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Cast of Characters: Erica (me) and Max (7 yo)
Planned Itinerary
Tuesday July 13
AM: Travel
PM: Epcot and Ice Cream Social at Garden Grill
Check-in at Port Orleans - French Quarter
Wednesday July 14
AM: Magic Kingdom
PM: Disney-MGM, Hollywood and Vine & Fantasmic!
Thursday July 15
AM- Disney-MGM Studios
PM: Epcot, Rose and Crown & IllumiNations
Friday July 16
AM: Magic Kingdom
PM- Chef Mickey's and Magic Kingdom for E-Ride Night
Saturday July 17
AM- Disney Quest
PM: travel
Note: we decided to leave Animal Kingdom for October, so the cousins could experience one park for the first time together.
Day One - Tuesday July 13 2004: Surprise!
This trip was my first since 1975, and my son's first ever. We had been planning to go with my sister and nephew in October, but then my
husband, Phil, surprised me by booking us for an extra "research" trip in July. He is still in Sicily, finishing off our overseas tour
on his own. But the plan was for him to give Max his wake-up call, and tell him the big news.
The phone rang at 5AM exactly. I chatted a bit with Phil, then tried to wake up Max for his phone call. It took Max a while to digest
that, yes, we were going to WDW that very day! Hard for me to believe also!
We flew Southwest Air from Norfolk to Orlando; uneventful except that I sat next to a woman who was on her first flight and terrified. Poor
thing. I get scared also, and have turned to Xanax. Better living through chemistry, you know? Anyway, we arrived as scheduled at 12:19
pm, got our bags, picked up our rental from Alamo, and . . .proceeded to take the wrong road out of the airport. Ah, well, we got
back on the right track, and headed for Epcot!!!!!!
What a great park! Despite the heat, we had such a fun time, wandering around Future World and a bit of World Showcase. It's been
a month since we went, and my memory of what we did and what everything was called is a little fuzzy, but I know we loved Ice
Station Cool (went three times), enjoyed the AC in American Adventure, and got to see Mulan herself in China. Max "wimped" out on
me on several occasions (Maelstrom, Figment) but came through on Test Track- he was apprehensive in line, but with the help of another 7 yo
boy in line, we made it to the cars. He absolutely loved it! We had gotten a FP right when we arrived at Epcot, our first FP. What a
wonderful thing. The standby line was 70 minutes!
We had a PS at Garden Grill for the Ice Cream Social. This was a perfect way to begin our WDW dining experience. We picked up an FP to
The Land boats before going for ice cream, thoroughly enjoyed our time with Mickey and Friends, then went to the Land attraction. The
CM didn't take our FPs, so we gave them to a couple who had just gotten in the standby line as we left. That was fun. We liked The
Circle of Life film, also; a little preachy, but it's a message I like, personally.
At Epcot, I bought a water bottle holder for my Brita filtered water bottle. Worked great- these turned out to be my best purchases, both
the filtering water bottle and the nifty holder.
After I-can't-remember-what-other-exciting things were done in Epcot, we headed to the monorails. We took one to the transportation center
and another around the MK loop- up with the driver in both cases. Pretty lucky! The first guy was on the quiet side, but the woman
driving around the MK loop was great. We had to stop for about 10 minutes just as the monorail was approaching the Contemporary, and
she had lots to say about the MK "skyline." Max couldn't believe we had to ride back with the hoi polloi on our third trip back to Epcot
and our rental. By the way, we put a sign on our rental car which said "Yeah, we found our car!" which really helped locate our silver
4-door among a sea of silver 4-doors. Thanks to whomever shared that tip!
Then it was on to Port Orleans French Quarter. Tina at The Magic For Less Travel got us a great room rate there on short notice, for $93-
ish per night (AP rate). I felt at home right away. The theming was perfect for me- quiet, lush, peaceful. I thought that Guest Services
was on the slow side, throughout our stay, but maybe that was because they were so helpful once you finally got to the window. Our room was
in Building 4, room . . . .ahrg, I can't remember, already! I thought it was indelibly etched on my memory. This will teach me for waiting
so long to write a trip report! Anyway, it was a second floor room, which is what we requested, looking out on a nice courtyard garden. A
relaxing, green respite.
Anyway, early to bed, as it's early to rise tomorrow. MK, here we come!
Part 1, 2, 3
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