Shel
<font color=6600CC>Keep those alligators under the
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
Gerry - 40
Shel - 38
Elizabeth - 7
Hightlights from Day 1, Dec. 22
After leaving Ohio's snowing & blowing, it was a pleasure to walk out of Orlando's airport into temperatures in the 60s! Our Tiffany driver, Nassa, was right there waiting for us, and had us on our way to Caribbean Beach Resort in a matter of minutes! This IS the life.
CBR check-in was wonderful! We got there about 10:00 a.m., and they had a first floor (as requested) room ready for us, which according to our bellman, DJ, was a bit unusual. We looked at it as Disney magic! DJ was full of useful information for us - parade times, park hours, weather forecast, etc. We arrived at Jamaica & unpacked, and were ready to "hit it"! We grabbed our souviner mugs and headed for Port Royale for a quick bite to eat. I love this food court, its so festive, the music is great & the cast members are friendly.
After a quick lunch we catch a bus for Epcot. The crowds were light & we were able to just walk on Spaceship Earth. Its a family tradition to go on this ride first. Then we were on to the main event - to see the Tapestry of Nations parade. This was as wonderful as I remembered it being, the Sage of Time is so magestic and the whole parade is just inspiring.
We enjoyed a supper at Le Cellier; we had the every popular Cheddar Cheese soup as an appetizer, and is this every yummy! When we were waiting to check in at the podium, we heard many people being turned away because they were booked up. Priority seating is an absolute must for any sit down restaurant IMHO, especially during peak season.
We left before Illuminations because we didn't have enough layers of clothes on. Once the sun went down it got very chilly. So we called it a night rather early, which was fine since our day started at about 4:00 a.m.
Highlights from Day 2, Dec. 23
We spent this day at Animal Kingdom. We started with a breakfast at Donald's Restaurantasauras, which is a all you can eat buffet. Mickey, Donald, Goofy & Pluto are also there to meet & greet the kids, and the young at heart. Elizabeth decided to tell our server that her birthday was coming up (Jan 4), after a little boy had been sung to because today was his birthday. Before we left our server brought her a sealed card & told her she couldn't open it till her birthday. I thought that was a special thing to do, it recognized her birthday, but didn't take away the specialness of the little boy's beside of us since it really was his birthday!
The park hours had been changed from closing at 7 p.m. to closing at 5 p.m., which messed up our PS for 6:30 at Rain Forest Cafe. So I walked in & was able to get it changed for 4:30, which ended up being a better idea anyway, because after our big breakfast we were able to skip lunch completely.
We rode the Dinosaur ride, which really didn't seem to be any tamer than the last time we rode it, but its been a couple of years, so we might not remember how wild it was. Elizabeth enjoyed it though.
The Lion King show is always a highlight of any trip, and a definite "not to miss" experience. We enjoyed Its Tough to Be a Bug, and then did a fast pass for the safari. Fast Passes are a wonderful thing! Luckily the Christmas crowds hadn't picked up yet. We also did Flights of Wonder for the first time & all enjoyed that. We were pleasantly surprised with this show. It doesn't have all the fancy trappings of other Disney shows, but it was interesting & entertaining in an educational yet fun format.
After a delicious supper at RFC we bussed back to CBR. Here's a good time to mention Presentations - Gifts of a Lifetime & Jane C. I had contacted Jane quite awhile ago for some ideas to make our Christmas at Disney special, and she helped me schedule 2 events, one of which I will tell you about now. To prepare for this event I had to send down unbreakable, small, recognizable family decorations and stockings, and then Jane & her pixies would take care of the rest. While we were at the Animal Kingdom, Jane & her pixies put up a table top fiber optic tree, decorated it with our own decorations, added some new decorations, had some cookies & candy there, hung & filled our stockings, and just gave our room a very festive appearance. Plus an extra touch was a note from Santa asking housekeeping to leave the lights on the tree. The look on Elizabeth's face was priceless when we walked into our room that evening. The room lights were off, the tree was lit & the room was fantastic. It just couldn't have been nicer! (Thanks again Jane, if you're reading this!)
Highlights from Day 3, Dec. 24
We started the day with breakfast at Chef Mickey's, my favorite character meal! I love the party atmosphere here, and the interaction with the characters.
This is the day I was really looking forward to though, because it was our first day at the Magic Kingdom. Plus it was the day of our 2nd special event using Jane & Gifts of a Lifetime. Today we had planned for Elizabeth to have presents "fall from the sky" from Santa. They would all have her name on them, and stickers reading "DO NOT OPEN TILL DEC. 25.". After many emails back & forth with Jane, going over details, gift list, ideas, and final plans, we had this event all ready to go. We "innocently" lead Elizabeth to the wishing well behind Cinderella's castle on the right. One of Jane's pixies was standing there & while Elizabeth was making her wish a present "fell" beside her. The pixie picked it up & looked at it & said "this has been happening all day, let's see who this is for, hmmmm, it says Elizabeth (last name), I wonder who that could be?" All I can say here is WOW! The look of total amazement was indescribable. Elizabeth looked up in the sky to see where it could've possibly fallen from & couldn't figure out what happened. Then we made our way to the Teacups & she wanted to ride. So she did (thank goodness she's old enough to ride herself because just watching this one almost makes me dizzy). From the teacups we went on in to Fantasyland & another present magically appeared in front of us as we were walking. Even Gerry & I didn't spot where this one came from. Elizabeth picked it up & was amazed that this gift also had her name on it. By now Gerry had spotted Jane so I distracted Elizabeth long enough for him to go get a bag from her to carry the gifts in.
From here she & Gerry rode Dumbo, which then gave me a chance to meet Jane for the first time, we chatted & made some plans for the walk to Big Thunder. While they were in line for Dumbo another gift "fell" for her. Gerry said he saw another Dad in line with them that was just DIEING to ask how we had arranged that, but just didn't dare ask for fear of ruining the illusion for Elizabeth. After a ride on the carrousel we needed to start walking to BTMRR. On the way we noticed a present up against the wall by the old skyway, so Elizabeth jumped up to take a look, and of course it had her name on it. On the walk to BTMRR she stopped to get a drink & another gift "fell" beside of her. People are really checking us out, and smiling at the lucky little girl who's presents are falling from the sky! We end up at BTMRR and the pixies (3 of the, plus Jane) still have 1 more gift to give her. We get in line & the pixies are in line ahead of us. They communicate w/Jane via walkie talkies & she tells them to ride BTMRR. (Where do I sign up for this job?) All thru the line Elizabeth is chattering a mile a minute about these gifts & what would happen if one landed in the train while she was riding. Now the pixies are good, BUT...of course ruining, or losing a present is not what they're about. But it was SO funny, because just as Elizabeth turned to me & said she wondered if one would land beside her in line, one of the pixies turned & "deposited" the last gift beside of her. Again, she was stunned & thought she was probably the luckiest kid in the world! After the ride we arranged for Gerry & Elizabeth to ride Splash Mountain while I wrapped things up with Jane. This event couldn't have been more special! We were so impressed with how this all worked out, because even though we were around these 4 women for about 2 hours, Elizabeth never spotted them, saw what made the magic happen, or was even suspicious of it being anything other than Christmas/Disney/Santa magic! Jane & her pixies took the gifts back to our room & arranged them nicely under our tree, plus had a couple more there that were breakable, and one that was too big (a Kelly doll) to risk being seen with. I can't recommend Jane & Gifts of a Lifetime enough. I've read plenty of trip reports about them, but until I experienced the magic myself, I had no idea what it would be like! Today was the best!
From the Magic Kingdom we took the monorail to Epcot. Elizabeth got to ride in the front seat! Tonight was the night of our Candlelight Processional Package. Before the show we watched another performance of TON. I can't get enough of this parade! The Candlelight was wonderful, and Gary Sinise was a great narrator. With it being Christmas Eve, it just made it all the more special. Supper was in Germany at the Biergarten. The food was good, but the only thing we were disappointed in was that the cold food & hot food didn't have a seperate line, so if you were done with your salad & wanted some hot food you had to wait in the salad line again. We decided we probably won't come back here again, even though the floor show is entertaining.
Highlights from Day 4, Dec. 25
We got up about 6:00 & Elizabeth opened all her gifts that Jane had picked out using my ideas. She was thrilled with everything, and so were we!
First breakfast at the Food Court, and then off to the Magic Kingdom. Us and a million other people. Yes, we are CRAZY! Gerry & Elizabeth got a fast pass for Space Mountain right away, and only had to wait a short time. While they were riding that the line stretched all the way back to the shops, and went from a 15 minute wait to a 2 hour wait, in just a matter of minutes. MK was quickly filling up & we guessed it was probably at capacity. We did the Mickey's Night Before Christmas show which was great. It was SRO, and we managed to get behind some woman who couldn't get her camcorder/tri-pod adjusted to her liking & kept standing up in front of Elizabeth.
Now granted, she was in the last row, BUT there were people behind her yet, about 10 deep! A little consideration goes a long ways. 
We had a scrumptious lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, and when we walked out about an 1/2 hour before Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade the sidewalks were packed! You'd think with this being my 8th trip that I would've checked parade times a little more closely, so we just got Elizabeth in where she could see. As little kids came up behind us we'd move back so they could see. I love parades as much as anyone does, but typically when a kid can't see a parade its the result of parent's poor planning, and I don't think the kids should have to pay for that. So I don't have a problem letting little ones squeeze in ahead of me, as long as they're polite about it.
After the parade we got in line for BTMRR, the wait was 45 minutes, but it was the shortest line. We rode it twice, and decided to just walk around. It was just too crowded to really even walk! When you can't see pavement, its too crowded. Supper was w/Pooh & friends at Crystal Palace. After that we staked out a spot to see the fireworks, down a path by the rose garden. We already knew we weren't going to get close to see Main Street Electrical parade, but we could see & hear it from where we were setting. The fireworks were great as usual, though nothing extra special for it being Christmas day & I was a little surprised. One thing that I was pleased with is that all the CMs that we were in contact with on this day were just as happy, helpful, and pleasant on Christmas Day as they have been on any other day. We left each one an extra special tip to help make their own Christmas brighter like they had ours.
Highlights from Day 5, Dec. 26
Day of rest, laundery, and swimming for Gerry & Elizabeth. A quiet, relaxing day in the middle of our trip! All meals were at the food court.
Highlights from Day 6, Dec. 27
Today we went to MGM Studios. We started out with my favorite - Beauty & the Beast! We also saw the Mulan parade (sorry, not impressed), rode the Great Movie ride, which Elizabeth loves! Lunch was at Mama Melrose's, and was wonderful! Supper was at our favorite spot - Prime Time 50's. Elizabeth chose to share with our "Uncle Mike" that Gerry's birthday was Dec. 29, and hers is Jan. 4. So "Uncle Mike" brought them each a bowl of ice cream with a candle on it & led the room in a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Princess & Scooter! Lots of laughs here!
Elizabeth was afraid to do TOT or RRRC, and Gerry & I thought she was too young to take the chicken elevator herself, so we opted not to ride it this time. It did spark a conversation between us about the possibility of taking a trip alone sometime this year since we have annual passes!
This park is just not one of our favorites, but we like a couple of things here. We did a walk thru of the Osborne lights which were spectacular! It was nice because a lot of the crowd must've been in Fantasmic because we were able to stroll thru at a leisurely pace.
Highlights from Day 7, Dec. 28
We split today between Magic Kingdom & Epcot. It was still WAY crowded than what we're typically used to from going before Christmas. We were able to ride some rides, and have a fun day. At Epcot we watched the TON again , and then had an early supper at Garden Grill (4:00). This worked out wonderful because the restaurant was not crowded at all so the characters got a chance to interact with the kids more. Mickey sat down & colored with Elizabeth, and then shortly after that I noticed he got right down on the floor & played cars with a little boy (looked to be about 3). This is what makes Disney special! Pluto "fell in love" with Elizabeth & signed her autograph "to my sweet Elizabeth", another magical moment! After that we went to World Showcase again & got settled in to wait for Illuminations. We found a bench in Norway & parked there to wait. Soon about a dozen foreigners stopped right in front of us up against the railing! How rude! So we moved to another bench. We looked over & noticed that they now moved to the empty bench & parked their stollers & wheelchairs in the fence ahead of them so no one could stand in front of them! We were not pleased at all with this treatment! But what's a person to do!? Disney World is not the place to cause a scene, so we let it drop. We ended up sharing the bench with a man and his mother & had a wonderful time talking for about an hour. Elizabeth chatted right along w/this lady (70ish), and her son told me that she would probably enjoy talking to Elizabeth more than she would the show!
Highlights from Day 8, Dec. 29, last day!
Gerry's birthday! We slept in!! The weather turns cooler! All week its been tolerable in the high 60s/low 70s during the day. In the evenings it was a good idea to layer clothes to keep warm. But we grin & bear it, bundle up & go to Epcot. Its probably in the low 50s & we are freezing! Gerry & Elizabeth ride the Maelstrom. Lunch was at San Angel Inn at Mexico, true authentic Mexican food. Servie was impecable & food was deliscious! We saw our last TON parade of the trip
, but were lucky enough to see all of both of them. We were sitting Morracco & when our parade was over, the 2nd one was coming into the the other side of Morracco so we walked over there & saw the 2nd parade too! Another Magic Moment! Being at the end of the parade is great too because each of the puppets honor the Sage of Time in one way or another as he waves them thru the gateway. Its quite an experience.
We passed up our PS to Marakesh because we were just too cold! So on the way out we stopped in Canada & appeased ourselves with some yummy beavertails! A sacrifice indeed!
We spent our last evening relaxing & having fun at CBR arcade. If it hadn't been so cold we would've went back out to the MK, but the crowds were unbelievable, plus we were just plain worn out.
Dec. 30, pack & go home! Tiffany's Nassa was again, prompt, courteous & got us to the airport with no problems. He even got a tip via hq about avoiding a traffic jam which we saw!
If you've stuck with me this far, thanks for reading! If you have any questions feel free to email me!
Have a Disney Day!
Shel - 38
Elizabeth - 7
Hightlights from Day 1, Dec. 22
After leaving Ohio's snowing & blowing, it was a pleasure to walk out of Orlando's airport into temperatures in the 60s! Our Tiffany driver, Nassa, was right there waiting for us, and had us on our way to Caribbean Beach Resort in a matter of minutes! This IS the life.
CBR check-in was wonderful! We got there about 10:00 a.m., and they had a first floor (as requested) room ready for us, which according to our bellman, DJ, was a bit unusual. We looked at it as Disney magic! DJ was full of useful information for us - parade times, park hours, weather forecast, etc. We arrived at Jamaica & unpacked, and were ready to "hit it"! We grabbed our souviner mugs and headed for Port Royale for a quick bite to eat. I love this food court, its so festive, the music is great & the cast members are friendly.
After a quick lunch we catch a bus for Epcot. The crowds were light & we were able to just walk on Spaceship Earth. Its a family tradition to go on this ride first. Then we were on to the main event - to see the Tapestry of Nations parade. This was as wonderful as I remembered it being, the Sage of Time is so magestic and the whole parade is just inspiring.
We enjoyed a supper at Le Cellier; we had the every popular Cheddar Cheese soup as an appetizer, and is this every yummy! When we were waiting to check in at the podium, we heard many people being turned away because they were booked up. Priority seating is an absolute must for any sit down restaurant IMHO, especially during peak season.
We left before Illuminations because we didn't have enough layers of clothes on. Once the sun went down it got very chilly. So we called it a night rather early, which was fine since our day started at about 4:00 a.m.
Highlights from Day 2, Dec. 23
We spent this day at Animal Kingdom. We started with a breakfast at Donald's Restaurantasauras, which is a all you can eat buffet. Mickey, Donald, Goofy & Pluto are also there to meet & greet the kids, and the young at heart. Elizabeth decided to tell our server that her birthday was coming up (Jan 4), after a little boy had been sung to because today was his birthday. Before we left our server brought her a sealed card & told her she couldn't open it till her birthday. I thought that was a special thing to do, it recognized her birthday, but didn't take away the specialness of the little boy's beside of us since it really was his birthday!
The park hours had been changed from closing at 7 p.m. to closing at 5 p.m., which messed up our PS for 6:30 at Rain Forest Cafe. So I walked in & was able to get it changed for 4:30, which ended up being a better idea anyway, because after our big breakfast we were able to skip lunch completely.
We rode the Dinosaur ride, which really didn't seem to be any tamer than the last time we rode it, but its been a couple of years, so we might not remember how wild it was. Elizabeth enjoyed it though.
The Lion King show is always a highlight of any trip, and a definite "not to miss" experience. We enjoyed Its Tough to Be a Bug, and then did a fast pass for the safari. Fast Passes are a wonderful thing! Luckily the Christmas crowds hadn't picked up yet. We also did Flights of Wonder for the first time & all enjoyed that. We were pleasantly surprised with this show. It doesn't have all the fancy trappings of other Disney shows, but it was interesting & entertaining in an educational yet fun format.
After a delicious supper at RFC we bussed back to CBR. Here's a good time to mention Presentations - Gifts of a Lifetime & Jane C. I had contacted Jane quite awhile ago for some ideas to make our Christmas at Disney special, and she helped me schedule 2 events, one of which I will tell you about now. To prepare for this event I had to send down unbreakable, small, recognizable family decorations and stockings, and then Jane & her pixies would take care of the rest. While we were at the Animal Kingdom, Jane & her pixies put up a table top fiber optic tree, decorated it with our own decorations, added some new decorations, had some cookies & candy there, hung & filled our stockings, and just gave our room a very festive appearance. Plus an extra touch was a note from Santa asking housekeeping to leave the lights on the tree. The look on Elizabeth's face was priceless when we walked into our room that evening. The room lights were off, the tree was lit & the room was fantastic. It just couldn't have been nicer! (Thanks again Jane, if you're reading this!)
Highlights from Day 3, Dec. 24
We started the day with breakfast at Chef Mickey's, my favorite character meal! I love the party atmosphere here, and the interaction with the characters.
This is the day I was really looking forward to though, because it was our first day at the Magic Kingdom. Plus it was the day of our 2nd special event using Jane & Gifts of a Lifetime. Today we had planned for Elizabeth to have presents "fall from the sky" from Santa. They would all have her name on them, and stickers reading "DO NOT OPEN TILL DEC. 25.". After many emails back & forth with Jane, going over details, gift list, ideas, and final plans, we had this event all ready to go. We "innocently" lead Elizabeth to the wishing well behind Cinderella's castle on the right. One of Jane's pixies was standing there & while Elizabeth was making her wish a present "fell" beside her. The pixie picked it up & looked at it & said "this has been happening all day, let's see who this is for, hmmmm, it says Elizabeth (last name), I wonder who that could be?" All I can say here is WOW! The look of total amazement was indescribable. Elizabeth looked up in the sky to see where it could've possibly fallen from & couldn't figure out what happened. Then we made our way to the Teacups & she wanted to ride. So she did (thank goodness she's old enough to ride herself because just watching this one almost makes me dizzy). From the teacups we went on in to Fantasyland & another present magically appeared in front of us as we were walking. Even Gerry & I didn't spot where this one came from. Elizabeth picked it up & was amazed that this gift also had her name on it. By now Gerry had spotted Jane so I distracted Elizabeth long enough for him to go get a bag from her to carry the gifts in.
From here she & Gerry rode Dumbo, which then gave me a chance to meet Jane for the first time, we chatted & made some plans for the walk to Big Thunder. While they were in line for Dumbo another gift "fell" for her. Gerry said he saw another Dad in line with them that was just DIEING to ask how we had arranged that, but just didn't dare ask for fear of ruining the illusion for Elizabeth. After a ride on the carrousel we needed to start walking to BTMRR. On the way we noticed a present up against the wall by the old skyway, so Elizabeth jumped up to take a look, and of course it had her name on it. On the walk to BTMRR she stopped to get a drink & another gift "fell" beside of her. People are really checking us out, and smiling at the lucky little girl who's presents are falling from the sky! We end up at BTMRR and the pixies (3 of the, plus Jane) still have 1 more gift to give her. We get in line & the pixies are in line ahead of us. They communicate w/Jane via walkie talkies & she tells them to ride BTMRR. (Where do I sign up for this job?)
All thru the line Elizabeth is chattering a mile a minute about these gifts & what would happen if one landed in the train while she was riding. Now the pixies are good, BUT...of course ruining, or losing a present is not what they're about. But it was SO funny, because just as Elizabeth turned to me & said she wondered if one would land beside her in line, one of the pixies turned & "deposited" the last gift beside of her. Again, she was stunned & thought she was probably the luckiest kid in the world! After the ride we arranged for Gerry & Elizabeth to ride Splash Mountain while I wrapped things up with Jane. This event couldn't have been more special! We were so impressed with how this all worked out, because even though we were around these 4 women for about 2 hours, Elizabeth never spotted them, saw what made the magic happen, or was even suspicious of it being anything other than Christmas/Disney/Santa magic! Jane & her pixies took the gifts back to our room & arranged them nicely under our tree, plus had a couple more there that were breakable, and one that was too big (a Kelly doll) to risk being seen with. I can't recommend Jane & Gifts of a Lifetime enough. I've read plenty of trip reports about them, but until I experienced the magic myself, I had no idea what it would be like! Today was the best!From the Magic Kingdom we took the monorail to Epcot. Elizabeth got to ride in the front seat! Tonight was the night of our Candlelight Processional Package. Before the show we watched another performance of TON. I can't get enough of this parade! The Candlelight was wonderful, and Gary Sinise was a great narrator. With it being Christmas Eve, it just made it all the more special. Supper was in Germany at the Biergarten. The food was good, but the only thing we were disappointed in was that the cold food & hot food didn't have a seperate line, so if you were done with your salad & wanted some hot food you had to wait in the salad line again. We decided we probably won't come back here again, even though the floor show is entertaining.
Highlights from Day 4, Dec. 25
We got up about 6:00 & Elizabeth opened all her gifts that Jane had picked out using my ideas. She was thrilled with everything, and so were we!
First breakfast at the Food Court, and then off to the Magic Kingdom. Us and a million other people. Yes, we are CRAZY! Gerry & Elizabeth got a fast pass for Space Mountain right away, and only had to wait a short time. While they were riding that the line stretched all the way back to the shops, and went from a 15 minute wait to a 2 hour wait, in just a matter of minutes. MK was quickly filling up & we guessed it was probably at capacity. We did the Mickey's Night Before Christmas show which was great. It was SRO, and we managed to get behind some woman who couldn't get her camcorder/tri-pod adjusted to her liking & kept standing up in front of Elizabeth.
Now granted, she was in the last row, BUT there were people behind her yet, about 10 deep! A little consideration goes a long ways. We had a scrumptious lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, and when we walked out about an 1/2 hour before Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade the sidewalks were packed! You'd think with this being my 8th trip that I would've checked parade times a little more closely, so we just got Elizabeth in where she could see. As little kids came up behind us we'd move back so they could see. I love parades as much as anyone does, but typically when a kid can't see a parade its the result of parent's poor planning, and I don't think the kids should have to pay for that. So I don't have a problem letting little ones squeeze in ahead of me, as long as they're polite about it.
After the parade we got in line for BTMRR, the wait was 45 minutes, but it was the shortest line. We rode it twice, and decided to just walk around. It was just too crowded to really even walk! When you can't see pavement, its too crowded. Supper was w/Pooh & friends at Crystal Palace. After that we staked out a spot to see the fireworks, down a path by the rose garden. We already knew we weren't going to get close to see Main Street Electrical parade, but we could see & hear it from where we were setting. The fireworks were great as usual, though nothing extra special for it being Christmas day & I was a little surprised. One thing that I was pleased with is that all the CMs that we were in contact with on this day were just as happy, helpful, and pleasant on Christmas Day as they have been on any other day. We left each one an extra special tip to help make their own Christmas brighter like they had ours.
Highlights from Day 5, Dec. 26
Day of rest, laundery, and swimming for Gerry & Elizabeth. A quiet, relaxing day in the middle of our trip! All meals were at the food court.
Highlights from Day 6, Dec. 27
Today we went to MGM Studios. We started out with my favorite - Beauty & the Beast! We also saw the Mulan parade (sorry, not impressed), rode the Great Movie ride, which Elizabeth loves! Lunch was at Mama Melrose's, and was wonderful! Supper was at our favorite spot - Prime Time 50's. Elizabeth chose to share with our "Uncle Mike" that Gerry's birthday was Dec. 29, and hers is Jan. 4. So "Uncle Mike" brought them each a bowl of ice cream with a candle on it & led the room in a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Princess & Scooter! Lots of laughs here!
Elizabeth was afraid to do TOT or RRRC, and Gerry & I thought she was too young to take the chicken elevator herself, so we opted not to ride it this time. It did spark a conversation between us about the possibility of taking a trip alone sometime this year since we have annual passes!
This park is just not one of our favorites, but we like a couple of things here. We did a walk thru of the Osborne lights which were spectacular! It was nice because a lot of the crowd must've been in Fantasmic because we were able to stroll thru at a leisurely pace. Highlights from Day 7, Dec. 28
We split today between Magic Kingdom & Epcot. It was still WAY crowded than what we're typically used to from going before Christmas. We were able to ride some rides, and have a fun day. At Epcot we watched the TON again
, and then had an early supper at Garden Grill (4:00). This worked out wonderful because the restaurant was not crowded at all so the characters got a chance to interact with the kids more. Mickey sat down & colored with Elizabeth, and then shortly after that I noticed he got right down on the floor & played cars with a little boy (looked to be about 3). This is what makes Disney special! Pluto "fell in love" with Elizabeth & signed her autograph "to my sweet Elizabeth", another magical moment! After that we went to World Showcase again & got settled in to wait for Illuminations. We found a bench in Norway & parked there to wait. Soon about a dozen foreigners stopped right in front of us up against the railing! How rude! So we moved to another bench. We looked over & noticed that they now moved to the empty bench & parked their stollers & wheelchairs in the fence ahead of them so no one could stand in front of them! We were not pleased at all with this treatment! But what's a person to do!? Disney World is not the place to cause a scene, so we let it drop. We ended up sharing the bench with a man and his mother & had a wonderful time talking for about an hour. Elizabeth chatted right along w/this lady (70ish), and her son told me that she would probably enjoy talking to Elizabeth more than she would the show! Highlights from Day 8, Dec. 29, last day!
Gerry's birthday! We slept in!! The weather turns cooler! All week its been tolerable in the high 60s/low 70s during the day. In the evenings it was a good idea to layer clothes to keep warm. But we grin & bear it, bundle up & go to Epcot. Its probably in the low 50s & we are freezing! Gerry & Elizabeth ride the Maelstrom. Lunch was at San Angel Inn at Mexico, true authentic Mexican food. Servie was impecable & food was deliscious! We saw our last TON parade of the trip
, but were lucky enough to see all of both of them. We were sitting Morracco & when our parade was over, the 2nd one was coming into the the other side of Morracco so we walked over there & saw the 2nd parade too! Another Magic Moment! Being at the end of the parade is great too because each of the puppets honor the Sage of Time in one way or another as he waves them thru the gateway. Its quite an experience.We passed up our PS to Marakesh because we were just too cold! So on the way out we stopped in Canada & appeased ourselves with some yummy beavertails! A sacrifice indeed!
We spent our last evening relaxing & having fun at CBR arcade. If it hadn't been so cold we would've went back out to the MK, but the crowds were unbelievable, plus we were just plain worn out.
Dec. 30, pack & go home! Tiffany's Nassa was again, prompt, courteous & got us to the airport with no problems. He even got a tip via hq about avoiding a traffic jam which we saw!
If you've stuck with me this far, thanks for reading! If you have any questions feel free to email me!
Have a Disney Day!
