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Day 1 - Friday, July 23, 2004
Plans for today: Travel to Florida & the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue
Our vacation got off to an early start today. Our plans went well. We got up at 4:30am, out the door by 5am, stop at Dunkin Donuts and
was at the bus station at 5:30am. We were taking the bus to Logan Airport because it was cheaper to fly from Boston. However, a few
days before our trip, I learned that the bus may be randomly stopped for search because those dorky Democrats were having their convention
in Boston and messing up my vacation! Well, this made for a semi- stressful ride down as I was SURE we would be searched and miss our
plane.
Thankfully, it was a nice enough ride, we got to watch 50 First Dates and thankfully we weren't stopped. I thought it was a cute movie and
wouldn't mind seeing it again. I'm not usually a big Adam Sandler fan, so I was pleasantly surprised. Anyway, from the time we got on
the bus until the time we finished checking in at the airport was 2 hours and 24 minutes. Not bad, but I don't think I'll fly from
Boston again. There was just too much hassle for me and not enough savings for me to justify that hassle.
A slight delay cause us to arrive around 10-20 minutes late in Orlando. Bob from Sunray Transportation was there waiting for us as
promised in his phone call the night before. We quickly collected our luggage, stopped at Publix, dropped off the luggage and got
checked in. When the person checking us in said our room was 1223, I just about fell over. My request was simple and I didn't think it
was asking for much: a non-smoking room near the laundry. We were there for 10 days and had only packed about 4 or 5 changes of
clothing. I explained that we had to do laundry at least once, maybe twice and we'd really like something closer. She found one in
building 3, I said that was better, but she said she'd keep looking. Eventually, she found us a room on the first floor of building 5 by
the courtyard. Much better!
We get to our room, call for our bags and for the refrigerator that I reserved from A Baby's Best Friend. The bags came first, then the
refrigerator was wheeled in after. We unpacked a few things, I set up the refrigerator and we quickly headed over to Fort Wilderness for
the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. I was shocked to see that our seats were smack dab in the very front, in the very middle up against the
stage. We had only made our reservation a few months ago and was expecting something on the outskirts of the room or in the balcony.
Needless to say, being in the front, I was the lucky one chosen to be enamored with Sixbits backside. LOL I played right along, not hard
to do, and had lots of fun. Of course, this was to be my first hint that that this wasn't going to be an easy trip for my teenage
companion. Josh seemed to be pretty bored with everything unless it was loud and flashy, but I just passed it off as maybe he was just
tired from our busy traveling day.
After it's over, we grab the boat back to Magic Kingdom and thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long for the bus. We head
back to the hotel, finish unpacking and head to bed early.
Day 2 - Saturday, July 24, 2004
Plans for the day: Train Tour, MGM for Lunch, Typhoon Lagoon
As expected, today started with another early morning. We needed to be at the Magic Kingdom by 7:15am for the Magic Behind Our Steam
Trains Tour, so we got up, Josh had his breakfast, I ironed a bagel for myself, and we were on our way.
The train tour was great, and Jim, our guide was full of information. Unfortunately, Josh was bored the entire time. At
10:30am, Jim said that the tour was "officially" over, but if anyone wanted to he could probably talk until 1pm. Knowing Josh wouldn't
make it, we skipped out and headed over to Disney-MGM for lunch at 50's Prime Time Café. This was fun and I'm glad I finally tried it.
On our way out, Josh stopped to pick up a Donald Duck mug for his sister and a big Disney dog bowl for his brother to use for cereal.
After lunch we headed back to the hotel, grabbed an adequate nap and made our way to Typhoon Lagoon. I know Josh really wanted to do
Blizzard Beach, but I don't really like slides, so I never gave him the option. At least at Typhoon Lagoon, I could do the wave pool and
lazy river while he did the slides. We got there around 4pm and searched for a place to throw our stuff. After a walk around the
countryside, we found a spot and ran for the lazy river. It is SO hot out! I really like the relaxing trip around, but Josh quickly
got bored with being lazy and wanted to head to the wave pool.
We make our way over to the wave pool which doesn't appear to be active, but we wait a minute or two and WOW, that wave pool is
CRAZY. I was out just about where the red line was, about 4.5 - 5 feet and those waves really tossed me around. There was NO jumping
over them and I discovered that the best thing to do was to jump under them as far as you could. Josh went out as deep as he was
allowed and had a great time. Eventually, he wanted to some slides and I told him to go ahead and that when he was done, he was to come
right back here and check in with me. Well, after about 10 minutes or so, one wave knocked some kid's hip into my head and OOOWW that
hurt. I'm very surprised that more people don't get seriously hurt from it, but it sure was fun anyhow. Anyway, after I got hit, I
headed to the back of the wave pool where they have these "benches" you can sit and still get wet from the wave. I figured I could still
see Josh when he came back and when he did, we headed to the lazy river again, did the family raft ride, lazy river again, and headed
back to the hotel around 6:30.
We got supper at the food court and went back to the room to just chill out. I had to call Renee from the DISboards to arrange to pick
up the DIS Stroller that I was keeping in the room for the week. They weren't in, so I left a message for them to call me at 8am the
next morning and I'd come pick it up. Thankfully, they were staying in the same resort, so it made it much easier.
We got ready for bed, Josh called home and I called my nieces. The 5yo got mad because her sister, 2yo, accidentally hung up, but at
$0.75 a call, I didn't want to call them back. After a bit of TV, it was lights out at 10pm.
Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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