2nd Wedding Anniversary Memorial Day Weekend Trip

 

May 22 – 26, 2008

Port Orleans Riverside

 

 

Thursday, May 22

 

We flew out in the middle of the day today, to allow Joe to sleep in a little.  It also means we don’t have to pay for a room for a night where all we do is fly in and eat at Steak & Shake and then go to bed, something that always feels like a waste of money to me.

 

Unfortunately, our flight got delayed for over an hour and then we hit so much bad weather on the way down the pilot was at a slow maneuvering speed.  We got in a full hour and forty five minutes after we were originally scheduled.  I hate that!

 

The turbulence really was something.  Brief, but something.  The attendants had to sit on the floor for a minute, at one point.  Two big drops and a sideways roll.  At this point, Joe’s got me so convinced it’s not dangerous, I kind of enjoyed it.  I don’t like turbulence when it goes on and on, and I don’t care for it in the dark,  but when it’s short-lived like this was, once you get past “we’re all gonna die!” it’s close to a good theme park attraction. ;-)  Plus, this bit, you could see it coming.  You can look at the tops of the clouds you’re approaching, and if there’s a lot of wisps being blown off them, you know you’re gonna get it.

 

I got a rental car from Alamo for us for $155 total with all their fees & taxes, for five days, by looking online just 48 hours before the trip.  I’d originally found a code deal for National for $235 and couldn’t find anything lower.  For a couple of months, the same car on Alamo we ended up with was showing as $265 total.  Always pays to check and check again.

 

We got a Pontiac G6 Coupe with heavily tinted windows, a moon roof and a transmission that was both automatic and manually shifted, which Joe appreciated.  We were liking on it.

 

Stopped at Steak & Shake, of course.  We always go to the one on Orange Blossom Trail off the Greenway on the way in from the airport.  And we always can’t remember if we’re supposed to be getting off on OBT or John Young Parkway, but I think we’ve finally got it now. 

 

Joe got his usual, two double steakburgers plain (yes, just meat and bread), fries and a black & white shake.  I got a small order of chili cheese fries and a turkey club no mayo with a cherry diet coke.  With tip it came to just under $31.  Kind of high, don’t you think, for fast food?  I won’t get the sandwich again, it was pretty unremarkable and not the highest quality ingredients.  I should just give up and get a steakburger already. 

 

Went down the road to the Super Target and had a good time in there gawking at the locals and the low prices for food, compared to up here in Maryland.  It’s significantly lower, for everything, in Florida, from what we can tell.  Housing, food, taxes, gas.

 

I have to say, I love the multicultural feel to this area.  I can’t believe the nasty racist stuff I hear living in/relocating to Orlando board that I visit from time to time (http://www.city-data.com/forum/orlando/).  We’d rather have friendly Haitian or Hispanic neighbors any day overly uptight white people who get their knickers in a twist over old model cars and colorful paint schemes.  One post ranted about his neighbors having a sofa in their driveway, where they - horror of horrors - would hang out with family and bbq in the shade of the big tree in their front yard on the weekends.  Joe and I were laughing, because the description just made us want to go over and bring them a six pack.  When we move to FL we are definitely going to a no Home Owners Association subdivision, and if we can avoid a subdivision all together, that would be even better.  OK end of that rant.  Anyways, let’s just say we both felt right at home in the Super Target on OBT.

 

Shopping went kind of quick.  Got mostly beverages and some cereal for Joe at night.  He has to have cereal at bedtime.  We can’t really travel anywhere without a fridge in the room for his milk.  Got a new battery for Joe’s Sun Pass.  If you drive yourself around Orlando, and go more than once a year, it’s handy to have one, and the Florida system is inexpensive and very user friendly (unlike the EZPass system up here in Maryland, which is run by Satan’s minions from what I can tell).

 

I pulled a fast one Joe this trip, though unintentionally.  Or if it was intentional, I forget how exactly I did it.  He’s had this same khaki and maroon boxer style bathing suit since the early 80’s, that is out of style and just too tight for him.  Walking past the bathing suits at Target, I said, Baby, I know you love your bathing suit, but I’d really like to see you in one something like these (pointing to racks of suits) you’d look great in this for example (pulling one out from the rack).

 

He said, “I already have one just like that!” and I said, “You do?”  He said, “Yes, it’s in my suitcase, I don’t need another one!”  Sure enough, when we went to the pool this trip, out come these very nice Hawaiian print, nice-fitting brand new swim trunks, and he wore ‘em.

 

Now, what puzzles me, is I’m not sure where that new suit came from.  I know I’ve been trying to get him to wear a new one for two years, maybe longer, and any mention of the subject’s been met with scorn bordering on wrath.  But I think just *maybe* I bought this new suit and put it in his suitcase a year ago?  I have a vague memory of him saying “I don’t need another bathing suit,” a while back, maybe in this same Target?  Whatever it’s mode of transit into his life and onto his bottom, he looked great in it, and now he thinks it was all his idea to wear it.  Because of course, the new bathing suit had now become his ally against the terrors of a new bathing suit… if you get my drift.

 

Grog no like new thing in cave.  LOL

 

We went from Target to Shades of Green to buy our passes at Joe’s military discount.  It was about 6 p.m. by now, and there was nobody else at the ticket counter.  We got 5 day passes with park hopping, but no plus features.  We had an annual pass for the water parks which, much to my dismay, we didn’t even get to use this trip (sniff!).  It was so weird to be buying these, instead of Annual Passes.  But we’re trying to get off the credit card habit, and we need to cool it until next year.  Yes, we are supposedly not going again until January 2009.  We’ll see if we can stick to it.

 

Now finally it was time to go to the resort.  We were paying full rack rate for our room, I can’t believe it, but that’s just how it worked out this time.  There’s not many discounts available at the Moderates for rooms with King sized beds, and what there is, is almost always only at Caribbean Beach.  We had our hearts set on Alligator Bayou at Port Orleans Riverside, so here we were, with a $200 a night room.  I remember paying $135 tops for this, and more often $85.  I can’t quite get my mind around the price increases.  I know I’m turning into a little old lady, slowly but surely, because I can hear myself in a few years, “$6.50 for a loaf of bread, why I remember when candy bars were $0.15.”

 

I’d asked for building 36 or 38, and got 37, but it was in the general area and quiet and close to the parking lot.  We were next door the Mansions section.  Bus stop was right there, too, I took the bus twice on mornings when Joe was sleeping in.

 

Turned on Stacey the Perky Girl immediately, so we could be sure to note the 50 top 10 must see attractions at Walt Disney World.  Our favorite quote from her this trip, “Fish, fish, everywhere fish!”  Last year it was “Bam, bam, bam!”  Stacey likes to speak in threes.

 

Spent an hour getting acclimated and chilling and unpacking, and now it was 8:10 p.m. and we had to get out of here or we weren’t going to make Illuminations, our goal for tonight.

 

We drove to Epcot and got into the park by 8:30 p.m.  Figured we had enough time to ride Spaceship Earth, which we did.  Still liking the redo except for three things – 1. I miss Jeremy Irons’ voice especially at the beginning where the line is “Like a grand, miraculous spaceship” and his line “North, West, East, South, all roads led to Rome”; 2. the new music is pretty scant and terrible compared to the past score; 3. the l.e.d. lights hanging from the ceiling at the top of the descent make me terribly motion sick – I despise l.e.d. lighting in general, the colors are deathly.

 

We do enjoy the new line now where Judy Dench tells you if you found it easy to learn your ABC’s in school, to thank the Phoenicians.  We always make sure to say “Thank you, Phoenicians!”

 

The globe in the exit area that used to be blank on previews now has a nifty feature showing where all the people on the ride recently are from.  That’s pretty cool!

 

We had just enough time to take a potty break by the Odyssey and then walk over to Norway and pick a spot.  Illuminations went up a couple minutes later.

 

After the show, we figured we’d get a wrist band for tonight’s extra magic hours back in World Showcase, but we never did see any distribution points back here.  It didn’t matter, because we were here mainly to shop in Mitsukoshi for our anniversary, not get on attractions. 

 

It appeared that Mexico, Norway, Italy, Japan, Morocco and France were all open this evening until 11 p.m.  Not sure about England or Canada, as we didn’t make it there before they would have closed.  EMH was from 9 p.m. to Midnight tonight, so that means the World Showcase EMH hours were really from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., with not all countries participating.

 

We stopped at Yakitori House and I was pleased to see that another sushi has been added – you can now get a spicy tuna roll in addition to the old California rolls.  It was quite good, much better now that the new restaurant group has taken over.  Joe got his udon noodles and broth with no funny stuff on top, which isn’t on the menu but they’re always happy to do for you for a reduced price.

 

Mitsukoshi was fairly uncrowded, a nice change from a normal evening back here.  We got a year’s supply of six different kinds of incense, an assortment of bath salts, a coin purse for me, two big bags of green tea with roasted rice, a calligraphy wall hanging that says “Dream”, and a lovely raku bowl with a deep turquoise interior glaze and a plastic display stand for it.

 

At the register, Miles called and I talked to him for a few minutes while Joe paid up.  The attendant at the register heard it was our anniversary and wrote us a little congratulations on rice paper with a calligraphy pen, very sweet of her.

 

I was busy emphatically cutting short Miles’ attempt to say “Hey dad, guess what, it’s mom and Joe’s anniversary…” to my ex-husband.  Once Miles realized he couldn’t milk any devilment out of the situation he said he wanted to get back to his Playstation game.

 

More shopping in Morocco, but we were thwarted by the overly inflated prices.  We were thinking about ditching our coffee table for something hand painted in the living room, but the table we saw we liked was over $350.  Not today.  They really need to get some higher quality merchandise at more reasonable prices, in general.

 

In France we stopped for a crepe for Joe (I don’t care for them – they’re made from frozen, not fresh - but he gets one every time) and then we split a baguette and butter just five minutes before the pastry shop closed its doors at 11 p.m.  There were some VERY drunk kids from Brazil having one last glass of wine from the wine bar.  When one of them started winding up to vomit I jumped up and got out of there before she had a chance to gross us out and ruin an otherwise perfectly lovely evening.

 

We decided to see if we could get onto Soarin’ before park close, even though we never did find a spot to get a wristband.  Two cm’s at the entrance to the Land pavilion just asked to see our room keys and waved us in.  Nobody at the ride itself checked anything.

 

We got on Soarin’ with about a 20 minute wait, which began in the back hallway, no line outside the turnstile.  Asked for row #1, the top row, and got it.  Even though it goes the highest, the sense of movement and vertigo is the least for me on the top row.  Joe likes it because he doesn’t see feet overhead.

 

“Home” again by 12:30 p.m.  It felt like a million years since we’d left the room.  We got a lot done!  Unpacked more of the Owner’s Locker and opened the massage oil for my poor feet.  It’s not the walking, it’s the standing that gets me.  I’m doing way better though than in the past.  Started doing slow-cadence high-weight low-rep weight lifting last month, instead of all aerobics, and so far it really seems like it might be the magic bullet it promises to be.  My feet hurt every night at bedtime this trip, but in the morning there was no hobbling around, they’d fully recover overnight.  Big improvement.

 

Friday, May 23

 

Woke up at 8:30 a.m.  Who can sleep in at Disney?  I can’t, at least not the first few days!  If I was here for a long trip, maybe, but with just three days left, no way am I spending it asleep.  I know by now not to bother waiting for Joe to get up, I just plan on going without him in the mornings.  The curtain you can pull across the doorway to the sinks and bathroom came in handy.  I moved the coffee pot to over the sinks, and using just the light from inside the bathroom was able to get dressed and make coffee without waking Joe up at all.

 

I had an 11:00 a.m. appointment for a massage and pedicure at the Grand Floridian Spa.  Joe had told me to just go on and take the car, he didn’t care that I wouldn’t be back until 2:00 p.m.

 

I took my coffee and a croissant I’d picked up from the bakery at Super Target yesterday, and went out for a walk.  All the nice benches along the Sassagoula River are now smoking areas, so I found a set of stairs at the front of building 37 and sat down to have breakfast.  It was good it was under cover, because it started raining a little.

 

By the time I was done eating, the rain had stopped.  I walked out to the car and drove over to the Grand Floridian.  I’ve never been able to figure out where self-parking is, so I took it on as a task this morning to find it.  It’s around the side of the GF, like you’re exiting property, on Floridian Way.  If you kept going, you’d go around the back of the MK, to Center Dr. and then out to Reams Rd.

 

Pulling up to the automated gate, the sign said it was parking for guests with key cards.  I stopped where I could still turn around and not get boxed in if someone came up behind me and pondered what to do.  I was just reaching for my purse to pull out my POR key card to see if that might work, when the gate just up on its own.  Watching other people approach, I realized you don’t need a key card at all, at least not during the daytime.  You get close enough, it goes up.  Luckily, I had the nose of the car just near enough that it sensed me or I would have driven around on a wild goose chase to the guard shack at the resort entrance.

 

Parked the car and had a short walk to the Grand’s lobby.  There’s always a floral display at the entrance that is the biggest and most gorgeous flowers I’ve ever seen.  I like coming here to check it out.  I spent about ten minutes on a sofa at the end of the lobby, looking around.  I do like this resort to a point, but I can’t ever bring myself to choose it when we’re planning a vacation.  I don’t like it enough to justify the higher cost, for one thing, and I’ve also seen quite a few poor reviews of the service here.  We’ve come here for tea a couple of times, I wish we’d had a chance this trip.  Ah well, next time.  I wish they’d put a real bird or two in the giant birdcage across from the glass elevator.  I’m sure that was Imagineering’s original intent.  Or they could go hardcore Victorian and put a couple of marmosets or spider monkeys in there.  Or fancy mice.

 

Got up and moved on to the beach, past the pool.  Would have stopped to enjoy a hammock but they were all taken by a big family reunion group having photos snapped of themselves under the palm trees.  I walked along the water’s edge and cut over the dune and grass by the wedding pavilion, to the spa.

 

I was here an hour early, which was fine, because I’d brought my bathing suit and intended to use the sauna, whirlpool and steam room before my services.  The staff here is warm and the atmosphere is very comfortable, a great place to waste an hour. 

 

I went the Mandara in the Dolphin a few months ago, and while it was very pretty to look at, nothing was functional.  The silk cushions on the carved Indonesian pavilion’s benches slid around so there was nowhere to relax, the hallways were confusing, the ceilings were high and there was an echo, the floors were cold and hard, the beverages and fruit were offered only after your service in a separate room, the music was too loud, and there were no extras like the sauna, steam room, or whirlpool here at the GF.  And then the service wasn’t very good, very mediocre actually.  I’ve always had good experiences at the GF, I’ll just stick here from now on.

 

I wasn’t sure now that I really was supposed to have a bathing suit, because nobody else did.  I was going to take photos but I realized there was a naked woman in the sauna right where I was pointing my camera.  Oops!  Sorry, boys, didn’t take that photo.  I spent forty minutes going from the whirlpool to a cold shower to the sauna to the steam room to a cold shower to the whirlpool to a chair with a magazine… this could have gone on all day but my massage therapist came and rousted me half an hour early.  He’d got the time wrong, but that was fine, I told him give me ten minutes.  I took a final shower and robed up and went in for my massage.

 

They do an excellent job auditioning their therapists here.  This was my third massage at the GF and it was, again, one of the best I’ve ever had.  I of course can never remember their names.  They’re never there anymore when I come back, anyways.  And I’m pretty sure at this point that anyone they assign you will be great.  He worked me over pretty hard, but backed off when I asked him to, on my lower legs.  He started me out face up, which is always a sign of someone who really knows what they’re doing.  You should always work the neck and shoulders from that position, first, when you’re giving a full body massage.  The only thing missing was I would have loved some hot packs, but you can’t usually get that in a commercial spa setting.

 

After the massage, I waited for about five minutes in the lounge, got some ice water with fresh lemons, and then my nail tech came and got me for my pedicure.  She did an excellent job, and the pedicure room is nice enough, good chairs (no silly vibrating massage in them, I hate that – if you’re going to bother, get a shiatsu chair).  Sadly, the room was also occupied by the Bickering Disney Couple from Hell in the next two chairs.

 

Matching bright red Disney fab five character tees.  Bright red complexions covered in pimples, moles, sores.  Flaky, yellowed, crinkly feet and lower legs, cracked heels.  Fanny packs.  OK sorry, all that’s just human, we all have our moments, I own the same silly fanny pack, and I’m not competing in Mrs. America anytime soon myself.  But their personalities just made you notice the whole terrible package. 

 

They went on and on and ON about themselves, especially the wife, dropping the name of every person they knew in positions of power who had given them dream jobs, and then it was onto something else, bragging, bragging, and more bragging, in highly inappropriately loud tones of voice – pretty close to a shout, as if the nail files were jackhammers they had to yell over the top of.  Mr. Bickering it turns out was an auditor for the IRS.  Mrs. Bickering was evidently highly revered by the entire working world and could do any job given to her at the temp agency run by her friend and was so competent that when everyone around here was being laid off she was extolled and exhorted to remain… yak yak yak.  Then Mr. Bickering started arguing with his nail tech about a “point” he perceived to be at the end of his digusting big toe, and having no patience for communicating with someone who is a native Spanish speaker, after barking at her a few times vigorously waved her off and said in his best passive aggressive voice, “Never mind I’ll take care of it myself.”  As soon as she left the room, he had to complain to Mrs. Bickering.  Her response, “Oh, you’re so put upon, we know.”  Not said nicely, and how embarassing for me and my nail tech, hearing her put him down like that.

 

I tried to have as pleasant a conversation with them as possible, but really, they were over the top.  Their horrified nail techs fled the room at the first opportunity.  My tech and I were treated to an actual five minutes of complete silence from them before they started arguing with one another about whether Mr. Bickering had or had not asked for a bootie (whatever that is).  “No, that’s not what I said,” “Yes, you said …,” “No, I did not, I said…”  Evidently who said what about the bootie was a detail that needed to be nailed down at all costs.  I concluded they’d best do everyone a favor and put in a call to Noman & Noman, Divorce Atty’s at Law. (“What God Has Brought Together, Let Noman Put Asunder”)

 

Joe and I have a little saying, “We put the a** in Annual Passholder,” when we encounter these types of Disney regulars.

 

Didn’t ruin my morning, I was relaxed as heck and now my toe nails were a lovely Piglet Pink.  I told the manager on the way out that they do indeed do a fantastic job here and that I’d be back!  But I did consider only booking services in the future that offer a private room.

 

Walked back to the car and drove “home.”  Joe was up and dressed and on the internet.  He’d got out of bed around noon and had taken a walk around the whole resort, which he loves to do every trip, wherever we’re staying.

 

We decided to take the boat to Downtown Disney now, to shop for a watch for him, and get some lunch.  At the boat dock, the waiting boat’s captain announced he was just going to Port Orleans French Quarter.  Not Downtown Disney? I asked, he said, no I’m just an extra boat trying to get people out before the storm gets here, pointing to the blackening northwest sky.  We turned away, and saw immediately a second boat approaching.  He was close enough to ask him, are you going to Downtown Disney, or are you quitting?  Yes, he said, I’m going to Downtown Disney.

 

So we get on, get to French Quarter, and a third guy with boats comes up to our captain, and says something to him.  Next thing you know, we’re all shooed off the boat and told to walk, and the sky opens up.

 

We put on our rain ponchos (yes, I brought them, smart me!) and stood under the overhang at the FQ buildings and watched the storm for a few minutes.  When the worst of it was over, we walked back to our room.  Joe’s shoes and socks got a bit soaked through, and I came to the conclusion that Crocs positively stink in the rain.  Your feet slide around in them like mad, and they are dangerously slick on any glazed surface.

 

The entire misadventure took about an hour.  Back at the room, we hung out for another forty minutes or so.  Changed into dry clothes and I convinced Joe to put on his Tevas in case it rained again tonight.

 

The rain was winding down now, and we decided to take the car out to the nearest Popeyes to eat lunch, killing some time before the Magic Kingdom’s extra magic hours evening tonight.  Got on the internet and saw there’s a Popeyes now on Sand Lake Rd. just past the I-4 overpass – used to have to go out near the Kissimmee airport to find one.  It was delicious and inexpensive and so not good for us, perfect vacation food.

 

When you go up Sand Lake Rd., I-4 is like a dividing line between suburban and urban.  The traffic gets bad on the east side of I-4.  It won’t be long however before it’s all a blur, there’s an enormous amount of new commercial construction in Dr. Phillips, from what we saw.

 

After Popeyes we drove to the Magic Kingdom.  We got through the gates at around 5:30 p.m.  We meant to stay tonight until the 2 a.m. closing time, but by 12:30 p.m. we’d done everything we wanted to in here. 

 

Got Joe a watch on Main Street, we watched the new glass blower do his thing (love that they put that in here, it’s like the Main Street of the 70’s again, I need to write a letter praising it so they don’t change their minds and rip it all out for a tower of plush), got a FP for Space (return time 10:35 to 11:35 p.m.), rode Pirates, Haunted Mansion, ate at Columbia Harbor House, rode TTA twice, Buzz, watched Wishes from Toontown but it rained through the whole show (bummer).  Walked over to Space Mountain and used our FP’s.  Tried to watch the 11 p.m. Spectro from the Castle’s rear court railings but it started pouring and they only let four or five floats go out with no dancing in between.  At this point, everyone had given up and left the park.  We went over to Splash and waited for ten minutes in a short line, for the ride to open once the lightning in the area had passed.  Got on and rode in our ponchos, then rode Big Thunder with a minimal wait.  Rode Pan and Pooh.  Then we felt done.

 

Joe wanted pizza so I called the Papa Johns on S. Apopka-Vineland (saved in my cell phone) as soon as we sat down in the car, and we went over to pick it up.  It’s perfect timing from the MK parking lot to there.  Took it back to the room and was too tired to watch either of the Harry Potter movies we'd brought for the laptop, much to Joe’s chagrin.  He’s forever trying to get me to stay awake until all hours of the morning watching movies, and I usually fall asleep. 

 

The rain was kind of a bummer today but only because we didn’t plan for it.  I had no idea they closed all the boats and all the outdoor attractions now, every time it storms.

 

Which leads me to ask – what on earth are they going to do this summer?  Close Splash with two hours’ worth of people in line every time there’s a storm?  That’s every day.  At least once, sometimes three times, a day.

 

Closed at the MK for the storm were Dumbo, Aladdin’s Magic Carpets, Big Thunder, and Splash Mountain. 

 

I know this was NOT what happened last year when it stormed. 

 

The Lawbots have descended, evidently.  What a nightmare for the CM’s.

 

Saturday, May 24

 

Slept in a bit today, but still had to get up and get cracking by9:30 a.m.  I made some coffee and put on my suit, and took a croissant and a book over to Ol’ Man Island to swim.  My feet and legs appreciated the hot tub, and then I sat in a lounger for an hour, reading.  It was already getting so crowded at the pool now, that at 10:30 a couple was very happy to have my chair, as chairs were getting hard to find.

 

I walked to the far less crowded “quiet” pool in the Mansions section near our building, and swam for half an hour.  Back at the room, it was now after 11:00 a.m. and I felt within my rights to jump on Joe and make him get up.

 

We decided to try IHOP for lunch, but the parking lot was packed, and there was obviously a mob scene inside the IHOP, so we went on to Epcot. 

 

We had been looking forward to the Flower & Garden Festival a great deal, as last year’s was lovely.  But this year, it was a bit of a bust.  There seemed to be far fewer booths and displays, and many of the old standby displays were sparser or weaker than in the past.  The old Wonders of Life pavilion had been turned into a very nice seminar display area, which was one nice improvement.  Unfortunately, almost all of the programs are on the weekends only, like the kids’ area.  Good for locals, which I am thinking is Disney’s target audience.  The topiary this year was beach/surf themed, with Beach Boys music at the entrance, but then that theme wasn’t echoed in any of the rest of the festival.  Perhaps we came at the wrong time, at the end of it all.  Maybe lots of things had already died and been removed.  The butterflies were certainly played out, there was nothing alive except for Monarchs in the butterfly garden.

 

We rode all the usual suspects today, Living with the Land, Soarin’, Living Seas pavilion, Ellen, El Rio del Tiempo con Donald, Maelstrom.

 

I was getting angry-hungry by the time we got to Mexico and ducked in to see if I could possibly get a table at San Angel.  Nope, there was a line 15 people at the podium, and it was very crowded in general inside.  It’s because it had begun raining again, and everyone without rain ponchos had dashed indoors.

 

We were able to get a table at Nine Dragons, it was empty!  They’ve been saying they’re closing for months now, and keep pushing back the date, so perhaps they’ve not been taking ADRs.  Whatever the reason, only 15% of the tables were full, and we had prompt, good service.  I got hot tea and appetizers; shrimp shao mai, white rice, cold marinated beef slices, hot & sour soup.  Joe stuck to the rice and tea.  The food was o.k. to good, and seriously overpriced.

 

For dessert, we shopped.  Went through the whole China store (which is big) and picked up a cloisonné vase.  I told Joe he could get the four foot tall one for $350 when he moves us into our dream house down here in Perfect Park Acres.

 

I did stop at the China counter service place because I thought they had bubble tea.  I asked the guy at the register, do you have bubble tea?  He said, yes, I said what flavors, he said, chocolate.  OK, one of those please.  It wasn’t bubble tea.  It’s on the menu as Choco Boba Tea and it’s chocolate milk over ice with mini chiclet sized rectangles of unflavored firm gelatin in the bottom.  Not great.  Not ordering that again.  (Later, on Monday, at the China tea counter, I heard another guest asking for bubble tea.  Problem is, it’s not Chinese.  But they sure could sell a lot of it if they gave in and offered it.)

 

We went back up front and Joe got some McDonald’s nuggets.  It was about time for our Soarin’ fastpass in an hour, so we stayed up front the rest of the evening.  We kept meaning to leave and go back to the room early, because Joe was on a mission to watch the two Harry Potter movies we brought with us.  But we found ourselves still in the park fifteen minutes before Illuminations, so of course we stayed for the show.

 

We’ve found a new “perfect” spot to watch from – the walkway from the Imagination Pavilion area to the front of the Fountain of Nations.  Midway, there’s a perfect sight line to show center.  Yes, it’s a ways back, the music isn’t as loud, and you have some buildings in your peripheral vision and the monorail above it, but we were two of five people within 100 feet, and how cool it was to have a couple of monorails go by while the show was going off.  I’ll be back to this spot again.  The other three people near us were even on a bench for the whole thing, sitting down, and you could probably walk up and sit there ten minutes before the show on even a busy day.

 

Now it was time for IHOP, we figured it would be empty, and it was.  Most of the people in there were CM’s.  There was a group of college program kids with various Living Seas pavilion tees and polos on, having a meal together.  From their conversation I take it they were all leaving to go home soon.  We got the same waitress we had last year, and she gave Joe the same comedy routine pretending to be amazed all he wanted was plain pancakes and refill after refill on his milk.

 

We went back to the room and did indeed watch ¾ of the first movie, and then I was out.  Joe gave up trying to nudge me back awake and turned it off.

 

Sunday, May 25

 

I got up around 9:30 a.m. again today, and skipped making coffee in favor of having some from the coffee bar in Anandapur at Animal Kingdom.  Got dressed and took the bus, leaving Joe a note to call me when he got up.

 

It took 50 minutes from hotel room to gate, something that with the rental car would have taken 20 minutes, tops.  Still, it was kind of fun to mix with the newbies.  A young adult was taking his very excited 5 year old nephew to the Magic Kingdom for the first time, and they had no idea what was there.  The child asked, “Which one is the Magic Kingdom?”, and I told them it’s the one with the castle.  That got big, wide, excited eyes!  Asking him what he liked and wanted, I was able to direct them to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Goofy’s Barnstormer, and to meet Mickey after seeing his house in Toontown.  The uncle was a little taken aback at how much there was to see, I warned him, in a cheerful way, that you really could spend 14 hours there and not do it all.  People who have only been to Six Flags type parks just have NO idea! 

 

Inside Animal Kingdom I walked around a bunch, shopping, taking photos, sitting in different sitting areas, people watching, eating croissants and an iced mocha.  I made an ADR for the last lunch seating of the day at Tusker House, hoping Joe might come with.  The new salad and sandwich choices at the takeout window at the front of Africa are very popular, the Dawa bar has become a seating area for dozens of people eating from there.  Yak and Yeti also appeared to be swamped with customers.

 

Over in the Tree of Life Oasis area, there’s a fairly hidden little stone wall that makes a bench facing across the water towards the walkway between Africa and Asia.  I was sitting there, enjoying the view of some birds on display and a little waterfall when an older couple approached, remarking “Why run from one thing to the next, you can just spend all day here finding hidden places to sit and relax,” and then they spotted me.  “Oh,” said the lady, “we didn’t see you sitting there!”  “This is a great spot,” I replied, getting up and motioning for them to come and sit.  She said they didn’t mean to run me out but it was time to go meet Joe up front.

 

Joe had called at 12:45 and said he was on his way.  I had his ticket in my wallet, so I had to meet him up by bag check.  We went back in together, and went straight to the Asia Trail (we wish to see bats), and did some more sitting on benches.  Went and got a FP for Kilimanjaro Safaris and did the Pangani Trail.  The gorillas were out in full force today.  Had a nice chat with a cm on an internship who was working with them.  He was doing a behavior survey, marking every five minutes on a score sheet designed evidently to track the interaction between the animals and their exhibit.  Maybe they were tweaking some things about the exhibit, but more likely they were just checking for signs of impending illness or trouble.

 

It was time for my Tusker House ADR.  Joe said he wasn’t hungry and for me to go on, he was going to do some shopping.  I was about 2/3 of the way through my very, very good meal (chef from Boma left there and came here, nuff said!) when he slid into the chair across from me, and started begging.  The waitress brought him a soda and didn’t charge me for it, and yes, I admit I slipped him a plate of pearl couscous.  He LOVES this stuff, and tasting it, I guessed it was steamed in vegetable stock and then tossed in a good fruity olive oil with fresh basil, fresh rosemary, and a little sea salt.  I stopped one of the kitchen guys and verified the recipe.  I’d guessed correctly except for the kind of stock.  They use chicken base, not vegetable.  I’ll have to make it at home for him next weekend.

 

We slipped onto our safari between passings of the afternoon parade, and it was a pretty good one.  Kilimanjaro Safaris must be one of the best Disney on-stage jobs, because the cm’s are always relaxed and happy here.  As we exited, one of the kids working the unloading docks was waving in a vehicle, and exclaiming to a friend, “I’m just living the dream, I’m living the dream!”  He didn’t mean it sarcastically, much.  I remember when the drivers were all college program kids from Africa, many years ago.  That was very cool, I miss that!

 

We meant to stay here tonight until the 8:00 p.m. closing, and do Dinosaur and Everest a few times, but Joe’s stomach was acting up and he didn’t feel much like getting shaken around a bunch.  As much as I ate at Tusker House, he was likely doing my stomach a favor, too.  We were debating whether or not we should go “home” and watch movies, when we suddenly decided to try and find this subdivision out past the airport we’d been imagining we’d like to live in.

 

We keep looking for no-HOA or boat & rv friendly subdivisions, that are rural yet clean, and safe, within 45 minutes of WDW.  And affordable.  A tall order.

 

We had nailed down several 3 or 4 bedroom, newer-construction homes on acre-plus lots, very rv and boat friendly, in the Wedgefield subdivision, off the Beach Line aka the B-Line, aka 528.  So off we went.

 

I had looked up the location on the internet back at the room, when we got here on Friday, and of course hadn’t written any directions down to keep with me. But I was sure I knew it was off the B-Line and we could find it.

 

Turns out, it is very convenient to get to that way (we went on the Greenway, aka 417 to 528), being just the second exit past the airport, but we sailed right past it.  I was assuming there would be signs of civilization, or at least a sign stating Wedgefield, or the nearest “real” community to the north border of the subdivision, Bithlo – even a sales sign for Wedgefield.  Nope, all there was was cow pasture, wild land, and one small exit merely marked “Dallas Rd.”  Not having ever noted the name of the main road through the subdivision, that didn’t ring a bell.

 

We did get off at the next exit, for 520, and went north for a small ways, but it was all pristine undeveloped palmetto lands with one small dirt road to a state reserve of some sort, and I said, this can’t be it.  If we’d continued on, of course, it was “it”, but the road was slanting back northwest and I’d had it in my head the road we wanted would go straight north.  We turned around and got back on the B-Line.

 

On we drove, through more and more deserted land, until we saw signs for I-95 and knew we’d gone too far.  We turned northeast at 407 and then went north on 95 to 50, and got off to head back west on 50, knowing we’d hit Bithlo that way. 

 

We pulled into a Cracker Barrel to see if they sold maps.  They didn’t.  Three cashiers and the manager on duty had never heard of Wedgefield, and didn’t know Christmas and Bithlo were the next towns to their west on 50.  Where were they from??  A customer knew, but warned us not to drive on 520 as it’s a very dangerous road, all sorts of deaths have happened there.  The way she said it’s very dangerous, at first, it sounded so mysterious.  I wondered if Banditos would come rushing out of the palmettos on every side.   She continued, “They drive crazy on there,” to which Joe replied, “Sounds like my kind of road.” 

 

We backtracked to the other side of the I-95 overpass to get gas at one of those seedy old “Florida Oranges” gas stations.  This one evidently was expecting its share of holdups, with a locked drawer for transactions after dark.  Never the sign of a great neighborhood.

 

Going west on 50 we went through the St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge, and then the preeminently scruffy roadside town of Christmas, then got to Bithlo.  I couldn’t get Joe to stop at Jungle Adventures.  “Ooo, ooo, water running up a hill!” I cried, when I saw it.

 

We have a running joke, from a story I told him about traveling with my grandparents as an eight year old little girl, from St. Louis, MO to Lake Louise in western Canada, and back, on a road trip.  They would never stop at any advertised tourist attraction.  They would never camp at Jellystone parks.  So, to this day, I feel I’m owed a road trip where I camp at Jellystone and stop at every silly roadside trap I see.  I want, for example, to drive from Orlando to Baltimore some day merely to enjoy “South of the Border” and all its temptations.  Every time I see such a thing, I cry “Water running up a hill, can we stop?”

 

In Bithlo there were signs of growth to the west, lots of billboards for new homes and condos touting themselves as being close to College Park.  But it was all machine shops and car demolition lots out here.

 

Lo and behold, we passed a Speedway.  Then Joe saw a sign for a station selling racing gas.  “This place is going way up on my list,” says Joe.  We pulled in so he could “see the pump” and check the price for the race gas, and then turned down a south-headed street to see if it by chance would lead to Wedgefield.  It dead ended soon after passing a trailer park and then a wonderland of old-growth native Florida scrub and hammock with a lonely, lovely home on a huge lot here and there.

 

Back up to 50,  backtracked east a mile, and then we turned south on 520 and here’s Wedgefield.  The small-lot houses built in the front by the clubhouse and golf course were moldering, turning as so many working class subdivisions do from dream homes into neglected rentals.  The cops were attending one driveway and a bunch of residents standing around a red sports car.  “That’s not a good sign,” says Joe.  “I think this place is moving down the list.”

 

We drove east to the next north/south road and went south, then east again when we got to the large-lot part of the subdivision.  Many empty lots for sale, and many large ones with big, newer homes.  Looked great, but we just couldn’t get into it.

 

Driving back, it was 45 minutes with almost no stoplights at all, to WDW from Wedgefield.  60 miles in 60 minutes, you know you’re all highway.  But it felt too far away.

 

We’d perhaps been put off by our detour to the intersection of 50 and I-95, or we were having culture shock from the vast expanses of unfamiliar scrub prarie.   Perhaps it was the domestic call going on to greet us as we entered the subdivision.  But, whatever our rational reasons, our guts just said, “No”. 

 

Part of what we both enjoy about Orlando is the atmosphere of being around people working in the tourism industry.  There’s a lot of young people, early retirees following dreams, gays, artists, immigrants, and we’d like to live near them, or at least have the option to shop, dine, work, etc. in that “community”.  We still need to dovetail that with Joe’s need to store and play with his jet golf cart, jet boat, van, Monte Carlo, Buick, and of course there’s my car.  And if his mom ever moves with us, we’d need to store a Model T and a ’66 Oldsmobile something or other that she owns and shows.  You can see what I’m up against.

 

We’ve moved our sights now to Mt. Dora.  There are several bed & breakfasts in historic downtown Mt. Dora,  I’m thinking we should go stay at one next year for a few days and see how that feels.  With the new 429 toll road and Western Way entrance to Disney property, it would be closer than Wedgefield, and perhaps closer to what we want.  We’ve seen several perfect properties for sale this month, on realtor.com, big lots with no HOA and rv and boat pads, sheds, big driveways, garages, large 3 or 4 bedroom homes mostly built in the 80’s, for under $250K.

 

Of course, by the time we ever move down there, 5 million people will have moved to Mt. Dora and who knows what else will change.  I will say, for sure, that the land east of Orlando is ecologically marginal and fragile, and probably won’t be and can’t be developed.  There’s some real obvious signs that drought will increasingly become an issue for central and northern Florida, too, as the years go by.  I would be tempted to go to a rainwater cachement system for water if we ever built there.  Joe insists he could build a great faux log cabin for us, from scratch, and I’m sure he could.  Oh well enough daydreaming.

 

We called Papa Johns for a pizza for Joe.  I passed, being still so full from Tusker House I couldn’t imagine eating again today.  Picked up the pizza and went “home”. 

 

While Joe ate, I started to pack up some of the Owners Locker stuff, to cut down on tomorrow morning’s mad dash to check out by the 11 a.m. posted time (we never make it).  I was getting more and more bummed out.  The list of things we didn’t get to, that I wanted to do, was growing bigger and bigger in my mind.  Small things that maybe didn’t mean much to me to begin with now seemed like things I would just die without.  Stacey the Perky Girl was just mocking my pain with all her lists of great things to go do, that now we’d never do… ever…never…sniff…Blizzard Beach, the Studios, the backstage tours at Animal Kingdom, renting water mice on Bay Lake, Everest… As I was nearing Terminal Pout, Joe had mercy on me and agreed to come out and go swim with me one last time in the Mansions quiet pool.

 

The water and evening were perfect, though we were COLD when we got out!  While we were paddling around, I knew I just had to get up tomorrow morning and go to a park again, I didn’t want to, I just couldn’t, stay in the room all morning. Joe kindly agreed to load the car up on his own tomorrow, and meet me for the afternoon.

 

Back at the room, I packed up everything I could to make it easier on him, and then we made it through the rest of last night’s movie, and got halfway through the second one, and then I fell asleep on it.  Joe kept poking me in disgust, but it was hopeless.

 

Monday, May 26

I did indeed get up for park opening today at the Magic Kingdom – in fact, I got there too early!  I skipped making coffee in the room, figuring I’d get some at the Main St. Bakery, but I had time to take the resort monorail over to the Polynesian’s Kona Island Café Coffee Bar.  Got a mocha latte and a croissant, and enjoyed sitting in the upstairs lounge, listening to the lobby music and waterfalls.  There was a fair sized crowd waiting to check in for breakfast at Ohana but it wasn’t as crazy as dinner is, by a long shot.  I could tell you could have walked up for breakfast there, today.

I saw the Kona Island is trying out being a sushi bar for lunch and dinner, I wish I’d known or I would have made a point of stopping by this trip, to try it!  If it’s as good as the food from Kona, it will be great.

Made it over to the Magic Kingdom about 3 minutes after 9:00 a.m., just as the confetti was settling from the opening ceremony.  I spent a little time shopping for a new t-shirt for myself, and then rode Splash.  It was a walk-on, and half of my log was empty. 

Went over to the Hall of Presidents.  I had just missed their first show of the day, but enjoyed the cast member on duty very much.  I wished the wait time was longer, because he regaled us with several “strange but true” stories from presidential history, and he was excellent.  Someone needs to get this guy on their Disney podcast!  I meant to write his name down, but of course didn’t have a pen with me.  I thought I’d remember, but no.  He gave us, for example, a funny story about Lincoln’s soldiering days, and a thoughtful and concise explanation of how Andrew Jackson created the current two-party system.  Good stories about Jackson’s time in the Revolutionary army, too.

Rode Small World, and then stopped in at Cosmic Ray’s for a chicken Caesar salad and a diet coke.  I sat outside over the water, with a nice view of the castle.  I was one of 20 people in the place, as far as I could see.

Walking out, Push the talking trash can was doing his thing.  I watched it interact with the crowd for about fifteen minutes.  My favorite shtick was when Push would ask kids with those mister bottles with the fans to spray him.  He’d go “Ahhhh that feels SO good,” and spin around in circles, telling the kids to get all of his sides.  Some Brazilian tourists, grownups, not teens, had no idea what to make of Push.  They seemed almost offended and ran for the hills. 

Decided to see if I could get a better score on Buzz without Joe to distract me.  .  He always beats me, by a LOT of points.  I seem to be getting worse and worse at Buzz the more I ride it.  It must be the sights on the gun, yeah, that’s it, the guns are going bad.  Can’t be the operator. 

Buzz was almost a walk-on.  Where was everyone?  So much for avoiding the Magic Kingdom on a Monday.  Doesn’t hold true for Memorial Day Monday, at least!  I heard two other guests this morning commenting on how surprised they were to see low/no crowds.

Went up to Main Street and got myself a rice krispie treat from the candy store.  Joe called and said he was in the mood to see a bit of the Kingdom himself, and was pulling into the parking lot now.  I hung out at a table in front of the bakery and waited for him.

He wanted to do the TTA again, and we got a FP for Space Mountain on the way there.  Took another turn on Buzz, and rode Space (yes, the return time was only an hour away from when we pulled it!).  Walked through the hub and pulled a FP for Big Thunder, rode Splash (30 minute wait, now), rode Pirates, and used our Big Thunder FP.  Rode the train up front and bye bye Magic Kingdom!  Can’t believe we have to leave already. L

We decided to leave the car here and take the monorail to Epcot for the rest of the afternoon.  The ride from the TTC to Epcot is the best monorail route there is.  If you are considering riding up front in the driver’s cab, that’s the leg to do it.

Epcot was a bit more crowded today than the MK.  Joe hadn’t seen the France movie yet this trip, so that was high on the list.  We went through Mouse Gears looking for a wallet for Joe, there was nothing for men.  Then we did the Flower & Garden Festival’s butterfly garden.  The butterflies were pretty much played out, there were only Monarchs, and many of the plants looked spare and on their way out.  We saw previous years’ water garden displays had moved over to a small area, with really just one small display, here by the Test Track plaza area.

Stopped in at Mexico and I bought a cookbook and Joe got a leather tooled wallet.  I wanted him to get one with a sexy Aztec man on it but he got one with horses, instead.  Rode El Rio one more time.

Now we hoofed it over to Japan and Joe got his noodles and I got more sushi rolls and iced green tea.  The sun was really starting to get to me so I asked if we could eat inside, and forgo our usual outdoor table by the waterfall, where we always sit.  We spent some time looking at bonsai on display and then went into the store.  I needed to exchange my coin purse I’d bought, as it turned out to be too small to fit any credit cards or my driver’s license.  While we were there, Joe spotted what he says it “the” how-to book on bonsai, and bought it.  He’s since read the whole thing, and is raring to go.  If we get some free time here soon, we’ll head out to find a garden center with a good selection of rooted trees, and see if any talk to us. 

France for the movie, and even though the cast member told us we could, I fended off Joe’s attempts to give me the “French kiss.”  That’s what the back row is for.  We stopped in the patisserie for two baguettes to take on the plane, and now it was time to get out of here and back to the car.

On the way to the car, Joe starts talking about “if we stayed one more night, what would we do?”  I said I’d want to go to the Pirate & Princess Party, which was officially starting in fifteen minutes, and then Blizzard Beach tomorrow.  He said “let’s stop at the Polynesian front desk and just ask if they have a room.  Just to see.”  I was like, you’re crazy, but he had me run a total cost for keeping the car one more day (no cost to change our tickets, they were business class and no penalty or change fee), the P&P tickets, etc.  I really didn’t think this was a good idea, because I didn’t feel like calling in “sick” to work when I wasn’t, and I just couldn’t imagine calling them and saying “we didn’t leave,” though they of course wouldn’t have been surprised.  They know we’re addicts.

The front desk was quiet and a cm got on the phone to someone in the back and showed us on a map where our room would be (in Fiji) for a mere $420something with tax.  Joe said, nah, I’m feeling too guilty about calling in “sick” to work tomorrow.   Oh that pesky guilt.  I don’t think he was really all that serious, he just wanted to see if it was possible.  I told him he was torturing me.

Back to the car, stopped for gas at Hess, back to the airport.  The flight was totally full, in fact, the guy on the aisle with us said he’d shown up 50 minutes before the flight and was told his bags would go out the next day – there was no more room in the hold for bags.  Yikes!  Luckily we got on and got seated before they had issues with overhead bag room, too.  I don’t know where all these folks were today, but they weren’t in the theme parks.

Got home around midnight.  Had a good time playing with and displaying all the new knickknacks and books. 

I guess that’s it!  I can’t believe how it’s never enough, still.  We’re definitely not deterred from our goal of moving down there.  I’m pretty certain I’ll work elsewhere, I’ve heard too many bad things about the Mouse as a full-time employer.  But we’re definitely interested in the Orlando area.  Realtor.com this week has scores of lovely 3 or 4 bedroom homes in the $180 to $225K range in Winter Garden, Clermont, Mt. Dora, Apopka, and Eustis.  Looks nice.