We kept notes of what we did each day and what we ate. We used
these notes when writing the accounts below. We realize that no
one in their right mind cares what we ate or the details of what we did
each day. We are writing this more for our sake than anyone
else's. If you choose to read this, try to not fall asleep, but
you have been warned.
Before We Left
More than any other trip we've ever been on, we spent a lot of time
researching for our Disney World excursion before we made any
reservations. We bought a book, ordered free brochures and DVDs
through the mail, spent a lot of time on the Internet, talked to people
we know who'd been, and just generally made sure we knew what we were
getting ourselves into. We decided to go in September, because
the weather in Orlando was usually not quite as hot as August, and most
importantly, it was in Disney's Value season, which meant everything
was cheaper. Even after we had made our initial resort
reservations, Tammy received an email with a special discount code, and
she was able to call and change our reservations to get this other
deal...that alone saved like $300.
That fall, as the time for our trip got closer, Orlando was hit by both
Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Frances. We were relieved that
there was no significant damage to Disney World, and figured the area
should be in the clear for the rest of the year. Hurricane Ivan
didn't hit Orlando, but it did manage to hit Alabama literally the day
before we were scheduled to leave. We lost power, and had to
finish our packing in the dark. There were so many power outages
and road closings that I wasn't entirely sure that we were going to be
able to get to the airport, or that our flight would actually leave.
Fortunately, that did not turn out to be an issue, but we did
leave our house with no power and a lot of food in the refrigerator and
freezer. By the time the power did come back on, most everything
was ruined, but fortunately Tammy's parents were able to stop by the
house while they were in town and throw everything away for us so we
wouldn't come back to a stench.
Day 1: Travel Day
Our flight to Orlando was fairly uneventful. From the airport, we
took a shuttle to our resort. Once there, we hit what I thought
might be a bad sign for the week...a REALLY long line to check in.
Tammy sat in the lobby with our luggage while I wound my way
through the line and checked us in. We found our room, which was
in one of the closest buildings to the main building (the front desk,
food court, gift shop, etc.) We considered actually going
somewhere that night, but we were pretty tired, so we ended up trying
out the food court there at Pop Century. We got mugs for $12 that
gave us unlimited refills all week there at the food court...definitely
well worth it when you see how expensive the vending machines and other
drinks are. We spent most of the night in our room planning out
our week.
Day 2: Epcot
Since we were staying at a Disney resort, we were able to take
advantage of the Extra Magic Hour. This basically meant that each
day, a certain park opens an hour earlier than normal just for Disney
guests. So for that hour, you're pretty much assured there won't
be any lines to speak of at any of the attractions. We planned
our park days around these days, and it was definitely worth it.
Our first morning took us to Epcot. Each day, we took a Disney
shuttle bus from the resort to the park we were going to. Since
we were young, didn't have kids to worry about, and are generally nice
people, we ended up having to stand on the shuttle most every time
(except a few times when there were enough seats for everyone).
As we were pulling into Epcot, I thought the shuttle had stopped,
so I let go of the rail with one of my hands. The bus lurched
forward again, which made me swing around the one pole that I was still
holding onto...and I fell right on top of a little girl.
Yikes...not a good way to start your morning. We joked
about the headlines..."Little Girl's Disney Vacation Ruined After Being
Crushed on Shuttle Bus", but she was ok.
As soon as we walked through the gates, the bus with all the characters
was there to greet us...we took a bunch of pictures with them before we
even hit any rides. We then bee-lined it over to Test Track,
which we had heard often has a long line. Of course, it didn't
this early, and we absolutely loved the ride. Near the end you go
like 60 mph outside...it's really cool. Much better than the lame
World of Motion or whatever it replaced from the last time I was there.
Next came the much-hyped Mission: Space, which was an incredible ride.
I don't think I'll ever understand the physics of how that ride works,
but it really feels like you're taking off in a rocket ship. It
made both of us feel a little queasy afterward, but neither of us
actually got sick. We cooled off at Innoventions East, which was
fairly lame, and then went ahead and got Spaceship Earth out of the
way. That's the one inside the giant golf ball. It was as
boring as I remembered it, and it broke down three times while we were
on it. Next we hit Ice Station Cool, where you walk through a
freezing cold section and then end up in an area where you can sample
Coke products from around the world. Most were okay, a couple
were nasty...the watermelon one was our favorite. We rode Living
With The Land over in The Land pavilion, which I don't think had
changed at all since I was younger, and had a snack while we were there
of a cinnamon bun and a coke.
We went to the Living Seas. It was basically an aquarium.
Next, we went through ImageWorks, which was really neat...the
coolest part was where we could take pictures of ourselves and email
them back home. We then saw the 3D movie Honey I Shrunk the
Audience, which was really cool. We rode Journey into
Imagination, which has been completely changed since we were kids and
was not real exciting.
We ate lunch at the Electric Umbrella...Tammy had chicken fingers and
lemonade, while I had a roast beef sandwich with pineapple cole slaw
and chocolate milk. While we were eating, a lonely Disney
employee came and talked to us and was trying to give us tips that we
weren't asking for.
Refreshed, we hit Innoventions West, which was much better than its
East counterpart, and were able to email some more pictures of
ourselves back home. At this point, we had hit everything in
Future World, so we went to the World Showcase.
At the Mexico Pavilion, we rode the boat ride...it was just as I
remembered it and still pretty neat. We decided to ride Test
Track again while we were in the area, and this time we got in the
front of a car by ourselves, which was great. We had another
snack of a cookies and cream ice cream sandwich shaped like Mickey and
a coke, and headed for some more countries. In Norway, we rode
Maelstrom. In China, we watched the CircleVision movie and
watched some amazing acrobats. We walked through Germany, Italy,
USA, and Japan, and decided it was time for dinner. We had
actually made reservations at the nice Mexican restaurant over in the
Mexico Pavilion, but we both decided that we just weren't hungry enough
for that, so we ate at The Lotus Blossom in the China Pavilion.
The food was probably good, but we were very hot (the seating was
outdoors) and tired from the day, so we didn't eat a whole lot. I
had vegetables lo mien, and Tammy had beef fried rice.
At this point, we realized just how tired we were. We spotted
some benches that would have a great view of the laser show, so we went
ahead and sat down. I don't remember exactly how long we sat
there, but it was a couple of hours...we just couldn't get motivated to
do anything else and we wanted to keep our spot. We were
entertained by the moving statue lady in front of the Italy
Pavilion...it was really funny watching little kids especially who
couldn't figure out if it was a person or a statue, and then she'd move
and scare them.
It turned out that where we were was supposed to be reserved as a VIP
section for a wedding, but since we were already there, they decided to
let us stay. So we had an awesome view of the show,
Illuminations. We headed back to our room to crash.
Day 3 : Magic Kingdom
Tammy somehow convinced me to wear the Mickey ears that we bought at
Epcot, and we took advantage of the Extra Magic Hour again to ride some
of the busiest rides. Once the park opened, we went straight to
Space Mountain and loved it. We then did the new Buzz Lightyear
ride, which was pretty cool...you're moving the whole time, but you
have a little gun and try to shoot targets. I won, of course.
We then had a little breakfast on main street (some pastries and
juice) and headed over to Mickey's Philharmagic, which was simple
incredible. Each of the parks now has at least one 3D-type movie,
but this was definitely the newest and it showed. The screen
curved, so it really seemed to be all around you, and they used smells
and shot water at you and all kinds of stuff to really immerse you in
the movie.
We headed over to Splash Mountain, which was practically deserted.
In fact, there was no one in line after we finished our first
ride, so we just stayed in our boat and rode it again! We got
pretty wet, and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to dry off. I
then gave into Tammy and we watched the Cinderella Surprise show on the
steps of the castle. We then began our "classic Disney rides that
really aren't that cool anymore but you have to ride them because
you're here" tour, which took us through the Haunted Mansion (which
wasn't quite as scary as Tammy remembered from when she was little),
Snow White, Peter Pan, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and the Carousel
of Progress. We broke for lunch at the Columbia Harbor House,
where I got chicken strips, fries, and coke while Tammy tried the vegi
chili, tuna sandwich, and coke. We went to the Hall of Presidents
next, and staked out a spot for the Share A Dream Come True parade.
We continued our tour of old-school attractions with Jungle
Cruise, Pirates of the Carribean, Enchanted Tiki Room, and the Frontier
Shooting Range.
We headed over to the new section of the park, Mickey's Toontown Fair,
and rode Goofy's Barnstormer, checked out Mickey's house and Minnie's
house, and rode the Barnstormer again. It's a small roller
coaster that was actually pretty fun. For dinner, we ate at
Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe, where I had a grilled chicken sandwich and
coke, while Tammy had a hamburger, fries, and coke. We then found
what we thought was going to be a good spot for Wishes, the nightly
fireworks show. As soon as it started, however, we realized that
the view was blocked by the trees. I stayed put with our stuff
while Tammy ran off for a better view.
Day 4: Animal Kingdom
Neither of us had been to Animal Kingdom before, so we didn't really
know what to expect. To avoid the rush, we immediately headed for
the Kilimanjaro Safari ride, which was easily the highlight of the day.
We saw all kinds of animals, and it was really neat how they
weren't in cages but were pretty much out in the open. We even
had to stop a few times for some animals to get off the road. The
Panghani Forest Trail allowed us to see even more cool animals,
and the 3D movie It's Tough to Be a Bug was cool. We then rode
the Dinosaur ride, which was pretty cool. The Primeval Whirl
seemed like a state fair ride and made both of us feel a little sick.
The Kali River Rapids were neat, and we didn't really get wet.
The Maharajah Jungle Trek was next, which had a lot of animals...even
though parts like this are very similar to a zoo, they Disney it up so
well that it just doesn't feel like a zoo. We ate lunch at Flame
Tree BBQ, where we both had a pork sandwich, onion rings, and a coke.
It started raining while we were eating, so we bought some
ponchos and headed over to the Festival of the Lion King, which is one
of the few indoor attractions at Animal Kingdom. It was really
amazing, with lots of singing and acrobats. We then headed over
to the Flights of Wonder bird show, and ended up seeing it twice so we
could get video the second time. It was only early afternoon, but
we had pretty much seen everything in the park, so we headed back to
the resort. Our plans to go somewhere that night faded away as
naps called out to us, and we ended up hanging around the resort that
night and ate at the food court.
Day 5: Disney-MGM Studios
This day, Tammy started not feeling so well, so we took it relatively
easy. She was a trooper and didn't want to waste a day, so we
still went to the park. First up was the Tower of Terror, which
was great. We both agreed that it was just really fun and not
really all that scary. Next up was the Rockin' Roller Coaster,
which is an indoor coaster that is very short but very sweet. I
loved it; Tammy didn't. Next up was the Great Movie Ride, which
was lame at parts but cool at others. We ate a late breakfast at
Starring Rolls Bakery of cherry pastries, hot chocolate, and apple
juice. We then did Drew Carey's Dangerous Sounds, which was
really cool...it was a movie in the dark where there's nothing but
sounds. Afterwards, there's an area where you can do some
experimenting, and it was a lot of fun. We then saw the 3D Muppet
Movie, which we actually waited quite a while for because of technical
problems they were having. I then rode Star Tours, which Tammy
opted out of knowing it would probably make her sick. We at lunch
at the Backlot Express (hot dogs, fries, cokes) and watched the Indiana
Jones Show, which includes a lot of really cool stunts.
We then did the Studio Backlot Tour, one part of which Tammy was chosen
to participate in. It was really funny because I had been chosen
to be in the same part of the show back when I went in high school...we
just happened to be near the front of the line when they called for
volunteers. I passed on participating so that I could film Tammy
in it...she was covered with water but was wearing raingear.
We did Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, then rode the Tower of Terror
again. I rode Rockin' Roller Coaster again, and then it was time
for dinner. We had bought a special package that included dinner at
Mama Melrose, and then reserved seating for the Fantasmic show.
It was well worth it...the food was great, and we would have had
to get to Fantasmic really early to get such good seats. We both
had bread and salad, and then split a pepperoni flatbread.
Sounds like a good meal, right? That was just the
appetizers...we had no idea the package included this much food!
My entree was oven baked chicken parmeson, while Tammy had penne
ala vodka. For desert, we had vanilla gelato and cheesecake.
They rolled us over to Fantasmic, and we enjoyed a very well-done
show.
Day 6: Rest and Citywalk
By this time, Tammy was really not feeling well, and we were both
exhausted for our extremely long days in the parks. We were both
remembering why lots of people leave free days in between their park
days to rest. We ended up eating lunch there at the resort and
slept most of the afternoon. That night, Bobby and Helen, who
live in Orlando, came and picked us up and took us to Universal
Citywalk. It's Universal's answer to Downtown Disney...lots of
shops, restaurants, and clubs. We ate at Latin Quarter
Restaurant...Tammy had fajitas, and I had marinated pork loin. It
was great to get to spend some time with Bobby and Helen...of course,
we thought this was the only time we'd see them on the trip, but more
on that later. We then went to a movie...Collateral...not the
best movie in the world, but the theater was really cool, and it was
just nice to have a fairly relaxing evening. We stopped at a drug
store on the way back and bought Tammy some drugs at non-Disney prices.
Day 7: Blizzard Beach and Magic Kingdom
The tickets that we had bought for Disney included some options, and
one of those options that we could do for free was one of their water
parks. We had heard good things about Blizzard Beach, so we
decided to try it out. It was a lot of fun...the slides included
Downhill Double Dipper, Snow Stormers, Tobaggon Racers, Teamboat
Springs, Slush Gusher, Summit Plummet, and Runoff Rapids. We also
rode the Chair Lift and the lazy river called Cross Country Creek.
Summit Plummet was a very intimidating slide to see...Tammy went
back and forth on riding it, and I somehow managed to talk her into it.
We had to wait in line about 45 minutes for this slide, which
lasted all of 8 seconds...but it was great.
After cleaning up back at the resort, we headed back to Magic Kingdom
in the late afternoon. Tammy really wanted to get a video of the
fireworks show, and I really wanted to ride some stuff again. We
did Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Mickey's
Philharmagic. I was starting to not feel so well myself, so
neither of us were up to the nice dinner we had planned on having, so
we ended up eating at Columbia Harbor House again. Tammy had a
tuna sandwich & clam chowder, while I just had clam chowder.
We camped out at a great place right in front of the castle for
Wishes, and it was worth it for me to just see the glow in Tammy's eyes.
Day 8: Epcot and Downtown Disney
As it turned out, Helen's parents were in town the same time we were,
and they wanted to go to Epcot, so we decided to meet them
there...Bobby, Helen, and Helen's parents. We ate lunch at The
Land again...Tammy got a salad, and I had BBQ chicken breast, chips,
and a cookie. We did the Living Off the Land boat ride again, and
went with them to The Living Seas. This time we saw both the
manatee show and the dolphin show. We did Honey I Shrunk the
Audience, Ice Station Cool, and then Test Track for the third time.
We said bye and headed back to the resort.
That night, even though we didn't feel great, we forced ourselves to
not waste the night. We went to Downtown Disney. We went to
lots of shops, ate dinner at Earl of Sandwich (we split a club, chips,
and a drink), got a pretzel at Wetzel's Pretzels, and then tried to
make ourselves feel better with a huge Hot Fudge Sundae at Ghiradelli
that started melting before it even made it to our table.
Day 9: The Evacuation
We had seen back on Wednesday night that Hurricane Jeanne, which had
seemed to miss Florida, had made an unexpected turnaround and might end
up hitting Orlando after all. It's not like we could control the
weather, so we didn't worry too much about it. We woke up on
Saturday with news that Jeanne was headed straight for us, and that
they were closing the airport around lunch time that day. We were
scheduled to leave on Sunday, so we didn't really know what to do.
Tammy called her Mom to check our flight, and it had been
canceled. Since we were supposed to check out Sunday morning, the
front desk at our resort couldn't guarantee us a room for Sunday night.
The storm was supposed to hit Saturday night and we didn't want
to stuck sleeping in the lobby of the resort, so we called Bobby to
come rescue us. We hurriedly packed, took last minute pictures,
and said good-bye to Disney.
We spent that afternoon at some friends of Bobby's house, hoping to
watch the Alabama/Arkansas game. Unfortunately, the hurricane
coverage nixed that idea, and we had to settle for Internet score
updates. We grilled out over there as the city began to hunker
down for the hurricane. We defied the curfew and made it back to
Bobby and Helen's apartment, where they graciously put us up for the
night. The wind and rain were amazing. Tammy, being the
video nut that she is, went outside to try and video the storm.
Day 10: Frustration
The majority of Sunday was spent trying to figure out how we would get
home. Tammy spent hours trying to get through to the airlines to
book another flight. No one knew for sure when the airport would
reopen, so we went through several cycles of thinking we had a flight
and then finding out it was canceled. By the end of the night, we
had our plans nailed down, or so we thought. The earliest we
could fly out of Orlando was Monday night, because the airport was not
reopening until Monday afternoon.
Day 11: More Frustration
By Monday Orlando was waking back up from the hurricane, and the curfew
was lifted. We ate lunch at a Cuban restaurant, where we
discovered Plantains and Cuban sandwiches. We did some shopping
around Orlando, and finally Bobby and Helen dropped us off at the
airport. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:00, but due
to the remnants of the hurricane passing through Atlanta (our
connection), it didn't leave until 10:30. So after hours of
uncertainty in the airport and several long lines since we knew we were
going to miss our connection, we finally made it out of Orlando.
When we arrived in Atlanta, it looked like a snowstorm had stranded
everyone. There were people sleeping everywhere, there were no
hotel rooms left in the city, and no rental cars were available.
We couldn't even get our luggage because it was still in the
luggage handling system. They told us our luggage was going to
Birmingham even if we weren't. The news was not received well.
We did the only thing we could...we got in line to get a flight
to Birmingham. Because of the storms, Delta had only a few
employees there to handle hundreds of tired, cranky, and frustrated
people. In one of the least pleasant experiences of our lives, we
waited in this line for 4 hours. Finally, we got to the front,
and got the last two available seats on a 11 o'clock flight Tuesday
morning. We made our way to a terminal, found some nasty airline
blankets, and tried to get some sleep.
Day 12: Home at Last
After the sun came up, the airport came to life and we were able to
get some breakfast. Eventually, our flight boarded, and we were
very happy to be out of Atlanta. My parents met us at the
Birmingham airport. Somehow our luggage was there waiting for us.
Given the lack of sleep, we both called in to work and told them
we were going to miss yet another day. We went home and crashed.
Our adventure had come to an end!
Summary
Despite both of us getting sick and two hurricanes, we managed to pull
this trip off. It was a great trip with lots of good memories.
We choose to forget about the time in the airport. Disney
World brings out the kid in everyone, and we were no exception.
Thanks again to Bobby and Helen for putting us up for two nights.
As frustrating as dealing with the second hurricane was, the good
part was that it gave us extra time to spend with them and we got to
see their apartment.
