Chris & Jessica's Quick Trip

Well, we've returned from our spontaneous "quick trip" to WDW. For those who missed the original post I made about it, Chris (24) came home from work Friday after having the day from Hell. Someone had been injured on his shift, (the first time it had happened) and he took it really hard. I jokingly (sort of) said,"You need to go to DisneyWorld" he looked at me, and I said," You know, I'm only half kidding" He asked where we'd stay, and I said that we could try to Priceline a place, or see if they had any rooms available at good prices on property. And, with that, the idea became reality. I made a phone call and we had a room at ASMu for 69.00 (we have AP's) for the following night. We would leave as soon as Chris got home from work Saturday (okay, after his shower, anyway) and spend all day Sunday at the parks, and possibly stay Sunday night, too. Of course, that depended on how we felt, as he didn't have to be back to work until 10:00 pm Monday. So, I decided to take a chance and set the alarm for 6:50 am on Saturday and see if maybe there were cancellations for CRT. Of course, there weren't, so I went back to sleep. Chris left for work and I spent the day getting ready for our trip. After a trip to the grocery store, I began packing. At some point in the afternoon, I happened to notice my cell phone sitting on the breakfast bar. Every other trip we made, I'd called several times a day in hopes there would be CRT cancellations with no luck. And, here it was the day before, so I figured, why bother? Then, I thought better of it, after all, I have free weekends, so it's not like I'd have to pay for the call, what could it hurt? And, then a miracle happened. The CM told me they had an 8:05 am opening for the next day. I snapped it up, and then sat in shock for quite a while. I know it seems silly, after all, it's just breakfast, but I'd wanted to do this so much, and for so long, I couldn't believe it had finally happened. And, then I called Chris at work and told him. He was thrilled to. So, fast forward through Chris getting home, showering, loading the car, and setting off to WDW. It's about a 5 hour drive, although we came to a standstill 2 times because of accidents. Still, we set off at 7 pm, and including the one rest/dinner stop, we were in our room at ASMu by 12:42 am. We had a room in building 6, Country Fair. We've stayed at ASMu before, but in one of the Jazz buildings. We got to the room, I showered, Chris set alarms, then we set out our clothes, and made sure everything was repacked if it could be, and hopped into bed. Now, I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I was up before the alarm went off at 6:45, because I was so excited by breakfast. We got our wakeup call, which thrilled Chris, because instead of the usual Mickey, "Up and at 'em pal" He heard," Get up, get up, this is Stitch, see you at MGM studios" We haven't seen the movie yet, but Chris already loves Stitch. In fact, I had to buy him the Aloha (talking interactive) Stitch to prevent him from sitting on the DS floor for the rest of his life playing with it. We quickly got ready, and packed up the last of the stuff and headed out of the room. We loaded the car, drove up to Melody Hall and checked out. Then, it was off to the TTC. We were able to park in the second row, and quickly got up to the gate, where the CM told us that she couldn't let us through until 7:50. The time came and we hopped onto the monorail that took us to the MK. When we got to the MK, we went through security, then checked in with the CM at the little roped off PS checkin area and waited until they let us through the turnstiles. I was something like the second person allowed in, Chris the third. Under the train station we went, and as we entered Town Square, the CM driving the fire engine asked if we wanted a ride. We said sure and hopped on. This was exciting, too, as we'd never rode the little cars they have. So, we drove up the deserted Main Street to the Castle. The CM let us off at the curb, and we walked up the right side and straight through the Castle to check in. We checked in and within 3 minutes were seated right by the window in CRT. Breakfast was great. The food is so good. I loved the French toast!!! We saw Cinderella, Snow White, Princess Aurora, Mary Poppins, Belle, and, as we went down the stairs to leave, the Fairy Godmother. (as a side note, I had been poking around the MFL site lately on some sleepless nights and explained to Chris that some people had made their own autograph books. He told me he wanted to start getting autographs, but that he'd be fine just buying a book. Then, in an insomniac haze, I came up with one of my "brainstorms" I decided that I would make him an autograph book, but this would not be just any autograph book. He would have a super customized one. And so it started. I bought a photo album that holds 2 4x6 pictures on each page. Then, I bought a bunch of 4x6 index cards and some Mod Podge. My plan is to have the character sign a card and it goes into the bottom slot on the page. The top slot will have a card that I customize with clip art and the characters name in an appropriate font. And, I plan to do this for all the characters. So, what was once a relatively inexpensive idea has now cost him about three times what a regular autograph book would be. Don't you love how I save money?) Of course, since I started this project on Friday, we had nothing ready, so undaunted, I just brought along a pack of index cards and figured we'd collect the signatures and I'd do the customized cards later. As we were leaving, it hit us that we had no plans for keeping the cards safe (i.e. unbent) and so it became more expensive. We ended up buying a photo album (as Chris says, "I didn't even need or want") to keep the cards in. And, we did have to buy a fat pen for the characters. So, we were leaving CRT, and got held up by the security guard in the bottom of the castle. Eventually he dropped the rope and we were caught in a huge stampede of strollers. But, we safely made it back to Pooh (one of our favorite rides) and were among the first on the ride. We got off, browsed the gift shop, bought the photo album and pen, and then settled at the benches outside of Ariel's Grotto so I could safely put the autographs away. Then, I threw some extra cards in so that if we met any other characters, we could grab them, too. I also noticed that in the lake, or lagoon, was a statue of Triton holding up his trident, looking towards Ariel's Grotto. I'd never seen it before and made Chris take a picture of it. From there we wandered back through the Castle, and down Main Street. As we entered Town Square, I saw the Genie, so we got in line to get his autograph (he's one of Chris's favorites) But, the time was up before we got to the front of the line, so we didn't get him. We headed over to the Photo center, and noticed that in the corner was Daisy Duck, so we hopped in line and got her autograph, then went into the Photo center to pick up a couple of pins. On our last trip, we'd had one of the photo pins made. We ended up with a bunch of the pictures, and realized afterwards that both my mother and his love to wear pins, and it would be a perfect gift for the both. So, we had decided to pick them up on this trip. We did, along with a Mr. Smee pin, and then exited the MK. It was about quarter after 9. We then hopped on the monorail back to the TTC, and switched over to the Epcot one. As we were riding the monorail "through" Epcot, we noticed that the character bus had pulled up among the Leave a Legacy things. So, we got off the monorail, through security, into the park, and found that one of the characters was Genie!! Great! We hopped in line, and just when we were the next people, the CM announced that Genie had to go. We missed him again. After the character bus left, we headed back along the right side of Spaceship Earth and ducked into Innoventions. (Not to see anything, just to stay cool) then we popped out in front of The Land. We walked into the building and took the elevator up to the Passholder lounge, only to find that it didn't open until 11:00. It was about 10:30, so we decided to go downstairs and ride Living with the Land. I can't explain it, but this is like our favorite ride in Epcot. So, we went on the ride and when we came off, we headed back up to the lounge. In the lounge we arranged PS for Shockwave, and then had a drink and rested on one of the couches. We also filled two paper cups with water and soaked our cooling bandannas in them. We applied sunblock and bug spray (I love the Burt's Bees Lemongrass bug lotion. No nasty chemicals.) then put on our bandannas and headed out. We decided to experience the new and improved Imagination ride. I had never seen Figment, and had never been too impressed with the other version. Honestly, I wasn't that impressed with this one, either. It's mostly like the old one, with Figment thrown in whereever they could put him. After Figment, we headed out of the park and hopped on a bus to MGM. It was time for the other major objective of the trip. (they were CRT, see Shockwave, and lastly to see Lilo and Stitch) We had finally remembered to bring the internet pin certificate, so after entering the park, we headed straight for the hat. We bought another Magical Moments Castle pin, and got the free pin. We asked the CM where we could find Stitch and were directed to the Animation Courtyard. Follow the blue footprints to the line, where they have Lilo and Stitch constantly appearing. (Periodically Lilo takes Stitch to get a drink of water, but if this happens don't leave, they come back within 2 minutes) We got to the front of the line (we were the only ones without kids) and Chris took the book up to get signed. Stitch signed, then pretended to pull something out of Chris's ear and eat it. Then, he pulled of Chris's sunglasses and played with them, shoving them at Lilo. Lilo pointed to her eyes, motioning that they are worn that way, and Stitch tried to eat them. He decided he didn't like them, and gave them back. Then he took Chris's hat and tried to eat that. The CM scolded him for being "naughty" so Stitch threw his hat to the side. Then, they posed for a picture and we headed out. I thought it was cute, the way they played with Chris. Stitch got to be more naughty, and the kids in line thought it was great, because it was someone else. Obviously he would have upset some of the kids if he'd been "naughty" with them, but it worked well with Chris. All in all, it was a lot of fun. Then, we paused to run the bandannas under the water in a fountain, and recharged we headed out to see what we could see. I wanted to see One Man's Dream again, and as we were approaching the little set of stairs, I noticed Mr. Smee standing by himself. So, we ran over and got his autograph. Then I saw that there were other characters around, so I grabbed some cards and a pen and Chris took off in one direction and I in the other. I got Foulfellow and Gepetto's autographs and met up with Chris in the line for Pinocchio. He had already gotten Eeyore. One thing that irritated me was that when it was my turn to get Pinocchio, I was just about to approach him when some guy came out of nowhere (not in line) with his camera and kept asking me to move so he could get Pinocchio's picture. I waited in line, and we pretty much just get an autograph so we can get out of the way of the little kids, and this guy just sort of pushed his way in and wasted my character time, along with that of the people who were behind us in line. But, we got Pinocchio and headed to One Man's Dream. We wandered the exhibit but opted not to see the movie. We left and as we got outside it was really dark, and it was obvious a storm was on its way. We dug out our ponchos and wandered around to figure out what to do next. (it was about 1 pm) We ended up sitting down for a while debating what to do, as the trip was totally about what Chris wanted. We figured we'd see if there was any chance of getting a walk in seating at Sci-Fi for dessert. There was a line, so we skipped it, and instead headed out of the park. By this time it was pouring and there was a great thunderstorm happening (I love thunder and lightning) We boarded a bus back to Epcot, and rested while it rained. When we got to Epcot the downpour was still going strong. We went on Spaceship Earth, then watched the fountain a bit. Chris wears canvas shoes and by this time they were soaked through, so we ducked into Mouse Gear to see if they had sandals or flipflops for him. They didn't but said that Morocco or the African outpost did. So, we headed out into the World Showcase. We got to France and decided it was time for a snack and split a ham and cheese croissant. It's kind of weird eating outside in the rain. Then, we stopped in Morocco and bought him some sandals. We got to the American Adventure and just hung out there until 3:50 when they let us into the reserved seating for Shockwave. We had been worried that they would cancel it, but since it was just a downpour and the thunderstorms had let up, the show went on. The show is absolutely incredible. I can't recommend it enough. See it, see it more than once. It's great. After the show, we wandered the rest of the way around the world. Of course, once in Norway I had a rice cream. I finished it in Mexico while Chris got a churro. Then, we wandered back up to FutureWorld and into Mouse Gear, because by this time my shoes were soaked through. So, we looked around and managed to walk right past their display of shoes. We asked a CM who directed me back to the section where they had some women's character sneakers and some of those platfom slide things. They have thick foam soles with an elastic band that goes over your insteps. There's a Mickey head on the band over the instep. Not my usual shoe, but I was desperate so I bought them. Chris also bought a cute Stitch keychain. It has Stitch on a big wheel. Then, we ducked into Innoventions so I could sit and change my shoes, which we did at the Aibo display. Chris loves the Aibo's and can't wait until the day we get one. (Yes, someday I will spend 1,000.00 on an electronic pet for him) After that, we decided to go to the Electric Umbrella and get some burgers. We had a quick meal then headed back out to the pin station and picked up a few more (there are two new Tinkerbell ones!!!) And then on the way out stopped for a moment in the Gallery, where we ended up leaving with a Pooh figurine (Piglet in a ghost costume) before heading out of the park. We hopped back on the monorail, and headed to the TTC. We then walked out to the car thankfully, it was close) and changed, then settled in for the trip home. I looked at the clock and it was exactly 24 hours since we'd left our house. I can't believe how much we did in that time. And, that's the trip report. I will say, if you're still with me, thanks, that I learned a few things. One is that cooling bandannas work wonders. It's not a bad idea to "recharge" them every hour or so. It's not that they dehydrate, but they just aren't cold anymore. Plus the jolt from the cold feels nice periodically. Battery powered fans are a great help, too. I had picked up clip on ones at Walmart, so if anyone saw a guy in a hat with a blue fan clipped to it yesterday, that was Chris. Also, Dove makes these wipes, other companies do to, they aren't just your average handy wipe, they're shower in a towel wipes. They are well worth it. After we changed in the car, using a couple of them to wipe off the sunblock, bug spray, sweat, etc made for a much more comfortable ride home.

Jessica