Trip Reports

3 - 9 December 1999

I'm not very good at writing full trip reports , so I have just written some of the things that I will remember the most. Writing and reading this has brought back some neat memories of last week...I hope they do for you too.... (and they're in no particular order)

Arrival at All Star Music - Lisa (Ping) and Myself:

It was about 8pm on Friday 3rd, and Lisa and I arrived at the hotel expecting a nice room in Calypso or Jazz as requested. What did we get?! Country Fair! Disgruntled and tired, but full of hope for the week we trudged off to the room laughing at the fact that they had put Ping and Ariel in one of the furthest away buildings, and (jokingly) we would probably be the last room as well. Ahem! We weren't far wrong! 2 rooms from the corner of nowhere...it was almost as if someone had warned the room controller what trouble and destruction we have been known to cause in Trimobia and they weren't taking any chances! It was like our own mini Wilderness Lodge...our own forest, and it was nice, , the next morning to be able to wake up & find deer outside the window, and then go fishing in the lake to catch our breakfast...in fact we think we saw Huckleberry Finn across the other side disappearing into the trees, but it was hard to tell... Yes siree, this was gonna be a great week down at Ping and Ariel's Vacation Hoe-down Home!

O Canada! - Laura (Tigger) and Lee, Kevin, Paul, KrisAnne, Amy and Myself:

Singing the whole song outloud whilst watching the attraction! Kevin is from Canada so he provided us with a commentary on what we were seeing, which makes the film a lot more interesting - especially the part when he said "Ooh, the Disney Store where I got my Annual Pass is just around that corner and to the left" And he was serious too. Way cool, huh?! I've never enjoyed that attraction so much, lol.

Garden Grill Character Breakfast - Kevin, Paul, KrisAnne, Lisa (Ping) and Myself:

Already in high spirits from each other's hilarious company anyway, we were having a good time on this morning (Tuesday) when Dale came round, pointed to Paul's pork chop and then pulled his dungaree pants out and pointed down them! Paul hesitantly said "Er, you want me to put the pork chop down your pants?" and Dale nodded! We were laughing by this point...a bit later we wanted to get Dale's attention back and we couldn't see him anywhere. KrisAnne decided the way to attract him was to put a pork chop on a knife and wave it high in the air, saying "Dale! Oh Da-ale!" We were on the lower level so who knows what the people in the booth above us must have thought when all of a sudden this pork chop rises over the partition?! Too funny!

MVMCP - Tony, Kevin, Paul, Lisa, KrisAnne and Myself:

Hmph! This was funny when you look back I guess....I tend to be a little nervous on this dumb ride anyway...so we went in through the doors and I was almost last in. The Cast Member slammed the door right behind me and then made me jump by saying something like "Boo" in my ear...to which I naturally let out a scream...much to everyone else's amusement. He was a great CM though and as we were going into the Stretch Room, he was saying (straight faced) "Push and shove, Push and shove...trample, trample". He'll make an excellent Graves in years to come!

MVMCP - Tony, Kevin, Paul, Lisa, KrisAnne and Myself:

Later that night, when the snow started to fall on Main Street, KrisAnne made us get a photo all standing there holding out our tongues as if we were catching snowflakes! Of course, I haven't seen the picture yet but I have a nasty feeling the snowflakes won't show up, and it will look like we were just standing there with our mouths wide open for no reason. We will all be blackmailing KrisAnne for the copyright on the pics! LOL!

MVMCP - Tony, Kevin, Paul, Lisa, KrisAnne and Myself:

We rode the Carousel (at the request of KrisAnne and myself!) and TonyP - Mr Over-6ft from New York decides to sit on the smallest little pony he can find. Right on the inside of the carousel. It was a dainty little lilac one as far as I remember.

A Whole New World - KrisAnne, Myself, Paul and Kevin:

Whilst waiting for Lee and Laura at Off Kilter on Wednesday night, Kevin and I starting humming the song from Aladdin. It sounded good, so we all continued and unbelievably we got every bit of it - all the lyrics, the harmonies, the backup bits, everything! It sounded great and when we were done a woman sitting on the bench waiting for the show looked at us as if she was about to start clapping, so I jokingly said "No...don't leave, we aren't actually the show. We're not Off Kilter!" She laughed, we giggled and then Laura and Lee showed up right on time!

Splash Mountain Caroling - Whole bunch of People!

Splash went 101 during the Sunday morning meet, so we spent a few minutes carolling. It sounded cool and it seemed to get the ride up quickly enough. (Note: I am not sure if the CM's were trying to hurry it up because they liked us or just to make us stop caterwauling, lol!)

SAT Stickers - Kevin, Paul, KrisAnne and Myself:

ROTFL!!! I still giggle about this now...We had stopped at a cart near Test Track to get some potato chips and the CM had a roll of stickers with SAT on. Kevin curiously asked what this was for, and so she said "Oh it stands for Saturday - I'm labelling the pizzas!" Given that it was only Wednesday we were a little shocked and asked her if this is how long they were expected to last and she just couldn't think of a valid answer. Stumbling, she came up with "I'm, er, labelling them for the people who, er, hadn't labelled them right." Hmmmmm.....curious. I think I'll stick to potato chips from that cart!

GMC People Carrier - Kevin, Paul, KrisAnne and Myself:

One of the funniest and most embarrassing times of my entire trip....we had just finished Test Track. I decided to try the GMC People Carrier and said in the drivers seat. KrisAnne said "Ya got the kids all packed in ready for the shopping?!" She was, of course, joking. I played along with it and started jokingly shouting at the 'pretend' kids: "Are you two still fighting back there?" "Stop picking on your sister!" "No we're not nearly there!" "Am I going to have to turn this car round and go home?" Now at some point during this, 2 kids had gotten in the back seat without me noticing. I then hear KrisAnne looking over my shoulder, saying "Don't worry, she's not shouting at you". Almost in slow motion I turned round thinking "I didn't just do that, I didn't..." Sure enough I had. These kids looked terrified of me because I had just spent 2 minutes shouting at them. KrisAnne Paul and Kevin thought this was hysterical. I was SO embarrassed and just lowered my head into my hands on the steering wheel.

Kona Cafe - Mickey, Larrie and Jessica, Me, Tony, Fudgie, Lisa, Amy, Alison and Ronnie:

Jessica (Mickey's 8 yr old) was so adorable here, and she made this little stick figure out of the cocktail umbrellas...I think Fudgie has a photo up of it!

Tangierine Cafe - Ronnie, Alison, Lisa, Myself, Fudgie:

We were all sitting around the table when Fudgie suddenly announces to us "I've been active for two years" Alison, Ronnie and my face were exactly alike at that point: quiet and staring at Fudgie. A few seconds later he realised what he had said and complimented it with "on the newsgroup!" We all breathed a sigh of relief at this point, and laughed. Highly amusing!

Princess In Training - Pam and Myself:

Pam had a short spell with my Princess wand, guiding the group around and training to be a Princess....Pam is one of the naturally funniest people I have met and, well, with a wand in her hand, her power is unmistakable! :o)

Fudgie and the camera - Fudgie:

What a wonderful camera you have Fudgie, dear! I couldn't believe how much energy you had dashing around everywhere with that thing...the pictures have come out great. Thank you so much, and I'm sorry about your glasses.

Tower of Terror - Randy, Paul, Lisa, Kevin, Myself, Donna and Tony? (I think ):

Nothing funny here just such a cool ride. Definitely a happy moment when I had some serious air time. My feet weren't even touching the floor. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! (Tony you were there weren't you?)

MK-Mountain Tour - A whole bunch of us!

This was cool, Splash then Big Thunder then Space! I got totally soaked on Splash Mountain , and then on Big Thunder, we went round a corner so fast that I slid all the way accross our row and Lisa nearly flew out of the car! Oops. Space was cool, as usual. That day was designated wet day in the end, as somehow I seemed to continually attract water that day. I got soaked whilst passing a fountain at MGM, then I sat down on the sidewalk on Main Street and didn't notice the puddle I sat in. Yuk! A very watery day...

Adventurers Club - Loads of People:

I love this place, and could happily spend hours here. (And did!) We threw the Balderdash Cup and voted in Hathaway Brown as Adventurer of the Year, I somehow got a date with Emil (blech) because he thought I was Bartender Sam's girlfriend. My table was kind of noisy I think (Sam, me, Rob Olsan and Steve Preskitt) - oh, and I found a new drink I like. I can't remember the name of it now though (Sam, it was the dark coloured one reasonably early on. What was it?) Yummy! I had a few drinks and got in at about 2:30am, and still made it to the All Star Mini-Meet at 6:30am. Bright eyed and bushy-tailed...almost. Woo Hoo!

All Star Mini-meet - Lotsa people:

This was cool, and we were in the food court of the All Star Music, so I got a bit distracted by the cartoons that were on the big screen TV. As far as I know, the meet went well!

Shopping - Me:

One word: oops! I kinda overshopped on this trip, and didn't actually remember to pack a spare suitcase so I ended up buying one in Orlando...sigh! The stuff (mainly Christmassy stuff) looks great though!

Overall, I had such a wonderful time - so much more so than expected. I was there for 7 nights, the weather was great, the company was great and I miss it all so much now. Thank you for the little gifts different people brought me, it was such a sweet idea! I am sad I didn't get to meet Rob (Loin Scout) but he was busy and so was I - I don't think our paths ever crossed. I spent a lot of time with Alison, Lisa, Ronnie, Fudgie, Donna, KrisAnne, Amy (& Eeyore), Tony, Kevin and Paul, either as a big group or several small groups. Pam and Bob were great fun to hang out with, and so were Laura (Tigger) and Lee. Its a shame I didn't get to see more of Mickeymom, but she could only join us for one day, so at least I spent that with her! I saw Sean and Pamela for a while, which was fun. I managed to pop by and say hi to Wendy but not for long. One other thing - Snowball is the cutest little thing ever! Although I did get to see Steve Preskitt a few times, he was out of town for 4 days of my 7 so that was unfortunate. I managed to catch up with Rob and Sam at the AC, although Sam and I never did get to Mannequins this time....I haven't been there in a few months now. And I was disappointed that Jenn Mandelion coudn't make the AC meet...she's such a lot of fun.

I rode RnRC zillions of times, and all my other favourite attractions at least once. I missed AK altogether as I just ran out of time. I did get some nice character pictures in ToonTown though. :o) The Bird Breakfast was excellent. Ronnie and Zazu did a great job...I think Ronnie sounds more like Iago than she realises, lol! Honestly, at times, if I hadn't been aware of where I was I could have totally believed it was Iago!

I am almost certainly going to be back for December 2000, and think probably arrive Wednesday 6th and check out Thursday 13th will work best. I'm sooooo excited!

Thanks again to everyone for being so nice, so funny and so friendly. And for putting all the effort into your trip reports and posting photos etc. Especially you, Fudgie, my friend - I don't know how you managed a RADP meet, finals and posting all these photos and videos in the same week - a Prince among men! (See it's not just 8 yr olds that admire you! )

You know, when you arrive at WDW it's just like that Aladdin song says :"But now from way up here, it's crystal clear - that now I'm in a whole new World!" It truly is a magical place. :o)

Rachel Warriner

Mermaid@europe.com

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