Okay, Day 1, Monday, December 7.
I left the house a bit after 10 am, arrived at the airport in Baltimore around noon, and had a good chunk of time to kill waiting for 2:45 takeoff. I flew Southwest, with no assigned seating, and did not pay for early bird check-in ($12.50 each way, so I never get it when I'm flying alone), but I did online check-in right at the 24-hour mark and got B1 boarding position, which is excellent under the circumstances. I got a nice aisle seat not too far back. Weather was nice, plane departed on time for Atlanta, where I changed planes to complete the trip. This was my first time at the Atlanta airport, and it's rather hectic, don't think I would want to change planes there ever again. I had hoped to get a quick snack between flights, but didn't have time if I wanted to board the next flight ASAP. For this leg I had boarding position A31 and got a really nice aisle seat, close to the front of the plane and with an empty seat between me and the other person in my row.
We landed in Orlando on time, right around 7:00 pm, and I quickly grabbed my carry-on and headed out. I stopped at the MCO food court to grab a quick snack (pretzel bites from Auntie Ann's) and nibbled on my way to the Magical Express. Unfortunately I was among the first people on the bus, so had to wait a bit; fortunately, they didn't wait for the bus to fill before departing. Pop was the second stop, after Art of Animation, and since I already knew my room number I just went straight there - I was on the second floor of Building 9, very near the park bus stops and overlooking a nice, quiet courtyard area.
Robyn and I had been texting back and forth planning the evening. They were at Hollywood Studios and left the park around the same time I arrived in my room. I had time to unpack what little I brought and play on my phone a bit, and then Robyn knocked on the door. So great to see her again! Simon was off getting petrol, as Robyn put it (fortunately she and I both understand the other's version of English fairly well), so we stopped by the food court to look into those refillable mugs. This is when I discovered they were now $16.99 regardless of how long you're staying, and I knew I wouldn't get my money's worth in two days, especially since I would be spending very little time at the resort.
Simon returned fairly quickly with their friend Louis, and we made our way to Bay Lake to catch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from Top of the World Lounge. Louis is a Disneyland Paris CM working a year at WDW, but amazingly, I had no idea he was French until he told me. His English is almost perfect, and his accent seemed American to me, although once I learned he was French I realized what I had interpreted as an occasional mispronunciation was actually a French accent. Anyway, he's a lot of fun.
Top of the World was quite crowded by the time we arrived, which was not long before the fireworks would commence, so we stood around inside for a bit and then found a spot outside. I must admit, it felt a bit weird looking into MK and knowing I couldn't go in - I really got used to those annual passes and am looking forward to getting one again next October. Wishes was wonderful, as always. Robyn noticed that some fireworks that are normally white were now green, and we wondered whether the color change was for the holiday season.
The fireworks over, we decided to get some food and discussed where to go. We very nearly went to one of those ubiquitous chain places (TGI Friday's, Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, I can't even remember which one it was). Unfortunately they were minutes away from closing, so we ended up at Steak and Shake across the road since it's open 24 hours a day. Good choice, though. We don't have them back home, and the food is very good for the price. Robyn got her usual chicken strips, the guys both got burgers, and I got a Chicago-style hot dog (had a burger for lunch or else I probably would've gotten one of those).
It was rather late by the time we finished. Robyn and Simon dropped Louis off at CM housing first and pointed out the party going on at the entrance - the CMs like to have a good time. Then Simon pulled into a business parking lot across the side street to let Louis out - seems the Disney people are very strict about who can and cannot enter the CM housing, so Simon could not pull even a little bit into their driveway. So I can't even tell you what the CM housing looks like because it was too dark and we never got close enough to see anything.
They dropped me off at Pop next, by which time I was quite ready to call it a night. Next up, a little resort hopping, lunch at Olivia's, and MVMCP.
I've already posted all my photos from Monday. Below is a photo of the little courtyard outside my room. Very nice. And even though there were cheerleaders staying in adjacent rooms, I heard almost no noise at all. Also a photo of a heron (or egret) just wandering around near the Pop Century park bus stops.
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