Margie McCann -- November 2000 -- Walt Disney World (CR)

**This is my first trip report and I am not a professional writer and/or critic. I tried to incorporate the elements that I liked whenever I read trip reports. Please keep this in mind while you read.**

After reading all of the trip reports and articles about the Millennium celebration, my husband Chuck and I decided that we wanted to go to WDW. Besides the fact that my daughter, Allie had developed a major Cinderella and Pooh fixation. After many hours of lurking on RADP, Deb Wills, and Brian Bennett's websites, we made a few decisions. Since my daughter is in daycare, we didn't have the "Should we take the kids out of school?" debate. We wanted to avoid crowds, so we decided that we would go November 29 to December 5. This is the week after Thanksgiving. This way, we could see WDW decorated for Christmas. We also want to include a MVMCP, breakfast with Cinderella, dinner at Chef Mickey's and a meal with Pooh. We are going to go to all of the theme parks, but decided that the water parks and Pleasure Island could wait until the next trip.

The original plan was to stay at the CBR. I purchased an MKC gold card (it's already paid for itself for the 2 years just with the discounts at the Disney store :)), and got an MKC discount for the trip. As I was reading everything I could get my hands on, I was getting concerned with the transportation issue. After much deliberation, I decided to call about staying at a monorail hotel. I was able to change our reservation from the CBR to the CR and get an MKC discount. Now, I just needed to tell Chuck what I did! After the hotel arrangements were made, we set out to buy passes. We bought 6 Day Park Hopper Plus passes. The CM at the Disney Store informed me that we were eligible to get the "Magic in a Box" if the card was postmarked by May 31st. Since that was only 4 days away, I filled it out that night. One month later, I was greeted at the door by a 3-year-old yelling "Mickey had sent her presents in the mail"! Oh good, even more stuff to read.

We decided to fly down, so we purchased our airline tickets from USAIR, round-trip, nonstop from Philadelphia to Orlando at $169pp. We booked Tiffany Towncar for our transportation to and from the airport. After reading all of the trip reports, I'm even excited to find out who our driver will be! I got an email from them confirming our reservation and noticed that it was listed as 2 in the party, not 3. I sent an email back to them changing it from 2 to 3 and asking for a carseat for Allie as well. I got a response saying that it was added to the reservation. Here's hoping when we get there!

The Dream: (We are following the day after Early Entry theory for all the days except 12/4)

About a month or so before we leave, we get a phone call from USAir stating that our flight had been canceled and that we needed to select a different flight. After much deliberation (and the fact that this was the only flight that could guarantee us 3 seats together), we opt for the 1pm flight. Since our Chef Mickey PS wasn't until 6:30pm, I thought it would be all right. However, I did try calling a few times to see if I could get anything later, but was unsuccessful. We'll just keep our fingers crossed.

Wednesday, November 29 - Arrived at Philly International Airport with no problem. Had plenty of time before the flight, so we decided to have lunch at Sbarro since we weren't getting a meal on the plane ($11). We also stopped and bought the requisite magazine and gum ($5). Flight was good, only a tiny bit of turbulence. Since this was Allie's first flight, we were concerned how she would behave. We had no problems. I had packed a few goodies for the plane ride. A Little Mermaid sticker book (which she only did half of) and a Cinderella Colorforms book kept her occupied the whole time. When I asked her if she wanted to finish the sticker book, she told me that she wanted to look at the beautiful, blue sky instead! Wow! Got off the plane and went to baggage claim. Saw our Tiffany Towncar driver, Ronnie holding up a sign with our name. Too Cool! Best of all, the car seat was in the trunk! He was very personable, pointing out all of the landmarks and made a point of talking to all of us, Allie included. We stopped at Publix for some staples: Pop-Tarts, juice boxes, small bottles of water, ($14) etc. Ronnie gave us all of the information for our return pick-up. He was great! I would definitely request him next time. Arrived at the hotel about 5pm.

Check-in took all of about 10 minutes, with a trainee. She gave us an extra room key for Allie as a little souvenir. Before we left, I had faxed a room request for non-smoking, first floor, and view of MK. Got it all! We were in room 7183 in the North Garden Wing. We had a small patio with chairs and could see the castle. The room was huge! It had two queen beds, sofa, chair and table, very nice. We unpacked and cleaned ourselves up. We walked over to the main building and went up to Chef Mickey's about 6:15. We loved it! Allie loved it too. As soon as we gave our names, we were sent to get our picture taken. We took a seat and over walked Donald Duck. My daughter was thrilled. (She is on the shy side, so we weren't sure how she would be with the characters. No need to be worried!) He came and sat down beside her and was holding her hand, playing with her hair, even cleaning her ears. I had brought our camera and she had a little disposable one. Donald took a picture of both of them. She loved it! Then Goofy came over and started to tickle her. After this, everytime she saw him, she would say that he is the tickler! We were seated at our table around 6:30. Food was delicious. We liked the Prime rib, smoked turkey, shrimp, pork loin, broccoli with tomatoes, feta and olives, maple carrots, and those Parmesan mashed potatoes. They were wonderful! Desserts were chocolate mousse cake, cannoli, make your own sundaes and decorate your own cupcakes. Kids menu-pizza, hot dogs, mac & cheese. Allie liked everything. She was practically standing in the booth looking for characters. We got to see Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale too. She didn't want to do the napkin wave, but Chuck and I did. Dinner was about $69. We also bought our pictures ($22). We had neglected to buy Allie an autograph book right away, but when she saw the characters signing the kids' books, she wanted one too. After dinner, we stopped and got her one ($5) so we would be ready for tomorrow. We also went to the Food & Fun Center to buy our refillable mugs ($19) and check out the arcade. Played a few games, then it was back to the room to call my parents to let them know we arrived in once piece. Set the wake up call for 6:52 am.

Best - Very impressed with Tiffany Towncar and were glad we had a smooth, uneventful flight. The look on Allie's face when she first saw the characters. "I'm going to give Chip and Dale a big, squishy hug", when she blew kisses at Donald Duck, Dinner at Chef Mickey's. An amazing first day.

Thursday, November 30 - Our first full day at WDW! I was up before the wake-up call so I was able to pick up the phone and hold it to Allie's ear while she was still sleeping. The child sprang up out of bed! She was so excited. While everyone was getting ready, we heard ducks quacking outside. We opened the curtains and there they were, out on our patio. After saying our goodbyes to the ducks, we headed to the bus stop to go to MGM. Got out to the bus stop a little before 8 am. The bus came right away and we go to MGM very quickly. There were CM's walking around asking if anyone needed to rent a stroller or wheelchair while we were waiting in line for the park to open. We said that we did. We paid her and she gave us our ticket and our nameplate for the back of the stroller. This way, when we got through the turnstiles, we just had to show the ticket and grab a stroller. That was a great time saver. Opened the turnstiles a little before 9am. Our main goal was to see Bear in the Big Blue House. Since the first show didn't start until 10:45, we wandered around for awhile looking at the decorations and everything that had changed since we had last been there. We bought Allie a pair of Belle sunglasses ($8). We walked back to Al's Toy Barn and saw our first characters of the trip, Buzz and Woody. Allie was a little unsure about going to see them, so I went instead! But as soon as Jessie came out, she ran right over to her. We also saw the green army men. After that, Allie was hooked! She wanted to know when we were going to see more characters. We walked past The Great Movie Ride and saw Donald Duck, Genie, Geppetto and Pinocchio. After that, we walked past the trailers and saw Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. Allie sat on Piglet's lap for a picture. We waited in line to see the Bear in the Big Blue House show. She loved it. In the beginning of the show, streamers fall from the ceiling. I got pegged right in the eye with a streamer that didn't unravel. Ouch! After the show, we saw Mickey Mouse in his golfing outfit in front of the Animation building. We decided to have lunch at Pizza Planet ($23). Three pizzas, two salads, two sodas, and an apple juice. Pizza was better than I thought it would be. Stopped in the Star Wars shop to buy a magnet for a friend ($4). Since we didn't want to do anything else in MGM (Allie is terrified of Ursula and not very fond of the Beast), we decided to go to Epcot. We walked right up to the bus stop and only waited a few minutes.

After a short ride to Epcot (we were the only ones on the bus), we stopped and got another stroller and began our stroll around Future World. We went into Ice Station Cool for our free samples. I never told Chuck about Beverly, just kind of nonchalantly asked if he had tried that flavor. Hee Hee! He was still complaining about it 15 minutes after he drank it. Allie liked the Apple Soda. There was a boy there, about 10 years old that was downing cup after cup of the apple soda. I asked him if he had tried the Beverly yet. He tried it and was suitably disgusted. He turned to me and said "That stuff is nasty. I have to find my brother!" The Beverly trick lives on! As we made our way toward the International Gateway, we came across the bus of characters. We saw Mushu (one of Allie's favorites), Jiminy Cricket, Rafiki, Goofy (dressed as Santa) Meeko, and Mickey all in their Christmas finery. As we were getting in line to see Minnie, the CM told us that the characters were leaving and would be back in an hour. They all got on the bus and drove away. (Even the bus was decorated for Christmas). Allie started to cry. She thought they were leaving for good. We explained to her that they were going for a potty break, snack, etc. She wasn't buying it. We walked around a little and grabbed a snack, then went back to see the character bus again so she could see that they came back. This time we saw Minnie, Pluto, Chip, Dale, Pinocchio, Piglet, Donald Duck, Esmerelda, and Mushu (again!). A photographer stopped us while we were walking. She took our pictures with the Millennium ball as a background. (The picture looked great, so we bought them for $23). When we were finished, we walked all around the World Showcase. Allie went to Norway and Germany to make her masks. She really liked the KidCot centers. It's hard to make sure all of the kids get a chance. There was one mom who was sitting at the table with her son while he made about 5 masks in the 10 minutes or so we were there. Other kids were waiting to sit at the table to make a mask, but no one could make this woman get up! After Germany, Allie fell asleep in the stroller. Chuck and I shared a Beck's ($6) in Germany while we sat and watched the people. Very relaxing! Chuck was asked no less than 5 times to take pictures of people! We had made our way over to UK and stopped to use the rest rooms. We were reading our map, and a very nice CM named Cyndi asked us what we were planning on doing next. When I told her we weren't sure yet, she told us that ToN would be starting in a few minutes. We asked her to recommend a good place to see the parade. She told us to sit down in front of the English telephone booths. The gate that the parade goes through at the end is right there, so we would be able to see everything. We sat and watched the parade. I liked it. It was a different sort of parade that what I am used to, but it had a nice message. Chuck isn't too big on parades, so he just said it was OK. Allie woke up for a few minutes, told us it was too loud then fell back to sleep again. We did get stuck with an obnoxious mother and her 2 kids right before the parade was starting. She was yelling at the kids in English and French! They were very pushy, and kept jumping right in front of us. We wandered around the Millenium Village for a few minutes, but weren't too impressed. We also stopped and watched Off-Kilter for awhile. Those guys are cute! I understand now why people rave about them! We had a PS for 5:30 at Le Cellier. We got there about 5pm. I checked in and they said they would seat us in a few minutes. Seated us in about 10 minutes and gave Allie crayons to color with (this was the only restaurant we were at that provided crayons for the kids). I had the top sirloin and cheddar cheese soup, Chuck had the prime rib and the cheddar cheese soup, and Allie had the kid's cheeseburger. Dinner was very good, especially the soup! We would definitely eat here again. Dinner cost about $65. We were at the International Gateway and we watched the tree lighting ceremony. It was beautiful. We loved the music and lights! We walked back through Future World and were browsing in the stores. We bought a Mushu beanie ($9), 102 Dalmatians toy set ($10), 3 small Lion King figures ($12), and a Cinderella playset ($12) for Allie's birthday in March. We left Epcot about 7pm. We took the monorail to the TTC and then back to the Contemporary. Chuck grabbed our mugs and got sodas while I gave Allie a bath and got her ready for bed. I set the wake-up call for 6:43am. We relaxed and watched a little TV, and went to sleep about 10:30pm. It was a full first day! Tomorrow breakfast with Cinderella and the MVMCP!

Best - Seeing Allie's face light up everytime she saw the characters. My picture with Buzz and Woody. The cheddar cheese soup at Le Cellier.

Worst - I can't believe we did 2 parks (and 12 hours) our first full day at WDW. Lots of aching feet!

Friday, December 1 - I was up and dressed before the wake-up call came. I picked up the phone and put it to Allie's ear again. She literally jumped out of bed, she was so excited that Mickey called her again. We took the monorail and arrived at MK about 8:45am. We rented a stroller and then waited a few minutes for the park to open at 9am. We had a 9:15 PS for breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. Allie couldn't wait. We registered at the desk and were escorted inside the waiting area where it was packed! We were waiting in line to see the Fairy Godmother when our names were called "The Royal McCann Family"! Too funny! We walked up the spiral steps. Gorgeous view! We were sitting in one of the side sections, on the risers. At first, the only princesses we saw walking around were Cinderella and Snow White. A few minutes later, Aladdin, Belle and Aurora appeared and were going to all of the tables. Breakfast was delicious. Fresh fruit, orange juice, cheesy potatoes, eggs, sausage, bacon, and the French toast. The French toast was excellent. It tastes like a deep-fried cheese danish. Chuck wasn't crazy about the French toast, and I wasn't thrilled with the eggs, so we switched. The first princess to come over was Cinderella. Allie told her she dressed like her for Halloween and Cinderella admired Allie's Cinderella sneakers. Snow White told Allie to keep eating her breakfast and the rest of the princesses would be by to see her. Boy, did she eat then! If only Snow White would stop by our house at dinnertime! She was a little wary of Aladdin, but he was wonderful with her, telling her all about Jasmine and the palace. He was also very cute! When I said that, Allie corrected me, saying that "He's not cute. He's handsome". Well, I guess I got told. Belle and Aurora came over last. They all told Allie that she looks like Ariel (she has long, red hair) and liked her princess sweatshirt. Breakfast was about $60. After we were done, we stopped and met the Fairy Godmother. We made our way through Fantasyland and rode Small World. We then waited in the grotto to see Ariel. It was a little chilly, so Ariel was wearing a jacket. I think Chuck was disappointed! Allie loved playing in the fountains and running around with all of the other kids. After that, was the Pooh ride. It was about a 20-minute wait without Fastpass. It's a cute ride. Allie wasn't too thrilled with the Heffalumps and Woozles. She said that they hurt Pooh's feelings and made him sad! But, she said she liked the ride anyway. I wasn't too crazy about the fact that you exit through a gift shop! We bought Allie a Piglet hat ($14) in there. We walked over to the Character Festival where we saw Baloo, Rafiki, and Timon. We were the last ones allowed to see the characters before they went on break. I was so relieved. I was telling the CM there what had happened yesterday at Epcot with the character bus. She thought it was so cute and told us to take our time with the characters. We walked over toward the TeaCups and saw Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and the Mad Hatter. Dum wrote in Allie's book upside down. We rode the TeaCups and Allie loved those. She was hysterical laughing throughout the ride. We walked over to ToonTown. Allie wanted to go see Minnie, so we did. We also saw Pluto and Goofy. She told us she didn't want Goofy to tickle her again! We stopped in the gift shop and bought a small Simba beanie ($11). By now it was after 1pm and we were starting to get hungry, so we went over to Cosmic Ray's to grab some lunch. Two 1/4 pound hot dogs, two fries, one kids corn dog meal and two Cokes ($18). The food was decent, but nothing special. We road the Carousel next. Beautiful carousel, but a very short ride. Even Allie commented that it was a fast ride. We walked around a little longer and then made our way toward Main Street to stake out a spot for the Magical Moments parade. We spent the time talking to a nice family from Maryland who were sitting next to us while we were waiting. The barbershop quartet walked up a down the street stopping to sing a song. They stopped right in front of us. Allie really enjoyed their singing and dancing. After sitting and waiting for an hour, an Australian family came and stood right behind us and pushed their daughter (who was about 11) in front of the Maryland family. The daughter then would jump around and run out as each parade float stopped and did their performance. She was chased back several times and then finally got to go out and dance with Snow White and friends at the end. In the meantime, the parents and an older daughter kept banging our stroller. The older daughter (about 14) then tried to sit on the curb next to me (where there was no room) and preceded to fall over my feet. We had a hard time watching the parade with all of this nonsense going on. Chuck and I weren't crazy about this parade. Too few floats. The other thing we didn't like was when the floats would stop and the characters would do their little performances. Between all the kids running out and then all of their parents running out after them, you couldn't see what was going on. It was like pandemonium set to a Disney soundtrack. We left after the parade and went back to the hotel for a nap.

After we had all napped, we had to decide what we were going to do about dinner. We had a PS for the Concourse Steakhouse, but Chuck said that he didn't feel like a big, sit-down dinner. So, I went to the Food & Fun Center and brought our dinner back to the room. Dinner was a bacon cheeseburger platter, a cheeseburger platter, a kids chicken strip meal and a big cookie ($19). Hopped the monorail to MK. Had our stroller rental from earlier in the day, so we got another once. There were 4 giant candy canes made out of balloons that were around the Christmas tree on Main Street. An announcement was made that they were opening the MVMCP and the snowmaking started. It looked like frozen soap bubbles. Allie was sitting in her stroller with her mouth wide open. It was too cool. We got a map from one of the greeters and made our way to Tomorrowland. We went on Buzz Lightyear. I wanted Chuck to ride in his own, but he didn't. (I wanted a gun of my own:(). Allie was a little scared at first, but then she got into it. She beat Chuck by 100 points. Next time, I'm getting a gun of my own. We went over and got our family picture taken next. There were only 2 other families in line. While Chuck filled out the form, we got our MVMCP pins. Allie told us that only people who win at Buzz get the pins! HA! Next, we rode the Tomorrowland Speedway. Chuck and Allie rode in a car together. She really liked that ride. After that, we rode the Teacups again. We saw the Mad Hatter and the Tweedles again. The Mad Hatter was very good and was very charming with Allie. When he asked her where she was from, she told him "Phil-a-del-phi-a". "Ah yes. The place with the big bell" he replied. "Huh?" she said. We all laughed. He asked her if she had seen Alice yet. She told him that she hadn't. He told her if she walked around the side, she could find her there. We saw the Queen of Hearts, who was chasing some guy around in circles. Allie said she didn't want to see her. There was Alice, sitting on a bench. She motioned for Allie to come and sit with her. She sat and talked to Allie and to Chuck for a few minutes and I took their picture. A man who was sitting on the bench next to Alice offered to take a picture of all of us with Alice (and it came out really good!). Allie wanted to try Dumbo next, "But not with Daddy". (Backstory: We were on vacation at the Jersey shore and they had a Dumbo type ride. Allie went on with Chuck. Chuck didn't know how to work the controls. He ended up jerking them up and down. Once he finally got the elephant down, Allie didn't want to go up anymore!) Each Dumbo was wearing a Santa hat. It was so cute! As we are in line, Allie announces she has to go potty. We got out of line, went to the potty and started back in line all over again. We were the first ones out of the gate when it was our turn. We got into the purple Dumbo. At this point, as they are starting the ride, Allie says she wants to get out. I ask her if she wants to try it for a minute. She agrees, but says she only want to go up a little (Maybe she's having flashbacks!) We start and go all the way up automatically. I bring Dumbo back down and she tells me she wants to stay "Up, up , up". Dumbo is a huge hit! Chuck and Allie ride the carousel together after Dumbo. We walk past the castle and saw Cinderella and her coach all decorated for Christmas. Cinderella leaves as we are walking up, but we take pictures of the coach. It was beautiful. We decided to head toward Adventureland to ride the Jungle Cruise. As we started making our way toward Adventureland, we realized the 9pm parade had started, so we were stuck. We were able to watch the parade from the side of the castle. It was a great parade. It was much longer and had much more to see. The music and decorations were amazing. By now, Allie had fallen asleep in the stroller. We looked around some of the stores and walked toward Main Street to watch the fireworks. As good as the normal fireworks are, the Christmas ones are even better. At the end, Santa Goofy appeared in a window of the castle and told everyone he heard ringing in his ears. It was Santa flying on his sleigh. All of the kids were in awe (as were most of the adults too). Chuck went and got us each a soda from Casey's ($4.50) as we decided to wait for the 11:15 parade. About 10:30, Allie woke up crying. I think she was a little disoriented. She told us that she wanted to go the hotel. On the way out at City Hall, we saw the 100-Acre Wood friends. She asked if she could give Piglet a hug. She gave Piglet a big hug and then asked us if we were going on the Jungle Cruise now! We told her when we come back to MK, we would do that. We turned in the stroller and Chuck carried her up to the monorail station and all the way back to the room. We put Allie in bed and I went to get us some soda. We watched a little TV and then went to bed about 11:30. Tomorrow is shopping at Downtown Disney!

Best - MVMCP is great. I would definitely go again. The shows are very good and even though we were told it was sold out, it didn't feel crowded at all. I know we didn't do a whole lot, but how long would it take us to do Buzz, the Speedway, Dumbo, Teacups, and the Carousel on a normal day? We liked the family pictures and the buttons and loved the snow. We also enjoyed breakfast at the castle and would do that again.

Worst - Ill-mannered parents and their ill-mannered spawn. We didn't see any of that at MVMCP, although my husband said he saw some guy in the bathroom spanking his son because the kid said he had to go to the potty, but then wouldn't go. Go figure.

Saturday, December 2 - Do not disturb, no wake-up call today. Slept in until about 8:30 (that's pretty good for us). We got dressed and showered and I realized I lost my room key. I walked to the lobby and got a new one, then stopped to fill our mugs. We had poptarts in our room for breakfast. Chuck took Allie to the playground while I went to do some laundry. Chuck comes up to the laundry (which was on the 2nd floor of our building) and said that it was sunny and 80 degrees out. He then informs me that he forgot to pack his bathing suit. Chuck and Allie go up to the shops and buy swim trunks ($28) and a lollipop ($.95) and we are ready to hit the pool.

The pool is quite large (and shaped like Mickey). The weather is absolutely perfect for swimming. We swim for awhile and decide we need a snack. While Allie and I are waiting, the people at the table next to us start feeding the seagulls. Yuck! We quickly move away. We brought our mugs with us and got cheese fries, nachos and an apple juice ($6). We watched the parasailing on the bay while we snacked. We went back in the pool for awhile and then headed back to the room for some rest. We played and then took a nap. We headed out to Downtown Disney about 4:30. We only waited about 2 minutes for a bus. It took us about 20 minutes to get there. We couldn't find a place to rent a stroller, so we decided to see how Allie did without it. Huge mistake!! We walked to McDonald's for dinner ($13). Our next stop was the Lego store. What a place! Allie got a Pooh duplo set ($7) and then played in the playground for awhile. I stopped in Arribas Bros and ordered four engraved glass mugs for some family ($50). They told me to come back in about 1/2 hour. We went into World of Disney. You could definitely get lost in there! We bought the majority of our souvenirs here to get the MKC discount. We bought postcards, magnets, magnet frames, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and a tote bag. It came to $135 with the discount. We also had the package sent to the hotel. Very nice feature! Outside of Ghiradelli, Allie has a meltdown. She doesn't want me to take her to the bathroom, she wants Chuck to take her. Yelling and crying, the whole nine yards. I went into the Christmas Store to get some peace and quiet. I bought the Villains and the Lion King storybook ornaments, as well as a dated Christmas ball and a disc ornament. It was $80 with the MKC discount and those were sent to the hotel too. We also ran into people we knew from high school and hadn't seen in about 5 years! We walked to the bus stop and waited about 5 minutes for a bus. We got on a very crowded bus. It took us about 35 minutes to get back to the Contemporary. Downtown Disney is a busy place, especially on a Saturday night! We stopped at the Food & Fun Center for ice cream and mugs of soda ($10). Walked back to the room and set the wake-up call for 6:22 am. Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom day.

Best - The pool was great. I love swimming in December! The package delivery to the hotel was wonderful. It beats lugging around lots of bags! And we love shopping, especially in the Christmas store!

Worst - Not getting a stroller in Downtown Disney. I won't be making that mistake again!

Sunday, December 3 - Mickey calls us again and wakes us up, really wakes us up as I am not up ahead of anyone today. We are out at the bus stop at 7am. The bus arrives about 3 minutes later. We make a stop at the Wilderness Lodge. It is a beautiful hotel. A very obnoxious woman at the Lodge started yelling at the bus driver because they couldn't figure out how to get from the Wilderness Lodge to the Grand Floridian. The driver was trying to explain to her what she needed to do, but the woman just walked off while he was mid-sentence. We arrived at the Animal Kingdom about 7:40. We stopped for a quick bathroom break and then we got in line for the opening. They had a nice opening ceremony with Rafiki and some of the other AK "creatures" (since I never found out what they were called). As soon as the started letting people through, other characters appeared for pictures and autographs. We got to see King Louie, Terk, and one of the "creatures" that looked like an orangutan. He took a liking to Allie. We saw him a few times that morning and each time he made a big fuss over her! Chuck got the stroller and off we went to the Kilamanjaro Safaris. There was no wait there, so we walked right up. We were seated in the last seat of the jeep. Throughout the ride, Allie kept singing "On safari, on safari, on sa-fa-ri" from the AK singalong tape. She had a little disposable camera and told us she was going to take lots of pictures. We saw a lot of animals - crocodiles, hippos (with a baby), giraffes (also with a baby), elks, wildebeests, warthogs, antelopes, flamingos, baboons, elephants and lions. I can't remember the rest. We really enjoyed it. We didn't really pay too much attention to the poacher story. Our guide wasn't make a big deal of it, so I think it worked out good. (Note: it had rained the night before and was still a little damp and cool. The temp was in the 60's. I don't know if that anything to do with the amount of animals we saw.) After the safari, we wandered through Harambe. It definitely gives you the feeling of being in a different country. The buildings looked authentic. Allie was still singing the "on safari" song! We walked over to DinoLand. Since Chuck doesn't do thrill rides or flight simulators, I wasn't going to spend a lot of time going on things we couldn't all go on together. I did tell him I wanted to try a ride I hadn't been on yet. My choices were the Rock and Roll Coaster or Dinosaur. Since the line to get over to RNRC was massive while we were at MGM, I decided on Dinosaur. Chuck took Allie over to the Boneyard. The sign said there was a 20-minute wait, but I figured I would press on anyway. I walked all through and then watched the preshow film and rode the ride in about 10 minutes! It was a fun, dark ride, but on the bumpy side. I enjoyed it though. At least I had a smile on my face when they took the picture, not like some of the others I saw! I walked over to the Boneyard and found Chuck and Allie in the dig area. What a neat place! Allie was having a ball in there. She was the only kid who was covering the bones back up! I like that its not real sand, but those pebbles are nasty when they get stuck in your sneakers! After we left the Boneyard, we stopped to see the giant crocodile on our way out. We went over to Camp Minnie-Mickey and saw more characters-Goofy in fishing gear, Pluto (who licked Allie with that giant dog tongue!) and all of the Brer's, Fox, Rabbit and Bear. We also saw Minnie and Mickey together. One of the CM's offered to take our picture with them. They also took one for us to pick up later, which we never did. We walked past the Lion King show and you could see inside. Allie was complaining that it was too loud in there. We bought her a Lion King T-shirt with Simba, Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa and the Tree of Life ($16). We walked to Pizzafari for lunch - 2 cheese pizzas, hot deli sandwich, 2 large sodas, and an apple juice was $19. The deli sandwich was delicious. Chuck said he was sorry he didn't get one. We saw a CM feeding fish and a small otter. We walked over to the Oasis and bought a few more souvenirs ($25) and the headed for the bus back to the hotel. The maid had just started making up our room, so we grabbed our mugs and headed to the Food & Fun Center for a light snack ($6). We headed back to the room for some rest. After Allie played with her toys and we all woke up from our nap, we were trying to decide what to do. We thought we would head over to Epcot and eat dinner there since I didn't make any PS for today. As we were walking toward the monorail, we looked down and saw that there was hardly anyone at Chef Mickey's. Change of plans! We walked up to the desk and asked how long the wait would be. We were told about 10 minutes. I think we waited about 5 minutes. More Parmesan mashed potatoes! Tonight was prime rib, ham, cinnamon honey chicken, BBQ beef tips and more things I can't remember. Dessert was apple crisp and key lime pie, as well as the sundae bar and decorate your own cupcakes. We saw all of the characters again and Allie finally decided she would participate in the napkin waving. Dinner was about $69. After dinner, we decided to go resort hopping and check out the decorations. We went to the Grand Floridian first. The gingerbread houses were absolutely amazing there. The tree was gorgeous. There were little mirrors hanging on the tree. It looked beautiful. We stopped in the giftshop and bought some hair scrunchies for Allie ($8) and a bracelet set for her birthday ($10). It's a beautiful hotel, it just makes me feel like I have to be on my best behavior there. A little too formal (not to mention expensive) for us. We went over to the Polynesian next. We liked the decorations over there too. They had more of an island feel to them. I bought a magnet for my parents ($4) with the Poly on it since that's where we would stay when we were younger. On the monorail back to the Contemporary, Allie told us that her Mom-Mom and Pop were missing her at home! I told her we only had 2 days left before we had to go home. While I was giving Allie a bath, Chuck said he would go get us refills for our mugs. I wasn't paying attention how long he was gone. When he got back, he gave us each a present he bought for his girls. Allie got pink Minnie ears and I got a Peter Pan Christmas decoration. He's so sweet! Tomorrow - Early Entry day at MK (and our last full day at WDW :()

Best - We really enjoyed AK. I would like to spend more time there the next time. Dinner at Chef Mickey's again was very good. Love those potatoes!

Monday, December 4 - We were all moving slow this morning. It's freezing out today. It's only 45 degrees out! What's wrong with us? We only waited a few minutes before they opened MK at 7:30. Chuck went and got the stroller and we rode Buzz twice in a row. I was able to get a gun to use both times. The ride kept stopping for some reason, so that was driving us a little crazy. My high score was 56,900. Not too bad! Allie stopped at the picture of Zurg behind bars and told us that she helped Buzz put the bad man in the jail! We rode Small World, Teacups, the Carosel and Dumbo (very, very, very cold ride this morning). By then it was 9am, so the other lands were open. We went and rode the Jungle Cruise, which Allie liked and then saw the Tiki Birds. The thunder scared her in there. That had to be the shortest show ever. I think I clocked it at 8 minutes! We stopped in the Pirates of the Carribean store. We like the Jimmy Buffet Caribbean Soul stuff. Chuck got a tank top and I got a Margaritaville bag. I also picked up Timon and Pumbaa magnets ($42). I was at the register and saw Chuck looking for me. I had the camera and the autograph book in my backpack and Mr. Smee was outside! Allie walked up to him and said "Nice to meet you!" Picture taken and book signed, we headed toward Frontierland. We were watching Splash Mountain. Allie had wanted to go on, but I told her she wasn't tall enough. She told me next time we come, she'll be tall enough! We heard a loud noise, and I got splashed with a water ball! We had an early lunch (10:30) at Pecos Bills. Lunch was a double cheeseburger platter, a cheeseburger platter, a kids hot dog meal, and 2 large sodas for $19. The large sodas were 32 oz.and were only 2.25 each. Bargain! We walked over to Toontown. One of the signs said Fairytale Friends and had a picture of Cinderella, but no one else. I asked the CM who was standing there if there was anyone else with Cinderella. She told us that one of the mice was with her. Allie asked if we could go and see them. We waited in line and saw Cinderella (the same one from breakfast the other day) and Suzy (who knew she had a name?) the mouse. We decided we would head back to the hotel to rest for awhile. Outside of the photoshop, we saw Dopey. Chuck offered to turn the stroller in while I waited with Allie to see Dopey. There was such a big line forming that they actually led everyone inside. We relaxed back at the hotel for a few hours and then headed back to the MK about 3pm. Since everyone was waiting for the Magic Moments parade, it was a good time to get in a few more rides. Buzz, Dumbo, Carosel, Teacups, and Pooh were the last rides we did. We walked over to Main Street to pick up a few more souveniers ($15) and then stopped in the Bakery. We got 2 pieces of chocolate bar cake and a cupcake for later ($7). While we were in the bakery, the woman in front of us ordered a slice of cheesecake and a cupcake. She specifically asked for the cheesecake to go. The CM behind the counter put it in a big plastic container and put the cupcake on a plate. The woman has a fit! She starts yelling at the poor guy that she wanted them both to go and what was wrong with him! He goes to put the cupcake in the container with the cheesecake, and she starts yelling again. So, he wastes a big container for her cupcake. We felt so bad for the guy. He didn't do anything wrong. The kicker to the story is that as we walk outside, we see her take the cupcake out of the container and put it the same one as the cheesecake, then she throws one of the containers away! There was something seriously wrong with her! We walked over to the Crystal Palace and arrived a little early for our PS. They seated us in about 3 minutes. The characters that night were Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. Tigger came over right away. We were very disappointed in the menu here. The prime rib and pork roast were good, but everything else was not. I asked for an end piece of prime rib and got a nasty comment and the meat sort of tossed on my plate. The potatoes were cold and there was an odd mix of food. Hot pork fried rice, cold potato salad, cold oriental chicken salad (that was awful) and a very limited salad bar. It consisted of lettuce, few other vegetables and macaroni salad. Very weird. The characters were very good here though. Allie told Eeyore that "I watched your movie"! Pooh came over and gave everyone hugs. Tigger came back over and messed up Chuck's hair, gave me a hug, and then proceeded to feed Allie some of her ice cream! She is still talking about that! We finished about 6. There was a MVMCP scheduled for tonight, so the park was closing. We got on the monorail for the last time and went up to the observation deck to watch the fireworks. What a great view! We went back to the room and packed up all our stuff. We made a few more trips to the Food & Fun Center for refills while we were packing. After we were done, we had our bakery treats. The chocolate bar cake was outstanding! We got a wake-up call for 7:02am. Ronnie from Tiffany would be there for us at 8:30am. I can't believe we're going home already:(!

Best - We got to see most of the MK today and got to do a few more rides. Tigger feeding Allie ice cream was priceless.

Tuesday, December 5 - We woke up to our last call from Mickey today. We got dressed and packed up the last of the clothes and toiletries. We called Bell Services to get our luggage. Chuck and Allie were in the lobby watching cartoons while I checked out. We spent $26 on phone calls home. Ronnie was waiting for us out the in lobby. He asked us all of the things that we did and saw. Allie told him that she didn't want to live in Philadelphia, that she wanted to stay in Disney World! Who doesn't? Ronnie also told us he was one of the most requested driver on the internet. It was funny to hear him talk about it. (I thought only the RADP'ers did that!) We got to the airport and grabbed some breakfast - 3 bagels and 2 sodas ($9). The flight back home was ok. A little bumpy in spots, and then Allie spilled her apple juice all over my pants. Otherwise, a non-event. We got our luggage and then called for the shuttle to take us to our car. We hopped in the car and finally arrived home

Contemporary Hotel (w/MKC discount)	1167.00
USAir (nonstop, RT)	507.00
Tiffany Towncar	95.00
6 Day Park Hopper Plus Passes	748.41
MVMCP tickets	90.98
Meals	500.00
Souvenirs	570.00
Stroller Rentals	24.00
TOTAL:	3702.39

Thanks for suffering through this trip report. I wanted to give a little back since I was able to get so much help and information (and responses to emails that I sent) from people who have written trip reports!

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Margie McCann -- November 2000 -- Walt Disney World (CR)

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