Another Anniversary with the Mouse! May 31-June 5 (day 1) About This Page:

[vsonnier]

May 31st:

Todd and I spent the entire 5 months leading up to our trip debating whether we would ACTUALLY leave Josh with our parents while we celebrated our 3rd anniversary with another adults only trip to WDW. I was absolutely determined that we needed the time for just us, but I had even started having doubts as the time for us to leave got closer. My mom arrived at our house at 2:45am to take over Josh. The plan was for her spend the rest of the morning there so he didn't have to wake up and get moved from house to house. Unfortunately he DID wake up - at the worst possible time. Just as we were telling him goodbye for the last time he opened his eyes, sat up and got the most horrified, neglected and confused look I have ever seen on any childs face. I knew if he started crying there was no way we could possibly leaving, so I drug DH out of the house before Josh had a chance to get going. I cannot imagine how he must have felt, but he survived!

Anyway, like idiots we forgot to eat before we left the house. Apparently not much is open at 3am. so we were thrilled when we finally found an open Whataburger outside of Huffman to grab a couple of biscuits at. I don't know if it was the sheer hunger or what, but those were the BEST biscuits I have ever had in my life. Yum!

By 5:30a we were checked in and waiting to board our plane that wasn't scheduled to take off until 7:40. We passed our time by watching a few shows on our iPod and tried our hardest to not think of how much Joshie just HAD to be boohooing at the moment. We were able to board by 7, but due to some nasty storms we just sat on the plane for an extra hour and a half. DH and I both HATE flying and the weather was really nasty so the trip there was just lovely. The turbulence meant our food and drinks were extremely late in coming and we were at the very rear of the plane so by the time we were served drinks the plane was about to begin its decent into Orlando. Ahh well...at least the muffin was really good.

Once in Orlando everything was as smooth as pie. I know a lot of people really complain about MCO, but we had absolutley no problems. We claimed our bags and were headed to the National garage to pick up our car in no time. We are Emerald club members through National and cannot recommend them enough. The whole process was SO simple. We just walked right out to the garage, picked out a cute little silver Saturn Vue and drove off. So much easier than waiting in line for 45 minutes like we have with other rental companies.

We headed straight for Pop to check in and were able to walk straight up to the counter with no wait. I had requested a King size bed and that request was met. The only thing I was disapointed with was the fact that we were put in th 50's building 2. The 50's is our LEAST favorite of all the decades and building 2 felt like it was a mile away from everything. We were told that the room was ready but we were so excited to get to the parks that we just left and headed for the Magic Kingdom.

My original plan had us arriving at MK by 3. I was so excited that we were stepping onto the monorail at 1:45p- with such a short trip every hour counted! I can't help but cry the first time I see Cinderella Castle every trip so DH made sure to record it.




After scanning our tickets we headed straight for Splash Mountain to get a FP. The return time was 4:15 so we decided to grab a bite to eat at Cosmic Ray's. We both had the chicken tender combo, brownies and water. We would have never ordered the desserts without the dining plan, but they ended up being breakfast the next day so it was a great value! I [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img] watching Sonny Eclipse so we sat around for a bit and just gloated over the fact that we were at Disney [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Around three we headed to Fantasyland to check the wait time on the rides over there. Small World looked extremely short so we got in line even though the posted wait was 20 minutes. We were kicking back in our boat in less than 10 minutes. I had forgotten just how much I HATE this ride and how lucky I was that it had been down for refurb on our last two trips. I didn't think it would EVER end. There was a kid behind us that went absolutely nuts over it and was squealing about every doll we passed so there MUST be something to it. DH just kept saying how much Josh was going to love it one day....my plan is to tell him that it is broken after he gets his first ride in. NO MORE It's a small world! Anyway, after that we continued around into Liberty Square and practically walked into the Haunted Mansion even though the posted wait was once again 20 minutes.

DH TAKING OVER TRIP REPORT FOR DAY 1

The wait for Haunted Mansion was actually much shorter than 20 minutes. As usual, it was awesome. For the first time in a million rides, we noticed the shadow of the piano player that is cast on the ground while the piano appears to play itself. Val said that’s one of the great things about Disney – you notice something different even after you’ve been on a ride 50 times or more.

After riding the Haunted Mansion, we checked Splash, but the line was still insane, so she decided she’d like to ride the Jungle Cruise. Go figure. I thought she hated that ride. When I was just a kid, it was one of my favorites, but I’d never noticed that Val had taken a shine to it. She really, really likes it, she says. We took a few minutes while waiting in an unusually long line for the cruise (25 mins) to take pics of some of the built-in jokes in the queue. My favorite is the “Free Kittens” ad that has been scribbled on a tattered and ripped-apart T-shirt. It hangs right in the loading area.

Our skipper clearly knew that her jokes were really corny and delivered them as so. It bothered me, but Val thought she was really good. Do they all do the “backside of water” joke? It seems like there used to be a bit more variety in the jokes depending on who was guiding your boat. It rained during our trip, and when they dropped the flap at the dock, the poor guy sitting under it got soaked. His expression clearly expressed that this was NOT supposed to be a water ride.

At 4:50, we finally got our first ride on Splash Mountain. She says that it’s always the official “We’re at Disney” moment. We got wetter than usual, though not as wet as the guy on the Jungle Cruise. What happened to the jumping fish? And I would swear that Brer Frog fishing on the gator has been moved. Didn’t it used to be in the first “inside” scene where the geese are fishing? I dunno. As we climbed the hill to the big drop, Val begins to complain that she still doesn’t see the Hidden Mickey built into the opening at the peak. She says, “I still don’t see this… I SEE IT!” It clicked with her all of a sudden.


After Splash, Val stopped by the Baby Care Center to do a little pumping while I went on a FastPass mission in Tomorrowland. As I walked through the center of the hub and felt the rain sprinkles turn to plunks on my shoulders, I knew I was in trouble. Still, trying to preserve dignity, I resisted the urge to run. This made the clouds very angry, and they dumped their entire load. It was absolutely pouring. I gave up the fight about halfway across the bridge to Tomorrowland and sprinted under the old Timekeeper area. I pecked my way around from shelter to shelter until I could clearly see that no FastPasses were left for Space Mountain. Buzz it is, then. I nabbed two passes for Buzz and went back to find Val. This time, I took a wiser route and stayed reasonably dry. After meeting up with Val we saw a rainbow stretched across Tomorrowland.


Before our Buzz time came up, we took a ride on Val’s favorite attraction, the TTA. It’s a nice, relaxing break, but she LOVES it. She has TTA dreams. Climbing off, we headed for Buzz. I absolutely mastered this ride during this trip. On our first ride, I scored 386,000 and she hit 144,000. Later in the trip, when I discovered “The Secret,” my totals would max out.

After just a bit of shopping, we left the park and headed for our hotel to shower and get dressed for our first ever dinner at Jiko. We were already huge fans of Boma, so we figured it was time to try the neighbor. Our hotel room was nice, but the grass and foliage were VERY overgrown and would remain that was for the entire trip. Upon arriving at Jiko, we checked in about 30 minutes early (8:30) and were seated pretty quickly in the wine room, which is a somewhat more private area. It was a very nice room. The young guy who seated us, who was from South Africa, brought us a pair of hot towels that had been soaked in rosewater. We looked at him as if a hippopotamus was growing out of his nose. He explained that it was a practice back home, where people would sit down to a nice meal after a day out on safari, tired and dirty. The towels felt and smelled very nice, but I’m sure our expressions conveyed our confusion a little too clearly. It’s interesting to have such interaction with people from another culture.
Our waiter, on the other hand, was from somewhere in Vermont or Idaho. I ordered the Arugula-something-something flatbread, while Val ordered the asparagus soup. She half-jokingly turned her nose up at my going against her appetizer recommendation. When the waiter came with our choices, I had a delicious-looking plate-sized flatbread, while she had a big white bowl with three tiny pieces of asparagus grouped in the center – we’re talking the size of a quarter. I waited for the waiter to leave so that I could laugh. He then poured a green concoction over the asparagus to fill the bowl. This made it a bit easier for her – and she said it was very, very good. Still, it was not as good as the flatbread, which Val decided was the best thing she had ever tasted. Deep down, I gloated that victory was mine. For our entrees, Val chose the Tanglewood Chicken, while I chose the Filet Mignon. I picked it for two reasons – love for steak and comedic value. After all, it was filet mignon with a thick red wine sauce served atop… macaroni and cheese. While we waited for our entrees, we used fake French accents to come up with other such entrée combinations: roast duck with a white wine sauce atop tater tots, lamb shank with a citrus sauce and a Moon Pie. Finally, when the entrees came, we sampled each and decided to trade. Both were SPECTACULAR. It was probably the best meal we’ve ever had on property. For dessert, we shared the pistachio crème brulee, which is one of my favorites. Val agreed that it was delicious.

We left Jiko and took a walk outside to find the night vision goggles to see the baby giraffe. It looked too crowded, so we just took a walk around the pool then headed back to the hotel to crash.

[TroianRae]

Awesome beginning!! Can't wait to hear more!!!
Wish we had been able to meet up at the Illuminations Meet!!

[luvnwdwgal]

Wonderful start!!! Your dinner sounds delicious! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

[loobyoxlip]

[ QUOTE ]
While we waited for our entrees, we used fake French accents to come up with other such entrée combinations: roast duck with a white wine sauce atop tater tots, lamb shank with a citrus sauce and a Moon Pie.

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] Jiko is my favorite restaurant (well, tied with Cali Grill), too [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

[gwugirl03]

Great beginning! Looking forward to reading more!

[MickeyMAC]

Great beginning, I love the fact that both of you are writing the report.

[bsblady01]

more please

[lonereb]

Great TR report. More please!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]

[SHEANA1226]

Great first day! More please.

[travismom]

Great start, Val!! Can't wait to read some more....

[LizardCop]

[b]Great Start Val!!!

More, Please????

[Jillybean]

Great update, you two! And I love your new dinner combos at Jiko! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] But everything did sound delicious!

I'm glad that you took this trip - - as much as we love our children a break does both you and them some good!

Can't wait for more!

Jill

[lindawdw]

Really enjoying your TR Val! It sounds like you and DH had a great time together on this trip. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[WishIwasinDisney]

Great start, can't wait for more. How long did it take for you to call and check on Josh? Don't worry, my son is 17 and we check on him constantly throughout the day. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[MAria R]

Great beginning you guys!!