Trip In Progress! - UPDATED 5/10 About This Page:

[mvmcgee]

Wow! It's hard to believe I'm back at WDW so soon after my Feb trip. This time I'm travelling with a pair of newbies and their 7yo daughter. I can't wait to show them all the excitement of the World. Let's get started with a few details.

Who:
Me: 34 single. 8th trip to WDW. Love the big thrill rides and leisurely enjoying WS at Epcot. 1st time planning a trip for others.

Denise: My best friend. Basically the sister I never had. Like me she enjoys the big thrill rides.

Boyd: Her husband. Hates the thrill rides. Looking forward mostly to sampling drinks from every country at WS.

Sarah: Their daughter. 7 years old. Looking forward to seeing her favorite characters and all the neat rides.

When:

Monday Apr 14 - Saturday Apr 19

Where:

Contemporary Resort - Magic Kingdom View 2 rooms

What:

For me it's always fun visiting the World! This is my chance to show it off to newcomers!

Why:

Do you really need a reason?

Next post - Pre-trip problems and Days Minus One and One

[emtpej]

Sounds like fun. Keep us posted!

[alismom]

Looking forward to your report

[B.M.]

Can't wait to hear all about it!

[MickeyMAC]

Great start, looking forward to hearing more.

[bfth]

Ohhh...tell me all about your MK view. We are staying in the Contemporary in 151 days!

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Can't wait to hear more

[RobDVC]

Cool! A pseudo-live trip report!

[mvmcgee]

Pre-trip Problems

I must say, planning this trip was very easy. Even at practically last minute I was able to snag two adjoining MK view rooms at the CR. I got most of the ADR's I wanted (still hoping for last minute cancellations at Le Cellier and Chef Mickey's). My friends are newbies so they've left the details up to me so I didn't have to deal with get this at this time and so on.

Then 10 days ago tragedy struck. Denise's father had a massive stroke. It left him in a coma for 2 days without much propect for life. On day 3 though he came out of the coma. By day 4 he was able to communicate through basic sounds and gestures. Now he is back home and going through therapy to relearn how to talk and walk. I was ready to cancel the whole trip, but Boyd asked me to wait a few days. Denise was ready to cancel a few times, but her dad insisted that she go and take Sarah to Disney World. She finally relented after getting him somewhat settled. So here we are still!

Saturday April 12 I get a phone call from my boss apologizing to me for what he was about to do. He tells me he's got a major problem with a customer in Los Angeles and that it needs to be taken care of before I leave on my trip. It wouldnt take long, but I still needed to be there personally. He gets me booked on a flight into LA Sunday noon and then the red-eye back home that night in time for me to catch my late morning flight to Orlando on Monday the 14th. I hurriedly finish my packing and arrange for my friends to meet me at the check in area at the airport with my luggage Mon morning.

Next post - Day Minus One

[PrincessSharon]

Goodness, what a way to start your trip! Hope all goes well!

[RobDVC]

Wow! that was a lot to deal with in the days leading up to the trip.
for Denise's father.

[mvmcgee]

Day Minus One - Sunday Apr 13

Always knew 13 was unlucky. I didn't get but about 2 hours of sleep the night before after frantically getting things ready for 2 trips. My flight to LA left out at 9:40. I don't sleep very well on planes or in other public places. Not because I can't. I just snore and I'm self conscious about it. Besides it was my first trip ever west of Dallas, TX and I had a window seat. The flight to LA was great, no major bumps or turbulence and very clear after the first hour or so. I got to see the Hoover Dam and a glimpse far off of the Grand Canyon I think. Anyway I land and it's now 11:30am local time. I have 10 hours to take care of the problem and catch my flight back home. As soon as I turn on my phone there is a message from my boss asking me to call. Not good. It seems the problem has already been resolved. I just spent 5 hours in the air for nothing! NOTHING!! I say a few choice words and I'm surprised I still have a job. He sympathizes with me though and tells me he's going to get me home quicker. Well after checking around he can't get me an earlier flight. So I have to spend 10 hours in LA. But he did upgrade my seat to first class. Woohoo! So I don't know a soul in California. I've only got 10 hours not much time for sightseeing especially when there's nothing I've been dying to see there. I hang out at the airport. I doze off a few times. Go to the bar and have a couple beers. Walk around alot. Finally 10:45pm rolls around and time to board. Having never flown first-class I honestly can't say I was very impressed. The seat was a bit bigger which was nice. And of course the free drinks! Maybe there are other benefits you receive at check-in such as shorter lines or something. To me it wouldn't be worth it to spend hundreds of dollars extra on a larger seat. I'll pay cash for the drinks. Well by this time I'm absolutely exhausted. I do take advantage of the drinks and have 2 cocktails. By then I just rest my head against the window. Next thing I know we're making our initial descent into Charlotte. Nobody gave me any ugly looks so I guess I didn't snore lol.

Next post - Day One

[mvmcgee]

Day One - Monday, Apr 14

I get off the plane at around 6:30am EST. My body clock screaming at me! I actually had time to go home and cleanup before our flight to Orlando. But my body being in that condition I didn't want to drive. Besides the arrangements were already made. Our flight didn't leave until 11:20am so I had about 4 hours to kill. I decided to put my body in worse condition. I hit the bar. Normally I don't drink in the morning. And I don't drink heavily except sometimes on vacation or my birthday perhaps. Maybe Halloween, 4th of July, New Years, etc. Heh heh anyway I hit the bar for a couple of hours. I'm proud of myself. I drank slowly so I didn't drink too much.

After 2 hours my friends called and said they were 15mins away. So I went up the flight check-in to meet them. As it happens, Monday mornings are not good times to fly out of Charlotte. I guess Monday is a big business travel day, plus Charlotte is a USAirways hub. It took over an hour to get through check-in and security. We made it to the gate 10mins before the boarding process started. I'm feeling great! Half asleep, half lit, and finally on my way to WDW. Sarah can hardly sit still she's so excited. Denise is excited but trying to keep Sarah and Boyd calm. Boyd is turning white. He is scared to death of flying. We land in Orlando at 12:45. Making our way down to the DME check-in and departing on the bus by 1:10.

We check-in at the CR around 2:00. Staff is very friendly. We get to our rooms and lo and behold it is two adjacent rooms down at the very south end of the tower. I have never stayed at the CR before. It's very impressive. I'm not so sure about liking the decor. The size is great and I love the sliding doors to the bathroom. We're at the far end of the concourse so it's the furthest from the elevators. But being on the south end we're also furthest from the new construction. 8th floor which is a nice height. Puts the castle about eye-level. The one thing I really don't like is the bathroom sinks are very shallow and flat. They don't drain very well. And no counter space for your toiletries. There's a shelf underneath the sinks, but it's not very convenient.

We relax and get settled in before heading out to our first stop the MK. We have ADR's at 6:00 for Liberty Tree Tavern. We take the monorail which Sarah agrees is very cool. Her eyes are huge as we walk through the train station and onto Main Street USA and she gets her first view of the castle closeup. I think all of us remember the first time we ever saw it. Not much time for looking though at this point so it's off to LTT. This is one restaurant I've never eaten at the MK. We never really did any sit down restaurants at MK when I was little. And I don't really care for character meals all that much. The food was awesome. I'm normally a meat and potatoes kind of guy and this is the place I've been looking for at WDW! Boyd and Denise loved it too. Sarah of course enjoyed meeting Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale, and especially Minnie.

After dinner was over my body finally started shutting down. I let them loose with a few suggestions and headed back to the room. I closed the blinds, put the tv on very low on Stacey's channel, and before 7:30 rolled around I was out!!

Next post - Day Two

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Glad you've made it to the world and it sounds like a great first day

[emtpej]

Well, at least you still have your job and you didn't have to get used to west coast time and then come back and get used to east coast again! I find I usually snore less sitting up, anyway...
And, you made it to the MK!