Drummer1: DW and the Super Sweet Secret Trip Report

Day 1: 3.26.14 - I wake up earlier than everyone and dig through my DW's suitcase so I can repack for her without her knowing. Like I said, this entire trip was a surprise, and up to this point she still has no idea where we're going. Just what days she had to take off work and to dress warm (and there will be a lot of walking). Based on the clues she got, she was under the impression we were going to Vegas or on a cruise somewhere in the Caribbean.

I then go on to pretend to wake up with her when our alarm goes off, we get dressed and then bring the kids to her parents for the week. After a quick stop at the gas station for gas and coffee, we're off. A quick hour trip down the thruway from Syracuse, NY to Rochester, NY (this is from the clue above that mentions we had to go west before south. She still thinks we're heading to Vegas now). I kept veering off at every exit we passed to keep her guessing where we were going. Every time I did this, she would get out her smart phone and try to figure out what we were going to do in that area. It was very amusing to me, NOT so much to her. Finally, I really get off the thruway in Rochester and start heading towards the airport. From the time we left the thruway to when we arrive at the airport, she had looked up every destination from every airline leaving from Rochester that morning. To no avail I might add. A quick park and walk and we're standing at the counter to check our bags. I then make her give me her ID and stand very far away so she cant hear the conversation I'm about to have with the airline people. I explained to the woman at the counter that our destination was a surprise to my wife, and she helped me out without question with boarding passes and baggage. Success! We now head over for another coffee at Dunkin and proceed to the terminal to wait for our plane.

This is as far as I though I would be able to keep the secret. There we are, at the terminal for a plane heading to Orlando, surrounded by families with kids screaming about Disney World. I think there were a few thousand kids, I could be off a little though. My heart was racing and I was starting to sweat a little, so confusion was staring to set in. Then I remembered: Eureka!! Some of the clues she got told her that we would have a layover! Perfect!! - So now I can easily just play off that. She buys it, great, grand, wonderful... She even starts posting status updates on her facebook feed for all the world to see, that the first part of our amazing trip has a layover in Orlando. She asks, "will we be there long?" I state that there will be a significant time spent waiting for the next plane (5 days to be exact). I'm sneaky like that.

So, onto the plane we go. We each have about 50 or 60 beers on the plane and 2 hours later the captain states we are about to start our decent into Orlando airport. Now my heart starts up again, I'm starting to shake a little. I was pretty nervous for some reason. The last 3 months of planning the perfect vacation was about to come down to the next 30 seconds. We land and start our very long taxi ride from the runway to the terminal. This is it....

"So, do you want to know what we're going to do?" I ask.
"YES!" she states. "Are you really going to tell me now?"
"Close your eyes, hold out your hand and face up...No peeking!"

At this point I have about 8 people staring directly at me trying to figure out what I'm about to do. They all look as nervous as I feel. First I fumble with my phone trying to get it on a video setting so I can get some sort of reveal reaction video of the moment. I then reach into my bag and pull out her personalized Magic Band and proceed to get it snapped on her wrist.

"OK, you can open your eyes"

.................................................Nothing..............................a few seconds pass by as she examines what the hell I just strapped to her wrist. The women in the immediate area, all of whom I assume are taking their children to Disney, all give out a collective "AAWWWWW" while the men are just amazed I got someone on a plane without realizing where I was taking them. Then she sees it. Theres a little mickey head engraved on the band.

"Are we going to Disney?" she says in a sweet mousie little voice, too quiet to be audible on the video. I nod. She cries.
At this point I'm thinking I'm in trouble for planning a vacation to the number one kid destination in the world... without our kids!!! But, she's happy, we hug, everyone claps. It was great. A Scene straight out of a romantic comedy.

Now to go get our bags, uneventful except in the fact that a few weeks prior I changed our resort reservation from the Caribbean Beach resort to the Coronado Springs resort so now I dont have yellow bands for the Magic bus, Oh well, didn't take very long waiting for the bags at all. Good switch by the way. I forget who suggested this, but we did a lot of resort hopping on our trip and neither of us really liked CBR. Onto the Magic bus. We get seats right up front to take the obligitory picture of the WDW sign as well pull onto property. After coaxing the bus driver to raise the blinds enough to get an unobstructed view...There it is... A sign ... We see it, and tears start welling up. I've never seen it before. There it is in all its archeway glory. WE'RE HERE. Last time I came, my father in law took some crazy back way and we just never passed a sign.

We happen to be the first of two stops for the Magic bus, so a short 30 minutes and we hop off at Coronado. Lets just say that this place is beautiful. Yes, I know its not themed like other Disney resorts, but it perfectly suits our needs for this trip. Not many kids, no conferences this week, three bars, three restaurants, etc... But, IT IS BIG! When I made the reservations I had heard about its size, so I requested a room next to transportation, perfect. Bus stop right outside the door. Rooms are beautiful, good size, same as all the rest really, but it is set up relatively business like. Minimal hidden mickies. On the bed is a very large gift basket full of snacks, chocolate, cheeses and three bottles of wine.

I call up the front desk and get a wine key there STAT. It shows up in no time, we down a few glasses each and change from our depressing Syracuse winter clothes into fun in the sun shorts and sneaks, and head out the door. There we are, standing at the corner of our building at 4:00 pm on a Wednesday, in Florida....Freezing our butts off. I think it was a high of 48 F that day. So, back to the room for hoodies and jeans. Board the bus heading to Magic Kingdom, and in a few minutes I see it. I'm pointing out the window like a little kid with a smile on my face that you couldn't surgically remove. "I see the castle! Look, over there, behind the trees!" The DW tries to settle me down while trying to contain her excitement. And, we arrive. Let the walking begin...

We traveled the whole park in about an hour and start to head toward Big Thunder Mountain which is our first fast pass. The Magic bands are completely new to us, but in the weeks approaching our trip, I became obsessed with all things Disney and did as much research as I could on everything (I changed our ADR's at least 20 times). So on our way over, I gave the DW the run down on what we were seeing, what we were doing, how the castle is 189 ft. tall, how the MB's work, everyone's opinion about the MB's from this site and others, etc... The plan for this day was just enjoy ourselves, take our time, do our rides and shop and eat. So, over the course of the day we did 4 actual rides up until the end of the Wishes show (which also gets the tear ducts to open. This show is definitely one of the best ways to end the magic for the day). Once the show ended there was a mass exedus for the front gate. So we stayed a bit longer. Over the next two hours, we were able to do 7 rides with the smaller crowd there. We were told by a CM that the park has been staying open until 1:00 am over the last few days due to the larger spring break crowds. So, even without fastpasses, we were able to get quite a bit of action in. Well, we're beat already, long day of traveling, lots of walking, back to the resort to grab a few drinks at the bar and then its private time. "No Wait!... Im not tired, Lets go to Downtown Disney and bar hop!" "OK" This made a long day very much longer, but boy oh boy, was it fun. Tomorrow will be EPCOT. My first time there, I cant wait!

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Day 2: 3.27.14 - Well, it's EPCOT day. I wake up bright and early with a horrible tooth ache and lets face it, a pretty nasty hang over (Oh yeah, in case you haven't noticed, my DW and I still think we're in our 20's when we dont have our kids. So, there is a lot of drinking on this trip). So, I immediately take some sort of wonder aspirin that my DW gave me, and I seem to be OK. Wonderful! Todays weather seems to be promising for the most part, with the temps going up to 80 F and slight clouds moving in in the afternoon. Works for me, shorts it is. But we learned our lesson yesterday, so a backpack full of extra clothes, change of shoes and anything else we think we need for the day gets packed. This turns out to be a mistake in the end as I'm sure a lot of you see coming, but we're new at this. We head out the door and start our half mile walk to El Centro - the main building of the Coronado resort. This is where the bars, stores and restaurants are housed, and it happens to be relatively far from our room, but we dont care, its vacation people! The plan is to grab some breakfast and coffee before heading to the bus stop. So we bagel it up and notice a full menu of iced coffees ripe for the picking, and a barrista just waiting for us to choose one. I go for some weird mocha thing (because they dont have caramel, its a crime really!) and the DW gets a cinnamon iced coffee...

Now let me stop for a second and explain our love for coffee.... We need coffee. We go through flavored creamer like we get paid to do it. I'm drinking yet another cup of coffee right now, and its 3:30 in the afternoon! If I smell it brewing somewhere, I need to get some. You get the point. Well, lets just say that the cinnamon iced coffee from the little quick service place at the Coronado Springs Resort, should have a full blown ride / attraction named after it inside one of the parks. They could replace Tom Sawyers Island with it, it'll be a hit. It was that good. It turned into our ritual every morning. Wake up, walk a half mile to the little place in El Centro, get our cinnamon coffee. Go to bus stop...

So anyway, we walk out of El Centro and see that the EPCOT bus was just pulling out and we missed it, so we'll have to wait for the next one. No worries, we'll just sit here and relax while we enjoy our crack / best coffee ever. You will see that us walking to the bus stop as the bus we need is leaving will be a recurring theme on this trip. The trip over to EPCOT is really quick, just across the street really. So we head through the bag check and start for the gate, when a CM stops us and asks if we need a pin. Slightly confused by his offer, I ask what he means? He then shows us a bag full of special occasion pins, from anniversary, 1st trip.....Ah, I see one... Happy Birthday! After all, this is a birthday / Honeymoon trip. But sadly they dont have a pin for honeymooners. Happily, we continue to the gate and start snapping pictures while waiting in line.

The way I set up our FP's for the day had us doing Soarin', Mission: Space and Nemo all before noon so we could start shopping and drinking. Soarin' was very cool, can't wait to see it when they get the updated movie for it. Hopefully the new one will be more cohesive. The one they have now jumps around a lot, so right when you start feeling like you're flying through the scene, it switches on you. But still, very cool. Next was Mission: Space. Let me just say that I do not do very well with spinning rides, like, at all. But the green version just isn't my style. So, in throwing caution as hard as I can to the wind, we opt for the orange version. And, boy do they give you chance after chance to switch before you go into the simulator. We get locked in, shown what to do and when to do it, and we're off. This ride was great! I loved it. I didn't feel like I was spinning at all...... The DW on the other hand didn't do so well with it. Ice cream and desserts for me....Vertigo and dizziness for her. After a neat little trek through the Nemo ride and a quick sit on a bench all was good again. We love the birds from Nemo by the way, and all the fish in the aquarium are amazing.

Onward, to the World Showcase!!! We decided to go against the grain here, as it appeared that the majority of people were going to Mexico first, well we said "to hell with them, we're going to Canada!" First stop, the little beer stand in front of the pavillion. I got a Goose Island (which is an American beer from Chicago, by the way), not sure why I went with this choice or why they were even serving it in this area, but O, well. The DW went with something easy, a Labbatts Blue!.....................

We live in Syracuse, NY. The Canadian border is less than an hour drive from our house. Labbatts Blue is literally the best selling swill in our city. She goes on to argue that you cant find it anywhere south of NYC except here, blah, blah, blah...Something about how I never listen.. I dont know, I wasn't really paying attention at this point.

Anyway, we seem to just start walking slowly passed the rest of Canada and never go into the pavillion. OK, first beer down, wheres the next stop? UK? OK! I dont remember what we got here, I think it was a Bass ale. Not a fan, really. We started to explore the shops and stopped to watch a show which was funny, but then we needed another round. So off we go to France.

We both really liked the France pavillion. We both tried a few different wines from inside one the shops, and noticed that they sell very large bottles of French beer here as well. Great! We'll take some. I ask the very nice lady at the counter to have it sent to our room so we dont have to carry it around with us all day, and she obliges and helps us fill out a green form, and tells us that it will be there in three hours. Cool, now we think that everything we buy can just be sent to our room and be waiting for us when we get back. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! I didnt see that bottle again until Friday night, when we just so happened to take the monorail to dinner and stopped at the front gate of EPCOT on our way.

Back to the showcase. Well, now we are starting to feel the effects of our drinking around the world tour, so we stop at the Morocco pavillion to grab some quick tapas style snacks from a stand out front. A pancake with almonds and honey called a baghrir, I think. A lamb kefka and something with chicken. All were very good, as the stain on my nice white under shirt would attest to. Well, time to button up the outside shirt. I'm such a slob.

Next we hit the Japan pavillion and immediately started to look for cool gifts for the folks back home. We watched a few kids pick out their oysters to find a pearl in it, it was a very cool presentation by the staff. We make our way to the back of the shop where we buy a bunch of what we think is candy and head to the counter. As my DW is waiting to pay for our goods, she looks over and sees me shoving colorful shots of something down my throat. "What are you doing?"
I say "It's saki. It tastes great!" And, immediately try to share my newly found discovery. After some coercing, she decides to try a lemonade flavored saki. It was great, but we decided to forgo the hasty decision of an elaborate saki purchase.

We move on to the Italy pavillion and take some pictures next to the fountain. We decided to stop and rest for a while here because we have an ADR in Mexico at the St. Angel Inn in about a half hour. While sitting on a nice bench next to the fountain, a nice young man speaking italian (whom my DW thought was very chaming by the way) decided that it would be a good idea for us to start drinking limoncello. "Have the Lemon kind, not the Orange kind, it's much better" he says. Well, he was right, it was great.... There now some pictures added at the bottom. One is me purchasing some limoncello (with an extremely full and heavy backpack I might add), and one is of my DW partaking in the consumption of said limoncello. Pinky up, of course.

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Day 2 continued - EPCOT

Sorry for leaving you all hanging like that. Duty called.

So, when I left off, we were sitting on a nice granite bench in the Italy pavillion enjoying our limoncello, watching a mother yell across the courtyard at her 40 kids from the smoking section. It was very amusing, and somewhat uncomfortable for all parties nearby. We started towards the Mexico pavillion to make sure we would be on time for our ADR at St. Angel Inn. We get there starving and ready to eat. But wait, our ADR is at 6:30, not 5:30 like we thought. I had made this ADR about two months ago and forgot I changed the time of it roughly 37 times. So, now we have a little time to kill. We stay nearby and see a little stand outside the pavillion serving all sorts of fun stuff. So we opt to get a small snack as we wait. I have no recollection of what we ate. But, what I do remember is that they had Tecate beer and were selling flights of tequila. 3 shots with chasers for $12!?! Sign me up!

We take our new treasures over to the only area where we have a choice of sitting while we partake, which happens to be on a step in one of the stroller corrals. While sitting and feeling mildly guilty for drinking alcohol in said area, we notice one of the strollers moving on its own. Then, as we muse about what we are seeing, a small squirrel pops his head out of one of the bags that was strapped to the stroller. The little thing had climbed up the stroller, pulled open the zipper on the bag, and hopped inside! I think it's safe to say that the wildlife in the area has become a bit too desensitzed to humans. Right after this, the owner of the stroller walks up with their family, and we relay the story of the squirrel to them. Which they are not amused and start looking through everything while staring at us like we were the ones going through all their stuff. Oh well, let them think what they want. We decide to remove ourselves from the accusations and head inside the building to explore.

We check in for our ADR and are told it will take about 20 minutes,which is fine with us. Time to explore! The DW finds a little stand inside full of gifts that our 3 yo would love, and decides to keep looking. I on the other hand see the Cava de la Tequila....We all know where this is going....So I belly up to the bar and wait my turn to order. As I stand there observing the other people in the bar, I notice a bit of rowdiness starting in one of the corners of the room. I watch for a few seconds and find that it's just a bunch of guys having fun at the cost of everyones eardrums, no big deal. Then I see something....One of the said 'loud guys' is wearing a Syracuse University shirt. Well, I am just about one of the biggest SU fans that walks this planet. . . . . . . I. Have. An. Idea! Shots for me and that guy! Pronto! I purchase my shots and head over to the group chanting Syracuse! on the way. I introduce myself to the group at large as my DW walks up behind me. We take our shots and start talking. As it turns out, the group happens to not only be from the Syracuse area, but also from the small suburb where we happen to live. One of them even owns the bar / restaurant that we frequent. We laugh at how small the world is and our buzzer goes off. We say our goodbyes and head over to the restaurant.

On our way through the restaurant, I hit pretty much everyone we walk by with my now full and heavy backpack. I did a lot of research when planning our ADR's, and I had read that the tables were very close together. But, my thought process when booking the reservation was: good mexican food vs. comfort while eating, with the food winning the battle. So I apologize to everyone and hide the bag under my chair. The food was great. I got the tamales plate, and the DW got tacos, I think. It was very dark in the restaurant, and we didn't take any photos of the food. We opted not to have dessert, paid and headed back out to the showcase.

We find a quiet little corner near the front of the Mexico pavillion and decide to just sit and relax for a while. People watching is fun, and before we know it, an hour has passed. So we head back towards the Germany pavillion. Thats when I smell it...... "What is that smell?" I ask. "It smells like...OMG! There's an entire store full of caramel!"
We head into Karamel Kuche and I immediately try to talk my DW into buying the entire store. I LOVE caramel! We make our way through the line and buy all sorts of treats. Imported caramel covered hazelnuts, huge caramel chocolate chip cookies and a huge caramel pecan bar (which I still have some at home waiting for me ("I'll be home soon my darling")). Then onward to find us a nice veiwing spot for the illuminations show. We belly up to a spot on the bridge near the UK pavillion next to a nice young family around our age with a child on their shoulders (who immediately starts hitting me on the head with a pirate sword). The father apologizes and we laugh. Then the show starts. I have never seen this show except for bits and pieces online or on TV. They dont do it justice. This show is awesome, albeit short. I loved it, the DW loved it and we wanted to watch it again. But alas, the park was closed and much to our dismay, we had to leave.

I ask my DW what she would like to do now, as it is still pretty early. She wants to go dancing. Of course she does. So through the international Gate we go, walking down the boardwalk. As we walk, we see a street magician perform a few tricks, one of which blew our minds. It involved some cards, a little magic box and an orange. It was neat, and filled our conversation with wonderings of how it was done until we got to the Atlantic Dance Hall. I have heard about this place, and mostly I was told that its always hoppin and usually has a big crowd. Well, on this night that was not the case. We reluctantly pay our $5 cover as we are assured that the crowd is on its way and we walk inside. We both order a beer and realize that there is someone on stage, singing karaoke. This is not what we signed up for. I've been a musician for the last 20 years of my life. And, to me, there is nothing worse than karaoke.... and cover bands. Well on this night, the bar tender explains to us that they are trying something new tonight, they hired a cover band to come in, and be the house band for random karaoke singers. I am not amused by this as the host of the show, a woman walking through the crowd with a microphone, spots us and my DW's birthday pin. She then immediately tries to convince my DW to go sing, which you have a better chance of selling icecubes to Eskimos. So, she tells her maybe later, and noticing my displeasure for how the drummer is holding his sticks, we decide that we've had enough and head for the bus back to the resort.

Once there, we decide we haven't tortured ourselves enough yet. So, we think some late night swimming is in store. Well, after the amount of destruction our livers had endured during the day, I never realized that I didn't pack a suit to go swimming in. No problem. Down to the skivvies it is. We didn't last very long in the pool though, so we very coldly headed back up to our room to regroup and fall asleep to some very old disney cartoons. Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios and the DW's birthday! yay!

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Day 3: 3.28.14 - Hollywood Studios Day -

This was a fun day. We got to see, hear and experience a lot of things that neither of us had before. We start the day with me rolling over around 7:30 am to reach across my DW and pick up the room phone. As I'm crushing her with my body and poking at the phone until I get the front desk to answer, she sqeaks out a "wudaryudoing?". This isn't how she wants to wake up on her birthday. She hears me talking to someone but doesnt know what I'm up to. So I hang up the phone, go to the little washroom area and immediately take some wonder medicine. This stuff is called BC extra strength. We got it last night at the Hess station across from Downtown (Yeah, I forgot to mention that after the boardwalk last night, we still went bar hopping in the downtown area... I swear we're not alcoholics!). It tastes gross, it comes in powder form and it seems like each portion is waaaaay too much....But, it is amazing! It works wonders and WILL kill a hangover..... and a toothache. So I hop back in bed and we doze off for a few more minutes.

Then the phone rings. I immediately jump up to my knees, hopping on the bed like a little kid while shaking my DW to answer the phone. She ask's "why?" "Just do it!" I say. She reaches over and picks it up and the voice on the phone says "Please hold on one second, we have someone here that want to wish a happy birthday". Then Olaf comes on the phone and, as cute as you all imagine it is, goes on to make a little birthday speach and wish my DW a Happy Birthday. She loved it and it was a fun way to wake up. We love Frozen and have seen it a million times. We saw it in the theater and we were able to buy an electronic copy on my Roku (internet TV) about a month before it actually came out to everyone else. We wake up to it on a regular basis because "god forbid" the 3 yo doesnt get to watch his 'Elsa movie' the second his eyes open for the day. We get home from work and I have to put it on for the 3 yo while I cook dinner, and most nights we have to put it on before he goes to bed. Me bursting out a "that windows open, so's that door, I didn't know they did that anymore..." is a very common occurance in our household (and in public). Now, if only I remembered to make that call before that morning. Oh well. She still loved it.

Well, now we are up and showered and trying to push each other through the door, because lets face it, the coffee in the room just won't cut it when a mere half mile down the path we have the most EPIC iced coffee. Did I mention this stuff should get an award? Anyway, we head out of El Centro and start making our way to the bus stop, where a Hollywood Studios bus is just leaving. Of course its just leaving, it's just far enough away where we cant stop it, but close enough for us to still read where it's going on the front of the bus. To the bench we go to enjoy our coffee and bagels, which a ballsy little bird is trying to steal from us. Finally, a bus shows up for DHS and we hop on. A very short ride down the street and we're there. We hop off the bus and start walking towards the gate. In the excitment of walking from the bus to the gate, we noticed that we were walking ever slower the closer we got. As it turns out, our calf muscles were very sore. Time to slow down. We really just slowly walked through the entire park all day. I would even say that at one time or another, we hobbled around the park.

Our 3 FP's here were the toy story ride, Star Tours and the Tower of Terror. Toy Story was first so we headed to the left (the wrong way) passed Indiana Jones and proceeded down the concource. But wait! Does the stand-by sign say 10 minutes? Why, yes! Yes it does. So we start walking towards Star Tours early to stand in the stand-by line. Well wouldnt you know it, the Indiana Jones show is getting out as we walk by the exit for it, and all 14,000 people inside see the stand-by sign at the same time we do. Now people are running to jump in line before they change the sign. It was a little annoying but amusing none-the-less. The DW has never ridden this, and the wait really isn't that long, so we stay in the queue. The little robots, C3PO, R2D2 and even the movies look great. I'm not sure if the queue was updated recently, but I didn't really remember any of that from the last time I was here. Before we know it, we're waiting to board and glasses are on. The ride is really cool, and we got the one with the pod race which I was hoping for.

We get off the ride and spend some time in the Star Wars gift shop and slowly continue on our way to Toy Story. We get in the line, which flies by for us (I always feel bad for the stand-by people on this one, it's 10:00 am and the wait is already over two hours), and I proceed to destroy my DW score. She is not amused by my constant manly banter of why I'm so good at shooting fake plates and balloons with a virtual gun, so we head across the lane to the little snack shack. She grabs a soda and I grab some sort of frozen cherry coke with vodka. This drink is exactly what it sounds like. The entire top half of the drink is the frozen cherry coke, and the bottom is straight vodka. And, they give you a straw, so the first sip I take is of pure vodka. Not very refreshing. But I stir it up and we make due. Now on to the Tower of Terror. This is the DW's favorite ride by far, and I think she took roughly 1000 pictures of just the tower itself. You have all seen it, I wont post any of those pics. We burn through the FP line and onto the elevator we go. Man, do I love this ride. The theme and atmosphere are great and the thrills are even better. Too bad the stand-by line is enormous because we would have kept going on it.

Now that the ride portion of our day is done, we decide to just walk around and shop. By this time, we had learned our lesson on how to properly pack a backpack when going to the parks, so we had plenty of room for goodies and snacks. We grab a few drinks here and there. A margarita for the DW and a beer for me, and we walk until we find the shop with those carrot cake cookies (I think its the shop of sweets next to the villians store). I explain to my DW that we have to try one because everyone on here says so and she obliges. Now she wants to know who all of you are, and how this site works. So, we find a nice shady corner and we sit down to enjoy our snack and drinks while I explain and show her the website on her phone. We decide to see if the Rock'n Roller Coaster line is doable through stand-by, which by no means is it, I think it was over 2 1/2 hours wait or so. So, we just drop by the warehouse for a quick burger and fries. At this point, we are getting tired so we decide to check out some shops as we head for the exit of the park. We have an ADR at 7:00 for dinner at Citrico's in the Grand Floridian, so we decide to go back to the resort and relax before getting ready for the nights festivities.

When we got back to the resort we had some time to kill, so the DW took a nap and I headed down to El Centro to see if my bottle of beer from the France pavillion had show up. I went to get it last night but they said that if they did in fact ship it, it would be in the package department in the gift shop, which was closed. So a half mile back to the gift shop I go. Once there, I see some CM's talking to each other and I approach them asking about my expected delivery. They help but say it's not there and send me to the main registration desk. I wait....and wait.....and wait, and its finally my turn to speak to some one. I explain my problem to the woman and she heads to the back room to check. But, on her return, there is nothing in her hands for me. She goes on to explain that all packages sent should be in the gift shop and sends me back there. I go inside and see the manager standing at the front of the store. At this point he knows what's going on so he pulls me aside and makes a few phone calls. Hurray! We've located my purchase. Only, it's still at EPCOT. We are not on a parkhopper package which I explain to the CM, and we had already used our daily ticket for DHS. So, he makes another phone call and alas, it will be at a small gift shop outside the gate of EPCOT waiting for us. Super! Walk walk walk walk walk walk walk back to the room and shower and dress to impress so we can go hang out with the Snooty McNooty crowd at the Floridian. Now, we look out of place pretty much everywhere we go with the exception of the Floridian. With some help of a times guide and a map, we figure out the best way to get from our resort to the Grand Floridian while still being able to stop at EPCOT, all with time to spare. So a quick bus ride over to Epcot, a wait in line at the bag check and over to the gift shop to grab our bottle. We then continue to leave through the exit thinking we can just hop on the monorail. Wrong! Back to the bag check we go, where I have to convince the security officer to let me bring a bottle of something alcoholic through the check point. He doesnt look happy. I explain we just need the monorail which is directly behind where he is standing and he reluctantly lets us by, all while making sure I don't open the bottle and chug it as fast as I can during the 50 foot walk from him to the train entrance.

On the train we go. I couldn't be more excited for the night we are about to have. The DW never even knew these places existed, so I'm really looking forward to this experience. Through the contemporary we drive first which we have seen done on TV but we've never actually done this so we were thrilled like children. Onward passed the Poly, which is very neat looking and very much under construction. And, finally passed the wedding pavillion and to the Floridian. This place is Gorgeous! We get off the train on the second level of the main building and just stand at the railing for 20 minutes. Just taking it all in. The band was playing something awesome out of their 3,000,000 song songbook and we just enjoyed the sites and smells. Over to the side was a little soap store (White Basin) which we had to go into. The DW and the DW-in-law love soaps and lotions, so we spent a bit of time in here. Then we head down the amazing staircase to find the restaurant. Which just so happens to be upstairs! So into the very neat looking elevator back up to the second floor. We check in at the front desk and are given a buzzer. We head for the bar for some pre-dinner libations when our buzzer immediately went off. So, to our table we go. This place is beautiful, and for some reason both of us are surprised by the amout of children in the restaurant. They weren't being loud or anything, they were just there mixed in with all f the other people in suits and ties. Our server comes over, whose name escapes me right now but he was very good and very knowledgable. He said he's worked there for over 30 years! For drinks my DW orders a white sangria and I a pineapple mojito. Both were very good. For our appetizer we ordered an arrencini (no idea how to spell this), which is basically a flash fried ball of rissotto mixed with mushrooms and sausage, with dandelion greens and a bed of red sauce. It was tasty and a good start to our very fancy meal. After our appetizer, I happen to ask the waiter what type of wine was used for the braising liquid in the meal my DW was planning on ordering. He seems a bit unsure and says to hold on a minute, he will be right back. Well, he didn't come back. Instead, the one and only Chef John came over to our table to talk to us. Yes, that Chef John. We talk for a little bit about how many gallons of Cab Sav they go through on a daily basis, he asks if we have allergies to anything and he takes his leave. I'm in heaven as I try to explain who just came to our table to my DW. He was a classy guy, he introduced himself to the table next to us, who had to wait a little longer for their meal to come out, and gave everyone a small glass of home made limoncello after their dinner. It was very neat. Now on to dinner. The DW ordered the beef short ribs and I ordered the tuna steak. Both were perfect. Surprisingly enough, we were actually pretty full. For dessert our waiter brought us a chocolate banana tort complete with an enormous chocolate tweel and some birthday candles. He sang my DW Happy Birthday by himself right to her, she loved it. Well, birthday dinner complete the check arrives, we pay (we didn't do the dining plan, even with two of our meals coming to over $330, we still saved money by not doing the plan), take pictures of the random family that was sitting at the special chef's table (in the kitchen) and head back to the main lobby.

When we get their the orchestra has finished playing but now there is a piano player playing disney songs very elabrately. We walked out to "For the first time in forever" that was clearly requested by the 6 little girls in nice dresses dancing around his piano. We walked around the resort a little bit more and came to the conclusion that we must stay here at some point in our lifetime and we made our way back to the monorail. We hopped on and went to the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, where we switched over to a bus that was heading to Port Orleans French Quarter. The DW had no idea why we were doing this, and protested until I got her off the bus and the bus left. Now she's stuck here at quarter to midnight. I convice her to walk around the resort with me for a little while because this is where I want to stay next time we come with the kids and I want to see it in person. We walk to the back of the resort and there's a boat waiting for us, which we board and set sail for Downtown. There were only two other people on the boat and it was a perfect ride in the dark on a nice warm night. Very romantic. The whole ride took maybe 15 minutes and then we were there. We proceeded to hit all the usual spots and grab drinks wherever we saw them. Paradiso was a nightly ritual for us. We always stopped in at the Raglan Road place, but always only for a drink, then leave. I can only watch the same guy play bad songs for so long. We stayed up way passed bedtime once again and continued our birthday celebration night until the DW said so. We finally made our way back to the resort around 2:00 am and watched cartoons until we fell alseep. Tomorrow will be our last full day in the world. So, where else would we go.......Magic Kingdom Day!

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