Meeko's Walt Disney World Trip December 2004
Seems like I just finished my last trip report, but now it's time to start up a brand new one. As usual, I've included a few photos I took as well. Hope you enjoy the report.
It was that time again- time for another of my annual visits to Walt Disney World. It was fairly early morning by the time I got to my resort, the Boardwalk Inn. Out of all the resorts at Disney, this one has to be my favorite, so I was pretty happy to be back. Last time I stayed there, it rained most of the time. Hopefully, I thought, the weather would be better this time. After checking my luggage with the bell service and looking around at some of the Christmas decorations, it was off to the International Gateway and EPCOT. There are lots of things I like about the Boardwalk, but being able to enter the park this way is defiantly one of my favorites. Being able to walk to the park without the hassle of taking a bus or a boat and then being able to stroll through World Showcase before it opens is just wonderful.
It was about 9:30 when I got to Future World. First, I headed over to Journey into Imagination to go on the Figment ride. Unfortunately, it was not open for some reason. Not sure what to do, I decided to head over Innoventions East since I had not been there in some time. There were a few new exhibits, but nothing seemed too interesting. The morning at Future World sure seemed like a bust so far. The tip board said that Test Track only had a 10 minute wait, so that would be a nice pick-me-up for a fairly uninteresting morning. The line went fairly quickly, and the ride was fun. Definatly the highlight of the morning.
After Test Track, World Showcase was ready to open, so I took the path past the Odyssey over to Norway. The area was flooded with little girls in princess dresses and parents trying to keep them under control. Obviously the Storybook Breakfast at Akerhaus is very popular. I took a look through the shops and headed on to Germany. Not too much action going on there. I looked through the shops there as well and also went to see how the railway garden was decorated for Christmas. I had a PS for lunch at Alfredos, so I took some time looking around Italy. After looking around the piazza, I headed to the Isola where the gondolas are docked. It was so pleasant just watching the lagoon from the bridge there. After that, I took a quick trip to America to see the Pin Cart. Later that day, I would be going to the Disney-MGM Studios, and the first thing on my itinerary was the new version of the Animation exhibit. My plan was to take the Character Personality Test they have there and then to buy a pin of that character as a souvenir. Since I didnt know who that character would be yet, I was just looking to see how their variety of pins was. Hopefully, I wasnt so obscure of a character that it would be hard to find.
The time for my PS at Alfredos came up, so it was back to Italy. Lunch was delicious. The Fettuccini Alfredo they have here is defiantly the best Ive ever had. I assume it must be close to how they make it at the original Alfredos in Rome. I wanted to see the Holiday storytelling in Germany next, but it would be a little while before that would start. Instead, I looked around the outpost a little. While looking out over the lagoon, a found a small beach with a boat on it. Something struck my as funny about the beach. It turns out the beach is concrete so the sand would always look the same. Talk about detail. Next, it was back to Germany. This year instead of having St. Nicholas talk about Christmas in Germany, it was a Christmas Expert who talked about all the traditions that originated in the country. At the end, a giant Nutracker character came out to meet the children. Very cute. Next, it was on to Mexico. There was a new storyteller there too. Instead of the kings, it was a world traveler talking about her visit to Mexico, ending with demonstrating La Posados, the symbolic recreation of Mary and Josephs search for an inn. After that, it was inside to pavilion to look around the market.
Next, it was back to the other side of World Showcase (with a brief stop at shops in Showcase Plaza). As I was passing Canada, Off Kilter was starting, so I stayed for a couple of numbers. It was on to the United Kingdom after that. Since the movie Mary Poppins had come out on DVD that day, I thought that maybe Bert or the Penguins might be appearing with Mary that day to celebratethe relase. They werent, so I passed on any meet-and-greets and looked around the pavilion. As I was there, Father Christmas came out and went through his spiel. France would be my last pavilion for the day. First thing, I went to Belles library to look for characters. Princess Aurora was there with no line. I came up to her and the CM with me asked me if I had a PhotoPass. This was the first time this had happened to me, so I was a little surprised. I didnt even know that PhotoPass was in place yet. I told her I didnt, but asked if she could take my picture with Aurora with my own camera. In the past few years, I managed to meet her three times before, but had never gotten my picture with her. She agreed and introduced me to Aurora again. She was so nice and very sweet as always. After spending a little more time in France, it was over to the International Gateway en route to Disney-MGM Studios.
