Our Magical Christmas Vacation - Part 5 - The End

[BWVPam]

Cast of Characters

Me/Mom, Hubby, Son (10) daughter (6)
2 brothers (43 & 31)
Parents (64)

Note: I forgot to mention in Part 4 that we had dinner at La Cellier in Canada after our CP show. Dinner was very good. I had the special which was a steak and lobster and loved it. The desserts were wonderful too. Our waiter was a little slow but he was very nice.

Day 10 - Tuesday, December 26

My dad decides he wants to play golf again, but my hubby had already agreed that we would take kids to Disney Quest. This is another one of the things they always ask to do when we go, but we never seem to have time for it.

But before we go, the family had a surprise for me. As I had said before, we all agreed not to buy gifts for each other because of the cost of the trip, however they surprised me with some beautiful Christmas ornaments that I liked.

They gave me the Radko Castle, the hand blown victorian Mickey and Minnie, A victorian picture frame, another ornament and a Brass Tree to hang them off of. They were so appreciative of all of the advance planning that I had done. I felt so guilty because they don't know how much I like to plan this stuff out and how it makes the wait go by. I cried again and let them know how special they all are to me. My dad told me that the highlight of his trip was not the golf he had played, but seeing the Candlelight Processional on Christmas Night with his family.

We got to DQ about 11 a.m. Did the things we wanted. This is a very neat place. My daughter couldn't do some of the things, but I could see where the older kids would really like it. The things we did do were neat. We stayed till about 3 and then headed to the shop. Bought a lot of things in this shop because I love the DQ logo. I got the Large Mickey and Minnie Navigator for $7 each (they had 2000 on them and needed to get rid of them). We headed back to room and picked up everyone to go to Dinner resv. at Chef Mickeys. We had a good time and the food was good.

Day 11 - Wednesday, Dec. 27

Oh boy, we have to check out of our great place at OKW today. Dad, hubby, son & 1 brother play golf for last time today (Eagle Pines). My mom and brother and I get to pack up and check out. That was a chore. We then took everything over to the La Quinta and check in over there and dump off all of the luggage (2 cars worth). We went back and picked them up at the golf course and headed towards the Belz outlet mall again. My dad wanted to go to the big Bass Pro Store (Fishing, sporting goods). Afraid I can't remember the exact name, but that place is huge. The little brother wanted to go to Chracter Warehouse, so I took him over there. I ended up buying some more stuff.

We found a Sizzler to eat at and then headed back to the hotel rooms. We all had a 7:00 a.m flight the next morning. Actually, I had arranged it so we would all be on the same flight to Dallas and from there we would go our ways (Oakland, San Diego, Phoenix and El Paso). About 10 pm, oldest brother knocks on door and says we have flight problems. The 7:00 a.m flight has been cancelled and everyone is on different flights if we can even get them. Well, after an hour on the phones with Delta, we all got flights. Oldest brother had to be on a plane at 6 am to San Diego and Little Brother at 7:15 am to Phoenix, so they took one car back with them the next morning. Our flight was scheduled for 11:30 and my parents for 1.

Needless to say I was very upset. This was going to be our farewell as none of us would get to see my parents after this for 18 months since they are leaving this month for Peru.

We get there and our seats are split up, at least they have us 2 and 2. In Atlanta, they have us in the last 2 rows on the airplane by the bathrooms. Never again. It was awful.. I have written a letter to Delta, but it hasn't been mailed yet. My little brother got upgraded to 1st class, but my group got nothing but the bathrooms. Oh well, we got home.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. Everyone had a good time and no one really got on anyone else's nerevs too bad. Our 2 br at OKW was fabulous. Great view of the Golf Course.

I can't get over this WDW addiction. I booked a 7 day cruise for May 2002 this week. We will follow that cruise with 7 days at WDW. I figure I have 1 year and a half to pay for it by planning in advance. Plus, I just have to have something to plan for, don't I????

Hope this hasn't bored anyone too much. Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer as best as I can.

Pam

 

[nutz4dzny]

Thanks for Posting. I really enjoyed reading your trip reports. I too was there from 12-15 thru 12-27 with 16 of my family! I did all the planning also and it was fun but very hard at the same time. I am glad your family gave you gifts to show their appreciation for all the hard work! I barely got a thank-you but I have nice memories! Just my DH and myself are going in 2 weeks so I look forward to a nice relaxing vacation at the BC!

 

[hockey mom]

O.K., your description of the Candlelight Processional had tears welling up. Sounds like everyone had fun despite the weather. We would have been checking in as you were checking out, and it never warmed up. I seem to have the same addiction, because as soon as we got home I started to plan our next trip. We spoke to many people while waiting in lines and everyone who flew Delta had some sort of screw up with their flight. Thanks for posting.

 

[pnelson]

I'd love to know more about your son's reactions to evertthing??? Am planning a trip in 2002 and my son will be 9 1/2. Is your son bored because you have done WDW so many times? Did he like the characters or character meals? Let me know or email me!

 

[BWVPam]

pnelson??,

My son does not get bored going to WDW. We have already asked where he wants to go next year for our vacation and he said either 7day cruise or WDW. He doesn't know we will do both. We have already booked 7 day cruise for May 25 2002 followed by 7 days at Boardwalk.

He loves EPCOT, MK, MGM and AK all the same. This time we did do some different things like the miniature gold and Disney Quest which he had been begging to do.

He likes character meals, as long as it is not the Princess Meal at Cindy's. He doesn't do the autographs anymore, but likes helping his little sister. Chef Mickey's is his favorite restaurant and he also likes Crystal Palace. He likes Tigger.

By the way, when we did 3 day cruise last year, he really enjoyed that. They do a lot of fun activities for the older kids. Animation, acting, scavenger hunts, you name it. They never had a chance to get bored. Matter of fact, this is one reason we decided to cruise again in 2002. He will turn 12 a few weeks after the trip and we want him to get one last time in the kids clubs before he is too old.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

Pam

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Except for the flight home you all had a great Disney time. Thanks for posting!

 

[Mamu]

BWVPam, Thanks for the wonderful report. Its a lot of fun when whole families can vacation together.

I'm sure with your Mom and Dad moving to Peru, this was a very special vacation.

Mamu

<center><img width="174"height="184"src="http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/vltdisney/ariel03.gif"><center><font color=teal>Just Daydreaming!</font></center>

 

[faith]

So glad you could spend time there with your Mom & Dad. Hope you have some special memories!

 

[babslittleones]

thanks for the reports. They were great.

 

[Mickies'Girl]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report.

I can relate to the Disney addiction as I have the same problem. I hadn't even gone on our last trip (2/10-2/16) and I already had booked our room for our next trip (12/1-12/7/01). I just loveeeeee Disney!!!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Terrific trip reports! Our next trip is this Christmas so it was a lot of fun reading your reprots. Thanks.

Cousin Orville
Inventor of Air Cooling - CoP