Disney World - Day 2 (part 2)

Exhausted from our time in Epcot, we decided to head back to Pop Century for some pool time to recharge. And to be quite honest, I wanted to have a look around the resort to check out all the cool theme pieces they have.

I love relaxing pool time as much as the next person, but I get bored with it pretty quickly. So after about an hour of getting in and out of the pool, alternating between actively pursuing sunburn and then taking a quick dip to cool off, we set off on a tour around the resort.

Our room was in the 90s, so we began there. Other than a giant computer and cell phone (with a number on the display screen that I really wanted to call), the 90s didn't really have much, so then it was on to the 80s. My favorite part of the 80s was the giant Walkman. It didn't look that big at first, but once we posed with it, you can really see how it dwarfs you.

After the 80s, it was over to the 70s for photos with numerous toys - in gigantic form of course. If you ever want to pretend to be part of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, you need only visit a Disney resort. My favorite part of all: the giant foosball table. Admittedly, I didn't know what the giant A-tracks were at first, but hey, they were before my time.

 

We continued across the main pool/lobby area to the 60s and then the 50s. I thought the 50s would be really cool, but other than a giant jukebox and a pool shaped like a bowling pin, it was a bit meh. Luckily the 60s were home to a giant Play-Doh. Awesome! (See if you can spot Jackie hiding amongst it.)

As you may be able to see in the pictures, by the end of our walk around the resort, storm clouds were a'brewing. We sought sanctuary in the main building where we got dinner in the food court. I was pretty impressed with the options available, too. There were four different "hot" stations where you could get your typical burger and fries, Mexican, pizza, or even Asian. Then of course there were desserts galore. Jackie and I may have gone a bit overboard around that much food. But you know what? It was vacation (that was our motto for the trip). 

When we were done gorging ourselves, we ran back to our room and waited for the storm to finish. Finally the clouds had no more rain to give, so we ventured back out to the Magic Kingdom for evening Extra Magic Hours. Having essentially struck out our last time in MK, we went in with a clearer plan this time around. I'm proud to say we executed it pretty well, too. 

We headed straight for Frontierland and after assessing the wait times for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder, got FastPasses for Big Thunder and then hopped in line for Splash. It took hardly any time at all and soon we were free-falling and drenched. I remember the drop being longer/bigger, but I guess that's what happens when you ride something as a kid and come back as an adult. 

After our ride, we went next door to Big Thunder, which was broken... again. So off we went to Tomorrowland - elbowing our way through the ridiculous parade crowds (seriously people? not exciting. move.) - and got in the queue for Space Mountain. That line was insane with a side of INSANE. Disney is the master of disguising how long a queue actually is, and nowhere is this demonstrated better than in Space Mountain. Fortunately, Space Mountain is one of the best rides Disney has to offer, so it was worth it. 

When we made it through that experience, we went all the way back to Big Thunder for one last try. And what do you know! It was running! We flew through the queue and soon found ourselves on a train. We were originally assigned the very front car, but Big Thunder is terribly lame when you sit in the front, so we moved to the back. Disney, again, was very accommodating. Keep that little nugget with you, kids: Disney lets you sit wherever you want. Twas a good decision because the ride was awesome. We got nice and jostled. 

With just three rides under our belts, we bailed on the park. The exhaustion caught up with us and we were looking at another early morning. We headed for the busses where we waited in the longest. queue. ever. EVER! Our resort filled the entire queue and then ran the length of the bus stop. Other resorts were looking at us with pity and appreciation that they weren't in our line. It was terrible. We weren't waiting quite as long as I thought we'd be (I was having nightmares about a 90 minute wait), but it still took us 45 minutes to an hour to get on a bus. I was not feeling the magic. 

But eventually we made it back and poured ourselves into bed, where we got a few hours of sleep before we once again rose early for a fun-filled Day 3!

Disney World - Day 2 (part 1)

As would become the theme the rest of the trip, Jackie and I began our second day with an early morning sprint. On this particular Friday, that sprint was through Epcot for our princess breakfast.

Epcot had Extra Magic Hours in effect, so we rose early, slapped on some sunscreen, and joined the busy queue waiting for the bus at our resort. When we got to Epcot, the doors were not yet open, but the lines to enter the park were already a mile long. We tried to find the shortest (and most childless) line, where we waited for the doors to open, and I began to panic about making our breakfast reservation. Word to the wise: don't make breakfast reservations in the parks unless they're at least an hour after the park opens. Yes, you can make it, but you'll stress yourself out and arrive sweating buckets, as we did.

When the doors opened, we pushed our way forward (or were carried forward) with the rest of the masses. At the turnstile, we swiped our cards, gave our fingerprints (I found this wildly unnecessary and very suspicious), and finally entered the park. After grabbing a map and quickly plotting the most efficient route to the restaurant, we took off for the World Showcase. I won't call it a run, but families were certainly throwing themselves out of our path (at least they should have been). We made what turned out to be a very lucky wrong turn and found ourselves by Test Track, so we grabbed FastPasses for later and continued our speed-walk/sprint.

Ten minutes after our scheduled reservation, we arrived at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway (thank gosh it's the second country in). Once again, Disney was beyond accommodating. Considering this is one of the most popular character breakfasts, I was concerned we'd get booted, but I guess Disney just doesn't do that sort of thing. Instead, we were greeted by a gorgeous blonde Norwegian girl who assured us everything was fine and was nice enough not to point out how awful we looked. We probably could have immediately joined the velvet-roped receiving line, but I guess Disney likes to announce its guests. So we waited about 51 seconds and then heard "Now seating the Royal Family of Ellen and Jackie." And thus our mortification began.

We booked our shame at the door and entered the banquet hall. First up, posing for a professional photo with Belle - aka the best princess ever. (There's no contest and I will fight you if you dare disagree.) She looked glamorous; we were a hot mess. But she pulled us in close for the photo, complimented Jackie's shirt, and told us purple was Beast's favorite color. Yes, all the princesses had their little quips.

After our photo, we were shown to our table (off to the side, naturally, since we were the only people there not with a table full of kids), where our waiter, Christian, welcomed us. Christian, by the way, was a beautiful man. Seriously, what are Norwegians eating? And how can I get some? Anyway, he pointed us in the direction of the cold buffet and brought over some hot dishes. All the food was exceptionally yummy, if not your standard breakfast.

While we dined, the princesses flitted about visiting with the guests. I know they're supposed to stay in character no matter what, but I'm pretty sure we got a few of them to drop when they swung by our table. Aurora stopped by first and was lovely. When she asked if we were too shy for a picture, I think she expected us to say no. Well, Aurora, when you paid as much as we did for this magical Disney experience, you bet your butt we're taking pictures. As we did with all the princesses. Observe. (P.S. they made us do those silly poses. Also, look closely and you can see Aurora laughing at us.)

 Snow White                                   Aurora                                             Ariel

Perhaps you're wondering why a one Cinderella is missing. Well, I'm sorry to tell you all this (block your ears, kids) but Cinderella is a stuck up bitch. She saw our table, did a 180, and went to visit a different group. Rude! She did come over later, but just to warn us not to lose our shoes. She didn't even ask if we wanted a picture! Well, Cinderella, congrats. You're now on my naughty list.

But I'm not going to sweat it. We got a professional shot with Belle and some fun ones with the other princesses. All in all, a good experience. I will say, though, Disney makes you pay out the wazoo for this magical experience. Yes, the professional shot is complimentary (they give you a large copy in a folder as well as four 4x6s), but when the meal costs as much as it does, it darn well should be. Just keep that in mind when booking a character meal. And be sure to make the most of it!

When we were done being embarrassed, we ventured back out into Future World. We hit a few rides, such as Spaceship Earth, but the lines were insane and nothing truly grabbed our fancy. We spent most of the morning perusing the shops and sampling sodas from around the world in Club Cool. A stop in Club Cool is a must. You may have to fight your way through rowdy crowds to reach the soda machines, but all the samples are free, and most are quite tasty. But beware of Italy! I had to wash my mouth out after that one. 

After Club Cool, it was back to the World Showcase, easily the best part of all of Disney. We started in Canada and wound our way over to Japan for our lunch reservation at Teppan Edo. As hibachi is one of the coolest and tastiest meals one could ever have, I was pretty pumped. Teppan Edo did not disappoint. We were once again seated away from the main hub-bub dining room in a secluded room with just two hibachi grills. We shared ours with an older couple and a family from Texas. Good times were had by all. Jackie and I also discovered that the mystery white sauce they served is the most delicious thing known to man. If you ever get white sauce: eat liberally. And let's hear it for the traditional onion volcano!

After lunch, we continued our circuit around the World Showcase, snapping many photos and taking inventory of all the food we needed/wanted to eat when we had more room in our tummies. On the way out, we cashed in our FastPasses and took a (literally) quick trip on Test Track. Then it was back to the resort for the afternoon for some pool time and a photo-shoot of all the cool themes.

 Canada                        United Kingdom                             France

            Morocco 

 Japan                                          Italy                                       Germany

China                                      Mexico

Disney World - Day 1

After the madness of the last week or so, I am finally ready to tell y'all about my time in Disney! So here we go:

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending a few days in Disney World with my friend, Jackie. She wanted to have one last hurrah of acting like a kid before she shipped off for med school and the serious life of studying and saving lives, so we threw our cares in the backseat and flew down to Orlando for some fun in the sun... and the rain.

We arose bright and early Thursday morning at the ungodly hour of 4:45am for our flight to Florida. We'd already packed our bags and laid out our clothes the night before (more like a few hours before), so we threw on our dresses, grabbed our stuff, and headed straight for the airport. Fun fact we learned: dresses are an automatic flag for pat-downs at airport security. So ladies, you may be going for easy and comfortable, but I advise leggings instead. Same effect, no pat-down. With our new-found appreciation for privacy, we boarded the flight and were off. We spent pretty much the entire trip down trying to catch some shut-eye, and before we knew it, we'd arrived.

And may I just say, Disney is a well-oiled machine. We walked off the plane, passed right by baggage claim (they picked up our bags and delivered them to our room), and got on a coach bus headed for our resort. So easy! I am a huge fan of Disney's "all inclusive" mentality. In about an hour we were dropped off at the Pop Century Resort and shown our room. We dropped our stuff, did a quick change, and headed for the parks.

First up was the Magic Kingdom. Arriving in the height of the afternoon - in terms of both heat and people - prevented us from really getting around the park easily, but we tried to make the best of it. We started with hot dogs from the famous Casey's Corner on Main Street, U.S.A, which are delicious at any point in time but particularly when you haven't eaten all day, and then headed for Adventureland. Pirates of the Caribbean only had a five minute wait, so that ride got the honor of officially kicking off our Disney experience. After that, we had much tougher luck. We ventured over to Frontierland, where naturally the line for Splash Mountain was a mile long, but Big Thunder Mountain was much more reasonable so we took our chances there. When we were half way through the line, the skies opened up for Florida's typical afternoon summer shower. We were lucky enough to be under cover, but we looked out to see a train just cresting the hill. Unfortunately for them, the ride has to stop when it rains, so they had to sit there for about 15 minutes while the rain poured down on top of them. Then to add insult to injury, when the rain stopped, the ride broke and they had to be taken off via the emergency stairs while the rest of us filed out of the queue.

Next, we wandered through Fantasyland, dodging children, aggressive parents pushing strollers, and now puddles - and determining that no continuously moving kiddie ride justified a 30+ minute wait - before hitting Tomorrowland. We rode Buzz Lightyear, where Jackie kicked my ass at shooting Zurg, and then decided to cut our losses and head to Downtown Disney.

Now here is one of my beefs with Disney: transportation between parks in an absolute pain. With a few rare exceptions, you can't get from one park to another without first going to a resort and then switching to a bus for the next park you want to visit. For example, we took the Monorail from Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary and then switched to a bus for Downtown Disney. Annoying. 

Luckily we hit all the transportation pretty much instantaneously, and soon we were wandering Downtown Disney. Since we had dinner reservations in about an hour, we just moseyed through some shops while working our way down the length of Downtown to the restaurant, Bongos. We also said hello to some Lego friends (yes, they are made completely out of Legos). 

Dinner at Bongos was absolutely delicious. As someone who is wary of any menu without chicken fingers or a cheeseburger, I was a bit concerned about finding something I'd like among the Cuban cuisine, but I needn't have been worried. Jackie voted it the best meal we had in Disney, and I voted it second best (I may or may not have been biased for hibachi in Epcot). I also appreciate how accommodating - as are all Disney restaurants - they were with our reservation. We arrived a little early, but they still sat us right away. We were also mercifully seated outside the main dining room, away from the children and band, in a private booth by the bar. 

Towards the end of our meal, we heard the first rumble of thunder and soon the skies opened again. But this was no summer shower. I wish. It was a full on torrential downpour. I didn't know it could rain that hard for that consistent a period of time. We tried to linger over our meals and pray the rain stopped, but we realized it was a lost cause; the rain was going to carry on for a while. Luckily we had a small plastic bag to put our valuables in (thanks for the shot glasses, Bongos!), because we decided to make a break for it. I can safely say we were drenched within seconds. There was absolutely no way around it. It was too windy for an umbrella, and by the time we stumbled upon ponchos, we were already soaked through. It was such a ridiculous situation, we actually laughed the whole way back to the bus stop. I honestly don't know which was worse: walking through the rain, which was at least warm, or riding on an air conditioned bus sopping wet, which was beyond freezing. Certainly one heck of a way to start off our Disney vacation. 

The storm was probably a blessing in disguise, though, because for the rest of the trip, we weren't the least bit deterred by a little rain. We got an afternoon shower every day we were there, but nothing compared to that downpour. After that, showers were no problem. The biggest problem was inventing creative and effective ways to dry our clothes, but luckily we got pretty good at avoiding the outdoors during the afternoon showers. 

Anyway, when we made it back to our room the first night, thawed and dried off, we crawled into bed and promptly passed out. Next up, stories from Day 2, including our princess breakfast and tour around the World Showcase in Epcot!

It Must Be Love - US Open 2011

Hello travel bugs! So sorry for my sporadic posting, but it's been a whirlwind last few weeks. The good news is... I was able to get to the US Open after all! Woot! I can't even begin to describe my joy. I was so relieved we were able to make it happen, and it all worked out because we saw even better tennis than if we had gone on Monday like originally planned. God works in mysterious ways I suppose.

So Monday night, when the schedule was released for Tuesday's sessions, we decided we had to be there. Between Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki, David Ferrer, Jo-Willy Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, and so many others, there was just no way we could miss that much amazing tennis. We quickly bought new tickets, figured out train schedules, and packed our bags. A mere nine hours later, at 6:30am, we were in the car headed for the Open. We drove to New Haven, Connecticut (about a 2.5 hour drive) where we got on the train for Grand Central (almost a 2 hour ride). At Grand Central, we switched from Metro North to the regular old subway and rode that about 17 stops (30 minutes) out to Flushing, home of the Open. Lots and lots (and lots) of travel, but we arrived just before 1pm, perfect timing.

We made our way to Louis Armstrong Stadium, where David Ferrer was in a tight battle with Igor Andreev. We watched about a set of that match and then wound our way along the concourse to the Grandstand court. I have to say, I love how the two courts are connected. It's probably the best place on the entire grounds to watch tennis. We stood on the upper deck and looked down on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as he defeated Yen-Hsun Lu.

David Ferrer                    Jo-Willy Tsonga

Next up, we made our way inside Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch current women's #1 Caroline Wozniacki. I'm going to come right out and say it: I'm not a huge fan of women's tennis. I'm not really sure what it is, maybe it's how they all grunt or scream, or maybe it's because they just don't hit the ball as hard. I would watch almost any men's match, but I just can't seem to get into the women's side. With that said, it was interesting to see Caroline, but I had no problem leaving after a few games in order to go to a meet and greet with John Isner.

That's right people, John Isner. The 6'9" American was signing autographs and posing for pictures while I was at the Open. I mean really, does it get much better? (It does, but I don't think you'd ever see Rafa doing a M&G because he'd get mobbed.) Anyway, I moseyed over to the booth and got in line early, which was smart since the line ended up reaching the gates to the park. Eventually John sauntered out and sat down. I was hoping he'd stand so you could see in our picture just how big our height differential is, but hey, not going to complain. When it was my turn, I stepped forward and had him sign my program and then stepped around the table for our picture. It was a short exchange, but John was really pleasant, and I was excited to get another celeb-photo notch in my belt. (We also just had an exchange on Twitter. We're best friends now, it's cool.) 

After my brush with the tallest man alive, I went back inside Ashe to see current men's #1 (and most likely winner of this tournament) Novak Djokovic. I've never been his biggest fan, especially now that he's threatening the reign of my beloved Rafa, but even I have to admit, the man can play tennis. He absolutely annihilated my Irish countrymen Conor Niland, who ended up retiring with food poisoning anyway. 

So back we went to the Grandstand to watch Fernando Verdasco take on Jarkko Nieminen. Verdasco is one of my silent favorites, much like Ferrer. They always put on a show and really take it to their opponents. Plus they're Spanish, and I think we all know how I feel about Spanish tennis players. 

Fernando Verdasco                 Jarkko Nieminen

When that match was over, we found ourselves in a lull as the afternoon sessions started to wind down and the evening session got ready to start. We watched two points from Francesca Schiavone (2010 French Open Champion) because that's all I could take of her grunting, and we checked in on Li Na (2011 French Open Champion), who ended up being upset in straight sets. Then we went to the Nike booth for our official Rafa t-shirts, got some eats, and made our way back inside Ashe yet again for the evening session. 

Francesca Schiavone                               Li Na            

And who kicked off that session you ask? None other than Rafael Nadal! (His opponent, Andrey Golubev, was also there.) If you haven't figured it out by now, Rafa is my favorite player in tennis. In history. Ever. Like whoa. We got to see him practice last year, but this was the first time we got to see him in an actual match. I was dying. I don't do well when I watch him on TV, so being confined to a seat in the stadium where the match was taking place was bizarre. I handled it pretty well, but luckily he won in straight sets. If he'd dropped one, which he almost did, I would have lost it. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch him live in a final because I'd definitely come out of my skin and get kicked out of the stadium. 

Because Rafa's match took so long and we had a long trip back to Connecticut, we didn't stick around for Serena Williams' match. I was a bit disappointed, but we all know women's tennis isn't my favorite. So we headed back to the subway, mercifully got an express train, and made it back to Grand Central just in time to get on Metro North back to New Haven. Seriously, we had mere minutes to spare. Phew! That train, unfortunately, was not an express. By the time we got to our hotel in Connecticut, it was 2am. That's about 20 hours of straight traveling and tennis for those keeping track. A long day, to say the least, but so worth it. We even learned that our methods of travel this year were less expensive than taking Amtrak and about the same convenience, so we'll be repeating that next year. I guess I should thank Hurricane Irene after all. If she hadn't messed everything up, I wouldn't have seen Rafa, met John Isner, or learned what I did. And since the US Open is exchanging our tickets for next year, we're set for 2012! I am one happy panda.