Dean & Nancy's "Sampler Plate" Tour of WDW

I'm still updating, so check back often...

The flight to Orlando was crowded; there should be a law about having 2 fat people in the same row. Poor dean was squished between me and a bitter old fat woman and me. Ok, TWO old bitter fat women, haha… We took up most of his seat as well as our own. There was a cool in-seat video screen, and maps to so how far along we were in the flight. TV channels that didn't work; the movies cost 5 dollars per person, totally lame. There was food for sale, but we didn't eat. We tried to sleep a little, but it was difficult. No pillows. No space. Cramped and dry.

Once in Orlando, we rented a big white Chevy trailblazer, and had breakfast at cracker barrel, my mom's favorite country store. The gifts are country all right, the country of china…. We Took side streets over to the Belz mall. I kept thinking we were going thru trashy neighborhoods, until I realized that all the stores signs were broken from hurricane damage. It was then I started noticing piles of branches and fallen trees. Boarded up windows and plastic covered roofs too. Storage sheds balled up like tin foil. Scary stuff.

We arrived at the belz mall an hour before they opened, so we slept in the trailblazer until 10. Found both Disney outlet stores no problem, and bought lots of stuff for friends and family and ourselves. I got a sweet winter Eeyore, dressed in purple. Tons of shirts and postcards, great selection at both stores. Checked out the universal outlet store also, and picked up a couple of things. Fun

Drove down international drive past all the interesting attractions, so much to see, reminded us of vegas, but with no hope of coming home with more money than you left with. Went to Publix grocery store for a little food in our room, and a cheap chinese lunch that was yummy. Arrived at port orleans about 2:30 pm, for 3 o clock check in

This package has been booked since June, and I've called several times over the months to ask questions and stuff. I even called 3 days ago to request a smoking room, and a fridge. Well I got the fridge ok, but they didn't have a smoking room available. WHAT. ?!?!?! omg. I was so tired and wiped from the overnight flight that I just stood there with tears streaming down my face.. They ended up putting us in a non-smoking room but giving us ashtrays and telling us that we could smoke anyways. I wanted to change resorts by this time. I was so mad. She offered to have us move mid-way thru the week. Fuck that. She eventually told me that we could stay in the non smoking room all week and they would bring ashtrays.

The rooms are decorated cute, but hardly well appointed. Very minimal. Not even paper and pen to write notes. Coffee thrown down on the counter. No lotion, no shower cap, no mouthwash, no shoe shine cloth etc. not that I use most of that crap, but the rack rate on this room, according to the back of the door is $184 a night. HAHAHHAHAHA. I've stayed in $80 hotel rooms that are better appointed than this. I understand that I need to factor in the themeing. But still. It's like miles from the magic kingdom area. Screaming kids walking by our room. They put us downstairs, which my feet appreciate, but its too close to the pool, too noisy, can't even slightly open our blinds because of the traffic walking by our room. We finally got unpacked and rested a little.

I had a 7:10 PS at California grill, and we debated about skipping it, but we thought showers might feel nice, so we got ready and bussed it over to the MK, then monorail to the contemporary, could have walked, but the monorail is funner.

Dinner at the CA Grill was fantastic. We spent like 4 hours in there, had a great meal on our wish plan, great service, beautiful view.

I cried all the way thru the fireworks show. They turned the lights down in the restaurant and piped in the music. Wishes do come true, it said, and it was just the pixie dust I needed. It really is a lifetime dream that I'm even here at all. Despite crappy hotel rooms and crappy service at my hotel, I will have fun on this trip.

Eating at the CA grill was perfect in every way. For appetizers, we had the sushi and the crab sutffed artichoke, then for dinner I had pork medallions on polenta with mushrooms YUM SO GOOD, and dean had the free-form pumpkin lasagna but he wished he had ordered mine. haha.

After a long dinner, and dessert and coffee, we hopped back on the monorail to the TTC, then on the monorail to Epcot, then the bus to the hotel. Phrew, getting around here is crazy. We saw a lot of the place though, we kind of wanted to ride around on monorails all evening!! We decided to get off the bus at the Riverside, and walk back to the FQ. The Riverside is very pretty also, and the walk between them is a nice stroll.

Came home, tried to hook up my laptop to get online, not having any luck. So I pulled my photos off my camera and went to bed.

Dean set the alarm and I called for a wake up call. Dean decided at some point that he didn't need both the alarm and wake up call, so he turned off the alarm, then hung up the phone after the wake up call, (no character greeting either, by the way, just the ringing phone, then nothing) and didn't wake me up for an hour afterward. shit. We had PS for breakfast with eeyore for my birthday.!!!!!!! Oh well, no time to get there now. No eeyore birthday breakfast for me. shit.

Oh yeah... I'm 40.

That makes me feel so much better, and there are more screaming children outside. I made myself coffee, using both packets of coffee in one pot, and for some reason it was still not very strong, weird. I added some instant flavored from home.

Dean went back to sleep, he's grumpy.

I just want to know where my birthday flowers are. .. I guess I'm grumpy too.

at home, I had set out a pamphlet about ordering flowers here at wdw, and left it out for him, so when he asked me wanted I wanted for my birthday about a week ago, and I told him that I had left it out, had to show it too him, he had not noticed the brightly colored paper on top of the cd player he uses multiple times a day. He said "I was already gonna do that" ok cool. well its my b-day right now, where are my flowers? sigh. Do I have to wait around here for them? I don't want to ask him, mostly because I'm afraid he didn't order any.

Having trouble getting online. I can connect to Orlando numbers, but it won't take my password. I am able to use the Lancaster dial up number!!! But not the local numbers, it wont accept my password... I called the front desk to find out how much the internet access was here at the hotel, and they have me the usual answer "we don't have that"

I'm uploading photos from yesterday... just raw, & resized. no editing. High cost. Blah.

There is maintenance man drilling on something very loudly, it's rattling the entire building.

it's 6am California time... deans in pain and trying to sleep.

oh yeah, and I'm 40.

As I type this at 11:27pm FL time, I can hear the noises of children from here in my room.

Back to this morning… the noise upstairs was still going on, loud drilling like noise that was trembling the whole building. We went to the food court for breakfast, not too bad, eggs and french toast. I tried those benight things everyone raves about, no biggy. . We decided to go to Epcot, it was the park we most wanted to see. I wore my b-day pin from last year at Disneyland, since I didn't have a new one for this year.

We got ready, and the front desk called and my flowers had arrived. Yay Dean.

Lovely lavender roses, and the hotel clerk, Amber, who also checked us in, blew up balloons and she delivered it all herself. As soon as they arrived, we left for Epcot. I took one of my balloons with me, and carried it all day. On the bus ride, I noticed many fallen trees in the groves along the way. Tried to get photos, its hard in the bus. At Epcot bag check, the security guard noticed my california birthday pin, and snuck around and brought me an Epcot b-day pin, very nice of her.

The first ride we rode was Spaceship Earth, very Disney like, a fun dark ride.

Then we went into ice station cool, and I now know what “smart watermelon” is. We tried all the funky soda, even the Beverly, which we already knew was nasty.

From there we went to the imagination institute, and rode the figment ride. Fun. Cute Disney dark ride action. Then we sent off a photo from the Kodak booths. maybe i put in my email address wrong, it never came.

saw an uprooted tree. but that was the only hurricane damage i noticed at epcot.

I loved that big fountain in the middle of Future world or whatever its called. Great fountain show.

The food & wine festival was going on, and there were tons of little booths selling snack size portions of food from all over the globe. I snacked my way, and dean drank his way, all around the world. I loved how there was merchandise in each area that was actually manufactured in that particular country, except the America section, where nearly everything was made in China.

We loved England, bought some lavender cologne and powder, loved morocco, dean loved the tin toy display in japan, I loved the department store in japan, loved the train, loved everything, cant wait to go back.

The girls at the food booth in France sang happy birthday to me in English AND French We rode Maelstrom in Norway, and watched flamenco dancers, and shopped a lot too. We vowed to go around the world showcase once more before we leave, we missed a lot of the movies and stuff. We started on Canada side, and next time we will start with the Mexico boat ride and go around again. Missed a lot of the attractions inside the various countries. too busy eating :)

We left Epcot right before Illuminations, because we had a PS at the Whispering Canyon Café at the Wilderness Lodge.

The WL does look similar to the GCH, but its more casual, and more of a Wyoming or Montana lodge theme. Dinner was very fun, the waitstaff yell and tease everyone. For my birthday, I was made to ride a wooden stick horse around the restaurant singing happy birthday, loudly, to myself. After dinner, people all over the hotel wished me happy birthday. We laughed a lot, and ate a lot, and had to get a cab back to the French Quarter, haha, it was $9.75 plus tip!! Everything here is too spread apart!!

When we returned, there were towel animals waiting for me, YAY… $2 tip for the maid that I left this morning was money well spent.

Tomorrow: boat rentals, pool time, magic kingdom/Halloween party

7am FL 10-20-04 I woke up early, 6:15, worried about the price of those long distance internet sessions. I got dressed and went up to the lobby. The resort is so quiet this time of day. (normally it's bustling with people) So, Bev printed my bill so far, and I looked it over, I have 13 .75-cent charges from local calls where I could not get thru, and one charge for long distance for 30 minutes at $33.65. ouch. I knew it was going to be bad, the rate is “operator assisted day rate plus 55% surcharge” so they charge the maximum long distance rate, and 55% just to fuck you more. This is typical of a hotel anywhere, didn't surprise me. The thing was, I had made TWO of these long distance calls, and only one was showing up. I asked about this, and Bev had no clue as to why the other call was not on the bill. While I stood there, I looked over toward the food court and noticed people walking in, I asked Bev “what time does the food court open?” “ummm hold on…” me: it's ok, I'll walk over there and check “oh ok, I'm not on the right screen” worthless. Bev asked me WHY I needed to get on the internet, like that matters. She also asked another clerk about the 2nd charge, and the other lady did not know either. I hinted about them removing the .75 cent calls, and they hmmmed a little, and I said, “It's ok, I'll ask about those again later” “Yeah, you will have to ask a manager about those” I have never been to a hotel where the clerks didn't have the authority to remove wrong numbers from a bill. Amazingly worthless clerks.

I chuckled and shook my head as I walked across to the food court, it was open, but the “real” food didn't open until 7. I walked around the pool area, picked up a towel, and walked to the hot tub and soaked my feet for few minutes.

Dean and I went down to the Riverside and rented sea raycers and putted up and down the sassagoula river, past lots of fallen trees. They were fun, but too slow for our tastes. Played at the riverside arcade, then even have pinball - lucky them. ( we spent a lot of time at our own arcade as well, dean won 4 plush halloween toys from the claw machine over the week, and we also saw this funny warning label)

Then we went swimming in the pool here at the French Quarter, and dean loved that water slide. We saw Squirrels & lizards everywhere :) at our resort, other resorts, and in the parks too. At the Magic Kingdom, we even saw bunnies hopping around.

Happy Birthday to Me

After a short rest, we left for the Magic Kingdom, and "Mickey's not so scary Halloween party". Magic Kingdom is surreal… everything seemed so familiar, and yet I was lost the whole time…I stood in amazement as I walked under the train tracks and onto main street. It wasn't overwhelmingly huge, like I expected it to be, it did seem a lot taller, and while I knew it was bigger, I guess my expectations had grown out of proportion, it didn't seem “that” big. We stopped at City Hall and I told him how I was wearing last years birthday pin, and he handed me a shiny new MK birthday pin. YAY.

First we had dinner reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern. Open the map, where is Liberty Square?? Ok found it, where frontierland should be, found the restaurant and a nearby smoking area…oh, like 7 smoking areas at the MK by the way, very nice.

Liberty Tree Tavern is a colonial themed place, and for Halloween, the servers had scary face paint on, and their hair spiked up and gray. One of the servers told me that I had a phone call at the check in desk, hee hee. They noted my birthday on the PS card, when we sat down at the table there was Mickey confetti and streamers on the table. I thought it was cute and all, but it took me a while to realize that the other tables didn't have confetti, it was just for ME. How sweet! All of the characters were dressed for halloween, they all stopped for photos. The waitstaff sang me a colonial style birthday song, and gave me a card signed by the characters, very cool. Dinner was excellent, the coffee was the best coffee that I've had all week, seriously the coffee here sucks, but LTT's coffee was excellent, I also got a cup to go!!

It was especially surreal, this being our first time in the MK, because the halloween party was going on. It was a fun party with fortune tellers and lots of decorations, and I got the feeling that there were more "locals" than usual this night. People didnt seem interested in riding rides, and if they did ride, they talked loudly and traded candy the whole time. The whole park was lit with orange green and purple lights, silhouettes of ghosts and mickey head bats, bales of hay, costumed CM's, all very cool.

The lines for trick or treat candy were long. The lines for rides were very short. Dean got his face painted, bandit style. The fireworks were GREAT and included shots going off all around the perimeter of the park, we didnt know where to look, I was very impressed.

We rode almost everything that was open …I don't remember now what order we rode them in, but it was something like…
*swiss family treehouse, a classic
*tiki room under new management, updated, and more fun that i feared
* POTC, loved the queue, a good ride
*big thunder mt,
*haunted mansion, amazing looking from the outside, looks more like the one from the movie, too many eye-follow-head-turning effect busts in the gallery... it was just nice to see the attraction from a different viewpoint.
*mickeys philharmagic, great to see them using classic characters in a 4d movie
*the riverboat with Halloween storytelling and a band,
*space mountain, LOVED IT dang i miss that ride
*tomorrowland transit authority, LOVED IT we miss the peoplemover too
*and buzz lightyear twice without getting out of the car. cant wait till we get ours!!!

We missed the parades tho, too busy riding rides. Closed the park at midnight… coolest of all.

Next day (Thursday) bored of the French Quarter… we ate breakfast at the Caribbean Beach resort, they have nice grounds there to walk around, very pretty. They have cool birds and fish and turtles swimming around, and you can buy food for them, that was fun .

…Then dean dropped me off at Typhoon Lagoon and I rode around in a inner tube, and played in the big wave pool, had a yummy mai tai at the bar. A water park with a bar is all right with me... Dean took the happy boat to DtD and went happy shopping at happy virgin megastore.

When I got home from the water park, I finally got online, I called my ISP for help again.......YAY!!!!! internet access rocks!!!!!!!!

After a short nap, we got ready and took the bus to MK then the boat to fort wilderness, took a horse drawn carriage ride in the dark, and had a great time at the hoop de doo revue, it was hysterical. It was the 3rd show of the night and they were obviously making impromptu jokes because the cast was laughing so hard at times that they had difficulty saying their lines. Our sides hurt from laughing. Oh, yeah, the food was pretty good too.

We thought the bus ride home from ft wilderness was going to be a bus to DtD, then another bus to POFQ, but they set up busses to each resort especially for the hoop de doo crowd, that was a very pleasant surprise. Saw several deer on tonights bus ride, and other bus rides also. Tonight we also saw armadillo!! Wow.

Once home, I started typing more of this, and we decided to go get in the hot tub (it never closes, that's a plus) we met a fun couple from Chicago (kate and steve, I think) with similar tastes in movies, and we chatted & drank beers together in the hot tub until 2am. Phrew.

Day 5 we went to MGM for lunch at the sci fi diner, which was a blast. Before lunch, we got fastpasses for Rock n Rollercoaster. We got there about an hour early for lunch, but we only had to wait 15 minutes. I had the shrimp penne pasta, and it was delicious. The movie trailer loop was fun, and including many films that we know, and have shown on Dumpsterpiece Theatre. We ordered salad, main dish, and b-day dessert, and still had to watch about 30 minutes of the movie loop twice. Why isn't it longer? That bothered me.

After lunch we saw “sounds dangerous with drew carrey” and killed a little time shopping, on the way to RnRc. We didn't buy anything. I really like the architecture at MGM; the buildings are all very cool. Classic LA in many places. I liked RnRc a lot. It banged my head a little, like corkscrews do, but overall it was fun. I liked the music and the little pre show. But as coasters go, I still like Cali better at DCA… smoother and longer ride, only the launch is similar to RnRc.

After that we rode the Great Movie Ride. I liked the footprints outside. The line was long, and I almost fell asleep several times in dark spots. It's a little dated, but a cute ride. We headed back toward the backlot tram tour, and on our way we got to thinking about universal studios, been there done that, and how we sort of just wanted to go back to the hotel, so we did. So much of MGM is repeated at DCA, that we didn't feel cheated at all leaving after 4 hours. Overall, I liked MGM better than I thought I would. It's a pretty park with full-grown trees and lovely architecture. Really nice smoking areas with plenty of benches and shade. I liked it.

Got back to our room and sorted thru our gifts and got some ready to ship home. Took a bag of stuff to the lobby, we were told that they would ship UPS from there. So I stopped at the gift shop, stood in line, told the lady I wanted to ship this stuff. She says ok, and hands me a form to fill out, tells me it will be 10-12 days for delivery. Yuk. I filled out the entire form and asked about packing the box, she said “they pack it in a warehouse” hmmm ok. She went and got me a box to hold my stuff. Then told me that I needed receipts for all of the merchandise in the bag. Huh? Why? Some of this stuff was stuff from home, etc. Why can't I ship whatever I want? And she said, “oh, for UPS shipping you need to go to guests services” …Ugh, what a colossal waste of time.

So I got in line at guest services, get to the window, tell the woman, nikki, that I need to ship a package UPS, and she says “oh, I don't know how to do that, but we can learn together” nikki turned to the woman next to her at the counter, and that other woman says “I'm going to lunch” and slaps a roll of packing tape up on the counter. (no dispenser) Nikki handed me a pair of scissors, and this hungry woman said “you cant give her scissors” to which I said “whatever, I'll use my teeth” she finally relented when she realized that we were going to pack our box right there in the lobby. Nikki handed me a form to fill out, and we taped up the bottom of the box. I read the form and it said that they don't do any UPS on Saturdays. Only Monday-Friday. As this was Saturday morning, I now had a couple of days to pack the box, since it won't go out until Monday anyway. Sigh. That is typical of the “service” here at the French Quarter.

We finally relaxed for a while, and then took the boat to Downtown Disney.
Huge.
Confusing.
Lost.
Crowded.
Friday night wasn't the best time for my first visit to DtD. I got to shop a little at the pooh store, but dean wanted to go to pleasure island, I was hungry ... “no kids” he says, “ok ok, but I'm hungry” ..... “they have food” “ok ok”
Loud.
Confusing.
Hungry.
Crowded.
Lost.
First club we almost went into, the Jazz club, we asked if they had food, “no, you but there is Fultons right there” ugh. Fultons is a cool looking steamboat crab house. We didn't want a big meal. Looked around a little, and found some snack shops, and ate standing up at a table outdoors. I had some chicken strips, they were good.

We went back to the jazz club, heard the music coming out, sounded like elevator music, and decided to go to the rock n roll beach club. It was ok, there was a band playing which was cool, but we only caught the last song. I ate a jello shooter, yummy. Stuck around a little, but they were playing dance music, so we bailed. No smoking inside these clubs, that was annoying, but even more annoying outdoors, was the incredibly amount of STROLLERS everywhere. Kids kids kids every where you look. I was so disappointed about that. I don't get why people take their kids in there, when there is alcohol all over DtD anyway. Toddlers to teenagers, the place was NOT adults only. Some clubs even allowed them inside! Ugh.

The bright spot of the evening was the Adventurers club, we'd always heard that it was cool, and it surely was. I was confused at first, and felt like everyone else knew what was goin on besides me. Didn't take us long to get in the spirit of things, and by the end of the evening we were honorary members, haha, kungaloosh and all that stuff. There was a quiet waterside smoking area right out back that we enjoyed.

I could have stayed longer but I really was tired. Alcohol just knocks me out. We walked to the wrong bus stop, even though 2 or 3 employees told us we were going the right way, well it was a bus stop that closed early. Shit. Walked all the way back, snapped a photo or two.... finally got a bus to the hotel. Got online and chatted with friends until 3am. Oopsie.

Now its morning and I'm so tired, haha, we are going to the Polynesian Resort for breakfast and Boat Rentals.

THE POLY ROCKS… omg its so pretty, and very tiki in a 70's small world ish kinda way. They were celebrating their birthday, all the CM's had buttons. Cute. We had a casual brunch (cheeseburger and a pulled pork sandwich) at the snack bar captain something, and ate out with a view of the water. We explored the Ceremonial House (main lobby) and then went out and rented speedboats. ZOOM ZOOM those were really fun. The ones we rented at the FQ were slow because the river is too small, but the ones of the seven seas lagoon go fast fast!!! What a blast!

We shopped a little then said good bye (for now) to the Polynesian Resort.

Quick stop at downtown Disney to pick up a special crystal mickey thing with our wishes tickets. Grabbed a couple of sandwiches from “earl of sandwich” and they were REALLY good. Took them to the room and ate them while I got on the phone with Disney dining to find a place for dinner tonight. We wanted to make sure we used up all our wishes. After asking about a few places, the lady recommended Flying Fish Café at the boardwalk, and we were planning on going to the boardwalk later, so that worked.

Rested a little, Dean took off before me to Epcot, and I was to meet him later. I slept a while longer, (up till 3, remember) and also left for epcot. The plan was to ride test track, and several of the world showcase attractions that we missed Tuesday, and see illuminations. Dean got on mission space, and test track, before I got there. Before I met up with dean, I rode test track also, single rider was quick. Fun ride, I mostly enjoyed the fast part.

World Showcase was crazy crowded, but i got some cool photos. Saturday night and the food & wine festival. I didn't get to see any of the films I missed, it was just too crowded. The lines for the snacks were long all over. I was really glad i tried all the food on Tuesday.

We had special illuminations “preferred viewing” passes that came with our dreammaker package. We were made to call ahead 24 hours to use them. I managed to call ahead, and when we got there, ½ hour before the fireworks started, the 10 feet of waterfront space was already taken by 12 or so people. There was more space behind the people, but why would I want to stand behind someone? There was plenty of waterfront space outside this so-called preferred area, so I told the woman, “Is that it? Where is the preferred section?”
“This is it”
Me: “That's not preferred, that's an exit queue, am I supposed to stand behind those people?”
“Sorry”
Me: “what a waste of time”

Disney people are always so polite when they say “tough shit”… we seriously could have stood anywhere we wanted, that whole preferred shit is a LIE. Nothing special about that area AT ALL. It was already blocked viewing ½ an hour before the show. Should have called it a “dreamwrecker package” . We got a perfect spot along the water about 10 feet away from the sucker preferred area.

Oh and too many people told me how wonderful illuminations was going to be, because I wasn't all that impressed. I liked the spotlights, and the fireworks were cool, but I guess I was expecting to be blown away, and a lit up rotating planet did not blow me away.

After the fireworks we made our way out the international gateway and over to the boardwalk area. Short walk, cool place to stay, so close to Epcot.

We made it to our PS at flying fish right on time. We liked Flying Fish Café A LOT. The service was perfect, our server Michael knew everything about the dishes, and even looked up something to clarify, when we asked about a particular spice… and the food was excellent. We split the appetizers, Cesar salad ( with a yummy baked cheese wafer thing) and ahi tuna tartare (with caviar) for appetizer, (yes, we love raw tuna) … then I had mahi mahi with pesto cheesy risotto, which was excellent, and dean had some spicy swordfish with soy noodles that he liked also. I ordered a pretty dessert, mixed berries with rice pudding on top, and a cool spun candy dome on top… the people at the table next to us “ooh and aah'd” about it so much, that I added another to my order and sent it to their table, didn't cost me anything, because the wishes dinner comes with 2 appetizer, 2 main dish, 2 desserts. So basically I gave them deans dessert. They were thrilled. Just spreading some magic around

Flying Fish Café Dinner menu listing for amber's amusement...
since they print the menu's everyday, I took one home.

Heart Of Romaine Caesar Salad Parmigiano-Reggiano Crisp, Garlic Croutons $8
Ahi Tuna Tartare Miso Dressing, Sesame Crackers, Pickled Red Cabbage, American Sturgeon Caviar $14
Togarashi Dusted Swordfish with a Salad Of Somen Noodles, Crispy Vegetables And Shiitake Mushrooms, in a Soy Ginger Vinaigrette $31
Wood Fired Mahi Mahi on Basil Risotto, Confit Currant Tomatoes, And Sweet Onion Filled Piquillo Pepper $30
Mixed Berry Compote with Vanilla Rice Pudding $8

It was an excellent meal. perhaps the best of the whole trip, right up there with the CA grill.

After that fantastic dinner, we walked down to jellyrolls.

Paid 7 bucks each to get in, not knowing what to expect, but having heard so many people say it was cool. We had a great time, we sang along and requested songs, and stayed until 2am. The piano players, 4 of them, rotated throughout the night, they were all really good. Great fun!

If so many bars are open until 2, why do the busses stop running also at 2?

Good question. Some idiot bellman at the Boardwalk told us, after 2am, that indeed the busses were still running, to downtown disney. I didnt believe him... I asked him again, “Are you sure? I don't want to get stranded at pleasure island waiting for the bus to port Orleans” … “yes I'm sure”

we walked down the hill to a bus stop, only to find out that they were NOT running, just as I thought.

Walked back up the hill, found the bellman along with other security and bellman, and told him “the busses don't run past 2” "who told you that?" YOU DID!! and he then DENIED telling me that. Haha. Just to save face in front of his co-workers, he blatantly lied about ever speaking to me. A girl at the bell desk called us a cab, it was only 6 bucks this time, not bad.

“Never trust the answers of Disney employees, they very often have no idea what they are talking about”

The place is so large, and so much going on, that its impossible for them all to know every little thing. I would expect that they could answer questions pertaining to the resort at which they work. sigh.

For good coffee in your room, use bottled water - wish I thought of this earlier in the week.

Sunday morning the wake up call was set for 9:30. I ran out of bottled water to make coffee, had to go to the food court. What a madhouse. Every table was full, even out near the bar, and lines at every food station. I got some water and some fruit and headed back to my room. The walls are simply too thin here. I can hear children whether they are in their room or out doors. Ugh. Something to remember for next time. As much as I love the architecture and theme and landscaping of this resort, I will not stay here again. I'm in “good bye mode” knowing that our trip is nearing its end. Won't be hard to leave this hotel.

Finally got up and went to animal kingdom about 1pm, haha they close at 5. oh well, we saw plenty. Had lunch at flame tree, We rode the safari ride and the train ride, and did two of the jungle trail things. The asian trail was my favorite. Lots of cool animals, and it's a lovely park. What separates it from the zoo is that instead of focusing solely on the animals' habitats, DAK also ensures that the guests have a pleasant themed environment as well. I loved the CM's costumes, the scenery and overall atmosphere. I liked it a lot.I called my mom, Took our time leaving after park closing, went to the AKL for dinner at Boma. It's an African food buffet. Very exotic dishes, I had fun trying things I'd never heard of. I took very small portions of many things. I liked almost all of it. Nice server too, we chatted about DCA. :)

We wanted to do miniature golf AND disneyquest tonight, haha, but we only got to disneyquest. I loved it. Anytime I can play pinball without adding quarters is a good time for me. We also browsed around guitar gallery for way too long, hahaha

Why doesn't our DtD have disneyquest? I didn't get to make my own roller coaster, bummer, but we did play the POTC game, really cool. Came back to the hotel, ordered pizza, it was pretty good, and started packing

As I type this, we are flying over the Gulf of Mexico at 34,000 feet.

Got up at 7 on check out day. That's 4am California time. My birthday roses had a couple of days left on them, and I wanted to give them to Amber the desk clerk who checked us in. She really tried hard to accommodate us, and she was the one that brought balloons for my birthday. There was a long line at the check in desk, and one lady sort of working. People in line were mad. I didn't find amber. I asked the bell desk for a cart for our luggage, and they wont let us use them. I didn't feel like tipping a bellman, so we took our out baggage. I ended up giving my roses to the housekeeping ladies. I hope they hold on to them for a few days. We also left some soda and cheese that I hope they take home.

Overall the service at the French Quarter was barely mediocre. There were a few helpful people, but the front desk crew were rarely able to answer questions. They made the end of our vacation a little easier to swallow, I could not wait to check out of that hotel.

We originally intended to go to cocoa beach today, but we chickened out. We were afraid we'd hit traffic and miss our flight.

Instead we played miniature golf at Fantasia Gardens, shopped at the premium outlet, shipped out our packages UPS, (decided to use a local UPS store, I simply didnt trust the people at the POFQ) and took a haunted tour of “skull kingdom”

Fantasia is an adorable mini golf course. We had free tickets with out dreamwrecker package, but it's worth the $10 admission. Very cute statuary – with water sprays, music and a cute story along the way. They also have “the fairway” mini golf course, which is a truly miniature golf course with sand traps and hazards etc. They called it the “worlds hardest mini golf course” which is why we chose the gardens.

I got a hole in one on my first shot of the game, hehe, but Dean led for most of the course.
part way thru, I said “you are winning honey”
first he said “YAY”
Then he looks at me with a cute grin and said, “I wish you were winning too!”
Haha… that's why I love him.
By the end of the course we had tied, (!!) both playing 1 over par for the course.

Skull Kingdom is an excellent haunt. We recommend it highly for anyone who loves haunted attractions. Great stuff. I don't want to give too much away. Very well done, but the gift shop was lousy …I wanted to buy a couple of t-shirts, they didn't have any. Only generic skulls and magic tricks. Nonetheless, it was worth the trouble of visiting.

The flight home, even though it takes longer because of the trade winds, seemed shorter than the flight to Orlando. Maybe its just that the trip home always goes too quickly.

Fun trip overall. We did so many cool things, its hard to pick a favorite. Plenty of things left to do for another trip. Next time I will seriously consider staying off property. Or at the All Stars, or at one of the DtD area hotels.

maybe in a few years ...haha

Thanks for reading :)