I woke up really early today and started out my day alone. I was dressed and out the door at 6:45 and went out for a quiet walk along the beach. It was so beautiful and peaceful and the perfect way to start the day. I walked the entire length of the beach to the Floridian's Wedding Pavilion and back and then called Frank. Good thing I did because between the three of them, not ONE alarm clock went off. Honestly, I was a little scared for them all. We chatted as I watched the sun rise and when I hung up, I walked around the resort complex some more - taking pictures along the way - all the way to the marina. I got some awesome shots.
By the time I got back to the room, everyone was up and having their coffee. I don't drink coffee, so I didn't feel slighted in any way at all. They were all pretty surprised that I would get up so early and go out when I'm on vacation. What they don't realize is that it was something that I ENJOYED doing. We decided to split up the group again - and let me just interject something here, when you ask someone to PLAN the vacation and you give NO input in to it, don't complain when it doesn't meet your needs. I mean, no one gave me any ideas on how to plan this trip, I was just told to plan and I got nothing but grief about what I planned and where for each day! Never again, people, never again. So what was supposed to be our day at Epcot is now postponed until later. My aunt and cousin went to Hollywood Studios and the rest of us decided to go to a nice breakfast in the Floridian Cafe and then lounge by the pool. Those of you who know me know that lying in the sun for any length of time in on par with stabbing me in the eyes with a hot poker or shoving bamboo shoots under my finger nails. But for the sake of keeping peace, I decide to go with the flow. Apparently MY vacation wants and needs, are irrelevant. I had a scrumptious breakfast of lobster eggs benedict. It was amazing. Then we went to the pool. I lasted around 90 minutes total - I swam, I did the water slide, I think I actually sat on the lounge for about 30 minutes total and then I wanted to go back to the room. Well, everyone followed and after a quick 10-minute soak in the hot-tub, I was done. Too hot.
The plan was that we were going to meet up in Epcot as a full group at 3:00. Of course, there were snags in that plan. We got a call saying that my aunt got sort of lost and caught up in the transportation system and was wandering around Epcot already (by mistake) and that the monorail wasn't running but she wanted to come back to the hotel and change and rest. So it was decided that we would head on over there and just meet up with her later. The problem with this plan? Now SHE had the photopass card (we only had one for the group) and we wanted some pictures of our family. But we'll deal. We all shower, dress and head up to the monorail station. We see high-school Frank on our way over and he has his yearbook with him today! Oh, my. He still doesn't mention if he really remembers me but we laugh about how ridiculous we all looked with our big hair. That's always a good laugh. He tells us that he got us an 8:30 dinner reservation at Le Cellier and I am PSYCHED!! Dream number one, accomplished! The main problem with that? My aunt and cousin don't want to go there, they want to eat at the Mexico restaurant which we have a back up reservation for. So now my mom and sister start obsessing about how we are going to break it to them that we are going to eat dinner separately and I feel like they don't want to eat at the steakhouse just to keep the peace. Screw that, everyone! I can eat Mexican food any daggone time I want! Le Cellier is one of the top steakhouses in the country! I'm going even if I have to go alone!
As luck would have it, my aunt and cousin were just getting off the monorail as we were boarding and so we got the photopass back and were on our way. My mom obsessed almost the entire time about how my aunt did not look happy. Seriously, I didn't think there was a problem. It was very hot out, it sounded like she had a rough morning, I mean, the woman is entitled to not have a smile on her face. Let it go! I'm telling you, this stupid trip is getting way too hard because it seems like my mom is too worried about everyone else's feelings and wants us all do be joined at the hip. Not gonna happen. Sorry. We had to change monorails at the transportation center and got to sit in the front car. You know how I love that! I got my little co-pilot card and now I'm planning my scrapbook page. Ah, life is good.
Once at Epcot we first went on to Spaceship Earth, then headed over to the Land pavilion where we got our fast-passes for Soarin' and grabbed lunch at the Sunshine Seasons food court. I had a very nice grilled pork chop, carrots, a tossed salad and a slice of chocolate mousse cake. Are we seeing a pattern here? It was just so damn good! We met up with Aunt Robyn and Jess and all went on Nemo - I had a clamshell all to myself! Hee-hee! We got off and got some great pictures outside (gotta get them!). After that we went over to Test Track. There was only a 30 minute wait and being that we still had the Soarin' Fast-passes, we couldn't get another one. I love this ride and it was worth the 30 minute wait. After that we went and did some shopping at MouseGear. I got some amazing scrapbook supplies and so I was very, very happy. Now we headed over to World Showcase where the main intent was for them to drink their way around the world. So not my thing...
On the way over we stopped for some Photopass moments (keep em' coming, people! Times a wastin'!). We started on the Canada side. We stopped for drinks in France and I was bummed because Beauty and the Beast were gone for the day! I had a nice bottled water while they had their champagne and whatnot and just enjoyed the breeze. While sitting there, everyone decided that they didn't want to go on Soarin' after all. For the love of it! That is the BEST ride and now I have three passes and no one to go with! So you know what I did? I scooped up the passes and as we walked along World Showcase I grabbed the first boat back to Future World and told mom and sis that I'd meet them for dinner. Screw this, I am NOT wasting my vacation drinking and not going on rides. But on the boat ride over, the tide literally turned for me. I knew right then and there that I was going to spend most of our remaining time here alone and I could either be angry about it or I could enjoy it.
I chose to enjoy it. I called Frank and the boys and chatted for a bit and then went over and rode Soarin' twice. I saved the last fast-pass for my scrapbook. Ha. Karen called to say that they were waiting to seat us (which was a lie because they don't even check you in until your entire party is there) so I did a little power walk over to Canada. Luckily it wasn't too far from where I was. Dinner was awesome. The restaurant was okay to look at - I've seen prettier restaurants in Disney - but the food was incredible. I had a very nice shrimp cocktail for an appetizer and then had the filet mignon with a mushroom risotto and a white truffle herb sauce. OMG. There are no words for how incredible it was. We took our chocolate mousse to go (and it truly was a chocolate "moose") and headed back to the monorails. The park was almost completely empty because it was 30 minutes after closing time which made leaving a breeze.
When we got back to the room I had the BEST surprise...apparently Minnie Mouse had stopped by and left me a PRESENT!!! I kid you not. There was a giant solid white chocolate Mickey Mouse statue surrounded by gourmet cookies, chocolate covered strawberries and truffles. Plus, she left me a giant birthday card - which she signed herself. She has very pretty handwriting! It was a great way to end the day and I love whoever is responsible for sending it. And FYI, it was not from any member of my family. Hmmm....
No comments:
Post a Comment