So it turns out that six continuous days at theme parks is not an attainable goal. We only made it three. When we stayed at Disneyland for five days, we managed to do five consecutive days, but we were staying on the resort, and the hotels are much closer to the parks there than here, so it allowed us to quickly and easily return to the hotel for an hour or two in the afternoon when we needed to. That’s not really possible here, at least where we’re staying. After three straight days of massively crowded Disney World, not to mention a day of travel and jet lag, and that was it for me. I’ve caught that cold, I have no energy, and I am exhausted. EXHAUSTED. We decided we’d take the day off, eat some good food outside the park, do some shopping and catch a movie. So we went to Panera for lunch (my favorite! We saw it from the freeway last night) and then drove through an insanely crowded outlet mall parking lot. Not wanting to deal with more insane crowds, we turned on the GPS and drove straight to an abandoned, boarded up movie theater. Not quite what we’d hoped for. So we knew for sure there was a theater in Downtown Disney, so we decided to give it a try. We drove down there, through three full parking lots, then finally found a spot. We walked across to the theater and again, there was a massive line. So instead, we tried to navigate the crowds there for some shopping but immediately regretted it. So we gave up and drove back to the hotel.
We just wanted to crash and watch a DVD, and since we’d seen a DVD machine in the lobby of the hotel, figured there were players available for rent. We stopped and asked, and they said that the studio rooms did not have the DVD players. So I talked with the front desk and got us moved to a refurbished room (apparently they’re in the middle of an upgrade) that had a DVD player. So before we left, we rented a movie from the machine, and then gathered up our stuff and headed to our new room.
It is nicer here. The floors and countertops in the kitchen and bathroom have been redone, and more thought was given to the needs of a hotel guest, with more towel racks and shelves in the shower, and this room actually had the stationery and the Guest Services book, two things sorely lacking from the previous room. We’re on the 2nd floor, so we have a balcony instead of an enclosed, jail-like patio. We’re on the corner, and the TV is a flat screen.
There is, of course, no DVD player. When I called back, the lady that answered the phone said there were no DVD players in the studios. I asked how we could get one, and she said we’d have to upgrade our room and we’d have to talk to reservations for that. She transferred me, and they were closed for the holiday. So overall this is better, but now we’ve rented a movie for nothing, and are watching a marathon of “Bones” on TNT.
Tomorrow we’ll try the Magic Kingdom again, in hopes that the crowds will be a bit smaller.
Suite Story Productions 