[HiddenMickey]

Thursday August 1. Today is the day. I get up as usual and get the kids to daycamp. As I'm driving away, I realize my kids didn't kiss me goodbye….I think they forgot I'm going to be gone for 4 nights. Once I get to work, I resolve that Teresa and I will leave the office a little early so I can go by and give them that kiss before driving on to the airport (it's on the way).

At 11:50 we are walking out the door and adding Teresa's luggage to the back of the car. We make the stop at camp….the kids are just leaving the pool area and I get a great big wet hug from my daughter. My son looks less than happy to have his Mom trying to kiss him in front of his friends. Oh well. He'll be happy about it later. Then back to the car and on the way to the airport.

We park in one of the commuter lots and as we are walking up to the bus stop, the waiting bus pulls away. I mention to the other family walking up that I thought he was waiting for us….they thought so too. So we wait about 15 minutes for another bus and are dropped in front of the terminal around 12:30. There is a very short line at the ticket counter and we get our boarding passes for Southwest (B) and proceed to security. We pass through without any problems. Since it is lunch time we make a beeline for the grill counter and order some wrap sandwiches. We people watch while we eat. It's always interesting to see what people choose to wear to travel in. There are so many inappropriate outfits for traveling, particularly bad shoe choices. This will be a continuing pastime throughout our trip J.

Once the gate host starts talking about the boarding procedure, just about everyone jumps up to form a very unorganized set of lines (A, B, C). We opt to sit it out until they call the B people. The plane doesn't start loading up until about 10 minutes before we are due to take off. Obviously we will be a bit behind schedule. We are able to find two seats together a nearly the back of the plane (aisle/middle) and we sit next to a very nervous flyer. Her poor hands were clutching the seat pretty hard. She hardly makes a sound the whole time. Unfortunately for her, we had a very turbulent assent. A couple times my stomach made a flip. Once we were at altitude, all was ok. Snack was a coke and Cheese Nips (yuck….what happened to pretzels?). The staff on this flight includes an absolutely hilarious young guy. He has us all cracking up during the pretake-off spiel and as we are coming into the airport. As we fly closer, clouds get thicker and we can see that thunderstorms are in the Orlando area. We have no problems landing and are quickly into the terminal aboard the monorail.

We meet Marcello at the bottom of the escalator and he goes off to get the car while we wait for the luggage. Teresa's come pretty quickly, but we have to wait a bit for mine. Once we get the suitcases, we make our way to the position Marcello mentioned, but he's not there yet and another vehicle is in the spot. We start to wonder if we heard him right, when we see a black towncar driving up. We are quickly ferried to the All Star Resorts. Marcello is not a talker. I don't think he said much of anything to us the whole trip.

The All Star resort front desk is not particularly busy and I only wait a short time for check in. I had requested a room in Jazz and we were put in Rock Inn. Ugh. Oh well. She says there is nothing else. We put the room on my credit card and have Teresa's park pass put on her credit card using my DC discount. We ask about buying tickets to the Friday night E-ride night and she looks on the handout and points out that the next one is on Tuesday the 6th. WHAT!? Sometime in the past two weeks they dropped our E-ride night! We are a bit bummed, but figure we'll just adjust our plans a bit to work around the loss of those hours.

We make the rather long trek to Rock Inn, pulling our bags behind us. We get to the room (first floor) and unpack just enough to get changed into shorts and t-shirts. As we are changing, we realize that our room is a connecting room…and that the woman next door is screeching at her children. It is loud and decidedly unpleasant to have to hear that. We are definitely worried that we are in a bad room, but decide not to do anything about it now as we want to make it to MK in time to do Carrousel of Progress before it closes at 6pm.

We time our walk from room to Melody Hall at 4 minutes. We walk up to the MK bus stop to find a bus waiting. We enter and he takes off with just the two of us aboard. It is now about 5:00pm. The All Star Buses are in the farthest spots at the bus depot. I find it interesting how many people put something similar to this in their trip reports (for just about all the resorts J ), so I add it in here. We get through a short security line and head through the gates. The flag retreat ceremony is just starting (first time I've seen this) and the band sounds wonderful, playing a very patriotic song. Lots of people are standing around watching, but we don't stop….we're on a mission, remember. We head straight to Carrousel of Progress, but decide to make a quick detour to the Fastpass machines for Buzz Lightyear (6:15-7:15 return) and then to walk right into the show of CoP. Yea!

Teresa is thirsty, so we stop at the Lunching Pad for water and chocolate milk for me. By this time, we are ready to enter Buzz Lightyear. We only wait a minute behind the FP line and we are in our spaceship. Our scores are nothing to write home about…..I'm somewhere about 100,000 and Teresa is somewhere below. When we walk out, we head over to Space Mountain to pick up new Fastpasses (8:55-9:55 return). I am happy to get Fastpasses for this attraction this late in the day. I don't think there are all that many people at the Magic Kingdom today. [This is proven right by tomorrow night's crowd].

We head over to the Haunted Mansion through Fantasyland. The wait time posted says 25 minutes. I look at the line and determine that there is no way it is that long, so we get in-line. Sure enough, the wait is about 10 minutes. We did see the special tombstone, but boy, you gotta look quick or you miss it. The ride was it's usual fun and we are out to find the restrooms between Frontierland and Adventureland. We want to the Tiki Room, which the Times Guide says is open until 8pm, but it actually closed at 6pm, so we walk on past and debate whether to go back to Jungle Cruise or go on to Pirates of the Caribbean. Jungle Cruise has a bit of wait, so we decide the Pirates will be it. Good choice….there isn't really a line and we get to ride in the front row of our boat. It's a bit like riding alone up front. We like it.

By this time, we are getting pretty hungry and decide to head back to Tomorrowland and eat at Cosmic Rays. We go in thinking we'll get Chicken strips, but decide to split a Rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes…..Man, that is a good meal! We see someone nearby with a bowl of mashed potatoes and decide that would make a great filling snack at some point [we never do this though]. Afterwards, we head up to the TTA, but we aren't allowed on with our drinks. So, we still have time to spare before our Space Mountain fastpass time, and decide to see if there is anything in Fantasyland without a much of a wait. Teresa wants to ride the Carrousel, so we get on some pretty horses and ride around to the music of Aladdin and Cinderella. We can see that there is a small line for Snow White from the vantage of our steeds and head there directly after we dismount.

Snow White is one attraction that my kids don't like. The evil queen as the witch is just too scary. So, I haven't done this one for a while. Definitely not made for little kids we decide. We exit that attraction and head back to the TTA. We toss the drink cups and have a nice cool ride around the area. There is still a few minutes before we can enter Space Mountain, so we "window shop" that carts in the area around TTA. At 8:55 we enter Space Mountain. Now I haven't done this ride since I was in college nearly 20 years ago, so this is exciting to me! I remember the queue being long, but it was really longer than I remember. We are directed toward the right side loading area and end up in the last seat of the first car and the first seat of the last car (smack in the middle, just the way I like it). We screamed and laughed our way through the attraction. That was fun!

As we exit the ride, we spy the phone booths near the restrooms, so Teresa calls her husband. We head toward the hub area thinking we'll catch some of the parade tonight, but as we pass Alien Encounter, I see that they are letting the small crowd into the preshow room, so we decide to bag the parade and do that. Teresa's reaction to the attraction was great. She really had no idea what was going to happen. I remember doing this with my son last year and how much he enjoyed it and how proud I was of him for doing a 'scary' attraction at his own request.

Once out of AE, we walk to the hub and see that the parade passed by some time ago. It is now about 9:30 and we think it will be good to have ice cream while we wait for the fireworks. So we get into line at the Ice Cream Parlor on Main St. and order cups of mint chocolate chip ice cream. We walk down past the Plaza Restaurant and stake out a spot just before the ramp into the Plaza Pavillion. We think we'll get a good view of Tinkerbell from here. Unfortunately, when the fireworks start, Tink does not appear L. And the fireworks were a lot less spectacular than those of last summer. Hard to put a handle on, but I just think there was less light in the sky most of the time. Still, Fantasy in the Sky is a nice show and a great way to end the day!

Not wanting to deal with a huge wait at the bus depot, we opt to browse the shops on the Emporium side of the street and take our time leaving the park. No purchases tonight, but got a few ideas. The bus depot has a many people still waiting, but not the huge mobs we would have been in had we exited earlier. We get a bus very quickly, standing, and are back at the ASMu before we knew it. The ride is really only about 15 minutes. Back at the resort we head straight for the room and get ready for bed. It's quiet next door, so maybe this afternoon was an aberration. Lights out around 11:30. What's that!? Oh, my gosh. It's 12:15 and the family next door just arrived…..with a large banging door and the mom screeching at the top of her lungs again. She's telling the kids they need to have a shower tonight and get the pajamas on. Some mumbling and then the mom screeches that the pajamas are probably in the drawer where they unpacked them. This is horrible. These people have no idea how noisy they are! I try knocking on the connecting door to get their attention…nothing. I write a note and slip it under the door and knock again. [Could you please be a little quieter, we can hear everything you are saying, Thanks.] Still nothing. Determine at 12:30 that we can't live in this room next to these people for 4 nights, so I call the front desk. I explain the problem and ask when our neighbors will be checking out (not until the 6th…after us). Would we be able to get a new room tomorrow? She replies to that we should check at the front desk tomorrow morning and they will try to help. Luckily, the family does settle down in a bit, and we are able to get back to sleep. A rocky sleep at that, first night in a hotel with an unfamiliar bed and pillow and the worry about whether we will be able to move in the morning.

Friday, August 2

I am up around 7:45 due to the alarm going off next door and noone turning it off for a couple minutes! I jump in the shower quickly. After I get mostly ready, I tell Teresa that I am going to the front desk to see about our room. I make the four minute walk to find one person at Check-in, two at Check-out, and two at Guest Services. The lines for the latter two had several people in them, and since I think Check-in is the place to be, I get in that line (two people who are together ahead of me). Little did we know that the woman being checked in would take 30 minutes to accomplish her task. She must have asked a bunch of unusual questions because the CM had to keep leaving her post and deal with the manager at the desk and do something behind the scenes. It was a bit irritating to see the other lines moving along and we were just standing there. When I finally get up to the desk, the CM is completely understanding of our situation and calls someone on the phone who determines that there is a room that is non-connecting available in another building now. The CM has a LOT of trouble printing out our new key cards and when she finally does, I find that we are now in the Country Fair section. Oh well. At least no loud neighbors (crossed fingers). Ad I get back to the Rock Inn area, there is Teresa coming to find me. She tells me she was sure I'd be successful, so she's already repacked. I just have to repack my things and we leave a tip for the housekeeper and we walk further down the resort to the Country Fair building 6. We are in 6410…..the very last room at the end of the resort on the first floor. The only rooms further away are those on the back side of the building.

Sidebar: I have to note here a strange thing-- The room next to us, 6409, has it's shades open and lights on. The beds have been partially stripped and the door is propped open with the security bar used to lock the room. There is a box of bologna or ham on the bathroom counter. There is no housekeeper in sight. Hop ahead to tonight. The room is in the same state. Hop ahead to Saturday morning, the room is in the same state! Hop ahead to Saturday night, the door is now closed, but the room is still the same. Sunday morning the room is STILL the same. What is going on here? Doesn't housekeeping ever check on the rooms? This is too bizarre. The only good thing is, we have no neighbors to disturb our sleep. J Still it is kind of spooky. We just can't figure out why the room was like that for so long. Sunday night …..we return to find something different. The curtains are closed, the lights are on inside and there is a Do Not Disturb card in the door lock. We have neighbors…and they are quiet.

Once we have our things in the room, we get together what we'll need for today and leave the room until tonight. The sky is perfectly clear and it is actually not too humid this morning. Yesterday evening was a sweat bath until after dark. Teresa needs some breakfast so we stop by the food court for a quick croissant meal and juice. We are out at the bus stop by 9:30 and hop on bus to Animal Kingdom. I know that there is a Festival of the Lion King show at 9:50 and we'd like to make it into that one, so there is no leisurely walk through the park once we arrive. Women on a mission again. J We are seated in the Warthog section (which is where my son wanted to be in April) and the show starts shortly afterward. What can I say? This has got to be the best show at Walt Disney World! Teresa says she nearly cries several times thinking about what her nieces and nephews would think about it. [Even when the trip is over, this is still her favorite attraction at the park.] Everything worked just like it should today (no missing performers from what I could tell…we had a show without the girl bird once).

We walk over to Africa with intentions of Fastpasses for the Safari, but it has only a 15 minute wait and we decide to stand in the line instead. It really was about 15 minutes and we were seated in one of the cars that has a cut-out in front for a wheelchair. We had the second row, which consists of two seats on the left of the car. There were very few animals out in the first portions of the reserve and even in the savanna area we only saw a couple of giraffes and a couple hoofed animals. I've always seen a lot of animals there, so this was surprising. The lions were asleep, as was the cheetah, but we could see them clearly. I don't think Teresa even got the Big Red/Little Red theme. Our driver (from Mexico City) was not into her role at all and didn't carry it out well. It felt like the plane and ranger with Little Red were just thrown in without a prestory. When we were wandering out into Africa afterwards, we saw Flik making is way off-stage. I took a quick picture before he walked out of sight. I was so excited. I've been hoping to see him ever since we saw him on one of the Planning Videos.

We had decided before we came to WDW to try the Meal Plus Certificates here at Animal Kingdom, so we entered Pizzafari on our way over to Discovery Island to purchase the certificates. We wanted water and figured we'd use our drink certificate for that. We decided to buy the kids meal certificate ($5.99) as we didn't think we'd need much lunch with the heat the way it is, and we planned to eat a sit-down meal tonight for dinner. The park is definitely hot and air is not moving well at all.

We head to the Bug's Life line as it says the wait is 10 mins. Teresa spies a cart and gets out of line to get her water and walks back to where I am a couple minutes later. We look at all the carvings on the way in and they open the doors to the theater shortly after we enter the waiting area. Teresa was blown away by the show! She had no idea what to expect and was screaming and laughing the whole time. It's so fun to experience this with someone new. I, myself haven't been in here since our 1999 trip, because the kids didn't like it, so I had a lot of fun too.

After we get out and wander with the hordes through that poorly thought-out exit queue, I was thirsty and found a cart to get my drink at shortly. We headed for Dinosaur and opted for Fastpasses as the line was about 25 minutes and the return time wasn't too much after that. So we turned around and got in line for Primeval Whirl which was posted at 20 minutes (really more like 15). I still like this ride (did with son in April) but she wasn't enthused about the spins. So once was enough this trip. We did bathroom break in the Chester-Hester area and then headed for Dinosaur. We walked into the preshow just after it started and caught all the important stuff. The ride was just as always, dark, bumpy, yet fun in a weird way. I was even surprised again by the dino at the end (you'd think I'd remember that!).

Well, it was now time for some lunch. We went in search of chicken strips kids meals. Let me tell you…they are not to be had at Animal Kingdom. (Restrauntasaurus has McDonalds nuggets which I find yucky). At Flame Tree we could have had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or something else I wish I wrote down. At Tusker House it was Mac and Cheese. So we opted to go back to Pizzafari for kid's pizzas. The pizza and carrot sticks meal was actually a very nice meal and just the right size.We enjoyed the room with the artwork pieces on the ceiling and the snails on the walls. Afterwards, we headed to Kali River Rapids but the wait said 45 minutes and fastpasses were for 2:45-3:45…and we didn't plan to stay that long. So we wandered into the Maharajah Jungle trek and looked at the Fruit Bats and Tigers. As we walked toward the entrance of the park, we picked up our last certificate item….ice cream. I got the cookie sandwich and Teresa opted for the Mickey Bar. We sat down on a rock bench and people watched while we ate.

Afterwards, we walked through the Oasis and out of the park. And who should we see with a short line for autographs and pictures…..Tarzan and Jane. COOL! I waited in line for a picture with them. Both were very much in character and Tarzan doesn't wear much, just like in the movie. Then we made our way over to the bus depot to pick up a bus to the Contemporary. We were going to tour the MK resorts (minus Wilderness Lodge…because after my experience with the buses between AK and WL last April, I didn't want to waste 40 minutes on the bus). A bus arrived shortly after we got to the stop and we and several others joined a few who had been at Blizzard Beach on the trip to the Contemporary. Once the bus arrived at the Contemporary, we went up to the 15th floor and went out on the observation deck to take in the view. I've only been up there at night, so it was a treat for me to see all around like that during the day too. You really can see a long way. We used the VERY nice restroom on the 15th floor and then headed down to the 4th floor to look at the pin station area. On the way down in the elevator, we stopped at the 6th floor to pick up a new passenger, who happened to be a CM riding on a Segway that she said they were testing out as a means of making deliveries in the resort. She said it was working wonderfully. Looked like fun to us! We didn't see anything we had to have at the Pin cart (I was searching for a Trash Can pin and a Tiki Room pin) and went up to the monorail platform to a waiting monorail.

I decide we would see more of the Polynesian if we got off at the TTC and walked through the resort from there. We strolled the path and entered the Tahiti building (where my family stayed last August) and out onto the beach. There was a young girl in the far hammock, but otherwise there wasn't a sole on this end of the beach. We walked up past the Hawaii building and past the quiet pool to the volcano pool. It was quite busy (no surprise) as was the beach nearby. We crossed the bridge and went into Captain Cook's for bottled water. We wandered around the shops on both floors and got the lady at the pin cart to change my battery in my daughter's Magical Moments Pin that I had been carrying around. Then we decided to use the path to the Grand Floridian instead of the monorail. That way Teresa could see the Wedding Chapel and the outside of the resort. There was a limo just leaving the chapel so we figured there was a wedding today. It was very humid and you could tell a storm might be developing at any time. We sat around inside for a while. The piano player was there when we first entered. There was a group of ladies wearing hats sitting nearby with a Birthday cake in front of them, but no party actually happening. We saw people having High Tea and a wedding party taking pictures near the grand staircase.

As we sat there, we decide on our plans for the rest of the evening. We decided we'd get the monorail and return to the Polynesian for dinner at O'hana and then go to the Magic Kingdom until close afterwards. We arrived back the Polynesian around 4:15 and noted that dinner starts at 5:00. Since we didn't have PSs, we figured it would be best to hang around until someone showed up at the podium and then quickly get on the list for dinner. We ordered drinks from the bar and people watched and glanced at Frasier on TV occasionally. At one point a couple children further down the bar ordered something to drink (smoothies) and then Teresa and the bartender looked at each other with funny looks and he said, something about her not being a novice. Turns out the little girl asked for salt on the rim! J We all got a chuckle from that. She was practically jumping out of her skin with happiness when that drink was delivered.

At 5:00 the hostess got to the podium and Teresa made a mad dash and was second in line. The first fellow had a PS. She was given the electric pager and we sat for about 5 more minutes before we were called. We were led to a two-top at a window near the center of the room. It was the perfect spot. And as we sat down, it began to pour outside. In fact it poured rain during our entire meal! Timing could not have been better. The food was just as good, if not better than I remembered. We agreed that the steak was the best part of the meal. By the time the pineapple arrived, I could only eat one piece. I was that full.

It was still raining when we left, but not nearly as hard, so the plan to go to Magic Kingdom was still on. Once through the gates, we headed straight for Splash Mountain for fastpasses. Teresa stopped into the Briar Patch to buy a new poncho, as it didn't look like it would be letting up soon (I had my poncho-from King's Dominion---I like the orange color). We decided to do the Hall of Presidents since that would get us out of the rain and I'm not sure I'd ever seen it before (maybe in the early 70s when my family went). It was much different than I imagined, and I enjoyed it a lot. I'll be sure to do this attraction with my kids at some point in the future. I'm not too sure about a lot of those president's faces though….lots of them didn't look like pictures we've all seen and I identified several of them wrong.

The rain had basically stopped by the time we left the theater (now Teresa has an extra poncho). We headed for Jungle Cruise, which I think is fun to do at dusk. The line was about 15 minutes, so we decided to get in line. The line took all of that time too, and then….just as we were in the next group to board….something went wrong. The boat that had just left…came back, backwards. The skipper said that the boat in front had broken down. Now comes the weird part. No one seemed to be doing anything. The CMs just talked to each other while everyone stood around wondering what was going on. In just a little bit, we could see the broken-down boat floating back toward us….this took about 15 minutes and was being accomplished only by the current in the water. No boat was sent out after them, they had no paddles to get them moving. Once they were almost back to the dock, the other full boat reversed all the way back out of view and they offloaded the group in that boat. At that point, a manager (wearing a tie) comes up to find out what is going on. Where were you before? They get the broken boat backed up to where they keep the boats and get the full boat going through the jungle and then load the people who got off, on the next boat up. Then they take off into the jungle. Yea…we get to go aboard. But, wait, what's this? We are just moving back and forth in the dock area! The skipper keeps telling us she has to wait for a rescue boat before she can go. Huh? We have no idea what she is talking about and she just keeps trying to get us all in conversation….we just want to get moving! After all we spent a good deal of time waiting in that darn line. Teresa and I would have gotten out if we hadn't been in the next group to go. We were amazed at all the people who stayed in line behind when it was obvious there was a real delay. Finally, the first boat out of the dock rounds the bend and is in view and our skipper is allowed to pull out (why couldn't she have just said that?). We do the tour of the jungle….our skipper is OK, I've had better and I've had worse. We all are happy when the ride is over and we can get out of the jungle. J

So, our Splash Mountain window is open (and has been for a bit), so we head down there. We get to the queue start and the CM is telling folks that the ride has broken down and they aren't sure how long it will be before it's up again. Ugh. That's two bad luck things in a row….will there be a third? We decide it's not worth waiting and make our way toward Fantasyland to see what the waits are like there. Everything has a long wait except Small World, so we get in line for that. We are almost to the boarding area, when a boy slips past us to join someone a little further down, then a man does the same thing, and in the end, about 4-5 people cut line. Not a huge deal really (at least for this ride), but I just don't understand why people can't wait until they are all together before they enter a queue. It's so rude to get one person in line and then have several more join as they get to the entrance. And this happens all over the park with family groups.

As I get on the ride, I notice there is a poncho stuck in the tracks behind our boat and point it out to a CM. She looks like she wants to reach in and get it, but thinks better of it and rushs up to the booth to tell the guy running the boats. Then we are off to see the "little people". I try to quiz Teresa on which countries the different areas represent…she isn't too good at it, so I just start telling her which are which. After we leave, we go to the phones near Peter Pan so she can call her hubby. While I am waiting, I get two different people that ask if I work there J. The first I was able to help…she wanted to know when Tinkerbell is supposed to fly. The second is a gentleman who wants someone to take care of a mess in the men's room. Sorry, can't help there. Yuck.

It is now parade time, so we work our way through Liberty Square to the area just off the bridge to the hub. There is still some space to see the parade as it comes over the bridge with an unobstructed view. UNTIL, the camera lady for h--- appears. I have never seen someone so crazy to get pictures. She was just manic about it. She pulled her preteen son over near the wall between some strollers that we were standing behind and starts jumping around trying to get the best shots, some with him in them. At one point she even makes him climb up on the wall (he looks like he's gone fall in the moat) so he can get in a shot. I can't really describe it well….it may be one of the those things you had to see. The people sitting at the outdoor tables near us see that she is disturbing our view and enjoyment and offer up two of their seats (that some of their party had vacated) so we can sit down. Really a nice gesture…and it did take the woman out of our direct line