2belles'mom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2000
- Messages
- 406
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
Day 2
December 20. We awakened to a driving rain. Our plans had originally called for an 8:15 departure to the Magic Kingdom (for a 9:00 opening), but we decided that it was just to wet and drizzly outside, and that the kids needed some extra sleep (as did some of the adults!).
Poppa knocked on our door at about 7:30 and suggested that we all sleep a bit more. Mom was still sleeping, as were David and the two girls. Sarah tapped through the adjoining door?she and Tallon were up and about, but Steve and Riley were still out cold. The four of us (me, Poppa, Sarah, Tallon) headed to Roaring Forks and loaded up with food and coffee in our handy-dandy refillable mugs. Once back in the rooms, the smell of food and coffee got our sleepy heads going.
We wound up having a leisurely time of it, and went to the dock to catch the MK boat at around 9:45. The weather had cleared up a bit by then (well, it had stopped raining, for the most part). It was fairly warm out--I would say about 70 degrees or so, perhaps warmer. After a quick ride, we were deposited at the MK entrance and made our way in.
We made directly for Tomorrowland where Steve, Riley, Katja and Poppa rode Space Mountain and Sarah, Nana, Tallon, Annika and I rode Buzz. We rode Buzz twice, were joined by the others and all rode again. There were no lines!!! Fantastic, because I had been expecting some. A combination of the pre-Christmas timing and the terrible weather was working in our favor. Our tour took us through Fantasyland next, where we rode Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo and Snow White. My parents, who had not accompanied us the previous night at MVMCP, were having a good time and enjoying the light attendance and lack of lines.
The older kids then headed for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder. Sarah, Nana and I took the little ones on character encounters--we cavorted with the Queen of Hearts, Prince John, Alice in Wonderland, The Mad Hatter, the Rabbit and Buzz Lightyear. All of these characters were out and about and we had them practically ALL TO OURSELVES. We stayed in touch with the rest of the gang using our handy-dandy 2-way radios.
We rejoined each other in Toon Town where we met more characters--Cinderella, and BEST OF ALL, Malifient and the Evil Queen. These two villians were in rare form, and my brother will never forgert the Queen's dead pan devlivery of the line, "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it." We took lots of pics of the wicked women!
Following our adventure in Toon Town, we hit Jungle Cruise and Pirates. Great fun!
By now it was lunchtime, and we had Priority Seating for the Winnie the Pooh breakfast at the Crystal Palace. We made our way there and checked in, then had to wait for a bit before we were seated. The kids were hungry and getting a tad cranky, but perked up when they saw the characters. Tallon was asleep in the stroller, and I was worried that he was going to miss out on Pooh Bear! The buffet was very good, with lots of stuff for the kids. We had a great time, filled ourselves up, and got to visit with Piglet, Tigger, Eyeore, and of course, Winnie the Pooh himself.
After lunch, we thought we would go back to the hotel for some swimming and naps. Nana and Poppa (well, really just Nana) weren't quite ready to go, so they stayed for some Main Street power shopping. The rest of the crew hopped the boat back to Wilderness. By now it was sunny and quite warm--great swimming weather!
Once back in our rooms, at about 3:00, we changed into suits and headed down to the beautiful pool. I got life jackets for the little ones (Sarah attempted to nap Tallon, but was unsuccessful, so he joined us for swimming), and piles of towels. The pool has a "waterfall" that flows into it that creates a strong current. Riley loved this, and spent HOURS swimming against that current. The slide was a big draw, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Annika, however, did have one rough ride--a bit of tumbling as she came down that kept her away from it for awhile. There are also two hot tubs that were a big hit with our gang--a "hot" hot tub and a "warm" hot tub. Neither were really excessively hot, and we spent a good chunk of time in those tubs. We grabbed fancy drinks from the Trout Pass Pool Bar and kicked back in the warm water under the sparkling Florida sun---ahhhh, how nice! After about 2 ½ hours we returned to the rooms for showers and to get ready for dinner.
Mom and Dad were back by then, and we hooked up for dinner at the Whispering Canyon Café. We were looking forward to a good time since we had had so much fun the last time we had dined here. Unfortunately, Tallon was not happy with the ambience and had a good fit as soon as we were seated (well, he hadn't napped, now had he?). Sarah was tired from a long day and decided not to battle with him all evening so she took him and went back up to the room. The food was not too good this time around--I had pork chops that were pretty dry, and the ribs Dave had were dry and stringy too. It was too bad, because we know this restaurant can do better! Our waiter was a bit of a dud as well--He wouldn't even sit down with us, and only threw straws at us ONCE! He didn't yell at us, but I guess he did do the fake ketchup trick with Riley. Got him good too! The look on Riley's face was priceless as that long red string came flying out of the squeeze bottle and hit his chest. As we were readying to depart, the cast members did an all call for all the kids and they got to participate in a wooden horse race around the restaurant. The kids loved it. At the end they had them chant ("repeat after me") that they would always eat their vegetables and that they promised not to go to Universal Studios. This upset Katja some, as she was looking forward to checking out that OTHER theme park.
After dinner we made our way back to the rooms where we spent some time talking and visiting and getting everyone ready for bed. I got the Christmas trees I had lugged with me from home out of the suitcase and distributed them--three little 2-foot jobbies with cute lights. One for each of our rooms?hey we were going to be here for CHRISTMAS! We hit the sack for some much needed sleep before our next adventure--MGM STUDIOS!
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
Day 2
December 20. We awakened to a driving rain. Our plans had originally called for an 8:15 departure to the Magic Kingdom (for a 9:00 opening), but we decided that it was just to wet and drizzly outside, and that the kids needed some extra sleep (as did some of the adults!).
Poppa knocked on our door at about 7:30 and suggested that we all sleep a bit more. Mom was still sleeping, as were David and the two girls. Sarah tapped through the adjoining door?she and Tallon were up and about, but Steve and Riley were still out cold. The four of us (me, Poppa, Sarah, Tallon) headed to Roaring Forks and loaded up with food and coffee in our handy-dandy refillable mugs. Once back in the rooms, the smell of food and coffee got our sleepy heads going.
We wound up having a leisurely time of it, and went to the dock to catch the MK boat at around 9:45. The weather had cleared up a bit by then (well, it had stopped raining, for the most part). It was fairly warm out--I would say about 70 degrees or so, perhaps warmer. After a quick ride, we were deposited at the MK entrance and made our way in.
We made directly for Tomorrowland where Steve, Riley, Katja and Poppa rode Space Mountain and Sarah, Nana, Tallon, Annika and I rode Buzz. We rode Buzz twice, were joined by the others and all rode again. There were no lines!!! Fantastic, because I had been expecting some. A combination of the pre-Christmas timing and the terrible weather was working in our favor. Our tour took us through Fantasyland next, where we rode Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo and Snow White. My parents, who had not accompanied us the previous night at MVMCP, were having a good time and enjoying the light attendance and lack of lines.
The older kids then headed for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder. Sarah, Nana and I took the little ones on character encounters--we cavorted with the Queen of Hearts, Prince John, Alice in Wonderland, The Mad Hatter, the Rabbit and Buzz Lightyear. All of these characters were out and about and we had them practically ALL TO OURSELVES. We stayed in touch with the rest of the gang using our handy-dandy 2-way radios.
We rejoined each other in Toon Town where we met more characters--Cinderella, and BEST OF ALL, Malifient and the Evil Queen. These two villians were in rare form, and my brother will never forgert the Queen's dead pan devlivery of the line, "I'm so excited and I just can't hide it." We took lots of pics of the wicked women!
Following our adventure in Toon Town, we hit Jungle Cruise and Pirates. Great fun!
By now it was lunchtime, and we had Priority Seating for the Winnie the Pooh breakfast at the Crystal Palace. We made our way there and checked in, then had to wait for a bit before we were seated. The kids were hungry and getting a tad cranky, but perked up when they saw the characters. Tallon was asleep in the stroller, and I was worried that he was going to miss out on Pooh Bear! The buffet was very good, with lots of stuff for the kids. We had a great time, filled ourselves up, and got to visit with Piglet, Tigger, Eyeore, and of course, Winnie the Pooh himself.
After lunch, we thought we would go back to the hotel for some swimming and naps. Nana and Poppa (well, really just Nana) weren't quite ready to go, so they stayed for some Main Street power shopping. The rest of the crew hopped the boat back to Wilderness. By now it was sunny and quite warm--great swimming weather!
Once back in our rooms, at about 3:00, we changed into suits and headed down to the beautiful pool. I got life jackets for the little ones (Sarah attempted to nap Tallon, but was unsuccessful, so he joined us for swimming), and piles of towels. The pool has a "waterfall" that flows into it that creates a strong current. Riley loved this, and spent HOURS swimming against that current. The slide was a big draw, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Annika, however, did have one rough ride--a bit of tumbling as she came down that kept her away from it for awhile. There are also two hot tubs that were a big hit with our gang--a "hot" hot tub and a "warm" hot tub. Neither were really excessively hot, and we spent a good chunk of time in those tubs. We grabbed fancy drinks from the Trout Pass Pool Bar and kicked back in the warm water under the sparkling Florida sun---ahhhh, how nice! After about 2 ½ hours we returned to the rooms for showers and to get ready for dinner.
Mom and Dad were back by then, and we hooked up for dinner at the Whispering Canyon Café. We were looking forward to a good time since we had had so much fun the last time we had dined here. Unfortunately, Tallon was not happy with the ambience and had a good fit as soon as we were seated (well, he hadn't napped, now had he?). Sarah was tired from a long day and decided not to battle with him all evening so she took him and went back up to the room. The food was not too good this time around--I had pork chops that were pretty dry, and the ribs Dave had were dry and stringy too. It was too bad, because we know this restaurant can do better! Our waiter was a bit of a dud as well--He wouldn't even sit down with us, and only threw straws at us ONCE! He didn't yell at us, but I guess he did do the fake ketchup trick with Riley. Got him good too! The look on Riley's face was priceless as that long red string came flying out of the squeeze bottle and hit his chest. As we were readying to depart, the cast members did an all call for all the kids and they got to participate in a wooden horse race around the restaurant. The kids loved it. At the end they had them chant ("repeat after me") that they would always eat their vegetables and that they promised not to go to Universal Studios. This upset Katja some, as she was looking forward to checking out that OTHER theme park.
After dinner we made our way back to the rooms where we spent some time talking and visiting and getting everyone ready for bed. I got the Christmas trees I had lugged with me from home out of the suitcase and distributed them--three little 2-foot jobbies with cute lights. One for each of our rooms?hey we were going to be here for CHRISTMAS! We hit the sack for some much needed sleep before our next adventure--MGM STUDIOS!
