OUR VERY NAUTICAL NEW YEAR - Updated 1/16/07
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ilovedisney0_0 · 01-10-2007, 02:31 PM

Wait, I got lost...did you ditch the Cali Grill idea? I sympathize with your husband, I hate those 2 hour waits, too! Can't wait to read more! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

**Eeyoresmom** · 01-10-2007, 09:32 PM

Day 1 - Nobody is leaving for Disney until that snow globe is fixed!!!!

Tentative Plans:[/b]

Scott to go into work for ½ day, leave around Noon to come home
Get back from my mother’s, and have Scott help me unpack and pack for Disney
Get to airport around 6:30 p.m. for 8:30 p.m. flight out of PHL
Land at MCO at about 11:00 p.m. and meet Tiffany Towncar at the luggage pick up, then on our way!
After checking in, unpack and go to bed to hit the ground running on Saturday.

What Really Happened:

We should have known that we were pushing our luck with the timetable that we had set for the first day. I was driving 4hours from my mothers to Philadelphia on the day that we left, and was counting on getting there between 2-3 p.m., have Scott help me unpack and pack for Disney and leave around 5 p.m. Scott and I are a bit of a paradox when it comes to the concept of time. I am running late most times, and Scott is painfully aware of trying to be on time. Thus, I was really counting on his help when I got back to get us out the door on time. I called Scott around 11:00 a.m. when I was leaving home to find out if he was leaving soon. He informs me that he had a client emergency and could not leave as soon as he had planned. I call him periodically from the road, and it is obvious that, of the two of us, I would be the first one home. So much for getting help packing from Scott! Whatever level of panic I had about getting everything done began to rise quickly. Part of it was, on our last trip, we played around a bit too long and ended up missing our flight home from Orlando (almost missed it the next day when had spent the night at the airport, but that is another story all in itself). Needless to say, neither Scott nor I wanted to miss our flight to Disney, especially since we were taking the last one of the night. Finally, I get a call from Scott at about 3:30 that he is finally leaving, which means that he will get home around 4:30-5, which rules out a lot of help from him.

I arrive home and start unpacking from the holiday. The good news was that, as I had asked him to do, Scott had put aside most of what he wanted to take, as well as a few things for me. Plus, I had put a several items aside when I packed for Christmas. That saved a bit of time for me. I kept calling Scott periodically to monitor his progress. I can tell he is getting nervous about being late and getting a bit cranky as well. He gets home around 4:50 and starts asking about whether I am ready to leave or not (Um, remember, you were supposed to help me pack?) Anyway, I am getting all of our stuff together and he keeps reminding me what time it is, that we missed our flight last time etc. (like that is going to make me go faster). We get everything into the car, and I am just about ready, and it is about 6 p.m. The airport is about an hour away without traffic, 1.5-2 hours with traffic (this is a debate – I think there would have to be something very wrong for it ever take 2 hours to the airport). We have to get our car parked at one of the airport shuttle services and get to the terminal itself. Translation: Scott has ants in his pants to leave because he does not want to miss our flight and I am displaying my somewhat “casual” sense of time (I didn’t think I was being casual . . . I was still finishing up getting everything ready). However, it is dark now, and our Christmas decorations are on a timer. We have one of those giant snow globes in the front yard. While we were away for the holidays, one of the supports came out of the ground, and the snow globe was slumped over and it needed to be tied down again so it stood straight up. While I am finishing getting ready, I tell Scott that the globe needs to be propped up before we leave (I had already fixed some other decorations that he neglected since he returned – but until the lights came on, I didn’t know this one needed fixed). He looks at me like I am crazy or that I am asking to wait another hour before we leave. “You want me to fix it before we leave” he asks. “Yes, I do not want it looking slumped over while we are gone.” I do not know if he actually asked me if I was nuts or not, but that was the gist of the look that I got. At any rate, the globe was resecured and we were off. Although it was around 6 when we left, we caught a break because there really was not very much traffic. We got to our airport shuttle between 7 and 7:15, and made it to the airport around 7:25. We asked our driver if things were busy, and he indicated that he thought that the terminals were pretty dead at that time. Needless to say, we breezed through security and made it to the gate (we were in the “A” group for Southwest). While sitting there, I realized that I had a headache, and I sent Scott scouring for some food and some medicine, which he retrieved. Getting to the airport in Philadelphia can be crazy, and for anyone who has flown out of PHL, you know that, once you are actually on the airplane, the fun is only starting because there is almost always a delay in taking off due to air traffic. We had a short delay, but not too bad. We had a really fun and entertaining flight crew who made a lot of jokes during the normal air travel announcements.

Our flight down was pretty uneventful. Scott listened to the I-pod and slept most of the time (he worked for most of the week while I was off, so who was I to complain), and I worked my SuDoku puzzles. We arrived a little ahead of schedule (yeah for Southwest!!!). After we got off the plane, we went to the tram to go get our bags. We had just missed one tram, but another one came quickly. The problem was that it just sat there – one of the doors was jammed and wouldn’t close. The next tram came and we hopped over to it, instead. When we got to baggage claim, we saw a Tiffany Towncar driver waiting for us. Our bags did not take long to come off the belts (Hmm, Southwest got us there earlier and lost none of our bags; why did we fly USAir before, again?) Once we got our bags, we were off to the resort. The trip was pretty quiet. I think that Scott and I were both exhausted and just happy to have accomplished everything that we needed to in order to leave. We arrived at the resort around 11:30 and checked in. One of the first things that Scott noticed was that they still had their Christmas decorations up, and he really seemed to be happy about that because the holiday really flew by for him. While we were checking in, we listened to the band which was just finishing up for the night. Although we were both tired, we were a bit hungry, so we went to the food court and grabbed a small pizza to split. We also bought a refillable mug for future drinking purposes. We finished our snack around 12:30 and headed to the room.

We walked down to our room which was on a corner of Building 1. Having stayed in deluxe resorts the first two trips, we were not sure what to expect, but I think that we were both pleased. We got settled in and unpacked. We finished around 1:30, but surprisingly, I had a little bit of trouble falling asleep (Scott was out like a light).

Up next: Day 2 - Epcot Entertainment and Eating

**Eeyoresmom** · 01-10-2007, 09:38 PM

Here are some photos of our room:

**Eeyoresmom** · 01-10-2007, 09:47 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Wait, I got lost...did you ditch the Cali Grill idea? I sympathize with your husband, I hate those 2 hour waits, too! Can't wait to read more! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

You'll just have to keep on reading! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

**WDWfan** · 01-10-2007, 10:24 PM

Glad you're at WDW! Can't wait to hear about your trip!

wdwlovers · 01-10-2007, 10:25 PM

Whew, I thought you were gonna be late with that snowglobe job. ;-) Great travel day! Looking forward to more.

mattnkatsmum · 01-11-2007, 02:19 AM

Great update. I'm glad you caught your flight.

**Colexis Mom** · 01-11-2007, 09:08 AM

Great update Tanya [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Glad you made the flight [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Grammy Grumpy · 01-11-2007, 01:22 PM

Was holding my breath that you'd make your flight in time!! More please.

**Eeyoresmom** · 01-14-2007, 03:40 PM

Day 2 - Epcot Entertainment and Eating

Tentative Plans:[/b]

Wake up . . . whenever
Grab something to eat and hit Epcot(?)
Relax

What Really Happened:

Although we did not have a lot planned for our trip other than meals and the wishes cruise, Scott and I had informally decided Friday night that we would go over to Epcot on Saturday to look around. I am not sure that we had a particular reason for doing so, but it is our favorite park. One of the Disney traditions that we have started is to ride Spaceship Earth as our first ride each time. After that, we really did not have a lot of plans, but I was hoping to see some of the Christmas shows and decorations while we were at Epcot.

We woke up around 8-8:30 and just relaxed for a bit. It was nice not to have anywhere to go today. After a bit, I sent Scott up to the Sassagoula Food Court to get us something to eat. He returned with some chocolate chip pancakes for me and breakfast sandwich for himself. Both were quite tasty. One of the things that Scott remarked about when he came back with the food was the weather. When we left Philadelphia, it was unseasonably warm, probably 45-50. However, when he walked out for breakfast, it was already in the 70s on the way to 80s and Sunny. Not to bad for late December!!! Scott remarked several times “Do you realize that it was cold when we left Philadelphia, and now I am wearing shorts? This is great!!!”

After digesting a little bit and getting cleaned up, we left for the park and arrived at EPCOT and got through security by 12:30 (Scott complained again about only getting a piece of cardboard for the annual pass). One of the things that Scott was concerned about was the crowds. Like I said before, I think that he got a little spoiled with the lines when we had been to Disney at less busy times in the past. He had heard the horror stories of the parks reaching full capacity by 11 a.m. and was counting on waiting a long time for rides. I honestly had no idea what to expect but was prepared for the worst. We decided to keep our tradition of riding Spaceship Earth first (its always such a nice way to “ease” into Disney). The line looked a little long, so I gave Scott my AP and sent him to Soarin’ to get FPs for us while I waited in line. Honestly, the line looked a lot worse than it was – I thought I’d be there a good hour. It was long, don’t get me wrong, but it kept moving quickly. I called Scott a couple times to update him on my progress and to see how he was coming – I was starting to get worried. He told me that the next FP was for 7:15. We didn’t have any real plans for the rest of the day, so I told him to grab them and hurry back because I was getting closer to the front on the line. I had to let a few people go in front of me while I waited, but Scott came by when it was convenient to meet me in the line. Bottom line, the sign said about a 45 minute wait for the ride, but we were on in about 25 minutes and were happy campers. From there, we went to the building that has “Making of Me” and “Cranium Command” in it. I suggested this because, quite honestly, I knew that that building is only open seasonally and we decided to take advantage of it. The first show that we went to was “Making of Me,” which had no line. I thought that Making of Me was cute, but Scott kept giving me this really uncomfortable look which I later found out was due to him considering Martin Short being created. As Scott explained, Martin Short was weird enough, but having to think about his parents meeting, well, I think that you all can fill in the rest for yourselves.

clio · 01-14-2007, 05:12 PM

I just got caught with your report. It sounds like you're having a great time at EPCOT. I can't wait to findot what you decided about new year's eve.
Liz