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Heather Robison -- December 2000 -- Walt Disney World (CBR)

December 15-24, 2000

Pre-trip Planning:

The idea to do another WDW trip struck me one day at work. I was having a bad day and listening to someone else talking about their recent vacation made me long to go. When I got my mid-year bonus later that day and realized I could afford a well-budgeted trip, well the stage was set! I called my boyfriend, Carl, and asked him if he would be joining me. When he hedged a little bit, I told him that I was going whether he wanted to join me or not! That did it! He's going! Wahoo! Now to decide when to go? Because I am a law student, I knew I couldn't go until the earliest at Christmas break. I checked my finals schedule and realized that I could go immediately after finals, fit in 9 days, and still be home for Christmas!

An hour later, I had my tentative registration for December 15-24 at the All Star Music (not my first choice), and a ticket package that suited us. Because we don't like to plan too much (OK, I plan everything, but then we never follow our plans, so its fun either way!), the length of stay pass has always been our choice. This way, we can hop over to PI or Epcot on a moment's whim!

A few months into the planning, I received an unexpected raise. Looking at my financing, I realized that if I continued to keep to my budget, I could afford an upgrade in resort! So, back to Central reservations, and an upgrade to the Caribbean Beach. At the same time, I requested a room nearest the food court and bus stop.

The last thing I needed to do was get our plane tickets and make PS for the restaurants we both wanted to eat at. I had heard that Southwest usually runs ticket sales for as low as $200 RT to Orlando, but months of monitoring the prices proved fruitless. Afraid that it would blow my budget to wait any longer, I searched on lowestfare.com and found that Continental appeared to have the cheapest flights for Carl at the moment (he lives in Salt Lake, I live in San Francisco). I went directly to their website and was able to book him a flight for $300 RT. Unfortunately, I had budgeted only $500 for plane fare, expecting to be able to find a cheaper ticket than I was finding. I decided to chance priceline.com. A funny thing happened-my initial bid of $260 was rejected. So, on a whim, I tried $220 and it was accepted! And, the tickets were decent- leaving at 1 p.m. with a connection in Salt Lake (too bad I didn't know that ahead of time!) and arriving late in Orlando (10 p.m.-ish) and leaving Orlando at 6 p.m. on X-mas eve.

One week before the trip, I received a letter from Priceline saying that Delta had cancelled my flight and they had to re-book me-on a flight that left at 6 am on the return! I was panicked thinking that I would miss out on a full day of Disney! I called Priceline and explained that I had tickets for the parks that day already, and they were able to get me a new flight.

And now, the trip...

Day One: The flights, Check-in, First impression of CBR

Finally, finals were over! I must admit, although law school finals are about the yuckiest in the world, having a WDW vacation looming at the end of them totally made up for it! I woke up in the morning around 10. My brother was driving me to the airport, but I wanted to spend some time with my dog before I left her for 9 days (It was my first long trip away from her...). I also needed to finish packing. Because we were going around the holidays, I had not done any Christmas shopping. I figured I would buy everyone souvenirs anyhow, I figured I could kill two birds with one stone! So, I packed wrapping paper, tape, and scissors, and I was ready to go! I had also requested a refrigerator for our room, so I bought little boxes of cereal, and other snack foods for the room.

I was off. My brother dropped me off at the airport (after lunch at McDonalds and a reminder to try and find him a Tigger guitar strap...) around 11, so I had some time to kill. I only had one suitcase and a backpack, so I did not check my gear. I went immediately to the gate, where the first snafu of the day occurred. The check-in agent asked me if I had received Delta's telephone call. Apparently, they were going to bump me onto a United flight because the Delta flight was running behind schedule. After looking at the new arrival information, however, the agent said I could remain on the Delta flight, after all. BIG mistake.

The Delta flight arrived 5 minutes late. They boarded us so slow, however, we took off 45 minutes later! I could have boarded and deplaned the entire amount of passengers 3-4 times in the amount of time it took! We got to SLC a few minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off. For those of you who have never been to SLC airport, it is shaped like fingers... I was in the middle finger (no pun intended) about half-way down, and needed to be in the finger to the left, also about half-way down. Even though the ticket agent had called to verify the gate, he neglected to tell me that the flight was delayed. I got off the plane and just hauled tushy over to the next gate. Neither sleet nor snow nor slow airplanes was going to keep me from WDW!

I finally got to the gate only to discover it was late and was just now boarding. Boy, was I tired! I don't "run." So, even though I had motivation, it still exhausted me! But yay, I was on my way! And, I got a great seat! I was on one of those humungo Delta flying football fields- and the seats on my side were two to a row and nicely spaced. During the flight, they showed Bring it On, which I had actually wanted to see, so I sprung for the headphones. Before I knew it, the flight was landing!

Finally, I arrived at CBR. There was hardly any line at check-in (it was now 11:30-ish), but it took forever to get up to the counter! I checked in and had to leave a credit card for room charging. Carl didn't have one when he checked in earlier in the day, so I had to also have new room keys issued. I went to the baggage check-in to schedule delivery to my room, and was told to wait outside. On my way out, however, I noticed that both of the room keys stated "no charging privileges," so I had to go back to the counter and get two more keys.

There were about 20 people waiting outside for a van to take them to their rooms. One family, from San Diego, had had so many stopovers and missed connections, that they had now been traveling 24 hours. They looked like they could sleep for years. But, in true Disney spirit, not only did they give up their spot on the bench for another family with a sleeping child, they also remained polite and upbeat! (this was not how I felt after traveling all day!)

A van pulled up and the driver got out, looking stunned. He asked if we were all waiting for room delivery. We all said yes. He got on his radio and told someone that they needed to send the larger van- we had quite a crowd. He squished as many people going to the nearest places to each other in the van, and off he went. About 1/2 an hour later, another HUGE van pulled up, and the driver got out and asked me who was next. Not wanting to be rude, I pointed to the family with the sleeping child, thinking he would board them first and then me. The family got in the van and squished into the back seat, leaving enough space for about 10 people. Instead of boarding anyone else, the driver hopped in the van and left! We were all shocked! How Un-Disney! He didn't even say anything to the family!

Finally, about 1/2 an hour after that, the first van returned. The driver was confused as to why we were all still there, but he squished as many in as he could. I was to be the last stop. About ten feet from my stop, Carl was walking by the van. Apparently, since he knew I was checking in at 11-ish, and it was now 1 a.m., he was worried. He'd called the front desk, and they told him I hadn't checked in! So, he thought he would go down to the lobby and wait for me! Anyway, the driver dropped me curbside, and didn't offer to help with the luggage, and then just took off. I was so NOT impressed so far.

But it got worse. Carl and I walked back up to my room. We were nowhere near the food court, the bus stop was a good walk away, and Carl told me he'd had to call them to deliver the fridge when he got there. We were the farthest point from the lobby we could be. We got to the door and I wanted to try my key- my favorite part of the WDW vacation is that first moment when you step into the hotel room! Put the key in, pulled it back out, nothing. Tried again, nothing. Carl whipped his key out, and it worked... so, we tried mine again. Still nothing. When I got in the room, I called the front desk and explained that my key wasn't working. She told me I'd have to come back to the lobby and get a new one. I asked her where the busses stopped close to me, and she said that bus service was over for the night, I'd have to walk. This is when I blew my lid. I told the lady that I had just spent almost 2 hours to check in to the hotel, and now they wanted me to walk over a mile just to correct their mistake? Couldn't they just have someone drop a key under my door that night or bring one to me that morning? She said she would see what she could do. Sometime that night, she left a voicemail telling me I could only get a new key if I returned to the lobby. (Can you see why I won't stay here again? How Un-Disney is that?)

Day One totals (Rating Scale 1-5 Tiggers, 5 being the best)

Fun1 Tigger. The only redeeming thing that I can share with you about this day was the movie on the plane.

Food0 Tiggers. It was airline food. What can I say?

Day Two- Epcot, Candlelight Processional

We had meant to get up early, but after the late night the night before, and a lil' bit of jet lag, it was 9 before we woke up. We slowly got ready, but then realized that we had to go to the lobby and get my key, and also pick up our tickets for the CP that night. We decided to walk over to the lobby (not realizing how far it was, really) but stopped at the food court on the way. I was positively starving from not having much to eat but plane food the day before, and I needed a few things for the park (a fanny pack and glasses case). We stopped in the food court and decided to share a western omelet. It was actually pretty good! Then we made our purchases and decided to continue the walk over to the lobby. We picked up our CP tickets, new keys, and then made PS ressies for later in the week at Mama Melrose on the Fantasmic Dinner package.

We were finally off to Epcot! Yay! We got the bus right away and managed to make it to the park around 11. Because we were having a huge dinner for our CP dinner package, we had not made any lunch reservations- which is just as well, because we were still full from the breakfast! Our first stop when we entered the gates was to find the nearest ATM. Unfortunately, that was outside the park, but a kind CM let us back out and in without making us wait in line. Next, we walked past Spaceship Earth and found the animation store. They had a poster that I had tried to find in vain when we were here in 99, and since I received a discount thanks to my CP dinner package, I picked that up for my brother and had it sent to our hotel.

After that, I finally convinced Carl to go on Spaceship Earth with me. The line was deceptively short- it peered out around the building and looked to be an hour long, but it turned out to be about 5 minutes because there were no twists or turns to the line. I don't know what it is about that ride, but it just really inspires me! I am such a history buff anyhow! Carl could take it or leave it (although he likes being on dark rides with me... ;) but he sure loves all the AT & T gadgets at the end of the ride! It took about ten minutes to convince him that we could always come back. The one thing that looked neat was the phone booths where you could have background music from the Haunted Mansion. Since that is my brother's favorite ride (they were born on the same day), we decided to call him from there later in the week.

Next, we decided to do The Living Seas. On our first trip here together, Carl had struck up a conversation with one of the marine biologists and we ended up staying in there two hours talking about the manatees. We had such a good time that we decided this was our favorite place in Epcot. We didn't have the same luck this time, but we still had a good time. We managed to explore all the highlights in a few moments, but then spent the next hour looking at the smaller exhibits- including the diving suit we had missed the year before. I got a great photo of Carl (which my brother cannot stop laughing at!) trying to manipulate controls with the diving suit on. This was great fun!

After the Living Seas, we decided to head over to The Land. The last time we were there, we had missed a few of the shows, and I had heard the Circle of Life film was quite good. We also wanted to see Food Rocks again, but unfortunately, the show had just started when we got there. So, we moseyed on over to the Circle of Life, and really enjoyed hanging out in the lobby where there was seating! There was a family there from Argentina (I think) and the dad was the only one who spoke English. He told me that they were having a hard time keeping the kids entertained at Epcot because a lot of the exhibits are in English and they couldn't understand what they were looking at (odd for a park promoting communication...). He did say that they had some new technology that they were trying at some of the attractions that translated the words into different languages via a headset while they were watching the show. This theater had this technology, which is one reason why they brought the kids. I thought that was kind of neat, but felt bad that these kids couldn't fully experience Epcot due to the language barrier.

The show itself was great! It is your standard ecological recycling type film, but with that added bit of Disney charm. The theater is huge, so you should never have trouble getting into the next show (hint: all the seats seemed to be good, so don't bother waiting in a long line to get into the theater- come a few minutes before the show starts, and you should have no problems still getting a seat!).

Carl thought we were going too slow, and he really wanted to "see" things. So, we compromised- we decided to head on over to World Showcase, where he could "see" things, and I could shop and use that discount! ;) On our way over, we saw the character bus, all decked out for the holidays, and little lines formed in front of each character. I spotted the elusive Tigger, and although Carl wanted to wait to see the characters, I reminded him that waiting on our last trip meant I didn't get a picture with Tigger (a tradition for me!). So, we did wait, and then Carl wanted his picture with the white rabbit. Just as we were really getting into the swing of things, they announced that the characters had to be on their way, so we decided to go as well.

Our first stop was Canada. When we got there, they had the Canadian version of Santa Claus telling a story, so we decided to listen for a few moments. I spied the Beaver Tail wagon that I had heard so much about and asked Carl if he wanted to stop and get a bite to eat. He did, but we couldn't decide on one to share, so he got the ooey gooey all chocolate, and I got the strawberries and cream. I must say that this was a good treat, but I really don't see what all the fuss is about. They were extremely difficult to eat- mess everywhere!- and not all that different from a waffle. Oh well, maybe the hype was too built up for me! Carl seemed to really enjoy his chocolate decadence...

While we were eating, a CM stopped in and asked Carl if he wanted to trade pins. We only had two- being this was our first day, and all. I told Carl he could trade any pin but the special Candlelight processional pin we got for booking the dinner package. So, he traded one of mine! (lol!). He got a brass goofy pin from the CM, who said it was very rare (unfortunately, it was, and I made him trade it to a 7 year old- but more on that later!), and Carl was hooked! Pin trading became his "thing."

After our brief respite, we toured the Canada shops and then went to see the circlevision movie. I know it is outdated, but it is still one of my favorites! I get motion sickness quite easily, so going to a circle vision movie is very hard for me- I only go to my favorites! And I never miss Canada!

Canada being over and done, we maneuvered our way over to the Millennium Village. This was very neat! Although the exhibits were mostly kid-oriented, we managed to have a load of fun anyhow! First we waited on line for the Scottish exhibit. This exhibit very cleverly combined miniature golf with a history lesson on all the famous Scotts (my brother Will would have never let me hear the end of it!). I was horrible, and after about 2 holes, I offered my club and ball back to the CM's at the gate explaining that I didn't want to be the cause of any injuries! Then, I followed Carl through the rest of the exhibit.

The next exhibit we went to was the Saudi Arabia exhibit. This looked very neat, but run-down a little bit. There were computer consoles which you could navigate and look at all different aspects of Saudi culture, while listening to a narrator on an attached "telephone." Unfortunately, the console I picked was broken, and it appeared that most of the other ones were malfunctioning in some way.

After that exhibit, we walked through the Swedish exhibit. It was a walkway with a collage of all the famous Swedes- entertainers, architects; etc. They had little CD stations where you could listen to CD's of the performers. That was pretty neat to hear the rock icon's from another country that we hadn't even heard of out here!

Finally, we were still a little hungry having eaten nothing but junk all morning! Since it was now about 3 and we wouldn't be having dinner until 8, we decided to stop for a little snack in the Millennium Village. The food area was really neat. They had little booths with all different kinds of foods- African, Middle Eastern, Indonesian- but it wasn't the typical American-ized offering of food. Instead, they had things like African peanut chicken (rolled in a tortilla) and gyro-type lamb sandwiches. We tried those- they were small but tasty! The Gyro was our favorite!

After eating, we decided to wait on the long line for the Jerusalem experience. While on line, we met a CM from Israel who was excited to learn we were from California. Turns out, he was going to Disneyland for the first time in a week, and wanted to know all of our touring tips! We asked him some touring tips for Israel (he recommends staying in the smaller towns to get a real feel for his culture) and swapped touring tips for Disneyland. I got a bit of a culture shock when I tried to explain how he could get cheaper airline tickets by doing research on the internet- turns out he really hadn't ever used the internet!

The Jerusalem ride was neat. You sat in these chair-cars, and they showed a movie in front of you. The movie went through the history of Israel, and had you jumping into a book, swirling through time, and all sorts of neat effects, while the chair-cars simulated the motion. It was a lot like Star Tours, only on a larger scale.

After Jerusalem, we wandered through the MV shops- which didn't have much (they would have made a killing if they'd had MV exclusive merchandise...)- and then exited. I had heard a lot about the MV bathrooms, and since I had to go, I decided to check them out. They were HUGE! You could easily fit a football stadium inside! I had never seen such a huge bathroom- not surprisingly, I had no wait! A first for a woman's restroom!

We next went to England-Ireland-Scotland and wandered through the shops. I could hear music going on outside, and so, I peered out to check it out, and realized that the Tapestry of Nations parade was beginning. So, I dragged Carl out to watch the parade, and we were able to get a great spot right in front! This is a nice parade- if not incredibly long. The innovative puppet costumes and drum-wheel floats were intriguing, and I snapped many pictures so I could explain this to my mother- herself a costumer of sorts. I thought that the puppeteers did a great job interacting with the kids in the audience- Carl even commented that it seemed like they all chose the same children each time they came around! And every time a child waved, it seemed like they were right there waving back! What a way to make a Disney day!

Finally, the parade was over, and we were on a mission. I wanted to find my mother a German doll. So, we hightailed it over to Germany, where Carl patiently weighed each doll option with me. (Ok, I am not a doll fan, but I know how much my mom likes them, so I had to get just the right one!). The salesperson was extremely helpful in showing me dolls within my budget... ;) Finally, we chose the perfect one, and had it shipped back to the room. Two gifts down! Wahoo! We finished shopping around Germany, and then made our way back towards the CP theater, stopping in Japan along the way. Japan had a neat baseball exhibit, and since my brothers and I are huge fans, we stopped so I could take pictures of the (Japanese) Giants uniform! Go Giants!

At last, it was time to line up for CP. They started letting us in at what seemed like a very early moment, but it turned out to be just right because they barely had everyone in the theater when the show started. We were in awe. Having a mother who's a choir director, I've seen many a Christmas pageant- but this was like no other. The music was impeccable. Phylicia Rashad was the narrator (and I must note, she did sing along!) and she just set the mood perfectly. I was also impressed with the sign language interpreter who was so in to the music, I almost couldn't take my eyes off of her! It looked like the spirit moved through her! Finally, I must give a nod to the high school choirs. The kids were fantastic and extremely well mannered. Not only did they not do some of the things kids are wont to do, I also didn't see a single fidgeter in the bunch! This pageant was beautiful and so simplistic. I wish Disney had made a video available so I could share this program with everyone back home.

After the show was over, we realized it was almost time for our PS at Le Cellier, so back to Canada we went. While waiting in the lobby, we met a great family with a little boy who was hilarious! He was telling us about all the rides he was brave enough to go on but that his mom was too scared! They were very nice and made the wait much more pleasant.

Finally, we were called to sit down for dinner. Our waitress was great and happily gave recommendations (which luckily I followed!) on what her favorites were. We each started off with the soup. What can I say about the soup that hasn't already been said? I would come to WDW just for the soup- its that good. Next Carl had a porterhouse steak, and I had a mushroom stuffed filet mignon wrapped with apple-wood bacon. After taking one bite, I knew that now I had another reason to come to WDW! This was like eating little slices of heaven- tender, juicy, and just perfect melt-in-your mouth steak. There was some sort of potato dish on the side, which I'm sure was delicious, but we spent most of our time eating the steak! Carl's porterhouse was great, but after having one taste of mine, he wished he'd ordered the same thing! Finally, our waitress came back to see if we wanted dessert. We were both beached and could barely move, but it came with the dinner package. Since we had the fridge back at the resort, I had her pack up a cheesecake for me, and some chocolate-y thing for Carl, and we waddled our way out of the restaurant.

After finishing up some shopping, we headed back to the hotel, exhausted, and went to sleep.

Totals for Day Two:

Fun5 Tiggers. This day was about as close to perfect as we could get. The weather was pleasant, we had great conversations, not too many lines, and got to see CP and eat at Le Cellier!

Food5 Tiggers. Except for the Beaver tails, everything I had today was just right. And the Le Cellier meal just brought it over the top.

Day Three- MGM- Fantasmic Dinner Package

After all the walking we did in Epcot the day before, I woke up with huge blisters on the soles of my foot. They were so huge and painful, that I could barely walk. But, as I said before, nothing keeps me from Disney! After a long soak in the tub, I was able to put my shoe on and a smile, so I was ready to go!

We arrived at the park around 9 a.m., and immediately headed for Rock'n Roller Coaster. I had been nervously anticipating this ride since we decided to take this trip, and although I normally don't go on upside-down rides, since it was Disney, I'd give it a shot. We arrived just as the first guests were getting in line, and the line was maybe 5 minutes, tops, so we hopped in the regular stand-by line.

I was so nervous about the ride, I barely paid attention to the pre-show. You are brought into what looks like a recording studio booth, and Aerosmith is in front of you recording their latest song. When they are in the middle of the song, their manager comes dashing into the room and tells them that are late for some function and they have got to go. One of the band members comments that they can't leave their fans who came to watch them recording, and the next thing you know, you are being waved through the studio doors to go and join the band in the Limo. When you come out to the ride loading area, it looks like a back alley somewhere. The ride cars look like very long stretch limos. They warn you to take off anything that might fall out of your car- things in your pockets or hats, for example, and strap you in. You turn a corner and the vehicle sounds as if its revving its engine, while you wait for the light to turn green overhead. When it does, all hell breaks loose! I was sitting in the seat next to Carl squeezing his hand (or as he says, squeezing all the blood out of his hand...) and had my eyes shut as tight as they would go, while I was muttering "No, let me off! I don't want to go!" As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about!

The ride is about the smoothest you could ever imagine. Although I was aware that we were turning upside down at points, I didn't have the usual blood-running into my head sensation that annoys me about other rides. I must admit, that I really have no idea what the ride looks like inside- except to say that I did open my eyes once and saw that we were flying through a fluorescent "O" in the Hollywood sign. I guess I will have to go on it again the next time I go! ;)

After the ride, we went into the gift shop and liked the picture (I look like I'm about to cry, and Carl looks like he's gasping for air- which he told me later that he was- he had just taken a breath when the car took off!) Since they told us that we could also get a Tower of Terror picture half-off that day, we decided to try that next.

The line was about ten minutes long at this point, but we didn't mind. After RNR, I was ready to do any ride! We went through the lobby, and then into the first room where they set up the ride. I won't say anything about this because I don't want to spoil it! Then, we walked into the boiler room area and waited to get onto the ride. In back of us was a very nervous girl who had never been on the ride before. Since this is my all time favorite ride, I told her not to worry and calmed her down a bit. I thought she was going to be sick! We talked about other things- and then it was time to go on the ride. I told her to close her eyes and it would be over before she knew it! After the ride, she told me she had so much fun (although she looked a little green) that she was going to go on it again!

Having had enough of thrill rides for the morning, and seeing as how my foot was really aching, we decided to check into the first aid and see if they could help me. So, we toddled on over to the first aid (near the entrance of the park). They weren't able to do anything other than give me some alcohol wipes and some butterfly bandaids. That helped at first, and we were off again.

Since I couldn't go very fast, we decided to head up to the Great Movie Ride. The line was very short, and we were able to get on right away. During the ride, I wanted to take a picture of the chimp in the Tarzan area. He was right on the side that I was sitting on, and there seemed to be enough light to take the picture without a flash. I knew I had turned the flash off when I got on the ride, so I pointed the camera, and much to my embarrassment (and the annoyance of everyone around me!) the flash went off! Well, I figured out later that my camera has a default flash setting and if it hasn't been used in awhile, it automatically returns to default. Boy, I was so embarrassed!

After the ride, we were pretty hungry, so we decided to see if we could get in early at our 50's Primetime Café PS. They weren't too busy, so they said they would be able to seat us right away. A few minutes later, Dad called for us to come to the table, and we were seated in the far back corner of the restaurant. Since this was our favorite restaurant of our last trip, we knew what to order. We each got a salad to start, and then we split the fried chicken. This is the best fried chicken in the world- light, not greasy, juicy and finger licking good! I would go to MGM just for the chicken!

The thing that sucked about the meal was that our waitress acted like it was a regular restaurant. She delivered her "lines" without any emotion- very apathetically- and even when we tried to bait her (elbows were always on the table, tried to hide vegetables under a napkin)- she didn't play along. We did get to see a great waiter really hamming it up with his table- even going so far as to put a bib on the dad after he spilt some milkshake on his shirt. However, the highlight of our lunch was that we were finally able to eat dessert! We ordered the S'Mores, and it was just like I remember S'Mores being at Girl Scout Camp- too gooey for me! I had about three bites and Carl ate the rest!

After the restaurant, we decided to walk off our lunch. Star Tours was our first stop. There was hardly any wait, and we were on in no time.

After Star Tours, we continued our way towards the backlot, stopping at Muppet Vision 3D on the way. There was no line outside, and the show was just starting, so unfortunately, we missed quite a bit of the funny pre-show. As we were almost last in the theater, we were sitting in the back, in the middle of a row. It turned out that these seats farther back were much better to view the effects of the show! This was the first time I had been seated so far back and I saw many effects I had never seen before!

After Star Tours, we still had some time to kill, so we began walking over to New York Avenue, when I noticed that they were queing up for the Hunchback Show. This was one of our favorite shows the last time we were here, so it was not that hard of a decision to go and watch it now! The juggler named Matt was there- he was fantastic, and graciously explained to people not to take flash photos while he was juggling... ;)

The show itself was fantastic as usual! They took what was an ok movie and made it a great stage play! They use all sorts of puppets and neat costumes to tell the story- without ever changing sets. Its pretty cool!

When we were all done with Hunchback, we decided to walk down New York Avenue and see the decorations. It was beautiful- garlands of holly and tinsel, and even a huge mistletoe ball hanging in the middle of the street. While we were there, the snow started up and we spent a few minutes trying to figure out where it was coming from. I won't spoil the surprise! One little girl was so excited, she kept running up and down the street yelling "It's snowing!" until she saw a "snowflake" land on the ground and dissolve. "Eww," she yelled in disgust, "Its not snow, someone's spitting!"

Finally, it was time for our Fantasmic Dinner package at Mama Melrose. We arrived a few minutes early and were seated almost right away. The interior is like almost any "neighborhood" Italian restaurant you've been to- for me, it reminded me of Pirro's Pizza in San Francisco. The tables were decked out in red-checkered cloths with white napkins, and small candleholders on top. As if they were placed there to give it that home pizzeria feeling, a softball team was in the corner celebrating with pizzas and pitchers of beer.

Our waiter was excellent. We had no idea what we wanted- couldn't decide between pizza or pasta. He told us that we should get a single-person pizza (turned out to be plenty!) and pasta, and he would prepare it for us just right. We did that, and then decided to also get something alcoholic to drink- I ordered a Kahlua Milkshake sort of drink, and Carl got something fruity (or maybe it was the other way around? We shared everything at this meal, so I can't quite remember who ordered what to start off!) We ordered a chicken-alfredo-garlic pizza and a mushroom, alfredo- penne pasta dish. Both were excellent! The nice thing was, our waiter brought out the food, and two separate dishes for us to eat off of since he knew we were splitting the meal! (In fact, come to think of it, we split quite a few meals and never had any problems!) But, even with eating as much as we could, there was still over half the meal left, and we were stuffed! So, we now had more snacks for the fridge back "home."

At this point, we decided to go walk down New York and wait for the Osborne Lights. The weather, however, decided differently for us. We were freezing! In the short hour and a half we were in the restaurant, the weather had gone from a mild 50 to about 20! (or so it seemed!). We were both in shorts and absolutely dying! I knew there was no way we could survive Fantasmic without something warm to wear!

Luckily, I had a sweatshirt with me, but Carl was going to freeze. Thus became the quest for a warm, affordable, sweatshirt! We finally ended up all the way back in front of Mann's theater, where they had one last Large sweatshirt that wasn't too ugly and not too expensive. Warm at last, my feet gave out on me. With all the walking we'd done all day, the blister on the bottom of my foot had nearly doubled in size. There was no way I could walk any further. Cementing my feeling that Carl is the greatest guy on earth, Carl practically carried me from our spot outside over to where we needed to meet the CM to get in to our special Fantasmic seats. We were early, and able to find a bench to sit on, where we huddled together to keep warm!

Finally, they started letting people in. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked and finally, we stopped in the middle of nowhere. The CM didn't say a word, except to yell at kids to keep off the lawn. Finally, frustrated and cold, someone started singing Christmas Carols. Pretty soon, the whole crowd was joining in and the night was silent no more! After about 1/2 an hour and excruciating pain in my foot (and no complaints from that wonderful Carl who was holding me up!), we finally continued onward and into the theater. Our section was all the way to the right, and people were filling up the middle seats quickly. Well, I didn't want to sit there anyhow, so Carl and I walked all the way up front! We had a lakeside view- which would have been perfect if it weren't so cold!

The show over at last, we decided to go home. In order to avoid the crowds, however, we browsed our way out of Sunset Boulevard (Carl bought me a ring...blush!) and then headed to the busses. By the time I got home, I could barely stand up! Off to sleep and none too soon- I was exhausted!

Totals for today:

Fun3 Tiggers. Any day where Carl buys me a ring and I get to go on TZTOT is a great day! However, being cold and hurting all day brought this near perfect day down a notch.

Food2.5 Tiggers. The fried chicken was still good, but without the atmosphere, it was just fried chicken. Mama Melrose was nice and romantic, and I would go back there.

Day Four- Day of rest, Dinner at MK.

When I woke up in the morning, I knew I was in trouble. Not only was my foot in excruciating pain, but I could barely stand up. The blisters now looked like cleats attached to my foot. Disappointed, I explained to Carl that I needed to stay off my feet for a little bit that morning. Being that he's Carl, he took the news very well, and set about making me a nice breakfast of leftover pasta (from Mama Melrose) and water. Isn't he sweet?

After about 3 hours of talk shows and game shows and sitcoms, I was getting a little bored, and be it said, cranky. I was on vacation! I was feeling fine! I wanted to go out and do "things!" Carl agreed to head out to the convenience store in the food court and pick up some things while I "took care" of my blisters ( I will spare you the gory details). About an hour later, all cleaned up and ready to go, Carl returned from the store with milk and donuts, which we greedily gobbled down. Then, we got ready to go to the Magic Kingdom!

At about 3:30, we finally ambled our way through the gates of MK. We had a 6:30 PS at Cinderella's Royal Table, and thought we'd grab a snack before we went. We headed over to Fantasyland, and because it appeared to be a short line, we decided to go on the Pooh ride. The sign outside said there was a 6 minute wait, and the line was not even completely filling the cue. All the fast passes were gone for the day, so we had no choice but to get in the stand-by line. While the stand-by line was, indeed, 6 minutes long, the constant interruption in the flow of the line to allow fast pass passengers on made it a 60-70 minute wait. And there was nowhere we could legitimately get out of line due to the way it was structured, so we were stuck waiting in this line! Now, I thought the purpose of fast pass was to encourage shorter lines, but what's the point if the way the system operates is to have all fast pass tickets given out prior to 5 hours before closing of the park, and that the fast-pass line actually STOPS the flow of the line? I thought that they should at least do a priority system- maybe 3 groups fast pass, then one group stand-by. That would still give the fast pass holders a shorter wait while not effectively shutting down the stand-by line. Well, that's my two cents at least.

The ride itself was cute. Children, for sure, were delighted. And Tigger fans ( I know no one who is one :) ) will be ecstatic. You ride around in honeypots, and the script mainly follows the blustery day storyline. It is a lot of fun as you run into Wuzzles and Heffalumps, and your honey pot does Tigger bounces everywhere. Beware- this ride empties directly into the back of a store filled with Tigger. If you've got kids in tow, be prepared to distract them and get them out of the shop quickly!

After the ride, we were completely famished and didn't want to wait the hour left until dinner, so we thought we'd check out the chances of getting in early. The CM told us that it could be quite a wait, but if we wanted to wait, we were welcome. We decided that we would go ahead, and if worse came to worse, we could always cancel our name and come back at the regular time if we got bored. The lobby of the castle is really neat. Its got an elevator, all sorts of comfy chairs, a large throne, ornate tile, and a set of chimes on the wall for announcing each guest. As a table comes available, the hostesses come in and ring the chimes and formally announce you.

After about 15 minutes, our name was called, and we ascended the stairs to the royal dining room. It is basically a large banquet room, but very castle-y. The carpets were red velvet, and the curtains were purple and had large rope tassels holding them back. The tables and chairs were large, wooden, and ornate. We felt extremely lucky when our waiter guided us through the rest of the lobby, all the way to the far side and sat us directly next to a window overlooking Fantasyland! It was gorgeous- the sun was just starting to set, which cast a purple glow across Fantasyland.

We were hungry, and our eyes were bigger than our stomachs! Carl decided he wanted one of the commemorative glasses, so he ordered the orange fruity drink that they offered, and I, of course, had a coke. :) For appetizers, we started off with the crab and roasted corn dip. Yum!

For the main course, I had a steak that was so huge, it didn't fit on the serving-size platter they brought to me, and Carl had fish that was the exact opposite in size. The steak came with a mountain of mouth watering parmesan flavored potatoes, and some steamed mixed veggies. Carl's halibut looked lonely swimming in the middle of his plate, so I gave him half of the steak and potatoes, and we were both stuffed at the end of it! I want to say we both got something for dessert- I think I got a sundae with berries on top, and he got something ooey gooey chocolatey- and we were both stuffed before the night was through! At the end of the meal, they bring you a voucher for your collector's glass, and you redeem it downstairs at the same place where you checked in.

We decided to walk our meal off a little bit, but since the park was closing down, it ended up being a quick ride on Haunted Mansion (Sigh, always the best) and then a jaunt around some of the stores. We ducked into a small store which ended up having nothing but beanie babies, and I was going to run screaming until I heard Carl say, "Hey, who are these guys supposed to be?" I turned around, and he was holding up these ugly blue creatures who just happened to be the three hitch-hiking ghosts! (and they glowed in the dark!) Well, since I had never seen anything quite so cool, I just knew my brother had to have them!

We were the last people out of the store, and when we came out, the park looked empty- so we knew it was time to leave. The nice thing was that by the time we hit Main Street, it was pretty uncrowded, so we were able to get some nice pictures in front of the castle.

Off to the hotel to watch some more t.v., and to sleep for our early day at AK!

Totals for today:

Fun:2 Tiggers. When I was finally able to venture out, the day was a blast, and the view from the Castle was unbeatable!

Food4 Tiggers. (Forget about the breakfast in this total!)

Day Five- AK, MK

We managed to get up fairly early this morning and headed for our first day in Animal Kingdom. The sky was gray for the first time this trip, and it was sprinkling a little bit. I was very glad I brought my sweatshirt!

We arrived at the park around 8:30 and immediately went through the Oasis and headed towards the Safari. This is our favorite ride! (if you've ever seen our photo albums, you would know this to be true!) The animals were out in force- we saw giraffes up fairly close, lots of gazelles, Tommy's (Thompson's Gazelles), and all the elephants were out at the watering hole!

After the safari, we decided to take the Gorilla Falls Trail. We first stopped in the little booth to see the hippos. For once, I could actually see what didn't look like a rock. The hippos were out playing around, and swam fairly close to the glass. I got tired of getting shoved by parents trying to get their little kids up closer (not that I mind- the park should be for them, but an excuse me would be nice), so we decided it was time to go.

Next, we stopped in and looked at the naked mole rats and other icky creatures of the night! I did learn that it is easier to clean up after rodents if you use sand as a cage liner rather than cedar or newspaper shavings. Apparently, the sand acts as a natural deodorant, keeping the smell down, and also absorbs odors and moisture. Interesting!

After spending about 45 minutes talking to the lonely CM there, we moved on to the gorillas. There weren't a lot out in the first paddock area, so we quickly made our way to the suspension bridge and other vantage point. It looked as if the whole family was out there! While we were hanging out- me watching the gorillas and Carl trading pins with the CM's, one of the CM's pointed out the unique quality of the rock formations in the habitat. If you look at them closely enough, they resemble a man and woman's faces (one looks like it has snot dripping out of the nose since there is a whole lot of fungus growing right under the nose!)

After leaving this area, we decided to head over and see the Tarzan Rocks show. A show was set to start in about ten minutes, so we grabbed some breakfast from the cart at the bottom of the hill- a bagel and cream cheese for me, and a cinnamon roll for Carl- and then headed into line. We got fairly decent seats near the front and on the right side- luckily for us, it just started to rain the second we got inside and under the awning! It was still cold, but at least we weren't wet!

The show was okay. Halfway through the first song, tho, everything just stopped- no music, nothing! Apparently, one of the speakers or lights or something was malfunctioning and it was hazardous to the actors, so they had to stop until they could get it reset. The poor band was huddled around a small space heater on the stage trying to keep warm! It was so cold! Finally, the show started again, and, well, what can I say other than I wasn't impressed. I was expecting an actual "play" rather than a concert of all the songs from the show sung at 1000 times their normal volume. The band was just hokey- reminded me of those energetic children that used to dance on Starsearch in the 80's. However, what made this show redeeming was the rollerbladers! Now normally, they annoy me on the streets, but somehow, on the stage, they were really cool! Oh, and of course, Tarzan was quite the babe. ;)

After the show, we decided to head down to Countdown to Extinction, er sorry, Dinosaur. There was quite a line out the door, so we decided to get a fastpass and come back after lunch. The fastpass, however, was only for 20 minutes later, so we decided to shop around the area for a few minutes and then head back. While shopping, we stopped by the alligator pond outside of the restaurant over there (Breakfastosaurus?) and had a great conversation with a native Floridian who was telling us about his own experiences with alligators in his backyard. That was pretty funny!

Then we decided to head back over and use our fastpass on CTE. Is it just me, or was this ride cooler before they changed the name? Anyway- it was fine except that I found it to be too light in there- that the raising of the lights ruined the atmosphere a little bit. Oh well, I still prefer Indy in DL anyhow! :)

Seeing that it was around 1:30 now and slightly drizzling, we decided it was time for lunch. Although we wanted to eat at Flame Tree BBQ (our favorite!), it was way too cold to sit outside! So, we headed over to Pizzafari. The place was packed, and there wasn't a seat in site. I ordered while Carl attempted to find a seat. We met about three minutes later, and walked all the way around the restaurant twice before we saw someone getting up and dashed to grab their table.

Carl and I split the deluxe pizza and the chicken cesar salad. It was ok- I wouldn't rave about it, but it was fast-food and it filled our stomachs. While we were eating, we had a surprise guest- Chip (or Dale?) came through the restaurant trying to escape the rain!

By now, it was raining pretty steadily, so we decided to try a few more things and then we'd head back to the hotel. As we passed by the TOL, we noticed that the fastpasses were for about 1/2 an hour later for ITTBAB. We grabbed one and then dashed to the nearest shop to wait the time out. While I spent more money on gifts for my family, Carl spent more money on pins to trade with the cast member at the cart! :) When I came back out, he was talking to this kid who must have had 100 pins and knew everything about them, and the cast member who had about 7 lanyards full of them! They were telling Carl about this kid nicknamed The Senator. Apparently, The Senator is a Senator's kid, and during the summer, he is dropped off at the parks all day- a free babysitter, I guess. Anyway, the kid has 100s of dollars on him each day, and he has every pin known to mankind. Every once in awhile, the kid will get too aggressive with other pin traders, and he'll get bounced from the park for a day, but the next day he's back. The guy said he's notorious amongst the cast members!

By now it was time for ITTBAB to start, so we dashed over and saw our show. The fastpast line was great- we were right inside the tree in no time, and out of the pouring rain! Of course, on a not-so-wet day, I would stick to the regular line and looking at the tree- but that's just me!

After ITTBAB, Carl wanted to head back to the pin cart. Apparently, they were going to give a class on how to pin trade or something, and he wanted to see if he could get the inside angle. (And he says he's nothing like his dad! Ha!) So, while he did that, I hung out inside the shop (again) and then went and bought two rain ponchos and sat outside in the fresh air.

Once Carl was done, we decided to head on over to see the Lion King show. By the time we got there, there were a few seats left in the top rows of the stadium. We could still see very good, but it was impossible to take pictures! We were in the giraffe section. That is one of the better parts of the show- they pick a volunteer out of the audience for each section and then have them introduce their section by telling everyone what their animal sounds like. Easy for the elephant and lion sections, but what about the giraffes??? ;) The show itself was great. Lots of innovative ideas and really cool acrobatics mixed with the familiar story and songs. My favorite part was when they brought out the float for the monkeys to swing on and it opened up into a mini-gymnastic studio- and they did all sorts of flips and dazzling moves. It was really neat!

After the show, we'd had enough of the rain and decided to head back to the hotel. On our way out, I remembered that I had the Rain Forest Café $25 gift certificate I'd received from MyPoints.com (if anyone decides to sign up, use me as a reference: Tyggerfan@hotmail.com! Thanks!) We decided to see what the wait was like, and were told we could be seated in a few minutes. We were sat in the gorilla section, and I must say- while the restaurant is novel, it is not very compelling. Kids will likely love it, but it is nothing more than an over-priced Chuck E Cheese! We ended up ordering two appetizers and spent the whole gift certificate on that plus the tip! The appetizer sampler was ok- nothing special.

When we walked out of the Café, it had finally stopped raining, so we decided to head over to Magic Kingdom instead of going back to the hotel. We immediately headed over to Tomorrow Land and went on Alien Encounter. I cannot say it enough: Parents, listen to your kids. Yes, your kid may be a wimp. Yes, they may cry on every ride. But, what good is it going to do you or them if you force them to do something at Disney that they've built up as absolutely terrifying? There was a little girl in line- maybe about ten years old- who was absolutely terrified and bawling her head off. She was so upset that she was practically hysterical- and could barely breath. She begged her parents not to make her go on this ride, and they chided her! After the ride was over, she was still sobbing and balled up in a little pile in her chair. Sure, the ride was probably less scary than she had made it out to be in her mind, but nonetheless, I could tell she was ruined for the rest of the night. Parents should not take their kids on this ride without riding it first, explaining it to them, and then seeing if they feel up to it! It scared even my brother the first time he went on it! Ok, rant off....

After Alien Encounter, we decided to get fast passes for Space Mountain. And, of course, there was a pin cart over there, so we stopped and made a *few* purchases. After our pin-fest, we still had time to kill, so we went over to Time Keeper to watch the next show. This is one of my favorites, and I am sad to hear a rumor that they may take it out! It is by far the best circlevision they have in the parks, I think!

After Timekeeper, it was finally time for our fast pass. We went in and were able to get right on- front row seats, even! I think the Space Mountain at DL is much better- this one seems to have too much light, and with the way the seats elevate you in the car, you can see everything way too clearly! I was able to get a great picture when we were going up the hill to launch off, tho! My "pictures from roller coasters" collection is almost complete!

After Space Mountain, we rounded off our night with the People Mover (or whatever they call it here in WDW). Again, one of my old fav's. Something about this ride is just so relaxing! During our tour, the fireworks started, so we were treated to a nice view for parts of the ride!

The park was beginning to close on our way off the ride, so we knew it was time to go back to the hotel. Having not eaten since our snack at Rainforest, we decided to give the food delivery a try and ordered a chicken salad sandwich, mashed potatoes, and green beans from the food court when we got back to our room. The mashed potatoes and gravy were to die for. There is nothing I can say that can tell you how good they were. The potatoes were just the right creaminess to be perfect, yet not too perfect to be too fancy. And the gravy was a perfect compliment. The green beans were excellent, and so was the chicken salad sandwich. Of course, we had way too much food and ended up with some in the fridge... ;)

Day Five Totals:

Fun4 Tiggers. We did a normal Disney day and had fun! But, the rain sucked!

Food3 Tiggers. Besides the mashed potatoes, it was a nothing special sort of food day. Just right, hit the spot, but nothing to write home about.

Day Six- My Brother's Day to Torture Us

My brother started a tradition on Carl and I's first trip to Disneyworld. He planned out an entire day for us at the world- and sent us on a treasure hunt of sorts. Every hour or so we were to each open a card and not reveal it to the other person. Each card gave us certain tasks we were to accomplish by the time we were to open the next card- sometimes the tasks were the same, sometimes they were different. In addition to the cards, we had all the supplies we needed enclosed in little lunchboxes that we had to carry with us the whole day. It was really fun, and gave us great stories to tell!

So, today was the day that we had picked as my brother's day to torture us. :) When we woke up, we knew that the day was going to be far different than the last trip we'd taken, and we hoped that it wouldn't be starting out the same way! The last time, my brother had us start out by taking a dip in the pool. Well, we woke up to the coldest day all year in Florida- it was 23 degrees with a windchill factor of 9! We were absolutely freezing!

Luckily, the first card had us heading out the door to Epcot. My card told us that we were not to go into Epcot, but Carl's card told us we had to go on Test Track. We were a bit confused until we figured out that my brother intended that Carl should try to convince me to go on Test Track, but that we shouldn't after all. If he did convince me, I had to buy breakfast.

We arrived at Epcot way ahead of schedule, so we decided to bend the rules a little bit. I was absolutely freezing. I had shorts on since I hadn't brought any sweats with me! So, we decided to go into Epcot and see if I could find some sweats to purchase.

The first store we went into, right underneath Spaceship Earth, had a pair of Mickey sweats in my price range. Apparently, I wasn't the only person caught off guard by the weather- it was only 9 am and they were sold out of all hats, gloves, and even socks! Some poor lady had only brought sandals with her, and with freezing feet and no socks in sight, she opted for warm, comfy, Mickey slippers for her footwear that day! I thought that was great- only in Disney would you get away with wearing slippers all day!

After we were done, we noted that there was no line on Spaceship Earth. We still had about 20 minutes until we opened our next card, so we decided to go for it! The ride was wonderful, as usual!

Our next card required us to take the Monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. When we got to the Monorail station, however, we heard a disturbing rumor... turns out the tracks were too icy for the monorails, so they had to limit the service available! Needless to say, the Monorails were packed!

When we finally got over to the transfer point for the MK monorail, we could see the line was all the way down the ramp and about 50 people back on the sidewalk. It appeared as if the monorails weren't even running on that route! So, we decided to take the ferry over since neither of us had ever taken the ferry and the line seemed shorter.

The ferry ride was great but absolutely freezing. Even with my two pairs of pants, a t-shirt, a heavy sweatshirt, a ski hat and gloves, I was still shivering. I have never seen so many people voluntarily squish together to make room for more people! (not even on the freezing cold MUNI busses in San Francisco). We all went by the same philosophy- the more, the warmer!

We arrived inside Main Street and it was still colder than cold. Luckily, the next card called for us to eat breakfast at Tony's Town Square. This is one of my favorite places to eat- the food is great, the service is always good, and the ambvience is just right. Since it was so cold, I really wanted a hot chocolate! So, I ordered a hot chocolate and a grape juice, as well as their special breakfast calzone. Carl had their special breakfast fritatta. The one thing I was disappointed about in this meal was that they have discontinued bringing the plate of hot sweet rolls that you pull apart to your table. Now, each person has an individual cinammon roll, and they're not as good as the smaller ones they used to have! :) I also couldn't recommend the calzone- it was was too bread-y for that early in the morning. But, Carl really liked his fritatta and the potatoes were as good as ever, so it was a good meal overall!

After the breakfast, we were amazingly ahead of schedule, so we decided to take a spin through the Kodak Exhibition Hall. We were supposed to send e-mails to my brother Will from here, but we discovered that they no longer allow you to do that from MK. (You can still do through Epcot, tho). They did, however, have Who Wants to be a Millionaire on some of the computer terminals. Much to my chagrin, I faltered at the $32,000 level because I didn't listen to Carl who knew the right answer... (Sigh)

Soon it was time to open our next card. This card said that Carl was going to try and get me to go to Adventureland but that I was to resist. I made a fuss and pretended to have something on my card about buying a souvenier, and Carl used his manly charm (ok, he asked really nicely) and persuaded me to follow him to Adventureland. Soon, we were climbing high into the treetops of Swiss Family Treehouse! When we got to the top, Carl mumbled something about finding what he was looking for, and then he kissed me. It was all too funny since it was completely scripted!

Our next card had us heading over to the Haunted Mansion and paying homage to my brother's favorite ride. It was strange, even though the park was a little crowded, every ride my brother sent us to seemed to have no line. We had an hour in between cards, and we were usually done in half that time! ;) At this point, we decided that whenever we were done, we would just go on to the next card- and only wait if it was something time sensitive (like seeing a certain parade or show). This way, we wouldn't have to wait around and kill time while waiting for the next card.

After the Haunted Mansion, our card took us over to the Hall of Presidents. The show had just started, so we decided to kill some time over at the Christmas store across the way. This is always my favorite stop since they usually have sales on pretty good ornaments! I got a few things, and while in line, Carl traded pins with a young girl and learned more about different types of "rare" pins. This would become the new focus of his quest...

Finally, it was time to go back to the Hall of Presidents. The instructions on the card required us to pick a president's portrait and recreate it in crayon on the back of the card. Well, I am the worst artist in the world, so I picked Lincoln. I made a very tall stick figure and drew a hat on top of his head. Carl, on the other hand, is more ambitious then I am- he chose Jefferson, and drew his face- complete with the white curly wig and everything. I must admit, it was pretty good, although I made fun of him the entire time I was watching!

This is one of my favorite shows, and every time I go in the show, I see something new. This time, I watched all the characters that weren't speaking. It was amazing- Disney has the audioanimatronic figures acting like real people! They fidget, whisper in each other's ears, look at each other, fan themselves (ok, maybe I'm making that one up...) and all sorts of things. Lincoln looks downright nervous before he gets up to make his speech. And of course, how can you go wrong with a show that starts out with Maya Angelou as the narrator?

The next card had me buying lunch- depending on which President Carl chose to draw. Well, I got lucky since he drew the hotdog president! So, off to Caseys for some dogs, fries, soda, and cheese sauce! Caseys is probably my favorite fast food in MK because it is never crowded, has a great topping bar, and the fries are always perfect- not too salty, not overcooked- just right!

Our next card told us to return to Epcot by Monorail. Carl loves the monorail, and we were lucky enough to be able to sit up front! During the trip, I looked out the window and spotted Bambi right outside MK, nibbling on some grass. It was weird to see a real deer outside MK when inside there were fake ones! I wonder what the animals would think of audioanimatronics!

We arrived at Epcot and the first card steered us into the line for Spaceship Earth. I didn't mind that we'd already been on it! ;) The park looked to be fairly crowded, but once again, the line moved quickly. Unfortunately, however, the ride broke down right as we were descending backwards at the end, and we spent several minutes hanging out backwards in the relative dark while we watched the class create a new environment with their computer station above.

Our next card had us heading over to Norway, where we were to ride Maelstrom and then grab a treat at the bakery. We got in line for Maelstrom. As we headed into the cue, two people ran up- looking as if they were trying to catch up with their family ahead. To be polite, I let them pass so that they would not be separated. As I did so, about 20 more people, apparently all from the same group, ran past me, too! It was really aggravating!

While in line, Maelstrom broke down. It was pretty frustrating since the line is really cramped together, and it was very warm inside- and no real way to get out of line if we wanted to. Luckily, the ride was re-started within about 15 minutes, so it wasn't too long of a wait. The hosts were really great about keeping us all informed, too.

After the ride, we headed to the Kringla Og Bakeri for our snack. We were both still pretty full from lunch and breakfast, but our card insisted that we eat, so we ate! I had a strawberry cake which was light and scrumptious, and Carl had some sort of chocolate thing, I'm sure. ;) While we ate, TON began again, so we were able to see part of the parade while we ate. That part was nice.

After we sat and relaxed for a few minutes, we opened our next card. This card included some origami paper and instructions to head to Japan and follow directions from there. We slowly meandered our way to Japan, where we found some nice seats outside the temple. The rest of the card told us to take our time making some origami creatures, and included an instruction sheet (in Japanese!) on how to do so. I'm really not sure what you'd call my creature, but it won't be showing up in any Disney display cases any time soon! I think I'll name it Snarfulupagus!

Our next card had us heading across the lagoon on the Friendship Boats. These are a quick ride from one side of the pavilion to the next, and I wouldn't recommend them as transportation, but it is a nice ride, and we have often found that the drivers are quite pleasant. We waited on the dock for a few moments, and then were on our way to the other side of the lagoon. Its kind of a neat ride since the Illuminations floats are all out on the bay, and we drove by 'em. :)

Our last card had us heading on Test Track and then going to Downtown Disney where we were supposed to enjoy a nice dinner! Well, since it was still fairly early, we cheated a little and did some of our own thing! ;) After we hopped off the boat, we decided to hit Innoventions where we wandered about for about half an hour (much to Carl's chagrin- he could stay in there forever!). He wanted to try some virtual reality game, but I get sick on those (really bad with motion sickness!), so he went on while I played around on the computers. Afterwards, we found an e-mail postcard station and had loads of fun trying to get the pictures "just right" to send to our family.

Finally, we decided it was time to hit Test Track. Well, last year, we had gone through the whole long line because we wanted to experience the full ride, so now we no longer feel like we're missing out and head straight to the single rider line. Today, it was actually a little crowded, and we had to wait one group before we were admitted into the film part of the cue. Still, the wait had to be no less than five minutes more- except that when we got to be the next two in line, the ride went down! Another 20 minutes, and we were on our way at last! This was great! Much more fun than I had remembered it from the first time (lets just say I was underwhelmed on my first trip)! Maybe they sped the thing up or added a weird curve or something, but it was something to scream about this trip!

Carl is a big techno geek. There is no other way to describe him. Well, I figured if I "let" him look around at all the cars and gizmos, I could shop in the little shop and then we'd be ready to go! Only, the shop was a car and gizmo shop, and I was bored to tears while he was still learning about the GPS tracking system... (Sigh)

Finally, we decided we were done with Epcot for the day... and, since our next card told us to go to Downtown Disney and have dinner, we headed out and got the first bus going that way. We got off at the Marketplace, and decided to do a little shopping on our way around the World. Since we weren't really hungry, we opted for McDonalds- I had the double cheeseburger and Carl had a Quarter Pounder- and then we headed home for bed.

Day Six Totals:

Food:4 Tiggers- pretty decent, even for meals on the run! A little disappointed that they changed the cinnamon rolls at Tony's, tho!

Fun:4 Tiggers- Will's days are always fun- and besides, we got to color in WDW and not feel like idiots! :) But, was it just me, or did every ride we go on break down? :O)

Day Seven- DVC Tour, MGM

Today was the day that we had scheduled for our DVC Tour. Although we knew we wouldn't be able to buy into the DVC at this point in time, we thought we might want to join in later, so we decided to take the tour and see what the places looked like and how expensive it really was!

Our driver picked us up from in front of our rooms at about 10:45 (we slept in!) and drove us to the Boardwalk. We had never actually spent any time at the Boardwalk Hotel, so this also afforded us an opportunity to see this cool resort up close. We were taken to the visitor center, where we were greeted warmly, and offered a little breakfast while we waited- orange juice and muffins. (real OJ, too- fresh squeezed!) After a few minutes, we were met by a woman who took us into an office and explained the DVC to us and the finances. We were up front with her, too, letting her know that today would not be the day, and she gave us no pressure at all. It was really nice to feel like we were really just sitting down and discussing an option with her for a future date!

After talking for a bit, she took us to see the mock set ups of the Wilderness Lodge Villas and the Boardwalk Villas. I must say that I would be very comfortable staying in one for a week. The amenities are great- its like moving into an apartment for a week, only everything, from groceries to laundry, is there waiting for you when you arrive.

After the tour, she took us back to the original office and gave us a little more information, and then she left us alone for a few minutes so that we could "talk it out." It was nice to not be completely pressured, and I think Disney may recognize that sometimes, it is better to leave it alone, and just give the information and let people come to the decision you want them to make on their own.

When she came back, we let her know that it still wasn't the right time for us. She thanked us for coming, gave us a really neat video and book as gifts, and then showed us to the front to sign out. When we signed out, the host at the front gave us coupons for free lunch at certain Boardwalk restaurants, and then told us to give them a call when we wanted to go back to our resort. The best part about this lobby was that they had free cotton candy and salt water taffy! It was really good, too!

At this point, we were pretty hungry, so we decided to go next door to the brewery-type restaurant (I've forgotten the name!). There weren't too many people in the place, and it was set up a little odd. We later learned from our waitress that the restaurant had been a store not too long ago, which is why it had a weird architectural feel to it!

I decided, on the advice of the waitress, to have the honey mustard smothered chicken sandwich. I forget what Carl had- another sandwich, I think! All I know was that every bite of my sandwich was heaven. It was a chicken breast with monterey jack cheese, grilled mushrooms, grilled onions, bell peppers, and bacon bits tossed in a honey mustard sauce and put on a very soft bun (that didn't fall apart!). It was so good, my mouth is watering now as I think of it!

After lunch, we decided that we would head back to MGM to finish up some of the things that we hadn't gotten to see the other day when we were there (including the Osborne lights!). It was very nice that the DVC shuttle driver was willing to drive us all the way over to as close to the front gate as he could get!

We really had no plans to do much of anything here in MGM today since our only true goal was to make sure we saw the Osborne Lights, so we decided to take it easy. We started off finishing up our Christmas shopping on Hollywood Boulevard. Here, we learned a little known trick- if you have things with you that you're tired of carrying, you can ask the clerk to include them in your package to be dropped back to your hotel! They just write it on the receipt and make you initial it. I understand there are limitations, but it was a nice service as we had our DVC video and book and really didn't want to carry it all day!

After shopping, we decided to head over and see what the line was like for TZTOT and RNRC. The lines were way too long for RNRC, and the fastpass machines were mobbed. Since we could only get one fast pass, we decided to get one for TZTOT instead, and discovered it was for about two hours later! Oh well!

To fill our time, we decided to catch some of the shows we had missed our first day there, and headed off to Doug Live. I really like this show- I don't know why, but it is just so sweet. And, the singing ain't bad. Anyway, we had about the cutest little kid on the planet try out for Quail kid- and it obviously made his day! He gave the part his all, and I'm not sure if the audience was happier to see him or he was happier to see the audience!

Since Doug Live was over, we decided to finish up that little area, so we wandered on over to Sounds Dangerous. This is another great show, but not for those who get claustrophobic easily. You really feel enclosed and I could see how the sensory deprivation could get to you if you were wary.

Carl really wanted to go on the Backstage Tour, so we headed over that way, but we had just missed a group, and the next tour wouldn't leave us enough time to use our TZTOT fastpasses. :) Instead, we wandered on over to the animation tour and walked through there! :) The show was great, as usual- I just love the movie with Robin Williams as a character!

Afterwards, we hung out in the shop for quite some time talking to one of the CM's- I think Anne or Annette was her name. She was so nice! I had just purchased a Tigger cel a few months before this trip as a present for myself, and so I asked all sorts of maintenance questions. We must have talked for an hour until another customer came with a question! At this point, I realized that our fastpass for TZTOT was just beginning, so we bid Anne/tte? good bye, and headed on over.

When we got to TZTOT, we noticed that there was absolutely no line, so we took the regular standby line instead! We were on and off the ride just in time to use our fastpass- and now there was a line! Two quick rides later (and almost a third in a row when we hit no line again coming out, but my persuasive powers weren't quite enough for Carl!), and we bid adieu to TZTOT. :(

We decided to see if we could catch the Backstage tour again, so we headed over that way, only to realize when we got there that the tour we had foregone was the last tour of the day! Well, since we were in this area anyhow, we bandied about and went through the AFI store and display! They had the puppets from Sound of Music! Cool!

Heading back towards NY Avenue, we figured it was getting pretty late and time to start thinking about dinner- we wanted hot dogs or hamburgers, and figured that a food shack should be open somewhere around there. Well, the Backstage feed lot was closed, so we headed to the ABC commissary- also closed. We tried one more place until we finally begged our way into a closing Toy Story Pizza Planet! Ok, this food was gross. I spent five bucks on a microwavable pizza that I would buy for $1 at the Safeway at home! (Sigh) But, we were hungry and it was there!

Finally, it was time for the Osborne Lights to start! We walked back over to New York Avenue and grabbed a set of special glasses that CM's were handing out around there. At about that time, we noticed a huge line inside one of the kiosks. Turned out that the special Osborne Lights pins and MGM Christmas pins had just arrived at the kiosk, and people were snapping them up like wildfire! Well, since pins were our new thing and since I was determined to have every special Christmas pin I could find, we waited in line to purchase our pins. They were sold out about three people after me!

After we purchased the pins, we headed into the throngs of people to tour the Osborne Lights. Wow! This was so neat! I have never seen so many people together just enjoying the Christmas Spirit! They had taken all the houses on the backlot tour and decorated each one- and a canopy of lights was above you, and all around you! I can't even describe it- there were spinning ornaments made of lights, Santa and his sleigh- that actually moved, angels with moving wings, tin drummers actually drumming... you name it, they had it! And, I was happy to note, they included other faiths, as well. One house was completely decorated with a menorah and dreidel! It was very beautiful, and made me very thankful to be sharing that experience with someone I love so much. (Of course, as those of you who know Carl would expect, he chimed in with, "Gee, we could do something like that on our house!" I'm thinking only if Disney pays the electricity bill!)

After the lights, we decided to head for home. Tomorrow we had an early day at Magic Kingdom- we were taking the Family Magic tour, and I couldn't wait! In to bed early, and sleep came easily. :)

Day Seven totals:

Food:3 Tiggers- a perfect five for the chicken sandwich, but the pizza (if you can call it that) really weighed the score down... ;)

Fun:18 Tiggers- any day where you can ride TZTOT 2 X in a row without waiting is a great day!

Day 8- Family Magic Tour, MK and finish Epcot

This was one of our few early to rise days- which was great cuz' we were going on the Family Magic Tour as part of our flex feature! Ok, I know that the tour is for kids, but I am the biggest kid of them all, and I wanted to tear it up in the Magic Kingdom for our last day! We were actually up and ready to go quite early, so we headed out the door and caught one of the first busses to the park!

Once in the park, our quest it was to find breakfast! Well, the bake shop on Main Street was open, and it smelled so good, we had to stop in! They had this divine looking thing called an apple betty, and Carl got milk and something chocolate (even if I don't remember, it is a pretty decent bet that he did!). We sat in the bakery and ate for a few moments, until I was too excited to sit still any longer! We went over to the tour garden and checked in- we were so early that they didn't even have our name tags ready! Well, the tour checker-inner took our room keys so he could process the flex feature and said he would be right back. He was right, only he gave us someone else's keys! Hee hee! Oh well, it all got straightened out within a few minutes, and meanwhile, the mayor paid us a little visit! Seeing no kids around the tour garden, he even cracked an adult-ish joke! (Not to ruin it, but I only remember the punchline: Now my chest is also in my drawers... If anyone knows the rest of the joke, let me know! :))

Finally, other people in our group began to show up (we all were wearing Peter Pan name tags!) and we introduced ourselves. I'm sorry to those who were also on the tour, but the only ones whose name I can remember is a little girl named Faith, and our tour guide, Julie! We had three kids in our group- Faith being the most verbose of the three, but all were very well behaved and seemed really into the tour! The rest of the group was made up of their parents- 4 in total (2 families) and us 2- so the adults outnumbered the kids! Now, I will not spoil any of the tour for you, except to say that don't think you will skate and just video and take pictures cuz you're an adult- we ALL participated, and Julie was an excellent host and great at motivating us to join in. And you know what? We had a BLAST! Faith was absolutely the most hilarious child I have ever met- she never shut up, and the things that came out of her mouth were so clever and funny, that we were all laughing the whole way through! Her sister was very good natured, but at that awkward age, and then we had a real little one- about five maybe, who was shy, but opened up towards the end. All the participants had a really good time, and we all got into it- but we were able to not participate or modify our participation (as we said at one point- if you think all of us are crawling, then you'll have to get someone to get us back up!). It really was a great experience- we adults acted like we were kids again, and Carl and I still giggle at some of the things we had to do on the tour!

After the tour, it was about time for lunch, so we stopped in at Pinnochio's Village Haus since we were right there. For once, I forget what I had- a hamburger, I think (with a million grilled mushrooms from the topping bar!), but Carl got these fries with stuff on them that were just, well, odd. Not really good, but not bad, either. They had lettuce, mushrooms, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes and onions on them- so they were like a french fry tostada. It was really odd!

After eating, we took in a few of the Fantasyland rides- Pinnochio, Snow White, and It's a Small World, and then decided to head out of MK for Epcot. There were lots of things in Epcot we had to finish, and our time was coming to an end... :(

We hopped the monorail, and Carl and I got to sit in front going to Epcot! :) Yay! Epcot was a little crowded when we got there, but we didn't have too many plans, so it was ok! First things first, we had to see Cranium Command- we had tried desperately in vain the last trip to see it, and it was always closed, or we had just missed the show or something- so this was a must do!

We walked in the Met Life pavilion, and, what do you know- we just missed the show! Well, Carl wanted to see Body Wars, and I didn't since the last time we saw it I almost lost my lunch, so I sent him off to see the show, while I wandered around to see the pavilion. When Carl was done, we had about ten seconds to make it into Cranium Command, and we were the last two let in to the show! Carl really liked the show and wanted to stick around the pavilion a little longer, but we decided against it since we wanted to finish Epcot up.

Next, we went to Ellen- which I just love! I loved her show when it was on, and I think she is just hilarious! As usual, the show was excellent! By this time, the early morning was starting to catch up to us, and having to do laundry and pack, wrap X-mas presents; etc, we decided to do Spaceship Earth one last time, and then head out of the park.

On our way back to the hotel, Carl's new fanny pack broke, and so we decided to stop and exchange it at the store in the resort. Since we were going to be there, we thought we'd also eat in the food court. Well, Carl went into the shop and I went to get the food, and then I found a table and I was waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally, Carl came over and explained that the lady wouldn't give him a refund and they didn't have any more of the one he'd bought. The clerk told him he could have store credit, but he couldn't find anything he wanted. Finally, another clerk saw him circling the store with his broken fanny pack and asked if she could help him, and he explained the situation to her, and she gave him a refund without question! Uggh! I just did not have a single "Disney" experience at this resort! He said that they were really skeptical that he had had it all week without a problem, and then all of a sudden, it broke... hmm! (Sigh) Oh well, not staying there again, so rant off...

Finally, we went back to the room and then Carl went off to do laundry while I packed, wrapped gifts and waited for my brother to call. This was also when I realized that not only did I not bring enough bags but that the additional bag I had already bought was not going to be enough, so I knew what I would be buying the next day!

The change machine was broken in the laundry, and Carl had to wait for over an hour for someone from the front desk to come and bring change to him, so he didn't come in and get to bed until around 2:30. I think next time I will just wait and do laundry at home! Ugggh, what a hassle it was!

Day Eight totals:

Food:2 Tiggers. Its not that it was bad, it just that it was just average. Nothing special, and nothing I can even remember!

Fun:4 Tiggers. Again, this would have been a perfect five because of the Family Magic Tour, but the hassle we had with the resort really put a damper on the day.

Day Nine- Last day! :( Downtown Disney, and home....

The plan for the day was to get up early and head to MGM for one last ride on the Tower, and to finally take in the Backlot Tour. Alas, it wasn't to be. Although we woke up early, we had a bit of a problem. I got the bill off the door in the morning, and it was almost $300! Well, I had no idea why- we hadn't made any phone calls except for the first day, and we hadn't charged anything to the room! As I perused the bill, I noticed that they had charged me $12 a day for the fridge. I had been assured when I made my reservation switch that I was being charged $10 a day for the fridge and that it was an included charge in what I was paying. I called the front desk and was rudely told that it was not included in my package, and I had to pay the $12 since they upped the rate before I checked in. I tried to talk to the guy a little bit and explain to him that I had no idea that the rate had gone up, and that I really believed I had already been charged for it or I wouldn't have accepted it at that rate. It didn't matter to him- he told me to call Customer Service when I got home.

By now, I was in a completely bad mood. The phone calls were outrageous- $15 for a 2 minute call to San Francisco, plus a $.75 charge every time I dialed the phone, even to make our tour reservations earlier in the week! Even with planning, and buying a calling card, we were hit hard, and it just ended the trip on a sour note. I mean, I spend so much money each year on Disney, its not even funny, and they still feel like they have to nickel and dime you! Urrrgh! Ok, rant off...

We were all done packing and nearly ready to go when the porters knocked on our door to take our suitcases. After giving them all 8! of our suitcases, we took one last, long look at our room and decided it was time to leave the resort! We noticed something hanging on our door and took a look at it- it was a guide to all that was happening that day since it was Christmas Eve! It was really neat!

After the luggage was gone, we headed down to the bus stop and waited for the inner-resort bus to come. Carl, who had the merchandise luck this trip, had purchased a scarf and hat for his grandmother, and they had forgotten to take off the security device, so he had to go back to the resort store! And, of course, they gave him a hassle! Now, Carl is about as Leave it to Beaver looking as you can get- total boy scout, and they treated him like he had just robbed the Bank of America! Sheesh!

So, in the great mood I was in, it was just perfect that we waited over an hour and no resort bus came. Carl even went and used the phone at the bus terminal to ask what the schedule was and they told him it ran every 15 minutes. Well, when it hit the hour and a half mark, we gave up and decided to take the first bus that came along- it was a Downtown Disney bus, and it was packed. They actually had to leave people at the stop because they couldn't fit anyone else on the bus!

At Downtown Disney, we made a few more purchases (one, a much needed additional suitcase for me!), had lunch at McDonalds, and then wandered around looking at all the decorations. Finally, it was time to head back to the resort and get our things for our flight. While I retrieved the bags and repacked some so that it would all fit comfortably inside all the suitcases without danger of my losing things, Carl ran that errand to the resort store. He made it back in miraculous time, and a Mears operator just appeared! Well, it wasn't our scheduled time, but since he had extra room, we decided to head on out and get home for Christmas. It's a good thing we did, actually- Carl's flight had actually been bumped up a 1/2 hour and we got there just in time to check him in! It was smooth sailing all the way home, and I was at my parent's house sleeping comfy by 12 that night!

Day Nine Totals:

Food:1 Tigger. It was a day of McDonalds and airplane food! After the cuisine I'd had this week, I craved something more!

Fun: 1 Tigger. It felt like Back to Reality day... crowded busses and unhelpful staff- wasn't I in Disney?

Well folks, thanks for sticking in for all 27 pages! I really enjoyed writing this, and I am glad I did! Reading the first few pages has inspired us, and a new trip is in the works! September, 2002- Coronado Springs (stayed there in 99- totally loved it!) and Animal Kingdom Lodge. It will be my brother and mother's first trips and I can't wait to introduce them to the world of Disney!

Heather Robison

Tyggerfan@hotmail.com

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