Day Three. (Dec. 23). Our original plan had been to start the day at Epcot, but the night before the kids begged and pleaded for Early Entry to get on the Magic Kingdom rides they hadn't managed to go on the day before. Now you have to realize that my kids like to get up early about as much as most people like to have their teeth pulled, so when they offered to get up early for EE, I didn't believe them. However, after they insisted, we told them they could have a chance but that we would not spend a lot of time trying to get them up. (School days are bad enough.) My mom and my brother decided they would rather sleep a little later and agreed to meet us after lunch at the resort.
Amazingly, the kids did get up after only a couple of reminders.
We had breakfast in the room (coffee, milk, bagels, peanut butter, cereal, etc.) and got to the MAGIC KINGDOM by 8:00. The good news was that in the morning on EE days the bus does not stop at the TTC but takes you straight to the park. The bad news was that most of the rides the kids wanted to go on were not operating that early.
Once upon a time the kids would have been thrilled to have no line at Dumbo, but such days are past. They wanted rollercoasters and the Haunted House. Since there wasn't much else to do, and there wasn't much line, we rode on a couple of rides which we normally would not line up for. Snow White, Peter Pan and Pooh are all nice enough rides if you don't have to wait to go on them. My favorite is still Peter Pan. After this we bought my husband a hat because I had discovered that I felt a lot less cold with a scarf over my ears. The previous day our son had talked his uncle into subsidizing his purchase of a Goofy hat (with long ears), but he wasn't sharing it with anyone even though his main use for it seemed to be to swing it around above his head. My husband's choice was a more modest knit cap that he (or one of the kids) could wear on other occasions.
By then they were allowing people into the rest of the park, but we discovered that the Haunted House was broken : ( and we would have to come back. We were very disappointed but we took fastpass and the kids headed for Big Thunder Mountain which they rode without much of a wait. Afterwards we tried the Haunted House again and, to our delight, it was running so we got on the standby line (it was about 5 minutes wait) and rode it before the time on our fastpasses. The kids wanted to ride it again, so we waited for them on some rocking chairs outside the jam and jelly shop which wasn't open yet. We have been on this spot many times on crowded, hot summer days, but sitting on thos chairs in cool weather before the crowds overtook the park was a new experience.
From the Haunted House we headed towards Toontown so the kids could ride the Barnstormer. By this point I was beginning to feel the beginning symptoms of a cold and I was a little worried, so I bought myself some orange juice and crossed my fingers. (I thought I had successfully averted a cold a few days before the trip by taking a lot of zinc, but it seemed that it was coming back.) After the Barnstormer, our son begged to ride the Grand Prix cars. I thought the line (more than 25 minute wait) was too long but he begged and begged until we decided to let him go ahead while the rest of us got lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. This worked out well because the line at Cosmic Rays was so long (even though it wasn't more than 11:00 AM) that we had barely sat down with the food when the kid came out of the car ride, bouncing with the pleasure of the experience (the first time he's ever ridden one of those cars on his own--on previous visits either the line was too long or he was too young to be allowed to drive one of the cars). We ate our burgers and then rode on the TTA (people mover) before heading out. We took our time, to enjoy the Christmas decorations, and on the way out we stopped at the bakery for coffee and dessert as well as some pastry for breakfast the next morning.
We got back to the hotel around 1 PM. I soaked my aching feet in cold water (and admired the growing bruise on my toe) before putting them up on a pillow for a hour (one lovely thing about the resort was that they had an extra pillow already in the room). At 3:30 PM we met with my mother and brother. She had spent part of the morning resting while he went off to Downtown Disney on his own. Then they'd met for lunch--I think at the Coral Cafe, but it may have been Tubbi's.
Anyway, we headed for EPCOT on the boat. It was a very pleasant ride, and when we got there we were pleased that we would be in time for the Tapestry of Nations parade and got in place to watch it. Unfortunately it had to be cancelled because of the high winds.
We therefore went on to Test Track and the kids and my brother rode on the "singles" line while my husband and I chatted with my mom. Afterwards we wandered back around the World's Showcase, shopping, snacking, enjoying the decorations and listening to the music. The Candlelight Processional crowd was really something! We ended at Millenium Village. Some of us were going to go on the Israel ride, but the line was awful, so we just shopped and participated in some of the activities. The kids liked talking with various people at the exhibits. My daughter was thrilled because one of the young men in the Sweden exhibit was obviously trying to talk-her-up. (Another postcard was written to her friends about this.)
By this point it was around 7 PM; I had begun to sneeze and my mother was tired of walking (she had again refused a wheelchair)
so we decided to call it a day. After all the snacking, we weren't very hungry, so we just got food at the foodcourt in the Millenium Village. We got dishes from different countries and all of us had a bit of everything. We got on the boat around 8 PM, crossing paths with the crowds of people coming over from the Studios to Epcot for Illuminations. We felt really superior to be able to see Illuminations from our own rooms.
On to Day 4
Back to Overview
[This message was edited by Emmalyn on 12-30-00 at 01:28 PM.]
Amazingly, the kids did get up after only a couple of reminders.
We had breakfast in the room (coffee, milk, bagels, peanut butter, cereal, etc.) and got to the MAGIC KINGDOM by 8:00. The good news was that in the morning on EE days the bus does not stop at the TTC but takes you straight to the park. The bad news was that most of the rides the kids wanted to go on were not operating that early. Once upon a time the kids would have been thrilled to have no line at Dumbo, but such days are past. They wanted rollercoasters and the Haunted House. Since there wasn't much else to do, and there wasn't much line, we rode on a couple of rides which we normally would not line up for. Snow White, Peter Pan and Pooh are all nice enough rides if you don't have to wait to go on them. My favorite is still Peter Pan. After this we bought my husband a hat because I had discovered that I felt a lot less cold with a scarf over my ears. The previous day our son had talked his uncle into subsidizing his purchase of a Goofy hat (with long ears), but he wasn't sharing it with anyone even though his main use for it seemed to be to swing it around above his head. My husband's choice was a more modest knit cap that he (or one of the kids) could wear on other occasions.
By then they were allowing people into the rest of the park, but we discovered that the Haunted House was broken : ( and we would have to come back. We were very disappointed but we took fastpass and the kids headed for Big Thunder Mountain which they rode without much of a wait. Afterwards we tried the Haunted House again and, to our delight, it was running so we got on the standby line (it was about 5 minutes wait) and rode it before the time on our fastpasses. The kids wanted to ride it again, so we waited for them on some rocking chairs outside the jam and jelly shop which wasn't open yet. We have been on this spot many times on crowded, hot summer days, but sitting on thos chairs in cool weather before the crowds overtook the park was a new experience.
From the Haunted House we headed towards Toontown so the kids could ride the Barnstormer. By this point I was beginning to feel the beginning symptoms of a cold and I was a little worried, so I bought myself some orange juice and crossed my fingers. (I thought I had successfully averted a cold a few days before the trip by taking a lot of zinc, but it seemed that it was coming back.) After the Barnstormer, our son begged to ride the Grand Prix cars. I thought the line (more than 25 minute wait) was too long but he begged and begged until we decided to let him go ahead while the rest of us got lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. This worked out well because the line at Cosmic Rays was so long (even though it wasn't more than 11:00 AM) that we had barely sat down with the food when the kid came out of the car ride, bouncing with the pleasure of the experience (the first time he's ever ridden one of those cars on his own--on previous visits either the line was too long or he was too young to be allowed to drive one of the cars). We ate our burgers and then rode on the TTA (people mover) before heading out. We took our time, to enjoy the Christmas decorations, and on the way out we stopped at the bakery for coffee and dessert as well as some pastry for breakfast the next morning.
We got back to the hotel around 1 PM. I soaked my aching feet in cold water (and admired the growing bruise on my toe) before putting them up on a pillow for a hour (one lovely thing about the resort was that they had an extra pillow already in the room). At 3:30 PM we met with my mother and brother. She had spent part of the morning resting while he went off to Downtown Disney on his own. Then they'd met for lunch--I think at the Coral Cafe, but it may have been Tubbi's.
Anyway, we headed for EPCOT on the boat. It was a very pleasant ride, and when we got there we were pleased that we would be in time for the Tapestry of Nations parade and got in place to watch it. Unfortunately it had to be cancelled because of the high winds.
We therefore went on to Test Track and the kids and my brother rode on the "singles" line while my husband and I chatted with my mom. Afterwards we wandered back around the World's Showcase, shopping, snacking, enjoying the decorations and listening to the music. The Candlelight Processional crowd was really something! We ended at Millenium Village. Some of us were going to go on the Israel ride, but the line was awful, so we just shopped and participated in some of the activities. The kids liked talking with various people at the exhibits. My daughter was thrilled because one of the young men in the Sweden exhibit was obviously trying to talk-her-up. (Another postcard was written to her friends about this.) By this point it was around 7 PM; I had begun to sneeze and my mother was tired of walking (she had again refused a wheelchair)
so we decided to call it a day. After all the snacking, we weren't very hungry, so we just got food at the foodcourt in the Millenium Village. We got dishes from different countries and all of us had a bit of everything. We got on the boat around 8 PM, crossing paths with the crowds of people coming over from the Studios to Epcot for Illuminations. We felt really superior to be able to see Illuminations from our own rooms.On to Day 4
Back to Overview
[This message was edited by Emmalyn on 12-30-00 at 01:28 PM.]
