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06-08-2006, 01:39 AM
| #46 (permalink) |
| Trust me. I'm a lawyer.  Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Manchester, England
Posts: 3,123
| Re: Eighteen Again! - Pre-trip Wow. I've never been to Busch Gardens, but it looks great. It looks like I'll have to figure a way of getting there on my next trip. Can't wait for more! |
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06-09-2006, 04:07 PM
| #51 (permalink) |
| Doofy4Goofy  Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New York
Posts: 3,905
| Re: Eighteen Again! - Pre-trip [ QUOTE ] I haven't been to Busch Gardens in over a decaded, but I love your pictures!!!!!! Sounds like you guys had a really fun day there!! Do they still give you the free beer? [/ QUOTE ] Since none of us drink beer, we didn't check, but when my brother visited a few months back, they still were. [ QUOTE ] Sharon[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img], Sharon[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img], Sharon [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]!!! Jill [/ QUOTE ] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] [ QUOTE ] Great update Sharon... I so need to go on that Coaster!!!! I just watched a special on the Discovery Channel that featured it, my dh said I was nuts even thinking about it! [/ QUOTE ] I'll be happy to join you on it! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] We'll be nuts together!     |
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06-09-2006, 04:15 PM
| #52 (permalink) |
| Doofy4Goofy Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New York
Posts: 3,905
| Re: Eighteen Again! - Pre-trip Day 4 – Sunday May 28 Disney!  I had to get up at 4:30 to take my parents to the airport. Wasn’t that nice of me? No wonder I’m their favorite!  Anyway, they were all packed up so they just needed to shower and dress. I figured I’d shower and get ready when I got back (hey – I know I smelled better than a cab driver would’ve  ).The drive to the airport was a snap since it was so early. I dropped them off and returned to the hotel for a nap.  I didn’t sleep for long since I was excited to begin the Disney portion of the trip. I packed up and got ready(  ) then headed down to grab a quick breakfast.I drove over to DB’s house and we chit-chatted for a bit until Erica and I could no longer contain our excitement and headed for Orlando at about 12:30. We stopped to get McDonalds for Erica since she’d skipped breakfast. I didn’t hit any traffic and we made it to Orlando in almost exactly one hour (as far as you know, I followed the speed limits exactly ).We found our way to the Yacht Club, checked our bags and went inside to check in. We had a CM who was earning his ears, but check-in went smoothly. While I was checking in, a group of college kids were also checking in to attend an NCAA leadership seminar, which Erica thought was fantastic. Erica spent a lot of time walking around like this  She said “Auntie, this is the best hotel!”  Mind you, we hadn’t even been past the lobby at that point. Leave it to a teenage girl to decide how much she likes a hotel based on how cute the boys are. I have to admit, there were quite a few cute college-age boys in the Yacht Club while we were there. Hey, this is the 18 Again trip report after all, so I’m allowed to notice stuff like that.  Our room was ready, so we went up to check it out, only to discover that we’d been given a king room.So we went back down to the Front Desk and I spoke with another CM who assigned us another room. That room wasn’t ready, so I was given a card to call for our room number. We jumped in the car headed for the Magic Kingdom. We arrived just before the parade started and was it ever hot!  Erica decided she wanted to watch the parade and she also wanted to ride Splash Mountain (because, you know, it was hot ). She saved our parade spot and I ran over to get a Splash FP.Unfortunately, just as I neared Splash, the parade started and I was on the wrong side of it. So I doubled back and grabbed us a couple of FPs for the other boat ride, the Jungle Cruise. I got back to Erica before the parade reached the hub, and she wanted to get a drink so I held our spot while she grabbed one. You may wonder how we walked up 10 minutes before the parade time and got a spot, but we were in direct sunlight and umm … it was hot, you know. I knew the PP ice cream meet was going on across the way, and I tried to spot some PPers in the crowd, but I didn’t.  The parade came along, and I got some pictures of course.                Once the parade ended, we were both thirsty so we ran into Casey’s before the line got too long and got Sprites. I thought maybe some of the PPers might still be over at the ice cream parlor, but they were gone by the time we got there. At least we got to meet up with them later in our trip! Erica went in to get us an ice cream to share and I grabbed a table. While we were sitting and enjoying the ice cream, I noticed a very tall man covered with tattoos and carrying an umbrella like Mary Poppins.  See, I told you it was hot. Anyway, I recognized the guy to be Dennis Rodman, even though he wasn’t wearing a wedding dress or anything. I pretended to take a picture of Erica, but I really took a picture of him. (Don’t worry, I told Erica I wasn’t really taking her picture.) He was with his wife and their two kids and had a CM escort. They came out of the Plaza, walked right past us (I should’ve waited to get a picture of his face) and went to a backstage area. I called my DF and let him know, since he’s a huge hoops fan.  The guy at the table next to us was like, “Hey, it’s Dennis Rodman!” He called someone too. Yeah, we’re nerds.  Erica called her Dad too, so she’s another one! After our celebrity sighting, it was time to use our JC FP, so we walked to Adventureland. The standby was listed at 20 minutes, but we walked right on. I like this ride more when it’s dark, but since it was light out, I decided to get some pictures (big surprise, I know).          After the JC, we didn’t really have time for much since we had a 5:40 ADR at ‘Ohana, so I decided a spin on the WDW RR was in order. We picked up Splash FPs on the way to the Frontierland station. The return time was for right after when we would be finished eating at ‘Ohana, so I picked them up. Here’s the lesson for today in my Fastpass Optimization System. Even if the window was smack dab in the middle of our dining window, I would’ve gotten the FPs anyway. FPs are good for any time after the start time, so they don’t actually expire when the window ends. Surprisingly, the line for the train was quite long. I didn’t even realize there was as much of a queue as there is but we ended up having to wait for the second train. It was interesting to see the station, as that’s something I’ve never taken the time to do before. Continued… Last edited by PrincessSharon; 11-14-2007 at 11:19 AM. Reason: fix images |
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06-09-2006, 04:23 PM
| #53 (permalink) |
| Doofy4Goofy Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New York
Posts: 3,905
| Re: Eighteen Again! - Pre-trip We rode the train around to Main Street U.S.A., then walked over and hopped on the monorail. I was looking forward to my dinner, but the real reason I booked this PS was for the pina colada  We got to the restaurant at 5:15 and checked in early. I’ve always had a long wait at ‘Ohana, so Erica and I sat down and the moment we settled in, a waitress came for our drink order! Shortly after it arrived, our table was ready and we were seated at a window table with a view of the castle    Erica and I enjoyed our meal (and I enjoyed my pina colada  ) and we were completely stuffed when we rolled out of there. We hopped right back on a waiting monorail and then headed directly to Frontierland. We still had a bit of time before our window opened, so Erica decided she wanted to see the Country Bears.Once we were out of there, we headed over and rode Splash. We got the back row, so we didn’t get wet at all. We checked out our picture, then headed back to the Country Bears, our favorite Spectromagic spot. We still had about an hour before the parade would start, so Erica held the spot while I went over and got on the Haunted Mansion.  When I came back, she went over and rode. By the time she came back, people were trying to crowd me out of my spot, but I stretched out enough so no one moved us out. We had my favorite spot, right in front of the Country Bears where the boardwalk juts out all the way to the parade route. No one ever tries to crowd in behind us there and no one can crowd ahead of us since we are right at the rope. Also we can sit on the little boardwalk thing and lean on the pole. It’s quite comfortable. I’ve given away a good secret, so if you ever get it and see me walking by, kindly let me sit with you. The only bad thing about this spot is that the parade starts at Main Street, so it takes 20 minutes to get to FL. When it came, I was able to get some pictures.                  After the parade, Erica decided that she wanted to check out the hotel  , so we decided not to stay for Wishes. We’ve been lucky enough to watch Wishes from the front of the monorail in the past, but this time there was someone waiting, so we couldn’t.When we got the parking tram, some people got on in the row behind us in the middle of the parking lot, completely lost! They couldn’t find their car, but they knew which section it was in (which was not the section they got on at). I guess they thought it was either one or the other and it turned out to be the other. It’s pretty frustrating, I bet! I am pretty good at remembering my parking space, it’s my room number I always forget. So I’ve started taking a picture of it with my digital camera (often it’s the first picture so it’s easy to look up when necessary). Anyway, they got off when we did and the tram driver yelled at them to get back on, so I guess he knew where they were going if they didn’t. When we got back to the YCR, I just stopped at the front desk for our room assignment since no one was waiting. We had room 3045, which turned out to be an upgrade! There is quite a contrast between the rooms and the lobby. The lobby is quite dark, but I love the décor of the rooms, very bright and cheerful.      And check out our view …  Erica wanted to hit the pool, so we headed down, only to discover that Stormalong Bay was closed. It’s open from 10 AM to 8 PM. So we decided to turn in. Up Next: Floating in Paradise Last edited by PrincessSharon; 11-14-2007 at 11:32 AM. Reason: fix images |
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06-09-2006, 04:34 PM
| #55 (permalink) |
 Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: loveland, colorado =)
Posts: 674
| Re: Eighteen Again! - Pre-trip What a fun day you had!! I [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] your pictures!! Thats cool that you got to see Dennis Rodman, love the comment about the dress [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] looking forward to more!! |
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06-09-2006, 05:09 PM
| #57 (permalink) |
| Community Rank: Jetsetter   Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Mississippi
Posts: 2,302
| Re: Eighteen Again! - Pre-trip Love the pictures! Great update. Do they always close the pool that early? Interesting. We like watching the parade from Frontierland also. Last summer we got the very end of the route, on the Pecos Bill side. It was a small courtyard-type area (possibly a smoking section?) and we stood by the fence so nobody could get in front of us. Looking forward to your next udpate!      |
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06-09-2006, 07:07 PM
| #59 (permalink) |
 Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Columbia, SC
Posts: 5,281
| Re: Eighteen Again! - Pre-trip Great, great day Sharon! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] As soon as my DH gets home with our takeout dinner, I'm showing him the picture of Dennis Rodham! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] And you made me extremely jealous with the picture of you and that pina colada! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img] And I promise to always share a spot with you at Spectro now that you've given away your secret (I also didn't know that about the FP [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]). The room at the YC is gorgeous! Can't wait to hear more! Jill |
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06-09-2006, 11:58 PM
| #60 (permalink) |
| Community Rank: Globetrotter   Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: South Dakota
Posts: 3,268
| Re: Eighteen Again! - Pre-trip Great update, Sharon. Can't wait to hear more............. |
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About This Page: This is a discussion on Eighteen Again! - Final thoughts added 7/24 COMPLETE!! within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Message Boards and Forums; Wow. I've never been to Busch Gardens, but it looks great. It looks like I'll have to figure ...
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