Dec 22 - One Day Trip

Dec 22 - Day Trip

Cast of characters: Sandy (48), Judy (49), Seth (21), Sara (19), Elana (15).

This is the first time we drove down instead of taking the Auto Train in a while. We started our trip on Friday, December 19. We had to wait for Seth to come home from Cornell, since his last final ended at 2:30pm. We hit the road at 8:00pm and drove to Towson, Maryland to pick up Sara from school. The next morning we drove all the way to Savannah , Georgia and stayed overnight at a Fairfield Inn off of Exit 94.

Sunday, December 21

We were up early and had breakfast in the hotel. Georgia is the shortest of the states to drive through and we were in Florida after and hour and a half. We arrived at Old Key West at 3:00pm. My kids are older, but they still haven’t gotten over the thrill of the first site of Disney as we get off of I-4. The last time we stayed at Old Key West was in June, 1999 and as we drove past the gatehouse, I can’t explain the feeling of warmth of being here again and at the same time regret that it had been so long since we were there. For a split second, I regretted that we would only be here for one day, but since it was a short week and the trip was originally planned to visit my parents (who we also hadn’t visited in their Florida home since 1998), this had to be a short stay.

Check-in was easy. There was no line and we were assigned room 4423 in the Turtle Pond area, which has always been our favorite. Building 44 is convenient, since it is close to the bus stop. We brought our stuff into the room, changed into clean clothes and grabbed the bus to Downtown Disney. Since our PS for Planet Hollywood wasn’t until 6:00pm, we had an hour to walk through the Marketplace.

Dinner at Planet Hollywood was wonderful, but somehow I get the feeling that prices had climbed to meet the level of other Disney Restaurants. Even with the DVC discount, the bill was $132 with tip and all we had was salad and an entree.

After dinner, we bought tickets for Pleasure Island and went to the Comedy Warehouse first. Judy misread the sign and thought the first show wasn’t until 9:15, so we went to the Adventurer’s Club first. Sara and Elana never experienced Pleasure Island before, so for them this was really a treat. We visited the Mask Room and the Library before getting on line at the Comedy Warehouse.

Pleasure Island seemed much emptier than I remember it ever being, especially considering it was Christmas week. We got seats right up front, which is actually too close for me, since you have to look up at the stage. We exited and got on line for one more show before heading back to the room.

Monday, December 22

We all woke up at 7:00am and were at the bus stop by 8:30am. We didn’t have to wait long for the EPCOT bus and got to EPCOT in 15 minutes. We went through the gates and got to the back of the waiting throng just in time for the rope drop

We headed over to Mission Space with the rest of humanity. By the time we got there, the wait time was indicating 45 minutes. Rather than get a Fast Pass, we decided to gut it out, thinking that the wait time could be overestimated the first thing in the morning. We were on line for a few minutes and we asked a CM when the last chicken exit was for Judy's and Elana’s sake. I was surprised when he said to go now, thinking we still had a long wait ahead of us. No sooner had they left than we found ourselves heading to our capsule. The 45-minute wait had shrunk down to 10 minutes. Although someone had once suggested that you can wait until the last possible minute to chicken out (which is true), it really isn’t a good idea because once you get to the capsule and then leave, you’ve taken up a spot that someone else could have taken.

Mission:Space was a great experience. While I do agree that people who are susceptible to motion sickness probably should be cautious about riding it, if you follow the instructions to keep your head back, look straight ahead and not to close you eyes, you will be fine.

When we got out, we couldn’t find Judy or Elana. I tried to call Judy’s cell phone, but only got her voice mail. As I hung up, I received a message from her. So did Seth. So did Sara. Judy and Elana had gone on to Test Track, so I left her a message telling her that we would follow and meet them at the exit. Seth, Sara and I got on the singles line and when we got to the boarding area, we saw Judy and Elana pull up in their car. I gave Judy my camera to hold and before taking off.

After Test Track, Elana wanted to do SSE and went to check the wait time. It was 15 minutes, and while we wouldn’t normally wait that long, since we were only there for one day, we decided tradition had to be upheld.

After SSE, we headed on out of EPCOT and got on the monorail to the TTC. The line for the MK monorail was down the ramp, which didn’t bode well for what we were heading to. And we were right, because when we got to MK, it was packed. We went through the gates and took the brideg to Liberty Square so that we could get Fast Passes for HM, before heading to Fantasyland and Mickey’s Philharmagic. Had I realized the Mickey’s Philharmagic had a Fast Pass option, I probably would have taken those instead of the Haunted Mansion, but the wait was only 40 minutes, so we decided to wait. Elana and I got on line while Judy, Seth and Sara got pretzels. At one point I held up to let someone on an electric wheelchair through and a family got on the end of the line in front of us. I pointed out to them that the line was behind us, but wans’t in the mood to make an issue of it, since we were still near the end of the line anyway.

Mickey’s Philharmagic was a fun show, although I wonder why it’s not called Donald’s Philharmagic. We also wished it was a little longer. It seemed shorter than the other 3-D films.

We got out in time to use our fast pass for HM. It had been a while since we did HM in the daytime, we usually go at night, before FP, when the crowds were nonexistent. When we exited the stretching room, there was a bottleneck getting to the dune buggies, since the ride had stopped for a few minutes.

After HM, we headed to POTC. Seth ran ahead to BTMRR to get fast passes and met us at the entrance. It was 2:00 and we had PS for LTT, but I decided to take the chance. The wait for POTC was 25 minutes and we got out at 2:30 and had to hustle over to LTT. We originally had made PS for Tony’s Town Square, but changed due to suggestions I read on the DIS board and were glad we did. The service was great and the food better. I had the New England Clam Chowder, while everyone else had the Declaration Salad. They all had the Fresh From the Harbor (salmon), served on griddled pumpkin bread and I had the Colony Salad. I had noticed that another dish was accompanied by something described as a smoked cheddar cornbread and I asked Marsha, our server, if we could try it She brought us a plate of eight pieces along with our warm bread and aple honey butter. The salmon was served on a pumpkin bread that was delicious and we asked for the recipe, which Marsha happily provided.

When we finished, The Share A Dream parade was going on and we walked out of LTT to find ourselves in a perfect spot. So we stayed and watched until we saw Santa’s float approaching, signaling the end of the parade and headed over to BTMRR. Again, we don’t usually ride it during the day, so you tend to see things differently. I don’t recall the water at the top of the first hill.



	After BTMRR, we walked over to Tomorrowland to ride the TTA. When we went through Space Mountain, I noticed that it seemed brighter than I remembered. I realized it was because Space Mountain was down or some reason and we could see the whole structure it all its glory. When boarding TTA, we noticed that COP was open. It hadn’t been operating in many of our previous trips, so we jumped at the chance and made it our last attraction of the night. We headed out of the park at 6:00, stopping for ice cream at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. We got back to OKW and our car and left WDW for Boca Raton at 8:00pm.