Trip Reports

Mary McAvoy - December 19-25, 1998 - Contemporary Resort

Time of Year: Holiday Season
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: CR
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: Mary, a senior in high school at the time of the trip, has written a great report from the perspective of a teen. If you're taking some high school kids with you, read this report! It will give you some great insights about what kids like and don't like about WDW.



This is our first WDW vacation. I'm 18 and preparing to fly the nest (actually got into college while on vacation...LOL), so my parents figured this would be the best time to go to Disney. We decided to skip lavish Christmas presents and let Disney be our gift. We made reservations for the 19th-25th with a Tower room at the Contemporary, had 6-day all-in-one hopper passes, and several priority seating meals. We also have reservations for the Candlelight Processional and Jolly Holidays. My brother and I got out of school on the 18th, so we left the day after to attempt to avoid some of the crowds.

Day One (12/19)

We dropped our dog off at the vet (the worst part), went grocery shopping, and packed Friday night, in order to be out of the door and in the van by 7:00 am. We opened a few of our gifts Friday Night as well, and mom had bought us new Discmen and A couple of CD's. I gave mom her Mickey Sings Christmas tape for the ride down. My dad opened his new jeans and tennis shoes. All things useful in Disneyworld : ) We wound up leaving at around 8:30 in the morning. We stopped at Dennys for lunch, which was not exceptional, then continued on, stopping twice for bathroom breaks <my mom and I have the world's smallest bladders> We made it WDW at about 6:30. I thought Disneyworld was actually ON International Drive, so I kept looking for it. Joke's on me. The drive to the hotel was the COOLEST sight ever. I was so excited. (We actually taped the drive in and you can hear me squealing "LOOK FIREWORKS! oh, wait, No, I thought it was. LOOK, EVEN the WATERTOWERS have ears!) We followed our blue line to the Contemporary, which was just AMAZING. We pulled up and had the bellhop guys unload all of our stuff <we had A LOT>, Then proceeded to Check in with a CM named Marina. She was from Croatia and looked maybe two years older than me. She was very nice and helpful though. Dad was in the lobby with his camera filming everything while this was going on. The hotel was decorated with Silver and bold colors, and at the front desk, there were about six or seven really interesting menorahs. We really thought the decorations were cool, and not the least bit tacky. They definitely were not your traditional wreathes and trees, but we thought they were really interesting (I wanted to take the metal Christmas trees home). We checked in CM Richard brought our luggage to our room for us. He was great, and showed us how to use our Transportation map, how everything worked in our room, where to call for assistance, anything we could want to know, he told us. (Thank you Richard!) After this, my brother <who is 14 and six feet tall> got hungry, and my parents refused to pay for him to eat RIGHT THEN since we had sandwich stuff and plenty of munchies with us, so he got mad and huffed off to the food court. When he returned about 15 minutes later, his attitude had changed a lot. Seems he paid eight dollars of his own money on a cheeseburger, french fries and a drink. (Welcome to Disney, Will) Dad was really tired by this point, but I was raring to go, so my mom, my brother, and I went to Downtown Disney Marketplace. My mom's friend had been down there a few weeks before, and had bought Pooh Salt and Pepper Shakers, and one had a flaw, so we went to World of Disney and exchanged them, and then bought a sweatshirt for one of my mom's friends, and looked for something exclusively WDW Minnie mouse for one of my mom's students. We didn't find anything that we loved. My brother and I bought a Minnie and a Goofy doll in hopes that the maid would do something cute with them. Then we left, went and took pictures of the Lego statues (How cool are those??), then went to Ghirardellis and bought Ice cream. I got a rootbeer float, my mom got an ice cream cone, and my brother got a vanilla malt. They were great, but this was the first place where we encountered some very NON-Disney and NON-Spirited attitudes. This one woman shoved past me in order to get her table and very rudely said "EXCUSE ME", then, two guys who were walking behind us, and constantly criticizing Disney, ordered after to me...and one ordered the same thing after me. When my order came up, I got my float and he very loudly said "THAT IS MINE". It wasn't. He didn't even say excuse me, or "my mistake". I was very put off. After that, we went back and caught the bus back to our room. Dad was still filming the view from the balcony (which was on the 6th floor, # 4240, MK side...GREAT view). We decided to go to bed then, since we wanted to be up early for MK the next day.

Day 2 (12/20)

Today we had reservations for Chef Mickey's both for breakfast and for dinner. Our breakfast reservation was for 8:00 AM, so we got up and we were downstairs by 7:45. We were seated right away, and had the buffet explained to us. My mom, dad, and I loaded up. My mom loved the fresh fruit, and Dad was happy to see Corned beef hash. Will wouldn't eat anything because he didn't want to get sick to his stomach on Space Mtn (our delegated first ride) so, he had about a teaspoon of eggs, and a slice of bacon. Way to get your money's worth, huh? The characters were very cool, but my brother and I were a little weirded out by them. Not sure how kiddie we could get away with acting. My mom really liked them though. They didn't really spend much time with us, but were ok with the characters not doting on us. There were little kids who were MUCH more into it. We left and we not overly impressed. It wasn't bad, but we didn't think it was exceptional. We then rode the elevator to the 5th floor to ride the monorail, then figured out that the monorail was on the 4th floor, and you had to ride the escalator up. Duh, us. Anyways, we made it to Magic Kingdom by 9:30. We strolled down mainstreet, took pictures in front of the castle, then went to Tomorrowland. The line for Space Mtn. was already to the metal palm trees, so we decided to come back later. We went to Alien Encounter instead. I was scared to death and kept squishing up in my seat so nothing would breathe on my neck. My brother thought it was funny, and my mom and dad thought it was interesting. It was a cool first ride. I liked how they paid so much attention to details. Then we decided to ride Buzz Lightyear. This was one of my favorites and was my mom's absolute favorite, even though we both got 5500 on our first ride. I rode with my brother, and he kept his hand on the joystick, so I could never aim my gun at the little targets without my brother spinning the car around so he could hit his targets. Very frustrating. I still liked the ride alot. Next, we rode TTA. Kinda dull, I would have liked it more if it had been hot and crowded, I think. We then finally decided to go on Space Mtn. My parents had both just recently gotten over back injuries, so they opted not to ride. My brother and I stood in like for about 45 minutes (one of the longest lines the whole trip). Boy, that queue is definitely INSIDE the building...jeez. We finally rode. It was a lot of fun. It was neat to see the blue tube that's always on commercials. We left there and the sun had come out. My dad was in the bathroom, and my mom had found someone from Statesville NC, to talk to <about ½ an hour from home> Dad was ready to move one, so we rode the Sky Buckets <I can't remember what they were called> to Fantasyland. We then went on Its a Small World, and my mom made fun of it the whole time. I thought it was cute, but she ruined it. We rode Peter Pan after that, and it was ok. (I kinda wish they'd do something with the ceilings on those rides. You look up and feel like you're in Sam's club. It definitely detracts from the ride. Nitpicky, I know) Anyways, after this, my brother and my mom were quite fed up with the kiddie rides. Sooo, we went to Toontown fair HAHHAHAAHAHAHA!!! We went through Mickey and Minnie's house. My brother got fed up, so he bought a hotdog and moped on a bench. So, we decided to make him happy and went back to Fantasyland, rode the Teacups (the dormouse needs his hair washed). Then went to Liberty Square, saw the Hall of Presidents (I LOVED that...I want to major in Political science and American political theory...my mom had to tell me to shut up because I kept giving her tidbits about the presidents during the show). We rode the Haunted Mansion. It was really neat. Those holographic ghosts were cool. I think the CM's made the ride much more scary. We then saw that the Parade was getting ready to start, so we went over to Adventureland and walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise (they had really over colored the water and our guide told us it was Iced tea), and then we Went and Saw the Tiki birds. I had never seen the old one, but my mom and dad said the old one was much better. I didn't much care for it, so I guess the other one was probably better. After that, my brother wanted to go back to the hotel, so we got back on the monorail, so we could take a nap before out 5:45 dinner reservation. When we got back, my dad wanted some beer, and had run out of ibuprophen, so he and my brother went to find a grocery store an hour before dinner. They didn't make it back. So, my mom and I went to our reservation without them. The dinner was excellent. I want some of those mashed potatoes right now. The prime rib was wonderful, and the desserts...I could have eaten there every night. Yum. My mom and I agree that it was one of the best meals. My dad and my brother wound up having a cheeseburger and fries in the food court. Their loss : ) After dinner, dad was tired, so he stayed in the room and the rest of us went back to MK. We had planned on just going through the shops, but Spectromagic was going on, but we thought we could catch it later, so we tried to get around it.... Really smart move, there.... We finally got around it, went on splash mountain, which was a total walk-on, then my bro and I rode again, and then it was almost 9:00. So, we left and walked back to the hotel instead of battling the monorail. Then, we took showers and went to bed. Tomorrow is MGM-Studios

Day 3 (12/21)

Today is MGM-Studios! We had no priority seating for breakfast, so we had bagels and coffee in the room. (We never bought the refillable mugs. My parents brought their coffee pot, and since I work at Starbucks, they don't much care for basic food court/Maxwell House coffee). We boarded the bus and arrived at MGM at about 9:30. I thought the decorations here were SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOTACKY. Those plastic Santas on everything and those huge gaudy lights... (Maybe they were just keeping with the theme of the Osbourne Family Lights.) We got a map and headed towards Tower of Terror. (My friend and Disney store employee/Disney fanatic taped the ride for me, so I was excited to ride it in real life : ) The line was about 40 minutes long when we go there, and my parents didn't want to risk the ride, so they grabbed a bench and my brother and I lined up. I was really amazed at the level of attention paid towards detail here. I thought it was the most authentic and realistic attraction. Even the wrought iron railings looked old and the fountain had that "old standing water" line. I thought it was really neat. We made it through the pre-show in about 20minutes, then quickly got through the line because the needed a party of two. This was another ride where the cast members really aided in the presentation of the attraction. Very creepy guys We rode and I LOVED it. My brother liked it a lot, but he's weird about nausea and he didn't like the way the drop made his stomach feel. We got off, looked at our pictures, then went back out to meet my parents. They were gone. We checked in the gift shop, in the bathrooms, in all the little shops. No parents. We thought they might have ventured into Beauty and the Beast, so we walked in the exit <oops> to see if we could spot them. Nope, no parents visible. The CM yelled at us to get behind the yellow line if we weren't going to sit down (we had bad experiences with CM's today),so we left and waited for about 10 minutes, hoping they'd wander back by us. No such luck. Finally, my brother and I gave up and left out on our own. We had the room key, plus charging privileges, so we figured we'd be OK until we ran into them again. We went and rode The Great Movie Ride, which I thought was really neat; even the pre-show was cool (Are there two endings? I thought there were, but we got the Cowboy both times). Maybe we just weren't lucky. After the movie ride, it was about 12:00, so I stopped by the Brown Derby (where we were planning on having lunch) to see if my parents had stopped by to make priority seatings, or to see if they had stopped to eat. They hadn't. So, I talked to the man at the desk and asked if I could leave my parents a note telling them we would drop back by on the hour, and to wait for us. He was very nice and allowed me toleave it for them. We left then, and went to try and find the backlot tour <no tan easy task...we would up in the Buzz Lightyear character greeting 3 times>.We finally made it, and got through on the first group after we arrived. The demonstration was really interesting, and the two guy volunteers were hilarious. Very deadpan about the whole thing. We then got on the tram <right side> and got to see all the "behind the scenes". It was OK. A lot of the stuff they had on display was a little out-of-date or kind of obscure. I didn't know what half of it was from. Residential Street was interesting, since I watched both Empty Nest and Golden Girls with my mom in the 80's. There was even a cable guy in one of the driveways <working on the lights I guess>.Catastrophe Canyon was neat, but the two non-English speaking men who were sitting on the same row as my brother and I did not want to get wet, so they squeezed in extremely close to me; I was a little uncomfortable. After the Backlot tour we went and saw Muppets 4-d. I thought this was the best 3-d movie in Disney world, and definitely had the best pre-show. I loved Sam Eagle and his "Tribute to All Nations but Mainly America". The ending was hilarious. Great show. We left and went back to the Brown Derby to see if my parents had stopped by; once again, no parents. Then we went and rode Star tours (muuuuuuuuch better than Body Wars) and tried to get into the Indiana Jones show, but the next one was in an hour. My brother then had an urge for an Indiana Jones hat, so he spent 40 dollars on what I guess is the deluxe model. He's so weird. We then walked back to Sunset to see if my parents had, for some reason, decided to go wait for us again. Nope. We went into the Villains store and my brother charged a Disney's Bad Boys t-shirt to the room. I was going to get the Bad Girls, but I figured the both of having one would look a little hokey. Still liked it though. We then walked back to the Brown Derby AGAIN, and my parents hadn't stopped by. By that time, Will was complaining about his starvation (the world must suspend rotation so that Will can eat when he'shungry), so went to the counter service restaurant next to TOT and got cheeseburgers and French fries. My brother ordered a large drink and got the cutest little "Lady and the Tramp Do Christmas" mug that he got to carry around ALLLLLLL day... He was loving that. We rode the Tower of Terror twice then, went BACK to the Brown Derby. My parents still hadn't shown up, so we asked them to throw the note away. We were going to go back to the hotel and take a nap and come back for Fantasmic (well, I was). We left, thanking them for their trouble, and started to walk towards the gate. As we got to Sunset, my dad grabbed my shoulder and just about scared me to death. We both started with "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN????". My dad told me that they were EATING AT THE BROWNDERBY!!!!!! They were there when we asked them to throw the note away for the last time, since they hadn't shown up. Well, I went back to the Brown Derby and told them that my parents were there and we weren't going to be able to eat with them, since they were already seated. I wasn't upset, just a little disappointed that they hadn't gotten the message. Our last name is unusual, so I thought it would haven rung a bell-guess not. They quickly cleared a table for us behind theirs, but we weren't seated together. I wasn't super hungry, so I ordered some sort of grilled chicken on flat bread. It was soooooooooooooogood. Really unique and excellent. My mom had Cobb salad and said that it was ok, but not excellent, and my dad had bouillabaisse. He said it was very good. My brother's meal was the most comical event of the day. He didn't like ANYTHING on the menu, and refused to order off the kid's menu, so my mom told him to get the chicken and mashed potatoes. Well...the chicken had a wine sauce, the mashed potatoes had horseradish in them, and the green beans were sautéed, so they were crunchy. The faces he made as he tried to eat it were THE funniest. He kept saying "THE GREEN BEANS AREN'T COOKED! THEY GAVE ME RAW GREENBEANS! THIS CHICKEN TASTES LIKE RUBBING ALCOHOL!!!" He didn't enjoy his meal, but we enjoyed watching him. My parents had only seen the shows (they HAD been in Beauty and the Beast!), so we took them to Muppets and to Star Tours. They both liked those. Then, we decided to go on TOT again, and this time my parents rode. They said they were glad they rode, but wouldn't be doing it again. : ) It was about time for the First show of Fantasmic <well, actually an hour and a half early, but we lined up any ways> so we bought water and icecream bars and got seated in the middle section. Talk about some RUDE CM's. The treated us like cattle. My mom asked to be seated towards the top since she was getting over a back and groin injury and couldn't manage the steps without a railing, so the CM told her to wait at the top. We had already started down, and tried to turn around and get back to her, but a CM SCREAMED at us to keep moving and NOT to stop. She even had the audacity to say "Don't you see this little thing I'm waving? You FOLLOW it!!!" We kept going down the steps and my mom gave up and went down the steps too. I'm surprised they didn't yell at her for going down too slow. We got seated and then my dad's back began to hurt. My brother was complaining about the meal and the fact that he hadn't been swimming, so they decided to leave. My mom and I stayed for the show (which we really liked), and then we were herded out. Goodness, that's not efficient. Some parents were ramming their strollers into people in order to get by, and the CM's were continually rude. I understand that they are probably understaffed, and the show is popular, but there is no need to scream at people. Employees a tour concert venue aren't that rude. After the show, we moved to see Osbourne lights. It was 85 and with the lights and people, we were sweltering(definitely not the night for hot chocolate). The angel glasses with the lights were neat, but at this point, we were grumpy and rushed, so we hurried through the lights. We rode the movie ride because my mom hadn't seen it and it was a ride to cool off on. Cowboy..well, cowgirl, actually. We boarded the bus, and returned to the hotel. My brother and I went swimming and I got in the hot tub, then we went to sleep. EPCOT is tomorrow.

Day 4 (12/22)

EPCOT! (OK, its been around a month since the last installment of my trip report, but with school starting back, my first finals and all the other pains of being a teenager... I ran out of time. I'm SORRY!)

We wake up this morning, do the breakfast-in-the-room thing. I visited EPCOT when I was in ninth grade so, I have some idea of what I'm doing in the park. Today we have our Candlelight Processional tickets and dinner package at the Biergarten. We get ready and hop on the monorail for EPCOT. Already my brother is complaining because he has no sunglasses nor has he had anything to eat. We had fun riding the monorail through the park, and I think both my mom and my dad liked the Spaceship Earth Sphere. We hopped off the monorail, got a map, and then decided to go to see HISTA. We head past Spaceship Earth that has about a 45 minute wait at this point, but I know the wait will be next to nothing later : ), so we skip it. We proceed through Innoventions, past the Fountain, and my parents get sidetracked by a CM to tour Ice Station Cool. It was absolutely FREEZING in there, and I can understand how it could be nice after a 95 degree day, it was too much of a shock now. I've been to World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, so I trick my whole family into trying Beverly. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! (that's my evil laugh) I really liked the Mexican apple one, it reminded me of the Tango Apple I got all the time in England. My mom really liked the Japanese Vegetable drink. I thought it was ok. We didn't spend much time here and continued on to the Imagination pavilion. My mission was to find two Figment beanies, since my friend collects Disney beanies, and Figment became the Mascot for our 9th grade class trip <Those friends who went on the trip with in 9th grade were very saddened when I told them it had closed>. My mom and my brother stopped to look at sunglasses RIGHT in front of the Pavilion, which made me freak out (I was slipping into commando-style). So I told them to look when they got out.... My mom got perturbed, and stormed quickly to the HISTA line...Oooops. We mashed into the Preshow, which I thought was cute, but a little hokey. The show was good, but Dad's airjet was broken, so he thought we were nuts when the mice came out. We left, and my brother was being moody, and said that we were doing nothing that he wanted to go. So, we let him choose the next pavilion and we went to the Living Seas. This was OK. The movie is interesting, but the Hydrolator was over-packed. We honestly could not move. It was unnecessary to have THAT many people in that tight space. (ALSO, why does someone ALWAYS feel the need to pass gas when smashed in a preshow, or a briefing room, or any other closed space....it seemed to happen EVERY time) The fish and mantees were interesting, but I'm not really into fish and manatees, so it wasn't all that exciting for me. My brother didn't care for this either, but he had chosen, so we went to the Land next. Will <the brother> wanted food, but it was getting close to lunch time, so my parents made him wait, which made him even more angry, and then we waited about 30 minutes for Living with the Land. My parents, who are both gardeners, both loved this. I liked it too, but had seen it before. Will, of course, hated it. We left the Land, then decided to head over to World Showcase. Will was still complaining about his hunger, so my parents let him choose where we ate. He picked Alfredos, so we got on a boat and rode over to Italy. We had no priority seating, so we waited about 15 minutes. We ordered antipasto for an appetizer, and it didn't seem too substantial. Then, my mom got some pasta with olives and tomatoes, I ordered Fettuccine Alfredo (playing it safe), my dad got Tortellini, and my brother ordered some Tri-color dish with lasagne, fettuccine Alfredo, and fettuccine with Pesto. Our food was excellent, but overly expensive. Will thought his Lasagne tasted like the crust of a pie and wouldn't touch the pasta with pesto because it was green... **HUGE FRUSTRATED SIGH** He was really ruining the day. After lunch, my mom decided she wanted a pastry, so we walked over to France. On the way there, my brother and I got Kaki-Goris <all three flavors, although Honeydew was the best>, then we got to France and bought 25 dollars worth of pastries. We got eclairs, creams with fruit, mousse, and I got an Elephant ear. We took our box, sat on a bench and listening to Pere Noel. I had to use the bathroom, so I went to Morocco and came back. When I returned, my mom and brother had eaten everything but a few bites of some things that they had saved... GEEZ. I grabbed my elephant ear, and held onto it for dear life! After stuffing ourselves, we realized our PS for dinner was at 4:45. That was not going to work. We simply were not going to be hungry. So, we walked over to Germany to change it. After getting it changed to the last available seating, my brother started complaining about wanting to go swimming. My mom finally got so fed up with his complaints that she got his and my dad's passes and Processsional passes out, threw them at them, and told my brother to do whatever he wanted, and stormed off. Not exactly the happiest day on Earth, but my brother had managed to accidentally leave the video camera on, so we have the whole exchange on tape. **MEMORIES**. After the...uhh, Great Split, my mom and I go to ride Maelstrom, which had about a thirty minute wait. After that, we rode the boat back to World Showcase and went to ride Horizons. Well, we went past Test Track and noticed that there were people, lined up. I looked at my mom, then went and asked a CM what the deal was. He told us that Test Track was opening at 4:30 possibly. WOAH!!! It was three, but we decided to wait anyways. We met up with some nice people and chatted for a while. Then, I went and bought Cokes and took them back to my mom... As the hour drug on, the line got longer and longer, and then the cars they were testing started to have people on them. We were basically RIGHT under the track now, and right at 4:30, we were led in by the CMs. We went quickly through the queue and were about the 6th or 7th group into the briefing room. The ride was awesome, and definitely worth the wait. We didn't buy the pic, but we got a magnet, just so we could tease Dad and Will about it : ) After the ride, it was time to head over for our Candlelight Processional seating. We weren't sure if the guys were planning on actually meeting us, so we went ahead and got a seat. We found my brother's hair though (he bleached it WHITE blonde for his soccer season, and it was still showing) and brought them over to sit with us. The Processional was great. I really felt glad that I had gotten to go b/c it almost took the place of Christmas service. Our narrator was Deirdre Hall, and she was a little cheesy. After the show, we went to dinner at the Biergarten. It was OK, but we were tired. The applesauce and pretzel roll thingies were really good. The beets were good too. My brother and I had E-ride tickets for tonight, so after dinner we went back to the hotel. Mom and dad chilled out, and my brother and I rested, then left for MK. We went and got our bracelets. We headed to Space Mountain first, which we rode 3 times. Then we rode Buzz Lightyear, and I FINALLY got some points. Of course, my brother was controlling the car, and he got to turn it the way HE wanted to go, so he got more points. After that, we walked over to Splash Mountain and rode it about 5 times. I think this was my favorite ride. There was so much to look at-the ceiling was decorated! After that, we rode BTMRR, which we thought was OK, and went back to Splash Mountain. It was getting late, so we started to head back towards the castle. My brother told (told, not asked) me to buy him a drink, and I refused to RIGHT at that moment, so he got mad and huffed off. I really didn't care. I strolled through the park by myself. I got a popsicle (one of the pretty swirly ones) and I watched the castle change colors. Then I strolled out of the park, got on the Monorail, and got back to the hotel. Then I went to sleep... Tomorrow we meet up with my aunt, uncle, and grandmother and do another day of EPCOT.

Day 5 (12/23)

We wake up around 9 today and my mom calls my aunt and uncle at their hotel (they're staying off property). They are going to meet us at the room around 11. We decide to let Will and Dad do their own thing today, so they get ready and head to Disneyquest. Our relatives arrive at around noon, and we get on the monorail and go to EPCOT. First we go on Ellen's Energy Adventure, which was REALLY interesting, and funny! Afterwards, we went hunting for the perfect Disney ornament and Christmas-type beanies for my souveniers. No luck. We were hungry for Lunch, so we go to the restaurant next to Innoventions. I have been craving a hotdog since I arrived, so I got a hotdog basket. My aunt gets the same, and everyone else gets a chicken sandwich basket. We eat, then head to Horizons. This was my first ride, and I REALLY liked it, but it just needs a revamp in my opinion. Then we split up so my mom and I could ride Body wars. We agree to meet in front of China to see the 360 movie. After Body Wars <its sooo much worse than Star Tours> we get on the boat <We were becoming really good friends with one CM who ALWAYS drove the boat we rode> over to Japan. then walked to China. We watched the movie, which was really interesting, even though I was sitting on the floor. Then, my mom and I went to Kringla Bakery to buy pastries for the next morning. One of the Norweigan CMs was REALLY rude to us. She acted as if getting pastries to go was an extremely ridiculous request... I got a pretzel to eat there <YUMMMMMM> and the rest we toted back with us. My aunt went and bought strawberry slushes somewhere that were way too sweet. After wandering through a bunch of the countries, we got to The America Pavilion just in time for the first showing of the Candlelight Processional. My mom made my grandmother and aunt go see it. My uncle bought a turkey leg and my mom and I went to see The American Adventure. Before the show, we watched the Voices of Liberty perform Christmas carols (Very pretty, and I even got good video of them!), then lined up for the show. It was broken : ( I was very upset. So, after the long wait, we went back out and waited for the Processional to End. It still had a good hour left, so I decided we had time to run over to Imagination Pavilion and buy my Figment Beanies. We rode the boat over with the same CM : ), found my Figments, plus an Eeyore with Antlers to kinda commemorate the trip (and it's sort of spawned a new collection of different Eeyore stuffed animals) We got back on the boat with the same CM, AGAIN, and got back just in time for the processional to end. After that, we headed for the exit and rode Spaceship Earth. I think this ride so neat, but my mom and I postulated that the chairs were so uncomfortable so you wouldn't fall asleep... We went back to the hotel, since we had Jolly Holiday reservations and found that Dad and will were already back. They hated Disneyquest. They said the rides weren't very fun, and that is was so crowded that anything worth doing had excessive lines. They also said that the children were so rude that they would just jump line, and shove my brother out of the way. I understand that my brother is older <fourteen> but, if he has waited in line, a 8 or 9 year old doesn't have the right to shove past. Its just rude. They walked around in DD and then came home. They said it was the biggest waste of money during the whole trip. We were all hungry by now, so we got dressed for Jolly Holidays where we changed for Dinner. Everyone else had remembered their nice clothes except for me.... So I was there in a t-shirt and sandals and everyone else had on their Christmas ensembles. My mom teased me about it the whole night. My brother was very impressed by the fact that there was wine on the table, so he proceeded to grab the bottle and stick in his lap, as a joke. He didn't know that the top was open. He poured red wine all over his dress pants (khaki) and my mom... She was wearing black pants, though. Still, it was pretty funny. Despite the reports that the food at Jolly Holidays was bad, we thought it was just fine. It was close to Christmas dinner, and the desserts were fun. I think we enjoyed it so much b/c our family was the only one at our table. The show was pretty cheesy, but I thought it was a lot of fun. The Nutcracker set was really funny, and the snow was neat. We bought the photo here, since it came in a nice folder. It was good keepsake. After dinner, we went back to the room and went to bed, since it was past 11. Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom!

Day 6 (12/24)

Today my uncle has promised to take my brother to Universal Studios, and we couldn't be happier. They leave early, around 8 or 9. My mom bought fruit at the food court, so we have fruit and our Norweigan pastries <my favorites>. My aunt and grandmother decide that we should go to Animal Kingdom today. My dad is a little sore and tired, so he decides to take a day off to just relax and explore the hotel. We get on the bus for AK, where we talk with some people from South Africa...really interesting. We arrive at AK, which has a REALLY neat Christmas tree, and we decide to get my grandmother a wheelchair, since she struggled at AK the day before. They were out of the motorized vehicles, so we pushed her. Our first stop is at Festival of the Lion King. Its already pretty crowded, but we get on and off stuff quickly b/c of the wheelchair. I almost felt guilty. FoTLK was great... very good and aesthetic talent. My grandmother didn't care for the fans that were blowing on her, so she managed to wrap her fanny pack around her neck...She got a lot of strange looks. There was one big altercation that took place between two guests though... This one family was sitting on the front row, and a young mother with her child was trying to force the family over so her child could sit there too. The man wasn't going to have it and started yelling at the woman. The woman yelled back, and soon CMs were there trying to appease the situation. I was really disturbed by the fact that all the CMs were trying to find the woman a seat, console her child, when she was the one who was so rude. It was like, despite the situation, since the man yelled, he was in the wrong. A man in a suit even came out and spoke to him, and they found the woman a seat as close to the front as possible. After the show, we filed out and went back towards the Tree of Life. It was really magnificent. We watched a drum band for a few minutes, then we went to see its tough to be a bug. I thought this show was neat, but I like Muppetvision more... My grandmother was in the wheelchair, so she didn't really get a lot of the stuff that happened. After ITTBAB, we went towards Africa. Asia was open, but we didn't go for some reason. Before we went on KS, we decided to eat at the Tusker House. My mom and I got chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans, and my aunt and grandmother got the salads in a bread bowl. This food was excellent, and the theming of the restaurant was really great. After lunch, my mom and I went and bought some softserve ice cream right across from the tusker house, and had that for dessert. My grandmother finished eating, we refreshed ourselves, then headed out for KS. We got into the Wheelchair line. We talked with a really adorable <IMHO> CM (he was kinda chubby, with short red hair....*Swoon*) and he helped my grandmother out of her wheelchair. THEN she read the warning signs about heart conditions, and decided she shouldn't ride. The CM still let the rest of us on while my grandmother waited. We saw almost every animal I think, and our guide was EXCELLENT. She even made the poacher sequence good... The best part was watching the warthog chase the gazelle. OH- and my CUTE CM being the Poacher-catcher...my hero!( AND, he was the poacher-catcher on the video my dad and brother took of the ride the next day...YAY!) When we finished, we told my grandmother about the poachers and the bridge, and she decided to try it. So we went back on, and she really loved it. This guide wasn't quite as good... She seemed more excited about the animals than we did, and sounded kinda like a woman off of a cooking show "Ooooh, look, its the King lion and her queen. Awww, yes, the King and his Queen! This is quite remarkable" A little hokey. My grandmother liked it a lot though. After the second ride, we decided to ride the train to Conservation station. Well, I decided, because I wanted to see baby animals and the petting zoo. We got there and I went and petted the sheep and the goats. Then I washed my hands in the elephant fountain (How neat!) and I used some purell. They didn't have any babies when we went inside, and I was kinda sad. Well, they had some snakes and lizards, but nothing really cute... Some guy had a rat on his shoulder, but that was about it. I was disappointed. We went outside and bought some Rainforest Crunch Popcorn and some Rainforest bars. We got back on the train, rode back, then tried to ride the Riverboats, but they were closed. It was getting dark, and we were leaving soon, but I still wanted to ride CTX, so we went to Dinoland. My mom's back and my aunt's shoulder were hurting from pushing the wheelchair, so they were pushing it together <I offered several times, but they said that they preferred me to navigate>. Too much fun, they almost lost my grandmother. Goofs. We went to Dinoland and my mom and rode CTX... Ok,could that ride be a LITTLE more in the dark, or a little more scary??? Jeez, I had my eyes closed the whole time, and my neck muscles were gone by the end!!! Anyways, we wobbled off at the end, found my aunt, then went looking around in the big giftshop. My grandmother bought my aunt and my mom those collapsible sun hats. I didn't want one : ) I couldn't find anything that I wanted, so then we left. We got on the bus and rode back to the Contemporary, We were all hungry by now, so my aunt, my mom and I went down to the food court and bought dinner for everyone. We got basic stuff.. Hotdogs, and chicken tenders. Then my mom and I found...JELLO! All of the sudden, we both wanted JELLO!! So, we bought a couple of containers. Then, we took it back upstairs and watched the fireworks from our balcony. It was a fun night. I was tired, for some reason, so as soon as the relatives left, I was out... Tomorrow is our last full day

Day 7 (12/25)

Today is our last day We woke up around seven, since we had Christmas morning reservations at 1900 Park Fare. The rest of my aunt's family (my cousins) was flying into FL today, so we were meeting them tonight at Rainforest Cafe at AK We got dressed, and the guys decided that they would do Animal Kingdom today, while my mom and I looked around the Boardwalk, Downtown Disney, and Disney Marketplace. We rode the monorail over to 1900 Park Fare. We were seated immediately, and we really enjoyed this buffet. We thought it was better than Chef Mickeys'. I think we preferred since it was a little more laid back. I thought their food was better too. The made-to-order omelets were great, plus they had more fruit, and grill items. We met Minnie, Mary Poppins, Alice, and The Mad Hatter. Mary had to kiss my brother, and he still talks about that. I think that was his favorite part of the trip. After breakfast, we went split up. We went and walked around the GF and decided that this is where would we would stay on our next trip...LOL, of course! It was a really beautiful hotel. Mom and I got on the monorail and headed for TTC... That's where we saw the millions of people going WDW... GLAD we weren't in that line. We got in line for the marketplace and caught the bus about 10 minutes later for Disney Marketplace. We rode an almost empty bus. We first stopped in Two R's, Reading and Riting, but they had no Disney notecareds <Weird, huh?> So we continued to the Disney Sports store, looking for a shirt that had goofy playing soccer for my brother. No luck, again. What's the deal?? Finally, we went to the WOD, and I got a t-shirt with the Mickey thumbs up, we got my brother a simple Goofy shirt, and I found some cute little Mickey mouse studs <really small and silver>. We got my mom's friends some stuff and I bought my friend a Mickey beanie <a hat, not a stuffed animal>. We left WOD and browsed in the rest of the stores. We really didn't find anything else we wanted. We walked over to pleasure Island, but after shopping in WOD, there's really nothing new... I looked in the Villians store, thought about buying the Bad Girls shirt, but didn't. We walked over to West Side, looked at the ice skating rink, then looked in the memorabilia store, and the interesting craft store. We walked past HOB, and Cirque, then decided to catch a bus to the Boardwalk. We rode the bus to Boardwalk, walked around some...It was pretty dead. All the shops were closed, so we rode the boat to EPCOT, because I wanted to go to England and shop. My mom didn't realize how close YC/BC and the Boardwalk was to EPCOT. We rode over, then we went to world showcase. We bought some candy and tea, then we looked for some of our clan's plaid, but my mom couldn't remember what clan our named belong to. Oh, well. We decided to get some Fish and Chips for lunch. There was a really long line. After about 20 minutes, we got our food, and we went and sat around the lagoon, but the birds were attacking us. After we finished, I got up, and my bag hit my leg, and I screamed.. We all-the-sudden hear "Well, its Mary and Jenny" My aunt, uncle, grandmother and cousin were eating fish chips right next to Rose and Crown. We sat down with them, and watched them eat lunch, and chatted. Then we left, went and met Captain Hook, and took the boat <WITH THE SAME CM!)> to World Showcase, then walked back. We got on the bus to WL, so we could look around. We sat in the lobby for a while, and watched people, then we walked to the pool, looked at it, and moved to boat dock. I bought some food and fed the ducks, then we rode back to the Contemporary. We rested in the hotel until my dad and brother got back. They had been racing the little Water mice on bay lake, and my brother had gotten the fastest tester model. We rested, then got ready for dinner. We rode the bus to AK, that was completely empty. We got in line for dinner 15 minutes before our priority seating, and we checked in. Well, we waited 45 minutes...and were never called to start "our safari". It was going on an hour before we got a seat, until finally, we mentioned it to the bartender. He thought it was interesting, and went to check with the hostess. She told him what she had told us every 15 minutes; we were next on the list. Finally, the bartender went and got the manager, since my uncle and older cousin were quite perturbed. After waiting an hour and thirty minutes, we were seated in the tables around the bar, thanks to the one bartender. The hostess never gave us our little passport and it was completely her fault Our server was great, but we were never apologized to... This restaurant really put us off. We tipped the bartender 20 dollars, but we couldn't believe the manager didn't come out and at least speak to us. The funniest part was our server explaining what happened every 15 minutes with the storm... We explained to her that we had seen it....3 times. So much for the great last meal at Disney. We took our leftovers with us home on the bus and told our family bye and merry Christmas. We were talking to a family who had been at the same Lion King show as we had about the woman creating the scene. They told us that she had been at their Character Breakfast, and had created a scene for a free meal there because the server forgot to give her son a toy water gun. The family said they were skipping the next attraction they saw her on We got off and went to bed for our last night at WDW

Day 8 (12/26)

We check out today. We had express checkout, so my dad went and paid the bill, then, we finished packing. We were enjoying our last few moments in our room, and my brother was leaning off the balcony when his hat blew off his head and onto the landing over our hotel **GROAN** We had to call maintenance, and it took several hours to get it off. Still, they were very nice about the weird request, and wouldn't even accept a tip. We packed in the rain, and left in the rain....

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS!!!!

I absolutely loved the trip, but I'll have to say it wasn't quite as good as I expected. I know many of my expectations were too high, but I only encountered a few CMs that were exceptional. We were expecting to feel a lot more magical, but it really just felt like I was at a local amusement park. I don't know if they were stressed out over the crowds <that we rarely saw>, but we didn't think the service was magical. I don't think we had bizaare requests, and we weren't rude, either. That was the biggest disappointment.
The crowds were extremely manageable. We rarely experienced lines over thirty minutes, and only the major holiday attractions were crowded...like the Osbourne lights....
My personal favorite park was MGM, but I loved all the Parks. My favorite ride was Splash Mountain.. Atypical, huh?
My favorite meal was at the Brown Derby, but my family really enjoyed Chef Mickey's Dinner, and Alfredo. Food was good, consistently, though.
As waning teen, I will definitely be back to Disneyworld in the future. I can't wait to come with a group who is as into Disney as I am, though Thanks for spending the time with me on my trip report.
Mary McAvoy

Steelvr@aol.com

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