Shoes & DH Trip Report 4/13 to 4/18/07 About This Page:

[Shoes99]

Trip Report
Cast: Shoes99 (61), DH (62)

Pre-Trip: DH decided that he wanted to go to the NFFC (Disney
Collectors Club) Meeting in Orlando on April 14th. I had already booked a mini-trip departing on April 16th (value season). I changed our flights on Continental for $30 change fee per person. I booked 2 nights at All Star Sports AA rate for 4/13th & 4/14. I booked 3 nights at All Star Sports AP rate. We booked a rental car at National. We arranged to meet a fellow Disney Collector at his home 30 miles from Orlando. All was set.

Day 1 Friday:
Our 3:15PM flight from Newark NJ was delayed 1 ¼ hours. We took off at 4:40PM and arrived in Orlando around 7PM Friday night. We waited for our one checked bag which came out very quickly. We proceeded to National Emerald Aisle and chose a Kia Optima and we were on our way. We checked in at Sports. We had back to back reservations but were told that we would have to move on Sunday. I kept calling back but they said they had an entire Sports team coming in on Sunday and they were putting them in Bldg 10. We had a corner room on the second floor in Bldg 10, very close to the food court. Nice location for a standard room. We stored our luggage, and then went to Publix for some juice and snacks. We ate dinner at the Golden Corral. Place was packed, food was good.
Day 2 Saturday: DH was tired from traveling, so we slept in. We drove to Bob Evans for breakfast, and then went to Epcot. By 12 noon the right side parking lot was full out to the road. We had a HC placard so we drove up front. There were only a few HC spots left. We cut thru the transportation center and walked over to bag check. The weather was only 70 and windy. Crowds were not bad. We went on the Nemo ride, the movie at the Land, the newly designed boat ride in Mexico and the American Adventure. The flowers were beautiful. We also sat in on a soil demonstration at the Odyssey Restaurant. We ate at the Land food court. We then went back to the room to freshen up for our NFFC meeting. We drove 15 miles to the meeting. The room was packed. There were two really good speakers and a slide show presentation about the life of Walt Disney. We love meeting with 50 other Disney Collectors that are just as nuts about Disney as we are. We ate at the All Star Sports Food Court after we returned. The place was packed with teenagers. I used my DDE discount for anything purchased at the food court.
Day 3 Sunday: We had to check out of bldg 10 and check back into bldg 4. We got our new keys, put the luggage back in the car and drove to Bob Evans. After we put our luggage back in our new room we went to Epcot. We were looking for a friend that works at the African wood carving shop. Unfortunately he was not working today. We had lunch reservations at Chef de France for 2:30PM. Food was good, I had a glass of zinfandel and we shared the French lunch. We enjoyed the flower & garden festival then went back to the room for a rest. After our rest, we drove to the Grand Floridian. We had dinner at the GF Café. We did not have PS, but they were taking walk-ins. We waited 35 minutes for a table. We shared a dinner using the DDE discount. We then took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We got there at the start of SpectroMagic. We walked thru the stores, and around to Buzz Lightyear. It was a walk-on. We continued to the Speedway and waited 5 minutes. Winnie the Pooh was a 5 minute wait. It’s A Small World was a walk-on. We watched the 10PM Wishes in the back by Dumbo. HM was a 5 minute wait. We walked to Pirates, and DH was already complaining that he was tired. Pirates was a 5 minute wait. We saw the second parade of Specto at 11PM. We took our time walking out, took the monorail to the GF, picked up our car and headed back to All Star Sports. DH got a snack at the food court.
Day 4 Monday:
We ate breakfast at Perkins. The place was not crowded. We headed over to the Premium outlets for some shopping. I bought a cruise line sweatshirt and DH bought some pins. This was a non-park day since we were driving over to Solivita to visit a good friend from Va that is now living in Orlando. It took us about 45 minutes to get to Solivita. Our friend has a golf cart so we left our car at his place and took the golf cart to the ClubHouse for dinner. We had a great visit. We toured his new house and left before the sun went down. We went to the food court again for a snack. I used the DDE card, and I had a CM tell me it was blacked out. I argued and the manager said it was ok for her to give me the discount. Our room was in bldg 4 Tennis in the back of the resort, and I was glad. We had a corner room and it was very quiet. My only complaint was that we had to walk past a group of smokers that had their chairs outside their non-smoking room on the sidewalk and were smoking away. That was not pleasant, and I avoided their rooms for the rest of our stay.
Day 5 Tuesday:
We ate breakfast at Bob Evans. Today we went to the Animal Kingdom. It was hotter today and since it was EE day, the park was crowded. I walked over to the Safari and got FP while DH rested on a bench. ITTBAB was a walk on. I went on the single rider line at Expedition Everest while DH waited on a bench. I only waited 5 minutes to get on the ride. This was the first time back at WDW since my cataract surgery. It was the first time I could ride Everest without eye glasses and actually see. It was amazing. I’ve worn glasses for 40+ years. We went on the Safari using our fast passes. We saw quite a few animals, but not many giraffe. The driver was fun and very in character. We had a snack at Tuskar House and then continued out of the park and back to All Star Sports. We rested until it was time to drive to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our PS at Boma. I’ve stayed at AKL several times, but we never ate at Boma. It was OK, we only waited 5 minutes to be seated. It was very crowded and noisy. I’m not a smoked meat fan, and will probably not return to Boma. DH liked it since he could choose little portions and taste lots of things. I did make room for a Zebra Dome for dessert. After dinner we drove to the Boardwalk and walked around. We took the boat to Epcot and stood on the bridge to watch Illuminations. I’ve seen the fireworks many times, but this was the first time with my new lens implants. It was a miracle. I cried I was so happy. We took the boat back to the Boardwalk and walked around. It was a cool night but there were plenty of folks out and about. We drove back to ASSp and I packed for our mid-day flight back home on Wednesday.
Day 6 Wednesday:
We moved our luggage to our car parked at ASSp. The place was jumping as there were Dance Teams all over the place. We ate at Bob Evans. We then continued to 417 to go back to the airport. We stopped at Circle K on Boggy Creek for gas. We put on 278 miles on our rental car. It cost $33.03 for 11.471 gallons @$2.879. We got to Terminal A in plenty of time to check our one bag, and get to the gate for our 12:20PM flight on Continental. Flight left late, but we arrived at Newark around 3PM.
Summary:
This was a good trip. We did not do commando. We took our time. We slept in each morning and just concentrated on visiting friends, and seeing the Flower & Garden festival. We are retired, have AP’s and like to visit often.

[Colexis Mom]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us It sounds like you had a great time

[disneydani]

How great to do WDW at a relaxed pace! Sounds like you had a great trip.

danielle

[bsblady01]

sounds like you had a great time at the world.

[Annabel]

Thanks for sharing your report, sounds like you had an amazing time taking in the sights

[DyanKJ130]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! for sharing it with us!!

[Suzie]

I too had cataract surgery and lens implants, isn't it great!
Sounds like you had a wonderful time.
Suzie