Day 8: Janice's Birthday!

May 9, 2009
EPCOT
Downtown Disney (warning: not a good experience!!!)

Today was going to be a great day. Besides spending our day at EPCOT and having lunch at Le Cellier, it was also Janice's birthday! Since it was her birthday, Janice chose to spend her day in her (and mine) favorite park.

We entered the park through the International Gateway (which I love!). We had a chance to wonder a very empty World Showcase and take in some of the Flower and Garden displays.

Since we had an extra quick service to use, we decided to have breakfast at Sunshine Seasons in the Land. This worked out perfectly as I suggested we get fast passes for Soarin'. As expected, it was busy early on and our fast passes weren't until an hour or so later.

We had breakfast and then took in Living with the Land and the Circle of Life movie. I always love going on the Living with the Land ride. It is always interesting to see what they are growing.

I was worried about the Circle of Life movie and taking Graydon into it, as it is a pretty loud movie. Surprisingly, Graydon fell asleep in it, in my arms.

While Graydon slept, Janice and Steve went on Soarin'. You never realize how long you are in that attraction until you have to wait for someone. Once they were done, Steve and I took in the attraction.

Once we had finished all of the attractions in the Land, we rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Journey into Imagination with Figment. I was disappointed to find out that Figment was no longer around for pictures. Luckily, we were able to get one with him the last time we were in WDW.

By the time we were done all that fun, it was time for our lunch at Le Cellier. This wouldn't be just any regular lunch at the Le Cellier... it was also Janice's birthday lunch.

I checked us in at the podium and quietly asked about the cake I had ordered her. They noted my request and assured me they had it.

We had a great meal as usual. I had my favorite: the filet mignon with mushroom risotto. I actually found it a little saltier than when I had it before, but it was still a great steak.

When our waiter, Colin, came to take our dessert order, I had to pull him aside and remind him about the cake. He didn't know about it, but in his defence he had never had guests with a special cake order.

He brought out the cake and sang happy birthday, which embarrassed Janice (she really hates that stuff but too bad!).

Once done at Le Cellier we wandered through the UK pavilion while Steve took Charlotte back to the room for a break.

When we made it back to the room, we all went for a swim and had a couple of celebratory birthday drinks. Janice decided she wanted to go to to Downtown Disney to spend her $75 gift card she received from Disney for her birthday. Steve decided to stay back with Charlotte and we agreed to pick up dinner to bring back. We figured we wouldn't be longer that a couple of hours... or so we thought!

We made our way to the bus pickup only to find a group of people waiting for the Downtown Disney bus already. We ended up waiting forty minutes for the bus! The wait is supposed to be about twenty minutes.

We finally made it to our destination and hit our favorite stores: Art of Disney (the forth of five), the Pin station, the Winnie the Pooh store, Once Upon a Toy and the World of Disney. As usual it was busy all over Downtown Disney.

We also went into the new Tren-D store. I was actually disappointed as the store was geared just to women. They had some interesting pieces of Mickey art in the store though. I did help Janice pick out a cool purse: it was made of wide strands of old reprinted Mickey comics. Janice used her birthday gift card towards it, as it was pretty expensive. (Note: once I'm done my trip reports, I will be writing a post on all the stuff we bought, with pictures)

We didn't end up picking up dinner, as both quick service locations were busy. We made one more stop in the Art of Disney, where I purchased two Olszewski pockitpals. I also found out that they were releasing the three other Haunted Mansion paintings in the pockitpal series.

Again, we waited quite a while for the bus to get back to the resort. We ended up getting off at the Swan resort and walking back via the bridge, as we would have been quite later if we stayed on.

I sent Janice and Graydon back to the room while I went and picked up a pizza for the three adults. The pizza took a half hour, which allowed me to go back to the room to get my refillable mug, go to the front desk to complain about bus service and make it back just in time to pick up the pizza.

We had a late dinner and called it a night. While it was a fun day celebrating Janice's birthday, it was a very long day!

Day 7: Day of favorite rides! New and Old!

May 8, 2009

Disney's Hollywood Studios

We were up early today and got out of the room fairly early. We made our way down to the Boardwalk to catch the boat to the Studios. Janice had time to use her mug to grab a "free" coffee at the Boardwalk stand.

We hopped on the boat, which was quite spacious. They are the same boats that they use in EPCOT, as they are technically on the same waterway.

We walked in to the Studios just before 9am, just before the rope drop. I had never witnessed a rope drop before, so i was very interested to see what they did.

Janice and Steve waited at the back of the large crowd, while I made my way up to the front through the stores. I had heard that Toy Story Midway Mania was a very popular ride and that the Fast-Passes went quickly. We planned it that I would grab the passes and regroup under the hat (which I still can't stand).

The rope drop ceremony was pretty good. The street actors that roam the park during the day are involved in the ceremony. It looked like they had a pair of Newlyweds acting out a "Lights, Camera, Action!" type sence. Before the rope fell to the ground, they emphasized that no one was to run, so that no one was hurt.

As expected most people made their way to Pixar place and the Fast Pass line. I picked up our passes, which were for 10am (already!) and met back up with the group. Donald Duck and Minnie were out for pictures. There was next to no line, so we waited and got some great pictures with them. Surprisingly, Graydon didn't cry, meeting his first Disney characters; he was very intrigued with them. When Charlotte met Donald, she proclaimed he felt really soft!

We took in the Great Movie ride, since there was no wait. Unfortunately, Graydon cried, as parts of the ride were a little loud for his small ears.

We went back to Midway Mania, and took turns, as we didn't think we could take Graydon on. Good thing too, as we probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. The ride is really fun and it is no wonder it is so popular. The Fast-Passes were gone in no time!

"Boy, the crowds are large today Sarge!"

The balance of the day was spent taking in Muppet Vision 3D (still one of my favorites), Rock 'n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

We did visit most good stores including the Art of Disney (3 down, 2 to go). That the villains store, I purchased the Small World nine inch Vinylmation for Janice for Mothers' Day. I also saw a blank nine inch Vinylmation signed by the Disney Characters. Apparently, the characters will sign anything!

We made it back to the hotel for a swim. This was the second time for Graydon in a pool and he loved it more than the first time.

Back in the room, the kids had dinner and we had some adult beverages before heading out for dinner. Tonight's reservation was at Spoodles so we didn't have to go far.

This was the first time we have eaten at Spoodles. The menu is Mediterranean fare, so something different for a change.

We ordered Sangria, but were disappointed with how much we received. Apparently, they had changed jugs over and there was actually less in the new jugs. The story is that since the restaurant is changing over to Kat Kora's, the old jugs were "walking out" the door, as they had "Spoodles" printed on them.

We commented to the waitress, who mentioned it to the manager. The manager apologized and gave us a free second jug of Sangria.
The food was very good at Spoodles. I had roast pork tenderloin, which was very tender. Probably one of the best pork tenderloin I have ever had.

Overall, we had a great second day. Tomorrow will be fun as it is Janice's birthday and there was one more surprise to come!

Day 6: A day in the Kingdom

May 7, 2009
Magic Kingdom--Daytime
EPCOT--Nighttime

Despite my concerns with the Magic Kingdom having morning Magic Hours (which usually means heavier crowds), we boarded the bus for the original park early in the day. The wait wasn't long for the bus, unlike the evening before when we never got on the Downtown Disney bus.

We arrived at the front gates and my original thoughts looked about right: the park was busy.

We made our way past security, through the turnstiles, walked over the Mickey shaped pixie dust (which Janice still doesn't have), under the train station and out onto Main Street. What a sight! There were already lineups for a couple of characters around the flagpole (can't remember which ones as there was too much going on), a lineup for Mickey (I assume, as he wasn't out yet) and a lineup for Chip and Dale.

We continued up Main Street where we caught a bit of the "Towns Folk" performing a song and dance number. We made it to the hub and decided to head to Fantasyland before it got too busy. This was a bit out of the norm for me, as I usually head to Adventureland first for Pirates of the Caribbean. Of course, we now had kids with us, so we needed to show them a good time too.

Peter Pan's Flight was already pretty busy, so we grabbed a fast-pass and headed onto It's a Small World. This was the second time I noticed some refurbishments (the first was Main Street). There was next to no wait.

We moved on to Winnie the Pooh and Snow White, and then made our way over to Adventureland. On our way we stopped for a coffee and bottle break.

We took in Pirates of the Caribbean and the Enchanted Tiki Room. Surprisingly Graydon fell asleep in the Tiki room with all the birds singing around him.

We had lunch at the Columbia Harbour House while Graydon slept. At the quick service restaurant, I noticed the new laminated menu cards (which somehow ended up in the diaper bag). By the time he woke up, it was our chance to use our Fast-passes for Peter Pan.

We finished off the day with the Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion. We used the baby swap system at the Haunted mansion, as we felt Graydon wouldn't handle the attraction. Steve and Charlotte went first while we waited in the shade of the Haunted Mansion merchandise cart.

We made it out of the Mansion without becoming the 1000th haunt and walked down Main Street through the many shops. I poked my head in the Art of Disney shop in the old Main Street Cinema only to be disappointed: I was hoping to find the three inch Vinylmation figures, but was told the sold out shortly after they were released. They still had the nine inch series one figures, which I figured I would pick up later on.

Our last stop was the hat shop to order our personalized Mouse ears. We were heading out of the park, and since we would have had to wait 45 minutes for them, we had the hats shipped to the resort.

We were soon on the bus back to the resort for a break and a swim.

Our dinner reservations that night was for the San Angel Inn, in the Mexican pavilion in EPCOT. When I made our reservation, I found out that tonight was the last night before they closed for renovations (for the new Tequila bar I presume).

We made it to the restaurant on time (unlike the night before) and we're seated fairly quickly. Dinner went by pretty quickly, which was somewhat disappointing, as the atmosphere in Mexico is the best.

We went on the Gran Fiesta Tour and made our way to Spaceship Earth to end the night. This was our first time on Spaceship Earth since the renovations and we were pleasantly surprised. They retained many of the former portions but included new interactive portions at the end, which included photos of the three of us (well, actually just Janice and Graydon).

I went into the Art of Disney (yes, two in one day) quickly. I actually bought the Vinylmation at the EPCOT location .

We went back to the hotel room and turned in for the night. Day one was a very busy day, so we were very tired!

Note: Sorry for the long delay in posting Day 6 and subsequent days. I'm hoping to have the rest of my trip up within the next couple of weeks. And sorry for the lack of photos on this particular day. I used my video camera for most of the day.

Day 5: Shopping and finally Orlando!

May 6, 2009
Vero Beach to Orlando

We woke with Graydon and started to feed him and get ready. I packed the car and made our way to the check out area before heading out. Janice grabbed some coffee and we were on the road once again!

We made it to Orlando in about an hour and a half, just in tme for Graydon's bottle and our early lunch (we didn't eat breakfast). We ate in the food court of the Florida Mall, our first stop of three before getting to Disney.

We walked around the mall made a few purchases. I picked up my Oswald t-shirt and a matching onesie for Graydon. I also picked up the first issue of the D23 magazine at the Disney Store. I had bought the second issue from the store at Vero Beach.

Once done there, we fought our way through traffic to get to the Target for some groceries. By the time we were done, it was close to the time that Steve and Charlotte would be reaching the resort. Steve had sent me a text message telling us he was in the airport.

We made our last stop at the Albertson's for some adult beverages and got back on the highway to get to Disney. We arrived just shortly after Steve arrived and checked in to the Boardwalk Villas all at once.

The Boardwalk is a beautiful resort but big! It seemed like it took us forever to get to our room.

We had a one bedroom villa booked, which was just the right amount of space. Janice, Graydon and I took the bedroom, and Stever and Charlotte had the living room area with the pullout couch. The bathroom was a little odd as it was one bathrom but seperated by a door. One part had the shower, toilet and a vanity sink, while the other part had a larger counter and sink, and the whirlpool bathtub. There was a closet at the back of the bathroom with a small wall safe.

The room was at the end of a wing, so we overlooked the waterway and the quiet pool.

Once everyone was settled, I unpacked the car and parked. We rested for a bit before we made our way to dinner at Wolfgang Puck's at Downtown Disney. We left ourselves plenty of time, but a bus never showed. With 10 minutes before our reservation to go, and us still standing at the bus stop, we knew we weren't going to make it so decided to hit one of the restaurants on the Boardwalk. Spoodles was full so we decided on ESPN. We had a good meal and a good start to our week at Disney World.

We turned in fairly early as we had a full day ahead of us at the Magic Kingdom.

I did have make a few phone calls before I said goodnight: I had to make sure that Janice received her flowers for Mother's Day and her birthday. They eventuall showed up and Janice was very surprised. i was very happy with them as they were bigger than expected!

Day 4: A day at the Beach!

May 5, 2009
Disney's Vero Beach Resort

We finally had a day to sleep in a little bit. We woke up around 7ish, and I fed Graydon a little on the balcony while watching a beautiful sunrise. Having only really stayed on the Gulf Coast side and only seeing sunsets, it was special to see the sunrise with my own son!

Janice and Graydon rested a little longer while I went down to get Janice a coffee and both of us something to eat. The night before we purchased the refillable mugs that the resort offers for coffee and pop. We were surprised that they sold them as we thought they they only sold them in Orlando. We bought them with the idea we would use them in Orlando too.

We ate, showered and put our bathing suits on to spend some time at the pool and beach.

The pool area was very nice and not too busy. This was Graydon's first time in a pool, so it was lots of fun. He loved it!

We had lunch by the pool and went and dipped our feet in the ocean. The water wasn't a bad temperature. The sand was kinda course; not as nice as it is in Clearwater.

We headed back to the room for a bit, dressed and went for a walk around the resort, to try and get Graydon to nap. I want to mention again that the resort is wonderful. It reminded me of a small all-inclusive resort, that you would find in the Caribbean, but nicer.

We shopped in the resort gift shop (and so the Disney shopping began...) and relaxed in the rocking chairs on the front porch of the resort. What a way to spend an afternoon!

I took some pictures, walked back to the room, fed Graydon and went back to the main building for dinner at Shutters. We weren't in the mood to go out driving and we wanted to take advantage of the bounce back coupon.

Dinner was great again and we retired early, as we needed to start out early the next day for Orlando.

Day 3: Travel Day

May 4, 2009
Columbia, SC to Vero Beach, FL

We were up a little earlier today, as I calculated the drive to be about an hour longer (thank you Google Maps!).

Today's drives was pretty uneventful as South Carolina, Georgia and Florida are pretty boring along the interstate.

We made our usual mid-morning stops for bottle and diaper change.

We stopped for lunch in Savannah, GA at, of course, Cracker Barrel. I've always meant to go into the historic district of Savannah, as I hear it is very picturesque.

This day of the drive actually had the most construction, especially through Jacksonville. Of course, not as much highway construction as Toronto!!

Before we made it to Jacksonville, we made our ceremonial stop at the Florida state welcome centre for our free sample of orange juice.

Once through the mess of Jacksonville, we pushed forward to Vero Beach. The last hour and a half was little bit hairy: for the first two days, Graydon was a real trooper and didn't fuss much. The last hour and a half was not pretty! Graydon cried most of the time and couldn't be consoled. He would just not settle, no matter what we did. So, getting to the resort was our up most priority.

We made it to Vero Beach and the Disney resort and we couldn't be happier. We were beat! And what a sight for sore eyes the resort was. Absolutely beautiful! Everything I would expect from a Disney resort plus more.

We checked in and made our way to our building and room. Surprisingly, they had underground parking, considering the resort is right on the beach and you would think the parking would flood with high water.

We had a studio room booked and it was more than enough room. It was an odd shaped room with a kitchenette, a pull out couch and a balcony with a view of the ocean.

We unpacked a little, fed Graydon and leisurely walked down to the main building for dinner. We ate at Shutters where I had the pot roast and Janice had the half rotisserie chicken. The meal was great and the service was just as good. At the end of the meal our sever provided us with a "bounce back" coupon for the following night. Through most of dinner, Graydon flirted with the waitresses and other guests.

As with the other nights, we turned in early with Graydon. Our plan for the next day is to relax. We needed it after the long drive!

Day 2: Travel Day

May 3, 2009
Bridgeport, WV to Columbia, SC

Our second day of driving was a wet one. We had varying amounts of rain throughout the day (light to heavy downpour).

The second day was definitely the most scenic as most of the drive is through the mountains. The best part is Hwy 19 through West Virginia. The road winds through beautiful mountains and ends up going over the New River Gorge bridge. The bridge is apparently the largest single span bridge in North America (the world?). Our plan is stop at the lookout on our way home.

Once we made it back to the interstate, we stopped at the travel centre for a bottle and some Starbucks (mmmm..... Iced Green Tea Lemonade).

The drive down the mountains was equally eventful (coming in to North Carolina): we ran into heavy fog. Not as heavy as the fog we drove through on the same stretch of road going home, a year and a half ago.

We stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Jonesville, NC, which is pretty much half way. We stayed at the Hampton Inn (which is much nicer than the one the night before) at the same Interstate exit, so we were familiar with the restaurant.

Once done lunch, we finished the afternoon drive and stopped for the second night in Columbia, SC. We stayed in the Fairfield Inn, in the North East section of the city. This is a brand new hotel (opened in December) and it looked like a 5 star resort. Something I wouldn't expect from a roadside hotel.

We changed rooms twice as they booked us in a room with 2 queen beds instead of 1 king bed. We soon found out that all king bed rooms had no bathtubs (shower stalls only). Obviously we needed a bathtub to wash Graydon. So back to the front desk and off to our original room with 2 queen beds.

We went to dinner that night at the Olive Garden. Getting to the restaurant was interesting, as the girl at the hotel said it was about 5 to 10 minutes away but felt more like 10 to 15.

One interesting thing to note about dinner was the diversity of people. Living in Toronto all my life, I'm used to a big cross section of cultures and races. Not so in Columbia. Either Caucasian or African-American. That was a big culture shock!

As with the night before, we went to bed at the same time as Graydon. I needed to rest as my cold was still bothering me and I had a real hard time driving through the mountains with my ears. This next day should be better, as the drive is all flat.