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Personal vehicle
All-Star Music Resort (4 nights)
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DAY ONE, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND As usual, Kerry got up before me. He took DD Brittani to school, then by the time he got back, I was up and getting ready. We were out the door by 8:45 am, dropped the boys off at school, then stopped by the ATM and gas station. We didn't hit a bit of traffic and didn't stop again until we got to Lake Park, Georgia, where we made a gasoline stop. From Lake Park all the way to WDW, we saw tons of evacuee traffic; however, there was hardly anyone silly enough to be on our side of the road!!! Around 4:15 pm, we arrived at Disney. We stopped for lunch at Chevy's first and filled up on wings and grilled meats. On the way to check in at All-Star Music, we saw that most busses were either empty or less than half full. We also only saw about three other families in the lobby of the resort. We tried to score a good room (close to food court, king-size bed, first floor), but could not get any of our requests. Undaunted, we drove around to find our room and were shocked at the near-empty parking lot! It was a ghost town. Once in the room, we rested for a bit while watching the news on Hurricane Frances. After a rest, we drove to the Magic Kingdom and rode the ferry over. The park was pretty empty. Our first attraction was the Haunted Mansion, which was a walk-on. Then we went to watch the Hall of Presidents where we encountered a real jerk. He loudly booed, snorted, and yelled out snide comments during the entire time George W. Bush was talking. I believe that we should show at least some amount of respect and courtesy for our current President. My opinion of Bill Clinton would burn a preacher's ears, but I would have never dreamed of booing him or bashing him in public. If nothing else, I would refrain from doing that out of respect for others who did see him as their esteemed leader. I do respect Bush, and frankly don't care if I'm the only one on the planet who does. I just wish that others would have some respect for those of us who do appreciate him and KEEP THEIR OPINIONS TO THEMSELVES. It is hard to offend me, but this man sure did. Afterwards, we saw PhilharMagic, rode Pooh, and then watched Wishes from Tommorowland. Unfortunately, the speakers weren't working right, and the show is not near as good without the narration and music! :) Once Wishes was over, we took our time walking out. We stopped by the bakery for a cheesecake and key lime pie to take back to the room. We rode the ferry again back to the parking lot and were back in the room before 10 pm. We had planned on splitting the desserts, but once I had a bite of the key lime pie, I didn't want anything else (it was sooooo incredible). Kerry was the same way with his cheesecake! We got showers and turned the lights off around 11 pm. |
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DAY TWO, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD It's our anniversary today!!!! We were both up by 7:30 am. We had breakfast in the food court, then drove over to Animal Kingdom, arriving at 9:30 am. I think it was Early Magic Hour for Animal Kingdom, but this park was totally empty! We rode Primeval Whirl and Dinosaur (both walk-ons), then went to see Tarzan Rocks. Afterwards, we saw It's Tough to be a Bug (walk-on), then walked through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. On our way over to the safari, we saw DeVine for the first time. It was great to watch everyone else's reactions to her too! We had a 5-minute wait for the safari. Not too many animals were out (we didn't see the lions at all), but it was still a fun trip. We walked the Pangani trail after the safari and were able to enjoy a 9-year old gorilla showing off for us. He kept playing with a large plastic bowl, first putting it on his head like a hat, then sitting in it. After our walk through the trail, Kerry got some pineapple from a fruit stand while I browsed through a shop then stood under the misting fans. Both of us refreshed, we headed towards Flame Tree Barbeque for lunch. I had the ribs and Kerry had a pork sandwich. I wasn't too crazy about the ribs because they tasted an awful lot like a turkey leg! After lunch, I got the orange juice bar I love so much, and Kerry and I sat on a bench for a bit while I finished it. We decided that we had done everything we wanted to, so we left the park and were back to the room by 2:30 pm. We showered, napped, and watched Frances updates. It looked like we'd be spending at least one day in our room due to the hurricane, so we decided to go for supplies at Winn Dixie. We bought bread, peanut butter, chips, etc. at the store, then had a snack at McDonald's before heading back to the room. We started to see reports on the TV that Disney might be closing the parks on Saturday. Considering the storm was not even supposed to hit land before early Sunday morning, this caught us a bit off guard. At this point, we started discussing cutting our trip short. It was a given that the parks wouldn't be open Sunday since that would/should be the worst day weather-wise. With Disney closing the parks on Saturday as well, we didn't see any point in spending two complete days sitting in our room on the hopes that we'd get another few hours in the parks on Monday. It just didn't seem worth it. Kerry called the front desk to make sure we wouldn't be penalized, and of course, we weren't. Around 6:50 pm, we decided we'd go ahead and drive over to the Polynesian resort to see if we could be seated early at 'Ohana. The restaurant was hardly half-full, so they were able to seat us at a table by the window overlooking the castle. We had an incredible dinner, then watched Wishes before dessert. That dinner alone made the trip down worthwhile!!! Along with our pineapple/caramel dessert, our server David brought us over a cupcake, lit the candle, and announced our anniversary. After our wonderful dinner, we went in the gift shop where Kerry bought a watch. Then we drove back to the resort, first stopping for gasoline at the MK Hess station. We had a message on the phone and Mousekeeping brought by an information sheet which confirmed the parks would not be open on Saturday. We made the decision to leave in the morning. We were somewhat disappointing, but we had enjoyed what time we had there, and we knew we'd be back in just a few weeks. |
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DAY THREE, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH We didn't rush to get up. Once we finished packing, Kerry called home to tell the family our new plans. His mom, who was staying with our kids, asked Kerry if he had gas. Kerry said he could hear our youngest son giggling like crazy in the background. I miss their silliness! :) After check-out, Kerry grabbed a couple of milks and enjoyed a bag of mini donuts for breakfast in the car. We stopped in Ocala where we shopped for souvenirs for the kids and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We decided we would stay the night in Macon, Georgia, and our drive was wonderful. There were hardly any vehicles on the road! We ended up staying the night at a La Quinta and had a great dinner at Outback Steakhouse. |
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DAY FOUR, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH Well all good things must come to an end, so we checked out of our room and headed home a day early. It was great to see the kids and the dog, and nice to have a day to relax before going back to work, but it was still somewhat disappointing that we didn't get the trip we had planned. I feel selfish even saying that though, knowing what some Floridians have suffered through lately. The good news is that Kerry and I have safely made it passed our 16th anniversary without committing each other to the looney bin, and we have a long family trip coming up in just a few weeks!! |
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