Dates: January 1st to January 5th, 2001
Location: Wilderness Lodge
Cast: Trisha (Me - 42 - Mom and avid planner)
Clyde (Dad - 47)
Christina (Daughter - 5 1/2)
Day 1, January 1, 2001 â We arrive at the World (or will we?)
I planned out our packing list, bought our snacks, and we packed up on the 31st. I had a friend who was arriving in from a trip to Alaska one hour after we left for WDW, so we arranged to keep her car and leave it at the airport for her return, thus saving both of us a ton of parking fees. Clyde packed up her Jeep once we had everything packed. Since the weather was looking COLD, we took tons of bulky clothes with us. We had a total of 6 bags (including my laptop) for the 3 of us, one of them full of snack/breakfast foods. Christina was also excited, and dressed herself in her traveling clothes to go to sleep! I guess itâÂÂs a good thing that no one wants to sleep on New YearâÂÂs Eve, cause I was definitely too excited to sleep! I finally dropped off after the Ball dropped at TimeâÂÂs Square, only to be wide awake at 3:00 am. During the night it has snowed! By the time we leave for the airport at 5:30 we have 1-2 inches of snow on the ground! This is an unusual situation in Alabama, and IâÂÂm a bit worried about our flight. DeltaâÂÂs web site, however still says that it will leave on time. So, we leave for the airport at 5:30am with my having had 4 hours sleep!
Our drive to the airport takes about 10 minutes longer than normal (it usually takes 20 minutes), but is otherwise uneventful. We check our bags at the curb, and Christina and I head for the gate while Clyde parks my friendâÂÂs car in our pre-arranged spot. We all go to get breakfast before our flight. Then we get to the gate 45 minutes before the flight. At 7:00 am, about 20 minutes before scheduled take-off, we are told that the crew is not yet on site. Seems they havenâÂÂt had their required 9 hours rest! But the flight should be able to take off with only a 30minute delay at 7:50. Around 8:00 the crew finally arrives! They go into their pre-flight check of our little propeller commuter plane. Then, the trouble begins. Seems a âÂÂcapâ is missing from the plane. The crew summons the maintenance workers, and they all are looking for the lost cap. After a few minutes, our gate agent also goes out to search. He comes back in around 8:40 and reports that the âÂÂcapâ came off one of the controls, and they canâÂÂt find it and fear it has fallen into the circuits of the plane. They are now trying to find out if they can fly the plane without finding it! They finally cancel the flight about 5 minutes later!
Through all of this my daughter has been pretty good at playing with her Dad and another little boy we met in the waiting area. And, my husband has been pretty patient as well. But at this point it is looking like we arenâÂÂt going to get him to the game! IâÂÂve checked the Delta flight schedules, and with all the flights cancelled that day it is not looking too good! My husband goes up to the desk to try to get us on another flight while I try to occupy my anxious and more than a little bored daughter! The next Delta flight goes out at 10:15, connecting in Atlanta, and arrives at 1:15 in Orlando. However, that flight is almost full and they canâÂÂt guarantee weâÂÂll get on it! Or, we can take a USAir flight through Charlotte,NC that leaves at 9:05 (in 10 minutes!) and arrives at 1:30. We take that option and race through the airport to another concourse where they are loading that plane. We arrive at about 9:00, and do make it safely onto the plane! My husband will miss part of the game, but should be there by half time! Things arenâÂÂt great, but they could be worse!
We arrive on time in Charlotte. We make our way to our gate for the connecting flight During our wait, I call TTC to tell them our change in plans, then call CRO to try to reschedule our High Tea at GF. There was no problem with the change for Tiffany Town Car, but we couldnâÂÂt get the Tea at any other time ïÂÂ. So I had to cancel that PS. We board our flight to Orlando on time. Then, we sit, and sit, and sit, and sit. The captain finally announces that the plane is just out of maintenance, and they forgot to load the catering equipment. The maintenance people get there and load stuff on, but they have forgotten one cart! So we sit some more until it gets there! All told, we sit an extra 45 minutes at the gate waiting on the beverage carts for our 1 hour flight! We would have cheerfully done without any beverages to get there on time!!! We finally land in Orlando about 2:20pm. Only 4 hours late!
We move down to baggage claim and find Frank, our TTC driver. Seems that we are the first people who have actually been able to arrive of FrankâÂÂs 4 bookings that day! We collect our bags, load up the Irish Green Town Car (Frank is originally from Dublin!), and head for the Citrus Bowl. At this point, poor Clyde is just hoping to see the 4th quarter! Poor Guy, he missed almost all the game that was our whole reason for making the trip! But Frank managed to get him to the Citrus Bowl sometime during the 3rd quarter, then took Christina and I along to Wilderness Lodge. Frank was a great driver if you like to talk! I know quite a bit about he and his family now. It was a great thing for me, since all the delays had me quite keyed up and anxious, and the talking helped me get my mind off our problems! He got us to WL in one piece, we unloaded our luggage, made arrangements for our pickup, and went inside.
Wilderness Lodge was incredible! We were awed on our last trip, and I knew the Christmas decorations were supposed to be fabulous, but I was still bowled over by that enormous tree and the wonderful theming in all the decorations. While I checked in, Christina enjoyed the childrenâÂÂs area and movie off to the right hand side of the registration desk. My CM wasnâÂÂt overflowing with personality, but she got me checked in efficiently to my 4th floor courtyard view non-smoking bunk bed room! I didnâÂÂt fax or call in any requests to the Lodge this time, just noted non-smoking and bunks on the CRO reservation. Our room was number 4035. It was just around the corner from the elevator outside Roaring Forks snack bar, and down several halls from the main lobby elevators. We had a good view of the lake, geyser, and pool areas. The room was in the very corner where the main body of the hotel meets the MK side wing. My only complaint was that the first wing-side roomâÂÂs balcony adjoined ours so closely that I could see directly into their room when the curtains were open. But we just drew the lace curtains when we needed privacy and didnâÂÂt worry about it! Also, the Electrical Water Show/Parade stopped kind of behind some big trees down by the lake from our vantage point. In general, we were quite pleased with our room, though. It was certainly convenient when we needed hot cocoa or coffee from Roaring Forks!
After check-in, Christina and I waited for our bags, then grabbed a few things weâÂÂd need at Epcot. We bolted for the bus stop as soon as we could. We decided to take the Crockett bus to the TTC and monorail to Epcot rather than the direct bus (mostly because the Crockett bus came first!). We drew up in Epcot around 4:15. Our first stop was at Guest Relations. I had two days left on a 4 day pass from 1993 that I wanted to apply toward our 5 day hopper passes. Much to my surprise, the CM gave us 89.58 credit on the passes (we only paid 120.00 plus tax for the 4 day pass!). So, new 5 day hoppers in hand we headed into Epcot!
Christina had a unit on different countries right before Christmas in her kindergarten class. She was very excited about seeing the different countries, especially Mexico. Having heard so much about the Passports, I wanted to get her one for the WS, since I was really disappointed in how little time we spent there last trip. So we stopped at Gateway Gifts to pick up a passport before heading for Mexico. Just as we reached the end of the walkway by the Christmas Tree I saw the character bus passing along the lake in front of us. Christina and I rushed over toward it and were very excited to see the elusive Daisy Duck on the bus! During the last few days before we left Christina had been very interested in Daisy and had wanted to see her. I had explained how hard it is to find Daisy. Anyway, we followed the busâÂÂs path toward Mexico and got a good look at Daisy. Even though we didnâÂÂt follow it to a stop and get DaisyâÂÂs autograph, Christina still felt special to have seen her.
We entered Mexico and quickly found the KidCot stop. We got the passport stamped and signed, and picked up a Mask. Christina was too shy to actually sit down and decorate the mask, however. I think all the excitement had gotten to her! We went on inside the pavilion and checked out a few shops, then went on the Rio de Tiempo ride. Christina was very scared of dark âÂÂscaryâ things on our last trip, and was a bit anxious about the volcano inside Mexico. I reassured her, and with a wait of only 5 minutes tops we boarded our boat and were on our way. Christina ended up loving this ride, and wanted to return the next day with her Dad!
After our boat ride Christina was hungry (and no wonder, weâÂÂd only had one cinnamon roll since our early breakfast back in Birmingham). I didnâÂÂt want to eat much before our 6:30 dinner at Chefs de France, so I planned to buy her a Churro and hot cocoa from the Mexico counter service restaurant. On our way out of the pavilion, however, we stumbled upon a native Mexican folk group singing and dancing. They were giving maracas to children to join in the dance, and Christina got to join in! She really enjoyed this, and I would have loved to have had the camera with me! It was, of course, packed back in the room. After the dance we moved on to get that churro! This ended up taking an enormous amount of time. While we were in line a very nice gentleman who was leaving that night gave us 2 VIP passes to Universe of Energy and American Adventure. I was glad to have them for the next day! Finally with churro and hot cocoa in hand we start on our way to France.
By this time we have very little time left to check in for our PS. So if you were at Epcot on the 1st and saw a mom with hot cocoa and a 5 ý year old chomping on a churro while racing from Mexico to France, that was us! We made it to France almost exactly at 6:25. We checked in and starting waiting and watching for my husband. We got called twice and I asked them to skip us since Clyde still wasnâÂÂt there. On the third call I figured IâÂÂd better go ahead and get seated! We were seated in the far back window section of Chefs de France. I was totally starving by now! Christina did not share her churro! I ordered the seafood cake appetizer and glass of wine, and the filet de boeuf. Christina had the croques de boeuf from the kids menu. Then, I sipped my wine while watching anxiously for my husband. He finally showed up just as I was finishing my appetizer. He reported that Auburn lost the ball game (31 to 21, I think), but that heâÂÂd seen about 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter and all the 4th quarter. Also, he also got an 89.00 credit on his old pass (I think we both got the same CM), then spent 15 minutes getting in the gates! He put in a fast order for the chicken dish. Surprisingly enough, all our meals showed up at once. Mine was fabulous, the meat literally melted in my mouth and the potatoes gratin were great! Christina was too excited to see her Dad and tell him about Mexico to actually eat! ClydeâÂÂs meal was pretty disappointing! It was a very small piece of chicken on a pretty small mound of mashed potatoes. We finished the meal with sugar free cheesecake (Clyde) and tarte tatin (me) with coffee. The desserts were both great. Overall, I donâÂÂt think weâÂÂll be going back to Chefs de France. The food (at least mine) was good, but the place was too cramped and noisy for my taste. Also I had a very hard time making myself understood to our waiter, even though he seemed eager to please! Basically, IâÂÂve enjoyed other meals much more for the price.
After our meal it was almost time for the 8:10 Tapestry of Nations parade. I staked out a likely spot on a bench next to the âÂÂropesâ between Morocco and Japan. I figured from this bench I could watch the beginning of one parade (from Morocco to England), the end of the next one (ending in Morocco), then turn around to see Illuminations. While we were waiting, Clyde and Christina walked down to Japan to see the drummer show. I could hear it great from my bench, and could see it (sort of). They enjoyed this show. Then the parade started! While I continued to guard my bench, Clyde and Christina ran down in front of Morocco to see the puppets more closely. They ran back to join me when the first parade had passed, and got back before the Sage of Time arrived in front of me. I stood on the bench, and Clyde put Christina up on his shoulders. We absolutely adored this parade! The music is haunting, the puppets are all gorgeous, and they really interacted with Christina. I have no idea how many of them came over and touched her, waved and nodded to her, or waved their flowing costumes over her! It was a truly magical experience!
Once TON was through we settled in to wait the 20 minutes or so until Illuminations. It was freezing!!! And I think Christina was close to her limit. In any case, we had a hard time waiting patiently! We did persevere, and she enjoyed Illuminations, as did her dad and I. But, I preferred the older version where they did more with the countries. Also, I noticed that there were no lights on the Morocco buildings, which IâÂÂd never noticed before. Does anyone know why?
After Illuminations we made our way back to the front of Epcot to return to WL. Christina was anxious to show the tree and the lights to her daddy. We kept working our way toward the bus, and got onto the first bus back to WL.
Back at WL, we had to stop at the front desk to get our E night tickets for the next day. The CM there tried to tell me that there werenâÂÂt any e nights in January, but I told her that I knew that there was one on each Tuesday in January. (Thank you DIS!) Then, she got everything in the computer and gave me a receipt but no tickets. When I questioned her she said that our room key would be our tickets. I didnâÂÂt think that was right, but IâÂÂd never been to an e night so wasnâÂÂt sure. I decided to be sure and take my receipt with me tomorrow, in case of trouble. Then we went up to our room. Once there we showed off the view and room to Clyde, and did our unpacking for the week. I went down to Roaring Forks with my old refillable mug (from 1999) and got hot tea for myself and bought some for Clyde as well. We put in a wake up call for 6:15, and hit the hay around 11:30.
Overall, although the trip down was very aggravating and we missed our High Tea at GF, our time at MGM in the afternoon, and a large part of the football game, it was a great start to our vacation.
TodayâÂÂs Damage:
Airfare Bham/Orlando Roundtrip: $460.50
4 nights at Wilderness Lodge (special) $750.00
5 Day Hopper Passes (-179.16 credit) $434.58
Bellhop tip $ 6.00
Tiffany TownCar (roundtrip with tips) $195.00
Breakfast at BâÂÂham Airport $ 9.45
Cinnamon Roll at Charlotte Airport $ 2.00
Passport at Epcot $ 10.55
Churro and Cocoa in Mexico $ 3.23
Dinner at Chefs De France (with tip) $107.00
Tea at WL $ 2.00
Total for Day $1980.31
Location: Wilderness Lodge
Cast: Trisha (Me - 42 - Mom and avid planner)
Clyde (Dad - 47)
Christina (Daughter - 5 1/2)
Day 1, January 1, 2001 â We arrive at the World (or will we?)
I planned out our packing list, bought our snacks, and we packed up on the 31st. I had a friend who was arriving in from a trip to Alaska one hour after we left for WDW, so we arranged to keep her car and leave it at the airport for her return, thus saving both of us a ton of parking fees. Clyde packed up her Jeep once we had everything packed. Since the weather was looking COLD, we took tons of bulky clothes with us. We had a total of 6 bags (including my laptop) for the 3 of us, one of them full of snack/breakfast foods. Christina was also excited, and dressed herself in her traveling clothes to go to sleep! I guess itâÂÂs a good thing that no one wants to sleep on New YearâÂÂs Eve, cause I was definitely too excited to sleep! I finally dropped off after the Ball dropped at TimeâÂÂs Square, only to be wide awake at 3:00 am. During the night it has snowed! By the time we leave for the airport at 5:30 we have 1-2 inches of snow on the ground! This is an unusual situation in Alabama, and IâÂÂm a bit worried about our flight. DeltaâÂÂs web site, however still says that it will leave on time. So, we leave for the airport at 5:30am with my having had 4 hours sleep!
Our drive to the airport takes about 10 minutes longer than normal (it usually takes 20 minutes), but is otherwise uneventful. We check our bags at the curb, and Christina and I head for the gate while Clyde parks my friendâÂÂs car in our pre-arranged spot. We all go to get breakfast before our flight. Then we get to the gate 45 minutes before the flight. At 7:00 am, about 20 minutes before scheduled take-off, we are told that the crew is not yet on site. Seems they havenâÂÂt had their required 9 hours rest! But the flight should be able to take off with only a 30minute delay at 7:50. Around 8:00 the crew finally arrives! They go into their pre-flight check of our little propeller commuter plane. Then, the trouble begins. Seems a âÂÂcapâ is missing from the plane. The crew summons the maintenance workers, and they all are looking for the lost cap. After a few minutes, our gate agent also goes out to search. He comes back in around 8:40 and reports that the âÂÂcapâ came off one of the controls, and they canâÂÂt find it and fear it has fallen into the circuits of the plane. They are now trying to find out if they can fly the plane without finding it! They finally cancel the flight about 5 minutes later!
Through all of this my daughter has been pretty good at playing with her Dad and another little boy we met in the waiting area. And, my husband has been pretty patient as well. But at this point it is looking like we arenâÂÂt going to get him to the game! IâÂÂve checked the Delta flight schedules, and with all the flights cancelled that day it is not looking too good! My husband goes up to the desk to try to get us on another flight while I try to occupy my anxious and more than a little bored daughter! The next Delta flight goes out at 10:15, connecting in Atlanta, and arrives at 1:15 in Orlando. However, that flight is almost full and they canâÂÂt guarantee weâÂÂll get on it! Or, we can take a USAir flight through Charlotte,NC that leaves at 9:05 (in 10 minutes!) and arrives at 1:30. We take that option and race through the airport to another concourse where they are loading that plane. We arrive at about 9:00, and do make it safely onto the plane! My husband will miss part of the game, but should be there by half time! Things arenâÂÂt great, but they could be worse!
We arrive on time in Charlotte. We make our way to our gate for the connecting flight During our wait, I call TTC to tell them our change in plans, then call CRO to try to reschedule our High Tea at GF. There was no problem with the change for Tiffany Town Car, but we couldnâÂÂt get the Tea at any other time ïÂÂ. So I had to cancel that PS. We board our flight to Orlando on time. Then, we sit, and sit, and sit, and sit. The captain finally announces that the plane is just out of maintenance, and they forgot to load the catering equipment. The maintenance people get there and load stuff on, but they have forgotten one cart! So we sit some more until it gets there! All told, we sit an extra 45 minutes at the gate waiting on the beverage carts for our 1 hour flight! We would have cheerfully done without any beverages to get there on time!!! We finally land in Orlando about 2:20pm. Only 4 hours late!
We move down to baggage claim and find Frank, our TTC driver. Seems that we are the first people who have actually been able to arrive of FrankâÂÂs 4 bookings that day! We collect our bags, load up the Irish Green Town Car (Frank is originally from Dublin!), and head for the Citrus Bowl. At this point, poor Clyde is just hoping to see the 4th quarter! Poor Guy, he missed almost all the game that was our whole reason for making the trip! But Frank managed to get him to the Citrus Bowl sometime during the 3rd quarter, then took Christina and I along to Wilderness Lodge. Frank was a great driver if you like to talk! I know quite a bit about he and his family now. It was a great thing for me, since all the delays had me quite keyed up and anxious, and the talking helped me get my mind off our problems! He got us to WL in one piece, we unloaded our luggage, made arrangements for our pickup, and went inside.
Wilderness Lodge was incredible! We were awed on our last trip, and I knew the Christmas decorations were supposed to be fabulous, but I was still bowled over by that enormous tree and the wonderful theming in all the decorations. While I checked in, Christina enjoyed the childrenâÂÂs area and movie off to the right hand side of the registration desk. My CM wasnâÂÂt overflowing with personality, but she got me checked in efficiently to my 4th floor courtyard view non-smoking bunk bed room! I didnâÂÂt fax or call in any requests to the Lodge this time, just noted non-smoking and bunks on the CRO reservation. Our room was number 4035. It was just around the corner from the elevator outside Roaring Forks snack bar, and down several halls from the main lobby elevators. We had a good view of the lake, geyser, and pool areas. The room was in the very corner where the main body of the hotel meets the MK side wing. My only complaint was that the first wing-side roomâÂÂs balcony adjoined ours so closely that I could see directly into their room when the curtains were open. But we just drew the lace curtains when we needed privacy and didnâÂÂt worry about it! Also, the Electrical Water Show/Parade stopped kind of behind some big trees down by the lake from our vantage point. In general, we were quite pleased with our room, though. It was certainly convenient when we needed hot cocoa or coffee from Roaring Forks!
After check-in, Christina and I waited for our bags, then grabbed a few things weâÂÂd need at Epcot. We bolted for the bus stop as soon as we could. We decided to take the Crockett bus to the TTC and monorail to Epcot rather than the direct bus (mostly because the Crockett bus came first!). We drew up in Epcot around 4:15. Our first stop was at Guest Relations. I had two days left on a 4 day pass from 1993 that I wanted to apply toward our 5 day hopper passes. Much to my surprise, the CM gave us 89.58 credit on the passes (we only paid 120.00 plus tax for the 4 day pass!). So, new 5 day hoppers in hand we headed into Epcot!
Christina had a unit on different countries right before Christmas in her kindergarten class. She was very excited about seeing the different countries, especially Mexico. Having heard so much about the Passports, I wanted to get her one for the WS, since I was really disappointed in how little time we spent there last trip. So we stopped at Gateway Gifts to pick up a passport before heading for Mexico. Just as we reached the end of the walkway by the Christmas Tree I saw the character bus passing along the lake in front of us. Christina and I rushed over toward it and were very excited to see the elusive Daisy Duck on the bus! During the last few days before we left Christina had been very interested in Daisy and had wanted to see her. I had explained how hard it is to find Daisy. Anyway, we followed the busâÂÂs path toward Mexico and got a good look at Daisy. Even though we didnâÂÂt follow it to a stop and get DaisyâÂÂs autograph, Christina still felt special to have seen her.
We entered Mexico and quickly found the KidCot stop. We got the passport stamped and signed, and picked up a Mask. Christina was too shy to actually sit down and decorate the mask, however. I think all the excitement had gotten to her! We went on inside the pavilion and checked out a few shops, then went on the Rio de Tiempo ride. Christina was very scared of dark âÂÂscaryâ things on our last trip, and was a bit anxious about the volcano inside Mexico. I reassured her, and with a wait of only 5 minutes tops we boarded our boat and were on our way. Christina ended up loving this ride, and wanted to return the next day with her Dad!
After our boat ride Christina was hungry (and no wonder, weâÂÂd only had one cinnamon roll since our early breakfast back in Birmingham). I didnâÂÂt want to eat much before our 6:30 dinner at Chefs de France, so I planned to buy her a Churro and hot cocoa from the Mexico counter service restaurant. On our way out of the pavilion, however, we stumbled upon a native Mexican folk group singing and dancing. They were giving maracas to children to join in the dance, and Christina got to join in! She really enjoyed this, and I would have loved to have had the camera with me! It was, of course, packed back in the room. After the dance we moved on to get that churro! This ended up taking an enormous amount of time. While we were in line a very nice gentleman who was leaving that night gave us 2 VIP passes to Universe of Energy and American Adventure. I was glad to have them for the next day! Finally with churro and hot cocoa in hand we start on our way to France.
By this time we have very little time left to check in for our PS. So if you were at Epcot on the 1st and saw a mom with hot cocoa and a 5 ý year old chomping on a churro while racing from Mexico to France, that was us! We made it to France almost exactly at 6:25. We checked in and starting waiting and watching for my husband. We got called twice and I asked them to skip us since Clyde still wasnâÂÂt there. On the third call I figured IâÂÂd better go ahead and get seated! We were seated in the far back window section of Chefs de France. I was totally starving by now! Christina did not share her churro! I ordered the seafood cake appetizer and glass of wine, and the filet de boeuf. Christina had the croques de boeuf from the kids menu. Then, I sipped my wine while watching anxiously for my husband. He finally showed up just as I was finishing my appetizer. He reported that Auburn lost the ball game (31 to 21, I think), but that heâÂÂd seen about 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter and all the 4th quarter. Also, he also got an 89.00 credit on his old pass (I think we both got the same CM), then spent 15 minutes getting in the gates! He put in a fast order for the chicken dish. Surprisingly enough, all our meals showed up at once. Mine was fabulous, the meat literally melted in my mouth and the potatoes gratin were great! Christina was too excited to see her Dad and tell him about Mexico to actually eat! ClydeâÂÂs meal was pretty disappointing! It was a very small piece of chicken on a pretty small mound of mashed potatoes. We finished the meal with sugar free cheesecake (Clyde) and tarte tatin (me) with coffee. The desserts were both great. Overall, I donâÂÂt think weâÂÂll be going back to Chefs de France. The food (at least mine) was good, but the place was too cramped and noisy for my taste. Also I had a very hard time making myself understood to our waiter, even though he seemed eager to please! Basically, IâÂÂve enjoyed other meals much more for the price.
After our meal it was almost time for the 8:10 Tapestry of Nations parade. I staked out a likely spot on a bench next to the âÂÂropesâ between Morocco and Japan. I figured from this bench I could watch the beginning of one parade (from Morocco to England), the end of the next one (ending in Morocco), then turn around to see Illuminations. While we were waiting, Clyde and Christina walked down to Japan to see the drummer show. I could hear it great from my bench, and could see it (sort of). They enjoyed this show. Then the parade started! While I continued to guard my bench, Clyde and Christina ran down in front of Morocco to see the puppets more closely. They ran back to join me when the first parade had passed, and got back before the Sage of Time arrived in front of me. I stood on the bench, and Clyde put Christina up on his shoulders. We absolutely adored this parade! The music is haunting, the puppets are all gorgeous, and they really interacted with Christina. I have no idea how many of them came over and touched her, waved and nodded to her, or waved their flowing costumes over her! It was a truly magical experience!
Once TON was through we settled in to wait the 20 minutes or so until Illuminations. It was freezing!!! And I think Christina was close to her limit. In any case, we had a hard time waiting patiently! We did persevere, and she enjoyed Illuminations, as did her dad and I. But, I preferred the older version where they did more with the countries. Also, I noticed that there were no lights on the Morocco buildings, which IâÂÂd never noticed before. Does anyone know why?
After Illuminations we made our way back to the front of Epcot to return to WL. Christina was anxious to show the tree and the lights to her daddy. We kept working our way toward the bus, and got onto the first bus back to WL.
Back at WL, we had to stop at the front desk to get our E night tickets for the next day. The CM there tried to tell me that there werenâÂÂt any e nights in January, but I told her that I knew that there was one on each Tuesday in January. (Thank you DIS!) Then, she got everything in the computer and gave me a receipt but no tickets. When I questioned her she said that our room key would be our tickets. I didnâÂÂt think that was right, but IâÂÂd never been to an e night so wasnâÂÂt sure. I decided to be sure and take my receipt with me tomorrow, in case of trouble. Then we went up to our room. Once there we showed off the view and room to Clyde, and did our unpacking for the week. I went down to Roaring Forks with my old refillable mug (from 1999) and got hot tea for myself and bought some for Clyde as well. We put in a wake up call for 6:15, and hit the hay around 11:30.
Overall, although the trip down was very aggravating and we missed our High Tea at GF, our time at MGM in the afternoon, and a large part of the football game, it was a great start to our vacation.
TodayâÂÂs Damage:
Airfare Bham/Orlando Roundtrip: $460.50
4 nights at Wilderness Lodge (special) $750.00
5 Day Hopper Passes (-179.16 credit) $434.58
Bellhop tip $ 6.00
Tiffany TownCar (roundtrip with tips) $195.00
Breakfast at BâÂÂham Airport $ 9.45
Cinnamon Roll at Charlotte Airport $ 2.00
Passport at Epcot $ 10.55
Churro and Cocoa in Mexico $ 3.23
Dinner at Chefs De France (with tip) $107.00
Tea at WL $ 2.00
Total for Day $1980.31
