Sheri Niklewski - September 2003 - Offsite

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Personal car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: Standard
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
Comments: Making her fourth trip of the year, this time it is just Sheri and her husband. Money's a bit tighter and they are without annual passes for the first time in years. The plan, though, is to just enjoy every minute, even if a tropical storm makes things a bit unpredictable. As a reward for reading all the way through, though, you get a bit of a central Florida nature lesson.


Sheri Niklewski -- September 2003 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)

Participants

Me – Sheri, age 41 – bookkeeper/office manager/Gal Friday at a real estate/travel company (how many slashes can I have in one job?)
Husband – Rich, age 43 – sports card shop partner/financial planner/hopeful substitute teacher (more slashes)
Introduction – or another round of “why do you go back there all the time?” questions

Our last trip was in May, 2003 to celebrate our son’s 21st birthday and his engagement to a wonderful woman and also welcoming her five year old daughter into our family. And we did make it a family affair with both sets of grandparents being there and a couple of cousins thrown into the mix. We figured that would be the last trip for quite a while.

Because both Rich and I were unemployed – I had been laid off a year earlier and Rich two years earlier. It was tight times in the Niklewski household and things like Annual Passes and Disney trips were luxuries we just couldn’t handle anymore. The May trip was special and we saved our pennies (literally – spare change jar) and had a great time.

But then things changed. Rich had the sports card shop and it’s struggling but it’s an avenue to dump some of his million or so cards, his massive sports memorabilia, etc. Then he got involved with financial planning and is branching out on that (don’t worry – it’s not cold calling so you won’t get him on the other end of the phone one day). Plus, he’s always wanted to be a teacher and he finally got the ball rolling on that one. So his future is looking up. Nothing like making a huge career change in your forties (Rich used to be a computer person).

And I found a job. I’m a degreed accountant but I took a position as a bookkeeper because, well heck, it pays the bills. Plus, I was so bored at home after almost a year. How many more resumes could I crank out? As it turns out, most of the job involved a travel business and I’m enrolled in a travel agency course now. Perfect fit for me. So things really turned for the better. We were now looking at the light at the end of tunnel instead of cringing because the train was heading for us.

We deserved a trip to Disney World so I set the wheels in motion.

The Suicide Trip – how to enjoy just a day and a half at Disney World

Rich and I have done quick weekend trips before. Most people I know (OK, everyone I know) thinks we are crazy but there’s something calming about just being at Disney World together. Even now I can hear the music, smell the food, see the happy people (well, let’s forget about all those overly tired kids and their equally tired parents who got up at the crack of dawn and are still waiting for Illuminations at 9:00 PM). We don’t have much time but I can’t miss any work since I just started there. And Rich has so many irons in the fire that taking one weekend will mean he’s going to have to juggle lots of things. Thank goodness for cell phones to keep in touch with the real world. The only weekend we had free in September was Friday the 5th to Sunday the 7th. We are Atlanta Falcons season ticket holders so we worked around the home games.

The deal is to leave our house outside Brasleton, GA Friday night, drive four hours to Lake Park, GA and spend the night. Then get up and on the road by 8:00 AM Saturday and be on Disney World grounds by noon. Enjoy the day and make it last as long as we can. On Sunday, stay for the first Off Kilter performance and then head home. We should be back here by 9:00 PM.

Sounds insane but it’s what we need and want. We will come back with some Magic of the Mouse and Pixie Dust sprinkled liberally all over us.

When we went in May, we played tour guides for our future daughter-in-law and almost granddaughter. So we didn’t “do Disney World” the way we usually do it. I didn’t feel like I had gotten enough out of Epcot and especially World Showcase. This trip will be only to Epcot unless there’s a reason to go to MGM. We will not visit Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom. Just too short of a trip and I want to focus on Epcot. Rich didn’t argue at all. He loves Epcot and just relaxing.

Hotels – it’s going to be cheap, folks

We needed a hotel for the one night on the way down and then one in Kissimmee for Saturday night. We are employed now but we still have all those bills from the past two years to pay off. I’m a bargain basement shopper and Rich is a tightwad so this is no problem. Although, mind you, there will be a day when we can again stay at a Disney deluxe resort and never blink an eye at the bill. That’s my Piglet Mentality coming through. There’s always a silver lining in every cloud.

So I went with real cheap. Dirt cheap. Cheap as in we’re not expecting anything but a mattress, a floor, a ceiling, and four walls. The hotel in Lake Park, GA was a no-brainer. We’ve stayed at the Days Inn at Exit 5 off I75 many times before. We will arrive there sometime around 10:00 PM so we just need a couple of hours to unwind and then some place to sleep. Actually, this Days Inn is not bad at all. It’s functional, offers mini cinnamon rolls, muffins, and orange juice in the morning. The best part is the staff here has always been pleasant and even almost Disney-like. And it’s cheap. Real cheap. $33.75 for a king bed room. Can’t go wrong with that. I used www.daysinn.com to book the reservation.

Tip – if you are traveling along I75 through Georgia, this is a great exit. It has a McDonald’s, Cracker Barrell, Wendy’s, Burger King, a family restaurant, outlet shops, and a very nice and well lit Citgo gas station. It’s far less congested than any of the exits in Valdosta and just about ten miles south.

For our elegant lodgings in Kissimmee, I booked the Grand Floridian. Just kidding. Again, I went with one step up from a fleabag but we honestly will only be sleeping in the room. Usually, we spend lots of time in the hotel but not this time. So the Scrooge McDuck in me came out. I had stayed at the Econolodge Hawaiian Maingate twice before. The first time was fine and I had no problems. The second time I had planned a move to another hotel for the second part of my trip and while the Econolodge was tolerable, it paled in comparison to where I moved to. But, the Econolodge was only $33.95. And it’s extremely close to World Drive and an easy trip to and from Disney World. Price won over luxury this time. I was looking at somewhere that was $45/night but Rich pointed out the difference in price was worth the cost of a beer while watching Off Kilter. Econolodge it is! This I booked through www.guestprivileges.com since I’m a member of their free frequent stay program.

Tickets – oh my gosh, we don’t have Annual Passes!!!!!

For the first time in five years, we will not have Annual Passes. Those things cost close to $400 each and it’s just not doable right now. So we will, gulp, go with the flow and get five day hopper passes at a little over $200 each. Rich was a happy camper with the compromise. One of these days, we will be AP holders again but just not right now. We are planning a trip back to Disney World for Thanksgiving so the other three days on the passes will be used then.

I called 1-407-WDISNEY and ordered the tickets via phone. We save a few bucks for pre buying. The Cast Member here must have been new and seemed a bit flustered. I think a supervisor was watching over her shoulder but everything worked out OK. I thought about hanging up and trying a different CM but then thought “this is the only way people will learn how to do their jobs”. So I stuck with her and she ended up doing fine. Tickets should be here in seven to ten days.

And they were – I did a little Happy Dance when a Donald pass and a Goofy pass came out of the envelope. Rich gets the Goofy one because it fits. I guess I have to get Donald since his personality kind of can be mine sometimes.

The “Plan” – we’re going to enjoy every minute

It’s Epcot all the way. Multiple walks around World Showcase, hopefully hand in hand to celebrate getting over a very dark time in our lives. Rich hasn’t seen the movie in France since our son was about eleven. I’d like to take in the new film in China too. Mission:Space is open so we’ll see about FastPasses for that but if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Single riders line at Test Track if manageable. I’d like to go on Figment but I forced Rich to do that in April (with another friend, I didn’t go) so he might just puke if he has to endure that again. Rich likes the Living With the Land ride so we can FastPass that.

I don’t see us doing any big meal deals here. I’m really toying with a lunch in Japan but I’m not sure. I just don’t want to be bogged down with a schedule. There is a possibility that my dad and stepmother will be up from the Florida Keys for a visit but we’ll play that one by ear. You know how it goes – the older you get, the less plans you want to commit yourself to. That couple really wings it!

I do want to see Illuminations since the music thrills me and the last time I saw it, I was with our almost granddaughter and she loved it. The smile on her face just made the trip. So every time I watch Illuminations, I will have Marlie on my mind (I know, sounds like a country song, doesn’t it?). And we’ll see what Boardwalk entertainment is happening that night. It would be too much to hope that Randy, the juggler will be on but we’ll see.

So the only thing to do now is sit back and wait. Which is the hardest part! But at least I know this trip is happening. That wasn’t even a remote possibility three months ago. Life changes on a dime so go with the flow and enjoy what you can while you can. This isn’t going to be Life at the Ritz but, damn it, I’m going to Disney World!

The Week Before – “Why Don’t You Just Take that Monday off?”

I was talking to my boss about going to Disney World and he wanted to know if I was taking a day or two off. I had just started working there and I would never ask for time off only six weeks into a job. But then the boss realized that he would be leaving the Wednesday after Labor Day for two weeks in Brazil (where we do fishing tours) to open the season. He didn’t think having just Tuesday to get ready for the trip was going to be enough so he toyed with the idea of having the office open for Labor Day. And then close the Friday after that.

Good plan but then I suggested that not only do we stay open on Labor Day but I’d work that following Friday and cover the other two people if I could have the next Monday off so my trip to Disney could be extended. That was Rich’s idea so we could see Off Kilter all day Sunday instead of having to leave after the first set.

The subject was up in the air for a couple of days and I didn’t dare to hope. My boss decided to close for Labor Day after all. Drat. And then he said sweet, sweet words – “Why don’t you just take that Monday off that you wanted anyway? I’ll even pay you for it.” My jaw dropped and I protested but he insisted. I told him that if he said that now, I’d hold him to it. He said to go for it.

With that news, I had to find another Kissimmee hotel. The Econolodge is fine but not for two nights. One night on a suicide trip, fine. But two nights on a more relaxed trip, forget it. Rich still wanted cheap and I knew I could get something there for about the same price but nicer.

A word here about our offsite choices. I’ve stayed at many offsite hotels. Rich has limited experience since I usually do offsite on my solo time and “force” Rich onsite when we’re together. But on our trip in April, we couldn’t get anything onsite because it was the weekend before Easter. We stayed at the Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista. While the hotel was nice and had a security guard, the drive through Downtown Disney was a killer. So Rich is now an “expert” on offsite accommodations. Nothing in Lake Buena Vista, thank you very much. And if we’re staying on Highway 192, it’s going to be as close to World Drive in a decent place.

I checked with daysinn.com and there was one on Highway 192 for $39.95. I’ve stayed at this place before and it’s fine. But I checked out expedia.com as well for the Disney World area. There were lots of bargains there but Rich wanted something under $50. He said under $40 would be nice but since he threw out the higher figure, I held him to it. The Clarion Inn on the other side of I4 on Highway 192 was only $46 so I figured the extra $6 was worth it to (1) try a different place and (2) I think the Clarion is a step up from the Days Inn and (3) we were staying at a Days Inn already. So I booked through expedia.com. The only problem with doing that is there is a $25 charge if you cancel. And your credit card is charged immediately when you make the reservation. I tried going through guestprivileges.com but the rate they quoted was over $55. So you do get a deal with expedia.com. Just read through the cancellation policy and understand what you are getting yourself in for. In this case, we’re going no matter what.

And I got an email from my mother-in-law, sweet woman that she is. She offered to get us an early Christmas present – Annual Passes!!!! I immediately protested since Bobbie didn’t know how much a Pass cost. Then I told her that her offer was very generous but we couldn’t accept such a big gift. That maybe if she could get one, we could swing the other one later. And I told her the price. The answer was that, yes, it’s pricey but our anniversary is January 3rd and would we like to combine those two into one big gift – two Disney World Annual Passes? I cried when I got that email. I have never had in-laws problems and can you see why? This was too late for this trip since I already ordered the hopper passes but it’ll be great for the Thanksgiving trip and the President’s Day trip, and the Memorial Day trip, etc. Piglet Mentality comes through! Dream a little and one day those dreams will come true. We’ll be AP holders again!

My dad and stepmother decided against coming to Disney World to see us. My stepsister is getting married in November so she and Betty had to fly to Pennsylvania from Florida for a bridal shower the week before our trip. Betty didn’t want to travel again so soon after getting back. While I was disappointed in not seeing family, I totally understood. Chris and Chandra’s wedding is in February so I’m doing the whole “mother of the groom” thing until then. I wish elopement was more in style.

My boss asked me to help house/dog sit while he was gone. So Rich and I spent Thursday night there which was really different since I wasn’t at my house the night before the trip. We had to pack not only for the one night at the lake house but then also for the Disney World trip. We both were returning to our house before we left for Florida but I wanted everything ready to go as soon as I got home.

And since no trip to Disney World would be without car troubles, I had an incident happen after helping friends move that left me without a passenger side view mirror on my car. I had the mirror, it was just in the back seat. On one of my previous trips, I dubbed my car “Christine”. That would be her name during this trip too.

Day One – Friday, September 5, 2003 – “Tammy Ray tried to set Shelley’s hair on fire”

While the boss is away, the employees tend to play. We were out of the office by 4:30 so I was home about 5:15. Plenty of time to spend with the cats and make sure everything was taken care of. I hadn’t had the best night of sleep so I laid down to take a nap with instructions to Rich to wake me up no later than 6:00 for a 6:30 departure. He missed that by fifteen minutes which left me in a bad mood. Then we had to stop at the bank on the way out to I85 and got caught in Friday night traffic at the interchange. Total Grr Moment. I was still tired so I have no idea what happened between Atlanta and Macon. Rich said the traffic was surprisingly light – Spaghetti Junction was even a breeze. Wish I would have stayed awake because you don’t see that very often on a Friday in Atlanta.

Rich made his normal rest area stop on I475 outside of Macon. I volunteered to take over driving but he said he was fine. After we got into the car, Christine joined forces with Damien and Regan again. The horn kept blowing after Rich started the engine. Don’t ask why, she just tooted away. Very embarrassing since everyone thought we were honking at them. Eventually, the demonic forces went away and we could leave very red faced.

Our next stop was for food. I had Rich decide on a fast food place and he chose Burger King since we almost never get that. However, this was a big mistake. Everything looked fine when we went in but then we heard one of the cashiers saying something about not having everything available. Turns out their broiler was broken so all they had were grilled chicken sandwiches and fish. Yeck! A Burger King with no burgers? So we ended up at McDonald’s. Not a very good show on Burger King’s part since they didn’t even bother to put up a sign indicating the extremely limited menu. What if we had gone through the drive through?

As we were coming out of McDonald’s, we had the quote of the day. This family that looked and acted like a trip to McDonald’s was the highlight of the year, had been ahead of us in line and then coming out to the parking lot. We live in the South now but were born and raised in the Atlantic Coast states (Pennsylvania and Maryland) so we do not have a Southern accent. No y’alls for us. These people had such accents! Very difficult to understand. I have no idea what they were talking about but one of them said to the mother “and then Tammy Ray tried to set Shelley’s hair on fire”. Now, do that with a very pronounced Southern accent and it had me in hysterics.

Christine blew her horn at them as we were backing out.

Rich continued to drive and ended up doing the whole thing today. I played DJ and fed CDs into the player for the rest of the trip. Off Kilter and Peter Noone. Most people will play Disney music to get them into the mood. This is Disney music to us. Off Kilter is at the Canadian pavilion and is a highlight for us and one of the main reasons we return time and time again to Disney World. Peter Noone has become a favorite of ours since we saw him this year at the Flower Power series at the Flower and Garden Festival. We picked up his CD there and Rich had become addicted to it. We’re going to see Mr. Noone in concert in the Atlanta area when we get back. Disney World has added to our music repertoire over the years.

I actually was kind of glad Rich was driving because right after we finished scarfing our lovely dinner, the remnants of Tropical Storm Henri reared their ugly heads and it poured down rain for the last hour or so. I wasn’t driving but I was still white knuckled. I promised to drive the whole way tomorrow. We got to the Days Inn around 11:00 which made for a very long day for both of us. We’ve stayed here many times in the past and have never been disappointed. No exception this time either. One of the main attractions for staying at a hotel is how helpful and/or friendly the staff is. Even though it was late, the front desk clerk was smiling and very helpful to us. We unloaded our car in the rain and had a nice poolside room but couldn’t really enjoy it since it was so late and we were leaving early the next morning.

The rooms here are decent and functional. Not very many extras but the price is right. We had a king size bed (always a request on my part – if we get it, we get it, if not, no big deal) and everything was neat and clean. There’s a coffee maker and hair dryer in the room. A TV and that’s basically it but, again, it’s cheap. We unwound for a couple of hours watching Nick at Night which was a mistake for Rich. We didn’t get to bed until 1:00 AM.

Day Two – Saturday, September 6, 2003 – “Reeeeecchhaaaaard, your peeeezzzzaaaa is ready!”

Even after our late night, I had the alarm set for 7:00 AM. I figured that was fifteen minutes more than I usually sleep on a work day so I’d be fine. I did, however, make Rich use the bathroom first. I didn’t realize just how much the last couple of days had affected him and how that rain was such a pain to drive through last night. By the end of the day, I was very glad my husband loves me. What I put him through was cause for divorce.

The day was very overcast with sprinkles of rain. We didn’t know it, but Henri had broken up when he hit land and split into two parts. One going north, one still in Florida. We packed the car up quickly and then went to the lobby for checkout and a small breakfast. I had reserved the room using a single person rate since it was cheaper but I couldn’t lie when they asked how many people last night because Rich was standing right there with me. So I got the higher double occupancy rate. I know, that sounds backwards but that’s the way they do it. Why, I don’t know. Same amount of housekeeping and maintenance with two people as there is with one. Oh well, it was still $36 so not bad at all. I did take notice that come December, Days Inn will finally have a frequent stay program. I will be one of the first to sign up since this hotel had lead me to trust and use other Days Inns around the country.

We had walked to the lobby instead of driving because Rich didn’t want Christine to wake everyone up while she did her demon horn blowing.

I took some mini cinnamon rolls and Rich did the same with the mini muffins. Rich had orange juice but I held out for my favorite to be purchased at the gas station. I took over driving duties for the day and Christine must have enjoyed that because she didn’t blow the horn once. Just call me The Exorcist. We stopped down the street for some Christine fuel. She wasn’t that hungry but we were forcing her to accept Georgia prices instead of the upscale Florida gas choices. While I took care of the girl, Rich went inside for his real breakfast – Diet Coke and I asked him to pick up my favorite – tomato juice. I had to endure his seemingly endless comments about how gross that is. To each his own, I say.

Rich took over being DJ and plugged in my favorite – The Grass Roots. Again, another group that we got turned onto through Disney World. Rob Grill and friends were at the Flower Power series last year and we became fans. We just saw the group a few months ago at a free concert in the Atlanta area. After that show, we bought the CD and Mr. Grill autographed it for us. After the concert, Christine paid us back for leaving her in the parking lot. She asked some woman to open her door into the driver’s side view mirror. I don’t think Christine likes mirrors at all (last year, she kindly dropped our rear view mirror while we were at the Animal Kingdom Lodge).

As Rob Grill was singing one song, I guess Christine didn’t appreciate it so she kicked the CD onto the next one. You should have seen the look on Rich’s face. I just started to laugh uncontrollably. When faced with the devil, you just have to laugh before you cry.

Rich dozed for most of the trip to Ocala. I struggled to stay awake myself but Rob Grill and then Off Kilter helped quite a bit. We always stop at the Disney Information Center at Exit 350 for their bathrooms. And it makes a nice break in the drive since it’s about two hours from Valdosta. Our business taken care of and a walk around the gift shop (nothing we couldn’t live without except that cute Piglet pin that I’m sure they will have somewhere at Disney World), we were heading for Kissimmee. I drove again. Thank goodness.

Rich put in Peter Noone again since that CD is so long. This is how tired Rich was – he slept through the entire thing! His favorite CD these days. He said he vaguely remembers “Henry the Eighth” but I don’t think he did. I took us onto the Turnpike ($1 in toll and Rich woke up to give me that) and then down Route 27. Rich said he couldn’t believe he slept through all my normal cussing. I take this route to avoid I4 through Orlando. Just isn’t a road that I like to drive. Too many tourists who don’t know where they are going and then you add in just about everyone in the Orlando area since it’s really the only major free route through there. So I avoid it. Route 27 is a four lane divided highway but it does have many, many traffic lights. And I usually get every single one of them. Things are looking up because only one of them turned red as I was approaching it. That’s why Rich could sleep so soundly.

Rich was barely awake when we pulled up to the Clarion. One bad thing about Highway 192. There are limited turn lanes. In this case, I had to go up to the next light (Sherberth Road) and make a U-turn to get back. TIP – if you are traveling along Highway 192 and you miss a turn, don’t panic. Just simply go up to the next turn and do a U-turn. Very legal and almost expected. There are so many businesses and hotels along here that it’s very difficult to determine just where you need to turn.

It was just after 11:00 by now and I doubted that a room would be ready for us. But we checked in anyway. The staff here was friendly too so things were going well so far. And the room was ready which was nice for a break. We’re in 538, on the highest floor here. We unloaded our stuff and took the elevators up. The room is way down the corridor from the elevators and ice machine which is nice for quiet mornings. We have a king size bed that not only is nice for us but it frees up lots of floor space too. There’s a desk with two chairs, two nightstands (always a plus), decent size dresser, nice sized closet, and a sofa bed that is in it’s own little alcove when you first walk in the door. Not good for sitting on and watching TV since the bathroom is in between that alcove and the main room. But nice for sleeping on. There’s also a hair dryer, coffee maker, and ironing board (with an iron, of course). The bathroom is all inclusive with the sink inside. But that is partitioned off somewhat from the toilet and the shower so you could still have some privacy if you wanted to use the bathroom for double duty in the mornings. We also get a mini refrigerator and a microwave.

While Christine was nice to us for most of the day, now we had to contend with lights. The floor lamp is on it’s own switch so we figured that one out fairly easily. The light above the TV is controlled by a switch at the front door. I figured that one out while Rich tackled the lights above the nightstands. Click, nothing. Click, nothing. Hum, maybe they are controlled by that other switch by the door. No, that’s for the sofa sleeper alcove. Well, are we sure those lights are plugged in? The cords went into these little tubes and then led behind the bed. Rich said there’s no way anyone would be able to unplug the lights. So he went out to ask the housekeeper. Who spoke about two words of English – telephono and “geerering”. I interpreted that to Rich – call engineering. So he called the front desk and was told to flip the switch by the door. Err, we did that. Then we were asked if we minded if they sent someone up. Err, it would be nice to have light in the room.

We took a breather and waited for maintenance. Rich was not happy with the limited TV choices but that’s really not why we are here. He did see that it was a Saturday night NASCAR race on tonight so that was a definite option for us for after the parks. Note here to my daughter-in-law (almost) – thank you so much for turning our son into a NASCAR freak and consequently getting us hooked too. Turn off sarcasm mode now. We decided to leave around 12:30 and go to MGM and then Epcot.

Maintenance came within a half hour so nice scores to the Clarion for that. This guy was huge! Sure enough, he pulled down on the mattress and box spring and someone had gone to all that trouble to unplug the nightstand lights. Rich was incredulous. Maintenance Giant explained that some people do that so they can work on the bed with their laptops and all the electrical stuff that business people have. Now, there’s an outlet right by the window that has nothing plugged into it and is easily accessible. It’s where my laptop is plugged into and I’m sitting in the middle of the bed. Also, there’s another outlet where the floor lamp is plugged into over by the desk. Very convenient for working there. Why the heck would you unplug something behind a bed? I guess if you have to, you have to. But plug it back in before you leave. It’s like leaving the alarm set on the clock and waking up the next occupant at 5:30 in the morning.

On our way to the car, we checked out the outdoor pool area. There’s a separate wading pool for the kids (one foot deep), then the main pool which is just a rectangular concrete pool. And there’s a hot tub too. That was a big thumbs up for us. But the hours were 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. I don’t think that will work for us. There’s also a pool bar open at night.

We left for Disney World with a nuisance rain coming down. Not hard enough for ponchos but just enough to be a pain. I had our yellow ponchos with me, shoved into my shoulder bag. We carry bare essentials with us to the parks. We “download” everything we don’t need. Carrying around a Kroger Plus card just isn’t needed here. Rich drove and maybe it wasn’t long enough for Christine to realize it because she was good. I had to direct Rich a little since he almost never gets to take this route onto property. We did the Sherberth way since it was easy to go out behind the Clarion and do the back way.

We parked at the Swan and when we got out of the car, I asked Rich where we were going. MGM or Epcot. He said he didn’t care. He thought Rock N Roller Coaster was a must do for me (it’s going down for rehab tomorrow). But it really wasn’t. At that moment, I decided that I’d rather spend the day at Epcot and doing multiple walks around World Showcase. Game plan just went down the hatch at that point. Our game plan became to do whatever we felt like doing.

Walking through the Boardwalk area was like walking through a ghost town. All the little kiosks were covered and closed and no one was walking along with us. I guess the threat of Henri was enough for Disney to take extreme precautions. Security check was simple as I had taken the ponchos out of the shoulder bag so the guard could easily see in. I had learned that they will ask you to remove larger, bulkier items so they can see what’s underneath them.

Going through the turnstyles was difficult as we were both prepared to use the biometers. Drat not having Annual Passes. Rich even reminded me that we would have to get a handstamp this time. Oh, I want my AP back please.

The United Kingdom and Canada pavilions were also covered and hunkered down. I had remarked to Rich that some nourishment would be needed for me “at some point”. I love my husband but if I even remotely mention that I want food, he’s like a mother hen with me. I’m very small and petite and some people think that if you don’t eat a full blown meal three times a day that you are anorexic or something. I eat when I’m hungry and I eat until I’m full. As it turns out, Rich didn’t have to worry about me at all today.

We thought that maybe our friend, Janis, would be waiting for the first Alberta Bound show at 1:30. We hadn’t planned on being here this early so we didn’t have plans to meet until later in the evening. We did see people that we knew on the benches but we quite honestly didn’t feel like talking with them so we just continued on. The mission? Mission:Space, of course. I figured since the weather wasn’t so nice, this wouldn’t be that crowded. And it really wasn’t. Single riders line was 20 minutes, stand by of 40 minutes. FastPass return time 2:18 – 3:18. We FastPassed.

Rich made mention of the pretzels at the stand near Test Track so we headed there. Only one lonely pretzel left so we didn’t think the quality was going to be that fresh. Rich spied the foot long hot dog vendor and we thought about it but he likes the vendor at the World Showcase entrance better. I mentioned that most of those places were closed up because of the overcast skies (the rains had stopped completely – Test Track was even running). But we headed for our first walk around World Showcase and to think of food.

Rich’s hot dog vendor cart was out but closed up. So no go on lunch there. Our first stop was for a beverage in Norway. We normally would have picked up a Moosehead in Canada but it was closed. Norway was open and Rich’s mouth dropped when he walked up there. Bud Lite? What the heck is Bud Lite doing in Norway? They did have Ringes which saved the day. And then Rich saw the prices. Where the heck did the 32 ounce beer go? All throughout World Showcase, it’s only 20 ouncers for $7.25. I thought the man would combust. The Cast Member here was on the college program and Rich chatted with him. “Bud Lite? Why is that here?” The CM said it wasn’t his choice at all. But feedback said a lot of guests asked about getting Budweiser. Rich muttered that then they can walk over to the American pavilion and have all the Bud they want. Then Rich asked about the size of the beers now. The CM said they had discontinued the Viking beers (that’s what they called the MegaBeers in Norway). Rich blamed that on me. Said I probably put it into the trip reports one too many times on how much of a deal these were. He still blames me for exposing how to get multiple FastPasses (now since fixed) and where to park at Animal Kingdom. Honey, I’m not the Powerful and Mighty Oz, I highly doubt Disney World gives a care about a trip report.

After Rich’s face stopped turning three shades of red because of the Beer Conspiracy Incident of 2003, we continued with our walk. We did stop at every place that offered beer and made sure there were no more MegaBeers available. Not even in Germany. Sigh. A tradition gone. Oh well, let’s make some new ones. We stopped in the shop at the American Adventure for my usual look around. Rich is still denying that our basement will be turned into a rec room featuring red, white, and blue. I’m a patriotic gal, always have been and always will be. So I love browsing in the shop. Then I go home, determined to finally clean up the basement. One day, one day.

By this time, the sun had come out and the kiosks were slowly opening back up. We had thought about egg rolls and pork fried rice in China and then a pretzel in Germany. Rich didn’t feel like Chinese and I don’t like the pretzels in Germany so we just kept walking. No entertainment was out but it was nice to walk along and be almost by ourselves. More and more people were showing up since the weather had changed. This is just one thing I love about Disney World. Taking your sweet time enjoying the day and each other. I think Rich forgave me for the MegaBeers (still wasn’t my fault).

We returned to Mission:Space after 2:30 so we were well into our window. The wait time once inside for us FastPassers was the length of one of the preshows. I remarked to Rich that is was kind of different to experience a new Disney ride. We had to stop and think of the last one we did. I mentioned Primeval Whirl and he just grimaced. Rich is not a Twirl fan. I kind of like it. We still think the carnival aspect could have been better served somewhere else than Dinoland, though.

While we were waiting in line, there was a lady and her son in front of us. The little boy wanted to know why all those other people were standing in the longer line (the stand by line) and why the line next to us was shorter (the singles line). His mother said she had no idea how they determined who stood in what line. Err, there’s these huge signs at the entrance that clearly point to the different lines. Everyone enters at the same place, just different lines. I do think Disney World has learned throughout the years and the Mission:Space entrance is very easy to navigate. Everything is all together.

Onto our journey. You are taken into a room where you are given a team number. We were team six and had two young men join us. I think there’re about 40 people here and each person stands on their own team number spot. Then you are treated to a short introduction film on the monitors. I say treated because one of my all time favorite actors does the intro. Gary Sinise. Oh, that man is so hot. He’s on my laminated list. Thank you Disney World for some of the best eye candy out there. Mission:Space quickly became my favorite attraction. Rich didn’t say too much about the subject!

After the film, we were lead into the module and positioned for our entrance into our ships. Another film on the monitor about how to enter the ship and we were each given an assignment. I was the navigator. Figures, I am when we drive too. Rich was disappointed he wasn’t the commander. Well, you’re the commander in my life. Stop choking, everyone – I had to say something nice because Mr. Sinise was on the monitor again. We went into our ship, stowed our stuff in the metal containers and then pulled the restraints down. Oh boy, here we go to Mars.

The launch sequence was awesome – truly pulled some Gs. Rich and I were fortunate enough to go through a flight in a T-37 when we were in the Air Force ROTC. More Gs on there (especially since the pilots tried to make the passenger throw up) but this was fine twenty plus years later. The ride was nice since we didn’t know what to expect and there was more of Gary Sinise. And somehow, I think if each of us hadn’t pressed our assignment buttons, that we still would have made it to Mars. We still grabbed the joysticks when we had to go to manual control and turned left, right, and pulled back when instructed. Yes, Mr. Sinise, anything to make our trip safe. My only complaint – are we still up there on Mars? We never came back!

We came out to the interactive area and saw where you could send an internet postcard. We wanted to send one to Chris and Chandra (son and fiancee) but all the booths were taken and it didn’t look like anyone was in a hurry to leave. You can enter this area from the gift shop so we’ll try and do this later. Just to rub it in to Chris that we got to experience this. The gift shop didn’t have anything we were interested in so we continued. One note – this is one new attraction that does not take your picture on the ride.

After our journey, we were hungry (still). The pretzel cart had more pretzels and that foot long was just across the path. Rich said something about getting both. But I kind of wanted some where to sit at a table. Electric Umbrella was mentioned but then I said something about The Land food court area. We hadn’t eaten there in quite a while. It was after 3:00 and I figured it wouldn’t be too crowded. So we headed there in the blazing sun. Rich said to be careful what you wish for. The rain was gone but the sun was out in force.

At the Sunshine Food Terrace (The Land food court), there are individual stations so I just waited for Rich to figure out what he wanted before I settled on my choices. I’m not that picky. Rich is. He decided on a BBQ pork sandwich but then was concerned about what I would get. BBQ isn’t my favorite. But they had a quarter chicken and rib combo with cole slaw and corn cobette. Rich could get the ribs if I didn’t want them. So we got that and beverages and then went to a nice table along the fountain. Well, Rich didn’t have to even think about those ribs. I think I inhaled them. The corn was very good too. And the chicken was excellent. OK, it’s not a four star meal but I had just been to Mars. I loved the BBQ sauce here too. I had one container left and am going to see if I can get this at home somewhere. Or mail order it. Or something. I have an entire season of tailgating at the Falcons games. I need some good BBQ sauce for a wimp like me. The guys like the strong stuff.

We did have a kid incident here. Well, a few of them with the same kid. As we were getting ready to sit down, this kid, about six or so, comes over and I thought he was trying to move one of the seats over to another table. But what he was trying to do was sit down with us. Rich didn’t really see him and took the seat instead. The kid walked off. Strange. Then we unloaded our tray and just put it on the floor next to us for when we cleaned up later. The kid came back and kicked the tray into Rich’s foot. And then left. This kid was just wandering around so we kept an eye on him and tried to figure out where his parents were. The third incident was really strange. The kid came back over and stepped on the tray and pushed it around like he was skating on it. Again, no parental interference at all. Rich told the kid to stop it and leave us alone. He walked away. We later saw him sitting with his family at the very next table! Why the heck did they let him bother people like that? Bizarre.

I had taken our hopper passes over to Living With the Land and got FastPasses for 4:00 which was in about 45 minutes. We enjoyed our linner (combo of lunch and dinner) and had enough time for a bathroom break and to check out the gift shop. They had a display of Plumerias set up and it was the same vendor as was at the Flower and Garden Festival last year. We had bought five of the plants and they had a money back guarantee. Only two survived so Rich got the information for replacing the other three. The guy would have given Rich three free ones if we had the receipt with us. Yeah, like we carry that around with us all the time. But now we have the website.

We walked right onto the boat for Living With the Land after bypassing the 20 minute stand by line. This was really for Rich since he likes it – I kill everything green but I like the environmental message. The guide was OK, not the best but not Monotone Girl we had the last time. Unfortunately, Rich had a contact attack halfway through and spent the rest of the ride in misery. We stopped after the ride for an adjustment and waited until we knew whatever offended Rich’s eye was gone. Maybe Christine was working long distance.

We had plenty of time to meet with Janis at Alberta Bound so we decided to take a counter clockwise walk around World Showcase. We passed by the Journey Into Imagination with Figment attraction and I mentioned it to Rich. He said it was a walk on and we could do it. I told him I would not subject him to that again. I love it – he tolerates it. I figured if I really wanted to do it again, I’d do it tomorrow on my own.

All the kiosk booths were now open and doing lively business. Rich had to stop for a Moosehead in Canada. I held out for a wine in France. One of my goals this trip was to poke around in some of the shops. Rich doesn’t like to do that much so I thought if I did it slowly, he wouldn’t mind. We checked out the shops in Morocco and I really do think their wallets here are a great bargain. The large size ones are only $20 and the smaller ones are $12. I did see this beautiful black shirt for only $18. I’m still mulling over getting that one. It’s very delicate, short sleeved, and flowy. Now that I’m employed, I need nice Southern suited clothes. Good excuse, right?

I held off any more “shopping” until Mexico. One of the fishing trips my company offers is to Lake Huites in Mexico so I thought I’d check to see if they had any Mexican fishing items. Yeah, lame excuse but it worked. Our friend Janis had emailed me that she was going to divide her time today between Alberta Bound and the mariachi band in Mexico. I guess one of the mariachi band members caught her eye. The band was coming on in just a few minutes so we thought we’d catch them and maybe meet up with Janis now. Rich was severely lagging at this point.

But we’re glad we stayed for the band. They are excellent and well worth seeing. The performed inside the pyramid instead of outside. The band has 11 members and they all get a turn at performing a lead or two. The highlight for me was this little boy. And his mother. The boy was about two. And just getting into the band and the music. He did the typical little kid dance. Running around in a circle. He had the biggest smile on his face. The mother was taking picture after picture after picture of the smiling kid. The band members, especially one of the violinists, were getting into this kid having a great time. I ended up watching the little boy and just listening to the band. Ah, this kid will probably go home and tell everyone about the Mexican band. Who the heck cares about riding rides? Classic Disney Moment.

We did have a good time trying to figure out “Janis’ violinist”. There were five of them so we guessed which one based on knowing Janis. We only get to see her at Off Kilter sets but we do some of the greatest talks there. Rich and I both agreed on one of the musicians. We’ll see if we’re right.

We never saw Janis but figured we’d see her for the last Alberta Bound set. We headed over to Canada and saw another couple of friends there instead of Janis. We had missed Janis by just a few minutes. Oh well, we’ll see her all day tomorrow. She had some work to do at home. We visited with these friends before the Alberta Bound set. And we found out that the two people in Alberta Bound that we like weren’t even there. But it was good news since they were touring out west. We chatted and then the “new” Alberta Bound came out. Excellent set. They do traditional Canadian tunes and throw in some Gordon Lightfoot and Anne Murray (and they do Shania Twain too). We weren’t disappointed with these guys either.

I had wanted to stay for Illuminations but Rich almost begged me to go back to the room for the race and some relaxation. After we sat at Alberta Bound, I heartily agreed. I was getting tired too. Listen to your bodies at Disney World. They’ll tell you when you need a break. But I was hungry again. I suggested Food of the Gods at the Spoodles pizza take out window. Rich didn’t need to be asked twice. The ESPN Club had a line going out the door and well into the sidewalk. College football night. The pizza window wasn’t crowded and Rich placed our order of two slices of pepperoni and one slice of cheese. And this very kind Cast Member said that if we got a full pizza with half pepperoni and half cheese, it would actually save us money. We thought for about five seconds and said “sure!” Excellent service. It would take about ten minutes to make the pizza.

We sat along Crescent Lake and just watched the boats and the people that were now swarming the Boardwalk for the Saturday night. The pizza window became packed very quickly. We were way across from the pizza window but kept checking for the two groups that had been in front of us in line. We figured when they got their pizzas, we’d be next. All of a sudden we hear “Reeeeecchhaaaaard, your peeeezzzzaaaa is ready! Reeeeecchhaaaaard, your peeeezzzzaaaa is ready!” People stopped in their tracks at this shrill voice yelling across the Boardwalk. I thought Rich would make a world’s record sprinting over to get the pizza. Birds probably dropped out of the sky in fear.

There was some Boardwalk entertainment out but no Randy, the juggler. Oh well, there are other acts to take in. We enjoyed the kids enjoying the acts.

We had a leisurely dinner (whatever happened to that linner we had?) and consumed all but three slices that we took back to the room with us. Rich generously offered to go back into Epcot for Illuminations but I was lagging too so we headed for the car. I directed Rich back to the Clarion since he has never driven out of Disney World the back way. Honestly, I hadn’t either so it was the blind leading the blind but Rich will never know that and I still look like the Disney World driving expert.

Back at the room, Rich turned on the NASCAR race and we settled in with some wine to watch it. Well, I had to get the results the next day because I was sound asleep in about five minutes. Enough to watch my favorite driver wreck and that was all. The wine will have to wait until tomorrow, I guess.

Day Three – Sunday, September 7, 2003 – “It’s Not Me, It’s the Sewer”

We were sleeping in this morning since the first show of Off Kilter wasn’t until 1:30 so we had plenty of time. Since I’ve been working, I don’t seem to be able to sleep past 8:00 but I stayed in bed a little longer to let Rich rest more. I shouldn’t have bothered. I got up and quietly worked on the report while he went right back to sleep. He needed it since he stayed up to watch the whole race (Ryan Newman won which probably ticked off Chris and Chandra, hehehehehe – serves those NASCAR freaks right). I just typed away until Rich got up after 9:30.

We slowly got ready, taking our time and not rushing at all. We knew we’d be at Epcot all day today and well into the night since this was the only opportunity to see Illuminations because we skipped it last night. A word here – I do like Illuminations and normally will not go out of my way to watch it but our Disney World trips will be short visits from now on so I’ll take things when I can get them. I really wanted to do Illuminations as a tribute to Marlie, our almost granddaughter. The last time I saw it was with Marlie. I miss that little munchkin (she lives in Ohio).

Rich ate the leftover Spoodles pizza for breakfast. He did save one slice for me and I was hungry but not for that. We left for Epcot around 11:30 since the housekeeper was right outside our door and Rich felt bad for taking so long to clear the room. He claimed he thought the lady would want to watch football later on in the day. Yeah right, he just felt guilty for not being a typical Disney World guest and get going at the crack of dawn.

The day had started out overcast again but by the time we left, it was sunny and hot. Very hot and very humid. The temperature in Christine said 86 degrees already. One thing that girl is very reliant on is her temperature. We figured it would be a very moist day.

Rich parked us at the Swan and found a terrific spot under a tree so Christine would be comfortable. I think she’s forgiving us for the long trip. No horn blowing today and no mirrors crashing. Our walk over to the International Gateway through the Boardwalk was different from yesterday. People were actually out and about. We were a little warm by the time we cleared customs, I mean, security. We grabbed an entertainment schedule to verify the Off Kilter show times. What?! They changed the times! Now it was 1:30, 3:00, 5:45, and 7:00. I had just gotten used to the other schedule. Yes, I’m that sick that I check Steve’s entertainment site on a weekly basis just to see when the guys are playing. I hadn’t seen them in over three months and that was hard for me. Oh well, at least they are here all day today and we’ll get a nice long break in between the second and third sets. I see another go round on Mission:Space during that time. Because it’s a new attraction. Doesn’t have anything to do with Gary Sinise, nope, not a bit.

Janis and another friend were already at the Off Kilter stage area so we went over there to visit. I’ve kept in contact with Janis via emails so she knew about my new job and was very happy things are finally settling down for us. She did say that she was a little disappointed since that meant our Disney trips would have to be carefully planned out now. She’s such a nice lady and tells us she wishes we would move closer because we’re “so much fun”. Of course, she doesn’t see us out in the real world, only at Disney World. We were joined by other friends that we knew were going to be there today.

I hadn’t had anything to eat yet so while Rich was telling Janis all about what was going on in his life and listening to what’s been happening with Janis, I asked for some cash to go get food. This was a nice break for me. I love my husband but going off on my own is very nice. I decided to take a nice stroll and go for some grub at the Lotus Blossum Café in China. That’s about one-third of the way around World Showcase from the Canadian pavilion and I just took my time. I checked both of the shops at the entrance to World Showcase from Future World. I was looking for gifts for the two girls that we know from trivia nights (we play twice a week). And their parents. All the gifts had to be chosen carefully due to food allergies and certain things being off limits for the girls. I settled on pens for the girls and shortbread cookies for the adults. But I’d get them later.

Rich and I really do like the Lotus Blossum Café since it’s fairly cheap and the quality is good. I got two egg rolls and fortune cookies to take back to the Off Kilter stage. I also loaded up on duck sauce which is very good with the egg rolls and then I take the rest of the packets home for later. Pretty soon, all my condiments will be somehow related to Disney World. Kind of like my music choices. I walked a bit faster back to Canada since I wanted my food to stay warm. I shouldn’t have bothered. The day would turn into a beastly hot day. I was pretty sweaty by the time I got back. I thought Rich would have a Moosehead for a beverage but he didn’t. Said he was too busy talking with Janis.

So I left my food on the bench and went to France for a glass of wine. How hot was the day? I heard a guy walking by telling his companion “deodorant sure isn’t going to help today”. He was so right. I got back to the bench in Canada and some of our friends were mad because I had left my food there and didn’t tell them. They said they could have had a very nice lunch while I was gone! Funnee people, these Off Kilter fans. Rich had visited the Moosehead stand while I was gone. Beer wasn’t going to be a huge favorite of mine today. It was just too darn hot.

I enjoyed the egg rolls and a couple of the fortune cookies. We had a good time reading the fortunes and adding a phrase at the end of it. Yes, we are sick people. The guys came out and I honestly don’t know how they perform on days like this with their black long sleeve shirts on. There was only one minor thing wrong – OK, a major thing wrong. No Tony, the keyboardist, yet again! And no substitute for him since Jason, a fiddler, was one of the Alberta Bound people that was touring out west. So we had to do with just four Off Kilter members. Randy, the guitarist, filled in for any of the keyboard sections. And did a great job too. None of the performances were affected in any way.

During the first set, I ate another fortune cookie and got one that caused our whole group to be in hysterics. Rich didn’t get it at all but he didn’t put the phrase at the end. The rest of us couldn’t stop laughing during one of the songs. One of our friends explained what happened to Jamie, the bagpipist, after the set. He wanted to know what was so funny. Sorry guys, didn’t mean to get so silly during your show.

After the first set, Rich needed to walk around some. I was fine where I was and didn’t need anything so I told him to go off on his own. Which he did. I later asked him if he liked doing that and he admitted that it was very liberating. After all these years, I finally have the man understanding that parting while at Disney World isn’t such a bad idea. I just sat with Janis and talked before the next set. Our other friends went off to “watch the parade”. What parade? That’s what they call people watching. See, I’m not the only one that likes to do that.

Rich came back from his walk with another glass of wine for me. What a dear man. He was also drenched with sweat. He did an entire walk around Showcase Lagoon and made use of air conditioning when he could. But he was still so hot. That caused quite a humorous incident during the second Off Kilter set. Four of us on the front bench were in the shade. The other two seats to the right of Rich were out in the sun. So everyone who sat there didn’t last very long. Rich thought is was because of him. Two people would come, sit down for a song, and then leave. The rest of us were laughing at this. One of our friends made up a sign for Rich “it’s not me, it’s the sewer” (there’s a sewer grating right in front of where we sit). We all were laughing so hard at the sign and then the three of us to the left of Rich moved way over. Which caused Mark, the bassist, to ask in the middle of a song, if Rich needed some Irish Spring. Again, after the set, one of our friends told Mark what was going on. We behaved for the rest of the shows, though. Sorry again guys but we have lots of fun watching the sets.

We had a long break in between the second and third sets so Rich and I took off for other things. We both wanted air conditioning and I wanted a little more shopping. And Mission:Space was calling. We headed there first for FastPasses. I did stop at the talking water fountain outside Mouse Gears. Water was definitely a friend today. We didn’t use water bottles because it was way too hot for those. We just hit every water fountain along the way.

Once at Mission:Space, we got our FastPasses and then I wanted to check out the wait times for the singles and stand by lines. Hey Rich, stand by is only 10 minutes and singles rider is only 5 minutes. We quickly turned around and went to the stand by line. Where we had the same length of wait as we did yesterday. The FastPasses became souvenirs since none were needed even later during the window we had so we didn’t try and give them away.

Mission:Space gives you lots of warnings about being in a tight controlled space and how some of the effects are intense. We had a large group in front of us and they were all situated on the team spots. We were team eight this time. Mr. Sinise took us through the introduction again and the mother and son in front of us decided to do a little switching around. Mom asked one person on the next team if she was alone. When answered yes, Mom put her son over on the team and moved over herself and asked the young lady to be on our team. That confused me since now our team was only three and the next team was five people. The ships only seat four. I said something and the Mom looked at me and said “I’m not going on this thing”. The warnings had served their purpose and she was going to opt out. Realize that with any Disney attraction, you can always choose not to go, even at the last minute.

We got into the module and the Cast Member made the announcement that if anyone wanted to leave, now was the chance. Mom eagerly went out. As she was walking by us, she said that her son asked her if she was embarrassed to do this. She said “heck no!”. I can handle Twilight Zone now but there was a time when I shook all the way from the time we entered the library to about five hours after I got off the damn thing. Quite a few times, I eyed that chicken exit. However, Mission:Space was fine for me. Everyone is different.

BTW – now that we were “experts”, we positioned so Rich was the commander. I was the engineer. We had no navigator since we were only three and the other crew member was the pilot. Even so, we got to our destination.

After another trip to Mars (we’re still there), we tried for sending the postcard to Chris and Chandra again. We thought it would be easy since the ride was a walk on and it was. Except for these two very little kids who were just playing with the machines while their parents stood there and thought they were cute. Yes they are but please have them move out when you see there are people who really want to use the machines. The kids did move after a short time but then walked right through just as we were getting posed for the video part. That would have been great, sending a video postcard to my son with two little kids in it that he doesn’t know. Grr. But the video turned out pretty good. We chose the one that says “Houston, we have a problem”. Don’t know if Chris got it but at least we tried.

Out into the heat and we thought if Mission:Space was a walk on then Test Track should be too. The stand by line was 35 minutes, no FastPasses being issued and no single riders line. Thank you very much, see you next time.

Out into the heat and over to the pin station. I was looking for that cute Piglet pin I had seen in Ocala. I had tried all the different pin places throughout Epcot and didn’t see it. They did have it here, thankfully. But then I saw all the patriotic ones and gave up the pink pig for a very nice Mickey flag pin. I also bought a bag of backs since I lost a pin back for my yellow poncho wearing Mickey. I am not a pin collector but just get the ones that have some meaning to me. I don’t trade them at all and wear them on my bag that I carry with me everywhere. My boss and co-workers make fun of this but I don’t care. I get a little dose of Disney every day this way.

I did mention to Janis later that I needed the pin back for the Mickey Yellow Poncho pin I had bought a couple of trips ago. Just as a homage to our many rain soaked Disney vacations. Janis gave me the news that the infamous yellow ponchos will no longer be sold except in kid’s sizes. They will be replaced by clear ponchos. So if you have a yellow poncho, hold on to it for nostalgia.

Rich wanted to do Ice Station Cool but I wanted to get those things for the trivia people at Mouse Gear. Plus, Mouse Gear is air conditioned too. So over there after I made Rich promise that he would not say a word about what I was buying. I ended up with two Minnie pens that write with pink ink ($3 each), and four packages of cookies ($1 each). I really don’t think Rich could say I spent too much money. But I did say I’d give up that nice Moroccan shirt since I got the pin and these gifts. Rich was looking for a T shirt to replace his very soaked one. He gagged at the $19 price tag. The man has about 100 T shirts at home already so getting another one for that price just wasn’t his cup of tea.

Then we hit Ice Station Cool which was such a nice break from the heat outside. Aaaaaahhhhhh! Unfortunately, about half the choices were out. But, somehow the Beverly was plentifully available. I stuck to the ginger ale one. Rich did a total tourist thing and wondered where the American Coke was. Duh! That’s not why this place is here. T shirts here were $22 so Disney World shirts are a bargain. Rich did overhear one guy say that they should do this same thing only stock it with Guinness. Rich said they would never get some people out if they did that.

Back out in the heat and the sun and I thought for another walk around the Showcase. I suggested to Rich that he use a rest room to wash down and he’d feel much cooler. We were passing by the Refreshment Outpost (McDonald’s, shudder) and I remembered the companion bathroom here. If it wasn’t being used, we were going to take advantage of it.

The companion bathrooms are set up mainly for handicapped people and their care takers to have some privacy and extra room. But they are for anyone’s use. Families can take advantage of them to change the baby’s diaper while the other parent takes care of the younger kids’ needs. I figured this would be a good place for Rich to take off his shirt, wash down as best as he could, and not freak out everyone in a normal rest room. We took care of everything and left in about five minutes. If there had been anyone with needs more urgent than ours, we would have gladly let them have the bathroom. However, most people are extremely hesitant to use these. They are handicapped accessible, not handicapped exclusive.

Rich looked at his watch and said we had to hurry for the next set. It was only 4:40. The next set was 5:45. Rich thought it was an hour earlier. He didn’t feel like another walk around so we went back to the bench with Janis and our other friends for another visit.

Our other friends are big Peter Noone fans (Noonatics) and they are the ones who convinced us to see him in May. Rich told them they are in big trouble for that since we’re hooked now. I found out one of them will be at the concert we are going to in a few weeks. She’s going to be working at the merchandise table and also be there when Mr. Noone is signing autographs before the concert. She might be subbing for Mr. Noone’s assistant for this show but she won’t know that for a while. We talked about that and I made a mistake and asked where they were staying. She, of course, couldn’t tell me. I just wanted to have her know that if she needed anything, we were fairly close to the concert site so she could call us. She’s not sure what she’ll be doing in between the autograph signing and the concert so I offered to take her somewhere for lunch if she wanted. It’s kind of neat to take a Disney World friendship and take it outside to the real world.

Which led to a conversation I had with Janis. We both said that people we know just don’t understand why we keep coming back here all the time. Janis is here every weekend that Off Kilter performs. No one understands why. Janis said this is her escape. A chance to leave all those normal worries behind and just have a great time. And we sure did with the first two sets. It’s been a long time since I laughed that hard at such silly things. Going to Disney World is a mental holiday. Going ga-ga over Gary Sinise, seeing that little kid enjoying the mariachi band, hearing some of the comments made by the guests as you are passing by them (favorite – this guy turns to his wife outside the Rose & Crown and says “honey, we are going to have a beer, we’re on vacation”), even the rude little kid from the food court yesterday. It’s all part of the experience.

And BTW – we were correct in picking out Janis’ violinist from the mariachi band. Told you we knew the woman!

The third set was great as usual and then it was only 45 minutes until the fourth set so we just stayed put. The evil sun was going away and some of the heat was alleviated. I did end up with some redness and when Rich and I were in the companion bathroom, I put on some sunblock to lessen the damage. In May, I had gotten a tube of sunblock that I love. It’s stick tube so you don’t ever have to get lotion on your hands. I bought it at Walgreen’s for about $2. Great investment since you can throw it in your bag and not have to worry about melting or leakage.

After the last set, we said goodbye to our friends. I’m really going to try and come down for the Food & Wine Festival but our weekends are so booked up to Thanksgiving. Between the Falcons home games, Chandra’s bridal shower (a weekend trip to Ohio – yes, we’re insane), Rich’s parents coming to town, we just don’t have very many free days. But that’s fine with me. My stepmother said she doesn’t know how we keep up with our social calendar but we deserve it. And, you know what – we do! The last two years have not been kind so we want our rewards for staying positive.

Now onto my reward. Illuminations. Our favorite spot is in Germany and so we headed there. We had plenty of time. We talked about food options and Rich mentioned the hot dog and fry place at the Boardwalk. Fine by me. We made it over to Germany and saw that the overhang that we like so much was practically deserted so we went for some German beers and while we were waiting just a bit, Rich mentions that they have pretzels. Remember yesterday when I passed on a German pretzel because I didn’t like them? And I told Rich that? He wanted that for dinner. For both of us. Well, I can make do, I guess.

We took our stuff over to the overhang and there was only one other couple out there. We started off more towards the walkway but then I realized that our view would be blocked when other people arrived. So we moved all the way out and to the edge. With the other couple who hardly talked to each other, let only carry on a conversation with us. Oh well. I sat down and took off my shoes only to realize I had a blister. Drat, I never get blisters here. My sock must have been in the wrong place and with the heat, caused a bad condition. Not that painful but enough. We still had an hour until the 9:00 start time so I suggested to Rich that he go off on his own. He cannot sit on the ground so he would have to stand the entire time. He thought about it but then decided to stay put. I’m kind of glad he did.

Like I said, I don’t have to see Illuminations every night but I did SO want to do it tonight (that’s Marlie speak). I may be separated from my little family by distance but not by love. They are constantly in my thoughts and this was a way I could share that with them, at least in my heart. Rich and I had perfect spots for a totally unobstructed view. Until about twenty minutes before the show. Aargh. I am used to families trying to get their kids good viewing spots. And I’m more than willing to let a kid stand in front of me if needed. But I’m only five feet tall and Rich isn’t that tall either so having an entire family try and shove in front of us is a chore. But we would face the biggest challenge of all tonight.

A group of about 70 large Eastern European men came onto the overhang around 8:40 or so. And just shoved their way wherever they wanted. This one guy came up behind Rich, kicked over the empty beer cup (thankfully it was empty or I would have really been ticked), kicked Rich in the ankle and tried to set up his very nice expensive video camera up on the stone pillar next to Rich. And shoved Rich over into me. And his “friend” was right behind him trying for a great view too. They were talking in a language neither Rich nor I could understand but I figured they knew at least some English. So I turned around and said “you are crowding us”. Lots of foreign language. I wouldn’t move. This entire group had just descended upon us and the couple next to us. And tried to get us to move. No way! I don’t stake out a place for Illuminations but this just worked out for us tonight. I kept repeating “crowding us, crowding us, crowding us”. Rich wanted to run away and hide. Eventually, the English I was talking miraculously got through and the video guy left and his friend moved back and gave us room. Why the heck did these people think they had to shove little ole me and little ole Rich out of the way? Sure, we’ve seen the show many times but how would they have known that? Definite Grr Moment.

But I calmed down, Rich made sure no one was going to bother us again, and we settled in for the show. We filled some time by watching a spider spin her web on the stone pillar. Nature at Disney World. Gotta love it. The show was wonderful, as always. I had brought a small photo album of the May trip along to show Janis and our friends and the pictures of Marlie in there are wonderful. This show was for Marlie. The Eastern European guys redeemed themselves a little by saying it was “beautiful”. Humm, where was the English just twenty minutes ago?

After Illuminations, we gathered up our stuff and headed out. I’ve made this journey from Germany to the International Gateway before and was in tears because I was leaving Disney World. This time, I totally embarrassed Rich by skipping and dancing and singing on the way out. I’ll be back. Oh yeah. Some day, some how, some way. I’ll be back.

I guess the pretzel for Rich was enough because he just totally bypassed the fry stand on the Boardwalk. I was hungry but it was not to be tonight. Which caused me to be grumpy. But back to the room and some football news. Not good on my part. The Falcons won but one of my prime wide receivers went down for the next month with a broken hand. And my backup kicker is probably gone for the rest of the year. Aargh. Not the best way to end a Disney trip.

I was sweaty myself so I jumped in for a cool down shower. Pure bliss for the end of a long and hot day. I fell asleep during the football game. I’m usually a night owl but somehow a Disney trip gets me out of sorts with the sleep habits. Lights out sometime after midnight, I guess.

Day Four – Monday, September 8, 2003 – Another Trip Comes to an End

No alarm set for this morning and I was up and typing away by 8:00. Rich slept in and I thought I’d have to shake him awake before the noon check out time. But he was up and getting ready around 10:00 or so. It was bittersweet leaving but we did know we’d be back. I talked Rich into coming back for a quick trip during the Food and Wine Festival and found one weekend where we could do that. Totally insane but what the heck. Rich really wanted those Mexican quesadillas and I wasn’t going to argue with him.

We loaded up Christine and she proved to be a nice girl on the way home. Don’t know what her problem was on the way down. Rich drove us out of the area and I tried not to fall asleep. We were getting low on Christine fuel but the Florida prices had us gagging. But we needed to stop. I talked Rich into doing $15 worth and not filling up the tank. Even at the lowest prices (which is fast food to Christine and she’s used to Victoria and Albert’s style meals), we were almost paying $2/gallon. Sorry but that’s extremely high for us. We got what we could and then decided on what to do for human food. And we had to figure in a Monday and driving through Atlanta and avoiding rush hour. Rich said he was hungry for Applebee’s so we thought Valdosta would have something like that along the interstate. We weren’t wrong so we found one about an hour later from the gas stop and went in for another linner.

Rich had the all you can eat ribettes and I did a smothered steak. We left very satisfied and I took over driving for the rest of the way. We did stop to fill up Christine again with gourmet gas but counter service prices in Georgia. Our finances could handle this stop much better. I surprised Rich with driving us through the Atlanta metro area. I normally avoid driving but Rich did a lot for the weekend so I let him rest for the last half of today.

Home to the cats where everything was fine and dandy. We had to repack everything for staying at the boss’ house the next couple of days. Plus doing laundry and going through the mail. We have a cat sitter that comes in where we aren’t there and she had a detailed report of the three cats and their happenings. Some time in the future, the little ones will finally come out from under the beds when we have a visitor. Maybe when they are 70 or so.

And I finalized the next weekend trip. Last weekend in October. Mission:Space (Gary Sinise) here we come!

Final Thoughts and Overall Observations

One thing I haven’t mentioned was the presence of love bugs. These are harmless flying insects that infest Florida during May and September. I think September is worse than May. These guys and gals are very small but they deserve their name. There’s always two of them flying along doing what you think they are doing when you use “love” in the species name. They are black and they are everywhere. It wasn’t that bad but there were so many of them out of our window on the fifth floor of the Clarion. And Christine took enough of them out on our drive back. We washed her windows at both gas stops and I still had to scrape off little bug bodies when we got back. The love bugs don’t do anything but fly, mate, and then die naturally. A lot of guests were freaking out because they are a little different (the bugs, not the guests) but don’t worry about them.

I’ve found a great hotel in Kissimmee with the Clarion. I thought the service and the hotel itself were wonderful and would return here in the future. The price was extremely reasonable for what we got. We didn’t use the pool or hot tub or even look at the restaurant but it was nice knowing all that stuff was there.

The weather was unpredictable with Tropical Storm Henri. However, Sunday was so hot! September can be just as hot as any summer month so be prepared. I’ve learned to never travel to Florida without sunscreen. And make sure you drink lots of water throughout the day. Carrying a water bottle this trip wasn’t an option since it would have turned warm very quickly. Disney World has a ton of water fountains so make use of them.

We had a great time with our friends and watching Off Kilter all day Sunday. We do other things in between sets but seeing the guys and having so much fun with people is one of the reasons we like going back to Disney World. Thanks Janis and everyone else for a very special weekend. Hopefully, we will see one of you this weekend and enjoy Peter Noone too. None of these friendships would have happened without just a little pixie dust.

I’m a Mission:Space fan even without Gary Sinise. No, it’s not a total thrill ride. But it’s something that I think families can enjoy together. Height requirement is 44 inches because of the overhead restraints. If you have any fears about it, go through the preshow and then opt out later if you want to. Very easy to do that. I thought the design of the building and the whole way to get you into the ships was very efficient and very smooth. When we got back, I emailed my son and told him he had to go back to Disney World just to get on this attraction. He’d love it.

We did successfully send off the video email to Chris from the Mission:Space post show area. He said we looked weird. We didn’t really know what we were doing and acted like dorks. I didn’t think Chris’ hotmail account would handle a large file but what happens is a link is sent. I wish I had known that. We could have done more. But Chris sent us the link too and we do look odd. Just waving stupidly at the screen. But now we know better and the world should look out for our next trip. We’re going to force ourselves on all the people we know!

We didn’t do a lot of what I thought we would. The only park we did was Epcot. No MGM just simply because I didn’t want to exert the effort to get down there. And we didn’t see any movies at Epcot. We did do Mission:Space and Living With the Land. That’s another thing I love about Disney World. You can go and do so much more than the rides.

I did find the BBQ sauce that I liked so much at The Land food court. It’s called Chatsworth and the only place I can find it is through a restaurant service and it’ll cost me over $15 for a case of 100 single servings with a 3 case minimum. Can’t handle that so I guess I’ll have to stock up on the next trip!

Dealing with Christine wasn’t that thrilling. She’s doing fine now but the old girl might be on her last legs. Can’t afford another child so we’re just hoping she can hobble along for a while. We took everything with a sense of humor and kept going. It will be a sad, sad day when we no longer have Christine in our lives.

And not to get too sappy (but it is my trip report) but this weekend was so special because I got to spend it with a person who means the entire real world to me. Rich and I have been through so much together and we still have a long way to go. Chris and Chandra will be married in just five short months (the mere mention of that has Chandra in a fog!) so our little family will be extended (well, we already do include Chandra and Marlie as Niklewskis). I think of Disney World as the happiest place on earth because when I’m there, I’m there. I’m not thinking about anything else except being with my family. Chris, Chandra and Marlie weren’t there physically but they were there mentally. I did Illuminations just for Marlie. And remembering The Kids during the Off Kilter sets. And how I thought Chris would get a kick out of Mission:Space.

This was just a little dose of the Mouse and it’s enough to get us through the next couple of months. When we got back and told some friends we went to Disney World, they asked “and just how expensive was that?” They were shocked when I explained that other than having to finally buy admission media, it was very inexpensive. They never thought you could get any hotel near Disney for under $100. We’re very close to having that family going down with us. I think Disney should pay me a commission or something.

Until the next time, that’s it. Feel free to email me with questions or comments – as always, please put “trip report” in the subject line. Find ways to get a little bit of Disney every day – it pulled me through the past two years.

Sheri Niklewski