The cast includes myself (Lorraine), DH Tom, and our good friends Keith and Marcia. The funny thing here is that our children are dating and have been for quite some time. Fact is, we might be "in-laws¨ someday. Our children attend the same university and when their daughter told her friends that her parents were going to WDW with Mike's parents, she received some interesting comments ! LOL
Friday, October 25th, 2002
The men get up earlier than the ladies so they can do the "hunter, gatherer" thing. As Marcia and I prepare to beautify ourselves, Keith and Tom take off and check into the Residence Inn and gather up some breakfast grub for us little ladies back at the OKW. By the time they're back, we're all ready (yeah, right - LOL) to eat breakfast and take off . We took the bus from OKW to MK and start the day in the park! We bought Tom a hat at the Emporium (to protect his sensitive head) and immediately head out to Splash Mt, first stopping by BTMR to get a fast pass. While on Splash, I break in the new hat by wearing it on the ride so that my hair doesn't get wet - just the hat. We then wait in line with the masses for our first ride on Big Thunder but then feel very chuffed with ourselves as we flash the fast passes for our second ride.
By now it's time for lunch and thought it would be a good idea to cool off at the Golden Horseshoe Jamboree Show and have sandwiches. Unfortunately, the GHJ didn't agree with our rationale as there were no sandwiches being served. That just shows you how long its been since I've been there! I remember having a sandwich there in 1992. The show was very entertaining and it helped us work up a real hunger. We settled into The Cosmic Ray for lunch and then ventured into Tomorrow Land and did one of my favorite things - Buzz Lightyear. Keith scored the very highest - the pinnacle of Buzz's achievement as a Galactic Hero with a score of 999,999. It was hard being in his company for the rest of the trip, and his hat no longer fit on his head because of the swelling. It was really quite the sight. And it didn't help with Marcia constantly swooning all over him, "Oh! My Galactic Hero!" Yes, it was a difficult trip
What would be a trip to Tomorrow Land without riding the TTA so that's what we did. Tom and I did the usual scream and raised our hands high everytime we would see an oncoming car. Most people laugh (Yes, I know - they're laughing AT us, not with us) but some just blankly stare and I imagine wonder what is wrong with us. The boys then did Space Mt while Marcia and I shopped around.
It was getting close to parade time and knew we had to make our move. We were going to try to see some of it, but we also wanted to beat the monorail crowd to Epcot. Truthfully? It was just too darn hot and we were on the sunny side. So we hop the monorail to Epcot and immediately head to Test Track for a fast pass. Since the line wasn't all that long (45 minutes), we waited and did TT right then. M&K have never been on TT and it turned out to be a real crowd pleaser. TT scores high marks with Marcia who apparently secretly dreams of racing cars (you learn a lot about someone when you vacation with them!). The single rider line is appealing to us and we decide to walk-on for our second ride.
We also rode the new Imagination ride which we weren't all too impressed with but enjoyed "Honey, I shrunk the Audience". We then decided it would be fun to send emails from Innoventions to our children telling them what a horrible and depressing time we were all having - LOL. We found out later that they didn't buy that story at all and have refused to let us go again by ourselves. We were informed that a two family trip is in the works for next Christmas. That may not take too much convincing on our parts.
Time for our FastPass back to TT. Perfect timing. We knew that would basically be it for Future World, and since we all agreed that racing cars really works up a hunger, we hightail it to Canada for cheese soup. However, before we get to the cheese soup, our eyes immediately focus on Shrimp from Australia. We all agree that this is a good idea and go ahead and indulge in some shrimp. Next stop - cheese soup! As we're enjoying our soup, we're planning our next food stop. One must always have a plan.
I announce to Marcia that it's time for snails in France! I knew that would get a rise out of her since she's really a meat and potatoes kind of gal and the mere mention of something out of the ordinary can send her digestive tract into cardiac arrest. Just to give you a little background here, the four of us share many meals together. Marcia's and my favorite thing to make for dinner is .....reservations
And wherever we go, no matter what the monetary category, Marcia and Tom will usually end up getting the same thing (usually involves meat and potatoes - down to earth) and Keith and I will end up getting the same thing (most of the time with a name that's unknown or at least unpronounceable).
On our way to France, the British Invasion is playing and we can hear them as we saunter through the quaint UK village. Lovely, really.
Snails await. Now last year, I had my son get a second serving for me because I was too embarrassed to get right back in line. Learning from the past, I order two servings for myself and a coq au vin for Tom. Keith is cracking up and keeps asking me loudly, "Who's this other serving for, Lorraine?" In lieu of snails, Marcia decides to visit the bakery for a little something and we meet at a table conveniently located by the wine store. Tom gets three of us wines. I'd say Marcia was a tea-totler but once when we were at a fast food place, she drank some ice tea thinking it was root beer and spit it out all over the table after making this positively wretched sound, so that kind of shoots that theory. She's going to be very pleased when she reads this report. This just might sever our long, valued friendship - yikes. She's truly a lovely person and a very good friend - otherwise I couldn't divulge these family secrets, could I?
My one and only indulgence in life (just ask Tom - he can vouch for what a simple life I lead) is perfume from the Guerlain store in France. Lo and behold, they're having a special! Oh my! Must look! Must make a purchase to get the "free" stuff! Cha-ching .....cha-ching. As I leave the store with package in hand, I'm reminded of that great line from Austin Powers, and as I gaze at my purchase I tell it, "You complete me."
It's getting late now and nearly time for Illuminations. But just as I must visit the perfume store in France, Tom must visit the beer vendor in Germany. He's been dreaming of his Oktoberfest beer for quite some time now and will not be denied. Keith and Tom continue down to Germany while Marcia and I stop to browse in the Japan store. I just love that store. Marcia is a second grade teacher and always looking for ways to enhance the learning pleasure of her little pupils. She finds some stuff ¡V I find some stuff. We're both happy and head out to Germany. It's still hot and I really do not want a whole beer, but just a taste of Tom's. After a rather lengthy taste, it seems evident I owe the man a beer. Marcia and I wander over to the beer vendor where I get the replacement beer and Marcia gets a pretzel that could feed a small country, or at least the four of us. We all partake in her pretzel as Illuminations starts.
The show is, by any and all accounts, breathtaking. I've always gotten a kick out of it, but the first time I saw it after the 9-11 incident here in the States, I cried. It took on a whole new meaning for me. I couldn't help but think of the soldiers in the armed forces who were half way across the globe. They are there so we can be here. Enough said.
After the show, we find a nice seating area by St George in Germany and wait for the masses of humanity to clear out so we can have Epcot to ourselves. We enjoy each other's company immensely (at least we used to - before this report) and our kids are always amazed and just can't figure out what we talk about all the time. This comment comes from 3 females who don't know how to come up for air during a conversation and 1 male who is constantly amused by them. As enjoyable as our conversation is, we realize we do have a bus to catch. Oh boy - how long do they run for????
We get the final seats on the bus to OKW and off we go. We find our car, say a tearful good-bye to OKW and make our way to the Residence Inn, which is a nice 2 bedroom suite, one bedroom for me and Tom and the other for Marcia and her Galactic Hero. Time to re-charge the batteries for our next day in the parks
Friday, October 25th, 2002
The men get up earlier than the ladies so they can do the "hunter, gatherer" thing. As Marcia and I prepare to beautify ourselves, Keith and Tom take off and check into the Residence Inn and gather up some breakfast grub for us little ladies back at the OKW. By the time they're back, we're all ready (yeah, right - LOL) to eat breakfast and take off . We took the bus from OKW to MK and start the day in the park! We bought Tom a hat at the Emporium (to protect his sensitive head) and immediately head out to Splash Mt, first stopping by BTMR to get a fast pass. While on Splash, I break in the new hat by wearing it on the ride so that my hair doesn't get wet - just the hat. We then wait in line with the masses for our first ride on Big Thunder but then feel very chuffed with ourselves as we flash the fast passes for our second ride.
By now it's time for lunch and thought it would be a good idea to cool off at the Golden Horseshoe Jamboree Show and have sandwiches. Unfortunately, the GHJ didn't agree with our rationale as there were no sandwiches being served. That just shows you how long its been since I've been there! I remember having a sandwich there in 1992. The show was very entertaining and it helped us work up a real hunger. We settled into The Cosmic Ray for lunch and then ventured into Tomorrow Land and did one of my favorite things - Buzz Lightyear. Keith scored the very highest - the pinnacle of Buzz's achievement as a Galactic Hero with a score of 999,999. It was hard being in his company for the rest of the trip, and his hat no longer fit on his head because of the swelling. It was really quite the sight. And it didn't help with Marcia constantly swooning all over him, "Oh! My Galactic Hero!" Yes, it was a difficult trip
What would be a trip to Tomorrow Land without riding the TTA so that's what we did. Tom and I did the usual scream and raised our hands high everytime we would see an oncoming car. Most people laugh (Yes, I know - they're laughing AT us, not with us) but some just blankly stare and I imagine wonder what is wrong with us. The boys then did Space Mt while Marcia and I shopped around.
It was getting close to parade time and knew we had to make our move. We were going to try to see some of it, but we also wanted to beat the monorail crowd to Epcot. Truthfully? It was just too darn hot and we were on the sunny side. So we hop the monorail to Epcot and immediately head to Test Track for a fast pass. Since the line wasn't all that long (45 minutes), we waited and did TT right then. M&K have never been on TT and it turned out to be a real crowd pleaser. TT scores high marks with Marcia who apparently secretly dreams of racing cars (you learn a lot about someone when you vacation with them!). The single rider line is appealing to us and we decide to walk-on for our second ride.
We also rode the new Imagination ride which we weren't all too impressed with but enjoyed "Honey, I shrunk the Audience". We then decided it would be fun to send emails from Innoventions to our children telling them what a horrible and depressing time we were all having - LOL. We found out later that they didn't buy that story at all and have refused to let us go again by ourselves. We were informed that a two family trip is in the works for next Christmas. That may not take too much convincing on our parts.
Time for our FastPass back to TT. Perfect timing. We knew that would basically be it for Future World, and since we all agreed that racing cars really works up a hunger, we hightail it to Canada for cheese soup. However, before we get to the cheese soup, our eyes immediately focus on Shrimp from Australia. We all agree that this is a good idea and go ahead and indulge in some shrimp. Next stop - cheese soup! As we're enjoying our soup, we're planning our next food stop. One must always have a plan.
I announce to Marcia that it's time for snails in France! I knew that would get a rise out of her since she's really a meat and potatoes kind of gal and the mere mention of something out of the ordinary can send her digestive tract into cardiac arrest. Just to give you a little background here, the four of us share many meals together. Marcia's and my favorite thing to make for dinner is .....reservations
And wherever we go, no matter what the monetary category, Marcia and Tom will usually end up getting the same thing (usually involves meat and potatoes - down to earth) and Keith and I will end up getting the same thing (most of the time with a name that's unknown or at least unpronounceable). On our way to France, the British Invasion is playing and we can hear them as we saunter through the quaint UK village. Lovely, really.
Snails await. Now last year, I had my son get a second serving for me because I was too embarrassed to get right back in line. Learning from the past, I order two servings for myself and a coq au vin for Tom. Keith is cracking up and keeps asking me loudly, "Who's this other serving for, Lorraine?" In lieu of snails, Marcia decides to visit the bakery for a little something and we meet at a table conveniently located by the wine store. Tom gets three of us wines. I'd say Marcia was a tea-totler but once when we were at a fast food place, she drank some ice tea thinking it was root beer and spit it out all over the table after making this positively wretched sound, so that kind of shoots that theory. She's going to be very pleased when she reads this report. This just might sever our long, valued friendship - yikes. She's truly a lovely person and a very good friend - otherwise I couldn't divulge these family secrets, could I?
My one and only indulgence in life (just ask Tom - he can vouch for what a simple life I lead) is perfume from the Guerlain store in France. Lo and behold, they're having a special! Oh my! Must look! Must make a purchase to get the "free" stuff! Cha-ching .....cha-ching. As I leave the store with package in hand, I'm reminded of that great line from Austin Powers, and as I gaze at my purchase I tell it, "You complete me."
It's getting late now and nearly time for Illuminations. But just as I must visit the perfume store in France, Tom must visit the beer vendor in Germany. He's been dreaming of his Oktoberfest beer for quite some time now and will not be denied. Keith and Tom continue down to Germany while Marcia and I stop to browse in the Japan store. I just love that store. Marcia is a second grade teacher and always looking for ways to enhance the learning pleasure of her little pupils. She finds some stuff ¡V I find some stuff. We're both happy and head out to Germany. It's still hot and I really do not want a whole beer, but just a taste of Tom's. After a rather lengthy taste, it seems evident I owe the man a beer. Marcia and I wander over to the beer vendor where I get the replacement beer and Marcia gets a pretzel that could feed a small country, or at least the four of us. We all partake in her pretzel as Illuminations starts.
The show is, by any and all accounts, breathtaking. I've always gotten a kick out of it, but the first time I saw it after the 9-11 incident here in the States, I cried. It took on a whole new meaning for me. I couldn't help but think of the soldiers in the armed forces who were half way across the globe. They are there so we can be here. Enough said.
After the show, we find a nice seating area by St George in Germany and wait for the masses of humanity to clear out so we can have Epcot to ourselves. We enjoy each other's company immensely (at least we used to - before this report) and our kids are always amazed and just can't figure out what we talk about all the time. This comment comes from 3 females who don't know how to come up for air during a conversation and 1 male who is constantly amused by them. As enjoyable as our conversation is, we realize we do have a bus to catch. Oh boy - how long do they run for????
We get the final seats on the bus to OKW and off we go. We find our car, say a tearful good-bye to OKW and make our way to the Residence Inn, which is a nice 2 bedroom suite, one bedroom for me and Tom and the other for Marcia and her Galactic Hero. Time to re-charge the batteries for our next day in the parks
Excellent! Oh, the TTA. We missed this on 20th October as we went to 
