My WDW Trip

Day 1(1/11)

At 5:30 AM, my dad, girlfriend and I left my house in western Pennsylvania for an hour drive to Pittsburgh International Airport. We arrived at the airport around 6:40, and parked in the long-term lot. We got our bags and took a small bus to the curb-side check in to get our larger bags put in the plane's storage.

We arrived at our gate around 7:10, and the plane was set to take off around 8:00, so we grabbed a quick bite at a donut place, and came back for boarding.

We got on the plane, and prepared for take-off. Before the plane took off, I took 1 benedryl tablet so I could sleep through the flight, because I'm not good at flying. I dozed off about 10 minutes into the flight, and before I knew it, I opened my eyes, looked out the window, and saw sunny Florida! We officially landed in Florida at 9:50 and I was still a little tired, but i figured I could sleep on the bus ride to the hotel.

Weeks before hand, my dad reserved a small van to take us to our hotel, Port Orleans Riverside, so we wouldn't have to ride all around WDW for 2 hours before we arrived at the hotel, and screaming kids aren't his favorite thing in the world. So, we had a private van driven by the world's greatest van driver, Mike. He told us stories from past drives he's taken, and people he has driven to WDW, as well as legends of the Orlando International Airport. Very friendly service from him!

We arrived at Port Orleans Riverside Resort at 11!5 after a WONDERFUL 35 minute drive.

We went to the front desk of our beautiful resort and were told our room would not be ready till noon, oh well no problem. We could go get a bite to eat at the Food Court. We all got Ice Cream to snack on sitting on the porch overlooking the lake, and just talked about what our plans were for the week. It was near noon, and we went back to the front desk. We were asked if we wanted a golf cart ride to our room, so we decided we should. We got our bags, went out to the front of the hotel again, and there was a golf cart waiting for us. The man behind the wheel put our bags in the back for us, and drove us to our room.

We relaxed for awhile, and my girlfriend and I said we wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon, and my dad declinded. He would rather sleep than ride one of the world's tallest speed slides with two crazy teenagers.

We expected Typhoon Lagoon to be packed because of it being a Saturday, and we were exactly correct. It was packed. Thank god we had park hopper plus passes, or we would have been in an hour line for tickets. We saw there were very long lines for everything, so went went in the huge wave pool. Let me tell you something, those waves are out of control. We stayed in it for about 20 minutes, and got in the hour 20 minute line for the Humunga Cowabunga Speed Slide. We waited, and waited, and waited, but we finally made it to the front of the line. We waited all that time for one of the weakest speed slides ive ever been on, and I was totally disappointed. I wasted 80 minutes of my life waiting for that?!?! We decided to go back to the hotel and relax for awhile before going to the Magic Kingdom in the evening.

We rested for about 2 hours, and left for the Magic Kingdom at about 5 o'clock. We finally arrived at about 5:25, and were greated by yet another huge crowd.

We took the train to Frontierland and got in the 45 minute line for Splash Mountain. The Line seemed alot quicker than 45 minutes because my girlfriend and I talked to another coaster enthusiast who was next to us in line. Quite an interesting guy. The ride itself was wonderful. A very good way to start off your week at WDW.

We walked around for a bit, and took in a show of the Country Bear Jamboree in the process. I still find it very enjoyable.

Lines for mostly every ride were over an hour long, so we got a fastpass for the Haunted Mansion for 8:00, and got dinner at Cosmic ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland. By the time we got back over to The Haunted Mansion, it was time to ride. This is one of my favorite dark rides, always very fun.

By the time we got off, the time was nearing for the nightly parade, so we went directly over to Space Mountain, which had a 45 minute wait, but we figured it wouldn't get much better, so we got in line. Line stopped a few times for about 5 minutes, causing a 65 minute wait for this ride. Oh well, I still loved it.

It was now 9:25, and the park was open till 11, so my dad went back to the hotel leaving me and my girlfriend at the park. People were beginning to depart from the park, so it was time for some good rides.

We began with a 5 minute wait for the Astro Orbiter, which also gave us an excellent view of the fireworks! Followed by that was walk-ons for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and WED Way People Mover.

We also rode the Barnstormer, Peter Pan's Flight, Pirate's of the Carribean and Aladdin's Magic Carpet before calling it a night and heading back to the hotel.

My dad was still laying down watching TV, but as soon as my girlfriend and I layed down, we amde him turn it off, because tomorrow would be a very long day, beginning at 6 AM, with a day at Disney Studios Florida.

I can't wait to read why your day at MGM started so early...

*** Edited 2/11/2004 5:00:31 AM UTC by dexter***