Shellenberger - June 2005 • WDW Trip Reports

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Shellenberger - June 2005

- Me (35), JoeDH (45), Tracey DD (9), Mike DS (8), Marlene My mom (52), Ken My dad (59)

- Shades of Green Resort for 13 days

- Brought car down on autotrain

We arrived in the World at about 2pm. Our room was ready at the SOG so we went up to shower and change after a 19 hour auto train ride. We had a quick bite at the Evergreen's bar at the Resort and my mom called me to have me pick her up at the Orlando International Airport. After picking up my parents, we unpacked all our stuff.. boy did I pack a lot for the 2 weeks we are gonna be here. I went down to get my Annual pass voucher for only $385.00… I love not paying sales tax!!!!
We went to Chef Mickey's for Dinner. My dad is diabetic and one of the chef's came out and talked with him about his food choices for the evening from the buffet. We got our family picture taken then only waited about 15 minutes after our arrival for our 630 ADR. The food was delicious. The characters were wonderful. Especially CHIP, he loved to keep coming over to our table and kissing me on my head. Though Mickey, Minnie and Donald were awesome too, not to mention Dale and Goofy. The kids got all their autographs. They were pleased as punch. During dinner the rain was coming down in buckets and it was thundering and lightening. I thought to myself that everyone was leaving the parks since the weather this late into the evening was pretty bad. As we were finishing up with dessert a guy walked up to me and asked if I liked our pictures that were taken when we arrived. I asked how much, he said $26.53… I thought for 2 8x10's and 2 key chains and 2 extra larger wallet pictures, that that wasn't too bad, plus I could split the package and the price with my parents.
The kids wanted to go back to the resort and relax, which to me I thought hey go ahead and take the kids, they never want to chill. My hubby took them back to the resort while I was finishing up with the check. My parents stayed with me and we went to the TTC to get the bus back to SOG. I said to them, since I bought the AP, let me go activate it the MK. They said in the rain, I said why not, and I might stay till close since it's only 840pm right now and the MK closes at 11pm. They said have fun see ya back at the SOG. They got on the bus and I got on the monorail and watched the raindrops.
When I arrived in the MK, the rain stopped and I was thrilled. It was humid though and seemed more so since before we ate. I walked up to the Guest Relations and said I wanted to activate my AP and he asked for my ID and proceeded to type in my info. When he was about finished I inquired about the DDE and wanted to verify I had to go to the FRONT of EPCOT for my voucher, once I called for the DDE and paid for it. He said hold on a sec, my friend Anthony works at EPCOT, let me ask him. Anthony told that I would have to go online and register for the DDE and wait the 2 to 4 weeks for my card. I said no, I can go to EPCOT and pick up the voucher. He disagreed. I was like well then ok. ( I didn't want to argue with him, considering all you guys and the fact that I called the dining line for info twice and was told I could get it.) So the guy helping me otherwise at Guest Relations gave me my AP and a It's My Birthday pin, considering my bday was 2 days before. I walked through the turnstiles and under the train depot and there it was Main street all packed with people waiting for the SpectroMagic Parade. Though I was expecting not to be able to get down Main Street it wasn't as packed as I thought it would be on a Sunday night in June. Then again the EMH was at MGM and it was the last nite for the Star Wars weekends. I easily manueved up Main Street with no problem. As I was doing so, an announcement was made that the parade was cancelled due to safety concerns with the storm that had just passed through. Many people were pissed that they waited so long, but you can understand that they would rather cancel at 2 minutes to the start time than a half hour before and the weather could have cleared up. So as I headed into the MK most headed out. I couldn't go thru the castle because they had it blocked off because off the rain and it was slippery.
So I went through frontierland to get to fantasyland and my first ride was IASW. I practically walked on, I waited 2 minutes to get my boat… yes they are smaller, they used to be made of fiberlass and now they are made of the plastic like little tykes play things for kids. As I was in my 2 min line though the close struck 9pm and I got a cute picture of that. I sat in the ride noticing the changes and was happy that IASW was my first ride. I proceeded to Philharmagic which I walked right into , there was no line and the doors opened within about 2 mins. Enjoyed that and then walked over to Adventureland and walked right onto the Jungle Cruise. Wow, I love that at night… it's awesome. I then went on to Aladdin Magic Carpet ride. I rode that 3 times in a row as the CM's were letting people stay on. During the second ride Wishes had started and it was nice to be up high on the carpets watching the fireworks. I proceeded then after the finale of the fireworks to get a pineapple float at Aloha Isle.. YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY. I then got right onto BUZZ, it's nice how they changed it a little to take you picture.. hmmm just another way to make more money for Disney…lol. I then proceeded to go right into Stitch's Great Escape… Wow, what a total difference from Alien Encounter…it is not scary at all, though seems pretty lame and perfect for little kids. Though as everyone else critique, it's not worth waiting forever in line for. I am glad I just walked in. After Stitch I walked over to see how bad the wait was for Space Mountain.. the sign said 30 mins.. which I though was incredible since it was inching towards 11pm. I didn't attempt SM and went on the WEDWAY for a leisure ride above Tomorrowland. I eyeballed going onto INDY , but decided I should get out of here before the masses were exiting. As I was walking towards Main Street I saw the Spectro Magic parade, I had forgotton they added an 11pm parade a few nites while I was down here. So, Main Street was semi packed though bearable to walked down while the people were watching the parade. I got a few pictures of Minnie and Snow White and some of the dwarves. I walked out of the MK and onto a resort boat to the poly and grand Floridian, I did not feel like walking up the ramp to the resort monorails. So I had a nice boat road and got off at the Poly stop and walked through to across the street wear I am staying at the Shade of green. Not to bad at nite, it's a well lit walkway.
Got up to the room and everyone was asleep though hubby gave me attitude about coming in so late and where was I…oh well… as you all know he is a grouch or as Heather C calls him ZURG. I passed out and went right to sleep.

- Did the MK first nite in.

- Hubby getting annoyed at me.

Today we woke up a little later than I wanted us to and went down to breakfast at the Garden Gallery for a yummy buffet breakfast for only $7 for adults and $4 for kids. We ate then got on the bus to take us to the TTC and got on the Epcot monorail. We noticed that there was a TON of people in line and all the way down and more around the Monorail for MK… wow. I have never seen a line that long for just a monorail…even at closing… So we were happy that we were just going to the super short line of Epcot.
We arrived at Epcot and it didn't seem to be too crowded. Everyone really didn't want to do TT since we have done it so many times before and figured the wait would be long . They decided to do The Living Seas to see if they could do Crush. I walked over to the Land to get a FP for SOARIN.. ok yes I didn't get to the park at rope drop but by 10 the FP time was already for 430…HOLY COW. But luckily not to far in the future I had a chance to get a FP for something else with hopefully a good return time. I walked out of the Land and on the ground I found a FP for Soarin for a return time of 145…cool I thought me or someone in my party could ride it a second time.
I got to the Living Seas and the line was out the door. I have never seen it that bad for that pavilion. We were outside in the blazing sun for about 10 mins until we got into the Air conditioned part of the bldg. We stayed in the LS for about an hr and due to the long lines that no one in our party wanted to stand in for Crush, we then left and headed to the Imagination pavilion. We did the entire pavilion with no wait and enjoyed the cool air conditioning. My son freaked out yet again at the 3D show. He loves spy kids in 3d but could not handle the honey I shrunk the audience. I guess we aren't doing the muppets… we will see when we go to MGM. We then headed towards WS and had lunch at the Fish shop and sat in the shade on one of the benches nearby. I could eat those fish and chips everyday.
The kids did the masks in the UK. We rode the boats in the lake a few times just to relax. I am used to the HEAT of Florida but it just seemed so ridiculus with the humidity… everyone seemed to be melting. After the ride on the lake. I realized I had not dealt with my AP DDE issues… so I borrowed my dad's ECV and went to the Guest Relations building to see what I could do. I was told I had to call and get it so they handed me a Mickey phone and it was very simple when I called, I game my CC info and the CM told me that I would have to pick it up at the Guest Relations outside the park at Epcot. Not at the one I was at, after 5:30pm. I was ok with that considering I was told that before. I went back to meet up with my family and they were still riding the boats around. They decided to finally stop and we took the kids to Germany to get their masks done. While waiting for them my DH noticed a plane in the sky. He had said to me that he thought I told him that planes don't flyover the World. I said I thought so too. We then saw and heard a helicopter. Now that I thought was odd. We proceeded to take some pictures and walk to Canada where our dinner would be for the evening and got some really good photos along the way. The kids met Kenai and Koda and waited in line for their picture and autographs. While I was standing with them I noticed the cart for the beaver tails wasn't available… I was upset but I guess I will get over it.
We arrived for our ADR a little early but we didn't care about waiting as long as we were in the air conditioning we were fine. While waiting as some of you know, Deb N and I were supposed to meet up here. Well she had the same idea to arrive early for her ADR time too. We sat and chatted for awhile while we waited for our tables. I was seated first then much closer to her ADR time she was also. We unfortunately didn't get to sit near each other. Onto our meal. I was very happy with our server Elaine. I recommend her highly. However this time the steak of mine wasn't to the high standard I feel Disney should be. Now the others at my table were very happy, but I wasn't. Of course my DH didn't want me to say anything so I didn't. But at the very least when I get back I will write about the 14oz sirloin. I will go back to LeCellier, but not get the sirloin, which when I eat any where I always get the Filet Mignon, I don't know why I didn't order it this time. When it came time for the bill, I told the Elaine that I had an annual pass and I had just purchased the DDE and that I couldn't be at two places at once and would it be possible for me to still get the discount considering I had the AP and perhaps could contact Guest Relations and verify I had the DDE. She said she would take care of it. She did, she just took off the 20% and I asked if she needed to see ID or my AP she said we take your word for it. Phew that was a great savings there of about $32 dollars on our bill. After dinner we found out that there had been an accidental death at Mission Space that a 4 yr old boy had died. We were like wow, we were right in Epcot and this happened. We decided that after dinner we were just going to do our FP for Soarin' we just more or less leisurely strolled to Future World to get to the line for Soarin' and then waited about 5 mins to get onto the ride. It was the best ride by far so far I have experienced in the World. I had found a FP on the ground earlier and my dad took advantage of it to ride again. After that we pretty much were ready to go back to the resort as it was getting close to closing. My DD then said she wanted to ride SpaceShip Earth. We walked onto that and then on the way out all the activities were gone from the end.. I was kinda bummed, I used to call some one from one of the rooms while the special effects noises would play. Hopefully they make it cool instead of a gift shop.. time will tell I guess. I then realized that it was 9pm and I hadn't picked up my voucher. I went to the outside Guest Relations and there was a lady there with several tickets on the counter and the CM behind the counter said he was closed I told him that I was just here to pick up a voucher for my DDE. He almost didn't take me, but I said please it's only a piece of paper and it should be here. He asked for my drivers license and then handed me an envelope. Phew… just made it. We then went on the monorail back to the room and had a swim and a dip in the hot tub then off to bed.

Well today was Blizzard beach. We arrived at about 11am and it was starting to get really crowded. I spent most of my day on the Cross Country Creek, which I call the lazy river. The lines for the Teamboat Springs and others were over an hour wait. I was not wiling to wait in those lines so the lazy river was for me. We also went in the ski patrol area for my 2 kids; they had a blast for almost two hours. We then went and had lunch at lottawatta lodge. Wasn't real impressed this yr. Usually it's pretty good, oh well.
We then went back to the lazy river and did it 2more times around then went to the wave pool. Had a blast then we went back to SOG for showers. We then realized how sunburned we all were. I looked like a lobster and was starting to feel the pain. We then a drove to FT. Wilderness to go to the Trails End buffet. Food was good, the extra dessert that you paid for was worth the extra $3.99, and it was strawberry shortcake. Though the other desserts were good too we had to try the shortcake. It was enough for 2 people.
The kids wanted to do the wagon ride but the next one wasn't till 930 and it was only about 8pm so we will try to get over again sometime during our 2 week stay ,to have them take a ride. You can't beat $4 for a 45-minute ride behind 2 beautiful horses. We did some pressed pennies and saw a peacock then headed for the bus back to our car. We got back to the room and the rest of the family just chilled, well the rest of the family did, I already wanted to do some laundry since we are going to be here for so long. So, I went to the newest super Wal-Mart and did some shopping for detergent and snacks and then came back and ended up doing 3 loads already between the 2 days we traveled and the 3 days we have been here and the swimming too. I ended talking to some guests in the laundry room for over 2 hours and my laundry was already done and folded. I got to bed at almost 2am. But had fun..Lol

- The strawberry shortcake

- Sunburn

Today was supposed to be Sea World. Well my son had a melt down at breakfast and my DH decided that my DS was not going into any park. I was annoyed because my DH is military and we are able to get into SW for Free. So I couldn't go without him, though I would have loved to be without DS with his attitude today. I decide that I would do something without anyone. But then my daughter was like can't me and you do something just me and you. We were going to go to the MK and got there and I realized that I forgot our passes. SO we headed back to SOG. By this time my DS was sound asleep. I told DH we were going to go to the parks he said why. I said well I don't want to sit around and do nothing. My daughter then asked if she could go to Lego land, I told her that is at Downtown Disney. My DH said wait till DS wakes up and we will all go. We wait about a half hour and go to DTD. I didn't have breakfast with the family earlier so I was getting hungry. We went to Earl of Sandwich. I loved it. I got the Original 1762 and DH split it with me. DD got a turkey and Swiss kids sandwich and my DS got the Cannonballs sandwich. They were all good. I of course sampled everyone's. I love that bread. I saw on the DTD guide map that they have breakfast also. I wonder what they serve. After eating we went to Ghiradelli for a sundae with my coupon for B1G1 Free coupon. Good icecream, but not worth the $7 price tag. Thankfully I had the coupon, it made it worth it I guess. When we got back to the resort DH and kids went to the pool and went to the sports bar near the pool for dinner and my parents and I did the buffet at the resort. After that we pretty much hung around the resort and relaxed.

- The sandwich at Earl of Sandwich

- DS meltdown

We of course did breakfast at the resort and still can't get an early start to saves our lives…lol
We did MK all day and night but decided to take it easy while doing the parks. We decided that we would FP what we could and look for characters. For a Friday I didn't think the park wasn't that crowded for June. Don't get me wrong, there were people in this park, just not as much as I thought there would be. We got a fast pass for Buzz and then did IASW with only a 5 min wait, we then went to the people mover and took a nice spin on that then we went and did Carousel of Progress. Of course there was some one who doesn't listen and was taking pictures. It was so annoying with the flash. This trip I noticed quite a bit of people just doing what they wanted to do and disregarding the rules. Also noticed as usual the morons who were waiting around the FP return areas of most rides and waiting for their time. We then did Buzz, the return time was close. DS got the best score, though I will try next time we ride, lol.
We then got a souvenir container of popcorn. We ate half of it and saved the rest. At this point I think this is when I lost my Brita water bottle. L We then went on the teacups and then went towards adventureland. By this point we wanted ice cream. We stopped at Aloha Isle for a cup of ice cream and I got my pineapple float. DH made fun of me for wanting it again. I think this is my 3rd one now. DS went on the Aladdin carpets, the line was very short. We got a pressed penny here and kinda chilled for a little.while near the carpet ride. DS ended up doing the carpet ride again. We then headed towards dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. The dinner was good, but it was soooooooo cold in the restaurant. Much colder than anywhere else we have eaten on this trip. Needless to say we ate and got out, it was that uncomfortable. The character interaction was great. Chip and Dale were being very silly. I got great pictures. After dinner, my parents who only came for dinner because the weren't feeling well decided to go back to the room and relax some more. We went to see The Country bears. Some one in a previous show had gotten sick and they were cleaning it off the floor in the waiting area. So it wasn't pleasant scented in there. We then realized that my daughter had lost her removable palette expander and it had to be when we were eating at some point. She has been really good with wearing. it and not losing it. Of course she is almost done with having to wear it and now loses it. We no longer have dental insurance so I got really upset and was losing it at the country bear show. Don't know what is gonna happen, but I guess I can't worry about it now. So we get into the bear show and the row we get into has more sawdust from the person who got sick in the lobby. Well, with being upset and everything the last thing I want to smell is that so I ask to move since the show is about to start. I move all the way to the back, which to me was a better seat. DD found a pressed penny on the floor where we were sitting. After this we ride the boat around and we then are going to meet up with my CM friend and his CM wife. They meet up after we get off the boat and we walk around and go to see Philharmagic and go to ride IASW, Snow White and the Carrousel all with no lines. By this time we go get our EMH bracelets near the Pooh ride and then we go on Buzz and we were going to go on Stitch. My friends decide they are going to go home. After they leave we walk over to the Indy raceway and the line was only a 5 min wait so we decide to do it considering we don't have to wait in the sun. We rode that and while we were, Wishes was going off. Each of us was in our own car. It was fun though my son is sensitive to loud noises; he has covered his ears on quite a few rides.
He tried to ride the Indy car and cover both his ears, which are next to impossible. It seemed to take him forever to get around the track. It was neat watching wishes. After that we did the Haunted Mansion and then did the Jungle Cruise. We walked on all of them. We waited for 2 mins to get on the Aladdin Carpets and then we headed toward the Pirates. There was a short line… all of about 5 mins did we wait. I was going to get another Pineapple float but decided against it, wasn't worth the jabbing from DH. We headed over to Tomorrowland and rode the people mover and then rode Buzz. We waited about 10 minutes for that but it's so much fun it was worth it. We then decided we were going to grab a midnight snack at Peco's Bill's and then head back to the room. We all had a cheeseburger and shared one chocolate pie. Was ok this time, my daughter's burger was too well done and she said half the bottom of her roll was hard as a rock. Oh well, she was almost done and I didn't say anything. We headed to leave and weren't sure if our SOG buses were running this late and I didn't have the phone number on me, so we decided that we would take the monorail to the Polynesian and walk across the street to our resort down the walkway. As we were getting to the front of the resort we saw 3 busses pull up.Oh well, we got exercise.

Ok as I type this I am trying to go through my chicken scratch and the hundreds of pictures I took with my new digital camera and for the life of me other than dinner…. I can not remember doing anything during the day today.
So like many other days during our vacation, we chilled. Which is good for not having cranky kids etc.
We went to dinner at Boma's and it was very good. The zebra domes weren't as good as last time, but still good. My DH wouldn't try the Beef Oxtail soup. My DD tried it and said it tasted like vegetable soup. The soup I did like was the Carrot Ginger Soup. It was delicious. I highly recommend you try it if they have it when you go. After dinner we walked around the resort and the pool. We looked over the outlook and saw some animals. Their pool looks nice. The kids have been saying every time we eat at a resort that they want to stay at that resort because they have a pool and SOG doesn't. I wish that SOG would have remodeled a pool with a slide or something fun. A lot of the resorts recently had remodeled their pools for awesome slides. I did put it on our comment card about the pool slide. We then went into the gift shop and looked around. There was an artist in there, his pictures were nice. He was doing a piece right there in the middle of the shop. After that I got my car from the Valet, which was free due to my DDE. Gave him a tip and off we went back to the resort. I went down to the SOG shop and bought my DH a polo shirt with the SOG logo on it and will give it to him for Father's day tomorrow.

Again, got another late start to our day, but we didn't eat breakfast at all. We headed to the Animal Kingdom for a few hours. It was a bit sticky out today, but we handled it. The kids wanted to go to the boneyard, so I went and got a FP for the Safari. By the time I got back they were done and we walked right on Triceratops spin and then my DD and I went on Primeval Whirl while my DH and DS went to restaurantasaurus to eat lunch. DD and I then saw lucky and thought he was neat. We called DH to see if he was done eating and he said no the lines in there are incredible. We headed over to see them and wait while they ate and we saw Lucky again. I got a few pictures. Lucky was given soda and he got the hiccups and we all tried to scare the hiccups away to no avail. IT was neat to see him, but I don't think it is that Great considering the things they could do at the Animal Kingdom. After that my DD and I looked to see how long the line was for Dinosaur. It was 20 mins and I didn't feel like waiting in it. Though I have learned that if the time says one thing, it's usually less that you wait. No biggie, we headed towards the safari area and looked around and then it was time for the safari. This was the first time that I saw soooo many animals. Though the one animal I didn't see that I normally see was the giraffes. Oh well, I saw though sleeping a male and female sleeping lion and got a good picture of them. After the safari we did the Pagani walking trail. That was fun too. We got good pictures of the gorilla that were all sleeping right in front our viewing area. We saw those naked mole rats and learned quite a bit from them from the CM working that day. After that we got a fast pass for the Kali river rapids and just walked the park and looked around and took some pictures. I wanted to do the Tree of Life it's tough to be a bug, but my DS didn't want too and I didn't want to break up at the park again. We freshened up in the bathroom and I was starting to feel icky and we decided to go back to the room. The kids weren't happy that we were leaving since we didn't get to go on the Kali River Rapids. WE went back to the resort and took showers and then headed to the Beach Club resort for dinner. We did the Valet for free with my DDE. Our PS was for 530 pm so we arrived a few minutes before that. Since dinner doesn't start being served until then, we were the first to get at the food. Dinner was yummy, clams and mussels and pick and peel shrimp.
After dinner we took the boat across to the boardwalk and did some shopping. My mom found me the cutest pink top with Mickey and est. 1971 on it. It fit perfectly. Mom also bought my DD some earrings. DH didn't see anything he wanted so we then just walked the boardwalk a little more. My DD got her hair wrapped. Geez for $26.50 that hair wrap better stay in all summer..lol.
After that we headed back over to the beach club to get my car and head back to the resort. The clouds looked threatening. We ended up getting the car just in time as the rain started coming down. But by the time we got back to the resort, it cleared up so we went to the pool and hot tub. After a relaxing dip and such in the pool and hot tub we went to bed.

Well this is the beginning of our second week in the parks. This is the longest I have ever stayed in Disney. It's great that we are only spending $97 a nite. The room we are in is great, it is right near the Mickey pool and the barb and the icecream shoppe. Everytime we go to the bus stop the busses are there.. it's wonderful.
Today again we do not get to the parks at rope drop. I think I have resigned to the fact that we will not be there in the early morning. We decided that since my DS loves Innoventions so much that we will spend the day at Epcot as we also have an ADR for dinner in Japan later in the evening. We spent from about 10am till about 1 at Innoventions. My son is only 8 but he is in the advanced math and mentally gifted programs at school. He loves to learn. So we didn't mind that he was enjoying himself and learning at the same time. The one thing I like about Innoventions is that is forever changing. Everytime we go there it's different.
We made the robots and of course I was the one who had to carry them. As we were finishing up making our free robots, my CM friend met up with us. We decided it was time for lunch so we headed over to the UK for fish and chips. After that we just kind of hung around the countries and let the kids do what they wanted to do. Of course my son wanted to go back to Innoventions. We figured that the trip is for the kids so off we went back to innoventions. My DH wanted to go back to the room and chill for bit and get rid of our backpack since we were pretty much not going to need it much for the rest of the day. So my CM friend and I with my son stayed and my DD and DH went back to the room. We did the Where's the fire where you try to find the hazards in the house. My son enjoyed that. We then decided to play toon tag and then we headed back over to the countries. We headed to China so that we could see the things about Hong Kong Disneyland. It was really neat to see what they have done and the plans they have. I took quite a few pictures of what they had presented.
After that we decided we should head to Japan for dinner as it would take us sometime to get from China to Japan. We made it to 2 countries before Japan and it downpoured. There was no way we could walk in that as it was really bad, and we had a huge umbrella too. So we are waiting in a restroom area, which I believe was Germany, I get a call from my DH that he is on the monorail and it's pouring. I said yeah I know, wait it out under the monorail place until it stops. He then tells me that he lost his work Nextel phone. I said what??? He said he was talking to his dad at the resort and lost the connection on our personal cell phone and his dad has a Nextel and he would direct connect him, so he took the phone with him. He was on the SOG bus and then the monorail to EPCOT.. so either the TTC area , the bus or the monorail is where he lost it. So anyway, he has me call the SOG to ask if they can have the SOG busses checked. I called and left a message with the front desk and they will check. At this point the rain had let up a bit, but was still coming down. We decided to start walking in the rain since it was getting very close to our ADR time. We get to the Japan pavilion and hubby calls and says he is on his way. I am thinking oh no, he is in the rain. Well he gets to the Japan pavilion and him and my DD are soaked to the bone… wonderful.. no on can enjoy themselves soaked like that. Luckily I had an extra t-shirt for my daughter in my bag. She seems to get cold at dinner with the AC on, so I changed her top in the ladies room. We were eating at Japan in the Tepanyaki Dining room, so you had the warmth and heat from the grill to dry you off.. So I was hoping it would dry DD and DH off enough. We all enjoyed our meal, especially my DS who said it was the best chicken he has even eaten. My CM enjoyed his meal too. He used his CM discount for our meal, since they didn't take the DDE. So I did save some money. For the price of this place I do not think I will eat there again. I was not thrilled with it anymore than the Japan places near my home, and gee I thought they were expensive…. I know you are paying for the entertainment, but I thought it still a bit high.
After dinner my parents decided they were going to go to use their FP for soarin'. My DH just wanted to go and dry off. So my CM took us back to the resort in his car instead of us taking the monorail. We dropped my DH and DD and DS off at the resort and I asked my friend if he would take me to Dunkin Donuts for a real cup of coffee. I can not stand the lousy coffee Disney serves. It is Nescafe crystals and it is gosh darn awful. Though I did learn that some places have the whole bean. And that some places (carts in Epcot) have Jafre coffee( unsure of the spelling). SO my friend takes me to the Dunkin Donuts near the Publix that is near the Logan's roadhouse. It is a DD with a Baskin Robbins. We are threre for awhile as it was quite busy at 10pm. After that he takes me back to SOG where I enjoy my real cup of coffee, I also bought some coffee for my parents to. After which I chill for a bit and download some pix to my laptop (which I have a ton)and then go to bed.

Today of course we don't get an early start though I think we got into the park today the earliest so far though. It was about 9:30. We did MGM for the first part of the day. I had orginally planned it to be Mk and MGM, but we did MGM in the beginning of our day. Anyway, we went and got FP's for RnR for all of us. Though not all of us were going to ride. DS did it once on last trip and he said it was his first and last time. We all split up. My parents got my dad a ECV and while they were doing that we told them since we had a lunch ADR at SciFI we would meet up with them. We went over to the Animation area, so that we could see the Incredibles and enjoyed the preshow with Mushu, it was cute. We stood in a line for about 10 mins to get the Incredibles autographs... I was a little disappointed in the fact that they Stamp their names and not sign. Oh well, the kids were ok with it. We went to do the art class, but the door just closed and we had to not wait for the next one, since we needed to head over for lunch soon. We were on our way and decided to check out the Great Movie ride, it would give us enough time to do that and to get to and arrive 10 mins before our ADR time. So we go on the ride and the line was longer than I thought it would be, but moved quickly since they fill up a car with about 40 people at a time and usually have 2 or more cars running. So we did that and got done and my mom said where are you, I told her just leaving the GMR and she said they were at the SciFI and checked in already and we would have to wait as they were packed. As we got there the CM at the podium made an announcement that no walk ins would be taken on people with the PS's would be seated. The line for the podium cleared right up as they were all walk ins. I was glad we had made our ADR's ... my parents waited on the benches near the podium and DH and the kids and I went and waited in the book store. The kids looked at quite a few books and passed the time away very nicely. I was tired and enjoyed the rest at the table in the back of the bookstore. Our names were called and we were seated. I let the kids in the very front of our car and my parents had the middle seat and me an DH sat in the back. The waitress took our orders and when she was coming back with our drinks I jokes with hubby ... wanna make out in the backseat here.. the waitress cracked up..lol. Our food came and my seafood pasta was cold,my parents fries were cold. I was very annoyed. She brings back the food and it is hot and apologizes again. I make a mental note that we are not doing SciFi again..it's too overpriced and not worth it, even for the atmosphere. We were only there this time because I told the kids they could pick a place to eat on the trip and no one could complain about it. So needless to say I wont make that promise again...lol After lunch we split up again with my parents, they wanted to see the stunt show and we had seen it already. I told my parents to request if possible a bottom seat since my dad can't do stadium steps. When my mom heard that she said forget it. I told her to go anyway, she said we'll see. So off we go and do the Rnr. Love that ride. We also go and do the millionaire play it and meet up with my parents ..too funny. We get a seat in handicap section since my dad is disabled. We all have fun, but don't get our names on the board...oh well. We split up again, though this time DH and DD said they wanted to do RnR since we still had Fp's avail, since we got them for everyone in our party and not everyone rode. So they do that and DS and I do One Man's Dream. I cry at the end, just like the first time I watch it. After that we head to go leave since we are gonna do PI tonite. As I make it to the Sorcerer's Hat,my mom calls and says my dad lost his phone. I was like where? she said she thinks one mans dream... I was like I was just there.. too weird... I told her that remember we had to shut the phones off in Millionaire, could it be there? She starts to worry, but eventually they find it at millionaire, though a patron had it not a CM and a CM though was trying to get the person who did have it to give it to a CM... after about 10 times of the CM asking the person who had my dads phone to give it to a cast member the person finally did and my parents went to millionaire to get it. By this point I am waiting in line for the TTC bus. DH and DS are still over in the RnR area. I get a call from DH that he loved the ride and that my mom was trying to call me..hmmm that was weird. So I call mom and she says she is heading for the bus and will see us at the resort. As I get on our TTC bus, I see my DH and DD getting in line for the same bus, but there were so many people on it that he had to wait for the next bus. We get back to the resort and within about 15 mins DD and DH showed up. My parents weren't back yet. I was gettin worried since I spoke to them and they were heading out as I was on the bus. It turns out they took the SOG bus and not the TTC bus back and that was the delay. So they get back and freshen up and they we drive to DTD for a bite at Earl of Sandwhich and then head to PI. By this time it's about 9pm and head into the Adventurers Club. I had previous unused PH tickets with pluses on them so we all used them. When we first got there all the CM's were sitting chatting there were only 3 or 4 other guests there.. so I strike up a conversation with them and ask is it always like this during the week.. and they say well it's early and it was raining. At this point my son walks up to me and said I was in the bathroom mom. The one CM said did you wash your hands....??? I know he did cuz he tells on people if they don't ...but the CM asked then, what color is the soap. SO my DS goes in and comes back out and says BLUE!! I was cracking up. So we then head into the mask room and Yvette the french maid decides she will pick on my son a bit.. and he is loving it for being only 8 and getting attention... We then head to the library for a show and then out in the bar area as I call it. Before that I had had 2 kungalooshes and was feeling good, but had to use the girls room... well my DS was doing some talking to the one lady CM and when I get back she says you must be Mom.. well needless to say we chatted for awhile and I said a few things... that well weren't appropriate...at this point my DH and DS went upstairs to try to get away..lol After that we left the Adventurers club and danced in the streets for a bit. We were going to go to the comedy club, but the line was long and the next show wasn't starting for about 20 more mins. SO we headed back to the resort.
We watched a little tv and then off to bed. Had a good day... Can't believe we only have a few more left.

Got up a little earlier than in the past few days... Though I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to spoil whatever anyone else wanted to do.
My parents wanted to chill today and the kids and DH wanted to do a water park. I couldn't handle doing the water park thing, so I told DH to go with the kids. They left just as the park would be opening so they should be able to get a few good hours in. They decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon since they did BB in the beginning of our trip.
I relaxed a bit and decided that I would actually start packing even though we weren't leaving until the 25th. I put all the non essentials and clothes that I knew we wouldn't be wearing the next few days in the luggage. I then realized that since I had free reign of the washer and dryer in the laundry room, since most people are in the parks now... I decided to do the laundry. I figured I would only have to come home to a few days worth of clothes to do. There was no one in the laundry room. It was great I put all the loads in and went back to the room. WHile I was gone, my mom said the DH had called. I called him back and he said that our DS wasn't feeling well. I said why don't you just have him chill for ahile and see if it passes if, not I can pick him up and DH and DD can stay. He said ok. I will call you back and let you know. Well, needless to say DS felt better and they stayed for quite awhile, well until the park was closed due to the storm that was coming. DH called me and said the park closed so we are gonna leave ... it worked out though, cuz they wanted to go anyway. So, I drove over to pick them up and told DH that all the laundry was done. We decided that we would have dinner at the resort since it was a lazy day for the rest of the day. We had great sandwhices at our lounge at the resort. We strolled around the resort for a bit and decided to go in the pool. We relaxed there for a bit then all took a shower and watched tv.Then off to bed we went.
I would have liked not to feel so bad earlier in the day, but it was nice that everyone pretty much did what they wanted to do. So it wasn't a loss.

Today I felt much better and we decided to try to do a little bit of everything and do somethings we may have missed etc. We decided to do MK and Epcot.
We ran around the park and did what we didn't do before or our favorites. We did the Tiki Birds, Pirates and my son did the favorite of his....the magic carpet of alladin. While he did that I sat and had a pineapple float and DD and DH had a vanilla icecream. My son rode this ride about 4 times. The line was not long at all. We also stood under the tiki's that spitted water that was cool.
We went to the pin trading place and then headed toward the haunted mansion. The line wasn't that long at all so we waited for about 10 minutes and got on the ride. It was fun. My DH thought it would be scary but I told him this ride is fun, not scary. After that we decided that we should head over to Epcot for awhile. We had a PS or ADR for Cape May... yeah my DH and my dad love this place so we are doing it again. Can't get enough of that NE clam chowder.
EPcot we do Innoventions and SpaceShip earth and then Ellen's energy adventure and do Crush at Living Seas. By this time it is time to get back to the resort. We want to drive to Cape May for dinner. WE all freshen up and head over to the Beach club. I valet park for Free thanks to my DDE. We enjoy our meal and had plenty of clams and shrimp. I enjoy the strawberry shortcake. My kids love the old car out front of the resort and hang in there when they are finished eating. We do some shopping at the gift shop and then head back to the resort. The hubby and kids go down to the pool and I just hang out and watch tv.
We hang at the resort for the rest of the evening and think, wow it's almost over.

Today my son wants only to do Innoventions at Epcot. So we go and do that for 3 hours. We did World Showcase and I showed off what the China pavillion had to my DD and DH as they weren't able to see it earlier in the week with us. THey thought it was neat and posed for pictures of the cut outs for the HK Disney Tomorrowland. And in front of the mural as you walk in. When we were leaving we got a picture with Mushu and Mulan. There was no line at all... wow. We then decided we would get a quick lunch at the counter service. My daughter got the beef fried rice with an egg roll.I ate the egg roll and thought it tasted like something that you can get out of the grocers freezer.. I wasn't happy as I thought it would taste more authentic. We also got some type of chicken that was supposedly grilled. It was ok, not the greatest. I enjoyed the steamed rice though and we shared a soda. We did that alot at the counter service.We would buy a large soda and the 4 of us would share it. I don't drink much soda, and neither do the kids so it was a treat and also we didn't devour it since we preferred water which we always bring into the parks.
After China, we did the Mexico ride and my DD found a machine where you can send emails to your friends that looks like you are cliff diving , they paste your face on the short video...it was hysterical and a cute find. We also did the pressed penny there. We then decided to do Norway and there was a wait of 20 minutes. I didn't care if we went on but my DD and DS wanted to ride so we waited, though it wasn't a 20 minute wait, it was more like 10 minutes which was cool. It was air conditioned so it was bearable. We then decided to head over to the MK and do Buzz and a few other rides in the MK since it's our last nite and then we just stroll around until our PS at 7:50 for Ohana's, it was only for my DD, DH and I . My DS was going to hang with my parents tonite. THey were still deciding on where they wanted to eat. We bought some things on Main Street and visited the VMK cinema place on Main Street and my son was like wow what is this. I told him I signed myself up already and I would let him do it when we got home. My daughter thought it was neat too.
The kids kept on asking for a Pal Mickey too and I told them that I am not buying one as they need to earn it and maybe next time we come to WDW. ( I may have my CM friend get one with his managerial discount for XMAS for them) After our purchases and the such we decided to mosey on over to the exit and take the resort launch to the Polynesian. It was a nice boat ride and they all enjoyed it. We decided to take our time as we still had a little time left before our time for dinner. We met up with my parents, they were waiting on the dock as we got there. My son was like what are we doing.. he wanted to eat. So my parents and DS took off. MY DH, DD and I hung out on the Hammocks on the beach near the pool at the Poly. It was relaxing to say the least. DH looked around the beach with DD and said this is nice. He also said...ok... let's eat. So we go up to the Poly and get to the hostess desk at OHana's and check in. We no sooner find a comfortable love seat and our buzzer thingie goes off. We were seated in a perfect spot. We look out the window and in the distance see the castle. A few minutes later all the sudden it gets real hard to see the castle and realize rain was coming our way. IT came down soooo hard. Thank goodness we were inside. Our waitress was wonderful, she took our drink orders and gave us some pineapple bread..yummy. My DH has never been to OHana's and I now think it is his favorite place to eat. He enjoyed all the food. I especially love the fresh pineapple and warm caramel sauce. After dinner we walk around the pool and I show my DH why the kids like the Poly,,, they have a cool slide. At this point Hubby looks out and see the water pageant and asks what's that.. I tell him what it is and he is like oh that's neat.
I find it was a perfect ending to a nice vacation. I think I know have it to where we will start our vacations with CHef Mickey's and end them with Ohana's.
We decided to walk back to the room from the Polynesian. It's a nice walk. I just had to keep an eye open for snakes and gators on the pathway considering the SOG has two large ponds on their property. We made it back to the room and watched some tv and gave thought to the fact that this was our last night at Disney.

We woke up early..lol our only morning the whole trip we were up this early. We all finished packing and then headed down to eat breakfast. There was a long line. We waited about 10 minutes to get a table then were seated. We all enjoyed our last breakfast at SOG. I then had to take my parents to the airport and DH, DD and DS were going to hit the pool while I drove. I dropped my parents off and headed back to the resort. Before I went to pick up the family at the resort I stopped at the Lost and Found one more time to see if I could find anything we had lost on our trip.No luck. I then took a potty break and on the way out of the ladies room a guy and his wife asked me if I had any tickets I wanted to sell them as they didn't realize how expensive it was for WDW. I told him I didn't , (though my DH and DD did have 2 days left on the tickets and we got the expiring tickets and I just didn't have all the extra money to make them non expiring. I thought it really odd that people were looking for cheaper tickets like that right at the TTC.Oh well.
I headed back to the SOG and parked in the front parking lot and went to find the family. Hubby had to check out at 11 at this point it was past noon, actully almost 1pm. The kids were watching a Disney movie in the lobby and DH was outside smoking. We had to get our luggage from bell services and headed out after that to get to the Amtrak Autotrain station in Sanford Florida. It took about 45 minutes to get to the station and we decided we would stop for lunch at a fast food place. We found a Burger King about 3 blocks from the train. We ordered and took our time eating.The kids played in the play park for awhile and we then headed for the train. By this time it was about 2pm. As I stood in line for check in at the train station, I got the 5pm dinner and our seats this time were more toward the front of the train. We actually had to pairs of empty seats in front of us, so we all had room to stretch out while sitting and while sleeping.
The train left and let us know that there were speed restrictions due to the excessive heat and that we would be delayed on the way back to Lorton Va.
We ate dinner at 5pm and watch Hitch the movie in the lounge car at 730. We then just chilled and kept ourselves occupied.The trip was ok. We didn't get a sleeper and it wasn't the best sleep I have had. The autotrain this time for us, saved us quite a bit of money. It was almost 350 dollars cheaper than flying and we had our vechicle... but it does take over 19 hours to take the auto train. You leave at 4 in the afteroon and arrive at 8:30 in the morning the next day (if the train is on time).
This was a learning experience and I was happy to have my own car and not have that added expense.
When we arrived at the station in Lorton Va, we only waited for about a half hour before our car was unloaded. We then headed from Va to Pa. Took us about 3 hours.We did stop once on the way in MD at the Maryland House rest stop to grab a bite to eat. We got home and relaxed on our porch and made our "I'm home" phone calls.
We decided to let our luggage alone till tomorrow.
I enjoyed this trip. It was nice to have the time we did and that everyone was together.
We didn't let the June heat or June crowds bother us and to be honest I didn't find the crowds that unbearable. Even though we were never there at rope drop for any of the days, we did get to ride our rides with no more than a 10 min wait and used fast pass for everything we really had to do. Many of the late nites, especially in the MK, we walked onto sooo many rides. I was shocked.
As many of you know my mom and I are planning a May 2006 trip. Hubby isn't liking it, but hey , he isn't going with us in May..lol
I did get TGM and tried some of his tips, though his major one is getting there at ropedrop... I still found some pointers helpful.
It does amaze me that some people don't use the FP system, and that some people don't plan or make dining arrangements.

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