Heiss Family Boondoggle - January 2008

Date: January 12-19, 2008
Cast: me, Beth, (ageless) - DH, Mark, (kid at heart) - DS, Matt, (kid, 19)

DAY 1 - Saturday

We had extra stuff left over from our land/sea trip back in May, so we decided to take a week before ds headed back to school and headed to Disney. We already had the tickets and a big credit on Southwest, so all we had to pay for was a room (POP) and a car (thank you MFL Emerald Club).

We flew into MCO from Hartford, arriving at about 10 AM. Our luggage in hand, we headed to the National counter and then to the parking lot. DS picked out a pretty blue car, and it was a Prius. You'd think we'd never seen a car before, we got so excited about it. It was beautiful and futuristic (ds called it the Delta Flyer) and we couldn't figure out how to start the darned thing! In a few minutes we did and we headed to POP to check in and change from our heavy CT clothes to some lightweight Florida garb.

We headed to Epcot, where we were meeting dh's college roommate, whom we hadn't seen in about 15 years. We walked right by him twice. It was nice to see that Steve had aged in the same manner we had (more pounds, less hair). Spaceship Earth was open, so we walked on. I'm an old SE fan from back in the Walter Cronkite days, and I really liked the updates. It has a nice feel to it and the new narration works just fine. I won't give anything away - those who want to know can e me directly.

Let me just say at this point that there were almost no lines to be seen anywhere.

We then headed to Mission:Space, where dh and Steve went on the orange side while ds and I stayed green. From there we went over to Test Track and walked right on. The only FP we got all day was for Soarin'. After TT it was Nemo, Journey Into Imagination, Soarin' and Living With the Land. Off to Epcot for Mexico (I miss El Rio Del Tiempo, especially the music) and Norway. We had dinner reservations at Restaurant Marrakesh and we headed over there. A beautiful restaurant and wonderful food - we stuffed ourselves silly.

We then went to see O! Canada and when we left the ground was completely saturated. Apparently, it had poured for the 20 minutes we were inside Canada. Steve and dh stayed to watch Illuminations, while ds and I figured out how to start the car and headed back to POP and bed (we had been up since 4:30 to catch our 6:55 flight).

I would ordinarily give a step and mile count here, but dh lost the pedometer someplace between Mexico and Norway. It's a small, black Radio Shack one. If anybody finds it, give me a holler!

-Beth in CT
whose feet still hurt

DAY 2 - Sunday

We had set our alarms for 7:00 (yes, we set alarms while we're on vacation. Are we crazy or what?). Matt and I brought breakfast back to the room for the three of us and then we headed off to the MK. We got to the TTC and were heading for the ferry when we saw it pull out without us. We ran over to the monorail and asked if we could sit up front. After saying the magic word, we got on board and headed over to the park.

We immediately walked over to Tomorrowland and Buzz. I was determined to finally beat Mark and Matt, and I asked the CM outside if he had any hints. He whispered a few suggestions to me and we walked in. Well, the suggestions didn't work because I got about 43,000 points and left pouting. We immediately went back to the entrance, where the same CM gave me a few more pointers, to no avail again. Mark and Matt decided to run over to Space Mountain, and I figured I'd give Buzz one more try. Well, third time's the charm. I managed to score an astounding 715,800 points! I am a Cosmic Commando! The same CM was still out in front of Buzz, so I told him and he was as excited as I was. I decided I needed a Buzz pin to commemorate this extraordinary event, and found a CM to trade my Mickey pin for a Buzz. I went into Buzz one more time, and scored a much lower score, but I didn't care. I knew that Mark and Matt would never even come close to my 715,800.

Mark and Matt finished up on SM, and headed over wearing Dream FastPasses! Apparently, there had been CMs waiting as they got out of their rockets and handed everybody Dream FPs. I was so jealous, but still, they hadn't gotten 715,800 points. Still, it was turning into a great morning.

We then went over to Pirates, walked right on. We were hungry, so we grabbed an early lunch at Pecos Bill's. We then headed over to the Haunted Mansion, and the guys ran and got me FPs for rides. Now that we could use all three tickets to get me FPs, we could all ride things together.

We got out of the Haunted Mansion (which has been spruced up and tweaked, delightfully so) and it was POURING. Torrential downpour and hail pouring. We put on our dollar store ponchos and got right back on HM. It was still drizzling when we got off, so we walked through Fantasyland and used our FPs for Peter Pan, Mickey's Philharmagic and Pooh, all in a row. It was still raining a bit, so we went into the Hall of Presidents. I don't think Matt's been there since he was little, and he probably slept through it then.

Dinner at the Columbia Harbor house, then to the Jungle Cruise. Our guide goofed - she pointed out the lovely Schweitzer Falls, named after the famed scientist Albert Schweitzer. No, it's Albert Falls! That's why it's a joke! Oh well.

We walked over to BTMRR, then caught the railroad to Mickey's Toontown Fair. Mark headed over to Tomorrowland to ride Stitch and Matt and I wandered around a bit and then met him at the Astro Orbitor. There was no line, so Mark and Matt rode that and then we all rode the Peoplemover, eh I mean the Blue Line, no the TTA. One more trip into Buzz and my thumb cramped up so badly I couldn't unbend it! I guess I developed blaster thumb.

We were just in time to catch the Monsters Inc show - a delight. This was a new one for us. The camera picked on Matt to be Randall, and the monster commented that he did a great job of being invisible. We all enjoyed it. Mark and Matt caught one more quick ride on SM, we all caught the fireworks and then headed back to the hotel, exhausted.

It was a great day. The lines were minimal, the weather was great (even with the rain) and I scored 715,800 on Buzz.

-Beth in CT
whose thumb has recovered

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