Walt Disney World Trip Reports
Topic: sherrytodd's WDW Trip Day One

#	Author	Message
1	sherrytodd Mon 5/5/2008 3:38a	We are here in Orlando right now. It’s 5:20am and I can’t sleep so I figured I would try to get you up to speed on our adventure. I’ll start by actually going back a little bit to our real day one which only involved about an hour and a half in Epcot. We started the day with the alarm going off at 3am to catch the Super Shuttle to Denver International Airport to Orlando. As there was still snow on the ground from our last storm the day before, we were eager to get out of town! The cast of characters are me, DH, DS10, MIL and FIL. MIL and FIL booked airfare separate from us and on American and transferred planes in Dallas/ Ft Worth and we were booked on Delta flights and transferred planes in Atlanta so we were playing our own version of the Amazing Race. Our flight was scheduled to get into Orlando at 1:30 and the in-laws were scheduled to get in at 2:30. I would love to start using the term half-wit at this point, but I believe Mollysmom has already patented that term. The original plan was we were to get our own rental cars once we got to Orlando as we are heading from here to the Caribbean and will be trapped together on a 40 ft sailboat for 10 days and felt that the best option was to spend separate vacations in Orlando so as not to get too sick of each other. A few days before we left, we discovered that MIL had decided not to reserve a rental car because she wanted to save the money. We made it pretty clear to them, that we were going to need our rental car and that they really would not be able to use it. They said that they just would be hanging around the resort, and didn’t want to go to WDW because it cost too much money. OK. Now this is also the first trip that I have spent off site as well. We are staying at the Marriott Grand Vista. Grounds are very nice. The room is very nice, but this place has found ways to gouge you that even Disney has not dared yet. Do NOT get me started on the $14 carved coconut head drinks for kids. And the towels are the roughest towels I have ever used in my life. On the plus side, I was able to use one to exfoliate my legs yesterday morning and now have nice smooth legs for down at the pool. But other then that, it is a very nice place with a kitchen and a washer and dryer and two separate living quarters that you can shut off from each other for privacy and is very clean and well upkept. So we get into Orlando International and head to the carrousel which says our luggage should be arriving on and we wait, and wait, and wait… and wait… wait… wait… Wait… Finally, DS notices one of our bags over on the carrousel next to ours. They had loaded the luggage onto carrousel 31, but had the sign up for our flight on carrousel 32. So we all run over to carrousel 31 start grabbing our bags and then the guy asleep at the PA announces that there has been a change in the carrousels and flight xxx’s bags are now on carrousel 31. I think our bags may have been going around for about 15 minutes before anyone noticed. By now the in-laws plane should be on the ground so we call them. No answer. We wait about ten minutes and try again. No answer. I go up to the information desk and confirmed that their flight made it in. Yes. We try again and leave them a message to please call us and tell them that we are taking the shuttle to go get the rental car. And off we go. Get the rental car and still no word from the in-laws. DH is getting antsy at this point and wants to know if “I” (it is always I in these situations) misunderstood and maybe they were getting a cab to the hotel and not expecting a ride from us. We try again and still they do not answer their cell phones. So I figured the surest way to get them to answer their cell phone would be to get in the rental car and get on the toll road. Sure enough as soon as we got past the first toll plaza, the cell phone rang. It was MIL. They decided to go get their luggage before calling. Now by now their flight has been on the ground for about an hour and a half. I just did not ask where they have been for all this time and why it did not occur to them to give us a call as they knew we would be in Orlando waiting for them. We turned around and headed back (hitting another toll plaza) and back too the airport we went to pick them up. Of course once we got there, what I knew was going to happen, happened. All the luggage for five people was not going to fit into the trunk off that car. As we headed to the hotel, with my luggage riding on me lap, I informed my MIL that she owed me $1.50 in tolls, (I just realized I haven’t gotten that money yet). So by now it is getting late. We had planned on going to Epcot today, but I just really needed a drink. We headed over to the poolside bar to grab food and booze. After some dinner and some booze I started to feel a little better and then work started calling. They wanted to know if I could get three files finished because they have decided to send them to legal on Monday?!?!? I’m on vacation! Yeah, guess what I was doing last night till midnight. :P As late as it was, I had really given up on going to Epcot, but DS still really wanted to go. It was 7pm and I told him we would only have about an hour at the park. DH was griping about going, so I told DH that I would take DS and we would be back in a little bit. DH decided he couldn’t be left out so off we went for our 1 ½ hour Epcot fix. Right at the entrance are these huge Mickey, Minnie and Goofy topiaries for the flower and garden festival. The park is filled with these topiaries. These have been a highlight of the trip for us. They are so neat. We headed first to Living with the Land since this is one of DS’s favorite rides. Then we headed over to ride Nemo and check out the Living Seas. The Nemo ride is cool, but it just feels like the sea pavilion doesn’t have as much to do in it as it used to. The boys wanted to go ride Mission Space, so we headed over there and by then it was time to head back to the hotel and since we had all been up since 3am that morning we were pretty tired. I don’t think I have even seen DS fall asleep that fast before.
2	Tiggirl Mon 5/5/2008 5:40a	YEAH! Thanks for the report Sherrytodd. LOL! I'm glad to hear that your legs are nice and smooth now. Sounds like this promises to be a fun trip report to follow. :o) ~Beth
3	Doobie Mon 5/5/2008 3:03p	Thanks for the report and the as-you-go Live pics. I'm enjoying them. Doobie.
4	SoThisIsLove Mon 5/5/2008 3:47p	Yay! It's fun living vicariously through you and your smooth legs and boozy MIL woes. Keep it up! :)
5	davewasbaloo Mon 5/5/2008 11:31p	Glad you are at Marriott Vacation Club. We have owned with them for a while now and cannot imagine wanting to stay on site at WDW again. I love the space they offer. And agin, you once again confirmed my thoughts - vacations should be for nuclear families only ;-) Hope the vacation gets better.
6	sun-n-fun Tue 5/6/2008 5:49a	We never seem to to travel well with other family members. I am looking forward to entertaining reports!!! :)
7	bloona Fri 5/9/2008 1:38p	that was a brilliant read. Read it out to DH...going to read the next now!

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