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Katie Gentile -- August 2000 -- Walt Disney World (PR)August 8-15,2000 Day 0 - August 7, 2000 Who:
Background: We began planning this trip back in March to celebrate the adoption of our 6 children, which should have been final by now. It's not yet, but we are in the last stages (yeah, heard that before!) and we are not postponing! And we'll each be wearing our "Celebrate Adoption" pins each day. I am the super planner and I have been driving JL nuts with more WDW info than any human could want. I have read the Unofficial Guide, and the Official Guide w/Kids from cover to cover. I also perused Biernbaum's (hated it) and Rita Aero's guide (didn't care for this one either). Wanted to check out a Passporter, but never got around to it. I discovered RADP back in March and have been reading voraciously, sometimes well into the wee hours. I'm obsessed. This is our first real vacation as a family and the first time to WDW for the kids. JL and I were there on a belated honeymoon July, 1992. I was also there in August, 1988 and for my first trip when I was 13 during Christmas/New Year's week of 1975/1976. We have over-dosed on Disney videos this past week just to bone up. We've seen Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Pocahontas, Lady and the Tramp, Oliver and Company (did not like this one - turned it off 1/2 way through), and Cinderella.the ones we hadn't seen or hadn't seen in quite a while. This is our first on-site stay and we have selected the Polynesian. I faxed off our room request a few days back, and the only request we made was for connecting rooms so hubby and I don't have to spend 7 nights and 8 days totally separated. Trust me, Mom has a much better time (and so does everyone else) when we get connecting rooms. We've learned the hard way that asking for adjoining rooms is not good enough. Think it takes a lot to take eight people to Walt Disney World for eight days? It didn't seem like a lot until we put it into all the suitcases. Here is the list: 8 "G" hats, 64 t-shirts, 64 sets of underwear, 128 socks (or 64 pairs of socks depending on how you count it), 14 swim suits (some of us have backups), 8 pairs of pajamas, 16 pairs of shorts, 8 beach towels, 3 bottles of sun block, 2 bottles of shampoo and conditioner, 2 boxes of Zip-Loc bags (1 quart size, 1 gallon size), 1 box of baby wipes, 3 water bottles, 3 spray bottles with fans, 8 pairs of sunglasses and backup eyeglasses, $10 in quarters, in case we have to do some laundry, 3 autograph books and "fat" pens. And if that wasn't enough, we packed some breakfast and snack items. The theory here is that we can save some money and morning prep time. Also, when the food is gone, there will be room for souvenirs!: 8 plastic bowls, 20 plastic spoons, 2 bags of cereal, 36 Rice Krispie Treats (butterscotch), 48 packages of peanut butter crackers, 30 Fruit Rollups (Disney shapes), 36 Pop Tarts, 36 Chewy Granola Bars, 8 Sunny Delight bottles, 30 Capri Sun pouches, 2 lbs of animal crackers. One small suitcase on wheels for each child, slightly larger shared suitcase for Mom and Dad to share, 4 carry-on type suitcases with bathroom items and miscellaneous stuff. Our flight leaves at 10am. We're very excited. No one wants to go to bed, but we finally convince the kids that the sooner they hit the sack, the sooner tomorrow will come. Day 1 of 8 - August 8, 2000 Plan: Arrive and check-in, MK and character dinner @ Crystal Palace, followed by E-night Ok, we haven't even left the house yet and I am already panicked. What if they have sold out of E-night tickets before we arrive. I wish they would let you buy them ahead of time. Oh well, we'll just have to take our chances. The car is packed and we head to Dulles at 8:00am. We figure this will give us plenty of time to make our 10:10am flight since the airport is only 15 miles away. Of course we neglect to figure in rush hour traffic. No problem, we get to the parking lot in plenty of time to get to the terminal with about 40 minutes to spare. Then we wait for the shuttle bus to the terminal. And we wait. And we wait. Finally a bus arrives and I start breathing again. We check in for a flight and grab a few breakfast sandwiches from the Burger King at the terminal. This is our first over-priced meal of the trip, but who cares? We're on our way to DisneyWorld!! We are flying in a 737 which means 3 seats on each side of the center aisle. Ok, but there are 8 of us. So JL and I take the aisle seats in row 6 with 2 kids next to each of us, while Ashley and Sandy take the window and middle seats in row 7 (E & F). There is a gentleman sitting in seat D and he graciously gets up for the girls to get in. My girls are not shy and immediately inform him that they are headed for WDW. Well, this guy was fabulous with them. He and his family are headed there too, of course (wasn' t everyone on the plane going there?!?) and he spends most of the flight talking with them about the different parks and what they might see without spoiling any surprises. He was great! We arrive at MCO on time, get our luggage and head over to the MEARS desk. Now, I'm a bit nervous about this as I have been reading on radp how Tiffany is soooo much better and Mears is yucky and all, but with the 8 of us, we decided it would probably be best. And it was fine. There was only one other couple on our van and they were going to the Grand Floridian. We got dropped off at the Poly first, so it worked out great for us. However, on the van, we have a mini-tragedy. My dad had gotten us all matching baseball caps (gray with a green "G" on the front) similar to ones my family had when I was a kid on vacation. The "G" stands for our last name and it's a great way to keep track of everyone. Well, as soon as we are on the van, I realize that I have lost my hat. Yikes. Luckily it was me and not one of the kids, I guess. Anyway, if this is the worst thing that happens all trip, we'll be just fine! Check-in at the Poly took longer than I expected, but everything went fairly smoothly. The kids spend the time watching the Macaws and doing some art project on the far side of the lobby. I wander back and forth between them and JL doing the check-in thing. Our CM, Jimmy, is new to this area and hasn 't gotten his ears yet, but he does ok. There is some confusion over which passes get charging privileges (Mom and Dad only please), but eventually it' s all sorted out. Our rooms are connecting, but not ready yet. Jimmy says we can have rooms right now but they would be adjoining not connecting. We say "no thanks". E-tickets are still available, so we get 8 for this evening's event. Since all our stuff is with Bell Services, we head upstairs to Trader Jack's to get a hat for me. In this sun I need my sunglasses and a hat so as not to melt. We purchase a WDW 2000 hat ($16) and Isaac decides he would like an autograph book after all, so he gets that as well. JL also trades in our certificates for our "free" millennium pins and promptly attaches his to his "G" hat. Now we're set to go. We head to the monorail (orange) for our first glimpse of the Kingdom. Before we even get through the turnstiles, Hook is out signing autographs. The girls and Isaac dig their autograph books out of Dad's backpack and head on over. They are thrilled to see a character so soon. (They do not know we are headed to a character dinner later). Upon going through the turnstiles, we find that Alice's UMP is void. Uh oh. With all the changes to the id's with charging privileges, etc., Jimmy gave us the wrong one for Alice. The very nice CM (didn't get her name) gave us a provisional card for the day so we don't have to return immediately to Poly to get it fixed. It's now 2:30pm and we decide to hop on the RR for a circuit of the park. We take the full route back to Main Street and start our sightseeing. On a tip from a radp TR, we head into the camera shop to see if any characters are lurking about. Sure enough, we find Max, Pluto and Timon in the back room and no one else around. More signatures. This is great! It's extremely warm, so we get 8 waters ($20) and make our way through the crowds lined up for the Magical Moments parade. I have to say that JL and I are not big parade people, but the kids like them, so we make it as far as the bridge to Tomorowland and watch the floats go by. Alice and Ashley are thrilled at their first sighting of Mickey and Minnie, not to mention all the other characters that pass by. Since we're already headed towards Tomorrowland, we jump on TTA for a whirl. The blackout in Space Mountain sort of freaks out Ashley and Sandy, but they recover well. I would have prepared them for it if I had known it was coming. Next it's on to Carousel of Progress. I saw this as a very small tyke at the New York World's Fair and I love this show/ride. We wait about 10 minutes and it's about 3/4 full. From here, we wander back towards the castle, via the rose garden and go through the castle to look at the mosaics. We stroll Fantasyland and into Mickey's Xmas Shoppe to start looking for the inevitable Xmas ornament. We decide on a bell with the castle on top and Tinkerbell as the clapper. We'll wait to purchase this until later in the trip. Then it's time for the obligatory photo of the kids in front of the castle. We arrive a bit early for our 5:15pm PS at Crystal Palace. While we are waiting for our table, Alice spies Eeyore, Pooh, Piglet and Tigger in the dining room. Her squeals draw the attention of the others, and now everyone is excited about dinner. We're seated within 10 minutes of our scheduled time, 2 tables of 4 each right next to each other. We split up in our usual formation.a girl table and a boy table. Our server, Michael-Jay, tells the kids how the character meets will work and then we head for some food. The selection is fine and the food is more than adequate. We are visited by Piglet, then Eeyore, Tigger and finally Pooh. The kids get plenty of time with the characters and all get hugs and the girls and Isaac got their signatures. The characters made a fuss because the girls had matching Disney shirts with Pooh and Piglet, the boys had matching shirts with Pooh and Tigger, Daddy had a Tigger shirt and Mommy had an Eeyore shirt on, so we had everyone covered! After dinner, we head to Aloha Isle so Daddy can get his first Dole Whip of the trip. He's addicted, what can I say! We make our way back to the turnstiles to go back to the Poly to unpack. On our way down Main Street we run into the Barbershop Quartet.another memory from 1975/1976. We decide to take the resort launch and have a lovely ride. Our rooms are on the first floor of Tokelau (1933 and 1934). We put the boys in one room and the girls and Mom and Dad in the other. Sandy and Alice share a bed, with Ashley on the daybed. In the boys room we put Isaac and Raymond in each of the beds and Chris on the daybed. This will make bedtimes a lot less aggravating (he's touching me, you took the covers, etc.). The air does not seem to be working in the boys' room. JL calls Guest Services and they promise to send engineering over to check it out right away. By 8:30pm we're headed back to MK for E-Ticket night. We make a brief stop in Trader Jack's so Raymond and Chris can get autograph books. Once on Main Street, we exchange our tickets for wristbands and head onto Main Street just as MSEP is getting started. A helpful CM suggest we get around the crowd by taking the RR to the other side of the park. We do just that and get off at Toontown. We walk to Fantasyland and take a walk on to IASW. This is another memory from early childhood at the World's Fair and a must for me every time. It seems that they have turned down the volume, could hardly hear that wonderful song! Next it's another walk on to PotC. The drop is small, but bigger than I remembered. I have Alice convinced that the pirates are real people. She knows they're just acting, but thinks they're living breathing people. Innocence is great! We head back over to the Tomorrowland bridge to see Tink do her thing and watch Fantasy in the Sky. We are big fireworks folks, but this just didn't do it for us. Oh well. The music is a bit weak. Maybe we're just tired after a long travel day. On to the Jungle Cruise. We ended up in two different boats. Our guide was pretty lame, but it was cool seeing it in the dark and Alice got to drive the boat through the first river. She is still talking about it!! JL says their guide was really into it (sorry don't know the names of either one!) but none of the kids got to drive the boat. We walk past the Tiki gods or whatever they are that spit water. The kids thought that was a hoot. Any time they could get wet, they did! We headed to BTMRR and only had about a 10 minute wait. Great ride! Sandy was not thrilled but the rest of us loved it. This has always been a favorite of mine because theirs lots of fun but no huge drops. I like it better at night, too, I've decided. Don't want to do Splash and get soaked at night so we decide to leave that for the next time. The MSEP was just beginning it's second run, so we watched all of it as it passed through Frontierland. We had front row "seats" which were great! It's now 11:45pm and we head for Country Bear Jamboree. Most of the jokes go over the kids' heads, but JL and I had fun. Walk on for the Haunted Mansion. Another fun ride in the dark. I'm quickly discovering that nothing much rattles the kids. This is good news as I know what's coming up in the next few days. Next it's back towards the castle where we run into Minnie, Chip, Dale and Donald!!! Didn't think we'd see the Duck this trip so this is a treat. Signatures for everyone. While getting autograph books out of Dad's backpack, Mom drops the digital camera. Yikes! Shutter is broken. Nice going Mom!! Next we head to Time Traveler. I really liked this, but would prefer seats, especially this late at night. It's 1:00am, we've been up since 6:00am, we're pooped. We stop for a brief rest and some popcorn at the top of Main Street and then it's off to bed. The air is working in the boys' room. Thank you Guest Service and engineering! Our plan is to hit MGM for early entry. Yeah, right. Lights out 2am. Day 2 of 8 - August 9, 2000 Plan: MGM EE, dinner at Cape May Café, Illuminations Alarm goes off at 6am. Dad and I look at each other, at sleeping kids and say "no way". We go back to sleep until 8:30, shower, dress, breakfast in room, out the door by 9:25am. We decide to go back to MK for more rides and then play it by ear. Once on Main Street, we stop in the camera shop again so Dad can buy a disposable camera since Mom broke the good one last night. Same characters in the back room, so no new sigs yet today. The place is relatively deserted. We walk on to Snow White and then have just a 5 minute wait for Pooh. I know people miss Mr. Toad, I do too, but this new ride is a lot of fun as well. The cm loading the honey pots tells Alice, Sandy and Chris that they need to watch out because the pots are new and the honey may not be dry yet. He tells them not to worry though, since they have honey remover available around back but he hopes they brought extra pants, just in case. The kids are in a fit of giggles. We'll be back on this ride before the week's out. We have another 5 minutes and we're on Peter Pan. This is great! I like Pan because you fly which is a nice change of pace. We just missed the next Legend of the Lion King so we head to the carousel and walk on to that as well. Next it's our first character meet of the day at Ariel's grotto. JL misses 20K Leagues. I hated that ride. My claustrophobia made it impossible to enjoy. The kids are thrilled at seeing Ariel. Her CM protector person asks about the "G" hats and our "Celebrate Adoption" buttons. He said he figured it was a family thing (the hats) but got confused because mine was different. Dad and I chat with him while the kids chat with Ariel. Isaac is especially taken with her. I think I heard a marriage proposal?? Missed Lion King again so we head over to Splash Mountain. FP's are for 12:45, but it's only 12 now and the Standby line says 25 minutes. After 10 minutes, it's obvious that the standby wait time is wrong, so JL heads over for FP's. We decide to spend our wait time at the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon. #1 - it's air conditioned, #2 - it's a great show. Chicken Caesar salad for me, sandwiches and chips and sodas for everyone else. Grand total - about $65. Whatever. Food is good, entertainment is great. We're sitting upstairs so we can enjoy the fun without fear of personal involvement. LOL. After lunch and a short rest in the a/c enjoying the show, we head over to use our FP's on Splash. Isaac must sit this one out, so he and I wait on the bridge so we can get splashed. Even with the FP's it's takes the others about 25 minutes to get through the ride. They loved it! (btw, at this point, the standby line said 120 minute wait!). We still have 2 unused FPs (mine and Isaac's) but we decide we've had enough for now. Wish I had thought to give them to someone. Oh well. We decide to head back to the rooms and take a break in the pool. Strangely, our room is not yet made up and it's after 2pm! The quiet pool is just outside our building, so we choose that one for proximity. It's glorious and not particularly crowded. We stay in there until 3:30pm. Then it's time to get ready for a trip to Epcot and dinner at Cape May Café. The rooms have been cleaned while we were at the pool. What are those ugly things at the entrance to Future World? Leave a Legacy?? How about leave an eyesore.yuck! We walk through Future World and head for the International Gateway to walk to the Beach Club. On the way, we go through Ice Station Cool for a refreshing drink of Beverly. I get everyone to wait and try it together. The general consensus, as expected, is "yuck" mostly due to the aftertaste. We try a few more flavors, then continue on our way to International Gateway. The sky looks threatening, but we don't actually get rain yet. We get to the Café and check in for our 6pm PS. We are seated quickly. It's an ok buffet selection-wise, but the setup leaves a lot to be desired. There's no flow to it. But the food is more than adequate again and we leave stuffed. When we get out of the Beach Club, we notice that is has rained a bit, but the sky is already clearing. We head counter clockwise around the World Showcase. In France, we spend a bit of time watching the Living Statue. How great! Then we head towards Japan. We find a spot along the railing just as TON is beginning. Again, I am not a big parade fan and this parade doesn't change my mind. But, again, the kids really enjoy it. The puppets and butterflies (or whatever they are) interact with them a lot. We are at Japan, as I said, at torch #10 and this is where we see Illuminations for the first time. Oh my goodness!! I love this show. JL loves this show. The kids love this show. We will definitely be finding our way back here again!! Did I mention I really like this show?? Back to the Poly. Head to Captain Cook's to get our refillable mugs and some milk for cereal. Kids in bed by 11pm. We follow by 11:30pm. Day 3 of 8 - August 10, 2000 Plan: AK, late breakfast/lunch at Rainforest, 5pm PS @ 'Ohana, Downtown Disney/DQ evening Alarm gets us up at 6am. Dressed, breakfasted and out the door by 7am (really have to figure out how to do this in less than an hour!!), We have less than a 2 minute wait for the AK bus. Arrive 7:30 and trek to the turnstiles. Man, that's far! I have been looking forward to this park forever! So excited to finally be here. At 7:50 they let us into the Oasis. Mickey and Rafiki are there. We meet a cm with a tarantula in a cage. Alice thinks this is great. She loves all things living. I'm glad the cage is secure! The kids get Mickey's autograph but Rafiki only has time to pose for a picture before leaving the area. Oh well, what can you do. We head towards the safari to see about a ride. On the way out of the Oasis, Ashley manages to trip over Alice's foot and falls to the ground. She's up again in a second, but a very nice cm came over to see how she was. Pluto happened to be passing by and he gave her a big hug and a giant dog lick on her face. It was priceless! The safari is posted at 10 minute wait. JL gets us FP's for later in the morning and we hop into the standby line. We are behind a group of four young adult types and one of them is explaining to the other four how some people are willing to pay for anything and that FP's are for people with nothing better to do with their money, etc. The wait for the safari really is only 10 or 12 minutes. And boy do we see animals!! Elephants, giraffes, the lion and lioness, 3 or 4 cheetahs, antelope of all shapes and sizes, white and black rhinos, and much, much more! This is truly great. I found the poacher storyline to be a bit lame, but the kids liked it, especially Ashley and Chris. They were both relieved to see the elephant was ok at the end of the ride. After the safari, we took a walk along the Pangani trail. I really liked this as well. We only saw one gorilla though. Then it was back to the safari for another ride. We saw just as many animals, but some were in different places, so my kids finally believed they were real and not more audio-animatronics! One of the giraffes was right up next to the jeep. Did I mention I love AK? Our second safari guide was much better than the first. She had more interesting facts to share about the animals. JL's favorite part, aside from the animals, was the bridge effect. My kids all had their fingers crossed for dear life-both times! (Did I mention my kids are a bit naïve?? But I guess that's half the fun!) Next we headed out to Conservation Station. I liked seeing the "back side" of the safari ride. We got to watch part of a surgery they were performing. I didn't write anything down about it so I don't remember the details, but it was amazing just the same. The kids were thrilled because we ran into Rafiki again and also Pocahontas. Everyone got sigs and hugs and then we visited Affection Station or whatever it is they call the little petting zoo. Alice would have spent all day brushing the sheep and goats if we had let her. We wash and dry our hand courtesy of the elephants and head back to the train station. I love all the bags on top of the train. Very realistic looking. Finally it's off to Asia. We're getting a tad hungry by now. We had a really light breakfast because we had planned to hit Rainforest Café at 10am. However, the safari was so great, we bagged the PS and now our tummys are grumbling. I have heard/read so much about the Chicken Satay so we decide on that for lunch. Yummy, yummy, yummy! JL got us FP's for Kali and we ate lunch while we waited. Got to see a couple of monkeys on the wires overhead. They have a similar setup at the National Zoo in DC so the kids weren't surprised by this, but loved watching them just the same. Ran the rapids and Alice and I got soaked pretty well. There was another family of four on our raft and two of them went down the hill backwards and got drenched. Daddy managed to stay mostly dry. Still not sure how he did it. If we had realized how much fun this ride was going to be, we would have planned better to go again. Oh well. The kids were dragging a bit by this time, so we decided to bag the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Too bad because I was looking forward to the bats and tigers. There'll be other trips though. Kids can only take so much trekking in hot weather without rides. At least it's true for my kids. And this trip was for them as well as us, so majority rules! We decided to trek on over to Dinoland to get an FP for Dinosaur/CTE and then back to the Tree of Life for ITTBAB. OK, first the tree. It's awesome. I could spend hours just looking for all the animals on it. The kids found stuff I didn't even see. ITTBAB: the line moved fairly quickly. It didn't take us more than 15 minutes from reaching the tree until we got into the theatre. The longest part of the wait was in that tiny, darkened area just outside the theatre where all the people squashed together waiting for the doors to open. Did I mention I'm claustrophobic? The show itself is great. Don't' want to spoil it for others, but that very last part at the end.let's just say my family is still laughing about how high I jumped off my seat! We trekked our way back to Dinoland again for FP on Dinosaur. This was a great ride. It was just scary enough to get your heart going without sending the kids into comas or anything. We all loved it. Would have ridden it again if the FP return time had been anything reasonable. Time for another treat break. Ice cream bars for the kids, a turkey leg for Dad and frozen coke for Mom and Dad. We found a shady spot just across from the turkey leg cart to enjoy our treats. Here is where the kids had had enough. They were definitely ready for some pool time. They are great kids and would have stayed if that's what Mom and Dad decided, but we figured we' d head out and relax for a while. Back to the Poly by 2:30pm and a pool break for the kids. Dad took a nap and Mom read a book and kept an eye on the kids. At 4pm, it was time to get ready for dinner. 'Ohana is our spot tonight. Right in the resort. We loved this place. The kids all had Shirley Temples for the first time. They call them Mickey something or others here, of course. Ashley and Sandy didn't care for them, but the others did. The parasols and the cherries were the biggest hit. This was a great meal. All you care to eat, but they bring it to you instead of you having to go to a buffet. The food was excellent. JL and I were sorry we didn't starve ourselves during the day to take better advantage. Oh well. The kids ate so little that they only charged us for 2 adults and 6 kids, even though Raymond is 13 and should be charged as an adult under their system. I thought that was really nice. The pineapple and caramel sauce at the end was fabulous. JL and I are huge pineapple lovers. And the kids all got buckets (literally) of flavor ice/water ice, whatever you want to call it. They were in hog heaven. They also participated in the coconut/broom race around the dining room. Isaac held back in deference to the much smaller children who participated. Chris has no such compunction and came in first. All participants were rewarded with gummy worms, which my kids adore! After dinner it's off on the bus to Downtown Disney-Marketplace. Mom is ready to shop. We look around the Lego store. Wow. The kids never knew they could do such things with the 1400 Lego pieces at home! Then it's over to World of Disney where we spend a fair amount of dough. The kids pick out souvenirs that they pay for with their Disney dollars, generously supplied by Mom and Dad . Necklaces, t-shirts, photo albums, mugs, bumper stickers, the whole lot. Then it's off to Ghiradelli's to satisfy Mom's sweet tooth (vanilla caramels) and then a short jaunt into Pooh's Corner for a "Lions and Tiggers and Bears" t-shirt that Mom just couldn't resist. Dad is getting tired of lugging everyone's stuff around, so we head over to Disney Quest to trade in six of our flex features for six backpacks for the kids. We decide to take the ferry or launch or whatever. I feel bad for the folks lined up for the launch to PO/DxL. Two launches come by for the West Side and they're still standing there. Anyway, we get to the West Side and DQ and head to the souvenir shop. The CM politely informs us that flex features are redeemed at Guest Gallery on 2nd floor. We try to enter DQ through back door. CM at turnstile says.Is this your first visit? You need to enter through front door. We try to explain that we only want to redeem our flex feature, not stay and play, he is insistent that we go around front. I realize that he is only doing his job, however, some flexibility would have been helpful. So we head around front and the line is out the door and then I remember WDW1972 saying something about an obligatory elevator ride with a video or whatever. Yep, that's where we're headed. 10 minutes later we're finally out of the elevator and headed back down to the 2nd floor to Guest Gallery. We get our backpacks (the cm helping us managed to insert herself into a private conversation JL and I were having-aargh!) and get out of there. The backpacks are great. Just the right size for carting things around the park and the younger kids may be able to use them for school as well. JL and I were not impressed with what little we saw at DQ. Too crowded and too noisy. Not someplace we'd want to have to keep track of 6 kids. Luckily, they are too tired at this point to care. We walk the long way around Cirque de Soleil to the bus stop and get back to the Poly around 10:30pm. Refills and milk and then lights out by 11:30pm again. Day 4 of 8 - August 11, 2000 Plan: Typhoon Lagoon morning, MGM evening, Fantasmic! late show Up at 8am. Dressed, breakfasted and out by 9:15am. Even though we are at a deluxe resort, it's not deluxe enough to have direct service to Typhoon Lagoon until after 4pm. So we trek on over to the TTC. Not a bad walk really and the bus is there fairly promptly. One of the kids decides we're just enough people to impersonate Snow White and the seven dwarves. So names are assigned. Mom is Snow White, of course, Dad is Doc, Raymond is Bashful, Isaac is Sneezy, Sandy is Grumpy (she picked it!), Chris is Dopey, Alice is Happy, and Ashley is Sleepy. We get a locker for Dad's backpack and Mom's fanny pack and then wander around to find a chair or two. We start out in the wave pool. One of the big waves takes my glasses right off my head, croakies and all. Luckily we find them a ways farther in to shore. We spend about an hour just enjoying the waves. Isaac and Chris wish there were more big ones. Then it's off to Castaway Creek for a once-around. It is moderately crowded but not horrible. It's too bad they make the waterfalls unavoidable. All that cold water.brrr! Next it's off to the slides. I am not a big slide fan-they can't even get me on the tame ones at our home waterpark that often, so I am glad to have the excuse that Chris is not allowed to ride them today (long story, don't ask!). So Dad takes off with Raymond, Isaac, Sandy, Alice and Ashley. First stop, the storm slides. After two or three runs, it's on to Humonga Cowabunga. Unfortunately, Sandy is not ready for this slide and Ashley doesn 't make the height requirement. So they join Chris and I in the waiting area. It's nice to have a fairly shaded area at the end of the slide to wait for one's insane family members to return! Lunch time! Grilled cheese pretzels and hotdogs for the kids, chicken caesar for mom, chicken sandwich for Dad. No place to sit down so we eat at the railing. Works for us! There's a storm a-brewing just as we are cleaning up our lunch mess. It's time to head out anyway so we, along with 2/3 of the rest of the park, head to the busses. JL returns the locker key in exchange for a Typhoon Lagoon mug. The 3rd bus for the TTC finally has room for us and we're back in our room at 2:45pm. Raymond and Isaac take the wet stuff over to the laundry to dry it and play video games, Sandy works in her diary and Chris, Alice and Ashley end up napping from shear exhaustion. Mom and Dad nap too and we're awakened when Raymond and Isaac return around 4pm. Time to get up and out again. We're headed to MGM. Got to the bus stop the same time as the bus. This is great! We wanted to take the kids to Al's Toy Barn to meet Toy Story characters, but they are only there until 5:30pm and there is a HUGE crowd so we skip. The kids didn't know about the character meet so they're none the wiser and not disappointed. But why do they close it down so early? Does anyone know or care to share? Anyway, we head to Star Tours and walk right on. The motion bothers JL some, but he bears up well. Then it's in to Muppet 3-D. I love this show and the pre-show is the best. Unfortunately, lots of folks talk through it which makes it hard to hear. Sounds Dangerous is next. This is the only seat I find to be less than comfortable. But the show is terrific. It helps that it is only about 1/2 full. Not so bothered by the closeness and darkness. The kids love these sensory shows. I'm amazed. We head to the Commissary for dinner. It is practically deserted. In fact, we haven't really seen huge crowds anywhere (ok, except near the toy barn!). The food is quite tasty and inexpensive, relatively speaking. The kids get Doug lunchboxes with their kids' meals. After nourishment, it's on to the Great Movie Ride. Ashley and Alice did not care for the hold up scene. The fire felt quite warm/hot and they were disturbed by the shooting. It was nearly impossible to hear our guide throughout the ride. Very garbled. However, the scenes were fun. The look on Ashley's face when the witch came into Munchkinland.priceless. Then it's off to the Backstage Tour. We thought this was great. Loved the water canons and catastrophe canyon was fabulous. I was on the "wet" side, which is just fine by me. This is another ride where we had a hard time understanding our guide. It didn't help that she burst into giggles eight or ten times during her spiel. I didn't catch her name, but our driver's name was Amanda and every time the guide mentioned her, she broke into a fit of giggles. Whatever. Next it's time for a popcorn break. I'm nuts about the stuff and I need it to get my courage up for ToT. We miss a lot of the theme-ing in the stand-by line as this is a virtual walk on, which is great. If there had been a long line, I probably would have chickened out. We do this together and we're in rows 4 and 2. Alice, Ashley, Sandy, JL and I found it quite scary but in a good way. The boys loved it and would have ridden 2 or 3 more times if we had let them. I am very glad I did it. Don't know if I'd do it again, though . Unfortunately, Alice was mostly scared because while she was screaming, Isaac reached over and put his hand over her mouth and told her to stop. Unfortunately for Isaac, he lost his chance to ride RnRC. Ashley loves coasters and really wanted to ride RnRC, but she didn't make the height requirement. Sandy and I have more sense than to allow ourselves to be jettisoned at 60+ miles an hour, 5 g's and upside down to boot. So Sandy, Ashley, Isaac and I sit this one out. It's 9:15pm and it's a posted one hour wait, but I encourage JL to go on because it's doubtful we'll be back to MGM this trip and I know he's been looking forward to it. So the four of us sit on a wall to wait and JL, Raymond, Chris and Alice head to their doom.I mean ride. While we're waiting, we discuss favorite rides so far and Sandy buys one of those roses that lights up. Well, the riders make it back in one piece and they are back with us by 9:50, so that's less than 45 minutes. Not bad for a posted one hour wait. JL and I debate hanging out for the 11pm Fantasmic! All of a sudden it's looking awfully crowded. We decide we'll catch it another night and head back to the bus. Tomorrow is EE at MK and we 're going. Even at this hour, it's still 11:15pm before the kids are packed off to bed. More refills and milk at Captain Cook's. Day 5 of 8 - August 12, 2000 Plan: Early Entry at MK, Future World at Epcot, Illuminations Today, we're on a mission! Finish up MK no matter what it takes. Each child has his/her own knapsack today (DQ flex feature) filled with their own autograph book, pen, Disney dollars and snacks for the day. We arrive prior to opening. Two adorable little girls are chosen to wave their wands at opening. Our CM is so taken with them that the other side of turnstiles gets in about a minute before us. Oh well, what can you do? We have a list and we start working on it immediately. First stop, Tomorrowland. We have a walk on to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. This is not my kind of ride, but most of our kids love it. JL gets the highest score. It figures. He's been playing video games of one kind or another since Atari first hit the stores many moons ago! We head over to Space Mountain for another walk on. Still a great ride. Especially with no wait. Isaac gets to sit up front on his rocket. I still close my eyes for a lot of it. I always feel that I'm going to hit my head on another part of the track.it all looks so close. JL agrees. With some trepidation we have a walk on to Alien Encounter. Ok, now I have to admit to being a bit afraid of this after all I've read. I don't like being strapped in. But the restraints aren't really paralyzing and, despite earlier reports, I was indeed able to hold Alice's hand throughout to help her through it. And JL held on to Ashley. It was.intense to say the least. But we did all survive. I have to say, though, that I'm getting a bit tired of being spat upon (Sounds Dangerous, Great Movie Ride, Muppets 3D, this ride, more to come..it's losing it's charm! ) Next, the thing the kids have all been clamoring for.Tomorrowland Speedway. Raymond, Isaac, Sandy and Chris are all tall enough to drive their own cars. I go with Alice and JL goes with Ashley and we work the accelerator while they steer. All the kids love this ride. I could do without the 15 minute wait in the hot, hot sun. My ride with Alice is quite an experience. Good to know she won't be getting her driver's license for another 8 years or so! Now, it's off to the teacups (another walk on). Alice spins ours around quite fast and convinces me to help her. I'm more than a bit dizzy when we're through. Just so we don't miss anything, we take a trek through Toontown and everybody (except me) goes twice around on Goofy's Barnstormer. This is Sandy's favorite ride of the trip. Next we tour Donald's boat for the chance to get a bit wet. Again, Dad manages to stay dry. How does he do it?? Minnie's house is a big hit. We try to get the popcorn out of the microwave, but alas, we can't. Just to end Toontown on a high note, we run into the Hundred Acre Woods folks on our way out. We have signatures from our first night at Crystal Palace so now it's just hugs all around. Heading back to Fantasyland, we get an FP for Winnie (one of my favorites!) and head over to Legend of the Lion King which has just a 10 minute wait until the next show. This was thoroughly enjoyable. It's one of the kids' favorite movies and the songs are always great. We've got a light rain going by this time, but nothing worth worrying about. We head back to Pooh for our FP and jump right on. Next we head back to the Christmas shop to get our ornament that we picked out earlier in the week. Now, another favorite of mine, Hall of Presidents. I just really enjoy this presentation. By now it's 11:30 and there still isn't much of a crowd. We take the rafts over to Tom Sawyer's Island to have lunch at Aunt Polly's. While we're on the porch, the rain starts up again. But it's still no big deal. After lunch and a return raft ride, we head to the Tiki Room - Under New Management. I remember the old Tiki room from 1975/76 and I remember hating it as a kid. Now JL and I find it hysterical and the kids like Iago and Zazu so it's a hit all around. They're still talking about the magic trick at the end. Time for another Dole Whip. One each for Mom and Dad this time. Then back to Main Street for more shopping. I have always loved the Emporium so we head there. Daddy wants a watch so we head across the street to the jewelry store and select a lovely Mickey watch. It's that last one available. Lucky us. More obligatory popcorn. There is now a fairly steady rain as we head back to the room via the resort launch. It's 2pm when we get back and the rooms are still not made up. This is getting a bit old. We find the housekeeper in the hallway and just exchange dirty towels for clean and tell her to forget it for today. We really enjoyed 'Ohana the other night so I call WDW Dine to make another PS there for tomorrow night at 6:30. Everyone naps to get ready for the evening. At 4pm we're up and by 4:30pm we're on our way to Future World. We take a short stop at Trader Jack's to redeem JL's flex feature for a Millennium CD. Considering they sell cd's here for $18 a pop, we figure this is not a bad deal. We remember to carry our ponchos this time. It's a good thing too because there is a steady drizzle as we get of the monorail. Being the orderly people that we are, we start at Universe of Energy for Ellen's Energy Adventure. Dad gets spit upon by a dinosaur in this one. I don't remember the old ride so this is fine. The kids really like it. Next it's over to Wonders of Life. Making of Me is just starting so we dash in there. Not bad. It doesn't hit anything too deeply and it raises just enough questions to get conversations started. I liked it. Next we head to Cranium Command. We have a few minutes wait until the pre-show and the cm at the turnstiles blows bubbles for the kids to chase. I find a hidden Mickey in one of the bubbles (3 stuck together!). Isaac declares Cranium Command is a very accurate depiction of what goes on in a 12-year-old's head. We point out that he won't be 12 until next month, but he insists he knows what he's talking about! Finally we head to Body Wars. JL gets a bit ill from the motion. I have Alice convinced that we actually went inside a real live human being! We trek on over to Imagination to catch HISTA. All I can say is "yuck!" First of all, we got spit on again. The girls all hated the snake. No one like the mice (Ashley insists on calling them rats). However, we did all survive relatively unscathed. We spent a little time playing in the fountain outside Imagination. The kids love all things wet. The backwards fountain was cool, too. The rain has stopped so we pack up the ponchos again. We're hungry, so we head over to the Electric Umbrella for dinner, which is practically deserted. Ok food. Not bad prices. I bet it's a zoo at lunch time, though. It's almost time for Illuminations so we head to Showcase Plaza. Not as good a spot as Torch #10, but excellent for the fireworks portion. Unfortunately, we are directly downwind tonight and much of the smoke ends up in our faces. We don't care. It's an excellent show. We're going to see this again!! Time to follow the masses to the monorail. Alice and I go to Captain Cook's for milk and refills and get scared to death by a teeny tiny frog that jumps about 2 feet in the air right in front of us. Alice, of course, wants to follow it through the grass. I convince her that it is best to let him go home to his family. I will say that we saw more than our share of wildlife on this trip, especially right around the Poly: rabbits, cranes, ducks, frogs, lizards, all sorts of things. Kids are in bed by 11pm and we follow by 11:45pm Day 6 of 8 - August 13, 2000 Plan: Mini golf at Winter/Summerland, then Blizzard Beach, 'Ohana for dinner again, Electronic Water Pageant form the beach, then back to MGM for Fantasmic! @ 11pm We slept in a bit today and didn't get up until 8:40am!! We're out the door by 9:40 after another in-room breakfast from our supply suitcase. The kids each have their own knapsacks filled with snacks and whatever else they want to carry. A much smarter way to travel. We must have just missed a bus because we waited about 20 minutes for the next AK/BB bus to arrive. No big deal. We arrived at Winter/Summerland golf course, just a short walk from the BB bus stop area. We used our last flex feature to pay for one adult admission (includes free mug - the least attractive of any of the mugs we've acquired throughout the trip). We have to split into two groups of four, as we do at any mini golf course we play. It's the girls and Mom in group 1 and the boys and Dad in group 2. (Note to self: next time we should let the boys go first as they tend to play more quickly than the girls and wouldn't always have to wait for us to get through a hole). Anyway, I have read on radp that this is a pretty simple course and I'd have to agree. There are lots of holes where a moderately well-hit ball will just drain into the hole. However, it was great for our group, especially the girls as they are not yet mini-golf experts. I was very proud of my 10 under par score, until I found out that Isaac was 15 under par and JL was 18 under. Ok, fine! It was quite warm on the course so we are all more than ready for Blizzard Beach. Raymond's ticket gives us some problems on entry, and a very helpful cm (oops, forgot to get a name again!) tries to figure the problem out. Turns out Raymond put it through the scanner thingee twice. I still don't understand why. Oh well. No harm done. Once we get the story on what happens, the cm lets him through. JL gets us 3 lockers to hold all the knapsacks. It started to rain just as we arrived so we stash everything in the lockers and head towards the water. We decide to start off with slides. I don't do slides, just like before. Unfortunately Ashley, who loves slides, is not tall enough for the Slush Gusher. Raymond is banned from slides today and Sandy doesn't really care for them, so the four of us wait at the slide get-out point and Daddy takes Isaac, Alice and Chris up to the top of the mountain via the skyway. (They missed having a skyway at MK so this is a poor-but-better-than-nothing substitute). Isaac, Alice and Chris are headed to Slush Gusher while JL is determined to ride Summit Plummet. Isaac, Alice and Chris come down one after another in about 20 minutes or so. They we all wait for Daddy to come down the Plummet. And we wait.and wait.and wait. Finally after another 30-40 minutes, JL comes down the slide. He loves it and he is all in one piece so I can breathe again. He says the ride is fabulous, but not worth the wait, especially with the rest of us just waiting for him. It's still raining, but not quite as hard as before. We head over to the bay area and hang out for 20 minutes or so. I prefer Typhoon Lagoon's wave pool to this place. JL and I decide we want a nap so we convince the kids that we should return to the hotel and they can hang out at the pool there. This works for them so we head out. Upon returning locker keys, JL takes $2 for each of 2 keys and a Blizzard Beach mug for the 3rd. Our collection is getting quite large! We get back to the hotel around 2pm and the kids head over to the quiet pool with instructions to return no later than 4pm. I decide to read for a while and JL sacks out for a nap. Pretty soon after I join him. We are awakened when the kids return at 3:15. They say they are "tired of swimming". Wow. Never thought that would happen! Raymond and Isaac are bribed with arcade quarters to take the wet stuff over to the laundry room again. This does not take much arm twisting. The rest of us hang out doing stuff in the room then when the boys return we all get ready for our dinner at 'Ohana again. We have the same server and another great meal. This time the kids participate in the coconut/broom race and the hula hoop contest. Hard candies in the shape of shells are the reward. Not as big a hit as gummy worms with my group, but candy is candy after all! After dinner it's back to the room to drop off some stuff and they we head over to the Poly beach around 8:45pm to get ready for the Electric Water Pageant. The kids have fun digging in the sand. We end up with about 15 sand castles of various architectural designs. The Water Pageant is very cute. I love the music. The kids are not as awed as Mom and Dad. We hang out on the beach a bit longer so we can enjoy the MK fireworks. We had originally planned to head over to MGM for the late Fantasmic! show after the water pageant, but we decide to conserve energy for our all-day Epcot adventure tomorrow. Now that we know where to look, we can just make out what must be Tinkerbell in flight. This is a great place to watch fireworks. Very relaxing from a beach chair. Can't hear the music, but we weren't that impressed with the music anyway so it's great just to see the display. It's quite comfortable out tonight. After fireworks, we head back to our room and it's lights out by 10:45pm. (In looking over the "new" map/schedule of events - hours changed 8/13 - we discover that there is no late Fantasmic show. Glad we didn't' head over. I would have been really disappointed to go all that way NOT to see a show!) Day 7 of 8 - August 14, 2000 Plan: Epcot all day, our last chance to see Illuminations We got up with the alarm @ 7am. Breakfast in the room. Good thing we're headed home tomorrow. We're almost out of stash! Called Mears to arrange pickup for tomorrow (boohoo). We walk to the TTC and grab a monorail to Epcot, we're inside the gates by 8:30. Walk on to Spaceship Earth. I think the kids are a bit disappointed. They were expecting a roller coaster even though Dad and I keep telling them there are no roller coasters in Epcot. We head over to Test Track and wait in the standby line while Dad gets FP's for later. Standby line says 45 minutes but we are riding within 15. What a cool ride. Everyone loves this one so we use our 9:15 FPs right away. Way too cool. Next we head over to Cool Wash for some frozen cokes. It's $20 for eight, but what can you do? It's hot!! Next we head over to Living Seas and visit Seabase Alpha. Our cm outside the pre-show is great. He keeps a running banter going. Really nice guy. We could spend hours watching all the marine life, but there's lots to do so we head back out in about 1/2 an hour. Next, going in order of course (!) we head to the Land. Food Rocks is a short wait so we head there first. JL and I laugh though it, the kids like it but miss most of the jokes and they don't know the musical group rip-offs so I guess it's sort of lost on them. They like Fud Wrapper, though. Living with the Land has a 25 minutes posted wait, but the line is incredibly long and we don't see any boats coming through, so we head to Circle of Life. This is a bit heavy-handed for my taste, but we are huge Timon and Pumbaa fans in our house so it's still enjoyable. After this we check out the Living with the Land line. The boats are at least coming through now, but the line is still way too long for us. Instead we head to the counter service place, Sunshine Service Food Fair or something like that. I like that they have different counters for different food items. Seems to make the lines go faster. Raymond, Isaac, Chris and Alice opt for corn dogs while the other two girls choose pb&j. Dad and I have chicken strips which are quite yummy. After lunch, we decide that Living with the Land just ain't gonna happen this trip. So we head over to Imagination to check out JIYI. I know I saw the old Figment show, but it's been forever so I don't remember much. On it's own merits, I wasn't overwhelmed with this new version. We did like the train bit though and the kids found the upside down room to be pretty cool. When we got out it was raining again a bit so we donned our ponchos and moved on to World Showcase. We headed to Mexico first and pretty much had a walk on to El Rio del Tiempo. Not a great ride but the kids like the boats. Next we head to Norway. JL keeps me out of the bakery.rats!! Maelstrom is much better than the Mexico ride. I like the backwards part. We don't get wet though, which disappoints the kids of course. We do a short walk through China and head to the Outpost where the kids have a snack from their backpacks. While we're sitting there all 7 dwarves come out for meet and greet just before the Germany pavilion. The kids head over and get signatures from all 7. Let's see 7 dwarves times 6 kids equals 42 signatures. WOW. No sign of Snow White, though. Oh well. We head through Germany in time for the 2pm chiming of the clock tower. In Italy we stop for a while to listen to the musicians dressed in renaissance-era costumes (I'm guessing here) playing electric instruments. They're very, very good and we spend quite a bit of time listening to them. Next, my favorite. The American Pavilion. We like how the trees here have the blinking lights, just like Liberty Square in MK. Coincidence? I think not. There are hundreds of people in line and for a minute I think they are there for the pavilion, then JL points out that they are lining up for the Lord of the Dance performance. We have seen this live at Wolf Trap and I can 't imagine enjoying a taped version. Oh well. To each his own. We enter the pavilion just in time to catch the end of Voices of America. I really enjoy this group every time I'm here. The American Adventure is great as always. But I guess how can you go wrong with audio animatronics, right? This goober family in front of us stops midway down the row so we climb over them to get to the other side. It takes all kinds. Anyway, love this show, especially the final song. Always gives me goose bumps. By the time it's over though, the kids are ready for funnel cake. What's Mom trying to pull anyway with this learning stuff while we're on vacation?? So funnel cake it is. We sit on the wall in front of Japan to enjoy it. Is this legal.to eat American food in Japan? Oh well. While we are sitting there, we enjoy the Japanese drummers. Amazing. We wander a bit through the Japanese gardens where the kids enjoy watching the koi. In Morocco, the kids spot Jafar (from Aladdin) and queue up for signatures. Aladdin is supposed to be along any minute. We wait about 15 more minutes, but he's a no show, so we move on. France is next. I love France. Can't wait to go back for real someday. Until then, we enjoy the Living Statues again. Truly awesome. Next it's off to Jolly Old England. We spy Tigger, Eeyore and Mary Poppins but the lines are quite long to meet these characters. So we amble through some shops and move on. Next we wander through Millennium Village. Boy is it crowded! Hard to see much. We head over to Israel for the ride through Jerusalem. The kids like the motion seats and have fun but it leaves me feeling a bit ill. Also it's a pretty lame story line, what with the apparent attempt to avoid offending anyone. Anyway.the girls and I make a potty stop to check out the bathrooms I've heard everyone raving about. And I must say they are large and clean. Can't be beat. We head to Canada where Raymond purchases a "coin from every country" souvenir. Pretty neat. Probably available at most of the other countries as well, we just didn't see it. Also pick up an Off Kilter cd. We had heard them playing the other day when we were in the showcase and I've been wanting to get this. Now we're back at Showcase Plaza. We wander through some shops, smell the roses in the garden and decide it's time for a popcorn break. Mom is a popcorn fiend. The kids make friends with the very nice popcorn vendor. He makes a fuss over them since they're wearing their matching GRACIAS shirts. (Gracias - because we're thankful our family came together through adoption AND G stands for our last name, R for Raymond, A for Alice, C for Christopher, I for Isaac, A for Ashley and S for Sandy). And they are wearing their "Celebrate Adoption" pins so they find lots to talk about. Since popcorn is really for later during TON/Illuminations, we head back to England for fish and chips take out. The kids opt for hotdogs. Those heathens don't know what they're missing . We find a bench near France where we can keep an eye on the goings on and enjoy our meal. The 6:30 TON parade goes by. The kids still love this parade and I guess it's growing on me a bit. After the parade JL heads off to see if he can find us a better spot for Illuminations. He finds an open bench by Japan near torch #10 again. We loved this spot the first time, so the rest of us head up there. Our trusty 2-way radios help us out again. This time, however, we need to switch channels as we are getting interference from a group who are obviously at the Studios since they are discussing meeting up at ToT. Wow. Didn't think we'd be able to hear that since they're only supposed to have a 2 mile range. While waiting for the TON 8pm parade and Illuminations, we meet a lovely family from Minnesota. Dad, Mom and two boys. No, I didn't get their names. What a stooge am I!! They are staying at All Stars and will be around until the 20th. Lucky them!! Mrs. Minnesota noticed the kids' "Adoption" buttons and started asking them about it. So Sandy piped up with all sorts of info and explained the GRACIAS shirts again. My kids, so shy! We chatted quite a bit while waiting for the parade and then the fireworks. They had already seen Fantasmic! and loved it. Told them we never made it. Mrs. Minnesota said that she would skip MK fireworks in favor of Fantasmic!. We'll have to keep that in mind for next time. Illuminations was fabulous as always. We head back to the monorail, kind of sad since this is our last night here. The big fountain in FW puts on a show for us as we head out. When we get to the TTC we decide to walk back to our room as it takes almost as long to walk back up the ramp to the resort monorail. In front of the Tahiti (?) building, we stop on the lawn to watch the end of the MK fireworks. Once we get back to the room, JL heads out for free refills and a last quart of milk for tomorrow's breakfast and 8 "Mouse Krispies" which are rice Krispie treats in the shape of a hidden Mickey as a special treat for tomorrow. I get the kids started on packing to get ready for tomorrow's departure. Here's where bringing all that food came in handy. Everything but the animal crackers and a few fruit roll ups are gone. We divvied up the leftover snacks into everyone's backpacks and now there's room in the suitcases for all our souvenirs. Those souvenir mugs take up quite a bit of room! Kids are in bed with lights out by 11pm. Day 8 of 8 - August 15, 2000 Plan: Check out, bags to bell services, head to Wilderness Lodge for lunch and to check it out for future stays, one last trip to MK if there's time. The bills are on the floor by the doors when we get up at 8am. Guess this means we really have to go home. We check them over carefully.I'm a nut about this. Hmm, there's no charge for our refrigerator. That's nice. Got the kids up, showered, dressed and breakfast. We drag our wheeled luggage to bell services where they promise to lock it up for us until we return around 3pm to go to the airport. We head back into the Great House for some last minute shopping. I get some Mickey head earrings with my January birthstone. We pick up some gifts for the kids for Christmas. Ashley spends her last $5 of Disney dollars on postcards from around the World. Chris purchases some stickers with his remaining dollars, and Raymond decides he's going to start a Pooh collection and purchases a Pooh figurine. Mom stops at the pin cart for a few more purchases and then it's off to the monorail station for our last monorail ride. We get off at the TTC and pick up a Boone bus to Wilderness Lodge. WOW. We've heard a lot about this place, but WOW. It's gorgeous. We spend quite a bit of time wandering around the lobby and outside by the geyser and pool areas. Quick trip into Roaring Forks to get Dad a Wilderness Lodge mug to add to the collection. This is his favorite one. We spend sometime sitting in rockers in front of the fireplace. The kids talk amongst themselves while JL and I plot our budget to figure out how to get ourselves back here in a year! Soon it's time for our noon PS at Whispering Canyon Café so we head on over. CM Robin makes a fuss over the kids. We're seated promptly and greeted by Cactus Chris. Most of us are here for the barbecue (yum!) but Sandy opts for grilled cheese and Chris chooses a hamburger. Weirdos! The rest of us have barbecue and it is yummy! It includes brisket, ribs, chicken, corn cobettes, cole slaw, baked beans and bread. We enjoy the maple garlic bbq sauce. Despite what we've heard elsewhere about this place, there's already ketchup on all the tables. Guess they got tired of this routine. One older gentleman is having a birthday and is made to ride a stick horse around the restaurant. A child at another table leaves for the bathroom and the server yells to him to hurry up as his food is getting cold. Our kids participate in the Pony Express race around the place. They get participation certificates signed by Wild Bill Hickock. Cactus Chris polls the kids on their favorite ride and pretends to be hurt when no one chooses Splash Mountain as he used to work there. They quickly assure him that it is on their top 5 list of best rides and he is mollified. We enjoy our food, but manage to save a bit of room for dessert. The kids all select Worms in the Dirt.gummy worms in chocolate cake and chocolate pudding. JL tries the apple pie a la mode while I opt of the cherry cobbler. (oink!) Both are quite yummy, although 2 adults could easily split one of these treats. But, it's our last day so we splurge! The bill comes and Chris has only charged us for 2 adults instead of 3 (for Raymond) although we were quite clear with him as to ages when we began. I think they take pity on us because the kids' appetites have been rather small this past week. I think the heat has gotten to them. Anyway, we appreciate it. Cactus Chris makes a pirate hat for Ashley out of a cloth napkin. She looks adorable. Just one mom's humble opinion . Well, we stall as long as we can, but now it's time to get moving. We decide not to go to a park as it is already 2pm. So we go to the bus stop and hop on an Animal Kingdom bus which stops at Poly first. Hung out in the Poly lobby, saying goodbye to the macaws, watching all the folks just arriving for their vacation, etc. The kids are asked to join story time and they do. They also work on an art project of some kind. Finally it's time for a last potty break. Mears shuttle shows up on time. It's the 8 of us plus another woman traveling alone. Trip to the airport is uneventful. When we get there, JL checks out the various lost and founds (Delta and MCO) in an attempt to find my "G" hat. No luck. Darn. Our flight is on time. Ashley and Sandy again sit in the row behind with another very kind, very tolerant gentleman. On the shuttle from the terminal to the main building, JL checks his voice mail (just can't stand it anymore!!). There is a message from our adoption attorney. The final papers were finally signed. As of Monday, August 14 at 9:00am we are officially a family!! See, we said this trip was to celebrate our finalization! What a great way to end it. We grab our luggage and head to the shuttle to the parking lot to get our car and head home. The kids claim starvation so we stop for McDonald's cheeseburgers to go. Unpacked, burgers eaten and in bed by 11:30pm. Final thoughts to follow. Final Thoughts
Pictures can be seen on our family website: http://www.thegentiles.com/family/disney/gallery.asp/ Katie Gentile katie@thegentiles.com Mail a Comment to Katie Gentile |
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