AGES:
Leslie: 34
John: 38
Day 1: Tues. Apr. 4:
Left home at 4:35 A.M. and parked the car at Kinney's. We flew American from Philly and changed planes in Miami. We were supposed to leave Philly at 7:17 but the plane needed repair so we didn't leave until 8:20 and missed our Miami flight and had to wait until 2:00 so we ate lunch at the airport and arrived in Orlando at 3:10 and got to Grosvenor at 4:00. Got settled in to the room and got park tickets from the Disney Store then took the shuttle to the Ticket & Transportation Center [TTC] then the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We saw Goofy, Tigger, Daisy, Robin Hood, Maid Marion, Breer Fox, Gideon, White Rabbit, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum signing autographs at Town Square Gardens. We had dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant from Lady & The Tramp, our waitress was named Shannon. After dinner we looked in Disneyanna Collectables then went to Liberty Square and did The Haunted Mansion, then went to Frontierland and did Splash Mt and Big Thunder Mt Railroad. Next we went to New Tomorrow Land and did Space Mt, then went to Fantasyland. I tried to pull the sword from the stone but couldn't [no king], then did some shopping at Tinkerbelle's Toy Shop, Mickey's Christmas Carol, the Confectionery, Emporium, and Aristocats. We came back to the hotel and I got a snack at Crumpets. We had a drink at Moriarty's, looked at the pool, the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baskervilles, and the game room then came back to the room. We can see Planet Hollywood in Pleasure Island and Spaceship Earth in Epcot from our room. And our room actually had a shower in it!
Day 2: Weds. Apr. 5
John: 38
Day 1: Tues. Apr. 4:
Left home at 4:35 A.M. and parked the car at Kinney's. We flew American from Philly and changed planes in Miami. We were supposed to leave Philly at 7:17 but the plane needed repair so we didn't leave until 8:20 and missed our Miami flight and had to wait until 2:00 so we ate lunch at the airport and arrived in Orlando at 3:10 and got to Grosvenor at 4:00. Got settled in to the room and got park tickets from the Disney Store then took the shuttle to the Ticket & Transportation Center [TTC] then the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We saw Goofy, Tigger, Daisy, Robin Hood, Maid Marion, Breer Fox, Gideon, White Rabbit, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum signing autographs at Town Square Gardens. We had dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant from Lady & The Tramp, our waitress was named Shannon. After dinner we looked in Disneyanna Collectables then went to Liberty Square and did The Haunted Mansion, then went to Frontierland and did Splash Mt and Big Thunder Mt Railroad. Next we went to New Tomorrow Land and did Space Mt, then went to Fantasyland. I tried to pull the sword from the stone but couldn't [no king], then did some shopping at Tinkerbelle's Toy Shop, Mickey's Christmas Carol, the Confectionery, Emporium, and Aristocats. We came back to the hotel and I got a snack at Crumpets. We had a drink at Moriarty's, looked at the pool, the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baskervilles, and the game room then came back to the room. We can see Planet Hollywood in Pleasure Island and Spaceship Earth in Epcot from our room. And our room actually had a shower in it!
Day 2: Weds. Apr. 5
Disney Village Marketplace:
Had breakfast at Empress Lily's Riverboat in the Fisherman Deck. We got pictures and autographs with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Pluto. We had Mickey shaped waffles. Donald took everybody's Mickey stuff. Then we went shopping and looked in: You & Me Kid, 2 Rs, Toys Fantastic, Steamboat Willie's, The Christmas Chalet, Disney Gallery, EuroSpain, and Team Mickey's Athletic Club. We took a Water Sprite boat ride from Capt. Jack's Marina on Buena Vista Lagoon [I drove, Les was worried!], then came back to the hotel and took the shuttle to:
Disney MGM Studios:
We saw the Aladdin's Royal Caravan Parade, went on Star Tours, ate lunch at The Aladdin Soundstage Restaurant, looked in The Character Shop Featuring Disney Villains, went to The Magic Of Disney Animation [they were working on Mulan and we saw cells from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame], and shopped in the Animation Gallery. Then we went to the Superstar Television Show where people from the audience acted in Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy, Cheers, Golden Girls, Home Improvement, Bonanza, General Hospital, Johnny Carson, Letterman, Ed Sullivan, and the news. We saw Mickey and Pluto signing autographs on Sunset Blvd, then went on The Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror TWICE!!!! and looked in the gift shop. Then we came back to the hotel, grabbed a snack at Crumpets, and relaxed in the room. We ate dinner at Baskerville's and got pictures and autographs with Chip & Dale then went to:
Pleasure Island:
We went to: Planet Hollywood, Neon Armidillo, Adventurers Club, Comedy Warehouse, 8 Traxx, Rock n Roll Beach Club [for New Year's Eve], Mannequins [the dancers did Phantom], and Jazz Company then walked (tc) back to the hotel in the pouring rain!. Les brought a couple of tomatoes back to the room.
Day 3: Thurs. Apr 6
We had breakfast at Baskerville's and got pictures and autographs with Goofy and an autograph with Pluto. Goofy actually wrote notes in our autograph book! Then we went back to the room and Les packed (boo) while I took our wet jackets from Pleasure Island to the dryer. Then we checked out(boo) and went to The Disney Village Marketplace and shopped in Mickey's Character Shop. Then we went to Pleasure Island and looked in Suspended Animation and DTV then had lunch at Planet Hollywood. After lunch we looked in Music Legends, Reel Fine Merchandise, and The Mouse House then came back to the hotel and got the shuttle to the Orlando Airport at 2:30. We got to the airport at 3 and took turns looking in the Sea World and Universal stores. We grabbed something to eat and Les had a cinnamon roll and played Tetris while I looked in the Disney Store. The plane was late due to bad weather in Miami. Les forgot her purse and had to get off the plane [yikes!] but got back on in time. We left Orlando at 5:50 and got to Miami at 6:30. The ride was something like Star Tours!. We left Miami at 8:05. We had the same stewardess as on the way down. we got to Philly at 10:10 pm and got a shuttle to the van and got home around 11:10 pm.
ALSO: We actually won this trip by going to one of those time share selling things. There were no strings attached and they did not pressure us at all! Even air fare was included [even though the times and routes were whacky, free is free!]. We paid a very small fee to upgrade to Grosvenor from the off property hotel we would have had for free. We told the kids that we had to go to Disney without them to make the reservations for out next trip with them and they were young enough to actually buy that! We told them the truth years later and did not hear the end of it forever!
