Dan and Tammy Anniversary Trip 

Dan (49), Tammy (49) Celebrating: 31st Anniversary.  Dates: Arrive 9/5, Depart 9/13.

 
DAY 1 - Sat. 9/5/09

We had been planning this trip for over a year, and just couldn't believe that
the time was finally here! I (Dan) was a bundle of nerves. Worrying about the
flight, the Magical Express, The 1 day Car Rental, ADR's, etc. Since it had
been 15 years, we felt like first timers. We left a day early and drove 3 hours
north to Albuquerque NM (from our home in Las Cruces) and spent the night with
my parents. Mom got up at 4am and got us to the airport by 5am for our flight.
We got through Security pretty easily, and waited to board the plane. Good
flight, transferred at Atlanta and then on to Orlando, arriving around 2:20 pm
(Orlando time). We were a little confused at the Orlando airport, but just
asked airport staffers and found our way to the Magical Express Terminal.
Breezed right on and we were ON OUR WAY! I think it took us about an hour until
we got off at the Port Orleans Riverside, it looked beautiful, just like we
remembered it back in 1994 when it was "Dixie Landings"!

There was a pretty big line for checking in, we were unable to do the on-line
check-in, so we had to get in line, but I don't think it took more than 30 min.
to do the check in. We asked for a room in bldgs. 14-18 in Alligator Bayou
section, but they said there was nothing available there, and we ended up at the
other end of the AB rooms in bldg. 37. We didn't mind, and we did get an
upstairs room like we wanted, and the gentleman said he gave us a room that
looked out to the greenery (rather than out to the parking lot). It was a bit
of a walk, but once we learned our way around, it was really very nice (and
quiet!). There was a bus depot just a little ways from our room (North Depot)
and it turned out to be very handy for us!

It was Sat. night Sept. 5th, Labor Day Weekend. We decided not to try a park,
but rather, we had an adr for Boatwright's Dining Hall there at POR.

It was for 6:15, but we got there about 5:15 and asked if they could get us in early, and
the gentleman at the check in podium was very gracious and said "no problem",
and we just waited about 5 min. and were seated for dinner! Everyone was so
friendly, and the food was outstanding! I had a beef tenderloin, and Tammy had
the Blackened Red Snapper. We like to order two different things and then share
with each other, and we really enjoyed the food and the whole dinner. Our trip
was off to a great start!

The Alligator Bayou was beautiful. Lush and green, with winding paths and
several "Quiet Pools" along with the Ol' Man Island pool area that looked like a
water park to us. The room was clean and very comfortable. Our only other stay
back in 1994 was at the Mansions section, and we liked that room and theme too.
I couldn't choose one over the other, the whole resort is really nice.

We took the boat from the dock at POR and went down to Downtown Disney.
It took about 3 boat loads before we got on (after all, it WAS Sat. Night on Labor
Day Weekend!).

The ride was so beautiful, going past the French Quarter, and
the Treehouse Villas, and Saratoga Springs (I think), and then to a very busy
Downtown Disney!

We had a great time just touring around and taking pictures.

We settled in at Sosa's Cigars and I enjoyed a good cigar out on the outside
tables and we had a drink and just enjoyed "people watching" and pinching

ourselves to make sure we were REALLY there at WDW!

We got back to the POR and went in to the food court and bought our refillable mugs. Had some soft drinks
& tea, and then went back to the room. Got to bed about midnight with plans
ready for our first ever visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom!

 Sunday Sept. 6th - Morning.

We slept well. The bed was very comfortable, and the room was really quiet.
We didn't know what to really expect at The Animal Kingdom. We got on the bus
and it was almost FULL! We had to stand up and hold on to the leather handles,
but we were ON OUR WAY! We thought that it might be like this for the rest of
the week, so we just agreed that we may have to stand up on the Disney Buses
from now on, but it really wasn't a problem, just as long as it got us there and
back was ok with us!

We got away a bit later than we wanted. The park opened at 9am and we wanted
to BE THERE at 8 am, but we didn't even get onto the bus until about 8:20am. We
walked in and were at about the middle of the pack when they did the rope drop
with Micky & Minnie coming out to greet everyone from there safari vehicle. I
told DW to be ready to hang on to my hand and walk fast to Expedition Everest!
The rope dropped and off we sprang.

We worked our way over to Everest and grabbed a set of Fast Passes. And then
got in the stand-by line... DIDN'T EVEN TAKE 5 MINUTES TO BE ON THE RIDE! I'm
scared of Drops and Plunges on rollercoasters, and wasn't too sure about
Everest, but I had seen and read so much about it that I just HAD to ride it!
Tammy Loves Coasters so she was ready to go! It was AWESOME! I had conquered
Expedition Everest! What a great ride, and I felt good knowing that we had FP's
in hand for when the crowds got BIG! We were wearing our Happy Anniversary
buttons (Celebrating 31 years!) and everywhere we went, CM's and other guests
wished us a happy anniversary! It was great.

We were a little lost in the park, and CM's at stands were always very happy
to guide us along. We headed over to ride Primeval Whirl, and walked right on!
Then, we went to Dinosaur, and again walked right in! The CM at the entrance
said "Hurry up... The Dinosaurs are HUNGRY!" We looked at each other and
chuckled and really had a good time on that wild ride! I can see how little
ones could become TERRIFIED on that ride with all of the darkness and huge
life-like Dinos in there!

The wait times were so small on these first "E-Ticket" rides, so we decided to
take a detour from the touring plan, and sit down and watch Finding Nemo The
Musical. It was a great show, and even though I'm not much for the shows, I was
glad that I saw it. Tammy loved it, and I even teased her "Was that a tear I
saw you wiping from your eye?".

We were hungry and it was getting close to lunch time, so we headed over to
the Flame Tree BBQ and it had just opened up. Had Ribs & Chicken and found a
quiet little spot further down the trail of tables, and found a great little
table all by ourselves (we thought) right by the water and we could see Everest
from there! We were all alone there enjoying our food when we started to get a
few visitors. First a pair of ducks came around and wanted some food. We named
them "Quackers" and "mr. Bill". I didn't think we should feed them, but I did
"drop" a few crumbs from our dessert (oops). Then a big white bird with a huge
long bill came around and we named him "Captain Hook". What a great lunch and
we were really surprised at how generous the meat portions were for a "Quick
Service" place!

We had another day planned for AK, so we just walked around a little and wound
up by It's Tough to be a Bug, so of course we just walked right in for a great
show! We looked at the detailed carving on the tree of life and took a few
pictures around the park.

We decided to head back to POR and rest up because we knew we would return and
do "the other half" of this huge park on Thursday. The bus going back was
practically empty. We filled our mugs and headed to the room to rest up for our
evening at Epcot!

 Sunday Evening, Sept. 6th 2009:

After having so much fun at Animal Kingdom, we rested up and set out for our
first visit of the trip to EPCOT! I forgot to mention... When we took our fast
passes and went back for a 2nd ride on Expedition Everest.... IT SEEMED FASTER!
I would swear that it was a faster and more intense ride the 2nd time around!
DW and I BOTH got off of that thing a little discombobulated!!!!! I'm guessing
maybe it gets faster as it "warms up" during the day (?) I don't know. Tammy
thought it may have got to us because we were hungry and hadn't eaten. Either
way... WOW! It was fast and furious!

The Bus wasn't crowded at all this time, and we didn't wait more than 10 min.
for the Epcot Bus to arrvie at the West Depot at POR. We had a 4:30pm ADR for
San Angel Inn, and got to Epcot a little before 4:00. We headed straight for
the Mexico Pavilion and got to the check-in podium at about 4:10 pm. We walked
up and I asked the lady at the desk if we could go ahead and check in. She
explained that they weren't open until 4:30pm and would give us a beeper. I
said "OK" and asked if we could have a table by the water. She seemed to
misunderstand me, and thought I was asking to be seated right away... "WE WILL
NOT OPEN UNTIL 4:30, AND CAN'T SEAT ANYONE UNTIL THEN". I said "I Understand, I
was just asking if we can have a table by the water WHEN we are seated?". She
said she couldn't promise anything and it would be about 45 min. until we could
seat. I just said "OK, Thank You", and we headed off to ride the Gran Fiesta
Tour. They changed it since our '94 visit, and even though we we enjoyed the
escapades of the cartoon birds, we missed the guy who is trying to sell you
things at the Mercado! We strolled around the pavilion and looked at the little
museum near the front then decided to grab a seat and took a few pictures.

At about 4:35 our beeper went off and it was time to eat (Happy Time!)!!! They sat
us at a nice little table for 2 by the water and it was great! I ordered:
Mahi-Mahi a la Veracruzana - Grilled filet of mahi-mahi prepared with capers,
olives, Spanish onions and tomatoes, seasoned with white wine and spices, served
with white rice. And Tammy ordered: Filete Motuleno - Grilled beef tenderloin
over black beans and melted cheese, ranchero sauce, poblano pepper strips and
fried plaintain.

We had eaten there with the kids back in '94 and enjoyed it so
we HAD to do it again! We had seen lots of negative reviews, but I must say
that we really enjoyed the food! As the boats of the Gran Fiesta Tour drifted
by, several times people would yell at us - "Hey, throw us a Burrito or a Taco!"
and the whole boat would laugh. We enjoyed our meal under the romantic Mexican
sky with the smoking volcano in the distance, again, just pinching ourselves...
We were REALLY back at Walt Disney World!

We hopped on the Gran Fiesta Tour for a 2nd time just so we could see how our
table at the Restaurant looked from the boat (but I didn't ask anyone to throw
me a Taco). When we stepped out of the Pyramid, the ground was totally wet, and
it had rained while we were in there eating dinner! But it had stopped, and it
was clear skies again. We headed over to Maelstrom and the Standby Line was 20
Min. I think this was the Longest line that we waited in for the whole trip.
We agreed to stay for the movie at the end.

We strolled a little and then hopped on the Water Taxi to take us across the
lake to Future World. As we walked past Test Track we saw the the Standby line
said "15 Min." so we got in line for our first ever ride on Test Track! We were
through the intro and into the line for the cars - about 15 people away - when
an announcement came over the P.A.... "Bad weather is approaching, and this
attraction may be shut down at any time..." etc. OH NO! The anxiety levels
kicked up a notch as each car seemed to pull up to the loading area in slow
motion! Whew, we made it into a car and buckled up. Then... as we were 2 cars
away from the place where the CM checks your seatbelts - they made another
announcement that we couldn't understand, and all of a sudden it was 2 cars in
front of us, and 2 cars in back of us, and they weren't letting anyone else on
to the cars! We made it and off we went for what has become one of our favorite
rides in all of Epcot! We were excited to see both of our cars in the display
area on the way out (Tammy's HHR, and my Truck)! As we went out we looked at
the line, and it had jumped to 40 Min. for Standby.

We were ready to head back to the POR to rest up, but on the way we couldn't
resist and HAD to ride Spaceship Earth! Again, just walked right on! I know
that they made some changes to it, but I didn't remember how it was back in '94.
It was fun, and that little thing at the end where they put your face on those
future characters was fun! We wanted to send the picture of us like that to our
Daughter & Son-In-Law, but we couldn't find our pictures and just sent a generic
e-mail.

We headed on to the bus and back to our room at POR. The bus wasn't crowded
and it wasn't a very long wait either. The end of our 2nd day and it was
everything we imagined. The thought of a whole 'nother week here was awesome!



Mon. Sept. 7th, 2009 - Labor Day - Morning

It was Monday, Labor Day. We had decided in our planning that we would not do
any parks for the morning portion of our day, but rather, we wanted to visit the
town of Celebration. I had read a book about the making of Celebration and
really wanted to see it in person.
We made arrangements with our Travel Agent to get a rental car for the day. We went to the desk
at Port Orleans the daybefore to confirm the car rental. They had trouble reaching the Hertz desk in
Kissimee, but they went out of their way and said they would keep trying and for
us not to worry, so we just went off to Epcot that afternoon, and when we
returned to our room, there was a message left for us that said they had made
contact, and a shuttle van would be there at 8am to pick us up. So we got up
and ate some of the snacks we had piled up in our room to hold us until we could
have breakfast in Celebration. A white van from Hertz pulled up and I asked the
gentleman if he was here for Dan & Tammy, and he just said (in a thick hispanic
accent) "Yes... You are my people hop in!". The driver's name was Alfredo and
he was so friendly and enjoyed telling us his life story as he drove us to the
Hertz office in Kissimee. 77 years old, native of Peru. He told us about his
years as a cab driver in New York City, and how different life in Orlando is.
He seemed so happy to have his job as shuttle driver, and we became friends with
him and for the rest of the trip we would recall things that "Mr. Alfredo" said!
We picked up the car and the lady at the desk (Bruni, from Germany) was also so
friendly. We were just a few miles from Celebration, and it was such a
beautiful place, just as it looked in the pictures from the book I had read
(Celebration, U.S.A. - Living in Disney's brave new town. by Douglas Frantz and
Catherine Collins).

We had breakfast at the Market Street Cafe. The food was
good, and we sat by a window looking out to the lake. We were looking forward
to seeing the Enchanted Tiki Room at the Magic Kingdom, and Flights of Wonder at
Animal Kingdom, but there was actually a show that was just as entertaining
right outside the window of the cafe. They have tables outside, and the birds
in the shade trees would swoop down and take packets of Equal & "Sweet n' Low"
and grab them and strut around the table with pride - showing off their prize
and then fly off to the trees! The waitresses would go out and clean and
re-arrange the tables, but it was a hopeless battle... the birds had them
outnumbered! I wish I would have had my camera at the ready, but never was able
to get a picture of this "reality" bird show.

After Breakfast we strolled around the town. Sat under some shaded rocking
chairs by the lake and just enjoyed the peaceful setting. What a wonderful
place, I imagine that anyone who is lucky enough to live there must be very
proud of their special town. We walked around the Lake, being visited by
squirrels, and birds, and even a gigantic grasshopper sitting on a green fire
hydrant! We thought he might not be real, but... he was! We continued our tour
and stepped into the lobby of the Celebration Hotel. The homes are really
pretty with their pastel & white colors, and whtie picket fences. Again,
everyone we came in contact with was so friendly, I'm so glad we were able to
visit.

We then drove over to the Gaylord Palms Resort Hotel, we had heard so much
about it, and wanted to explore, but when we drove up to the parking lot and saw
the $12 for parking posted, and nowhere else to park, we changed our minds (as
did the car in front of us). We just turned around and headed to Walgreens to
pick up some souvenirs and snacks for the room. Tammy found a 2 for 1 special
on Mickey & Minnie Mouse stuffed dolls, and she got them for our first
Grand-Child (Daughter) who is expected to arrive in late October!

We toured around Kissimee a little more and decided to take the car back and
head back to POR. "Mr. Alfredo" was so happy to take us back and continue with
his Life story! What a friendly person, I can imagine he was a great cabby in
NYC!

We had a nice relaxed lunch at the Port Orleans Riverside food court, then
filled our mugs and headed back to the room for a nice rest, and planning for
our evening return excursion to Epcot.

Monday Sept. 7, 2009 - Labor Day - EVENING

After resting up at the room, we were ready to head out for the 2nd half of our day. Another visit to Epcot was on the agenda, I guess you can tell that we're kinda' fans of Epcot! LOL! The bus was practically empty, and that's the way it was for the rest of the trip, which was nice after the full bus and the standing up holding leather straps on that first day.

We headed to the right in Future world this time, and hopped right on The Seas with Nemo & Friends.

It was probably a 5 minute wait only because it seemed to take 5 minute to wind our way through the switchback waiting area. The attraction itself was so different from when we were there in 1994. The "Clam-Mobiles" were cute, and the ride was colorful and fun. I was so glad that we had seen Nemo The Musical at Animal Kingdom, because now I knew who the characters were, and the storyline of Nemo. When we got out of there we toured around the exhibits and really enjoyed seeing the manatees who were being fed lettuce while we watched them. All the sea life exhibits were fascinating, and we could easily see how you could get lost and spend an hour in there! We walked right into Turtle Talk with Crush which was a fun show, especially when a little girl asked Crush... "Where do the Turtle Eggs come from?" Mr. Crush had fun with that one!

Next was a stop at Club Cool for some soda tasting. It's funny how everyone there knew about "Beverly" and it seemed they were just waiting for some unsuspecting Soda Connoisseur to take a swig!



We went to Journey into your imagination and again walked right onto a ride vehicle. It was nice to see figment again, and this attraction was also very different from the 1994 version, but it was fun, and that song got stuck in my head for a while.

We had our 5:45pm ADR for The Rose & Crown Pub, so we figured we better head over to The World Showcase. We had 2 ADR's coming up for Le Cellier for the week, and I was so looking forward to dining there, I had to walk over just to look at the entrance, and take another peek at the menu on display. We had time to duck into the dark & cool confines of the O'Canada movie. A beautiful 360 degree presentation with Martin Short.

It was time to head to dinner and we checked in at Rose & Crown. They gave us a beeper and we strolled for about 10 minutes around the U.K. Pavilion before it went off. This was another meal that we had looked so forward to, we were seated at a nice little table for two, and the servers and staff were so friendly there! Tammy had the Harry Ramsden's Famous Fish and Chips - Batter-fried fresh Cod served with English chips and Garden peas. And I ordered the Bangers and Mash - Traditional English sausages with braised cabbage and bacon served with mashed potatoes and shallot gravy. We did our usual "Mix n' Match" of meals, and I have to say that was probably the BEST Fish N' Chips I've ever had! The Bangers and Mash was awesome too, just a wonderful meal! We were on the DDP so we still had DESSERTS coming! We were full, but managed to battle some Sticky Toffee Puddings. I told Tammy "I feel like the guy on Man vs Food from the Travel Channel". This time MAN WON!

While we were eating, we looked at our epcot entertainment guides and noticed that the timing was perfect for a performance by Off Kilter and The British Invasion. Off Kilter was great, and people were dancing and singing along with the band.

Then we went and enjoyed the performance by The British Invasion at the U.K. Pavilion. The same folks that were dancing and singing at the Off Kilter performance were there dancin' and singin' with the Brits! I couldn't help but to sing along (quietly) to those beatle tunes.

If it had been a "battle of the bands" I'd have to call it a tie. Tammy gave a slight edge to Off Kilter, while I had to give it slightly to The British Invasion. The music just made us feel so good. We were ready to head back to the resort and call it a day. We went in to the food court and filled our mugs, headed to the room and relaxed while planning our big day for tomorrow - THE MAGIC KINGDOM!

Tuesday - Sept. 8 - 2009 - Morning

We got up early and were full of anticipation for our return to the Magic
Kingdom after 15 years away! (We went to Disneyland in 2002 with our Daughter
though). Hopped on the bus and made it with plenty of time to spare for the
"rope drop". They were letting people in with breakfast ADR's, that might be
fun to do on a future visit. We enjoyed the opening ceremonies with "The Mayor"
and all of the dancers, then Mickey & friends riding in on the train. They
opened the first gate, and off we went. I was a little confused since there was
no "mad rush". Everyone seemed so relaxed and not in a panic like it was back
in 1994. Seeing Main St. and then the castle was a beautiful sight, more proof,
we WERE actually at WDW!

My plan called for us to head straight for Tomorrowland. We were met with
another "rope" and about 20 CM's standing guard. They were so relaxed, joking
and answering questions from the few guests waiting there. Again, I was a
little confused... "Where was everyone?!" They let us in, and off we walked
(fast) to Buzz Lightyear. I headed straight for the fastpass machine and
noticed I was the ONLY ONE DOING IT! I felt strange and looked at the CM and
said "This IS the Fastpass machine, right?" and he smiled and said, Yes, but you
won't need one today! I said "Are you sure?" And he said, "Really!". I looked
at him for a second and he said "I'm so sure, if you come back and there is a
line, I'll LET YOU IN THE FASTPASS LINE!". I said "Deal!" and he just chuckled
and waved me into the attraction. Tammy and I just walked right in and hopped
right on! It was fun!

When we walked back out to tomorrowland, we decided that the crowd was so
light, that we'd try the Tomorrowland Speedway cars. I asked the CM there where
everyone was? He told me "It's going to be like this for the week. Saturday
was 50 and today will probably be less than 20"! I didn't know if he meant
50,000 attendance, or 50 Min. Standby, but either way... We liked what We heard!

We felt like kids again, just thinking of the next attraction to ride. I told
Tammy that we should probably still do the Fantasyland attractions while it's
early, because it may not get super crowded, but will still probably be a little
crowded by 11:30 am.

We walked onto The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. I was a little bummed
thinking of how much I missed Mr. Toad, but Pooh was a good ride too. We then
headed right over to Peter Pan because I remembered the line for that one in
2002 at Disneyland, and didn't want to wait like that again. A beautiful sight
to behold NO LINE! Practically walked on to a flying pirate ship and off we
went! I don't know if it's the feeling of a "Flying Ship" or what, but
something about Peter Pan's Adventure makes it so fun.

We headed over to Mickey's Philharmagic. We'd never seen it, and heard so
much about it. We walked into the waiting area, and waited about 10 minutes.
We went in and grabbed a seat, and the pre-show started and then STOPPED! The
CM came on and told us there was a technical difficulty with the show, and
they'd get it going. We waited another 10 minutes or so, and a few people got
up and left. We stuck it out and after a while the gang of about 10 CM's over
by the controls got it going, and we both felt like it was worth the wait, what
a great 3-d production! That one has it all!

We went across the way to It's a Small World - that one always makes me feel
good! And then we did Snow White's Scary Adventure. This is a ride that could
scare the Be-Jeebers out of a little kid if they're not ready for it!

Tammy doesn't like the spinning of the Mad Tea Party, but I told her if I go
to the Enchanted Tiki Room with her, then she would have to go with me on the
Mad Tea Party! We waited 1 cycle and we were on! I promised her I wouldn't
spin too fast, and I kept my word. When our Daughter and I get in a spinning
cup ride like that, we look like a Tornado! But with DW, I always tone it down.
I just "Gently Stir" the Tea, I don't use a Blender!

Next we decided to head for the "Biggies" - The Mountains. Since Space
Mountain is down, we felt like EVERYONE MUST be at Splash & Big Thunder
Mountains. We grabbed a FastPass for Splash and headed over to Big Thunder
Mountain Railroad. The standby sign said "5 Minutes", but it took us more like
15 minutes to get on... who's complaining! BTMRR is one of my favorite all time
rides. I always love the guy in the bathtub, and the goat eating dynamite! We
were in our Glory, all smiles! We were at The Magic Kingdom, with great weather
(a little hot, but no rain), and short lines! Does it get any better?

We decided to eat at Pecos Bill's Tall Tale Inn. I love Hamburgers and
Cheeseburgers, but those taco salads looked too good to pass up! I loaded up on
the fixin's at the bar, and Tammy got a Taco Salad too. We enjoyed our lunch
there, and it really re-charged us for another tour of the park. We had our FP
for splash, so we felt like we had plenty of time to ride something a little
more gentle while our food settled. Off to Pirates of the Caribbean!

We LOVED the little changes they added to this classic ride. There were so
few people in line, that they let Tammy and I have "our own" row on the boat -
they did the same thing at Small World! What a great way to spend our 31st
Anniversary! What a great time!

Next we headed to the Jungle Cruise. Just a 5 Min. Wait! We had some good
laughs on that one! Now it was time for the Enchanted Tiki Room under new
management. The CM that let us in wished us a hearty "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY YOU
TWO!" We said "Thanks!", and he asked "How many years?" We said 31! He looked
funny at us and then said... "What? Were you guys like 5 when you got
married???!!!". Boy, DW really liked that line! We explained that we were High
School Sweethearts and got married right after High School! We're both 49, but
sometimes I feel like I'm 79, but magically when I'm at WDW, I feel like I'm 29!
He also noticed my "WDW Today Podcast" Shirt & Bag, and Tammy's "WDW Radio
Podcast" Shirt, and commented how much he liked our podcast gear! We both liked
the Tiki Room's new show, but agreed that we like the "Classic Tiki Room"
better.

We saw the Sunshine Tree Terrace, and stopped for a snack break. I had the
Pineapple Float, and Tammy wanted an Iced Cappuccino Mocha (or something like
that). It was fun just using the ddp card for snacks and meals! We found a
shaded table, and as we were enjoying our snacks.

From there we headed over to the Hall of Presidents. The timing was just
perfect. We walked in and they had just opened the doors to let everyone into
the theatre. What a magnificent presentation. The audio-animatronics really
look great!

We headed right down to The Haunted Mansion. Again, walked right in to the
stretching room! They've added a few new touches to this attraction, and we
enjoyed catching the things that are new from our last visit! It seems like
EVERY time I've ever been on this attraction, there never fails to be 1 scared
kid, and this time was no exception! Poor little guy looked terrified! But he
was hanging on to Mom and she was holding him safely, and he seemed to do
alright. We just looked at each other and smiled.

We took a snack break at the Liberty Square market. One tip we picked up from
one of the groups, was to take those propel drink powders with us and add them
to our water. It's a great way to keep hydrated and sometimes I need a little
sweetness added to the water to keep guzzling it so much in the humidity. 

 We decided to use our FastPasses for Splash Mountain. The standby was 20
minutes, but we just Fast Passed past everyone, and I almost felt guilty as
people looked at us funny while we walked right past them in the Fast Pass Line!
It seemed like no one else was using one, and we just walked straight into the
boarding area! I'm not crazy about big drops, but There is so much more to
this ride than the drops! It's worth that moment of terror, and getting soaked,
to enjoy all of the great animatronics of Splash Mountain! (and after all, I
had survived Everest TWICE!).

From there, we thought another run on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad would help
to dry us off! This time the line was much shorter, about 10 Minutes standby.
The CM at the loading area saw Tammy's WDW Radio shirt, and asked her if she
worked for the podcast or something? "Nope, we're just fans!" she said with a
big smile. And of course at every attraction there were lots of "Happy
Anniversary's" all around!

We had a 5pm ADR for Kona Cafe, and ever since I was a young boy, I wanted to
explore the Contemporary Resort Hotel, so we decided to head for the Monorail
station so we could explore those two and go eat dinner!


TUESDAY, SEPT. 8, 2009 - Evening

It was still early and we wanted to explore the Contemporary before heading to
dinner at the Polynesian. We had never been to either one, so it was another
adventure just waiting for us.

We caught the monorail and lived my dream. Since the first time I saw an
image of the monorail going into the contemporary hotel, I had always wanted to
do that! I'm not sure that our budget will ever allow us to actually stay
there, but at least I wanted to go there and see it in person.

Tammy was curious too, but I think she was just so happy that I actually got to visit the
contemporary resort. It was very clean and modern. Pretty quiet, not many
people around. We took the escalators to the different floors and explored,
then headed out to the pool area. The Wave restaurant looked interesting, and
we might try that on a future trip. We found a nice shaded table by the pool
area and just sat down and took it all in. Classic pop/rock music was playing
in the pool area, the views all around us and white puffy clouds, it was a
beautiful time. We snapped a few pictures and then went into the big gift shop.
We found a neat bowl for our dog (Buttercup) who is a ...?... "Dog Pound
Special"(?) We're not sure what kind of dog she is, but we think she's a
mixture of Greyhound, Red Heeler, Ibizan Hound, Collie, and who knows what else.
The bowl has the Dalmatians, lady & tramp, Pluto and stitch on it. I wasn't sure how
she'd react to a new food dish, but she seemed to really like it! Does she
know? Anyway, now every time we feed her, we remember our visit to WDW and the
Contemporary!

We had a 5pm ADR for Kona Cafe, and wanted to spend a little time exploring
before dinner, so we hopped on the monorail and continued on to the Polynesian.
It is such a beautiful resort. Just as we imagined it. We went out and sat by
the pool a little while to rest. Then, walked out to this area where we were
surrounded with the most beautiful views all around the lake! Some great
picture opportunities.

We strolled walking paths around the rooms, and went
into the lobby to rest again. Since we didn't do our usual back-to-the-POR
resting routine, we were wearing down and started taking lots of resting breaks.
Some ladies asked me if I'd snap their photo with their camera in front of the
beautiful tropical area in the lobby. I said "Sure - will you guys take ours
too?", and they were so happy to do it!

We then went to the gift shop, and I
bought Tammy a can of "Disney Coffee". I know that Disney isn't known for great
coffee, but it was "Disney" Coffee... so that made it a "must try"! (It's
actually very good... I'm drinking some right now!). The Poly was much busier
than the contemp. Maybe because it was getting closer to Dinner time, and those
2 popular eateries, and the Luau bring in the people(?).

We went up to the Kona Cafe and checked in. They gave us a beeper and we
waited in the lobby about 15 minutes before being seated. I ordered the Beef
Teriyaki - 10-oz sirloin strip, grilled with pineapple teriyaki glaze, mashed
Yukon Gold potatoes, and stir-fried broccoli florets. And The Mrs. ordered
Pan-Asian Noodles - Asian egg noodles with sliced chicken, pineapple, seasonal
vegetables, and a House-made sweet-and-sour sauce. The service was good. The
food was very tasty, but my steak seemed to have lots of gristle. I doubt that
is a common occurrence though, based on the rave reviews about dinner there.
Tammy's dish was very delicious. We didn't really like the "open seating"
arrangement of the restaurant. We were right by the lobby and it felt like we
were on display, we would have preferred a more "private" setting for dinner,
but we totally enjoyed our tasty dinner. We were pretty full from eating so
much on the ddp. We usually just split a dessert if we get one at all, and all
of the meals seem to have big portions! We asked to take our dessert with us,
since we planned to head back to the POR after dinner. The waitress said she
could box up our dessert and told us which choices would travel the best. She
brought them boxed and in a bag, that was really appreciated!

We hopped on the Monorail and rode the circuit back to The Magic Kingdom. It
was a fun ride, and we were tired and ready to head back to our home base of
Port Orleans Riverside. It was such a great day. Wide open touring of the
Magic Kingdom, and exploring those two wonderful deluxe resorts! We saved
exploring the Grand Floridian for another visit.

When we returned to the POR, we filled our mugs at the ol' food court, and
headed back to the room talking about our day all along the way. It was nice to
break out our chocolate cake desserts from the poly and even though they had
become a blob of chocolate cake from all the traveling, they still tasted great!

We watched tv and made plans for our day tomorrow. We were heading to the
Disney Hollywood Studios, making another journey to Epcot, and our first ever
dinner at Le Cellier! Oh, we wished it would never end!

WED. SEPT. 9, 2009 - Morning.

Today was our return to Disney's Hollywood Studios! I'm not fond of drops, or
loops, so I decided that I wouldn't be riding Tower of Terror, or Rock n'
Roller-coaster. I told Tammy that she could ride them, and I'd gladly wait for
her, but she declined and said she'd rather do the stuff that I'd like to do.
What a gal!

We had bought a 12 pack of little cereals and some milk at the Riverside's
general store. We had a fridge in our room, and we still had some stuff in
there that we had bought at walgreens when we had the rental car, but we learned
that with the ddp, we wouldn't really need any food for the week. We had snacks &
cookies etc. piling up in there, and didn't think we'd be able to eat them
before we left. So we just had some cereal and breakfast bars before heading
out to the Studios.

We made it for rope drop, and were about 1/3 of the way back from the front.
The director came out and did his little show, featuring the family of the day
(from Louisiana). They dropped the rope and we were off. We followed the pack
straight to Toy Story Midway Mania. This was the busiest first ride we'd ever
seen. I grabbed us 2 fast passes, and then we got into the standby line. We
stepped in line, and were there a few minutes when the folks behind us said
"Sir, we're all together" and I noticed it was a big group of about 20 people
with about 10 ahead of us, and 10 behind us in line. I said, "Oh, come on
through" and waved them to go ahead of us. And with a smile they said "No, YOU
go on ahead of us sir!", and I said "OH! THANKS!". We didn't know what to
expect from this attraction. We donned our 3-d glasses and the line moved so
quickly. I think it was about 20 minutes standing by (with Fast Passes in our
hot little pockets!).

Toy Story Midway Mania is a great addition to the WDW arsenal! It's a
technical wonder, and just plain FUN! I can see why this is possibly the most
popular attraction in WDW!

We then headed over to one we enjoyed from the last visit, The Great Movie
Ride. I didn't remember the first part of the ride with the gangsters. I think
I was so busy running the vhs camcorder, that I missed lots of detail, so I
really enjoyed just being entertained by the scenes!

From there we wandered around the streets of America sets and snapped photos
as we toured.

We took our picture with two of the vehicles from Cars, and
headed over to Muppet 3-D to enjoy the chaotic escapades of those muppets!

 wanted to eat at the Studio Catering Co. but it wasn't open and we waited
at one of the tables for almost 30 minutes, and decided it might not open before
noon, so we just strolled over to the ABC Commissary. It was nice and cool
inside the A/C eatery. Tammy had the Curry Chicken, and I went with the "Ugly
Betty" (cheeseburger & fries). It was a nice quiet place to reset and we
enjoyed our desserts and just people watched as folks walked by outside our
window.

We used our Fast Passes for a return trip to Toy Story Mania, and then grabbed
another set of Fast Passes when we got off.

On to Star Tours! There was about a 20 minute Standby line, and that was fine
with us. We had time to enjoy the details of the waiting area with the
different robots and the star speeder. A young boy behind us was looking
intently at the star speeder when it let out a blast of steam, and he just about
jumped out of his skin! He then looked around to see if anyone had noticed how
he reacted. It made me laugh.

When we got out of Star Tours, the Jedi Training Academy was in session, and
we had a fun time watching the young jedi trainees battle Darth Vader! You
could tell that the kids were so into it, and the parents were loving watching
them.

Tammy used a snack credit for a mickey ice cream bar, and as she ate it, we
went over to the busts of famous folks from the tv world.

Bill Cosby, Oprah, and others. Tam took a picture of me with one of my favorites - Andy Griffith!

Now it was time for something that I had been looking forward to since we
first planned this trip over a year ago - Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. Tammy's
Father - Gorman passed away in March at age 93. He had worked for a short time
as a cartoonist for Walt Disney Studios in California many, many years ago. So,
we wanted to see the Walt Disney Museum with a special interest. I remember
Gorman telling me that he worked on something called "Silly Symphony", and sure
enough, there was an exhibit of Silly Symphony!

know that Tammy was so proud of her Daddy! That's a very special memory from
this trip.

We went back for one last blast on Toy Story Midway Mania using our Fast
Passes. We strolled around a little more, and it was time to find our way over
to Epcot for the 2nd half of this wonderful day.

Wed. Sept. 9, 2009 - Evening

After our 3rd ride on Toy Story Midway Mania, we decided to find a way over to Epcot.  We had a 4:05pm ADR for Le Cellier, and there was no way that I was going to miss that!  I had heard that you could take a Water Taxi Boat over to Epcot from Diz Holly Studios, and I asked one of the CM's at the exit gate.  Sure enough, it was TRUE!  We could hop on the boat and take a scenic ride to Epcot!  We saw a boat at the dock, and tried to 'hustle' over there before it took off, and we made it on!  It was such a fun ride between the parks, but it's sure HUMID inside those water taxis!  If felt like we were riding in a floating greenhouse or something, but so scenic.  We cruised past the Dolphin and made a stop at The Beach Club Resort (I think).  Some folks that were sitting on the outside in the back got off, so I told Tammy, "Let's go sit outside, Wanna?"  and she said "Sure!" so we went out and sat outside on the back of the Water Taxi.  Ahhhh, much nicer with the breeze blowing on us and the beautiful views!   We cruised to two more stops.  The Boardwalk was beautiful, but it looked like a ghost town.  I thought I saw a tumbleweed blow down the street, I mean it was DEAD!

 

But very beautiful, and I could just imagine it lit up at night!  The skipper was entertaining us with Disney World Trivia questions until we arrived at the "back" entrance of Epcot - The International Gateway between France & The U.K. 

Beautiful spot with flowers and green lawns, now that's a nice way to arrive at Epcot!

We got in and toured around The World Showcase again, and made it in time to catch Off Kilter again!  But, The British Invasion wasn't performing today.  We went around The shops of the U.K. because I wanted to stick CLOSE to Le Cellier!  When it was about 3:50 we checked in for our 4:05 ADR.

 

Our waiter was "Mo" and he told us all about their offerings.  I knew what I wanted, and I ordered The Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon - Served with wild mushroom risotto and white truffle-herb butter sauce.  Tammy wanted to try something different than me, so she got The New York Strip Steak - Served with balsamic red onions, watercress, and roasted Yukon potatoes finished with Bercy butter.  They were both so good!  The NY Strip was a little bigger, but the Filet Mignon was more tender!  Oh... and those Breadsticks!  We also ordered a bowl of The Cheddar Cheese Soup, and they ended up not charging us for it!  Even though we were on the ddp, we asked if we could just pay seperate for the Cheddar Cheese Soup, and he said ok, but it was never charged!  We took our dessert with us again, and he told us which were the best for traveling with, and we ended up choosing Chocolate-on-Chocolate Whiskey Cake - Chocolate cake brushed with Canadian whiskey, layered with chocolate mousse, and finished with honey thyme anglaise.  Le Cellier is now my MUST TRY FOR ADR for future trips.  It's just that good!

It was still plenty early, and everything was so uncrowded, so we headed over to Test Track for a spin!  Just a 10 Min. Standby.  We then went over to Mission Space for another 10 Min. Standby line for the "Green" Team.  We were teamed up with a couple from Atlanta GA, and none of us had done Mission Space before, so we were all laughing at each other when we got our positions and had to push buttons.  We decided to try Ellen's Energy Adventure.

 
The dinosaur part was great!  The movie portion at the end seemed to drag for me.  After that we went through innoventions East and goofed around a little.  Then went for another ride on Spaceship Earth, with no line, we just couldn't walk past it without riding! 

It was the end of another wonderful day at Walt Disney World.  We headed over to the Bus back to POR.  We had decided to "pack light" for the trip, so when we got back we took a load of clothes to wash at one of the laundry rooms.  We swam at the quiet pool while the clothes washed and dried.  Those quiet pools are sure nice to enjoy while washing clothes!  There were friendly families all around and everyone was having so much fun.  It brought back memories of when our kids were those ages and would splash and laugh and have so much fun at the pools!  Those purex 3-in-1 sheets are sure handy for travel laundry too!  Back to the room for another "blob" of Chocolate cake, and a nice night watching tv and resting, talking about all the fun we were having.  Was the trip "Half Empty" or "Half Full"?  We still had Thur, Fri, and Sat. to enjoy before leaving on Sunday.  We tried not to think about how fast the trip was ending.  We focused on TOMORROW!  Another visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom, and we would finally take time to explore the sister resort- Port Orleans French Quarter!

Thursday - Sept. 10, 2009 (Morning)

It was time for a "morning off", so we decided not to worry about rope drop for today.  I also woke up with a sore throat, it wasn't too bad, but I wasn't sure if it was from all the yelling on the rides, or something else.

We ate at the POR food court, it was about 11:00 or so, and they had just switched over to lunch menus, so I had a Double-Cheeseburger & Fries, and Tammy decided to have an individual Pizza.  It was a little busy, but not crowded at all.  We found a table by the window and again enjoyed munching away at a leisurly pace and just taking it all in through the windows.  It was really nice to not have to get up and rush off to a park - a nice change of pace.


We caught the bus over to Animal Kingdom, and before we went in to the park, we tried the gift shop by the entrance to see if they had any kind of medication for a sore throat.  We didn't see anything, but we asked and the lady at the counter did have cough drops behind the counter, what a relief!

We headed straight for the Kilimanjaro Safari and it showed a 10 minute standby, but we really just walked right on to a ride vehicle.  What a great attraction, we saw lots of animals roaming around, and the tour guide was funny.  It was like The Jungle Cruise, but with real animals!  It was hard to get good pictures from that moving vehicle, we took a few but most are blurry.  The driver had told us that we were not to stand up, and if we did he'd drive off... HE MEANT IT!  The first time we stopped to see something, and a group in the back stood up, he punched it and off we went, he said... "I told you!".

After the safari, we walked the Pangani Exploration Trail.  Again, a nice change of pace to just stroll and see the different exhibits at our leisure.

 
It wasn't crowded at all, and the few people around us seemed to be really enjoying the whole atmosphere.  The Gorillas stole the show, just sitting there eating something and looking at us all. 

They were beautiful as were all of the animals there.  They all seemed so content.  We're not animal experts or anything like that, but it does seem like Disney takes good care of their animals.

We filled our water bottle with water from the fountain, and added some propel and hydrated up for more touring.  We decided to get on the train and head over to Rafiki's Planet Watch. 
It was so colorful there, the building that the complex is housed is a work of art.

 
Some nice animal exhibits and the care station, it was a nice way to spend some time.  It felt different to go at such a calm pace and not be hurrying to get on rides, it was welcomed!  We went outside to the petting zoo area and enjoyed petting the goats & sheep out there.  It's a nice facility with a hand washing station as you leave.


The timing was just right for us to make the last showing of Flights of Wonder before heading over to The Tusker House for dinner.  Flights was a fun show.  It was so uncrowded and we grabbed a seat up in the bleachers and settled in for a great little show.

We headed over to Tusker House and they seated us promptly.  This was another nice change of pace, to eat "buffet style".  The selections were great, and such different kinds of foods.  It was a nice setting, and the food was good!  Those desserts!  They are in small portions, and it's great so that you can try them ALL!  We made sure to save room for these treats, and we were in our glory just tasting each sweet treat!  The waitress noticed my Tour Guide Mike - Sept. Vacation Club Button and asked us what that was.  We told her what it was all about, and she said "Wow... that's NEAT!  Now why didn't I think of something like that!?".  It was a great way to end our day at Animal Kingdom.  We headed over to the bus to head back to Port Orleans.  We decided we'd get off at the French Quarter Stop, and explore that resort.


Thursday Sept. 10, 2009 (Evening)

After a great return day at Animal Kingdom, we headed back to the Port Orleans Resort, but this time we wanted to get off at the stop for The French Quarter and check it out.  We're planning a return trip to WDW and  We'll be bringing my parents who will be 82 & 79 years old, and we thought it would be nice to stay at the french quarter, so we wanted to "scout it out".

We had our refillable mugs with us, so the first thing we did was head over to the food court for some refills.  It's so colorful, but much smaller than the massive Riverside food court.  We sat at a wrought iron table outside and enjoyed our refreshment, the cloud of "good feeling" hadn't left us since the day we arrived.  We walked the grounds and were very impressed.  It was so quiet, so peaceful. 

Tammy made friends with a couple of Gators playing Drums & Banjo!


The wrought iron, and the bricks, even the street names felt like we were in the French Quarter - we had visited the real french quarter of New Orleans when we drove to WDW for our first ever trip back in 1994 with the kids.  As quiet as it was, the pool was pretty lively with kids and their families having a great time.

Everything was really nice there, and we decided that for sure, we'd bring Mom & Dad here in April.  We took the walk from The French Quarter to Riverside.  It's a very beautiful walk, a bit of a trek, but it's right along the Sassagoula River, with boats going by and people waving to us (and us waving back), and a few horse drawn carriages went past us too.  We were starting to wear down a little and the thought of getting into our comfortable room sounded really good.  I had a ticket for 30 Minutes of free game play at the Riverside's arcade, so we refilled our mugs again, and I went in to play some pinball.  DW waited outside for me and rested at the marina area.  She was entertained by the carriage-horse who kept trying to 'eat' the rope netting at the dock!  I think a nice carriage ride with the four of us in april would be a nice thing to do!


The trip had been such a wonderful time.  We had pretty much done all of the things that we wanted to do, and still there are so many great things to look forward to and explore on future trips.  But... it wasn't over!  We still had Friday and Saturday to go before leaving on Sunday!  We headed back to the room and broke out some of the treats we had piled up in the fridge during the trip.  We made plans and those plans included a final visit to The Magic Kingdom, and a night at Disney Hollywood Studios for the Night of Joy Concerts (I love P.O.D., and DW loves Chris Tomlin!). 

Friday Sept. 11, 2009

I had a rough night with that sore throat.  I guess I caught something along the way, possibly on the plane(?).  We made rope drop again at the Magic Kingdom.  After the week with no crowds, it was amazing to NOT be in a "rush" and to just lay back and watch the welcome performance up by the train depot.  There was no sense of urgency.  What a nice way to tour The Magic Kingdom!


We went through the same procedure and got to Tomorrowland, again, just walked right onto Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.  Kind of eerie being surrounded by empty cars at a disney theme park. 


We noticed that the Tomorrowland Transit Authority was RUNNING!  It had been down for refurb, and it was scheduled to open tomorrow, but after 2 pushbacks on the opening dates, we were thinking we'd miss it.  We asked a CM about it, and he said that they were safety testing it, and if all was ok, it would probably be open later today!  And as we were walking we noticed that the cars were going by with people on them.  We went to it, and IT WAS OPEN!  We love the TTA (Peoplemover) and rode it twice!  A beautiful tour of an empty Tomorrowland.

Walked onto Buzz Lightyear again, and took a picture with him outside after the ride.  We then couldn't resist and had to ride the TTA one more time.  We went to the Carousel of Progress and weren't sure if it was even open, but the CM waived us in.  We almost had the theatre to ourselves, us and 2 other couples!  I love the Carousel of Progress, and this is one of Tammy's favorites!

We had waited for a few more people to enter tomorrowland before heading over to Monsters inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club.  I was hoping with more people, my chances of being part of the show would be less likely....I was WRONG!  During the hilarious show, The monster said, "OK, Let's find a "Furry Face Human!"... (GULP!)  and BOOM THERE I WAS ON SCREEN!  He asked me my name and where I was from, and when I said "Las Cruces, New Mexico"... he said "Oh yeah, I know that place!  Kangaroos, Zebras, and the Eifel Tower, right?"  It was fun!  We then went over to Stitch's great escape. And then headed over to the Liberty Tree Tavern for our lunch adr.  We stopped at The many adventures of Winnie the Pooh on the way.

We had our first lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern.  It was such a well themed place, the old American colonial styling was beautiful.  I ordered New England Pot Roast...Tavern Keeper's Favorite - Braised beef in a Cabernet wine and mushroom sauce served with mashed potatoes and garden vegetables.  And DW had Pilgrim's Feast - Traditional roast turkey and herb bread dressing, mashed potatoes and a garden vegetable.  The server was friendly and efficient, the food was good, and again, another great meal that added to the wonderful time we were having!

Tammy wanted another ride on It's a small world, and I was all for it!  Then we went to the Haunted Mansion.  "Playful Spooks" had stopped the doom buggies for about 5 minutes around the floating head in the crystal ball, last time, but not this time. 

We had just missed the Liberty Bell river boat last time, but not this time.  We got on for a great tour of the rivers of America on this grand paddle wheeler!


We then took the Walt Disney Railroad around the park, to Main Street.  We decided to head back to the POR to rest up.  Whatever I caught was getting to me a little, so we went back to rest, and had planned to go to the Night of Joy concerts at Disney Hollywood Studios, so we agreed that I'd rest and then decide about it.

When we got back to POR we were hungry and went to the food court.  We tried the make your own Pasta station and were amazed at the huge portion!  Those boxes seemed like they weighed 5 pounds!  It was really good.  After resting, we decided that it would be better not to push it, and figured we'd just stay at the resort for the evening.  We decided to save up our energies for one last BLAST for our final day!  We looked forward to one more visit to Epcot to end our trip tomorrow!

Saturday Sept. 12, 2009 (Our Final Day)

I was really battling that cold or whatever it was, so we just slept later and didn't try for a rope drop at Epcot.  We went down to the POR Lobby and inquired about all the procedures for checking out and boarding passes, etc.  There was a light steady rain, and we were so glad that it had held off until our last day.  We headed out with ponchos in my utility bag.  We thought we'd go eat at the Food Court, but at 10:30 am on Sat. morning it was PACKED!  I think we had gotten spoiled to having everything so wide open all of the time, but it was a weekend and the place was just crazy!  We decided to just go to the bus depot and eat at Epcot.  The bus depot was PACKED!  Wow, we had no idea that it gets like this since we were usually finished with our morning touring and heading to lunch at one of the parks by now.  This was a great demonstration to us of the importance of "Rope Drop Park Touring"!  We decided to leave the bus depot and go back and try to eat at the food court.  The crowds had died down quite a bit, and we found a nice window table, it was lunch time now.  We decided to head back to the room and rest a little more before heading for our final assault on Epcot.

We went to the north depot at about 2pm and it was practically empty.  Now THIS is what we had been used to when boarding the park busses.  We had a 4pm ADR for Le Cellier, so we had a little touring time before heading to dinner.  We went straight to Mission Space and walked right in on the green side.  Test Track showed a 30 Min. Standby time, so we grabbed some Fast Passes for later.

We strolled over to the World Showcase and caught a performance by the Chinese Acrobats.  It was drizzling, so they took the show indoors.  They were amazing!


We shopped around at the Japanese Pavilion.  We had seen Lou Mongello's vidcast about some of the snacks at the Japan store, and wanted to try some of the imported goodies.  We purchased some goodies including some yummy little chocolate snack crackers called "Hello Panda".

I wanted to see the little train town in the German pavilion.  The trains weren't running, but we  liked the cute little set up.  The little lizards looked like Dinosaurs invading the little german town!

It was almost 4pm, so we headed over to Canada and the Le Cellier restaurant for dinner.  This time they had the check-in podium set up outside of the waiting area.  And the two groups in front of us were trying for walk-in's and were turned away.  I saw the looks of dissapointment in their faces, and it made an impression on me about the importance of making ADR's well in advance.  We were seated and had another great waiter.  We were both impressed with the Filet Mignon at our last visit, so we decided to both get it this time, and it was as tender and delicious as ever!  We ordered Creme Brule' for dessert, and when they brought it out, the plate was beautifully decorated with Happy Anniversary!    The nice folks at the table next to us saw us taking a picture of it, and said that they would be happy to snap a photo of us together!    What a great meal, and a memorable time!  Le Cellier will always be one of our favorites at wdw.  I felt lucky to get 2 adr's for the same week.

We headed over to Test Track with our Fast Passes in hand.  The wait was 5 Minutes.  Our time for this vacation was growing short, so we tried to savor every last fun moment at epcot.    The first time we rode test track, a young man in the car with us asked us if we had ridden it before, and we said "no".  He said..."It's a great ride, you'll LOVE it!" (of course he was right!).  Now for our 3rd time on it, we asked a young man in the car with us if he had ridden it before, and he said "no".  And I said, "It's a great ride, you'll LOVE it!".  And when it was over he told me "You were RIGHT!".

We went over to Club Cool for one more "round" of soda tasting, and then headed over to innoventions and did The Great Piggy Bank Adventure.  It was fun and at the end the CM gave us little "Piggy Bank Adventure" stickers which are great for our little scrapbook from our trip.  At innoventions there was a fire engine set up with fire safety tips etc.  Our Son-In-Law is a Firefighter so we stopped for some pics there.    

We went over to Mouse Gear which is such a great place for Disney shopping!  The place has everything and we bought gifts and souvenirs there.  I got in line (I thought) at a register and was waiting a few minutes behind a lady making her purchase, when a voice behind me said "Sir", and I turned around, and she said "The Line is over here"... and there was a Queuing area there for the registers!  Man, I felt a little embarrased and just said "Oh My Gosh!  THANKS for telling me!".  I'm sure I turned a little red, and the lady just smiled and nodded.

We went for one last ride on Journey into Imagination, and The Seas with Nemo & Friends, walking right onto both of them.  We then went to the photo station and looked at our Photo Pass pics.  We did find a few we really liked, so we bought a package.  One of the pictures has Tammy holding Tinkerbell in her hand with both of us looking at her.  We got two of those, and gave one to our Daughter & Son-In-Law who are expecting our first Grandchild (a girl) in late October.  They said they framed it and put it in the baby's room!

We got on the bus and went back to our resort.  We went to the food court to  much on Chicken nuggets & fries before heading up to pack and get ready for the long journey back to New Mexico tomorrow.  It had been such a fun trip.  It was everything we imagined and more!  All the planning had paid off.  The dining package made it so special.  All the "Happy Anniversaries!" added lots.  Tammy knew I wasn't feeling so great with the coughing & sore throat, so she told me to just lay down and enjoy the football game (USC vs OHIO STATE!) and she would take care of all the packing.  Like I said before... WHAT A GAL!

Sunday - Sept. 13, 2009 (Going Home)

It was finally here, the day we dreaded, the day we had to leave.  We got up and went to the food court to use up our last Quick Service Meal Credits.  The food court was again a "madhouse"!  But we did learn a nice little trick for the Port Orleans Riverside on such mornings.  We noticed that the lounge area was open for people to sit at the tables, mostly waiting for the magical express, and their rides to the airport etc.  It was practically empty in there, so we got our food at the food court and just went over to the lounge to sit at a quiet table and eat!  We checked out and then waited for the Magical Express bus to take us to the Orlando Airport.   We pinched ourselves again, but this time it HURT, the dream was over... for now. 

When going through the security screening, we were stopped and the man said "who has the yellow bag?"  I raised my hand and he pulled out 2 bottles of water and a bottle of juice!  Oops! I forgot about those, we had grabbed them to use up our remaining snack credits before leaving the POR.  He tossed them aside, and let us through.

The flight home was smooth, but it was pure torture with the cough I had developed at the end of the trip, and it's no fun fighting the urge to cough for 7 hours on a full airplane!  I think I ate a whole box of cough drops on those flights from Orlando to Atlanta, and Atlanta to Albuquerque.

When we arrived in Albuquerque, only 1 of our 2 checked bags showed up.  It turns out they sent the other on the wrong plane, and said they'd bring it to us at my parents home later that evening.  It did show up, so all was well.

Our pregnant Daughter and Son-In-Law picked us up, but I could hardly talk from the cold I had picked up on the trip.  Our Daughter looked like she had gotten bigger since we saw her last, it was mid Sept. and "Baby Ava" is due in late Oct.!

We spent the night and headed back home to Las Cruces in the morning.  We had done it.  The trip that we planned and dreamed of for well over 1 year had now come, and gone.  Just pictures and memories now.  But we learned a lot about WDW both in the planning stage, and from the actual trip.  We had done most of the things we wanted to do on this trip, and found many other things to explore for the future trip(s)!  Yes, it was over, but heck, April is ONLY 7 months away!