Trip Reports

Friday, Dec. 5

Synopsis: We arrive and fall in love with Dixie Landings!

We drove to WDW from Ft. Myers airport (our trip to WDW would be followed by a visit to my hometown in SW FL). We arrived at Dixie Landings at about 8:00 and were immediately charmed by it. What a lovely lobby! While Terrence checked us in, Mom and the girls and I explored a little. A Dixieland jazz band played outside, to the enjoyment of several. An older gentleman tried to persuade the girls to join his granddaughter in a little dancing, but the girls weren’t quite warmed up enough for that yet (but in just an hour or so, they were; more on that later). We went back into the lobby and watched a caricature artist at work; the girls were immediately fascinated. Then their attention turned to the pressed quarter machine in the lobby, and we watched as Erica turned a quarter into a shiny, oval-shaped medallion commemorating WDW’s 25th anniversary.

Terrence finished check-in, so we rounded everyone up and headed for our room in Acadian Way. Terrence and Mom went by car, while I took the girls on foot so we could explore Dixie Landings a little. They were enthralled by the big pool, Ol’ Man Island, but mostly a little concerned that we would get lost in the dark. (It was unseasonably cold that weekend, which meant we wouldn’t get a chance to check that pool out.) As it turned out, the girls and I didn’t get lost on the way to the room, and we even beat Mom and Terrence — who *did* get lost.

Not long after we got to the room, Terrence ordered a rollaway bed, which showed up very shortly after. We had assumed one of the girls would take the rollaway and the other would sleep with Mom, but the girls wanted to share the rollaway. Mom wasn’t complaining. Then we pulled out a list of "Hidden Mickeys" we culled from www.hiddenmickeys.org and told the girls about it. They were instantly excited by the idea, and raced around the room trying to find hidden Mickeys.

Once settled in, we set out for the lobby again to have dinner. By now we were all exhausted and in need of some chow. We brought the hidden Mickey list and found a few in the hotel lobby. We had dinner in the food court, the design of which I thought was great. On our way past the bar area, we couldn’t help but be drawn to the live music being played there. I really loved Dixie Landings alot. Terrence and I stayed at Port Orleans for our honeymoon, and our memories there are sparkling and wonderful, and it will always hold a special spot in my heart, but DxL charmed me entirely.

While we were in the lobby, Mom indulged the girls their wish to have the caricaturist do their portrait, which came out great. Mom promised to have copies made for each.

After it was done, we were again drawn in by the musician in the bar. At first we stood at the outer edge, not committing ourselves to staying but tapping our feet nonetheless as the musician encouraged sing-alongs. It’s the kind of scene that you might roll your eyes at anywhere else, but happily indulge in at WDW. Soon we were at a table, belting out tunes, ordering drinks, and watching the girls dance every crazy dance they could think of! The musician asked all the kids to come up to the front for a round of the macarena, led by an adult member of the audience. The kids happily obliged. Once up there, Erica asked him if she could lead the crowd in the chicken dance. You should know that Erica is a real ham. She loves the spotlight. So she took a spot on the stage and co-taught (with her new pal, the only adult who would get on stage and dance with the kids!) everyone the chicken dance. It was great fun.

The musician took his break and so I took the girls to the gift shop while Mom and Terrence enjoyed their drinks. They were both very excited by keychains and buttons that had their names on them. Kayla bought a nametag.

At about 10:45, we decided it was time to get back to the room and get some sleep for our day at Epcot. (The girls and I walked back again, while Mom and Terrence drove — and fyi, we beat them once again.) I was working on a cold, unfortunately, and needed Nyquil to get to sleep. Even with Nyquil’s sedative effect, it was a fairly restive night for me, thanks to an extremely runny nose, two giggling girls, and one mother who had a bout of snoring midway through the night. Sigh! I was afraid that it might keep me from fully enjoying our trip to Epcot — but that certainly wasn’t the case!

Saturday, Dec. 6 (first part of the day)

Synopsis: Breakfast at DxL, Wonders of Life, Ellen, Spaceship Earth

The wake-up call came at 7:00, and I dragged myself out of bed first. By the time I was done with my shower, Terrence was ready for his. Soon Mom was up too. We wanted to get to Epcot early. It was hard getting the girls up, but eventually the promise of going to Epcot was enough to get them going. We headed over to the lobby for breakfast and had our meal in Boatwright’s. Our server brought us a very tasty chocolate-chip breakfast bread right away, then some coffee, and I was starting to feel human again. I ordered pancakes and sausage. I didn’t have much of an appetite, though, thanks probably to the cold and lack of adequate sleep, but the food was good. The girls each had a Mickey-shaped pancake, plus Erica ate the pancakes and sausage that I didn’t want to finish. For her, pancakes are merely a vehicle for ingesting maple syrup; she has an enormous sweet tooth. Our server was a very chatty lady with a Southern accent, and though she was very friendly and kind, we were itching to get on our way. Finally we paid up and were on our way to Epcot.

Mom is partially ambulatory, so we parked in Epcot’s handicapped lot and got Mom set up with a wheelchair right away. Erica, Terrence, and I had our tickets already, but Mom and Kayla each needed one. We were able to get a 10% discount thanks to our Magic Kingdom Club card. The ticket machine broke while we were buying them — another delay! Geez! Finally they got it to work and we were in the park.

We skipped Spaceship Earth at first and went over to Wonders of Life. Our first ride was Body Wars. (Mom passed it up.) There was no line at all; we walked right on. Before the ride started, I told the girls that if the ride got too intense, all they had to do was look at the floor and they’d be okay. Kayla said, "What do you mean by ‘intense’?" I didn’t want to scare her, so I said, "Uh, well, ya know, um, the seats move and shake you around, and when you watch the movie, it makes you feel like you’re going fast. But if you don’t want to feel like you’re going fast, you don’t have to look at the movie." Well, sure enough, almost immediately she was looking at the floor, so I put my arm around her and we tolerated the rest of the ride together like that. She didn’t cry, though. Erica thought it was great fun. (As an aside, between Body Wars and Star Tours, I think Star Tours is *alot* more fun.)

After the ride, we let the kids explore all the various exhibits. They thought that was pretty awesome. Cranium Command was closed in the morning, so we didn’t see it then. Then we headed over to Ellen’s Universe of Energy; once again, we pretty much just went right in. Because Mom was in a wheelchair, they put us in a special area built for wheelchairs at the very back of the seating area. The ride is much more entertaining, funny, and interesting than the old, pre-Ellen version. Kayla was quite cautious about the dinosaur tableaux — not totally scared, but definitely on her guard. Once again, Erica was enthusiastic. Although the ride is much better than it used to be, I don’t think I’ll be rushing to see it again next time I’m there. It’s still long and gets a little boring after the dinosaur sequence.

Then, at the girls’ urging, we went over to Spaceship Earth. On the way, we stopped for a moment to admire the giant fountain. It’s moments like that that I wish we had more time for. I could have watched that fountain for half an hour, easily. It was synchronized to Christmas music. Once our attention turned back to Spaceship Earth, the questions began. Do we go all the way to the top of it? Yes! Do we go outside? No. Why can’t we? Because that’s not where the ride goes; it goes all the way to the top on the *inside*. Could we stand on top of it? No, I don’t think so. Well, we could if someone put us up there, right? Yeah, I guess that’s true. Then Mom pointed out that her brother-in-law, my uncle, *has* stood on top of it — he was the chief engineer for the company that made the stuff that coats the outside of it. Cool, huh??

I think Erica the thrill-seeker was hoping there was a roller coaster in there, and I think Kayla was fearing the same. We went through the wheelchair entrance on the side of the building, and the wait was minimal, though it would have been minimal anyway. The guy tending the wheelchair line chatted with the girls, thought they were sisters and about 10 years old. The girls liked that idea. I don’t think they were totally fascinated by the ride, but you know how it is — it’s a ride, all they have to do is sit there, occasionally there’s something weird or interesting to look at. By now Kayla was definitely on her guard about whether rides would scare her. Luckily, this one didn’t, but I don’t think she was too intrigued by it either.

After the ride, we let the girls try the exhibits there, and they made friends with some teenage girls who were going to be singing in that evening’s Candlelight Processional. Erica and Kayla thought those girls were pretty cool.

Saturday, Dec. 6 (second part of the day)

Synopsis: Journey Into Imagination, character meet-and-greet, lunch at Mexico, Norway, Germany

After Spaceship Earth, we decided to head over to Journey into Imagination — a sure kid-pleaser. We went on the ride, which I find a little on the ho-hum side, but it seemed to entertain the kids well enough. Once again, we went through the wheelchair line. I think it took basically the same amount of time it would have taken to wait in the regular line; just a few minutes. As a coincidence, the teenagers we met at Spaceship Earth were in the car right ahead of us, and the girls were excited by that. After the ride, we headed for Honey I Shrunk the Audience. The teenagers headed for Germany, prompting a little begging from Erica to go there too. No dice, chicky.

Mom and I went to the wheelchair area, and Terrence took the girls into the general viewing area. The wait was about 10 minutes. IMHO, the Kodak pre-show is... okay. I understand some find it very touching and others just see it as an extended commercial for Kodak. I didn’t think it was either; just a little on the dull side. Mostly I was eager to see the 3-D movie. And what a movie! It was a blast. The cat that turns into a roaring lion was a bit over-the-top for both of the girls. They kept their eyes closed most of the time after that. I’m thinking, geez, what kind of aunt am I?! Here I am scaring the heck out of my nieces!

Unfortunately, we totally forgot to take them to the hands-on section in Imagination because we were all starving. By this time it was close to 1:00, meaning we missed both reservations we made for lunch —12:30 at Akershus (which we had intended to cancel, but forgot) and 12:45 at Chefs de France (which we had been looking forward to, but missed). Anyway, we were all hungry and needed a little regrouping. At first we looked at the pizza place near Innoventions, but the smell in the place turned me off. It was just the smell of pizza, and there was no reason for me to react that way, but I knew I couldn’t eat anything there. I said that anyone else who wanted to grab a bite there was welcome to, but I would find something somewhere else. As it turned out, the lines were kind of long, so we all left.

We decided to go with the tried-and-true Mexican pavilion. Just as we got to the World Showcase, we noticed that there were several characters performing to holiday songs, so the girls rushed to the shop right there and bought autograph books and pens. Just as they got them purchased, the show broke up and the characters were ready for autographs. Then somehow Erica broke into a fit of crying because she didn’t want any autographs in this new book; she wanted them in her old one, which her mother forgot to pack. I took Kayla around to all the ones we could get to. She got about 4 or 5 autographs, then they shut down the signing in order to get the characters back on stage to finish the show. Afterward, the characters climbed into a double-decker bus and took off toward Mexico. Kayla wanted to follow and Erica was still sulking, so I said, "Kayla! Let’s run behind the bus and wave to the characters!" She was definitely game for that.

Mom, Terrence, and Erica caught up with us and we all had our lunch at the Cantina de San Angel. The girls had the kid’s meal, which included a taco and Mickey-shaped tortilla chips (which were a big hit). The meal also introduced Erica to the joy of churros. Terrence and I had tacos al carbon, which came with pico de gallo and refrieds, all of which was delicious. I also had the flan — really really delicious. Mom had the ensalada and watermelon juice, which she thought was perfectly wonderful.

Then we went to El Rio del Tiempo. By now Kayla knew she had to ask whether it would scare her. I told her no, that it was kind of like It’s a Small World. Thankfully, in her eyes it lived up to my billing. Both girls enjoyed it. We boarded via the handicap entrance. It didn’t take long, but of course, the line for that ride is often pretty quick. At the beginning of the ride, when the boat takes you past people dining at the San Angel Inn, we asked the girls whether they’d like to get an apartment in the upper portions of the market "store fronts". They said Yeah! The market area of the Mexico pavilion is one of my favorite parts of the World Showcase. I love the lively atmosphere. After the ride, we shopped there a little, trying out the tambourines and sombreros. At this point, Erica remembered that she was supposed to be doing Christmas shopping, but didn’t find anything she wanted to buy (at least, that she could afford).

Then it was on to Norway. We knew Kayla wouldn’t enjoy Maelstrom at all. We described it to her, and she agreed it wasn’t going to be for her. So she and Mom waited outside for us. It took us about 25 minutes to get through the line. Erica enjoyed it.

We skipped China, fearing it would be too boring for the girls, so the next adventure turned out to be Germany. This pavilion was mostly for Mom, who’s an avid doll collector. Terrence and the girls waited patiently while Mom and I looked at the dolls in Der Teddybar. The German dolls were very pretty. Mom enjoyed examining the cute doll costumes and watching the store’s cast members make a doll to another customer’s specifications. When we were done there, an oompah band had started playing, so we listened in for awhile. There in the crowd a young woman was making a flamingo marionette dance to the music, and the girls were charmed. She let them try it.

Saturday, Dec. 6 (third part of the day)

Synopsis: Italy, American Adventure, Morocco, live entertainment, France, boat ride across the lagoon, tree lighting, Wonders of Life again, Horizons, the Living Seas, the Land, and dinner at the Land

Then we headed over to Italy. I stopped for a minute to check out the chocolate shop, but we were pretty speedy there. It was on to the American Adventure, where we stopped for some hot chocolate and coffee. It was sunny all day, but the temperature never got much over 60º, and by now the cold air was getting to us. And by now Kayla had spotted the boats that cross the lagoon, and was itching to take a ride. We figured we could ride the boat when we finished touring the pavilions — take one across, and immediately take one back. That satisfied her.

After our hot drinks, Mom shopped a little bit, looking for a ceramic statue of Minnie dressed as the Statue of Liberty. (She bought one there earlier in the year but broke it.) She ended up buying a Minnie Statue of Liberty snow globe for my sister for Christmas.

By now the sun was getting low in the sky, and the temperature was really beginning to drop. We moved along, past Japan to Morocco, where a live drum-and-dance performance was going on. I took Erica to the little shop there, where she found a couple treasures for herself — a fascinating toy, a snake made of closely-placed wood disks joined by a fabric cord at the center, which moved just as a snake moves; and a little faux-velvet pouch which she was free to fill with plastic "gems". There was also a little area of Jasmine-related merchandise — costumes, shoes, etc.

Almost as soon as the Moroccan performance was over, another performance started between Japan and Morocco. It was people on stilts made up to look like they were riding giant birds. There were false legs in stirrups, and the superstructure of the birds (apparently made of long, thin wooden slats) hid their real legs on the stilts. The long necks of the birds craned out to nearby observers, including Kayla and Erica. The sudden approach caused them both to jump back, and Erica inadvertently hit her head on a sign, but she didn’t mind. They were both enthralled by the show, as were we.

Then we walked to France and saw Chefs de France all lit up and beautiful. I wished we had gotten a chance to eat there! There was also a woman dressed in white on a pedestal, who looked like a statue but moved very slowly. The crowd was apparently very entertained, but by now we were all too cold to be standing around outside. At this point I said, "Okay! It’s time to take the boat ride that Kayla wanted to take!", which was met with a chorus of Yeahs! from the girls. So we skipped the UK and Canada pavilions entirely.

By now the crowd was gathering for the tree lighting ceremony. Earlier in the day I had thought maybe we should try to catch it, but again, the cold air was too much. We skirted the crowd and headed for Wonders of Life again, to see if Cranium Command was running. On the way, we did manage to see the tree lighting from a distance, along with the lighting of a huge canopy of tiny lights leading up to where the tree was. We were all so cold, though, that we didn’t stop for too long. Back at Wonders of Life, Cranium Command was running, so we watched it. Lines were nonexistent. I don’t know whether the kids enjoyed it; I think they weren’t overwhelmed.

Then we decided to go next door to Horizons. Again, the line was nonexistent. The girls absolutely loved Horizons! Who can predict what kids will like? Funny, but Mom actually was a little scared on the ride — she looked down while we were in the Imax theater room and noticed that we were actually sort of high up.

When we were done with the ride, we went back out to where that beautiful fountain is. At night, it’s especially pretty — all lit up. We decided to hit the Living Seas pavilion. We all enjoyed watching sharks, big fish, sting rays, and the dolphin swim around. I think the girls could have stayed there for hours.

Then it was on to the Land. We adults enjoyed the boat ride; I think the girls were just happy to be warm and seated. (Well, the adults were too, actually!) By this time it was about 8:00 or so, and we were all ready for food! So it was a good thing we were in the Land. Terrence and I had barbecued chicken breast, which came with a little corn "cobbette" and baked beans. It was great! Mom had a barbecue chicken sandwich, Kayla had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, which came with chips and a cookie, and Erica had a very tasty looking bowl of fresh vegetable soup. I was entirely pleased with my meal, no doubt. Then Terrence and I decided to each have a very decadent piece of cheesecake topped with toffee, and when Mom saw what we got, she couldn’t resist either. Erica got herself a giant chocolate chip cookie.

By then, we were ready to call it a day. We were very sad to miss the Candlelight Processional, but we couldn’t imagine standing outside any longer. The even bigger bummer was missing Illuminations. It was to show at 10:30 that night, which was out of the question for our freezing bodies. We heard it had gotten down into the 30’s that night, and with our sweatshirts and light sweaters, we weren’t prepared for it. We went to the wheelchair return area, which is in a small gift shop. Erica found a gift for her uncle there — a set of coins from each of the countries represented in World Showcase. She couldn’t resist buying a set for herself. Then we headed back to the hotel room.

When we got there, we found that our housekeeper had tucked Erica’s teddy bear into bed. Cute! I think it was about 9:30 when we got back, so we spent some time just relaxing and chatting, talking about everything we had seen and trying to decide what our favorite parts were. After all our walking around and inadequate night of sleep, the girls were definitely in a giddy mood. Finally, eventually, we all fell asleep — rather quickly, once we were all in bed and the lights went out.

Sunday, Dec. 7

We opted not to have a wake-up call, but ended up waking at about 8:00 or so. Packing up our stuff was a bummer! We all decided we wanted to live at Dixie Landings!

While Mom got herself ready, we took the girls to the playground. On the way, we looked at the big pool again. They were so sad that they didn't get a chance to try it out. So were we! It looked like a lot of fun. As they played, Terrence and I talked about how much fun it would be to stay there for a whole week. That's when we decided that Dixie Landings was more fun than Port Orleans.

Anyway, we got back to the room, got our stuff out of there, and headed over to the lobby for breakfast. This time we tried the food court. I had the eggs, sausage, and "french toast" combo. The french toast was odd - not a piece of bread like normal french toast, but tall and shaped kind of like half of a really big egg. They gave me two of them, and they were good. Terrence and Mom both had the egg, bacon, and biscuit combo. The girls each chose plain old cereal.

After breakfast, the girls finished completing their pressed penny and pressed quarter collections, and then it was on to Downtown Disney. Parking there is a major to-do. The lot isn't nearly big enough, and the handicapped parking wasn't really convenient to where we wanted to be. We picked up a wheelchair at a store in Pleasure Island, where the girls found a nice perk - the clerks there gave them some Mickey stickers. We explored PI a little, but pretty quickly set our sights on the shopping area. First stop: the Lego store, which is great. Outside they have giant figures made entirely of Legos, and in the water there's a Lego serpent. Erica picked up a gift in the Lego store for her cousin Chris, and again was given stickers. Not too far from the Lego store, we stopped cold at the fountain - big plastic balls, each of varying heights of maybe 1 to 2 feet tall, with a small hole on top, and every few seconds a ball of water would shoot out of the hole. The girls were completely amused and we almost had to drag them away - not only because we wanted to see other things, but because they were getting themselves wet. Not a good idea on a chilly day!

After a little more shopping, Mom and Erica decided to pick up an Italian ice, while Terrence, Kayla, and I went to the gourmet shop, which doubles as an eatery (thanks to the lack of fast food restaurants and food courts there), and picked up some drinks. (The McDonald's wasn't open yet, but we were really wishing it was. Getting a drink was more of a hassle than we anticipated, with the crowds and few places to get drinks.) We went to the line in the wine section, which was staffed by an older gentleman. He must not see kids too frequently in that line, because he gave Kayla a huge sheet of stickers. Jackpot! While enjoying our drinks, we watched skaters on the small outdoor ice skating rink there. Very interesting to see that in Florida. We checked out the Mattel store and a few others, then headed over to the World of Disney. Terrence and Kayla helped Erica do her Christmas shopping there, including her gift for Mom, so I took Mom around to another part of the store. I don't think we even got to see a fifth of the stuff there. Our only bummer at the marketplace was that the Ghirardelli chocolate store wasn't open yet. Waah!

Next, we went to Disney's Westside. We were amused by the store that sells only refrigerator magnets. Bongos looked very interesting; maybe if we hadn't been trying to pack so much into this short day, we would have stopped for lunch. Our aim was the House of Blues to find a gift for my brother, who asked for one of their dinner plates as a Christmas gift. We couldn't get one, though; they told us that because this particular House of Blues was only recently opened, they didn't know yet whether they had enough plates to sell some of them. We got him a t-shirt instead, which was deep teal and had a sort of Grateful Dead-inspired depiction of a bag of golf clubs. Hard to describe, but it was pretty interesting. He's a golfer, and a fan of the House of Blues, so it seemed like a good bet.

We had plans to check out Disney's Boardwalk, so we decided to wrap it up at Downtown Disney. Terrence returned the wheelchair while the rest of us sat by a fountain.

We were approached by a Disney cast member who was doing some market research. He spoke to Mom first, then Terrence. The questions were mostly demographic in nature, and he also took their mailing addresses. The girls were fascinated by the computer he recorded the responses on - a little hand-held Newton. The asked if they could check their e-mail on it (they both have AOL accounts), and he said yeah, it would be possible but he didn't have the software on it. Then he looked surprised and said, "You both have e-mail accounts??" They were proud to tell him yes.

Then it was over to the Boardwalk. The hotel is very beautiful. Just about the first thing you see when you walk in is a miniature carousel behind glass. I say miniature, because it isn't life-size, but it's very big as miniatures go - probably 3 feet in diameter. The ceiling in that area is 2 stories high, and the chandelier is flanked by wooden horses from a real carousel. We went down to the boardwalk shops, but due to time constraints, we only had time to check out one spot - and I'd say we picked the right spot: the candy shop. While browsing around, Erica managed to spill a bunch of tiny round candies on the floor. Oops! She was mortified, but the clerk - a kind older woman - told her it was alright. We let the girls each get a bag of cotton candy, Mom and I each picked out a special Mickey candy bar, and Terrence got a block of fudge. Believe it or not, those bags of cotton candy were $3 each - eek! But the woman said she would only charge us for one. By then, we had to start our 4-hour car journey, so we had to wrap things up. That's the tale of our fabulous but far too short trip to WDW!

Victoria Sweeney (Vicki)

vickterr@aol.com

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