[jwdj4lfe]

An Overview:
On January 2nd me and my best friend Ryan left for our very first Road Trip to Orlando, WITH OUT PARENTS! lol. We stayed at the All Star Movies. On January 3rd we went to Epcot all day and Downtown Disney that night. We checked out Sunday, January 4th and visited the University of Central Florida before we returned back home. As a bonus for this trip report I will be including pictures of things I mention to try to paint a better picture for you.Let me get started with a disclaimer lol...

DISCLAIMER: If you know me you would know that I suffer from Short and long term Memory loss, we are talking way more then Dory the Blue Fish here, lol. So if during my trip report I list something as new or newly renovated that really isn't please correct me so I won't confuse other people. I also have the tendency to capitalize words that shouldn't be, I will try to correct this problem as I go along but some always Slip through. Also as I type my dad is spraying Ant Killer on a little hole found in the sliding glass door frame, so if I start to blabber about things off topic or if in mid-sentence you see this:eoirrrrrrrrrr0999944dsddwkkkkkkkkkejjnd, I probably was knocked unconscious by the fumes for a short while. Now that thats all settle, lets move on to the trip report.

Day One: Friday, January 2nd
My buzzer woke me up at 10 AM to get ready. I was so excited to be leaving on my first Unchaperoned trip to Disney, heck my first unchaperoned vacation ever! lol. I was up, dressed and at the front door with luggage in hand at 11am. Unfortunatly, my friend Ryan isn't that much of a morning person so I had to sit on my couch watching the news until 11:30 when he called me telling me he was finally ready. We loaded his car with ourluggage in the trunk, and the backseat with our "necessities" (i.e. Coke, sun chips, gummy worms, and kudos bars, etc..). We were on the road by 12 and feeling the freedom as we flew north on the Florida turnpike (going the speed limit of course mom,;) :whistle: lol). 3 and a half hours later we were passing under the beautiful "Walt Dinsey World" sign and navigating our way to the All Star Movie resort by the help of the familiar purple signs. Check in took about 25 minutes (20 min. waiting 5 actually checking in.) We were in the 101 Dalmations building 4, 3rd floor, room 4694. Our view was looking right out at the larger then life Pongo. We were right in between the Fantasia and Mighty ducks pool In my opinion I was EXTREMELY pleased with the hotel room, the view and the location. After staying in the otehr 2 all star resorts, I have to say that this was my favorite, followed by the Music. After unpacking our food and clothes and relaxing a bit, it was 5 o'clock so we decided to head to Downtown Disney for Dinner and to Shop around. We waited about 10 minutes for the bus and it took about another 10 to get to DTD. We walked around at our own leisure (becuase we were FREE to do whatever we wanted and not forced to go into the Disney Home store or Dragged around the Lego store by my little brother!) We ate at the McDonalds because the wait was to long at WolfGang Pucks. After the heart-attack-on-a-bun with a side of greasy potatoes we sluggishly walked around the World of Disney store (that was jam packed) and decided to return to the hotel at like 10pm to get a good nights sleep for our hike arund Epcot tomorrow. Here is where I will end my first night at Disney, unless you want to hear about me watching the top 7 things to do at WDW and the WDW tour tv channels, including a very interesting 5 minutes of the Japanese TV channel where there was a game show with teams of people tryign to stab each otehr when nerf like swords (The japanese are the best when it comes to game shows! but the crowd seemed to love it! lol) I will do my day at Epcot Tommorrow and possible the conclusion then as well. Stay tuned! And Enjoy the pic of me "Nahing" on the side of the pringles, its justa pic to show you all the juink food we brought along! More to come!
Joe:)

[Dana]

Holy Junk Food Batman!!!! I gained two pounds just looking at the picture:whistle: you guys with your metabolism...ugh! I can't wait to hear the rest.

[neen626]

Can't wait to read more!! Looking forward to the rest of your Independence story :)

Oh! They junkfood! you all crack me up :)

[DisneyTeacher]

Great trip report so far Joe, I can't wait to read the rest. Gotta love that junk food!;)

[mmouse67l]

Great report jwdj4lfe! You're disclaimer had me cracking up.

:laugh

[JM0318]

Great Story,,, waiting to hear more.... I am sure you will need all the junk food (energy) :devil you can get to help with getting around Disney But sounds like you had a great time so far... :heart :) :heart Judy

[dznygrl]

Oooh, oooh, Joe how EXCITING!!! Believe me, I know exactly how that independence feels...after all, September was my first official "unchaperoned" trip to Disney and it was FANTASTIC!!! I found it ironic how it was our first unchaperoned trip and yet by the end of the week we felt like we'd been doing it all our lives! Hope you had a wonderful time!

Mmmm...those Pringles look nummy...:p

[rlander]

Wow!!! What a great adventure!!! I would have loved to make a trip like this at your age.

Independence is great!!!

[DisneyAnne]

YEAH JOE!!!! Keep it coming... Sounds like a great trip so far! Isn't it fun to get away and just be yourself??? I am looking forward to meeting you in Feb...

[tiggerlover1971]

Wow great trip report !!!! It looks like you had a wonderful time!
You trip report had me laughing at the beginning I cant wait to heaar more :)

[jwdj4lfe]

Thanks guys! lol Im going to just add on my part II in this post instead of making a whole new thread for you to go to. If you have a keen eye, you've noticed that I've changed my avatar to a pic of me infront of the epcot ball at night. It was the last picture I took at Epcot, sorry that its alittle blurry, it got messed up when I shrank it down. Now let me move on to part II...

Disclaimer:this disclaimer is to tell people to please read my first discaimer on the top of the page, same rules apply, except the bug spray smell has gone away (alittle). And just to warn you part 2 is extremely long!!! And also I'd like to thank DisneyAnne for cleaning up the mistake I made with the other post! *thank you* Read on....

Part II of "A Taste of Independence"
January 3rd
The wake up call came right on time, at 7:30am, that Saturday morning. It really sank in that I was in Disney World when I picked up the phone and heard Mickey Mouse saying "Howdy Pal, its time to get up! Theres so much to see and do today in the World!" It just brings a smile to my face to hear it, it's such a clever idea, it really brings the magic to life. Anyways...... Ryan, (if you read Part one of my trip report, you would know that he is not a great morning person) wouldn't budge from the bed! It took screaming, throwing a pillow (which his lifeless body managed to throw back), and a gallon of cold water to spring him out of his deep sleep and open his eyes. Ok maybe not a gallon....a cup or two.... lol. He grugingly got into the shower while I got dressed for the day at Epcot. We both went down to the Lobby at 8 to purchase our tickets at Guest Services. With our Tickets in our pocket we stopped by the cafeteria and I got a cherry danish for breakfast (Im not that much of a breakfast eater). Once done eating, we headed to the Bus stop and arrived at Epcot by 9:30. We headed straight for Spaceship Earth to kick off our full day at Epcot. Within 5 minutes we were sitting on the ride, it was fun, same Spaceship earth as always, maybe with a few more or different fiber optic lights then before. We then headed over the Mission:Space, the ride I was most excited for! The wait was 70 minutes so we decided to get a fast pass and return later in the day. The fastpass worked great our time was for 1:30 to 2:30, but something cool happened that i thin kis either new, or hasn't happened to me before at all. With the Mission:Space fastpass came a "suprise fastpass" for Honey I shrunk the audience for 11 to 11:15. Has this happened to anyone before? Ryan got the same thing. I just think its really neat that Disney does this with the fastpasses, it really did Suprise me! Anyways, we decided to go on Universe of Energy next since the next show was just letting people in. This ride is really cool, I enjoyed it alot and Ellen DeGeneres is hilarious! After UoE we walked across the park to use our "Suprise Fastpass" for Honey, IstA. At first Ryan hated the ride. The movie they show you before you go in the theater is really bad. The 3D show is cool, I get scared everytime by the mice, snake, and dog in the end! Ryan was laughing and smiling when we left so I guess he warmed up to it. Next we decided to hit the Living Seas since it is right next door to the Imagination Pavillion. Everything inside is themed to FInding Nemo of course, I'll post a pic of it soon. They had a huge tank full of Nemo's, Dorys, and bubbles, and gills. They also had a "Mr.Rays adventure area" or something where there was a shallow pool of water with Sting rays and sharks. Everytime I come to the Living Seas pavillion I am amazed by the size of the GIGANTIC tanks they have full of marine life! I spent atleast half an hour walking around the corridors looking on both sides and spoting sting rays, sea turtles and huge fish. After an hour or so it was time to "resurface" and head to the land pavilion. We waited an unexpected 30 minutes to go on the Land boat ride thingy. I didn't know this ride was that popular! I was given a card as we entered the line by a Cast Member and told to give it to the CM at the boarding dock, the card monitered the waiting time for the ride and then it updated the screen at the front telling you the wait time. I felt good that I actually did something for Disney! lol. The ride could have been more interesting, the woman CM just spewed out the script like she was reading it off a piece of paper. I snapped a shot of the squash and snake gourd as we passed by. Once we got off the ride it was about 1pm so we decided to head over to the Coke cool Ice station beofre goign to Mission Space. I love the Ice Station! I must have drank a gallon of the Ginger Ale from South Africa, Ryan's favorite was the Smart Watermelon from China. Everything else tastes either ok or terrible. Beverley made me twist my lips and scrunch my face in a way I never thought was possible! lol. After refreshing ourselves, we headed over to Mission Space. Let me just tell you that this ride was A-W-E-S-O-M-E! It's my new favorite ride at WDW. I was given the title Commander and Ryan was Engineer. The lift off seemed soo realistic, however i didn't feel the "wieghtlessness" that was described by Disney in the ads. The whole thing seemed sooooo real, we all were told to punch buttons at certain points and steer the space craft to a smooth landing on Mars (or should I say not so smooth, lol). The ride ends to fast for me though, I wish disney made it alittle longer. I'll leave the rest of the ride up to your imaginations! After MS we got a fastpass to Test Track for later int he day and decided that it was time to move on to my favorite part of Epcot...the World Showcase! We started in Canada and tried to fin the entrance to the O'Canada but we coudn't so we moved on to Great Britian. We walked around the Toy soldiers store and I stopped to see my coat of arms. I got pumped up about my real trip to the U.K. this April by seeing all the architecture (and the red phone booths) and smelling Fish and Chips in the air (Which I had a true Jessica Simpson moment and thought Fish and Chips was actually Chicken and French fries...when Ryan corrected me that it was FISH and french Fries, lol:dazed). We left the U.K. and headed onto France. The france pavilion is beautiful! We sat down on a bench to just soak in all the atmosphere (and rest our feet). I saw Quasimoto and Ismerelda signing autographs as we got in line to see the Impressions de France movie, but the next showign was in 30 mintues so we decided to skip it and head to Morocco. Morocco was just as beautiful as France, the Archeticture looks like it has a French/African/Muslim Influence. The Restuarant Marakeesh smelt amazing as we waked by. We found an empty courtyard in a back alley that had its walls totally covered with a colorful mosiac. Japan was our next stop, we spent alot of time walking around the giftshop where I bought my mom chopsticks. There was a show going on with the Japanese banging these huge drums, we stopped to watch for a few minutes. It looks like those people get a good work out with every show! Its amazing music, but I wouldn't recommend trying to sleep to it, lol. The American Pavilion was next, this is where we stopped to eat a late lunch (by now it was about 4:30) the cafeteria was totally empty with the exception of 2 tables. I really wanted to watch the American Adventure movie but we had a time crunch of getting the rest of the 5 countries done by 7:30 to get a good spot for Illuminations so we had to skip it. Italy was by far my most favorite country! The beauty of Italy's Pavillion far surpasses France's and Morocco's. We just sat on a bench with our backs to the World Showcase and tried to take it all in. We caught about 5 minutes of the statue show thingy (you know the people dressed completly in White and act as statues, well they had a huge crowd around them so I guess It can be called a show and eventually he got down and left). We walked around the gift shop and drooled over the price of the Lacoste Cologne and Italian leather objects. We really wanted to eat Dinner at the Italian restaruant Alfredo's but when we came back at about 7 the wait was to long. Germany was our next stop, actually we didnt even stop here. We jusy admired the castle-like structure with christmas decorations at a slow pace and moved on to China. China was overwhelming. Disney really went all out in creating (or should I saw duplicating) China. I felt like I was really deep in the heart of the country. The Movie Reflections of China was just remade a year ago and feautured footage of China's main city's as long as landscapes. It was breath taking seeing some of the views of the Great Wall in that 360 degree theater. After the movie we headed over to Norway where we waited about 20 minutes in line for Maelstrom. Is it just me or was this ride recently redone? It seemed alot longer then before and I swear some scenes were brand new! lol Anways, I liked it alot better then previous visits. At the end of the ride we had a CM take a picture of us infront of the troll in the gift shops, the CM hesitated for about 10 minutes before finally taking the picture for us, she seemed to be in a bad mood and holding her tongue, lol. After leaving Norway our last stop was Mexico. We walked right on to El Rio del Tiempo where we made friends with the CM operating the ride, she was a very nice girl from Mexico City. The ride seemed like a mexican version of Its A Small World. Anyways, after Mexico our Fastpass for Test Track was starting so we headed over there. We were on the ride in no time. This ride is reallly cool, I love the way they put you trough all the tests liek a crash dummy and the lap around the trac outside is exhilerating. In the exit are of Test Track they had several cars such as a Hummer and Cadillac Escalade which of course me and Ryan had to check out. By now it was about 7:45 and time to find a spot for Illuminations. We ended up walking all the way back to Italy to watch the shows grand finale. I love this shows soundtrack! The fireworks were awesome of course. After Illuminations we kind of crawled our way back to the entrance and climbed on the packed bus to the All Star Movies. What I really liked about the hotel was thatit had a seperate bus line, while the All Star sports and Music shared one. Back at he hotel we cooled off and relaxed alittle before heading out to Downtown Disney for Dinner. We wanted to catch a movie but we missed it by time we got there. We ate a late dinner (like 11pm) at the Rainforest cafe. I had the chicken Ceaser and Ryan had the Buffalo salad. They were HUGE! I could hardly make a dent in it. It seemed like an endless pit of lettuc with a 10 whole chickens cut up in there, lol. We returned back to the hotel as bloated as ever and were snoring away by 1am. This completed my day at Epcot! I hope you guys liked it! I am including a pic of me in a red phone booth in Great Britian, I will post more scenery ones later. Keep watching this thread to hear about my last day in Disney, some more pics, and a part of my First day that I totally forgot to include in Part one! I hope I didnt bore you to much!
Joe:)

[jwdj4lfe]

Here is a pic of Me directly outside of our room. We had that view of Pongo from our window!
Joe:)

[jwdj4lfe]

Here is another pic of the construction going on behind the Canada Pavilion, this might be the rumored "soaring over California" ride. Anyone have any Info?
Joe:)

[teresadisney]

I love your trip report!

*note to self--teenager back later than you has written trip report already--must write yours*:laugh

[tinkerbell]

I have laughed so much reading this !! great trip report!