SHIZAM! I was pretty groggy in the AM today, and overwhelmed at the size of the Earmarked conference. A little OJ however was all I need to snap out of it, and then the speakers began. First up was Randy Garfield (President, Walt Disney Travel Company), followed by the very inspiring Michael Abrashoff (Former Naval Commander).

After the conference Dan took be over to Property Control - which is like the Salvation Army of Disney. It's where all the damanged or discontinued merchandise goes on sale for HUGE discounts! Just check out the recipt below:

I picked up a copy of the Wishes CD and the Haunted Mansion CD. Both were perfect aside for cracked cases :)

It was the first time I ever got a peak at the 'life behind the Magic Kingdom'.

Then it was off to Epcot for Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, lunch at the Land and some monorail shooting around future world. We toured worldshowcase, took in the Malestrom, and El Rio de Tiempo (spelling) before finishing off the evening by watching Illuminations.

I'm exausted, so it's off to bed, because tomorrow we're doing it all again :)

WOW! What a blast today was! After some monorail mishaps, I met up with Dan at the Magic Kingdom for a bit of a Disney photo safari. It was most likely the hottest day on earth today, but the blazing sun did little to detur us in our quest for disney fun.

Amidst the shutters flying, we managed to hit the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Mickey's Philharmagic, Peter Pan's Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the Walt Disney World Railroad, Tomorrowland Transit Authority and topped it all off watching Wishes on Main Street USA.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little worn out and my feet are killing me (time for some new flip flops), but I'm looking forward to doing it all over again tomorrow. You would think this is keeping my Disney addiction at bay, but this surprise jaunt is only fueling my fire for coming back in October. I've gotta say it, I frickin love this place :)

Pictures up shortly

Well, apparently I lied - I will be posting more before I leave :)

Our Cirque tickets showed up today :)

That is right, Sunday morning I head south to the mouse house to attend the Earmarked Convention. From the amount of in-flight entertainment I've amased you'd think I was flying to the moon and back. I've squished some movies to fit onto compact flash cards, and have the following ready for viewing on my Pocket PC:

Star Wars
Super Troopers
The Fifth Element
Shaun of the Dead
An episode of CSI
An episode of Fraggle Rock
and an episode of the Muppet Show

This is of course in addition to all the games on my pocket pc, my gameboy, my laptop and mp3 player (not 100% sure if i'm bringing that or not). Dunno if I'll get to post again before I leave, so here's wishing me a safe trip :)

See you all from the mouse house...

Though it still needs some fine tuning here and there, the new layout is up (YEEEAAAHHH!). Not only that, but now some of those links on the menu bar ACTUALLY work! Go ahead and see for yourself. Trips & pics will take you to trip reports and photos, and news will take you right back here. Only 5 days left until I head out for the Earmarked conference. Won't have all that much time to play, but it'll be a nice teaser of what's to come in October.

Time to start thinking of some Halloween costumes....

you may have noticed things looking a bit odd here. I am in the process of working on a new layout, and have adjusted the news background to match it. Hopefully the new layout will be up before I leave for WDW next week. Until then, please excuse the mess...

I got a very friendly call from Don over at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. He is our Disney appointed itinerary planner/helper type guy. He was really nice, and cracked me up by referring to our vacation as a 'safari'. Don clued me in to alot of the perks of being a concierge guest, and has now pretty much cemented the fact that we shall be for all upcoming Disney vacations.

In addition to walking me through the check-in process, and booking our Sunrise Safari - Don also confirmed our Cirque De Soleil (do I ever spell that right?) tickets, which I've tried to make out on the seating chart below.


We are section 204, row CC, seats 1 & 2. I can't really tell on this chart if the seat numbers go right to left - or left to right, but I do beleive we will be sitting where the right arrow is pointing. If the numbers to in fact go left to right, then we'll be over by the left arrow. Either way, the seats are great and I am really looking forward to the show.

Big sloppy thanks to Dan (bamboo7) for hooking Tim up with his cast member discount. Though Tim & Hil's first choice was unavailable, Dan still got them a great deal at the Caribbean Beach Resort. I think that last thing on their checklist now is park passes, but those should be along shortly (along with Evelyne's).

WDW 2004 here we come!!!!!!!!!

9 days until I leave for the Earmarked convention :)

Time to start taking care of the rest of the details. Ordered passes for Evelyne, paid the balance on our hotel - and left a message with the 'Disney Itinerary Planners' to book the Sunrise Safari. Oops, forgot about Cirque! How to squeeze all this stuff in!?!

Here's the current lowdown:

Saturday, October 23rd
Check in. Relax for a bit, maybe take a swim. Check out the resort with dinner at Jiko's possibly. Maybe some Downtown Disney in the PM

Sunday, October 24th
Magic Kingdom maybe?

Monday, October 25th
Full day at Epcot, with lunch at the Garden Grill

Tuesday, October 26th
Sunrise Safari in the AM
Day at Animal Kingdom
Rest at resort
Magic Kingdom Halloween Party at night

Wednesday, October 27th
Relax, mini-golf
Downtown Disney
Cirque at night

Thursday, October 28th
Full day at Magic Kingdom
Halloween Part at night with Tim & Hilary

Friday, October 29th
Segway tour at Epcot in the AM
Day at Epcot

Saturday, October 30th
Undecided
Head home :(

well, it's a conference - so it won't be all play, but looks like I'll be heading to Walt Disney World end of the month to attend Disney's Earmarked Conference. Gonna be long days, but at least I'll nab a few more Disney days this year :)