CAST: "Pinky" AKA PrincessAurora - Computer geek, web designer, & Disney Princess Fiend. Always planning her next trip to The World.
"Dot" – Tech Contractor, 40’s Swing Dancer & Hep Kitten, first timer at WDW – veteran Disneyland Nut.

11-24-01 (Saturday) - We flew into Orlando and stayed at the Holiday Inn East Gate. Since we have to come from California, one whole day is spent traveling. Even if we leave on the first flight out, we don’t get into Orlando until 5:30pm at the earliest. While you are all excited to get to The World, judging by our last trip, I felt it is a waste of money to pay hundreds of extra dollars for a full day when all you are really going to be doing is unpacking, eating and going to bed. By the time you get your bags, your transportation, and maybe stop by the store – it’s 7:30 at least. I decided that I am not paying hundreds for a few hours. So I made reservations at the Holiday Inn East Gate in Kissimmee. (Just a slight note, I had planned to arrive on a Sunday, spent the night at the Holiday Inn and then transfer to WL in the morning. However, since I always fly on free Southwest frequent flyer vouchers and that weekend was the weekend after Thanksgiving, I was told that Sunday was a blackout day. Great. I made the ressies a year and a half ago. So I had to fly in on Saturday, kill time on Sunday and THEN transfer to WL on Monday).

First let me say that we had no problems with flying. Aside from the security wait, we had no personal fears AND I had my new fangled anti-terrorist device that I always carry with me. It’s one of those giant rubber bands that people use to exercise their chest muscles and increase their bust (yea right). Anyway, I figure the one thing a plane has is plenty of ammunition in the form of full cans of soda fore and aft. Have you ever been hit upside the head with a full can of soda? Enough said. Using this as a slingshot, I figured I was soooo set. I may be from California but I’m an industrious little critter. Anyway….

We had an hour layover in New Orleans and let me give you a tip, I LOVE this city but their toilets are WEIRD! Instead of the paper “butt gaskets” normal people put on the seats (I won’t even mention you heathens in the North that don’t seem to believe in any tushie protection when you use the facilities), they have plastic “seat condoms”. It’s this sheath of plastic that covers the seat. You push the button and it scrolls around to get you a clean piece. In case you are think that it is just going in a circle and being reused, it states that new stuff comes out and the old is disposed of. Sit at your own risk.

I arranged for Tiffany Towncar this time and was VERY happy. Our driver Daniel was very nice and funny. He was from Brazil and was working on his English. It was very good although sometimes he said that when customers were making chit chat, because of their regional dialects and how fast some Americans speak, he didn’t really understand what they were saying. He had a fun time helping him out with words and having him tell us about South America.

We made a stop at Publix for a shopping expedition. Since we were going to be spending a whole day at Holiday Inn (which has a fridge & microwave in the room), we figured we would save money by getting our dinner for that night and breakfast food at the store.

We bought a pre-roasted chicken (which came with 4 rolls and 2 side orders) as well as fruit, yogurt, cereal, juice, instant oatmeal, 2 kiddie bowls (I figured my niece and nephew could use them when I was done so I got Pooh and Barbie), 2 spoons and a few snackies. This did us fine until we were ready to go. It was also cheaper than buying your food. I figured we could “rough it” for a day.

The HIEG is next to Celebration (which is right off the main drag in Kissimmee). It’s approx. 20 minutes from Magic Kingdom resorts by cab. I read up on all the off-property places on this board. Of the 2 Holiday Inns, this one seemed to get better reviews. I also wanted something decent but cheap. Hey, if I wanted to pay a lot, I would have just gone straight to the Lodge.

The place was nice. It would be great if you had kids and were on a budget. Not only are the rooms VERY affordable, approx. $35 - $40 per night but they have a mini-food court, a sit-down café, 2 pools, 2 jacuzzi’s, a game area, shuttles to the parks (with limited hours – I would recommend for a full stay that you rent a car). Each room has a microwave and fridge and they have “Kid Suites” that have separate areas within the room for the kids with their own TV and themeing. The room was clean and very decent. Ours was about the size of an All-Star room with the added bonus of having the sink outside of the bathroom and the “kitchen area”.

We started at Marketplace and worked our way over to Pleasure Island. In the spirit of “cheap food” because we’re going to be eating like pigs in WDW – we ate at McDonalds, $5.00 per person. It was fine, it was cheap, it was McDonalds.

We also decided to do a great deal of shopping at World of Disney. We spent a ton of time in here while I bought Christmas presents for my niece and nephew. As I was looking at a large stuffed Mike (the green eyeball from Monsters, Inc.) this man next to me said “What does it do? Doesn’t it say something or do something? Doesn’t it DO anything?” At this point I was clamping my fingers over my lips trying to keep the words in my mouth. But then the woman with him looked at me questioningly and the man asked so the answer flew out of my mouth, “It’s called Imagination. It’s an old-fashioned concept.”

It took my non-tech Mike and walked off. Geez! Not everything needs to do everything for you! Didn’t these people have normal childhoods or did they just forget that the best present in the world for a kid is an empty refrigerator box (or an LARGE empty box). It can be a fort or a spaceship or a castle or whatever you want. IMAGINATION!!!!!! It’s NOT Nintendo.

OK, rant over.

We went to Ghirardelli’s and got ice cream sundaes ($4.50 – 7), then back to the Holiday Inn for leftovers and packing for tomorrows trip to The Lodge!!!! I am so excited I may have an unfortunate accident just like a puppy.

That night we went to the Old Towne section (one HUGE tourist trap) and looked at tacky shops for awhile. It was a nice way to kill time but I think if I do this again I will go into Celebration for dinner. It was only 5 minutes away (looking from the road like the glorious town of Stepford.) Well we ended up getting those old-fashioned pictures done where we dressed up as tacky saloon girls with not enough “Saloon” on the both of us to fill those dresses. I tried sticking rolled up socks under my attributes but it wasn’t working too well since we were wearing tube tops under the dresses for hygiene reasons. Anyone that lived through the 70’s knows what a tube top does to your figure. I gave up. The pictures turned out nice and we got to bed at a decent hour. There is the World waiting for us in the morning.

Next: Day 3 – Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom and Artist Point

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