Memorial Day Weekend About This Page:

[AmndaSarek]

Well we're back! It was great fun and hard to leave once again! Here is our trip report:
Day 1: Travel day. Flights on Delta went without delay. Ate in the Atlanta airport Chili's during our hour and a half layover ... I had a black bean veggie burger that was pretty tasty. Arrived in Orlando on time and met Ali, our Tiffany Towncar driver. I will definitely do TTc again! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Ali was great and really nice. Checked in with no trouble to the WL but there was no bellservice at that late hour 11pm. We had a 4th floor room near the lobby which is what we requested.
Day 2: Got up early and went to the character breakfast at Artists Point ... Tigger, Pooh, and Eeyore were all there. The food was good and the service was excellent. Characters were their normal adorable selves ... watch out for Tigger, he hugs tight! Took the bus to Epcot Center and spent the day in Future World. Loved Test Track, which was my first time to ride it because it broke down on us while we were in line last year (they gave us passes to get on anytime between 8am and 6pm another day ... and, Yep, they honored them a year later!) I'm still missing Figment ... Imagination just isn't the same without him. I finally bit the bullet and went back to the Universe of Energy. It has bored me for so long I just usually skip it but I hadn't seen it since they updated it with Ellen and Bill Nye ... it is much improved. The ride seems the same but it is more interesting and fun now with the new dialogue and film. We did The Land for lunch, I had a veggie wrap that was really good. We left around 6 to go to dinner at the Whispering Canyon. Our server was Wild Wild Wes ... a lot of fun. We Hokey-Pokeyed for someone's birthday, witnessed a couple of horse races and twirled our napkins gleefully ... and the food was excellent. I had the special of the day ... grilled salmon. We had strawberry shortcake for dessert that was to die for! Then we rested in our room for a bit and took off for Pleasure Island. Spent the evening for the most part in the Adventurer's Club ... learned the official greeting and club motto, enjoyed the library show too -- love that first prize winner and the burling ... Kongaloosh!
Day 3: MGM Studios ... Star Wars weekend in full force! Greeted at the park entrance by Storm Troopers, saw Darth Vader, Chewy, Bobba Fett, Anikin, several cantina characters, and lots of jedi's in training around the park. It was great! To the Forum ...We did the Rock'n Roller Coaster 4 times ... got a Fast Pass, stood in line, used the fast pass; repeat. It was cool. Love'n A Rollercoaster! Also did the TT, Muppets, Startours, Indy Show, Millionaire Show, Sounds Dangerous (gotta love the haircut)and Fantasmic. We ate lunch at the PrimeTime ... Aunt Brenda was our server, got busted for Elbows on the table, had the Grilled Shrimp salad. Dinner was wonderful at Mama Melrose's, our server Missy recommended the special ... soft-shell crabs with linguini, it was excellent. We chose to do the dinner package and were not disappointed. We did have to sit off to one side but the viewing was just as good as when we had been seated in the center. After Fantasmic, we went to E*ticket night over in the Magic Kingdom. They had 9 attractions open, we chose to do The Haunted Mansion (my old haunt from being a cast member in Disneyland), Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Alein Encounter, and Space Mountain. Also open were the Country Bear Jamboree and the old Wedway People Movers but we were wild women with only one thing on our minds ... coasters!
Day 4: Epcot Center World Showcase. Went to all the countries and had a great time enjoying the beautiful flower arrangements in each that were there as part of the Southern Living Flower Show ... brilliant topiaries and glorious blooms everywhere. We ate at Norway and the UK. The food was excellent at each of them. Our waitress, Alison, at the UK gave us great service and left us alone to enjoy Illuminations between dinner and dessert. Again, I had salmon ... at both places. You'd think I'd be sprouting gills by now but it was prepared differently each place we went and always excellent. We bought various souveniers, our favorites were the Love Spoons at Wales. I ordered a geneology history and coat of arms too. We stopped at Morrocco and had baklava for a snack along the way. Also loved the drumming exhibition going on at Japan. If you are a baseball fan, check out the Japanese art exhibit. We actually went to all the countries this trip and checked everything out ... much easier to do without kids in tow.
Day 5: Animal Kingdom ... the smoke was fierce first thing in the morning. We did the safari and were able to see the animals but the smoke made it almost impossible to photograph them. I was a little disappointed ... especially since it was my friend's first trip. We did most of the major attractions by having arrived at park opening time. Noticibly different were the Tough to Be a Bug show ... they've taken out the roaches that used to run by your feet and I didn't notice the stinger in my back this time and the Lion King Show was still excellent but the cast was considerably smaller this year. We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, bought lots of Tshirts (they were on sale 2 for $20 for adults and 2 for $16 for kids). We went back out into the park and did the jungle trek and bought some souveniers for a while. Then we made a trek back to Epcot for more shopping and then went back to the hotel. After dropping our packages and resting our feet ... after taking photos around the grounds, we were of to Ohana's for dinner. There was a new "Big Kahuna" at Ohana but he was great and we enjoyed the Hula Hoop Contests, Coconut Races, Birthday singing and Hawaiian serenades. The dumplings that I love that they serve as an opener have been replaced by some shrimp and chicken eggrolls ... more like springrolls. They new item was good but I missed my favorite. The items off the grill were Steak tips, Pork loin, Turkey breast, and shrimp. All were excellent and I'm getting hungry just thinking about them now ... man, I'm glad they aren't local as I'd be living there if they were. After we waddled away from the table, we went to the Magic Kingdom and did the Country Bears, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Space Mtn, Peter Pan, Buzzlight year, and tried to get on Winnie the Pooh but it was being repaired and wasn't open.
Day 6: Check Out day. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] I hate leaving the World. It's such a bummer. We had 4 o'clock flights out so we went over to MGM and did the Indy Show again and rode the Rock'n Rollercoaster another 4 times! Stood in line extra long to get the front car for that last ride ... it was worth it! Definitely the right way to go out for a couple of coaster lovers. Had to meet Ali back at the hotel by 2pm and we made it. Did a little last minute shopping in the hotel gift shop on our way out while Ali stowed our bags in the towncar. It rained as we arrived at the airport but Ali took care of us and we made our flights with time enough to grab lunch at a deli inside the airport. Flights home were bumpy due to the weather but close to on time. My big tapestry suitcase was punctured upon arrival ... I'm bummed. Whatever it was that punctured the bag also pierced a pair of my shorts and ruined them inside the bag too. I didn't notice until I got home though ... 90 miles from the airport. Oh well. The fun was worth the loss.
So that was it ... man was it ever great! What a hoot! Can't wait to go back again ... don't know when yet but it won't be soon enough, ya know?

[Wild4Diz]

Thanks for the great trip report. It sounds like you had a blast!