Janice O'Hanley - September 2003 - Offsite

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group:Infrequent, Veteran
Comments: Though this is published after her last report, this trip was before the one with her sister in October. A long time in the making, this trip was a chance for Janice and her daughter to experience Disney World with Janice's oldest friend and her family.


Janice O'Hanley -- September 2003 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)

Janice has written four previous trip reports:

August 2002
March 2003
June 2003
October 2003
Cast

Janice – Author of report, Disney Store Cast Member, Lover of Disney
Michelle – Daughter
Margie – One of my oldest and best friends
Tricia – Margie’s oldest daughter
Kelly – Margie’s other daughter
Lori – Kelly’s friend
Stacy – Kelly’s friend
Jen – Tricia’s friend
Stephanie – Tricia’s friend
This trip has been a long time in the making. Not just that it is a trip to Disney, in the fact that it is a trip together with one of my oldest girlfriends. I have known Margie for about 27 years. We met up at the college that both of our boyfriends were attending at. They both played on the hockey team and Margie and I became fast friends. Even after she broke up with her high school sweetheart two years later and I ended up getting married; we still kept in close touch. She is originally from England and came over to the States when she was around 15 yrs. old. Twice we planned on going over to visit her relatives but both times something came up to end the planning. Then she got married a year after me and we had our kids and were into the whole parenting thing, so time has flown by and now we are both able to finally take a vacation together. I am bringing my daughter, Michelle – 25, and Margie is bringing her two daughters, Tricia – 24 and Kelly – 22. There will be 4 other girlfriends coming along also. That will make it a total of 9 all together. Three of the girls will only be coming down for 5 days while we are staying from a Sunday to a Sunday.

Margie was able to use a timeshare that a friend of hers owned. This was located at the Vistana Resort only a few miles from World Drive and Downtown Disney. We were getting this for a very low rate so we couldn’t pass it up. This will be my first time, since my kids were little that I have stayed off site. We decided to rent an 8-passenger minivan (we would somehow squeeze in the 9th person) to use for our traveling needs. I got everyone 4-day park hoppers through the Disney Store where I work. We got a decent price on our flight on the new Delta Song airlines. So just about everything was set. I’ve never gone to Disney for any longer than 5 days, so just to be in Orlando for a whole week was exciting to me.

Sunday – August 31, 2003
Leaving on the flight down today were only going to be 6 of us – myself, Michelle, Margie, Tricia, Kelly and Lori. The other girls – Stephanie, Jen and Stacy were flying down on Tuesday and we would make arrangements to meet them at the airport when they arrived. Our flight left from Boston’s Logan Airport at 11:35 AM. Margie’s son, Brian, would drive us to the Logan Express so that we could pick up the shuttle bus to the airport. This was a big help and would save us some money on parking the cars. We got to the airport in plenty of time and after check-in we had a quick bite to eat before going through security and waiting at our gate. Our flight took off on time and we landed in Orlando around 2:10 PM with no problems. So far I will give Song a "thumbs up". The flight was very enjoyable and roomy. Our bags came out in a reasonable amount of time and then we headed over to the Alamo Rent-a-Car desk and picked up our minivan that would be our chariot for the next week. We picked up the van and loaded it up (good thing we had enough room for all the luggage – LOL) and were off on route to our resort. I got directions from the resort and it was very easy to find and only took about a half-hour or so. We checked in to the Vistana and took a quick look around the main building. It was very lovely and we were asked to take part in a seminar so they can try and sell us a time-share. We were offered $40.00 each to just sit and listen so we agreed knowing full well that we weren’t in the position to buy into something like this now. That was all right with them, they still wanted the opportunity to offer it to us. This was set up for 7:00 AM Saturday morning. Our condo location was quite close to the main building, and we were in walking distance to one of pools. The complex is quite big, so we were lucky to get located close to the entrance of the main road.

There was only one problem with this place. We were set up for the second floor and there were no elevators, so we had to drag our suitcases up the stairs. This took a little while but we finally managed to get settled in the condo. It was a very nice set-up with a roomy living room with a pull out sleeper, a dining table and bar connected to the cute little kitchenette. Off of the living room there was a set of glass doors, which opened up to a screened in patio including table and chairs. We had a washer/dryer in the hall closet and two bedrooms. The smaller bedroom had two full beds and a door connecting to the main bathroom. The larger bedroom had a king size bed, a vanity section and a bath with a hot tub and shower. Both bedrooms had color tv’s and also one in the living room. We had plenty of room for all 9 of us, but the bathrooms still had to be scheduled for all of us to get ready. We would manage with little problems. After unpacking some and changing into shorts we took a stroll towards the pool.

This was supposed to be one of the smaller pools but I thought that it was a decent size. It was a beautiful scenic layout with a little waterfall. There was a bar connected to a café. Also inside the building was a gym and game room, everything that you could imagine to entertain you for a whole day and then some. After checking this out we took the short ride over to the general store to get a few supplies and see what else they had to offer. We noticed that they had a Pizza Hut in the general store so that would be something to have for one of our meals. We headed back to the condo to get ready for our evening out. This consisted of having a drink across the street at the restaurant called Bahama Breeze. Then we will be going over to the Boardwalk to check out what’s going on over there.

After our "cocktail" over at Bahama Breeze, we drove over to the Boardwalk. Besides Michelle and I, no one else had ever been there so I was anxious to show them around. We parked across the street in the free parking lot and walked along the sidewalk towards the entryway of the resort. I love the way the Inn is lit up at night. We went directly into the lobby and looked around a bit. They all seem impressed with the resort. I have nice memories of this place from when I stayed here last March with the girls that I work with at the store. We then walked down the outside staircase and proceeded to the Boardwalk, checking out the shops and restaurants. We have plans to eat at ESPN tomorrow night and also have plans to go to Jellyrolls (dueling piano bar) on Thursday night. It was now close to the time that the Illuminations fireworks start, so we headed towards the International Gateway bridge and decided to stand on there to watch them go off. We found a good spot and realized that we had to wait about 15 more minutes before the show started. Margie decided to sit down with her back leaning against the bridge. After about 5 minutes we noticed that she was asleep. It doesn’t take much downtime for her to nod off. We had to take a picture of her. Finally the fireworks started going off and we got to see all of the really high rockets go off with all the different colors. It was a nice way to start off our week of Disney fun. On the way back, I stopped and got myself a crepe with ice cream and chocolate sauce on it. I love crepes and will try and get one whenever I see it on the menu. This topped off my evening and it satisfied my sweet tooth.

We took the leisurely walk back to the van and then drove back to the condo. It had been a long day so it didn’t take long before we were all settled down for the night. No plans for any park tomorrow because we are going to wait for the other girls to come in on Tuesday. Tomorrow is a relaxing day at the pool and then a visit to Celebration. Kelly’s boyfriend (Nick)’s parents live there and they’ve invited us to dinner and a tour of the town. I can’t wait to see this place; it has been on my list of things to do for a long time.

Monday – September 1, 2003
Like I mentioned above, today was going to be a relaxing day. Our first event was "big breakfast" at the Flamingo Café near our pool. It was a cute little place, nicely decorated with pinks, greens and flamingos of course. They had a great breakfast special of your choice of two types of buffets. We opted to try both buffets by 3 of us ordering one and the other 3 ordering the other. This gave us quite the choice of breakfast items for everyone to try. The cost was only $7.99 per person, all you can eat. What a great deal! This would be our breakfast choice for a couple of other mornings to come. It was a great way to start off our day.

We then went back to the room to change for the pool. After we came back, the pool didn’t have too many people yet. We had our pick of lounge chairs. The sun was just starting to break through the clouds and it ended up being a perfect day for sunning. There was only one problem. We came down during of "love bug" season, which only lasts for 2 weeks. These little bugs hooked up together by twos and just annoy the heck out of you. They don’t bite or sting, just bother you. It is very hard to lay in the sun when you are always slapping off these bugs. They don’t bother you in the water, so we spent a good deal of time either in the pool or the hot tub. We stayed until around 1:00 PM and then headed back to the room for a shower and to cool off in the air conditioning. Later in the afternoon Margie and I went to the small supermarket across the street and bought things like, english muffins, cereal, chips, sodas, beer, etc. for the rest of the week. This way when someone was hungry, there would be something for them to pick at.

We got ready for our evening out in Celebration and were expected to arrive at Vinnie and Linda’s (Nick’s parents) house by 5:30 PM. Kelly called and got directions and we had a little bit of a time trying to find the house but had a nice drive through the town. It seems very charming and beautiful. We made it to their house and all I can say is that this family is one of the nicest groups of people I have met. They also have another daughter Sydney, who is 15 and has epilepsy. Because of Sydney’s condition, this helped Vinnie and Linda to decide to move to Celebration. The town is very low-keyed and Sydney seems to feel very comfortable here. She is so cute and so much fun to talk to and you can tell that living here has agreed with her.

When we first arrived, Vinnie was in the kitchen preparing our three-course meal. He works in the food industry and is a great cook. While dinner was still cooking, Linda took us "downtown" and we toured by foot the beautiful town. We saw a lot of Segways around. I guess this is quite common here and all ages seem to ride them. They are very expensive but a lot of families have been selected to try them out before they decide to purchase them. They look like a lot of fun to ride. We continued walking and passed Celebration Hotel, which I’ve seen advertised on the Dis boards all the time. We chatted with one of the owners of the local pub that bases the style on a pub in Boston. I guess they are originally from the Boston area so they brought that flavor with them and added it to this pub. We went to a lot of the shops and saw some of the restaurants (Italian, Chinese, and a few others) and also saw the two screen AMC Theatre. The town has piped in music throughout the town. There is a beautiful fountain across from the theatre. Linda was a great tour guide and answered all of our questions. I for one wouldn’t mind living here; it would be a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the city that I live in. Back at the house, dinner was ready and what a meal it was! We had lasagna for the first course, then salad and then a chicken/mushroom/artichoke casserole. It was delicious and I ate every bit. For dessert we had cake to celebrate Sydney’s birthday. Afterwards we just sat around the living room enjoying each other’s company and watching a little t.v. We left around 10 PM and had no problem finding our way back to the condo. What a nice evening and I am so glad we were able to make the visit. Tomorrow we are starting out at Animal Kingdom, picking the other girls from the airport and then whatever.

Tuesday – September 2, 2003
Today we are going to go to Animal Kingdom for at least part of the day. We have a priority seating for 9:00 AM at Donald’s Breakfastosaurus. This was going to be our only character meal. We got to the park in plenty of time and arrived at the turnstiles ready to enter. Our waiter, Neil, called us over to his line and we followed him to the restaurant. Last March I ate here and I had Neil as my waiter. I guess I have one of those faces because he remembered waiting on me. He is quite funny and a lot of fun. We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast and took lots of pictures. Next up was the Dinosaur ride. All of us were excited to ride this, even Margie who is not into thrill rides. She was trying to be a good sport and when we described this ride to her she thought it wouldn’t be too bad. Well after riding back in time in our jeep we checked out our photo and it had some priceless expressions. Lori had such a shocked look! It was quite comical. Kelly, Lori, Michelle and I rode Primeval Whirl and had a fun time spinning and going up and down. Off to the Safari, which is one of the things that Margie was most anxious to go on. We went into the stand-by line and it wasn’t too bad of a wait. Unfortunately I didn’t think that the safari this time around was as good as other times I’ve gone on. There really weren’t that many animals out and those that we saw seemed to be sleeping. The girls who haven’t been on this before were not that impressed and I really can’t blame them. You just never know if you are going to hit it right.

Next we walked through the Pangani Trail to see the Gorillas and I wanted to see Margie’s reaction to the Bats. She is very squeamish about bugs, reptiles and such. I knew that she would freak when seeing the Bats but, believe it or not, she was chatting so much that she didn’t even notice them. Finally someone pointed out the Bats to her and she couldn’t get out of that room fast enough! We continued to walk along the trail and saw the Tigers, which everyone enjoyed. Onto the Gorillas and they were also quite entertaining. After this we went to see It’s Tough to be a Bug show in the Tree of Life. This was another thing that I was dying to see how Margie would react to. (Aren’t I shameless??) She knew that this was about bugs, obviously, but didn’t want things crawling around her. We told her that it was just make-believe. She still wanted to see the show and was glad that she did but reacted to some of the interactive stuff true to form. We went back over to ride the rapids on the Kali River Rapids ride. It was hot enough, so I decided to ride with the girls. I got fairly lucky because I didn’t get too wet; actually all of us that ventured onto this raft came off of it lucky. There was a little girl and her father who ended up getting soaked. This was fun and I would love to do it again but I wasn’t taking a chance that I wouldn’t get soaked the second time around. We headed back towards the entrance to the park but along the way we saw DeVine and the girls were astounded by her. They couldn’t believe their eyes and quickly started taking pictures. I love seeing DeVine and try to find her everytime we come to this park.

It was getting close to the time that we had to head to the airport to pick up the other girls. Tricia volunteered to go. On our way back to our resort we stopped by the All-Star Music resort to see what it looked like. (Michelle and I have stayed at all three of the All-Stars so we just went along for the ride). After our little tour Michelle and I decided to park hop to the Magic Kingdom, so we went to the bus stop and the others headed back to the resort. We would meet them up later at the ESPN Café for dinner.

At the Magic Kingdom, Michelle and I headed into Adventureland and decided to visit with the Tiki Birds. We hadn’t done this is quite a while. We enjoyed the show not only for the entertainment but also for the air conditioning. We moved onto ride Pirates of the Caribbean and as usual, were not disappointed with this classic attraction. Time for lunch, we wanted something that wasn’t your basic hamburger/hot dog type of meal. I had a brainstorm and we headed into the cool air condition of the Columbia Harbor House for clam chowder in bread bowls - a very filling and satisfying meal. This will definitely hold us over until dinner tonight. We walked through Fantasyland and headed over to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz Lightyear. This was a walk-on and we had so much fun that we ended up going right back on for another go round. After this we went down Main Street and poked into the shops. We went to the shop with the hand-blown glass and Michelle purchased a hummingbird to add to her new collection. Since we weren’t staying on site, we had to carry the package with us the rest of the day but it was packed very carefully so it wouldn’t break.

We headed out of MK and onto the monorail to go over to Epcot. We were able to sit up front for our short journey around Spaceship Earth. Once upon entering Epcot we started on our list of attractions to accomplish. Our first must thing to do is Mission Space. I have read as much as I could about this ride and tried to prepare myself for it. I explained to Michelle the possible reactions we could have from riding this. I was more excited than nervous but I think Michelle was more nervous than excited. We both listened carefully to all of the instructions and followed them to the letter and when the ride was done, we both loved it! No nausea or lightheadedness hit us. We knew we wanted to do this again before we left Disney. Next was Test Track, another of our favorites. Onto Universe of Energy with Ellen DeGeneress and Bill Nye the Science Guy and our last Future World attraction for the day was the latest version of Journey into Imagination to see our little friend, Figment.

We had about an hour or so before our meet time with the girls at ESPN. We walked over to the World Showcase and strolled over towards Canada and then United Kingdom. We stopped and listened to the Beatles sing one song and then walked through the International Gateway and over the bridge towards the Boardwalk. We got to the ESPN Café a little early so we just sat outside and soaked up the sun. By this time Michelle and I were getting tired. We decided to stay for dinner and then head back to the resort. At exactly 6:00 PM the girls (including the latest group that came in today) came and we got a table right away. We all were famished but after ordering and seeing the portions we were overwhelmed. There was way too much food for us to finish and about an hour into our time together, Michelle and I bowed out and headed back. The rest of the girls were planning on staying around to watch the baseball game on the tv screens. Michelle and I picked up the first bus to Downtown Disney (it started raining and we hoped that we wouldn’t have to wait too long) from the Boardwalk bus stop. We got off at the Pleasure Island stop and hailed a taxi to take us back to our resort. The taxi only cost about $7.00, so that wasn’t too bad and we ended up getting back around 9:00 PM. We stayed up and watched some television and then tried to sleep. The rest of the crew ended up coming home around 12:30 AM. They seemed to have a great time (if you know what I mean) watching the game and having a few drinks. I have a feeling that it may be hard to get everyone up tomorrow morning. We’ll see…..

Wednesday – September 3, 2003
This morning we didn’t get as late a start as I thought we would. We were heading to MGM today, which included priority seating for the 50’s Prime Time Café. Since we got up a little later than normal, we decided to skip breakfast in lieu of enjoying our lunch at 50’s. Upon entering MGM, anyone who has not been here before took in all of Hollywood Blvd. They started snapping away pictures and really getting into the feel of the park. We headed down Sunset Blvd. towards Tower of Terror and the Rock n’ Roller Coaster. We decided to ride R n RC first. Eight of us got in line (you can guess who stayed behind, I’m sure) and in a short wait we were in the studio getting ready to catch our limo that Steven Tyler so graciously got for us. Once the first-timers saw the limo take-off, they nearly died. This was way more than they expected. But all were brave and continued in line until we were loaded in our own limo. Whether we were old-timers at this ride or first-timers, the excitement of the ride rose to the occasion. Everyone was exhilarated from our trip through L.A. and couldn’t wait to go on the ride again. That would have to come later. We then headed over to TOT before the line got too long. This time only 6 of us went on. Sitting out was Margie, Tricia and Lori. Believe it or not the first-timers were more nervous about this attraction than R n RC. Michelle and I love this ride, mostly due the themeing and of course the drops. Even though Stacy, Jen, and Stephanie liked this ride they said that it was more than they bargained for and opted out of doing it again this trip. Kelly, Michelle and I could do it over and over again but knew that this day would limit us to one ride.

Well we needed a more subdued attraction, especially since Margie had sat out two rides in a row and I suggested The Great Movie Ride. This was a good low-key attraction to do before sitting down to lunch.

My favorite scene is the Wizard of Oz in Munchkinland. It is very well done and makes you feel like you are in the movie. After leaving here we headed over to 50’s Prime Time for our lunch. After we checked in we waited for only a few minutes. We were all seated together in one big table and our "Aunt" came to take our orders. This was a fun meal because our "Aunt" played her role to perfection. Of course she disciplined the girls for not finishing their meals and when Tricia asked for a glass of water before her turn she was put in the corner. This truly embarrassed Tricia and her face got all red. We made sure that we took a few photos of that scene. Margie (who is not a big eater) had our "Aunt" spoon-fed her airplane style. It was quite comical. All in all, everyone seemed to have a good time and enjoyed their lunch. Next we headed towards Star Tours and Steph, Jen, Kelly, Tricia, Stacy, Michelle and myself took the trip to Endor and back. Everyone loved it except Tricia. I guess she realized that she doesn’t like these types of motion rides. Time for another slower paced attraction so we headed to Muppets 3-D. I knew that this pre-show was quite long so I headed across the way to the ladies room, knowing full well that I had plenty of time. When I got back to everyone else it was just about time to head into the theatre. Even though I enjoy this show, I’ve seen it so many times that, for me, it is only fun to sit through it when first-timers are here. It was a hit for everyone else and we decided to try and see Who Wants To Be A Millionaire before heading out of the park. Since I was the designated tour guide I directed everyone towards Mickey Ave. We got our fast passes for the next show and just hung around on Mickey Ave. It was character picture time and the girls stood in line for Sorcerer Mickey, and then at the trailers they got pics with Pluto, Minnie and Tigger.

After this it was time for Millionaire, so we headed in. Those who had never been before were amazed how much the studio looked like the real game show on television. Even though most of them didn’t get on the top ten board, they still had a great time playing and hoped to be able to come back soon to play again.

It was time to park hop over to the Magic Kingdom. We left MGM and took the first bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center so that we could get on the monorail for the MK. We decided to leave the van at MGM because we planned on coming back later to see Fantasmic.

Arriving at the Magic Kingdom once again gave me that magical feeling. Our first stop was to head into Adventureland and onto the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Being that there was 9 of us, we had a boat all to ourselves singing "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirates life for me" all the way through. We then headed into Frontierland and since Big Thunder Mountain was down for rehab we went directly to Splash Mountain, minus Margie who wanted to take our picture coming down the flume. Our walk through the mountain didn’t take too long. Usually when I ride this I end up getting quite wet and I was determined for that not to happen this time. I positioned myself to sit in the back left seat, knowing that almost every other time that I’ve ridden this that when I sat in the front and especially on the right side that I would get mostly wet. All of the other girls sat in the log except for Lori. The only empty space left was front right and she didn’t want to sit there. So she opted to bow out of the ride and headed back down to stand with Margie. I don’t think that she really wanted to ride it anyway. True to what I believed, those who sat on the right got wet the most. I only was wet a little on the seat because it was wet to begin with. Thank goodness it was a hot warm day and we all dried off quickly. We walked into Liberty Square and decided to go see the show at the Hall of Presidents. This is one of Michelle’s favorite attractions (her other is the American Adventure – my daughter is very patriotic). Everyone came out of this show amazed by the way that Disney portrayed our American Presidents. Next on our list was the Haunted Mansion, always a crowd pleaser. At this time we were ready for a snack so we each got a Mickey Bar. I try to get one of these at least once every trip. While eating we walked through Fantasyland and into Tomorrowland. Our first ride of this area was Space Mountain. Margie wasn’t going to chance riding this one either (that didn’t surprise me) and Lori ended up sitting outside with her. The rest of us headed up the ramp and into our rockets and had a great ride through space. This is one coaster-like ride that I will hold my hands up in the air (I’ll also do that on Big Thunder Mountain). For some reason I’m not as scared to "fall out" in these two rides as I am in a regular roller coaster. Jen and Steph loved this ride and planned on doing it again so Michelle and I hopped back on again with them. This is one ride I could ride many times during the coarse of any trip to MK. We then headed across to ride Buzz Lightyear. Everyone participated and really had a great time zapping all the "Z’s". It was time for some shopping. Margie is one of the "all-time" shopaholics that I know. She is very big on decorating her house, especially during the holidays, so I was sure that she was going to do some major damage with her credit cards before this trip was over. We walked down Main Street and into the Emporium. You know how busy this store can get and how many rooms are connected to it, so we had a heck of a time keeping tabs on all nine of us. Luckily we only spent about 45 minutes here and finally found each other before heading back out onto Main Street. Margie had to make one more stop before we headed out of the park. She had to go across the street to the candy shop and pick up a handful of Mickey Milk Chocolate Bars for her son Brian. It is the only thing he asked her to bring home. He seems to think that they taste different than a regular chocolate bar. I went with her while the others sat on the curb across the street. With this done we headed back onto the monorail and onto Epcot for the rest of the afternoon and early evening.

I set it up so that four of the girls got to sit up front with the driver. I thought that they would get a kick out of it. So Jen, Step, Tricia and Stacy rode into Epcot by way of the nose of the monorail. They got their pilot’s license and thoroughly enjoyed it. At this time it started to rain lightly and it didn’t look good for our plans to see Fantasmic. We headed directly over to the World Showcase, stopped and saw Off Kilter for a song and then Margie wanted to go shopping in the United Kingdom shops. She promised her Mother that she would bring back some English Toffee and other candies that they use to have when they lived back in England. We also went through the other British Isle shops and then sat to listen to The Beatles for a few tunes. The rain was coming down harder (good thing I brought my umbrella) and we knew that Fantasmic was going to be cancelled so we decided to take the ferry from the International Gateway over to MGM and pick up our van and return back to the resort.

After arriving on the resort site we decided to go over to the general store to order Pizza Hut and bring it back to the condo. We ordered 3 pizzas and bought some more soda and headed back to our living quarters. After changing for bed we all sat in the living room and watched tv and ate till we couldn’t eat anymore. We settled in around 11 PM. Tomorrow was going to be a free for all kind of day. We’ll see what we end up doing.

Thursday – September 4, 2003
Today we had no solid plans until the evening. Tonight was dinner at Alfredo’s in Italy and then we will be going over to the Boardwalk to visit Jellyrolls.

We all pretty much got up around 9 AM and most of us headed over to the Flamingo Café for our big breakfast. Whoever was still left at the condo came by to eat eventually. We again ordered the same way as we did a few days ago, both the country and regular breakfasts, enough for all 9 of us. Our meal was delicious and we had a few laughs during our meal. At one point, Kelly, who orders chocolate milk every morning, spilt her glass all over the table and herself. She was mortified but we thought it was very funny. No problem, the waitress just brought over a lot of napkins and a refill for her. Before we left for the pool, Kelly had to go back and change her T-shirt because she wasn’t going out in public with a chocolate stained shirt.

Like I mentioned above, we were off to the pool, for some fun in the sun. The girls wanted to play water-volleyball and the rest of us just lounged and swam for a few hours. The hot tub was being cleaned so we couldn’t use it this time. It was getting close to noon and Michelle and I decided to take the van and go to one of the parks. Jen and Steph wanted to come along and go to more attractions that we didn’t get to see the other day. Sure thing! I love being tour guide.

We decided to go back to MGM. Our first stop was to be the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. This is Jen’s favorite Disney character. This show is entertaining and the girls enjoyed it very much. We walked down towards Mickey Avenue and into One Man’s Dream to see things from Walt’s history. This is a very interesting take-in and worth a trip if you have time. We did skip the movie because we were on a limited time frame. We continued on down this lane and decided to take the Backlot Tour. This tour has changed some due to the fact that they are tearing down Residential Street so they can put in a Stunt Car Show, similar to the one at Disneyland Paris. This tour was still a lot of fun and we didn’t get too wet during Catastrophe Canyon scene. We checked out some of the movie props from movies with villains and saw quite a few that were familiar. I was telling the girls about the Sci-Fi drive-in restaurant and they wanted to take a peek at it, so we headed over that way. They thought it was so cool looking and was impressed with the way Disney set it up. Time for one more thing so we decided to go ride the R n RC again. I think this became Jen and Steph’s favorite ride of all the parks. We ended up getting on the ride very quickly and before we knew it our limo ride was done. Time to head back to the resort and get ready for our evening out. Hopefully the other girls were just about ready and then the bathrooms would be free! LOL!

We were all ready by 4:30 PM. Our p.s. for Alfredo’s was for 5:30 PM, so we drove over to the Boardwalk free parking lot and took the ferry from the Boardwalk, and through the International Gateway. We walked over the bridge towards France and onto Italy to Alfredo’s. We were seated within minutes of checking in. We all ordered something to drink, soda, wine or a cocktail. I ordered for the first time a Bellini. Not sure exactly what was in it but it reminded me of a Mimosa. Salads were ordered but I opted to just have the hot rolls. Then we ordered our dinner. Five of us ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo. It was so good and quite filling. Then for dessert Michelle and I had to have the Tiramisu, one of our favorites. By this time I was so full and needed to walk a bit. I put in for my portion of the meal and took a walk outside. While I was waiting for the others to vacate the restaurant, the Masquerade performers came out and entertained the patrons of the courtyard. It was a lot of fun to watch and helped pass the time. It was now about 7:45 PM and starting to get dark. Everyone else came out and we wanted to just walk around a bit and wait for Illuminations to start. We walked towards Mexico and each got a margarita at Cantina del San Angel then walked back towards Germany looking for a good spot to view the show.

Lori, Stacy, Jen and Steph had never seen this fireworks show and we managed to get a decent spot for viewing. Everyone was very impressed and said that this is the best thing that they’ve seen so far. We walked back through the International Gateway again and decided to take the ferry to the Boardwalk dock. From there we walked towards Jellyrolls, paid our admission and found a couple of tables in the back. I had only been here once before last March and it was so much fun. Even though this was a slow week at WDW, since Labor Day weekend was this past weekend, the club wasn’t as crowded as it usually is. It was still a fun time with only about 30 people in the whole club. The piano players really get the audience going and will play almost anything that you request (usually a $1.00 per song is expected). They also encourage sing a-longs, actually insist is more the word for it. They sing a lot of songs that you use hand gestures throughout the song. One of the girls talked to one of the piano players, on the sly, and told them that it was Tricia’s birthday (it wasn’t). Later they called Tricia up on stage and she nearly died. She turned beet red and was asked to participate in one of the hand gesture songs. She was not a happy camper and was ready to throttle someone when she got back to the table. All in all it was very funny and all in good fun and we all laughed about it later, including Tricia. We stayed for a couple of hours and then decided to help out the Atlantic Dance Hall and head over there, since they were dead. We had the place to ourselves and didn’t have to pay a cover charge. We got to dance to any kind of music that we wanted and we had a ball! We ended up staying until about 12:30 AM and headed back to the resort at that time. Bed came quickly once we got in the door. A busy day lined up for tomorrow.

Friday – September 5, 2003
This is the last full day that all nine of us will be together. Our plans are to go to the Animal Kingdom first so that Jen, Steph and Stacy can see it since they’ve never been before. We also want to go back to Epcot and MGM to either do some attractions that not everyone has done yet or redo attractions that everyone loved. Tonight is our Pleasure Island night. We will probably party hard to wind up our trip together.

We finished up the muffins and cereal this morning and departed the condo around 8:30 AM. Our first stop is the Animal Kingdom for a few rides. We parked in a section where we needed to take the tram to the turnstiles. When we were almost ready to go inside the park, Tricia realized that she left her wallet in the van, which had her park-hopper. Since we shouldn’t be too long inside (hopefully), Tricia opted to just sit outside and relax. We wanted to wait for her to go back to the van but she refused. All right, off we went into the park. First stop was ITTBAB. Now Margie was a pro at this so she was anxious to see the reactions of the others. They thoroughly enjoyed the show and loved all of the little special effects. We only wanted to do one more thing and that was Dinosaur. This was another hit with them and all of us liked the picture (it had some great responses from seeing the Carnotaurus) so we decided to purchase one 8 x 10 and will have it copied later back at home. We knew that Tricia had been waiting long enough and Jen, Steph and Stacy will just have to wait until their next visit to see the rest of the park. We headed out and found Tricia relaxing on a bench. She was a little annoyed but not with us, with the talking palm tree.

He wouldn’t leave her alone. Of course the first time was cute but he kept on coming back to her and she even told the guy who was operating it that she had enough. He must have thought he was funny but she was tired and not being a morning person did not help. Good thing we came out when we did. LOL!

Next we drove over to Epcot. Margie and I had wanted to have a group picture taken before we left the parks today. A perfect opportunity came when we entered Epcot and a photographer came over to us and offered to do just that. We took about 4 pictures with different poses and when we checked out his digital camera we all agreed that the last pose was the best. We would be able to pick up the photo in a few hours at the camera shop across from Spaceship Earth. Now we headed over towards Mission Space. Michelle and I were ready to go on again and after describing it to the others, we got these volunteers: Kelly, Jen, Stephanie and Stacy. I knew that Margie and Lori would not go and thought maybe Tricia would but she decided to pass on it. Off the 6 of us went and I was trying to calm their nerves. They knew they could bow out at anytime up until they were seated in the capsule. At the end of the ride both Jen and Steph were feeling a little funny. They said they were glad that they experienced it but would probably not do it again. I think Kelly and Stacy enjoyed it. We walked over to Test Track and stood in the stand-by line for about 10 mins. and we were in our car soon there after. This attraction was a hit with everyone. Of course the best part was the fast spin around the track at the end.

We were getting hungry by this time and decided to walk over to the World Showcase and find some counter service to eat lunch at. Some of us opted for the Rose & Crown take-out window and others walked over to the American Adventure counter service. I was hungry for Fish & Chips so that’s what four of us got to eat. This reminded Margie of back in her homeland. She urged me to try it with vinegar on the fish and it actually tasted quite good. After lunch we met up with the others and continued walking towards the American Adventure show. This show was a good place for us to cool off and relax. Some of us did a little too much relaxing….but all were glad for the chance to sit for a while. Our walk continued along to Italy and we noticed the crowd forming a circle around the Living Statue. This fascinated the first-timers. At one point, Lori decided that she wanted her photo taken with the female statue. She saw her chance to step in next to her and one of us snapped her picture. Just as she was about to come back to us the statue moved her head and was looking directly at the back of Lori’s head. Lori heard everyone giggling and she turn around to see why. Well she jumped a mile and came running back to us. The look on her face was priceless! This scene caused everyone in the crowd to laugh so hard. I wish we had a video camera to record this happening. It was probably the funniest thing that happened all week long. Our last stops in WS were to Norway and Mexico to catch the boat rides. Even though the El Tiempo boat ride is nice, the girls enjoyed the Maelstrom better. It could be because when we were getting into our boat, two nice-looking male Norwegian cast members sat with the younger members of our group in the front of the boat. One didn’t speak very good English so it was a little hard to converse with them, but it was fun anyway. It was enjoyable to watch the reaction of the girls on this ride when we looked like we were going backwards over the edge. When I go with "scardy-cats", the "devil" in me comes out and I really enjoy watching things like this. Oh course only if it is harmless, not anything that is really going to frighten them (example: Mission Space or Tower of Terror). For something like that I let people decide for themselves if they want to go on the ride. After the boat trip we went through the shops and had a little fun taking pictures with the giant Troll.

Time to head back over towards Future World and we decided to do two more things before going out of the park. First up was Honey I Shrunk the Audience. We just missed going into the next show, so we decided to sit down in the back of the room. A little while later an older cast member made an announcement that everyone had to stand up. Reluctantly we did and then finally a few minutes later we were let into the theatre. This is another show that is fun to see reactions, but I think that I gave part of it away when I kind of kept my feet up off the floor for the "mice" event. The girls seemed more prepared this time but that could also be because they had just seen ITTBAB this morning. We still had a good time through the show and walked out smiling. Our last attraction at Epcot was Journey Into Imagination. This ride is cute but not as good as the very first version. After our journey we walked over to the camera shop and picked up our photo, which came out very good and I have to say that my image in the photo was "one happy girl". We all seemed to be really into our trip and will be an excellent souvenir for us to remember with.

As we walked out of Epcot and strolled towards the van, Kelly, Jen, and Steph asked me if I wanted to take a detour back over to MGM. They really wanted to ride Rock n’ Roller Coaster one more time. Well you don’t have to twist my arm, sure thing! Of course Michelle was up for it too, so the 5 of us said good-bye to the others and turned around and headed over to the MK monorail and then took a bus to MGM. When we got off of the bus we noticed the area where the taxi parked. That would be our transportation back to the resort. I am so glad that we are making MGM our last park of the trip. We went through security one last time and into the park. We went directly down Sunset Blvd. and headed toward R n RC. Luckily there wasn’t a very long stand-by line. We waited maybe 10 minutes. This ride put smiles on everyone’s face. Well since I was so close to TOT, I had to go on one more time! Another short stand-by lines was here and thank goodness since we didn’t have too much time. So I was able to ride my favorite attraction at my favorite park for the end of our trip. Six of us will still be here until Sunday, but we won’t be going to any parks. I savored every minute while we were here and tried my best to sear the memories in my mind until my next visit. Luckily it will be in over a month’s time. Yeah!

Time to leave, so we walked out of MGM and bolted over to the taxi that was just about to leave. We flagged him down and he saw us before pulling away, so we were able to get back to our resort in a few minutes and it didn’t cost too much.

When we arrived back at the condo, just about everyone else was ready for our night out. In about an hour’s time we were ready to go dancing. It was around 8:30 PM by now and we drove directly over to Pleasure Island. Everyone has been waiting for this night out all week long. We were dying to check out the clubs. The first club that we decided to hit was the Beach Club. To enter, we had to climb up two sets of steps, which brings you to the second floor overlooking the dance floor. We got a drink and stood by the railing looking down but there really wasn’t much going on. We decided to go downstairs for a few minutes and sit but that really was all we did. This club was really dead, maybe because of the quiet week after Labor Day? Minutes later we climbed back upstairs so that we could leave the way we came in. We walked up the road and headed into 8-Traks. Wow, was this place hopping! The music was right up our alley and we couldn’t get onto the dance floor fast enough. So this is were everyone was! I was dancing with Margie, Jen, Steph and Michelle. We must have stayed on the dance floor for at least an hour straight. I haven’t done that since I was college age. We had so much fun and I really enjoyed watching Jen and Steph dance, they have some great moves. As a matter of fact, Jen owns her own dancing school. There was a guy in a jumpsuit that lit up, in the club. He was some kind of character and was on the dance floor the whole time. He would go around selecting a different dance partner for each song that came on. At one point Jen and Steph each had a turn at dancing with him. This is another moment that I wish I had a video camera. We almost didn’t want to leave but we also wanted to see the rest of the clubs. We knew that it was a good chance we would be back to 8-Traks before the end of the night. Next on our stop was Mannequins. I had heard about this club before and was anxious to check it out. When we got to the door they checked everyone’s i.d.’s before you are allowed in. The club seems to have a light fog going through the whole place. If you look up towards the ceiling, you will see the mannequins that the club is named after. This place seemed pretty busy too. When you approach the dance floor, be very careful because it revolves and it isn’t the easiest thing to try to conquer. Once on the floor we had a terrific time dancing and guess who showed up? The guy in the electric jumpsuit. He was doing the same thing (actually it seemed like he was dancing the same dance steps over and over) going from girl to girl as if he was giving them the chance to dance with him. I thought he was quite comical and was glad he never came up to me. We stayed for about a half-hour and then thought we would look into Motion. This is not my type of club at all. It is very retro and I walked in for about 5 minutes and then walked back out. Some of the younger girls stayed for a few songs and met up with us back in 8-Traks. We decided to go back there since we had so much fun earlier. It did not disappoint and we ended up dancing for another hour. By this time I was a little tired so we headed back out into the street. It was almost midnight and time for "New Year’s Eve". Before we celebrated that, Michelle wanted to record a song at Super Star Soundstage. My daughter has a beautiful singing voice and I am very proud to hear her sing especially at any church event. She picked the song "I Believe In You and Me" by Whitney Houston from the movie "The Preacher’s Wife". It took her about 20 minutes to do the recording (I’m sure she must have done it for practice first and then did the actual recording) and they put on a CD. We were anxious to hear it but would have to wait until we got back to the van to listen to it. Now it was time for the fireworks. The band that we saw playing on the outside stage was all right and we stood there for about 5 minutes. Then finally it was the stroke of midnight and everyone yelled out "Happy New Year". This is done every night at Pleasure Island so you can enjoy the festivities anytime you go. We stayed for a while longer and then felt it was time to head back to the condo. The girls that were leaving tomorrow still had to do their packing. Their flight was for 10:00 AM and they had to be at the airport early enough to go through security. On the way home we did play Michelle’s CD and it sounded really nice and professional. She got rave reviews from all the girls. It was a nice way to end the evening. Back at the condo we didn’t take long to get ready for bed. Tomorrow was going to be our last full day in Orlando, no parks but I do know that visiting resorts and Downtown Disney were on the schedule.

Saturday – September 6, 2003
This morning was our early time-share meeting that we promised we would attend. So reluctantly, Margie and I got up early, around 6 AM. Our meeting began around 7:00 AM and we got there about 10 minutes early, which gave us time to have coffee and danish. This meeting only took about 45 minutes and we politely declined the offer to invest. It was now time to drive Jen, Steph and Stacy to the airport and I offered to go with Tricia so that she would have company on the way back. Everyone said their good-byes at the condo and we piled into the van. The airport wasn’t too busy and we were there and back before we knew it. It was nice getting to know these girls and I enjoyed their company. When we got back it was time for our last "big breakfast" at the Flamingo Café. Even though I had a danish earlier, I knew that I could still eat more. We did our usual ordering and there were more than enough to go around to the 6 original members of the trip. Our plans for the day included: resort hopping, enjoying the pool one last time and then the Marketplace at Downtown Disney.

Our first resort stop was going to be the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Michelle and I like this resort and would like to someday stay here. After we arrived we walked into the huge lobby and looked around. Even though it is very beautiful, Margie and the others weren’t as impressed with it. I just don’t think that it is their cup of tea, so to speak. They like a more colorful set-up. Of course when we went out to the Savannah, there were no animals out for us to see. Oh well, at least they got an idea of what it was like here. We decided to go to the Ticket and Transportation Center and pick up the resort monorail. Our plan was to go to all three resorts on the monorail. The first stop on the ride was the Polynesian. This is another resort that I hope to someday be able to stay at. We took a walk around and I was anxious to see the Volcano Pool and to take photos of it. I had heard a lot about it. We looked into some of the shops and then hopped back onto the monorail. The next stop was the Grand Floridian. Now this was much more to Margie’s liking. She loves the upscale end of things. Believe it or not, if I had my choice of hotels to stay at, I don’t think that I would pick the GF, it’s just too prim and proper looking for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful and I do like coming for a visit but I don’t feel like I’m in Disney at this resort. We took a tour of the hotel and even went out to the pool area for a bit. By this time we had enough and wanted to go back to our pool and relax and enjoy the sun for the last time, so we skipped going to the Contemporary.

When we got back to the condo, we thought it would be nice to see if Linda and Sydney were free to join us for some dinner and a trip to the Marketplace later. Kelly called and yes they could make it. We decided to meet them at TGIF’s at Crossroads around 5:00 PM. We got into our suits and took the quick stroll down to the pool. There weren’t as many love bugs now so it was much more comfortable to lie out in the sun. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and then headed back to the condo to shower and change for our dinner and shopping. We met Linda and Sydney at TGIF’s for a nice meal and gabfest. Margie and I paid for Linda and Sydney’s meal to repay them for their hospitality on Monday night. Afterwards we drove to Downtown Disney and parked right in the parking lot for the Marketplace. I had a feeling that Margie and the girls were going to do some serious damage here tonight!

We started out at the Disney @ Home shop. The girls did some shopping in here! We spent at least a half-hour here and they came out of this store with a few bags each. We moved over to the Pooh Corner shop. We only looked through this store and were in and out within 10 mins. Next was the Once Upon A Story store. This one took a little longer than Pooh Corner. The girls spent some time playing with the Mr. Potato parts and making their own Mr. Potato picture card. I stayed mostly outside, taking some photos, out in the nice evening air. Onto Team Disney, which we ended up spending close to 45 minutes in and then onto the World of Disney. This store was at least another hour going from room to room and trying to keep track of everyone was a task in itself. When we finished in WOD we looked in a few other shops including Basin and the Pin Traders store. Since I come down at least twice a year, and also go out to Disneyland if possible, there is not too much that I need to shop for. Margie and the girls haven’t been in a while and since they are "shopaholics", came back to the van with bags of goodies to bring home to Massachusetts. We had to say our good-byes to Linda and Sydney here because they were heading in the other direction towards Celebration. It was so nice meeting them and Linda made the offer that if I ever wanted to come down and didn’t have accommodations to let her know and she would be glad to let me stay in her spare room. Isn’t that nice of her? It is nice to know that if someday I decide to move down here that I will know someone nearby.

We drove back to the condo and preceded to do some wash and start packing. I wanted to get almost everything ready before going to bed. Less to do tomorrow is more to my liking. We also cleaned up the kitchen and took the trash out. In the morning we would make sure that the rest of the condo was neat and picked up. We were in bed by 11:00 PM, pretty wiped out by this time.

Sunday – September 7, 2003
Well the day has come to say good-bye to Orlando, for now anyway. We had a 11:00 AM flight out so we were up between 7 and 7:30 AM making sure that everything is packed and that the condo is back to it’s original state. After checking out at the front desk we headed towards the airport around 8:00 AM. We had to drop off the van first which was no problem at all. Then we dragged our entire luggage to the ticket counter. Almost all of us had to reshift our clothes in our luggage. My bag really wasn’t too much heavier than what it was when I flew in. I was told that it was 6 pounds over so I just put a few items into my carry-on. Margie was way over the limit so she just decided to pay the $25.00 fee. They seem extra picky in Orlando about the weight of luggage. We went through security and once again Lori was pulled out and wanded. It was hard not to giggle a little because she had on this face that said "why me?" and she is just so cute with her big eyes. Well she made it through once more unscathed and we got the monorail that brings you to the building with the departure gates. We were really hungry by now so we had some breakfast at Burger King (there really isn’t much else to choose from), some of the girls got their coffee at Starbucks but I figured BK was good enough. We had about an hour to pass the time so we chatted with a nice older couple who where going on a cruise and had to catch a short flight to Miami.

Well we found our gate and only waited a few more minutes before they started to board. Once we got seated on the plane, it didn’t take long for us to take off and we all went into a quiet mode, due to I’m sure the long eventful week. We landed in Boston around 2:00 PM and took the shuttle bus back to where Margie’s son picked us up and drove us home. It was a great trip and we had a lot of laughs. Soon Michelle and I will be taking off again for Orlando with my sister and my niece. We look forward to this trip also. Thanks for reading.

Janice O'Hanley