angryduck71
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2010
Hi everyone!!! This year, to celebrate my son going into double-digits and because he graduated elementary school a year early, I took my "little Sheldon," aka Davy to Universal, Disney, and Discovery Cove. Davy started out wanting to do this trip in order to ride Kong. He was VERY excited about that. And, then, it just grew and grew and grew... I have a PTR posted too if interested... we pretty much stuck with the plan other than moving a couple things due to rain.... so, here goes!
On May 23, I woke up at 4:45 a.m. ready to go. Davy got up no problem at 5 a.m. My boyfriend THANKFULLY drove us to the airport to save parking time and $$$ (even though he went to a concert the night before and BARELY slept AND had to work that day!). <3
My buddy Pam had told me about a "secret Starbucks" that is kind of hidden in the terminal. Such a blessing at 6:30 a.m.! (I don't drink coffee, but the hot chocolate and muffins perked us up!)
You can tell we were reading to go... or ready for a nap!
We had a stop on this flight in Milwaukee (the non-stop was horribly early or horribly late), but we didn't have to change planes. Davy thought that was pretty cool. My cousin was driving from way up north where he had some work going on. We were in Milwaukee at the same time heading to Orlando. His daughter was competing in the softball college World Series. She ended up being named an All-American. She is really the best shortstop in America. Really wish they'd play in the Olympics again!
Tony Hinds picked us up. He's so awesome. Highly recommend! Then, we were off! I had flashbacks to my trip last month for the Star Wars Celebration when we passed the Orange County Convention Center.
Saw the Disney entrance sign (even though it'd be several days before we went to any Disney Parks) -- lots of road construction!:
And, then on to Shades of Green where we would be spending 7 nights (Shades is a great deal if you work for the military -- and they also have deals on top of deals):
Tony dropped us off and we headed to the front desk. Davy was pretty wiped out by this point. Our room request (we usually stay on the Magnolia side I believe -- the one away from the garage, but with the view of the fireworks) was going to be honored, but the room wasn't ready. We could, however, get one near the garage if we wanted a room now. So, for the first time we stayed at Palm. We go to it and I realize I left a tote bag with a lot of my stuff in Tony's car. I panic, call, and he's back pretty quickly. This is the start of just little things that kept being annoying during the trip. Overall, we had a fantastic trip, but every day we had a mishap. This was the first one.
While Davy was resting up, I went to Alamo. The very NOT friendly woman at the desk barely told me where the car was. My plan this evening was just to chill out and go to Davy's favorite restaurant (and mine) on Disney property: Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. But, after a bit of rest, Davy wanted to hit Universal.
We had purchased 5-day, 3-park tickets from Ft. Leavenworth. Davy decided he just wanted to do Volcano Bay one day, so I decided to get seasonal AP tickets and a one day pass to Volcano Bay. It cost roughly the same for that as the 5-day, 3 park tickets. BUT, it took us an hour's wait at customer service. When it was our turn, the woman at the next available window went on break. Sigh... then, when we did get help, the attendant wasn't sure how to do it. Finally got it done. That took a good 20 minutes. We had a running joke all vacation, "anything but waiting in the customer service line!!!!" Then, FINALLY!
My niece was also in town working. Since we were going to be near where she was working, we asked if she could meet us later that night. Meanwhile, Davy wanted to go into the single rider line of Gringotts (my favorite -- he's becoming less thrilled with it). Then, he wanted to cast spells with his wand he brought from home. We had purchased it two years ago. It didn't work (another annoying thing, but thanks to everyone on these boards, I knew we could "get it fixed" -- which really meant they'd give him another one). The new one was actually a darker color than his old. Davy was cool about it though. And, off he went!
We had some time to kill before meeting Julie for dinner, so we got an appetizer -- Florean Fortescue's! -- and just people-watched for a bit.
Then, something I was really looking forward to: eating at Cowfish and meeting Julie. I have to admit, Davy and I thought it was OK. I ate more of Julie's and Davy's meal than my own. I forgot what we ordered (I'm bad about that, sorry!). Here's some pics though!
On May 23, I woke up at 4:45 a.m. ready to go. Davy got up no problem at 5 a.m. My boyfriend THANKFULLY drove us to the airport to save parking time and $$$ (even though he went to a concert the night before and BARELY slept AND had to work that day!). <3
My buddy Pam had told me about a "secret Starbucks" that is kind of hidden in the terminal. Such a blessing at 6:30 a.m.! (I don't drink coffee, but the hot chocolate and muffins perked us up!)
You can tell we were reading to go... or ready for a nap!
We had a stop on this flight in Milwaukee (the non-stop was horribly early or horribly late), but we didn't have to change planes. Davy thought that was pretty cool. My cousin was driving from way up north where he had some work going on. We were in Milwaukee at the same time heading to Orlando. His daughter was competing in the softball college World Series. She ended up being named an All-American. She is really the best shortstop in America. Really wish they'd play in the Olympics again!
Tony Hinds picked us up. He's so awesome. Highly recommend! Then, we were off! I had flashbacks to my trip last month for the Star Wars Celebration when we passed the Orange County Convention Center.
Saw the Disney entrance sign (even though it'd be several days before we went to any Disney Parks) -- lots of road construction!:
And, then on to Shades of Green where we would be spending 7 nights (Shades is a great deal if you work for the military -- and they also have deals on top of deals):
Tony dropped us off and we headed to the front desk. Davy was pretty wiped out by this point. Our room request (we usually stay on the Magnolia side I believe -- the one away from the garage, but with the view of the fireworks) was going to be honored, but the room wasn't ready. We could, however, get one near the garage if we wanted a room now. So, for the first time we stayed at Palm. We go to it and I realize I left a tote bag with a lot of my stuff in Tony's car. I panic, call, and he's back pretty quickly. This is the start of just little things that kept being annoying during the trip. Overall, we had a fantastic trip, but every day we had a mishap. This was the first one.
While Davy was resting up, I went to Alamo. The very NOT friendly woman at the desk barely told me where the car was. My plan this evening was just to chill out and go to Davy's favorite restaurant (and mine) on Disney property: Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. But, after a bit of rest, Davy wanted to hit Universal.
We had purchased 5-day, 3-park tickets from Ft. Leavenworth. Davy decided he just wanted to do Volcano Bay one day, so I decided to get seasonal AP tickets and a one day pass to Volcano Bay. It cost roughly the same for that as the 5-day, 3 park tickets. BUT, it took us an hour's wait at customer service. When it was our turn, the woman at the next available window went on break. Sigh... then, when we did get help, the attendant wasn't sure how to do it. Finally got it done. That took a good 20 minutes. We had a running joke all vacation, "anything but waiting in the customer service line!!!!" Then, FINALLY!
My niece was also in town working. Since we were going to be near where she was working, we asked if she could meet us later that night. Meanwhile, Davy wanted to go into the single rider line of Gringotts (my favorite -- he's becoming less thrilled with it). Then, he wanted to cast spells with his wand he brought from home. We had purchased it two years ago. It didn't work (another annoying thing, but thanks to everyone on these boards, I knew we could "get it fixed" -- which really meant they'd give him another one). The new one was actually a darker color than his old. Davy was cool about it though. And, off he went!
We had some time to kill before meeting Julie for dinner, so we got an appetizer -- Florean Fortescue's! -- and just people-watched for a bit.
Then, something I was really looking forward to: eating at Cowfish and meeting Julie. I have to admit, Davy and I thought it was OK. I ate more of Julie's and Davy's meal than my own. I forgot what we ordered (I'm bad about that, sorry!). Here's some pics though!