Thursday May 9th, 2013
We set our alarm for 6:30, but it never went off. I was up and in the shower by 6:10—musta been because we were in bed so early and had a relatively easy day yesterday.
After waffling a bit, we settled on DHS in the AM followed by Epcot with a mid-day resort/pool break. So we headed out after breakfast and wow were we early! A note about breakfast: They provided a delicious, hot breakfast every morning that was just for us. It was setup in Citricos. I enjoyed it and the food was always great. It was also the closest I will ever be to Victoria and Albert’s
DHS didn’t open until 9 and we were full and ready to roll by about 7:15. I told my wife that the one time you want the bus to be late, it will come right away. Well, guess what—that’s just what happened. We walked over to the bus area and didn’t even get to sit down and the DHS bus came around the corner. Ha!
We were at the entrance at around 8—yes we are ridiculous. lol So we sat there and read the paper from the hotel until they let us in around 8:50.
We went right to TSMM because we hadn’t been on it the last few trips. That crush of people was just too much—we like the attraction, but not enough to go through all that mess. Well for whatever reason, that crush was gone. There were definitely a lot of people headed that way, but not like it used to be. Remember how the CMs used to practically escort you back there? Not anymore…well not that day anyway.
Needless to say it was a walk-on. There was some young boy behind us that was freaking out because he was scared of it. His family kept trying to calm him down by comparing it to Buzz Lightyear. I don’t know what he was so scared about, but you know how it is. Fear of the unknown I guess. Poor guy---he got on but he wasn’t happy about it. I wish I could have seen him afterwards to see how he did.
Of course I spanked my wife
I think I had 180,000 or so. I won’t mention her score, but rest assured that it was lower.
I said, “Hey since were over on this side of the park, let’s do ToT together before you ride RnR single rider…” She just gave me the stare down—“Oh so you aren’t riding RnR with me?” Uh-oh! I tried everything to get out of it, including telling her that I could not do ToT and RnR back to back (if at all!) but that didn’t work either. So, for the second time in 4 months, I rode RnR. Ugh. Still not a fan.
Needless to say, I was all shook up and couldn’t do ToT right then, so we got FPs and headed to ST, one of our faves!!! We rode it twice in a row (walk on—sensing a theme here?) and then we said, ya know what…Let’s just ride ToT (with our FPs) and then head over to Epcot. So, that’s what we did.
We took the water taxi (yes the one that stops about a million times between DHS and Epcot) and rolled up to Epcot at 10:45. We entered the IG and saw people hanging a right toward France, so we assumed WS was open a little early, but when we got to the far side of France they had a rope drop. I had never seen that before, so that was cool. The CM was getting everyone pumped by asking: Who is ready to experience other cultures? A few people raised their hands. What about other culture’s foods? A few more… The culture of beer? My wife and I raised our hands and a few people chuckled. Ha! Then they let us in. We bee lined it over to Italy where we had to get our son a shirt he wanted.
A shot of how empty it was…Heaven!!
The Italian CMs were playing soccer on the main walkway around WS with Italian flags around them like capes—it was pretty cool. I tried to get a picture, but it didn’t turn out. Once more people came into WS they put it away and tended to their tills.
We got the shirt he wanted and it was time for a brat and a beer! We took our time eating and then walked around some more toward Mexico, looking at all the Flower and Garden stuff. (After we got home and I did my expense report, I thought I had submitted duplicate entries for brats and beers—lol nope we did eat there twice!)
We made our way up front and decided to go back for some pool time! But first, SSE at my wife’s insistence. A quick monorail ride, a transfer and one more and we were poolside enjoying a tasty frozen concoction. It was hot!!!! (The sun not the drink…)
We got back to the room after I almost melted in that sun and my wife said, “Well I don’t know about you, but I feel great. I don’t need to nap or anything. Do you want to go back to the park?” Heck yes!
I had not received our DME return trip info yet, so we stopped at the Concierge desk on the way to the monorail and the CM working (a younger gentleman) seemed very disinterested and told me not to worry, they “probably just hadn’t brought it around yet.” OK, fair enough.
We wanted to see the butterfly garden they had setup so we meandered that way. Club Cool was beckoning, so we drank a few in there and then went into the butterfly area. It was tough to get a picture of them—they didn’t sit still at all.
Can you see it?
It was time for a cold one, so we went to Canada and walked through the shop. We chatted with a super nice CM about Canada for about 15 mins. She was really bubbly and was more than happy to chat us up about her country.
We wanted to do Test Track and Soarin`, but we didn’t want to wait in line for 50 mins (each) and the FP times just weren’t lining up for us, so I said let’s just pick one and do it. We decided on TT. We headed that way and then we had a V-8 moment. Single rider line!! Duh! 10 mins we were in and on, going 64 mph. We even skipped the design your car area (we did this a few times in January and it wasn’t all that exciting anymore) and got on even quicker.
There was a big school group that was in the single rider line and I just KNEW it was going to be an issue. That’s one of my pet peeves---people abusing the single rider line. But, it wasn’t—everything worked out and since we got on so quick, we decided to get FP for Soarin` and do it later. 6:45 was our return time.
You know what we did next—we had some beers in WS, of course. I probably sound like a broken record, don’t I? Either that or an alcoholic lol. I am neither I can assure you.
We parked it in England and decided to split a fish and chips and one of the funnier things on the trip happened here. We sat down at that seating area to the right of the fish and chips store. A younger couple from Scotland was eating fish also (I take that as a good sign that these fish and chips are close to authentic..?) and a squirrel came out to see if he could get a handout. Well this guy (from Scotland) gave him a fry (chip) and the squirrel ran up into a tree with it and it just tickled this guy to end. He gave him another and another until he ran out! His wife was getting embarrassed by him and when he turned around and asked for some of HER chips, she told him to, “SOD OFF!” Then he decided to see if the squirrel would enjoy some fish. (He did.) Then the dude announces that we have all been entertained for 20 mins by a squirrel. “Why do we need all this Mickey Mouse and such.” Oh it was a scene, man. His Wife could have crawled into a ball and gone away at this point—she was totally red-faced. “Look at him. He loves chips!” became a catch phrase for the rest of the trip (of course you have to say it with a Scottish accent—lol).
Here is the little Guy (with a chip):
Here are some pics from around the world:
Recognize that purdy gal behind the cowboy?
While in Japan, we did something neither of us had done: We had sake! We didn’t know anything about it, so we left it up to the CM to explain it and use her best judgment to pick us a winner. It was different—not good, not bad, just different.
Then we decided it was time to hit our FP window. On the way over there, we cut through the temporary character stop area and I saw an elderly CM just standing there alone and I said, “What do we have going on here?” She said, “Mickey is in there and he wants to see you.” Ha! No line at all! We walked in and Mickey pointed at my shirt. We gave him a hug and had a picture made with him. We skipped the other characters. There was the cutest little baby just hamming it up with Minnie and melting everyone’s hearts. We pushed on to The Land.
After Soarin` with Patrick, we decided to go back and eat with the group. Even though it would mean missing Illuminations.
One last look back…
I am glad we went back because they gave us some very nice etched pilsner style glasses with Mickey and the crew on it. The food was so-so, a common theme at these dinner events, unlike breakfast which was always awesome. When we got to the room…still no DME info. This was about 8:30-ish.
I marched up to the front desk and a super nice CM named Yesy helped me out. Man was she awesome. This is the 2nd trip that I had trouble with the DME return trip booking. But Yesy handled it with skill and tact and put my mind at ease. In about 10 minutes she handed me my DME info and told me that our bus would arrive at 6:20am—ugh! I mentioned her by name in the post-visit survey.
By the time we were all done with that, it was about 9:15, so we sat at the Marina and waited for Wishes. My boss stopped by and bought us a beer and waited with us. His wife said, “Oh tonight’s is much better than the other night.” I was curious and asked if it was because of the angle? She replied, “No the fireworks are just better tonight. They mixed it up a little.” I just shook my head and wondered what she meant. They were exactly the same, just like always. My wife even commented on it later.
So I ask? Do they change Wishes? Other than, say, a holiday tag or something? Isn’t it always the same?
Anyway… We got home with no incident (other than a very bumpy flight) and it was good to see my kids after more than a week!
A better shot of the cake (for Amy):
Final thoughts:
What a great trip!! I am so blessed to work at such a great company that allows me to do such things. I have been places I would never go unless they were footing the bill. The GF is just one of many such places, it just happens to be at my favorite place.
The GF: Wow! I know that won’t ever happen again, so I am glad I got to enjoy it...especially with my wife. A monorail resort really does have it plusses. I can’t tell you how easy it was to not have to wait on a bus all the time. You know how you get to the stop and ten busses can come and go and not be yours? Well that never happens on the monorail---every time it comes it’s for you. I really enjoyed the monorail, can you tell?
My boss wasn’t really as annoying as I thought he would be. I think his wife tempered him a little bit. I am glad for that!
So…all-in, how much do you think the “all expenses paid trip” cost me?
Good thing you had talked your wife into going to WDW a few times so she knew what was going on! I can just imagine the poor CM at the Contemporary guessing and guessing who she was 
(insert barfing emoticon here) Is there a quick serve in Germany or was this a special food kiosk with the Flower and Garden? Nice shirt by the way 
you posted a good shot of those things also.