Soarin' to New Heights Updated 10/15 COMPLETE
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**Jillybean** · 10-07-2009, 09:12 AM

Before our trip to the World with friends last October (as featured in the tr, Have a Happy Birthday – Part Two

) was even over, the decision was made to repeat it this fall. I believe we were at ‘Ohana on the last night of our vacation when someone suggested it and, after two glasses of wine

, I even offered up a 2-bedroom villa at BLT using our points!

My friend, Misti, had her customer conference at the Swolphin again, but this time it was in September instead of October. As fate would have it, Thom also had his door and hardware convention (a.k.a “doorknob” convention per Eileen

) in Orlando at the same exact time and it would end at the same time as Misti’s conference. Now was this trip meant to be or what?

Since Thom was headed down to Orlando a few days before us, the girls and I would be taking the train by ourselves. The best part was that our trip down would be free since Thom was now racking up Amtrak reward points by using their credit card for his business expenses.

Initially, Misti’s dad had wanted to drive down since it was less expensive but Misti’s mom finally convinced him to take the train again since it would give them more time in the parks. So . . . now I had to make sure that all seven of us made it to BLT! I booked a van right away with Happy Limo.

True to my slightly intoxicated word, I booked us three nights in a 2-bedroom MK view villa at BLT the first day that reservations opened. With lodging and transportation set, all that was left was figuring out our park plans and ADRs. Now this is the fun part for me.

Thom only had one request - - to return to the Biergarten. It’s not my favorite food in the world, but the man really doesn’t ask for that much so I had to grant this one little request.

At our 90-day mark, I was able to get all of my requests but one - - breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. After getting off the phone, I relooked at our schedule and decided to try a different day using the new online reservation system. It was easy as pie and I soon was holding a confirmation in my hand.

Except for ordering MNSSHP tickets, vacation planning was complete!

Friday, September 18th

MK/MNSSHP
Lunch: CS
Dinner: LTT

Saturday, September 19th

Epcot
Breakfast: Chef Mickey’s
Lunch: CS
Dinner: Biergarten

Sunday, September 20th

Animal Kingdom
Lunch: CS
Dinner: Kona Café

Monday, September 21st

DHS
Lunch: 50’s PTC

After running the numbers, I realized that the DDP was the way to go for us. Since we were providing the DVC points, Misti’s family quite generously offered to pay our portion of the DDP.

Between DVC, Amtrak points and their generosity, this trip was looking to be rather budget friendly.

A couple of weeks prior to leaving, I called DVC Member Services to buy our MNSSHP tickets for all 9 of us. The CM informed me that I could only buy 6 at the discount price, but she immediately told me that Thom could call back and buy the other 3 which is exactly what he did.

Before I knew it, Misti was leaving for her conference (10 days before we left) and then Thom was leaving for his convention (3 days before we left.) He decided to take the train also, but rode coach instead of getting a sleeper car. The next morning at work, I had an email from him about every couple of hours. They were absolutely hilarious recounting his fellow travelers and their idiosyncrasies.

Here is an excerpt from the last one I received:

“We just got to Jacksonville. It is amazing how when people wake up they will all repeat whatever somebody says to them. I just heard the word Jacksonville 87 times.”

He ended up eating at Narcooses with a vendor his first evening and he enjoyed taunting Eileen with pictures of his food.

I think he knew better than to send them to me since I was at home eating a Lean Cuisine at the time.

Work and life in general was strangely calm leading up to our trip . . . like eerily calm . . .

like “you’re waiting for something bad to happen” calm . . . but it never did. Thom had taken our big suitcase with our clothes with him, so all I had to worry about the night we left was just packing clothes for the train and my travel bag. We took showers and the girls actually got to bed on time (once again . . . eerie stuff here

). I even fell asleep without watching back-to-back episodes of House Hunters.

Friday, September 18

When the alarm went off at 12:30 a.m. I had zero problem waking the girls and getting them into action. We were soon downstairs finishing off the countdown chain and giving Ralphie lots of goodbye hugs. It’s kind of

because he always thinks he’s going with us.

We drove the minivan express through the college bar scene once again. I know I mention this every time but it just amazes me that all of these people are up this late . . . especially when I’ve already been asleep for a couple of hours!

We arrived at the train station a little after 1 a.m. and immediately saw Misti’s family unloading their car. Lordy, they had packed for a month long stay.

The girls and I, on the other hand, looked like homeless people walking up with only Mary Devall’s Minnie Mouse suitcase.

I let Linda go first to pick up their tickets and check some of their baggage. All I had to do was pick up our tickets and I had to laugh when the ticket man announced “Here are your free tickets courtesy of your Amtrak rewards.” It was just humorous to me since the airlines never feel the need to announce when you’re using your frequent flier miles.

I spent the time catching up with Linda, Nicky and Christy (Jack and Bryce’s mom). About 1:30, the ticket man (I’m sure he has an official title but I just like calling him the ticket man

) announced that the train was just a few minutes away. Nicky walked Christy back to her car while the rest of us headed for the sleeper car loading zone.

We were assigned to different sleeper cars, so we bid each other goodnight and headed to our respective rooms. I had already explained to Mary Devall that she would either have to sleep on the bottom bunk with Maddie or on the upper bunk by herself. She was a little nervous sleeping on the top bunk, but when she saw that there was no way she would fall off (especially after I put her extra pillow between her and the edge) she was fine. The girls were actually ready to go back to bed right away so we were tucked in with the lights out before our attendant dropped back by. He ended up talking to us through the closed door explaining when breakfast would be served the next day.

Even though I had taken two Tylenol PMs when we got in our room, it still took me a while to fall asleep. When we stopped at the first station about an hour later, I turned over to see Maddie smiling at me. Apparently I wasn’t the only one having trouble going to sleep.

We both finally got to sleep and didn’t wake up until about 7:30. We stayed in bed talking for a while before we got dressed and headed to the next car for breakfast. Linda, Nicky, Bryce and Jack were just finishing up, so we were able to say a quick hello to them.

All three of us ordered our normal French toast, but they brought out adult portions for the girls. Let’s just say we had plenty of French toast left over that morning.

The girls were hopping to get back to the room, so we left as soon as I had a to go cup of coffee in my hands.

Once back in the room, I turned the bottom bunk back into a couch and got Maddie settled with her DVD player and Mary Devall plugged into her DS. I was actually able to relax with a book and my cup of coffee for about 30 minutes before it was time to get us ready for the day.

We pulled into Orlando a good twenty minutes early and our van driver was already there. That was the last of his good traits however.

Not only was he void of any personality, but he was just downright surly.

He barely spoke a word and kept a permanent scowl on his face. I pray that Happy Limo never sends him back for us.

We had to wait a little while for Linda and Nicky to retrieve their checked luggage, but I used the time to get all of the children ushered into the van. Meanwhile, Thom had sent me a text that he was headed over to BLT. Since he would beat us, I asked him to go ahead and check us in.

Once Grumpy Gertie had us on the road, the trip itself took hardly any time. When we pulled up in front of BLT, Misti and Thom were already sitting on a bench waiting for us. Thom informed me that our room wasn’t ready yet, so I asked him to grab a bellman for us. This was about the time that I figured out we should have pulled up to the Contemporary if we wanted to store our luggage. It was also the first time I realized that BLT really needed someone stationed in their lobby to handle issues.

The only CM there was a DVC rep.

After waiting for a while, a bellman finally came over from the Contemporary and took away our massive amount of luggage. Everyone was ready to hit a park, so we took the short walk to MK. Once through the gates, I took a quick poll and discovered that everyone was hungry. I knew that the children would be wanting to tackle some mountains, so I suggested that we try Pecos Bill’s. The touch screen kept screwing up, so I finally just gave in and ordered from a real live person.

The girls and I had burgers while Thom took a walk on the wild side with a bbq sandwich. It was way too much food, but the DDP took care of the bill.

Once we were all fed, we headed in the direction of Splash Mountain. This was our first test of a height limit for Maddie. I had been measuring her and Mary Devall all summer and they both appeared to reach their respective height goals - - 40” for Maddie and 48” for Mary Devall - - but then again my yard stick measuring technique is sometimes questionable.

Upon seeing where we were headed, Maddie immediately announced that she did NOT want to ride Splash Mountain.

We assured her that she didn’t have to, but we wanted to measure her anyway. She had no need to worry because she just missed the 40” height requirement - - apparently my yard stick was a little off.

Thom is not a big fan of water rides (actually he’s not a big fan of wet grippers

) so he quickly volunteered to stay with Maddie while I went with Mary Devall, Misti, Bryce and Jack. For the first time ever, Mary Devall was actually excited to go on this ride and she didn’t even request a poncho (which was good since they were in our luggage

). As we got in a pretty short standby line, I noticed the play area and called Thom to remind him about it. He gave me a big shock when he told me that Maddie had actually hit the 40” mark for BTMRR and they were going to ride that. Maybe my yard stick was right after all!

We only waited about 15 minutes before we were sitting in our log. Misti and Bryce took the front row while I sat in the second row with Mary Devall and Jack (who was a SM 1st timer). I do admit to looking longingly at the back row where I knew the soaking would be less. Oh well, you don’t ride SM with the intention of staying dry . . . especially on a hot September afternoon.

Before we even hit the big drop, we were all wet from the baby drops. The big drop simply finished me off.

Instead of ducking my head, I received a full spray of water right in my face. It was a little like a facial.

We all had a blast though and Jack declared his first time a success - - even though he would have liked even more drops (I am so not used to little boys)!

When we met up with Thom, Maddie, Linda and Nicky outside, we discovered that BTMRR had gone down and Maddie had not been able to ride it yet. We knew that we would be back for MNSSHP that night and have plenty of opportunity to ride it again (if it was up by then

).

Haunted Mansion was up next, but Maddie decided that she didn’t want to ride it. I walked out of line with her, but then she decided that she did want to ride it a few minutes later and pitched a tee total fit for several minutes. Yes, we were one of “those” families.

I finally got her in the stroller and got her calmed down enough to return. Just as I walked up with her, everyone else was coming out so we timed it perfectly.

I think this was when Linda and Nicky left us to go back to the hotel for a rest. Sadly, we hadn’t received word that our room was ready yet, so Thom directed them to the lobby at the Contemporary where they could at least sit on a comfy couch in the air conditioning.

The rest of us moved on to Toon Town where we enjoyed back-to-back rides on Barnstormer and then breezed through Mickey and Minnie’s houses. For some reason, Maddie and I were trailing everyone else and we ended up spending a lot of time in Minnie’s kitchen. A teenage girl was having her mom take pictures of her in front of the refrigerator and other appliances and Maddie ended up in most of the pictures with her smiling just like she belonged. Thankfully, the girl thought it was cute.

We had picked up FP’s for PP earlier so we decided to head back into Fantasy Land. There was no wait for Mickey’s Philharmagic, so we were soon enjoying that. Maddie refused to wear her glasses though.

Our FP’s for PP were ripe so we next flew over London and into Never Land. It was a little after 3 p.m. by this point, so I suggested that we go back to BLT and relax a bit before our 6 p.m. LTT ADRs. Somehow Misti, Maddie and I got separated from Thom and the other children on our way out of the park, but we kept going assuming that we would catch up to them eventually. Maddie fell asleep

immediately on our walk back to BLT, so Misti and I were just chatting away when the phone rang and Thom informed me that he and the children were not even out of the park yet.

Once back at BLT, Misti and I relaxed in a couple of chairs while Maddie snoozed away. Her mom called her to let her know that our room was still not ready. I was simply astounded especially when Misti and I had passed a ton of Mousekeepers obviously on their way home for the day.

We had only been in the lobby for a few minutes when I noticed Thom headed in our direction with the children behind him in a single line. With his backpack and red baseball hat, he looked just like a camp counselor - - which I continued to call him the rest of the weekend.

When they arrived in the lobby, I was ready for a little liquid refreshment and found my way to the pool bar. Misti had told me to surprise her, so I ordered both of us a mango margarita. I think that half of mine was gone before I ever even gave Misti’s to her.

Thom was getting angrier by the minute, so I found a house phone for him to call the front desk at the Contemporary. He was on the phone for a while only to be told that it could be almost 5 p.m. by the time our room was ready.

Oddly enough, only a few minutes later at 4:15, he was sent a text with our room number.

We made our way to the 9th floor and opened the door to find on absolutely gorgeous view of the castle, Space Mountain, the Grand Floridian and the monorail line. You felt as if you were on stage right in the middle of everything. The funny thing is that when you turned your back on the view you felt as if you were in a high end condo in Chicago or NYC. This place was snazzy.

Misti gave a call to her parents and they soon had joined us. We spent the next 1 and ½ hours getting our clothes put away and relaxing. Misti and I make a quick trip to the market in the Contemporary and I was impressed with how easy it was to get there (and the automatic doors just downright amazed me - - maybe it’s the fact that I’m married to a door salesman

). Along with milk, juice and chocolate milk for the mornings, I bought a bottle of white wine which I opened and enjoyed upon returning to the room.

Up next . . . MNSSHP and do we make it to dinner on time?

vitamingirl · 10-07-2009, 09:21 AM

We made our way to the 9th floor and opened the door to find on absolutely gorgeous view of the castle, Space Mountain, the Grand Floridian and the monorail line. You felt as if you were on stage right in the middle of everything. The funny thing is that when you turned your back on the view you felt as if you were in a high end condo in Chicago or NYC. This place was snazzy.

Might have to try this hotel next time being a city girl turned surbanite!

angiek1024 · 10-07-2009, 09:30 AM

Great start to your trip. Sorry it took a while to get a room. I can't wait to hear more!

**Colexis Mom** · 10-07-2009, 10:04 AM

What a great start Jill! Love the view from the room!

mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince · 10-07-2009, 10:18 AM

Can't wait to read more about BLT and the party!

Mickey Mama · 10-07-2009, 10:45 AM

I can't wait to read more!

What a view y'all had! WOW!

**Caldercup** · 10-07-2009, 10:55 AM