There are seven people on this trip. They are Dianna (me), my mother, Alice, my aunt, Gloria, her daughter and granddaughter, Debbie and Cierra and Cierra's paternal grandmother, Grandma E and her sister, Aunt Jean.
December 18 Day Three
Today was the day we scheduled for MGM. We had breakfast in the food court. On the way to the bus stop, I decided to see if we could get the Fantasmic dinner package at Hollywood and Vine. We were able to get a 4:00 seating. We had a ps for Prime Time Cafe but since that was at 1:00, we decided to bag it.
Once at MGM, Debbie, Cierra and I went to get fastpasses for Tower of Terror and Rock n Rollercoaster. Aunt Jean, Grandma E and Alice have all decided that they are too old for thrill rides even though they are only in their mid to late 60's. Debbie does not ride thrill rides, she didn't ride her first rollercoaster until she was in her 20s. Gloria didn't want to do TOT, but she wanted to do RNR. Cierra wanted to do RNR but she was an inch too short. She was undecided about TOT. So we ended up getting two fastpasses for RNR and two for TOT. Fastpasses in hand, we went to the Little Mermaid show. We had to wait about 15 minutes. We sat in the last row as we had the scooter. The show was very interesting with the special effects. The kids in the audience did ok. Of course, we had to stop at the gift shop. Debbie alerted me to the press penny book as I had been saying during the course of the year that I wanted one. I purchased the book for Cierra and I to share and of course we had to press some pennies right then and there to put in the book. I like to get a penny from each park that I visit. Grandma E purchased something for Cierra. Cierra was on vacation with two grandmothers, so you can imagine how she made out (she is also the only grandchild for both grandparents)
Cierra had Disney dollars left from the May trip and she was given more money for this trip. She still came home with Disney dollars. We then headed over to Doug Live. After that it was time for our fastpasses. Gloria and I did RNR first. It was as fun and exciting as people have described. I was even singing during the ride. Gloria liked it as well. It was kind of strange to be riding a coaster that had a loop inside of a building. It was then time for TOT. Cierra still did not know if she wanted to ride but at the last minute she decided to ride. We went inside and Cierra was doing ok until we entered the room with the elevators. Cierra wanted me to pick her up and the next thing I knew, she was climbing on me like a monkey climbs on its mother. She is 47 inches tall and she doesn't weigh alot, but she is still heavy. Then she started crying. I told her that we didn't have to ride and could take the express elevator down. She was torn between wanting to ride and being scared. She decided that she wanted to ride and she stopped crying. I kept asking her if she wanted to take the express elevator, but she insisted that she wanted to ride. Cierra was a trooper and did not cry on the ride although she was huddled next to me. I was very proud of her. I did purchase the photo. Cierra now has an interest in The Twilight Zone and wonders why there aren't ghosts in every episode. When we got back to the rest of the gang waiting for us, Cierra ran to her mother and started crying again. She has decided that she will never get on TOT again. We'll see in 2003 when we return 
. It was almost time for the Mulan parade so we staked out a curb and sat down. Gloria found a space on a bench and Alice sat on the scooter. The parade was fun and Cierra took a lot of pictures. She also had an outdoor camera along with her Fisher-Price camera. Cierra and Aunt Jean were the photo hounds on this trip. After the parade, we headed to Hollywood and Vine for our dinner package. We had about a 20 minute wait before being seated. There was the ususal buffet offerings of pasta, chicken, fish, pork, rice, and beef. The desserts were limited to brownies, chocolate german cake and I think cheesecake. There was also ice cream and sundae fixings. We ate lesiurely and were not rushed. After dinner, Alice's stomach started acting up, so we went to First Aid and she took some Mylanta. They offered her a place to lay down but she declined. I must say that Alice was a trooper too. She didn't complain about her stomach and tried to choose food that wouldn't be too harsh. I know that was hard for her because she LOVES to eat! We walked around and debated about going to see the Osborne Lights, but it looked far on the map. In retrospect, it probably wasn't that far. We then decided to go to the TOT giftshop to get a t-shirt or button for Cierra that said "I survived the Tower of Terror". I purchased the button for her and Gloria bought her the t-shirt. We were in the giftshop for a long time. They had some really interesting and creepy things like eyeballs. It was soon time to head for Fantasmic. Luckily Alice drove her scooter because it was a long walk up the hill. We were directed to the handicap rows in the reserved section and instructed to split up between two rows since there were seven of us. Luckily, we arrived early because as more people came in with wheelchairs and scooters, they were only allowing the person in the wheelchair or scooter and one other person to sit in the handicap section and the rest of the people in the party had to sit elsewhere in the section. During the wait, Cierra played with a little girl sitting in front of us after she purchased a Mickey Mouse light-up toy. We all enjoyed Fantasmic. This was Aunt Jean's favorite show. At one point, Cierra threw her camera at me so I could take the pictures while she enjoyed the show. She would then tell me when to take a picture by either shouting at me or pushing my arm. After the show, we were too tired to go back to see the lights so we headed home. Overall, it was a nice day.
December 19, Day Four
Today was our day to visit the Magic Kingdom. Carole was able to score a ps for Cinderella's breakfast for us. We had been there in May for Cierra's birthday, but she was sick and could not enjoy it. In May, the kids in our party (we had three little girls) wore their Cinderella dresses for the breakfast. This time, Cierra was going to be dressed as Snow White. I was able to purchase a child's size Snow White wig for her at our local costume store. Cierra wasn't thrilled about wearing the wig, but Debbie convinced her to humor me and put on the wig. She looked really cute. It was chilly so Debbie put light blue stretch pants and a matching long-sleeved shirt under Cierra's costume. The clothes matched the blue in her dress. She wore her red glitter shoes to complete the ensemble. Since I was haunted by our memories in May of having to run to make the ps and the stress of arriving late, I insisted that we had to leave extra early for the MK this time, especially since we had the scooter. At the last minute, Alice decided that she didn't want to take the scooter because there was a forecast of rain. (I should mention the weather. It was very cold during our visit. At night, the weather would dip in the 30s. Even though it was cold, people were still in the outdoor swimming pools. The pools were heated to 89 degrees, but still... At one point, we purchased hats and gloves to be more comfortable). We ended up arriving at the MK at around 8:00 or so. We had time to smell the roses and admire Main Street and the decorations. We went through the castle and I decided to see if we could check in early (our ps was for 9 or so) and they were able to take us right in. The Fairy Godmother was not in the lobby so we went directly to the restaurant. Our server was a woman named Shay and she was really nice. The characters in attendance were Cinderella, Jasmine, Aladdin and I think Belle. Jasmine saw her previous autograph in Cierra's book, so she just added a kiss to the page. Cierra already had Cinderella and Belle's autographs so she took pictures with them. We told Shay that we were celebrating Gloria's birthday so she brought her a certificate. Jasmine signed the certificate. After we finished eating, Shay brought out a birthday cupcake. It was chocolate with blue frosting. I tried the cupcake and it was not very tasty. After we ate, we went downstairs to visit with the Fairy Godmother. When Cierra was sitting with the Fairy Godmother, a man videotaped her. Cierra felt better about the wig after Shay had mentioned to her how much she looked like Snow White. Another woman in the restaurant came over to our table and commented on Cierra's costume. We took off Cierra's costume and wig and changed into her sneakers and we were on our way. Everyone except Alice rode Dumbo. We got a fastpass for Winnie the Pooh. We rode IASW, Snow White and saw the Lion King Show. After riding Winnie the Pooh, we went into the character lane for autographs of Baloo, Timon and Rafiki. Our big pen broke when we were at Timon and he was only able to write a "T". I finished the autograph when we found another pen. We headed for Toontown and rode Barnstormer. Then we visited Mickey and Minnie's house. We met Mickey in the Judge's tent, but we somehow missed the exit to see the other characters and ended up outside. We decided to ride the train. We rode to Frontierland and we decided that we would get off and find something to eat for lunch. So everyone except Debbie and I got off so we could get the stroller. We decided to try Peco Bills. The plan was to get a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain but when we got back to Frontierland, we discovered that BTM does not have a fastpass. The line was long and we were hungry so we headed to Peco Bills. As it was cold and looked like it was about to rain, we decided that we wanted to eat inside somewhere so we went to Columbia House. Liberty Tree Tavern was vetoed. We grabbed the first table that we found and when another table became available, we took that one as well. Most of us had the chicken strip meal and a couple of us had the fish and chicken meal. Cierra had a bologna sandwich. (There are two ladies' rooms in Columbia House. The restroom on the second floor did not have a line although it is smaller.) When we finished eating, we discovered that it was raining. We thought that we had parked the stroller under an awning, but we didn't and it was wet. We dried off the stroller and set out to get a spot for the parade. We simply walked across the street to where a popcorn cart was set up and stood there. We all had either ponchos or umbrellas and Cierra had a blanket for her legs so we stood in the rain and watched the parade. We walked back up Main Street after the parade to find hats and gloves as we were cold. The Emporium had run out of gloves, but we were able to purchase hats. Debbie and I were looking for the Santa hats with Mickey ears, but Emporium didn't have any. Le Chappeau didn't have the Santa hats either. Next on the list was the candy store. Cierra is a cotton candy fiend and I can never pass up a carmel apple, so Cierra got her cotton candy (and a lollipop), Grandma E, Debbie and I purchased carmel apples. We then went to the photo store to see Cierra's picture with Mickey. We didn't purchase the photo. We then saw the computers with "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and we had to stop. We played that for quite a while. Meanwhile, Alice went to Tony's Town Square restaurant and sat in the lobby to wait for us. We discovered the back room and some of the seven dwarfs were there. Cierra had a picture taken with them and got their autographs (by the end of the trip she had all of the dwarfs except for Doc). We wanted to see the tree lighting ceremony, but by the time we finished playing with the computers and taking photos, we missed it. We decided to stake out a place for the MESP. I suggested that we watch it from the train station so we went there. We waited at the top of the steps for them to drop the rope and when everyone ran to the left, we ran to the right and grabbed seven chairs. A band was playing below so we watched them and ate our snacks. Just before the parade started, Grandma E and Aunt Jean left for the restroom. About five minutes after they left, this little girl around 9 years old, climbed over their empty chairs and stood in front of Gloria. We told her that Grandma E and Aunt Jean were coming back and she would have to vacate the spot when they returned. When the lights went out for the parade, I was worried that Aunt Jean and Grandma E wouldn't make it back, but they arrived just in time. Cierra designated me as picture taker again. She went through 6 rolls of film on this trip. The train station was a good spot for the parade. I particularly like the fact that we could sit and watch it. After the parade, we were cold and tired so we headed back to the hotel. We had dinner at the food court and then hit the sack.
Coming next, Candlelight Processional and Fireworks Cruise.
December 18 Day Three
Today was the day we scheduled for MGM. We had breakfast in the food court. On the way to the bus stop, I decided to see if we could get the Fantasmic dinner package at Hollywood and Vine. We were able to get a 4:00 seating. We had a ps for Prime Time Cafe but since that was at 1:00, we decided to bag it.
Once at MGM, Debbie, Cierra and I went to get fastpasses for Tower of Terror and Rock n Rollercoaster. Aunt Jean, Grandma E and Alice have all decided that they are too old for thrill rides even though they are only in their mid to late 60's. Debbie does not ride thrill rides, she didn't ride her first rollercoaster until she was in her 20s. Gloria didn't want to do TOT, but she wanted to do RNR. Cierra wanted to do RNR but she was an inch too short. She was undecided about TOT. So we ended up getting two fastpasses for RNR and two for TOT. Fastpasses in hand, we went to the Little Mermaid show. We had to wait about 15 minutes. We sat in the last row as we had the scooter. The show was very interesting with the special effects. The kids in the audience did ok. Of course, we had to stop at the gift shop. Debbie alerted me to the press penny book as I had been saying during the course of the year that I wanted one. I purchased the book for Cierra and I to share and of course we had to press some pennies right then and there to put in the book. I like to get a penny from each park that I visit. Grandma E purchased something for Cierra. Cierra was on vacation with two grandmothers, so you can imagine how she made out (she is also the only grandchild for both grandparents)
Cierra had Disney dollars left from the May trip and she was given more money for this trip. She still came home with Disney dollars. We then headed over to Doug Live. After that it was time for our fastpasses. Gloria and I did RNR first. It was as fun and exciting as people have described. I was even singing during the ride. Gloria liked it as well. It was kind of strange to be riding a coaster that had a loop inside of a building. It was then time for TOT. Cierra still did not know if she wanted to ride but at the last minute she decided to ride. We went inside and Cierra was doing ok until we entered the room with the elevators. Cierra wanted me to pick her up and the next thing I knew, she was climbing on me like a monkey climbs on its mother. She is 47 inches tall and she doesn't weigh alot, but she is still heavy. Then she started crying. I told her that we didn't have to ride and could take the express elevator down. She was torn between wanting to ride and being scared. She decided that she wanted to ride and she stopped crying. I kept asking her if she wanted to take the express elevator, but she insisted that she wanted to ride. Cierra was a trooper and did not cry on the ride although she was huddled next to me. I was very proud of her. I did purchase the photo. Cierra now has an interest in The Twilight Zone and wonders why there aren't ghosts in every episode. When we got back to the rest of the gang waiting for us, Cierra ran to her mother and started crying again. She has decided that she will never get on TOT again. We'll see in 2003 when we return . It was almost time for the Mulan parade so we staked out a curb and sat down. Gloria found a space on a bench and Alice sat on the scooter. The parade was fun and Cierra took a lot of pictures. She also had an outdoor camera along with her Fisher-Price camera. Cierra and Aunt Jean were the photo hounds on this trip. After the parade, we headed to Hollywood and Vine for our dinner package. We had about a 20 minute wait before being seated. There was the ususal buffet offerings of pasta, chicken, fish, pork, rice, and beef. The desserts were limited to brownies, chocolate german cake and I think cheesecake. There was also ice cream and sundae fixings. We ate lesiurely and were not rushed. After dinner, Alice's stomach started acting up, so we went to First Aid and she took some Mylanta. They offered her a place to lay down but she declined. I must say that Alice was a trooper too. She didn't complain about her stomach and tried to choose food that wouldn't be too harsh. I know that was hard for her because she LOVES to eat! We walked around and debated about going to see the Osborne Lights, but it looked far on the map. In retrospect, it probably wasn't that far. We then decided to go to the TOT giftshop to get a t-shirt or button for Cierra that said "I survived the Tower of Terror". I purchased the button for her and Gloria bought her the t-shirt. We were in the giftshop for a long time. They had some really interesting and creepy things like eyeballs. It was soon time to head for Fantasmic. Luckily Alice drove her scooter because it was a long walk up the hill. We were directed to the handicap rows in the reserved section and instructed to split up between two rows since there were seven of us. Luckily, we arrived early because as more people came in with wheelchairs and scooters, they were only allowing the person in the wheelchair or scooter and one other person to sit in the handicap section and the rest of the people in the party had to sit elsewhere in the section. During the wait, Cierra played with a little girl sitting in front of us after she purchased a Mickey Mouse light-up toy. We all enjoyed Fantasmic. This was Aunt Jean's favorite show. At one point, Cierra threw her camera at me so I could take the pictures while she enjoyed the show. She would then tell me when to take a picture by either shouting at me or pushing my arm. After the show, we were too tired to go back to see the lights so we headed home. Overall, it was a nice day.December 19, Day Four
Today was our day to visit the Magic Kingdom. Carole was able to score a ps for Cinderella's breakfast for us. We had been there in May for Cierra's birthday, but she was sick and could not enjoy it. In May, the kids in our party (we had three little girls) wore their Cinderella dresses for the breakfast. This time, Cierra was going to be dressed as Snow White. I was able to purchase a child's size Snow White wig for her at our local costume store. Cierra wasn't thrilled about wearing the wig, but Debbie convinced her to humor me and put on the wig. She looked really cute. It was chilly so Debbie put light blue stretch pants and a matching long-sleeved shirt under Cierra's costume. The clothes matched the blue in her dress. She wore her red glitter shoes to complete the ensemble. Since I was haunted by our memories in May of having to run to make the ps and the stress of arriving late, I insisted that we had to leave extra early for the MK this time, especially since we had the scooter. At the last minute, Alice decided that she didn't want to take the scooter because there was a forecast of rain. (I should mention the weather. It was very cold during our visit. At night, the weather would dip in the 30s. Even though it was cold, people were still in the outdoor swimming pools. The pools were heated to 89 degrees, but still... At one point, we purchased hats and gloves to be more comfortable). We ended up arriving at the MK at around 8:00 or so. We had time to smell the roses and admire Main Street and the decorations. We went through the castle and I decided to see if we could check in early (our ps was for 9 or so) and they were able to take us right in. The Fairy Godmother was not in the lobby so we went directly to the restaurant. Our server was a woman named Shay and she was really nice. The characters in attendance were Cinderella, Jasmine, Aladdin and I think Belle. Jasmine saw her previous autograph in Cierra's book, so she just added a kiss to the page. Cierra already had Cinderella and Belle's autographs so she took pictures with them. We told Shay that we were celebrating Gloria's birthday so she brought her a certificate. Jasmine signed the certificate. After we finished eating, Shay brought out a birthday cupcake. It was chocolate with blue frosting. I tried the cupcake and it was not very tasty. After we ate, we went downstairs to visit with the Fairy Godmother. When Cierra was sitting with the Fairy Godmother, a man videotaped her. Cierra felt better about the wig after Shay had mentioned to her how much she looked like Snow White. Another woman in the restaurant came over to our table and commented on Cierra's costume. We took off Cierra's costume and wig and changed into her sneakers and we were on our way. Everyone except Alice rode Dumbo. We got a fastpass for Winnie the Pooh. We rode IASW, Snow White and saw the Lion King Show. After riding Winnie the Pooh, we went into the character lane for autographs of Baloo, Timon and Rafiki. Our big pen broke when we were at Timon and he was only able to write a "T". I finished the autograph when we found another pen. We headed for Toontown and rode Barnstormer. Then we visited Mickey and Minnie's house. We met Mickey in the Judge's tent, but we somehow missed the exit to see the other characters and ended up outside. We decided to ride the train. We rode to Frontierland and we decided that we would get off and find something to eat for lunch. So everyone except Debbie and I got off so we could get the stroller. We decided to try Peco Bills. The plan was to get a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain but when we got back to Frontierland, we discovered that BTM does not have a fastpass. The line was long and we were hungry so we headed to Peco Bills. As it was cold and looked like it was about to rain, we decided that we wanted to eat inside somewhere so we went to Columbia House. Liberty Tree Tavern was vetoed. We grabbed the first table that we found and when another table became available, we took that one as well. Most of us had the chicken strip meal and a couple of us had the fish and chicken meal. Cierra had a bologna sandwich. (There are two ladies' rooms in Columbia House. The restroom on the second floor did not have a line although it is smaller.) When we finished eating, we discovered that it was raining. We thought that we had parked the stroller under an awning, but we didn't and it was wet. We dried off the stroller and set out to get a spot for the parade. We simply walked across the street to where a popcorn cart was set up and stood there. We all had either ponchos or umbrellas and Cierra had a blanket for her legs so we stood in the rain and watched the parade. We walked back up Main Street after the parade to find hats and gloves as we were cold. The Emporium had run out of gloves, but we were able to purchase hats. Debbie and I were looking for the Santa hats with Mickey ears, but Emporium didn't have any. Le Chappeau didn't have the Santa hats either. Next on the list was the candy store. Cierra is a cotton candy fiend and I can never pass up a carmel apple, so Cierra got her cotton candy (and a lollipop), Grandma E, Debbie and I purchased carmel apples. We then went to the photo store to see Cierra's picture with Mickey. We didn't purchase the photo. We then saw the computers with "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and we had to stop. We played that for quite a while. Meanwhile, Alice went to Tony's Town Square restaurant and sat in the lobby to wait for us. We discovered the back room and some of the seven dwarfs were there. Cierra had a picture taken with them and got their autographs (by the end of the trip she had all of the dwarfs except for Doc). We wanted to see the tree lighting ceremony, but by the time we finished playing with the computers and taking photos, we missed it. We decided to stake out a place for the MESP. I suggested that we watch it from the train station so we went there. We waited at the top of the steps for them to drop the rope and when everyone ran to the left, we ran to the right and grabbed seven chairs. A band was playing below so we watched them and ate our snacks. Just before the parade started, Grandma E and Aunt Jean left for the restroom. About five minutes after they left, this little girl around 9 years old, climbed over their empty chairs and stood in front of Gloria. We told her that Grandma E and Aunt Jean were coming back and she would have to vacate the spot when they returned. When the lights went out for the parade, I was worried that Aunt Jean and Grandma E wouldn't make it back, but they arrived just in time. Cierra designated me as picture taker again. She went through 6 rolls of film on this trip. The train station was a good spot for the parade. I particularly like the fact that we could sit and watch it. After the parade, we were cold and tired so we headed back to the hotel. We had dinner at the food court and then hit the sack.
Coming next, Candlelight Processional and Fireworks Cruise.
