Note: Min's trip report is in Coral and Bill's comments are in Blue. In the Gallery links, pictures without a border link to the specific picture and those with a border link to a gallery of related pictures.

Prelude

Well let's see where do we begin...

Bill met Tracy in the RADP IRC chat last summer and then we got to meet her in person at the Mega Mouse Meet in December.

When Tracy mentioned in the RADP IRC chat the possibly of a trip to Walt Disney World, if she got her RN license,

if, ha... more like when... she was doing great in her nursing classes, so we had little doubt she was going to get her RN license...

Bill and I started talking about taking a day trip down to the World to meet up with Tracy. Bill and Tracy chatted in the RADP IRC chat about us meeting up with her and spending the day together. They planned a day of hanging out at Downtown Disney with dinner at Captain Jack's or House of Blues.

Well Tracy made us proud, as we knew she would, and got her RN license. She announced her success to the world... well, the RADP world... there was great rejoicing for there did ring out the immortal words, "I'm going to Disneyworld!"

Since Tracy is going, our trip is a go as well. We are going to Walt Disney World to meet up with Tracy and her daughter, Erica.

who-hoo, the celebration is on... and it will be more than a day trip, too...

Read the Pre-Trip Plan

Trip Report

July 16, 2004 - Friday

Yay! I get to start this trip report... why, because I had the day off and Min had to work... and I sure you would rather read about the exciting things that I got to do instead of having to read about Min taking care of screaming babies... and yes, they were screaming, I could hear them in the background each one of the fifty-two million times Min called me today...  :)

Let see now where to begin... I got to pack up the last few things we needed for the trip and load the car... and umm... well, umm... hmmmm... I guess upon further review, it was not that exciting after all... okay now it is Min's turn...  :)

Well we had hoped to head down to WDW earlier in the day but I could not get the day off, so I had to work until 5:00 PM. Bill had the day off and got the final preparations for the trip taken care of then picked me up from work. It was rush hour but we were able to get on I-95 pretty quickly considering all the traffic. There were clouds most of the way to Daytona but we only got some rain near Palm Coast. The traffic north of Daytona was pretty bad. Bill was getting a little upset at all the crazy drivers.

We are headed for Disney... We are headed for Disney... a calming mantra...  :)

The traffic cleared right before we got on I-4 in Daytona. Then about twenty miles down the road,

Bam... well not for us but unfortunately for someone else...

there was accident that really slowed things down. The traffic and accident put us a little behind schedule but we made it to Downtown Disney by about 7:30. 

Finding a parking place at Downtown Disney on Friday evening is a nightmare...

Our Annual Passes had expired so we needed to pick up some passes and get Linda, not my mom but Bill's boss, the pin of the month that had been released yesterday. We headed for Pin Traders with Bill in the lead and me close behind.

Like ours was the greatest quest of all time... and since we are both round folks we just rolled right through the crowds...  :)

Unfortunately, they did not have the pins so we made our way to Guest Relations and picked up some tickets. Then we headed back for the car, Bill took the lead once again and I followed.

This time we were on the greatest quest of all time... the quest for food...  :)

We do not have a Chevy's here in Jacksonville anymore and I just love the food there. We had discussed it on the way down so once we reached the car, we were off to the Crossroads to eat dinner at Chevy's. I had a chicken quesadilla and Bill had fish tacos.

Good food... still wish there was one in Jax...

Dinner was done and we were on our way to Pop Century by about 9:00 PM. Bill dropped me off at the front door to check in while he parked the car.

Well sort of, the bellman yelled at me to stop as I was pulling away... then Min opens the door saying she forgot the reservation info... then I went to park the car while Min started the check in process...  :)

Check-in was a breeze no real wait at all. We were given room 3367 in the 50s buildings. While checking in, Bill realized that the cast member at the station next to the lady that had checked us in was none other than RADPer E.J. Farr, so we introduced ourselves.

Yes, we did... as E.J. stepped away from the desk I called out, E.J. Farr. He looked at us with one of those who are these guys looks... I told him my name was Bill and he nodded then I said "this is my wife, Min." E.J. recognized our names, smiled and said hello. We chatted for a bit and then bid adieu so that he could return to work... You never know what kind of strange folks will walk up to you and say hello when you post on the internet... right, E.J...  :)

After check in, we took a walk through Everything Pop and got something to drink before heading back to the car. We were able to find a parking space without any problems and when we got to our room we found we had a king size bed as per our request. The room is definitely more open with just the king size bed versus the two double beds. It felt very spacious for a value resort room. Our room was on the third floor and overlooked the pool which was shaped like a bowling pin. After we got settled, I left Tracy a message on her cell saying we were in and to give us a call. She called back about 10:20 PM and we made plans for the next  morning. It just so happened that without any sort of pre-planning we had ended up in the same building.

Yep, I even requested the 70s buildings when I made our reservation, but we ended up it the 50s buildings. The same building as Tracy and Erica, except they were on the lake side and we were on the pool side.

Then I went on to sleep while Bill watched some TV.

Had to get my "Little Miss Perky" fix... she is definitely annoying.... but like I have said before, she is becoming one of the signs that we're here...  oh yeah... I also watched a little bit of the WDW Tour channel in Spanish... even though I don't speak the language... It's a Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Tip for Today...  :)

July 17, 2004 - Saturday

I did not have a good night. I had a sore throat and my nose was running all night long. I got up before the alarm went off and took a shower. Then Bill got up and took his shower. Tracy called and we agreed to meet them downstairs in about twenty minutes for the drive over to Animal Kingdom.

It was not an early opening morning for Animal Kingdom and since our breakfast PS was before the buses started running to the park we had to provide our transportation to breakfast.

We met up with Tracy and Erica then headed for the car. When we arrived at the park, the gates had not yet opened.

Oh, well so much for arriving early...  :)

They opened about 7:50 and we parked right up front in the Unicorn section. We were close enough to walk so we skipped the tram and headed for the entrance to the park. We found things to be a little different on this trip, they use to meet you at the front gate and check you in for breakfast. Then you would walk back to the restaurant with your guide, read server. This time they had guide ropes up and let you walk back to the restaurant and check in there. Tracy, Erica and me walked ahead while Bill took some pictures.

With the park practically empty, I just couldn't pass up the chance to take a few  pics of the Tree of Life...  :)

We got to the Restaurantosaurus, Bill checked us in and we were seated in about ten minutes. We got pictures with all the characters; Mickey, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. Erica was able to get Pluto, her favorite, to autograph her hat.

Remember if you forget your Sharpie marker or autograph pen, just ask the cast members who escort the characters around for some help... I did and as if by magic was presented a Sharpie marker... and Erica got her autograph...  :)

The food was very good with a good choice of breakfast selections on both the hot and cold buffet tables. I was still not feeling my best, so I took my meds that I had gotten earlier in the week. We finished eating and then were off, well not really Bill had to take a few more pictures.

Hey, I wanted to show the folks who suffer through our boring trip reports some of the neat decor at the Restaurantosaurus...  :)

After the pictures, we headed for Africa and Kilimanjaro Safaris. On the way we saw Stitch next to Island Mercantile and got some pictures with him. Since the wait time was short, we skipped the fastpasses and got in the standby line for our safari. There were lots of animals out and about. We saw Tufani, the baby elephant born last year.

As elephants go he is still a small fellow, but he seems to be getting a little more independent... his mom was not shadowing him as closely as she had on our previous trips, but she was still close by...

The lions were lounging on their rocks, but the female was on one of the lower ones and Bill got a pretty good picture of her. We helped stop the poachers and save "Little Red." Then is was off for a hike down the Pangani Forest Expedition Trail. It was still early and almost all the animals were up and about.

Probably the most activity we have ever seen on the trail... the gorillas were pretty active too... the male juvenile in the family troop was swinging around in a tree... I got some nice pics of him...

We said farewell to the gorillas and after a water break we headed for the Wildlife Express Station. We rode the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. On the way there, we saw the "It's a girl" sign by the elephant compound announcing the arrival of Kianga, the new baby elephant.

I got a picture of the sign... :)

At Conservation Station, Bill took some pictures of the murals and also some of the Hidden Mickey's in the murals. The animal of the hour was a cockatoo. We walked back by the veterinarian area and got to see a picture of the new baby girl elephant along with her vital statistics. She was a big baby.

and a picture of the picture of Kianga and her mother...  :)

Bill took some pictures of Tracy, Erica and me with Stanley and then with Rafiki. I got one of Bill with Rafiki. Next, we headed outside and walked through the Affection Section petting zoo. Something Bill and I had never done before. We got to walk amongst the sheep, goats, cows, pigs, llamas, and donkeys. After washing our hands in the neat elephant head faucets, we stopped and got a snack. Bill and I had strawberry bars and Erica got some chips. My head and throat were still bothering me but I kept going.

Hang in there, Min...  :)

Our next stop was Asia, Erica wanted to ride the rapids.

On the way over to Asia, we got to see the world's smelliest ... the titan arum... it was blooming and smelled awful... hence its nickname, the "cadaver plant"...

The wait time was a little long, so we got fastpasses for Kali River Rapids and headed for the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Unfortunately, it was a pretty slow day for the animals on the trek. Most of them including the tigers were just lounging around.

Can't really blame them, it was pretty hot out...  :)

Since it was Saturday, we asked a cast member if the tigers had gotten their weekly treat, yet. Unfortunately, all the cast members around the tiger area had just changed shifts and no one knew it the tigers had gotten their treats, or not. Since it was pretty hot, we decided to carry on and headed for Kali. Our fastpass window was almost upon us. Thanks to our fastpasses, Kali was almost a walk on, we made it all the way to the tour office before joining up with the stand-by line crowd. Tracy and Erica sat together and Bill and I sat together.

As we started down the river, our raft kept hitting the banks and spinning... As we went over the falls, Min and I were looking down on the couple across from us... but the raft was still spinning...

We got SOAKED!! Even my underlies were wet. The only thing that did not get wet was my shoes.

A first for us... on all our previous trips down Kali, we only came out mildly damp or maybe a little wet...  :)

After Kali, we took a walk down the new path between Asia and DinoLand USA. Bill took some pictures of the Expedition Everest construction. Tracy and Erica decided to ride Primeval Whirl. Bill and I passed, neither of us do very well on spinning rides. While Tracy and Erica were having fun on the spinning coaster, Bill and I took a pit stop.

I took advantage of the larger accessible stall and proceeded to wring the water out of my clothes... did I mentioned that we got soaked on Kali...  :)

After Tracy and Erica had their whirl, we got in line for Tarzan Rocks! Then I asked everyone if they would not mind going to Festival of the Lion King instead. Everyone said that would be fine, so we made our way to Camp Minnie-Mickey. Bill took a detour along the way to the seating area behind Flame Tree Barbecue for some more Expedition Everest construction photos.

Just trying to get some of the same viewpoints from earlier shots I had of the construction for comparison when we post them on the website...

We arrived at the festival theatre just in time to get a seat in the Elephant section. The A/C was a bit cold in our dampened condition, but the show was wonderful as always.

The guy twirling the flames and the flying bird girl are my two favorite parts... well I like the tumble monkeys, too... and the audience participation on Hakuna Matata... and the singers and dancers... well darn... I guess my favorite part is the whole show...  :)

After the show, we all decided it was time for a break. We all needed a rest and Bill and I needed dry clothes.

You can say that again... more than an hour had passed since our river rafting expedition and we were still very wet...  :)

On the way out, we stopped at Island Mercantile and found the pins that Bill's boss, Linda, was collecting so we picked up two of July ones for her. We also picked up our "trip pin," it is the one with the Mickey, Heart and Minnie icons on it. When we got outside the gate, we were all pretty tired, the walking and the humidity had taken there toll, so we took a tram to the car.

Well I think we could have walked, but Min and I try to ride all the different forms of Disney transportation on each trip... and if you believe that one, I have a nice bridge in downtown Jacksonville that I can sell you for real cheap...  :)

Back at the resort, we made plans with Tracy and Erica on meeting up for dinner then headed for our room. I took a nap but felt worse after sleeping than I did before, but I knew needed food so we got dressed and headed downstairs to meet up with Tracy and Erica. The four of us took the car over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our dinner PS at Boma. The food was wonderful.

I think the final score was three enthusiastic thumbs ups and one I could eat here again... Tracy mentioned that she was thinking about going back to Boma in December when she and her husband will be down for the RADP-9 meet...  :)

After dinner, we took a walk through the Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby and gift shop before we headed back to Pop Century. We said our goodbyes to Tracy and Erica and headed for our room. On the way, we tried to get me something to drink so I could take my medicine, but the machine ate our money. Bill walked me to the room and told me to rest, he said I looked like death warmed over. He then  headed over to the main building to get me something to drink and get a refund for the drink machine eating our money.

This turned out to be quite an adventure... I saw Tracy and Erica on the way, they were headed for Downtown Disney, so I said hi and bye again... Next stop was the food court for some drinks, then it was over to guest relations to get the refund... While I was standing in line, a guy decided that his problem was more important than everyone else's so he walked straight up to the desk and started yelling at a cast member who was already helping another guest... Two other cast members came over to try and help defuse the situation, so everyone at the guest relations desk and waiting in line got to watch the floor show... Why is it that  people get so upset when they are on vacation? I thought the purpose of a vacation was to relax and enjoy yourself, maybe this guy's definition of how to relax and enjoy yourself are different from mine... after the floor show, I got the refund and went back to the room... 

I took my meds and watched some TV before falling asleep.

Did you guys know that Min has x-ray vision... she can watch TV with her eyes closed...  :)  she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow... my poor wife and her sinus problems and allergies... they sometimes get the best of her...

July 18, 2004 - Sunday

I had a bad night, I was up most of it blowing my nose and sitting up so I could breathe. The next morning I was ready to go home and get some rest. But after we got up, got showered, packed and got everything in the car, I was feeling a little better so we decided to go to Downtown Disney.

It was much easier to find a parking space today that it had been on Friday night...  :)  There was this neat Mickey topiary surrounded by large flower pots right next to the entranceway east of World of Disney... I had flashbacks to the flower and garden show...

We walked through World of Disney and picked up a patriotic Stitch pin. Then we went over to Disney's Pin Traders and looked around. We couldn't really find anything we wanted. Next, it was Pooh Corner.

This is when I realized Min was not really feeling well... she passed on getting one of the little Pooh plushes that she does not have...  :)

I got a Safari Pooh key chain. We decided to eat at Rainforest Cafe instead of House of Blues. It was still early for lunch, so we walked through Disney's Days of Christmas, Disney's Wonderful World of Memories and Art of Disney. We had a little more time to kill, so we walked through Disney at Home and the Rainforest Cafe store. Afterwards, we checked in for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and were seated in about five minutes. The food was good and the waitress was neat. I loved her name LaKrista. After lunch, we got on the road and headed home. I was asleep before Lake Mary.

I think she was asleep before we got to downtown Orlando...

I enjoyed getting to spend the day with Tracy and Erica. The trip as a whole was good but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had not been sick.

All in all, a pretty good trip... spending time with Tracy and Erica was fun... our last couple of trips with our moms and then with Tracy and Erica have definitely been a different kind of experience that our normal just Min and Bill trips... it is neat getting to share our love of Disney with others... hopefully, we will see Tracy and Jack, her husband, in December...