(EDIT: I’ve added some of my scanned photos to this post!)
Well, I’m back. Hey, how ya doing?
I’ll go over my trip now! Yay!
The first day we left memphis and flew to Charlotte. We didn’t get to stay in Charlotte long, we headed straight to Orlando. We got there and a shuttle picked us up and took us to the hotel.
Oh this hotel. It was kind of gross, I mean, I guess it could have been a LOT worse, but still. After the super nice hotel room at Animazement, this room was just kinda… you know. With the sink outside the bathroom and extremely uncomfortable beds and the constant sound of cars on the highway. Ash and I had our own room, which was nice. We kept it a mess most of the time, as you can imagine. The tub leaked. The lighting was horrid. One night we had to settle on getting things to eat out of the store downstairs. I was eating a Chef Boyardee spaghetti meal and managed to spill a good portion on the comforter. I took the comforter off and left it on the floor (it was like, 11 at night, so I couldn’t call for a new one or anything). The next day I left it out with the stain RIGHT THERE for the maid to see, thinking she’d change it. Well, of course SHE DIDN’T! Ugh, I came back and that thing was back on the bed. So the next day I laid it out again and left a note “DIRTY!!! PLEASE CHANGE!!” with a big arrow pointing to the stain. Did she change? NO! Ugh. It was so gross. The breakfast buffet was pretty ok, tho.
We couldn’t check in when we got there. We couldn’t go to our rooms til FOUR – it was like, 11 in the morning then. So we checked our luggage and decided to go to Epcot.
We didn’t catch the “Bethany Bus” shuttle that day – we paid a driver to take us to Downtown Disney. From there, he said, we could catch a Disney bus to Epcot. We sat out in the blazing sun at Downtown Disney for a good 20 minutes before a bus finally came. And it wasn’t our bus. But we got on anyway, since it was air conditioned. It took us to one of the Disney resorts… I can’t remember the name of it, but it was like… Boardwalk or something, really neat. It was gorgeous, I loved that place, that’s where I’m staying next time. From there we caught a ferry to Epcot.
Epcot was awesome! I really enjoyed Epcot, but we never really got to stay very long. By the time we got there that day it was already kind of late. And our parents immediately wanted to watch a show. The first wasn’t so bad – The British Invasion, who looked like the Beatles but played lots of different British Invasion songs, you know. And it didn’t last long. But then they wanted to go see Off-Kilter. We managed to pull them away from Off-Kilter after two songs, and we started walking around some more. We didn’t get to eat, but we watched the parade (really cool) and part of the fireworks. Mom started dragging us to the parking lot so we could catch the Bethany Bus when they were half over. Then we had to sit out in the parking lot for an hour waiting on the stupid Bethany Bus.
UGH! The Bethany Bus. This was the free shuttle service to the parks – they arrived at the hotel a certain time, and they had pick up times. You know. I hated being at the mercy of the shuttles. We had to plan our whole days around the shuttle schedules, and missed out on a lot of stuff we wanted to do because of it. And often the buses were too crowded… so, after a long day of walking around a hot park, we had to STAND in the bus for fifteen minutes to go back to the hotel. Yuck.
Also, we didn’t realise how crowded the restaurants in the parks would become, and that night (and the next night) we ended up eating microwaveable stuff out of the store in the lobby. (And thus, Chef Boyardee comforter)
The next day we got up and went to the Magic Kingdom. We rode the Astro Orbiters (Orbitors? urgh), ExtraTERROR… urm, I can’t remember how to spell that either, LOL, Space Mountain, Carousal of Progress, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Pirates of the Carribean (I KNOW that’s not spelled right ><; CarriBEAN…), Haunted Mansion, and Big Thunder Mountain. I think that’s it. The Fastpass thing was GREAT, too. Space Mountain was my favourite. I remembered Pirates and the Haunted Mansion from the first time we went AGES ago.
The Haunted Mansion was my fav, I loved it. And the best part was, because of the storms outside, the power went off while we were riding it – not once, not twice, but THREE times! XD It was spooky and neat… hehehe.
Lunch at the parks was great, that was the best damn hamburger I’ve ever had.
After Magic Kingdom we were dead tired. I spent the first of my money and bought one of those big Goofy hats, LOL. We took the monorail back over to Epcot and hung around there until our stupid Bethany Bus arrived.
OH I did a nice little Goofy act at Epcot… (I was still wearing my new Goofy hat at that point). I was holding one of those bouncy light-up balls and dropped it. I went running after it and slipped (didn’t fall, just slipped). It was quite Goofy, I almost wish more people had been around to see it, LOL!
We ended up eating out of the store again that night. But since I’d had that good lunch, it wasn’t such a big deal.
Friday we went to MGM, which turned out to be my favourite of all the parks. We got there early and walked straight up to Star Tours and rode it, no wait. Hehe, that was fun. I got a Star Tours badge that says “Smuggler” and Ash got a “Jedi Master” one… they were supposed to be like passports, but I couldn’t figure out why they’d give a Smuggler a passport.
Then we went and fastpassed Indiana Jones, and went to ride the Tower of Terror. Tower of Terror ended up being my absolute favourite ride out of any of the parks. The line wasn’t too long so we didn’t wait long. It was just an awesome ride, the kind of ride I like. You know, anything that makes your stomach drop out like that, LOL. The first time we got air, dad’s park pass and fastpass went sailing out of his shirt pocket. Andy, Ash’s dad, was right in front of him, and dad was going, “Dude!! Dude!! Catch my parkpass!!” Ash’s Star Tours badge floated pretty good, too.
We went and watched Indiana Jones (none of us got picked for it this time) and it was the same as I remembered last time. I bought an “official” indiana jones hat 😀
MISTER FAN!!! I bought one the day before, before we left for the Magic Kingdom. That thing is a god-send. It’s a water sprayer with a fan attached. You turn the fan on and spray the water, and it makes a nice mist of water. It’s SO GREAT. We always put ice water in it… I got to where I left the fan on me almost all the time XD
We made reservations to eat at the Sci Fi diner that afternoon (we finally learned to do that), and then went to ride the Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster. That was another great ride, but Tower of Terror still ranked above it in my book. We went and rode the backlot tour (same ride as before when we went in 88-ish?… just with some new Pearl Harbor stuff added), then fastpassed the Aerosmith coaster again.
The Sci Fi diner was so cool! The walls and ceiling were domed and painted like a night sky. The tables were shaped like old cars, and there was a huge screen in front playing old drive-in movie sci fi trailers (The Amazing Colossal Man!!)… so the whole place was like a drive in movie. It was sooo cool. Once again, I had a great dinner/lunch (it was 3 in the afternoon… I guess that’s lunch?) Then we rode the Great Movie Ride, and headed back to the coaster.
After we rode the Aerosmith coaster for the second time, we came out and it was STORMING. I don’t mean just a little storm… this was a downpour with huge thunder and lightning. It had rained at Magic Kingdom the day before, but we found a restaurant to sit in and wait it out. We had bought some ponchos so we were prepared. We got them on, cause we had to go catch that stupid Bethany Bus. Several people had told us, “DON’T WEAR SANDALS TO THE PARKS!” I had listened to them for the first two days and wore my tennis shoes, but I had had enough of it that day. I opted for my sandals (the big athletic kind that stay on good, but are made to get wet… you know. they were actually men’s sandals, but I don’t care!), and because of all the rain and high water in the streets…. everybody but me had soaking tennis shoes. Haha!
Saturday, our parents rented a car and went to the Kennedy Space Center while Ash and I stayed at the hotel. We swam for a while, but the pool got too crowded and we left. We then took a four hour nap. We figured out parents would spend maybe 3 or 4 hours at the Kennedy Center… well, no, they left at 10 and didn’t get back til 7:30. We were soooo bored. But we all loaded into the car when they got back and headed to a shopping center… and FAO Schwarz. We stayed in there for quite a while. Ash ended up buying the new Spiderman action figure (with 30 points of articulation!), and I got ANOTHER Star Wars blaster (it was on sale! 5 bucks!!) and some Powerpuff girl magnets. Tho there was a lot more I wanted!! And they were playing the japanese Gundam Wing opening song in there. I thought that was weird. I forgot how much I used to like that song tho! Oh, and I bought a new lemur. This one has a little baby around it’s neck! I named them Lily and Harry, to go with Padfoot, Prongs and Moony. They were in good company, since Ash had bought a Rafiki at Magic Kingdom the day before.
We ate at a mediocre place for dinner, then went back to the hotel. Mom managed to get food poisoning and spend all night throwing up. The dads took the car back that morning, so it was just me, Ash and Ash’s mom Jean eating breakfast that morning. We went to Animal Kingdom that day, and did some stuff. I can’t really remember much about Animal Kingdom, for some reason. We went on a safari thing, and saw the Bug’s Life show, and I guess we ate somewhere… I DO remember that I had a churro, yum. OH! We ate at McDonald’s, that’s right. We rode the Dinosaur ride, which was kind of goofy. Then we went back to epcot… saw the Honey I shrunk the Audience show, and ate in Japan at Mitsukoshi. Goooood dinner. Ash and I went to the store underneath the restaurant. We looked at the kiminos (too expensive!) and laughed at a Tuxedo Mask doll they had. I found some Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne chopsticks in there, I think I did a little dance when I found them. They also had Pocky… Ash and I each got a box of the strawberry. I would have gotten more, but we had 6 boxes of chocolate back at the hotel.
Then we went to China and I bought a cute little (expensive little) shirt and Ash and I both got this Ranma type outfit. It’s very comfortable tho. We walked around Germany and stuff some more, then headed out.
The next day we went to Typhoon Lagoon. The wave pool was funny. The slides were ok… I guess I’m just not into water parks as much as I used to be :} They did have some great mini-donuts tho…. mmm… then we went back to the hotel, changed and went BACK to Epcot. LOL! We ate at the Mexican place this time. Mom and I ran all the way to Germany and back to get some Gummi frogs for my aunt. (it stormed good that night, too.. we were trying to get back before getting hit by lightning :D) Ash and I ordered off the kid’s menu cause they didn’t have much of a choice on the adult’s… by the time we finished there, we had to go catch the Bethany Bus again.
The hotel sat out copies of pages out of Disney colouring books for kids to colour down in the restaurant area. I took a bunch of them and coloured ’em, usually while everyone else was eating breakfast (after the first couple of days eating down there I stopped, since I didn’t like it much) It was fun! They’re in my sketchbook so they’ll get scanned.
Yesterday we packed up and left. We spent all day traveling. We ate at Cheers in the Charlotte airport for lunch (Ah, the Charlotte airport is beginning to feel like home, I’ve been there 4 times in the past couple of weeks). We made it home in one piece, and got home around 11 last night.
So it was great but we didn’t get to go to Islands of Adventure!!!! I was so sad about that. I REALLY wanted to go there and ride the Spiderman ride, the Hulk ride, the Storm ride… man. But we just didn’t have time!
Well, we learned a few things for next time we go…
1) Stay at a Disney resort – especially one that has the monorail come thru.
2) Rent a car for the entire time you’re there.
3) Go for at least 10 days.
4) Do not ride the Bethany Bus.
5) Do not stay at Comfort Inn.
I filled out one of Comfort Inn’s little comment cards and said I SHOULD HAVE STAYED AT A DISNEY RESORT. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the box to put it in, so I ended up keeping it. ha
I’ll scan what i’ve got in my sketchbook eventually XD