Travel Dates: 29 April – 3 May 2012

Travel Method: Motorcycle

Resort: Port Orleans – Riverside, Standard Room

Cast: Me (Dad – 50 something)
Shannon (Daughter – older 20 something)
Tara (Daughter – younger 20 something)

Disney Experience: We’re all WDW Veterans

I have to begin this report by apologizing for not completing a previous report. I had started a pre trip report last fall and posted it to the website. Back then I was also taking my motorcycle to Orlando to visit my daughters at Disney for the Food and Wine Festival. Unfortunately, upon my return, I never got it finished. Good intentions, however, don’t get a timely report posted; there was always something which seemed to delay my completing it. Over time my notes got misplaced and it would not have been possible to remember enough to make a quality report. So, this time, I promise not to post until I get the whole report finished!

My daughters are in the Orlando area going to school – Shannon, the oldest, is at the Aveda Institute and Tara is at the University of Central Florida in nursing school. I believe this is the 5th or 6th time I’ve made the trip down to WDW on my motorcycle. The trips usually center around the Flower and Garden Festival in the spring or the Food and Wine Festival in the fall. These visits have always been special to me as it gives me an opportunity to see my daughters and to also go to our favorite place together. On the happy side, both girls will be graduating this summer. On the sad side, it means that this will probably be the last time I do this ritual excursion. Tara is looking to be a nurse in the Air Force and Shannon desires to do hair styling for runway models in New York City. So, most likely, by the end of the summer they will both have moved away from Orlando.

Pre-trip I began looking at opportunities to visit WDW during the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival back in February. Tara’s last final exam for the spring semester will be Monday morning, April 30th. Shannon also has Monday through Thursday off from school that same week; so, those were the dates to work my trip around. I would travel down on Sunday, April 29th and spend that night at Shannon’s apartment. We would head to WDW Monday after Tara finishes her exam and leave sometime Thursday, May 3rd.

Disney provides some nice discounts to Florida residents and I was able to get a good rate at Port Orleans – Riverside. I was also able to get “Wild for 3” passes for myself and the girls. The passes give Florida residents a 3 day ticket to Disney theme park for $99. I’ll add the park hopper option at Disney for $25. From there I started thinking about what dining options would be fun to do. I talked with the girls and we decided to have Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian on Monday afternoon. We also decided to have dinner Tuesday night at Boatwright’s at the resort. We’ll bring stuff with us to have breakfast in the room and the rest of the meals will be on the fly. I made the resort and dinner reservations on the Disney World website and they conveniently provide a countdown of days left until your visit. So, with 83 days showing on the webpage, the days slooooowly count down. I checked periodically to see if a better room rate came up but nothing beat the one I made in February.

Even though I’ve been to Disney World 40+ times and am quite comfortable with my knowledge of the parks, I started becoming obsessed with this trip. My Sunday morning ritual was to log in to the Disney World website, Allears.net and MousePlanet just to “check things out” and see if anything new was going on. I printed out the resort reservations, dining reservations, the park hours, which ones had Extra Magic Hours, etc. I even did the online customized maps which I’ve never done before. They arrived a few weeks prior to the trip. I put everything into a folder to take with me. When I’m inside the 10 day window I do the online check in. I’ve used this in the past and have always breezed through check in. My only request during on line check in is for a ground floor room. The buildings in Alligator Bayou don’t have elevators and I don’t want to haul stuff up the stairs to a 2nd floor room. About a week prior to departure I start checking the weather forecasts and setting stuff aside to pack. Packing for a motorcycle trip forces you to take only what you need but since this will be a fairly short one I’m able to easily get everything into the saddle bags or into the T-bag strapped on the back of the bike. The weather at this point looks good for both the trip down and back and also during our stay at Disney. I load the bags and strap everything down on the bike Saturday night and try to get a good night’s sleep.


Sunday, April 29th – On the Road As with many others on the day they travel to Disney World, I beat the alarm clock the morning of my departure. My plan is to leave around 6:30 am for the roughly 7 hour ride. I leave fairly close to that even though there is really no timetable to meet. I have developed a pretty standard route down to Orlando from the Florida panhandle. I keep to the back roads as much as possible and try to avoid the interstates. I top off the gas tank about 10 miles into my trip and check to make sure everything strapped on is still secure and tight after the short run. With a smile on my face I start heading east. It’s Sunday morning, the sun is coming up, the bike is purring, and there are very few cars on the road. And best of all – I’m going to Disney World! I used to be a “Get to the destination” type person but since getting the motorcycle I’ve really started enjoying the journey. Taking roads through small town America and seeing life in the Mayberry’s of our country has been a fun venture. This morning I see people going to church, a local diner with an overflow crowd looking to have breakfast, a farmer waving to me from his yard, the smell of freshly cut grass. All of this has caused me to slow down, notice the little things, and really enjoy what life has to offer.

Even though I live in Florida it was cool in the morning when I left. Now, after several hours on the road, the temperature is beginning to warm up; partly from heading south and partly from the early afternoon heat. I take off my long sleeve pullover and re-apply a good coating of sun screen during my lunch stop. I text Shannon and tell her I’m a couple hours away. There is one area where I have to get on the interstate and that’s at Ocala where I get on I-75 and go 25 miles to the Florida turnpike. Making a final stop for gas prior to getting on the interstate I notice the traffic on I-75 is backed up and going pretty slow – maybe around 20 miles per hour. Hmmm, chance it on I-75 or stay on Hwy 27 and pick up the turnpike further down the road. Well, here a little bit of the old me took over and I decide to take I-75 because, even with the backup, I think it will still be quicker. It’s slow going for about 5 miles when I came upon the cause of the backup. A tractor trailer has caught fire and, even though the fire had been put out and it is off on the shoulder of the road, it still causes people to rubber neck to see what is going on. Once through that area it turns into a NASCAR race as people look to make up for lost time from the traffic delay. I just try to stay out of their way. I finally make it to the turnpike and it is crowded, too. There’s lots of lane changing and tailgating. Cars are passing on the right trying to get around those who camp in the left hand lane. I finally exit at the East-West Expressway and arrive at Shannon’s apartment without incident. We have dinner at her apartment (her infamous fish tacos!) and spend the evening relaxing. Tomorrow Tara joins us and it’s off to WDW!

Monday, April 30th – Disney World Here We Come Tara’s final exam is at 10:00 and she’ll drive over to Shannon’s apartment when she finishes. Leading up to this I am wondering if I am putting undue pressure on Tara to quickly get through her test so that we could go check in at Disney. I know I would have a hard time concentrating if I knew people were waiting on me to go to Disney World! In the mean time Shannon and I walk over to the Starbuck’s next to her apartment for coffee and breakfast. After that we go to the store to get breakfast items, some drinks, and bottled water to bring with us to Disney. Tara eventually calls to say she’s finished with her exam and is on her way. She gets to Shannon’s apartment around noon and we have pizza before leaving for Disney. I put my stuff in Tara’s car since I had unloaded everything off the bike when I got to Shannon’s apartment the day before. I lead on my motorcycle and Shannon and Tara follow in Tara’s car. On the way there I almost get run over by a car that begins to change lanes with me next to him. I don’t know if he was texting or talking on his cell but he definitely wasn’t paying attention to his driving. I manage to create a little space to get away from this guy and he eventually turns onto another road. We finally enter Disney property and cross under the long anticipated “Welcome to Disney World” sign. I had told Tara to take the lead when we get close to Port Orleans so she could show her license to the guard at the resort entrance (easier for her than for me on the bike). He welcomes us home and it’s off to check in. We park in front and go into the lobby. They are doing some remodeling and even though there’s a sign for Online Check in, it isn’t intuitively obvious where to go. Even the cast member out front is a little confused and finally tells us to just go to the window in front of us. “Will” is very proficient and we quickly have our room assignment and resort keys. We are in Alligator Bayou, Building 39, on the first floor in Room 3921. Will gives us a resort map and tells us how to exit the lobby parking area and get to our room building. We find the parking area for our room and get the bike and car parked in the shade. We take a few things from the car and search for the room. We find it and are happy to see that it’s a corner room and has an extra set of windows that the interior rooms don’t have. We return to the car for the rest of our stuff and bring it to the room. I know that the buildings at Riverside are being refurbished but I can’t tell if our room has been refurbished or not. The carpet looks clean and the bathroom has fresh paint but the furniture is old and scratched. The cabinet where the refrigerator sits inside has a broken hinge and the refrigerator door is missing the piece in front of the shelf to keep things from spilling out when you open the door. We manage to get the soft drinks, beer, milk, and OJ situated inside. It does have a flat screen TV so – is there such a thing as a partially renovated room?

I change into shorts and we get ready to go to Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian. Our reservation time is for 3:50 and it’s approaching 2:45 so we decide to get going. Our plan is to take the resort bus to the Magic Kingdom and then take the monorail to the Grand Floridian. We take a rather non-direct path but eventually find our way to the West Depot bus stop. We sit and watch a bus for Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Downtown Disney, and another bus for the Studios come and go. Finally after sitting for about 25 minutes a bus for the Magic Kingdom arrives. It takes another 10 minutes to stop at the other resort bus stops and I quickly calculate that it will be close to whether we make our reservation time. We finally make it to the Magic Kingdom and start walking to the monorail loading platform. As we near the ramp we notice a rope across the entrance and a sign saying the monorail is closed until 6:00. Well isn’t that nice – why couldn’t there be a notice at the resort telling us that it’s closed and plan accordingly? Oh, well, plan B; take the water taxi over to the Grand Floridian. A boat is on its way in as we get in line with a number of other people. The boat goes to both the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian but we luck out as the first stop will be at the GF. We get off and walk up to the main building. We check in at the podium and apologize for being late but she assures us that it’s quite OK. We’re seated and take a look at our tea time options. We all three decide to have the “Grand Tea” – it has a variety of tea sandwiches, scones and jam tarts, followed by your choice of baked tea pastries, strawberries and cream, or English trifle. And for the best part – it comes with a glass of Domaine Ste.-Michelle sparkling wine. I have one of the “Taste of Spring” teas, Shannon has Eros, and I don’t recall what kind of tea Tara decides on. It is a very enjoyable and relaxing time with Shannon and Tara. I take a couple photos of them holding their champagne glasses; wondering what the commoners are doing. We sit, sip, and chat for over an hour and it is a pleasant start to our Disney stay. After our tea we take the boat back to the Magic Kingdom and then have a short wait for the bus ride back to our resort. We finish unpacking and talk for a while. Our original thoughts for the evening were to take the water taxi from Port Orleans to Downtown Disney but we discover the boats aren’t running due to high winds. We discuss taking the bus to Downtown Disney but after our 25 minute wait earlier today we decide to just stay and explore the resort area. We stop in at Fulton's General Store and take a look for any “have to buy” items. We don’t find anything but I do notice a new kitchen plate/bowl pattern that I really like. In my “If I won the lottery” life I would have a large RV and I think this dish pattern would be in my RV cabinets. And I would be spending a good part of the year at Ft Wilderness in my RV, too! We then walk over to the River Roost Lounge and have drinks at the bar. Since we had snacks earlier at afternoon tea we decide not to do dinner and instead order the crawfish bites appetizer to share. After our drinks we stop in the food court and look around; I grab some napkins and sweetener for our morning coffee which I forgot to bring. We also take a look at the menu for Boatwright’s; we’ll be having dinner here tomorrow night. Back at the room we discuss tomorrow’s park options. When I originally scheduled our days at Disney I thought about going to Epcot since it had Extra Magic Hours in the morning; but Tara has an appointment in the morning with the Air Force medical recruiter to discuss her options for their nursing program. Shannon decides she’ll spend the morning out at the pool and I’ll go with Tara to her appointment. We watch TV for a little bit then hit the hay around 11:00.

Tuesday, May 1st – Air Force and the Magic Kingdom I wake up first and make coffee in the room’s coffeemaker. Tara had coffee last night and she ran a couple cups of water through the machine in hopes of cleaning out anything that could be growing in the reservoir. The girls eventually start to stir and we get ready for the morning’s activities. Tara and I leave around 9:30 and drive up to Sand Lake Drive where the Air Force recruiter’s office is located. Tara has decided to speak with the recruiter herself and didn’t need me to go in with her (good for her!). I’m just going for moral support. FYI – I’m a former Marine officer and A-6 Bombardier/Navigator. Both the jet and I have long left our country’s service. The recruiter’s office is in the Florida mall complex so I drop Tara off and then mosey around the mall stores while she has her meeting. After about an hour she calls to say she’s finished so I swing by to pick her up and we head back to Disney. She has a myriad of forms to fill out and submit back to the recruiter.

We get back to the room and change into our park attire – basically shorts. We walk down to the West Depot and again take a route that seems a little circular in getting there. I’ll have to pay better attention when we return because our route from the depot to our room seems fairly direct; for some reason we can’t manage the same path to the depot. We have a seat and wait for the MK bus. Its 10-15 minutes before the MK bus arrives. After a short ride we’re at the Magic Kingdom! As we walk to the entrance I notice once again that the monorails are closed until 6:00 – I wonder what they are doing. We stop by Guest Services to add the Park Hopper option to our tickets and then go through the turnstile and pass under the train depot. We stop for a quick photo of the girls next to Roy and Minnie at town square. Ahhh, there’s nothing like walking up Main street the first time of the trip. We decide to turn right at the hub and head to Tomorrowland. Buzz Lightyear is a 10 minute wait so we do that first. My score isn’t that hot so, of course, there must have been something wrong with the gun. We exit Buzz and walk over to Space Mountain and get Fastpasses. We start walking up to Fantasyland. Our ultimate goal is to find something for lunch. We look at the line for Snow White and decide to do a final ride prior to its permanent closure on May 31st. It’s sad to see the old things go that are links to Walt’s time. I know a new roller coaster with a Seven Dwarfs theme is supposed to open elsewhere in the land sometime next year – I hope it’s a positive move.

We decide to have lunch at Columbia Harbour House. We’ve eaten here several times before and enjoy the food. I go with the Anchors Aweigh Sandwich - tuna with lettuce and tomato on a toasted multigrain bun with potato chips. Shannon has the Lobster roll and chips and Tara has the Fried Fish Basket and fries. We sit upstairs which is our usual tradition. We are in no hurry and take our time eating while waiting for our Fastpass time to open at Space. After finishing we work our way back to Space Mountain. The standby time is now 10 minutes. We enter the Fastpass return line and walk all the way to the boarding area. Both the standby and Fastpass queuing areas each have about 20 people in them. We ride the right side and on the way out I ask the girls if they want to ride it again since the line is so short. They both decline so we do the People Mover and then walk to the old Toontown area (now Storybook Circus?) along the path near the railroad tracks. We hear the train blowing its whistle as it departs the station and I am able to get a good photo of the train coming down the track. The new Dumbo and Barnstormer rides are operating in the Fantasyland expansion area. There is a lot of construction going on and even though wooded barriers are in place, I can see the new scenery beyond rising above them. We work our way into Fantasyland and do Mickey’s Philharmagic. It is perfect timing because as soon as we pick up our “opera glasses” the doors open to go into the theater. Following Philharmagic we walk to Haunted Mansion where we go though the interactive tombstone area and then just a short wait until being invited into the dead center of the stretching room. We manage to get a spot next to the room’s exit door and we are the first out to load into the doom buggies. Interesting to note that when riding by myself the hitchhiking ghost scene at the end also adjusted to a single rider – unless it was totally coincidence. The ghost sat next to me and then took my head and put it on itself. Very fun. We knew that Thunder Mountain was closed for refurb but go that direction anyway to get Fastpasses for Splash Mountain. While I am getting the Fastpasses we notice that the ride is currently not operating and cast members are turning people away at the entrance. I can hear them say that they are working on mechanical problems and don’t know when it will start running again. Our Fastpass return time didn’t begin for 45 minutes so we decide to go up and do Pirates. As we get closer we notice all the cast members out in front of the entrance – hmmm, this isn’t looking good either. Another mechanical issue and I can hear a cast member say, “No, we don’t know how long it will be” to another guest. Shannon wants to have a Dole Whip so we head further up to Adventureland. I’m still a little full from lunch so I leave Shannon and Tara to get their swirls and go to look around in the Christmas Shoppe. I meet the girls outside the shop and sit while Shannon finishes her dole whip. We head back to Pirates to see if it’s running again. The gaggle of cast members standing out front confirms that it’s still closed. We keep walking towards Splash to see if it’s up again. On the walk to the entrance we don’t see any logs coming down the drop – not a good sign. Our suspicions are confirmed and it’s still not running. Both Pirates and Splash have been down for at least an hour and I notice a couple guests voicing their displeasure to the cast members standing outside the entrance. We discuss options and figure we should just head back to the room and relax a couple hours before dinner at Boatwright’s. We go to the train station in Frontierland and take the train back to Main Street. I haven’t been on the train in a while so it is nice to relax and look at the scenery. We get to the Main Street station and head out of the park and back to the room. We have a beer and watch a little TV; our dinner reservations aren’t until 9:00. Around 8:30 we’re all hungry so we head over to Boatwright’s to see if they can take us early. There wasn’t any need to worry as there are only like 5 tables with people sitting at them. We are seated right away and put in our drink order –an Abita Purple Haze for Tara and Abita Ambers for Shannon and me. Our waitress takes our entrée orders when she drops off our beers. Tara has the Crawfish Etouffee, Shannon has the Grilled Pork Chop with Amber Ale Barbecue Sauce, Cheese Grits, and Onion Rings, and I have the Voodoo Chicken with red beans, rice and collard greens. Everything is really good and we had intentionally skipped an appetizer to save room for dessert but the meal is just too much. I guess I’ll have to come back another time for that New Orleans Bread Pudding and Whiskey Sauce.

Tomorrow is our last full day at the parks so it will be an early go. We plan to do early opening at the Animal Kingdom then head to Disney Studios. We’ll do a break in the afternoon then conclude the day at Epcot. Back to the room and asleep by 11:00.

Wednesday, May 2nd – The Rest of the Parks I had set my alarm for 6:00 and we somehow manage to all get up, shower and have breakfast in the room in 45 minutes. We head back to the West Depot by the now memorized short route. Of course the first bus to come is the Magic Kingdom bus which had been our nemesis earlier in the trip. About 10 minutes later a bus pulls up with DHRS as its destination. I was debating about asking the driver where he was going when the bus pulls out. About 20 feet away from the depot the DHRS sign turns into Animal Kingdom. Arrrgh. I don’t know if DHRS equates to Animal Kingdom or if the driver just forgot to change his sign until he pulled out. So we and the other 3 or 4 families waiting to go to the Animal Kingdom get to wait a little longer. Finally, a bus arrives which actually has a sign for the Animal Kingdom on it; except this one is packed. We shuffle our way towards the back and stand for the ride to the park. We get there about 15 minutes after early opening. I get up to the turnstile and run my ticket through the machine. The cast member asks if I’m a resort guest and to show her my room key. I’m caught off guard for a second then remember that the early Extra Magic Hour is for resort guests only. My 3-day pass is separate from my room key and she just wants to verify I’m that I’m staying on property. I meet up with Tara on the other side and apparently she left her room key in the room. The cast member let her in when Shannon showed her room key. I’m not sure how that meant Tara was a resort guest but I’m glad the cast member let her in anyway.

Our first stop is Expedition Everest. We have a select set of rides we want to do before moving on to Disney Studios. The standby time is 5 minutes so we walk through all the way to the boarding area. The ride is great, as usual, although my stomach still gets a little queasy during the backwards run in the dark. We decide to get a Fastpass for a second ride and walk over to Dinoland where we do Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur in quick succession. Our Fastpass window is now open for Everest so we head back for a second ride. The standby line is now at 10 minutes and we probably didn’t need our Fastpasses but we do another walk through to the boarding ramp. We were more towards the back of the ride this time and it seemed to be better riding there than up front during our first ride. It is now a little after 9:00 and the park is now open to off property guests. As we walk to Kali River rapids we notice a slight swell of people heading back towards Everest. It has been awhile since I’ve done Kali – mostly because of the good possibility of getting soaked and spending a portion of the day walking around with wet clothes. But, today we throw caution into the wind and look to tame the rapids. I take notice of the caution sign on the walk to the boarding area – “Caution, You Will Get Wet, You May Get Soaked”. This one is also about a 10 minute wait. We board our raft and I put our backpack that has my wallet, cell phones and other things we don’t want to get wet in the center storage area. There are two couples opposite us in the raft who have donned ponchos and rain gear to ward off the wave of water at the bottom of the drop. We are soon up the ramp and free floating down the Kali. So far, so good - not wet yet. In no time we are stopped at the top of the drop; there being a couple rafts in front of us waiting their turn to plummet. I notice each raft in front of turns slightly clockwise as it enters the chute to the drop. I look at our seating positions in the raft and predict that we will be safe and that the poncho people will catch the brunt of the wave. As we’re released for our turn down the drop my calculations prove correct. The ponchos stop most of the water but they still get quite wet. I thought we were safe until further down the rapids where 3 or 4 streams of water shoot out from the wall on the left side; and of course I catch part of that. All in all we faired well, it could have been a lot worse. So, our “must do’s” at Animal Kingdom are complete and we start our way out of the park. We take the right side path at the fork and come across a pool of water with some baby ducklings standing by the waterline. We stop to watch them as they all jump into the water and paddle around. We take some pictures as other people now notice and stop to watch. There is a wire fence along with a bamboo fence to keep the larger animals within the water area. The baby ducklings are too small for the fence to contain them and they escape and come out onto the pathway. Some of the people watching try to hurry them across the path so they won’t get stepped on. There’s about 8 ducklings total but they have their own agenda and avoid being herded along. We decide to let them be and exit the park. We go out to the bus areas and wait for the Studios bus to come.

It isn’t too long before the bus arrives and we are going through the turnstiles at Studios around 10:00. Here again we have a select set of rides we want to do. Our first stop is Rock’n Roller Coaster for a Fastpass. On our way there I notice the standby wait time for Tower of Terror is 10 minutes. We get our RnRC Fastpasses and standby time here is 20 minutes for this one – not bad at all. We walk through the queuing line to ToT all the way to the pre-show. When we exit the pre-show the line to the elevators is backed up a little bit. At the split we take the left side and soon we’re aboard and our elevator is making multiple drops. We briefly look at our picture at the exit and then head to the Great Movie Ride. For some reason this has always been a family favorite. We know all of the lines by heart and the movie scenes remain the same but we still continue to ride it. I do gain a sort of devious pleasure watching first time riders, especially children during the Alien sequence where the monsters come to life. I know, I know – I’m a sick person. After GMR I do a quick check for Fastpass return times for Toy Story Midway Mania. The return time is 5:00 which is later than we want to stay here so we skip it for this trip. Our window to use our Fastpasses for RnRC is now open so we head back down Sunset Blvd to roll with Aerosmith. We luck out again and are the first into the recording booth and are able to be next to the door to exit to our limo. We never buy the photos but each of us makes faces and funny gestures during the launch. It’s now close to 1:00 so we decide to get hot dogs at the Toluca Legs Turkey Company. And these aren’t regular ballpark dogs; these are mac and cheese dogs – we really like them. After eating the only “must ride” still left for us to do at the Studios is Star Tours. The Jedi training academy is underway as we enter the queue for Star Tours. Again I’m surprised that there is little to no line on most of the rides. I have ridden Star Tours around 10 times now since it re-opened with the new ride sequences. I think I have seen them all now. As with the other times we manage to get our on board spy safely delivered. We decide to exit and head back to the room to relax a little before finishing up the evening at Epcot. I finish the last of my beers and the girls watch TV and nap.

After a couple hours in the room we get ready to head to Epcot. There really isn’t anything that’s on our “must do” list for Epcot other than looking around at the exhibits for the Flower & Garden Festival and staying for the fireworks. We’re out at the bus depot by 5:00 and we’re inside the gate at Epcot by 5:20. I take some photos inside the main Epcot entrance and we walk up towards Spaceship Earth. There is no line at all so we decide to take a ride. After Spaceship Earth we settle on just heading back to World Showcase and walking around. I take a few more pictures of the displays along the way. We decide to turn right and head toward Canada. I can hear Off Kilter playing and as we near the stage they are just ending their current set. We keep on walking and go to the United Kingdom for our normal stop – the beer stand outside the Rose and Crown. Three beers and $20+ dollars later we are sipping our brews and looking around The Tea Caddy tea room. We exit out into the gardens behind the shop and I take a picture of Tara next to one of the giant Twinings tea cups. We walk across the bridge into France and I debate getting a glass of champagne. The glass we had during Afternoon Tea was very nice and I would have gotten one here except I already have a beer in hand from the United Kingdom. Well, maybe I’ll get one later on. We discuss food options as we continue walking and stop to look at a menu in Morocco at The Tangierine Café. We decide to share the Vegetable Platter which consists of Falafel, tangierine couscous salad, hummus, tabouleh, lentil salad and marinated olives. I send the girls in to order and while I look for an outside table to sit. The girls find me outside and we share the food. After finishing we walk over to Japan and see that Miyuki has just started he candy sculpting session outside of the Mitsukoshi Department Store. We watch for a few minutes as she makes a lion and a penguin; then we go inside. As we enter I look on the ground and find a ten dollar bill. No one has just entered in front of us so it’s not intuitively obvious who may have dropped it. So, I end up giving it to the girls to spend on something. We look around for a while but don’t get anything; it’s just a fun store to look around in. We walk past the American pavilion and take some photos and then stop in Italy to look around the shops. We feel another beer calling us and head over to Germany to quench our thirst. We all get an Oktoberfest beer and look around the shops. We talk with one of the German cast members briefly who lives just outside Munich. Following graduation Tara is going to spend a few weeks in Europe with one of the stops being Munich. We take our beers and keep walking. We still have over an hour before the fireworks begin. The vegetable platter we shared in Morocco is wearing off so we stop at the Lotus Blossom Café in China and get an order of egg rolls and potstickers. We find a table outside and have our snack. We had seen a bottle of spiced wine in Germany which we have had before at Christmas time and really enjoyed. We decide to go ahead and get a bottle so we backtrack to Germany and buy one. We then walk to Norway and take a ride Maelstrom. One of our other traditions is to stop in the Kringla Bakeri and find something sweet to eat. Tara decides on Lefse (her usual), Shannon gets a Berry Cream Puff and I get Rice Cream (my usual). There’s about 15 minutes until the fireworks so we take our goodies outside and sit at a table to eat dessert. We just finish eating when the lights start to dim for Reflections of Earth. We stand outside behind the Kringla Bakeri and watch from there. The fireworks were good as usual and I take several minutes of video. When the fireworks are over we slowly work our way to the front of the park. We get to the Port Orleans bus stop just as one is pulling out. There is another within a few minutes and we make this one even though we have to stand for the ride back to the resort. We arrive at the West Depot and make our final trek back to the Building 39. We’re back in the room by 10:00 and asleep around our normal time of 11:00.

Thursday, May 3rd – Downtown Disney and Home Alas, our last day here at Disney. It’s always a melancholy feeling. I remember when we were checking in I saw a number of people out front of Port Orleans waiting for the Magical Express bus to take them to the airport – their stay at Disney was over. Well, now it’s my turn to be that person whose stay is over. We want to take the boat to Downtown Disney before I head back home later today. The first boat leaves Riverside at 10:00 so I didn’t need to set the alarm clock for today. I think I was up by 7:00 and made coffee and started getting things sorted to repack in my motorcycle bags. Shannon and Tara soon followed. Everyone got their stuff packed, showered and got dressed. Around 9:00 we started taking stuff out to the car. We decide to take the vehicles to the parking lot in front of the lobby so we won’t have to walk so far upon our return from Downtown Disney.

We get to the loading dock at Riverside around 9:45 and there are a few people already waiting in line. They let us load about 5 minutes later and wait to depart at10:00. Another couple boards and we’re on our way. We make a stop at Port Orleans French Quarter then continue on to Downtown Disney. The trip down takes about 20 minutes.

We get off the boat and our first stop is in the Art of Disney store. We browse around and I notice that none of the Thomas Kinkade prints are on display. I like his “Tinker Bell and Peter Pan Fly to Neverland” print and don’t know if they are sold out or whether his passing has caused them to temporarily pull them from the store. We finish here and move on to the Days of Christmas store. Shannon broke her Tigger mantel stocking holder last Christmas so we were looking to see if they had something similar to replace it with. Lots of ornaments but only a couple stocking holders – none that she liked. We end up not getting anything and head over to Mickey’s Pantry. We look around a little bit and Tara sees a spoon holder she likes but we decide to wait to buy it at the World of Disney store. We stop in at Team Disney and I see some golf items I like but also decide to wait until we get to World of Disney. We stop for a few minutes at the Waterside Stage and listen to a middle school choir sing – very nice group. We finally enter the World of Disney store and grab a basket to carry our loot. Well, after about an hour of looking around and my wallet about $180 lighter, we exit the store. We head over to Basin and the girls get a few things - kind of a tradition with us. We do a quick stop at Ghirardelli –mostly for the free sample and decide to have lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Tara has the BLT sandwich, Shannon has the chicken Caesar salad and I have the Cobb salad. And, all too quickly, it was time to catch the resort boat and head back to Riverside. I take some pictures of the Tree House Villas and silently wonder what it would be like to spend a couple weeks in those. We eventually get back to Riverside and head out to the parking lot. I’m able to get the couple things I bought into the saddle bags and get my other stuff out of Tara’s car and strapped onto the bike.

I say good bye to the girls and we depart from the Riverside parking lot around 1:00. The girls head back to Shannon’s apartment and I start the trek back home. I stop at the Hess gas station near the entrance to the Boardwalk and fill up the bike. I do one last check on the security of the bags and head out on Western Way. I pass by the property entrance sign and on the exit side, instead of the “Welcome to Disney World” it has “See You Real Soon!”. Sigh – yes, I hope to see you real soon, too! My route back home from Orlando is essentially the same route I took down in reverse. For the most part it’s an enjoyable ride back home. I decide to pick up I-10 for the last 125 miles home. I see some rain clouds building up on the horizon and when I stop to get gas I check the weather radar on my Android phone. There’s rain up ahead that I’ll get into in about 10-15 miles so I put on my rain gear. Sure enough, it starts out as light rain but soon starts getting heavy. It’s getting a little more than I want to handle on the bike and I see an overpass coming up ahead. There’s no one behind me so I start slowing down and ease my way onto the shoulder and stop under the overpass. I sit for about 5 minutes and with no signs of it letting up finally shut off the bike and stand for awhile. I do another check of the weather radar on my phone and see the cell over me and that it should be by in another 10 minutes or so. The bad part is there’s another major rain cell coming behind it. If I time it right I can get out before the next period of heavy rain comes through. It starts to let up and I take my cue and get back on the road. In just a couple miles it starts to get better and by 10 miles the rain has stopped. Other than the rain there are no other issues and I pull into my driveway around 7:30.

Final Thoughts: This was a bitter sweet trip with my daughters. It was fun being with them at Disney World but this probably concludes my semi-annual bike trips down to see them. With their departure from the Orlando area I won’t be able to do the impromptu visits to see them and the mouse. It’s tough to see them grow up and move on with their lives but I’m proud of them and know they’ll succeed in whatever they do. And who knows, maybe this next phase of their lives will allow for a different Disney experience down the road (grandkids?).
I really enjoyed the Port Orleans resort. On our past few visits to Disney we stayed at Pop Century and I think I like the quiet and relaxed atmosphere that Port Orleans provides a little better. I walked around the resort several times just to take photos and enjoy the ambience of the place. Also, this was the first time to have the free Wi-Fi access. Tara had her iPad with her and was able to easily connect.
It was nice doing things that didn’t involve going to the parks. Starting our first day with Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian is something I could get used to. It was a relaxing and fun beginning to our visit with the mouse.
It was a little irritating to have some of the major rides down at the Magic Kingdom. I understand the refurbishment part (Thunder Mountain) but having both Splash Mountain and Pirates go down at the same time for an hour plus caused some frustration – we ended up not doing either. I hope nobody saved those rides for their final day and that was the day.
The crowds were lighter than “normal”. Even the major rides had 20 minute or less wait times at what should be peak times of the day. We were able to do everything we wanted and, at times, the Standby line and Fastpass line were about the same.

Well, thanks for reading. And to everyone else who posts their trip reports, thank you! I realize it takes quite a bit of time and effort to type everything up and I appreciate you sharing your trips and experiences with us. Take care and I’ll be seeing you in the parks!

Travel dates: May 2-5, 2012
Travel method: Personal vehicle
Resort: Port Orleans French Quarter
Accommodations: King bed with Pack ‘n Play
Ages represented in group: Early 30s, 18 months
Disney Resort experience represented in group: Frequent
Cast of characters: Tiffany, 32 (I turned 32 the last day of our trip); Nick, 34 (DH); Andrew, 18 months (DS). I have a confession to make: For the longest time, I thought DH stood for “Disney husband,” DS for “Disney son,” etc. I know better now, but I still prefer to think of my boys as my “Disney husband” and “Disney son.” We live about two hours from the World but don't get there nearly as often as I'd like. Hopefully that will change in the future.

Planning:

This trip has been in the making since Nick and I took our last trip in April 2010 (two years between trips … yikes!). I was about halfway through my pregnancy and already dreaming of bringing our firstborn to the World.

The plan was to go for Andrew’s first birthday and Food & Wine in October 2011, but we had some unexpected expenses come up and made the decision to postpone our trip until the spring. It wasn’t easy for me to cancel the October trip – we had a resort reservation, ADRs and an appointment for Andrew’s first haircut at Harmony Barber Shop – but we already have a lot going on in the fall, what with the baby’s birthday, holidays and college football (geaux Tigers!), so we thought a spring trip would provide a nice break. Plus, it was our first true family vacation. We fly to New Orleans and Nashville to visit our families often, but this trip was just the three of us. We celebrated Andrew’s first visit and my 32nd birthday, as well as the amazing father and husband that is Nick.

Our Travel Dates:

We chose early May for a few reasons:
1. Moderate crowds, according to TouringPlans.com’s crowd calendar. I thought the crowds were pretty big, actually (will we *ever* see truly moderate crowds again?), but Nick told me afterward that he thought they weren’t that bad.
2. Warm, but not HOT weather. We were hopeful for “warm” weather, but it ended up being *hot*.
3. Cinco de Tee-oh! My birthday is on May 5, which was awesome in my college and pre-baby years, but now it isn’t quite as fun ... until we throw Disney into the mix. ;)

I'm all about spending long weekends at Disney World, but for this – our first "real" family vacation – I wanted it to feel like a vacation. Our plan was to arrive on property midday Wednesday, spend two-and-a-half days in the parks and drive home midday Saturday, giving us time to relax, do laundry, etc. before going back to work and daycare on Monday.

Our Resort Choice:

We tend to stick with moderate resorts for our visits. As much as we would love to stay in a deluxe, it just isn’t in our budget right now; even with discounts there’s a substantial difference between the moderates and deluxes, and I can’t help but think about what else that money could be going toward (tickets, meals, souvenirs…).

We've stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside and Caribbean Beach before, but we're always up for trying something new, so initially we chose Coronado Springs for this trip. We liked the look of CSR and the fact that it's the most "deluxe" of the mods.

As soon as the spring room-only discounts were released late last year, I booked a king-bed room at CSR. I think our savings was 25 percent … not too shabby. Then, a couple of months before our trip, I was playing on the Disney site and noticed the Florida resident spring room-only discount was more substantial, so I changed our reservation and saved us an additional $37. When we were about five weeks out, I rethought our resort choice. Yes, it’s fun to stay in “new” places and the theming of CSR is right up our alley, but I absolutely LOVE Port Orleans French Quarter. Its smaller size, the boat to Downtown Disney, the fact that it reminds me of home… I called CRO to check availability and was pleasantly surprised to get a room with a king at POFQ. Score! We kept our Florida resident discount but paid a bit more than we would have at CSR.

Nick and I can sleep in a queen bed if we absolutely have to, but we sleep much better when we have a king to crash in. We had a Pack ‘n Play in the room and brought our PnP mattress from home (the “mattress” that comes with the PnP doesn’t cut it).

Our Dining and Portrait Reservations:

I made, canceled and remade several ADRs while planning, and we ended up with only one: Via Napoli on our Epcot day. I don’t like the idea of being tied to a schedule, Nick and I aren’t foodies, and – at this point – Andrew is afraid of characters.

For my birthday gift, I decided I wanted professional pictures of us as a family. We have 6-month and 12-month portraits of Andrew, but none of the three of us. So I reserved a 20-minute session through Disney Event Photography. It was for the evening of our arrival day at the Poly.

With all of that behind us … as Peter Pan says, here we go!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012:

Plans:
Leave home after lunch and make the two-hour drive to WDW. Check into POFQ, unpack and rest or explore a bit, then get ready for our portrait session and head over to the Poly. After our session, have dinner before returning to POFQ to explore and maybe swim. Go to bed at our usual bedtime (especially Andrew).

Actual:
I woke up at my usual time and went for a run. When I got home, Nick and Andrew were up, so Nick went to the gym while I made breakfast for Andrew. When Nick got back from working out, I took a shower, and Andrew and I went to Walmart for a few things while Nick ran a few errands of his own. He took a shower when he got home while I did my makeup.

By then it was time for lunch. I made us sandwiches and set Andrew up in his high chair while Nick loaded the car. After he and I ate, it was time to hit the road. We left a little after noon, and Andrew was asleep before we hit the interstate. He slept most of the way there, waking up once but falling back asleep. He woke up for good as we drove onto property, so we pointed out the characters on the welcome sign and all of the sights.

The drive takes us almost exactly two hours door to door, and we were checking in at Port Orleans French Quarter at 2 p.m. I had done online check-in 10 days prior, so I picked up our packet, which included a birthday button for me, and asked for a First Visit button for Andrew. While I was checking in, Nick and Andrew were playing near the fountain in the lobby (the kid *loves* water), then wandered into the gift shop, which is where I found them. We drove over to Building 4 and lugged our stuff to our room, 4126. Wow, what a great location!

We had a corner room right next to the food court, which was super convenient. Even though we didn't eat there (well, we got dessert once), we went there to fill our Camelbak bottles with ice and water every morning. It was a much shorter walk than the walk to the ice machine, which I think was in Building 7. The only time our room location sucked was around 3 a.m. every night. A CM area was catty-corner to our room, and every night I heard CMs talking -- scratch that, *yelling* -- outside. It sounded like they were standing on our doorstep. It got so bad the second night that I was about to call the front desk when they finally shut up. Luckily they never woke up Nick or Andrew (I'm the light sleeper of the group).

We last stayed at POFQ in April 2010, pre-renovation. The changes aren't dramatic, but I like what I saw. I love purple, gold and green together, and I really like the tile in the bathroom, too (I am not, however, a fan of the dark green wainscoting). Even Nick noticed the changes, which pleasantly surprised me.

I called the front desk for a Pack 'n Play since there wasn't one in our room. We also noticed that the fridge wasn't on, but later we saw that it wasn't plugged in. I'm glad we didn't call about that! That would've been embarrassing.

We unpacked a bit and set off to explore. Our first stop? Mardi Grogs! Nick got a Michelob Ultra, I got a Pina Colava (pina colada, Bacardi Razz and raspberry puree ... holy YUM!) and we got a water for Andrew. Our total was $17.71, including tip.

We walked over to the pool, where the afternoon dance party was starting. The CMs were dancing with kids to "Pumpin' Up the Party," parents were snapping pictures, and even more kids, parents, grandparents, you name it were playing in the pool or sitting in lounge chairs, just enjoying being there.

I'm ashamed to admit that I got teary-eyed at that point. I'd been looking forward to this trip for so long -- planning and adjusting plans and longing for our first real family vacation -- and now it was HERE. I feel so blessed to have been able to take a fun, relaxing vacation with my little family. Nick and I work so hard, both at our jobs and as parents (and I know you all do, too), and I felt such a release to finally BE at Walt Disney World -- my Happiest Place on Earth -- with my two favorite people, and to have three fun-filled days ahead of us. OK, enough sappy stuff.

We took our drinks over to the little playground, where there were a couple of little girls playing. This was the first of many, many stops to let Andrew enjoy some "free play." He and Nick, my kid at heart, joined the little girls on the playground while I sipped my drink and Instagrammed a few pictures.

After an hour or so of roaming the grounds, we headed back to our room to get ready for our portrait session. I changed Andrew, Nick took a quick shower, and I freshened up my makeup and ran the straightener through my hair before changing my outfit. We had our own impromptu photo shoot before heading to the Poly at 4:30 p.m.

It was the first time visiting the Poly for all of us and at first I was underwhelmed, but I really grew to love it. I guess I was expecting it to be massive, with lush greenery and flowing water everywhere, but the Great Ceremonial House -- or at least what we saw of it -- was pretty dark and compact. I guess that's to be expected of a structure from the early '70s, but it wasn't love at first sight. Once we explored the grounds a bit, though, and visited again later in our trip, both Nick and I got the bug and started talking about staying there on a future visit. There's something about the smell, too -- I don't know if it's all of the water features or the flora and fauna, but it smells so fresh and tropical. Or is that just me?

Anyway, we went up to the PhotoPass desk on the second floor and met our photographer, CM Jake. Poor Jake was wearing a long-sleeve dark shirt and black pants, and it was pretty darn hot and humid, even at 5 p.m. He said he and the other photographers are trying to convince their bosses to let them wear shorts in the summer, but no dice so far.

I had a couple of shots/spots in mind (on the beach with the castle in the background, and in a hammock), so we made our way down to the beach, stopping near some pretty foliage to get a couple of shots. Once we got to the beach, Andrew spotted a mother duck with her ducklings and took off after them. He was thisclose to jumping into the water before Nick reached him. Whew! After that pretty much all he wanted to do was run around, but we were able to get a few shots -- on the beach, at the top of the hill (I think maybe it's where wedding ceremonies are held?), lying in a hammock and on a rope bridge.

Jake was great. He was willing to spend more time with us even though we'd "only" purchased the 20-minute session (I say "only" because it was $150), but Andrew was pretty antsy so we didn't take up too much more of his time. Maybe 30 minutes altogether, and in that time we got 65 shots. For the 20-minute session, I'd say the value was there (I don't know that I would say the same about the hourlong session for $350); I just wish Andrew had been a bit more cooperative. Looking at the pictures, I also wish we'd gotten his hair cut beforehand. It's out of control!

Our CD wouldn't be ready for an hour and a half and Jake said we could pick it up another time, so we left the Poly and headed to Buffalo Wild Wings at the Crossroads for dinner. Nick and I got a couple of Blue Moons, and we got some water for Andrew. For dinner we ordered him the kids' chicken finger meal. I got the wrap with grilled chicken and medium sauce, and Nick got 12 hot wings with a side of Wild sauce.

Andrew, who hadn't eaten much that day, cleaned his plate. Seriously, I've never seen the kid eat so much! He ate all three chicken fingers (big ones, too) and most of his fries (Nick and I had a couple each). After getting something into his belly, he was his usual happy self (he was a bit grumpy while we were at the Poly). Our total with tip was $43.61.

Back at POFQ, we changed into our swimsuits and went out to the pool. It was pretty chilly by that time, so we tried the kiddie pool. It was warmer (Nick says because of all the kids peeing in it all day long), but the problem was the outside air was so cool.

Andrew's teeth were chattering, but he didn't want to get out. Being the horrible parents we are, we made him leave the pool area and went to the food court for a chocolate chip cookie and Mickey head-shaped Rice Krispies treat ($6.59). On the way out, we saw a bunny that Andrew became enamored with. We watched him for a while and took a few pictures, then Andrew waved "bye" and we were on our way.

Nick gave Andrew a bath when we got back to our room, then I read a few books to him (we brought some favorites from home) and put him in the Pack 'n Play next to the bed. He went down with no problem, and Nick and I played on our iPad and iPhones for a while (with the lights off) before calling it a night. It was pretty early -- maybe 9:30 -- when the two of us went to sleep.

Who/When/Where:

Who: Sue (53), DVC member
Dates: May 4 - 7, 2012
Travel Method: Personal car
Resort: Disney’s Boardwalk Villas Resort
Experience: Very experienced (11th stay at BWV)


INTRODUCTION:
This is a short little weekend trip – something that wouldn’t make much sense if I lived further away, but since the drive is only 2 hours this works as the minimum length of a trip for me. By leaving work at noon Friday I have part of the afternoon and all evening on arrival day, and then by keeping the room through Sunday night I get 2 full days to play & relax. As usual, I’ll be on the road around dawn Monday to get to work.

When I was here 2 weeks ago I said my husband SB would be coming along on this trip, but spending Saturday mostly off-site. He’s since changed his mind (multiple times actually – and they say women can’t make a decision, lol) so at this point it looks like it’ll be a solo trip but I won’t know for sure until noon Friday when I hit the road. I’ve modified my dining plans repeatedly – a ridiculous number of times actually, and only have 2 restaurant meals planned <g>. I do have a 3rd reservation that I’ll cancel once I’m certain SB won’t be coming along. In any event, as of 8pm Thursday night he’s still saying he’s staying home, so it’ll probably be another nice solo trip. The fact that it’s such a short trip and it’s supposed to be 90 or higher each day is surely a factor!! Nobody in their right mind wants to be here then.

My plans for this trip are to mostly hang out & relax. I’ve done the Flower & Garden Festival, so there’s no pressure to “see” anything or take a bunch of photos – did all that 2 weeks ago. Honestly I’m not even planning to bother with the parks, except for going into Epcot later in the day. The Orchestra (former members of ELO) is the group performing this weekend, and I think I wasn’t crazy about them last time but will give it another try. If I remember correctly they were instrumental, and I prefer vocals in concerts.

I’ll be meeting up with a friend for dinner Friday night at Chefs de France. I’ve known Jenny for years through a newsgroup and we met in person during last year’s Food & Wine Festival. She combines pleasure with business, driving from her organic meat farm in Tennessee to central Florida delivering meat to multiple customers along the way and then relaxes for a few days at WDW several times per year. I might also get to meet a facebook friend and her husband Saturday night for one of the concerts, so that will be fun too.

Besides the Chefs de France meal (yes, I ate there 2 weeks ago but really like it) I’m also booked at Portobello in Downtown Disney. I haven’t been there in years, and they seemed like a good choice for something light (caprese). The reservation I may cancel is Sunday lunch at Chefs de France. SB loves this place too, so if he comes along and I have to eat there twice it’s not a big deal. I’m bringing breakfast items and some crackers, cheese & wine with me, so breakfasts will be in the studio and I have the option of munching out on the balcony rather than going to a restaurant where the portion is bigger than I want.

My resort this time is Boardwalk Villas, in a boardwalk view studio. I can’t imagine staying here if I wasn’t boardwalk view – to me that makes as much sense as staying at Jambo House or Kidani Village and not picking savannah view! I’ve requested a room with an open (visually) balcony, since last time I had a horrible solid wall and couldn’t see a thing! I’m really hoping my room will be ready when I arrive – I gave a 1:30 arrival time when I did online check in, although I won’t arrive quite that early. The Boardwalk though seems to be the most difficult in getting rooms ready before 4pm! I’d prefer to get settled in the room before going into Epcot (not to mention not having to sit around the lobby waiting for a room).

The plans so far are:
Friday 5/4: Work, Drive to WDW, Chef’s de France dinner w/Jenny, Epcot concert Saturday 5/5: Pool or beach, Portobello. Epcot concert
Sunday 5/6: Pool or beach, Boardwalk
Monday 5/7: Drive to Gainesville



DAY 1 – Friday 5/4/12
Who: Sue (53), DVC member

Plan: Work, Drive to WDW, Chef’s de France dinner w/Jenny, Epcot concert

Actual: Work passed quickly and I was home at noon to change from pants to a skort and then head out the door after saying goodbye to SB. He wasn’t dressed and didn’t have his bags packed, so I assumed he had not changed his mind about coming on the trip, lol! I was nervous about whether or not the room would be ready, since Boardwalk is notoriously late so I decided to make a somewhat unnecessary stop at the Premium Outlets on the way. My only store was Character Premiere, and there really wasn’t anything new there. I’d hoped to find a cruise line pin for a friend who doesn’t know yet that she’s cruising with me next year, but they no longer have pins here. Oh well – at least I killed some time.

I arrived at Boardwalk just before 3 and parked over by the convention center and walked up that ramp rather than the big hill. When you pull into the parking lot the security cast member radios to the front entrance that you’re on your way, so when I approached the entrance I stopped and introduced myself to the 3 cast members standing there. One of them took me inside, checked her list and told me my room was ready (YESSSSSS)! She had me sit in a chair in the lobby while she went to get my packet, then brought it to me and asked if I had any questions. Of course I did not, so I thanked her and headed to my room. I’m on the 2nd floor and my only request was an “open” balcony – meaning not a solid wall. My room has an open balcony, and it’s just beyond the DVC model center, so it’s in the very last section of the building. I’d prefer to be a floor higher, but this will be fine.

I unpacked quickly and took a few photos of the room since I’m usually not here more than once a year. I was able to get online and sent a quick IM to SB letting him know I’d arrived safely. He didn’t respond, and I headed out to Epcot but he called when I was just a few doors down the hall. I told him he’d be bitching about this room since it’s almost all the way down the hall!

I walked into Epcot and immediately noticed a huge difference from only 2 weeks ago. Today everywhere I looked people were hot & miserable. They were fanning themselves, fanning their children, using battery operated fans, they had their short sleeves rolled up to sleeveless (men and women), and they just looked sweaty & awful for the most part. I remember when early May used to be the final chance for warm but pleasant weather, but that changed in the last 5 years and now it seems like it’s much more hot & humid than it used to be.

I had time so I walked over to the Festival Center and really loved feeling the air conditioning when I stepped inside!! It was pretty busy, and I remember some exhibits were there this weekend. Unfortunately, they’re there all of this weekend and the benches I used to enjoy are now occupied by exhibitors who have their display tables in front of them while sitting on my benches.

At the refreshment place I got a glass of the Cuvee sparkling wine and noticed most of the food items were sold out for the day. Is there some reason they cannot make more??? We’re talking wraps – easy stuff to make and bring over. I ended up at one of the table/chair sets in this area and played some suduko while enjoying the wine. A woman named Diane stopped by to introduce herself – she used to read on the aol boards and now reads my reports on the radp newsgroup. We chatted for a bit – she’s doing the Expedition Everest run thing tomorrow night, which is pretty cool. I wish I’d thought to invite her to join us for dinner since we had an empty chair and one of my dinner companions is also on radp and doing the Expedition Everest run!

A little after 4 I headed out, and saw Mouse Gears sells the pink Mickey flamingo they were sold out of last year. Mine is totally faded, and I’d been thinking about getting another one but keeping it inside the house. I’m thinking if I get a block of Styrofoam from a crafts store I can stick the legs in that to help it stand up. When I got out to World Showcase I saw the flamingo at the festival merchandise stand and asked them if they did the passholder discount there. They do, so I stopped to buy the flamingo. A guy there said to spray it with something (epoxy??) before putting it outside to keep it from fading. Would have been nice to know that a year ago <g>.

I continued over to France and got checked in at Chefs de France quickly. Jenny called at 4:30 to say she & Cathy were just crossing over the bridge from United Kingdom, and as soon as we hung up my name was called. I let them know the other 2 were on the way and I was taken to our table – this time in the side room instead of out front. Soon I saw Jenny & Cathy coming down the hill and they found me inside.

I’d never met Cathy before but read “of” her in Jenny’s trip reports, and she was very nice. For dinner I had a glass of wine and the onion soup, which was wonderful as always. Cathy had the goat cheese salad and said it was outstanding. It looked like something I’d enjoy, but I really love the onion soup! Jenny had the duck and some was really good but part of it was overcooked a bit. Everybody passed on dessert. While we were in there they brought Remy around (I thought he’d finished his engagement there) and a young girl from the next table went pushing Cathy out of the way to get to the dumb rat. She keep trying to touch him, and the cast member kept telling her not to. Dumbass mother finally told her not to touch. This girl was clearly old enough to act better than that, but she seems to have been spawned by someone who thinks her work ended with the last push while in labor <g>.

After dinner Cathy headed to Downtown Disney and Jenny & I took a walk around World Showcase. As we came back around we stopped for her to get a Kaki Gori then went into the America Gardens theater since the 6:30 concert was starting in 10 minutes. Tonight’s group is Orchestra, which is former members of ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). I had them confused with some other group, which I realized when they came out on stage and rather than being black guys in suits they were white guys in casual clothes. I recognized many of the songs and while I wouldn’t put them at the top of the list of concerts I’ve attended here, they were enjoyable and much better than I expected.

After the show we made another loop around the countries, and stopped in the Rose & Crown Pub briefly. I was flipping through Carol Stein’s scrap book enjoying the many pictures of friends from the Comedy Warehouse, and the multitude of pictures of her parents. Jenny asked if my picture was in there and I said I didn’t think so, but then I turned a page & there I was, lol! Fun times! The pictures were all taken at the Rose & Crown Pub, since she’s been there. Carol came out to start her set so we said hello, I introduced Jenny, then we headed out. Some day I’d like to hang out there with a drink and maybe something to eat while Carol’s performing.

At the International Gateway I headed back to Boardwalk and Jenny continued walking. It was great spending time with her again – always a pleasure! Before going up to the room I stopped by the main pool and picked up some pool towels. Tomorrow morning I’ll head to the beach at Beach Club and won’t have to detour to get towels then. Back in the room I canceled Sunday’s Chef’s de France reservation and updated the report – taking the laptop outside onto the balcony since it’s so pleasant (well, a little warm/sticky but a million times better than before sunset) out there. The boardwalk is always so full of life, with lots of people walking around, entertainers, boats arriving & departing, etc.

At 9 Illuminations started and I had a perfect view. When it ended I went inside to watch General Hospital on SoapNet and get the report posted.

Today was a terrific day, except for being too warm! It’s nice having a solo trip but also nice spending some of the time with friends, and I always enjoy being here near Epcot. Tomorrow will be a relaxing day – I hope to go for a run early, spend time on the beach, then have a nice lunch at Portobello. Once it cools off I’ll head back to Epcot for a bit again.


DAY 2 – Saturday 5/5/12
Who: Sue (53), DVC member

Plan: Pool or beach, Portabello, Epcot concert

Actual: I forgot to mention last night Jenny & I stopped in at Tutto Gusto to check it out. My biggest fear is it would always be mobbed like the tequila bar in Mexico, and that might turn out to be the reality. It’s a small space, with occupancy posted as 112 people. There are several tables, and the space is themed like a wine cellar. The food is visible in a display case and they have 200 different wines to pick from. I didn’t get to see a wine list (it’s a big book), and there were no empty tables. The kiosk is no longer there out along World Showcase, so that came down on May 1st when Tutto Italia and Tutto Gusto opened.

Last night I had trouble sleeping, which was probably due to occasional noise from out on the boardwalk. The glass door is pretty soundproof and does block out normal levels of noise, including the boats’ horn and even crying kids. But, when you get adult buffoons (perhaps drunk) screaming & laughing way louder than any normal person would do, you do hear that and it happened fairly often. Earplugs would have taken care of the noise, but it wasn’t that big a deal – who needs to waste WDW time sleeping anyway, lol! By shortly after 2am it was quiet, once JellyRolls was closed.

I got up just after 6, dressed, and went out for a run. This is the coolest it’ll be all day, but it’s already very humid. I walked to the start of the path (behind JellyRolls and Atlantic Dance), then ran to Hollywood Studios & back plus halfway around the lake. At Beach Club I walked the rest of the way back and then went up to say good morning to SB and take my shower.

Breakfast was a Disney refillable mug of cappuccino (made in the room) along with greek yogurt and a slice of bacon. My logic for that odd-sounding breakfast is wanting protein so it leaves me satisfied longer. The cappuccino is pure crap, but I enjoy it <g>. It is 99.7% caffeine free, at least. I just can’t see doing muffins or pastry – not only are they more calories and fat than any of us need, they’re just not that great tasting! The exception might be the cinnamon rolls at the bakery in MK or the croissant berry bread pudding at Season’s <g>.

At 9 I walked over to the beach at Beach Club and dragged a couple chaise lounges near the edge of the water. For the first hour it was gorgeous – nice breeze off the water and comfortable temperature. After that it got pretty warm, but the breeze definitely helped. I mostly had the beach to myself, other than a solo guy who used a chaise lounge further down the beach. There were several ducks out there, bathing themselves then napping in the shade. At one point a mom and daughters came by and one daughter (my guess 5th or 6th grade) when running towards the ducks to make them run away and thankfully her mom told her to stop. They continued down the beach but later returned. The ducks were napping in the shade nearby and while it’s not my job or desire to parent other people’s kids (I already raised mine) when the girl came running back over to the shade and the ducks started scrambling I told her to knock it off and stop scaring them. I asked her how she’d like it if the ducks turned and attacked her or tried to scare her?? She just looked at me like a dope. Finally, she left to join her mother & sisters, most likely to go to Stormalong Bay since it was then time for it to open. I waited to see if John Quinones (sp?) would show up to tell me it was a scene from What Would You Do, on ABC, but evidently it was real life <g>.

Anyway, it was a very pleasant morning and nobody else bothered me except for one duck who needed to make sure I wasn’t sneaking any food while laying on my chaise lounge. Once he or she was satisfied that all I had was a magazine, kindle and cell phone he waddled away to join the others to give his report. A little before noon I gathered up my stuff and headed back to Boardwalk for another shower!

I was a little hungry, so I had a few almonds but didn’t want to eat much more right before lunch. My reservation is for 2pm but realistically I’m sure I can show up early and get seated there. I ended up leaving before 1pm and boy was my car HOT!! It took the whole trip to cool down, since it is so hot outside. I parked at Pleasure Island and walked over to Portobello and was seated immediately. I was offered a seat on the side patio and checked it out. It’s covered, had ceiling fans and didn’t allow smoking so that works for me! My view was the lake and Saratoga Springs, and Fulton’s was right over my shoulder.

My server was a very nice young man who kept calling me Sweetie. Of course the young lady who seated me stopped by later and called me Dear. Am I looking 90 years old or something?? This month members of the restaurant’s vip club get half price prosecco for being a mom, so I ordered that ($4.95 instead of the usual $9.95). It was very good – slightly sweet but not too sweet. I also had the caprese rustica appetizer as my meal. Here they bring out warm sourdough rolls with roasted garlic and olive oil – I ate one while there and took a second one for in the room later or tomorrow. The caprese was good, but somewhat unusual in that the tomatoes were roasted and chilled. Still, it all tasted good. I took my time and had a second glass of prosecco while reading my kindle. After the Tables in Wonderland and tip lunch was $21.

My son Chris called while I was there – he’s on board a cruise ship sailing later today to the Western Caribbean. I guess when your mom is paying take you on a nice 10-day HAL cruise in November you have the money to do another cruise with your friends, lol! After we talked he was heading out to take pictures around the ship – it’s funny to see how alike we are at times. I trained him well <g>.

After lunch I walked around the Marketplace but it was overbearingly hot! I can’t get over how miserable it is right now – this is too early to be this awful! At the pin store I found a DCL pin and bought it for my future cruise friend. I skipped the chocolate sample at Ghiradelli and browsed through World of Disney without buying anything. Eventually I headed back to the car and drove back to Boardwalk.

Along the way I stopped at the Hess station to fill up the gas tank and while I was there a woman asked if she could take a picture of my license plate (GO 2 WDW). I said sure, and she did <g>. Back at Boardwalk I walked over to the dvc model center to see which model they had but it was just Boardwalk. Over at Saratoga they have Aulani and Kidani Village, but I don’t feel like going over there. I did chat with the cast member for a while, about how much sense dvc makes. From there I went to Boardwalk Bakery and bought a cupcake – chocolate mocha. I was in the mood for something sweet and ate about a quarter of it when I got to the room. It was ok – nothing outstanding.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the air-conditioned studio waiting for it to get less hot & oppressive outside. Unfortunately, I couldn’t wait for late October so around 5:30 I headed out and walked over to Epcot. The Friendship must have discharged a full load, as the wait to get into the park was ridiculous!

The only thing I wanted to do was find a shady spot to wait for Rhona & Mark to get to America for the concert so I headed in that direction and sat on a wall once I got to America. Then I noticed hornets flying in the flowers there so I decided to move, lol! I ended up at a table outside the counter service restaurant, which wasn’t very pleasant because the air hardly moves back there. In addition a couple little girls were throwing pretzel sticks to the big white birds and an idiot old lady at the next table was tossing them popcorn. We have these birds in Ft Myers (the stand 2-3 feet tall, have a long curved beak) and I’ve never known them to eat crap like pretzels or popcorn, but here at Disney the stupid tourists (stupid enough to not read the huge “don’t feed the birds” signs here) have altered the birds’ diet. Very sad.

Rhona called once she & Mark got out of Rose & Crown and I moved out to the fountain to wait for them. She’s read my trip reports for 15-16 years but we’ve never met before – so it was nice to have this planned get-together. They’d already let people in for the 6:30 concert so we found seats and chatted before the show. Once again it was great, and everyone enjoyed it.

After the concert they went to take Flower & Garden pictures and I headed back to the Boardwalk. After updating the report I got some ice and by 8pm should be out on the balcony with a glass of wine, some crackers & cheese and my kindle. My cover has the built-in light so I can read even after it gets dark!

Today was a lazy but very nice day, except for the heat. I know I should be used to it since I’ve lived in Florida for 26 years but I hate the heat & humidity if I want to be outside. But, I love the winters so I won’t move anywhere else!

Tomorrow I plan to run in the morning, then spend some time on the beach before it gets too hot. After that I’ll have to play it by ear, but might suffer through the heat to get lunch from Tutto Gusto (new wine bar) over in Italy.


DAY 3 – Sunday 5/6/12
Who: Sue (53), DVC member

Plan: Pool or beach, Boardwalk

Actual: I slept much better last night, only hearing noisy people once and I assumed it was around 2am when Jelly Rolls closed. I got up a little after 5 and headed out to run at 5:25. Today I did the same run as yesterday except rather than switching to walking at Beach Club I continued until I got to ESPN. I did stop briefly at the water fountain at the Yacht Club marina, where I splashed some cold water on my face (which never dried since it was so humid out) in an unsuccessful attempt to feel cooler. It was both warm and very humid this morning!

Back in the studio I took a nice cool shower, then made my cappuccino and hung out online. Today’s breakfast is a repeat of yesterday’s breakfast. The weather people on tv are saying today will be the hottest day of the year – at least 5 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year. How lucky to be here during a heat wave, lol!

It was not too long after 8:30 when I walked over to Beach Club. I figured as hot as it would be, the most pleasant time would be early! Today there were a handful of other people who also came out to the beach for short periods – I’m assuming they left to go hit the pool when I didn’t see anyone stay very long. The ducks were out but mostly staying further away today, although one came over to my chair to see what I was doing.

I was glistening by 9:12 and it felt hot by 9:30 – time for sunscreen and baseball cop. Thank goodness for clouds that passed by to create shade here and there, as it never really got too bad (felt better than yesterday). I gathered up my stuff about 11:30 and headed back to Boardwalk.

On the way back I ran into an old dvc friend Beth Kendall – we’d never met before but she recognized me. It was so nice to finally meet her! Back at the resort I took another shower and got dressed, then hung out online while my hair dried. Just before 1 I left to make the walk over to Epcot, hoping to get into Tutto Gusto.

It actually didn’t feel too bad walking over to Epcot, even when I picked up the pace in order to beat the arriving Friendship. As it turned out I don’t think many people were on board, but it was still nice to get through the entrance with no wait. World Showcase wasn’t as crowded as it will be later, and it was pretty comfortable walking over to Italy.

I was able to walk right into Tutto Gusto and saw several empty tables. A cast member seated me and gave me a menu (1 page) and their wine list, which is a many page textbook! Several of the wines are sold by the bottle only, so those are of no interest to me (especially solo <g>). There are still a lot of choices available by the glass, so I selected the first pinot grigio I came to.

They take Tables in Wonderland here, which is good news! The wine was very good – crisp and refreshing and light. I ordered the caprese panini for $8 and I’m glad I didn’t embarrass myself asking for a to-go box for the half I didn’t finish. I was expecting something large like I’d seen at the kiosk outside on the last trip. When the plate came I was shocked by the mini food! There’s a photo in the album, but it was a small wedge of lettuce with Caesar dressing and some parmesan cheese along side this pointy little roll with a piece of mozzarella, slice of tomato and basil leaf. The bread was really too overpowering – just the tomato & mozzarella would have been better, but for $8 I would expect more than 1 thin slice of each!

The rest of the food menu consisted of various sliced meats, assorted cheeses, a few versions of corkscrew pasta and several appetizer type things (all of which had something I won’t eat, like mushrooms or mussels). I thought about the bruschetta but wasn’t sure what it came with – I’m assuming it wouldn’t be a plate of chopped tomatoes and a spoon but I didn’t ask. I think for me this will be a glass of wine place, and I’m not sure my husband should order any food here because he’s certain to gripe about the small portion (the whole tapas concept is lost on him – he can’t imagine why anyone would want that vs a “real” meal).

When I finished my wine I settled the check and headed out, deciding to continue walking around World Showcase since it was fairly comfortable on my way here. It did feel warmer now, but not too bad. I took a picture of the flamingo since someone on mouseowners asked what it looked like. In Mexico I went inside and rode the boat ride, realizing this was the first attraction I’d done on this trip and today was my last day, lol!

A wheelchair accessible boat arrived and the cast member asked if I wanted to ride that or wait for the next one. It has a row of single seats on either side and a rubberized ramp in the middle for a wheelchair. I took it, figuring I’d have the boat to myself. There was a big back up to unload, but eventually I got out of there. As soon as I stepped outside I noticed it felt significantly worse – oppressively hot, with no shade or breeze to provide relief. I couldn’t get out of the park fast enough, lol!

As I approached the turnstiles I saw the Friendship boat unloading at the dock so I took the lazy person’s way and rode the boat back to Boardwalk. Once I got back to the studio I ate another quarter of the cupcake, but it really is not worth the calories. Somebody needs to make a great carrot cake cupcake, topped and filled with cream cheese icing – yum!!

I spent the rest of the afternoon either in the studio or out on the balcony. I have shade out there pretty much all day, except just after sunrise, so it’s great! It was pleasant on the balcony – I finished another book, enjoyed wine, cheese & finished the crackers. At one point I came inside for more wine and left a half cracker with cheese on it on the table outside. SB called while I was inside and as I was talking to him I saw a bird land on the balcony railing. I yelled “hold on” to SB and ran outside just as the damn bird flew down to try to grab my cracker, lol! Sitting out there for the previous hour I didn’t see a single bird, yet as soon as I go inside there he is! I won, though <g>.

After explaining to SB what had happened I went back out to finish the glass of wine on the balcony, eating the cracker quickly so I wouldn’t be a target for the bird and his buddies. Shortly after 7 I decided to take a walk around the lake and as I came outside I was greeted by a couple huge lightning bolts in Epcot. It looked like I still had time, so I made my quick walk around the lake and stopped at the Boardwalk Bakery and Seashore Sweets but nothing looked to be worth the calories.

I went back to the room and by the time I got there it was pouring outside! The immediate boardwalk area had cleared, but plenty of people were caught out in the rain further away. Hellloooo – did you not realize WDW is in Florida??? How can you come here and not pay attention to the weather??? They’d been saying rain tonight for days now. Oh well, if the clueless get wet that’s not my problem – I don’t go anywhere without checking the weather and bringing an umbrella <g>.

At this point I’m in for the night – the Amazing Race finale is on tonight so I’ll be watching that plus Illuminations at 9 since it’s right outside my balcony <g>. This place is so much better than Gainesville!!

The photos from this trip (including Tutto Gusto) are on shutterfly at
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...ZNGTdm2bMWjDFg

Tomorrow I plan to get up early to do a run while I’m here, then I’ll shower & have some cappuccino before driving home to get ready for work. It’ all good, except maybe for that going to work part <g>!

The next trip will be 6 nights at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort starting May 23rd. SB has never been there during beach weather, and my favorite time to be there is when it’s warm enough to be on the beach in a swimsuit (rather than jeans and a sweatshirt)! After that I’ll have a short solo weekend at Bay Lake Tower – once again skipping the parks and just enjoying the resort since it’ll be so hot.

I've finally found the time to upload my DD8's 4 park character challenge photos. She met 60 unique characters, 8 more in different costumes and 3 repeats or 71 meets in ONE park day across 4 parks. She was still skipping at the end of the day too!
http://wp.me/P10sVH-xr