20th Anniversary..Of Course I planned down time! Now get out of bed! About This Page:

[figmentintime]

It was Sunday morning at 5:45. We were checking into BWV today, and I had been ready since 5:30. I felt it was reasonable to let Shan sleep in, after all, it's his anniversary, too..But he gets up at 5:15 at home, so in actuality, he has slept in, right? I gently pushed him to wake him up. He grabbed me and began to start something (Now remember, we ARE on our anniversary) HOWEVER, he discovered pretty darn quick that not only was I not in the mood, shall we say, but I was also totally dressed.."What in the world are you wearing?" "Well, honey, you know, underwear, jeans, t-shirt, DO YOU REALIZE HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN SITTING HERE WAITING FOR YOU TO WAKE UP! WE NEED TO GO NOW! I'LL BET OUR ROOM IS READY! I WANT TO SEE THE VIEW FOM THE BALCONY! I WANT TO HEAR THEM SAY WELCOME HOME! I NEED A LATTE FROM THE BAKERY! HOW FAST CAN YOU GET MOVING? OH, I love you very much, and I put all your clothes in the bathroom in a pile so you can dress quickly!"
"I actually thought we might miss the kids..It sort of feels like they are here with us.." Shan had resorted to sarcasm. Not a great start for our day. I felt guilty for about 5 minutes. Then I snapped back into vacation mama mode. Thankfully, the shower cheered him up, and I properly wished him a good morning, so all was forgiven.
We noticed the lack of cars on the road to BWV. Shan offered the thought that SOME people might be sleeping at 6:45 on a Sunday. Not true Disneyholics, I replied. WE are all over, out and about, and ready to roll at dawn. Shan began to patiently warn me that the room just might not be ready, but I had spoted the dalmation fire department, and that meant we were almost there! For the people behind us, the ONLY reason the car was bouncing was because I was very excited about being at WDW!
The guard actually rubbed his eyes as he checked us in, and Shan smiled sympathetically. "She's been up for quite a while. FIrst trip without the kids. A little excited, you know." The guard shook Shan's hand, and said, "I have one just like her at home".
Note to self: track down the security guard's wife's name and add her to my buddy list to say HI to! I love new friends!
Shan wanted to just discreetly park the car, get our one little bag out of the trunk, and quietly with decorum walk into the hotel. I had other plans. We HAD to have our picture taken on the huge settee thing in the breezeway/portico of the BWV. I asked one of the valets if he would mind snapping a picture. He was quite sweet, and offered to do a few shots in different locations. (It was not as if they had any other cars to park at that hour )
We cuddled up together, and I was just smiling away when I felt Shan go slack. "I killed him with my plans! His poor heart just could not keep up!" He was asleep. The valet started laughing, and offered to keep an eye on him while I checked in. NO WAY! This is our anniversary trip, and we are doing these things together if it kills us! I will just say this..I woke him up, and he checked in with me.
The desk could not have been sweeter. They offered congratulations on our anniversary, and told us that our room was actually ready, due to several cancellations. They glanced at our one little bag, and asked if we had left the rest with the valet. I said that was all we had, as this was a short trip. At this point, a very frazzled looking, grandmotherly type woman came into the lobby. She glanced around, and sat in a chair in a corner near a large potted plant. While I was considering the oddness of this, a very bright and organized younger woman came into the area with a clipboard. (I am not kidding) "Mom, today's plan was to sleep until 6:30 and THAN go to Olivia's for a character breakfast, after which we will head to the MK for the rides on our itinerary, lunch at Morocco, 4 countries, and the dinner show at Fantasmic! You can get coffee when we get to Olivia's!" The mom sighed, and followed her daughter quietly out. Wow, some people are REALLY into the commando aspect of this. Shan looked pointedly at me, and told the desk clerk that I had made him get up early today.
She just laughed, and said that we would have plenty of time to "explore" our room before the parks opened. How long does it take to explore a one bedroom villa? OH.. I GET IT! Hmmm That is not on my plan for this morning
The room was on the 5th floor, overlooking the whole Boardwalk area. After verifying that the bed and showers functioned quite well, thank you, we were both in a better mood, and decided to walk to the EPCOT gate to buy our AP'S. It was about 9:30, and there was still very light crowds. The CM at Guest Relations was from Hong Kong. She was training for their opening later this year. We saw a lot of CM's training this weekend. They were all so sweet, and were very excited about the new Disneyland. She accidentally gave me a Mickey Mouse AP, while Shan got a Minnie, and I thought she was going to cry when I teased Shan about it. We assurred her that it was NOT a problem at all, and she gave us each a certificate for a free meal anywhere in World Showcase. We tried to tell her it was fine, but her trainer just smiled and said to enjoy.
Feeling magnanimous, I hugged Shan, and offered to do the Biergarten with him, since he LOVES those men in their little leather shorts..No wait..that's me! Well, he does LOVE the food! Really!
We decided to go on in to Future World, since we were there. Thus begins the saga of the fingers. It seems so simple, really, place them in, squeeze againt the hard metal, out pops your pass. Right. Apparently, I have mutant fingers (thanks, Dad) which do not hit the metal well unless you gasp, squeeze so tight you lose feeling, and hold your hand at an angle unknown to most mammals. It hurts.
We're in, we're walking, I SEE SEGWAYS!!! I could not get us reservations for that tour for this trip, but I swear with my little mangled fingers that we will do it someday! Those folks were having fun! I waved, and this woman waved back, and drove into a bush. I continued walking quickly.
Spaceship Earth was being checked for the morning. The CM told us that it takes about 45 minutes to walk that entire track, checking everything. He also said it was really odd with the lights on, and all the audio working. Now THAT would be a cool tour! We decided to hit Ellen. I was lucky enough to meet her once at MGM, and she is truly just as down to earth and funny in person. A sincerely great lady. At any rate, a family with 5 little children were waiting for the show with us. That was it. Us and them. One of their children looked at us, and said, "You have to have kids to come here. Where are your kids?" I grinned, after all, I AM a teacher, THIS is my forte, so I crouched down to talk to him, when he screamed, and ran behind his mom, "That strange lady is trying to talk to me! She got on her bottom! She's looking at me!" "Smooth move, kiddo", Shan quietly whispered to me. I stood there, apologizing to the parents for traumatizing their little one, and they just laughed and said he was their little oddball. He warmed up before the show started, and when we told them we had left the children at home for this short trip, but we would be back in January as a family, they were a little surprised. "I guess I always feel like this belongs to children more than adults." the mom said as we left. She and the dad kind of looked at us, and herded their group away. Shan blinked, then grinned at me, and said, "Let's go find more people to freak out, and I want to build one of those plastic robots!" Who said I came without chldren?
Once in Innoventions, I detoured to play a quiz game about pizza (It's been my son's main source of nutrition for years. I can ace this!) Shan happily puttered around in plasic, and I whipped this 10 year old's tail! He was great fun, and we had a wonderful time. The hostess kept waiting for more people, but we bugged her and bugged her, so she let us in. She did not change her spiel at all, however, so the questions would be, "Team 1..Where does the majority of wheat flour originate? Talk among yourselves and come to a decision in10 seconds." We laughed about this the whole time, that 10 year old and I. The hostess never noticed. I think that would be a fun job, if you let it be. Sign me up!
Shan made 4 robots (one for each child, he said. Right. Our college senior is definitely going to put this in a place of honor! I suggested he give them to me for my "R" unit with the kindergarten. He looked shocked, and told me that he made these for our family, for our children. Uh Huh...Yep. We ended up back at the plastic area so he could make a few more for my class. The guides there gave us a bag, and offered to just fill it when they heard what I was using it for, but Shan insisted on building each one. This would become a much bigger issue when we began to pack later in the trip)
We decided to head to WS, as we were both getting a little hungry. The park was getting more crowded, and we opted to do the "Go right because everyone else is going left" trick. It actually worked! We wandered into the Canada gift shop, since we had never been in there. We wandered out, since the prices were a little higher than what we wanted for souvenirs for the kids. We tasted wine in France, an unknown fruit juice in Morocco, and watched Miyoko make those incredible lollypops in Japan. I never tire of watching her hands. She is just amazing. She offered me one, but I was afraid that between the robots and our clothes, they would break, so she gave me her card, her personal address on the back, and a small book talking about arts in Japan. What a nice surprise! For all the fokls I banged into at WS while I was busy reading that book, I apologize! But did you know that her skill was taught by her grandfather, and there are ony 3 more families that are carrying on with that tradition in Japan? She goes home every 4 months for 2 weeks to train a group of young people so this skill does not disappear. WOW!
We made it to Germany, and there was a line. We were given a beeper, which went off as the hostess handed it to us. She apologized, and gave us another. This happened 3 times. She finally suggested we head on in, perhaps our table was ready. Imagine all the looks we got from folks with beepers that had been waiting a little while. I slunk in as fast as possible. Shan can't slink..too big..
Turns out our table was ready. We sat down, and no one was with us to begin with. Then the trouble began. There I was, just admiring the shorts, I mean skills of the band, when 2 more couples came and sat at our table. I introduced Shan and myself, and they both just looked at us, and said, "Yes. Hello" They then proceeded to totally ignore us, talking about how WDW had REALLY gone downhill, allowing people of all types to enter, not having exclusive dining options, etc. I was beginning to get a bit irritated. Shan kicked me under tha table and recommended the strudel. I muttered about strudel all the way to the buffet and back. As I sat down, one of the men asked where we were from, and what we did. I guess Shan was cool since he works in a very secure nuclear area in management, but I am beneath discussion as a mere teacher. They were talking about their numerous trips to Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa..I pointed out that those all began with vowels, and asked if they would start with consenants soon. Shan kicked me again. They asked where we were staying. BWV, we replied. I guess that was OK, but then Shan went on to tell them we were DVC members, at which point they exploded. They ranted about how Disney was allowing even low class and low quality people to buy into their orginization, yada yada yada. I said very quietly that money did not dictate class or quality in individuals, as was obvious from their ignorance and narrow-mindedness. Shan DID NOT kick me. He stood up, agreed, and we left. Unbelievable! It literally took me hours to get over being indignant about these kinds of people. I work with a lot of chldren who will NEVER get to visit WDW, or ANY special place, with parents in jail, and being bounced around from home to home. I will NEVER stop feeling blessed that we can come and visit this truly magical place, and I will ALWAYS be thankful for every trip we do as a family, no matter where we go! Ooooo that made me so mad!!
Note to self: Not everyone at WDW is a nice person
The rest of the day went smoothly, with Shan getting his picture with the Italian Statue, me learning to belly dance in Morocco, and actually finding a quiet and fabulous location to watch Illuminations from, while sipping pear wine from China. It was extremely romantic, and the walk back to the Boardwalk was just as lovely. To those who saw us stealing a kiss next to the water, and appluded, THANK YOU! We felt like little kids on a first date. Definitely the right way to end this day!

[tkmom1972]

this story is getting better and better lol

[LizardCop]

Great Start!!!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update More please

[luvnwdwgal]

I am so enjoying your trip report! Oh, and there is no such thing as "a mere teacher".

[Jillybean]

What an absolutely romantic day! That would be my perfect day at WDW!

I just have to shake my head at the people you met at dinner. They just don't get it. As a fellow DVC member and the daughter of retired teachers, I applaud you!

Jill

[Joy J]

What a wonderful trip report! I adore your sense of humor and I can hardly wait to read more installments.

Joy

[Caldercup]

Oooh, this has started off so well. I can't wait to read more...
Eileen

[Tara O'Hara]

Oh my gosh!! I absolutely this report!!
This is my favorite part! [ QUOTE ]
I waved, and this woman waved back, and drove into a bush. I continued walking quickly.


[/ QUOTE ] You definitely have a way with words! And those people at the Biergarten! I would have started blowing bubbles in my drink or something just to give them something to talk about! I can't wait to hear of the rest of your adventures!!

[HiddenMickey]

They were talking about their numerous trips to Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa..I pointed out that those all began with vowels, and asked if they would start with consenants soon. Shan kicked me again.

ROLFLOL

That whole conversation was unbelievable. I can't get over the audacity of those people.

I am absolutely loving this report however! -HiddenMickey

[Jammers]

[ QUOTE ]
talking about how WDW had REALLY gone downhill, allowing people of all types to enter, not having exclusive dining options, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I met relatives of these people. One Fri evening last Oct after a Spectromagic parade the place was swamped. My guys wanted to ride Splash again before we left so I told them to go ahead and I would meet them at the exit. I had a hard time getting the stroller thru the crowds and was finally moving when this lady(mid 50's?) dressed to the nines, hair swept up, full make up, high heels, skirt and blouse, you know the type, stepped right in front of me. I stopped dead so I didn't run into her and she looked me right in the face while saying to her husband, "All these G---D---strollers." I was stunned and knee-jerk reaction was,"Lady if you don't like strollers don't come to the Magic Kingdom." I was so upset when I met my family my hands were shaking. I should have ran inyo her