Who: Steve, 46, and Sue, 44, 11th trip to WDW
When: 9/30 till 10/10
Where: Old Key West/Hilton Head
Why: We own the perfect Florida car now, so LET'S GO!
Day "Half"
I forgot to add one very important detail to our drive. Steve and I have a lucky song: "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright. It started out as lucky for me in the early 80's. Now every time we here that song, something good happens. Doesn't have to be a big something good...it can be something as little as having a good day at work or coming home to find a letter you are expecting has arrived. We don't own a tape or CD of this song because we want to hear it randomly and not tempt fate. Steve had been commenting a few weeks ago that we hadn't heard it in a long time. Well, guess what was playing as we rolled over the Florida border? We both knew right then and there that we were going to have a great vacation!
We drove into the parking lot at OKW. It was HOT! Steve had worn shorts but I had jeans on. I couldn't wait to put on shorts! We went to Conch Flats to check in, where we were assisted by Richard. When I made the ressie, I had requested buildings 45 or 46, which were right on the canal and were very nice. Richard researched but sadly they were not available. What??
What to do now!! He went through what was available while we looked at the map. He pointed out villa 4811, overlooking the golf course. Luckily, I had my trusty Passporter with me, so I pulled it out and read the review of OKW, which stated that building 48 offered real seclusion! OK, we were there. Plus it was a first floor...no dragging up the stairs! Richard was very funny and had only been in this particular position for a month. He was definitely in the right position...he was very much a people person and even dragged his supervisor over so that she could say "Welcome Home" to us, too! After check in we headed to the villa, which was everything Richard promised and more. We walked in, it was cool, big, clean and had a lovely view of the golf course. We went into the bathroom and noticed we were in a disabled access room. This concerned us because we didn't want to take this room from someone who needed it. Steve called the front desk and explained that we loved the room but didn't feel right taking it if someone else needed it. They assured us that OKW had many such rooms and we were fine. OK then it was time to settle in!
Steve laughs at my packing organization, but he didn't laugh when we were unpacked and settled in in less than a half hour. After that, it was a nice shower and a change into shorts. We had coffee and then decided to take a little rest. We woke up about 2 hours later feeling refreshed and ready to go!
Our first stop was dinner. We hadn't eaten lunch, and other than snacks, our last meal was that long-ago Waffle House breakfast. So we walked over to Olivia's Cafe. I had been dreaming of coconut shrimp for weeks, and I was not disappointed. This was another first: We have been at Olivia's for breakfast and lunch, but not dinner! We ordered the house specialty drinks: Steve had a Turtle Krawl and I had a Sultry Seahorse! He had the Prime Rib and I got my Coconut Shrimp. Mmmmm...
From there, it was off to Epcot, since the MK was closing early that night for MNSSHP. We got to Epoct and the first thing we did was find our legacy. Then we rode SSE and walked around a little. We went to the pavilion that had the information for the F & W festival, and Steve bought a print of Italy (his favorite World Showcase country). We talked for a while with an artist who does Disney/Mickey portraits and really loved one that depicted a Mickey Snowman. I can't find the card with his name on it right now (I think it's with my scrapbooking stuff) but he told us it will be available in late November. It's so cool!
From there, we walked back to World Showcase and browsed all the food booths. We were pretty stuffed from dinner, but I always love WS. At about 8 PM, we realized we were still pretty tired, so we decided to call it a night. We hopped on the bus and were back home in no time. Steve tried to watch TV, but he was dozing in a few minutes. We were asleep after our first "half" day in WDW in no time! But, tomorrow was another magical day!!
Next....Missing Rope Drop, "Arnold Palmers", and some more hurricane damage...