Meeko's Walt Disney World Trip December 2003
Now that Christmas is over, I have some time to work on my trip report from my trip last week. Like always, Ive included some of my pictures to help give that you-are-there feeling to the reports. Heres the first installment of the trip and I hope you enjoy it.
After all of the planning and preparations of the prior months, it was once again time for my annual December visit to Walt Disney World. It was eight in the morning when the adventure began as I arrived at the Wilderness Lodge Resort. Not having stayed there in six years, I was eager to see how much things had changed in the resort, but with less than an hour until the Magic Kingdom was suppose to open, I knew that it would have to wait until another time. Right then, I needed to focus on getting checked in and getting to the park.
After checking in, my first stop would be the Wilderness Lodge Mercantile shop to pick up an autograph book. For this trip, I decided to try to get some new autographs to go with the character photo collection I have been building up lately. Since my old book was nearly full and very fragile after 13 years of collecting, a new book would be a must. Quickly, I stopped into the store, bought the book and one of the large pens that Ive heard are better for the characters than regular ones. After making my purchase, I took my bags to my room. It had a beautiful view of the river flowing out of the lobby, but there was no time to gawk. The park would open in merely 20 minutes! With no time to lose, it was down to the docks and onto the boat to the Magic Kingdom. It was a dark, overcast morning with just a bit of chill in the air, and, unfortunately, it appeared that rain would be inevitable for the morning. Even though the weather wasnt looking good, I decided I would try to have a good day anyway.
I had hoped that I would be able to get to the park in time to see the opening ceremonies of the day since I had missed them on my summer trip. I wasnt sure I would make it since when I boarded the boat at the Lodge it was only five minutes before the show was scheduled to start. The ride to the park was short enough that I made it to the park just in times. After going through security and the turnstiles, I arrived in the courtyard of the Train Station just in time to see the show. It was very enjoyable with all of the characters and dancers on the train. The best part of all, though, was that as the show began, the dark, cloudy sky instantly became sunny and beautiful. Unfortunately, when the show ended, so did the beautiful weather. Oh, well. At least it wasnt raining.
After the show, the characters all gathered in Town Square to do a meet-and-greet before the park opened. I decided that this would be a good time to get some autographs and photos just in case the weather took a turn for the worse later in the day. The first character I met was Wendy Darling from Peter Pan, who was very nice. Next up was Aladdin and Cruella De Vil. They seemed like a peculiar pair to be together, but being a fan of photos with unusual character pairing, I had to get the picture. Cruella was her usual self and didnt want her picture taken because she said that her hair looked terrible from all the wind. I told her she looked great and the picture was taken. I went on to see how the lines were for some of the other characters around, but it was time for the rest of the park to open and the characters all went offstage.
My first stop for the day would be Mickeys Philharmagic, so it was down Main Street and over to Fantasyland for me. Even though the weather was now getting worse and rain looked even more inevitable than ever, Cinderella Castle still looked beautiful. After taking a quick picture, it was then through the Castle Breezeay and over to Philharmagic.
When I went over the summer, Philharmagic was still under construction, so visiting this attraction was my main priority for this visit. There was no line at all so after walking through the empty queue and waiting no more than a minute in the holding area, I was in the theater. It appeared that the weather was keeping the crowds down nicely. I had heard that the lines for this attraction build up fast, but I didnt run into anything like that, I got to say that I enjoyed the show. I wont give any spoilers to anyone that hasnt seen this yet, but Ill just say that it was very cute and a good addition to Fantasyland. My one complaint was that some of the characters didnt look quite right in computer animated form (Simba, Aladdin, and to a degree Mickey), but the rest of the show was so fantastic that this didnt matter too much. And one bit of advice to anyone who hasnt seen the show yet, be sure to look behind you when the show is over. After the show, I took a look around the new Philharmagic shop. I dont think Ive ever seen so much Donald Duck merchandise all in one place! But unfortunately, they didnt seem to have any Philharmagic pins of key chains. Again. Oh well, but life (and the trip) goes on. Next it was over to Liberty Square for a ride on the Haunted Mansion. It was still very dark and cloudy with just a sprinkle of rain- perfect weather for a visit to the Kingdoms spookiest manor.
There was no line here either, so the wait was just. It was just long enough, however, to take a look at Leotas tombstone. I hadnt been to the Mansion since they added this enhancement to the queue, so I was very curious to see it in action. Its nice to see Disney is still adding little things like this to enhance the experience for their guests. Soon, it was time to get on the ride. Ive got to admit, it still creeps me out. One new thing I noticed this time that I hadnt before was the hanging man in the stretching portrait gallery when the lights go out. Either they changed the effect recently or I had forgotten it looked that good. Defiantly the creepiest part of the whole attraction! After the ride, it looked like the rain had stopped. My plan was to go to Adventureland next to do the Jungle Cruise, but it was still ten or so minutes until the ride would open. It was just enough time to go back to Fantasyland and do one of the dark rides there. It had been a few years since I last did the Snow White ride, so I decided to head there. As I walked through Fantasyland, I noticed that the Castle Show was not going on. I figured that the show had been cancelled due to the rain. I had heard sometimes that when the show is cancelled, the cast of the show does meet and greets in the Castle Breezeway. Hoping that I would be able to see a few of the show characters that I never saw doing meet and greets, I went to the back entrance of the Castle, but it was still blocked off like a show was going on. Perhaps they were in the Hub side of the breezeway.
With the Castle blocked off, the quickest way to get to the Hub was by taking the pathway from the Tinker Bells Treasures shop to Liberty Square and cross the bridge to the Hub. Quickly, I followed the path and found all of the good guys from the show (minus Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother) all out for meet and greets right outside the Castle. First I got in line to see Snow White and her Prince. I had never been able to find the Prince in the parks before, so I was so happy to finally found him. After commenting on how cool my camera looked, the Prince and Snow White each signed my book (who knew that royalty was so interested in digital photography). Both were very nice and spent a good amount of time talking with me. The Prince had a great sense of humor, and Snow White was very sweet (although I could tell she was very cold since she wasnt in her winter outfit). I got a picture of them both and thanked them both and looked for other characters. I spotted Prince Charming, another character I never managed to find in the parks before. I was somewhat surprised to see that there was no line at all to see him. I guess that hes just not exceedingly popular without Cinderella on his arm. I got his autograph and photo. Happy to finally add two new characters to my photo and autograph collection, I headed back to Fantasyland to see how long the lines for the Snow White ride were.
Part two is coming soon and will include the rest of my morning at the Magic Kingdom. Hope youll enjoy it. 
