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Winter Get Away 2004

WDW – February 7th – February 11th

The Main Mouse

As the title says this was a winter get away. Get away from the cold, get away from work, dare I say it…. Get away from the kids…. That is right Walt Disney World with out the boys. Although we missed Peter and Noah very much, Marshall and I did our best to have a great time, and we succeeded.

Players: Marshall - 31, Me – Jennifer – 31

Day 1: Saturday February, 7 2004

We woke up at 6:30 am to 20 degrees (F) and a fresh inch of snow. We had gotten a foot of new snow over the last week so Marshall was refusing to shovel or blow the snow, it would either have to wait until we got home from WDW or melt. Peter (4 years) was sleeping on our floor in his sleeping bag, (he has decided that he gets lonesome at night in his room) he woke up at 7:00 and saw me getting ready and asked if he could come with us. " Disney World is so very fun, I’ll be good at your meeting." We had told Peter that we we’re going to a meeting in Disney World to learn how to be a better mommy and daddy. I don’t think he bought that excuse fully, as he would quiz us each night when we called, "What did you do in your meeting today."

By 8:00 we were out the door and on our way to drop the boys off at Grandma’s house. Grandparents gotta love them. The boys were excited about their big sleepover at Grandmas house so it was pretty easy to leave, no big tears or melt downs from me or the boys!

We got to the airport in Minneapolis at about 10:30, our flight was at 12:00. We got all checked in and had a very smooth and uneventful trip. No delays - yeah!

We landed in Orlando at 5:45 and met our Happy Limo Driver, Sylvester. He helped us gather our bags and we were off to Beach Club Villas, but first a quick stop at the grocery store for a few things.

By the time we got to the Beach Club it was about 7:00. I was starting to get a bit nervous as we has priority seating for Cape May Café at 8:00. We got all checked in, our room was 225, a studio at the villas.

We took in all the sights of the lobby and sitting room (Solarium) on our way to the villas. The beach club had an elegant, yet laid back, relaxed feel to it. Just the way we like our resorts to be. Light wood with pastel colors on the walls and fabrics. The resort also had a natural wood smell to it too. Like a moist salt-water smell that you get from a boat dock. Just the smell you expect to smell at a beach house. How so they do this???

When we got to our room Marshall let me go first and kind of dragged behind a bit. Marshall had a surprise waiting in our room from me. "The Main Mouse" and a bottle of Champagne was waiting for me. What is the "Main Mouse"? It is 4 giant strawberries all "dressed up" in tuxedos (dark and white chocolate) and a White Chocolate Mickey Mouse. We saved the treat for later, the strawberries were wonderful but I just couldn’t bring myself to eat Mickey Mouse, so he made it through the night.

After we got settled it was off to Cape May Café for dinner. I was surprised to see a line of people waiting to check in as this was suppose to be the "off season".. The hold up was a group of people arguing with the Cast Member (CM) about Priority Seating (PS). They kept saying they had reservations so they shouldn’t have to wait; the CM kept explaining that it isn’t a reservation it is PS. Finally a manager came over and freed up the CM and continued to explain PS and said he was sorry for the confusion. (Side rant: Do people not listen when they call to make PS, the CM say this is not a reservation, blah, blah after every PS you make, how can you not understand). We got checked in and the CM said probably about 20 minutes for the next table, (which is probably what got those people angry in the first place). We went to go look for the lounge to get a glass of wine, but didn’t even find it because our "buzzer" went off, or our table was ready. We were seated with in 5 minutes from check-in which brings me to think, those people causing the big fuss would have been seated a lot faster if they didn’t cause a big stink (they didn’t take their buzzer right away so someone else go it. I did notice that they were seated shortly after us, I’m guessing they decided to calm down and wait.).

Dinner was good. We both had Caesar salad and clam chowder to start. I also had the antipasto salad. Both the salads were very good. The clam chowder was good too, and had lots of clams but a little too much pepper for my taste. Next we both had the tarragon butter clams – yummm. I had peal and eat shrimp, which was good but too much work, so I only had a few and Marshall decided to pass, as there was a lot more food to sample. Marshall had the batter fried cod, that was very taste as well. Next we both went for the beef from the carving station and I had a taste of marinated chicken and green beans and Marshall had the BBQ ribs. The chicken had a very good flavor to it and the green beans we’re done just right, little crisp left in them and topped with bacon pieces, very taste. We both thought the beef was a little over done, but I thought it still had a good flavor to it, Marshall thought it was dried out. Marshall did like his ribs and though they were good but not as good as my Uncle Jeff’s smoked ribs. Believe it or not we did leave room for dessert we shared the chocolate cake, key lime tart and an Oreo bon-bon. All three were very good, but not as good as the strawberries we ate later back in the room!

After dinner we explored the resort some more and went back to our room to enjoy our strawberries and Champagne and the peace and quiet.

Day 2: Sunday February, 8 2004

We woke up at about 7:30 and had breakfast in the room. One of the advantages of having a villa, save a few bucks and time and eat breakfast in the room. The high was suppose to be in the low 60’s, so we headed out in shorts and windbreakers. We’re from Minnesota when it hits 50 degrees we break out the shorts. (Side note: for all of you people from the warmer states, it does get warmer then 50 degrees in Minnesota. It is just typical for Minnesotans to dress in shorts once the winter weather starts to "melt away". After months of sub arctic temps, 50 degrees is a heat wave.) So we get to the bus stop and there are plenty of people giving us the "you are crazy" look. We stand there for a few minutes, in the shade and the wind and decide that maybe we should go back and put some pants on. So we go back to the room put on jeans and sweatshirts, windbreakers and lightweight gloves. Now we are ready to go. It was a wise decision to change, as we didn’t take a single layer off all day. I think the high that day was only in the mid 50’s.

We got to Animal Kingdom with the plan of only doing the things we haven’t done in a while or the things we really wanted to do. So we weren’t planning on staying the whole day there. We headed to Dinoland USA to see some of the additions to this area. I’m not sure if the like the "carnival" like theme with the additions or not. Last time we were in Animal Kingdom in 2002 the "carnival" part was still being built. It feels like they wanted to fill the space quickly so they just through what ever they could in there for the least cost and tied it in by putting dinosaurs on everything. Although nicely done, in bright friendly colors it just doesn’t seen to fit in with the rest of the theme of the land. We rode Primeval Whirl and it was okay, I usually don’t like the "mouse chase" type rides because I don’t like the feeling like I’m going to fall off the track on the tight turns, but this one was pretty tame and boring. I have to say that I felt bad for the Cast Members in this area. Their costumes are pretty bad, especially the pants. There is no way I would wear the pants they have to wear. Neon colored dinosaur print knit pants. Remember zubba pants from the early 90’s? That is what they wear.

Next we headed over to Dinosaur (FKA: Count Down to Extinction, which in my opinion was a better, more appropriate name). I love this attraction, I always get scared, and scream at the scary parts. However, I had to hold in my screams as we had a petrified 4-year-old sitting next to us. The poor boy was crying that he didn’t want to go on the ride even before we got on. His parents looked at us and said "It’s okay, he cries like this before every ride and then at the end he wants to do the ride again." Okay that may be so, but Splash Mountain isn’t actually scary through the whole ride. Sure the drop at the end is but then you have this big friendly boat of characters singing to you. Dinosaur… not so. So here I am as am adult trying my best not to scream, because I didn’t want to upset the little boy even more so. I don’t think that boy got any sleep that night, heck he may not be sleeping yet. He was a wreck when the ride was over. So take note parents of young children: Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom is very scary, do not take your 4-year-old on this ride, unless they are truly none scared of large meat eating dinosaurs breathing down their necks. Universe of Energy Dinosaurs in Epcot are just fine, Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom…. Scary.

After Dinosaur we headed to the Tarzan Rocks show, but the first show had been canceled because of the cold weather. The next show that we would be able to make wasn’t until 1:00 and we had hoped to be to Epcot by then so we decided to skip the show. We headed towards Camp Minnie Mickey to go and see the Festival of the Lion King. On the way there we stopped on the shops and looked around. This was one of the luxuries we didn’t have on our trip back in October. Marshall and I love to look in the shops, even if we don’t buy anything (which is rare). But we quickly learned last October that with a 4-year-old in toe you need to stay out of the shops as much as possible, unless you are independently wealthy. So we had a nice time leisurely looking through the shops.

Marshall stopped at a pin cart and bought a few pins and made his first trade with a Cast Member, this was the start of his new obsession. We then went to get in line for the Festival of the Lion King (FoLK).. We had a minimal wait while the previous show exited. We were seated in the Elephant section. This was the first time Marshal or I had seen the show. It was so amazing, I was getting all teary eyed at many parts. Can you imagine dancing on stilts! Amazing is all I can say. This show will always be on my must do list from now on.

After FoLK we decided to head back to the Beach Club to go to Beaches-n-Cream for lunch. Both of us were starting to get into that "must rush and see everything" mode and we didn’t want this trip to be that way. We decided a nice break before going to Epcot would do the trick.

We hopped the bus back to Beach Club and decided to get off at the Yacht Club and walk through the resort so we could see what it was like. Very nice, but little too stuffy for our taste. Yacht Club doesn’t have the laid back elegance the Beach Club has. It has the elegance, but no relax to it. On the way to Beaches-n-Cream we say a Mama duck with her babies swimming in Stormalong Bay Pool. They were so cute, I love fuzzy yellow ducklings. They seemed to be enjoying having the pool all to themselves.

We did not have Priority Seating (PS) so we did wait for about 15 minutes and this was at 1:30 in the afternoon, so I would highly recommend that you have PS if you want to eat at Beaches-n-Cream at a peak eating time. It is pretty small inside so even with (PS) you would probably have to wait. Our waitress recommended the hamburgers as they are known to have they best burger in WDW. So we both ordered a cheeseburger and it was very good. Something about eating a burger at an old fashion malt shop, they are always the best burgers. I got a Lime Ricky (a lime and cherry flavored soda) to drink and Marshall ordered a chocolate malt. Marshall had the biggest grin on his face when the waitress put that malt down in front of him and for good reason too. That chocolate malt was one of the best malts I’ve ever tasted. We were both planning on ordering dessert too, but then I got a look at the huge sundaes the people at the table next to us got and decided that maybe we should share something. Halfway through his meal Marshall decided that he didn’t want dessert, since he had the malt. I knew there was no way I could eat the "No Way Jose" we had been thinking about but I had to get some ice cream. So I decided on the "Brownie ala Mode".. This was very good and definitely smaller from the other specialty sundaes, but still too big for me to finish. I ate maybe half. In the future I’ll just have ice cream for lunch that is what vacation is for.

After lunch we headed back to the room and I decided to take a 20-30 minute power nap. Marshall when to feed his pin addition and check into transportation to the park for our tour in the morning. Our Keys to the Kingdom tour started before the park opened so we had to make sure there was a bus running. I was just waking up as Marshall got back to the room. I decided that Mickey could wait no longer so I ate his hand. Although I felt very guilty for eating Mickey Mouse (my while chocolate Mickey from the night before) it was very taste.

At about 3:00 pm we headed our to Epcot. We decided to take the Friendship boats, as we knew we would be doing a lot of walking. We had a driver in training, driving our boat. He did a very good job; I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to drive one of those boats.

We started at the shop in the International Gateway, Marshall looked for pins, but didn’t buy any, at this time. Next we headed off to UK and looked around the shops the to Canada and did the same here. I bought some polar bears in one of the shops for my aunt who loves polar bears and my grandma who just loves bears. We had a nice chat with the CM and were on our way. The neatest thing happened when we got home. We had the bears shipped back to our room so we never even opened the package until we got home. Upon opening the bag we found a thank you card saying "Take good care of the polar bears they love lots of snuggles and hugs. Your Canadian Friends." I thought this was the neatest card what a great way to continue the magic once we got home.

After Canada we headed to Mission Space. We didn’t even have to wait; every attraction was either a walk on or very short wait all day long. This was our second trip to Mars; I have to say it was just as exciting as the first trip that we took back in October. After our trip to Mars we thought we would check out Test Track (TT) but the wait was 100 minutes so we decided to pass. I guessing that they must have had problems with TT at some point in the day for the wait to have gotten so long. Same thing happened back in October and I think a cast member told my husband that it takes 2 hours to run through safety tests.

Next we headed to Mouse Gear, one of my favorite stores, to do a little shopping. I found nothing for myself, which I can’t believe. Marshall found some more pins and I did pick up a few gifts for the family back at home.

We headed back to the World Showcase. Walked through and poked in some of the shops in Mexico, Norway and China. In Germany we decided to have some wine. I tried a Gewürztraminer and Marshall had a Spatlese. Both wines were very good. At this point we remembered that we were going to drink our way around the world. But I decided that it was probably a good idea that we didn’t, although, I do think it would be fun to try sometime. Margaritas in Mexico, Wine in Germany, Sake in Japan, Beer in Canada, yep it would be fun!

Next we browsed through Italy and the US. The "performing" statue was out in Italy. The CM’s do a fabulous job at being a statue. The statue falling over on to people or ducking out of the way during a picture always surprises me; I always forget that it is a real person. I don’t know how they get the CM to look so statue like, but it is amazing.

It was now 7:00 and we had made it to Japan. Our Priority Seating at Mitsukoshi Teppan Yaki Dining Room wasn’t until 8:00, but we decided to go early and just take our chances. Our chances were good, they told us it would be about 20 minutes but we only waited 5.

We were eating on the "grill" side where your chef makes your food right in front of you. This was a first for Marshall and I, we had never had Japanese food nor had we had an experience where your chef grills at your table.

We were seated with a party of four; they were seated on our right and didn’t talk to us at all. I was a bit disappointed that they were not a chatty group, as I knew his was half of the experience. Then shortly after we were seated they sat another party of two at the table, to our left. They were two very friendly ladies and we had a very nice time talking to them. They also showed us the ropes, being that they had eaten at this type of restaurant often. (Side note: writing about this dinner is very difficult for me right now, as I’m sitting at work eating my supper, which happens to be a Weight Watcher’s meal. Which isn’t nearly as appetizing as the Mitsukoshi Teppan Yaki Dining Room.)

Being our first time, I wanted to go all out and experience sushi. So we started off with a combo roll. Which was a California roll (Crab, cucumber, avocado) and a spicy tuna roll (spicy tuna, and I don’t know what else). I liked the California roll but didn’t car for the spicy tuna roll. Marshall didn’t really care for either. We both ordered the Hamotora (Chicken and Shrimp). Marshall had mastered the chopsticks after two bites of his meal; I gave up after two bites. I just don’t have the coordination to use chopsticks. Our meal was very good and our chef was very entertaining. Telling corny jokes and really interacting with the group. It was definitely worth experiencing at least once. I don’t know that we will make it a "must go" every time we are in WDW, but we did have a good time and good food.

After dinner we strolled through Morocco and France then decided that we would call it a night. We stopped in the shop at the International Gateway on our way out and Marshall traded and bought some more pins. I then looked at my watch and realized that it was 5minutes until 9:00 PM; so we decided to stay and watch Illuminations. I had forgotten how good this show is. I love watching the globe circling around the water and then the counties lighting up.

After Illuminations we walked back to the Beach Club, it took 5 minutes or less. The Beach Club is a great location if you plan on spending a lot of time in Epcot. It is such a short walk back that even if you are tired you’ll opt for the walk to not have to wait for the next boat.

Back at the Beach Club, Marshall decided that there are some pins he want to buy so we head down to shop to purchase some more pins. Later back at our room he decided to look at all the pins he bought and then adds it up and says "I’m done buying pin!", I almost believed him. We decided to eat a bit more of our white chocolate Mickey Mouse, I felt guilty, but it was sooooo gooood! After our guilt filled snack we decided to brave the cold and hit the hot tub to sooth our backs and feet. It felt very good!

Day 3: Monday February, 9 2004

We woke up bright and early 6:30 am via a call from Mickey Mouse. His voice sure does make it easy to get out of bed. We had breakfast in the room and checked the temperature out on our balcony. It was a little cool, but I thought we would probably be okay to head out in shorts and a jacket, but Marshall reminded me that we would not have time to walk to the bus stop and then decide that we need to change. So we headed out at 7:30 am in jeans and our jackets. We should have gone in shorts or at least brought shorts along but we didn’t. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then went in and right to the tour garden to the right of City Hall.

We did the Keys of the Kingdom tour, and all I can say is that it was amazing. Our tour guide Robin was fantastic. She had me getting all teary eyed all day long. She told us so many neat things and she had such a great personality, really fun to spend the day with. I don’t want to go into details about the tour, because I don’t want to "ruin the magic" for those of you that don’t want to know about the behind the scenes stuff. For me the things we learned didn’t spoil any of the magic but enhanced it and gave me even greater respect for cast members and admiration for Mr. Walt Disney and Mr. Roy Disney. These two men were just amazing men. One fact that I will share with you is that because of Roy’s financial genius Walt Disney World was debt free the day they opened. I highly recommend taking the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour if you want to learn more about the park itself. This was a 5-hour tour that included lunch. Lunch was at the Harbor House.

After our fabulous morning and saying a tearful goodbye to Robin, our tour guide (I really can’t say enough nice things about her) I decided to go and buy some shorts. I have an easier time justifying my purchases if they are an "I have to buy this for comfort type of purchase". So I found some shorts, but they didn’t match the shirt I was wearing so I had to get a matching shirt too, and while I was at it matching socks. My whole outfit came to about $100. Which my husband didn’t think was to bad, but I felt very guilty. As I never spend money on clothes for myself and when I do, let me tell you, I make $100 go a lot further then on outfit. But this was vacation and I’m suppose to splurge. I put on my new clothes, because I was hot and need to get out of my jeans. We then found a shady spot bought a couple of Mickey Bars and had a much deserved break from all of our walking.

With our Mickey Bars devoured and our feet rested we headed towards fantasyland, the afternoon parade was going to be starting soon so we thought we see a few attractions in fantasyland. We took a trip on Small World; a trip to the Magic Kingdom is just not complete if you don’t take at least one ride on the "Happiest voyage that ever sailed". After Small World we went and saw Mickey’s Philharmagic. We saw this back in October for the first time and had to see it again. It is by far the best 3-D attraction at WDW. They did such a good job with this movie. Even adults, myself included, try and reach out and grab the things flying at them.

It had been a while since Marshall and I had rode on the Train so we hopped the train at Toontown Fair and took it to Frontierland. We checked out the line for Splash Mountain, but it was a bit long, as was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, so we skipped them and headed for Pirates of the Caribbean. During this attraction we took the time to look for some of the things we learned about on the tour, it really is amazing how much detain the imagineers but into their work.

It was now getting close to 5:15 and we had priority seating at 6:00 for the California Grill in the Contemporary Resort so we decided to call it a day at the Magic Kingdom and hop the monorail to the Contemporary.

We were very excited for this meal, as it was going to be a very leisurely and relaxing meal that would end with us watching the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom while dining at the California Grill. This meal was exactly that. It was the perfect end to one of the most magical days I have ever had at Walt Disney World.

Our meal at the Garden Grill was extraordinary! We started off with the 3 cheese flat bread, 3 cheeses, roasted garlic and herbs - Very Good! To drink we had a bottle of wine, a Spatlese, which was very good and went very well with all of our food choices. I have to admit that I did have a bit more wine then Marshall did. Next we tried the tempura shrimp sushi roll with orange ginger dipping sauce. I loved this sushi roll, it was the tempura shrimp with strips of mango (I think) and apple in the roll, with orange dipping sauce on the side. I would defiantly have this again it was very good. Marshall liked it better then the sushi we had the night before, but her still wasn’t won over on the sushi. For our main course we both had the pork tenderloin with creamy polenta. This was excellent. The pork was very tender and moist and the polenta was very creamy almost like a gravy but a little thicker (my mouth is watering as I type this thinking about it). By the time we were finishing our dinner it was getting close to fireworks time. We ordered our desert, which would take about 20 minutes to cook and would have it after the fireworks were over. The fireworks from the California Grill were fantastic. It is the perfect spot to see them and they play the music so you do get the whole Whishes effect. If at all possible I recommend seeing Wishes two times while in WDW; once from the Magic Kingdom and one while dining at the California Grill. After the fireworks were over and the light were brought back up our dessert was delivered. We had the chocolate volcano cake with orange ice cream. As the rest of our meal the dessert was excellent. The cake was warm and moist with chocolate oozing out of it and the ice-cream was while in color very creamy and had a light orange taste that complimented the cake very nicely. Marshall and I were fighting over the last bite.

After dinner we checked out the shops in the Contemporary, Marshall bought some more pins and we decided to get some pins for our son Peter, as we thought that he might enjoy pin trading too on his next trip to WDW. We called our son Peter, who promptly asked what did we get him and then scolded us for not calling him earlier in the day. We told him we were busy with meeting stuff. By now I think that Peter was on to us and didn’t really believe that we had a meeting at Disney World, he is one smart 4 year old.

Since we were going to have to head downtown to catch a bus back to Beach Club we decided to do a bit of shopping at the Market Place. Marshall spent a lot of time in the pin shop, as did I, looking for pins for both Marshall and now Peter. More then anything, Peter wanted us to bring him back some Tarzan stuff; he is really into Tarzan right now. Marshall asked but they didn’t have a Tarzan pin any more, they use to have one. Next we decided to head to World of Disney so we could get a Pooh Bear for Noah and then head back to the room. On our way out Marshall decided he was going to check with the "pin trading pros" to see if they had a Tarzan pin. By now I’m starting to get a little annoyed with the pin trading stuff so I said "Go a head and I’ll meet you in World of Disney." It wasn’t until I was gong through the doors of World of Disney that I thought about a meeting place. We didn’t establish one, not a good plan. Since I was pretty worn out from the day I decided that the best way for Marshall to find me was to stay put in one area, let him do the searching. I browsed through the store a bit on my way back to the stuffed animal area. Once I got there I found the Pooh Bear I wanted and had a seat on a chair, that was conveniently placed right there. I thought, perfect Marshall knows the only thing I need from here is a bear for Noah so he’ll come here first and then we will be on our way. So I waited and waited, finally Marshall found me. Back by Pooh was the last place he looked because he figured that I would have been done in that area by the time he got there and was checking out the rest of the store.

It was 10:50 pm when we boarded the bus back to the Beach Club. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for a bus and it wasn’t too crowded, which is always nice after a long day. We hadn’t been back to the room since we left it at 7:30 am, this was a WDW first for us and boy were we tired. We almost always take an afternoon break and if we don’t then we are back to the room a lot earlier then 11:30. We got back to the room and we couldn’t get to bed fast enough. We were both beat and tomorrow was going to be another early day, as we planned to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hour at MGM. We both agreed that this day was one of the most magical days we have ever had at WDW.

Day 4: Tuesday February, 10 2004

We awoke again to Mickey voice at 6:45 am to get ready for MGM. We skipped breakfast because it is a tradition for us to always have a breakfast treat at Starting Rolls the morning we go to MGM. We caught the boat to MGM and on the way there Marshall traded pins with a little girl. She like his DVC members only limited edition pin he had so Marshall traded with her for a Woody and Buzz Lightyear pin, that you get in the starter sets. It made her day, her eyes just let up when she got that pin.

We arrived at MGM just as the park was opening so we posed for a quick photo and headed to my favorite attraction, Tower of Terror (ToT). I’ve ridden this attraction numerous times and I still scream my head off every time. Of course the randomized drop makes it all the more fun, as you never know what’s going to happen.

After ToT we headed to Rock-n-Rollercoaster (RnR) another favorite. But this time we had a first. For the first time ever we were in the front seat so I was a bit nervous. I don’t like the front, I much rather be in the middle. It was a very fun ride, and although the front was exciting, I still prefer the middle.

With our two must do’s done for the day we headed back to Staring Rolls for our morning breakfast treat and coffee. We both shared the Chocolate Croissant and Fresh Fruit Cheese Cake, both were very yummy. While dining we noticed that there was something missing, the birds that are usually hovering over you just waiting for you to drop a crumb. There was not one single bird around. We did ask CM where all the birds were, but they didn’t seem to know what we were talking about.

After Breakfast we headed to Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play it (WWTBAM) to pick up a fast pass for the first show. We had plenty of time to kill so we stopped for photos with Pluto and Minnie. Then we headed to The Great Movie Ride, another favorite of mine. I don’t know if it was because of where we were at, last seat of the last car but the Alien part didn’t seem as scary as normal. Did they tone it down during the last rehab, so it wouldn’t scare little ones as much?

Next we hit the Haunted Mansion movie set. This was a very cool display and very interesting too, we missed this movie when it was in the theaters so I’m really looking forward to seeing it on video now.

It was finally our fast pass time for WWTBAM so we went in and waited a few minutes to be seated. We had a fun show, I’d have to say the highlight was when they panned the audience and they zoomed in on this couple, well, the man got so excited that he took out his video camera (not suppose to film during the game) and started filming giant TV screens. So our host runs up into the audience to him and takes the camera and says, if you’re going to do some illegal taping might as well make it worth it. So he did a bunch of filming of the studio for the couple, I thought that was very cool.

It was now just about time for our lunch at the Brown Derby, so we headed that direction. Up until that day I had been very excited to eat there, as the last time we ate there was back in 1998 and our meal was fabulous. I don’t know if I was getting burned out on all the good food, or if I was starting to add up the cost of all our good meals, or if I just knew nothing could top the meal we had the night before; but I just wasn’t all that excited to be going there for lunch. We checked in and got seated fairly quickly, considering we were there at opening and we had PS, I thought it took a bit longer then it should have. We ordered as soon as our waiter came, Marshall had the Pan Fried Grouper and I had the Cobb Salad. Marshall liked his fish very much and while my salad good, I just wasn’t as impressed as I was the first time we ate there. I think I narrowed it down to the service, the people aren’t as friendly there as other places. They are a bit stand offish. I don’t know if it is a roll that they are playing, because it seems like everyone there is that way. Don’t get me wrong, the service was fine and it is not like they are rude, but just not as friendly as the other restaurants at WDW. We deiced to skip dessert as after lunch we were headed back to the Magic Kingdom (MK) and I wanted to be sure I had room for a Dole Whip.

We then jumped a bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) so that we could get to the Magic Kingdom. We got to the (TTC) just as the direct monorail for the MK was pulling out; since we had never ridden the fairy to MK we decided to give that a try. It was fun to do once, but unless the fairy is just docking I think it is probably a lot quicker to just wait for the monorail, either the direct one or a resort one, as several monorails came and went while we were waiting for the fairy.

Once in the MK we hoofed it back to Frontierland to grab some fast passes for Splash Mountain. We had about 1 ½ hours until our fast pass time so we headed into Adventureland to get our dole whip. Then Marshall asked the 2 silliest questions I’ve ever heard; 1. Do you want you own or are we going to share? – Hello, this is Dole Whips we are talking about; I’m not sharing one bite. 2. What flavor do you want? – Again - Hello, there is only one flavor of Dole Whip (pineapple for those of you who may not know) – the rest is just soft serve ice cream that you can get anywhere. I went and grabbed us a table in the shade and Marshall joined me with two Dole Whips in hand and we enjoyed every last drop.

After getting our Dole Whip fix we headed to Tomorrowland. I wanted to make sure we did Carrousel of Progress (CoP) as it usually isn’t open when we come because we always tour in off season. After CoP we took a ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA) or WedWay People Mover for us purest. Next we took a spin on Buzzlightyear’s Space Ranger Spin where Marshall beat me bad. I say it is because Marshall was controlling the spinning and caused be to miss a lot of shots. Marshall will say he is just better then me. We still had plenty of time before our fast pass time so we took a ride on Space Mountain. I was in front, and same goes for this ride as it did for RnR; I rather be in the middle, but I was in the front of the first car so I got a big thrill. I even had to close my eyes at one point, something I never do if I’m in the middle.

Since we were making such good time and we still had about 45 minutes left until our fast pass time we headed to Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion (HM) we looked for some things we learned on our tour the day before and found them all. After HM we still had some time so we decided to catch the next show of the Country Bear Jamboree, we hadn’t seen this show since our honeymoon back in 1997; I forgot how much fun the show is.

Finally, it was time to ride Splash Mountain, we didn’t get a chance to take a trip to our laughin’ place on our trip back in October so we were both excited to go. Guess where we got to sit... Nope, the back, which was fine by me because you don’t get that wet back there. (TIP) The only place you really get wet is in the front, so if you want to avoid getting wet do not sit in the front. We learned this on a previous trip on a cold day in February 2002. The CM’s were not seating people in the front so they wouldn’t get wet and freeze.

It was now about 5:00 so we headed back to Liberty Square to the Harbor House were we both had fish and chips. Harbor House is one of my favorite counter service restaurants in all of WDW. Mostly because of the food selection, but also because of the quiet upstairs dining area. Although the upstairs was closed off because it was pretty quiet in there.

After supper we headed to the Hall of Presidents, we hadn’t seen it since they added George W. Bush, and we needed to put our debate to rest. See in my Disney Trivia Game one question asks "Who is the narrator in the beginning of the Hall of Presidents attraction at WDW". The game said the answer was Maya Angelou. Both Marshall and I thought that was incorrect. We believed that Maya Angelou was the narrator for the American Adventure not the Hall of Presidents. Well I do believe we were correct, unless Maya Angelou sound like James Earl Jones.

It was now about 6:20 or so, so we headed back toward Main Street to get a place to watch Spectro Magic. I was very excited to see this parade as we had not seen it since our honeymoon too. We grabbed a snack from the bakery, I got a Mickey Mouse bunt cake and Marshall got a chocolate chip cookie. Both were a taste treat. We then went and got a spot around the circle at the beginning of Main Street. We thought about going up to the overlook by the train station, but we noticed it was packed so we stayed where we were. This is a great place to watch the parade if you are not planning on staying for the fireworks because it is at the start of the parade and close to the exit of the park.

Spectro Magic is a fantastic parade all those lights make it just beautiful and the last float is the best, the way it changes. That is all I’ll say just in case someone hasn’t seen it yet. We saw the tail end of this parade back in 1997, but hadn’t seen it since. It was definitely worth seeing.

After the parade we headed got the bus back to the Beach Club and went to our room to unload some of our stuff. Marshall hands me a bag and in side are 2 pins. With Marshall constantly looking at pins I started helping him and while helping him I found a series of pins that I liked. Disney characters on a bottle cap looking pin. So while I wasn’t looking Marshall bought me a Minnie and a Pluto. I looked at him and told him he shouldn’t have, because I don’t want to do pin trading. Then I said "we need to go to the shop because I can’t have Minnie with out Mickey." So we were off to try and find a Mickey bottle cap pin.

We had no luck at the Beach Club shop so we headed to the Yacht Club shop, again no luck. We didn’t really feel like heading down town so I suggested we try the Boardwalk. Marshall liked this plan because he could then get a Boardwalk pin. On the walk over to the Boardwalk the fireworks started at Epcot. So we stopped to watch the fireworks on the bridge that leads to the Boardwalk on the Yacht Club side. This was a nice relaxing way to see the fireworks from Epcot and the view wasn’t all that bad considering we weren’t in the park. I’d say that if I didn’t feel like being in Epcot to see illuminations but wanted to see the fireworks that this was a pretty great place to see them. I think a really great place if you have small children that don’t usually stay up late, because they could see the fireworks and then be in bed with in 5 or 10 minutes.

After the fireworks we headed on to the boardwalk. We briefly thought about going into Jellyrolls, or maybe that was just me, but decided we were just too tired. We hit the shops on the Boardwalk still no luck at finding a Mickey bottle cap pin. Marshall got his Boardwalk pin. At this point I was bummed out that I didn’t find the Mickey bottle cap pin and told Marshall that this is why I didn’t want to get into the pin thing, it is way to obsessive. On our walk back to the Beach Club (we just continued on in the loop) we saw a pin cart on the Boardwalk. So we looked and I got all excited, they had some bottle cap pins. I found Donald and Goofy, but still no Mickey. So I was bummed out again. Then Marshall found Mickey; he was hiding behind another pin. I was so excited. So I got Mickey, Donald and Goofy. I decided to stop at the fab five, but I can hardly wait to get more in the bottle cap collection when we go back. Hopefully they will still have them. Since I’m not big into wearing a lanyard and I don’t really want to trade my pins. I’m trying to figure out some way I can display them, suggestion are welcomed.

With our mission completed we headed back to our room to pack and go to bed. It was back to reality tomorrow.

Day 5: Wednesday February, 11 2004

We slept in, took our time getting ready and had breakfast in the room. Happy Limo was coming at 11:00. We took a few pictures of the resort said our good-byes and decided that we will definitely stay at the Beach Club Villas again. Marshall took one more look through the shop, this time for sunglasses, as he had lost his the previous day. He found a pair he liked and bought them.

We met our Happy Limo driver Jeremy at 11:00 and were pleasantly surprised to see we had been upgraded to a Ford Excursion SUV. This was a very nice ride with DVD player and everything. Marshall said it’s time to go car shopping when we got home. I told him our Toyota Sienna is just fine.

We got to the airport and got checked in with no problems and our flights were just fine. We did have a first while flying though. Our flight from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis was on what I call a baby jet. We had to get on the plane from the tarmac and it was a bit chilly when we got on the plane in Pittsburgh and down right cold when we got off in Minneapolis. Other then that our flight was uneventful and we made it home just fine.

We got home in time to put our youngest son to bed and spend a few minutes with our older one. We gave him his lanyard and his pins and told him all about pin trading. Then Marshall showed him his lanyard and asked if there were any pins he wanted to trade. We had put a "boring" pin on Peter’s lanyard and Marshall had a Tarzan pin on his. As soon as Peter saw that Tarzan pin on his dad’s lanyard he got all excited and made his first trade.