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Cast of Characters: Joanie-DW (41), Bob-DH (51) & Marie-DD (19) staying in a studio unit at Beach Club Villas - 6/5-13/2003
This is a unique trip for us - DH & I are flying and meeting a coworker and close friend and their 2 yr old son (the Melnick's) who are driving down and included my daughter with them (she refused to fly - claims she always gets sick with a cold afterwards-I didn't argue - at least she is coming along) and we are also meeting another family from our town (the Kolonsky's) who have a 13 yr old DD and a 4 yr old DS. Since my husband and I met when my DD was 10, this is going to be a new experience for him.
Anyway..........................................
Trip Report - Day 1 - Thursday - June 5, 2003
As usual, I got almost no sleep the night before (it totalled up in spurts to be 1 hour, 45 minutes) so
when that alarm went off at 3:30a.m. I really could have slept just a little longer. However, up and at
it, and at 4:45 a.m. we left for the Lehigh Valley International Airport. There was no line when we arrived
around 6:00 a.m. but we found security to be extremely strict. We checked in for our 8:00 a.m. flight on
Southeast, showed ID and then were asked to take our checked bags over to a station where there were 4
people by big machines. They opened each of our checked bags right in front of us, ran some kind of a
wand with a paper inside which was put in this machine afterword and hand searched our bag. NO problems.
Off to the regular security where we were asked to remove shoes, take off jackets (yes it was only 50 degrees
so I had on a mickey sweatshirt jacket), empty our pockets etc. We were in the gate area at 6:30 a.m. so you
can tell how smoothly everything went. The flight took off on time and landed 15 minutes ahead of schedule
at Sanford Orlando Airport. Our Tiffany Towncar drive - Jerry - was waiting for us. While he and Bob went to wait for luggage, I ran to the pay phone to call my daughter on her cell and see where they were since they were driving. They were already in Jacksonville and hoped to have her with us sometime in the early afternoon. We made a brief grocery stop at a Publix and were on our way to the BCV. We checked in - our room was ready. We had our luggage delivered and headed down to Beaches & Cream for lunch. After lunch, and another quick phone call to DD, we waited out in front for her arrival. We brought her bags up to the room and headed over to EPCOT because she was hungry. I wanted to take a little refresher nap while they did this, but she starts jumping up and down on the bed saying it's vacation and I needed to go along. No time for resting - time to ride the rides.
Off to EPCOT, pit stopping in the Beach Club gift shop for my Pal Mickey. Really nice topiaries and display
at the entrance to World Showcase. We did the boat ride in Mexico, (PAL Mickey went off 3 times-gotta love
it, but you do need to hold him very close to your ear or he is hard to hear), the Maelstrom in Norway and
off to get a cookie for Marie. (She claimed she was starving - wanted lunch, then decided on a cookie).
We stopped to look at a few more of the topiaries, take some pictures and headed to Mouse Gear. On the way - a bird pooped on my head - direct shot. Sometimes I think it's not a true disney vacation until one of those birds poops on me. DH cleaned it up and into Mouse Gear to cool off. It is really HOT!!!!!!!!! We went on Spaceship Earth, over through the Dog Gone Maze which was really cute and back to the BCV to relax before our dinner ressie. We headed over to the Flying Fish for our 6:00 p.m. ressie and ended up with a waiter who was originally from a town 12 miles away from us. The food was good, but very expensive. We walked thru the shops at Boardwalk and stopped to get DD an ice cream and milk for DH for his cereal in the morning. We went back to our room to put the milk away and DH and I went down to Beaches & Cream for an icecream. Back to the room, and lights out!
We brought a pedometer along again on this trip - miles for today - 7.19.
Trip Report - Day 2 - Friday - June 6, 2003
We slept in a little bit this morning to make up some lost zzzzzz's from yesterday. We (DH & I) finally
left the room at 9:15 a.m., walked through the International Gate and into EPCOT. We decided to ride Universe
of Energy - no line and a 2 minute wait for the pre-show. All went well until we came back to the present leaving the jungle and our transporter stopped right underneath the door separating the final room from the jungle. We ended up waiting approx. 15 minutes until maintenance got there and manually maneuvered each car into place with the battery backup on each vehicle. Apparently one of the vehicles slid off target just a tad which set off a sensor and stopped the ride. We stopped at the cart outside for an apple juice and a muffin to split (DH had cereal in the room, I didn't have anything). We didn't realize the riptide lounge sold buns, juice etc, until the last morning. I never even thought to ask, until I saw it when we were leaving our breakfast at Cape May Cafe on the last day.
Anyway, we walked to the front of EPCOT and rode the monorail to the Ticket & Trans. Center and rode the
Express Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We rode Big Thunder Mountain and exited and caught a boat to the
Wilderness Lodge to meet the Melnicks for lunch. DD also finally woke up and met us there as well. We
had an excellent lunch and I bought Jimmy Melnick a soda with the lighted ice cube. (Don't know what I
paid for it, didn't care - he was happy, so I was happy-at 2 yrs old, sometimes this is all it takes).
We had an excellent server. When DH and I got our 3rd drink refill - this Florida heat dries us out -
the server made an announcement to the entire room that 2 little piggies were drinking them dry. After
lunch, the Melnick's headed to All Star Music to check in and DH, DD & I took the boat back to the Magic
Kingdom. We watched the end of the 3:00 p.m. parade and then rode Pirates of the Caribbean. When we exited the ride, it was raining, which turned into a torrential downpour complete w/thunder & lightning. We hung out in a shop in Fantasyland until it slowed down enough that you could walk without being up to your ankles in water and went to the Country Bear Jamboree, Big Thunder Mountain again (it stopped raining by now), Space Mountain and of course my favorite - Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We walked through a few more shops and then took the boat to the Grand Floridian to meet the Melnick's for dinner at Narcoossee's. After dinner, we tried to make Illuminations by taking the monorail to the TTC and transferred to the EPCOT monorail. By now it was pouring again and we arrived as the grand finale lit up the sky. Oh well, there is always next time.
The Melnick's caught the bus back to their resort and we walked through EPCOT (we had to show our resort ID since it was after 9:00 p.m. and they wouldn't let us in any other way), out through the International Gate and back to our room to drop off the purchases we had made and our poncho's & umbrellas. DH & I headed down to beaches & Cream for some more ice cream. I had a coke float which I really don't recommend since I paid $3.99 for a cup of coke with 1 small scoop of ice cream in it period. No whip cream on the top or anything. When we got back to the room, DD wanted to take a shower, but the tub hadn't drained from my shower in the morning. A quick call to maintenance, who arrived 15 minutes later, and whamo - just like new again.
Total mileage for today - 12.61 miles
(No wonder I was tired)
Trip Report - Day 3 - Saturday - June 7, 2003
We woke up early and all 3 of us did the walk to MGM to meet the Melnick's at 8:00 a.m. When they hadn't arrived by 8:25 a.m. I tried calling her cell phone - no answer so I left a message and said we'd see them later for our lunch ressie at Marrakesh. It was certainly going to be another hot day. We decided to hit a couple rides before the lines got too long so did Rock N Roller coaster first (I love this ride but the rocks in my head rolling around really give me a headache), Tower of Terror, Star Tours (now if these 3 rides one right after the other don't test your stomach, nothing will), and the Backlot Tour (Catastrophe Canyon). We walked through a couple of shops and started the long walk over to EPCOT. Have I remembered to mention it's very hot today!
Arrived at EPCOT through the International Gate and over to Marrakesh to meet the Melnick's. Had a wonderful
lunch at Marrakesh and then headed to Norway to try to take Jimmy on the Maelstrom. It was closed down for
technical difficulties so I decided to go into the bakery and try the Rice Cream that everyone on this list raves about. I should have tried it much sooner. I gave Kristin a taste and she went back in and bought one for her husband. We headed to the boat ride in Mexico, walked Jimmy through the Dog Gone Maze, did Journey Into Your Imagination (Jimmy - 2 yrs old - did well on this - his parents brought along a mini flashlight for him since the dark scares some of the young children and just told him to turn it on if he got scared - worked wonderful and we did come across another family with a slightly older child who did the same thing), walked over to the land and grabbed a Fast Pass for Living with the Land and went in and saw Food Rocks (Jimmy slept through this). When Food Rocks was over we used our Fast Passes for Living with the Land (Jimmy continued to sleep) and then parted ways as they wanted to take him back to the hotel to continue napping.
DD also separated from us and headed back to the room. DH and I headed to Canada to do the film. He loves the films in EPCOT and we try to do them all each trip, we don't always succeed and this trip is no exception. We went back to the room to get showers and get ready for dinner. I had the curtains closed in the room and after we had all gotten showers, I peeked out before we left only to find out we were in the middle of a torrential downpour. When we got down to the bus stop to catch the bus to MK it was already there. DH & DD ran and jumped on and he met me right at the bottom of the walkway. Off to the MK we go only to find huge lines for the monorail. We actually waited through 4 monorails before we got on and took the resort monorail to the Grand Floridian for our dinner at Citrico's. I'll detail things in my restaurant review, but the food was excellent and the service was horrible. We had run into a couple and their 16 yr old daughter from Chicago on the bus to the MK and were discussing restaurants since they seem to eat similarly to us and they warned us about the service at Citrico's. Maybe that put a black cloud in my mind, but I doubt it. The Melnick's felt the same way after dinner and I never mentioned the family we met on the bus.
Our original plan was to go into the MK after dinner to see Spectro Magic and the fireworks for Jimmy. Needless to say, we barely made it in time for the fireworks. Even though they were loud and Jimmy covered his ears a little, he really enjoyed thm. We headed to the bus back to the Beach Club and called it a night.
Miles for today - 12.45
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4
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