Calhoun Christmas trip--Day 2--How early can we check in?

[JulesMom]

Cast of Characters:
Michele(me) 38—obsessive planner and WDW lover
Ronnie(DH) 40—has become Disney addicted, though he tries not to show it
Juliana(DD)16—aka Jules, WDW Princess, loves all things Disney, DIS obsessed
Jacob(DS)10—also Disney obsessed, loves Pluto

Dates—December 21,2002-December 30,2002

Accomodations:
Econolodge-Kissimmee—December 21
Beach Club-standard view—December 22-December 29
Comfort Inn-Tillman’s Corner-Mobile, Alabama—December 29

December 22
Day 2: How early can we check in?

Ronnie & I woke up about 6am. I had set the alarm for 5:40am but it didn’t go off, because the time was set to pm and I set the alarm for am!! We quickly dressed and repacked the car. I went to check out. We didn’t owe anything since I had paid thru Hotwire.

We’re finally off to WDW!! WooHoo!! But, first we have to miss our turn for Epcot Resorts and we head to AKL! We turn around and head the right direction.

6:38am—We arrive at BC! Do you think there is anyone in line to check in at this time?!? What line?!?

6:45am—We are checked in, have our room keys and our room is READY!! So, we have Bell Services unpack the car and we head up to the room. They let us leave the car at the entrance since we are coming back down to go to MK.

We are in room 3585. Not a bad location. We have a view of a courtyard, we paid for a standard view. But, it’s at the very corner, so you can’t see a lot. I’m thinking they gave it for a standard view, because if I had paid for a courtyard view, I wouldn’t be happy with this view.

I didn’t think I would like this hotel as much as YC and I’m right. The room is too frilly for me. It’s pink & light green. Lots of shells and seahorses. Pretty, but just not my style. We dump our bags off and tip the bellman $8 and head back down.

Ronnie parks the car and we head to the bus stop.

7:10am—We are waiting for a bus
7:14am—The MK bus arrives!! We make a quick stop at BW and are on our way.
7:28am—We are at MK and it is as beautiful as ever. I can’t believe we are back AGAIN!

We exchanged our AP renewal vouchers for the real thing—it only took a few minutes since no one was in line. Our old AP’s are still good for today though. We had to show our resort room keys to get into EE at MK.

7:38am—We get on the Main Street Bus. We go to the top level of course. There is this little kid named Dylan, who gets on after us with his Mom. We knew his name because his mom kept saying ”Sit down, Dylan” over and over. He steps all over us to get to the front of the bus. The ride only takes a few minutes and then he pushes past us to get off the bus first! As soon as he gets off, his mom and him take off running—really running to Fantasyland! We saw Dylan a few more times this day and he was always going 100mph. We head to Fantasyland, too.

The park is not very crowded.

7:45am—We have a 2” wait for Dumbo. My kids don’t like to ride this, but I usually make them do it once each trip
7:50am—Snow White with no wait(we rode in Sneezy)
7:55am—Peter Pan—1” wait
We looked around in the Tinker Bell shop. Jules loves Tink!
8:05—Pooh—1” wait
8:10—Teacups—1” wait

We looked in Mickey Star Traders. We had been trying to guess what the saying would be for 2003. We guessed—2003, The place to be! Boy, we’re we close. All the souvies had “The magical place to be in 2003”. We aren’t buying any 2003 souvies this trip. We’ll save that for June.

8:21am—Buzz—1” wait. I had the high score-as usual

FP 9:05-10:05—We got a FP for Space Mtn and then looked at the Pin Station close to the entrance. We had avoided collecting pins for years. But, we finally got hooked in March 2002 and are having a blast. We have over 500 pins!!

8:41—Haunted Mansion—3” wait
9:01—BTMRR—2”wait—we got to carry the little white tag that lets the CM’s know how long the wait is.
9:10—Splash Mtn—3” wait—luckily they didn’t have any of the sprayers on, so we didn’t get too wet.

We walked back to Tomorrowland to use our FP at Space.

9:44am—Space Mtn—5” wait—Stand-By line wait—30 minutes
FP 10:35-11:35—We got another FP for Space
10:00am—Carousel of Progress—no wait. I love this ride!!
10:28am—Timekeeper—4” wait
10:55am—Space Mtn—5” wait—Stand-By wait—45 minutes
There were at least 50 people in line at the FP entrance. Well, once the people who didn’t even have FP’s get out of line and the ones who’s time hadn’t come yet got out, too. 6 of us went in!!! This is one of my pet peeves!! I see people standing at the entrance waiting for their time—not just a few minutes—but a long time!! It defeats the whole purpose of FP

Now we’re hungry, so we go to Cosmic Ray’s. We love this place. My kids and DH like very plain food and this fits the bill. I like the toppings bar.
Me—Chicken sandwich with fries
DD—hot dog with fries
DS—hot dog with fries
DH—chicken tenders with fries
Jules & I shared a large lemonade and the boys shared a large Sprite. This is one of the ways we save a few $ during meals.
Total--$30.58

Jacob wanted to get a haircut and Jules wanted to look in the shops. So, Jake & I head to the Barber Shop and Jules & DH go to the shops.

We waited 35 minutes. There were only 2 families in front of us, but one of them had 2 sons and the dad got his haircut also. The other was a man and his older son. The older man worked for WDW and talked A LOT to the barber—it sounded as if they knew each other.

The haircut turned out great and Jacob loved it! He got red gel put in his spiked hair and they put Pixie Dust(glitter) in it! It was worth the wait. Now, he’s going to want to do this every time!
Total--$15 (includes $3 tip)

12:52pm—TTA—1”wait—this ride is just too relaxing!

Small World had a 15” wait, so we decided to skip it. We went to Scuttle’s Landing and got 3 Icee’s and Jules got a lemonade. We come here at least once each trip. The CM’s loved Jacob’s hair!
Total--$9.82

We wandered thru the castle and saw Mary Poppins and Bert out side. We waited 6” to see them. The kids quit getting autographs years ago—we have a stack of them at home. Bert asked Jacob if Tinker Bell sneezed in his hair—too funny!!

1:40pm—we went to Frontierland to find a spot for the 2pm Christmas parade. The only problem was the sun was VERY bright on the river side. We got a great spot except for the sun. We kept laughing saying—We would have enjoyed the Christmas parade, if it hadn’t been SO sunny!

We enjoyed the parade—despite the sun. Then we tried to get out of MK—and I did say tried. They had the ropes set up to direct the people across Main Street, but then it was blocked off. They would let us thru. There was a large gap in the parade and they still wouldn’t let us thru. So, we got to see about ½ of the parade again.

We decided to take the monorail to Epcot and then walk to BC. Jules & I love the movie in France and are hoping to see it once every day.

2:52pm—We had a 4” wait at the MK monorail station.
3:04pm—We had a 6” wait at the TTC
3:20pm—Finally, at Epcot.

3:28pm—Spaceship Earth—2”wait

We looked in MouseGears to see what we were going to buy with our CP discount tomorrow.

The boys headed to BC, but stopped and got a BeaverTail with Strawberries for Jacob
Total--$3.25

Jules & I got to France and bought a Strawberry Crepe—we’ve never had one here. Jules had never had a crepe—ever. It was very good!
Total--$3.50

4:29pm—Impressions de France—4” wait—We didn’t see this movie until last year and we became addicted. We even sit in certain seats EVERY time! Yes, we are obsessed!

As we came out of the France movie, the Pastry Shoppe didn’t have a line, so we got a Peach Tart and Raspberry Cheesecake
Total--$8.01

We decided we better get something to eat.

I walked to China and got food for me and the boys from Lotus Blossom. I got Sweet and Sour Chicken dinner and Veggie Lo Mein. I would have gotten 2 dinners for the boys, but I didn’t know if they would like this SweetnSour Chicken—they are very picky.
Total--$11.66

Jules went to Liberty Inn and got Chicken Strips with fries for her (She doesn’t like Chinese food)
Total--$6.88

We walked back to the room—carrying all that food! I love staying at the Epcot Resort area! It is just SO convenient!

We got to the room and starting unpacking. After that was done, we ate. Of course the boys liked the Chinese food! Jacob ended up eating some of my LoMein—it was HUGE by the way.

The kids & I went to the BC gift shop. There were not many cute souvies. We had this same problem at CR. Only VERY plain adult shirts and only 1 magnet.
We bought 1 t-shirt for Jacob and 1 magnet.
Total--$24.91

We went back to the room and relaxed by watching TV. We all were asleep by 11pm.

One of the things I noticed today—I wasn’t as tired as I thought I’d be. We had spent 15 hours in the car the day before and I felt less tired than I did when we flew. I think being able to move around more in the car made a big difference!

 

[Marla Hellwig]

You sure packed alot into one day - and you are off to a good start - thanks for posting!

 

[The Sybah Shelstah]

Sounds like a great day!

And wow.. I simply MUST know HOW you can give such a detailed report even down to the exact times! Seriously- that is very neat! But how did you do that? Do you write down things the whole time you are there or have a very very very good memory and write it down daily or when you get back or what?

 

[JulesMom]

I keep a piece of paper and pen in my pocket at all times!!!

The whole family keeps track of the times and I write them down. It can be a lot of work, but on the trips when I've kept good records, we read our journals over and over amny times.

It's so fun to go back and see what we did just a few years ago!

 

[letyfrombrazil]

great report
thanks!

 

[VickiVM]

Impressions of France is my husband's favorite, also. Well, I love it, too - but he LOVES IT, loves it. If they ever close that attraction then that would be the end of our WDW trips - seriously.

 

[KristaTX]

What is it about us Texans and Impressions de France? That is also my mom's favorite thing at Epcot, too. I tell everyone we know who is going to WDW to be sure and do that movie and to skip China's and Canada's if they need to. France's is just so peaceful, and you get to sit down.

It is nice to read a trip report from a family with older kids who love Disney.

 

[BbearRosenfeld]

I love your reports to far and can't wait to read the rest, literally, I'm looking every five minutes on the boards to see if I missed the next posts. Thanks for all the detail and I can't wait to drive up there from Mesquite, Texas myself one day when I have kids like yours. I'm pregnant right now and just dreaming of those future vacations. I do remember what bridge you talked about in the beginning in Houston, I used to close my eyes when we went over it as a little girl, I can't imagine driving over it!

 

[Jen D]

Has anymore of this report been posted? Did I miss it?

Enjoying it so far!

 

[JulesMom]

This bridge over the ship channel is new and it is MUCH higher that the old one! I HATE it!!!!

 

[perdidobay]

I'm really enjoying your trip reports Your joy at being there shines thru! I love Impressions of France too. The music is wonderful...it gives me chills when the movie first starts
I would rather drive too, I find it less stressful than being stuck on a plane ( with all the delays and things that happen nowadays)

 

[JulesMom]

I thought I would HATE driving so I was pleasantly surprised.

Jules & I have started collecting CD's of the composers in the France movie.

I bought her a Debussey CD and next I'm getting me a Saen-Sanz(or however you spell it! )