A Trip of Firsts

[Iamthequeen]

Okay, so its not our first trip to WDW, but we did so many things this trip that we had never done before. New experiences, new resorts, new restaurants, so much fun.

So who are we?

This is me, Tess, Terry, T, take your pick. I answer to all three!



This is my cohort in crime, my dh Charlie:



These pictures were taken last September. We decided that if we were planning to come back to WDW every year, then we should consider buying into DVC, so after much consideration, that's what we did!

We had our first trip as DVC members in March, which was supposed to only be a couple day trip so we could go to the Flower & Garden show after spending a week at Spring Training in Sarasota. We ended up spending 4 days - one day in each park. I just couldn't visit the World and not go to the Magic Kingdom!

Who is my favorite character you ask? Well this guy ranks right up there....



but this is a Disney trip report so, I guess I have to with Minnie Mouse......or Lady & the Tramp....... or Daisy Duck..................or the man....er....mouse himself, Mickey! As you can see, I have many favorites. Either that or I just can't make up my mind, take your pick.

As you can probably tell, I'm a baseball fan. Actually, an Orioles baseball fan. So you may see a baseball picture or two here.

I also like to sew and make quilts.

More later, once I get the current trip pictures downloaded.....

 

[Iamthequeen]

Reserved for something or other....or maybe just for this....



Day 1 - a Travel Day

 

[luckylady]

Beautiful picture. Can't wait to hear about the firsts.

 

[Iamthequeen]

Beautiful picture. Can't wait to hear about the firsts.

Thanks LuckyLady, and welcome to my tr. I will get another post done soon, I hope.

 

[Iamthequeen]

I feel like I've been a total slacker on this tr, but I just have not had a whole lot of time to work on it. I did finally download all of our Memory Maker photos and the photos from the Wild Africa Trek. Now I need to download the camera pictures and the phone pictures since they have the first couple of days worth of pictures on them.

I spent Saturday scraping my front door frame, which took all day to do and my arm felt like it was going to fall off - if I could have lifted it at all. The door is 3 years old and the paint on the wood parts was bubbling and peeling. Not under warranty any longer, so the company - JELD-WEN says its not their problem. Anyway, I got the primer and the first coat of paint on all but the door itself on Saturday. Still need to do a 2nd coat, but that will have to wait until the weekend.

Sunday we went to the Ravens football game with my brother - we left home at 8:30 am for the tailgating party. Sorry, but I just can't eat baked ziti, hotdogs and sauerkraut, or nachos and cheese at 9 am. I waited until 10 to eat We had a blast at the tailgate and game!

Ready for an update????

 

[Iamthequeen]

I have to preface this part of the report with my tale of woe. I know that I posted in my ptr that a rock hit my windshield on the Wednesday before we were to leave. Called the insurance company on Thursday and arranged to have the glass company come out on Friday to put in a new windshield - sometime between 8 am and 5 pm . The guy did call and tell Charlie he would be there between 2 and 4, so he (Charlie) was able to take our dog, Lady (a cocker spaniel, what else would you name her?) to the Country Comfort Doggie Camp for her 2 week stay before they closed at 5 pm.

So the window guy shows up at 4 pm with a windshield that has a scratch in it. That means they cannot install it and will have to bring a new one - on TUESDAY!!!!! (its a holiday weekend.) I call the insurance company and talk to a very nice young lady, who, I'm sorry to say, I gave an extremely hard time. We were driving my car to Florida the next day, but she was unable to find any place where we could get the windshield replaced that day. I was beyond mad. I had both this nice young lady and Charlie on the phone - I was at work - trying to find a solution, when the window guy says that the crack (which is more than a foot long) is only on the outside and does not go all the way through the window and its perfectly safe to drive and we can have the windshield replaced at our hotel if we want. Yeah, like I'm going to spend a Disney day standing in the parking lot waiting for the window guy to show up.

We could have taken Charlie's car, but mine gets better gas mileage, so we drove my car to Florida - with a crack the size of the Grand Canyon going across the windshield. Well, maybe not THAT big......

So, Friday evening after I get home from work, still mad as a wet hen, pack up the car - who's idea was it to bring all this stuff anyway????

We had 5 suitcases - count 'em - 5, one with just shoes in it - my shoes mostly, but there were 2 pairs of Charlie's shoes in there too.

One suitcase had the clothes we needed for the first part of our trip and one has all the Disney stuff in it. The other 2 had the rest of our clothing for the 2nd part of our trip.

We set the alarm for 3 am - I wanted to be on the road by 3:30 so that we could avoid traffic around Washington DC and Richmond, VA. We actually left the house at 3:35, so that plan worked well.

Stopped at the local convenience store so we could get some coffee and then we were off on our adventure. I took the first driving shift, drove through PA (all of about 4 miles), Maryland and Virginia. We stopped at a Waffle House in North Carolina for breakfast, then Charlie took over driving through NC and part of SC, then it was my turn again. I drove until we got to the Florida Welcome Center. Stopped for some OJ and bio break. We met two guys who were moving to Florida from York PA!

C drove the rest of the way to Orlando and we got to our hotel - a Comfort Suites near Universal Studios - about 8 pm. We took a short walk around and then hit the hay. Couldn't find a baseball game on the tv, but I couldn't have stayed awake long enough to watch it anyway.

 

[luckylady]

Ohhh SC I do not like driving through there. Three hours of nothing, but great speed limit. So did they replace your window when you got home?

 

[sewdisney]

I'm here! I would love to hear how your trip went. Congratulations on becoming DVC members! That is so exciting. I would love to purchase a DVC membership but DH thinks it is too expensive.

 

[sewdisney]

I'm here! I would love to hear how your trip went. Congratulations on becoming DVC members! That is so exciting. I would love to purchase a DVC membership but DH thinks it is too expensive.

 

[Iamthequeen]

Its been quite a while since I made any kind of post, much less an update. Let's see if I can pick up where I left off so long ago....

2nd day of the trip - first day at the dark side....

We were up, had breakfast, and were on the way to Universal by 9 am. Not bad for a couple of people who like to sleep in.





I love the theming of Universal....



Our first stop, not surprising for anyone that knows Charlie, was Starbucks... This is not a good picture though....



We rode "Men in Black", but it was a lot more spinney than I remembered it. We found the entrance to Diagon Alley and spent a bit of time exploring....







They had some interactive displays in the windows for the kids to do some magic with their wands. There is a plaque on the ground that shows the wand movement, you stand behind the plaque and point your wand at the window and do the wand movement and watch the "magic" happen. It was a lot of fun to watch, so I imagine it was fun to participate in, also. Sadly, we muggles did not have wands.

One of the neatest displays was this dragon perched on top of Gringotts



Every so often he would growl and then breathe fire. Charlie has a picture of it on his phone, but I don't have it. It was fun to watch.

The Knight bus was outside of Diagon Alley, and had the shrunken head that interacted with the crowd.



Most of the rides here are simulated, but we did ride most of them. We saw the animal actor show and then went back to Diagon Alley to have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. Then we rode the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade. When we got off the train in Hogsmeade, it started to pour down rain. We donned our ponchos and headed for the main gate. We walked back over to Universal and by the time we got back, it had stopped raining. We went back to Diagon Alley (see a pattern here?) and had ice cream from Florian Fortesque's. Charlie had chocolate (boring!) and I had butterbeer - delicious!

We wanted to ride the Escape from Gringotts, but the line was about 70 minutes at that point and I didn't want to wait, so we rode a few more rides and then it was about 8 pm, so we went to Finnegan's for dinner. After dinner, we left and went back to the hotel.