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Sheri Niklewski -- December 2001 -- Walt Disney World (Swan, Offsite)December 28, 2001 - January 6, 2002 Introduction This is a trip to renew our wedding vows on our 20th anniversary. I never thought I could pull this off but it looks like it's going to happen. I will say that this has taken *the* most planning I have ever done for any Disney World trip. I started over a year in advance. And then things changed. And then they changed again. And again. And again. Hopefully, I'll be able to do my normal day by day report but it just might be with the Younger Niklewskis. I will try and summarize everyone's thoughts throughout the report. This is a long report so be prepared. Having this many people and so many special moments make for an extreme report. Also, I like to include details. There's your warning. Proceed with caution. The Final Participants (I'm going to do them in groups to avoid confusion later in the report - although I even lost sense of who was where, when and how and I actually took the trip!) The Younger Niklewskis from Buford, GA and Bellevue, NE - all are Disney veterans with each of us being there at least a dozen times. I'm approaching the 20th time.
The Older Niklewskis and son - from Maryland - we showed the parents Disney World for the first time in November, 2000. David has never been. Rookies.
Our niece, Shanna, was going to join us but in mid-October found out that her mini-semester at the University of Delaware was going to start on January 2nd and she didn't want to miss that much of school. We will miss Shanna's presence but understand that she needs to get her education first. Heck, there's always the 30th wedding anniversary to attend, right? The Sowas - from the Florida Keys - they've been to Disney World several times and I consider them infrequents. They know there are four parks but they don't know all the other offerings.
The Beardslees - from the Florida Keys and California (Ashley and Caroline) - the Floridians go quite often since they moved there. They used to tour in commando mode but this trip will be more relaxed with the two older girls who have never been. Experienced and rookies.
Ashley and Caroline are a wonderful result of Sandy's previous marriage. At first, they weren't part of the trip. Then, the ex-husband (who is a royal pain in the rear end) decided that he had other plans for Christmas so he re-arraigned the visitation so the girls would be in Florida for both holidays. Sandy almost bagged the entire Disney trip but decided to take all four kids and expand the trip to include Christmas Day. It'll tax their finances but it's going to be an early graduation present to Ashley. I should mention that Rich B. had a heart attack earlier this year and is not in the best of condition right now. Especially with four kids. Sandy and I discussed renting a wheelchair for Rich B. but he doesn't want it. I will try and report on his experiences from a healthy looking guy who really isn't that healthy right now. Friend - Veteran.
Lindy is like our little ray of sunshine of the trip. She expanded her trip (why can't I do that?) to come down before New Year's and I offered up an extra bedroom at the house for her for when she's not in her own accommodations. She accepted. I'm so glad. She will move into the Best Western at Downtown Disney on January 1st but I'm sure we'll meet up with her during that time. I have absolutely no doubt that our families will all mix together with Lindy. Meeting people
When: I can't believe I'm keeping all this straight. More planning has gone into this then the D-Day invasion. December 28, 2001 - January 6, 2002 for the Younger Niklewskis. The others will vary the times. The Older Niklewskis will arrive on December 30, 2001 and leave January 4, 2002. The Beardslees will arrive on the 25th and leave on January 4th. The Sowas planned to arrive on January 2nd and leave on the 6th (weather and traffic had an effect on that). Lindy will arrive on December 29th and leave on January 8th. Lindy will be the only one arriving by airline (Chris flies into Atlanta before Christmas, though) - everyone else will drive. That has to do with proximity and has nothing to do with September 11th. Where: Offsite, The Swan How: Personal vehicles from Georgia, Maryland, and the Florida Keys; airline from Nebraska to Georgia for Chris; airline for Lindy from Utah; rental car for Lindy after she gets to Florida (she doesn't want to rent from the airport). How this all happened Rich and I were married on January 3, 1982. So that meant that our 20th wedding anniversary was coming up. We honeymooned at Disney World and it has played a very important part in our lives since then. We've both been there over a dozen times and enjoy it very much (OK, my devotion borderlines on obsession). The three of us have a brick right outside the turn styles at Magic Kingdom. It says "Rich, Sheri, Chris Niklewski, Bellevue NE". We bought it way back in 1994 when the bricks were first offered and have visited it every trip. It's very special to us since you can stand on the brick and see the entrance to Magic Kingdom. I'm the romantic in the family and the Disney freak, so I came up with the idea of renewing our vows on our 20th wedding anniversary on our brick. The exact same day at the exact same time. I started out with just the three of us. And then I mentioned something to my sister about being my matron of honor again. And I said something to each set of parents. The next thing I knew, all had committed to being there to see the ceremony. In fact, my sister made her reservations before I even did! Once everyone was on board, I told Rich about it. He is the most unromantic person I have ever seen. But I still love him for it. He claims I "ambushed" him but that's OK. He'll be there and once that happens, he'll enjoy it. The renewal ceremony will take place on January 3rd, 2002 at 4:00 PM. Exactly 20 years later. Sandy will be the matron of honor again and Chris will be our best man. He really is the best man in our lives. The dress will be very casual. I have a copy of the original vows and we'll repeat those with a few minor adjustments. We have changed slightly in 20 years. It will not be a formal ceremony but a gathering of family and friends to celebrate a commitment that doesn't happen very often in these days. Rich and I moved to outside Atlanta in April. Since we were so close to Florida, we made several trips there during the summer. Epcot played an important part in each one of those trips so I changed the place for the ceremony. If you read my trip reports for May 2001, Labor Day 2001, and Thanksgiving 2001, you'll see that Canada and the Off Kilter stage were a big part of our trips. So I decided to have the ceremony at the Off Kilter stage area instead of at Magic Kingdom. I asked my brother-in-law, Rich B. (it'll get confusing with these two Rich's - my Rich is just Rich, the other one is Rich B. It is hilarious that my Rich's sister married and divorced a Rich during our time together. What are the chances?) , if he would recite the vows for us. He agreed. Lindy volunteered to videotape the whole day and that was greatly appreciated. And I know my father-in-law, Ed, will take a ton of still pictures. We will have a reception before the ceremony and then dinner after. This ceremony will involve more planning than the original one 20 years ago. Resorts Since we were married right after New Year's, the timing of this kind of stinks. Nothing has been available at a price anyone wants to pay to stay onsite. Sandy made her reservations at the Ramada near the Maingate. She said that there was no way she was going to share accommodations with anyone. I can't blame her. Her family of six tours very well together and will want their own family time. She got a decent rate with the New Year's time being inflated but they will also get a free breakfast every day and she needs that with her kids. For everyone else, I've booked a rental home. The reasons for this are numerous. First, the Older Niklewskis did not want to commit to anything until closer to the time. And neither did the Sowas. I knew that if they didn't get something early (like Sandy did), we might have the entire family strung all up and down Highway 192. That is not going to make for a relaxing trip. Also, although I'm going to try and avoid it, I'm probably going to play tour guide again so having everyone in the same place will help out with this. And I got a five bedroom home for around $235/night (including tax). I went through www.floridadreamhomes.com since they had the most information about their houses on the site. I was particularly interested in location and this site had maps of where the rental properties were. We'll have five bedrooms (one queen bed, one full bed, one fold out full couch, and three rooms with two twin beds in each - the house can sleep 12), three bathrooms, full kitchen, and best of all - a private screened in pool. And the deposit was a fully refundable $250 as long as we cancelled within 30 days (I never had to pay a deposit because I gave a credit card number). If you are interested in a rental home, check out the deposit and cancellation policies. Most places will want a nonrefundable deposit. I wanted some flexibility in case people start bailing out. This company will provide some of that. We all will split the cost based on who is staying there that night. It's the only fair way to do things. Rich and I will be onsite at the Swan for two nights for our second honeymoon. Lindy was just going to come after New Year's and was going to try and hook up with some Cast Member friends to get a discount at a Disney resort. However, she decided that the call of Disney was louder than the call of staying at home for New Year's and wanted to fly in on the 29th. So I offered up an extra bedroom in the house for when she needed it. She accepted. I also offered to pick her up and drop her off at the airport if it worked out. The pickup worked, the drop off didn't since she was leaving after us. She took Mears back. Our Anniversary Night - we want some time to ourselves! I had called and gotten a tower room at the Contemporary about a year in advance. The price was extremely expensive ($359/night) and that had me a little worried about just how I was going to pay for all this! But at the time, I thought it was worth it. I wanted the Contemporary with the original plan of the Magic Kingdom ceremony. Once I thought about doing this at Epcot, I immediately thought about The Swan. I've stayed here twice and always park there when we go to Epcot. I love it. I tried going through www.wdwinfo.com and the DreamRes system but the 2002 rates weren't out yet. I really wanted to get something by this time since it was late September. I called 407-WDISNEY to see what they had available at the Epcot resorts. The Annual Pass rates weren't out but I was told I could call back later and get the rate applied to the reservation. The Cast Member I talked to was one of the friendliest ones I've ever encountered. I asked about the Boardwalk, hoping to get a studio since I wanted to have a reception prior to the ceremony. But it was booked. I asked about the Beach Club and the CM said "I'm already looking there". I could get a king room with an "unspecified view" for $289. Well, it's much cheaper than the Contemporary so I booked it. I went home and emailed my good friend, Adrienne, who is a fellow Disney geek, about switching to the Beach Club. She said the 2002 rates for the Swan were now available. I swear I checked the site that morning and couldn't get them. So I immediately went on a search. What I found thrilled me to no end. I think I ended up floating downstairs to ask Rich if he minded if I booked this. What I got was an Entertainment Card rate of $210/night. For a Club Level room (their version of Concierge). I could not pass this up. Not only do I get to stay at my favorite resort, I get to be pampered a little. A Magic of the Mouse Moment for sure. Tickets Rich and I will have Annual Passes. Chris was up in the air. He lives outside Omaha, we live outside Atlanta. We are paying for this trip because it's important to us to have him there. A seven day hopper pass might be the way to go with him. Sandy's family all have Florida Premium Annual Passes, except for Ashley and Caroline, so they aren't going to have a problem. Ashley and Caroline will get Florida Annual Passes (or Premiums) once they get there. My dad and Betty were going to do Florida resident passes but decided on Florida Annual Passes so they didn't have blackout dates. The Older Niklewski clan had me decide which hopper pass works for them. I'm thinking the four day hopper pass. They won't want water parks so this should be fine for their needs. I did decide on the seven day hopper for Chris and the four day hoppers for the Older Niklewskis. I will pre buy the tickets. Sometimes the ticket lines are pretty bad. I'll put everything on my credit card and Bobbie will send me a check once I do the ordering. And then I changed my mind yet again. I researched all the options for Chris and decided that we would definitely be at a park for all eight days. That meant a seven day hopper really wasn't enough. We could get a one day pass but it would be good just for one park. We could plan that but with the way we tour, I wanted to have flexibility. Especially with the holiday and the ceremony. I looked at the costs. For just about the same amount of money, I could get Chris an Annual Pass instead of a seven day hopper and a one day pass. Back in July, I had called our local Disney Store and ordered my Annual Pass voucher over the phone. So I called the Disney Store again for Chris' pass. No problem with ordering it. I asked if they still sold the four day hoppers and said I would need three of them. Not a problem at all. I really want to have all this taken care of before anyone leaves for the trip. Chris' pass is actually just a voucher which we will have to activate once down there. We'll take care of that at the International Gateway at Epcot since they are almost never busy. All Chris has to do is show his driver's license and he'll be taken care of. Dining For after the ceremony, I'm doing an early dinner at LeCellier at the Canada pavilion at Epcot. We ate lunch here before and I really liked the casual elegance. And I liked the food and the attentiveness of the service. After dinner, we can hopefully catch a showing or two of Off Kilter. I called in September to make the seating and had to go through group reservations. Right now, I have a party of 16. With group reservations, you have to guarantee with a credit card and there's a 24 hour cancellation policy. If I don't cancel within 24 hours of the seating, I will be charged $10 per person. I guess by January 2nd, I will know if dinner is going on or not. One thing I think Disney does best is food. Especially at the sit down places. I thought about the first night the Older Niklewskis will be there. They will arrive in time for dinner but I'm sure they don't want to have to think about what to do. We love Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge and I figured Ed would love the Lodge for the animals. So I booked that. I know Bobbie will like the buffet aspect and Dave (not a big meat eater) will like the other selections. And I won't cringe at the salads and the desserts either. Dave scoffed at this but I put my little foot down and said we are going. I had to go through a bunch to get a seating here and I just know everyone will love it. The saga on this seating. I called to get a 7:00 seating. Not available for our party. The only thing I was offered was 8:45. I know my in-laws. There is no way they are going to wait that long to eat. But I booked it anyway. Then I called back and asked about a seating for two. I got a 7:00 time. Then I called back again and asked if I could increase my party size from two to seven. Not a problem so I'm in. Lindy will be dining with us. I thought about going to the Osborne lights for a New Year's Day night. So that meant MGM that night. I called and made a seating for Sci Fi Dine Inn for six people for January 1st. I was told we would have our own car which is great. I wanted this place for the atmosphere and they do have a burger on their menu (thanks Deb for the menus on your site) so that's a good fallback for anyone. I really wanted to go back to the 50s Prime Time but then I remembered I would have Dave "Disney Cynic" in the party. I sent Bobbie the description of the antics that go on in there and said that it's a nice place for a meal but I really didn't think Dave would enjoy any aspect of it. Bobbie decided to play a little trick on Dave and told him that I had made a seating at 50s Prime Time and then read the description to him. He said no way in hell he would step foot into a place like that! He was a little ticked off until Bobbie finally told him that we were not going there. I can just see Dave putting his elbows on the table and being told to stand in the corner. He would never talk to me again. Humm, maybe I should change that reservation... Just kidding. And then Rich went out to some site and plugged in "the best pizza options" for Atlanta and Orlando. I guess he was bored. But that led into him looking at the Disney dining options on that site. Anyway, he came back and asked what O'hana had to offer. I had thought about getting something for us when we are alone on January 2nd but didn't know what to do. So I went out to Deb's site (www.wdwig.com) and looked at the menus. Again. I told Rich what O'hana had to offer and he said the price was fine (I really think Rich has gotten over Disney ticket shock) and he would be interested in everything. So I called and made a seating for that too. Touring The Beardslees will tour on their own. Since they are staying somewhere else, it would be hard to coordinate their movements. We'll probably communicate where their group and our people will be each day and see if the plans match up. With the rest of the group, well, I'm kind of in a bind. I just know I'll have to play Tour Guide Barbie again. I did this with my dad and Betty in September of 1999 and then with Bobbie and Ed in November of 2000. Each time, the parents aggravated the heck out of me. Chris knows Disney very well so he's fine. David hates crowds, thinks Disney World is a big waste of time and is dragging his heels to go there. So I'm going to have my hands full. Bobbie and Ed really don't know Disney World at all so they will need lots of direction. My dad and Betty have been there enough on their own that they should be fine. But everyone will look to me for advice. I will pull out my phrase so Rich knows when I'm getting fried. It's "damn Skippy". If I tell him I'm feeling "damn Skippy", he knows that he needs to step in and give me a break. I don't mind playing tour guide but it can be overwhelming especially with this many different people. This is supposed to be a good time for me so I don't want to be overloaded. Airline The only person in my party that is flying (Lindy is making her own reservations), is Chris, our son. I hadn't made any reservations before September 11th. After all that, I wanted Chris to drive if he thought it would be a problem. His response was basically "to hell with those guys, I'm flying". Chris has been greatly affected by the events and wants to show the world that Americans are not going to alter their lifestyles because of some other people. So I went in search of airfares the week after the attacks. Rich found a discount coupon for Northwest for $188. Great. There's a layover in Minneapolis which was fine. I got an afternoon departure time (Chris is *not* a morning person) and then a decent time for him to leave Atlanta. He would fly out on December 20th and leave here on January 7th. So he would be here for Christmas. But when I plugged in the coupon codes, I got the discounted rate until I reached the credit card screen. Then it said that the rate had gone up to over $280. No way. Getting airline fares out of Omaha for under $250 is, in my opinion, great. But I'm not going to cow-tow to the airlines with an extreme rate. So I went searching. Since we are in Atlanta and Delta is huge down here, I checked them out. Available but more than I wanted to pay. I went to my favorite airline (shameless plug coming on), Midwest Express. I love this airline. I trust my only child to them. OK, Chris is 19 and technically not a child but I don't think you ever think of your child as not a child. What I got was wonderful. Chris would have a direct flight into Atlanta. Leaving around 1:45 in the afternoon which is nice for him. He'll be here around 7:00. The way back is around 4:30 in the afternoon (I think Rich and I will just plan on having dinner at the airport and wait for the Atlanta traffic to calm down) with a stop in Kansas City. Chris will have to take a prop plane from there (19 whole seats) but he's fine with it. Chris will get excellent service and excellent food so I'm very happy. Total cost is $241. Well worth it to have my only child here for the holidays. We did have a change. The non-stop flight from Omaha to Atlanta was discontinued. Chris would leave at 1:15, go through Milwaukee for a stop (1-1/2 hours) and then get into Atlanta around 7:30. Not a huge dilemma for us. With everything else going on, this is nothing. Lindy flies in on the 29th via Delta at 11:00 PM. Rich and I will pick her up and get her back to the rental house. Rental Car Everyone except Lindy will have their own personal vehicle. Lindy didn't feel comfortable driving from the airport to the rental house and vice versa. So we will pick her up from the airport when she arrives. She'll take Mears back when she departs. However, she wanted her freedom during her stay so a rental car to go from the house and Best Western to Disney World was necessary. She just didn't want to rent it from the airport. I knew there was a rental company at the Dolphin so I called there and was told it was National. Off to check the National website (www.nationalcar.com). I plugged in as many combinations of discounts with the Magic Kingdom Club Card as I could. I gave the options to Lindy. She was thinking about renting for just a portion of the trip but then decided to do the whole time. We emailed back and forth quite a bit and Lindy asked me to make her reservation for her. I looked at all the options and decided on something I think she'll like. She'll pick up her compact car from the Dolphin on the 1st and return it there on January 8th. She will use her Magic Kingdom Club Card and get a nice discount. I could have gone with an economy car but the compact was only $5.35 more for the entire time and I wanted to get her the largest car I could in her price range. Lindy will take Mears back to the airport after dropping off the car on the 8th. Kid of the Day/Icing Moments I promised my very special friend, Rudy, Jr. that the Kid of the Day would return with every trip report. It'll be here again. It's just someone (not just a kid because *everyone* is a kid at Disney World) that is enjoying a special moment with the Mouse. And I'm changing my Sense of the Day into Icing Moments. Something that I think Disney does to enhance the experience just a little. If I find some Sprinkle Moments, I'll add those. The Icing reference goes back to Lindy. She said that the rides are the cake. Everything else is the icing. I like the icing. I even get some sprinkles on top of the icing on each trip. Our last trip was over Thanksgiving weekend. Our first trip since September 11th. It was the most emotional one I have ever taken. I had a lot of icing moments. My cake moments? Two - Twilight Zone (although I had an icing moment on that) and Sounds Dangerous. The icing moments? Numerous. The icing will never go away. And I added Candle Moments too. The icing is what you get on top of the cake, the sprinkles are on top of the icing and those candles just are the best. Dedications My first dedication goes to my Disney friends - Adrienne, Donna, and Lindy. They've lived with this trip for over a year now. They've offered advice and help with everything. I've met all three ladies in person and they are wonderful. Thanks for all the insight and for letting me vent when I needed. I feel like their families are a part of mine and I hope they feel the same way. The second dedication goes to my family. My dad and stepmother (who makes my dad happy so that makes me happy); my mother-in-law and father-in-law, Dave, Shanna (who I wish could be there but I understand); Sandy, Rich and their four kids; and to Chris, who is the reason I know I have served a purpose on Earth. Of course the last dedication is to Rich, my husband of 20 years. What would I have done without him? He is my best friend and partner. He puts up with my weirdness and I put up with his. We are in synch with each other 99% of the time. The other 1% gets resolved by the next day. What can I say? I love the guy. The week or two before First of all, I have to say that planning a Disney World trip of this magnitude so close to the holidays is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done. And our Christmas with just the three of us is going to be very simple. Rich's gift to me and my gift to him is the trip. Our gift to Chris is forgiving his rent for the month of February (the January rent is already forgiven since he'll be here). The cats (Todd, Gus, and Belle) will have more under the tree then we will. But we are together and that is what really counts. My dad and Betty asked me about getting some Disney Dollars for the Beardslee kids to spend at Disney World. Since they don't have Disney Stores in the Keys, I went to the Mall of Georgia and got $100 for them and $80 for us. These kids will have plenty to spend on souvenirs. On December 10th, Rich sent the Dollars down to the Keys. Would they get there on time? Barely. After a few phone calls, a few emails, and a trip to the post office (we sent them insured), the darn things finally showed up on the 20th. I have all respect in world for the post office but their handling of the situation left a lot to be desired. We were told "it's only been ten days". Heck, I could have driven the things down there and back three times in ten days. Chris arrived in Atlanta on the 19th. I was so concerned with having to try and find him at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport which is now the busiest in the country. And we couldn't go to the gate. Chris is travel savvy and I felt comfortable with him making it to baggage claim. We left in what we thought was plenty of time. We live about an hour from the airport. His flight was landing at 7:20 and we thought leaving at 6 was fine. Nope. We barely made it there. As it turned out, Chris was already on the ground but it took him 15 minutes to go from the gate to baggage claim (Hartsfield is huge). Anyway, it took us a while to get into the parking garage. Anyone who says Americans aren't flying is full of it. This place was mobbed. And since only ticketed passengers can get to the gates, everyone else just crams up outside the security check points and waits. And waits. We figured it would be a while for Chris to make his way to get his bags so we went in search of a beverage. The least these airports can do is to offer someplace, any place, for people to go while they wait outside security. Nothing that wasn't mobbed. So we just stood over to the side and waited. There had to be at least 500 people milling around. I didn't have much hope of finding Chris in all this. We knew where his bags would be and decided to wait between the check point and the claim area. We were just looking around, wasting time and I looked up. At the exact moment Chris passed by. We all were amazed we hooked up like that. We hadn't seen Chris since June but it was amazing that we all went back to our same old patterns and routines. Chris met his new brother and sister (we adopted Gus and Belle while here in Atlanta) and Todd remembered Chris. We very quickly went back into our family mode. Organization - I wanted to put this in here because I'm trying to stay up to date with so many different people with so many different touring styles and arrival times. It's hard to keep up with everyone. I have a Day Runner address book. I realized that the size of it was the same as index cards so I went and got organized and kept everything in one place. I have a card for the packing list. Another one for "things to get" (that one got updated quite often). Another one for the schedule of who was arriving on what day. This one was really hard since everyone is getting in and leaving on different days. I also included the priority seatings and confirmation numbers. And any other phone numbers I already didn't have. I did another card for the park hours for our entire trip. I know those change but it gave me an idea of what I could expect. Now everything is in one place and it'll be fairly easy to slip this in my fanny pack or the glove compartment and I'll be set. For the rental house, there are things that we need. Like trash bags, toilet paper, dish detergent, etc. There is a Dollar Tree near my work where everything is $1. I went during the weeks before and got the essentials. Not a ton of money and I got the things I knew no one would think of. Even though everyone will be a separate party, I still fell like I'm the host and should provide these things. Rich and I don't drink coffee at all so the parents are on their own for that. No way I'm even considering thinking what they want. We will have a coffee maker and they can do whatever with that. I also picked up some extremely cheap games so people would have things to do at the house. The older Niklewskis can't just sit and watch TV. They * have* to be doing something. So I got Parcheesi, Racko (a classic from my younger days), Chinese Checkers, a couple of decks of cards, and Uno. I also planned on taking my Disney Monopoly game (definitely not cheap but themed for the trip). Glitches #1 - No matter how much anyone plans, things are going to go wrong. Ashley and Caroline, flying in from California to the Keys, never made it on the plane. Ten minutes before flight time, they were required to fill out forms since they were minors flying unaccompanied. Fine. But while they were filling out the forms, the plane took off. Three days before Christmas. Everything else was booked for the next day. If they flew into Miami or anywhere else, their return flight would be voided. I understand all the security and policies of the airlines but this put me over the top. Ashley is 16, Caroline is 13. I highly doubt they are international terrorists. Read my report from Thanksgiving and you'll see I've been greatly affected by September 11th. There are rules and regulations but why is it that my son, who is just three years older than Ashley, goes through the entire security system at the busiest airport in the country and has absolutely no problems but two young girls go through hell? As it turned out, the girls' father really wanted to be somewhere on Christmas Day so he made all the phone calls he could and managed to get them booked on a flight into Orlando that landed on the 25th. They would still return from the Keys on the 6th without penalty. Why the idiot couldn't do something like that while they were still at the airport is beyond me. At least Sandy got it right the second time around as far as husbands are concerned. Fortunately, I have had the best for the only time (thanks Rich!). #2 - A very unfortunate incident left me with stitches in my forehead on Christmas Eve. I had to have them removed in five days. Hum, what's five days from the wee hours of the 24th? The 29th. Everyone involved assumed I'd be in the Atlanta area during that time. Nope. So I'm going to have to go to CentraCare and get these things removed. If I don't on the fifth day, it might leave a scar. The backup plan is to have Ed remove them when he gets there on the 30th. He's a physician and should be able to do it. Not exactly what I planned for a first day at Disney but it's necessary. I'll just make sure my bangs cover whatever is left on the forehead when we take the ceremony pictures. I'm also on pain killers up until that time and I hate doing that. Lots of time for packing was lost so this should be interesting. I also ended up with a strain of the right deltoid muscle that had me in pain after Christmas Eve. I went to a doctor to see about that since I had broken my right shoulder two years ago (badly) and am always concerned with any pain in the area. I asked the doctor to give me a second opinion on the stitches (he was not the one to put them in) and he said I could wait until Sunday and Ed could remove them. I was given some medications for the shoulder problem. Great, let's go to Disney World and be on drugs (dropped all the medications before the trip - no way I want that). But at least I'm going and I'll be with family and friends. A little steri-strip ain't going to interfere with that. After the events of the last week, all of us need this vacation. We are leaving the real world behind and going to *the* World. Day One - Friday, December 28, 2001 I stumbled out of bed at 6:00 and got ready for work. Everyone else was sound asleep when I left. Chris' friend, John, was visiting from South Carolina so I couldn't even check emails. Oh well, I'll use some work time for that. With everything that happened during the week, I was close to exhaustion but I had missed Thursday at work so I needed to go in and make sure everything was taken care of. I did manage to get things packed Thursday night. I boxed up everything for the rental house and then got my clothes together. Rich and Chris were on their own. I managed to get everything done at work that I needed shortly after lunch. My co-workers realized I needed to "de-stress" as they said and told me to get out of there. Our original plan was to leave Buford around 6 PM in order to wait for Atlanta traffic to die down. However, the morning commute was so easy that I figured we could leave at any time. Unfortunately, Chris procrastinated on his laundry so when I left work, he still had all his clothes to wash. I paced while the clothes were washed and dried. We said goodbye to John (he was a possibility to go with us but couldn't in the end - more college classes that needed to be worked around) and then got the car packed up. I was taking *way* too much but I had the things for the rental house and for the reception so I felt everything was needed. We ended up with the two coolers and a box of 2 liter sodas and champagne in the back seat. Oh well, we'll just fill up that space with our souvenirs on the way back. Rich started us out driving just before 3:30 in the afternoon. He insists on driving us through Atlanta. Something about my driving habits. I just don't have the patience. Why can't people just go the normal speed limit consistently and be done with it? It was tough using the cruise control. I snoozed for a while and Rich got us past Macon, GA. We needed a rest stop break and switched drivers. Then I got to deal with the slow down and speed up people. Grr. We made it to Valdosta, GA and were checked into the Shoney's Inn by 7:15. We made great time considering there was a lot of traffic on the roads. Americans are definitely traveling. The Shoney's is at exit 16 off I75. There are a ton of options here (I made our reservations via internet) and there are also a lot of restaurants and gas stations. We stayed at this exit last month at a Days Inn which was fine but I like to try different places. The room here is standard with two double beds, small table with two chairs, single sink outside the shower area. It's fine for the $40/night. There's a continental breakfast offered so we'll check that out tomorrow morning before we leave. Things started looking up right away. We have A&E here! Whoo hoo! "Law & Order" is on at 7:00 and I knew it was a Logan episode so I got to have a little eye candy while we relaxed in the room. And since we were staying at a Shoney's Inn, of course there was a Shoney's right next door. Perfect for dinner. It was a little crowded but we didn't have much of a wait. Rich did his chopped steak, Chris did a Philly cheesesteak, and I did a traditional breakfast for dinner. Total here was about $28 including tip. Then just back in the room watching TV. I think we should buy stock in Dick Wolf Productions because we watched "SVU" and then another "Law & Order" (not a Logan episode, though) on A&E. Kid of the Day - me. I had such a very bad week. A horrible one. A week that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. But once we were on the road, all my problems seemed to disappear. They'll still be there when I get back but I get to forget about them for a while. Icing Moment - when my co-worker, Amy, who is a very practical person, asked me, very excitedly, if I could get her a Sorcerer Mickey ornament if I found one. This woman has never been to Disney World, has no kids, and still gets excited with the thought of a Mickey ornament. Day Two - Saturday, December 29, 2001 We had set the alarm for a little after 6:30 AM so we could be on the road by 8. But someone set off a car alarm shortly after 6 and that got us up. Actually, we thought it was on my car so Rich and I were both up, grabbing for the keys. It wasn't ours but neither one of us felt like going back to bed for just a half hour. We had told Chris that when we said to get up, he had to get up. I think the boy has grown into a man because he got up after Rich and I did our morning routine. Unbelievable. We walked down to the lobby and checked out. Total cost here, with taxes was a little under $45. I'm not sure I'll be back, though. The room was fine but the walls were thin. I didn't expect much and I didn't get it. The continental breakfast was OK - mini powdered and chocolate doughnuts plus little cinnamon rolls. And bagels to toast. I got some orange juice and a couple of the doughnuts. The guys passed, saying the doughnuts wouldn't satisfy them at all. We wanted to gas up before we left Georgia (we have the lowest gas prices in the country right now) so a stop at Shell was next. $12 later the car was happy and we again headed south on I75. Rich drove and the effects of the past week caught up with me again and I dozed while Chris read and listened to his music. We reached Ocala and exit 68 off I75 and we made our now traditional stop at the Disney Welcome Center. It's great for a bathroom break and to switch drivers. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. BTW - a travel note here. Why can't Florida finally change their exit numbers to the mileage markers? How many other states don't do this? If Georgia can change, why can't Florida? After our break (there was no music being played, darn it - that makes this stop for me), I took over driving. At Thanksgiving, I didn't drive us on property and I missed it. I had to drive us on today. Before we left the room, I had made sure I told the guys they had to be park ready. We couldn't check into the house until 4:00 and we were meeting Larry at 1 at Epcot. So I told both guys that we would just drive directly to Epcot and spend the day there. Remember that. I was prepared with my American Express fanny pack and small camera case. Chris had his wallet. Rich, however, would prove to be the problem. We drove the turnpike off I75 and paid $1 in tolls to Route 27 to get down to Highway 192. As we got closer to Disney World, the traffic really picked up. I think I got every red light on the road. I hoped we didn't have this commute from the house every day. Would my luck be changing from bad to good? I got us on property and told Chris to get his nose out of the book he was reading. His reply - "I've been here before". Is this my kid? No sense of being "home" once you see the first purple sign? I sure did. I parked us at the Swan and this is when Rich announced that I needed to carry his wallet because the pants he was wearing weren't good for carrying things. He was definitely not park ready. Chris and I gave him such a hard time about that. We had debated taking shorts or just wearing jeans the whole time. Chris and Rich did a combo but I just brought jeans. Temperatures today would be in the 70s but windy. I was glad for the jeans. Rich was wearing some sort of casual sports pants and his wallet would have fallen out. I had packed my fanny pack with just what I needed so I had to shove things around to accommodate the wallet. We travel extremely light in the parks and I wasn't happy with having to take Rich's things. We walked over to Epcot via the Boardwalk and used the Guest Relations at the International Gateway to activate Chris' annual pass. I had gotten him the voucher that he needed to trade in for the real deal. That was quickly done although they didn't have any sleeves left so we'll see about getting him one later (we never did since we were told the sleeves wouldn't be available for another week). Through the turn styles and we're here! Security issues - we never really had any problems with security lines. Rich and Chris had nothing to be checked. I had a fanny pack and the camera bag (most days). Either people are getting used to this or things aren't being checked quite as well because the lines (if there was one) moved very quickly. I did make Rich on a couple of occasions take the camera bag and have it looked at. Why should I do everything? I did discover later in the trip that if you have a fanny pack but your shirt covers it, you can walk right through security without a search. Not advocating avoiding a search but if you aren't breaking any laws, you can do this. And to answer anyone's question about if you can still bring in food and drinks, the answer is yes. These guards are not looking for that kind of stuff. Then we had the first communications breakdown of the trip. Hopefully, the last. I had breakfast, the guys didn't. Rich had said something about a McDonald's burger (yeck!) so I figured the guys were hungry. I knew Chris likes the nachos in Mexico so we headed that way. Away from my wine in France (please bring back the wine at the Fountainview Bakery!). Once we got to Mexico, Chris says he's not hungry and Rich says the same thing. I got a little testy since these guys will not communicate their needs until it reaches critical levels. I think I made my point, though. It's going to be hard enough for me just to coordinate everyone else, let alone have to think about these two guys. We just strolled through World Showcase, which is something Rich and I love to do. Chris, being a teenage male, doesn't really care for it. While we were passing by Germany, Chris mentioned that a friend back home wanted a pilsner glass. What better place to look for one than Germany? So we started searching the shops in the rest of the countries. We made our way around to France and Rich bought me my glass of wine (finally) as an apology. He also got one (total $6.50). We stopped at the International Gateway walkway and looked at our watches. We had 45 minutes until the meet with Larry so that didn't give us much time for any attractions. Chris actually agreed to going back to Canada and waiting with a beer (no, Chris didn't have a beer, we did). Canada's kegs, which are hit and miss to begin with, supposedly were on. But when the Cast Member went to fill up the cup, nothing came out. Grr. We really like to take this break. But we were offered the same amount of suds from the bottled beer. Fine by us. We took our drinks over to the empty Off Kilter area (they were off this weekend, drat it) and sat and talked for a while. I like these moments at Disney World. Having your family together and just talking about inconsequential things. I feel like I get to know a lot more about my guys with these kind of talks. Right before 1:00, we made our way to the Beaver Tale Stand. Larry had picked out that meeting place since he said he knew where it was. But the Holidays Around the World character was doing his presentation right next to it. I didn't think we'd ever meet up. The three of us stood across the way and a few minutes later, this very nice man comes up to me and says "this might seem a bit odd, but are you Sheri?" with a wonderful Scottish accent. We meet Larry! And then he brought over his wife, Jill, and Sue and her friends. Also there were Larry and Jill's sons, Gregory and Edward, and Sue's son, Chris. It was wonderful talking with Larry and Jill about their trip. They were close to ending their trip so their mission was to get to the things they hadn't done yet. I hate having that dilemma. Sue was staying at the Swan for a couple of nights so we talked about the resort. Sue doesn't have a high opinion of it but I still like it. We talked with Larry and Jill for about a half hour and watched a marching band from Gainesville, GA go by. We live very near to Gainesville so that was kind of neat. Larry's party was breaking up to go their own separate ways and we were going to go off in search of food (the guys finally said they needed some). Larry did say that travelling with a larger party was kind of difficult and everyone needed to understand that breaking into smaller parties needed to be done. Let's see if I can convince any of my family of that fact. Larry and I agreed to swap trip reports as soon as they are written. It was great to put faces to names. Thanks to Larry and his family and to the rest of his party. On note here. Larry, Larry, Larry. I have to kid you about this. You were wearing not only an Islands of Adventure shirt but also an IOA hat! At Disney World? Come on! I think for Larry's next trip, I will make sure he only wears Disney T-shirts at the parks. Jeez. (Just kidding Larry. It was great meeting you and your family. Now I want to plan a trip to Scotland). The three of us went towards The Land since they have a good food court and each of us could get what we wanted. Epcot today was extremely crowded and I remarked that we might not have good luck getting counter service since it was right after the typical lunch time. I wasn't joking. We flocked into The Land with a zillion other people, peered over the railing towards downstairs, and headed back out. I think that was the first time I hadn't seen an empty table at the food place. Rich suggested the Electric Umbrella. Burgers and fries. I'm going away from the meat thing (although I do eat it from time to time and love seafood) so that wasn't appealing to me but I could get some fries or maybe a pizza. We walked over there and the entire outside seating area was full so we didn't even venture inside to check it out. We made a quick stop in Mouse Gear to check out watches but didn't find anything I was interested in. We decided to head out and get some offsite food. We still had to wait until 4:00 to check into the rental house so we had a couple of hours. I jokingly told Rich we could go to Beaches and Cream (we had a horrible experience there last May) but he said something about it being mobbed since the seating area is so small. I offered up the ESPN Club. Rich laughed and said it was a Saturday afternoon, wouldn't it be crowded? But we were walking by it and there was no line. In we went. We were seated immediately which was very nice. And we found out why it wasn't crowded. The sports on the screens stank. Some college football bowl game we weren't interested in, women's basketball, college basketball, and, believe it or not, a rerun of college dance national championship. It was so bad, we ended up being drawn to the dance championship. It was like a bad traffic accident. You just have to look at it. I'm not saying these ladies weren't talented or anything but I think something like this would be better served on any other station then ESPN 2. Chris and Rich both had burgers, with Rich adding bacon to his. I got the roast beef and cheese which was very good. Our server, Roxanne, was very attentive and did a nice job. Total here, with tip, was a little over $50. Nice break and took up the time until we could check in for the house. We got the car from the Swan and then drove to Publix for some supplies (about $20). Check in with Dream Homes is on Highway 192 at Liberty Park which is near Olde Towne. I'd say that it's next to Darryl's but that place treated us like dirt over Labor Day weekend so I can't recommend them. And I wouldn't want to say anything bad about the place, would I? Oops. Check in went fine, if a little distant. We weren't told where the house was until now. I hoped close in. Well, let's learn to be flexible. We were way out on Route 27! Technically, it is less than 10 minutes to Disney World which is what was promised. But, that stretch of 192 going into Disney World is horrible in the mornings. And my luck certainly didn't change from bad to good. Let's make the best of the situation. Unfortunately, I drove us back. And got every red light on the way back. Grr. And then we're about 2 miles south of 192 on Route 27. I was not a happy camper when we turned into the development. And kept driving. We are so far into this place! I grumpily told Rich that I wanted to thoroughly check the place out before we unpacked. If *anything* was out of place, we weren't staying. We stayed. It's a very nice house and laid out perfectly for our group. Everything was clean and fresh. Here's a description of the house. (Skip this paragraph if you don't like this kind of stuff). When you walk in the front door, there's a small seating area with the dining table (which seats six) off to the left. To the right is the master bedroom with a very large bathroom with a shower stall (with a clear glass door) and a separate tub. The only problem here is that there is no door to the bathroom from the bedroom. There are no secrets in this room! I declared this room for Rich and me. The kitchen is next to the first seating area but is walled off. Beyond the kitchen, there is a breakfast table with four chairs and then the main seating area. Each seating area had two couches. The main seating area had the TV (our bedroom had one too). Off of the main seating area, near to the kitchen, were two bedrooms, one with a double bed and one with twin beds separated by a bathroom. Beyond the main seating area, there were adjacent bedrooms, which I thought would both have twin beds. But one had a double bed. There was another bathroom in this area too. The pool was accessed by the main seating area, the other seating area, our bedroom, and one of the bathrooms. After checking out the layout, I decided that Bobbie, Ed, and Dave would get the two bedrooms off the main sitting area near to the kitchen. It kind of had a suite feel to it. I thought the area beyond the sitting area was perfect for Chris to set up shop for the entire time. I convinced him to take the room with the two twin beds. That way, Lindy could use the double bed for her couple of nights and then my dad and Betty could have it when she left. Perfect. It didn't take much convincing Chris. Once I explained why I wanted to do it, he was fine with it. We unloaded and I unpacked all our essentials. The house was fairly well stocked but we had brought soap, toilet paper, trash bags, washcloths, sponges, detergents (laundry and dish), etc. The house has all the plates, silverware, and glassware we needed. Very nice setup. I didn't like the location but once we're here after the parks, we'll be able to relax and enjoy it. And everyone will be able to have their privacy for the entire time. The two sitting areas work out so nicely. Ed likes to write in his journal and read at night. Bobbie also likes to read so they can use the smaller area for that while the rest of us use the main one with the TV. And if anyone wants to play games, the breakfast area is going to be nice for that. I brought along a lot of games so everyone can be occupied at the house. We unwound for a while and played Disney Monopoly and Racko. Don't ask me how I did in either one. The guys creamed me fairly well. While we were relaxing, (well, I wasn't relaxing, I was at the mercy of the guys) my sister called the house. Which surprised us because we hadn't given her this phone number here. It turns out that Sandy called the rental house company and was given the phone number. We talked about the Beardslees coming over but Rich B. was tired out. Sandy said they might still make it. Ashley called back a little later (told you she was the talker in the family) and she, Sandy, and I had a conversation about what we all were doing the next day. I would talk to Ashley, she would relay what I said to Sandy, get an answer and then talk to me. Why the phone couldn't be handed to Sandy is beyond me. But we discussed that all of us would be at MGM tomorrow and we would meet up outside the 50s Prime Time Café at 1:00. The Beardslees had a seating there at 1:35 so that worked out nicely. We also had a phone call from Bobbie that ticked me off tremendously. The older Niklewskis had planned to get to Jacksonville, FL by tonight and then go to some fort in St. Augustine tomorrow. However, they hadn't even made it to Jacksonville and were stopping for the night. Bobbie said that she thought they would still make it to the house by 3ish or 4ish tomorrow. But she wasn't sure. I love the in-laws but their travel methods are just so different from mine. If I was driving from Maryland to Florida, I'd take a day and a half at the most. They took three days and did "stuff". That's fine. But I've been planning this for over a year and I expect *some* of my wishes to be honored. Like getting to the stupid place. And making sure you're there in enough time to make the Boma seating like I requested. Not much to ask for. Plenty of time to make your own travel arrangements. I called the Delta automated line and heard that Lindy's plane was not only on time, it was early. So Rich and I headed out before 9:30 for her 11:00 arrival time. We had to drive down Highway 192 again and Rich did the driving this time. He made all green lights! I think I'll let him drive down the highway from now on. We made it to the airport with plenty of time and easily found a place to park. We just didn't go onto the first couple of levels and went to the top. Not a problem. We had arranged to meet Lindy at baggage claim and so we waited in some comfortable chairs for a while. Soon, here was Lindy coming down the escalator! We hugged and went over to the carousel for her bag. We had a long time to get caught up since they made an announcement that these bags were temporarily detained. After about 45 minutes, the bags were finally unloaded. Makes for a long night. We got back to the car and then Rich drove us back to the house. Lindy met Chris and we finished our intense Racko game. And we visited with Lindy and updated her on my situation. We finally went to bed around 2:00 AM. Kid of the Day - Lindy. She literally bounded off the escalator and was darn glad to be here. Icing Moment - meeting up with Larry and his family. And I had a Sprinkle Moment in seeing Lindy again. Disney World has brought us all together. I've met so many new friends because of these trips. Day Three - Sunday, December 30, 2001 We were driving Lindy around so a game plan for today was in order. We decided on MGM since I knew Chris would want to get there (huge movie buff, go figure - he works in a movie theatre) and it's Lindy's favorite place. We all thought we'd just sleep in until we naturally woke up. Us staying up until 2:00 did not mean we were going to get up and hit the parks at opening. Rich and I were up shortly after 9:00. We didn't really want to get up but figured we better get going so we could do some things before we met with the Beardslees at 1:00. Rich got ready and then I struggled up. Lindy was already getting ready. We got Chris going and, again, he surprised me again by not complaining. Maybe because he knew we were going to MGM. I put our Christmas gifts to the Beardslees kids into my fanny pack (Disney Dollars) and told Rich and Chris to remind me to give them the envelopes when we met with them. Why do I trust these guys? We had to go back to the house after heading out because I didn't bring Bobbie's cell phone number. I wanted it just in case they had problems or we changed plans. Rich drove us on property since he didn't trust my Highway 192 inclinations (the speed limit on most of this road is 55 until you get closer to Disney. Why can't we do that?). We reached the Swan around 11:00. Chris had made sure that Rich was park ready before we left the house. Thank you, Chris! Temperatures today were in the high 60s, low 70s. I was fine in a T-shirt and jeans, Rich was in shorts, Chris was in jeans. We all were comfortable during the day. All four of us took the walkway to MGM. We did take a "shortcut" and walked along the canal on the Swan side and then crossed the bridge over to the Boardwalk side to continue on the walkway. The walkway ends on the Swan side and doesn't continue onto MGM. Our only problem was the over zealous watering of the Swan grasses. We dodged the aggressive sprinklers on the way. We arrived at MGM and had our first look at the holiday crowds. Epcot was a little crowded yesterday but this was way, way more crowded then I have ever seen. Even the day after Thanksgiving wasn't this bad. First of all, the lines for security were very long. But we moved along quickly since everyone actually had their bags open and ready to go. We certainly had enough time for people to realize the drill. Once through there, I got kind of a shock. The lines just to get tickets were backed up to the security tables! Lindy and I just looked at each other and said "APs" and "pre-buy" and all four of us bypassed this unnecessary line. I guess if you are reading this, you know some of the shortcuts and pre-buying your tickets is the way to go. Especially today. The lines through the turn styles weren't that bad and we went all the way to the right and made it through quickly. Hollywood Boulevard was an absolute mess. We made it down the street to the wait board and saw that Twilight Zone and Rock N Roller Coaster were both 120 minutes. Yes, two hours for these. At this point, we said goodbye to Lindy so she could go off and do her Hunchback thing and visit MGM the way she wanted. We were going to meet up at Boma that night. No matter if the older Niklewskis made it in time or not (I had a feeling this was going to be a Damn Skippy day and I was proved right), I was at least going to be dining at Boma. Lindy too. We (the we from now on for today will be just Rich, Chris and me) went to check out the FastPass times for our two favorite attractions. We had warned Chris that maybe we'd just do one thing and then leave. FastPass for Twilight Zone was for 2:40-3:40. With the crowds, we didn't think we'd be here at that time. The FastPass time for Rock N Roller Coaster was 2:30-3:30. Better but still not what we wanted. We knew we'd be back so we decided to skip these this time. I was getting hungry and suggested a beer and pretzel combo at the Back Stage Catering Company, one of our favorites for a snack. While walking down Sunset Boulevard, Chris suggested going to check out Star Tours. He's the big Star Wars fan so this is a favorite of his. Rich indicated FastPasses could be obtained. Off we went. The FastPass distribution lines were manageable but the last two machines on the right were out of FastPasses. The return time was 12:40-1:40 so that was perfect for after meeting with the Beardslees. And we could eat first. But we were in the line for the last two machines on the right. Once we realized what the problem was, I went to tell a Cast Member. There wasn't one in sight. So I bypassed everyone and went behind the machines. I finally found a CM. Rich and Chris had moved over to the left so I went over there first. A foreign guest was in front of me and kept putting just his pass into the machine. It kept spitting out "not a valid FastPass" tickets. I took pity on the guy and told him he wasn't getting FastPasses. I put my ticket into the machine and showed the guest what a valid FastPass looked like. At this point, the CM had moved over in front of the machine. I explained that the two right hand machines were out of paper. The CM's attitude really ticked me off. He said that that wasn't the case. They just didn't have any more FastPasses available. Bull! If we were getting valid FastPasses for just an hour and a half away, how could all the FastPasses for the day be gone? And why didn't he go and check out the situation? The foreign guest wanted to know why his ticket didn't work and the CM couldn't be bothered. I was a little bit irritated by this attitude. I was more helpful than the CM. On the way out of this area, with FastPasses in hand, we encountered people trying to use the two right hand machines. We told them the machines were out of order, to go over to the left hand ones and to complain to the CM about it. I really felt like just standing there and directing the FastPass traffic myself. I might have to start added Grr Moments to these reports. But we went off to the Back Stage Catering Company for the beer and pretzel combos. We did two of those for around $17 (we included nacho cheese for Chris' pretzel). Chris went off for a Coke for himself and I asked him to get me a cup of water. Chris came back with a normal size cup full of ice and water. Not what I expected. I usually just get a kid's cup of water. Nicely done and it restored my faith in the Disney Cast Members. We sat at the tables under the trees and just talked and people watched. While we were there, I saw Larry and his group walking by so I hailed them. Larry said a couple of people in his group had gotten into the hot seat like he had on his earlier trip. Way to go! It was strange seeing this group in the crowded park. But another thanks to Larry and Jill for coming over and talking with us. Rich cannot say he doesn't know Disney. While we were sitting there, Rich remarked that since our window for the Star Tours FastPass opened at 12:40 (when our time at Star Tours started), we could go by Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Play It and get a FastPass for that too. My guy - he came up with a great idea. We finished up the pretzels and the beverages and headed for the FastPass machines for Millionaire. Return time of 2:05-2:15. Absolutely perfect. We'd meet with the Beardslees, do Star Tours, then Millionaire and then go back to Tatooine Traders for Chris to have a look around (we figured he wouldn't after the ride). And that's what we did. We met with the Beardslees sitting on a bench outside the 50s Prime Time Theatre. I think they were having a great vacation. And we learned what actually happened with Ashley and Caroline trying to get to Florida on the airplane. It turned out their idiot father just dropped them off at curbside and then let them check themselves in. A sixteen year old and a thirteen year old. No way in hell I'd have my kid check themselves in on their own in these times. I wouldn't have even done that before September 11th. Once Ashley (a minor) and Caroline (an unaccompanied minor) reached the check-in desk, they were informed of the paperwork to be filled out. By an adult. They didn't have an adult with them. Heck, even if my ex-brother-in-law was with them, I highly doubt he would have qualified as an adult. So that's why the plane took off without them. They had to call the idiot to come back and get them. And he has primary custody of the girls? Grr. My faith in the legal system went way downhill this week. But they had good stories too. Ashley mistakenly dissed Hercules. She wanted a picture with him and asked him "will you 'pretend' to flex your muscles for me?" Hercules said "pretend?!" And they had an encounter with Cruella DeVil who demanded of my sister "just how many children do you have?" Sandy also said that a guest in the encounter with Cruella was on a cell phone so Cruella took the phone and asked the caller (or callee) "do you know who I am and why are you interfering with what I'm doing?" We don't do the character encounters so these moments with the kids were nice to hear about. Rich B. had a heart attack earlier this year and Sandy and I were concerned with his health. I wanted to report on how a healthy looking guy would deal with this problem. Rich B. has extremely bad circulation in his legs right now and walking is a problem for him. But he will not rent a wheelchair. He thinks people who don't look handicapped shouldn't have wheels. I assured him that people would understand. He thought that a man with four kids prancing around while he was sitting in a chair would look strange. Nothing I said would make a difference to him. Sandy said Rich B. was in a world of hurt two days earlier but refused to rent a chair. He seemed fine with us but when I mentioned them parking at the Swan and walking to Epcot, Sandy immediately said "no, Rich can't walk that far". So the man needed some help but wasn't going to get it because of pride. Damn Y-chromosome. I haven't seen that much wheelchair abuse lately and almost all the queue lines are wheelchair friendly. I have taken the position that just because a person *looks* healthy doesn't mean they are healthy. Never pre-judge anyone. Rich B. went to check the clan in and was told they needed to come inside to wait. Which was OK with us since we had the FastPass for Star Tours. So we parted ways and we'd be in touch via phones for future plans. We headed over to Star Tours and walked by all those stand by people that had to wait 60 minutes. We had a little bit of a delay with our line but were in our cruiser in 10 minutes. We did have some unruly teenagers (no adult) in there with us but I ignored them. I was in the last seat in the last row and there is no seat in front of this one. I was literally swinging around. My feet didn't hit the floor at all and this thing always jerks me around. But I loved it even though it is dated. One bad note - on the way out, I saw a bag left behind. So I picked it up, intending to turn it over for recovery. Unfortunately, the bag was filled with garbage. Including a sticky cup that leaked all over my hand. Yeck! Why are some people pigs? Don't tell me Disney World doesn't have a ton of trashcans all over the place. I disposed of the crap on the way out and then we headed for a restroom so I could clean up. With that taken care of, we went over to Millionaire. We were early but I knew they would let us into the preshow area before 2:05. So we handed in our FastPasses and then got a surprise. Chris had never done this before but Rich and I had. We knew that *everyone* plays the game. But they have these "Fastest Finger" seats. Ten in all just to make the set look like the real game. As we handed in our passes, we were asked how many in our party. I said three and then I was asked if we wanted to be in the Fastest Finger seats! All it gave us was a little early admission and we were on the floor. It didn't give us any advantage to the Hot Seat. But I took the passes and in we went. Oh, it was a thrill (especially since none of us will ever make it to the Hot Seat). Once they let the "commoners" in (we'll be a commoner again, I'm sure), we felt like royalty sitting there. I heard a couple of "how did they get those seats?" We did nothing. We were just asked. Rich made it to the top ten board once but other than that, we were just average. We kept getting shown on the video screens. It was kind of cool since we each had our own screens to watch on the Fastest Finger row. We went through three contestants and all three didn't get very far. Not like the only other time Rich and I saw this and the 9 year old kid made it up to the 1 million point mark. But it was fun and we really liked those Fastest Finger seats. I think Chris was impressed. And we didn't do anything special to get them. (Later Chris admitted that it would be hard for him to go back and sit in the regular seats - this was definitely a highlight. I got to impress my son!). After the show (and those Fastest Finger seats let you exit the show extremely quickly), we went over to Tatooine Traders for Chris to have a look around. Oops, it was 2:50 and the parade was going to start at 3:00. We used all the back ways I could think of and got to the store without a problem except people flocking to see the parade. Chris had a good look around, saw some things he wanted but said he'd be back and he'd get them then. OK, let's get out of here and get back to the house. But the parade had started. We really had a problem getting around people who either didn't know where to go with the parade restrictions or just stopped because they wanted to see the parade. We finally made it to Hollywood Boulevard and went through the shops to get out. Until the last one. People wanting to see the parade were clogging up the exit of the shop. A Cast Member was there to direct traffic but no one was listening. There were strollers in the way, leading me to think about my objection to having strollers in some of the shops. Some aisles are just too darn narrow to even walk through, let alone have a stroller go through there. But we excused ourselves, pardoned ourselves, and got out of there. Once I could breath again, we headed for the exit. We were done getting pixie dust for the day. On the way out, I was asked to participate in an exit survey. The Cast Member has this Palm Pilot thing and asks you a bunch of questions about your day at the park. I do these every chance I get. It's basically to get a feel for what you did and how you liked the park. I just wish they would ask the question "is this your first time to Disney World" first. That way, they can judge your reactions based on experience. That question is usually one of the last ones. I was asked about if I got to do everything I wanted. I said no but it was because of the crowds. I was asked if I had any bad encounters today and I explained about the Cast Member at the Star Tours FastPass lines. This CM expressed regret we had to go through that (no a big deal to us because we kind of know the place but a big deal to the foreign guy and a big deal to the people who still wanted to use the lines that were out of paper). I was asked if my day was a good one. Yes, it was. Even though I didn't do everything I wanted? Yes. And that's the key to everything. I couldn't get that into the survey but even though I didn't get to go on Twilight Zone this trip, it didn't make the visit any less exciting. I filled it with so much more. A ride is a ride is a ride. An experience is an experience is an experience. Big difference. We took the walkway back to the Swan after briefly talking about taking the boat. The line was way too long. So we walked. The day was nice and we had a nice talk along the way. I really like spending quality time with my guys. Rich decided he would drive us back to the house and I wanted to stop at Publix for some supplies on the way. There's one right at the intersection of Highway 192 and Route 27 so that was our first stop. We got what was needed and then headed for the house, hoping the older Niklewskis would already be there. That was not going to happen and taught me a nice lesson on being flexible while at Disney World. I try to be but my over-planner instincts go into overdrive sometimes. Damn Skippy Moment - as we are driving to the house after Publix, which was around 4:15, Rich's cell phone rings. We had it on the whole day since Bobbie was going to call when they got closer. They hadn't called. Rich was driving so I answered the phone. It was Ed. They were still on I4 but were on their way. I was not happy. I chatted my way through the cell phone problems and then we hung up. I was totally miffed. I had told them about the seating at Boma and how I wanted to be there by 6:00 so everyone could see the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Now I knew they wouldn't be at the house until after 5:00 and then we'd have to unload them and go back to Disney World for dinner. I exploded on the guys for a while and then decided that no matter what, I was going back to Disney World at 5:45 and if I was alone in the car, fine. But I was going back for dinner. I totally Damn Skippied out. We got back to the house and relaxed with football for a little while until Chris turned on his game cube. We were working out us watching TV and Chris doing his games. I didn't care. I updated the report, Chris played his games, and Rich watched and waited for his parents. Around 5:15, they finally showed up. They were lucky. I had just told Rich that I was leaving in a half hour. Well, it took a half hour to get the megavan unloaded (check the July trip report for that little saga) of all this stuff. How three people take this much stuff for a week of vacation is beyond me. I showed them the house and pointed out the laundry facilities. Bobbie said "I don't plan to do laundry". Well, that explains the seven suitcases for just the two of them. And don't even go into the seventeen boxes of cereal they had. Seriously. I held back all my Damn Skippy comments and got everything into the house. We did manage to get going back to the Animal Kingdom Lodge before 6:00 which I thought was pretty darn good. Rich drove us all in the megavan. We went through the Animal Kingdom Lodge security check with no problems. Bobbie and Ed insisted they had been there before but Rich and I corrected them. We had taken them to the Wilderness Lodge last year. Dave and Chris had never been here at all. Once inside, all four were totally impressed. I knew they would be and wanted to shout out "TRUST ME!" But I refrained. We went outside to the fire pit and the animal viewing areas. Even Dave, the Disney cynic, was won over. I *knew* it!!!! As we were walking back to the Lodge, Lindy was coming our way. We introduced everyone, talked a little, and then went inside to go to the gift shop (which Chris thought was going to have the typical Disney stuff - it doesn't). Lindy and I looked at watches and I think I might have a couple I like and will fit. Rich saw the price tags and blanched but he'll live. Then I looked at the watch and it was 6:50 and the seating was for 7:00. I sent Chris off to tell Rich Lindy and I would check us in so we headed downstairs. We checked in with no problems and everyone else met us downstairs. We were told we would be seated by 7:15 which was very good. I knew this was a hit when Dave asked if he could go outside again and see the animals. I said that he could but if we weren't in the waiting area, he'd have to come into the buffet area and find us. Once that pager went off, I was going to be finding some zebra domes. Dave decided to wait with us. After about 10 minutes, we were paged and seated. The seater person talked to the four that hadn't been there before what to expect and our server also did the same. Dave had been extremely concerned about the food selection and we had tried to tell him he'd be fine. Why don't these people trust me? As it turned out, this meal was a success. I know I rolled out of there. Chris ate plate after plate after plate. Everyone found something they liked and I finally tried the flank steak. Excellent. And I did something totally out of the "ordinary". My first course was salad with a mix of dressings. And a chocolate mousse and a zebra dome. Why wait until after the meal when you are stuffed to have dessert? Why not have it first and then get everything else? Everyone was looking at the others' plates and then going back for what they wanted. I do have to say that every time I came back with a plate, a zebra dome accompanied it. These things are addictive. It's a mousse but it's not sickening sweet like mousses can be. Everyone except Rich and Chris had a zebra dome. Rich likes the fruit tarts more and Chris is not into things like this. But that didn't stop him from having a huge plate of other desserts. Total here for the seven of us with tip (which we tussled over leaving 10% versus 15% with the older folks sticking to the 10% buffet rule and us younger folks saying that the server cleaned away the dishes ASAP, served the drinks, made sure everything was OK and deserved at least 15%), was $200. Ouch. But it was well worth it. I still think this is one of the better meals on property. Rich drove the megavan back towards the house and we had to make the obligatory stop at a grocery store. Rich's parents *always* have to stop at a grocery store. It never fails. They have seventeen boxes of cereal but Dave didn't feel that was enough. Then Bobbie suggested getting oatmeal since Dave would have hot water. He didn't realize he would have hot water. Hello, we are at a rental house, there's a teapot on the stove. Oh, that's right, you didn't get there in enough time to check things out. And we have the milk issue. These guys will easily drink a gallon in about a day and a half. But they won't buy a gallon because "it might spoil". In a day and a half. So they buy half gallons. Every single day. Back to the same Publix we were at just five hours ago. Lindy, Rich, Chris, and I stayed in the megavan. We kind of joked and laughed about the Older Niklewskis' habits because I was getting them right time and time again. Back to the house where we wanted some football scores on. Darn Falcons lost. Why does every team I start rooting for end up being losers? The Redskins were playing New Orleans so at least we could watch that. We are Redskins fans as well with Rich growing up near that area and the older Niklewskis living there. Bobbie, Dave, Rich, and Chris played Racko with Rich and Chris teaching Bobbie and Dave how to play. I worked on the report, Ed and Lindy read and watched the game. Ed did take the stitches out of my forehead so I'm not running around with steri-strips anymore. Thank goodness I have bangs. And thank goodness I have a physician in the family. BTW - if you need medical care, the CentraCare near Splendid China is open on Saturdays. I checked that out before I left as a backup to Ed removing the stitches. I called Sandy at the Ramada after having to get Bobbie to get her AAA travel book. Either Sandy gave me the wrong number or I wrote down the wrong one. We couldn't even dial a "local" call from the house so we were on the cell phone. Which was almost dead and needed a charge. I finally got through. We had decided (well, I had decided with Lindy's help) that tomorrow would be an awful day trying to get into a park so we'd do non-park things. I thought about starting out in Downtown Disney and maybe Lindy and I could sneak off and go to at least the Premium Outlets for a while. Then maybe some miniature golf and then watching the early fireworks from the Epcot resort area and then back to the house for New Year's Eve. Sandy said she'd be in touch by phone and they would try and get into Epcot. I figured even if we did get into Epcot, we'd be elbow to elbow and that was not going to be a good experience. So we made alternative plans. I mentioned to Ed that I would like to take the two vehicles tomorrow so if parties decided to split up, we could. He reaction was total "no way". He wanted all seven of us to be together and he didn't want two cars. Grr twice over. Three times over. I quietly spoke to Lindy and she agreed with me. We're just too diverse to have to do everything together. Especially with the parks hitting their capacity. Dave mentioned something about going to some rock shops (he likes old rocks - don't ask). What if he finds an Orlando phone book (we have the hicksville phone books) and gets in touch with a rock shop? Sorry, don't ask me or Lindy to go to a rock shop. So why can't we have two vehicles? It gives us so much more flexibility. I pulled another Damn Skippy moment after everyone else went to bed and told Rich that there is no way I'm not driving myself onto property tomorrow. I'll take Lindy and whoever wants to go with us. Otherwise, everyone else is on their own. At this point, I can drive around here blindfolded. Rich was still asking me for directions tonight. But the situation did get better the next day. Kid of the Day - the Beardslees. It's been tough for them. Through the divorce, the remarriage, the separations, the heart attack. But wow - what a family. I love Barry Manilow and if you could play "I Made it Through the Rain" for them, that would fit to a T. I am so proud of these six very special people. Icing Moment - being on the Fast Finger seats at Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Play It. It didn't cost us or Disney anything more but just being there made us feel more a part of the whole thing. And we didn't ask for it. We were just in the right place at the right time. No, we didn't make it into the Hot Seat but I think our seats were better for us anyway. And a Sprinkle Moment - those zebra domes. Heavenly. Simply put. Heavenly. Day Four - Monday, December 31, 2001 We had decided to wake up naturally again. With seven different people in the house, this was the easiest. No one really wanted to try and get to a park today so we all just slept. Rich and I were up right after 9:00. Bobbie and Ed were doing their thing in the kitchen (don't get me started with their morning routine - it takes about two hours for them to get ready). Lindy was getting ready while Rich was in the shower. I attempted to go through the trip report but when Bobbie started to read out loud the Sunday "Parade" magazine ver batum, I bailed and headed to get ready myself. Everyone got up on their own except Chris. Once the "adults" were up, I went into Chris' room and said something to the effect that we all we up and in the process of getting going so he should to. He again surprised me and got up within five minutes. He normally works a 12-6 shift six days a week at the theatre but that's been new since we moved to the Atlanta area. And he's been in charge of the roommates at the house. My boy is growing up! With everyone up, showered, and ready to go, this was our first challenge. The weather was kind of nasty. Not that cold (well, not for this transplanted Northerner/Midwesterner), about 60ish but cloudy and with just a few sprinkles (not Sprinkle Moments). We all took sweatshirts and jackets with Lindy taking an umbrella (she would be lucky with that tonight - a Sprinkle Moment). However, Lindy and I wanted to tackle the outlets and no one else wanted to. So we discussed and I basically said that Lindy and I were going to the outlets and whoever wanted to come with us could. Otherwise, the Other Niklewskis (we switch from younger Niklewski and older Niklewskis to the Other Niklewskis - it is my trip report) could do what they wanted. The parks were out of the equation. Even if we could have gotten into one, there wasn't one of us who wanted to stand elbow to elbow with people for the whole day. Bobbie loved doing Fantasia Miniature Golf so that was high on her list. Perfect for parking. And she really wanted Dave to see the Epcot resort area. OK, you guys do that, Lindy and I will head for shopping. A word about this - I do not shop. Don't see me as a silly female running around outlets, trying to find bargains. As early into this trip, I was ready for an in-law break (Damn Skippy, right?) and I was ready for some Disney stuff. I knew where the Premiere Outlets were and I had been at Belz before (although I never went into any stores, just scoped out the location). I had car keys and someone who wanted to go. Let's do it! No one except Lindy and I were real thrilled with our parties breaking up. We had cell phones. Rich had his, Bobbie had hers, Lindy had hers. We exchanged numbers and then Lindy and I headed out. I think over the objections of everyone but that's too bad. You just can't expect to keep a party of seven all on the same course. It's not going to happen. The Other Niklewskis headed out with the plan of Fantasia golf followed by a walk around the Epcot resort area. I suggested using the phones and then meeting up at some time at Downtown Disney. More shopping but at least the World of Disney was there and if people can't spend some time in that place, you're not normal. Let's see if my group is normal. The Lindy and Sheri Day - we started out around 11ish. It was a challenge to get to the Premiere Outlets. I knew where they were but got a little turned around. Lindy kept saying that I was a whiz at motoring around but I got into some I4 traffic and got off at the correct exit but then made a huge blunder and didn't go straight and made a left turn instead. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It took an extra 15 minutes or so to turn around at Crossroads and head back. But Lindy got to see the area. She's moving into the Best Western tomorrow so now she knows everything that's around there. The Premiere Outlets - if you go to the Downtown Disney resort area, go towards the Crossroads (a shopping center with Goodings, which is a grocery store, and several restaurants). Make a right on 535. You'll go under I4 and then the next left will be on Vineland Road. Take that. It'll twist and turn but the Premiere Outlets will be on your right after a while. There's a Disney outlet there. It's an official one and it's hit or miss but you can find some bargains. I finally found the outlets and it was tough going to get a parking space. But then I just went way out into the back and there was plenty of parking. If you do go there, just don't park up front unless it's a non-busy day. We went towards the back and had our choice of spaces. We did a little hunting to find the Disney place since I had always entered here through the front. But we found it. Oops, Rich is *not* going to be happy that we found it. Lindy actually managed not to spend anything but close to $60 later, I was loaded down. I won't go into the exact descriptions of what I bought today but my Disney wardrobe was greatly enhanced. Four shirts (one was for Rich, come on, give me a break), a Christmas decoration (which Bobbie later said "what does that do?" - nothing but it's Mickey and it's Christmas and it's half price - go get an imagination), and a shot glass for Chris to take back to his one of his roommates ($0.99 so even if he didn't want it, I didn't feel like I wasted any time or money). Then onto Belz. I4 was totally bogged down so I went out to International Drive (forever more called Idrive). When Lindy is here, she normally will rely on Mears or a town car service to get her from the airport to her resort. And then she takes Disney transportation. So all this driving around was new to her. I'm very glad we "had" to take Idrive to Belz. And we took it the whole way. It was clogged, like I expected, but that was fine. Lindy got to see the back side of Sea World and noticed its location to Disney World. And then we saw all of Idrive. Wonderworks (what is up with that?), FAO Schwartz, the Mercado, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Wet and Wild, the Convention Center. We did the whole drive. Stop and go with the traffic lights but we weren't in a hurry. I think we stayed in neutral at Sand Lake Road for about ten minutes with the lights. Grr. Oh well, we watched the Belz Outlets signs change several times. 2 more miles. We finally broke free of the traffic and hit the outlets. I found a parking space (these were at a premium) and we got out. We didn't see anything remotely related to Disney so we had no idea where to go. We just started walking around. It wasn't like we thought. It was an outside mall area. We found a store that had outlet maps so I grabbed one. We looked. No Disney at all. Oops. Did they decide not to have these stores anymore? We were disappointed so we headed back to the car and I drove us around the site but we couldn't find anything. Then Lindy saw more stuff down on the Idrive. OK, let's go there. I'm not near my in-laws (although I do love them), so let's go. It turns out we were in the Belz Designer Mall. Don't go there unless you want fashion clothes. We finally found the "real" Belz Outlets. Great for us! We found plenty of parking and went into Mall 1 first. For those who don't know - there are two Disney outlets here. One in Mall 1 and one in Mall 2. Both Lindy and I found the Belz Outlets to be confusing. Too many malls and too many annexes. We knew the Disney stuff was in the malls and not in the annexes and we were lucky to start off in a mall with a Disney store. Oops (I should start adding Oops Moments to the reports too). I hope Rich understands. I kept to just two items (one for me and one for Rich). Lindy did a little more damage. And then onto Mall #2 which we had a little bit of trouble finding. I just couldn't read the map. Blame it on playing tour guide. We walked towards the wrong entrance and then figured where we needed to be was back towards the car. OK, at least the car realizes where it should be! Onto the Character Warehouse in Mall #2. This is where the credit card companies are going to love us. Actually, it wasn't that bad. I got a Brer Rabbit (everybody's got a Laughing Place, a Laughing Place) and a couple of photo albums (the 2001 ones that were going to be extinct after today). Lindy went through the place picking up T-shirts for all her nieces and nephews. Postcards were $.09 so Lindy stocked up on those too. I had to check out because the Rabbit and the albums were cumbersome to carry around. I did that while Lindy loaded her pile up. Grr. I know I love when Disney wraps up the fragiles so they don't break on the way home. But every single aisle had people with multiple glassware. Ugh! But I waited and then I found a register that didn't have that problem and I moved over there. Whew! I got checked out and then went back in and found Lindy doing her postcard search. We hung out for a while and then it kicked in again. They had these really neat Mickey goblets and I had to have two of them. So I grabbed a couple and Lindy and I checked out together (the goblets were $3 each). I was first and it was easy to check out (OK, I griped enough about wrapping things up for the trip home - I'm glad for it), Lindy had a ton of T-shirts but she didn't even spend $30. Great! I would call this day a success at this point. But it's only around 3:00. Up to this point, no one with the other party had called us. Lindy's phone was out of range so we thought that might be a problem. Everyone has voice messaging and Lindy didn't have any messages. So, once out to the car and with good reception, we called Rich's phone. And he didn't have it on. But then I thought to call Bobbie's phone. She answered. It was hilarious. Me - "Hello, it's Sheri". Bobbie - "Who?" Me - "Sheri - you know, your daughter-in-law". Bobbie - "Who?" I finally made her realize who was calling her. Come on, you are on vacation in Florida with just about your entire family, two people that you are vacation with are off on their own and say they will call you via cell phone, and you actually have to ask who it is that is calling you? Lindy and I had a good laugh over that. Bobbie passed the phone off to Rich. This is where I am *so* glad we split up for the day. These guys had played Fantasia miniature golf and were walking around the Epcot resort area. Bobbie said she just loved it when we stayed at the Boardwalk last year and wanted Dave to see it. But does it take three hours to walk around Crescent Lake? With these people, yes. They enjoyed it but Rich and Chris were less then thrilled. I think they would have rather been with Lindy and me. At least they were able to have the Spoodles takeout window pizza. Lindy and I love the stuff and were so disappointed when we found out they enjoyed it without us. When we finally connected with Rich, they were crossing over to look at the Beach Club. OK, well, we can be at Downtown Disney in less than a half hour. Why not meet there? Lindy and I would have enough to do and we'll just wait. We agreed we'd call when we got there. Thank goodness for cell phones although the range here leaves a lot to be desired. And it helps if things get charged up before we leave the house. I took the very long way around to I4 (you have to go around Islands of Adventure first - that was great for Lindy). We did discuss how you can't see anything of Disney World until you are right there. Seeing the back of IOA as we're driving by kind of took away from the "magic". We had no problem on I4 and were to Downtown Disney in good time. The Marketplace, which was the first place we got to, was undergoing some refurbishment so the main entrance was closed off. I just went up to the next one and Lindy found a car getting ready to leave. Most of the Downtown Disney parking was closed off in preparation for this evening's festivities (Cyndi Lauper and Tone Loc and you had to get a hard ticket for $65). However, I didn't see another car waiting for the spot. Once I saw that, I continued on. I could have easily snuck into the space but that wouldn't have been fair. So I just went out farther and got a space. Right near the World of Disney. Perfect. Then I again became so glad our parties split up. The Other Niklewskis were *still* at the Epcot resort area! They hadn't even made it make to the Swan yet. Rich sounded so, so Damn Skippy. It was 3:30 and I thought that if they got to the megavan and drove over to Downtown Disney, they should be at the World of Disney by 4:00. So that was the plan. Why plan anything with these people? Lindy and I used the restrooms and tried for our free chocolate at Giardelli with our Annual Passes but the line here was way too long and was taking too much time for a free little square of calories. So we left. Oh well, maybe next time but a free sample is not worth the hassle or the time. Lindy had been shopping for a watch so I suggested she go into the Scary Store (that's what we call the World of Disney) and look while I waited. And I had a long wait. At 4:15, I went into the store to see if Lindy had found anything. I couldn't find Lindy (trying to find anyone in this store is a near impossibility) but scanned the watches for myself. Possibilities but I didn't have my Magic Kingdom Club Card. And Rich was going to have a heart attack with what I already bought. I went back outside and then Lindy found me. Before the Other Niklewskis got there. And we waited. And waited. And waited. I called Rich and he said they were at Planet Hollywood and had a hard time finding a parking space. We didn't but they had pulled in at the AMC theatre which, of course, was packed. And parking that megavan is cumbersome. OK, they are at Planet Hollywood, Pleasure Island is closed off for tonight so they should be here in about 10 minutes, right? And so we waited. And waited. And waited. Lindy and I just couldn't bear to stand there so we started walking towards Pleasure Island. We finally met up with four of the five on the other side of the Lego Store. Chris had gotten so frustrated with the pace that he walked ahead to find Lindy and me. Oops. So Lindy and I walked ahead and found Chris and then waited until the other four *finally* got there. It would have been a Damn Skippy Day if I had to do this all day. We would have eliminated meeting at Downtown Disney altogether except that Chris wanted to check out the Virgin MegaStore and the World of Disney. Virgin MegaStore for Star Wars books and the World of Disney for what I thought was going to be 2001 things. It turns out that he really wanted 100 Years of Magic stuff and thought that was ending today. Nope, my man, that'll go on for another year. But the reactions of the rookies to the World of Disney was priceless. Chris went in to check out the 100 Years of Magic merchandise. He was gone for a while and Bobbie noticed just how big the store was. She said something about going in. Dave went with her. As they were leaving I said "we'll send in a search party for you". I was kidding. But Chris came out a little bit later and said the store was too confusing and too big. If Chris is saying that, I knew we'd have a problem with Bobbie and Dave. Dave managed to get out and then we waited for Bobbie. And waited. She finally was spotted by Chris wandering from the other side. None of the three rookies wanted to go near the place again. I guess I know I'm a veteran since I (1) knew there actually was a watch room and (2) could walk to it without any problems and (3) could get out knowing I had to go through the plush room. Since all seven of us were back together again, we talked about our plans for the evening. Bobbie likes fireworks and I had read on Steve's site that there would be fireworks at Epcot at 7:30. I thought we could see them from the Boardwalk without any problems and then head back to the house for midnight. That was the plan as of this morning. But now Bobbie and Ed wanted to get champagne for tonight and I figured the grocery stores would close early, maybe around 8:00. So we couldn't do that after the fireworks. The Older Niklewskis (we're going back to the original groups) all wanted some sort of dinner before the fireworks but they wanted it offsite. I didn't want to do that since it was getting towards 5:30 and I didn't want to cut it too close to the 7:30 fireworks time. Rich understood that, Lindy understood that, Chris understood that. No one else did. Grr. But we overruled the Older Niklewskis (majority rule). We still had to make a grocery stop for the champagne, Diet Coke (for Rich) and a newspaper. Ed is newspaper addicted. So I suggested that at least Lindy and I go to Goodings since we were close to Crossroads. I know it's more expensive but at this point, convenience won out. The others could go back to the megavan (Chris had already checked out Virgin MegaStore which he said had a poor selection of Star Wars books) and then drive over to the Swan. We'd all meet in between the Atlantic Dance Hall and Jellyrolls on the benches on the Boardwalk. Before Lindy and I left, I offered up a ride if anyone wanted to go with us. Chris eagerly accepted. He said at least we moved. The others just meandered. I think Rich would have joined us but he had the driving duties on property with his parents. So Chris, Lindy, and I went to Goodings and got the supplies. I think we were in and out of there in five minutes. Diet Coke, check, beer, check, champagne, check, newspaper, check, checkout, check. Done. We were joking that we'd make it to the Swan before the megavan. Lindy paid attention to the route so she would be able to duplicate it since she's moving into the Best Western and would have her rental car for transportation and would be parking at the Swan. So we get to the Swan. Only to encounter a guard. Drat. I tried my best excuse and was told the only parking available was via valet. OK. Think fast. I'm not trying to duck paying to park but the Swan has always been such a perfect place for us. Great access to MGM and to Epcot. Yeah, it's a bit of a walk but it works out well. I had Lindy try and call Rich but no phones were on there. Chris said it first. Park at Fantasia Miniature Golf. My exact thought. So we did. Right next to the megavan. And Rich said he didn't know the ins and outs of Disney World! One note here and Rich brought it up. What if we were staying at the Swan that night? And we were late getting back? Would we have been directed just to valet parking? Or were there really spots in the parking lot (it didn't look like there were) and we were being turned away? Rich said he would have been really mad if he had to do valet parking while being a guest there. Again, not advocating ducking parking fees since we wouldn't anyway with an Annual Pass but none of us were going into Epcot or MGM. We just wanted some nonpark time. And don't say the TTC which already closed had closed their parking lot or Downtown Disney which was the same thing. So was Epcot's lot. Not a lot of options if you just wanted to swing by the Boardwalk and go to their clubs. Yes, that was full up too except for valet parking. I guess the thinking is that if you are out at Disney World on New Year's Eve, you are willing to pony up some bucks for valet (I know, it costs only $5 but do you really *not* tip the guy when you pick the thing up?). Parking rant on New Year's Eve off. It wasn't that big of a deal, we managed, but it sure doesn't allow for a ton of flexibility. Forget about those afternoon breaks on days like this. As the three of us were walking towards the Boardwalk, Chris spotted Ed and Dave playing miniature golf. The more normal course. They had played the regular miniature golf course earlier (there are two courses here). Rich and Bobbie had already gone over to the Boardwalk. We just kind of chatted briefly and then continued on to the meeting spot. Where no one was. I knew what had happened. It was kind of chilly so I figured Bobbie needed a coffee or something. We just continued to the Boardwalk and sure enough, here comes Rich and Bobbie and Bobbie had a cup of coffee with her. Can I predict my in-laws or what? We were close to the Spoodles take out window so I told Rich that I was getting a beer, darn it. He wanted one too. He looked like he needed one at this point. After I got the suds and we were standing around, I realized that I needed some food. I told Rich that I was going into the bakery to see if they anything for me. Bobbie said they looked in there earlier and didn't see anything. I went in and Lindy went with me. I found a fruit tart for $3. Enough for a snack since I knew we'd be eating dinner after the fireworks. The five of us grabbed a table along the water for me to eat and everyone else to drink. Chris went and got some nachos since he was hungry (we call him Hiemlich). Lindy went in search for someone to tell her what the entertainment schedule was. Jugglers at 6:00 and fireworks at 7:30. Lindy has a thing for one of the jugglers so she was hoping he would be there. 6:00 came and went (Bobbie was looking for Ed and Dave throughout this time but we figured it would be close to 7 before they finally finished) and Lindy was getting restless. So she went searching again. This time, she found someone with an entertainment schedule. The juggler was coming out at 6:30 and it was Randy, *her* juggler! Bobbie left to go back to the original meeting place to hook up with Dave and Ed. Lindy, Rich, Chris, and I waited for Randy. Lindy a little bit more then the rest of us. As we were sitting there and it was close to 6:30, I turned a little and saw Randy coming down the Boardwalk. I told Lindy to look right. She did. And then announced "there's the man we've been waiting for, Randy the Juggler!" That got his attention and he came over and started talking with us. He said something about not being able to do his lame routines since we had probably seen them many times before. I said only Lindy had seen them before, the rest of us hadn't. So Randy said this would be our show. Then he asked about our apple juice (meaning the beers). Mine was almost full but Rich had taken a few sips from his. So Randy picked up Rich's "apple juice", balanced it on his forehead and then juggled while doing that. Rich said something about not spilling it and Randy said "don't worry, I know you probably paid $20 for this". A little bit of a crowd started gathering and Randy ended up doing his whole routine right next to our table. It was very good and I can see why Lindy likes this guy. He has a great personality and is a fantastic juggler. It was here that Lindy taking her umbrella paid off. Randy had her throw the umbrella to him. It was more of a chuck then a throw and Randy missed it but Lindy got to be part of the show. After the performance, Lindy asked if I would take a picture with her and Randy. I gladly did. I hope it turns out. Lindy was so happy! During the performance, Bobbie came back and said Dave and Ed were with her but didn't want to come over since she told them we didn't have any extra chairs. Actually, the two guys don't like any of this kind of entertainment at all. We all joined up again and Lindy had suggested that maybe the Boardwalk lobby had an entertainment schedule. I was looking for the Off Kilter times for the rest of the week. The new schedules come out on Mondays but I couldn't get near Epcot to get one. So Lindy and I went for a bathroom break and to see if we could get the Off Kilter times. We did the bathroom stop first and then went into the lobby. No show schedules. That didn't stop Lindy (who says she's shy but not at Disney World). She went up to Guest Relations and asked Jon if he knew what the times would be. He didn't but he called someone who then had to call someone else. In the end (with me holding my breath the whole time because I thought for sure the guys would be on vacation or something and I'd miss them), Jon told us they'd be performing Tuesday-Thursday. When he started saying the times, I realized Off Kilter was back to their 15 minute sets and six times a day (they switched to 30 minute sets four times a day during the Candlelight Processional times). But they were going to be there! Whoo hoo! I was so excited. Just about as excited as Lindy was with Randy's performance. Now you know why we keep coming back here again and again. But my excitement was easily contained once we got back to our group. There was a little boy, about five, with Rich. We have long passed our time with the ankle biters. They had found a lost child. Edward. Lindy went in search for a Cast Member and Rich was trying to get as much information out of Edward as he could. Edward, being a child of knowledge, volunteered just enough to let Rich know that his mother had curly hair and he was there with his parents and his brother. We really didn't know what to do but at least Edward was with seven adults and not wandering around the Boardwalk on his own. And he was at the last place where he saw his parents. And he was safe. A few minutes later, Edward's parents came back and "found" him. They were very grateful for us taking the time to stay with Edward. Rich was wonderful with him. It turns out that the parents actually had five kids with them (I guess they had three extra ones) and all of them had been sitting on the benches eating. They got up to leave and Edward mistakenly left his hot dog behind. He ran back to get it and then got confused because he couldn't see anyone he knew. The parents went a ways before they realized Edward wasn't with them. They retraced their steps and found him. Edward was upset but didn't cry. Poor Edward! After this, I shared my good news of Off Kilter and Rich just rolled his eyes. We had quite a discussion on what we were going to do tomorrow. I wanted the first three shows of Off Kilter. The rest wanted MGM. Lindy was checking into the Bes |