We made it into Orlando yesterday, early and ready to go. We got to our resort at Old Key West by Noon, had an early check-in, and then after dumping our luggage in our room, went to Downtown Disney to pick up our Annual Pass renewal using our DVC discount. So we are set for another year.
We then went to Fultons for lunch. I must say that they had drastically cut down on the number of selection for their lunch menu. The food was still good, but not as varied as I remember. The server told us that we can still order the items that was on the old menu, but who can remember? I had the lobster bisque and the seafood cob salad. They were delicious. And with the 30% discount during lunch for DVC members, there's no reason to complain.
After lunch, we headed straight to the Yacht/Beach Club Convention Center for the early registration. Unlike 2 years ago when the early registration was held here (last year it was at the Contemporary), the registration went very smoothly and fast (I was in line for more than an hour 2 years ago). They had a lot of cast members working the registration desk this year. And it is a rather lengthy process because they go through every single items that you have ordered, all the items that you are supposed to get with your registration, etc... So depending on how many pins you ordered for the event, it could take a while with one of the cast members. Still, there's zero complaint about the whole process. I just hope that the sculpt figure and pins that I had requested to be shipped home gets there. In any case, this is a picture of the registration area later in the day, with hardly any lines.
As usual, there was a pin trading area next to the registration area. You know us pin traders, we can't wait to start trading and looking for that one pin that we have been searching for, high and low. The pin trading area was packed! In fact, some of us (me included) had to sit on the floor and do our pin trading there, because there was just not enough tables and chairs. They did later on added more tables and chairs when they realized that they aren't sufficient.
Here are a couple of pictures of the pin trading area.
I think, more than anything else, what is also a lot of fun is the contacts and friendship that is made during one of these meets. It is certainly true for me. There was a couple of guys from The Netherlands, who flown in specifically to do this event. They were bursting with Disneyland Paris pins, and a lot of people were eager to trade with them, including us. And they were very nice and talked to us for quite a while, during which they offer to buy us pins from Disneyland Paris. We counter by offering to buy them WDW pins, so we exchange info and promises to keep in touch. So already this might turn out to be a rather fruitful event already. And this also is turning out to be a very enjoyable event since we now know a lot more people, not only because of people we recognize from previous events, but also because of the people we know of from the Windy City Pin Traders group that we have been going to for the past few months. A group of us went out to dinner at Cape May as a short break from pin trading and we had a blast of a time.
Note: I'm a bit disappointed with the amount of 'sea food' offerings at Cape May. Other than the clams, muscles and the fried fish, there's nothing else to qualify this as a 'beach' themed buffet. Don't get me wrong, the food tastes quite good (especially the fried tilapia), but I was expecting a seafood extravaganza. I was wrong. I don't think I'll make the trip back for dinner here again. There's no compelling reason for it. Still, since we had our dinner reservation between 5:30 amd 6:30 pm., we got our DVC discount of 10% (love those discounts!).
We then went back to the Convention Center to join the monthly Pin Trading night. This is where those who did not register for the Pin Celebration can also trade and mingle with those who did. I also took the opportunity to photograph the pins on display. These are all the pin being offered at this pin event.
We left around 8:15 pm because I was beginning to wilt. Today, the first day of the Pin Celebration, will be at the World Showplace at Epcot. There will be more freebies, plenty of pin games, and more pin trading to be had. So it will be a full day. In between, I hope to sneak out and do Soarin' and other attractions if time permits. If I'm not too tired, we might even stay for Illuminations later this evening.
Zz.
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