[WDWNutCase]

Hi everyone! :)

My husband and I had planned a trip to South Florida to visit with his family and somehow we ended up deciding to drive (from :nooo: CANADA). We then decided that we should stop in Orlando on our way back and visit DW using our Disney Vacation Club points.

So...On January 3rd we woke up REALLY early (5:00) and got dressed and packed and then loaded the car and began the drive up the Florida Turnpike from Hollywood to Orlando. We arrived at about 9:45 and checked into the Boardwalk. Of course at that early hour our room was not ready, so we left our bags with the bell service and ventured out to amuse ourselves.

We decided on Epcot, so we went down onto the Boardwalk to catch the boat and, while walking, we were greeted with many "Good Morning"s. A few cast members even noticed our DVC back pack and called out a "Welcome home!". That alone left me feeling very special.

We entered Epcot via the International Gateway and, of course, World Showcase was not yet open being that is was early. So we strolled through the United Kingdom and Canada and headed straight to the Camera Center by SpaceShip Earth as I discovered on the boat that my camera batteries were fast losing life.

Once at the Camera Center, my husband zooms in on Pal Mickey and decides that we need to have one. Not rent one. Have one. So we pick up Pal Mickey with a few camera batteries and, Pal Mickey activated, we're on our way!

We made a beeline for Mission Space and the line was, of course, backed up to the Magic Kingdom. The line for the Fast Pass was also long, but we decided to hop in and about ten minutes later we had FP's for 2:39. Now to occupy ourselves for three hours....

It wasn't hard to do. We went to "The Wonders of Life" to see Cranium Command and The Making of Me before the pavillion is shut down and put on Seasonal status. We trekked over to Ellen's Universe of Engery and then decided to head on over to the World Show Case for lunch.

We decided on the Lotus Blossom Cafe since, in all the times we've been to the World, we've never eaten there. We tend to haunt the same venues over and over. It was time to try something different. I had the vegetarian lo-mein and David had the Beef. We split an order of eggrolls. Surprisingly, we got three when the menu said that order consisted of two. Oh well. We were very happy with our lunch and we'll go back, I'm sure.

From there we headed back over to Future World and visited an old favourite, SpaceShip Earth. We just strolled around, taking in the fountain, wathing kids play in those spontaneous kiddie fountains. A couple of them got SOAKED!

Our time for Mission Space rolled around and I sort of felt the beginings of a headache but thought, "oh well." And off we went to experience space flight. I :heart 'd it! David :heart 'd it too! but what a mistake to get on with a slight headache. I think I would have been ok if I had forgone dinner about a half hour afterwards.

So after Mission Space, we were a little woozy, but agreed that it was definately fun and that we would do it again. So, we went back to the Boardwalk to see if our hotel room was ready and it was. So off down the hallway we went to check out our first DVC room and to have our bags delivered.

The room was GREAT! It was a one bedroom, (we would normally book a studio for only the two of us but the one bedroom was the ONLY thing left on the whole property), and had a HUGE bathroom with a spacious corner shower, toilet and sink. One door opened to another room with a whirlpool tub and a vanity. Our bedroom had a King Sized bed and the glass doors opened onto a balcony where we had a view of the Swan and Dolphin and the waterway between. There was a kitchen, a living room and another set of glass doors with a balcony offering pretty much the same view. And also, I can't forget the washer and dryer. Very handy!

About twenty minutes later we were on the walking path between the Boardwalk and MGM where we had reservations for Hollywood & Vine. We had eaten there the previous March and David was taken with their roasted citrus chicken. Of course, since then, the character dining has been cut and that was a bit of a drag. Also, the chicken on the buffet was no longer "roasted citrus" but just plain "oven baked". Nothing special. So we left a bit disappointed.

The plan WAS to go back to our room and veg for a few and then head to the Magic Kingdom as they were to be open until Midnight. However, the food combined with the headache and the ride on Mission Space got the best of me and we ended up in for the evning.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[WDWNutCase]

Okay,

So we woke up that morning and while I finished getting dressed, David took a stroll down to the Boarwalk Bakery to get us something for breakfast. I asked for a muffin of any kind and when he returned, he had to Boardwalk mugs filled with hot chocolate, a gigantic blueberry muffin :love: for me and a bagel for himself.

So we took some time to munch on our mutal breakfasts and then set out for the MK.

No sooner did we get on the bus, the driver gets a call that someone left a tripod on the bench at the Boardwalk. It was us. David tells the driver that it's ok and we'll just stay on the bus and go back, but he tells us to wait at the bus stop and someone will bring it to us. Sure enough about ten minutes later a Vacation Club van pulls up and delivers the tripod to us. Talk about service!

So we're on our way and on the way in we notice all these Mickey statues, each painted differently. Apparantly different celebrities designed them and they are being shown. They are then going to be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to whichever charity the celeb has chosen. Very cool, though I have to say that Rosie O'Donnell's was downright ugly. It looked like someone just dumped the thing with yellow paint, decaled pictures of her kids, (or someone's kids), into the ears and then splothced it with a couple of other colours. Not very imaginative at all and it looks as though it took zero effort compared to some of the others.

Just as we got there, the Cinderella Surprise Celebration started up on the Castle's stage and so we stayed to watch that. I also wanted to play with my new 300 mm zoom lens and I got some FANTASTIC up close shots of Cindy and her pals.

We made a bee-line to Philharmagic and we were very impressed with the ten minute wait. We were also very very impressed with the movie itself! It is, by far, one of the best that Disney has done in a long long time. Very cute, very imaginative. Happy to hear that the Carousel of Progress and The Time Keeper were open we headed to Tomorrowland. The Carousel is one of David's all time favourites and I found it to be as charming as ever. The Time Keeper was definately still cute, but someone made an oversite and the date on the timekeeper's current year and time digital display read 2002. WOW! It's been two years now that that thing's been shut down???

The wait line for Buzz Lightyear was ubelievably long and so we got a fast pass and then headed for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Surprisingly, there was a bit of a line for this as well, but as it is a continual loader, it took no time at all to get on. After we finished, we still had some time to wait before our Fast Pass was valid, so we headed over to see the Pirates. Wow! Looks like the movie did a LOT of PR for this one! There was quite a line!

We decided to jump on the train in Frontierland and saw that Splash Mountain is, once again, dousing those standing on the bridge. Yay! Anyway, we took the train over to Mickey's ToonTown and then from there headed on over to Tomorrowland to do the Buzz thing. David whipped my butt once again. I can never beat him when it comes to batteling Zurg.

We had made plans to meet up with jmouse over at Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club Resort. Can I just say, "WOW!" What great food! David and I shared some chicken noodle soup which was really yummy and he had a turkey sandwhich and I had a chicken caesar salad. Of course you can't go to B&C without having dessert! I wanted the No Way Jose which is a chocolate/peanut butter concoction, but there was no way I was going to be able to deal with a whole one by myself. So, helpful gal that she is, jmouse suggested having the friendly B&C folks make me a two scoop sundae done up like the NWJ. It was HEAVEN! And the company was great too! Jmouse and her kids were sweet! What a great time meeting up with them!

We parted ways with Daivd and I deciding to join them on their Keys to the Kingdom Tour the next morning, but sadly the tour was full and so were were not able to go. We took the boat back to the Boardwalk and spent a few moments digesting lunch in our room and then headed back out to the MK where we tooled around and checked out a few shops while we waited until it was time to find a good spot to catch 'Wishes'. What a GREAT show! We both :heart 'd it, though David was totally missing the music to Fantasy in the Sky.

We hung around for a long time afterwards waiting for the rest of the crowd to disperse as I wanted to get some photos of the castle. The Disney folks were very friendly and let us stay for a bit once everyone had cleared.

Anyway, all of that done, we went back to the Boardwalk and decided we were pretty hungry. So we went to the Spoodles pizza window and ordered up a cheese pizza with mushrooms. While we waited, we checked out some shops and soon our order was ready. As we ate we were treated to the bangs and booms of the fireworks from Illuminations and, soon enough, a long line of people came walking back to the hotel from Epcot. We had fun feeding our crusts to the ducks in the water.

The rest of our night was spent in the whirlpool relaxing as we watched tv. I think we now regret not putting a cable connection in our bathroom! ;)

TO BE CONTINUED....

[WDWNutCase]

We woke up excited for another day, but sad that it was our last.
Again, as I finished dressing, David went to fetch us muffins and bagels from the Boardwalk Bakery. This time he brought me back a banana nut muffin. God, I :heart this man!

After breakfast was finished, we trooped on down to the bus stop and caught the bus to the Animal Kingdom. It was pretty busy, much to my surprise. I had figured that a lot of people would have been headed home by then. Apparantly not.

We headed first thing to the safari because I wanted to play with my new lens again. The animals were out in full force and we saw a pregnant elephant. Poor girl! She was HUGE! her belly hung to the ground and, though I've never been pregnant myself, I have to say it doesn't look comfortable at all. And then we were told that her calf would weigh in somewhere between 200-300 pounds. YIKES!

From there we trekked to the Pangani Forest trail and I got some fantastic shots of the "Timones" ;) They're so cute. Hard to believe they're as nasty as the lady told us there are. Onto the gorillas. They were a bit shy, or so we thought, until we rounded the corner only to find one male with his rear end up in the air towards us, peeing for all he was worth. We counted. He went on for over a minute. :nooo: Amazing.

We decided that we should do the Flights of Wonder thing as this is one of my AK favourites, but the next showing wasn't for almost an hour. So we moved on through to the Maharaja Jungle trek and noticed that there is now a mesh at the observation deck of the tigers. We didn't ask. They were pretty frisky that day.

We thought it would be a good idea to do the Kali River Rapids as it was pretty hot and there was, miraculously, only a five minute wait. Behind us in line was a woman who kept asking her husband if he thought they really would get wet. Finally, David turns to her and says, "Did you see the sign that said 'You WILL get wet, you may get soaked'?" She says "Yes." David says, "Take it to heart." True enough, she, her kids and her husband were drenched. David's back was pretty soaked. I was relatively dry by comparison.

So we partook in Flights of Wonder and then headed on into Dinoland and did the Primeival Whirl thing. It was fun and cute but I hated how it felt as though the vehicle was going to fly off the track every time you round a corner. I guess that's part of the thrill. Eeek.

We headed on to Flame Tree Bar-B-Que for lunch as we'd never been before. Note to self: "Don't go to the Flame Tree again." the chicken breast sandwhich was the driest thing I've ever had. I might just as well have tried chewing leather.

Unsatisfied with lunch, I grabbed a frozen chocolate banana. David decided he needed a Mickey Premium bar. We took a few moments to gaze at the work being done on the Mount Everest attraction. The bridge connecting Asia and Dinoland is finished, or looks to be finished. Lots of equipment all over the place.

We moved on over to Camp Minnie Mickey just to see if the Lion King rehab is finished. It is, and the show was on. We didn't stay. Instead we headed back to the Boardwalk and spent the afternoon in the pool.

Having plans to meet up with a Cast Member we met on another Disney message board for dinner at Boma's, we showered and changed and headed down to the bus stop thinking that the quickest way to the AK Lodge was by way of the AK. Since there was no one else on the bus, the driver took us straight to the Lodge, for which we thanked him. We browsed around the shop and then headed out for a look at the Savannah. The animals were very active. Zebras, Giraffes, etc... I got some very cool closeups of some of them.

Dinner at Boma's was really cool. A lot of different tastes and I'm glad we were adventurous. It's not really something you can describe because a lot of the stuff you have to taste for yourself. The desserts, I have to say, are amazing! The zebra domes are scrumptious and the chocolate mousse truffles are very yummy. If you like to imbibe and like something a little sweet and sour, try the Nahtazu.

We decided to do something we've never done before and headed over to Fantasia Gardens mini golf. What a hoot! We did the traditional mini golf side and left the more serious putting greens to those who had more experience with golf clubs. What a wonderfully themed place!

So that was our day. We went to bed feeling sad that it was our last night in DW, but very happy knowing that we had made a great investment in the Vacation Club. We can't WAIT to go back!

[Willbegone]

OH I am LOVING the trip report! With my counter getting smaller and smaller I really needed a good trip report to get me thru! Keep it coming!

[crystalrp]

Love your trip report. Sorry to hear the chicken sandwich was dry at Flame tree. Usually they are scrumptious. Glad you had such a fun time. Thanks for all the details!

[DisneyTeacher]

I love your report, reading it brings back many memories of our last trip. There are so many parts of your TR that remind me of our July trip. My DS was one of the kids playing in the fountain, he loved those as well as any ride there. We also love CoP, what a classic. We love the BW bakery, that place is worth the trip alone if you are not staying at the BW. The sweets are to die for. :love: Fantasia Gardens mini golf is a blast. I could go on and on.......

Thanks for the wonderful trip report.

[preidel24]

Loved your report. Sounds like you had a fabulous time. That is some DH you have there coffee and a muffin every morn (he's a keeper).

[mickaholic4077]

What a nice report!! Sounds like you're glad that you bought in to the DVC.

[WDWNutCase]

David just read my report and asked how I could forget listening in on the telephone conversation at that old fashioned "party line" phone in one of the shops on Main Street. If you haven't done this, we highly recommend. It was priceless!!!

[WDWNutCase]

Originally posted by preidel24
That is some DH you have there coffee and a muffin every morn (he's a keeper).

Yeah, he's definately a keeper. I do :heart him so :love: !

[trishb]

Great trip report! So easy to read...and interesting! You truly are a gifted writer. Hope your pictures turned out great.....and are award-winning (the goal of any photographer!)

[Dana]

The trip report rocks! I can't wait to hear hte end.

[llama]

Loved your report. And so glad that you liked the Boardwalk Villas. IMHO the DVC just can't be beat.

[BDavis932]

I LOVED your trip report. Great details....can't wait to see the pictures!!! (hint...hint!!)

[DougiesMommy]

What a great trip report! Glad y'all had so much fun and very relaxing as well.