Jaime's Memorable Memorial Weekend

CHAPTER 1: You Should Not Say These Things to Me

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It all started with an off-hand Facebook post on Thursday morning: Todd wrote “Is it completely crazy to drive down to WDW this weekend, just to walk around for a couple of hours, and drive back?” He wasn’t serious.

But you shouldn’t put these kinds of challenges in front of me. Because my mind took his musing and started to examine it, turning it like a Rubik’s Cube in my head, until I got the pieces to all fit properly.

No, it wasn’t an impossible idea – we had 3 days… if we could get another driver to help with nights (I’m night blind), this is a doable idea. I’m not saying it’s not crazy, it is… but it’s doable.

So we throw the idea around all Thursday… Todd eventually decides it was fun to dream, but this will never work. I, however, can’t let it go – I can see it! I finally bring him around (really didn’t take much) and we get Jen to join in.

JAIME: I’m driving to Disneyworld for the weekend!
CATHY [co-worker]: You’re crazy!
JAIME: DO you want me to bring you some caramels from Germany or not?
CATHY: You have a great trip!

On the drive home from work, Todd calls me and we decide I’ll book a hotel for Saturday night – he suggests the Buena Vista Suites, right off property, based on their full breakfast buffet.

Room booked – Todd tells me Jen is having second thoughts, what do we do? Ummm… room’s booked, my heart’s set – we’re going!!!

JAIME: I’m driving to Disneyworld for the weekend!
MEGHAN [daughter]: You’re crazy!
JAIME: DO you want me to bring you some caramels from Germany or not?
MEGHAN: You have a great trip!


Friday morning, Jen’s Facebook status reads: I can’t believe I’m doing this! And that’s how I knew she was going for sure! The entire plan consists of A) pick up Jen, B) drive to Toledo to meet Todd (he lives in Detroit), and C) drive straight through to WDW. Counting backwards, it seems we need to leave Florida around 10-12 Sunday night to get home at a decent time.

What could go wrong???

CLICK TO CONTINUE

CHAPTER 2: The Drive Down

I get let out of work at 2:00 for the holiday weekend. Jen will be home from work at 3:30. I stop at Target for a couple things before we leave: Todd requested peanut butter, and I end up buying cheese balls, peanuts, and Toll House cookies for the road.

A small amount of traffic leading into Chicago on my way to Jen’s allows me to munch on the cheese balls…

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Once Jen is in the car, we sit through the traffic leaving Chicago for the holiday weekend – actually, not too bad… I expected worse. By 4:15 or so, we are in Indiana!

We get to the Toledo Express Airport (we lose an hour heading east) and meet Todd, it’s now after 9:00pm. It’s dark. Todd had called the first nap, so Jen takes the wheel. There’s a slight rain falling, but we get almost all the way through Ohio when Todd wakes up and is ready to take over.

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Here’s what I remember: I took my contacts out and curled up on the back seat; the car was going very fast; it’s weird being in your own back seat; at one point, I sat up, and the road was missing – we were completely fogged in and still going fast; I said a couple bad words and went back to sleep so I wouldn’t have to watch.

When I woke up, it was about 6am (I slept, but it was a very restless sleep) and I put the contacts back in and took the wheel. We had stopped at the Georgia Welcome Center – it turns out Georgia only welcomes you after 8:30am… so we had to stop again.

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I also couldn’t figure out what Todd had done during the night to cause these marks on my back window…

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I drove a bunch of hours, through Atlanta, which was totally fogged over, too, and later on Todd took over again. I will spare you the photo of Jen asleep sitting up in the back seat. But my car hit 12,345.6 miles while Todd was driving.

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Before we had even left, I had suggested MK on Saturday and EPCOT on Sunday. Todd had suggested reversing those. When we were working out a schedule in the car, I couldn’t remember why he had reversed them. So I ask him while he’s driving. The reason was that if we wanted to sneak in a sit down restaurant, he figured we’d have a better shot (time-wise) on Saturday and we’d probably want to do EPCOT. He was thinking we might need to leave Disney by noon on Sunday. But I let him know that we’d have all day Sunday, so Saturday at MK (which stayed open later) made more sense. I then pulled out my phone and checked for an ADR at Via Napoli – turns out, that was exactly where he wanted to go eat! We got a 3:10 for Sunday afternoon.

We finally get to Orlando and pull into the Buena Vista Suites at 2:15.

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This was the weirdest check-in I’ve ever had – or maybe Disney has just spoiled me? I had booked through Expedia and was ready with my photo ID and credit card I used to book the room. I gave the girl my name; she tapped a few keys and announced: There are no rooms available right now; we’ll call you if one is ready.

Excuse me? IF one is ready? What do you mean IF? Of course, I’m too tired and brain dead to say this; I just nod okay and go outside. I’m not even sure if she took my phone number or not.

CLICK TO CONTINUE

Thanks Jaime. Please post the photo of Jen sit-sleeping. :mickeykid

CHAPTER 3: Magic Afternoon in the Kingdom

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We head to the Magic Kingdom, slightly confused… but accepting that they will call. (We were very tired)

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We had parked in Lot Donald – basically, when you enter the parking lot, that’s where we were parked! I’ve never been so far back before, we might as well have left the car at the hotel! - and taken the monorail over to the MK, and right before the security check, Todd starts repeating the words, “Lou Mongello. Lou Mongello. Lou Mongello.” I’m like, “Huh?” Then I see him walking towards us as he leaves the park. I go and step in front of him and say excuse me, but I had to stop him. We talked for a few minutes – I told him we had just driven down for the weekend – he thought that was awesome (which it was) – he told us to record a message and leave it on the podcast voicemail (which I haven’t gotten around to yet) – I told him we were the “sparkly” thread on the boards and he said he knew who we were – and I asked for pictures (such a pushy broad!)

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We were headed for food. Columbia Harbour House to be exact. In the car, Jen and I had made lists for each park (assuming we got to them all) of what MUST BE DONE! Of course, we left the list in the car.

But food was a priority at this moment – BLT salads for me and Jen and chicken nuggets for Todd. And some texting with Kim, who came over to the Magic Kingdom to join us!

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Fueled, hydrated, and cooled down, we are ready to tackle the Must Dos on the List in the car. Haunted Mansion Queue is first – I hadn’t noticed the directional signs 2 weeks ago… maybe they weren’t there?

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I also took better photos of the line this time!

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I also told them all about the engagement ring in the pavement and they were searching as we walked. No, that’s a piece of glitter, Todd…

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Master Gracie’s sod was looking a bit dead this time through…

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The Captain’s tomb was not bubbling this time…

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And I had to show them where the ring was – it’s very “out of the way”.

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CLICK TO CONTINUE

CHAPTER 4: None of Us Can Stop Smiling

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We got stopped at the ballroom scene, so I thought I’d see if I could get pictures – they aren’t great, but I thought they were cool!

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I continue to take photos of lights and Bad Shoes (inappropriate theme park footwear) – these were in the bathroom by Peter Pan… I couldn’t help myself.

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Entering Fantasyland, we’re still in awe of being in our Happy Place together – so unexpectedly, too!

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Gotta ride Dumbo, so Jen and Todd can see over the wall! While we’re waiting, I point out something I noticed 2 weeks ago (get used to hearing that – I said it a LOT!): they tell you to put your ticket on Dumbo’s ear, but I noticed that there’s one Dumbo whose ear is slanted, so the ticket would fall off. I wonder why. I guess it’s so they can remember where they started taking tickets? But that doesn’t sound right.

It’s our turn to ride and, sure enough, Kim and I randomly pick the slant eared Dumbo! I can’t reach the ear once the seat belt is on, so I toss the ticket onto the ear. It bounces and falls off. Duh. The cast member comes around and I tell him it slid off (liar) and ask why this Dumbo has a slanted ear. He tells me this is the handicapped car and wiggles the door that my hip is pressed against (me and anybody is a tight fit in a Dumbo). Holy cow! Kim, this Dumbo has a door – and we are pressed against it!

We both immediately shift to try to relieve some of the pressure on the door; Kim even puts her arm around me to hold me in! It was a funny ride! But I got more photos over the wall!!! I could see a lot of changes in the 2 weeks I was gone – namely the rocks… those weren’t there 2 weeks ago!

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The line for Winnie the Pooh (another queue they haven’t seen) is 60 minutes, so we’ll come back. Into Tomorrowland – Todd proposes to anything!!! I’m surprised he has a knee left!

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We start with the Peoplemover. Just as we enter the tunnel where Walt’s vision for the future model is, the power shuts down… we actually travel backwards about 10’-15’ feet. We all show how scared we are to be in the dark on a broken down ride.

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Although, Kim was apparently showing us what half a moose looked like…

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And Jen was just asleep.

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Things are quickly up and running again.

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CLICK TO CONTINUE

Pick me up next time ;)

Great read so far. Can't wait to see what happens next.

enjoying trip report :grin:

Keep em coming!! The reports are great! Kinda makes me realize that a quick trip is possible from Louisiana!

Only 11 hours for us!

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Originally Posted by firemedic

Only 11 hours for us!

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We might do it every weekend if that's all it was! :dizzy:

I love all your trip reports....keep'em coming! We leave in 2 days!!!! Sooooo excited.....your trips keep me happy till I can go on my own! :)

CHAPTER 5: GREAT Photo!

It’s time to head to the photo pick up area of Space Mountain and get our Monorail shaped USB drives! Rob told us about these when we were in Iowa. You can only get them by buying your photo that was taken on Space Mountain ($24.95). Except Space Mountain has a 60 minute wait, and we only have today! So we tell the guy we want the USB drives, with any picture on it.

GUY: Wait, what?
JAIME: I want a monorail flash drive with anybody’s picture on it.
GUY: Did you ride Space Mountain?
JAIME: No. Give me someone else’s picture.
GUY: Do you have a picture number?
JAIME: Yes. How many digits is it?
GUY: Wait, what?


Another cast member hears the end of this and gets involved in the conversation. She wants to know why we didn’t ride.

JAIME: Because we drove here from Chicago just for this weekend and we only have today and we want the flash drive shaped like monorail and the line is 60 minutes long.

She holds up a finger, heads to the cash register, and I know what’s coming.

Fast Passes.

Completely out of the blue!

A Magical Moment!!!

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In line for Space Mountain, I go to take a picture of me and Jen – and we clonk heads!

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Let’s try it again – see my hand between our heads?

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Todd and Kim end up in the vehicle before us. Don’t forget to pose for your photo!

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When Jen and I get off the ride, Todd is standing there shaking his head, like we’re really, really special. We thought he was laughing at us trying to get off the ride (Jen hit her head on my butt as we tried to get out) (who invented the seats on the ground, by the way?), but he wasn’t.

Here’s the thing – you know there’s always a thing, right? Apparently, I’ve only ridden one side of the Space Mountain track – because I had no idea the camera was on the opposite side!

We go back to the cast members and tell them they aren’t going to believe this picture!

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Flash drives, with our ridiculous picture, procured – we head to Buzz Lightyear, where the legally blind Kim consistently smashes my score…

CLICK TO CONTINUE

I love me a Jaime trip report! What in the world happened to yours on The Other Board, or shouldn't I ask? I miss them. When I needed an infusion of Disney World, I'd go re-read them.

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Originally Posted by GlassSlippers

I love me a Jaime trip report! What in the world happened to yours on The Other Board, or shouldn't I ask? I miss them. When I needed an infusion of Disney World, I'd go re-read them.

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Yeah, most people just get banned... I got B-A-N-N-E-D!!!!!!!!!