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allysonh · 09-16-2002, 11:00 AM

Who: Me (Allyson, 31, 5th trip to WDW), DH (Ken, 31, 3rd trip to WDW) and Joann & Edgar (37 and 35, first timers to WDW!)

When: 8/30-9/7

Where: All-Star Music

Why: Our Honeymoon Part Deux (our first one was cut short as a result of 9/11), Our first wedding anniversary, Joann and Edgar's 4th wedding anniversary and 100 YOM Celebration

Friday, August 30/Saturday, August 31

We decided to drive to WDW this year as our friends Joann and Edgar have never flown and weren’t really all that receptive to the idea of flying. Knowing that the drive goes fast (from returning from our honeymoon after 9/11 last year), Ken and I didn’t mind driving and were totally up for the road trip!

Ken and I picked up the minivan at 8:30am. We drove it back to our house where Joann and Edgar were waiting, loaded up and we were on our way at 10:00am! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

The drive down was great! It went fast and we only hit minimal traffic twice: once in New York and once in New Jersey. We laughed a lot and had a lot of little private jokes that we kept up during the trip! We all slept here and there and at 5:30am on Saturday morning, we stopped in Savannah, GA and had breakfast at Denny’s Restaurant. It was my first time ever eating at a Denny’s!

We arrived at WDW at 11:00am on Saturday, August 31 and we cheered as we drove through the front gates! What a great feeling that is! We pulled into the All Star Resort area (after driving by the new Pop Century Resort and Ken exclaiming ‘Cool!! I want to stay there sometime!!’) and after showing the guard our confirmation sheet (a very good idea, I thought) we pulled into the check-in area and we got in line to check in, hoping desperately that our rooms would be ready so we could shower!!

While waiting in line, we were met by Miguel who was handing out the resort information packets and he was so nice!! We asked him what the chances of us getting our rooms were, that we had just driven straight through from Massachusetts, that we would pay for an extra room just to shower in, etc.. He said that we shouldn’t have a problem getting into our rooms and if we couldn’t then he was sure they would work something out for us.

We didn’t wait in line for long and soon Amelia was calling us up to the counter to check us in! Here, I encountered my first dissatisfaction with the Disney Magic. Amelia was very nice, but she barely talked to us and when she did, she never gave us a straight answer. We told her about driving from Mass and what were the chances of getting into our rooms, etc.. and she mumbled something about checking and then smiled and mumbled something else. Joann and I looked at each other as if to say ‘What?’ and I had to ask her outright ‘Is that a yes or a no?’ well, much to my happiness, our rooms were ready! Woooohooo!!

Then my debit card didn’t work! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Because I only have a $1,500 per day spending limit and the rental car had taken a day to go through, the $800 for the rooms wouldn’t go through on my debit card, but I didn’t know this at first, so I was worried. I asked Ken to go out to the van and get my checkbook and I wrote a check, it was approved and all was fine. We were assigned adjoining rooms in the Rock N Roll Building (building #3).

When we got to the room, I immediately called the bank just to see what was wrong and unbeknownst to me, Amelia had put a hold on my account for $1,000 and not $800, so after many frantic phone calls, I was freaking out trying to figure out who had held the $$$. After we were all showered and changed, I went to guest services and they told me that anytime you write a check for over $200 to WDW, they do it like a ‘check by phone’ so that the $$ is held immediately. WHEW!!! But, why didn’t Amelia tell me that!?!?!? That was my big problem with her, she didn’t share any information!! In addition to the other information I had to drag out of her, I had to ask her if the check was approved, but she never told me that a) she was putting a hold onto our account for $1,000 and that b) it should show up right away. When I told the CM this at guest services, and that I thought I shouldn’t have to pay for all of the frantic phone calls I had just made from the room (I didn’t want to go through the hassle of using our calling card), the got the manager and they took off all of the lesser phone charges which equaled roughly $30.00 and left me with $15.00 in phone charges to pay. I was happy with this, but Ken thought that they should taken all of them off. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Anyway, with most of us satisfied, it was off to MK we went!!

We went outside to get the bus to MK and it came almost immediately! Love those All-Star busses! We got to MK and after getting our bags checked, we used some of the complimentary one day/one park passes Disney sent me to make up for the fact that we never received our reimbursement passes from 9/11 and we walked under the train station and into my favorite place in the world (not ‘The World” but the entire planet)…Disney’s Magic Kingdom. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] I was being really corny and said, with my arms spread wide “Welcome to my favorite place on Earth!” where Joann promptly screamed ‘POOH!!!’ ROTFL!!!! It seems that Joann had seen the Pooh lunch at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant!

We were able to drag her away after subtly explaining that she couldn’t go in, as it was a character meal and that she would meet Pooh sometime soon! We headed over to Adventureland and to Pirata y el Perico where after being served by the most unenthusiastic CM’s I have ever encountered, we ate the most delicious taco salads ever!! And, no, it wasn’t just because we were ravenous!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] They were yummy! [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

The park was kind of crowded as it was Labor Day weekend, but not too bad! The first ride we went on was POC, which the first timers loved! We walked right on! Then we went on to JK and the ‘Captain’ who drove our boat was the funniest ‘Captain’ I have ever encountered! Then we headed to the Tiki room, which ‘In the Tiki room’ seemed to be the theme song of the trip thereafter! At any given time for the rest of the trip, one of us would belt out ‘in the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room’ at random!!

After we left Iago, Zazu and friends, we headed over to Liberty Square and my (and Tara’s and Steve’s) personal favorite…..Haunted Mansion! The CM’s here were awesome!! And the new headstone, very cool!!! I noticed that she opens her eyes when the mansion doors open to let people in, so watch for it!!

Also, did you ever notice that at certain points on the ride you can reach into the DoomBuggy either in front of you or in back of you and scare the person half to death!?!? Well, you can!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I must have scared Edgar at least 4 times!! It’s so much fun to make grown men scream like little girls!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Ahhh, the fun that WDW provides!! LOL!! And I finally saw the Hidden Mickey on the dining table!! Yay me!!

The rides in FantasyLand were pretty crowded so we walked through that and headed into TomorrowLand where we went on Alien Encounter and the Tomorrow Transit Authority (which I love).

All in all, it was a very successful first day at MK! We were kind of tired after all that walking and not sleeping much in the past 48 hours so we headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the food court. Joann and Edgar had nachos for dinner and Ken got a double cheeseburger and I had turkey with mashed potatoes and veggies!! Yum yum!! Just like at All-Star Sports (which is where Ken and I stayed in 99) the Music food court was really good!

We headed back to our room via the guitar pool and the grounds and buildings were so cool!! The buildings were amazing! Especially the Rock N Roll buildings! There was even a ’57 Chevy parked outside of it! And the Broadway building had a taxicab parked outside! When I say outside, I mean along the main promenade, not where the parking lots are!

We got back to our rooms and decided we were going to turn early! So we said good night to Joann and Eggie (Edgar’s nickname) and after setting a wake-up call for 7:01 (so I’d get Mickey) we quickly fell asleep!

Next up: Sunday at MGM and MK!!

[ 09-16-2002, 11:01 AM: Message edited by: allysonh ]

09-16-2002, 11:00 AM	#8 (permalink)
allysonh Community Rank: Trekker Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Mansfield, MA Posts: 1,627	Re: Honeymoon Part Deux ..UPDATED! Who: Me (Allyson, 31, 5th trip to WDW), DH (Ken, 31, 3rd trip to WDW) and Joann & Edgar (37 and 35, first timers to WDW!) When: 8/30-9/7 Where: All-Star Music Why: Our Honeymoon Part Deux (our first one was cut short as a result of 9/11), Our first wedding anniversary, Joann and Edgar's 4th wedding anniversary and 100 YOM Celebration Friday, August 30/Saturday, August 31 We decided to drive to WDW this year as our friends Joann and Edgar have never flown and weren’t really all that receptive to the idea of flying. Knowing that the drive goes fast (from returning from our honeymoon after 9/11 last year), Ken and I didn’t mind driving and were totally up for the road trip! Ken and I picked up the minivan at 8:30am. We drove it back to our house where Joann and Edgar were waiting, loaded up and we were on our way at 10:00am! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] The drive down was great! It went fast and we only hit minimal traffic twice: once in New York and once in New Jersey. We laughed a lot and had a lot of little private jokes that we kept up during the trip! We all slept here and there and at 5:30am on Saturday morning, we stopped in Savannah, GA and had breakfast at Denny’s Restaurant. It was my first time ever eating at a Denny’s! We arrived at WDW at 11:00am on Saturday, August 31 and we cheered as we drove through the front gates! What a great feeling that is! We pulled into the All Star Resort area (after driving by the new Pop Century Resort and Ken exclaiming ‘Cool!! I want to stay there sometime!!’) and after showing the guard our confirmation sheet (a very good idea, I thought) we pulled into the check-in area and we got in line to check in, hoping desperately that our rooms would be ready so we could shower!! While waiting in line, we were met by Miguel who was handing out the resort information packets and he was so nice!! We asked him what the chances of us getting our rooms were, that we had just driven straight through from Massachusetts, that we would pay for an extra room just to shower in, etc.. He said that we shouldn’t have a problem getting into our rooms and if we couldn’t then he was sure they would work something out for us. We didn’t wait in line for long and soon Amelia was calling us up to the counter to check us in! Here, I encountered my first dissatisfaction with the Disney Magic. Amelia was very nice, but she barely talked to us and when she did, she never gave us a straight answer. We told her about driving from Mass and what were the chances of getting into our rooms, etc.. and she mumbled something about checking and then smiled and mumbled something else. Joann and I looked at each other as if to say ‘What?’ and I had to ask her outright ‘Is that a yes or a no?’ well, much to my happiness, our rooms were ready! Woooohooo!! Then my debit card didn’t work! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Because I only have a $1,500 per day spending limit and the rental car had taken a day to go through, the $800 for the rooms wouldn’t go through on my debit card, but I didn’t know this at first, so I was worried. I asked Ken to go out to the van and get my checkbook and I wrote a check, it was approved and all was fine. We were assigned adjoining rooms in the Rock N Roll Building (building #3). When we got to the room, I immediately called the bank just to see what was wrong and unbeknownst to me, Amelia had put a hold on my account for $1,000 and not $800, so after many frantic phone calls, I was freaking out trying to figure out who had held the $$$. After we were all showered and changed, I went to guest services and they told me that anytime you write a check for over $200 to WDW, they do it like a ‘check by phone’ so that the $$ is held immediately. WHEW!!! But, why didn’t Amelia tell me that!?!?!? That was my big problem with her, she didn’t share any information!! In addition to the other information I had to drag out of her, I had to ask her if the check was approved, but she never told me that a) she was putting a hold onto our account for $1,000 and that b) it should show up right away. When I told the CM this at guest services, and that I thought I shouldn’t have to pay for all of the frantic phone calls I had just made from the room (I didn’t want to go through the hassle of using our calling card), the got the manager and they took off all of the lesser phone charges which equaled roughly $30.00 and left me with $15.00 in phone charges to pay. I was happy with this, but Ken thought that they should taken all of them off. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Anyway, with most of us satisfied, it was off to MK we went!! We went outside to get the bus to MK and it came almost immediately! Love those All-Star busses! We got to MK and after getting our bags checked, we used some of the complimentary one day/one park passes Disney sent me to make up for the fact that we never received our reimbursement passes from 9/11 and we walked under the train station and into my favorite place in the world (not ‘The World” but the entire planet)…Disney’s Magic Kingdom. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] I was being really corny and said, with my arms spread wide “Welcome to my favorite place on Earth!” where Joann promptly screamed ‘POOH!!!’ ROTFL!!!! It seems that Joann had seen the Pooh lunch at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant! We were able to drag her away after subtly explaining that she couldn’t go in, as it was a character meal and that she would meet Pooh sometime soon! We headed over to Adventureland and to Pirata y el Perico where after being served by the most unenthusiastic CM’s I have ever encountered, we ate the most delicious taco salads ever!! And, no, it wasn’t just because we were ravenous!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] They were yummy! [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] The park was kind of crowded as it was Labor Day weekend, but not too bad! The first ride we went on was POC, which the first timers loved! We walked right on! Then we went on to JK and the ‘Captain’ who drove our boat was the funniest ‘Captain’ I have ever encountered! Then we headed to the Tiki room, which ‘In the Tiki room’ seemed to be the theme song of the trip thereafter! At any given time for the rest of the trip, one of us would belt out ‘in the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room’ at random!! After we left Iago, Zazu and friends, we headed over to Liberty Square and my (and Tara’s and Steve’s) personal favorite…..Haunted Mansion! The CM’s here were awesome!! And the new headstone, very cool!!! I noticed that she opens her eyes when the mansion doors open to let people in, so watch for it!! Also, did you ever notice that at certain points on the ride you can reach into the DoomBuggy either in front of you or in back of you and scare the person half to death!?!? Well, you can!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I must have scared Edgar at least 4 times!! It’s so much fun to make grown men scream like little girls!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Ahhh, the fun that WDW provides!! LOL!! And I finally saw the Hidden Mickey on the dining table!! Yay me!! The rides in FantasyLand were pretty crowded so we walked through that and headed into TomorrowLand where we went on Alien Encounter and the Tomorrow Transit Authority (which I love). All in all, it was a very successful first day at MK! We were kind of tired after all that walking and not sleeping much in the past 48 hours so we headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the food court. Joann and Edgar had nachos for dinner and Ken got a double cheeseburger and I had turkey with mashed potatoes and veggies!! Yum yum!! Just like at All-Star Sports (which is where Ken and I stayed in 99) the Music food court was really good! We headed back to our room via the guitar pool and the grounds and buildings were so cool!! The buildings were amazing! Especially the Rock N Roll buildings! There was even a ’57 Chevy parked outside of it! And the Broadway building had a taxicab parked outside! When I say outside, I mean along the main promenade, not where the parking lots are! We got back to our rooms and decided we were going to turn early! So we said good night to Joann and Eggie (Edgar’s nickname) and after setting a wake-up call for 7:01 (so I’d get Mickey) we quickly fell asleep! Next up: Sunday at MGM and MK!! [ 09-16-2002, 11:01 AM: Message edited by: allysonh ]