Sunday 27 May, 2001
The Cast:
Sean Yoda age 36
Pamela ‘meeko’ age 32 ½
Biscuit Meeko stuffed raccoon age 5 1/2
Brer Bunny (Biscuit’s stuffed buddy) age
1 ½
Sunday started out without Mickey. I had set the wakup for 9am but got up around 8am on my own, showered & began to pack up our stuff. This would be the taking it easy day, getting our things ready to go and a breakfast before heading out to do last minute shopping.
Mickey finally called at 9am.. this time Sean picked it up and seemed to wait forever for Mickey to finally say something. I think their system needs some work. =) Anyway, we were packed and out by 10am or so. We drove over to the front of the lobby and went in with our refillable mugs in tow.
First thing was checkin at Boatwrights. A nice light breakfast would do the trick. No need for a buffet or refillable skillet. There would be a wait, so they handed us a pager and told us it would be about 15 minutes. So we refilled our mugs then went to wait in the Cotton Co-op. Sipping on our drinks and chatting some, the pager let out one *beep* and was silent. We looked over to the desk where they were calling out parties and saw they were seating other groups but not us. A few minutes later, it was our turn and the hostess asked about our pager. "Doesn't work?" she asked. Well, not really.
We were seated and given menus and asked if we wanted to start with some coffee or something. I had seen the menu a couple times before out in the hall as we had often passed the restaurant. So I asked for the Brer Rabbit juice as well as coffee. While our server was getting that for us, we looked at the menu. I saw a few things I liked, but being a potato junky, had to find something that would work.
I must say that the Brer Rabbit juice is excellent. Better than Kona but not nearly as good as Boma's. I ended up ordering the Eggs Benedict and Sean got the Prime Rib scramble. His was a bed of potatoes with meat & gravy covering the top and served with bacon and eggs. It looked good but sean had said it was pretty meaty. Mine looked fine, but I must say that the poached eggs were a little over-done. Ok.. they were way over-done! =) Sean filled out a comment card but forgot to mention this I later found out.
We had a leisurely breakfast & our server was very nice & attentive. While Sean stepped away from the table for a minute, some people were seated at a table near us and one of the ladies had a raccoon backend on her back! Well I *know* who's backend that was and I asked the server.. "Did you see that lady?? Is that Meeko on her shirt?" She actually went over and checked and came back to say it was indeed Meeko. She then asked if I would like her to find out where she got it, and I said "Um.. sure, if you don't mind.." and she did! It turns out the lady got the shirt at Disney-MGM Studios back when the film came out. The t-shirt has the front of Meeko (shoulders up) on the front side and the back side of Meeko (shoulders down to the tip of his tail) on the back side. I just loved it! I told Sean when he got back and he's like "uh-oh.. another Meeko thing!" Well, so now there are 2 t-shirts I am on the hunt for. The "Bottomless Pit" Meeko shirt I saw on eBay and never able to win and now this one. Sigh...
Well, after finishing my breakfast it was my turn to recycle all that coffee and when I came back, there was a paper bag sitting on the table where my plate would have been. I asked Sean what it was and he said "a brownie." It seems our server had kindly given us a brownie to take on our flight with us. WOW! She came by and said "Congratulations!" and for us to have a safe flight.
After sticking the bagged brownie in the shaded area of the front seat, we drove over to Downtown Disney Marketplace. Our first stop was at Studio M where Sean put together a couple "Walt Disney World Forever" CDs. While there, I went by to check out a couple lanyards the CMs there wore and one of the ladies asked if we had gotten the Memorial Day pin yet. The LE size was 3500 and Sean figured we had time, so once he paid for the CDs we headed over to WoD (World of Disney).
Over at WoD, they were sold out of their Memorial Day pins, and I asked a fellow over at the Info desk where we could find some. He suggested the parks of course, especially Pin Central at Epcot and he said there *might* be some left at the Boardwalk. We really didn't have a lot of time left, so after paying for the pins we got at WoD and the photo album I just *had* to have for our Honeymoon photos (it's silver and black with a Castle medallion embedded in the cover and the pages hold 200 photos and come with a silver gel pen to write down photo discriptions next to each photo) we drove over to the Boardwalk.
Sean was smooth. He drove in through the gate, parked, and we walked down to the Boardwalk area. After looking around some, we spotted the pin cart. The lady there working was playing cute with us. When I asked if she had any more Memorial Day pins she said no... but then.... She said she was being careful and guarding against people who who buy & come back later to buy again. The purchase limit was 2 pins a person. So we were able to buy our pins and we also picked up one of the new Epcot World Showcase spinner pins. Super neat! We feel very lucky as the pin was very nice.
After that, Sean decided we would have time to do the Paragon Challenge. Paragon is the posting name of one of our RADP (rec.arts.disney.parks) pals that works over in Mexico. Sean & I took the ferry over to the International Gateway and walked over to Mexico. As we passed Canada, I reminded Sean we hadn't gotten a Beaver Tail this trip at all... He suggested we might stop on the way back to the ferry. So now I worried about the offereing for Paragon. We didn't have a drink for her. We knew it was something from Fountain View Cafe, but I couldn't remember. I wanted to say it was like rasberry mocha something, but rather than getting the wrong thing, we didn't get anything. Hopefully she wouldn't be too upset. We wanted to give her a button from our wedding at least.
I wasn't sure where exactly she worked, only that it involved one of the shops there. The shops in Mexico are laid out like a public Market, so it's anyone's guess where she would be. Sean spotted a fellow, Gustavo, and we asked him if he knew Paragon. Of course we gave him her real name, and he said yes and that she wasn't there. We told him we had something to give her and he said he would leave it for her on her desk. He placed the button in a bag and offered some paper for us to leave a note.... So I wrote a quick note and he stapled it onto the bag and said she'd be in on Tuesday. Happiness! =)
So that over, we headed out of Mexico and back to the International Gateway. It was about 2pm and we needed to get going. We made a quick stop in Canada though. I chatted with some really nice CMs. While Sean was at the bathroom, one of the guys asked me to go up to Christine, one of the CMs there and say "You look familiar. Haven't I met you before?? Maybe at Lake Louise last summer?" LOL. I told him I didn't feel right doing it but maybe Sean would do it. Sean was walking up and the CM asked "that guy in the Star Wars shirt??" I said yes, (we were wearing matching t-shirts as usual).. He went up to Sean & I giggled because Sean wouldn't do it either.
Sean & I wondered if anyone knew Fifty. None of them looked like the girl I met there last December who knew our RADP pal Kevin, but I asked just the same & got the blank stares I expected. Sean tried using Kevin's RADP name and still got nowhere. I went ahead and ordered a apple & cinnemon-sugar Beaver Tail from Christine and a couple Fruitopias.
The Beaver Tail was just as wonderful as I remember it and the CMs there so incredibly friendly. I really hated having to leave in such a rush. We went off to hop on the ferry. It was funny as we were walking along the CMs over in England were begging us to come visit them. Next time of course! (Right after we buy a couple more Beaver Tails) and then when we dashed down to the ferry, the CM there recognized us from before. "Back so soon?" she asked. "Just had to get our Beaver Tail before we left," I replied. It's just not a trip to WDW anymore without one. Last December we had like 3! =)
We finished the Beaver Tail before we got to the dock. Once back at the Boardwalk we scampered to the car & drove to the airport. I was really bummed to leave the World. On our way out, I took a photo of the last Disney thing I saw. The "Buckle Up" sign that I like so much, (and yes it is a LE pin.. and I have 2 of them! One I keep and one on my lanyard, waiting for the right pin to trade).
The flight back was almost uneventful. We turned the car in, headed to the gate counter to check in. We were in the fourth boarding group.. numbers 95 and 96 I think. Since we were so late, we figured we might as well check our overhead bags on to Oakland and tried not to worry about them. Once in Oakland our bags (and several others) didn't make it to Oakland it seemed. We figured they didn't make the connection in San Diego and the guy who processed our lost luggage suggested it would be on the next flight. The next flight to Oakland from San Diego was noon on Monday! Argh! So we left with only our backpacks.
We stopped off at Albertson's for milk and were going over what all was in our bags. In my suitcase was the trader bag & the newly traded pins and the Magic Carpet of Aladdin pins. In Sean's bag were the special buttons Lani made for us that we took off right before we passed through the securtiy gate at the Orlando Airport. Sean also had his recharger for his cel phone and the device to recharge his laptop in his bag. Sigh.
All of a sudden while shopping in the dairy case, the guy from Southwest calls to say they found our luggage. It *had* made our flight & I guess someone just misplaced them. So by 1am we had our luggage delivered to our door and were finally settling in for a well-deserved rest.