|
Day One
A little background before I begin: on this trip it was just me (25) and Chris (24). Earlier this year, we moved from
Pennsylvania to Savannah, GA. Both of our families live pretty much within 2 hours of each other in PA (with some in
NJ) and we've always spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day driving around to visit them. Every year we'd get
frustrated with the traveling around (both of our parents are divorced and we also had his father's family's
Christmas party Christmas Eve, and his mother's parent's family gathering Christmas Day too) and say that we
just wanted to stay home by ourselves next year. This year we were faced with doing exactly that. Unfortunately,
we realized that we didn't want to do it anymore. As much as we wanted to, it wasn't going to be possible for us
to go up north for Christmas, so we arranged for a visit in January and will be doing gift exchanges with everyone
then. That still left us by ourselves for Christmas and we weren't looking forward to it. The answer came from a Disney catalog, believe it or not. In mid November, we got a catalog that had a Tiffany style Beauty and the Beast lamp on the back cover. Chris immediately announced that he was going to buy it for me for Christmas. We don't normally exchange gifts, preferring to buy something for the house instead, so I decided that I'd have to get him a present. I couldn't figure out what to get him until we were discussing the Candlelight Processional and he told me that he would love to see Gary Sinise as the narrator. That settled it, his gift would be a trip to Disney for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so he could see the CP. This not only solved the problem of the gift, but also helped us with the holiday. I can't imagine what those days would have been like if we'd just stayed home by ourselves. With that in mind, here's what happened on our trip:
We decided that since we were only going overnight, we'd get up early and head out, to maximize our time in the World. We set the alarm for 5:00 am, and were none to thrilled when it went off. However, it was Christmas Eve and we were on our way to our "special place" so we got up and got ready. After making the bed and throwing our toothbrushes in our bag, we headed out to the car. We got everything packed in and settled in for the drive. Of course we brought every Christmas cd we owned to listen to on the way.
The drive was pretty uneventful, we made a few potty stops, and arrived at about 11:00 am. We headed over to POR, to check in. This was our first time staying there, and I have to admit, it's not my favorite resort. Something about it just doesn't sit right with me, I guess but I can't pinpoint exactly what. Every CM we encountered was a little off, too. But, we got checked in, and luckily the room was ready right away. We decided to hit the food court, then get the car and got to our room. After grabbing lunch (burger
and fries for Chris, chicken fingers for me) we drove around to Acadian House, where we had a water view room on the top floor. (room 8418) We parked the car and managed to find the longest possible route to the room. Instead of heading to the main area, where the fountain is, we wandered through the different corridors, up to the front where we then looped back to the elevator. This wasn't a lot of fun, as we were carrying a ton of stuff (I think we've packed less stuff for a 10 day trip). We kept running into Mousekeepers who said they were going with us since we had snacks and a 12 pack of rootbeer.
Eventually we found the room, and Chris set out to get ice. He was back a short while later, and we ate pretty quickly. We were both ready for a nap, and made plans to sleep for a couple of hours, then take a walk around the resort and down to French Quarter so we could get some exercise, take pictures of the decorations and the usual pictures we take when we stay in a new resort (I realized about a week ago that we didn't take any pictures of French Quarter other than the room) The problem was that we'd left the camera in the car, so Chris went out to get it and that's how he discovered the quicker way to the car.
He was back in a few minutes and we settled into bed for a much needed nap. We'd set the wake up call for 2:00 pm, and when the phone rang decided that we weren't ready to get up. We arranged for another wake up call at three, figuring we'd just take a quick walk over to the main building to pick up the Candlelight Processional passes, then take the other pictures when we got back later that night.
3:00 pm we got the second wake up call and we got up and got ready to go to Epcot. There was another wrench thrown in the works when we opened the door to find it pouring. So much for the walk, we'd drive over and pick up the passes, we'll have to take the pictures later. No big deal, we took a picture of the view from the balcony outside our room then headed to the car. When we got to the back of the building it wasn't raining anymore, so we took a picture of the fountain, then figured we'd head back to the front to take a picture of the building. Well, it was raining out front, but not too hard, so we took a few quick pictures, then headed back to the car. We came out the back of the building, and again, it wasn't raining. Very Strange.
We got in the car, drove to the Lobby and Chris dropped me off. I went to guest services and got our Candlelight Processional passes. I was thrilled to find out that we still got the 15% discount, and headed outside to find Chris and the car. We then headed out to Epcot.
After going through security, we entered the park. There was a pretty big line for Spaceship Earth, so we bypassed it and wandered into MouseGear. After looking around for a while, we decided to hold off on doing any shopping until after the CP and dinner, so we headed off to the World Showcase. We started off in Mexico, then headed to Norway. After passing China we got stopped by the drawbridge. This is the first time I'd ever even realized it was there, because it's the only time we'd ever seen it up. I guess they have it to bring in the barges for Illuminations, because they were out setting up things for the show.
We headed around the World, stopping in Germany to look at the dolls again. I tried to talk Chris into having a little boy doll made to go with mine, but he wasn't having it. So, we kept going to the American Adventure. It was about 4:30 and we had booked the 5:00 show, so we showed our passes and went in and found some seats. At that point Chris looked at me and asked if he should go pick up some ponchos since the sky looked kind of iffy. I said sure, and he headed out. Right about this time, the Tapestry of Dreams parade was hitting Italy. He ended up running to get ahead of the parade and over to the lagoon side so he
could get into the ampitheater. Luckily, he made it, and luckily he had the ponchos. We settled in to enjoy the show and just as it started the sky opened up. We quickly put on the ponchos and sat back to watch the show. It kept raining, harder for most of the show, although it stopped briefly once or twice then tapered off at the end. Gary Sinise was great as the narrator, he has a wonderful voice. I managed to get Chris irritated with me when they sang the Alleluia Chorus. When they started, I popped up and glanced back to see Chris still seated, I sort of snapped at him and said," Come on, you know better, get up." He hadn't even thought about it.
At the end of the show, Gary Sinise made a comment about being up there during the Alleluia Chorus like being in a stereo. Then he said that it made him hungry for a funnel cake. It was a wonderful experience and Chris really enjoyed it.
After it was over, we checked out the little shop in the American Adventure, then headed off to Japan, and proceeded on around the world. When we got to Canada, we turned around and headed back to Morocco, where we had our dinner PS for 7:00 at Marrakesh.
We'd eaten lunch at Marrakesh once before and enjoyed it, me more so than Chris. But, it was pretty much the only available seating, so we took it. It was crowded, but we didn't wait too long to be seated. This is when we discovered the downside to the CP package. We had to prepay the meal, and the tip was included. This, unfortunately, affected the service we received.
Our waiter was noticeably less attentive to us than to the couple at the table next to us. We were both seated at the same time, however they recieved bread and their drinks before our drink order was even taken. Then, while we had each ordered a mixed drink and a soda, we recieved our mixed drinks first, followed about 15 mins later by our appetizer, chicken bastilla,
and bread. We received our sodas at the same time the table next to us got their entrees. About 10-15 minutes later we were served our entrees, shish kebabs and chicken kebabs. During this entire time, our waiter hadn't even come back, another one had brought the drinks and food, however, he was the one serving the table next to us, along with checking on them
frequently. He did stop by once to ask if everything was okay, and totally ignored my empty soda glass. I started to ask him for another soda, but he was already talking to the other couple. When he was done, I made it a point to get his attention and ask for another soda. He said he'd get it for me. 25 minutes later I still had no soda. He had even brought refills to the table next to us, but I was unable to get his attention then. I was about to go to the podium and complain when Chris flagged down a manager and asked for a refill. 10 minutes later the person who had been bringing our stuff to us appeared with two more sodas. He then asked if we needed anything else or if we wanted the check.
We pointed out that we had dessert as part of the package we'd paid for and he said okay, and then took off. About 10 minutes later our waiter showed up with menus and we ordered Atlas Crepes for dessert. After waiting 10-15 minutes, the second guy shows up with dessert menus. We explained that we had already ordered dessert and he disappeared again. Eventually our desserts showed up and when they arrived, my glass was empty again. Again, our waiter ignored it, disappearing before I could ask for a refill. So, knowing I was going to be speaking with a manger before we left, I started eating my dessert. Midway through it, I found a spot on the crepes that looked like mold. I sat for another 15 minutes waiting for the waiter to show up to point it out to him. When he arrived, he put down the check (for the drinks we'd ordered), and I showed him the spot. He basically said that sucks, and so I asked to speak with a manager.
The manager came over and I explained everything to him. He told us that he didn't think it was mold, that sometimes the spices can make spots like that on the crepes. He was however, appalled at the service we'd received and couldn't stop apologizing. He actually said that he was hating himself for not noticing what had been going on all night. He offered to replace my dessert, but at that point I was already full and really just wanted to leave, however he wouldn't hear of it. He didn't want us to leave on a bad note and insisted on getting us drinks before we left. So, we said, okay, we'll have another coke. This wouldn't work either, he insisted on bringing me a glass of wine and Chris another of the mixed drinks he'd had earlier. As he left to get them, he all but dragged our waiter off the floor by his ear.
He returned with our drinks, and Chris tried to give him the money for the drinks we'd had earlier, but he wouldn't let us. We finished our drinks and on the way out the manager stopped us again to apologize.
When we stepped out of the restaurant we entered a huge downpour. It really was raining hard. (we later learned that Orlando was under a tornado warning that evening) We stopped at the restroom, and changed from our sneakers into our sandals, but even in that short trip, our shoes were soaked. It was really cool to see the lightning coming down behind Spaceship Earth, though.
We headed down to Futureworld, and back to MouseGear where we did some damage to our debit card. Originally we had planned to fill stockings for each other and had set a 75.00 limit on them. However, neither one of us had time to actually get the stocking presents, so we decided to surprise each other on Christmas Day with a gift, still with the 75.00 limit. This then
morphed into just spending that much each at MouseGear. (you had to take advantage of the discount, of course) We each got new pajamas (my mom always got us new pajamas on Christmas Eve) Chris got flannel Mickey boxers, and I got a pair of flannel pajama pants with a white long sleeve shirt. On the shirt is Pooh dressed in a nightshirt, slippers and cap hugging a
stuffed animal. The doll is a stuffed Piglet. I also got a Tinkerbell shirt and a Tinkerbell ornament that I didn't have. Chris got a Grumpy travel mug and I insisted that he get the Self Portrait Sculpture that he kept looking at. We also picked up my mother's Christmas present.
After doing our shopping, we decided that we'd had enough. We had an early morning the next day, so we headed back out to the car. We got back to the hotel and I showered while Chris called his mom. Then we ordered pizza, and Chris called his father. After eating a piece of pizza each, Chris showered and we climbed into bed. We fell asleep listening to a Christmas cd.
Day One, Day Two
|
