From mountains, to islands

Our bus stops first at the Wilderness Lodge. We stayed here on our first family trip, in 2003. Man, I love this place. I find myself wishing I were getting off and staying here. From our previous stay, I know it is a unique resort, both majestic and relaxing. Having been raised in Colorado, I love the mountain theming, which is done to perfection (except for actual mountains, of course).

There are garlands and wreaths adorning the Lodge, our first sign of the Christmas decorations that are still up. Becky and I have only visited WDW once before during the holidays, on our early-December honeymoon back in 1990. I honestly don’t remember much about the decorations. Must’ve had something else on my mind at the time. Maybe I will notice the holiday accents more this time.

As the bus pulls away, I look wistfully back at the Lodge. I’ve never stayed at the Polynesian, but I’ve been there to dine, and I’m having trouble right now remembering whether that resort is quite as immersive an experience as the Wilderness Lodge. I hope so.

In a matter of minutes we are pulling past the (themed) security shack and into the Poly’s front drive. Man, this place is nice – palm trees everywhere, tiki torches, greenery – the resort is themed to the hilt! Okay, forget the Wilderness Lodge.

As we step off the bus, our bags are unloaded and placed on a bell service cart. If things go as they should, we’ll see them in our room later. We walk together past the lush greenery to the lobby.

Okay, I do feel like I’ve been whisked away to the islands already. It helps the illusion that the temperature is in the mid-70’s and climbing.

It’s 10:00 when we are at the Poly’s front desk. A young man named Eder greets us with a (cheerful) “aloha,” checks us in efficiently and then provides the six of us with leis.

I put only one room request on our reservation – that we be placed in the Rarotonga longhouse, which is right next to the Great Ceremonial House, which contains not only the front desk but also all of the restaurants, shops, and the monorail station. Rarotonga is also next to the laundry. We’ll be content enough if we can get there, but we’re also hopeful that we can get on the side of the longhouse that has a view of the monorail.

Eder can’t tell me which rooms yet, but he does confirm that we will be in Rarotonga! Yay!

We’re given our Key to the World cards. It’s always a nice feeling each trip to get these in our hands! These combination theme park passes, room keys, charge cards, ship passes, and stateroom keys with our names displayed on them are another sign that the World is open to us.

Magical Express

The video shown on the bus now is awesome. It follows a gang of favorite Disney characters as they go through the things we’ll be going through upon arrival at our resort – luggage handling, check-in, Key to the World card, even cruise passenger check-in at the resort. Captain Hook and Smee are taking the cruise, apparently, in his continued quest to find Peter Pan. Chip and Dale have packed suitcases full of acorns – and are delighted to find that the turn-down service in their resort has left them gold-foil wrapped chocolate acorns.

My favorite moment, predictably, involves Stitch. In the segment where the narrator is talking about checking in, he mentions presenting proper identification – preferably not a Wanted poster like some people he could name. Sure enough, Stitch is at the resort front desk proudly handing the CM his own Wanted poster!

Overall it’s a fun video, and the 35-minute drive passes quickly. I’m used to the buses using the north exit from the airport and taking 528 east to I-4, but with the south departure, we’ve been on 417, so the drive is less familiar to me. As we get closer and closer to the World, the excitement builds in all of us.

And then I catch my first glimpse of a real, actual part of the resort – there’s Tower of Terror up ahead in the distance!

A minute or two later, we are rolling toward and under that glorious archway welcoming us to Walt Disney World. And I finally get a picture of it as we do.

Let’s see… On a Disney bus? Check. Past the welcome archway? Check. Just one more item… Ah, there it is. Purple road sign? Check!

We’re home.

Welcome to the World

In spite of the travel delays yesterday, this trip is already noticeably better than the last. In 2005, I started with such a sleep deficit that I felt like I was in a fog the whole time. This time, I’m relaxed, alert, and not even sweating any of the details like I normally do. I’m already enjoying myself thoroughly, and we’re not even to Disney World yet!

The bus pulls out at 9:05. We’re on our way!!!

Before we’re even off of the airport property, a welcome video starts to play on the overhead screens. I settle back in my chair to watch it… only to be interrupted by my cell phone ringing.

Something wrong at home? Nope. The Caller ID reads “Big Wallaby.” (No, literally, that’s what it says. I know him more by that name than his real one, so that’s how his number’s listed in my directory.) We’d exchanged text messages and chatted online, but have never before talked on the phone.

I answer the phone with, “This is Wombat.”

Wallaby identifies himself and says, “On behalf of the other half of the Marsupial Welcoming Committee, welcome to Walt Disney World!”

I laugh and thank him. Turns out he’s working on Kilimanjaro Safaris today but is on his break, and took time out to call and welcome us. That’s awesome. I tell Wallaby we just set out on the DME bus, so his welcome is perfectly timed. He lets me know again when he will be working this week so we can come and ride with him on Kilimanjaro Safaris.

I hang up with a big grin on my face. We’re not even to Walt Disney World, and we’ve already been officially greeted by a marsupial cast member! This is looking to be one memorable vacation.

Into the hands of the Mouse

Just before 8:30 we check out and bring our bags (all tagged now with our Cruise Line-supplied tags) down to the lobby to take the shuttle back to the airport – not to fly, but to turn ourselves over to Disney. We share the shuttle van with a couple of Southwest Airline pilots, starting the second day of a four-day cross-country itinerary. Naturally Bob, a former Air Force pilot, strikes up a conversation about planes they’ve each flown.

The shuttle drops the pilots off on the A-side departure level, and then heads to the B-side bus level for us. I spot a group of Disney buses parked together at the midpoint of the terminal and have the shuttle drop us off there. We quickly discover we’re not quite in the right place – the new “Disney Welcome Center” is a bit further down. I goofed, so I get another skycap to help us with our bags down to the real Disney area.

In our past trips, Disney Cruise Line was the only Disney entity putting people on buses. Since then, they’ve started Disney’s Magical Express, providing transportation to all resort guests. So what used to be a simple Cruise Line check-in desk on the A-side of the airport has turned in to a fairly substantial operation filling up one end of the B-side. Fortunately we’re early in the day, so there aren’t many other travelers arriving at the moment.

Disney cast members in general are pretty upbeat, but they must seek out the most chipper ones they can find to staff the Welcome Center, what with it being the place of first impressions and all.

A cheerful man named Marshall cheerfully greets us before we ever get to the door. He apparently spots the cruise material we have in hand and cheerfully asks, “Are you cruising today?” Nope, going to the Polynesian. Marshall’s wearing a Mickey glove and holds it up for Benjamin to “give me four.” Hee. Marshall cheerfully escorts us inside, cheerfully directing us to a particular line at the welcome desk. Cheerfully.

I love Disney.

A lady at the queue entrance greets us (cheerfully) (okay, I’m going to stop typing that. Just assume it from now on) and asks, “Are you cruising today?” Nope, going to the Polynesian. We’re directed ahead to one of the desk positions where a cheerful (stop it, Brad) lady named Claudia checks us in. Her first question is, you guessed it, “Are you cruising today?” I do appreciate the effort to make sure we get on the correct bus. Claudia is from Bogota, and as she reads off our names from our documents, Bob loves how she pronounces “Leenda.”

I’m sent as the representative of our party to one particular spot out of a set of a dozen or so roped queues. It feels a bit unusual, since there’s no one else there in any of the lines! Surprise, I’m the next one put on a bus! I’m pointed to a particular Disney’s Magical Express bus. Once outside, I wave the others over with our luggage cart. The bus driver says he’ll load our bags and directs us onto the bus. A “Disney’s Magical Express” logo is on the video screens above the seats. Yay! We’re one step closer!

Today's the day

Sunday, December 30. Beeping, beeping… it’s an alarm clock, but an unfamiliar one. Oh, yeah, we’re in a hotel. In Orlando! We’re going to see Mickey today!!

Even though it’s only 6:00, Brandon, Benjamin & I are immediately awake and, frankly, kind of squirrelly. We can hardly sit still. Becky just rolls her eyes at us and goes to wash her hair.

We are actually at the breakfast buffet before 7:00. (Bob & Linda still beat us there, though.) They’re serving a good mix of breakfast basics. I snare some scrambled eggs, French toast and sausage, and help Benjamin cook a waffle on their automated waffle iron.

After breakfast, we head back to the room for a quick devotional time – it is Sunday, after all! – based on 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I kind of thought we might be doing a lot of eating, drinking, and “whatever” this week!

While still in the room, my cell phone beeps with a new message. My parents have sent us text messages on vacation before, but this one’s not from them. It’s from Big Wallaby!

No, I don’t have six-foot-tall imaginary Australian creatures in my life. Big Wallaby is a guy I met through the wonderful website community of StupidGuestTricks.com. We hit it off immediately there, particularly since my online identity, BRWombat, is also a marsupial. In fact, Wallaby and I together comprise SGT’s semi-legendary Marsupial Welcoming Committee, taking upon ourselves the task and privilege of welcoming newcomers to the site.

He’s also a Walt Disney World cast member.

This is a new experience for me. On our last trip in 2005, I’d met a few CM’s online, but did not know any of them well enough to want to try to meet them – or well enough that they’d care about meeting me. This time there are a few possibilities, and Wallaby’s at the top of the list.

He is a driver for the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, one of our favorite attractions, and his message is simple. He writes to give me his full name, so I can know which driver to ask for!

Note: It is a fact that the Disney company can, at times, be pretty strict with their employees and go to extremes to protect the company’s image. The website where I met Wallaby and other cast members, StupidGuestTricks, is a place where CM’s gather to blow off steam about the idiots they deal with.

While the cast members I mention are wonderful assets to the company, their association with a website like StupidGuestTricks may not be appreciated by their employer. Therefore, to avoid any possible repercussions against them, I will not post any images of them nor reveal their true names, and repeat only such identifying information as they themselves have already shared online.

I realize I could have said all of this with a simple, “Name changed to protect the innocent.” But hey, I’m a lawyer. Why use six words when a hundred will do?

So we know how to get in touch with Wallaby at Animal Kingdom. At the moment, though, we’re still in the Wingate Hotel. One thing at a time.