[Dana]

I had to type this out and cut and paste it. I keep getting booted off DC and logged out when I try to post it. This is my third attempt to get Day one up and it's getting annoying. I will try and get the complete report up and done by the end of day tomorrow. I won't have picture until next weekend though. I had this long intro written out about the trip planning and the night before, blow-by-blow, but figured it was just a little TMI and passed on it. I could hear some of you screaming "get on with it already!". I want you all to be prepared that I have included some very critical opinions about a few things and want to you also know that I am not looking to start arguments or debates about any of the things I comment on. This is just my trip, my opinion, my experience and how I viewed all the things around me. You can take it or leave it. Read it or pass..., but this is what happened and how I saw things. With that being said, I want you all to grab your favorite drink and cuddle up with a blanket as I begin my story...

Cast: Me 31.999999 and my DD Sara, 11

Day one: October 26th

I woke up at 4am and put on my nasty clothes (aka exercise gear) and took the dog for our morning walk. I wanted to make sure I took her for a nice long one before I left for the week. I went to the store the night before and bought her a killer beef rawhide bone as a guilt gift...lol I did a nice 2 mile walk and came back to wake up my DD. She was no trouble to wake-up and sprung from the bed and began to immediately get dressed...wonder why? lol After getting myself dressed and ready, I took the luggage out to my car and loaded it up. I came back into the house and checked my carry-on bag and my DD's to make sure we had everything that we wanted to take on the plane. After the spot check was completed to my satisfaction, I woke my parents up to tell them we were leaving. My Dad hollered out for me to call him when I land. 31 one years old and many WDW trips under my belt and he still worries....daddies rock! I said a final good-bye to my dog with instructions to not eat anything of mine while I was away...she's spiteful that way. All good-byes said, we headed out the door. Before we pulled away, I called my DBF to wake him up. He was going to drop us off at the airport and take my car to his house so I wouldn't have to pay for parking at the airport. He lives ten minutes from airport and this was a prefect plan if I do say so myslef. He told me to call him when I got to the bridge and he would meet me out front of his house. I called again from the bridge and he was outside waiting when I turned the corner. I insisted that he drive because he's a terrible passenger and I didn't feel like dealing with his "fake brake" and driving advice that early in the morning. We arrived at the airport about an hour before my flight and my DBF pulled up to the curb-side check-in area. After helping me to unload all my stuff, we said good-bye after I promised to call him when we landed....DBFs rock too..

The porter at the check-in had a taken care of in a flash and we had our boarding passes and were ready to go. It is worth every dollar I tip these guys to check-in curb-side. I can't even begin to imagine how I was suppose to haul all that stuff into the self check-in and keep track of my DD. We headed up the stairs to the security area and were greeted by a huge line of people...uh oh. This did not look like it was moving fast and by now I only had about 45minutes till my flight took off.. We got through that mess and I look to see what time it was. We only had about 5 minutes till they started boarding. WE hauled butt over to the gate and made it there with no time to spare. It was a nice warm-up speed walk for WDW..lol They weren't boarding yet, so I grabbed me and Sara a slice of pizza from the pizza shop near the gate. We sat on the chairs and whoofed down our breakfast of champions while we waited to be called. Boarding time came and went as did take-off time. Why can't USAIRS get this right? I have come to expect this however and wasn't that tweaked about the delay. We finally boarded and got seated when they announced that they had to fix the "tow bar" before we could take off. I had no idea what the heck that was nor did I want to. I didn't get my pre-flight captain and was nervous enough. Whatever it was only took ten minutes to fix and we were heading down the run way for take-off soon enough. The flight was uneventful except for some bumps in the air. We landed in orlando a little after 11....almost an hour late. So typical!

I called my Dad and DBF to tell them we didn't crash and I landed in the right city as we walked to the magical express welcome desk. Here is where my opinion may get critical, so bare with me. This service was anything but magical and express is not a word I would use to describe it either. I am glad that many of you had success with this. I found it to be just as bad as Mears was and free or not, will never use it again.
We got to the welcome desk and waited no less than 20minutes to check -in. The gentlemen, if you want to call him that, that dealt with was not even in close in the magical department. Being myself, I attempted to make small talk as he did his computer thing only to be ignored and dealt with like an annoyance. I ignored this and waited for his instructions. He just handed me the boarding stuff and never said a word. I aksed him where I was suppose to go and about my return trip and he litterly huffed.... Getting annoyed, I change my tone and asked him if he could possbily take a minute to tell me what I was then suppose to do. He said go over there (pointing behind me), and give your card to those ladies with the big hands. Again, I was dismissed.....ok let's try this again "hey can you tell me what I do for my return or is that to much trouble for you?" He simply said "you'll get something in your room the night before you leave. Don't miss the bus or it's on you". That's where I got the unmagical part. I was to happy to be there to let it get me that ticked off, so I just walked away muttering what he was and went over to the line behind me. Here's where it gets the unexpress name. I got ushered over to another area where I waited in line for what felt like forever, but was actually 30minutes. We finally got on the bus and the driver informed us there would be 6 stops! WHAT!!! What the heck happened to the three stops? Whatever!!! This service is forever dubbed the UNmagical UNexpress to me. Maybe it was my impatience from the flight and all the waiting, but I will never use this again. I would rather pay for a towncar. I finally got to POFQ around 1:30pm.

Check-in went smooth and I didn't have to wait at all. We were told our room was ready and we could go up. My room number was 2325. We went into the gift shop to grab postcards and other essesntials and then headed over to the food court to grab lunch. I got a burger and FF and my DD got the chicken fingers and FF. We both grabbed a mug because according to the map, our building was pretty close to the food court. We found building two on the right side of the pool area and took the elevator up to the third floor with our food in our hands. We found our room easily and were thrilled to see that we had a perfect view of the river..another free upgrade that I didn't ask for. We got in and sat at the table and chairs to eat our lunch. The room was very cute and seem very spacious to me. I thought it was bigger looking that the AKL rooms, but I think it's just the type of furniture that makes it appear bigger. As you walk into the room to your left is the big window and in front of it a air/heat unit. Against the wall in front of that is a table and two chairs. Along the same wall, in front of the table and chair in the dresser that has a huge mirror behind it. Next to the dresser on the same wall is the fridge and a bench. On the other side of the room was the two beds and a nightstand in between. At the end of the room, opposite of the door, is a curtained off section where there is two sinks and a big mirror behind them. To the left of the sinks is a place to hand clothes, a shelf for storage, and the iron and board. To the right of the sinks, is the bathroom with toilet and tub. I noticed the toiletpaper was over, not under and immediately changed it..lol We sat to eat and before we could finish, someone knocked at the door. It was bell services with my bags. They almost beat me to the resort. This shows you how slow the ME was that day. I thanked and tipped the bellhop and we finished our lunch. After lunch, we changed clothes and I unpacked. I am a very organized packer and this took no more than twenty minutes. With us fed, the clothes away and everything in it's place, we headed out of the room to head to the MK.

MK and the rest of day one soon to come.

[cinderbella]

HI DANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was actually wondering when you were coming back!! And not only are you back but Part One of Day One is already up!! I love that!!!!!!!

I am sorry the unmagical unexpress dosnt get the Dana seal of approval..BUT I am glad that POFQ does! (so far anyways!)

[Cavey]

You gonna tell us what resort you were at, or are we to guess?

Nice trip report so far.

You should have told the ME guy you are a moderator at DC and threatened him with timeout. That would have got him moving.

[gingita]

Originally Posted by Cavey

You should have told the ME guy you are a moderator at DC and threatened him with timeout. That would have got him moving.

Great trip report so far Dana! Sorry the ME wasn't so magical for you. Hopefully everything else went well.

[Dana]

Originally Posted by Cavey

You gonna tell us what resort you were at, or are we to guess?

Nice trip report so far.

You should have told the ME guy you are a moderator at DC and threatened him with timeout. That would have got him moving.

I posted my plans so often, that I figured you knew where I stayed..LOL

[Cavey]

Originally Posted by Dana

I posted my plans so often, that I figured you knew where I stayed..LOL

Actually, I did. I'm just speaking for uninformed masses not stalking you.

[PrincessJill]

woohoo!! Dana's back!! I can't wait to read the rest! :)

[Dana]

Day one continued....

We found the bust stop easy enough and waited no more than three min. for a bus to the MK. Our bus driver was hysterical. We made a few stops at POriverside and were soon on our way to the MK. The bus driver had us singing songs and laughing the entire trip...now the magic was starting. We got to the MK and the driver told us which stop to go to when we wanted to leave. He got off the bus ahead of all us and shook each one of our hands as we got off and wished us a magical day. He alone made up for the plane and the unmagical unexpress. We quickly went through the security check-point and the ticket area. As we came around the side of the train station we saw a crowd and the tale end of the share a dream come true parade. We watched the end and then made our way down Main street. We paused at the castle and just stared. The 50th celebration decorations are beautiful. They did such a nice job with the castle. They were just starting some of decorations when we were there in January and this was my first look at it in person. A part of me wishes they keep it like this...very elegant. With our staring at the castle done, we made our way over to Splash mountain. I had to take a ride for a friend (doughnut). We waited the 30minutes in the stand-by line. That's not to bad considering the amount of people who were in that park that day. After a tour on SM we headed into Fantasyland. Peter Pan was our next stop, but we skipped it because there was a 60minute wait. I knew we would be back to that park and I could tour the entire FL in less that 60 minutes. Sara really wanted to go on Small world and I of course went on it. We waited almost 45minutes to ride that attraction. The new paint job looks wonderful and the dolls are still evil. After we got off doll world, we had to head out of the park to make our 6pm PS at 1900 park fare. We took the monorail over and made it with 5minutes to spare before our ADR time. When we checked in, we were handed a buzzer and told it was going to be at least a half hour. They were running behind schedule. We waited about 15minutes and then my DD said "do we have to wait?" I was thrilled that she didn't want to wait for the table. I just didn't feel like waiting any more for anything that day. We handed in our buzzer and told then we decided to cancel the ADR. We were seriously impatient after the morning we had. So much so that we took a cab back to POFQ because we didn't want to wait for both the monorail and then the bus. We were back at POFQ in a matter of minutes. $14.50 well spent.

Once back at the resort, we stopped in the food court and grabbed some dinner. I got the pasta and meatballs and my DD got the chicken parm. She grabbed a powerade and I opted to go across to the gift shop and grab a six pack..lol We went back to the room and had our dinner. After we ate, we grabbed showers and put on comfy lounge clothes. My DD watched some TV as I filled out all my postcards. I really love sending them. After postcards, we headed down to the gift shop so my DD could trade some pins with the cast members while we waited for our meeting time to see Joann and Joseph. This is when we met Liz. She is a wonderful cast member. She eagerly traded pins with my DD and sat and chatted with her about her favorites. When she learned that my DD was on a quest to complete her bottle cap pin collection, she hurried into the back room and brought out the pin board. This is a bulletin board with many pins on it for the kids to trade off with . Kinda similar to the pin book in most resorts, but with a different twist. I like this set-up. It allows the children to see everything that is there at once and make decision making a little easier. She didn't see any bottlecaps and when Liz learned this, she went into the back again and brought out the lanyards of other cast members who work in the store and let her check them. Still no bottle cap, but who could be disappointed when someone goes out of their way like that for you?

After our encounter with Liz, we made our way over to the bar where we were suppose to meet up with Joann and Joseph. I had a beer at the table and waited. I hadn't heard from them and decided to call it a night. I was so tired. Just as I was getting ready to leave, Joann called my cell phone. They were in their room and trying to reach me in mine. Joann said that Joseph was watching the game but she was going to head down if I wanted her to. I suggested that we all meet up the next night instead. I was just bushed. We agreed to a 8:30 meeting in the bar the next evening.

Sara and I headed to our room at that point and called it a day., I called my DBF to tell him goodnight and was out like a light in a matter or minutes, but not before I set my cell phone alarm for 6:30am. We had breakfast at Donald's tomorrow. Our first Disney day had gone and we looked forward to another one to come.
Day #2 coming soon.

[missy H]

I have a feeling this is going to be a great trip report warts and all!

I look forward to reading the rest!

[Cavey]

See it was a great day. You just wanted to post some gloom and doom to start with.

I bet Liz heard you were a DC mod and was trying to get on your good side.

[PhilliesFan]

I wanted to make sure I took her for a nice long one before I left for the week. I went to the store the night before and bought her a killer beef rawhide bone as a guilt gift...lol I did a nice 2 mile walk

I know what you mean about leaving your dog. I feel very guilty for the few days leading up to the trip.
Great report so far.
Welcome back.

[Erin]

So good!!! I've waited all week for this!

[lovemysons]

I want to hear it all, the good and the bad, so no complaints from me. I am so thrilled with all the details you included about your room, (wonder why?) and I am sorry that the Magical Express was anything but magical or express. Looking forward to reading more. Its good to have you back!

[BDavis932]

Yay, Dana's back! Love your trip report! Sorry to hear about your experience with UMExp....if you check out my trip report from last weekend we had a completely opposite experience....That stinks!

[BDavis932]

By the way....thank you for the beautiful post card!!!! So sweet of you to think of me!