Disney245 - October 2003

Friday, October 17, 2003 – Starting Out

Disney Wife (DW) picked up Disney Husband (DH) from work and we started our drive down I-95 a little before noon. We experienced traffic delays around DC due to construction. We made our first stop at the Potomac Mills Mall to visited the Disney Catalog Outlet and then have lunch in the food court. We used discount coupons that we had received in the mail to make our purchases at the Disney Catalog Outlet. We then hit the road again. DW watched TV and DH drove and listened. We have a car antenna that we use for reception. We put it on whenever we are going on a long road trip. We get good reception around big cities and lose reception in the country. We stopped for dinner and gas just north of Fayetteville, NC. We ate at Subway and were on our way again. They were working on a bridge south of Fayetteville, NC that caused quite a delay. When we entered into SC we got to see a fireworks display compliments of Mother Nature. About an hour later the skies opened up. It rained off an on, sometimes coming down in sheets for the rest of our drive in SC. DW got to drive the entire trip from Fayetteville, NC thru all of the construction and rain. DH just slept. After driving in blinding rain storms and slowing down to 35 MPH on a 70 MHP highway, DW gave up, exited and was ready to stop for the night. At that time DH awoke. All the motels that we tried were already sold out (I guess others gave up too), so DH decided to drive for a little while longer while DW call Holiday Inn to see where there was a vacancy. As luck would have it, as soon as DH started to drive it stopped raining. We drove 650 miles and spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express in Hardeesville, SC. The motel had recently been refurbished and the room was clean. We got a great rate from the priority club number. On our drive down we noticed more traffic than usual and also found many motels were booked. We attributed this to it being a Friday. For anybody who has driven down I-95 you know about the "Pedro" billboards. Well we notice a huge reduction in the number and distance from the border of the first "Pedro" billboards. Overall the day went as planned. We wanted to get to the SC/GA border the first day. We stopped for the night only 5 miles north of the SC/GA border.

Saturday, October 18, 2003 – Arrival and Much Shopping

DW woke up bright and early at 6 am, but DW is not excited is she? We were ready to go by 7 am. We had breakfast at the motel's continental breakfast and were ready to meet Mickey when DH wanted to take a coffee for the road. DW attempted to put a top on it and was having a little trouble getting the top on DH's coffee cup. The Styrofoam cup collapsed and DW was covered in coffee. A motel employee announced that another cup collapse had occurred and DW was the victim. After cleaning up we were on our way to meet the Mouse. It is a family joke that whenever DH's coffee spills it is always on DW. To beat it all DW does not even like coffee. DW napped until the Florida Welcome Center. We stopped and had a free cup of juice and were on our way again. We got off at exit 318 and went to the St. Augustine Belz Outlets to visit the Disney Character Premiere Outlet store. It is the "4th" WDW outlet. They had a nice selection and we got some good deals. After leaving the outlets we were on our way again. We got stuck in another traffic jam a little while later. We stopped for lunch at Steak & Shake off of I-95. The food was great. I would recommend this restaurant to anybody. When we make the right turn onto I-4, we know that we are almost there. We stopped at the Character Warehouse and Character Premiere Disney Outlets at the Belz Orlando Outlets. We found treasures at both outlets. We then drove down International Drive and took a right onto Vineland Drive. Our next stop was the new Publix store. We find they sell the type of food that we like. It is definitely not the cheapest, but it is well laid out and has the lunchmeat that we like. After picking up milk, bread, lunchmeat etc and loading the electric cooler we were on our way to the last Disney Outlet. The Character Premiere is at the Orlando Premium Outlets. It is best to park in the back. Can you tell that we love to shop, especially outlet shop? Now it was off to the All Star Music Resort (ASMu). We arrived there at 5 pm. Today we drove another 350 miles to get to Mickey's House. After checking in and settling into our room #9528 in the Jazz building we went to dinner at the Intermission food court. DH had the Sausage with pepper and onions ($6.09) and DW had the Buffalo Chicken ($6.59). Both came with French fries (which you paid for whether you took them or not) and tasted great. After dinner we went to DTD and got our Pal Mickey(PM), plus many other treasures. In the room is now an ironing board and iron mounted on the wall next to the sink. We also found a small square refrigerator in our room when we checked in. We did not ask for or pay for the fridge so we considered it a gift. We did not know if it was a mistake that we had it or not. We set our wakeup call for 7:08 am and went to bed.

Sunday, October 19, 2003 – Animal Kingdom and MNSSHP

DW woke up at 6:30 am. The wake up call comes, but no Mickey. We got ready and had breakfast in our room. Our first stop at Mickey's house was Disney's Animal Kingdom (AK) with our new PM. We found that it was best to carry PM with a bottle holder rather than the clip that he came with. When we tried the clip, DW knocked him off quickly. When we got to the AK we went to the Rain Forest Café (RFC) and made a lunch priority seating (PS) for noon. They let us in the park about 15 minutes before park opening. Quickly PM began to tell us many fun facts. Our first stop was Camp Minnie Mickey (CMM). On the way we stopped at the entrance to CMM and got our first character picture with Stitch. He was unhappy with me that I had PM with me. Once I told Stitch how much I loved him, he was OK with PM. Once we got to CMM we got to meet Mickey, Minnie and Goofy all alone. DW got a picture with all three together. DH got his picture with Minnie and Goofy. All three were dressed in their safari clothes. After our meet and greet we went to the first showing of Festival of the Lion King (FOLK). The FOLK show was as good as always. It was nice to be sitting in an air-conditioned stage area. After FOLK we got a fast pass (FP) for the Kilimanjaro Safari (FP). When we got our FP it was 10:40 am. The standby line was 25 minutes and our FP time was for 11:15. It was a no brainer to get a FP and then go on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (PFET). We saw many animals out and about. PM was talking up a storm. He told facts about the animals as well as animal jokes. After leaving the PFET we went on the KS with our FP. The animals were so close you could almost touch them. We headed to lunch at the RFC. The food was good. When DW's food arrived it had extra coleslaw and not potato chips. DW was surprised since she does not like coleslaw. The problem was corrected and chips were brought out. DW enjoyed his and DW's two coleslaws. DH had the Rumble in the Jungle turkey wrap ($10.99) and DW had Bamba's barbeque beef wrap ($11.99). We got the 10% AP discount. After lunch we left the AK and went back to the ASMu for a two-hour nap. When we arrived back at the room we found Pablo, Sandy, Lilo and Stitch sitting in the window waiting for us to return. We noticed that there were fewer "window displays" at the ASMu than at the All Star Sports (ASSp). The "window displays" are one of the things that we love about the ASSp. After our nap DH went to Maestro Mickey's to get our DTD purchases that we had made the day before. DW stayed back in the room. While DW was waiting for DH to return with the booty, DW received a call from Mousekeeping. He stated that yesterday (the day we checked in) a guest had checked into our room, but then was moved to the Broadway building to be closer to another guest. The other room guests said that they had left a watch and wedding ring by the bed. We never saw any watch or ring when we checked in the day before. DW checked around the table and under the bed just to make sure that they weren't there. Nothing found. DW wondered why they took a day to know that a wedding ring and watch were missing. Maybe they were the people who had requested our fridge. When DH got back with the booty it was off to Tony's Town Square restaurant (TTS) for dinner (PS at 5 pm) and then on to our first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) of 2003. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom (MK) at 4:45 pm. We could only enter the MK with our MNSSHP passes. Even though the MK did not close until 6:00 pm, only people going to the party could enter near the end of the day. We took a few pictures of the special Halloween decorations, got a trick or treat bag for DW and headed to TTS for dinner. The food was fabulous as usual. We really love the bread with tomato dipping sauce (we got the recipe last December when we ate there and made it for a Christmas party that we attended). DH had the Pasta al Forno (13.99) and the DW had the Panino con Pollo 11.49). We were done by 5:45 pm and went shopping at the Emporium. After shopping it was after 6:00 pm so we headed to Tomorrowland. We got our picture taken in about 10 minutes. We got it taken at the old Alien Encounters (AE) ride. For MNSSHP Stitch is on top of the AE building. It was not there during regular MK hours. You get one copy of the photo sent for each person in the photo. You only need to fill out one form if all pictures go to the same address. We then rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA) before going to Mickey's Star Traders to get the MNSSHP shirt for DW and the night's Pooh character pin. Next stop was the Lunching Pad where DH got coffee in a Halloween 2003 flashing mug. Even though it was before 7 pm we noticed that you could get food at Cosmic Rays. They would not let you start trick or treating until the party officially started. Once the party started we went trick or treating in Tomorrowland and then in Mickey's Toontown Fair. We walked on Goofy's Barnstormer. We then noticed a man in front of the tent that was making balloon animals for each trick or treater. DW got a blue Teddy Bear from the man. He also gave out MNSSHP stickers. Next we went into Mickey's house and DW got her picture taken with Mickey Mouse in his Halloween costume. We then went to Fantasyland and DW stopped to get pictures with Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet in their Halloween costumes. These are the same costumes that they are in on the MNSSHP pin for this night's pin. The characters were in the old queue for the 20.000 Leagues ride. They had a nice Halloween backdrop hanging in the back. Our next stop was the Pooh ride with only a five-minute wait. We noticed that PM was not as talkative. That is when a CM told us he probably needed new batteries. We then walked on Snow White (SW). At both the Pooh and SW rides there were Cast Members (CM) at the queue entrance giving out candy. After exiting SW we walked on Mickey's Philharmagic (MP). The show was unbelievable. It is definitely a must see. Now it was time for the Haunted Mansion (HM) ride. We stopped at the cart and bought the bat antenna topper before riding the HM. After the HM we got a spot across from the Liberty Bell to see the second Halloween parade. At 9:45 Dedrick Knickerbocker told the story of Sleepy Hollow. He was a great storyteller. "Poor Ichabod Crane". Then he announced "Beware the headless horseman, beware". Within minutes the headless horseman rode the parade route and then the parade followed a few minutes later. It is a great parade. In the beginning there are villains and then the ghosts from the HM. They had signs up about the new movie's opening date. After the parade we went to get on the haunted riverboat, but they were having technical difficulties. At 10:50 pm they cancelled the trip. We were tired so we headed back to the ASMu. We got some great pictures from the MK. They were handing out special trick or treat bags that were promoting the two new movies. On one side was Brother Bear movie and on the other was the Haunted Mansion movie. Once we got back to the resort we did some packing and went to bed. Tomorrow we move to the Polynesian Resort (PR).

Monday, October 20, 2003 – Moving Day and EPCOT

Today was moving day. We check out of the ASMu and into the PR. We did not set an alarm for today. When we awoke we got ready, loaded the minivan and then drove to the PR. When we arrived the computers were down so we had to wait for about 10 minutes to check in to the resort. We got our requested building Aotearoa with a "castle" view. We could see the castle over some trees and our view of the Grand Floridian (GF) was wonderful. We got a third floor room with a balcony. Our room number was 3225. We basically got a 3rd floor water view room while paying for an AP rate garden view room. We were ecstatic. We were given the room number and got our cards activated later when we went back to the front desk at 3 pm. Our room was not ready when we first checked in, so we decided to go to EPCOT so that DW could try Mission Space (MS). We took the monorail from the PR stop to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and then transferred to the EPCOT monorail. DH loves trains, so this is a must for him. DH and DW went in the single rider line and basically walked on the ride. DW took the chicken exit and DH rode. DH rode MS and was the flight engineer. He said that he was a little disoriented when he got off. He said it was a great ride, but he would recommend going on it with an empty stomach. While waiting for DH, DW got in line to go on the MS game. She got in the Astronaut line. DW was still in line when DH got off the ride. Since there was still room for one more astronaut, DH got to join DW. Every game needs eight astronauts. For the game you are split into two teams. We were team Triton. DW, DH and two other boys were the astronauts for team Triton. We whipped the other team. With DW and the two boys being a video game people they got their assignments done and were able to help DH. Team Trition won with a 98% accuracy. Next we went to lunch. We only wanted to have a light lunch since we had a dinner PS for the Clam Bake at the Beach Club at 5:30 pm. DW did some pin shopping and DH went for some free soda. He always has to try the Beverly even though he hates it. Go figure. We then walked to the front and walked on Space Ship Earth (SSE). Since it was approaching 3 pm, we decided to head back to the PR to get our room and unload the minivan. When we got to the monorail station, nobody else was there, so we asked it we could ride up front and we were told yes. DH has never ridden up front before. DH loved it. The view was great. It is a much rougher ride in the front. We got our licenses on the way out. DH thought that that was a great touch. We got back to the PR at 3 pm. We got our room number and were ready to unload the minivan. We went to the minivan and loaded up the luggage dollies. DH was determined not to us bell services. DW revolted after we could not find the path to Aotearoa and she got bell services. Bell services took us back to the minivan to pick up the few things that we left and drove us to the room. After the "argument" about bell services everything got back to normal. We unpacked and then took the boat launch to the MK. We got on the Beach Club bus and were on our way to dinner. We had dinner at the Clam Bake at the Beach Club. This is an all you can eat buffet. It costs $23.99 per adult. They have a paper tablecloth and crayons that you can use to write on the tablecloth with. The meal was excellent. The first time that DH went for a plate DW drew a Mickey on the tablecloth. This started a new trend of drawing a Mickey on the tablecloth for every plate he had. Eventually there were eight Mickey's drawn. When he announced that the next plate was his last, a large Minnie was drawn. The food was excellent as usual. Some of the food items that I remember are clam chowder, clams, ribs, salad bar, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, mussels, green beans, corn on the cob and salmon. After dinner we took a bus back to the MK and then got on the PR boat a little before 7:30 pm. The Wishes fireworks started just as we were leaving the GF boat dock. The view from the boat was unbelievable. We finished watching the fireworks from the PR boat dock. Then it was back to the room for some R&R. It was a very magical day at WDW. We set a wake up call for 6 am and went to bed.

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