Our Adventurers: Jason (me) and my girlfriend Jen. I live in New Jersey...she lives in Pennsylvania. My only trip to WDW was on Christmas of 1992. Jen visited WDW for her 1st time just months earlier in May with her parents.

In the Beginning... (The Planning Stage)

Let me start off by saying that although a lot of people don't seem to be able to understand why I love WDW so much, there are also plenty of people out there that do. People say I am obsessed with Disney World...and they are right! It's one of the best addictions in the world though. And since this is my 1st Trip Report, it will be a little longer and more detailed than later ones will.

I had only ever been to WDW once before and that was in 1992 when my parents took my sister and I for a week from Christmas to New Year's on a bus trip. Although this is supposedly the BUSIEST time of year to go, I recall doing quite a bit in 3 days at 3 parks. We were only in Florida for 3 days really due to the 4 traveling days. Back then, Animal Kingdom didn't exist so there were only 3 parks...we spent a day in each.

OK, flash forward to February of 2000. I had been with my girlfriend, Jen, for about 5 months at the time and she had never been to WDW. Soooo...I thought I would look up some stuff on the internet just out of curiosity. I mean, I was flat broke and had not seriously thought about taking a vacation. I checked out the Trans-Bridge website to see what the dates were for their Disney trips. For some crazy reason, this sparked something in me and I told Jen that maybe we could go to Disney World. Sure, I had no money, but I thought I would find a way to get some...well, actually ALOT, in that short amount of time. How many guys who are broke would take their girlfriend of only a few months on an all-expense paid trip to Florida??? Not too many. So to all of the girls who passed up on me...:-p. This was about the time I started getting addicted to the Mouse. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so! It just means I love it and can't get enough...there are thousands of people just like me out there. But anyways, I decided against taking a bus because of the 4 days of traveling that takes away from your time at the parks. And it actually costs more for a bus trip.

So I decided it would be better to fly. Ummmm.....well maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Sure, it's faster and therefore, saves a lot of time. It's only about a 90 minute flight while taking a bus kills 2 days before you get there. But, there was a little problem. You see, Jen doesn't like heights very much and had never been in a plane before so she was afraid of going up in one of those winged monsters. Oh well...now I had to start planning! When to go? Where to stay? How long to stay? A lot of questions that needed to be answered. I set a rough plan date for August 2000. As you'll see, that didn't stick.

I bought 6 books in order to help me plan as well as surfing the web and reading tons of posts on WDW discussion boards. Then I ended up getting a summer job that gave me LOTS of hours, and thus, lots of money in a relatively short amount of time. However, I quickly realized that I wouldn't have nearly enough money by August. Plus, the summer crowds at Disney are horrible . So, I decided on going at the end of November through the beginning of December, when it is supposed to be the least crowded and prices were better. This was also the time when they had decorated for Christmas and had many extra shows for the holidays. The Millennium Celebration, which was their year-long event celebrating the new millenium with new parades and attractions, was also in full swing. In addition to all of that, we would be there for Jen's Birthday!

In May, Jen's parents took her to WDW for a couple of days on their way to visit relatives. As the summer moved along and I was saving my money for my 1st vacation without my family, I became very excited. I had been pricing things so I knew how much it was going to cost. In September, Jen and I headed to AAA to book our trip! Signed, sealed, and delivered...it was official! I bought a Resort Magic Package with a AAA discount. Here are the details:

- 9 Days/8 Nights at Walt Disney World (Nov. 28 - Dec. 6)
- Staying at the All-Star Music Resort (All-Star Movies was our 1st choice but was booked)
- Round-trip Airfare on US Air
- Transfers to & from Orlando Airport via motorcoach
- Unlimited Magic Pass
- Millennium Pin for each of us
- Flex Feature for each of us

I had to pay $200 deposit and the rest was due about a month before we were to arrive in Florida. We chose to arrive early the 1st day and leave late on the last day so we could make the most of our trip. For those that don't know, the Unlimited Magic Pass is a card that is used as your hotel room key, your admission "ticket" to all of the parks, and can also be used to charge all of your purchases on Disney property. It's great because you don't have to carry money around...just 1 little card does everything for you!

All that was left was to make Priority Seating arrangements (reservations) for restaurants. I did that 30-60 days ahead of time. Also was trying to think of what to do on Jen's birthday, which would be our 2nd day in Florida. I decided to order tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party as well. They cost quite a bit but it sounded like fun. I'll explain it later. Over the next 2 months, we waited and anticipated...and then it was time!

Day 1 - Tuesday, November 28th 2000 - Arriving at Disney

Almost a whole year of planning and waiting and now it was time to go. Yippee! I packed all of my crap the night before and barely got any sleep. We had to be at the airport around 5 AM because our flight was leaving at 6:30 AM. I woke up at 3:30 AM and got ready. Then, around 4:30 AM or so, my mom and I went to Jen's to pick her up. My mom was dropping us off since it cost money to park at the airport and I didn't want to have to deal with that. We went to LVI Airport...Jen's parents went along as well to see her off. We got there about 5:00, checked our bags, and went to the gate where our plane was leaving from. Not too many people there yet though...still early. So we all sat down (my mom & her parents included) and watched some small children eagerly anticipating meeting Mickey ALMOST as much as me. Jen & I got some food at the little counter nearby...she had a strawberry danish and OJ while I just drank some OJ. I wasn't really hungry.

At around 6:00, they began boarding people on to the plane. As we walked down the corridor to the plane, I was getting more and more excited! But Jen, who was holding my hand, obviously wasn't. She was VERY nervous...and so she started squeezing and crushing the little bones in my hand because she feared her 1st flight. We went to our seats on the left side of the plane (seats 24AB) and plopped our butts down. I took the window seat because Jen didn't really want to see out the window. During takeoff, things weren't much different. My hand was once again crushed by Jen as the plane sped down the runway and lifted into the air. Her vice-like grip loosened as we got up into the air (THANK GOD)...she was better and began listening to her CDs as I read my Disney books. And for those who have never been in a plane, let me tell you...when you get above the clouds, it is beautiful. It is perfectly blue and the clouds under you look like a sea of cotton.

A bit after takeoff, we got our drinks and a box with a cute little breakfast in it. It included a danish, yogurt, & granola bar. I remember getting crackers, pretzels, peanuts, or some snack mix on my previous plane trip so I was impressed! LoL. But about 15 minutes before landing, , my good mood was temporarily squashed. I had been on a plane once before and I feared this would happen again...OOOOUUUUUUCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! MY EARS!!! I tried chewing gum but it didn't help. A small pain deep in my ears built up to a horrible, stabbing pain in my head that continued down my neck and really hurt! It was due to the pressure changing as we descended to land. It leaves me without the ability to hear very well (almost like my ears are clogged) and frequent popping of my ears for hours afterwards.

We landed around 8:50 AM in Orlando where it was very nice and sunny. Jen had survived her 1st flight! We made our way to the little shuttle train type thing in the airport that took us to the main terminal. We grabbed our bags and went to the Mears desk to get our bus tickets. Mears is the company that has cars/buses that take people from the airport to nearby attractions. We got our tickets, which were pre-paid as part of the package, and went out to our bus. Once everyone was loaded, the bus left the airport and began the drive to WDW property. Our driver was friendly. He told jokes and asked the passengers some Disney trivia as well as telling us about some of the shows and events at WDW. He had a little stuffed Pooh with him and said Pooh was his navigator.

Around 11:30 am, we arrived at Walt Disney World. We had to drop people off at other All-Star resorts first and then we went to our hotel, the All-Star Music Resort & Spa! OK, so I lie about the spa...but that makes it sound a lot more elegant, doesn't it? The resort was made up of bright colors and icons such as HUGE drums, guitars, etc. We left our bags with the baggage people at the front of the hotel, who would bring them to our room later. Then we went inside and it hit me that we were actually here! We checked-in...the line was rather long. Our room was ready for us already. We were given our Key to the World cards (Unlimited Magic Passes), brochures/information guides to all of the parks, and a map to the resort. Our room was in the building all the way in the back, which was a rather long walk from the lobby, food court, and bus stops.

Our building was Country Fair. It was themed to country music and had a huge pair of cowboy boots in front of it. Our room was on the 2nd floor. One good thing was that the smaller, quieter pool was right next to our building. It was in the shape of a piano with piano keys painted on the deck and a statue of Ariel, The Little Mermaid, next to it. I suppose some people consider the All-Stars to be the worst of the Disney hotels but I thought it was really nice.

We went into our room and just relaxed...we were tired. We both called home to let our parents know we made it ok and our bags were brought to our room about 5-10 minutes later. Then, Jen took a nap and I watched TV. All that was on TV was the whole thing about President Bush being elected and the miscounted votes and all of that. A little while later, Jen woke up and we decided we were ready to eat lunch.

We walked to the Food Court which is called Intermission. Along the way, we checked out the other buildings. There are 5 different themes, each with 2 buildings. They are Country Fair, Rock Inn, Jazz Inn, Calypso, and Broadway. Anyways, we went into the Food Court and ate lunch. We both had chicken fingers baskets, which included fries, and bought re-fillable mugs for our drinks. These mugs were only about $10 each and let you refill them whenever you wanted. The chicken fingers were GOOD! Jen and I love fast food so this was great for us. The food court offered a large variety of foods for both breakfast and lunch/dinner. I would probably be satisfied just eating here for every meal during the entire trip.

Next up was a little swim. We went into the larger (main) pool. It was shaped liked a guitar with statues of Disney characters in the middle squrting water. We had some fun chasing each other but this pool is much busier than the smaller one by our building. It is right near the lobby/food court area so most people come here for their swim. We spent about an hour swimming and then got out. The air was a little chilly because the pools are heated. At night, you can see the steam rising off of the water because of it.

We got changed and went to the hotel souvenir shop, Maestro Mickey's. It was a nice little store with a bunch of different Disney souvenirs to buy. We looked around a bit and got our Millennium pins which were included in our package. Sorry to say, we didn't go into the arcade or visit the playground once during our entire stay. Anyhow, next was dinner...

It was about 9 pm. We ate once again in the Food Court. Jen had a personal pan cheese pizza and I had a grilled chicken sandwich. On our walk back to our room, we had a funny moment. As we were passing the main pool, some guy was walking in the opposite direction and he had a little hand puppet. He made the puppet say "hello" to us in a funny voice...LoL. Oh well, we got to our room and went to bed...we had a long day ahead of us.