Driving Karen nuts in 10 rides or less **Updated 2/18** COMPLETE - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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What time did you finally make it home last night?!? I had visions of you curled up in a chair at the Orlando Airport.
It wasn't too bad -- I think I landed by 10:30 and was in Bob's car by about 11, home by 11:40. (My poor dad, though. He came to stay with Calder after school and had dinner with "the boys." Then ended up staying with Calder in our house -- WITHOUT THE GOLF CHANNEL -- until we got home at almost midnight.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jillybean
I'm already talking about "next year" to Thom and he hasn't said a word - - I think he's already making up snarky responses in his head!
Good lordy Lou! Well, we can take it -- in fact, we'll happily "take it" if we get to spend time together again. Right, sistah?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jillybean
What a wonderful, magical time . . . now I'm starting to cry again.
Oh, man... don't do that. Now I'm sniffling.... Just thinking of that pic of you on the DME bus makes me "cry like a baby" (according to a certain little blonde girl I know.)
Love you!
Eileen
PS - the boys lived like wild dogs. There wasn't a clean towel in the house, they ignored a wonderful beef stew I had defrosted before I left and the Christmas tree is up, but not lit or garlanded. I'm not even sure they brushed their teeth while I was gone.
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Oh the sadness and jealousy at my house, not to mention the laundry was overwhelming. Gnashing of teeth, crying uncontrollably. Oops, that was me on the way home.
Yes.... I saw that and have responded appropriately.
Sheesh! You'd think your husband could control his jealousy at us having tons of fun *without him* ...at our own speed.
Some people just don't know how to enjoy life!
Eileen
Thom has reportedly said that Bob & I can borrow Jill whenever, so I think I'll just put in for a ressie for December 2009 right away! Do we need to bribe Bob and Calder? Say, a set of new towels and meals from Home Bistro?
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I hope you guys are all serious about MouseFest 2009. We plan on being there and it would be great to meet up with all again and to finally meet Bob and Larry.
Jill has put a moritorium on Karen's doing any tripping or falling (or even inelegant walking) from October 2009 thru Mousefest. That girl is GOING this time!!
We are all serious. Very, very serious. Bob has already been warned and will not be given a chance to argue or complain. (Well, he'll be able to complain... but I'm still going!)
I hope you guys are all serious about MouseFest 2009. We plan on being there and it would be great to meet up with all again and to finally meet Bob and Larry.
I am wearing my serious face! I should probably warn the folks at work that I want to go again next year, but anyone who has asked me about it probably doesn't need me to say it!
As will become clear from the TRs, this trip truly exceeded expectations and I am certainly anxious to meet Karen and you and all the others who couldn't join us this year.
I didn’t take any notes, so I have to move fast on this trip report or it will all be lost in the blur of Christmas
My blogging gave me timestamps and other details so I should be able to reconstruct most of what happened.
Karen wasn’t along on this trip – not that that’s a GOOD THING!! Just that it means I won’t be so concerned with accuracy so much as I’ll be with “telling the tale.” Makes for much quicker writing!
Day 1 – December 11 – “Getting there”
You all know how hard it was for me to contemplate this trip without Karen… Well, it was. Terribly, terribly hard.
Still, I needed the break, had already spent my money on airfare, and was desperate to see Jill and Sharon (and other PassPorters)… so I was going.
So, after a self-inflicted kick in the pants on Wednesday night, I got all my stuff packed up. (And, I might add, I did a pretty wicked awesome job of it – it was all arranged and organized and I didn’t forget a single thing.) I was done around 11PM and crawled into bed, managing to fall asleep pretty quickly. I didn’t *stay* that way, however, and was awake by 3AM, the butterflies in my stomach aflapping. I trudged downstairs to watch a little TV until it was time to shower and get ready for my o’ dark thirty pickup by Christine (minniemouse27.)
4AM is truly o’ dark thirty!!
Christine pulled up and I headed out to her car, trying not to be influenced by the pitiful looks my dogs were giving me from the front door. (“Don’t go, Mama. DON’T GOOOOOOOO!)
Christine had a Disney CD all queued up and we had a blast chatting the whole 45-minute drive to the airport. We kept it up non-stop in the remote parking lot she uses and even snared some unsuspecting fellow travelers into our conversation on the shuttle. (They were going to Disney as well….)
All too quickly, we were at the Airtran check-in spot and I said my temporary good-byes to Christine before heading in to find a total cluster-you-know-what line of angry people trying to check in for a 6:30 AM flight. Ruh-roh… this didn’t look good for me trying to snag stand-by for the 7AM flight. After much jostling and mishandling by an Airtran rep, there were quite a few travelers who didn’t make their Atlanta flight and I was worried they’d be shifted to my direct flight at 7AM… making my hope for stand-by dwindle quickly.
My one recourse was upgrading to 1st class -- $60 lighter in the pocket, I had a confirmed seat and I headed up to a speedy trip through security. I stopped for a biological break and walked to the gate to find that they’d already done most of the boarding and I was able to sail right into by big comfy seat. Bonus – the seat belts fit on me now without needing a belt extender!! I *love* the treadmill now!
I popped in my headphones and tried to snooze with my iPod. As is tradition for me, I played Soarin’ over and over as we landed – so cool to be above the thick blanket of clouds and hearing that music! We were at a gate and disembarking quickly. Another bio break and a quick stop at Starbucks for my new obsession (the Espresso Truffle!) and I was monorailing it over to the terminal and down to Magical Express a happy woman. The CM was efficient and had me walking over to the red carpet within minutes to find that they were boarding my bus already – zoom, zoom, ZOOOM.
This whole sequence boded well for a smooth trip!
Aaaaahhhhh… the Espresso Truffle. It’s to die for!
I struck up conversations with the folks around me (yeah… I know.. you’re surprised to hear that I was talking to perfect strangers! ) and the next thing I knew, we were pulling into Saratoga Springs – yippy skippy! For once I was the first drop off from DME!
I’d never been here before, but SS impressed immediately. It’s a really pretty resort – albeit B.I.G.
I had an efficient check-in CM and was out again moments later and heading to the bus depot. To continue with the theme of great transportation luck today, the first bus that showed up was a Magic Kingdom one!
The excitement that I’d been lacking for the past ten days came rushing back! Waaaaahooooo! I was really at Disney and was geared up for good times! The skies were looking threatening, but I wasn’t going to let that dampen my spirits. I mean, seriously, look at all the fun that I was going to have:
Unfortunately, the rain started in earnest as I walked up Main Street, drinking in the beauty of this park.
I took out a poncho and ducked under cover while I pulled it on. I didn’t have a hat to secure the hood, so I took my sunglasses out and popped them on top to help a tad. It looked goofy, but it worked. I realized that it was close enough to noon that lunch was a’calling me. It took two seconds to determine that I wanted something from Columbia Harbour House. Unfortunately, I hadn’t heard that they’d axed their soup and ½ sandwich combo, so I had to settle for just the tuna sandwich.
It was tasty!
Next stop, ride number 1 – the one I can’t seem to get anyone to go on anymore…
As always, the bagpiper in the white room was about four measures in front of the rest of the gang. And… as always… I got quite indignant about it, even though I was the only one in my boat.
It was about this time that Karen started texting me – and Verizon has great reception because I was able to receive (and unable to ignore) the multitude of texts telling me I was behind schedule and asking how blasted long it took to eat a tuna sandwich. She’s not even here and she’s making me stick to a schedule!
Well, I have to say that my timing was perfect because, just as the boat was pulling past the IASW façade, the clock chimed noon – the doors opened, the gears spun and I tried to capture it on video for the blog. Umm… doesn’t translate well that close or that grainy, but I found it fun.
By the time I came out of the ride, it was pouring rain… unceasing, pelting rain. Sigh… Oh well. I had my poncho and my sunglasses – most of me stayed dry as I splashed through Fantasyland, thankful that I was wearing my fleece-lined Crocs that didn’t let moisture get in through the sides.
I thought about Mickey’s PhilharMagic, but I knew that I needed to get over to the Contemporary by 1PM for the kickoff, so I stopped in at Sir Mickey’s to see my buddy Willy:
And to admire the back of the castle.
I debated just walking over to the Contemporary (knowing my luck with the monorail in recent years), but a monorail was in the station and I figured I’d be able to dash on board and get a quick ride.
I shoulda listened to my instinct. I boarded, the doors shut… and we sat there. Then we pulled forward onto the rail over the bus depot and sat THERE for at least ten minutes. Oh well. I was literally wringing out rain from the sleeves of my pullover when I struck up a conversation with a fellow Mousefester – I recognized her from the yellow lanyard. She was going to the Mousefest Kickoff reception, but had no idea how to get there. I took Lindsey under my wing and we willed the monorail into motion. After a bit of scrambling to figure out that the convention rooms were NOT on the floor under the concourse (but out in a building behind the main building) we eventually ran into Lesley, who was off to find some hot tea.
Lindsey and I continued on to find the meeting room and sneaked into the end of Mousefest 101. (I have to say that I got a kick out of my DH Bob’s blog comments regarding this – “You have to take a class for vacationing? I know if there is a test you will do very well.”)
Terri (DrDolphin) and Sara (DopeyGirl) were there and Sara introduced me to her adorable peanut of a baby, Mr. Evan.
After a minute, Sara (Belle*) asked Lesley and me if we could help her by guarding the reception goodies until it was time for the reception to start – no problem. Lesley and I have no trouble filling time with a good long chat.
When the reception began, the Mousefesters poured out of the ballroom and filled the hall, pushing Lesley and me over to the wall – where we first saw Bob and Larry in person! There was much hugging and greeting and excited talking. Eventually, more and more PassPorters came over to us – Terri and Sarah joined us, followed by Christine and Amy (iamgrumpy) as well as a lot of other people who's names have fallen through my sieve of a brain. (Sorry!)
As things began winding down, Dave Marx came over to hand out PassPorter Pal pins to the guides so we could give them away to people we met. (I wasn’t so good at this since I rarely had a bag with me and didn’t wear pants with pockets.)
I had been trading texts with Jill for the past couple of hours and knew that she had experienced flight delays. Luckily, by about this time, her plane landed at MCO and she was heading for DME and then the hotel. We made plans to meet up for a late lunch at the Poly.
Up next: ducklings, cell phones and looooong meals that drive Karen crazy!
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Great start Eileen!!! Can't wait to read more. I think Sarah and I were coming out of Haunted Mansion as you were walking up main street in the deluge!!! We ran to CCH for lunch and got a wee bit WET!
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Just thinking of that pic of you on the DME bus makes me "cry like a baby" (according to a certain little blonde girl I know.)
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We plan on being there and it would be great to meet up with all again and to finally meet Bob and Larry. 
I *love* the treadmill now!
) and the next thing I knew, we were pulling into Saratoga Springs – yippy skippy! For once I was the first drop off from DME!
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