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
December 25--Christmas Day
Not surprisingly, the kids woke up first, at about 7:00. They immediately saw the stockings hanging from the posts of the upper bunk, and the mounds of gifts (wrapped mostly in Walt Disney World shopping bags, but the kids didn't seem to mind!). We moved all of the gifts next door, into Steve and Sarah?s room and used that area for our gift exchange. The kids had a lot of fun, and so did the adults. We asked mousekeeping for large trash bags so we could bag up the Christmas debris and put it in the hall. The kids spent some time playing with their new loot, and then we piled into the two rental cars and drove to Epcot for our 10:00 Storybook Princess Breakfast at Akershus Castle in Norway.
After arrival, we went to directly to Norway. It was a long haul from the main entrance to Norway (probably should have entered through International Gateway), but we made it just in time. Still, there was a fifteen minute wait, so we rode Maelstrom. Hmmm, I was a little disappointed by this ride. I guess I expected something different because it has Fast Pass. Breakfast was great. It is served family style and the CMs were all students from Norway. We got to visit with Belle, Jasmine, Aurora, Snow White and Mulan. Mulan was a huge hit as we had never seen her before! I think it was actually BETTER than Cindy's Royal Table?more real princesses and a much more intimate setting.
After breakfast we toured World Showcase. This was the first time to Epcot for Steve, Sarah, and David, so they wanted to get a good feel for things. It was fairly crowded, but still manageable. MUCH better than any of the other parks would have been, I am sure (we later heard that MK had been shut down by 10, with 80,000people through the turnstiles!). We went to most of the pavilions and had a good time listening to stories told by Father Christmas, Papa Noel, and other incarnations of Santa Clause at the various countries. The kids enjoyed the KidCot stations where they made cool masks and collected stamps and other doo-dads from each pavilion.
In Morocco, we found Aladdin and the girls had pics with him; in England we found Beauty and the Beast and the entire Pooh ensemble. We watched Off Kilter, a Scottish rock band, and the ???I am not sure what they are called? Like Harelquins, in Italy.
We got fastpasses for Test Track and for Honey I Shrunk the Audience. The Test Track passes were not valid until much later, but Steve, Sarah, Tallon, and Annika did Honey I Shrunk the Audience within an hour of getting the FPs.
At 5:00, we were back at Akershus for our Candlelight Processional Dinner. This was another little glitch in my planning (although it worked out alright); I hadn't realized the restaurant was the SAME as the storybook princess breakfast. No matter; the food was an authentic Norwegian buffet for dinner where the breakfast had absolutely nothing Norwegian about it. It was quite good. David, Sarah, Poppa, Riley, Katja and I left early to use our Test Track fast passes--it was going to be tight between Test Track and Candlelight!
Luckily, we didn't have a long wait at all in the Fast Pass line. The ride was a lot of fun-it was our first time on it. Too bad Steve missed it, but his ankle (recently had 9 pins put in it) was really killing him form all the walking. After, we made our way to the American Pavilion and found the rest of the gang already seated. We were sort of late, so we wound up not sitting together, but we still had good seats. The Processioal was wonderful, and the girls LOVED IT. The music was haunting, beautiful. Our celebreity narrator (ugh, can't remember his name)was the guy from Forrest Gump. He was very good. Unfortunately, it was VERY COLD at this point, and our light jackets were not enough. My mom was so chilled that she couldn't stay, so we had to leave before it was over. My two girls were upset--they really wanted to stay! It was too bad, but my mom was not in good shape. We made our way out of Epcot and back to Lodge, where we spent a quiet evening visiting and went to bed early. Tomorrow--our last park day!
Early Entry at the Magic Kingdom, the Pirate Cruise and Fantasmic!
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
December 25--Christmas Day
Not surprisingly, the kids woke up first, at about 7:00. They immediately saw the stockings hanging from the posts of the upper bunk, and the mounds of gifts (wrapped mostly in Walt Disney World shopping bags, but the kids didn't seem to mind!). We moved all of the gifts next door, into Steve and Sarah?s room and used that area for our gift exchange. The kids had a lot of fun, and so did the adults. We asked mousekeeping for large trash bags so we could bag up the Christmas debris and put it in the hall. The kids spent some time playing with their new loot, and then we piled into the two rental cars and drove to Epcot for our 10:00 Storybook Princess Breakfast at Akershus Castle in Norway.
After arrival, we went to directly to Norway. It was a long haul from the main entrance to Norway (probably should have entered through International Gateway), but we made it just in time. Still, there was a fifteen minute wait, so we rode Maelstrom. Hmmm, I was a little disappointed by this ride. I guess I expected something different because it has Fast Pass. Breakfast was great. It is served family style and the CMs were all students from Norway. We got to visit with Belle, Jasmine, Aurora, Snow White and Mulan. Mulan was a huge hit as we had never seen her before! I think it was actually BETTER than Cindy's Royal Table?more real princesses and a much more intimate setting.
After breakfast we toured World Showcase. This was the first time to Epcot for Steve, Sarah, and David, so they wanted to get a good feel for things. It was fairly crowded, but still manageable. MUCH better than any of the other parks would have been, I am sure (we later heard that MK had been shut down by 10, with 80,000people through the turnstiles!). We went to most of the pavilions and had a good time listening to stories told by Father Christmas, Papa Noel, and other incarnations of Santa Clause at the various countries. The kids enjoyed the KidCot stations where they made cool masks and collected stamps and other doo-dads from each pavilion.
In Morocco, we found Aladdin and the girls had pics with him; in England we found Beauty and the Beast and the entire Pooh ensemble. We watched Off Kilter, a Scottish rock band, and the ???I am not sure what they are called? Like Harelquins, in Italy.
We got fastpasses for Test Track and for Honey I Shrunk the Audience. The Test Track passes were not valid until much later, but Steve, Sarah, Tallon, and Annika did Honey I Shrunk the Audience within an hour of getting the FPs.
At 5:00, we were back at Akershus for our Candlelight Processional Dinner. This was another little glitch in my planning (although it worked out alright); I hadn't realized the restaurant was the SAME as the storybook princess breakfast. No matter; the food was an authentic Norwegian buffet for dinner where the breakfast had absolutely nothing Norwegian about it. It was quite good. David, Sarah, Poppa, Riley, Katja and I left early to use our Test Track fast passes--it was going to be tight between Test Track and Candlelight!
Luckily, we didn't have a long wait at all in the Fast Pass line. The ride was a lot of fun-it was our first time on it. Too bad Steve missed it, but his ankle (recently had 9 pins put in it) was really killing him form all the walking. After, we made our way to the American Pavilion and found the rest of the gang already seated. We were sort of late, so we wound up not sitting together, but we still had good seats. The Processioal was wonderful, and the girls LOVED IT. The music was haunting, beautiful. Our celebreity narrator (ugh, can't remember his name)was the guy from Forrest Gump. He was very good. Unfortunately, it was VERY COLD at this point, and our light jackets were not enough. My mom was so chilled that she couldn't stay, so we had to leave before it was over. My two girls were upset--they really wanted to stay! It was too bad, but my mom was not in good shape. We made our way out of Epcot and back to Lodge, where we spent a quiet evening visiting and went to bed early. Tomorrow--our last park day!
Early Entry at the Magic Kingdom, the Pirate Cruise and Fantasmic!
