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Lisa Willis -- November 2000 -- Walt Disney World (ASSR)Cast:
Method of Travel: Rented a mini-van Accommodations: Shoney's Inn, Valdosta, GA (1 night) & All-Star Sports Resort (8 nights) Background: In October 1992 we visited WDW for a week with my mom and brother (then 12 years old). We spent most nights at a time-share condo that my father had in Ormond Beach. We had about a 1 1/2 hour drive each way to the parks, and since my mom was born a "Commando" we got up each day around 6 am in order to have time to get ready, eat breakfast, and drive there. Our middle son, Matt, was 23 months old at the time and in his TERRIBLE twos! Combine this with the fact that I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with my youngest child, I had to sleep on the floor every night because there weren't enough beds in the condo, and it was very hot every day. You can see that I hesitate to count this as a vacation. In September of 1998, we set out to have our first "real" family vacation. I had starting doing research on the internet and we bought 2 guidebooks. We thought we knew it all. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford to stay on property the whole time, so we stayed the first few nights at the Holiday Inn Maingate in a family suite. It was nice enough for then, but I probably wouldn't stay there again. Luckily, Sea World and Universal were having 2-day passes for the price of 1 day, so we got tickets for both parks from our local AAA office. We ended up using both days at Universal but only 1 day at Sea World. We loved Universal and got to attend a taping of one of the kids' favorite shows, Figure It Out. Also, Matt got picked to get "slimed" at Nickelodeon Studios (which was a big deal to him). For the last few nights, we stayed at Dixie Landings. It was the first time we had ever seen any of the WDW resort hotels up close, and we were in love! We couldn't believe the beautiful landscaping and we loved Ol' Man Island. We went to Animal Kingdom for the first time and were in awe of the Festival of the Lion King show. We had purchased 5-day park hoppers at the Ocala center, and enjoyed being able to hop over to Epcot after the Magic Kingdom closed. We ate at our first character meal - the Crystal Palace - and loved it. Also, the best home video I have is of our second character meal on our departure day at Chef Mickey's. We had a late breakfast seating, and by the time we were done eating, the place was almost cleared out. Minnie came over, turned Matt's hat to the side, and started dancing with him. I can't explain the happy look on his face when he was dancing with Minnie, but watching him then and now on video was/is one the best things I've ever experienced. Mickey came out afterwards and shook his finger at Matt for dancing with his woman. Then Mickey and Minnie danced away. Overall, a very fun trip. In 1999, we mentioned to my mother-in-law that it would be fun for her to go with us someday to WDW and she said "okay, how's November?" We started planning for another trip. We decided to fly since the kids had never been on an airplane. For accommodations, we finally settled on Coronado Springs for 2 nights, then All-Star Movies for 7 nights. It was really fun to see the parks through her eyes (she had been to the Magic Kingdom once in the 70's). We loved both hotels and the weather was great. We upgraded our hoppers to annual passes (we still had 2 days left on them) and purchased an annual pass for my mother-in-law. The kids were chosen at the Magic Kingdom to go up on the train platform with the characters and wave to everyone before the parade. They got buttons and a free video. This was an even better trip. The report is at: http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/trip.rpt/report_files/wdwtr99/willis99.htm Not ones to let a good annual pass go unused, we decided to go again in May of 2000. We got the kids out early on their last day of school and left for WDW. We stayed in a Quality Inn the first night and the new Holiday Inn Family Suites the other 8 nights. The weather and crowds were great, and we really liked the Holiday Inn. Another stroke of good luck that happened to us was that Disney was offering a water park unlimited visits pass (good for a month or so) to any annual pass holder that bought a one-day water park ticket. We were able to visit all 3 water parks during our stay. There was a mini-tragedy on this trip though, when Brittani fell on the stairs at Blizzard Beach and had to go to Celebration Hospital for 17 stitches in her forehead. Luckily, this happened near the end of the trip, and except for this, the trip was wonderful. The report is at: http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/trip.rpt/report_files/wdwtr00/willis00.htm Finally, we decided to celebrate Matt's 10th birthday by a trip to WDW, so we began to plan this trip. After much debating, we decided to stay at All-Star Sports. Some of you might think we're bad to have all five of us in one room, but the occupancy is four plus a crib (because of fire regulations). Why would a sleeping bag on the floor take up more room than a crib? I know we weren't in anymore danger with a sleeping bag on the floor than we would have been without it. We live in a small house, and don't spend time in the hotel room except to sleep, so it worked for us. We did plan a couple of surprises for the kids. At home, we drive an 8-year old van with 142,000 miles, unmatched seats, peeling paint, and no options. Our other car is a very small Saturn. We didn't feel comfortable taking the van, so we decided to rent one. We told the kids that we were renting a car about the size of the Saturn. They were not happy about riding seven hours crammed together in the backseat, but they were still glad to be going and didn't gripe too much about it. Day One - Thursday, November 2, 2000 Departure Day - "Surprising the Kids" Kerry took the day off to get things ready for the trip. I took off work around 11:30 am and met him at home. We left to go eat lunch with Matt at his school and take cookies for his class since his birthday was the next day. After lunch, we went to Thrifty to pick up the rental van, then headed home to load it. We decided to check Brittani out of school 45 minutes early in order to get a jump on the Atlanta traffic. When we were walking through the parking lot with her, we kept asking her which "car" she thought we rented. When we finally stopped next to the rental van and opened the doors, I think she almost cried with happiness! Next stop was the elementary school to get the boys. We drove through the car pool line without the boys recognizing us in the van. The teacher called for "Willis on 2" which means they were supposed to meet us at the second space. Matt stood up and looked down the car pool line for us. He kept standing there trying to see which "car" we were in and the teacher kept having to say "Willis on 2." We were laughing our heads off at Matt just standing there looking for us when we were only 10 feet from him! Finally, he saw Justin run up to the van and noticed that it was us in there. The boys were very, very excited! I had made them all goodie bags with Halloween candy, a travel game, and gel pens, and had the bags and their favorite Disney plush in their seats. They were very excited about the pens and it kept them occupied during the trip. We got on I-85 around 3:45 pm and didn't stop until we reached Valdosta around 7:15 pm. We checked in to our room at Shoney's Inn, unpacked, then walked over to Shoney's for dinner. I tried to go to sleep around 9:40 pm, but Kerry was snoring and the kids were giggling like crazy. I didn't want to get on to them because I knew they were excited, but fatigue got the best of me. I yelled out to them to hush up and they quieted down right away. Day Two - Friday, November 3, 2000 Matt's 10thbirthday! - "Mickey, Here We Come!" We left the room around 8 am and walked next door to Shoney's for breakfast. Once back in the room, we gave Matt several presents to open (from a friend of mine, his grandma, and us). After he opened the last gift, Kerry went out to the van to get the razor scooter we had gotten him. He came in the room and laid it on the bed while Matt was fiddling with the new CD player he'd gotten. Justin saw the box and said, "Ooh, Matt! You got a scooter!" Matt jumped up to check it out. He was so surprised! We were scared to let the kids try it out on the walkway outside for fear that they'd run over someone coming out of their room, but we let them take turns riding it a little in the empty parking space next to our van (with us standing guard). While Kerry loaded the van (we'd packed one small duffel bag with just 1 days worth of clothes for us, so it wasn't a big deal), I went to check out. We were very pleased with this hotel, and would stay there again. We made a quick stop to fill up the van and were on the road by 9:40 am. We stopped at the Ocala Disney center, where I bought Disney tattoos and a bookmark. We didn't spend much time in there and were back on the road soon. We arrived at All-Star Sports at 1 pm. We checked in, played in the arcade, then took off for the Magic Kingdom. We first made a stop at Guest Services to get a new MKC card. Kerry's had expired in September and his Human Resources Department said we could turn in a new application at any guest services window to get a new card good until December 31, 2000. With new card in hand, we entered the Magic Kingdom and headed straight for City Hall to get a birthday button for Matt. The lady was very sweet to him, and told him that there had been a call for him earlier and would he like to hear it. He looked confused but told her yes. She handed him the phone and Goofy told him to have a great birthday. He was really surprised by this and had a big smile on his face. We went to Space Mountain to get a fast pass then went to Pinnochio's Village Haus for a snack. We just happened to luck out in getting a table overlooking the loading area for It's a Small World. It was fun watching all the little kids on the ride wave up to us! We rode IASW after we ate, then headed to Space Mountain to use our fast pass. The park was very crowded (darn the Millennium ads!), so we decided to head back to the hotel. We stopped briefly in City Hall again to call and get our room assignment. Back at the hotel, we had the tortuous job of unloading the van. I have no idea why I didn't think of getting a cart or bell services, but you know what they say about hindsight. Needless to say, we were all loaded down. We got our request that I had faxed in, which was Touchdown building. We were on the 3rd floor overlooking the courtyard - and in my opinion, we couldn't have gotten a better room. I loved this hotel, but would definitely want Touchdown or Surf's Up buildings. Touchdown is so colorful with the pennants and the big helmets and it has the best courtyard for kids anywhere. I love being able to see a bunch of kids playing football together down there - there were pick-up games going on all the time! We unpacked while Matt and Justin joined in a football game in the courtyard, then we headed to the food court to fill up our mugs. The kids took turns riding the scooter for a while, then we all got ready to go to 'Ohana for our 7:30 pm PS. We drove over to the Polynesian and watched the MK fireworks from the picture window on the top floor. We enjoyed the wings, fruit salad, and rice from the appetizer tray, and the steak and turkey from the skewers. We made the kids participate in the coconut race which kind of embarrassed Brittani (what are parents for?), was easy for Justin, and Matt...well, he lost his coconut many times underneath tables! None of them wanted to do the hula hoop, because they were too busy chowing down. For those of you that have not dined at 'Ohana, they let the participants hula hoop on a "pathway" that circles the dining room, so there are tables right next to where these people are hula hooping. I thought it looked awfully disastrous, but the fact was proven when a little girl's hoop knocked over the lady's glass at the table next to us and it broke. The waiters were great and had it cleaned up in no time. Thankfully, the lady didn't seem mad but the little girl ran to her mom in tears. The lady went over to comfort the little girl. After dinner was cleared, our waitress brought out the pineapple and caramel sauce which was just as good as everyone says. Kerry and I shared some kind of cocktail that was very good (at least I think Kerry liked it...I tend to gulp those things down!). Kerry reminded our waitress that it was Matt's birthday and she had the singing guy come over and make everyone sing Happy Birthday to him. After dinner, Brittani was really eager to get a lei, so we had her ask a hostess where she could get one from. They directed us to the front desk where the CM gave all three of them one. When she saw Matt's birthday button, she said that he was special and she gave him an extra one which she made into a headpiece for him. Back at the room, we listened to the Little Mermaid bedtime story on TV before falling to sleep. Day Three - Saturday, November 4, 2000 Outlet Shopping - "I Can't Drive 65" We woke up around 7:30 am and had breakfast in the room. The kids played football and rode the scooter in the courtyard for a while. Around 10 am, Kerry and the kids dropped me off at the Dolphin to pick up a convertible for the day (National Rental Car is at this hotel). This was a surprise for the kids also, so we didn't tell them what I was doing. After I got the car (silver Cavalier), I headed for All-Star Sports to meet up with the family. Unbeknownst to me, Kerry had been waiting for me off to the side at the Dolphin. He said Brittani glanced at the convertible and said, "That looks like mom." Luckily, she didn't really think it WAS me (I mean, what would their mom be doing in a convertible?), so they were all surprised when we met up at the All-Star Sports parking lot. Kerry told me he was surprised that I didn't see him there waiting for me at the Dolphin, but I was probably checking the rear view mirror and playing with buttons! After everyone piled in the convertible, we headed for Belz Outlet. We shopped at Character Premiere for an hour or so, then went to Jungle Jim's for lunch. The food here was really good, but the restaurant smelled musty. After lunch we went over to Orlando Premium Outlet, shopping first at Character Warehouse. Brittani bought me a keychain and Kerry a mousepad for his desk at work. Justin bought a Geppetto beanie for Kerry and a Goofy keychain for me. I think it's sweet that they spend so much of their small souvenir allowance to buy us something (Matt doesn't ever do this...he's like Scrooge McDuck with his money). The kids are so appreciative of these trips we take, you would think they would take them for granted by now, but they don't. I know, enough of the parental bragging! Next we stopped in the Toy Company store where Matt spent his souvenir money to purchase a new helmet for himself. I had brought a helmet from home that was purple, which I guess is a big no-no to some boys his age! Justin used his money to buy a skateboard with a handle. After the toy shop, we went to the Nike store. Kerry got a new pair of tennis shoes and a shirt. He's had a gross blood stain on his other shoes for a long time and Brittani and I were both grateful that he was getting a new pair! The boys got matching bathing suits for $5 each. We had forgotten to exchange my Mickey watch at Belz when we were there earlier, so we tried to exchange it at OPO. They weren't able to exchange it because it is a reconditioned watch and they don't sell those there. So we went back to Belz Outlet. I had gotten Kerry and I matching Mickey watches there in October when I was in Orlando for a business trip. Kerry's watch has worked great, but mine stopped running before I boarded the plane to come home. When I got home from my business trip, we took it to K-Mart to replace the battery. It worked fine for about 10 minutes. We don't know what was wrong with it, but Disney swapped it out without any problem and the new one has worked fine. I wanted to stay in the convertible, so we decided to drive around a little while. We drove through the area where the Downtown Disney hotels are and I showed Kerry and the kids the Best Western I stayed in on my business trip. *As a side note, when i checked into the Best Western, they were out of regular rooms and all they had left was the suite. So I got a 3-room suite on the top floor of the hotel with a sweeping view of Downtown Disney, the Epcot ball and Tower of Terror. I was one pampered chick!* We rode through Caribbean Beach resort since we have interest in staying there some day. We thought the resort was beautiful, but I'd hate to have a room towards the back of the resort! Back at the room, Kerry and the kids changed into bathing suits and we all walked to the food court to refill our mugs. We then went out to the pool where Kerry and the kids swam and I read my book. After swimming, they changed out of their bathing suits and we had dinner at the food court. Then we took a walk around the resort to see the rest of the buildings. After our walk, we relaxed in the room until bedtime. Day Four - Sunday, November 5, 2000 Magic Kingdom - "Splash Mountain Tragedy" We woke up around 7:15 am and had breakfast in the room. After breakfast, we returned the rental car to the Dolphin hotel. There was a very long and slow-moving line and it took quite a while to turn the keys in, so Kerry and the kids sat in the lobby and people-watched. We then caught the bus at the Dolphin to the Magic Kingdom and arrived around 10:15 am. We got a Disney photographer to take our picture, then headed to the Swiss Family Treehouse. Afterwards, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, then we shopped forever in the gift shop (my favorite one). I say "we" shopped, but Kerry just walked around with a glassy look in his eyes! I can really get lost in time when I shop. We bought a pirate flag for the boys' room, a dolphin bracelet for Brittani, and Matt bought a rubber skull. Next we saw the Tiki Bird show, then had lunch at El Pirata. Kerry had the taco salad, I had the nachos, the boys shared the taco plate, and Brittani had a taco plate. We liked the food here a lot, and it's a nice break from burgers and chicken fingers. We watched the Country Bear Jamboree which I was very disappointed in. We saw the Christmas show last year and liked it, but we couldn't understand any of the words in this one. After the show, we got fast passes for Splash Mountain, then fast passes for the Haunted Mansion, then went to see the Hall of Presidents. I haven't seen this show since I was a teen and Kerry had never seen it. It was my mom's favorite attraction and I remember that as a child and teen I never saw more than 5 minutes of the show because I'd fall asleep. It was funny because even this time I had to struggle to stay awake! Needless to say, I thought it was a great show and the kids really liked it too. We headed over to the Haunted Mansion next to use our fast pass. I always love this ride no matter how many times I've rode it. I can remember riding it when I was a little kid and seeing the ghost appear in your doom buggy. I thought that was the neatest thing! Kerry likes to check if he can see the hanging body in the holding room when the lights go out. He says sometimes you can see it and sometimes you can't. I wonder if it depends on where you're standing? Anyway, while walking out of the attraction, one of the "haunted" maids followed Brittani and Matt all the way out of the attraction. She finally told them that the spirits were following them! They got a big kick out of her. By the way, I miss the Haunted Mansion gift cart - I thought they had really neat souvenirs. Next we headed to Splash Mountain and the area was packed. While we were walking towards the attraction, I heard a girl tell her friend that a man was having a heart attack on the ride. As we approached the fast pass entrance, a CM came out and told us that he had bad news. He said the ride was shut down because a man had gotten out of the boat and he didn't know how long it would be until it was running again. It wasn't until we watched the news later that night that we heard he had been injured on the ride and died. We walked over to Fantasyland and got fast passes for Pooh, then Kerry and the boys rode Buzz Lightyear (Brittani and I don't care for this ride) and Brittani and I experienced Alien Encounter (Justin is scared to death of this attraction). Brittani and I both liked Alien Encounter a lot better this time than on previous visits because we were on the front row - it just makes it scarier somehow. Another thing that made it better was there were no little kids. It was mostly teenagers and adults who screamed and laughed like crazy! Brittani and I didn't see Kerry and the boys at our designated meeting place when we got out of AE, so we rode the TTA. My kids absolutely love this ride, which is kind of funny considering there's all sorts of thrill rides. I guess even kids need some down time too, huh? :) After the ride, we met up with Kerry and the boys and found out that they had been on TTA at the same time we were. We opened a package of astronaut ice cream sandwich that Brittani and I had purchased in the AE giftshop and we ate it like pigs. It was gone in seconds! Next we headed over to the Liberty Tree Tavern for our 4:30 pm PS. We saw each character (Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale) many times each. We thought the food here was about the best Disney food we've had. If you haven't figured it out, we're more "home-cooking" type of people, so this was just right for us. After taking one picture of the kids with Minnie, we discovered we were out of film and I hadn't packed another roll. We ended up buying a disposable camera from the restaurant. When the waiter brought it to our table and we saw it was 39 exposure, we thought it would cost a fortune. Fortunately, it was only $16 which is about what you'd pay in a Wal-Mart. It just proves my theory that Disney does not overprice stuff very much at all in my opinion. Most all sweatshirts are between $20 - $40 at regular stores and they're $30 - 40 at most Disney gift shops. Also, my family spends around $20 to eat at a fast food place at home and $25 - 30 at Disney. Most importantly, it costs only $9 more to get in a Disney park than it does our local Six Flags, yet a Disney park is clean, has more high quality attractions, friendly employees, and fast pass. When we visited Six Flags this year, it had so much litter and trash ALL OVER THE PARK that we said we'd probably never go again. The employees were very rude and the line to buy tickets was 45 minutes long! Okay, enough ranting - back to the show. After dinner, we rode the Carousel, used our fast passes for Pooh, then rode the Tea Cups. Kerry and I were so full from dinner, we decided to ride together and just sit there! The kids rode one together and spun like crazy. After the ride, Kerry and I got off, but the CM let the kids ride again since there were only a few people in line. They each got in their own tea cup and had a good time while Kerry and I watched the fireworks and recorded the kids spinning. After Tea Cups, we rode the TL Speedway. Our ride on Speedway wasn't too much fun because of a mother and her son. I rode with Brittani and we were behind this little kid who kept stopping every minute or so to turn around and see his mom. Finally, Brittani and I started yelling at him, "Go, GO!" and he'd move along. Kerry and Justin were in cars behind us, so they kept having to stop too. Then Matt happened to get behind this kid's mom, who kept stopping all the time to take pictures of him. UGH! We're Atlanta drivers, people! Get out of the way! :) After our drive, we headed for the Town Square Exposition Hall to purchase our Main Street picture. The kids and I hung out in the back area while Kerry went to package pickup to get our souvenirs. The kids ran up each ramp yelling and laughing and having me take their picture behind each character cut-out...we were having a good old time. After we took the last picture, we realized that there were people watching cartoons in there. We were all very embarrassed that we had been so unintentionally rude! We sheepishly sat down in the last row of the theater and watched cartoons until Kerry returned. Back at the hotel, we played in the arcade for a while, then the kids went swimming. Matt got a caricature made of himself with his souvenir/birthday money.
Day Five - Monday, November 6, 2000 MGM Studios - "Devil Lady at Disney" We got a wake-up call from Mickey at 7:00 am. We got Brittani to answer the phone, but later that day she couldn't remember a word Mickey had said because she had been so sleepy when she answered! We had our normal breakfast in the room and were at the bus stop by 8:30 am. We arrived at MGM 15 minutes later (we never had a wait for a bus when leaving the resort, we always walked outside and immediately onto a bus). We stood at the rope drop then at park opening, headed for Rock -n- Roller Coaster. The ride was wonderful as always, and you should check out the look on Matt's face in the RNR picture. When I saw Matt's face, I knew I had to buy the picture. I was a little shocked that they only had 8 x 10's and thus were almost $18 per picture, but if you see his face, you'll know why I bought it! I had to keep telling my friends at work when I showed them the picture that he loves these thrill rides. In the picture it looks like a 20-foot dragon is about to eat him! After our ride, we got fast passes for another ride on RNR, then got passes for Tower of Terror. We walked over to the Great Movie Ride, and as always, we got the gangster side. We headed back to ride RNR with our fast passes, then straight to ToT. After being dropped numerous times, we set out for Starring Rolls for delicious pastries. We went on the Animation Tour next which Kerry and Justin had never done. We all just love the first film with Robin Williams and getting to see the little gadgets that the animators keep at their desk. We were surprised to see only one employee in their cubicle - staff meeting, perhaps? I've got Brittani and Matt brainwashed into wanting to work for Disney when they get out of college - Brittani as a performer and Matt as an animator. Mom and Dad want free tickets! :) Coming out of the tour, we watched the "balloon man" Andy Nation create Pluto from balloons. Kerry enjoyed the stories the man was telling as he was creating Pluto. Next, we went to Sounds Dangerous. We all love this, but think it's best the first time you experience it. After the show we ate at Pizza Planet. Kerry was talking to a woman in line who was just amazed that CM's can handle such a fast pace and fill so many orders while still managing to smile and tell you to have a nice day. The employees at fast food places where we live can't do any of those things! The pizza was great as always, and after eating, I wasted $5 within 5 minutes on those stupid claw games I'm addicted to. Yeah, I know, whose fault is that? After lunch, we snagged a bench for the parade while Kerry went and got us all ice cream bars and fast passes for Indiana Jones Stunt Show. This was the first time we had ever seen the Mulan parade and we all enjoyed it. When it was over, we went to the Hunchback theater and were first in line waiting to get in. It seems like almost every time we've seen this show, we end up getting in the bleachers up top which I hate. This is my favorite show in WDW (nothing else even compares, not even Festival of the Lion King show in AK). We were on the first row behind the handicapped benches and I very, very much enjoyed being this close to the performers. This show puts me almost in a trance. I think I could watch every single show they did all day. One funny part was at the end when the performers come out for their final bow, one of the statues looked down at Justin and made the funniest/ugliest faces at him. Justin was laughing like crazy! Also, every time my family has seen this show, we've had Matt the juggler as pre-show entertainment and he's wonderful. But, when I was down there on my business trip, I went to a HND show and someone else was doing the pre-show and he was really, really good. I can't remember his name, but he did totally different tricks from Matt and had really curly hair. If anyone knows who this is, let me know. After HND, we went to see Indiana Jones. On the walk there, this commando witch woman pushed her stroller right in front of Kerry (almost causing him to stumble) and yelled at him "Excuse ME!!" I shouted "Devil Lady!" at her because I am immature :) and nobody messes with my family! Even the families walking ahead of us were looking at her like "what crawled up your fanny, lady?" She was trying to get across the walkway to Al's Toy Barn and I guess that must have been the most important thing in her life. Despite Devil Lady, we finally reached Indiana Jones. Kerry, Brittani, and I had saw this show in 1992; in fact, Kerry had been picked to be an extra. The show was wonderful, and since Brittani didn't remember it, it was as if they all saw it for the first time. We went to see Muppets 3-D with no wait (everyone was probably at Fantasmic), then got back to the hotel for dinner at the food court and swimming for the kids while Kerry did laundry. Day Six - Tuesday, November 7, 2000 Animal Kingdom - "Safari, Sheep, and Shopping" We slept in a bit today until 9 am. After breakfast in the room, we drove over to AK around 10:30 am. The first thing we did was ride Dinosaur (10 minute wait), then got in line for Tarzan Rocks. We ended up getting wonderful seats (4th row, I think) and this time we got to enjoy the show. When we saw this show last November, we got there too late and had to sit in the back bleachers. We didn't see the bleachers this trip; I wonder where they went? Kerry got a chocolate frozen banana which he shared with the boys while we waited for the show to start. We enjoyed the show, especially the rollerblading monkeys. Next we headed for Flights of Wonder which none of us had seen before. While we were waiting outside the theater, Kerry decided to duck out and go get us fast passes for Kali River Rapids. All five of us thought Flights of Wonder was a great show, and the kids' favorite bird was the one that keeps pounding the toy lizard. However, we did see a rude family of five who came in and sat down in the front row, moving aside a sign that said the row was reserved for the 2000th guest and family. So when the 2000th guest and his family were brought up there by the CM, they had to sit all crammed together! After the show, we rode Kali with our fast passes. We rode with a nice family from the Niagra Falls area who got a big kick out of Matt getting drenched to the bone! Aren't people (my family included) funny as they try frantically to get all the shoes and belongings stuffed in that tiny area in the middle of the raft? Both my family and the other family were spazzing out trying to make sure not even a corner of a sock got wet! We walked over to the Safari ride, leaving a water trail behind, for fast passes. Then we ate at Tusker House. We loved this place! Brittani and Justin both got PBJ which came on rainbow bread. Brittani is SO picky, Kerry and I thought she'd have a fit at the colored bread, but she actually thought it was cool. Matt had macaroni and cheese, I had the speciality (African-crusted chicken), and Kerry had the turkey sandwich. With our bellies full, we went to ride the safari. We didn't see a whole lot of animals up close, but it was still fun. Do they still do that "the bridge is falling" bit? The last couple of times we've ridden it, they haven't. We left the safari for Rafiki's Planet Watch (formerly Conservation Station). This is the first time we've ever done this, and it was great. The only thing I'm confused about is lots of people on the internet have talked about the long walk when you get off the train. Huh? It seemed like a very short walk to us. We enjoyed the petting farm (well, all but Kerry!) and I love the elephant hand dryer! After washing up, we went into the building and looked around at the exhibits, watched a demonstration, and basically just played around with all the hands-on equipment. Tarzan showed up and I forced the kids to get a picture with him (I need an excuse to get a picture of muscle man, okay?). At the gift shop, I bought 2 little character safari figures and a sweatshirt "Is That You, Tigger?" for Brittani and I to share. We walked back to the train station where the CM was having kids come up to her microphone and make animal noises. Matt went up there (trust me, this is not like him to get up in front of people) and made an Ostrich noise. I'm not sure if Ostriches make noises or if they do, if they make a sound like air coming out of a stretched balloon, but it was cute! The park was about to close, so we race-walked to It's Tough to be a Bug, and got in the line about two minutes before park closing. We enjoyed the show, but I don't let myself get "stung" because it hurts (I know, what a WIMP). We did hear a lot of unhappy kids in there, which believe it or not, we've never experienced before. After leaving AK, we drove to Orlando Premium Outlets again to swap out a shirt Kerry had gotten at the Character store and to exchange his tennis shoes at the Nike store. He had bought the wrong size shoes on Saturday. Does that tell you how often he buys them? :) I bought the kids several $5 Nike T-shirts a piece (what a bargain!) and we went back to the Toy store to get Justin the same kind of helmet Matt got on Saturday (he didn't like the much-hated purple one either). We stopped at the McDonald's near the hotel on the way back and had dinner. The kids got a kick out of the talking trash can and Justin kept taking our trash one at a time so he could hear it over and over. Maybe we'll get him one for Christmas. One that reminds him to do his homework, be nice to his sister, and clean his room! Back at the hotel, we probably let the kids go swimming again. You know how the days start to blur together, don't you? Day Seven - Wednesday, November 8, 2000 Epcot - "Kerry Gets Jiggy With It" Mickey woke us up at 7 am. We decided we'd eat breakfast at Epcot, so we were on the bus by 9 am. We got a photographer to take our picture, then headed for Ellen's Energy Adventure. Next, we let Kerry go get fast passes for Test Track while we headed indoors to the Wonders of Life Pavilion to ride Body Wars. Funny, but I hated it just as much as I did in 1998. When we rode it in 1998, Kerry and I felt very sick when we got off, but attributed it to our hefty sizes (we've since lost 70 pounds each). Now I'm not so sure that's what is was, since I go on any ride they make and nothing makes me feel sick to my stomach except this! We met up with Kerry at the exit and got in line to see Cranium Command. By the way, leading up to and during our trip, we could get Brittani to behave just by threatening to go see The Making of Me. She knows about that stuff now, but that show embarrasses her to death. :) We left the pavilion and headed over to Fountainview Bakery for breakfast. We ate outside and had a wonderful meal/snack. Then we went through Ice Station Cool and Kerry actually behaved himself this time and didn't try to trick little old ladies into tasting that vile Beverly. We did stand back and watch people's reactions though! Next we headed to The Land and walked right into the Lion King show (I forget the real name). Just as the lights went off and the movie was about to start, Justin hiccupped very loud and had everyone around us laughing. After the show, we rode Living with the Land (10 minute wait), then saw Food Rocks. I enjoy looking around at other people's reactions in this cute show. We had lunch in the Sunshine Season Food Fair, with Brittani and I getting chicken fingers, Kerry the baked potato/salad combo, and the boys the Mickey shaped pasta with cheese. Kerry was generous enough to split his Tollhouse cookie with all of us. After lunch, we were walking over to Test Track to use our fast passes when I saw three guys dressed like janitors come out of a door next to Mousegear with trashcans. I knew they must have been the Jammitors who I've never gotten to see and always wanted to, so I took off after them. The kids were upset that we'd miss our fast pass time, but you know the saying, "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." I enjoyed their act and recorded all of it, then when they were done, we high-tailed it over to Test Track. Every time we've ridden Test Track, we've went in the singles line. So I don't know whether it was because we finally all got to ride together or what, but it was a lot more fun this time! Plus, we got to see the queue line for the first time. We headed into the simulator room after the ride where they have the booths where you "drive" a course. After Kerry, Matt, and I drove our course, we headed out to the showroom. Brittani came up to me soon after and told me that a man had gotten right behind her while she was driving. She said he was making rude comments to her and when she was through, he jumped right into the seat even though Justin was waiting for a turn before Mr. 120-year old Devil Man ever got there. I went back in there with her and Justin and watched the Devil Man finish his course (going 10 miles an hour, of course). I thought about saying something to him, but decided against it since I hadn't witnessed anything. Anyway, Justin got his turn at driving and then we left. We booked it, and I mean flew, over to France to see the Cyranose show. After we got there, red-faced and huffing and sweating, we look at the map closer and see that the time was for Thursday through Sunday. DUH! Who cares, we needed the exercise anyway you're thinking. :) We went to see the France movie which most of my crew slept through. Sorry, France! But you should have made them stand up like Canada does and they would have stayed awake! We arrived in United Kingdom just in time to catch the tail end of the World Showcase Players who are Kerry's favorite street entertainment. It was so cute when one of the players said "who let the dogs out?" and almost everyone in the crowd went "who, who, who." If you don't know the song that's out right now with those words, then you probably think I'm crazy, but the player told the crowd we should be ashamed of ourselves for knowing the reply! After the skit, we walked just a few steps to the back area, and sat on a bench to hear British Invasion. This was one of my favorite moments of the trip, because the weather was perfect (slight breeze), we were listening (and singing along) to wonderful live music, and I had my head on Kerry's shoulder and holding his hand. Right after the British Invasion finished their set, we walked right back to the front to watch the entire act of World Showcase Players. Kerry was picked to be the knight and the kids had a blast laughing at/with him dancing his jig in the show and I enjoyed putting it all on film to bribe him with later! Even though this was our 3rd trip during the Millennium celebration, we had never been in Millennium Village, so we headed there next. We did the putt-putt first. There was a man and his young son who were behind me, and the man was oohing and ahhing over my first three putts where I got holes-in-one (side note - the first ones are easy). He stopped being in awe by my fourth and subsequent holes where I couldn't putt it in if I walked up to the hole and dropped it in! Of course, by then, his 3-year old son was making holes-in-one! I tucked my tail and went to the Saudi Arabia booth. I thought the flying carpet and the pop-up books were really neat. The kids all got on a computer terminal and made a homepage for themselves (and for Bill Clinton as well, but that's another story). At this point, Brittani, Matt and I got separated from Kerry and Justin, so instead of trying to find them, we went in to watch dancers in the middle theater. Right in the middle of the show, I look over to see Kerry at the theater door making faces at me. It was cute! After the show, Kerry told me he had thought we went upstairs to the Swedish seasons thing, so he and Justin had done that (he wasn't impressed). With us all together again, we went to ride the Israel simulator. We thought it was pretty neat, but Kerry decided to sit in the non-moving seats since he thought he might get queasy. After the ride, we walked over to the play area where the boys had a lot of fun saving the environment while Kerry, Brittani, and I tried to do the "bell on a stick" thing that the CM's have. Kerry finally did it, but Brittani and I couldn't master it. We walked past the game show thing at the end which looked like a lot of fun, but there was quite a line, and we wanted a good seat for Tapestry of Nations, so we left. We couldn't snag a bench on the water side, so we went ahead and grabbed one across the walkway between Morocco and Japan. I told the kids to be on the lookout just in case any of the families on the benches across from us deserted their posts. Kerry and Brittani left us there to get dinner for us at the Yakitori House. I LOVED the food, but Kerry and the kids weren't too crazy about it, and Kerry didn't eat much of it. Since he was still hungry, he went off to get glazed pecans and almonds for us and to the Liberty Inn for chicken fingers for him. Right before he got back, eagle-eye Justin noticed one of the families getting ready to leave their bench and when he told me, I said, "Get it, quick!" So after several people went flying in the air as Justin dashed across the walkway, the rest of us casually got up and walked over there like it was no big deal. Quit laughing, you probably do the same thing! :) Pretty soon, ToN started and we enjoyed it a lot! The first time we saw it in 1999, we thought it was weird, but we're sold on it now. I bought the Millennium CD when I was on my business trip and I'm addicted to the music. It was a magical parade that's much better at night, in my opinion. When it was over, Kerry stood up to go get the kids a funnel cake and an apple pie a la mode for him. As soon as he stood up, an elderly man plopped right down in his place on the bench with the rest of us! It didn't really matter, since he probably needed to sit down and Kerry doesn't mind standing, but it was pretty funny. I think it was the karmic boomerang getting us for sending Justin running across the walkway to snag the bench in the first place! When Kerry returned, I went in search of a Cappuccino since it was pretty chilly. I went into the Tangierine Café and stood there for about 10 minutes while the CM talked with a customer about NASCAR. A manager walked by several times without helping me and a woman walked right next to me just as another CM came out of the back and starting telling him what pastries she wanted. He rung her up, gave her the bag, and promptly left with me standing there practically with my mouth open! Yes, I know I could have spoken up with an "EXCUSE ME?" but that's just not my way, so I walked back to the bench angry. I've never seen Disney employees like that (thank goodness) and I will definitely skip that pavilion in our future trips! If anything can lighten my spirits, it's a good Disney show. Illuminations started just as I got back to the bench and we turned around and enjoyed the show. After the show we headed to the Camera Center to look at our pictures and yes, we know better than to try and do that after Illuminations when every person and their brother is doing the same thing. Yet, there we were. After standing in line for a while, Kerry suggested the kids and I go back to the room and he'd come after he got the picture. Before he had even finished his sentence, the kids and I were on the bus and halfway back to the resort. We didn't even have to wait for the bus. All-Stars (especially Sports) really does have superior bus service. Back at the resort, we grabbed our mugs out of the room and Brittani and I relaxed at a food court table while the boys headed for the arcade. Kerry came in not long after with two 5 x 7's he had purchased. No swimming tonight, since it was chilly and late! Day Eight - Thursday, November 9, 2000 Fantasmic - "How Do We Get to the Beach Club?" We slept in again today until 10 am. Kerry drove over to McDonald's to get us breakfast, and we enjoyed breakfast while watching the news coverage on the election mess. After breakfast, the kids and I headed out to the pool where I read my book and let the kids swim. Kerry joined us not too long after and we ended up staying at the pool for several hours. After swimming, we spent a little time in the arcade. After we freshened up back in the room, we left for the Beach Club to eat at Beaches and Cream. Now if you had asked me before what would be my dream hotel to stay in, I would have said the Beach Club. Having said that, I was disappointed in the hotel. I know part of it could have been because of the massive construction going on at front, which I realize is necessary, but nevertheless took a bit of the appeal away. I don't want to go into much more about what I didn't like about the hotel but it basically just boils down to the fact that it's not my style. We were seated immediately at Beaches and Cream. Kerry and I couldn't believe how small this place was! As we were waiting to order, the boys went into the arcade next door. A funny thing about my kids is that they don't usually ask for money for the arcade. They seem to be very satisfied to just walk around and watch others play. Even with all the times we went in the arcade this trip, we only spent around $25. So they were just watching others play. We ordered burgers which were unbelievably good! I think it's the buttered and toasted buns that make them so great. While we were deciding on dessert, we were kidding with the waitress about what we'd heard that if one person eats the entire "kitchen sink" dessert by themselves it's free. She said that's just a special that they do sometimes. In the meantime, a lady and four kids a couple of booths down had ordered one. The waitresses turned out the lights and made an announcement as they took it to their table. The sucker is HUGE! I could tell Kerry had wanted to try to eat it all and get it free, but I told him I really didn't think he could, and if he didn't and we had to pay $22 for a dessert, I would kill him! The waitress just laughed and said that she hadn't seen anyone eat it all by themselves. In case you haven't heard about it, the dessert is 8 scoops of ice cream, an entire can of whipped cream, and every topping they have. It comes in a bowl that looks just like a kitchen sink. For dessert, we decided on No Way Jose and a Fudge Mud Slide. We all liked the No Way Jose much better. We paid our check and headed out to the pier for a boat ride to MGM. When we got to MGM, it was 5:45 pm, so we had to go straight to the Hollywood Amphitheater to get seats for the 7 pm Fantasmic. Even getting there an hour early, the place was packed. We ended up getting seats on the 7th row, far left side. We finally got to see a pre-show too. It was Dellman the Bellman who did juggling and acrobatics tricks. Watching him made the time go by pretty fast. Fantasmic was good as always and is our favorite nighttime show. We had just gotten the Fantasmic tape at the Disney Outlet on Saturday because the music is so great. We followed the herd out of the park and went to get on the bus for the Beach Club. I know that all of you knowledgeable Disney fans reading this are saying, "there IS no bus to Beach Club!" but we didn't know that and were just trying to avoid the 50-mile long line to get on the boat. So we took our place in the boat line thinking it would be midnight before we'd get back to the Beach Club. It just seems like those boats don't hold many people at all and they go really, really slow. Being the line-haters that we are, Brittani and I had the bright idea to catch a bus to Epcot, then get off and catch the Beach Club bus from there. I know, once again you knowledgeable Disney fans are probably cracking up at our dimwittedness! :) When we were leaving MGM this past Monday, I had noticed a very long line for the Epcot bus. So we sent Brittani over to check out the line for the Epcot bus tonight so we wouldn't lose our places in the boat line if the Epcot one was just as bad. She came back and told us that there was a bus waiting and no one in line, so we headed over there. Much to our dismay, the bus driver headed to AK first. There was only one other family on the bus besides us and they were going to Epcot too. When we got to the AK bus stop, there was no one waiting there to board (duh! the park had been closed for almost 4 hours by then!). Why didn't the bus driver ask us which park we were going to and avoid that trip? Anyway, we were sitting down at least, so no harm done. We arrived at Epcot at 8:50 pm. About the time we were getting ready to get off the bus, the light bulb in my head came on, and I told Kerry that there probably wouldn't be a bus to the Beach Club here either since they have a boat outside of the International Gateway.
We decided to ride Spaceship Earth before catching the boat since it was a walk-on and the kids love it. When we got off the ride, it was about 9:05 pm and we could hear Illuminations going on. I knew the show didn't last very long and we had quite a hike to the International Gateway, so we took off. I didn't know I could walk that fast! Kerry kept saying we had time, but I heard the music they play when the globe's out and knew we had better book it. We walked through the International Gateway entrance right as everyone was filing out of the park. Sweaty, red-faced, and out of breath, we got right on the boat, but weren't able to sit together. Who cares? We made it! We retrieved our van from the Beach Club parking lot and headed back to the hotel. Day Nine - Friday, November 10, 2000 Disney Quest - "We've Been Here HOW Long?" We let Mickey wake us up at 8:30 am. We drove over to Downtown Disney and had breakfast at McDonald's. We noticed all the booths and tents being set up and wondered what was going on. Finally, I saw a sign that said it was the Festival of the Masters. When I had read on Deb Will's site about the current happenings and saw Festival of the Masters, I thought it was a golf tournament. I know, I'm a walking blonde joke! :) After breakfast, we headed over to Disney Quest. We started out with Pirates of the Caribbean. We couldn't believe the long wait for this attraction so soon after opening, and we didn't know what we were waiting for since you can't see any of the attraction from the line. When it was our turn, Brittani decided to be the captain and steer the ship while the rest of us were gunners. It's a virtual reality game where you steer up next to pirate boats and shoot cannons at them. If you sink them, you get their gold. We had a blast! When we finished, the Jungle Cruise line was very long, so we tried the Treasure of the Incas. Kerry loved playing this, but the kids and I found it too hard to steer. By the way, it wasn't until hourslater that we discovered you were actually moving little trucks in the floor covered with glass! If you've never been to Disney Quest and want more information on these rides and games I'm talking about, go to http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dquestmain.htm. We went upstairs and Kerry and the boys did the Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam. Kerry said it hurt his hips and I had no interest in doing this attraction at all. We headed to the Create Zone next and had a very good time there. We had to wait forever to use the Magic Mirror because 4-year old kids that parents had left unattended were not getting off the machines. Once we tried it though, it was fun, although none of us had much interest in buying one. We played with Sid's Create a Toy and I would have liked to have bought one but didn't want to pay $10. The kids and I took an animation course drawing Pluto. Justin and I bought ours afterwards. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Their food is quite pricey, but it was really, really good. While Kerry was getting our food, the kids and I snagged a table. Justin laid his head down on the table and said his head hurt. I felt his forehead and he was burning up. I had thought that I would go back to the room with him, but then decided to ask a manager if DQ sold medicine. He said the Emporium did, so we sent Brittani down there to get Children's Tylenol while I told Justin to lay his head in my lap and rest. When she got back with the medicine, Justin took 5 tablets and laid back down while we ate lunch. I had a grilled chicken sandwich (the best I've ever had) and a Strawberry smoothie. I can't remember what everyone else had, but I know we bought Justin a smoothie so he could have something (he said he wasn't hungry). About 15 minutes after Justin took his medicine, he said he was feeling better, his fever was gone, and he wanted a hamburger. After he ate, we decided we'd stay after all and just reminded each other to give him another dose in 4 hours. We all took a Goofy animation course which Kerry did very well, so he bought his drawing. Before the class started, the animation instructor let us practice drawing with the electronic pen for a minute or so. I drew an upside-down skull and crossbones, and that's how I found out the instructor could see each person's screen. He said, "Lisa, what's up with the morbid drawing?" Kerry was sitting beside me and the instructor teased him by asking if I decorate our house with skulls! We split up for a while (except for Justin - we made him stay with either Kerry or me) and made plans to meet up later. I enjoyed playing the arcade games I was so into in my young teenage years, like Frogger, Ms. PacMan, Dig Dug, Q-bert, Centipede, and Hamburger Time. It reminded me of the 1980's when a bunch of arcades popped up all over my hometown and on certain nights you could pay a flat rate and play all the games you wanted. My parents and I used to go to those all the time, and this brought back good memories. During the time we were split up, Brittani took a Minnie animation class and bought her drawing. I was really amazed at her drawings each time she took a class. I had no idea she could draw that good! Next to the Mighty Ducks attraction, there is a wall of 8 Race Car driving games where you compete against each other. There is a queue line set up, but no CM's monitor this area. Anyway, one time Brittani and I got in line together to do this. While we were in line, we saw Matt get in line a few people behind us. After our game, we stood to the right of the queue line to watch Matt since he was at the front of the line. Suddenly, we see the lady behind him say something to him, and he gets out of line, red-faced and trying hard not to cry. I didn't understand what happened and when he came over to me he said the lady told him that he had broken in line and he needed to get in the back of the line. I walked over to the lady and said, "WHAT did you say to him?" She told me that he had gotten into line in front of her family. I told her that he had indeed been in that queue line for a while and told him to get right back in line. I was so mad at her! See, people can run over me and I'll take it, but if somebody hurts one of my family members, I'd claw their eyes out without hesitation. Matt is a very, very sensitive child and like his mom, won't really stand up for himself. So even though he was right in doing what he did (see next paragraph), he was just going to get out of line and go find something else to do. After Matt played, I asked him why the lady had thought he broke in line. What had happened was after each person plays one game, they are supposed to exit and the next people in the queue line take their place at the machine. When Matt had gone up to a machine to get on, the teenage boy that had just played wouldn't get off and stayed on to play another game. Not knowing what to do, Matt just got back in the front of the line to go with the next group. That's what I would have done as well. When we all met up together again, we decided to do CyberSpace Mountain. Matt and I designed one together which we thought was "bad to the bone." Come to find out, it was only rated a "3." Anyway, Brittani and Justin designed one together. Kerry said he wasn't up to riding, so he watched us on the monitor as we all rode. It's so different to ride in the simulators because you don't have the momentum a real roller coaster has and when you go upside down it's like you hang there for a second. It was great! Matt and I took an animation class drawing Donald Duck, which is Matt's favorite character. When each class was over, the instructor ran a slide show on the TV's in front showing each person's work. Knowing this, I wrote "For Matt" on my drawing. That made him happy and he wanted to buy my drawing to put up in his room. Brittani and I decided to leave Disney Quest for a few hours and go shopping at the World of Disney. We told Kerry where we were going and went to catch the boat to the other side. It was very chilly and we both wished we had brought a sweatshirt. Over at the Market Place, we looked around the Rainforest gift shop, but didn't see anything we wanted. We left for the World of Disney where I bought a Grumpy plush for Brittani (he stands up on his own - I've never seen a plush like that and I wanted one too!), a Mickey Mouse rollerblading T-shirt for Matt, and the little Sorcerer Mickey light-up wand thingy for Justin. For me, I bought a Minnie "dangling character" for my monitor at work, an attraction vehicle with Huey, Duey and Louie riding the Teacups, and a magnetic bumper sticker with the main characters that says "Been There, Done That, Going Back." (Note: after we got home from vacation, I went out to the car to put on the bumper sticker. It wouldn't stick, and I went in to tell Kerry. He was trying not to laugh as he told me that the car was fiberglass and therefore it wouldn't work. Yes, my blonde moments are a laugh a minute.) On the way back to Disney Quest, I realized that I had Justin's medicine with me and I knew it had been more than 4 hours, so I was worried. When we found Kerry, he said Justin had started feeling bad recently, so we gave him more medicine. Once again, the medicine helped him very quickly and we grabbed an internet booth at the Wonderland Café while Kerry got desserts for us. We got carrot cake, chocolate marble pound cake, a lemon tart, and a cream cheese brownie. Desserts were great, and I surfed the web while we ate for more information on the Splash Mountain incident. The one article I found didn't give any more information than what we already knew. I sent a postcard to my aunt and then Kerry surfed for a bit. After desserts, it was about 11:30 pm or so and we were almost ready to call it quits. When Kerry asked Justin how long he thought we had been there, he said four hours! We checked the line for Pirates, but it was still long, so we took turns playing a racing game. If I drove in real life the way I do on these machines, I probably wouldn't be alive to type this report! We were hungry for "real food" so we went through the drive-through at the Crossroads McDonald's and ate a midnight dinner in the van on the way back to the resort. Hey, it's vacation after all. Day Ten - Saturday, November 11, 2000 Back Home - "Change of Plans" We had great plans for today - riding Splash Mountain and eating at Casey's Corner at the Magic Kingdom, then touring the countries and spending more time in Millennium Village at Epcot. Needless to say, we were all wiped out from almost 13 hours at Disney Quest and getting into bed at 12:30 am, so we scrapped our plans. We woke up around 9:30 am. Kerry called the front desk and was able to extend our check out until 1 pm. Then he drove to McDonald's to get us breakfast. If any of you readers own stock in McDonald's, you probably love us! After eating, Kerry took the kids swimming for an hour or two while I packed. I actually love packing. When they returned, the kids changed into dry clothes and Kerry went up front to get a luggage cart. We loaded that 4' high and still had to carry a bunch of things - kind of embarrassing! The kids and I walked the luggage cart back while Kerry drove around to park in the front. Kerry and I let the kids go to the arcade while we checked out. I bought magazines in the gift shop for the ride home while Kerry went in the arcade to have our tickets counted. I think we had around 1360 tickets so we gave the kids 50 tickets a piece to spend however they wanted and we bought a nice little gift for the house for 1200 tickets (I would tell you what it is, but I don't know how to explain it. It's one of those things with a magnet and when you put a battery in it, it moves on its own). Matt and Justin each got a whoopee cushion and we had to listen to that lovely noise several times during the ride home. :) Leaving our resort wasn't as sad as it could have been because we were eager to get back home with our puppy. We had bought a miniature schnauzer "Max" in July and we're all crazy about him. We had our neighbors take care of him and knew he was in good hands, but we had missed him BAD. We had lunch at the Crossroad's Red Lobster. We gave Justin more medicine before leaving the restaurant since he was running a fever again. After one last stop to fill up the gas tank, we left for home around 3:45 pm. At exactly 10:00 pm we pulled into our driveway. Our neighbors were in our house keeping Max company, so we got to chat with them for a while about how he did. They said he did fine the first couple of days, but then he stopped eating while they were over there. We figured he must not have wanted to waste any time eating while he had company. He was so excited to see us, he just kept running from person to person, making sure he got love and gave love to all of us. Sadly, it took another day before he would eat again. I probably would have been crushed with guilt, but we take care of our neighbors' golden retrievers when they go out of town and those dogs are just the opposite. They won't eat at all for the first couple of days and then they're fine. We had experienced a wonderful vacation but it also felt good to be back home. Summary/Final Thoughts: Originally, we thought we might cancel this trip because we didn't know how middle school looked upon vacation absences. Fortunately, I had talked to all of Brittani's teachers way ahead of time and they were very supportive. She does very well in school and is responsible when it comes to getting some of the work ahead of time and working hard to complete the rest when we return. The only thing I was somewhat worried about was that she had just started playing the flute in the school band. She and I agreed that she would double her practice time before we left and for several days after we returned, and we let her band teacher know this. Also, the kids were out of school on Nov. 7 and had early release days on Nov. 8 and 9, so they only missed 3 full days and 2 half days of instruction. Matt's teacher was supportive as well and in fact, is one of US (read: a Disney addict). Her family goes to WDW every Christmas break and they stay at the Peabody. She's also a firm believer in the value of family time like vacations and told us it wouldn't be a problem. Justin's teacher was Matt's teacher when he was in 2nd grade. We went to Disney that year too, so she knows that we will keep tabs on Justin to make sure everything's made up. Also, all three of them make very good grades and have no struggles in school, and that factors a lot into our decision to take them out. Like I've said, the weather this time of year is nearly perfect. I can only remember three nights when it was chilly and since the parks usually close early anyway, it didn't matter much. We were all crazy about All-Star Sports, and specifically, the Touchdown buildings. I could see us staying there if we made double the salary we do. It was just a nice, clean, family-friendly, laid-back place to stay. Having said that, I would still like to stay at Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach, Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, and Ft. Wilderness. Kerry also wants to stay at Coronado Springs again sometime (I loved this place too). The kids like everywhere - they just enjoy vacations! We probably wouldn't do 'Ohana again but would definitely do Liberty Tree Tavern again (maybe the lunch next time). Kerry wants to go back to the Crystal Palace sometime, and we all want to eat at Cantina de San Angel at Epcot and Beaches and Cream again. We loved Disney Quest and think it's a great value for the money. It was really too crowded on the day we went and would be even more fun on a less crowded day. We enjoyed our old favorites like the World Showcase Players at Epcot; Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion at MK; Dinosaur and the Safari at AK; and almost everything at MGM. Things we missed that we wanted to do was more time at Millennium Village and the Norway ride at Epcot (Justin loves it); Splash Mountain, Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at MK; Pocahontas show at AK (we've never seen it); and the Backlot Tour and Little Mermaid at MGM. Of course, we've also planned to do the Ft. Wilderness campfire thing every time we go and haven't done it yet. The crowds were pretty thick and I'm sure it's because of the advertising Disney did regarding the Millennium celebration. Luckily, with fast pass and a little bit of planning, we were able to work around it. We're thinking about planning our next trip for Thanksgiving of 2001. We'd like to stay at the Holiday Inn Family Suites for the first few nights since we all liked it so much and get a 2 or 3-day pass for Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Then stay the remaining time in a Ft. Wilderness cabin and just get a 2-day, 2-park ticket for Magic Kingdom and MGM. We always like to add something new to each of our trips to make them unique and IOA looks like a park we'd love. The kids loved Universal in 1998, so they'll be eager to go back. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, let me know. If you didn't, tell someone else! :) EXPENSES: LODGING
LODGING TOTAL: $709 MEALS
MEALS TOTAL (tips included): $816 SNACKS
SNACKS TOTAL: $89 SOUVENIRS
SOUVENIRS TOTAL: $412 TRANSPORTATION
TRANSPORTATION TOTAL: $588 RECREATION
RECREATION TOTAL: $129
TOTAL SPENT: $2,770 Lisa Willis willis_family@yahoo.com Mail a Comment to Lisa Willis |
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