| [ |
mood |
| |
 excited |
] |
September 11th:
I got up, showered, checked out of the hotel and got on the road to Orlando and Disney World. The drive was pretty uneventful. I actually made it without driving through any rain. LOL... I stopped and filled up the gas tank so I didn't have to pay a penalty and headed for the Trifty rental lot. After getting the okay on my return, I hopped the shuttle bus to go back over to the airport. From there I was taking the city bus to get out to Disney. When a taxi from the airport to the park costs at least $52 one way, I will gladly take the extra time and ride and city bus and only pay $1.50. :) The ride to the downtown terminal seemed overly long and a lot of wasted driving, but then again, I don't know Orlando.
The bus that goes to the park drops you off at the Ticket and Transportation Center. From there you ride the Disney shuttle buses to where you want to go. I asked at the info center how to get to the Pop Century hotel. I had to ride one of the buses to one of the theme parks and from there I had to take a bus to the hotel. So I hopped a bus to the Disney/MGM Studios and then got a bus over to the Pop Century. The laughable part of this is, the Disney/MGM was the park I was planning on going to that day because they had and extra three hours of park time for guests staying on Disney property. So anyway, I got to the hotel and checked in. I signed my life away and got a lot of informations. Then the lady asked if I had any questions. I said, I am kind of new to all this. Do I need some kind of tickets to get in the parks? She laughed and said she forgot to give me my key. lol... Yeah, I guess that would help. It is used for everything. Hotel room, entrance to parks, food. :p So I gathered up my stuff and headed for my room. They are basic but very nice hotel rooms. Two double beds, so I had plenty of room to spread out. lol...
I called my friend Adela. She is one of my LJ friends and she was talking about coming up from Miami and joining me at Disney. Happy to say she was still planning to come up on Wednesday.
I hopped the shuttle bus and headed back to Disney/MGM Studios. I put my little card in the slot and walked through the gate. I was just kind of in awe. I wasn't sure what to do first. I was kind of in a little shock. I had dreamed of going to Disney for so long and I was actually there now. :) I called my friend Teresa and let her know I was there. After talking with her for a little while I headed for The Tower of Terror. No real line to speak of and I got right in. How to discribe TOT? AMAZING (you guys are going to get really sick of that word :p). When they start raising you up and droping down, you literally float off your seat. lol... I was now in GO MODE. I headed right over to The Rock and Rollercoaster. GREAT ride. You are up, down, and spinning around. I next headed over to The Muppets 3D. It's a really funny 3D movie. The only trouble with their 3D movies are they are too short. Next I did the Backlot Tour. It was okay. You got to see some old movie props and things, but the buses move along just a little to quick for my thoughts. Then I rode the Great Movie Ride. Some great old movies are depicted. The animatronics were a little off. Then I decided I better go see about getting a seat for the Fantasmic show. Glad I did, it was almost filled already and still a good 45 minutes from starting. The show was AMAZING. It's part stage show, fireworks and light show display. A good portion of the show is filmed images being displayed on curtains of water being shot up infront of the stage area. It was so cool. I tried to get a couple of pictures of it, but it was pretty dark. When the show finished I went in search of the braclet you need to wear for the extra after hours time in the park. Three extra hours to be in the park. YAY!!! After getting my braclet I headed right back to Tower of Terror. I think that was the first time I really had to wait for a ride, and only first of maybe three times I did have to wait for a ride. I got into line next to these three young kids, and we started to chat with each other. By the time we got up to the doors they were "fighting" over who was going to ride with me. :p They were very likable kids. I also was given a "time marker" card to hand off to the ride operator. They use them to determine how long the wait in lines are. It was pretty cool riding TOT at night. They shoot you up and you get to see the park all lit up. From there it was back over to Rock and Rollercoaster. Then you got it, right back to Tower of Terror. LOL..... They say every ride is different, and they are right. After that I just kind of walked around and did some window shopping, and soaking up the atmosphere. Found some salt and pepper shakers for one of my coworkers. For that one I made sure money was sent with me. :)
There were a few attrations that I would like to go back and see that weren't open during the extra hours. I will have to see how time goes.
Then it was back to the hotel. I can't believe I haven't just collapsed yet. :p
I think I am going to do Animal Kingdom tomorrow.
|