DA sees Magic Kingdom for first time in 34 years
Tuesday.November.29.2005
Today is our actual 19th anniversary, even though we celebrated last night at California Grill. DA remembers to tell us “Happy Anniversary” & we do spend quite a bit of time being goofily happy today.
Breakfast at Sassagoula Floatworks: we have our usual homemade breakfast squares + fruit, DA has 2 cinnamon rolls slathered in butter.
Next stop = Magic Kingdom!!
We take the bus & get there early enough for the “good morning” opening – always makes us grin, DA is grinning too & dancing around a little bit.
My notes are a bit skimpy – here’s what we did.
Space Mountain first off, DA opted for the Chicken Exit. I rode in the front (as always, I have a few neck “issues” and riding anywhere else in the pod gives me a raging headache), I whooped and hollered. We both had a great ride & were grinning when we got off <yes, we grin a lot at Walt Disney World>, DA was waiting for us on a bench. She said that the Cast Members had been very friendly & she wasn’t at all uncomfortable with doing the Chicken Exit thing and wasn’t it so nice of Disney World to have something like that so people like her could still get to enjoy things.
Next up, Tomorrowland Transit Authority. All 3 of us rode. I went up the mechanical incline first, DA behind me, Wall-E behind her (we were a bit concerned about her being steady on her feet in new “motion” environments – hey, we love our Dear Aunt & certainly don’t want to see anything happen to her). All enjoyed, she liked being able to see “inside that roller coaster ride”.
Hall of Presidents. This was SO successful. James was the CM on duty & he was fabulous. Knew gobs of history, very engaging. (Oh did I mention that it was drizzly again? We were doing fine staying dry & warm enough.) DA liked all the artifacts spread about and we all enjoyed the show. First time Wall-E and I had seen it since November 2002. DA is retired military & Dear Uncle (passed away in 2001) was career Army. We wanted to highlight some of the more historical and patriotic things at WDW.
Lunch at Columbia Harbor House. As I said, it was drizzly & a bit chilly; so this seemed like the thing to do. All 3 of us ordered the ½ sandwich and chowder. Each got a different sandwich, I remember a tuna salad & a vegetarian (must have been Wall-E and me); all 3 were very good.
Pirates of the Caribbean. This was as close as we got to a roller coaster. All enjoyed. DA remarked that there was a lot to see everywhere we went and in everything we did.
Final attraction at Magic Kingdom = The Enchanted Tiki Room. This is a must do for us & DA enjoyed it too.
Did some shopping on the way out. DA got her “thumbs up” pin. She had seen it at WoD the day before but didn’t get it. She’s very pleased with her pin (a few months later, she lost it, we bought another in February & took it to her).
Monorail to Epcot – just like we had planned. Didn’t get to ride in the front car, but that’s okay.
By this time DA is getting a bit tired, so we head to the POFQ bus at Epcot & go back to the resort. DA takes a rest. We go sit at Mardi Grogs and talk to John the bartender for a while. He hasn’t met DA yet, but has heard about her. We promise that she’ll be down later.
We walked over to POR and went to Fulton’s General Store. The two of them had checked it out while waiting for me to get our rooms yesterday. DA saw a clock that she wanted for her back porch (really a 3 season room) & Wall-E saw a long-sleeved Mickey Mouse Christmas shirt that he thought would be perfect for me. So, we went over and bought these things PLUS a $10 Tinkerbell Christmas watch (happy happy happy).
Walked back to our rooms (Bldg 3, 2nd floor, towards parking lot but on the end very close to the arcade/Jackson Square/lobby/food court area) and got DA.
We all piled into the car and drove over to Yacht Club/Beach Club. We ate at Beaches and Cream (the first time for all of us) – split the following 3 ways – double cheeseburger = GREAT!, chicken Caesar salad = VERY GOOD, and a mudslide = VERY GOOD. Quite enjoyable. We watched 2 brothers (there with their wives and children) attack TWO kitchen sinks. Neither of them finished. I think that they started out too gung ho and the brain-freeze headaches did them in. Both DA and Wall-E believe that if I went without eating that I could finish one (I confess, I am an ice-cream aholic. My first real world, paying job was at Baskin-Robbins); I don’t agree with them – I think that the candy bars & brownies would slow me down.
We walked around YC/BC looking at the decorations. DA liked the carousel (we had seen a lot of the decorations last year; DA doesn’t usually do anything for Christmas – not much into holidays/birthdays/etc and we had mild concerns about taking her there when all the decorations were up, we shouldn’t have been concerned at all, she wants to go see them again) and a lobby CM came over and chatted & helped her find all the hidden Mickeys.
Drove over to Coronado Springs. They have the best moderate Christmas decorations. Beautiful white poinsettias and I really like their gingerbread village – it’s more like homemade instead of “super duper fancy dancy pastry chef”.
Drive over to Wilderness Lodge. We had thought that DA would really like the Christmas decorations here – they were okay (her opinion) but she really liked the resort & thought it was very pretty. Interesting thing @ WL: We saw a group of ladies going out for a “sleigh” ride. DA liked the festive atmosphere but was concerned about that “poor horse” having to pull that heavy sleigh. “Do you think he’s happy?” I said sure he was, everybody & everything likes to be useful, don’t you like to be busy and useful? <grinning>
NOTE: It was very convenient & easy to drive to the resorts & for Wall-E to drop us off while he went to park the car.
Back to POFQ. We sit at Mardi Grogs until 9pm. Talking to each other & John the bartender. Meeting “new” folks. Drinking beer. Remembering what we did today… DA went back to the room about 9:15. We went for a walk & watched some of Illuminations (what we could see). Back to the room, ready for bed, TR notes by 10:00 am.
NOTE: I just know that we ate something somewhere along the line for dinner; but I don’t have any notes and I sure as heck can’t remember what or where. It may be that since we had that huge (for the 3 of us) meal at Beaches & Cream that Wall-E & I grabbed a chicken wrap at Sassagoula Floatworks & DA simply didn’t eat again (she doesn’t eat much anyway).
