PNO4TE
I used to be the DIS Musician and a Jamborini...
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2001
- Messages
- 31,531
I had the car all packed and ready to go for Thursday evening. All I had to do was get through four last recitals before I could leave. By 8:30 p.m. my studio was empty of the young pianists and their families as well as leftover food and garbage. I was ready!
I made a quick stop at home, where Kristin had a sandwich and juice ready for my dinner and where Bob was being a worrywart over my traveling alone. I dropped off all the many gifts that had been given to me, grabbed my dinner, calmed Bob down with the promise that if I got too tired I would stop sooner than I had planned. Hugs and kisses, pats for the dog (with the required promise of Ill be right back) and I was off by 9:00. I had a three hour drive ahead of me and my handy GPS (hereafter called Jill) confirmed this estimate.
The drive was easy with little traffic and no weather to deal with! I stopped at a Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount, NC for the night, arriving at 11:56 p.m. I called the girls to let them know I had made it (Bob was already asleep). Check-in was a breeze and the price of $62 was reasonable. The room was clean and the King bed comfortable. I was in bed and asleep before 12:30. But I was wide awake at 4:30 a.m. so I decided to go ahead and get a start on what I thought should be about an 11 hour drive. Jill said it should only be 10 hours, but I knew there was some rough weather to get through so I figured I was right and she was wrong. It was only 30 degrees in Rocky Mount . Brrrrrrrrr.
The first couple of hours were dark and quiet. About 6:00 I stopped in Lumberton, NC to fill up both the tank and my tummy. Only lost about 15 minutes for all of that. Back on the road, I waited for dawn and 7:00 to call myBob to let him know all was fine. He asked about the rain but it hadnt started yet. I knew it was coming, but I wanted to get as far south as possible so I wasnt dealing with ice or snow. In fact, I didnt run into rain until I crossed the SC/GA border. And then, like in the old movie in The Living Seas at Epcot, it rained, and rained, and rained the deluge.
I was so glad I had left Thursday night because I knew when these sheets of rain hit the cold air further north there would be lots and lots and lots of snow. Traffic kept up a pretty good pace, and the small amount of road construction made little impact on speed limits. I watched with fascination as Jills time estimate was becoming more and more plausible! Next stop I made was in Palm Coast, FL. It was a little sunny, actually! And I was shocked at the temperatures and humidity. It felt like a steam bath when I got out of my car to fill it up with gas. I think it was 76o and the humidity was close to 100%. It was amazingly different from what I had expected. A quick fill up and bathroom break and I was back on the road.
As I approached I-4 in Daytona Beach I saw more and more sunshine with intermittent showers, but I also knew it was better than what I had left behind me. I called Bob to let him know about the weather and he disgustingly told me that Fredericksburg was now under a Winter Weather Warning with high snowfall amounts predicted.
He was not happy and my reminding him that he was originally supposed to be with me on this drive didnt help the matter either.
I texted my friend, Diana (DisneyBride03), to let her know that my drive was going well and that I would let her know when I got to the WDW area. Meanwhile, a CM friend of mine (Peggy), texted me to find out if I had made it yet. I told her that I was almost there and we made arrangements to get together in the next day or so since she was going home for Christmas.
In what seemed like record time I found myself seeing this:
And I let Diana know how close I was. She replied that they were in the AK and would come over to AKL when they were done. And then I saw this:
which threw Diana into a panic. She had no idea that I was really that close. They were in the middle of The Lion King show and couldnt leave until it was over. No problem! I was able to get a room key and go to the room to freshen up and they were able to take their time getting there. It also gave me a chance to enjoy the Lodge since I had not expected to see it again so soon. See my friend Diana booked this night at AKL as a surprise and thank-you for me.
Luckily she let me know ahead of time or I would have been sitting over at Pop Century wondering why they wouldnt let me in the gates!! 
Soon Diana, her adorable daughter Ava, and our friend Laura (RachelTori) were in the room and we were all gabbing and enjoying being together. We had a 4:30 ADR for Boma and were seated fairly quickly. The three of us had nice glasses of wine with dinner and everyone seemed to be enjoying the meal. Ava was getting tired, and I have to admit so was I!
Laura had to leave to go back to her room after dinner and Diana and I decided downtime was a good thing! As we walked through the lobby we discovered a handbell choir had set up shop and was entertaining the guests with Christmas music. And around the lovely tree we found Donald and Daisy and then Chip and Dale! How nice for Ava to get to see four characters already!
We went back to the room, got Ava ready for bed, opened a bottle of prosecco and bundled everyone up for a little time on one of the balconies with rockers.
(Do ya like my hat?)
I had started to get messages from home that the weather was not looking good. There was now a Winter Storm Warning out for our area, with more than a foot of snow expected. I was not the most popular person in my family at this point. 
After the bracing cool weather and the prosecco we were ready for bed. We had lots to do tomorrow too!
I made a quick stop at home, where Kristin had a sandwich and juice ready for my dinner and where Bob was being a worrywart over my traveling alone. I dropped off all the many gifts that had been given to me, grabbed my dinner, calmed Bob down with the promise that if I got too tired I would stop sooner than I had planned. Hugs and kisses, pats for the dog (with the required promise of Ill be right back) and I was off by 9:00. I had a three hour drive ahead of me and my handy GPS (hereafter called Jill) confirmed this estimate.
The drive was easy with little traffic and no weather to deal with! I stopped at a Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount, NC for the night, arriving at 11:56 p.m. I called the girls to let them know I had made it (Bob was already asleep). Check-in was a breeze and the price of $62 was reasonable. The room was clean and the King bed comfortable. I was in bed and asleep before 12:30. But I was wide awake at 4:30 a.m. so I decided to go ahead and get a start on what I thought should be about an 11 hour drive. Jill said it should only be 10 hours, but I knew there was some rough weather to get through so I figured I was right and she was wrong. It was only 30 degrees in Rocky Mount . Brrrrrrrrr.
The first couple of hours were dark and quiet. About 6:00 I stopped in Lumberton, NC to fill up both the tank and my tummy. Only lost about 15 minutes for all of that. Back on the road, I waited for dawn and 7:00 to call myBob to let him know all was fine. He asked about the rain but it hadnt started yet. I knew it was coming, but I wanted to get as far south as possible so I wasnt dealing with ice or snow. In fact, I didnt run into rain until I crossed the SC/GA border. And then, like in the old movie in The Living Seas at Epcot, it rained, and rained, and rained the deluge.
I was so glad I had left Thursday night because I knew when these sheets of rain hit the cold air further north there would be lots and lots and lots of snow. Traffic kept up a pretty good pace, and the small amount of road construction made little impact on speed limits. I watched with fascination as Jills time estimate was becoming more and more plausible! Next stop I made was in Palm Coast, FL. It was a little sunny, actually! And I was shocked at the temperatures and humidity. It felt like a steam bath when I got out of my car to fill it up with gas. I think it was 76o and the humidity was close to 100%. It was amazingly different from what I had expected. A quick fill up and bathroom break and I was back on the road.
As I approached I-4 in Daytona Beach I saw more and more sunshine with intermittent showers, but I also knew it was better than what I had left behind me. I called Bob to let him know about the weather and he disgustingly told me that Fredericksburg was now under a Winter Weather Warning with high snowfall amounts predicted.
He was not happy and my reminding him that he was originally supposed to be with me on this drive didnt help the matter either.I texted my friend, Diana (DisneyBride03), to let her know that my drive was going well and that I would let her know when I got to the WDW area. Meanwhile, a CM friend of mine (Peggy), texted me to find out if I had made it yet. I told her that I was almost there and we made arrangements to get together in the next day or so since she was going home for Christmas.
In what seemed like record time I found myself seeing this:
And I let Diana know how close I was. She replied that they were in the AK and would come over to AKL when they were done. And then I saw this:
which threw Diana into a panic. She had no idea that I was really that close. They were in the middle of The Lion King show and couldnt leave until it was over. No problem! I was able to get a room key and go to the room to freshen up and they were able to take their time getting there. It also gave me a chance to enjoy the Lodge since I had not expected to see it again so soon. See my friend Diana booked this night at AKL as a surprise and thank-you for me.
Luckily she let me know ahead of time or I would have been sitting over at Pop Century wondering why they wouldnt let me in the gates!! Soon Diana, her adorable daughter Ava, and our friend Laura (RachelTori) were in the room and we were all gabbing and enjoying being together. We had a 4:30 ADR for Boma and were seated fairly quickly. The three of us had nice glasses of wine with dinner and everyone seemed to be enjoying the meal. Ava was getting tired, and I have to admit so was I!
Laura had to leave to go back to her room after dinner and Diana and I decided downtime was a good thing! As we walked through the lobby we discovered a handbell choir had set up shop and was entertaining the guests with Christmas music. And around the lovely tree we found Donald and Daisy and then Chip and Dale! How nice for Ava to get to see four characters already!
We went back to the room, got Ava ready for bed, opened a bottle of prosecco and bundled everyone up for a little time on one of the balconies with rockers.
(Do ya like my hat?)
I had started to get messages from home that the weather was not looking good. There was now a Winter Storm Warning out for our area, with more than a foot of snow expected.
I was not the most popular person in my family at this point. After the bracing cool weather and the prosecco we were ready for bed. We had lots to do tomorrow too!
They will never, ever, forgive me for this. Never. Ever. It was about this time I realized I had better stop sending them pictures. My mama didn’t raise a dummy!
We were hungry so we decided to eat at Captain Cook’s which was crowded. But the divide and conquer method worked. I got the food and Diana got the table. After Grown-Up Grilled Cheese and Dole Whips we were ready to call it a night. We made our trip back to the resort. 
Well, I guess it was a short trip! 
You did not order the snow, did you? But it does look like scary amounts of snow. I guess you normally don't have that much snow where you live?
We had to get dressed up because pictures would definitely be in order.
wave2: Anne Marie, Dana and kids!!) but other than talking over top of the heads of those in the lines beside me, we couldn’t do much “meeting” unfortunately. We will have to plan it better next time!
We talked about the decorations and the music. I love this score and have even gone so far as to find and purchase the entire thing so I can read along when I listen to my CD at home. 
Laura used her new Flip Video camera to record as much as possible (I still don’t know how that worked out) and I took lots of photos. Some turned out pretty goo, and others are a little blurry. But the pageantry was as beautiful as I remember and the music stirred my soul as it always does. I also had a chance to see a friend working up in the rafters! Justin Muchoney, the first Chief Magical Officer for WDW, had been asked to come down and lend his talented hands to the CP production this year and I saw him at work. Whoopi was wonderful and she LOVED the music. I wish you could see her moving as the choirs sang! She shared a personal reflection at the end of the show that was moving too.
