My First Trip Report with the Passporter Jan 2002 Photos Added About This Page:

[Mauimouse]

Who: Myself (Mary) and Friend Terri from work
When: January 2002
Stayed at CBR
Why: Needed a Vacation really bad, and to get away from the cold

Flying from MBS to DTW was it seemed back and forth and then finally over Detroit and into Metro airport. When we landed it took forever to get to the gate. We arrived at the gate E18 and the plane to Orlando was to leave out of gate E17, so that was very convent. We waited for while and walked around, didn't want to go far. On the crawl it said that they wouldn't be servicing a dinner. All we would get is a beverage service. Terri went and got a water and pretzel. We finally got a place to sit and waited for a while. The reason that we got a place to sit is that another gate was move and all the people took off to that gate.
We took off on time at 5:30pm. Terri had a whole row all to herself and I had a lady who moved over and sat by the window. The flight was uneventful and about a total of 2 hours in the air.
Landed at Orlando at about 8pm. The airport looked deserted as we taxied to the gate. When we got off the plane it was deserted, no one around. It was kind of nice that way.
Followed the people down to get the luggage, didn't take too long and we were off to the rental car counter.
The National Rental Car counter was a long way away from the Northwest baggage claim. We waited for a while for an agent, as there were only 2 available.
At first they said that we needed a coupon to get one of the discounts. Then the agent left and I found it in my back pack. Thought good that I did bring it with me, because I read somewhere on line that we needed it, but it didn't look like a coupon.
Signed my life away. Also I am going to be the only person to drive because it would have cost an additional $5 a day for Terri to drive as well. That was stupid and we didn't do it.
We went outside finally in Florida and I think that this is where it finally hit me that we were in Florida and on our way to Walt Disney World. It was nice outside, but it was dark of course as well.
We went to the full size car section and could pick the car we wanted. All of the cars were pretty much the same. I was going to pick a dark blue car, but Terri suggested the silver one. The car was an Olds Intrigue 4 door. Popped the trunk, put the luggage in the back and we were off.
They gave us a map at the rental car counter, plus I had my own printed map from my computer as well. Had no problems once we finally got out of the airport. Took the south exit and then onto the Greeneway. Practically had the freeway to ourselves.
No problem finding Walt Disney World and the resort. As we were getting near the Caribbean Beach Resort the Illuminations fireworks were going off at Epcot. Terri got to look at some fireworks.
When we drove to the security house I had my hotel voucher and showed the guard and then we tried to find Custom House. Sure it is easy to find right? Not for us, on the left side I pulled in and wanted to get under that awning near the front doors. What I didn't know is that if you kept going you'd be driving back out the resort. So I turned into where all the CBR van's were parked and then turned around and floored it back the wrong way to the front checkout.
We both went inside to check in. There wasn't anyone at the Custom House, only a few Cast Member's as well. I had faxed them back on January 6th to say that I would like to be on the 2nd floor and either in Aruba or Jamaica. When we checked in we got all the paperwork and Terri gave them her credit card for the extra's. Which she will mainly use. We also got our vouchers for our free flex pin which we have to redeem at Old Port Royale or other places. We got our room keys, which are also our park passes as well and credit card. The Cast Member told us that they received my request for a room near the food court and also on the 1st floor. It really wasn't a big deal so I didn't say anything. We were in Trinidad North room 3315. Found the room with no problem. We are facing the parking lot. One nice thing is that there was hardly any cars in our parking lot. I forgot to ask if we could be upgraded to a water view. Again it wasn't really any big deal because we weren't really in the room that much, only at night.
We unpacked and they have 4 refillable mugs on the table and also rain ponchos as well. The mugs are $9.99 and the ponchos $6.00. Terri took the purple mug, so that left a red, blue and green. I didn't know which one that I wanted the blue or green. I finally decided on the blue one.
Found the in room safe behind the curtain that separates the bathroom sinks from the beds. Put my money and traveler's checks and my wallet in it. It doesn't hold much, very narrow. We put the key to the safe on the key ring for the car.
After we unpacked I was hungry and so was Terri, hadn't eaten anything since I left home. We walked down to Old Port Royale by the water. It wasn't bad outside, but a little cool, still needed to wear a sweatshirt.
When we in to the restaurant portion, Terri asked the Cast Member at the restaurant how it works. We didn't want the sit down restaurant and I wound up getting a cheeseburger and French Fries. Terri got the kid's chicken strip meal, which included French Fries. We filled up of mugs for the first time. They have Coke products which I was very happy to see. We ate at the food court. I called home from the pay phone to say that we made it. It was late when I finally called home.
Checked out the store a little bit and all the pins at the pin cart. I didn't think that they would be that big.
We walked back to the room, kind of cold outside but not too bad. Watched some tv. and then hit the hay.
Called to get a 7:30am wake up call for tomorrow.
Tomorrow we are going to Magic Kingdom.

Today's Spending
Florida Toll Road: $2
Caribbean Beach Resort: Dinner Old Port Royale $5.72
Cheeseburger & FF

[ 03-12-2003, 11:10 PM: Message edited by: Mauimouse ]

[Mauimouse]

Who: Mary (me) & Terri (Friend from work)
Where: Caribbean Beach Resort
When: January 9th to January 16, 2002

Day Two:
Thursday, January 10, 2002
Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Downtown Disney

Magic Kingdom

We were suppose to have Mickey wake us up at 7:30am, wanted to get an early start to our first "real" Disney day. Mickey was a little late in calling us at 7:36am. I was up already anyway, who can sleep the first night. We were finally here and going to the park. So I let Terri answer the phone. Today we decided that we would ride the bus. This way I could get my bearing. We wanted our first park to be Magic Kingdom. No problems with the bus transportation, as soon as we walked out the door and over to the bus stop, the Magic Kingdom bus had arrived. After a trip around the resort, but not too many stops, 3 to be precise. Next stop was the Contemporary Resort where they were letting off people that had PS for Character breakfasts. Then onto the Magic Kingdom. The bus went around and finally let us off. The stop for the Caribbean Beach is the furthest away.

We passed through security with no problems. I had my waist pack on, but since you can't see it under my sweatshirt I was never stopped. Didn't have anything in it, other than money. Terri used my larger pack, which I gave her, she had to wait and get checked. Then it was up to the turnstiles, we were 2nd in line to enter the park. It was a beautiful day and I took some pictures of the railroad, since the park wasn't open yet, there wasn't any people in the way. I also didn't take my digital camera today, only the 35mm. I didn't know if I wanted to carry it around. But actually it wasn't bad to carry around and would definitely take it again in a heart beat. There were some people who got let in early but they had PS for breakfast. While we were waiting some characters came out in the crowds, Cruella, Mr. Smee, Donald, Aladdin, Jarfar. The kids were getting autographs and that was cute to see. At 9am they had a little girl open the turnstiles and then we were off.

My first stop and it was like this at all the parks was to pick up a park map and the paper insert.

Walked under the Walt Disney Railroad and up Main Street U.S.A. The castle looked so beautiful this morning. Beautiful blue skies, with not a cloud in the sky. I took a couple of pictures. Would have liked to take a photo of the Partner's statue but there were a lot of people there first thing. I will get a picture of it later.

We went to Tomorrowland first. Terri took my picture in front of a Mickey & Minnie topiary. I also took a picture of the Tomorrowland sign.

Not too many people at or in Tomorrowland. Our first ride and I think we were the first to ride was the old Wedway People mover, now called Tomorrowland Transit Authority or TTA for short. While on the TTA the voice tells you where you are and it got stuck in my head "Now Entering Metropolis Science Center" or "Mickey's Star Traders".

The next ride was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. No one in line and I took Terri's picture with Buzz Lightyear. I drove the first time around and I only got 49,000 points. We went on it again and again a no wait, walk on. This time Terri drove and I got 149,500. Much better score.

Carousel of Progress was closed, which I knew but it was sad to see. Would have like to see that again.

Walked over to It's A Small World with no wait. That song can really stick in your head for a long time. It was fun, but once is enough.

Peter Pan's Flight was next with another walk on. I forgot how when you get in the boat that you actually look below you. Thinking before that the sails would get in the way. That was a fun ride. I enjoy Peter Pan.

Next was The Haunted Mansion, and we walked right into the stretch room. Right before the doors open I remembered to look up and see the ghost. Out of the elevator and only 2 guys in front of us. The Cast Member guy there as I entered the doom buggy I put my arm on the bar, didn't remember that it came down, well he kind of barked at me. Maybe that is just how they are suppose to act, because the Cast Member in the elevator was looking rather stern as well.

The only bad thing for the walking on was that you really didn't get to see all the effects in the queue area. Like the Haunted Mansion, didn't get to see the pet cemetery, just cruised right on through.

Now we walked over to the Mountains and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Again no wait and we walked into the entry area. There was a family in front of us with 2 boys. As soon as we get to the boarding area, the younger boy gets sick all over the place. He kept it up in a couple spots. One thing that was kind of funny is that he still wanted to go on the ride even after this. Luckily his parents said no and they went right through and out the exit. Which was good because he would have been right behind us. Terri really like Big Thunder, since she isn't a roller coaster fan, but she liked this one. Also when we came back to the station we were on the left side, while clean up was going on at the right side.

We walked by Splash Mountain, but it was drained and people were working on it. Even though no water, I took a picture.

Our next stop was the Jungle Cruise. This was our first wait about 10 minutes. Also on the Jungle Cruise there were a lot of older people on this ride. The Cast Member boat driver wasn't as good and was hard to hear and understand. Also the old people all drove those ECV's. So they got onto the Jungle Cruise without waiting in the line. Maybe that is why the line was so long. Again the jokes weren't very funny and it wasn't as good as I remember from before.

Off the Jungle Cruise and the over to Pirates of the Caribbean with no wait again. Terri didn't like the Pirates, I thought it was okay. I guess she thought it would be like the one in Disneyland. I don't remember it too much from before. I like how when you get off the ride and out the exit they put you right into a shop. Didn't buy anything today so far, and we really didn't look around too much.

Next was the Swiss Family Treehouse, we kept moving through out the Treehouse. I took a picture of Space Mountain from inside the Tree house. I do like that, it is kind of neat how you can walk around.

By this time we were getting hungry. I suggested that we would go back to Plaza Pavilion in Tomorrowland for lunch. Another one of my old favorites from when mom and I went to WDW back in 1982.

We had a really nice talk with a Cast Member cashier about Northern Michigan. I had my Mackinac Island sweatshirt on. She said that they have some property near Traverse City and they go up to Michigan in the summer. She said that they had never been to Mackinac Island. At first we would have eaten under the pavilion near the water, but there were a lot of seagulls all over the place. I went down to were they were yellow umbrella's and there wasn't any seagulls. I had the chicken fingers and French fries and a coke. Terri I don't remember what she had.

After lunch we decided that we would walk down Main Street U.S.A. and check out some of the stores. Main Street U.S.A. is or seems smaller in length. When you are a child it seemed that it took forever to reach the castle and those rides we always just beyond the castle. Anyway I remembered to also check out the names above the buildings on Main Street.

As we were walking down Main Street U.S.A. we met the Mayor of Main Street I believe. He had a big sash on his person that said Major. We talked for a few minutes. Terri asked him about his pin and he said that it was for how long he worked at WDW. I knew that from reading somewhere on line about it. I showed him my Michigan Mickey pin.

We went into the Emporium Complex and I bought my first 4 pins. I am hooked on the pin craze. After shopping a little bit we decided that we would take the monorail over to the TTC and go to Epcot. That was around 12 noon.

So we did a lot of rides in 3 hours at the Magic Kingdom with hardly any wait what so ever.

We went up to the Express Monorail to the TTC and waited, the Blue Monorail comes and empties out the incoming passengers. We get on, we have a car all to ourselves. Only 5 people total get on the monorail. At first they shut down the monorail and then powered it back up. Now there is a problem with the blue monorail. They came over the intercom and said that we would have to get off and get on the next monorail. The doors open and we get out.

The blue monorail then leaves and we wait for the Green Monorail to come, but more people have shown up so we don't have a car to ourselves.

Arrived at the TTC and transfer to the Pink Monorail to Epcot. I really like riding on the monorails. On the monorail over to Epcot some guy made a comment about my Mackinac Island sweatshirt, he was originally from Michigan, but now from California.

Epcot

Arrived at Epcot is always thrilling to me, almost as much as the Magic Kingdom. I really like seeing the Spaceship Earth. The ride over on the monorail is cool too, because you get a good perspective of the Future World, by going all the way around and then into the station. I like the Mickey Mouse Fantasia hand holding the Epcot sign.

Went through security with no problems. Our first ride was Spaceship Earth with it's 00 minute wait. Walked non-stop and sat in our car. I remember the first hill being really dark and really steep as well. But from the right side you can look off to the side and up the ride and see light. You can also see the tracks in some spots. What I like about this ride is when you finally reach the top of Spaceship Earth and you see all those twinkling stars, which I found out is actually the way the geosphere is made, and planet earth. Then your seat turns around for your journey back down to planet earth. I think that it is really cool how they do that. Terri like the ride as well. And we will ride it again at least 2 or 3 more times during our stay.

Walked through Innoventions to get to Test Track. Saw the dancing fountains. The kids were having fun trying to find out which one was next. The stand by line was 20 minutes, so we decided to get a fast pass for a return of 1:25pm to 2:25 pm. This was our first Fast Pass, and it was 12:50pm. We walked back and went into Mouse Gear and checked everything out. Saw some cute stuff but nothing that I really wanted to get. Had some nice baseball hats as well. We went to Ice Station Cool, and walked through the snow, which we just left at home. Tried some of the cokes, the watermelon coke was bad and left a bad taste in my mouth. Don't remember the Beverly one that everyone always talks about.

Went back to Test Track at 1:25pm and in the Fast Pass lane. On the walls are various places in the world where GM has test tracks, Milford Michigan is there as well. Test Track is really cool and we will definitely come back and ride this again. We both thought that Test Track was awesome and way cool. We must do it again. We want to try and get a front seat. Our picture was okay, but we didn't get it, we will buy it when we get up front and also figure out where they take your picture. (But we will finally later in the trip).

From Test Track we were going to walk around World Showcase. Walked on the left side by the water areas, I wanted to get a picture of the monorail when it comes by, so I found a spot and we waited. We also at this time while we were waiting put sunscreen on my nose. The monorail finally comes and I took a couple pictures. Terri tries to find a phone and call Randy (her husband).

We started our trek around World Showcase. It was a very fast trip around and not looking inside the countries. We stopped at the American Adventure pin cart and I bought 4 more pins. I got a Mickey Mouse Fire Dept Pin, Wilderness Lodge Est. Pin, the Contemporary Pin and a Figaro Pin. While we were looking at the pin cart, the Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corp. came out and played. This was 2:20pm. We stayed and watched for a while. Everyone, at least almost everyone sang God Bless America, get goose bumps. I also took a couple pictures of them as well.

We walked past the other countries as well. Mo-Rockin was doing there dance in Morocco as we walked by, but we didn't stop. We will do more later and are planning on doing the Hidden Treasures of World Showcase tour. This will be our Flex Feature on next Tuesday.

I wanted to take the ferry or friendship boats over to MGM, but according to the sign, the boats were only running over to the resort, so we didn't wind up doing that. We wound up stopping at the World Traveler where I bought 2 CD's, Illuminations Reflections of Earth Epcot Tapestry of Nations and Walt Disney World Resort Celebrating 100 Years of Magic.

We walked then to the UK, getting a little hungry from all the walking. I bought a 20oz Coke previously at one of the carts. Terri and I decided that we would split an order of UK fish and chips. There wasn't any places to seat at the outside area, so we wandered down a bit and found a bench on which we sat and ate our Fish and Chips. They were yummy and I used the tartar sauce and Terri used the vinegar. The Chips were good as well. We really like it and we will probably be back.

Terri went after we ate to the UK phone booth and called Randy. She was gone for a bit so I just sat and people watched. When Terri came back we checked out the kiosk at UK where Terri bought some Beatles stuff, a Yellow Submarine lunch bucket. She wanted a t-shirt, but they didn't have it in her size. The Cast Member gave her the SKU number. Also while we were there another Cast Member from the pin cart came over and had these trivia cards. There was Terri, myself and another gal, who came from somewhere. The first question was in regards to The Jungle Book and where does King Louie live? Terri answered it correctly in the ruins. So she got that card. The next one was regarding Lady and the Tramp and what restaurant did they eat the spaghetti dinner at. This was funny because he practically had to give it away an then he finally did. He gave us that it is 4 letter's and that it was TON_ , we couldn't get it. Finally it was Tony's. He gave that one to me. We laughed about that. Then we got another one for the gal. Terri knew that I like the Jungle Book, so we exchanged our. Also the Cast Member said that these Trivia cards were hot and that there was a total of 36. We never saw these trivia cards again during our trip.

I took a picture of Terri with the Mary Poppins topiary in UK.

We by passed Canada and came back to Innoventions to look for the place where you can email people. It was Innoventions East and no one was doing this, so Terri and I got one and we each email to various people.

After checking that out for a while we were getting tired of so much walking. So out of the park and on to the bus stop. The bus for the Caribbean Beach was the furthest away, but there was a bus that was waiting, so that was great, no big deal.

Arrived back at the Caribbean Beach in no time. The bus system at WDW was very good in my opinion. If we didn't have a rental car, this would definitely be the way to go, you could save a lot of money. I think that we got a very good deal on the rental car for a week. A short walk from the bus stop an we were back at the room.

This morning I left an envelope, the ones that I made an home, on the desk with $2.00 in it for the housekeeping and a note that asked for more Mickey soap and shampoos. The note and the envelope was still on the table. No more shampoos or soaps either. And nothing cute was done to our room. Thought that probably she didn't see it so tomorrow we will put it by the sink. One note about the sinks, they are very low, Terri thought that was because of the kids, but not sure.

We went to the food court and got our pops filled up. I believe also that we stopped at Old Calypso Traders and got our free flex pin. Went back to the room.

We decided that we would go down to Downtown Disney for a while and check that out as well. I was also going to drive and I knew where it was, very close to Caribbean Beach resort.

When we got there I parked in Lot H, which was near Pleasure Island. We had a little walk, but we really didn't care. The first entrance or walkway to Pleasure Island was closed, we went to the next one. The turnstiles were pushed out of the way. We walked by Fulton's Crab House. We thought that would be a neat place to eat. We walked by the Lego Store, but didn't go in.
First we went into was World of Disney and checked that out. That was cool, and like everyone said was huge. There was a lot of neat items that I could have went nuts with, but I we will come back later. I really liked the room with all the pins, pins and more pins. They were everywhere. Again I could have bought a whole bunch of them.

Checked out World of Disney all out and then we went into Team Mickey. Terri found some stuff that when we come back that she will get for Randy. We walked through Gourmet Pantry. They had some wrap sandwiches that looked good. Next we went to Disney at Home and checked that out. We didn't go into Disney's Days of Christmas, just didn't want to see more Christmas stuff. Then we went into 2 R's Reading and Riting and I bought another CD, this one was Disney's Magic in The Streets Parade Memories.

We decided that we would go back to Gourmet Pantry and get our dinner and take it back to the room. I got a 14 oz. Bag of Mickey pretzels and the Turkey wrap sandwich. This was 5:34pm. I also wanted to get a salad so we stopped by McDonald's and I ordered a House salad but paid and got a Caesar Chicken salad. Terri also got one of those wrap sandwiches.

We went back to the car and then back to the room. Watched tv. and I wrote some notes and updated by Passporter. We also talked about our Flex Feature, but which one. It was toss up on the MGM or Hidden Treasures. Be we decided on Hidden Treasures. Terri made the phone call for reservations. Our reservations are for Tuesday and the number is I2958470, to meet at Guest Relations at 9:45am with a photo id.

Today's Spending:

Magic Kingdom
Plaza Pavilion Lunch $8.68
Emporium Complex: $29.68

Epcot
Coke $2.50
The American Adventure Cart $27.56
World Traveler $42.36
UK Fish & Chips $3.25
Downtown Disney

2 R's Reading & Riting $21.18
Gourmet Pantry $6.88
McDonald's $3.44
Day Two Total: $145.53

[Mauimouse]

Who: Me (Mary) & Terri (Friend from work)
Where: Caribbean Beach
When: January 9 to 16, 2002

Day Three: More Park Hopping
Friday, January 11, 2002
MGM, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot

MGM

We decided that we would drive today since yesterday I saw where MGM was located on our way to Magic Kingdom. It was only like 2 blocks away, street wise. Very close. Also this way by driving we could bring shorts, if it warmed up later in the day. I am also going to bring my digital camera and Terri will bring the 35 mm camera.

Didn't take any time to get to the park. It is also nice with the parking lot pass, we can just cruise on by without really stopping. We parked within walking distance of the entrance. We were in the Stage section, but the way we parked we didn't see what row we were in. We were right by the Stage sign and not far from the bus parking.

Walked up to the entrance and through security. We arrived before 9am, before the rope drop so we went into a shop. Today there were a lot of cheerleaders and they all started to go to the Indiana Jones area. Also Indiana Jones wasn't going on today and I am sure that this was the reason. I also took a couple pictures of the Sorcerer's Hat as well.

Once the rope was dropped we headed out. Also once we got into the park I didn't get a park Guide, so I saw them back at the turnstiles so I went back and got one and the paper insert as well.

After the rope drop we really didn't have a plan. Never been to MGM before so I really didn't know the layout that well. We checked out the Sorcerer's Hat to see what that was all about.

From there we went down Commissary Lane. That was cool, they had a bunch of old songs playing. Barry Manilow was one of them.

Walked down by ABC Commissary and the Sci Fi Dine In Theater Restaurant.

We made it to Star Tours, no one in line, what was funny is that there a couple of Cast Member's standing outside in front. We checked out the inside of the queue, no one else was behind us, so we could more or less take our time. Terri took a couple of pictures as well as I did. When we got up there, I believe that they have at least 3 simulators. Once the doors open the Cast Member tells us that we could more or less sit where ever we want and that the back row is the best. So that is where we went, 2nd row from the back and in the middle. I buckled up and got my camera situated. I liked it and should have gone again, but Terri didn't like it and said that it made her kind of sick. Terri said that she didn't want do any more simulator rides. It didn't bother me. Again I probably should have went back again by myself. We then entered Tatoonie Traders, where we checked out the stuff. We looked for something for James (Terri's son, very big into Star Wars) but Terri didn't find anything that he couldn't life without. We thought that maybe we would come back and check it out further, but we never made it.

They had a speeder from the Ewok movie and I took Terri's picture on it. That was kind of cool, should have taken my picture on it as well. We also went around to the front and took a couple pictures of the AT-AT in front. It was so nice, because no one was around and we could take all the pictures we wanted with no people in them.

We walked back down Commissary Lane, but took a short cut and went down New York Street. When we were walking down the street, there wasn't anyone except us. It seemed the shops were empty as well. We went down to Washington Square and then really thought that they wasn't anywhere else to go, so we went back the way we came. Again no one on the street, when there was someone they seem to disappear. It was kind of eerie.

Back down Commissary Lane with more old music. I danced to Barry Manilow music.

We then went past the Sorcerer's Hat and wound up in Animation Courtyard. We didn't want to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I guess we must have not seen the Magic of Disney Animation or I think that we would have enjoyed seeing that.

We went down Mickey Avenue and went into Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. I think that is was very nicely done. There wasn’t very many people looking around so we could really look at the various exhibits. I like Walt's office. Near the end was a model of the parks, we waited for about 5 minutes for the show. The show was nice and I thought that Michael Eisner did a good job. I didn't know that much about Walt Disney.

After we went by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Play It!, we were going to get a Fast Pass, but the Cast Member outside said that if we come back by 11:00 am we could just walk on. So we didn't get the Fast Pass.

Walked down to The Disney MGM Studios Backlot Tour. We missed som of the first part.

We really like Catastrophe Canyon, the water really comes at you. It was great. Terri and I also took some pictures of the Water Tower and they had some various props from old movies, mostly airplanes and some cars.

It was really close to 11am so we went back to Who Wants to be a Millionaire-Play It!. That was neat. My seat was number 79. Never made it into the hot seat or even close. The first hot seat was a woman and she did really good. I think that she got to 64,000 but couldn't get the question and kept the stuff with the 32,000. She won the pins and also a WWTBAM hat. She also used all the life lines. The phone a complete stranger is a real hoot. The second lady didn't get very far, she missed a easy question. At least one that I knew, where was the Waterford Crystal Showroom located. She said England, but I knew it was Ireland, as I was there. She also had the phone a complete stranger question as well. The Cast Member that is or suppose to be like Regis was really good as well.

After Millionaire we were getting hungry so we wandered down Sunset Blvd. We also checked out a store that had Disney villains items in it. We will go back there later. We found a place to eat, called the Turkey Cart. I had a deluxe baked potato. I guess that isn't too bad considering where you are. The baked potato was really good. It has bacon bits, sour cream, and onions. We ate at 11:42 am. Found a spot to sit in the sun and eat. After we were done eating, we walked down near Tower of Terror and watched for a few minutes. I really didn't care to go on this ride. Can you say Chicken. I also then took some pictures of Rock 'n Rollercoaster. When I took the pictures Terri ran up to the front and got into the pictures. Terri doesn't like upside down roller coasters. I really probably should have ridden it by myself. Oh well there will definitely be a next time.

We walked back down Sunset Boulevard and went back into the store. I got my 100 years license plate and Terri bought some stuff too. From there we decided to go to the car and change into our shorts and then drive over to Animal Kingdom. Before we left we went into Sid Cahuenga's One-Of-A-Kind. They had a lot of old movie posters. Terri thought about getting one, but didn't. I said how was she going to get it home.

On our way out of the park, more cheerleaders were coming into MGM. Back out to the parking lot and to find the car. I knew that we had parked in the Stage section and near a light pole. It took a couple minutes to find the rental car. I thought we parked closer than we actually were. It was really getting nice outside. We changed and then it was off to Animal Kingdom.

Drove out of MGM and went to Animal Kingdom. I really like the Disney road signs. They are so easy to read. Also on the back of most of road signs are Mickey's. That was cute. One good thing also about driving over to Animal Kingdom is that we have to drive over there for our PS for Boma and the Animal Kingdom Lodge on Sunday night. This give me a better sense of direction.

Once we passed the parking lot attendants, never any problem and seemed like not too many cars entering. We parked far enough away that we took the tram. It was now Terri's job to remember where we parked. The tram was there and we got underway and it was really hard to understand the tram Cast Member. Only could catch a few words every now and then.

Animal Kingdom

I took a few pictures of the front Animal Kingdom sign. Also you could see the Tree of Life from back on the road. We spent sometime looking and walking around the Oasis, looking at the animals. I took a couple of pictures of some of some blue macaw's. You could have almost touched them.

From there we came out to the bridge that crosses into The Tree of Life. We were asked if we wanted our pictures taken and we declined. From Discovery Island the first thing we did was walk around Discovery Island Trails.

From there we took the bridge over to Asia. I knew that we should go over to Africa and ride the Kilimanjaro Safari's. The sign said 10 minutes, which in this case, the walk to the front. We had our own row and we were in the back row.

It was funny because we had a gazelle that walked right behind us. Terri got a good picture and all I got was a rear-end shot. I kept the picture for laughs.

On the journey we came across flamingos, hippo's, gazelle's, elephants, ostrich eggs, lions. Also the male lion was growling. Our driver was really good and said he was originally from Michigan as well. Small world.

When we got off Kilimanjaro Safari's we went onto Pagani Forest Exploration trail. We spent most of the time was at the gorilla area. Terri liked that a lot and took off and took a bunch of pictures.

After Pagani we went to Rafiki's Planet Watch which you must get onto a train. The Wildlife Express Train. This train on top has all kinds of luggage, bikes and various prop items. Made it look neat. When you board, it's not like Walt Disney World Railroad, but this train is at least 5 cars and in each car is made up of two rows and you don't face forward but to one side. On the train you pass various buildings that are labeled where each specie of animal from the savannah goes when it's night time. Once you get to the Conservation station, you have a little walk via the Habitat Trail. I didn't see any kind of animals here. You get to the Conservation station which is where you can learn interesting animals facts. They have animal research, veterinary care and food preparation. More or less just breeze through. We checked out what is called Affection Station, where kids young and old could go in and brush goats. And there were a lot of goats. Walked by the Conservation Station to leave and I saw my first taking trash can. They are really cute. There was this young boy that was being rather rough and kicking it and looking inside. The parent weren't doing anything about it. I felt bad for the trash can. (Is that possible, feel bad for a trash can?) The trash can was cute rolling around and talking. We waited a bit for the train, but not too long and then back to Africa.

Next we walked over to Asia, the same way we went to Africa. As we walked by and it must have been near Flight of Wonder, as there was a Cast Member out with a bird, not sure what kind of bird. It was kind of neat. But when the bird went back and forth, it flew really low and just above everyone's head. Again it was kind of cool. Probably should have seen the show.

As we were nearing Asia, you saw more and more people walking by all wet. I didn't want to go on Kali River Rapids, but wanted to see what it looked like. You could see a little bit of a section, but not very much.

From there we went on to Maharajah Jungle Trek. This was very similar to the Pagani. One nice thing, but we didn't use them, is that at the entrance of each is a laminated sheet with all the animals names on them. We skipped going into the bat exhibit. The tigers were neat, but they were all sleeping. After doing the trek we started to get hungry and I was hungry for UK Fish and Chips. Terri needed to stop and get a pop in Asia on the way out.

We didn’t' go into DinoLand U.S.A. or Camp Mickey-Minnie. While we were at Animal Kingdom we probably should have walked down to DinoLand and check that out, the Dinosaur ride looked good.

Walked back out to the Oasis and to the trams. Didn't take long to get to the car, and we were off and back to Epcot. This was our only time at Animal Kingdom and we left about 2:30 pm.

Epcot:

Got over to Epcot in no time at all. In through security and our first stop was The Land. On the way to The Land and in the outside courtyard by Innoventions West they had the Trash Can Jammers. They were going strong and being in this area it rather loud, but they were really good.

Went into the land, it's neat how you go down in this pavilion. The water smell when you first come in gets to me, I remembered it from last time. The Living with the Land stand-by line was 15 minutes and there were pretty good amount of people. We didn't want to wait and didn't want to get a Fast Pass. We will come back and do this later in our trip. I was hungry so was Terri and I go something to munch on. I got potato chips and a pop. Terri got I believe a bagel and juice.

Went off then to World Showcase and to get some fish and chips in UK. They are really delicious. Yum.

Got my Fish and Chips and tartar sauce, this time there were plenty of seats. As we were eating this little squirrel came up to us and wanted a hand out. I didn't give him anything. The next thing is that this little guy jumps up and almost in my lap. He looked into my shorts pocket. It kind of startle me a bit and he took off to another guy. I watched as we ate, this guy fed him and then the little squirrel tries running up his leg. The guy jumped and the squirrel took off into the bushes. Could have been related to Chip and Dale to you think?

From there we walked back to Test Track. We got the front seat, but we weren't smiling so we will wait again. We can't figure out where they take the photo. We looked for those cables. After we went back to Innoventions West to send more emails. Last night we were trying to remember everyone's email.

We headed back to our room and change and rest up because we are going to come back to Epcot and see IllumiNations. I also wanted to change my batteries for tonight.

My batteries didn't fully charge so I didn't bring the digital camera. Only the 35mm. We left the room at 7:20pm for Epcot. We thought that we would go and watch the 8:10 Tapestry of Dreams parade. We went to the Mexico side of World Showcase and just near Norway to stake out our spot. We were on the Norway side right near the Kiosk. Spent time just people watching. I really like that parade, it was really cool. I like the various puppets. After the parade was over with we went into Mexico and went on the Mexican Small World, El Rio del Tiempo. After we then walked over by the Showcase Plaza and found a bench to sit down and waited for the show. Once IllumiNations started we moved closer down Showcase Plaza. That was really cool, I can't believe how hot it got. The fireworks were awesome as well. We left a little early to beat the crowds. We were back to the room by 9:30am. A very fun day.

Friday, January 11, 2002 Cost:

MGM
100 Years License Plate $6.36
Coke 20oz. $2.50
Turkey Cart 11:42am $3.70
Deluxe Baked Potato

Epcot
The Land
Sandwich/Soup/Salad- potato chip and pop 3:28 pm $3.26
Fish and Chips UK Kiosk 3.56 PM $6.67

Caribbean Beach Resort
Mug (Esther) $11.00
Mousekeeping $2.00

Total Day Two Cost $35.49
Total to Date Cost $188.74

Day Four: Cast Connection and Our Resort Tour

[KathyL]

Wow, I can't believe how much you fit in during your first two days.

KathyL.

[Mauimouse]

Saturday, January 12, 2002:

Magic Kingdom, Cast Connection, Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary Resort, Polynesian and Grand Floridian, Boardwalk and Epcot

Mickey woke us up today at 7:45am. Today we are going to meet Erin Prescott, who is a friend of Terri's daughter-in-law, at the partner's statue at 10am.

I slept like a log last night and didn't hear a thing. Terri said that at about 1:30am there was banging on the doors on the 2nd floor. She got up and looked out because she thought it was at our door as well. She said that I didn't move. I woke up at 7:30am and got ready and I let Terri answer Mickey's wake up call.

We were out the door and to Magic Kingdom or should I say the TTC. We took the tram to the front and before we could get to the ferry or monorail we had to show only one Cast Member our ticket. Not too much of a back up. We took the express Monorail to Magic Kingdom. I like how you can also see the Wilderness Lodge from the monorail as well.

Magic Kingdom:

We arrived at Magic Kingdom just after opening which was 9am. We were early and we thought that we could go over to The Hall of Presidents before Erin made it. So we walked down Main Street U.S.A. Oops back up a minute. I forgot one major reason why we were meeting Erin. Erin lives in Michigan and goes to school. She is in hotel management and has come to Disney to be a Cast Member R.A. She will be here for 6 months. She drove down with another gal and arrived last Monday. She started to work right away. Erin's mom gave Terri a shoe box full of goodies for Erin, we were meeting to give her that box and also to have some fun.

Terri was carrying the shoe box, which had a bungee cord around it. Terri had to open it up and we said that we were meeting a Cast Member from back home. First stop was to get a locker and put it in because we didn't want to carry it around and didn't know how long we would be at Magic Kingdom. Six dollars later we are now on our way down Main Street U.S.A. and then over to Liberty Square. Hall of Presidents doesn't open until 10am, so that took care of that. We went for a little walk over to Splash Mountain and then came back via the trail by the water, which was nice and peaceful. We walked back over to the Partner's Statue and waited for Erin. It was a beautiful day and I sat out in the sun. I also took some pictures as well.

Erin was there by 10am, she said that she would have liked to have gotten there earlier but she had to transfer on a lot of buses. Erin asked if we had any plans, which we didn't. We started walking between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. She told us what she has been doing and today is her first real day off. She asked if we drove and we said yes. Our plan was to ride Space Mountain and then leave the park and go to Cast Connection. So we cut by the Speedway over to Space Mountain. I was never brave enough to go on this before. No wait what so ever, which was nice. The walk to the boarding area is surely a long walk and so is the exit. I was at the back. It was fun and wasn't scary at all. I am glad that I finally got to ride Space Mountain.

We left the park right after riding Space Mountain, and on the way out to the monorail and the car. We made our stop to the locker and get Erin's shoe box and got Terri's locker deposit back. Somewhere along the way to the car someone said leaving so soon. Made it to the car and we were off.

Once to the car Erin told me how to get to Cast Connection. Went in and found a place to park. This place is inside a wire compound with 2 areas. We walked up to the Cast Member who was letting people in. Erin asked if she could bring in two guests, he said okay. The first place we went to was outside under a big tent. It was divided into 2 sections. The first section that we went to was about 3 rows of tables end to end and they had plastic buckets on the tables. In these buckets were everything sold at the parks, most of them were broken and a lot of the items were from 2001. Some items that just didn’t sell in the park, because they had tons of these items, a little UK guy, and other various stuff. I found an Epcot passport; it was only missing the button. Everything in this first section was all 75% off. The other section was more or less lost and found items. Sunglasses, hats, camera cases, lens caps. You name it if it was lost in the park it was probably there. Terri got a camera case for $1.00. They even had a stroller for $20.00. I paid for my item and then we went into the other building, which was like a trailer but much bigger. In here everything was new, they had some pins, the 2000 Disney Store. Also a lanyard for 2001, I bought that. They had t-shirts, sweatshirts, and paper items. I looked at the Disney planner thought about getting one, but I use mine so I only got a notepad –Mickey Tablet for .99 cents. I also got a 6 pack of pens. They had some really nice stuff.

We were getting hungry and I don’t know who decided but we were going to now head over to the Wilderness Lodge for lunch. Erin worked at the Wilderness Lodge about 3 years ago, so she was thrilled that we would go there for lunch. I wanted to go anyways and check it out and this was the perfect time to do so.

Drove back to the Wilderness Lodge, and parked in the lot.

I took my camera in as well. Took a picture outside the lobby. Erin was really excited in seeing the place and she wanted to know if anyone would remember her. She knew a couple of the bellhops and they remembered her as well. She was so excited. She said that it was like coming home.

They had a pin cart in the lobby so I checked that out. Erin took us downstairs to Roaring Forks Snacks and I got a chicken wrap, French fries and a Wilderness Lodge 20oz refillable mug. It was a beautiful day so we went outside to eat. Terri got the chicken wrap as well and Erin got a pizza.

While we were eating a pair of ducks came by for a hand-out. They were cute, so they ate some French fries and pizza. Also one thing that I really liked about the Wilderness Lodge is that they have Cherry Coke. First place that had Cherry Coke so far. But I am totally glad that all of WDW is Coke products. Back to the Wilderness Lodge. After we ate and the ducks were fed, I filled up my mug again. We had some time before the Fire Rock Geyser would go off at 1pm. We went back inside and I made my first pin trade. I used my Disney Store pins, one was the Sleeping Beauty Castle 1955. The Cast Member told me that there was a lady who was just there who was looking for a pin that had 1955 on it. She said that she hopes that she comes back now.

We went into the Mercantile and checked that all out, a lot of neat stuff. I could have went nuts here. I did get a Wilderness Lodge t-shirt and a baseball cap. Erin used her Cast Member discount for me which was very nice.

Went back outside and walked around by the pool and stopped and waited and talked until 1pm when the Geyser would go off. The geyser started out spurting and finally started erupting. Both Terri and I took pictures. We were the only ones there until it started erupting and then all these people came from out of nowhere.

From there Erin needed to get back to her apartment, she is going out with a friend to car shop, and are meeting this friend at 2 pm. I told her that we would drive her back, since she took us all over the place today.

Once we dropped Erin off we decided that today would be our day for the resorts on the monorail tour.

Drove back and this time I parked at the Contemporary. We walked over to the entrance and then took the escalators up to the 2nd floor. We checked out the store in the Contemporary. A lot of nice stuff. They had a Pin Cart in the Concourse so I checked that out as well. At this pin cart I bought 3 more pins and then also traded one of my Disney Store pins for a Chef Mickey pin. This pin has a special meaning for me, the reason is that the Cast Member whose name was Theresa told us that she used to be a Chef Mickey at the restaurant. She told us a little of her secrets since no one was around. Checked out the pressed pennies. They had a Mickey Mouse so I got one of those, we took the escalator up to the monorail. I took a picture of Chef Mickey's restaurant. I have always wanted to stay at the Contemporary, maybe one day it will happen.

The monorail was there and we went to the Poly, it stopped first at the TTC and then to the Polynesian. We went outside, or downstairs first and then outside, walked by the pool. We found a swing on the beach and sat down and just enjoyed the view. We both agreed that we could stay here as well. We went back to the monorail station and waited for the next monorail.

On to the Grand Floridian, where we again went outside and checked the grounds. We walked around near the beach. I took a couple pictures of the Polynesian. I took a picture with a Grand Floridian sunfish sailboat.

We went back inside, Terri took the elevator and I went up the stairs. The shops we just glanced at, didn't go inside.

My conclusions of the Grand Floridian is that it is very beautiful, but it is some place where probably I would never be able to stay (the cost). The outside is very beautiful and I love the location to the Magic Kingdom and the monorail.

Got back on the monorail, stayed on when we got to the Magic Kingdom. Got off at the Contemporary. We went down the escalator and then out to ground level. From here we went out by the Marina. There were a couple of Mickey's, a topiary and a steel structure. Terri took my picture next to the Mickey topiary. Took a couple of pictures of both of them. We watched a couple people riding the water mouse.

Back at the Caribbean Beach Resort, we stopped at the Food Court and filled up our pop and to get the film back that we had developed the day before. I also got a bag of chips as well. The Cast Member in the Calypso Trading Post asked what we had planned this evening. I said to check out Boardwalk. He mentioned some places to eat.

Went back to the room and checked out the pictures. We didn't stay long at the room. The reason why we had the pictures developed is we wanted to make sure the photos from Kilimanjaro Safari's turned out. If they didn't we were going to go back and do that attraction again. Terri took the photos down yesterday.

Drove over to Boardwalk area where we parked and the walk to the Boardwalk. We walked around and just checked things out. Our first stop was the Pin Cart, look at the various pins. Terri wanted to trade her flex pin but never did. I was looking at the binder with all the tradable pins. I bought the Wilderness Lodge Totem pole pin. From there we wandered by The ESPN Sports Club and it was jammed, people outside watching the Tampa Bay Bucs football game, they had the tv. on the outside as well as people were standing in a very long line. The Flying Fish looked cool. We weren't hungry so we just kept walking around. We went near the Yacht and Beach Club, but then turned around and since we both bought our room key's we went to Epcot via the International Gateway and into World Showcase.

Went in through the International Gateway. It is a very pretty walk. In Epcot, in France the Living Statue was out and performing. That was good, there were too many people around so we really didn't stay there too long. It was really interesting to see. From there we skipped Morocco and went onto Japan. There we went into the store and looked around.

Walked to The American Adventure and went into the shop, I found a ruler near the Hall of Presidents that I thought that Billy(my nephew) would like and wanted to see if they had it there. They didn't have it, so I will get it when we go back to Magic Kingdom and the Hall of Presidents.

They announced that the Tapestry of Dreams parade was going to begin in 5 minutes. We didn't want to stay so we started back to Boardwalk.

Back over at Boardwalk we walked around to the other side where we came in. They had a bunch of scaffolding up and barriers so I didn't get to take many pictures of the boardwalk. While we were walking there was a surrey with 6 people on it that came flying by and the one woman in the back thought that she owned the road. As we were getting ready to leave I almost got ran over by the same group.

We went back to the Caribbean Beach Resort and stopped at the food court and got some dinner, refill the pop and then back to the room for the night.

Saturday, January 12, 2002 Cost

Cast Connection $2.64
Cast Connection $8.45

Wilderness Lodge
Roaring Forks Snacks $18.74
Chicken Wrap, FF and Large Souvenir Mug
Wilderness Lodge Mercantile $32.65
T-shirt and Baseball Cap

Contemporary Resort
Fantasia $23.32
4 Pins
Pressed Penny $.51
Mickey Mouse

Boardwalk
The Pin Cart $6.89

Caribbean Beach Resort
Calypso Trading Post
Photo C.D. $20.00
Potato Chips
Old Port Royale 2 $9.53
Fried Chicken Plate with Mashed potatoes and rice

Total Cost Day Three $122.73
Total Cost To Date $311.47

Day Four: More Park Hopping and Boma [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img]

[Mauimouse]

Sunday, January 13, 2002

Epcot, Downtown Disney, MGM, Animal Kingdom Lodge & Boma

Today started by us sleeping in until 8:00am. I walked down to the Food Court to get our mugs filled. I came back to the room and then we both walked over to Parrot Cay, it was very over grown The bamboo trees were kind of neat. Stopped for a little bit in the sun and watched the birds.

We decided that we would start the day off at Epcot. We hadn't begun a day at Epcot, and since Epcot didn't open until 10:00 am we took our time. Getting into the parking lot at Epcot took a little while longer then the other times. We had a line up of cars and at first there were 3 lines open, but a couple of cars in front of us, they closed down the one lane, which we were in, and we had to switch over to another lane and a couple minutes later we in the parking lot.

The trams at Epcot never ran the whole time we were there. We were never very far away from the entrance.

Epcot:

We arrived before 10am and walked over to the left side of Spaceship Earth near Guest Relations. Spaceship Earth was open and had a line that snaked around the right side. This was the longest line for Spaceship Earth the whole time that we were at Epcot.

At 10am we headed over to the Living Seas, and walked in the queue area, we waited for about 5 minutes in the round rotunda area. Then the doors opened and we went in and watched the movie. Then into the hydrolators. From there we walked around to the various rooms and looked at some of the stuff. Went to the 2nd level and they had some baby sea horses. Also they had two manatees, one was on the bottom and it wasn't moving. There was a sign that said one was hit by a boat. At 10:45am they were going to feed the dolphins, but we didn't stay. There were a lot of school kids, at least that is what it seemed, as they were all taking notes. From there we went out through the hydrolators again. We were the only ones in it. It's kind of neat how the floor wiggles, but I didn't get the feeling that you were really going anywhere.

After we walked over to The Land and went on Living with the Land. This time there wasn't a line or much of a wait. I remembered this from when mom and I were on it, before the Living Seas was even open. The ride is neat and I really like it, but the Cast Member that we had in my opinion wasn't very good. It's like he didn't care and didn't at all seem that he was interested. Just another day for him reading his script. I still think that it is very interesting and really thought Terri would like it as well. We were going to go to Food Rocks, but the Cast Member said that the next show wasn't for another 7 minutes. It was kind of funny because an older gentleman came up the Cast Member and asked her who was the rock group that was performing. She handled it with poise and said it was Audio-Animatronics. I just laughed to myself.

We left The Land pavilion and walked over to Imagination pavilion and only looked at the Kodak e-mail stuff for a little bit. The ride was closed down and the only other attraction was Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, and I guess that we didn't care to see that. I did take a picture of the fountain out in front. Kind of neat, how the water goes upwards.

From there we walked over to Test Track. It was 11:25 am at this point. How do I know this, it says it on our Fast Pass. We got a Fast Pass for Test Track to return for 12:50 to 1:50 pm. Getting a little hungry so off to Electric Umbrella again for French Fries and a Coke. After we ate we thought that we'd just wait in line for Test Track since the stand by line was only 20 minutes. Again the picture wasn't good so we passed on that again.

We watched the fountain for a while and I also checked out the pin station at Epcot. We were never there when they had the pin trading event.

We went back to the car and drove over to Downtown Disney for our shopping. Got to the West Side and found a good spot to park. We were going to check out Disney Quest. We didn't stick around very, as it was a beautiful day outside and I wanted to soak up the sun. We left and then went to Virgin Megastore.

Walked back to the car and drove over to Market Place, again got a good parking spot, but it was more crowded than the West Side. We went into World of Disney and I bought my First Light Up Magical Moments pin and another regular pin as well. I used my Disney Club discount. Next we went into Team Mickey and Terri bought Randy a ball cap and a t-shirt using my discount as well. We went into the Pooh store, but nothing hit me. We made our way out.

I said about going back to MGM and getting some thing to eat and walk around. Turned around and we went back to MGM and the parking lot. Into the parking lot and parked in Film 26 we rode the tram to the front.

We went into MGM and went back to the baked potato spot. Terri went elsewhere to get something and we found a spot under an umbrella and ate right there.

The parade was almost about to start so we walked back over near the entrance and found a spot to watch the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade. That was a cute parade. I took a couple pictures.

After the parade was over we walked over to The Great Movie Ride. There was somewhat of a wait, but it really wasn't that bad. At least when you got to the theater portion they had those film clips to watch. It more or less kept moving pretty steady.

Once we got to the car, that was neat, I was lucky and got an end seat, and Terri next to me. We got the gangster scene, that was neat and I like how they switch drivers. How they use real people as well. Terri also got dripped or slimmed by the Alien on the ride.

From that we left and went back to the car, the tram wasn't there so we decided that we would just walk back to the car, it wasn't that far away.

We stopped by the Food Court to fill up our pop and were back to the room at approx. 4:30pm. We thought that we would leave early around 6pm for Animal Kingdom Lodge so we would have some time to wander around and check it out.

It doesn't take very long to drive over there. It wasn't totally dark yet either, but was getting there. When we got to Animal Kingdom Lodge there was a line up of cars to get passed security, it was at least 6 cars deep. We passed as usual with our room key and paper car identification. From there we went downstairs and then outside, to check out the Savannah but it was getting dark outside so you couldn't really see that much. There were 2 Cast Members out near the Savanna who were talking to people. It was also getting rather cold outside so we wandered back inside.

We waited in the lobby for a while and then went up to the outside stairs to check out the roof. We found out later that it is really a thatch roof and not what they call "Disney" real. From there they had a bridge that went from one side of the 3rd floor to the other. We went and checked that out. While we were up there another couple came Terri said that if they wanted that I could take their picture. So I laughed and took there picture. That was nice and made them happy. Hopefully it turned out for them.

From there we went back downstairs to the lobby to sit and wait. When we came in we checked out where the restaurant was located. It was very busy and loud. Terri thought that we should have gone down earlier, but I didn't want to, don't know why. About 7:05 pm we went down and checked in a the podium. They gave us a beeper and we sat down and waited. We didn’t' have to wait very long, don't know exactly, should have looked. We were seated at a small table with 2 chairs. It was near the window. Our server came shortly and I forgot his name, but he was very good. He asked us if we had eaten here before, to which we both replied no. He told us how everything was laid out. It was separated into I believe 7 pods. It was okay, but I wouldn't go back. They didn't have the Smoked Tomato soup, or I didn't see it, which I would have definitely liked to try. I tried the watermelon rind salad, that was okay, but this was something that you definitely couldn't eat a lot of. I didn't care for the FuFu or the Saffron rice. They had little breads baked and puffed up and I like those. Terri had the Prime Rib and had a couple servings. I don't like red meat that much, so I didn't eat any of that, she also tried the fish but said that it wasn't good, so I didn't even try that. They had chicken, but I didn't try that either, I don't recall why. They make a lot of money out of me when it comes to buffets. I did check out the desert table or pod and got a couple chocolate covered strawberries. Terri asked about the honey mustard sauce and the server got her a piece of paper and they are going to email her the recipe. We paid the bill, which came to about $55.00. Boma means fence.

Drove back to the Caribbean Beach Resort, and the CM at the gate called me a guy and said "Welcome Home". Unfortunately that's not the first time in my life being call a guy. I said I wasn't a guy and we took off. Don't know if he heard me or not. Oh Well.

That was it for today, back to the room and I am sure that we filled up or mugs. Write my notes and write in the Passporter.

In conclusion I don't think, actually I know that I won't eat at Boma again. But it was definitely another fun day.

Day Costs:
Epcot:
Electric Umbrella $4.01
FF & Coke

Downtown Disney:
World of Disney $26.80
Pins

MGM:
Sorcerer's Hat Shop $15.99
Epcot Magical Moments Pin & Free Internet Pin
Turkey Cart $5.81
Deluxe Baked Potato & Pop

AKL:
Boma $29.00

Caribbean Beach Resort
Mousekeeping $2.00

Coming Up Day Five:
One raining Magic Kingdom Day

[Mauimouse]

Monday, January 14, 2002
Magic Kingdom

Today we spent all day at Magic Kingdom. Woke up today at 8:30am, didn't have a Mickey wake up this morning. I drove down to the Food Court and got our pops filled up. It was cold outside today this morning. Came back to the room and we left shortly and drove over to the T.T.C. Parked today in Minnie 39.

Last night we talked about what we wanted to do today at Magic Kingdom. It was also looking like rain today, but we hoped that it would pass by us.

This time we went and took the Ferry across, it was my first time. At the entrance to the Ferry a Cast Member was giving out 2 Mickey Mouse stickers. We didn't get any, so Terri walked back and got us each stickers. We went to the 2nd floor, the seats were all wet from last night's rain. But we found a dry spot. On the Ferry there were some other couple from Michigan.

Our first stop after entering Magic Kingdom and going through security was the Walt Disney World Railroad. We did the grand tour, going all the way around. It started to rain while we were on the railroad. Back to Main Street U.S.A. and we got off, it had stopped raining. What luck, but would it last all day?

When we got off Terri needed to find a rest room and she asked a Cast Member that was on of those people who paint the portraits. He was funny and gave her a response to her question. We were off now and our first stop was back to Liberty Square where we went to the Heritage House where I got Billy the President's ruler and I am going to have them deliver it back to the resort. Which is a really nice, it was a small item, but definitely wouldn’t fit in my pack and I didn't want to carry it around with me all day. I also bought a poncho because it was going to rain. Terri also got a poncho and bought a pin.

The Liberty Square Riverboat was at the dock, so we put on our ponchos and went aboard. This was one ride that we wanted to do. We went to the 2nd level. It was nice to have the ponchos because we could lean over the railings and who cares if we got wet or not. There were people who were really wet and without a poncho. To me that is just no fun, getting all wet. Pay the $6.00 and stay dry.

On the Liberty Square Riverboat I took a couple pictures of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Haunted Mansion. I wanted to get a picture of the train at BTMRR but of course it never came and we were too far away when it finally did.

As soon as we got off we went over to the Hall of Presidents, and waited inside for the 11:30am show. We waited in the rotunda and I took a pictures. Once inside it wasn't that crowded and we went down a row. We both took off our ponchos and sat back and enjoyed the show. I didn't remember the movie before hand. Once the President's came out and were introduced. Also I am glad that they were introduced, President Bush and President Lincoln both spoke. I like that it was very moving. I also noticed that President Bush had his flag pin on his lapel. Terri didn't notice that. Everyone clapped when it was over.

Once we exited it was time to find something to eat, and eat inside away from the rain and the cold. One nice thing about the Florida rain is that at least it wasn't bone chilling.

We ended up at Pecos Bills, where the line wasn't too bad and we could eat inside. I got a hot dog, French fries and a coke. The tables were really close together and that made it difficult to get a table. We also both took off our ponchos and could dry off a bit. It was nice to sit down and eat. We didn't rush but took our time. People watched a bit as well.

After lunch we put our ponchos back on and went into Country Bear Jamboree. We sat near the back and in the middle. That show was really cute as ever. I forgot about some of the stuff. We had a group of people in front of us seated and one lady got out her cell phone and was trying to call another friend who really likes the show, but she couldn't get through. The whole group knew every single song and sang along. They knew which bear was coming out next. I like that show, it was really cute.

Our next stop and to get out of the rain was Enchanted Tiki Bird Room Under New Management. We missed the pre-show, but it really didn't matter that much. Went in and sat down, we were near the back, but not all the way. Those same people from Country Bear Jamboree were also in here. They were sitting on the opposite side from us. I enjoyed the show.

From there we went around Adventureland and then through the castle to Fantasyland. In hind site we should have looked around a bit more at the murals, they were really pretty, but since it was raining there were a lot of people in there. I bought a WDW Mickey Mouse fleece sweatshirt. It was nice and cozy and after she wrote it up I wore it instead of just carrying it. It was perfect and kept the chill off.

We went and rode Snow White's Scary Adventure, with a little wait and then after we went over to Winnie the Pooh and got a Fast Pass for 1:50pm to 2:50 pm return time. From there we just wandered around Fantasyland.

Walked over to the Old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. They had 3 different characters, I don't remember which ones where there, but the 3rd one was Queen of Hearts. There wasn't anyone in line for her, so Terri and I said what the heck and we both posed for pictures. Took off our ponchos and I took Terri's photo and then Terri took my picture. That was fun, I had never done anything like that before. It was also cool because I had my new sweatshirt on as well.
That was neat, we were just going to walk through but the opportunity came up and we did it.

We still had some time before Winnie The Pooh, so we went and rode the TTA. My poncho was ripping pretty good at that point, so Terri went on Alien Encounter and I wanted back to Liberty Square in the pouring rain. I got a new one, no problem. They didn't even want to see the receipt. The lady was real nice and said that since I came back all that way that I must have bought it there. I got another poncho and then headed back to find Terri. It was kind of funny because on my way over to Liberty Square there is one of those places where they sketch your picture, well the Cast Member that was working there looked as if he was fast asleep. Thought that was kind of strange, but he wasn't the only one today.

When I got back Terri wasn't around yet. So I waited outside and people watched. I went inside the shop as well and looked around. There was this one child who was really crying. I had a feeling that from the way they were acting that they had probably just came out of Alien Encounter. When Terri finally came out she said that it was definitely different. We walked around back by Fantasyland. Went back for our Winnie The Pooh Fast pass. That was a cute ride. We then stopped by the Hall of President, and we were going to wait for the Parade there, but we had another 35 more minutes, so we moved on.

Went back down to Main Street U.S.A. and found a spot. I wanted some popcorn and a pop. So I took off and got my popcorn, got one of those plastic buckets and a pop. Went back and found Terri who went to the bakery. We went down Main Street and found a spot near the Indian. At first no rain.

My parade and pre-parade notes: The Share a Dream come true was real nice; too bad that it was raining so hard.

Before the parade and before the heavy rains, the Dapper Dan's came out and they did a song for a newly wed couple. Then the Dapper Dan's went over to another group.

Another one of those carts came by, the one with all the toys on them. I said hi to the Cast Member and ask how he was, he said he was bored. Again, that was kind of funny but at least he was truthful.

Once the parade begin in went by pretty fast, it was really raining hard (a gully washer). The one Cast Member said that the parade would probably go by fast, the reason because of the rain. Some of the characters were splashing around with the other characters with the water on the side of the street. That was funny to see, I shook the hand of one of them, but can't recall which one it was, again I should have written it down. I took pictures with the camera in the pouring rain and hope that they come out as well. But it was a really dreary outside. Winnie the Pooh looked right at me. Baloo the Bear was there as well splashing all the others. One of the characters stopped where Terri was standing near the Indian and Terri moved and the character was like posing for a picture.

Once the parade was over with everyone was leaving in the pouring rain. We left as well. Needed to dry off. We took the Ferry instead of the monorail. The Ferry ride was okay, some people but not too jammed, and you could find a spot out of the rain.

Onto the TTC and then out to the car, it had stopped raining by the time we got to the car. I popped the trunk and we put our ponchos in there. My jeans were soaked as well.

We were back to the room by 4pm. We might go back tonight for the fireworks, or tomorrow not sure.

We decided that we would go to Taco Bell tonight for dinner. So we took off at 5:30pm and made it to the Taco Bell.

Tomorrow we have to wake up at 8:30am and have to be at Guest Relations at Epcot by 9:45am for our Tour of World Showcase.

*Note about security, in Magic Kingdom more of a line, they are now checking all zippered pockets.

Day Cost:
Magic Kingdom
Heritage House $8.12
Billy's Ruler & Poncho
Main Street Confectionary $3.18
Pluto Mint Tin
Peco's Bills $7.83
Hot Dog, FF & coke
Sir Mickey's $59 + tax
Sweatshirt
Popcorn & Pop near Castle $6.00

Caribbean Beach Resort
Mousekeeping $2.00
CBR Dryer $2.00

Taco Bell $4.06

Coming Up Next Our Last Day:
Hidden Treasures of World Showcase & MK Fireworks

[tikibird]

Mauimouse,

Welcome to the Passporter Boards, and thanks for sharing your trip report with us.

You managed to cover alot of ground during your trip. I really enjoyed hearing about Cast Connections, and your expense feature is great!

Looking forward to your wrap-up!

[Mauimouse]

Thanks Tikibird, we did move and not stop for very long, so to speak. Cast Connections, was very nice and I wish that I would have bought a t-shirt or sweatshirt. The expense feature was a little add on at the last minute. I usually write down my daily expenses.

Here comes Day 6 Hidden Treasures of World Showcase Tour. I would recommend this trip as well. [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img]