2belles'mom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2000
- Messages
- 406
Day 1
This trip was in the planning for 2 years-- to follow our last family reunion in 2000. The last trip was wonderful, and included me, my husband and our two daughters (Katja, then 4, and Annika then 17 months), my brother and his family (wife Sarah and son Riley, then 7) and my mother and father. During that trip, my little family stayed at the Contemporary, and everyone else stayed at Dixie Landings.
For this trip, we all decided to stay together at Wilderness Lodge.
The Cast for Christmas 02:
Me, Disney Junkie and Master Planner
DH David, likes Disney
DD Katja, 6, Disney Junkie-in-training
DD Annika, 3, Disney Junkie-in-training
My brother, Steve
His wife, Sarah
Their son, Riley, 9
Their son, Tallon, 15 months
My mother--Nana
My father--Poppa
Our journey began on December 18 with a red-eye flight out of Seattle. We took the 9:00 ferry to Seattle and arrived at the airport at approximately 10:30, in plenty of time for our 12:57 am flight. (My mother and father travelled with us, but my brother and his family were coming from Wisconsin so would travel separately.) The flight went fairly well?much better than 2 years ago when my youngest daughter refused to sleep!
We arrived in Orlando at 10:30am, retrieved our luggage and then headed down to the car rental counters. We had reservations for two full size cars through National for $22/day. They were short on fullsize, so one of our cars was upgraded to a mini-van. We loaded ALL of the luggage into the van and headed out, leaving my Dad to meet my brother and bring them in the other car. The weather was warm and sunny?ahhh, how nice to be in Florida!
As we made our way to the World, we realized that we had left BOTH of the umbrella strollers at the rental counter! We tried to call National and ask them to page my Dad (Poppa), who was still there, but they were LESS THAN HELPFUL. They refused to help. If only my Dad had a cell phone (we did!). We made the decision to NOT return for the strollers (we were about all the way to the World)?we are talking $12 umbrella strollers. So we stopped at Wal-Mart by Downtown Disney, purchased another stroller (cheap, but better than an umrella with a good basket and a bonnet thing) and some other items and then went to Burger King for a quick bite?we were all pretty much starving. Then, finally!, on to Wilderness Lodge.
We found the hotel with no problem. When we drove up the front entrance, we were surprised to see my brother standing there waiting for us! We had been sure that we would arrive first, even with all of the stops. After a long round of hugs and hellos, we schlepped our stuff inside to check in. I had called the room controller 3 days prior, requesting a lobby rooms, 2 connecting. Unfortunately, our rooms were NOWHERE near the lobby, but they were all next to each other and two were connecting. We did get an upgrade to Courtyard view (so I was told) and our rooms looked over the pool area of the Villas. Not TOO bad. The best is that our rate was $120 a night!
The Lodge, of course, was glorious in its Holiday splendor. The Christmas tree must have been 6 stories high, and it simply dripped with lights and ornaments. Lighted garlands were everywhere?adorning balconies, beams and stair cases. Simply breathtaking!
After we were settled in, at about 2:30 local time, we hit the sack for much-needed naps?must be rested for Mickey?s Very Merry Christmas Party!
We were up and moving around by 5:00 or so, and headed down to Roaring Forks for a quick dinner before heading to MK. My mother and father stayed behind?they were not planning to join us for the fun-filled evening! After filling up with hot-dogs, pizza, nachos and hamburgers, we walked down to the dock to catch the boat to MK. After a short wait, we were on our way.
We arrived at MK and approached the turnstiles. A steady stream of people were exiting, and we joined a much smaller crowd of people entering. As we started down Main Street, we saw signs for MVMCPers stating that Tomorrowland would be open until the party started. We decided to head there. When we were about ¾ there, the Disney sound system announced that the festivities were starting and welcomed us to Mickey?s Very Merry Christmas Party. The snow on Main Street started, and we paused to let the kids experience the ?snow.? Living in the Seattle area, my daughters have only seen snow once, so it is a novelty for them. Riley lives most of the year with his mother in Arizona, so it a novelty for him as well. I was a bit disappointed because as I compared the experience to MVMCP of two years ago, I realized that even though we had arrived ½ hour early then as well, the snow on Main Street was already coming down hard, and it seemed much more ?magical.? Regardless, it was still fun! The kids were trying to catch the snowflakes on their tongues, until we told them they were really soap flakes.
The first thing we hit was Buzz Lightyear?we rode several times with absolutely no wait. Then we headed to Fantasyland and rode Winnie the Pooh, again NO WAIT, and Peter Pan. We had our pictures taken at It?s A Small World, and then rode. Next, it was Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Those rides were walk-ons as well. After that we staked out spots for the Very Merry Christmas Parade, just across the street from the Shooting Arcade in Frontierland. The parade started about 5 minutes after we snagged our spots and it was awesome! We were right by the rope and the kids sat down, enjoying unobstructed views. After the Parade, we hit Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise (and need I say, no waits there either). Then we headed to get some cookies and hot chocolate and find a spot for the fireworks. Here we encountered our only ?snafu? of the evening, as our timing and placing was not good. We got cookies across from the Jungle Cruise and found ourselves not very well positioned AT ALL for the fireworks. We tried to grab a spot on the bridge from Adventureland to Main Street but by this time the crowds were pretty big, trees were in our way and it was impossible to move to another area for viewing. So we stuck it out there and still managed to enjoy the spectacular 360 degree fireworks that are unique to the holidays.
By the time the fireworks were done, the kids were pretty pooped. It was still fairly early (9:30) and we were loathe to leave when there WERE NO LINES FOR ANYTHING, but decided we would hit one last ride and then call it a night. The older kids (Riley and Katja) headed for Splash, and the little ones (Annika and Tallon) headed for one last Pooh ride. We then left the Kingdom, taking the boat back to Wilderness Lodge. We were back by 10:30 and everyone was in bed and fast asleep by 11:00!
Next: Magic Kingdom with Nana and Poppa!
This trip was in the planning for 2 years-- to follow our last family reunion in 2000. The last trip was wonderful, and included me, my husband and our two daughters (Katja, then 4, and Annika then 17 months), my brother and his family (wife Sarah and son Riley, then 7) and my mother and father. During that trip, my little family stayed at the Contemporary, and everyone else stayed at Dixie Landings.
For this trip, we all decided to stay together at Wilderness Lodge.
The Cast for Christmas 02:
Me, Disney Junkie and Master Planner
DH David, likes Disney
DD Katja, 6, Disney Junkie-in-training
DD Annika, 3, Disney Junkie-in-training
My brother, Steve
His wife, Sarah
Their son, Riley, 9
Their son, Tallon, 15 months
My mother--Nana
My father--Poppa
Our journey began on December 18 with a red-eye flight out of Seattle. We took the 9:00 ferry to Seattle and arrived at the airport at approximately 10:30, in plenty of time for our 12:57 am flight. (My mother and father travelled with us, but my brother and his family were coming from Wisconsin so would travel separately.) The flight went fairly well?much better than 2 years ago when my youngest daughter refused to sleep!
We arrived in Orlando at 10:30am, retrieved our luggage and then headed down to the car rental counters. We had reservations for two full size cars through National for $22/day. They were short on fullsize, so one of our cars was upgraded to a mini-van. We loaded ALL of the luggage into the van and headed out, leaving my Dad to meet my brother and bring them in the other car. The weather was warm and sunny?ahhh, how nice to be in Florida!
As we made our way to the World, we realized that we had left BOTH of the umbrella strollers at the rental counter! We tried to call National and ask them to page my Dad (Poppa), who was still there, but they were LESS THAN HELPFUL. They refused to help. If only my Dad had a cell phone (we did!). We made the decision to NOT return for the strollers (we were about all the way to the World)?we are talking $12 umbrella strollers. So we stopped at Wal-Mart by Downtown Disney, purchased another stroller (cheap, but better than an umrella with a good basket and a bonnet thing) and some other items and then went to Burger King for a quick bite?we were all pretty much starving. Then, finally!, on to Wilderness Lodge.
We found the hotel with no problem. When we drove up the front entrance, we were surprised to see my brother standing there waiting for us! We had been sure that we would arrive first, even with all of the stops. After a long round of hugs and hellos, we schlepped our stuff inside to check in. I had called the room controller 3 days prior, requesting a lobby rooms, 2 connecting. Unfortunately, our rooms were NOWHERE near the lobby, but they were all next to each other and two were connecting. We did get an upgrade to Courtyard view (so I was told) and our rooms looked over the pool area of the Villas. Not TOO bad. The best is that our rate was $120 a night!
The Lodge, of course, was glorious in its Holiday splendor. The Christmas tree must have been 6 stories high, and it simply dripped with lights and ornaments. Lighted garlands were everywhere?adorning balconies, beams and stair cases. Simply breathtaking!
After we were settled in, at about 2:30 local time, we hit the sack for much-needed naps?must be rested for Mickey?s Very Merry Christmas Party!
We were up and moving around by 5:00 or so, and headed down to Roaring Forks for a quick dinner before heading to MK. My mother and father stayed behind?they were not planning to join us for the fun-filled evening! After filling up with hot-dogs, pizza, nachos and hamburgers, we walked down to the dock to catch the boat to MK. After a short wait, we were on our way.
We arrived at MK and approached the turnstiles. A steady stream of people were exiting, and we joined a much smaller crowd of people entering. As we started down Main Street, we saw signs for MVMCPers stating that Tomorrowland would be open until the party started. We decided to head there. When we were about ¾ there, the Disney sound system announced that the festivities were starting and welcomed us to Mickey?s Very Merry Christmas Party. The snow on Main Street started, and we paused to let the kids experience the ?snow.? Living in the Seattle area, my daughters have only seen snow once, so it is a novelty for them. Riley lives most of the year with his mother in Arizona, so it a novelty for him as well. I was a bit disappointed because as I compared the experience to MVMCP of two years ago, I realized that even though we had arrived ½ hour early then as well, the snow on Main Street was already coming down hard, and it seemed much more ?magical.? Regardless, it was still fun! The kids were trying to catch the snowflakes on their tongues, until we told them they were really soap flakes.
The first thing we hit was Buzz Lightyear?we rode several times with absolutely no wait. Then we headed to Fantasyland and rode Winnie the Pooh, again NO WAIT, and Peter Pan. We had our pictures taken at It?s A Small World, and then rode. Next, it was Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Those rides were walk-ons as well. After that we staked out spots for the Very Merry Christmas Parade, just across the street from the Shooting Arcade in Frontierland. The parade started about 5 minutes after we snagged our spots and it was awesome! We were right by the rope and the kids sat down, enjoying unobstructed views. After the Parade, we hit Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise (and need I say, no waits there either). Then we headed to get some cookies and hot chocolate and find a spot for the fireworks. Here we encountered our only ?snafu? of the evening, as our timing and placing was not good. We got cookies across from the Jungle Cruise and found ourselves not very well positioned AT ALL for the fireworks. We tried to grab a spot on the bridge from Adventureland to Main Street but by this time the crowds were pretty big, trees were in our way and it was impossible to move to another area for viewing. So we stuck it out there and still managed to enjoy the spectacular 360 degree fireworks that are unique to the holidays.
By the time the fireworks were done, the kids were pretty pooped. It was still fairly early (9:30) and we were loathe to leave when there WERE NO LINES FOR ANYTHING, but decided we would hit one last ride and then call it a night. The older kids (Riley and Katja) headed for Splash, and the little ones (Annika and Tallon) headed for one last Pooh ride. We then left the Kingdom, taking the boat back to Wilderness Lodge. We were back by 10:30 and everyone was in bed and fast asleep by 11:00!
Next: Magic Kingdom with Nana and Poppa!
