Key West and DisneyWorld Feb. 2007
Much to David’s chagrin, Eva has been calling him something other than Grandpa for a long time, and she would not deter from that, no matter how he tried. Also, as much as she likes to be around him, she used to run from him when he’d try to pick her up. However, when Lindsay, Eva and I were met at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale on Feb. 5th, by David and Brian, Eva called David Grandpa and reached for him! She has called him Grandpa ever since. So, David says she is “back in the will”!We stayed in a beautiful 2 bedroom suite in Key Largo. I highly recommend the place (Ocean Pointe Suites). One bathroom had a whirlpool tub and the other had a gorgeous shower – it had a seat built into it and that was Eva’s favorite place to be our first day. We also had a full kitchen, big living room and 2 balconies. The place was $199 a night, which included a continental breakfast and parking, and that was a Peak Season price!
I had forgotten one piece of my luggage when I left, so didn’t have any sleepwear. I decided I’d hunt for a beach cover up, which would be good for a night gown. I lucked out, when we went into a Walgreens that had all kinds of beach wear items. I found 2 beach cover ups for only $7.99 each. The price tag was only a sticker and the cashier couldn’t find a bar code for them, so he used an item with a $6.99 bar code tag – it rang up once at $6.99 and $5.00 the second time, so I got both for only $11.99! Eva was fascinated with them and tried them on and wanted to wear them around, but they were too long, so I gave her one of my shirts to wear. Diane & Phil did bring me that luggage when they came to Orlando on the 10th, which was great because I also had gifts for the grandchildren in it.
While in The Keys, we saw the newest “Whaling Wall” that Wyland was in the process of painting. It was exciting to watch it progress over the days we were there. This is the last one he’s going to do in the U.S.
We did make it to the Southern most part of the U.S, which is in Key West. The Keys is a pretty laid back place and there seems to be one main road in, and one out so the traffic can get heavy. In our travels we didn’t see any of the gorgeous beaches they talk about but saw the water everywhere, with its many shades of blue and green.
We had originally planned to break up our drive from Key Largo to Orlando (about 6 hours) in to 2 days but we thought we’d take a chance on Eva being able to handle it and we made it in one day. We were able to get rooms at the Disney’s All Star Movie Resort that night, which was Feb. 9th. David and I went to Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island that night and went back with Brian, Lindsay and Eva the next morning.
We moved into our rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort in DisneyWorld on Saturday, the 10th. Diane, Phil, Stephanie and Cameron arrived that afternoon. We were thrilled that our rooms were next to each other and that ours were adjoining with Diane’s family’s room. If they had been adjoined with Brian’s room, we are sure Eva would never have slept, as she would have wanted to be with Stephanie and Cameron.
Sunday – Magic Kingdom. Got the family photo taken in front of The Castle. Disney photographers now give you a PhotoPass that you can hand other photographers who will scan all your photos in to. You can view your photos at their photo stores…. or online up to 30 days!
Eva got fairly close to characters but didn’t want to get too close so we didn’t get any photos of her with characters till the 4th day, when she decided she could meet Minnie Mouse with Stephanie! We were all very excited. Goofy was with Minnie but backed away when he saw Eva was afraid of him. But, he managed to sneak into the photo ops without her knowing!
Monday – Epcot. Phil had a surprise for us! He knows someone who works in Epcot and his family became the Family of the Day at Epcot and we got to be included in the fun. A race car was supposed to drive 4 of us to the Test Track, but it was raining so we walked there, with cast members leading us. We went by a lot of other cast members wearing Mickey Mouse paws who waved to us and wanted to High Five us. Most of us didn’t understand till later that they were there for US! We got to be the first ones to ride on the Test Track and were given photo in the car. Stephanie, Eva and I opted to not go on the ride and we went into a nearby store. Eva did some power shopping – she started by taking 3 stuffed Mickey Mouses. She gave one to Stephanie and one to me but we put them back. Eva got them again and hung on to them. She put 2 back finally and went around the store, picking up things and wanted to go to the counter to pay. I got her down to 1 item, just in time for everyone else the family to show up.
David and I did win one of Disney’s Wishes Come True prizes – we each got a Fast Pass for the day for rides in MGM. We got it while waiting for the Narnia show, which started with us going thru the bureau and into Narnia which was neat. The witch (a real person) talked a bit, but the rest of it was clips from the movie. Then you entered a place that showed some props and costumes from the movie. I recommend you not wait in a long line for this show!
On Valentine’s Day, we discovered our outside doors had been plastered with decorations and cards that Stephanie and Cameron had made which was a great surprise. The bus driver taking us to Magic Kingdom told us that there was going to be a wedding in front of the Castle! A couple had won it from Disney and Bride Magazine. (Entertainment Tonight has been showing some of it this week). I was the only one of our group to watch it. It was quite something. That afternoon, we had a late lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. We got to have our photos taken with Cinderella. I never thought about it before, but Phil pointed out that you never see her in the regular character “meet and greets”, so this was the only opportunity to meet her. At the table next to us, a woman was brought a glass slipper that had an engagement ring on it!!! So, we got to enjoy that couples’ engagement!
On Friday, just as David & I were leaving Magic Kingdom, some people asked us if we wanted to see a sneak preview of a new show, called “Monsters Inc, Laugh on the Floor”, which is not opening for a few months. It was neat – characters from the movie (not the main ones) acted like stand up comics, and it was like they really were on a stage and they could interact with the audience. It was neat but not roll on the floor funny. We were asked questions about it, etc.
Diane’s family found some neat things in the Innovations Buildings at Epcot that we missed. One was that they were shown how to draw Mickey Mouse’s face on Disney sketch paper, which they got to keep. They did a great job! One of the many things we learned in Epcot is that all of the states are listed on a 5 dollar bill. We got to see evidence of that with a high magnification glass. Also, Lincoln is standing in columns of the Lincoln Memorial that is on the back of a
penny.
The kids gave David & I a dinner out so we ate at a wonderful French Restaurant in Epcot.
If you plan a trip to DisneyWorld, I suggest you check out their Dining Card Plan – it’s a good value and you don’t have to think about carrying around enough money for meals, and/or how much they are going to cost. We found all the food to be really good and of higher quality than I recall in past years. We never saw the already made hot dogs and hamburgers wrapped in tin foil bags, waiting under a heat lamp, like we used to see, thank goodness. If you consider the dining plan, contact us and I’ll give you some tips/info about it.
The best part of the trip for David and I was spending time with our children and grandchildren and seeing them enjoy what they were seeing and doing. Looking forward to going back sometime!
Take care, Rosemary
posted by DaveandBrian @ 10:39 AM
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