Day 1: Friday, July 17, 2015
As anticipated, the 3:15 alarm was a bit rough. Somehow, Nick slept through it, but he had set an alarm for 3:45. He was just the driver; he didn’t need much time to get ready.
I SLOWLY got ready for the day. It was only about 40* in NH that morning, but it was summer in FL, so an outfit had been difficult to plan. Ended up going with an Omni-Freeze t-shirt, shorts, and a sweatshirt. I also added sunscreen into the morning routine, because I’ve learned from experience that I always forget to put that on when I arrive at Disney. Just too excited to get to the parks. I had to take a couple breaks when getting ready too. My sinuses had been a big problem in recent days, and sometimes when I’m overtired, I get dizzy. When you combine the sinuses and the over-tiredness, you get extra dizzy. I know, this doesn’t bode well. Maybe I’ll sleep on the plane?
I finished getting ready about the same time Nick’s alarm went off. I crawled back into bed for a couple minutes to warm up while he got ready. Much to the dismay of the confused, glaring dog, Nick and I headed for the car just before 4 am. That’s ahead of schedule. We were both pretty proud of ourselves!
At that hour, with no traffic, the drive to the airport took about 30 minutes. Nick dropped me off at curbside, and I headed inside, a bit confused to see people walking out of the airport with their luggage as though they had just arrived. As I got into the airport, I saw people gathering at baggage claim. I definitely started wondering where that flight had come from.
There was essentially no line at the ticket counters, so check in was even easier than usual. Once my suitcase was checked, I headed upstairs. As I got to the top of the escalator, I noticed that the security checkpoint in front of the escalator had a significant line. The one over to the left had a sign that said the lane was open and NO ONE in it. DUH.
Needless to say, my experience at security involved joking with the TSA agent about herd mentality, and I was through the checkpoint in no time at all. As I gathered my stuff, I could see that people were still deplaning and I heard the welcoming announcements. Turns out that flight that arrived about 4:15 am was a very delayed flight from Chicago. I tried doing the math to figure out what time they would have had to leave to land at that time. Between the time zone change and everything else, I never quite figured it out, but OUCH.
Once I’d collected my stuff and tried doing math, I noticed that Dunkin’s was open, so I headed down the hall, where I found almost no line (I was shocked!). I got a bottle of water and a muffin, thinking I would eat it. I really need to stop doing that. I always end up throwing away half of the muffin days later in the hotel room.
Sustenance obtained, I headed for the gate area. I think it was gate 12. When I sat down, it became obvious from the radar exactly why that flight out of Chicago was so delayed. I also discovered the kid the amber alert was issued for had been found safe.
After too much time had been killed, boarding finally began. I was in the A30s for a change, so I ended up in the 3rd row, in a window seat. The person on the aisle started chatting with me because my sweatshirt was a Disney sweatshirt. Turns out his daughter is a character performer. We chatted for awhile.
The flight pushed back from the gate a couple minutes early, and after taxiing ALL the way around the airport, we were finally airborne. I listened to music, and attempted to read and eat some of the muffin. I fell asleep instead, and napped on and off for a good portion of the flight.
We ended up landing 20 minutes early. Love those lead foot pilots! We had to wait a few minutes for the door to be opened, but once it was, deplaning was quick. Extra vacation time!
I made my way down to the DME check in, which had very short lines...of people that didn’t understand what documents/magic bands the CMs needed to check them in. The CM seemed almost relieved that I was already holding my Magic Band clad wrist up when I reached the scanner.
I waited in line about 10 minutes before we were led out to the bus. Then we sat there for probably 20-25 minutes. However, as I got on the bus, I got the text that my room was ready, so I knew when I got to the hotel that I would be able to go immediately there and drop my stuff off. Always nice when I don’t have to put a park bag together in the corner of the lobby. As an aside, the first time I stay at a resort I haven't stayed at yet, I'm sure I'll miss the welcome packet, but this new "we'll just text you if you've checked in online" system is nice.
By the time the bus got rolling, I was bored. I’d facebooked, texted everyone and their uncle, and had a lengthy phone conversation with Nick. Have I mentioned that I hate hurry up and wait situations? I do like the ease of Magical Express, but that particular wait was no fun. I wanted to go have fun!
Music was the third stop, so it took awhile to get there, but at least we were making progress. Once we arrived at Music, I hopped off the bus (just about literally; I have short legs!), and headed straight to my room, number 1623, on the 3rd floor of Calypso building 1.
Once in the room, I took roughly 10 minutes to put together a park bag, and head back out the door. I stopped by the food court to get a refillable mug and fill it with Powerade, and then continued on to the bus stop. I was on a bus to Animal Kingdom about 11. Not a bad turnaround!
Bag check was one of the more thorough bag checks I’ve experienced at Disney, complete with asking if there were any sharp objects in my bag. That’s a new one! Once inside the park, I headed for Everest.
As I was walking toward Everest, I discovered a new breed of tour group. I’ve taken a few summer trips to Disney. I’ve seen plenty of yellow and green. This group was PINK. Bright pink. They even ALL had pink Magic Bands.
Guess what color I was wearing? Pink. BRIGHT pink. Before the trip I had invested in a couple of Columbia Omni Freeze shirts. Kind of a gross concept, but basically, they’re lined with sweat-activated cooling something. For Florida in the summer, I was willing to try this concept. After all, their Omni Heat line works incredibly well. The downside, though, is all of the shirts come in exceptionally bright colors. Pink was one of the less hideous choices. And at least I wasn’t chanting my way through the park!
Once I’d gotten over the fact that I blended in with the tour groups, I cruised through the single rider line, and was on Everest a couple minutes later. I was a little concerned to find that Everest made me a little queasy on this trek, but I was really hoping it was just related to the fact that I’d barely eaten anything today. But that problem was going to be solved soon.
As I got off Everest, I saw a text from Eric that he had arrived at Animal Kingdom. We’d already discussed via text that neither one of us had really eaten, so I told him I’d meet him at Pizzafari and started walking that way. As I was walking into Discovery Island, I could see him a bit ahead of me, but it was too far ahead to get his attention, or catch up. So I met him in front of Pizzafari.
We headed straight inside to get food. Unlike the last time we ate here, I got the quick line. He got the SLOW line. I found a table and started eating. I was starving, but ended up full before my pizza was done. We chatted while eating, and then it was back to Everest, me hoping that the previous ride’s queasieness was only because of hunger.
It was. This trip on Everest was much better, although the single rider line was certainly longer than when I’d been through an hour before.
After Everest, we started walking and ended up veering towards Maharajah Jungle Trek. It was pretty hot and it was Bazillions of Brazillians (and Argentinians and kids from Paraguay and Uraguay…) season, so the area around Kali River Rapids was more than a little chaotic. Getting to Maharajah required a bit of bobbing, weaving, and just generally thinking like I was driving through New England, but we made it and wandered through to see the tigers. One was visible AND awake.
Some of the other animals were surprisingly active, given the heat, so a bit of picture taking was done.
Once finished with Maharajah, we continued walking towards Africa. There was no line at Tamu Tamu, so I headed for that queue. Dole Whip with coconut rum sounded really good about then. I found a spot out of the way to enjoy it. Tasted great as always, but since it was summer in Florida and they gave a huge serving, I ended up with a pretty big mess.
Once I’d eaten as much Dole Whip as I could, and spilled a bit more, we started walking and discovered that the wait for Safaris was only 10 minutes. In the middle of the afternoon. In July. We were shocked too. The ten minute wait was actually more like a walk-on, so as soon as we had wound our way through the line, we were being loaded onto a truck, in about the second row. Given that it was mid afternoon, the animals were more visible than I had expected.
After wrapping up our conversation, I headed for the bus stop and Eric headed for the parking lot. A bus arrived shortly after and pretty soon I was back in my hotel room, where this no-nap queen actually fell asleep for a bit.
The nap didn’t last very long, but it worked. I then relaxed a bit, watching TV and listening to the rain falling outside.
Once the rain stopped, it was time to poke around the resort gift shop and find some food. So I got ready to do just that.
Side note: I keep hotel rooms really cold. For one thing, I’m a human furnace when sleeping, but also, I really enjoy being in a genuinely cool room. In NH, central air is not the norm in houses. It started becoming more common place in houses built in the last 5-10 years, but most of us live in houses older than that. We get by with fans, window air conditioners and portable air conditioning units. It’s pretty normal for rooms to be warmer than is truly comfortable. So when I get into a hotel room in the summer, that thermostat gets cranked down into the upper 60s.
Because I keep hotel rooms pretty cold, my belongings have to face the humidity when I walk outside. Sure enough, the second I opened the door, my sunglasses fogged. They didn’t even wait for me to step outside.
Once I’d defogged my sunglasses, I continued over to the main building. I did a tour around the gift shop to see what was available there. Then I went next door to the food court. Time for dinner. I think I had the turkey dinner, with mashed potatoes and corn. I wasn’t expecting much. It was surprisingly not bad.
After dinner, I headed for the lobby concierge line. It was time to buy a water park ticket. The process was quick, and the ticket was attached to my magic band. Side note, though: The annual pass discount for the water parks can only be applied to tickets bought at the front gate of the water park. I was ok with that though. $4 was not worth standing in line at water park opening in the heat. The air conditioned line was totally worth that extra $4. Once the ticket purchasing was done, I headed for the bus stop. Time to go see about a Boba Fett stein for Nick.
The bus to Hollywood Studios arrived quickly, and pretty soon I was making my way toward the park entrance. The Frozen Summer After theme was alive (no pun intended) and well, and I was really liking the improved skyline with the removal of the BAH.
Once inside the park, I cruised through the gift shops, checking out Magic Band options. Then I moved on to Backlot Express.
Nick is a big Star Wars fan, and about a week before my trip, one of the Disney pages (Disney food blog maybe?) had posted on Twitter that Boba Fett steins were still available from Star Wars Weekends. They’re plastic (easy to pack), and came with soda for just $9.99. Nick wanted one as soon as he heard about it, and even more after I showed him the picture online. Thankfully, when I arrived at Backlot Express, they were still available, and the line was short. They gave me the “stein” and a separate paper cup for my soda, so I tucked the Boba Fett stein into my backpack, filled the cup with soda, and continued on my way. This is what the “stein” looked like (Nick was of the “picture or it didn’t happen” mentality).
From here, I wandered a bit, slowly making my way over to One Man’s Dream. With all of the closures and rumored closures, I wanted to make sure I had the opportunity to cruise through there one more time.
While I was in One Man’s Dream, it started raining again. I waited a few minutes, and then once it turned to a drizzle, I headed out, ending up in the shops along Sunset Boulevard. I did a bit of shopping, and then moved back toward the stores on Hollywood Boulevard. Here I got a patriotic Mickey Magic Band for myself.
Once I’d finished shopping, I decided to make my way out of the park. I just wasn’t feeling the whole fireworks thing tonight. Once back at the hotel, I showered and collapsed into bed. I was sound asleep by 9. And by sound asleep, I mean I didn’t even wake to the Frozen fireworks, which are about the world’s loudest fireworks.
