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The Dad and Chad Disney Adventure ReportDates: January 20-23, 2001 Adventurers:
Transportation: Northwest Airlines (Jennifer and Dad), Southwest Airlines (Kim and Chad), and Tiffany Town Car Resort: Fairway Villa at Disney Institute Parks: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, Magic Kingdom, Pleasure Island, and DisneyQuest Restaurants/Eateries: House of Blues, Restaurantosaurus, Rose & Crown, Hollywood & Vine, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, Whispering Canyon Cafe, and Cinderella's Royal Table. Other: First experience touring with an ECV. Updated 06/28/06
Copyright 1999-2006 |
Day
One: The Arrival Or "What Time Do We Leave Again?" After months of planning and anticipation, my alarm clock buzzed at 6:45 am on Saturday, January 20, 2001. It's Disney time! I called my Dad to make sure he was up and ready to go. No worries there--he'd been too excited to sleep much and was ready for his "pick-up" from Kim and Chad. In order to keep the secret from both Dad and Chad, we'd told Dad that Kim and Chad were just going to pick him up and bring him to my place, then go on to Traverse City. While I waited for them to arrive, I checked the weather down in Orlando ("A high of 55 degrees!?!") and caught up on e-mail. Eventually, I could no longer contain my excitement and actually went to the front door and waited for them to arrive. For all I know my tongue was lolling out of my mouth, too. At 9:20 am their van pulled in the drive. While they made their way to the door, I worked on wiping the excited grin off my face -- I didn't want to give anything away too soon. Once we were all in the living room, it was time to give Chad his present. I slipped around the corner to compose myself, then came back with the present (in a Tarzan gift bag). I watched Chad take out the PassPorter. "Wow, cool, thanks" he said, trying to muster some enthusiasm for something I usually give to him much more casually than this. Chad admired the cover (this was an advance copy of the PassPorter 2001 edition with Spaceship Earth on the front), then noticed the handwriting on the side: "Chad's Birthday Trip--Jan. 20-23, 2001" His face cracked into the biggest smile I've ever seen on him! He promptly kissed his wife, gave me a big hug, and then... I still can't believe this... he kissed my Dad on his cheek! We had successfully kept the secret from both Chad and Dad. Admittedly, Chad noticed a few little things ("Why did Kim pack my sneakers if we're going to be waist-high in snow?), but not enough for real suspicion. Dad had also noticed that I'd accidentally written down two different departure times in his PassPorter (Dad and I were taking a different flight at a different time than Kim and Chad) but he didn't suspect anything either. All in all, we'd done a great job at keeping a big secret! Dave chauffeured us all to the airport (Detroit Metro). On the way, my Dad asked "What time does our flight leave again?" I explained to my Dad that I'd had to fib about our departure time to keep the secret and that we were actually leaving two hours later than Kim and Chad. After dropping that little bomb, Dave dropped us off at our respective terminals. My Dad was fascinated with the whole check-in process -- remember, this was all new to him. We got our boarding passes at the E-Ticket terminal ("So what is this computer thing?"), checked our luggage ("How do the heck do they know which luggage is yours?"), and went through security ("What do I do? What about my change? I don't know about this."). To his credit, my Dad did a great job at dealing with an entirely new and slightly scary situation, and I'm very proud of him. After security, we hauled ourselves from Concourse E to Concourse A (if you knew how spread out the Detroit Metro Terminal is, you'd be impressed). My Dad uses a cane and walks v e r y slowly, so you can imagine what an adventure this was for us. We successfully conquered the moving walkways ("I hate these things!") and the second security checkpoint ("They want to look in my bag?!?"). The whole way, my Dad kept asking me, "What time do we leave again?" He likes to be punctual and seemed worried we wouldn't have enough time. After reaching Concourse A and seeing Kim and Chad off to their flight, we made the long trek back to Concourse E ("What time do we leave again?"). We waited at our gate ("What time do we leave again?") and watched the Presidential Inauguration on the overhead TV. Finally, we heard the boarding announcement.
One of my main concerns about this trip was the flight. My Dad is a big guy ("Pooh-sized," as one could say) and I wasn't sure how well he'd fit in those teeny, tiny plane seats. He'd requested a window seat, as it was his first flight, and we'd managed to get one. We ended up in the very last row of the plane, with my Dad squeezed into the window seat ("Can we get a seatbelt extender please?") and me right next to him in the middle seat. It was like trying to fit two adults in Dumbo -- it's possible, but you'll feel like shelled peanuts. All in all, it was actually a little better than I'd feared. We hoped against all hope that no one would sit next to me in the aisle seat, but the last person on the plane was a large gentleman -- so I spent the entire flight feeling like a Jennifer manwich. The flight went smoothly, with just a touch of anxiety on my Dad's part when we took off. The crew served a hot sandwich (bonus!), which we happily nibbled on. My Dad asked a lot of questions and thanked me several times. He reminded me of a little boy who'd just been given an "it'll-poke-your-eye-out" air rifle. We encountered a fair amount of turbulence ("Is this normal?") and had a rather bumpy landing. We were the last ones to get off the plane. At baggage claim, we met our Tiffany Town Car driver (Daniel), who was holding a sign that said "Anderson" (my Dad's last name). I figured Dad would feel like a VIP if he saw his name on the sign, and I was correct! Kim and Chad, who had arrived about an hour before us, had already collected my luggage. So off we went in the Town Car ("Wow, is that a Lincoln?") while Daniel chatted happily about the weather and his adventures with English (he's Brazilian). He even told us that he'd once seen a "reindeer" in the road on Disney property. More likely Bambi, we think. We arrived at the Disney Institute a little later than we'd expected, but check-in went smoothly. I'd requested (by fax) a Fairway Villa near a bus stop, preferably somewhere between #331-343. We were booked into Fairway Villa #339, just yards away from bus stop #2--perfect! I was also able to get a three-day (two-night) length-of-stay pass for my Dad and two-day (one-night) length-of-stay passes for Kim and Chad (who only wanted to visit the parks for two days). I had everyone sign their Resort I.D.s immediately so we wouldn't get the cards mixed up. My last piece of business was to drop off a PassPorter for a reader who happened to be staying at the Disney Institute -- he had just happened to e-mail me the day before and requested an express shipment. What synchronicity! Once we were finished at the front desk, we went outside for our luggage. A cast member loaded our luggage into a golf cart and we zipped off to our villa. For those of you who haven't stayed in, or even seen, the Fairway Villas, they are immense.
Each freestanding building houses 2 or 3 units, and each unit is 1520 sq. ft. The villas look like they are perched on stilts, as car and cart parking is underneath the buildings. They are multi-leveled and multi-roofed, with many interesting angles and peaked skylights. After the bellperson dropped off our bags, we surveyed our surroundings. The Fairway Villas ARE huge! Our villa had four levels: first the entry level (just the door and landing), the living level (living room, full kitchen, and half-bath), the regular bedroom level (two full beds and a full bath w/tub), and the master bedroom level (one queen bed and one full bath w/shower). (View the villa's floorplan.)
We decided that my Dad would sleep on the pull-down Murphy bed in the living room so he didn't have to navigate the stairs. Kim and Chad took the regular bedroom with the two beds, and I took the master bedroom. This worked out perfectly -- we all had privacy and our own space, but we were still within shouting distance. And with the master bedroom open to the living room below, it was really easy to lob stuff at anyone on the sofa. We unpacked our things (my Dad's bologna sandwiches were safely stored in the refrigerator) and rested a bit. I took the opportunity to snap some pictures of the villa before we messed it up. Then I called the Recreation Center to inquire about renting a golf cart. Alas, they had closed already -- just a half an hour earlier at 6:00, in fact. I then spent five minutes berating myself for not checking the Recreation Center's hours BEFORE I arrived. I really should have known better. The plan had been to rent a cart and take it to Downtown Disney that evening, where we would be eating dinner. Without our golf cart, we went outside to wait for a Downtown Disney bus, which came about 15 minutes later. We disembarked at the West Side stop and walked to House of Blues. What a busy night! A long line of teeny-boppers snaked around the House of Blues -- apparently some hot ska band was playing that night -- and the line for beepers was down the steps and almost to the main walkway. And did I mention it was cold? It was probably 45 F that evening. So we shuffled and huddled our way through the line, got a beeper, and made a beeline for the Virgin Megastore to warm up. 30 minutes later we returned and waited. The buzzer went off and we waited some more in the noisy, over-crowded entryway. And some more. By the time we get to our table, we're all beat. The traveling, cold, crowds, and noise had caught up with us. Dinner was scarfed down quickly, as we were all starving and eager to get back to the villa. The food was served relatively quickly (especially considering how busy it was) and tasted quite good. My Dad loved his steak, but thought the restaurant was too noisy. After dinner, Dad and I shuffled back to the bus stop while Kim and Chad whisked themselves off to Candy Cauldron for a sweet something. They actually made it back to the bus stop before the Disney Institute bus arrived. Back at the villa, we all went directly to bed. As my room overlooked the living room, any sounds my Dad or I made were audible to the other. I had come prepared for this, however, by bringing my sound machine. After a quick call to Dave to let him know we'd arrived and all was well, I drifted off to sleep with the sounds of a bubbling brook in my ear and a smile on my face. Next: Day Two
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