[packerbeth]

Originally Posted by jimbo

dont got to wdw then. only jokin

stay away from the mouse but dont upset him.

The reason for the title will be revealed quite soon...

[tinkerbelle24]

I need some more please!!

[packerbeth]

One of the things I wanted to try out this trip was the refillable mug. I was a little disappointed that they were all the same at every resort, but it sure made it obvious when someone was refilling a mug that they brought from home (and we did see that!) In case you haven’t seen them yet, they all look like this:


We picked one of these little babies up on our way to the room, and since it was drizzling, we filled them with hot chocolate! I have to say that the hot chocolate was not very good, and I mostly filled mine with lemonade for the rest of the trip. I’m not much of a pop drinker (or soda drinker, depending on where you come from!), but I do like my Pepsi, and there wasn’t going to be any of that on Disney property. I got a little tired of lemonade by the end of the week, but I was able to stay properly hydrated, so it was a good investment. We’d fill it up on our way out to the park, and stop by on the way back to the room to fill it up, as well. I would refill it at the drinking fountains at the park. Now that I’m home, I can take my cappuccino with me when I leave the house in the morning, and it will make me happy because my mug came from Disney World!

After getting settled in our room, it was time to head to Downtown Disney. I’d arranged to pick up my Dollar rental car at the Grosvenor resort in the DTD area about 12:00. It was only about 11:00 at this point, so we had time for a little shopping! We walked to the bus stop in from of ASMu, and a bus for DTD pulled up almost immediately. It didn’t take very long to get there, and I’d known ahead of time that the Marketplace bus stop was being renovated, so I wasn’t surprised when the bus dropped us off at the Pleasure Island stop. It was a bit of a walk to get to the Marketplace, but I took some photos along the way, since I had never gotten to the Marketplace from that way before.

[lovemysons]

Originally Posted by packerbeth

Though we didn’t end up using this rack, I thought it was adorable:
Attachment 28428

Oh that is cute!

[Dana]

How did that work out for you? The rental car? I want to rent, but don't want to get the rental at the airport. I need the rental for staying at OKW (the place is huge) and I am going to SW this time. I hate to get a towncar just for SW again....also considering just using ME from the airport.

[packerbeth]

Originally Posted by Dana

How did that work out for you? The rental car? I want to rent, but don't want to get the rental at the airport. I need the rental for staying at OKW (the place is huge) and I am going to SW this time. I hate to get a towncar just for SW again....also considering just using ME from the airport.

We were both so glad to have a car. Stacy had to take the bus on Friday and she had to wait for sooooooooooo long in the heat. We liked leaving when we wanted to, and never had to wait for a tram to the lot.

I asked whether people liked getting a car or taking Disney transportation before I left, and really got mixed reviews. People said they didn't want to come back to a hot car; honestly, even in 90 degree weather, it only took a minute or two to cool the car down.

I know you can rent at the Car Care center, but wasn't sure how we'd get there, so we went with the DTD location. I got a good deal from Dollar (look for the city special) at $19/day. We only took DME for the trip from the airport to ASMu. I think it worked out great, and would encourage you to try it, especially with a resort as big as OKW. We drove to and from our room each time, and it would have been a long walk otherwise!

[packerbeth]

This was my only chance to come to DTD, although Stacy would be returning on Friday morning while I was at my conference. I’d only spent a bit of time here last trip, taking the girls to their BBB appointment and eating lunch at Earl’s. Stacy and I had decided that if we were going to have ice cream at Beaches & Cream and have an early dinner at Mama Melrose, we wouldn’t use any counter service credits for lunch on our first day.

First, we made our way through the Christmas store, where I saw but didn’t purchase some cool Halloween decorations. We also checked out the Wonderful World of Memories store, where I looked at the special Halloween scrapbook, but didn’t purchase it, either. We tried to find Goofy’s Candy Company, so I could see what kinds of things they put on their caramel apples. I was already going to have enough sweets today, so Stacy was going to pick up one for me when she came back on Friday. We got all turned around – easy to do at DTD, I’ve found – and ended up passing it, so we decided she could just call when she made it over there on Friday.

It was close to noon, so we started to head over to the DTD resort area to find the Grosvenor resort. Here we got even more turned around, but as it turned out, it wasn’t entirely our fault. You see, the Grosvenor Resort had changed its name, but the maps on the street did not reflect the change. We must have passed the Sun something-or-other resort three times before we finally decided to look at the address for the Grosvenor and found that we were standing right in front of it. Apparently, the resort had just changed names about a week and a half earlier, and Dollar had not bothered to let me know. I have already sent them an email about that (and the $250 hold they put on my debit card, which they had not told me about.)

It was all worth it in the end, though, as the “compact” car that I paid $19 a day for turned out to be a PT Cruiser!

Sing it with me now: "We got a PT Cruiser, we got a PT Cruiser!"

[packerbeth]

Since we were running behind, we decided just to head over to the Beach Club for our long-awaited ice cream treat. I had stayed at BCV in January, but never got over to Beaches & Cream (blasphemy, I know!) I also had only taken a couple of photos, and was determined to take a lot more this time around. Now, Stacy and I will both admit to being directionally challenged, so the two of us together trying to navigate Disney World with its lack of signage was really a sight to see.

We did manage to find the Beach Club without too much of a hassle, and then had a little trouble when we reached the entrance gate. I’d only been in the car about 10 minutes, and hadn’t taken the time to properly get to know where all the buttons and levers are. Neither of us could find the lever for the window, so I had to open my door to tell the nice entrance guard what we were doing there. I could tell he was laughing at us, but he kindly pointed out that they were in the middle of the console, right above the CD player! He did let us pass through, despite our definite lack of common sense, and we were off to visit my beloved Beach Club again!

[packerbeth]

Stacy had never been here, so I had to show her around a bit, and have her take pictures of me in one of my favorite places in the world!





We did try to find Art the Greeter, but it must have been his day off. We did find this nice gentleman, though, who was subbing from his regular job at the Yacht Club. He took us to see some hidden mickeys in the artwork in the solarium, and as this photo was taken, he was saying, “This is the best part of my job!”

[MickeyMcFizzle]

Love your TR so far! Looking forward to hearing the rest :-)

[packerbeth]

Eventually, our hunger got the best of us (remember, we had gotten up around 2:30 a.m. and hadn’t had much to eat since then!) so we headed to Beaches & Cream.


The place is tiny, but we only had to wait about five minutes before we were shown to a table right near the counter. In the meantime, we talked to a nice CM who had relatives that lived in our neck of the woods. Our server was very pleasant, although I can’t remember her name. I knew just what I wanted before I even left Michigan soil; I’d seen one of these in a trip report and knew it had my name on it.

Actually, it had Jose’s name on it. From allears: "No Way Jose - a peanut butter and hot fudge delight with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, peanut butter and chocolate morsels, whipped cream and a cherry." Boy, was it good! I have a healthy appetite and love me some chocolate with peanut butter, but I couldn’t even finish it! Stacy had the "Fudge Mud Slide - A gooey chewy brownie, hot fudge, three scoops of vanilla ice cream, oreo cookies, topped with whipped cream and a cherry." She had an equally hard time finishing hers.


Our server offered to take our photo:


These are the little tables that sit outside. I think you can sit here if you get your ice cream from the "to go" window. Look how cute they are!

[gingita]

Mmmmm, that ice cream is making me hungry right now!

[packerbeth]

Once we ate as much of our sundaes as we could, it was time to head to MGM. I had wanted to get there in time for the Stars & Motor Cars parade, since this would be the last time I would be able to see it. Last trip, I spent our MGM day throwing up, so the only photos I have from this parade are the ones my MIL took, and she’s not the world’s best photographer. I wanted to make a parade page, so I needed some good pics.

Before we left, I showed Stacy the path to the room we had in January, and the statue that my girls so enjoyed seeing every day. “Good morning, Ariel!”


We arrived at MGM at about 2:30. I had only a few goals for the day: my first ever ride on Tower of Terror, the parade, and Fantasmic. Our plan once we arrived was to head over to ToT to get a FP, but as it turned out, the line was very short so we hopped right on! We rushed through the queue area, so I didn’t get to appreciate too much of the theming. I was a little nervous, since the old Twilight Zone reruns really used to freak me out, but I was determined to give it a try! I held onto the handrails pretty tight this first time, and both of our voices were a bit hoarse once the ride was over, but it was an awesome first ride! We didn’t end up getting the photo, because we were in the middle row and not really visible. We planned to go on it again before our afternoon was over, though!

[allirella]

Originally Posted by packerbeth

Actually, it had Jose’s name on it. From allears: "No Way Jose - a peanut butter and hot fudge delight with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, peanut butter and chocolate morsels, whipped cream and a cherry." Attachment 28459

YUM! This looks delicious.

[packerbeth]

By this point, we’d missed our opportunity to get a really good view of the parade, but we headed over to see if we could find a decent spot. Unfortunately, the crowds had really come out for this parade, and we couldn’t get up close. We ended up behind a group of about 30 men who all had shaved heads and wore peach robes. I don’t know what kind of group they were exactly, but we saw them the next morning at MK as well. I was able to take some good photos, anyway, and the men I stood directly behind and next to were very helpful in letting me scoot up a bit if there was a shot I really wanted to get. I ended up getting a few decent photos; here are a few.







This one's for you, Dana!