Cam's Golden Birthday Adventure **Updated 8/23** COMPLETE - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Just caught up with your pre-trip report and I realized you leave in a few days
That's great about VWL and on making the airline switch
I'll look forward to hearing all when you return!
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I just had a chance to get caught up on your pre-trip report from start to finish and it sounds like you've got some awesome plans. I hope you have a wonderful time and I can't wait to read all about it when you get back.
Great intro, great plans, looks like a wonderful trip!! I so know what you mean by not being in any of the pics! I LOVE Photopass just for that reason. My DH calls me Monk because of some of my little "quirks."
I hope you all are having a wonderful time!!! Can't wait to hear all about it.
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At exactly 5:02 AM my alarm sounded. I had had about 4 hours sleep and my almost 50 year old body told me it was mad, very mad at me. The first words out of my mouth to Luke were definitely not my wisest. Me: “Stefanie must have been exhausted from the wedding because she is not in here yet.” Luke: “Um Uh.” He was really awake yet. As he got up to get the first shower, the bedroom door flew open and in ran Stefanie, yelling “It’s time; I’m ready for Disney.” A Mom can dream, too. But unfortunately, the dream that Stefanie might actually get even an hour of sleep vanished as she informed me that she had watched TV all night. Remember this as it should have been a warning to me, but then I’d only had 4 hours of sleep myself.
Within 10 minutes, Luke was out of the shower and I was headed in. Miraculously, my hair looked great, so I could forgo the wash and dry phase of the morning routine, keeping to our time schedule to leave by 6 AM. Stefanie didn’t take her usual 20 minute shower as her excitement was building exponentially. Disney fever is amazing as my family managed to get totally beautified in less than 40 minutes, and even finished the last bit of packing. We inspected our 50-week-a- year house one last time, deciding it was secure, and then it was time to board the Mickey Mobile for Nashville.
But first there were a few more things to do: drop 2 plants at my in-laws so they’d still be alive when we returned in 2 weeks and purchase a nutritional breakfast at McD’s for the road (me – Cinnamon Melts with orange juice; Luke – Bacon, Egg and Cheese McGriddle with a diet Coke; Stef -- a Dr. Pepper). Okay, the no food for Stefanie should have set off another flare in my brain, but it really wasn’t functioning at peak form yet. As we reached the window, the kind lady at McD’s asked us to park it. No problem!?
Thank goodness for inconveniences because as we waited Stefanie announces she has to go the bathroom NOW. And it was at that moment my memory yelled loud enough that my consciousness understood a longstanding truth at our house: A Stefanie without sleep is a sure case of the tummy troubles. This would be the first stop of three before we finally made it to the airport in Nashville, one of which was an extremely close call as she didn’t warn us of impending doom until we had just passed the closest exit for 18 miles. Another Matthews truth: If Mom can manage to shift Stefanie’s mind to something else long enough and Dad can drive fast enough, we can accomplish incredible feats. It was easier today as I had all kinds of we’re-headed-to-Disney ammo and Dad’s driving skills were fueled up.
By 8:45 we had made it to Executive Parking where the Mickey Mobile sadly awaits our return, dreaming of one day visiting Disney, too. (Isn’t going to happen as Stefanie can’t physically manage that long a car trip). The shuttle transported us within five minutes to the Southwest terminal at BNA. We had the shortest baggage check line in our history of traveling, and the wait time was even spent in the shade. The magic had begun. Since we had pre-boarded the morning before baggage check took a nanosecond and we were off to find our gate.
Or were we? I had been first in line at baggage check and my brain was still only functioning on minimal cells. I’m still pretty sure the nice lady did not tell me where we were to go. But then there are all kinds of signs in the airport and we are fairly intelligent, so we simply headed into the Southwest terminal until we found our flight was boarding at Gate C21.
With an hour and a half before our flight, this tired trio plopped into some chairs to wait. Southwest has recently changed their boarding procedure and I definitely found it preferable to the old way. Since we had remembered to pre-board we were in the A group, numbers 51, 52, and 53, making it very easy to get three seats together in Stefanie’s preferred order: Luke by the window, me in the middle (so my hand, my arm, and lap are quickly available to her), and Stefanie by the aisle (so she can scan frequently for flight attendant activity, especially the bringing of snacks and drinks). The flight itself was rather uneventful, but we were still bubbling over with excitement because we were headed by to our two-week-a-year home.
As the plane touched down, Stefanie reminded me that we were at the bottom-- of the United States -- at least that’s the way it looks on all the maps. Our first ride was the shuttle to the main terminal where as pros now we made a hasty journey to the DME. The line was very short – must be something about traveling on Sundays (reminder to self – Sunday might just be the best day to start the annual June vacation). Luke flagged Stefanie and me over to the Wilderness Lodge line and then within seconds (really), we were on a bus. Within 50 minutes (not so quick a time, maybe), we were pulling up to the front of Wilderness Lodge. I love walking into the grand lobby as it stirs up all the Disney magic.
Once again the check-in line was short, and within seconds Luke was beginning the check-in process, including charging privileges (Stefanie and I love to shop) and my 50th birthday button. Our room was actually ready, so we headed off immediately to check out Villa Studio #1510. We were super pleased with the room as its location was perfect for us. We were on the first floor, no stairs or elevators to tackle on the late night returns from the parks. Right across from us was the vending/ice machines and the laundry. Our window view was of the front of the lodge. As I’ve said, simply perfect. We changed out some items in my backpack and unloaded the carryon, and finally we were ready to head to our very first park.
I’m not sure what the goofy look on Stefanie’s face means. I probably caught her mid chatter.
Since Star Wars weekends had begun, we chose to start with Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Out of habit I keep referring to this park as MGM, but Stefanie is quick to correct me – “Mom, it’s Hollywood, now.” Maybe by the time we leave, I’ll be able to refer to it correctly. Anyway, we walked the short distance to the bus stops (another plus of our room – close proximity to the bus stops) and waited for our first ride on a Disney bus. I don’t remember the wait being long, but I do remember that we all began to feel very hungry at this point as breakfast had been at 6:00 in the morning and it was now 2:00 in the afternoon. So we quickly decided that we’d eat first when we got to the park.
Once at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we stopped only for our first picture on Hollywood Boulevard and then we made a bee line for Rosie’s All-American Café for some lunch. Knowing we had a dinner reservation at Crystal Palace later, we chose to split a double cheeseburger with fries. Finding a shady table, we quickly devoured that burger and every single fry, while making plans to head to Toy Story Midway Mania for FastPasses next.
When we arrived at Toy Story Midway Mania the line was very far back outside the building, but the Stand By line showed only a 30 minute wait. So we decided to forgo the FastPasses and joined the line outside, which we discovered soon was moving only at a snail’s pace. But we were in the shade and we were in Disney, so waiting seemed normal. Suddenly, the doors to the building opened and the line moved rapidly forward. In fact before it slowed down again, we had made it almost to Mr. Potato Head. I learned from some fellow line holders that the ride had been shut down for a while and just reopened, hence the great opportunity for us. Within 20 minutes we were boarding our car and more than ready to shoot some targets. Stefanie squealed through the practice round – “I’m hitting it, Mom.” I could tell immediately this ride was going to be a winner with my family. Luke was behind us and so I couldn’t tell how well he was doing, but Stefanie and I were hitting all kinds of stuff, giggling and squealing and chuckling through the whole ride. Luke confessed to screaming when a balloon blew up and poofed him in the face. Stefanie and I yelled at almost everything. The Matthews definitely give this ride two thumbs up all around. Our scores were decent – Stefanie earned 18,000; Cam – 64,700; and Luke 160,000+.
Next we were off to check out the Star Wars stuff. I had asked a lady in the Toy Story Midway Mania line where she had gotten her cool Donald Duck and Storm Troopers t-shirt and she told me to check Wicket’s Warehouse, which I thought was near Toy Story Mania. But she pointed me off in the opposite direction, which led me completely astray from Wicket’s. Once in the Star Wars zone, we checked the kiosk that I had received directions to, but the only sizes left were large and extra-large. The cast member suggested we check out Tatooine Traders for a t-shirt my size as that was the main supplier for the kiosk. But when we reached Star Tours, the place was abuzz with activity, though the ride itself only had a 10 minute Stand By wait . So we were off to Endor in a flash, riding in the very back of our StarSpeeder. The ride was a bit bumpy, but it was the pilot’s maiden voyage, and since we were back safely, we considered it a terrific journey. As we emptied into Tatooine Traders we spread out in search of the elusive t-shirt. Not a single one in any size was to be found. Bummer.
By now it was time to make the transportation trek to Magic Kingdom as we had a 7:30 ADR for dinner at Crystal Palace. But as we came near the Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat, I quickly spotted my absolute favorite character – Mary Poppins. Luke asked if I wanted to get in line and then noticed that I was already there. Stefanie soon had her first autograph and I had a picture of me with practically perfect Mary. We were feeling the magic!
About 45 minutes later we found ourselves entering the Magic Kingdom for the first time this trip. We basked in the sights and smells that we’d only being dreaming about since last June, but headed straight for Crystal Palace as the double cheeseburger and fries were only a memory now. Stefanie had been so excited that this would be our first dinner at WDW. We had gotten to the restaurant with time to spare, but it was definitely a popular night for Crystal Palace as families were standing everywhere. About 7:45 our names were called and we headed inside. The cast member seating us noticed my birthday button and told us to wait just a moment. I noticed she retrieved some Mickey confetti and then headed off to a table. In a few moments she hurriedly rushed back into the office, telling us as she passed that it would be another moment. This kept going on for about 10 minutes with her going to a table, groaning, only to return to the office still holding the confetti. It was actually quite comical. Eventually, a manager came out, telling another cast member to seat us on the opposite side of the restaurant. We didn’t see the original cast member until much later and never got an explanation for the delay nor did I get any birthday confetti. But we had a funny story for day one that kept us giggling as we went to sleep later that night.
Our server Kip was very busy with a number of tables, several of which had large parties, but he still managed to make me feel birthday special, eventually bringing out a cupcake with Mickey sprinkles and a candle. Stefanie had a blast talking with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore, collecting several more autographs and pictures, too. We all enjoyed the buffet, feeling a bit like Pooh himself when it was time to leave.
Because of the delays, we finished up just moments before Wishes would begin, so we moved only a short distance down the sidewalk before finding and open spot for prime viewing of the castle and fireworks. Time to try out the new camera and my apprentice skills on some cool shots of Wishes. These are some of the better ones that I took.
By now we were beyond exhausted as Stefanie had had no sleep and Luke and I had only had about 3 or 4 hours. We headed to the front of the park, hoping to watch SpectroMagic from there and then make a quick exit from the park (even though we could have stayed for EMH). Once again I was anxious to try out my new camera on nighttime and motion shots. Quite a few turned out acceptable.
As soon as the cast members watching over the parade began to take the ropes down we were off to the boat dock to catch a launch back to Wilderness Lodge. I did attempt a few pictures of a lit up Magic Kingdom as our launch was heading out, but most were blurry.
We enjoyed the short walk from the dock at Wilderness Lodge to the Villas. At the room we found that all our luggage had safely arrived, so Stefanie and I set out to make our room truly home. Within about 10 minutes she and I had the drawers and closet full and the suitcases empty. Luke made arrangements for a 7:30 AM wake up call and then the Matthews donned their pjs and it was nighty-night at our WDW home.
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Great start I was so happy to see you started the TR.
What a great first day...glad your vacation started with a great time at CP and that after everything with the CM going back and forth that they did sprinkle a little birthday magic...
So great so far Cam!!! I can just hear the music and the fireworks popping from your photos! And seeing Stefanie at CP with the characters is priceless! (And makes me want to be there now!)
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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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I’m not sure what the goofy look on Stefanie’s face means. I probably caught her mid chatter.
Danny and I at Epcot 8/14/08
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