Day Four (Dec. 24). This was a non-park day. We had all been at the parks before, so we only got four-day passes and decided on two days in the park, one day off and then two more days. This turned out to work very well for us. We rented a car on the 24th because we figured it would cost us about the same to take a taxi to the different places we wanted to go to and the car was more convenient. National has a "desk" at the Dolphin, so it took no time at all to claim the car. (Because the next day was a holiday, we turned the car in to the valet parking services when we were done.) 
The price was high because it was holiday season.
In the morning we dropped off the kids at Disney Quest and my brother escorted our mother shopping for presents at Downtown Disney while my husband and I went off-site for groceries. (I also stocked up on cold remedies.) We had a little extra time, so we went down to Celebrations to look around at the shops and restaurants. Next trip, we will spend some time down there. Afterwards we had lunch at JUNGLE JIM'S, at the Crossroads, which the kids love. The waiter gave my son a lot of different plastic animals instead of just one like everyone else got in their sodas. The meal at Jungle Jim's was huge-- I got a monte cristo sandwich, but it turned out to be two sandwiches. My daughter got a huge club sandwich. The other adults got burgers (which Jungle Jim's does very well) and my son got some sort of peanut butter and jelly sandwich with gummy worms in it. Only my husband finished all his food. By this point I was definitely getting a cold and I needed to rest as much as possible, so we headed back to the resort. My mother went to her room to rest also and my brother went off to the Boardwalk. My husband read, we plugged our son into the TV with a video game and our daughter sat on the balcony and wrote poetry or letters or something while I lay down. At five PM we headed back to Downtown Disney for CIRQUE DU SOLEIL. We waited around until five-thirty, then were seated.
We had great seats. We had an aisle of six seats for us. We were in the area about three seats above the main pathway, slightly to the left. We had a terrific view of everything. People who like to be picked for audience participation things should ask to be seated towards the middle in the last row in front of the main pathway or walkway. (Sorry I can't be more specific as to number, rows, etc.)
Cirque du Soleil is an elaborate acrobatic act. It makes use of some special effects, and the sets and costumes are as impressive as the acrobats. I particularly liked the four solemn little girls and the act in the air with the fabric, but everything was terrific. The clowns were pretty good too. You could get popcorn for $4 in a souvenir bucket. We got some for the kids, partly because they really wanted popcorn and partly because the bucket made a nice souvenir. My daughter says she'll take her lunch to school in it one day. 
After Cirque we debated where to go for dinner but no one was really all that hungry and the kids were eager to open presents so we just went back to the hotel, picked up some soup and salad at Tubbi's and with that and some munchies from the fridge made a light supper before opening presents.
This is as good a moment as any to describe my tree. It came in two parts inside my suitcase, and it assembled to about four feet high. I put it on top of the stool from the beverage/vanity area, so that it stood out more without taking up valuable table space. It was a lightweight tree, so it went all right on the cushioned seat. I covered the foot of the tree (and the stripped cushion) with a green tree skirt and put all the presents under the tree just like we do at home. I didn't want to bother with packing decorations at the end of our stay, so I decorated it with candy canes and little red Toblerone "Peaks" (you could get boxes of them at Sam's this year). I used purple ribbon for the Peaks (which I prepared at home) and red ribbon for the candy canes (which I bought and prepared our first night at the Dolphin). I had a big foil star at the top also and used some of that foil and wire star garland (the kind you use for presents or for making wreaths for little girl's heads) to give the tree some sparkle. I had only one string of lights but the tree looked pretty nice. We began eating the ornaments the day after Christmas. The kids liked that part best of all.
After opening presents we all had coffee (decaf) or soda and dessert (I had bought some gourmet cookies and candies, including some sugar-free ones for my mom) while watching Illuminations from our balcony. I missed the traditional Xmas Eve dinner, but watching ILLUMINATIONS FROM OUR OWN BALCONY while munching cookies was a good substitute. Our son had got a new GameBoy game and our daughter some new CDs. For the next couple of days, they wandered around the parks absorbed in these new acquisitions. It made it easier for them to handle the long lines, but it also made it hard for the kids to hear/listen to the rest of us so that sometimes they wandered in one direction while we went in the other. 
On to Day 5
Back to Overview
[This message was edited by Emmalyn on 12-30-00 at 01:30 PM.]
The price was high because it was holiday season.In the morning we dropped off the kids at Disney Quest and my brother escorted our mother shopping for presents at Downtown Disney while my husband and I went off-site for groceries. (I also stocked up on cold remedies.) We had a little extra time, so we went down to Celebrations to look around at the shops and restaurants. Next trip, we will spend some time down there. Afterwards we had lunch at JUNGLE JIM'S, at the Crossroads, which the kids love. The waiter gave my son a lot of different plastic animals instead of just one like everyone else got in their sodas. The meal at Jungle Jim's was huge-- I got a monte cristo sandwich, but it turned out to be two sandwiches. My daughter got a huge club sandwich. The other adults got burgers (which Jungle Jim's does very well) and my son got some sort of peanut butter and jelly sandwich with gummy worms in it. Only my husband finished all his food. By this point I was definitely getting a cold and I needed to rest as much as possible, so we headed back to the resort. My mother went to her room to rest also and my brother went off to the Boardwalk. My husband read, we plugged our son into the TV with a video game and our daughter sat on the balcony and wrote poetry or letters or something while I lay down. At five PM we headed back to Downtown Disney for CIRQUE DU SOLEIL. We waited around until five-thirty, then were seated.
We had great seats. We had an aisle of six seats for us. We were in the area about three seats above the main pathway, slightly to the left. We had a terrific view of everything. People who like to be picked for audience participation things should ask to be seated towards the middle in the last row in front of the main pathway or walkway. (Sorry I can't be more specific as to number, rows, etc.)
Cirque du Soleil is an elaborate acrobatic act. It makes use of some special effects, and the sets and costumes are as impressive as the acrobats. I particularly liked the four solemn little girls and the act in the air with the fabric, but everything was terrific.
The clowns were pretty good too. You could get popcorn for $4 in a souvenir bucket. We got some for the kids, partly because they really wanted popcorn and partly because the bucket made a nice souvenir. My daughter says she'll take her lunch to school in it one day. After Cirque we debated where to go for dinner but no one was really all that hungry and the kids were eager to open presents so we just went back to the hotel, picked up some soup and salad at Tubbi's and with that and some munchies from the fridge made a light supper before opening presents.
This is as good a moment as any to describe my tree. It came in two parts inside my suitcase, and it assembled to about four feet high. I put it on top of the stool from the beverage/vanity area, so that it stood out more without taking up valuable table space. It was a lightweight tree, so it went all right on the cushioned seat. I covered the foot of the tree (and the stripped cushion) with a green tree skirt and put all the presents under the tree just like we do at home. I didn't want to bother with packing decorations at the end of our stay, so I decorated it with candy canes and little red Toblerone "Peaks" (you could get boxes of them at Sam's this year). I used purple ribbon for the Peaks (which I prepared at home) and red ribbon for the candy canes (which I bought and prepared our first night at the Dolphin). I had a big foil star at the top also and used some of that foil and wire star garland (the kind you use for presents or for making wreaths for little girl's heads) to give the tree some sparkle. I had only one string of lights but the tree looked pretty nice. We began eating the ornaments the day after Christmas. The kids liked that part best of all.
After opening presents we all had coffee (decaf) or soda and dessert (I had bought some gourmet cookies and candies, including some sugar-free ones for my mom) while watching Illuminations from our balcony. I missed the traditional Xmas Eve dinner, but watching ILLUMINATIONS FROM OUR OWN BALCONY while munching cookies was a good substitute.
Our son had got a new GameBoy game and our daughter some new CDs. For the next couple of days, they wandered around the parks absorbed in these new acquisitions. It made it easier for them to handle the long lines, but it also made it hard for the kids to hear/listen to the rest of us so that sometimes they wandered in one direction while we went in the other. On to Day 5
Back to Overview
[This message was edited by Emmalyn on 12-30-00 at 01:30 PM.]
He was playing it while we waited to be seated at the Sci-Fi diner. They called some other family near us to be seated. As that family walked by, our ds got up and followed them to the back, never once looking up from his gameboy. We all sat there laughing our heads off. 
Finally ds looks up and realizes his mistake. Boy was his face red. <IMG WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15" SRC="/infopop/emoticons/icon_redface.gif" alt="red face"> We still tease him about it. 
