Disney Anniversary Trip 2009 Part 1

The Trip Report that ate all other Trip Reports.

I tried very hard but I couldn't come up with one title that fit the bill for this trip. It could have been The Trip of breaking down rides, or the trip of gastromic delights (this was our first trip on the dining plan) but truly it was a great trip, one of our best and one that I hope to remember for a long time.

Jeff considers me an uber planner, I love to plan trips, not down to the exacting detail of minute by minute, but I get a high from finding a lower price on a car rental, or by making hotel reservations. I find it fascinating that when Jeff and I went on our first few trips he planned everything, and starting probably about 2003 I took over the reigns.

Where the actual planning for this trip started is a little bit harder to nail down. Every year, except for one, we have voyaged down to Disney World for our anniversary; this year would be our 7th anniversary and our 6th anniversary trip (we missed our 5th when we headed to Chicago instead!). I guess you could say the planning for this trip started when Jeff and I finally bought into Disney Vacation Club (DVC or Disney's version of a timeshare), we closed in June 2007 on our first 25 point contract, and then added on again this year another 25 points in August of 2008. Last year, 2008, was the first DVC trip to Old Key West, three nights in a studio. This year though for some reason felt more real.

After closing on the second 25 point contract in August 2008 I called to make our reservation for January, and here is where you need a flow chart to follow along, literally. I started with a 6 night reservation at Old Key West (OKW), and then I waitlisted for Wilderness Lodge Villas. Then I called about once a week until I was able to secure 2 nights at OKW and then 4 nights at the Boardwalk Villas. Finally, only about a month later I got the call. My wait list had gone through at Wilderness Lodge, and I had booked 5 nights in a studio.

Easy enough right? Actually this is only the beginning! I still hadn't decided whether to fly down Saturday night or Sunday morning, of whether to fly back Saturday or Sunday either! It was up and down for a few weeks until I finally booked the flights to fly out Sunday Morning and fly back the following Sunday Night, Super bowl day! Turned out that even though the return flight was expensive, it actually was completely free as we were able to use our rapid rewards free tickets for that flight.

Then the decision came on where to stay the last two nights, Friday and Saturday. It was a simple decision in theory, and though I briefly considered other options it only made sense to stay one place, The Lodge, and I booked a great AP rate of $144 a night for it too! Standard view but who cares about that right? The whole idea with staying at the Lodge for the entire 7 nights was to be able to use Disney transportation, not rent a car right? That never actually happened as in normal form I was able to secure Jeff and I a car through Alamo for $118 a night with tax included!

So we had a car, had a hotel, had a plane flight, and I had my itinerary and The Unofficial Guides best days and we were ready to go!

The final week came, then the last day before leaving. I worked a full day Saturday at AT&T, and then came home to pack and get a good night sleep. Yes we never pack until the day before, it’s pretty sad but it’s always worked out well! All in all I still wish a little we had flown out Saturday night, as Sunday morning 4AM came very quickly! 4AM I was up, got ready to go and we were out and on our way by 4:45AM. We did our usual trick of parking the car at the terminal parking garage so to have easy access to check our luggage. Then with luggage checked I found a somewhat comfortable seat inside the terminal and waited while Jeff, being the sweet guy he is, took the drudgery ride to and from the economy lot to park the car for long term. He calls this putting the car in jail.

There are some in Kansas City that want to build a new airport. I for one love KCI. It was designed back before the advent of airport security points with the original plan allowing people to walk from their car to their plane in a few short minutes. Of course with the advent of security it now is fairly unusual having security for every few gates. (There is not one big security area). I love this, as it only takes maybe a minute to get through security and to your gate. You are literally RIGHT there!

As our flight didn't leave until 7AM, we had a few minutes to sit down before lining up for southwest boarding. We meet a wonderful solo couple going the same place we were! This happens so rarely that I get to meet another couple that goes to Disney without kids that we talked during the short wait and they ended up sitting right behind us! Considering at this point and time I hadn't eaten a thing, its interesting to look back and realize a lot of our conversation had to do with food, and where to eat at Disney. It also made me consider doing a character lunch/dinner in the future, as Jeff and I have always been fairly cautious of those thinking it odd with us having no kids so far.

Our flight was very uneventful, it was not totally full so the two of us had the entire three seat grouping to ourselves, and we touched down an amazing 25 minutes early! Did I mention I love Southwest Airlines? We weren't supposed to arrive until about 10:50 but arrived at the gate instead at 10:25AM. A friend of ours, who usually goes down to Florida with his family during the same week as us, had decided this year to go a week earlier. How I remember thinking about him being on his way out, and Jeff actually called him from the plane (after we had arrived at the gate!) to find out he was already on his plane only a gate away from us! Very depressing looking at in from this stand point, but I remember thinking how glad that our trip was just starting.

We disembarked, headed for the fake monorails, (buses in trough as Jeff calls them), to retrieve our luggage. No problem there, we headed for Alamo. Now about five years ago on a rainy night in Baltimore (BWI) we had rented from Alamo and had to wait two hours (I am not kidding!) in a shack somewhere on airport property for our car. It was an awful experience and had soured me especially from renting from Alamo again in the future. I figured it was worth another shot, and with the rate being exceptionally low, $118 for 8 days with tax! It was a no brainer. I was happily surprised to find it one of the most painless experiences I have ever had renting a car. We headed for the Alamo kiosk, Jeff using the confirmation # found our reservation, declined the insurance and away we went. It was unique to find the set up of selecting a car somewhat similar to National's Emerald Aisle. We picked a Kia Rio I believe, and were out of the airport, only about 15 minutes after we were supposed to originally arrive! We were very happy with our car rental overall, and especially loved the free Sirius Radio! Score! Would definitely rent from Alamo again and it’s on my short list now of preferred rental car companies.

Now before I get into the next part, I must mention that Jeff and I have been to Disney over 10 times together, Jeff had been going since the 1970's, (my first trip was in 1991) so to say that Jeff at least knows his way to Disney World and around Disney World is an understatement. So you will forgive us both when I tell you the next saga of our trip. The Toll Road. Any normal, rational thinking person would think it might be a good idea to have some quarters on them when they hit a toll road. Who said anything about Jeff and I being normal or rational? Well to our defense we did have cash, and the first toll booth wasn't a problem as there were people working the toll booth who could hand out change. Well to make a long story short, that wasn't the case with the I-4 toll booth interchange. Now I can understand smaller, toll booth’s being automatic, but for I-4 not to have anyone there to give change? What gives? Literally, Jeff had to get out of the car and go ask three other cars being us to break a $1 bill. Ok a bit of poor planning on our part, but still.. I-4!?!?!

Anyway so after transversing the toll booths we were on our way to Disney, and for the first time in a long time we were staying at Wilderness Lodge (last time had been 2004), it was exciting to be able to take the Magic Kingdom exit, and let the toll booth attendant know that we were not only coming to eat this time, but to check in!

When we arrived, Jeff being Jeff and being adverse to Valet Parking (even when its free I don't get that), we parked, and headed for check in. Would our room be ready? Would we be stuck with a studio ending in 60 or 62? (otherwise known as the dumpster view rooms!) It was about Noon and we would soon find out our fate. Check in had no line so we headed straight to our check in Cast Member (CM), who confirmed our five night stay at the Villas, and was originally going to assign us 4262 I believe. Though I obviously didn't come prepared for toll roads I came prepared with knowledge of the Villas room #'s. I politely asked if there were any other rooms available to choose from. Our CM being a gracious, and helpful CM pulled out the VWL map and asked what I would prefer. Wow. I get to pick my room? I asked if anything on the short hallway end (sorry for my lack of technical terms) was available. There was, 3503. Not a Handicap room (I asked) good location, but not ready right now. Expecting that, and knowing that I would not be guaranteed a room until 4PM, I accepted the room happily, was given the card to call to check on my room availability and then moved on to the next point of business, food.

Yes, if you remember from the multiple titles this was our first excursion on The Disney Dining Plan. I had considered it for previous trips, but always for some unknown reason felt Jeff wouldn't like being pinned down to certain restaurants at certain times. I have no idea why I felt that way, because Jeff came to become of the biggest proponents of the Dining Plan. We actually both loved abusing the dining plan (oh did I say that? I just meant USING the Dining Plan). The check in CM gave us the Dining plan brochure, the print out of dining plan credits and a full explanation. With all of our paper goods in hand, being done with check in, having a room number, key cards and all of our dining credits we felt ready to use them! Of course having nothing to eat yet for the day helped too. We were starving!

To Roaring Forks we headed. Now I had thought about trying to eat healthy (somewhat) on the trip, but that whole idea was thrown away very quickly. Jeff talked me in to ordering the double cheeseburger meal and chocolate brownie. I really thought there was no way I was going to be able to eat it all. Well except for the brownie, I did eat it all. Yikes. I was really hungry is all I can say. About this time it was 1:30 or so, so Jeff asked if I wanted to call and see if our room was ready. Me, being the "glass is half empty" type of person thought no way. But I called anyway, hurray it was available! We walked back to our car (did I mention Jeff also has an aversion against bell hops?) grabbed our luggage and headed for our room. 3503 was at the end of the short hallway, great location, had a view of trees and the Lodge itself. I noticed about a day before we checked out that if you turned to the right we also had a view of the lake. It’s amazing that I never tried to see if I could see the water pageant show from there. Oh well. The room was clean, and we had a towel Mickey head on the bed welcoming us! I unpacked everything, and we settled down for awhile. One thing I have begun to notice in the studios is the TV, its small! I think the value resorts have bigger TV's? I hope that they do upgrade those sometime in the future.

So about 2:30 we decided on our plans for the night, and decided to head to MGM, sorry Hollywood Studios. It was late magic hours there, and was the park to stay away from per the Unofficial Guide but we went anyway as this was a relaxing no hurrying vacation. We hopped in the car and arrived about 3:00, it seemed crowded (for January), and so we headed for a slower attraction, the great movie ride. It was about a 20 minute wait I think? On of the longest of the entire trip, but what both of us found amazing is that it was our turn for the western scene on this ride through. Not to unusual, usually. However for years every time we rode it, we ended up with the gangster scene. I never even realized there was a second option until when last year Jeff ASKED for the western scene and got it. Well what do you know, next year rolls around, and we get it again this time without having to ask for it. It was great, but I think our CM was a little new at his job. Our next stop was Lights, Camera, Action Stunt Show for the 4:15 show, we got there about 10-15 minutes before show time, had a decent seat, and as this was only the second time we had seen it ever, greatly enjoyed it. We would head back a 2nd time later in the week to see it again!

Our next stop was at The Little Mermaid, while it was going to be down later in the week, we decided this was a good time to hit it, and Jeff, for some odd reason really likes it. It's ok; it does seem a bit dated. The Last attraction of the night was Tower of Terror, it was only in November that I had first rode TOT, and I really like it, its probably one of my favorite rides at MGM. (Sorry Hollywood studios). It seems though that with the addition of the new Midway Games ride that TOT has no line to speak of anymore. Tonight it had what was advertised as a 10 minute wait; it was for all intensive purposes a walk on. After TOT it was getting to be a little after 6PM and as both Jeff and I had been up since 4AM, we were getting a little tired, and decided to head back to the room. We did stop at the HESS station for Coke and Diet Coke and we got back about 7PM. From there Jeff and I called a few friends, and our respective parents, I put in Patriot, and watched it until I feel asleep. We didn't set the alarm clock, a trend that would continue through the rest of the trip.

Monday 01/26/2009

Today we our actual anniversary, and beginning a trend we slept in until 9AM or so. I got up first, got a shower and headed to Roaring Forks for breakfast. Throughout the trip we ended up using our snacks to supplement meals, especially sense it seemed we were continuously full! First breakfast was a croissant for me and a chocolate croissant for Jeff. With Coke and Diet coke in the room it was a good quick breakfast. Today and Tuesday were the only days I had planned on specific parks, today was EPCOT, as it was also the location of our anniversary dinner at Le Cellier. We used the car this morning to drive to EPCOT, but if memory serves it was the 2nd to last time the car would be used to drive to a park in the entire trip. Turns out Disney transportation this trip was better then I expected. But we drove parked in Row 7, EPCOT being such a big park never feels crowded, and such was the case today. Except for the The Land Pavilion which was our first stop, it was also our first significant sprinkling of pixie dust. As we headed for the door at the Land pavilion an unknown guest, with two fast passes for Soarin’ that expired 10 minutes later ran up to us and said "do you want Soarin' Fast passes? Here they expire in 10 mins" and he ran off, leaving two of the most covited fast passes in our hands. Only about a minute later did we realize that we should have maybe stopped him to say that he could have used them later on that day, but he literally handed them off like a relay runner, and was gone like a flash. So not wishing to tempt the Disney gods, we headed for Soarin', bypassed the 50 minute standby line, and were loaded in about 10 minutes. Loaded, not Soarin' just yet. It seems with good luck comes bad luck, in that we sat there in our hang glider/erector set seats for about 10 minutes while they figured out why the ride wouldn't run. It seems there was a problem with the computer recognizing all the seat belts were locked?

*little side story, Jeff and I have worked at the local amusement park here in Kansas City for several years, and have some experience with rides having technical difficulties. Most complex rides have a system for telling that each seat is locked, and the ride won't start until the system shows are seats are locked. I think that was the problem here.*

So the ride started, and it was great like usual. We have ridden it so many times though it’s not a ride that we usually ride over and over again. (I rode Disney's California Adventure Soarin' over California a few years before it opened at EPCOT). After disembarking, one of my next points of interest was "Behind the Seeds" tour, I had wanted to take that tour for a few years and it seemed it never got accomplished. well this year I was going to do it, dang it. Jeff and I both have loved Living with the Land ride since way before Soarin' came to town (and ruined The Land pavilion as I like to say) so it was a perfect fit for both of us. We signed up on the spot for the 12:45 PM tour, used our DVC card for the discount, and we both greatly enjoyed the tour. I have a terrible time with names so forgive me if I don't remember our CM's name, he was an intern in the fish dept, and he seemed a little new but it was a great tour, and I think a great value.

With the tour ending at about 2PM, Jeff and I were both starving, but where to eat? We discussed The Land Pavilion counter service, Sunshine Seasons, but Jeff didn't see anything he liked so we headed for the UK for Fish and Chips which while not being the best value for the dining plan still hit the bill, as we would be eating a huge meal only 6 hours later so we didn’t want to stuff ourselves.

It was a beautiful day so we ate at the nearby picnic area overlooking the World Showcase lagoon, there were a lot of birds, and unfortunately a few people feeding them, which didn't help matters, but it was enjoyable. We decided next to journey around World Showcase itself. We stopped in Morocco first, as it is one of our favorite pavilions. We ran into a manager CM who was interested in our overall experience with the pavilion. We mentioned how much we enjoyed it, and he gave us some history on the pavilion how the king of Morocco sent his own architects over to design the pavilion, it gives a great sense of the real country I think. (Well as much as possible!). We did mention our bad experience last year at Restaurant Marrakesh, and he apologized, and gave us a free fast pass to Maelstrom. Now usually Maelstrom doesn't have a line but tonight it did so the fast pass came in handy and we were very appreciative, it was a nice gesture.

We headed on to Japan, and did some shopping there, we didn't buy anything yet but I did come back later on in the week for a bag I had seen and liked. Next we stopped at the American Adventure. We hadn't seen the show in quite awhile (last January it had been down for rehab). Our luck seemed to follow us around the world from Soarin' as in the Roy Rogers scene; Roy couldn't seem to get his head up! His head was hanging all the way down, and about when his scene ended they stopped the show, and we all had to leave. Our luck certainly wasn't with us that day! Next stop was China to see the Chinese Acrobats, actually it was something I wanted to see, Jeff could have cared less, but I enjoyed it, and was pretty amazed at their flexibility, ouch! We briefly stopped in Germany but we finished our 1st World Showcase tour at Norway. We used the previously mentioned fast pass, and ended up at the front of the boat! The front ended up offering a great view especially in the scene where you come to the dead end and you go down the flume in reverse. Of course we stopped at the store, and I mourned my $400 sweater that I couldn't afford, (I love them but I just could never make myself by a sweater for $400), Jeff does have one of the rain coats from Handson Hailey (Sp?) and has had it for 10 years, he uses it all the time. I have one similar to it but a different brand. Sometimes, at least with rain coats, it’s worth the money.

At this time it was approaching 6PM, and our Le Cellier ADR was for 7:30, so we headed back to Future World to see what the waits were like there. Our first stop was Test Track, and it was DEAD. Literal walk on, no waiting for the pre-show, no waiting after the pre-show, right on. The only other time the line was like this was in January 2002, right after our wedding. After riding we took some time in the GM car display area (does it have a name?), and sent ourselves some car information and checked out the 2010 Camero they had on display. After hanging out for awhile there, we decided before eating we would make one final stop at Spaceship Earth, and then headed backwards again to World Showcase for dinner. We arrived at Le Cellier about 7:15PM for our 7:30ADR and waited maybe about 20 minutes, which wasn't too bad considering we were early.

The contrasts between last year’s anniversary dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse and this year were night and day. To make a long story short we had a bad experience at Yachtsman, and we will never return (at least not for a long period of time). Our experience at Le Cellier was MUCH better. The experience started while waiting for our table, one of the check-in CM's kept those of us waiting entertained with Canada Trivia. I ended up with about 7 stickers and gave most of them away to some of the kids waiting. Definitely two thumbs up there.

We were seated at a four person table in the middle of the dining room, and though I can't for the life of me remember our servers name she was helpful in explaining what was included with the dining plan, attentive, and seemed happy and outgoing. All VERY definite differences from last year at Yachtsman. We started our meal with drinks, Jeff ordered a Coke, and I had the Mango Smoothie, which was excellent. We had our first delivery of breadsticks and CM was quick with refilling said breadsticks.

We ordered and shared a bowl of the cheese soup appetizer, as we knew we would never make it through the whole meal having our own! (We were already pretty full), but it was very good. We then both had the Mushroom Filet, I had mine medium rare, and Jeff had his medium well. The medium rare seemed almost rare to me, but it was still excellent. For desert I had the Maple Crème Brule and Jeff had the Chocolate Mouse. Amazingly I almost finished my dessert I was so full at that point! Everything again was great; Jeff loved his Moose and said it was very thick and rich. Plus it was quite cute!

I have to say though the best part of the whole experience was NOT having to pay the full $100 bill! Of course we paid for tip and for the cheese soup but still big difference between $25 and $100 are quite significant on the bank account. I was beginning to enjoy the dining plan but I also began wondering how ANYONE could eat a full appetizer every day. Yikes!

We left Le Cellier at about 8:45PM and called our friend Matt to check and see how his flight back was (this was the friend that left the same time we were arriving), sounds like his family had a lot of fun, and at that point we realized one of our favorite shows Illuminations was about to start and there were some pretty good views still available. We ended up standing behind another couple right at the railing near the UK and I feel we had a good view overall. It seems we have seen Illuminations so many times in so many different places that I think the UK/Mexico/Canada side of the lake has the best unobstructed views. The show was great as always and the icing on the anniversary cake was the refurbed globe. Oh my gosh, so much better, you could actually recognize some of the smaller pictures on the globe, some of the faces, it was like watching HD TV for the first time after watching analog for ever! It was a perfect end to what I have to think was a pretty great day.

After Illuminations, we slowly headed to the front of the park, and checked out the Art of Disney store before leaving. We then headed back to the room and relaxed. I wasn't feeling well so I went ahead and started watching the last part of Patriot that we I had missed the evening before Jeff went out to take some photos of the Lodge at night, he stayed out for about an hour, came back, we watched the very end of Patriot and then feel asleep.

Tuesday 01/27/2009

A view from our room.

Today was a crowd level 4 the lowest of the trip from the Unofficial Guide, and again we slept in, a little later today maybe about 9:30 or so. Today was Magic Kingdom day! It is my favorite park as it is home to my favorite attraction Haunted Mansion. I got up first again took a shower, and repeated Monday's routine, headed to Roaring Forks and spent two more snack credits on a croissant and chocolate brownie (hey its vacation!) for our breakfast. Headed back and we ate quickly and left for the boat to MK. This was our first use of Disney Transportation for this trip and the whole trip we had a pretty good experience with the transportation system. The boat was at the dock when we arrived; we boarded and were on our way.



We arrived at Magic Kingdom about 11:15 and our first ride of the day awaited us just under the station, The Main Street Trolley. A lot of times the trolley doesn't run due to high crowds but me being a lover of all things classic (read: old!) this was a major pixie dust moment for me, plus it was literally waiting for us right when we arrived. We exited at the hub and had already decided to head for Tommorowland for a Space Mountain fast pass, or to check the wait. I believe the wait was 25 minutes so we grabbed a fast pass for later and headed for Mickey's Country Fair. Now while I like the characters somewhat neither of us wait in line for characters so we weren't heading that direction for the normal reason (after all we aren’t normal!) we headed there as the walkway from Tommorowland to Mickey's Toontown Fair is the best location for photos of the Magic Kingdom Trains.

*Side bar moment! Jeff has always had a fascination with steam trains in general, he took the Steam Train tour the 1st time (yes I said FIRST time) back right after our wedding in 2002 with me. For the last three years he has also been a steam train engineer at our local amusement park in Kansas City and has since taken the Steam Train Tour a 2nd time. He wants to take it again but I told him to wait another year. I can only take so much of the 6AM start time.*

We had noticed (or Jeff I should say) when we arrived that instead of running the Walter E Disney and Roy Disney engines, Roy was no where to be seen, so we knew it was a different engine which both of us were excited about. We found out upon arriving at Toontown station that Walt was running but they were also running the Roger Broggie. So now we have photos of three of the four engines running. Lillie Bell usually only runs for the morning show so it will probably be awhile before we will get #4 in action. After spending some time on photos Jeff and I hoped about the Walter E Disney and took our first train ride of the trip to Frontierland.

Splash Mountain was up and running (a first for a long time as it seems it’s always out of commission while we are there) but Jeff didn't want to eat wet so we passed it by for today. I didn't mind as we headed for my favorite ride, Haunted Mansion. I still can't get over how much better Haunted Mansion is after the refurb! After a date with 999 happy haunts we headed to Jungle Cruise and had one of the best skippers ever, I laughed at the comment about the butterflies being $3.95 a dozen at Wal-Mart and $3.95 each at Disney World! I should also mention there was only about a five minute wait for Jungle Cruise and afterwards we headed for Pirates of Caribbean and the Pirate Tutorial. I had never seen the Pirate Tutorial from start to finish, but found it entertaining and our version of Jack Sparrow was right on. Afterwards we headed back to Space Mountain for our fast pass but found the fast pass pretty much useless as there was not wait for Space Mountain it was a walk on! Can't wait for the refurb on this one. Then headed to one of our favorite rides TTA, and last Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, also a walk on. Truthfully on Tuesday almost everything was either a walk on or a very short wait.

Mack of the Pirate's Tutorial has a closer look at Jeff's Camera!

For our last attraction before our ADR we decided on Country Bear Jamboree. It was my last attraction at Magic Kingdom (I think WDW!) that I had never experienced. Well to be completely honest I found out there was a good reason I had never experienced it. I wanted to cover my eyes in shame it was so er.. Embarrassing I guess? One time and one time only for me. Why didn't they keep Mr. Toad and put Winnie the Pooh here like at Disneyland? That was okay though we were onto another great experience this time at The Liberty Tavern.

Liberty Tree Tavern has been one of our favorite restaurants at Magic Kingdom for years, however for years we have been confined to eating there for lunch only, not due to price but due to characters. Jeff and I as you may have already realized are not big character people and I personally feel If I am going to pay to eat, the food should be where the attention is at. So we were both very happy when Liberty Tree discontinued the character dinners and I went ahead and booked it for Tuesday evening at 4:15 PM (well originally it was for later the one ADR I did change!). We arrived almost at 4:15 on the dot, and checked in and told it would be a few minutes. No sooner did we walk to a bench to sit down then our name was called! The restaurant wasn't to terribly busy, but it wasn't dead for sure, and we had a nice table for two in the Betsy Ross room. Our server, Michael was wonderful, attentive and seemed very happy to be there, (he must have been good as I remembered his name!), and brought our drinks out first, (Coke and Lemonade) and then the salad and bread. Maybe it’s my Midwestern palette, but the rolls and butter were wonderful! Nice, warm and fluffy. We ate through the entire basket before the full meal was brought out and had to ask for seconds.

After devouring the rolls and salad the dinner course was brought out. It included the usual mashed potatoes and gravy, mac and cheese, green beans, stuffing, and turkey, ham and roast beef. Overall all the food was all good, except for the ham which I found very dry and tasteless. We immediately asked for more turkey as that was the best of the different meats available. There was enough of everything else that we had plenty without having to ask for more. Michael (our server) gave us plenty of time, and then came around to pick up the plates and bring out dessert! All the menus online had mentioned dessert was a cherry cobbler, but this night it was an apple crumble cobbler served with vanilla ice cream. It was VERY yummy! I ate about as much as my stomach could fit in, and we both left completely stuffed. Poke me I'm done! Michael brought out the receipt and again it was nice to only have to pay tip, which we ended up leaving him quite a large one for such good service!

While leaving I wasn't feeling to well so we made the decision to leave, except that’s not exactly what happened. We stopped at Snow White's Scary adventures, as it only had about a 10 minute wait, and spent some time taking photos (especially of the carousel which will come up later in the trip) then decided to head out. We left about 6:30PM, and there wasn't much time left anyway as the park was scheduled to close at 8PM that night. We took the boat back to Wilderness Lodge and decided to relax for the rest of the night. About an hour after returning I decided that with it being such a warm day (the high was around 80 I believe) a swim was in the cards, as usually we are rushing around so much on trips that we don't have time for that luxury (plus it had been quite cold on the previous trips). One of the hot tubs at the main pool was down for refurb and we had noticed earlier that the Hidden Springs pool wasn't being used much so we headed there (especially since it was closer to the Villas anyway).

I spent some time in the pool, Jeff found it too cold but I thought it was heated well for a normal swimming pool (I wouldn't want to go swimming if it wasn't warm out!) and then headed for the hot tub which is where we stayed for the next hour or so. We had a good time talking with the others there too, about their trips. It did make me notice how unusual Jeff and I are that we go to Disney ever year, most of those there hadn't ever been to Disney world before.

After being well steamed, about 9:30 we heard the Water Pageant start up and we grabbed a towel to dry off and headed out to the beach to watch. I must say I am a BIG fan of the Main Street Electrical Light Parade (I have seen to twice now that it’s at DCA), and we used the music for our wedding recessional, I guess I just like the kooky old fashioned-ness of it. Same thing with the water pageant, it’s the same kind of thing so of course we stopped and watched portions of it three times again over the remaining visit.

After drying off we headed back to our room and with it being after 10PM we were both tired so we feel asleep quickly!