in the morning trying to pull a fast one to save a few bucks.

Tips/Lessons Learned: If you’re leaving in the wee hours of the morning, settle your bill the night before. Avoid pizza and Crunch n’ Munch, no matter how good it tastes!

Fantasy vs. Reality: We didn’t get to stay at WDW any longer (sigh), and we left only 30 minutes later than we had planned. Thanks to Ian’s “good” driving, we arrived back in Nashville very early. I didn’t take my pictures to be developed right away. Once we arrived at Ian and Sandy’s, we all just crashed. But I did enjoy the next two days as an extended, although quieter, vacation.

Well, you made it to the end. Didn’t think you were going to, did you? Admit it. You probably read it in installments because it was so long. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Tina Sullivan