The Birthday Bash - Part 1 Day 1, arrival and Day 2, MK and Epcot
About This Page:

ladyt · 03-19-2005, 01:38 PM

The Birthday Bash – Arrival, 3/9 and Day 2, 3/10

Cast – Me, dh and dd who was turning 4 on 3/12

(This is our first trip using AP’s and DDE card)

After driving from Ohio to South Carolina and spending the night, we headed out bright and early, finally knowing that we would arrive at Disney World in a few hours. The anticipation changed to doubt when we hit Florida and the rain began to fall. It was pouring and the temperature was about 45 degrees. “45 degrees? Isn’t this supposed to be Florida?” Oh well, we were on our way and even if it did rain all week, at least we were at Disney World! We had to activate our AP’s. I knew if I didn’t, they would surely ask to see them at check-in for the AP discount. (Of course, they didn’t.) We drove straight to the Animal Kingdom. It was still pouring rain. As soon as we got out of the van, the parking lot transport pulled away. I was not happy about that, they could have waited, considering there was no one else on it and it was raining! Anyway, we all walked to Guest Services and got our vouchers exchanged. If I would have known that dh didn’t have to sign anything or have his hand scanned, I would have let him wait in the van, oh well, lesson learned.

We arrived at the AllStar Movies Resort at 3:00 p.m. Guest Services was all but empty and we were greeted immediately. Our room was ready and, as requested, we had a room on the first floor in the Dalmations courtyard. My dd was thrilled to see that her “little doggie” was there waiting for her to arrive. We got to our room, unpacked the minivan and my dh and I began unpacking the suitcases. It was still raining.

I promised dd that we would go to the food court immediately and have a Mickey Ice Cream Bar. We headed out, dd in her raincoat and dh and I getting soaked. (*Note – I packed for cooler weather, but I left my jacket at home!) Dh went to check out the Arcade and dd and I went and bought a new mug (same as September) and an Ice Cream bar. We sat in the food court and enjoyed it immensely. We went and looked around the gift shop, bought a few postcards to mail and headed back to the room to get ready for our PS at ‘Ohana. It was still raining.

Dh started sneezing. His eyes started watering. His nose was getting stuffier by the minute. This lasted the entire 5 days.

We headed out to catch a bus to the Magic Kingdom and the monorail to the Poly from there. It was still raining. We got to the Magic Kingdom, hopped on the monorail and headed to the Poly. It stopped raining!!! I was hoping it would, first so that Wishes would still be shown and second so we could see the Electrical Water Pageant after dinner. We arrived at ‘Ohana and checked in. It was so crowded we could barely move. People without PS’s were being told a 2-hour wait. I figured there wasn’t a hope in getting a lagoon view table, but I asked. They politely told me they would see what they could do. After ½ hour, our beeper went off (we were in the gift shop and dd was throwing a fit because she wanted a Mulan doll) and we were led to a table, not right by the windows, but facing Cinderella Castle nonetheless. Dd was still crying and Rosa came to the rescue. She brought her some little paper drink umbrellas. Dd was thrilled. She still didn’t eat, but at least she was calm.

The food was wonderful! The side dishes were really good. I especially liked the salad, the green beans and the chicken. Then came the meat skewers. The turkey and steak were awesome. They were tender, hot and cooked to perfection (with the exception of a few pieces of steak that were a little rare for my taste, but they were at the bottom of the skewer and probably didn’t touch the fire enough). The dipping sauces were also very good. The drink that I got could knock over a horse. It was the Lapu Lapu, a bunch of rum served in a pineapple. Great presentation and a good drink, but I had to water it down a bit to drink it all.

We were just about to finish eating when the lights were dimmed and Wishes began. We had a great view until a few people decided to go stand by the windows. One of the CM’s asked them to either move or squat down and they did. It was really nice. Not as nice as being in the park, but nice not to be crowded and cold that night!

We finished dinner and hopped back on the monorail, caught the bus from MK back to our resort and went to bed with full stomachs and dreams of the Magic Kingdom in the morning. (Dh was still miserable and not in a very good mood. I could only hope that he would feel better in the morning.)

Day 2 – Magic Kingdom and Epcot evening EMH

Weather – cool in the morning, but about 63 degrees by noon and sunny!

I woke up at 6:30 a.m., mainly because dh woke up early due to his allergy attack. I took my time getting ready, woke dd up and got her ready and waited for dh. He was not a happy camper. He didn’t feel good, he was tired and he didn’t want to be rushed. I tried my best not to hurry him, but I was dying to get to MK for the opening ceremony since I had never seen it. OK, we were on our way by 8:20. Just enough time to get there by the opening ceremony. We made it there and through security just in time. The ceremony began and I was able to get most of it on tape. I missed the end because dh was getting inpatient to go through the ticket line and since this was the first time we used our AP’s and the new scanning system, I didn’t want him to go it alone. No problems there. We entered Main Street and the excitement just spread through me (you know that feeling!) We headed straight to Tommorowland. First, we met Buzz and then we rode Space Ranger Spin – no wait. Dh took dd to drive the Indy cars while I had a break (yes, I am still a smoker). I got some great pics though! They had about a 10 minute wait. We then went to the Teacups and rode them twice with no wait. We decided to wait for the rope to drop at Toon Town. I told my dd that some characters would be coming to greet her. Sure enough, here came Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. We were front and center with a big crowd behind us. Pooh hugged my dd first and then the rope was dropped. We headed straight to Goofy’s Barnstormer – no wait. We headed to Mickey’s house and met Mickey – 5 minute wait. We toured Minnie’s house and then decided to go see Minnie and Donald at the Hall of Fame. We had about a 10 minute wait. Dh couldn’t stand all the people, so he waited outside. We got some great pictures with Minnie and Donald.

We headed to Fantasyland and the wait for Dumbo was 50 minutes. So, I convinced dd to see Philharmagic – wait 15 minutes. She actually remembered parts coming up in the show from our last trip 6 months ago! After Philharmagic, we were hungry, so we decided to eat at Pinocchio’s Village Haus. The food was OK, good toppings bar. Tried to get a sneak peek at Small World, no such luck. We decided it was time to head back for a break, so we stopped in Tinkerbell’s Treasures for a look at Tink in the drawer and she wasn’t there! I asked a CM and he said “well, she should be in there”. I told him there was no light on in the drawer. He told us to wave our hands around in front of the mirror. It didn’t work. My dd was not happy to say the least. We stopped at City Hall on the way out to get the birthday button and we met King Louie and Balou on the way out.

Dd and I decided to go swimming so that dh could take a nap. The water was so warm, but the air was really cold when we got out. I think the Florida residents thought we were crazy, but dd had a good time and it was much warmer than Ohio so it felt OK to us!

After dh’s nap, he felt a bit better. We decided to go to Epcot since it was EMH evening there. We went directly to Living Seas and got in just before 7:00. We were told we could stay as long as we wanted, but it was officially closed. So, we were there for about 45 minutes looking around. We missed the last showing of Crush, but that was OK. Dd was more interested in the fish anyway. We left the LS and went to go get something to eat. I did Oktoberfest in Germany, had a wonderful bratwurst with kraut and a piece of apple strudel. Dd had a hot dog and dh shopped and bought us chocolate pretzels and some other chocolates in Germany. Dh decided on egg rolls from China. He got done eating just in time to see Illuminations. We did not have a good spot since we were in China, but it was not too bad. We were going to stay for EMH, but we were tired so we decided to go and get a good nights sleep.

Next installment – Day 3, Animal Kingdom and Down Town Disney

Cheeser · 03-19-2005, 04:12 PM

Love the trip report! I'm going for next year's Holidays too! Hope your husband wasn't sick the whole time! I always take Benadryl with me just in case my allergies act up. It really depends on the time of year!!!