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Amy Gourley -- December 2000 -- Walt Disney World (DL)December 8- December 17, 2000 Cast of characters
Resort- Dixie Landings Pre-trip report We decided to go to WDW this year for the RADP meet. For the last 2 years, we have gone a week later in December but we wanted to go to the meet this year and to enjoy the parks at a less crowded time. We think this will be our last Disney trip in December for a while though. Out of the 6 times I have been to WDW, 5 times were in December right before or right after Christmas. I love Christmas time here but I want to come at a non-holiday time too! Luckily, I have a friend getting married in Tampa in March so we hope to hop over to WDW for a few days too. :) Last year we stayed at the Contemporary which was really nice but we wanted to try out a new resort and save a little money. We looked at the resorts and after hearing and reading comments on RADP and WDWIG, we decided to stay at Dixie Landings. We also decided to stay there because of the river cruise to Downtown Disney, where we expected to wrap up many of our nights. We had decided to buy a Magic Kingdom Club Gold membership prior to our honeymoon trip to Disneyland in June (see previous trip report) to get the savings on staying at the Disneyland Hotel. Now that we had decided what we wanted for our room, Jason called the 800 number to try to get the room reservation, back in late September. When he called, MKC rates were available for the Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge Villas and Caribbean Beach Resort, but not Dixie Landings or Port Orleans. Jason decided to not take anything at that time, and called back a week later to see what was available. This time, a Dixie Landings standard view rate was available, at $110.12 a night, with tax and a free round of minigolf at either Fantasia Garden or Winter Summerland for each of us included. We took it. We requested a room in Alligator Bayou, non-smoking and near a bus stop. We also decided to rent a car for the first time to go to a few locations off-site and to not be dependent on the Disney bus system. We thought about going to the Kennedy Space Center, but decided we didn't have the time this year. We decided only to go off-site for one day to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. After using the internet to get price quotes from various companies, the best deal Jason could find was for an economy car at National Car Rental via our MKC package. The rate was $199 for 9 days, which included all of the silly add-ons such as airport fee recovery, taxes and the Florida tire and battery surcharge. For airfare, Jason kept an eye on the quotes from Travelocity.com, checking in every other day or so. After a couple of weeks, a quote for $162 or so round trip on US Airways from Washington National to Orlando with times that were perfect for our needs appeared. Just for kicks, Jason went to the US Airways website, and found the exact same tickets for $154, because US Airways offers a 5% discount for direct booking. So we booked online directly through US Airways. Otherwise, we did our trip planning mostly by reading RADP, WDWIG, and Birnbaum's. We also set up priority seatings for a few places we definitely wanted to eat at for lunch and dinner. We used the MKC club 800 number to make the reservations, which saved us a couple bucks in long distance phone calls. DAY 1, December 8 In which we arrive Our airplane flew out of Washington (excuse me, Ronald Reagan) National Airport. Our flight was for 7:10 PM and we called for a taxi to pick us up at 5:30 PM. Luckily, evening rush hour traffic wasn't bad and we arrived at the US Airways terminal at 6PM. There was a very long line to check in but as we stepped in line we noticed an e-ticket computerized automatic check in. Having gotten e-tickets, we went to the computer terminals and checked in very quickly. This is the first time we have seen this at an airport and we agreed that it was very convenient. Here we were, not even at Disney yet, and we had already fast passed a line! We arrived at our terminal. Jason sat and waited while I went and got a Cinnabon. Our flight was delayed a little and we didn't leave until 7:35 PM. Our snack on the plane was mini pretzels. We both ordered soft drinks to drink and were surprised when we got the full can, not just a cup full. Our tradition has been the last 2 years to do the crossword puzzles in the in flight magazine. Right before we landed, Jason and I were discussing how to get to WDW once we picked up the car. The woman sitting next to us, who was from Florida, piped in with her opinion how to get there. She asked us where we were staying. When we said Dixie Landings, she thought it was an off site resort. She told us the only resorts at WDW were the Contemporary, Polynesian, Grand Floridian and Golf Resort. Anyways, we landed at MCO at 9:40 PM. We picked up the luggage and headed to National Rent a Car to pick up the car. There was nobody in line at the counter. After going through some paperwork, they told us to take the short walk to the garage and that we could pick out any of the economy cars. When we got there, there were only 3 to pick from. I guess that's what you get for showing up at 10:00 PM on a Friday. We passed on the Geo Metro and the Mitsubishi Eclipse for space reasons (with Jason's mother and brother joining us later in the trip) and got a red 2000 Chevy Cavalier, 2 door. We had trouble closing the trunk but everything else seemed ok. We were pleased with the car however because we were expecting a Geo Metro and got a larger car. We arrived at Dixie Landings around 11 PM. The lobby looked very nice. There were a lot of people around and it was noisy. Later we found out this was due to the fact that the Pop Warner football tournament was that week and many of the kids were staying at DxL. Check-in proceeded Ok. The cast member we got could have used some more training, but as a Disney veteran, Jason knew how to help her through the process. There were to main problems with check-in. First, the cast member did not offer to sell us unlimited magic passes, we had to ask for them. Because we had arrived so late, we asked that the passes not start until the next day, and thus only be for nine days instead of ten. She kept getting confused about how to do it, and gave us tickets that had the first day chopped off instead of the last, although we did not know this at the time. After leaving check-in, Jason noticed the set of unlabelled dates along the edges of the passes/room key and called the front desk to ask if they were the dates the passes were valid. They were, and this much better trained cast member was able to fix them. The other check-in problem was with our room location requests. We had asked for Alligator Bayou, non-smoking, near the bus stop. Instead we were assigned a room the Magnolia Bend. We made the requests via telephone as in years past, and they were noted on our reservation confirmation. When asked if a room was available in Alligator Bayou, she said yes, so I guess they lost our requests. They room we eventually got was 3501, which was non-smoking as far as we could tell, but kind of far from the bus stop. It was also a leisurely 7 minute walk from the food court, 4 minutes to the main pool, 1 minute to the quiet pool. All and all not a bad location though (We didn't mind walking through the wonderful landscaping). The room in Alligator Bayou was very nice. I wished we didn't have a parking lot view though, but that was ok. I liked the rustic look. I loved the little shelf and cedar chest in the room. We were tired and went to bed soon after we unpacked. The room was larger than Jason expected, perhaps because it was a corner room. Also, because of its corner location, we had windows looking in two directions. DAY 2, December 9 We woke up with the Mickey phone call at 6AM. Jason showered and got ready first. While I showered, Jason went to the food court in get us bagels for breakfast. He enjoyed his VERY early (almost pre-dawn) walk, watching all the steam evaporate from the swimming pools. He also met a real life Brer Rabbit. I had thought there were hair dryers in the room but because there weren't I called Housekeeping to get one. They brought one over in about 15 minutes. I got to keep the hair dryer for the rest of the week. We ate breakfast and left the room at 7:20 to head for the Magic Kingdom for Early Entry. We drove to and parked in the MK lot. We were parked in a place that was a short walk to the Ticket and Transportation Center, which was nice. The day was already sunny and getting warm. It did turn out to be a nice day, highs in the low 80s. I always like to go the Magic Kingdom the first day of the trip. Even though it was early open, the park still seemed kind of desolate. We headed first to Buzz Lightyear, our traditional first ride in the park. I usually don't do well on these types of games but in the second room, I think, my score jumped from 5000 to 25000! I don't know what I hit! I ended up with 27900 points and Jason had 17500. We next headed over to the Indy Speedway which Jason hadn't done for years and I have never done. I'm not really into the little car driving thing but Jason wanted to ride it since there was no line. It was ok. We were glad we went on it then since later we saw it had a big line, which I'm afraid I might be waiting in some day when we have kids. Jason thinks Disney did a good job hiding the location of the ex-Skyway turning building, as he was not sure where it had been. Certainly the casual observer would have no idea that it had been there. We next headed to Fantasyland and rode one of my favorite rides, Winnie the Pooh. When we exited to the shop, I started my quest on the trip to look for Piglet merchandise, as he is my favorite character. I was looking for a small Piglet figure but never found one the whole trip that I really liked. There was plenty of Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore items but not Piglet! Grrr. We next rode Snow White and Peter Pan. We noticed a construction wall next to PP and Jason figured it was probably fast pass construction. Does anyone remember what was in this space before? The last day of our trip we saw a fast pass sign above the construction wall. We also noticed the word entrance sign was still hanging at the former Skyway building. We headed back to Tomorrowland for Space Mountain, riding the tea cups on the way, a first for me. After the teacups, we saw Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and waved hi. As we walked towards TL, I looked back and noticed one of the Tweedles was following me. I kept walking and looked back and there he was tweedling his thumbs. This happened a few more times. It was really cute. There wasn't a line at all at Space Mountain and we were just entering as they opened the left side or alpha track. I don't think I have ever rode on this side before. I was happy to ride SM here, as we were at Disneyland this summer and I feel that the ride is much faster there, although I guess it really isn't. We were on the second rocket ship of the day. We headed through Liberty Square next. One of the teenage boys in a group passing through rang the Liberty Bell. It was really loud. Are you allowed to ring it? We arrived at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which did not have much of a wait. Jason noticed that the Keelboats have been moved to near BTMR, from its former location near Haunted Mansion. He doesn't care where it's located, he's just glad its back! Jason wanted to go on Splash Mountain, his favorite ride, but I didn't really feel like getting wet that early in the day. So we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. After riding it at DL, I miss all the beginning scenes that are there and not here. We peered into the gaps in the construction walls for the new Aladdin ride and thought the Agrabah village looked pretty nice. We also found out that Sunshine Tree Terrace was closed due to construction so no citrus swirl for me this trip. On to the Haunted Mansion where we noticed the wait time was 13 minutes. Haha. Walking into the mansion, a cast member was "hiding" to the right inside and scared me because I didn't notice him there. He also fit the part and had a real creepy look about him. We looked for the engagement ring, but couldn't find it. After HM, we headed back to TL and did the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. It was 10:40 by then. My favorite ride is Carousel of Progress and I wanted to go on the first show when it opened so we looked in shops a little before we got in line. And there was a line! A long one too! I just love this ride as a piece of American history and that it was Walt's creation. We noticed that in the 40s scene that we didn't see the boxing scene on the TV but thought maybe it was the angle we were sitting at. I do remember reading something on RADP about it not working though but that was a while ago. We next headed over to EPCOT for lunch and then the Big RADP meet. The express monorail was closed so we took the ferry to the TTC and then the monorail to EPCOT and got there around noon. We got a fast pass for Test Track for 2:45PM. I stopped at the pin trading station while Jason got the fast passes. We decided to eat lunch at the Sunshine Season Food Festival in the Land. I got the pork barbecue sandwich and Jason got chicken fingers and we both enjoyed our meals. We then headed to the International Gateway for the Big Meet! Wow, there were a lot of people there. It was nice to put faces to names that I recognize through posts. However, it doesn't work the other way around since I don't post much. That was ok since there were a lot of friendly people there. The only people we knew prior to the meet were a few people that we met at the DC meet in October that it was nice to see again. We met David and Debbie Frost from Washington State, our teammates for the RADP scavenger hunt the next day. There was short meeting after the meet for the scavenger hunt and it made me more excited for the next day! We headed back to EPCOT, stopping in Canada to try the famous beavertail. We got the strawberries and cream one which was good but messy. Jason wasn't all that impressed. We headed at 3 to TT to use our fast passes but found out it was shut down and were told to come back in about any time from then to eternity, and that our FPs would be honored. Being pretty thirsty from the beavertail, we went to Ice Station Cool. My favorite drink is the Smart Watermelon from China while Jason likes the Vegibeta from Japan. I also discovered this time that I like the apple drink from, I think, Mexico. I tortured myself and tried Beverly again. It tastes ok when drinking it but I think it's mostly the aftertaste that's so bad. We next rode Journey into Your Imagination, giving it another try after experiencing it for the first time last year. There are parts of it that I like but as a whole it seems disjointed. Jason isn't sure how nailing things to the ceiling is particularly imaginative. Jason thinks it would just have been easier to flip the cars upside-down. We played around for a little bit in Image Works. Jason confirmed his impressions from last year, there really is very little to do here, especially relative to the old Image Works. We next looked at the photo exhibit near Innoventions West. Headed back to TT at 3:50 and it was open. I remembered to bring a hair tie as last year I didn't experience the ride properly with hair in my face during half the ride. I really like TT a lot. We played the driving game after the ride which is fun but I didn't do too well. We had a PS at Alfredo's around 5 (we forgot the PS time) so we started heading towards Italy. We stopped at Mexico to go on the boat ride and the song from the ride stuck in my head. I looked at the Native American artifacts in the front of the temple as I now work for a Native museum. The neatest thing I saw was a Huichol doll dressed exactly as the members of tribe that visited the museum. We considered going on Maelstrom in Norway but the line was too long. That line always seems to be long and if any ride in the World Showcase needs fast pass, it's this one all right. At China, we stopped to watch the acrobats. Those little boys are amazing! We noticed that we couldn't go any further in the WS anyway as the bridge was lifted to allow the boats for Illuminations to enter to lagoon. I have never seen the bridge lifted before and it was pretty neat. After the show, we headed towards Alfredo's arriving at 5:00. We found out that our PS was for 5:30 and decided to wait in the waiting area until then since we were tired. We didn't have to wait for long since our name was called at 5:10. Jason got the fettuccine Alfredo and I got rigatoni with marinara sauce and eggplant chunks. Jason had the caesar salad upgrade and I had the regular salad. I didn't realize it came with salad dressing, which I typically don't like but it wasn't too bad. Both our meals were very good and filling, although Jason would have liked a "with chicken" option. We liked the roving musicians. We then left EPCOT to get to the MK for the 8 PM showing of the Main Street Electrical Parade. We got to the MK around 7 and there were a lot of people already waiting for the parade. We first stopped at the candy shoppe. I got the marshmallow thingy ala Sue Holland, a piece of candy cane fudge for later and Jason got a piece of the chocolate nut fudge. We found a spot for the parade right across from the train station. We ate our candy while waiting but I could only eat half of the marshmallow thingy, which was really good though. MSEP is my favorite parade. I love the music. I didn't like the Christmas music they played every so often over the Baroque Hoedown. The parade was very good as usual. I was tired so we drove back to DxL after the parade. We toured the pool area which looked very nice and the food court where Jason bought a refillable mug. Jason went swimming for a little bit while I rested. We went to sleep early at 9:30 PM to get enough sleep to be ready for the scavenger hunt the next day. DAY 3, December 10 Scavenger Hunt I got up at 6:15 today as we had to meet for the Scavenger Hunt at 7:30 at the Animal Kingdom. We were at the bus stop by 7 (only Disney transportation was allowed to be used during the hunt) The sign at the bus stop says that busses come 1 hour before the park opens. We got there at 7 which is one hour before the AK opens, but the bus didn't get there until 7:20. We weren't sure what park was early open that day but we saw 2 MK and 2 MGM busses before an AK bus finally came. We got to the AK late at 7:35 but it wasn't too bad. They had Krispy Kremes there and I had one for a quick breakfast and met up with David and Debbie, our Team Sassagoula teammates, who were great by the way! I don't know how much I should write about the scavenger hunt but it was a lot of fun and tiring! We got questions for each park and 15 resorts. Points were awarded based on the diffuculty of a question, distance, and the time it would take to answer. Therefore, resorts that were hard to get to and rides you had to ride to answer questions were worth more points. Only Disney transportation was to be used in the hunt. It was a really nice for the hunt but maybe a little too hot. We visited all four parks and 11 resorts in 11 hours! I learned some things that I think I'll never forget about the rides, parks and resorts. I still can't believe we did all the monorail resorts and answered the questions in less than an hour! Also, I can't believe I walked from Innovations East all the way around the WS starting at Mexico to the International Gateway in less than a half an hour (Jason can't either). The hunt was a great way to tour resorts I haven't been to though. We turned in our results at 5:55, 5 minutes before the end of the hunt at the Outer Rim Café in the Contemporary. We sat around and discussed answers to the questions while the results were graded. We ended up with 1706 points and were in second place when we decided to leave at 8:10 to go to dinner as we were too hungry to wait around for the rest of the results. We only had the donut and pizza at MGM to eat all day. Jason wanted to try the Trail's End buffet at Fort Wilderness. The buffet was really yummy. The fried chicken, ribs, potatoes, and beans were especially good. I got the Cactus Cool-aid, which came in a souvenir glass boot mug. Neat! For dessert I tried both the apple and cherry cobbler and also vanilla pudding. If you ever want to have the food from the Hoop-de-Doo, but don't want to spend the time or money for the show, we recommend eating here. We got out of dinner around the same time as the Hoop de Doo. Port Orleans and Dixie Landing guests were instructed to get on the internal bus route and ride it to Fort Wilderness check-in. From there we transferred to a Port/Dixie bus. We went to bed at 10:30 exhausted from the day. DAY 4, December 11 Surprisingly, we were up early today at 6:15. We planned to spend the day at the AK. We drove there around 7:15 arriving around 7:30. We has PS at Donald's Breakfastasaurus for 7:40 so we were led into the park. We noticed that where a construction wall was yesterday, today there were fast pass machines for It's Tough to Be a Bug. We have never been here for breakfast before. It was really good. We liked both the atmosphere and the food. This has become one of my favorite breakfast buffets. The hot chocolate I got was very good. Breakfast burrito, pancakes, and the blueberry cobbler was especially good. It was nice also to see that they had Knott's Berry farm syrups. I was commenting to Jason that they should have blueberry pancakes that would go well with the blueberry syrup and the next time I went to the buffet they had blueberry pancakes! After breakfast, we got a FP for Dinosaur for 9:30. We decided to go on the Kilminjaro Safari next. We walked through Asia, a part of the park I haven't been in yet. I found where the "secret path" is accidentally. I found a little path and wandered what it was, saw the little creek and thought it might be the secret path. I had written down directions to the secret path, found them and discovered I was correct. It really was neat and a little hidden. I love the theming in the African village. We had about a 15 minute wait for the safari which turned out to be the longest wait we had for any ride in the park all day. Jason liked this ride just as much as he did last time. Our FP time for Dinosaur had begun so we picked up a FP for Kali Rapids for 10:45. We heard a loud squawking noise and found out that it was coming from a temple theming. There we saw 2 monkeys, one at the top of the temple and one periodically running around. They were fun to watch. We used the Dino FP at 10:20 but did not need it at all as the ride was a walk on. I really don't like this ride too much and it's a little jerky for me. We both agree that Indiana Jones at DL is much, much better. We had heard great things about the Flights of Wonder so decided to catch the 11:00 show. It was really a great show and the birds do some amazing things. I didn't realize how easily birds could be trained. We were amazed at how well the show was put together and the enthusiasm of both of the cast members presenting the show. We highly recommends it. We next used our FP for Kali Rapids. We haven't ridden this ride yet as it was shut down when we came last year. Again, we didn't need our FPs as it was a walk on, although we did get to walk through the longer Fastpass queue. We were surprised how short the ride was. The themeing was nice though. We got pretty wet. I didn't see the large dryers that others have written about. We next went on the Maharajah jungle trek. A lot of the animals were motionless. It was a nice little trek though. We decided to get a small lunch next. We didn't want to eat a lot since we were having dinner at 'Ohana which we knew would be big meal. We stopped at the Chakranadi Chicken Shop in Asia and ordered two chicken satays, which are chicken and veggies on a skewer with a peanut sauce. It was really good and perfect size for a light lunch. After lunch, we went to see ITTBAB. We stopped to look at the Tree of Life more this time and took lots of pictures. We like the movie; it's really cute. It was now 1:00 we decided to head back to the hotel for nap as we discovered we were still tired from yesterday. We also saw about all that we wanted to see at the AK. Later I forgot that I wanted to go the Conservation Station but oh well. Maybe if I had told Jason this he would have reminded me before we left the park( he now tells me). We took a long nap until about 4:30! After the nap, we went swimming at Old Man's Island. It was really nice there, not really too crowded. I didn't know until I got there that the pool was heated-I really hate stepping into freezing water. We each went down the waterslide once, which was fun. We came back to the room to get ready to leave for our 7:10 PS at 'Ohana. So that we could both drink and not have to worry about driving home, we took the bus instead of driving there. It was only sprinkling when we started for the bus stop, but it was a torrential downpour when we got to the MK. We had to run from the bus stop to the monorail and having no umbrellas we got soaked! When we got to the Poly, there was a long line for 'Ohana. We got a pager and waited to be called. Our pager lit up at exactly 7:10 but it turned out that they buzzed the wrong pager. However, we were called 5 minutes later. The meal is family style and we were started off with a chunk of Hawaiian sweet bread. We both ordered drinks, Jason a Trade Winds and I ordered a Parrot Bay. We were started with appetizers of honey coriander chicken wings, island slaw, sweet and sour pork pot stickers, salad with honey lime dressing, rice, and a fruit slaw. I really liked the salad the island slaw. We were then brought out on skewers pieces of pork, turkey, beef, and shrimp, which we each sampled some of each. I really liked the pork and turkey and Jason favored the beef and pork. We were very full after all this really good food. However, we had to have dessert! They brought out pineapple with caramel dipping sauce. Two of my favorite things and very good together. We also got another dessert which we shared, coconut ice cream topped with toasted coconut and chocolate sauce. We found that the ice cream was also very good when dipped in the caramel sauce! We definitely want to come back here on future trips! We also had a very nice view of the castle from our front row by the windows table. We waited outside the Poly, where it had stopped raining, for a bus to Downtown Disney. We got off at the Marketplace to look at a few shops. I looked at the Piglet merchandise at the Pooh shop, which I was hoping was better than in the parks, but it wasn't. After some browsing, we made our way to Pleasure Island to the Adventurer's Club. We were planning on making the RADP meet that night in the Mask Room but were just a little late. We hung out a little in the main room before a show in the library, the New Members Induction ceremony, which was fun. Jason had a pina colada and I had a white Russian. We hung out for a little bit more before heading to the Comedy Club for the next show. We ended with seats about half way up on the right. I ordered my third drink of the night, which is very rare for me. We both had the pina coladas which are really good there. The cast, if I recall correctly where Matt, Jake, Jennifer, Layden, and another woman whose name I forget. We thought Steve and Layden and were really funny. It was a good show. We wanted to take the boat back to DxL but had just missed the last boat at 11:30 so we had to catch the bus. Why does it always seem all the other resort busses come before yours? We were in bed by at 12:30. DAY 5, December 12 We got up rather late today at 9:15 AM. I ate the other half of the marshmallow thingy while Jason went to exchange our park tickets at guest services. I told Jason that I would meet him there. It was the first time I walked around DL in the daylight. The walk to the lobby was not too long, maybe 10 minutes, and rather nice. As we were going to MGM that day, we decided to make a 12:30 PS for lunch at Hollywood and Vine. We left for the park at 10:20. It was drizzling once we got to the MGM parking lot and it was a downpour by time we got on the tram. It was nice that the trams do take you so close to the park entrance though. Why don't the busses take you that close? The first thing we did inside the park was buy ponchos at Crosswinds. Of course, the rain was down to a drizzle after we bought them! We went straight to Rock-n-Roller Coaster which was a walk on. I like this coaster a lot except for the corkscrews which I really don't like on coasters. As we came out, it was a downpour outside again. We were glad we had our ponchos as we made our way to the Great Movie Ride. We got the gangster side. I love this ride and all the great animatronics, figures and scenes. I always think, though, when I ride this ride, how spooky it must be in the dark with all the scenes and figures. The Busby Berkeley showgirls always seem so spooky to me for some reason. Am I weird or what? We next did Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey. I really like it but Jason could take it or leave it. I like how it makes you use your imagination to imagine the scenes in the dark. We were starving by now as we really didn't have breakfast. It was only 12 but we checked in any way for our 12:30 PS. We didn't have to wait long as we got in at 12:10. We had been to the breakfast buffet here last year but not lunch. The buffet was ok and I especially liked the chicken and mashed potatoes. Jason and I split pieces of the German chocolate cake and red velvet cake for dessert. I also had a make it yourself ice cream sundae which could be topped with all kinds of candies. The lady sitting next to us was celebrating her 79th birthday and her first time to WDW. Her daughter told Chip and Dale that she wanted a picture with her since it was her birthday. They went back in the kitchen and later came out with a birthday cupcake and balloons. It was all very cute. After lunch, we headed over to Muppets 3-D. After hearing so much about the key under the mat, we found it right away. It was a little dark so it was hard to see but we found it. As we started walking towards the theater, I turned back and saw the cast member standing there go and look under the mat. It seemed like he was thinking what were they doing? I guess he didn't know about the key! They were just letting in the next show when we came in but we wanted to stay around to see the entire pre-show and look at the props. I think the cast member was confused by why we didn't go in. Muppets 3D is my favorite 3D movie-I just love the Muppets! I also like that there is nothing to scare me such as the snake in HISTA I still close my eyes at these kinds of scenes! I always wonder at the end of Muppets how they make the holes in the theater. We next walked out on New York Street. There were a lot of NY characters there, something which I haven't seen before. There were two Italian New Yorkers cleaning up outside the pizza place, a weirdly dress New Yorker on the streets, and someone selling Christmas trees on the sidewalk. It was neat. We next did Star Tours another walk on. Next onto the Backstage Tour. I like seeing the costume shops and all the old movie props. The exhibit in the gallery after the tour was transportation in movies. I always enjoy the exhibits in this space. We next did the Backstage Pass which I haven't done before. We first were taken into Jim Henson's Creature shop where we saw puppies from 101 Dalmatians. The next part was the Home Improvement set which was kinda cool. Someone was previously picked from the audience to act as Al in a scene with a already taped Tim. (how can I make this sound better) We next saw a set for the show Sheena, which I have never heard of before. They told us they also film scenes from the show at locations behind the MK and in Morocco in EPCOT. I'll have to watch the show just for this some time although the show sounds rather cheesy. We saw the empty soundstage for Who Wants to Millionaire which will open in the spring. It sounded pretty cool and I'd love to do that. They said instead of phone a friend it will be phone a stranger and the phone will ring where tours are being held and those on the tour can try to answer the question. The last part of the tour were actual sets and props from 101 Dalmatians. We wanted to do the animation tour but I was tired of backstage tours by this time so we decided to skip it. We headed to Tower of Terror instead. Besides COP, this is my other favorite ride. The drop sequence is great and so it the themeing in the ride. We looked at the shops a little bit before we left. I had gone the whole trip so far without trading pins and traded my first with a CM. I traded for a cute sleeping Piglet with wings that I haven't seen before. I found out on pinpics.com that it is part of set from the Disney store Japan! Our next stop was EPCOT. We parked at the Yacht Club as that was where we were meeting for out Illuminations cruise that night. We walked to EPCOT and entered through the International Gateway. I wanted to look in the shops in the United Kingdom and Canada. I wanted to see what kind of Native American merchandise there was in Canada. I recently learned that the totem poles were made by the Tsimshian tribe, a tribe I will be working with when they come to the museum I work it so it made looking at this stuff even more interesting. There was some nice Northwest Coast merchandise but I didn't see anything related to a specific tribe. Next we headed over to Innoventions West (?) to look around for a while. We saw Disney Art there who we meet at the Big Meet a few days ago. He works at the Motorola exhibit. We watched the short Motorola film about new technology. We next headed to Wonders of Life. It was really desolate there. It seems to be that way every time we go there anymore. We wanted to see the Making of Me. There was 15 minutes to the next show so we decided to play with some of the interactives. I did the stationery bike through DL which was neat. I hadn't seen the Making of Me before and it was a cute movie! There were only about 8 of us in the theater, including a family with 2 girls about 7 and 8. I wanted to see Cranium Command but we had to get to Le Cellier for our 7:10 PS. We got to Canada at 6:45 and were given a buzzer. We were seated at 7:15. We started with the pretzel breadsticks which were very good. We both had the appetizer of cheddar cheese soup-the soup is so good! I got the maple glazed salmon and Jason got the prime rib. I couldn't eat my whole meal though as I filled up on breadsticks and soup, I think! We decided to skip dessert since we were running short on time to meet for the Illuminations cruise. We checked in with our boat, Sleeping Beauty, and I quickly ran to the car to change into jeans and a light jacket. Our boat host was Terri, who had her family with her and another couple, whose names I can't remember, from North Carolina. The cruise started at 8:30 (?) Talk about where were. We found out that Terri and her family was the official ITTBAB fast pass family which involved getting their pictures taken and free gifts, which sounded pretty cool. The boat docked underneath the bridge by France. It wasn't the best view in the park but pretty cool as we got to sit and didn't have to save a spot for hours. It all was rather smoky from that point though. After the cruise, we went to Disney Quest and arrived there around 10:30. The first thing we wanted to do was the virtual Pirates of the Caribbean. There were only the two of us (explain all this too Jason!-or maybe I just can't write tonight!) We next played the Treasure of the Incas game where you play with a Indiana Jones type car on a screen. I didn't realize until after we were done playing that you are controlling real cars that are just a little bit away from you! I'm having trouble explaining! Jason wanted to check some other things out that I wasn't interested in so I went up to the Wonderland Café. I ordered a strawberry cheesecake and sat and checked email. I like the little booths and computer set up at the café. We left DQ at 11:45 and went to sleep at 12:15 AM DAY 6, December 13 Today was our off site trip to Universal and Islands of Adventure. I had been to Universal once for half a day in 1992 with my high school band. It was so crowded then that the only thing I got to do was Back to the Future and Nickelodeon studio tours. Jason had never been. We were up at 6:15 AM since our PS at Boatwright's was at 7AM. We didn't end up getting there until 7:30 though. It wasn't a big deal since the restaurant was practically empty. We both ordered the crazy Cajun banana stuffed French toast. Service was very quick! Our order came out even before our waitress had chance to get our drinks! Fast but makes you wonder about the freshness of the food. It was good though, tasted just like Tonga toast except that it had strawberry banana sauce. It was a good thing that we got to breakfast late because we arrived at Universal early. We did find out that there were open an hour later than we thought, until 7PM. We bought the two day park hopper(?) planning to do both parks today and use the second date on a future trip. We parked in the Universal parking garage and boy was it a long walk to the parks! I thought about walking back at night. We walked through Universal City Walk to get to IOA. I was thinking that I liked the look of the City Walk in Hollywood better. However, it did look nicer at night with the lights but I think the shops were better in CA. (needs rearranging of sentences) We were in the gate of IOA at 8:45, the park officially opened at 9. We were stopped for a survey(I love surveys) as soon as we got in. After the survey, we headed for Spiderman. We actually got to ride the ride before the park was open. There was no line at the ride so we just walked through the themeing which was extensive but pretty cool. I liked this ride. I liked the cartoon screens and the special effects. We then went to the Incredible Hulk, which I didn't want to ride, so I waited while Jason rode. He thought... We headed next to Seussland which was very colorful and whimsical looking. We rode the Cat in the Hat dark ride which was pretty neat. I liked the spinning effects in the cars although it was a little rough. We next walked through the Whoville decorated for Christmas. Above the buildings, Jason noticed these tracks that looked like monorail tracks. What are those? The next island was the Lost Continent. This land was empty. I felt like we were the first people in this part of the part. The themeing is really nice in this part of the park. We made our way over to the Dueling Dragons, which I decided I would ride. I had heard about the castle themeing but I was still amazed. I wonder if the line is ever that long? The themeing is really nice though. We did the Fire coaster. I was feeling bouncy after riding it though. It was nice that you could ride the other coaster without going through the big line though. We rode the Ice Coaster next. We both liked the Fire coaster better than the Ice. We rode the Flying Unicorn coaster next. The music was very nice and very medieval sounding. The line was neat to walk through the coaster as it goes round. We headed next to Jurassic Park. We played around for a little bit with the interactive exhibits in the main building. I played the dinosaur trivia game against two other people. I was terrible and wound up in third place; I don't know much about dinosaurs. We then rode the Jurassic Park river ride. It was a good ride. Jason thought the quality of the themeing was on par with Disney. We didn't get too wet on the splashdown part of the ride. We headed next to the Toon Lagoon. We first rode the Dudley Do-right's Ripsaw Falls, another water ride. It was very cartoonish looking and also a very wet ride. We next decided to do the last water ride, Popeye and Bluto's Rat Barges, which is a raft ride. Well, we got totally soaked on this ride and the water was really cold! Enough wet rides for us! Walking out of Toon Lagoon, we saw some characters. I got my picture taken with Olive Oyl and Beetle Bailey. We next went to ride Spiderman again. This time it was about a 15 minute wait. We got to look at the themeing better and also got to watch the film clips that describe the storyline of the ride. It did make the ride make much more sense. It was almost noon and I wanted to go to Whoville to see the Who-bilation. There was singing and dancing and all the characters from the Grinch movie. It would be neat to see all parts of the show but we didn't want to stick around all day. We left IOA around 12:30. We can't believe we did this park in less than 4 hours. We headed over to Universal to spend the rest of the day there. We were again stopped to take another survey at the entrance. The questions were pretty similar to the ones that they asked at IOA. We were hungry so our first priority was to find a place to eat lunch. We decided on the San Francisco Richter. Walking through the New York section, we saw the Ghostbusters car driving along which was pretty neat. I got a chicken sandwich, which I had been craving for a few days now and Jason got a burger. I thought the food was pretty good but Jason thought it was just ok. As we were leaving, we saw people in the restaurant feeding birds that were inside the restaurant! Our first ride at Universal was Men in Black. I liked the World's Fair look of the ride building. The ride was really cool. I liked the look of the ray guns that we used. I don't think I really got to see the entire ride interior since I was busy shooting aliens. Onto Back to the Future. I remember thinking when I rode this ride back in 1992 that it was a really great ride. I still think it's a good ride but not that great as I remember. We sat in the back of the car and it was a pretty rough ride back there. Our heads got banged around a lot. We next did ET. At the beginning of the ride, we had to give our names and were given a little card that we gave away once we got on the ride. I thought it was pretty nice and neat how they portrayed ET's home planet. I heard ET saying something at the very end of the ride but I couldn't understand. Jason said he was saying thank you and all our name. I wondered why we gave our names, which didn't make sense to me. We next saw the animal show with animal celebrities like Lassie and Beethoven. It was fun to watch. We next did Earthquake, which was not what I was expecting. I thought it was a ride that you ride the entire time. The first part was blue screens and earthquakes. Then we went into the subway car and an earthquake happened. The effect was neat. We next did Twister, a very similar ride except we stood and watched a tornado coming to a drive in theater. I think I would have liked these attractions better if they were rides. We next did King Kong. The ride was very short and not that scary I thought. We looked at movie props in the Boneyard section and movie props from The Grinch. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. We next walked through the Hollywood section, which I thought looked really nice. We saw the Dark Room, the shop shaped like a camera, and took a picture to compare it to MGM's Dark Room. I wish we would have had lunch at Mel's Drive-In, since I love the 50s. In Hollywood, we went to see Terminator 3-D. The wait was pretty long for this. I liked the pre-show. Never having seen the movie, I think it did a pretty good job explaining the movie's premise. I think I liked the pre show better than the actual show. The show was good but I really wasn't into the "action" part of it. The last ride of the day for us was Hanna and Barbera's Futuristic World. The Jetson's is one of my favorite cartoons and the ride was neat. Again, another jerky ride at Universal. We left the park at 6. We couldn't believe that we did both parks in a day. We probably would not have been able to do this during busy season. We went back to DL and started to think about where we wanted to eat dinner. I've been trying to get Jason to go to Bongo's the last few trips. He actually said yes this time but I wasn't really feeling well and not in the mood for Cuban food. We decided to go to the Big River Grill instead where we had a good lunch a few years ago. Well, this was the hidden treasure meal of the trip. One of my favorite dinners. Jason got the chicken cease salad and I got the hazelnut crusted chicken with dried cherry sauce. The chicken was really good! It came with sides of garlic mashed potatoes and grilled veggies, also very good. We walked around the Boardwalk a while before coming back to DL. On the way to DL, we stopped at the Port Orleans food court to see their selection. I got a praline and Jason got a piece of chocolate cake. WE were tired tonight and went to sleep at 9:30. DAY 7, December 14 Today we were up at 7:30 and at EPCOT by 9. We noticed a sign right inside the park that said Test Track was going to be open until 10:30 that night, while the park closes at 9:30. We first went to the Land. We saw Circle of Life, not one of my favorites but ok to see every few years. Onto Living with Land. I like the greenhouse part and to see how they're growing all the vegetables. We next saw Food Rocks. Next we went to Innoventions where Jason played the fishing video game and I played the Magic Kingdom racing game. I wasn't too good at it, though. We made the mandatory (for me) stop at the pin booth. I bought the MSEP drum light up pin that I have been wanting to get all week. We saw a pin trader there with a orange lanyard which I haven't seen before. She said she got it from some pin traders from Japan. We went to Mexico when the WS opened to make a PS for lunch at 11:45, since we didn't eat a breakfast. While waiting for our PS time, we went to Norway to ride Maelstrom. I like the part where you can see outside, right after you go backwards. I like the little village scene at the end of the ride. We stayed and watched the movie this time. It really makes us want to visit Norway. By this time, it was time for lunch in Mexico. I love the nachos they give you before meal. Jason had the nacho de pollo platter and I had the plato mexicano, a quesadilla, beef taco and chicken enchilada. The lunch was really good. This is one of Jason's favorite restaurants in WDW. I have never had dinner there and want to try that on our next trip. We next went to China and watched the China movie. I like the 360 degree movies. It would be neat if more countries have them. We walked around to the American pavilion. It was 1:30 and American Adventure wasn't been shown until 1:55. We decided to go to Japan and see the baseball exhibit. The exhibit was small and had some nice Japanese baseball artifacts from the early 1900s. I didn't realize baseball had been popular in Japan so long. We stopped and got kaki-goris. Jason got strawberry and I got rainbow, strawberry, tangerine and honeydew. It was really good but honeydew is my favorite. We realized we missed the 1:55 AA but didn't want to stick around for the next show. We took the boat across the World Showcase lagoon and did Spaceship Earth, one of my favorite attractions in EPCOT. It was really hot today. We thought about going to Blizzard Beach but wished we would have thought of it earlier. We didn't have time to go back to DL and get our things and still have enough time to go to the park before it closes. Oh, well. We drove over and parked at the Wilderness Lodge since we were having dinner at Artist's Point and took the boat over to the MK. We first went to the Hall of Presidents. I like the show but not the voice of Maya Angelou. We rode Splash Mountain next-there was no wait at 4:30. In fact, we were the only ones on our boat and two boats behind us were totally empty. I wore my poncho cause I didn't want to get wet but my hair still ended up a little damp. We went over to the Keelboats and got to be on the last cruise of the day. We wanted to sit on the top of the boat but another family had already requested it. I couldn't hear the CM's spiel too well but it was a nice cruise around the Rivers of America. We next went to the Jungle Cruise. Jason noticed the rehab and thought everything looked great. I don't think a lot of people on our boat were really listening to the jokes though. That's the best part! We next did Swiss Family Robinson. In a few places, you could see into the Aladdin construction site which was pretty cool. We next did the Tiki Birds. Jason told me he heard something about Iago saying something about HOP so we listened for that at the very end and heard it. We stayed and watched the fireworks from the rose garden path on the right side of the castle. The fireworks are ok but after seeing Believe in Disneyland this summer, I like Believe better. We looked around for a bit at the shops on Main Street for the first time this week. We went into the Main Street Gallery right beside City Hall. Is this new? We didn't remember seeing it last year here. We headed back to WL. I really love the WL. I really want to stay here sometime soon. It was neat looking at all their replicas of Native American artifacts since I know a lot more about them now. Our PS at Artist's Pointe was for 7:10. We arrived at 6:50 and were given a beeper. We looked around the shop and the lobby. I also really like the lobby there. I love the fire. It is such a cozy atmosphere and different from lobbies at the other hotels. We were finally called at 7:30. We weren't going to get an appetizer but then I saw the Pacific cheese sampler. We both love cheese (Jason really loves cheese) so we decided to try that. It was goat, cheddar and blue cheese with walnuts and crackers. I really liked the goat cheese but there was too much of the blue cheese. They brought us out bread with caramelized onion butter, peach jam, and a roasted garlic. The toppings were great on the bread. For the main course, Jason had buffalo steak with sides of potatoes and butternut squash. I had the maple whiskey glazed salmon with sides of spinach, a baked apple slice, and a lentil mix. Everything was delicious! For dessert, Jason had the apple crisp and I had the berry cobbler, with blueberries and strawberries. The berry cobbler is $10 and I can understand why-it's huge! This meal was very good but also very expensive. We almost went here last year but didn't. It is now one of our new favorites. We went back to DL. I decided to go to the hot tub while Jason watched TV. The hot tub was crowded when I got there so I went in the pool instead. I noticed there were only 2 people in it a bit later so I went in then. It felt really nice and relaxing. After I got back to the room, we watched ER and then went to sleep. DAY 8, December 15 We got up at 6:30 AM today. Jason's mom, Peggy, and brother, Grant, were coming to WDW today around 10. We left our room around 8 to have breakfast at the Kona Café. We parked at the Contemporary since we were meeting Peggy and Grant there. We had a little trouble getting to park there but we made it (more?) We had a 7 AM PS at Kona. We're not sure why we made it that early since we knew we were going to the MK that day and it didn't open until 9. So we were just a little late at 8:30. We told them we had a PS at 7 and she said it was ok, we're on vacation. We both ordered the Tonga Toast. Yum-yum but way too much for me to eat. We noticed that when we went to pay the bill we couldn't find resort ids. We had to go back to the car to see if we hopefully left them there. We did, thankfully, so off to the MK we were. We rode the Main Street horse carriage up to the castle. I have never ridden them before so that was neat. We headed over and did Buzz Lightyear again(Jason-17400, me 3400- what happened?) then Pooh, and back to TL for the TTA. For good measure, we took the horse carriage back to the other end of Main Street. This time the barber shop quartet were singing in the back of the carriage. We planned to meet Peggy and Grant at 10:15 in the Contemporary lobby. We found Peggy there and Grant was at the arcade playing games. We had to break the news gently to Grant that the Sunshine Tree Terrace was closed. He loves orange slushes. Exchange ticket? We all drove to MGM. Grant wanted to go on RRC and ToT with us since Peggy doesn't ride those kind of rides. We went to RRC and then ToT with Peggy. We wanted her to see the inside themeing and then she took the chicken out. We had a 12:15 PS at the Sci-Fi Diner. We were seated at 12:20. I love the atmosphere there! The old sci-fi clips were funny too. I loved seating in the cars but the dashboard didn't leave much room for plates but it was fun. Grant and I ordered vanilla shakes, Peggy a strawberry shakes, and Jason was no fun and didn't get a shake. Peggy and Jason ordered burgers, Grant had a baked ham sandwich, and I had the BBQ chicken sandwich. My sandwich was good but the piece of chicken was very big! I was surprised that the food was so good since I've heard mostly negative things about the food. We all liked our meals there and would consider going there again. Since it was a nice hot day again, Jason and I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at Blizzard Beach. We already had our swim gear in the car. Peggy and Grant went back to the hotel to take naps. We spent from 2-4:15 at Blizzard Beach. We rented a locker there for $8 with $2 being refundable at the end of the day. We took the Cross Country Creek, a waterway around the park that lets you off at attractions, to an attraction. There were a lot of dead leaves floating around. We floated along in out inner tubes to Runoff rapids, tube slides. It was a long climb up to the top with the inner tubes. There are two open slides and one enclosed slide. We went down both open slides and Jason went down the enclosed slide, which I was afraid of for some reason. We then took the creek over to the wave pool. I've never been to a wave pool before and it was fun and the water felt really cool. We took the creek back to the Chairlift, to take us up to some other slides. We went down Teamboat Springs the world's longest family raft ride. We went back to the Runoff Rapids and I braved it and went down the enclosed slide and it was fun. When we went to get our locker money back they offered us a Disney mug or the money. I took the money as we have enough mugs. We were stopped for a survey on the way out, a rather long but interesting one on aspects of BB and WDW as a whole. We decided to use our free coupon for the Winterland Summerland mini golf course. We played the Summerland course. I liked the themeing and how the turf was made to look like sand and water. At the end we were given a Christmas card with a little golf ball ornament. Jason was meeting Grant at Disney Quest at 5. Jason dropped me off by the Marketplace. I think I looked in every store there. I was looking for small souvenirs for friends at work. Their favorite characters are Eeyore, Jasmine, and Luminiere. Eeyore is easy to find but the two others were harder. I got some ideas looking through the shops though. I walked through the shops on the West Side too, which I had never been in before. I met up with Grant and Jason and we headed to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop De Doo. We met Peggy there for the 7:30?? Show. We started with bread and salad. I asked for salad with no dressing. Last year they brought me my own bowl of salad but this year they just brought me a plate. I love the chicken and baked beans, also had ribs and corn. The strawberry shortcake is the best. The show was funny, the same actors we saw last year, at least most of them. Six Bits was really funny tonight. He even threw in a Florida recount joke. In the Clementine segment, he had Jim cracking up where he couldn't start his next line. There was a lot of ad-libbing going on it seemed. We went back to the Contemporary to watch the fireworks from Peggy and Grant's room on the 11th floor. We also gave Peggy her Christmas present, the MSEP drum figure from the Disney store that lights up. After the fireworks, we went to Pleasure Island. We went to the Adventurer's Club and kind of just hung out for a while. Jason and I sat in the mask room just listening to what was going on in the main room. I love the mask room and how comfy it looks and is. We got in line at 11:30 for the 12:05 Comedy Warehouse show and were the second group in line. We watched the New Year's Eve show from the line, which we had never seen before. It was interesting . This was Peggy and Grant's first time there and we had really good seats. We were in the very front row to the left! The cast tonight was Matt, Jennifer, Jennifer, Krista, and the other girl we saw a few nights ago whose name I don't know. The show was good and Jason got to "sing" by himself for a second as part of a skit. We were tired after the long day and went to bed as soon as we got back at 1:30 AM DAY 9, December 16 Today we were up at 8 and our first stop was the MK. We had a PS at the Crystal Palace at 7:30 and were just a little late. We got to the CP at 9:30 but didn't have to wait very long. I was excited since it was a character breakfast with Pooh characters. I wore my "Piglet" T-shirt, a pink striped shirt and my pink pig ear headband that I made for my Piglet Halloween costume. I saw ones all over WDW looking similar but for $10 and I made mine for less that $3. I was so disappointed when we were told that Piglet wasn't there that day! I had been looking forward to having my picture taken with him all trip. This started the quest for Piglet! Anyway, it is traditional that we eat at the CP every year, but this is my least favorite breakfast buffet. We decided to do a few things in the MK first. We went on the Jungle Cruise and then Country Bears, a first time for me. This was the most crowded day in the parks since we've been here. There was also a huge tour group here. No, not Brazilian but Argentinean. I swear the whole group was in the JC line at once and that's what made it really long. On our way out of the MK, Jason and I stopped at City Hall to find out where Piglet was going to be. We found out that he was going to be on Mickey Avenue at MGM. We weren't planning on going there today but now we were! First we took the monorail to EPCOT though to pick up our stuff for the Candlelight Processional that night. We had thought we were eating at the Rose and Crown at 5, and seeing the CP at 6:45, but it was the other way around. Want to talk more about the whole thing? We got lanyards for the processional which also has a special pin on it. We decided to take the bus to MGM; I was worried we were going to miss Piglet! And the bus had the nerve to stop at the AK then MGM! We rushed to Mickey Avenue and found out from 2 CMs that Piglet would be out a 2, about 20 minutes from then. We hadn't really eaten lunch so I had a vanilla ice cream cone, Jason mint chocolate chip, from the Backlot Express, I think. I was the third in line for Piglet and Jason took my picture with him, 2 just to be safe. Now I was happier the rest of the day! :) We took the boat back to EPCOT and met Peggy and Grant at Ice Station Cool. Peggy had never been there before and Jason and I were trying to get her to try the Beverly; she didn't. We split up then and planned to meet back for the CP. Jason and I went to the Land to use our discount to buy a mini orange tree. I thought they were so neat. Hopefully, it will grow for me! Jason bought a mini orange and palm tree for a gift exchange at work. We next went to Innoventions and took the tour of the House of the Future. Jason liked the (what kind) clock. I remembered some from last year but saw some different things too. We next started walking towards the Millennium Village gift shop but first Jason stopped for a drink of water. He jumped when the fountain said-don't drown me! We hadn't seen the talking fountains before and they were really cute. Another one said, ah, that feels good. A few days ago we saw the Millennium Village restrooms for the first time and yes, they are huge! Also, a good way to get to the shops without going through the whole pavilion. I was looking for something for my work gift exchange but didn't see anything I liked. We had run across the Tapestry of Nations parade and watched it fast forward as we were walking. We next looked in the France and Morocco gift shops. Nothing there I wanted to buy either. It was about time to meet Peggy and Grant to see the CP. They had told us to get in line an hour before the performance; we were there 15 minutes before. We still got good seats on the right side towards the front. Phylicia Raschad was the narrator tonight. Watching and listening to the CP is so relaxing. After the CP, we looked around in Japan for a while before heading to the Rose and Crown. We saw the toy exhibit. The giant dancing dragon was really cool. We also saw the candy art lady and looked in the store for a bit. Heading to the R&C, we saw the ToN parade again in fast forward! Our PS was for 6:40. We were given a beeper and got in at 6:50. Our waiter told us with the CP package we could order any appetizer; we thought it was just salads. Peggy and I ordered the fruit and cheese platter, Jason the salad, and Grant the lamb and barley soup. After the appetizers, it was taking a very long time for our main course to come. The waiter came by and thought we were waiting for dessert! Shortly after that we got our meals. Peggy and Grant ordered fish and chips, Jason the prime rib, and I got the pie sampler. The pie sampler was really good with cottage (ground beef, potatoes, and veggies), steak and mushroom, and chicken and leek pies. Grant didn't want any dessert. Peggy ordered the trifle, Jason the Guinness cake and I got the Millennium dessert. We were all very full. By time dinner was done, it was almost 8:30 due to our slow service. We spent the rest of the time using our discount at Mousegear, which Jason kept calling Mouse Planet. Jason's mom bought him the entire monorail set up for Christmas, including the CR and SE. We had it sent to us and it got here 5 days after we got back. As to where to set it up, I don't know in our small apartment. They didn't have everything we wanted at Mouse Plane-Mousegear, like the $11 Piglet plush, Piglet earrings and the Fantasmic CD. I bought a Piglet hair tie, chocolate fudge to take to work (it was very creamy and good), a big Tinkerbell mug for my gift exchange, Eeyore, Jasmine and Aladdin, and Belle and the Beast figurines for my friends at work, and the MSEP CD. Jason bought a cool EPCOT shirt with the monorail on it between FW and the WS. Jason and I hopped the monorail over to the MK to catch the MSEP at 10. We a spot on Main Street in front of the sports store. I noticed in the parade, that this time the ball dancers had a lighted canopy over them which was not there last Saturday. After the parade, we shopped a little on MS. I bought my Piglet in a uncrowded shop. I wasn't going to buy it at the packed Emporium. We didn't find the Fantasmic CD anywhere where we saw it everywhere a few days ago. We looked around the camera shop and also played Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It was 11:15 by then, and a CM say us playing but didn't kick us out yet. We got back to our room around 11:45 and packed a little, as tomorrow is our last day. DAY 10, December 17 Our last day-sniff sniff. We were up at 6:15 to finish packing. We headed for breakfast at Chef Mickey's at 7:30 with Peggy. We parked at the CR with no problem this time since Peggy got us a parking pass. We didn't have a PS but were seated almost immediately. I love breakfast here, especially the fresh fruit and pastries selection. We all got to the MK at 8:05 walking from the CR. It was quite chilly today, the coldest day of the trip and the first day I wore jeans. Peggy took the traditional picture of Jason, Grant and I in front of the castle. We rode Buzz (didn't record the scores) first and Grant, Jason and I rode Space Mountain. The wait time said 10 minutes but the wait was really more like 30 minutes. We next rode it's a small world, then Grant left, and the rest of us rode the Haunted Mansion. We again looked for the wedding ring but didn't find it. Peggy and I went to do some shopping while Jason went to ride Splash. It was just too cold for me to ride it today. I bought the Splash die cast ride vehicle as part of Jason's Christmas present. We then went to the candy shoppe where Peggy and I bought 6 pieces of fudge (buy 4, get 2 free) and I bought chocolate mints for the gift exchange and 2 Mickey pretzels for myself. Peggy bought me the Piglet earring and a pair of Mickey earring at the Emporium. We were all meeting by the Christmas tree to go over to EPCOT. There was still 10 minutes left so I went over to the Enchanted Grove to get a strawberry swirl. Yum-I think I like these better than the Citrus Swirl or Dole Whip. Jason helped me finish it walking back to the car at the CR. We drove to EPCOT, as we would be leaving from there to the airport. We first went to the American Adventure. This is really a great show, one of all of our favorites. We next had lunch at Restaurant Marrakesh, on Grant's suggestion. We were surprised he wanted to eat her since normally he's a picky eater. I have never spent that much in Morocco as I have this trip. I never realized how far it goes back and how windy (not like the wind) it is with all the shops. Marrakesh was pretty uncrowded. We got the appetizer to share, beef rolls, chicken bastilla, and Jasmina salad. The sugar in the meats was interesting and the salad was really good! Between the appetizer and the main course, a musician played and a belly dancer danced. She brought out two little girls to dance with her and then she asked Grant to dance with her! For our main courses, Grant had the roasted lamb, Peggy the chicken couscous, Jason the shish kebabs, and I got the chicken kebabs. We were very happy with our food. I would love to go back for dinner sometime. Grant definitely wants to go back and he likes the food too. I ran ahead to get something from the French bakery before seeing Impressions de France. The line was long so I didn't have time to eat the coconut pyramid I bought before the movie. I like the France movie-very pretty. Jason and I said our good byes to Grant and Peggy as we were leaving the park in an hour after some last minute shopping. We went to Canada and bought a mini totem pole that I didn't have time to pick up last night. I ran to China to buy a teapot for my mom while Jason got a rice cream in Norway. Then it was goodbye EPCOT and WDW and on to the airport! Times of plane? Our plane was late in taking off after spending a long time on the runway. We had a snack on the plane-ham and cheese sandwich (not really good), a cookie and something else I forgot, We didn't get the full can of pop this time, just a cupful. We landed in cold D.C. around 9:30 PM. We really had a great trip! Even though, we were there for almost 10 days this trip we still didn't do everything we wanted to! We didn't get to see Fantasmic or the Osbourne lights, wish we spent more time at the MK, more time at PI, never took the bikes around DL, never took the river cruise from DxL to DD. We are looking forward to our short 2 day trip in March and probably a longer trip sometime in 2002. Thanks for the reading the trip report! Amy Gourley amy@pressroom.com Mail a Comment to Amy Gourley |
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