Dec. 3 The BethC1952 Clan's Dec Trip - Our first "real" vacation day

BethC1952

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 29, 2001
The Original Cast:

Me -- BethC1952, age classified (figure it out for yourselves!), AKA Grandma, experienced WDW visitor (25+ visits since 1978)
DH -- Jim, 52, AKA Grandpa, experienced WDW visitor (25+ visits since 1978)

The Plan: Let's take our annual first-week of December land/sea trip to celebrate our anniversary. We'll stay at Port Orleans Riverside, and have a Cat. 11 inside stateroom.

First modification to The Plan: Let's invite "The Kids".

New Cast Members--The Kids:

DS -- Jimmy, age 28 AKA as Daddy, experienced WDW visitor, 23+ visits between 1978 and 1984
DDIL -- Lori, age 23, AKA Mommy, absolute WDW newbie and very skeptical--I'll go because it's a family trip, but I'm not going to have a good time.
DGD -- Shannan, age 3 1/2, absolute newbie, has seen my collection of WDW pictures (over 4000), and knows all there is to know about WDW.
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Our first “real” vacation day

After yesterday's hectic schedule, today would be a welcome day of rest and relaxation. We decided not set the alarm; we would just "play it by ear". At 6 AM Shannan woke the rest of us by asking "Do I have to go to school today?" I suggested that she take the first plane home, go to school and then come back at the end of the day, but she resisted the urge and went back to sleep until almost 8 AM!

We managed to find our way back to the food court and had an assortment of breakfast items--pancakes, bacon, sausage, French toast, eggs, juice, tea---all very good! And we were off--back to our room to decide what to do for the day. The pool and hot tub seemed like great choices on a December day when it was already 70 degrees. I remembered that on our trip last year, we were in the cold and rain every day, and though we did have a good time, there was no swimming for us! The pool and hot tub were exactly what we hoped. The sun was shining brightly, the air was warm, the water was warm (or hot when appropriate) and there was no crowd. We had the place pretty much to ourselves. Lots of chairs, lots of room.

We had reservations for dinner at Boma at 5:10, so we decided to spend the a few hours at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, looking around. Since we weren't in a hurry and knew that we would need to switch buses at a park, we played "bus roulette" and took the first bus which arrived (in less than 5 minutes) and headed to Epcot to switch. The Animal Kingdom Lodge bus arrived at the same time we did, and we were off! The AKL is beautiful, and we saw quite a few animals. Shannan didn't like being so close to the flamingos. She says they smell bad. At 5:00 we headed to Boma, expecting to wait in line. We had to wait--while they set our table, and then had a wonderful dinner. Lori is still raving over the coconut tiramisu, which she liked even better than the zebra domes. Jimmy enjoyed fou-fou, which he says tastes like sweet potato pie (it's made from sweet potatoes, cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, milk and some other stuff). I enjoyed everything--but the nut-crusted salmon was my favorite. The sheeba sauce with the pap is also very good, but VERY hot!!!! I paid dearly for that choice! Grandpa’s favorites included tomato hummus, coconut chicken curry and bobotie (lamb, beef and raisins served with a crust on top), and ribs which really did fall off the bone. Potatoes with Afritude are on his "favorites" list also. Shannan liked the oxtail soup, and she can recommend the chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese. She's very proud of herself for trying lots of new and slightly unusual foods.

We needed to walk off some of the calories we just ingested, so a trip to visit the monorail resorts seemed like a good choice. We headed back to the bus stop for another round of "bus roulette". Once again, the Epcot bus came first, so we headed there to board the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then on to the resort loop.

Our first (and it would turn out to be the only) stop was the Polynesian. We walked around like a bunch of tourists (well, what else would we do?) admiring the architecture and the plants. It was getting close to 9:00 PM, so we headed towards the dock hoping to catch the Electrical Water Parade. Those of us who are WDW veterans hadn't seen this parade in more than 20 years! It was very good; Shannan pronounced it "cool". I liked it better when Handel's "Water Music" was part of the show.

We were exhausted, and knew that we had to get up early to check out and check back in again for the package portion of our trip. This vacation life is hard work! We would leave the rest of the monorail resorts for some other night. We headed back to Epcot (the last open park) to get a bus back to Port Orleans. The bus arrived within minutes. Shannan fell asleep as we walked up to the door of our room.
 
I am always ready for bed much earlier when we are in DIsney......hard work......thanks for your day
 
Beth, I'm enjoying your reports, but which day comes next, the 3 park day or 2 more parks, or am I missing a day?
Sorry, I just like reading things in chronological order, it makes me feel like I'm actually there! :)
 


which day comes next, the 3 park day or 2 more parks,

You're right--on my computer I have them dated. When I get home tonight I'll edit the subject line so that they're in the right order!

Beth
 

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