Ninth trip, First ever report!! My one day in the parks post!! UPDATED WITH PHOTOS
About This Page: This is a discussion on Ninth trip, First ever report!! My one day in the parks post!! UPDATED WITH PHOTOS within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Message Boards and Forums; Wednesday November 8th Arrived late Wednesday around 4 pm. Magical Express swept us away in less than 5 minutes! At ...

Dopey007 · 11-12-2006, 06:01 PM

Wednesday November 8th

Arrived late Wednesday around 4 pm. Magical Express swept us away in less than 5 minutes! At check in, there was no mention of our request for a king bed or our anniversary, but when we mentioned it we were given the royal treatment. They found us a king bed in the touchdown building on the second floor facing the courtyard which was bldg #7. We had stayed in the same building on our very first visit to WDW when our son was 4, twelve years ago. Not only is he playing tackle football now, but the helmet icon on the building facing ours was the same color as his team’s colors, orange and blue. It was a wonderful walk down memory lane for both of us. The room was simple, but the king bed was really nice! We changed our clothes and headed for DTD and House of Blues! The restaurant was great, good service and good food! Our bags were in our room upon our return which was a miracle since we had to dash for our connecting flight in San Juan!

Thursday-DEMA day.

Went to the trade show at the Orange County Convention Center and was given a silver VW convertible at the Alamo rental car agency. It was fun driving around Orlando with the top down. The show was business as usual and we were ready to leave by 1 pm. We headed to DTD and had a great lunch at Rainforest Café. NO reservations, no crowd. The food was good. I had a Cobb salad and DH had a combo plate with ribs, chicken, shrimp. No Volcano. I shopped at World of Disney and discovered they were offering a framed pin set for $15.00 which I took advantage of. It has four large pins and is a great keepsake. There were so many little princesses running around who had just gotten out of the BB Boutique and they looked amazing. I peeked in the salon and there were some dreams being made in there I can tell you! We were due back at the Sea World entrance by 7:15 pm to meet our party from the dive magazine and we were escorted to the shark encounter room for a very scrumptious three-course dinner. What a nice place, I had not been to Sea World in a very long time. This was a contributor’s appreciation dinner we were invited to as part of the work we do. What a great way to end the day.

Friday our only park day.

Returned the rental car and got on the 8 am bus to EPCOT.

Arrived at Epcot at opening and immediately went to get a fast pass to Soarin. The return time was for 10:06 – 11:06. We then rode on Living Seas where there was no wait, and enjoyed the changes they have made especially where the Nemo characters are swimming in the aquarium with the live fish. Check out the photos we took of the seagulls at the entrance. We took the next 30 minutes to ride Living With the Land which we had not done in many years and it was great. The giant pumpkins and gourds were a marvel. The tropical section with all the bananas and papayas reminded us of our yard here in St John! When we were done with that, it was time for our fast pass on Soarin and we walked right on. It was as amazing as the first time I rode and we were in the front row! We jumped over to Test Track to grab some fast passes and what came out was not only the fast pass for Test Track, but a surprise fast pass to Mission Space as well! We took advantage of the surprise and went over to Mission Space on the less intense version. The green version is really easy to tolerate. There is some sensation of movement, but not the spinning feeling you get on the orange version. Our fast pass to Test Track was not until 2:00 so we hit the World Showcase! The first booth we arrived at was Greece and I had the Spanakopita which was really good. Next up was Poland and I had taking pictures and then it was time for our Test Track fast pass so we walked on that and it was a gas. I swear they sped it up for us. Finally after a quick shopping spree through Mouse Gear we relaxed on Spaceship Earth (a personal favorite) and left the park on the monorail heading for the Magic Kingdom.

Well Magic Kingdom was quite another story… it was Friday on a holiday weekend and I was not prepared for what we experienced. We entered the park during a dance show so I figured a lot of the folks would be gathered around watching. We headed for Pirates of the Caribbean which I had not seen since the changes and there was a large crowd gathered around outside for the pirate demonstration but there was a 60 minute wait for the ride… the line was backed up out the building! We passed it up and headed to Splash Mountain, 80minute wait! Passed it up too…Thunder Mountain 70 minute wait! Kept going. We were literally having carriages pushed over our toes as we tried to navigate around the park! The crowds were the thickest I have ever seen. We made a dash for the exit sign only stopping for a moment to pick up a couple pair of Tink earrings I had purchased last December in a shop along Main Street and then to sit in the rocking chairs on the front porch at Tony’s to marvel at the crowds. From that vantage point it seemed safe.

We decided to head back to the hotel and rest our tired feet a few hours before our dinner at California Grill. Back at the hotel we had an anniversary greeting from Mickey and the gang and a nice card signed by the gang on our bureau! Things were looking up again.

We left the hotel early so we could deal with whatever transportation mishaps might come our way. We took the bus to MK and then the monorail to the Contemporary. We headed down the two escalators to the second floor to the California Grill reception area. They gave us a beeper and took us up to the lounge to wait for our 9:30 reservation. Well I figured at least we could view the fireworks from the terrace before we sat down to dine. Less than ten minutes later our buzzer went off and we were both thinking it must be some sort of mistake. Much to our astonishment, in honor of our anniversary, they found us a table right by the window with the most breathtaking view of the MK at 8:30 pm!!! We were treated like royalty the whole night and when the Wishes fireworks started I began to cry. This surely was one of my greatest wishes coming true! It was spectacular. When we asked for our bill, we were brought instead a large piece of chocolate cake with a happy anniversary greeting attached on the house!

During our wait for the monorail, the cast member drug a wooden bench up for us to sit on and when his cell phone rang, he handed it to us for another greeting from the fab four wishing us a happy anniversary!! Everyone around was sharing our joy of the moment.

All in all some of the most memorable moments happened in the course of 24 hours.

We departed right on time this morning with the magical express service and I am sitting in the San Juan airport composing this, my first ever, trip report. One more flight, a taxi, a ferry and we are home!

Photos coming tomorrow!!!!

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE I POSTED

http://web.mac.com/ssimonsen/iWeb/Site%203/WDW.html

ENJOY!

**DrDolphin** · 11-12-2006, 06:15 PM

What a wonderful evening at the Cali Grill!!!

**Colexis Mom** · 11-12-2006, 06:52 PM

Great update! And what a great time (and table) you had at the California Grill! Can't wait to see the pictures [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

luvnwdwgal · 11-13-2006, 07:20 AM

What a wonderful time you had! Looking forward to the pictures! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Meggera · 11-13-2006, 12:23 PM

How wonderful! Your day at Disney sounded so magical. Happy Anniversary!

**PrincessSharon** · 11-14-2006, 09:22 AM

What a terrific way to celebrate your anniversary [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img] Looking forward to the pictures!

Bert & Sully · 11-25-2006, 05:56 PM

So glad you finally made it to Cali Grill. Great pictures, too.

11-12-2006, 06:01 PM	#1 (permalink)
Dopey007 Community Rank: Trekker Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: American Paradise, US Virgin Islands Posts: 1,526	Ninth trip, First ever report!! My one day in the parks post!! UPDATED WITH PHOTOS Wednesday November 8th Arrived late Wednesday around 4 pm. Magical Express swept us away in less than 5 minutes! At check in, there was no mention of our request for a king bed or our anniversary, but when we mentioned it we were given the royal treatment. They found us a king bed in the touchdown building on the second floor facing the courtyard which was bldg #7. We had stayed in the same building on our very first visit to WDW when our son was 4, twelve years ago. Not only is he playing tackle football now, but the helmet icon on the building facing ours was the same color as his team’s colors, orange and blue. It was a wonderful walk down memory lane for both of us. The room was simple, but the king bed was really nice! We changed our clothes and headed for DTD and House of Blues! The restaurant was great, good service and good food! Our bags were in our room upon our return which was a miracle since we had to dash for our connecting flight in San Juan! Thursday-DEMA day. Went to the trade show at the Orange County Convention Center and was given a silver VW convertible at the Alamo rental car agency. It was fun driving around Orlando with the top down. The show was business as usual and we were ready to leave by 1 pm. We headed to DTD and had a great lunch at Rainforest Café. NO reservations, no crowd. The food was good. I had a Cobb salad and DH had a combo plate with ribs, chicken, shrimp. No Volcano. I shopped at World of Disney and discovered they were offering a framed pin set for $15.00 which I took advantage of. It has four large pins and is a great keepsake. There were so many little princesses running around who had just gotten out of the BB Boutique and they looked amazing. I peeked in the salon and there were some dreams being made in there I can tell you! We were due back at the Sea World entrance by 7:15 pm to meet our party from the dive magazine and we were escorted to the shark encounter room for a very scrumptious three-course dinner. What a nice place, I had not been to Sea World in a very long time. This was a contributor’s appreciation dinner we were invited to as part of the work we do. What a great way to end the day. Friday our only park day. Returned the rental car and got on the 8 am bus to EPCOT. Arrived at Epcot at opening and immediately went to get a fast pass to Soarin. The return time was for 10:06 – 11:06. We then rode on Living Seas where there was no wait, and enjoyed the changes they have made especially where the Nemo characters are swimming in the aquarium with the live fish. Check out the photos we took of the seagulls at the entrance. We took the next 30 minutes to ride Living With the Land which we had not done in many years and it was great. The giant pumpkins and gourds were a marvel. The tropical section with all the bananas and papayas reminded us of our yard here in St John! When we were done with that, it was time for our fast pass on Soarin and we walked right on. It was as amazing as the first time I rode and we were in the front row! We jumped over to Test Track to grab some fast passes and what came out was not only the fast pass for Test Track, but a surprise fast pass to Mission Space as well! We took advantage of the surprise and went over to Mission Space on the less intense version. The green version is really easy to tolerate. There is some sensation of movement, but not the spinning feeling you get on the orange version. Our fast pass to Test Track was not until 2:00 so we hit the World Showcase! The first booth we arrived at was Greece and I had the Spanakopita which was really good. Next up was Poland and I had taking pictures and then it was time for our Test Track fast pass so we walked on that and it was a gas. I swear they sped it up for us. Finally after a quick shopping spree through Mouse Gear we relaxed on Spaceship Earth (a personal favorite) and left the park on the monorail heading for the Magic Kingdom. Well Magic Kingdom was quite another story… it was Friday on a holiday weekend and I was not prepared for what we experienced. We entered the park during a dance show so I figured a lot of the folks would be gathered around watching. We headed for Pirates of the Caribbean which I had not seen since the changes and there was a large crowd gathered around outside for the pirate demonstration but there was a 60 minute wait for the ride… the line was backed up out the building! We passed it up and headed to Splash Mountain, 80minute wait! Passed it up too…Thunder Mountain 70 minute wait! Kept going. We were literally having carriages pushed over our toes as we tried to navigate around the park! The crowds were the thickest I have ever seen. We made a dash for the exit sign only stopping for a moment to pick up a couple pair of Tink earrings I had purchased last December in a shop along Main Street and then to sit in the rocking chairs on the front porch at Tony’s to marvel at the crowds. From that vantage point it seemed safe. We decided to head back to the hotel and rest our tired feet a few hours before our dinner at California Grill. Back at the hotel we had an anniversary greeting from Mickey and the gang and a nice card signed by the gang on our bureau! Things were looking up again. We left the hotel early so we could deal with whatever transportation mishaps might come our way. We took the bus to MK and then the monorail to the Contemporary. We headed down the two escalators to the second floor to the California Grill reception area. They gave us a beeper and took us up to the lounge to wait for our 9:30 reservation. Well I figured at least we could view the fireworks from the terrace before we sat down to dine. Less than ten minutes later our buzzer went off and we were both thinking it must be some sort of mistake. Much to our astonishment, in honor of our anniversary, they found us a table right by the window with the most breathtaking view of the MK at 8:30 pm!!! We were treated like royalty the whole night and when the Wishes fireworks started I began to cry. This surely was one of my greatest wishes coming true! It was spectacular. When we asked for our bill, we were brought instead a large piece of chocolate cake with a happy anniversary greeting attached on the house! During our wait for the monorail, the cast member drug a wooden bench up for us to sit on and when his cell phone rang, he handed it to us for another greeting from the fab four wishing us a happy anniversary!! Everyone around was sharing our joy of the moment. All in all some of the most memorable moments happened in the course of 24 hours. We departed right on time this morning with the magical express service and I am sitting in the San Juan airport composing this, my first ever, trip report. One more flight, a taxi, a ferry and we are home! Photos coming tomorrow!!!! HERE IS THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE I POSTED http://web.mac.com/ssimonsen/iWeb/Site%203/WDW.html ENJOY!

11-13-2006, 07:20 AM	#4 (permalink)
luvnwdwgal Community Rank: Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: North Central Ohio Posts: 17,258	Re: Ninth trip, First ever report!! My one day in the parks post!! What a wonderful time you had! Looking forward to the pictures! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

11-13-2006, 12:23 PM	#5 (permalink)
Meggera Community Rank: Jetsetter Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Virginia Posts: 2,322	Re: Ninth trip, First ever report!! My one day in the parks post!! How wonderful! Your day at Disney sounded so magical. Happy Anniversary!

11-25-2006, 05:56 PM	#7 (permalink)
Bert & Sully Community Rank: Legend Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Florida Big Bend Posts: 16,646	Ninth trip, First ever report!! My one day in the parks post!! UPDATED WITH PHOTOS So glad you finally made it to Cali Grill. Great pictures, too.

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