[larissamorn]

So it's late Saturday night and it's just three more days till we head off. I've been wondering for the last six months when would be the right time to start writing the pre-trip report. Now I'm running out of time, so I'll just begin with the last minute details. But first, our small cast of characters:

Larissa (that's me), 36, former DL cast member (yes, it was as fun as it sounds), and general DL junkie

Victoria (that's my DTD - dear teenage daughter), 16 (umm), and fellow DL junkie

We've been talking about going east to WDW since V was five or six. I even went so far as to book a package, make priority seating arrangements, etc. when DL announced it was retiring the Main Street Electrical Parade. Well heck. Back in the day when I was your-girl-at-CircleVision the TL leads would always ask me if I wanted to come do crowd control for the parade. That is absolutely one of my best memories of working there, putting up the ropes and then, when the lights would dim further up the parade route and we could start to hear the music, clapping my hands and getting the group of one or two hundred people in my section clapping along. Bliss. Well I promptly cancelled our package for WDW and applied the credit to a package for DL. It ended up being a truly magical farewell - we both cried and cried, and I never regretted my decision.

Fast forward to 2004 and I've just started with my new employer and guess what?! We're having our National Sales Meeting at DISNEYWORLD!!! OH MY GOODNESS! It was September. 2004. The night before we were supposed to fly out Jeanne flew in and all I could think was, "I'm gonna miss my chance again!" Hmm, maybe another indicator that I have a Disney park 'problem.' Well working for such a fantastic company they managed to provide direction for about 2000 field leadership team members and got just about all of us there about 24 hours behind schedule. I will never forget my first impressions of arriving on Disney property: 1) This place is absolutely humongous; and 2) Where are all the trees? I don't know if there are usually more trees, but the whole place just looked like a flat, marshy, flat, partially flooded, flat, hot and humid meadow. We drove and drove and drove and finally pulled up to the Dolphin and all I could think was, "Hmm."

Well the room at the Dolphin was absolutely beautiful and just after dropping off my stuff the group of managers I'd met from the greater Chicago area abducted me and we headed off to a private BBW event at the Studios. My goodness, what a way to get a first taste of Disney World! The bus, filled with travel weary but tremendously excited people, all of whom had basically the same job for the same company, from all over the country, was rocking with all our hooping and hollering. YAHOO! We arrived just in time to see our President and VP of Sales on stage at Indiana Jones giving the welcome address. We had missed the staging of the show but seeing them welcoming us to Disney World was just too much! We proceeded to spend the evening wandering through a beautifully lit, largely empty Disney Studios enjoying attractions that were open just for us - The Great Movie Ride (I found this corny and loooong), One Man's Dream (omg, so awesome! almost as good as the 50 Years of Magic they've got at the DL Opera House for the HCOE), Rock'n'Roller Coaster (this was maybe too much for me on a travel day) and Tower of Terror (is this the best Disney thrill ride ever? L&V survey says YES! the one at DCA is amazing but I think this is the better iteration, I can't wait for V to check it out!). There was a DJ in front of the giant guitar and we danced and ate free Mickey Bars (I actually went for the Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich, one of my favorites!). This was so much fun. I can't believe I work for such a great company!

The next two and a half days were solid work, six am to midnight. Man, you mean if you're going to pay me to take me to a meeting at WDW you actually expect me to work?!!! Well, okay. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

After the meeting was over the group from my district and I headed over to POFQ to check in for one final day of fun. Hey, we're California girls, when could we reasonably expect to be back at WDW? Well let me say I was not impressed. I'll grant that this was the end of September and it was the middle of the week but there was one CM checking guests in and we waited for the better part of forty-five minutes with only one or two parties in front of us. This poor woman needed some help and there was none to be found. The lobby seemed similar to the three star motels that line Harbor and Katella at DLR and run $75 a night, so that, in combination with the long waits, made me wonder why people go so crazy over staying here. We got to our minitaure rooms and sort of dug through or luggage looking for something cool enough to wear cuz we were going to the Magic Kingdom! Yay! Actually, I was the lone wolf in wanting to go to Epcot. I figured if the MK was a rough replication of DL what was the point to seeing it? I'm thinking my poor attitude contributed in part to my poor appreciation of the MK. We did have excellent luck in touring, though, once we finally got there.

Again, the sheer size of the property completely surprised me. It took a good 20 minutes to get from POFQ to the MK. Unbelievable for someone who is used to no more than a ten minute walk from room to gates. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

My party, who didn't trust my choice for which park to visit, decided that since I had more Disney experience than the rest of them put together I should chart our course through the MK. We had three hours and everyone more or less agreed on thrill rides. I successfully negotiated for a visit to the Haunted Mansion (I am a HM F-R-E-A-K). We zoomed over to Space Mountain, which was the same but different, then trekked across the middle of the park for HM. Walking through the hub and in front of the castle was weird. It is huge. Imposing. It didn't charm me, it sort of freaked me out. I read a column on AllEarsNet by a kid who said that compared to Cindarella's Castle, Sleeping Beauty Castle seemed like a dollhouse. For me, compared to SBC, Cindarella's Castle seemed like it was pumped up on steroids. (I promise to stop complaining soon, but not yet.)

Before we arrived at the front gates of the Haunted Mansion I was expecting something equally grandiose. From the pictures, and based on my experience with the castle, I was imagining huge and imposing. What I ended up thinking was, "This is it?" Instead of being thrilled by the uniqueness of it I found myself comparing it to the original and finding it lacking in every respect. (I know I am not endearing myself to my readers at this point but bear with me, there is a magical moment that will arrive before the evening ends that may make your heart melt.) The portriat in the foyer was kind of nifty and I was telling one of my peers that there was a hallway coming up filled with similar portraits. Well, I thought there was. There wasn't. And now there isn't at Disneyland, either. Sigh. It felt odd hopping right onto doom buggies after the gallery and I was wondering when those paintings were coming. When they finally came I was sorely disappointed to see them done in glow-in-the-dark paint with corny eye holes cut out. Not at all like to spooky, transforming masterpieces you walk past at DL. Hmm. Then the library, with it's trompe l'oeile books and the weird fisherman painting and the busts that follow you looked more like cartoons than the severe, disapproving faces that stare you down in judgement at the end of the hall at DL. It got worse with the glow-in-the-dark pop up ghosts and by the time we got off and all my peers were looking at me in disgust at this lame-o ride I'd insisted on seeing all I could say was, "It's better at Disneyland."

We headed over to Frontierland and hit Big Thunder and Splash Mountain. Both were incredible and I was tickled at the ceiling fans in the lineup at BTMRR! One of my peers, who was wearing jeans, got bathed on Splash and was horribly uncomfortable for the rest of the evening, which was hilarious for all of us (including her - she's from the high desert and the idea that it could be that hot outside and her pants wouldn't dry just didn't make sense). It was getting close to closing time and we were all pretty hungry and wanted to shop so we headed back to Main Street. I was pleased that we'd seen four E ticket rides in just over two hours. Not bad.

My first real thrill (I enjoyed the mountains and thought they compared favorably to DL, but wasn't astounded or anything) was the Main Street Bakery. Oh MY! Aside from it being on the wrong side of the street (cue whiny voice, "everything is different here!") the tasty treats for sale absolutely shamed the Blue Ribbon Bakery at DL. I got some sort of warm apple cake with vanilla custard sauce and thought I would keel over on the spot. Yum. We shopped for a bit and I bought a darling little charm of the castle - it is beautiful when it's not staring down at you. We were heading out and just as we were about to go the lights on Main Street went down. All the way down. I literally shouted, "Stop! Oh, stop! It's time for the fireworks!!!" My hungry, ready to go to Pleasure Island and dance the night away traveling companions consented to stick around and watch the show. Now of the eight of us that were there I think all but one of us were moms at the time (the eighth is a mom now, too). I later found out that the other moms were thinking/feeling the same thing as I was during this beautiful show. As soon as the music started I felt that old Disney sentimentality bubble up. I'd been almost a week away from Victoria, working almost non-stop, bone tired, homesick and when the kids started singing and the first shooting star firework streaked behind the castle I started to cry. And cry. And by the end of the show I was weeping openly and realized why I'd been internally grousing about the lameness of the Magic Kingdom ever since I'd arrived. The Magic Kingdom did suck. It sucked big time. You know why? Because Victoria was two thousand miles away on the other side of the country and not experiencing this incredibly different park with me. I missed my baby. I made a promise to myself that very moment that I would take her there and we'd do all these things together. Sniff. I'm crying right now remembering. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Anyhow! After Wishes was over we left the park and I was incredulous as a CM explained to me in true you-can't-get-there-from-here spirit that we would have to go back to our hotel in order to catch another bus to Downtown Disney. Bizarre. I still don't understand that. So an hour and a half later (!!!) we pulled up to DD and fell out of the bus. We poked around for a half hour or so looking for a place to eat. The party decided on the Rainforest Cafe. Though there is a RFC at DL I'd never eaten there because, and this is something else I just don't get, they have almost nothing on their menu that is vegetarian. Hmm. Well I ended up finding something to make do with, the bruschetta and YUM! It was a fantastic meal. So much fun. This was when we all talked about how much we were missing our kids during the fireworks. Sigh. It was the best moment of the day. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

It had to be after midnight at this point and I was sure I was gonna drop. We all headed back to the resort where I collapsed into bed and most of my peers changed clothes and went out dancing. Where they got the engery I still don't know. All in all it was a strange trip. One would wonder why I wanted to go back. But I don't make promises I don't intend to keep and I'd promised myself...

Fast-forward one year to June of 2005 and I'm taking my mom and V to Disneyland for the 50th anniversary. It was, by all accounts, a horrible trip. V was sick (I joined her by the end of the trip), my mother was grouchy (aging, she didn't want to walk so much - pushing someone around in a wheelchair all day up and down all those inclines sure improved the shape of my rear-end AND she was peeved that I hadn't sprung for the Grand Californian since it was so much closer than the Paradise Pier; I continue to have no comment) and I do believe I buckled under the stress. In fact, I believe I was downright unpleasant to be with. In an attempt to salvage at least part of my investment I converted my and V's tickets to APs (I've always wanted to do that!) and we returned for a better visit for Halloween and a fantastic, amazing, wonderful, beautiful visit in March. It was sometime in between the June and Halloween visits that we decided it was time to tighten the belt and start saving for our trip to WDW.

This is getting long for one installment, isn't it?! I think I'll wrap it up for tonight with the bit of good news that made me excited to start writing the pre-trip report. I'd just finsihed reading a trip report (I think it may have been Eileen and Karen's)and, laughing/cringing at their description of the thunderstorm (I've been to FL twice and experienced those storms - they're scary!) headed over to weather.com to check out the forecast. I'm so excited!!! 80's through next Sunday! I hope that holds. We were expecting 90's. We're prepared for 90's. 80's would be really, really nice!

Okay, that's it for now. More tomorrow night when I can't sleep again. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

--Larissa