WDW Trip Report - LIVE March 6 - 14, 2009

[KippWade]

I've enjoyed the reports very much

If I cannot go, I might as well live vicariously through other peoples postings!!

[WindowtotheMagic]

hopefully our trip home will be a good one.

I hope so too. thanks for sharing all this with us... Phew!!!

[MagicJoe]

Jeremy, thanks again for taking the time and for finding time to "tell it like it is" (so, you must type 60 - 80 wpm). I know how you feel when your WDW vacation is coming to a close and the thought of not knowing when you will be returning next. We went three years ago and I don't know when the next time we will be returning to WDW. Looking forward to your closing report. Have a safe trip back home... and that the travel is not too stressful.

[MouseRunner]

Hey Guys,

Work sucks. Why do we even have to go, anybody have any idea?

First, a couple of quick things before I get to the last day. Magic Joe, in High School I was clocked at 98 words per minute, never hit that 100 mark. I got retested for a State Position (with a stomach flue, involving a certain pink drink) and I was clocked at 82. So I'm probably around the 90 WPM area. Thanks to all that Programming in College.

The last day is normally not a day of sadness for me. Erin teared up as we left the room, and my mom use to cry on the last monorail trip. My depression hits in the middle of the vacation, and returns on the day before we leave. That last day usually consists of getting everything ready for departure, and finishing those last couple of things.

First, I took Conner's Pluto doll and took pictures all around the room. Unfortunately, there weren't that many animals outside our room, and due to the problems on that first day, I didn't get any great pictures of the room when it was clean.

Then we headed down to the airport check in. Go figure, our luggage was 2 lbs over weight. So we had to do some readjusting. The whole luggage thing is stressful. Plus, it cost us 15 dollars a bag, that's how United does it.

Then we headed back to our room for the rest of our stuff. Erin teared up a little bit. It was an awesome room, and it will be missed...okay, that King size bed, no need to cook for ourselves, no work, just play, that will be missed .

We got in the car and drove over to the TTC, and then took the boat over to the Magic Kingdom. At the Magic Kingdom, we stopped by the Barber Shop, but it was a bit busy (the time was around 10:30). So we headed over to Casey's for hot dogs. My wife HATES hot dogs, so the meal was more for the boys and I. Casey's wasn't opened yet, so we found a seat by the video screens so the boys could watch cartoons.

I headed over to the front and watched the castmembers sing Take Me Out To The Ball Game and then I caught a bag of Cracker Jacks. Ordered my food and took it over to the family. Thanks to the night before, we are now addicted to fries and cheese sauce. So Erin dined on that. The boys and I inhaled our dogs, which were delicious (boys had ketchup, I'm more of a Mayo kind of guy). Then we dug into our Cracker Jacks, Conner didn't eat any of his but was happy with his special ticket. We had two left over bags, which we gave to the family that was taking our table.

We then headed over to the Country Bears. Boy does that show look awesome. The bears were freshly groomed. Conner and I got the crowd clapping almost every time. Some people looked kind of bothered by the clapping, but that's part of the show, right? Love it, and glad we had a chance to check it out.

After Country Bears we headed back to the Barber Shop. We were third in line and decided to wait. The Barbershop Quartet saw Erin's button so grabbed her and sang a birthday song to her (the "short birthday song"). Afterwards, they told her that her husbad dedicated a song to her and sang Cruella De Ville. Fun stuff. They left soon after that. Conner's turn came shortly after. Due to all the knots in his hair, he struggled quite a bit. As soon as the knots were gone, he relaxed and enjoyed the hair cut. Afterwards, the barber sprayed conditioner and sprinkled his head with pixie dust. He talked about the haircut for the rest of the day.

We hopped on the train and took it to Mickey's Toon Town Fair (only three stops?? Are you kidding me, it's bigger than Disneyland and Disneyland has four stops). At Mickey's Toon Town Fair, Erin said she was now hungry so we headed over to Cosmic Rays. The line was really long, but moved really fast. She got a cheeseburger and fries (and nacho sauce too!!), we had 16 dining coupons left so I got both the boys pb&j sandwiches with grapes and fries. Honestly, I think the boys could have lived on grapes and fries the whole week. We had a little situation with the cheerleaders/spring break girls cutting in line to get their stuff, but not a bad experience.

After a quick ride on the TTA, my favorite, and checking out the stage for Stitch's party something, we headed over to the Carousel of Progress. Again, Brodie fell asleep. I love the attraction, I just think it needs a major update. There is no reason why that show can't be updated at least once every decade. I would even go so far as taking out one of the scenes and doing the turn of the century, the 40's, the 80's and future. Just a thought.

With our time short, we headed over to Small World and waited 20 minutes for our last ride. The whole time, Brodie was asleep in my arms. He woke up for a second in the ride to sing along, but went back to sleep. We then headed next door to the Pinocchio Restaurant so I could try the Figarro Fries. The Figarro fries were not included in any dining plans, so I got a Pepperoni pizza with fries (cheese sauce), Erin got a Vegetarian Pizza and fries (um...CHEESE SAUCE) and the boys got a cheese pizza and Mac N Cheese, with grapes and fries of course. I told the castmember that we were leaving after the meal, and she did something and made the figarro fries and a diet coke a meal so we got that for free also. She was awesome, just don't remember her name.

We were stuffed after our meal. While the food was good, Erin LOVED her Vegetarian pizza. She said she would love to have that again.

With 14 snack coupons left, we headed over to the candy store on Main Street where we bought cookies, pretzels and fudge for the trip home. That alone was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, no Vinylmation Urban #1. I was hoping.

With our snacks in hand, we headed to the Monorail and then to the Daisy Parking lot. I asked Conner if he would like to come back someday, and he said yes, how bout tomrorow.

We stopped at Hess for our gas, then headed over to the airport. Drop off was real easy, and Alamo will be our rental of choice from now on. Even got a thank you email from them. The flight from Orlando to Los Angeles was tough. Brodie couldn't get comfortable and whimpered for the first hour, then he was out. Conner was out with in 10 minutes. I slept a little bit, trying to keep my eyes away from the screen (The Day the World Stood Still and Quantum of Solace, two movies I really want to see, just not on an airplane). We grabbed McDonald's and Baja Fresh at LAX and then flew the final hour. The plane was 2 seats by 2 seats, so my little party was separated. Not as bad as another couple we flew from Orlando, all three seats were separated, including the seat for a 4 year old.

That's the trip. Hope we go back soon, now time to get caught up on my podcasts.

[MouseRunner]

There's a reason that my podcast is for all Amateur photographers. I was kind of angry when I got my pictures up of the computer last night. I took the camera off of auto focus, and a lot of pictures weren't clear. Pretty sad. It's tough to focus on kids that are moving non-stop, so I'm going to take it off the auto focus for the next trip. Over a thousand pictures taken, maybe 500 pass my approval.

The trip was fun, we all had a great time. Brodie is getting older and talked a lot more than ever, which was awesome. Listening to him sing Small World was great.

Conner is getting older, but still lets us know about his bathroom breaks right before he goes into red terriroty. Which made standing in line interesting. He was also so excited about the trip, he nibbled at his food instead of eating. Which made it easy for the boys to share.

We need to remember to keep recreation at the top of our to do list. We all had a lot of fun boating, bike riding, and spending time outside of the parks. We are strongly looking into the Fort Wilderness cabins as a future place to stay. That way we don't even have to leave the resort to play.

Animal Kingdom Lodge was an awesome resort. I'm really disappointed in the Front Desk as well as the management that runs the resort. I have emailed DVC and Animal Kingdom Lodge my concerns. I would hate for someone who has never been there to go through something like that.

Next time....two weeks .

Thanks again to everybody for reading this. The pictures that I actually like, I'll be uploading and adding to my trip reports. Of course, as soon as I get the intro done, Day 1 of the trip will be the next podcast, hopefully within the week. First I have to get over the time change and the 3 hour difference. Maybe I should have stayed home today.

[MagicJoe]

...First, a couple of quick things before I get to the last day. Magic Joe, in High School I was clocked at 98 words per minute, never hit that 100 mark. I got retested for a State Position (with a stomach flue, involving a certain pink drink) and I was clocked at 82. So I'm probably around the 90 WPM area. Thanks to all that Programming in College...

I have to thank (and apologize for giving her a hard time) my mother for taking typing classes in Jr. High (using typewritters with replaceable ribbons; this is even before electric typewriters - gawd, do I feel old). People at work are amazed that I don't have to look at the keyboard as I type.

...Thanks again to everybody for reading this. The pictures that I actually like, I'll be uploading and adding to my trip reports. Of course, as soon as I get the intro done, Day 1 of the trip will be the next podcast, hopefully within the week. First I have to get over the time change and the 3 hour difference. Maybe I should have stayed home today.

Thank you Jeremy for the daily reports and glad you all are back safe and sound. Look forward in seeing your next piccast of your WDW vacation.

[MouseRunner]

"Piccast", I like that. That's really a cool name for what I do. Thanks Magic Joe!!

[MouseRunner]

The first piccast of the trip should be out tonight. Day 1 is included.

I'm still working on putting the pictures on the trip report. I actually did it, and then realized the pictures were way too huge for the site. So I need to make them smaller. Hope you enjoy the show.