Grab a cup of coffee or tea and get comfy, this gets really long. I swear I tried to keep it simple, but we just had so much fun! 
The cast -
me, DW and most awesomest mom evar! (heh heh)
DH - loves all things Disney and is a source of endless jokes
DD - Kathy aka, the Punk. This is her senior year so we brought her and her BFF to Disney World!
DD BFF - Cae, our *adopted* kid, as she spends as much time with us as her own family sometimes. She and DD have been best friends since middle school.
We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, on the Concierge level (thanks to 3 years worth of saved up Disney reward points) and it was totally awesome. The CMs were so helpful with clearing up any confusion, helping me set up little surprises for the girls and just making sure we were comfortable the entire time. We could see the castle and the Contemporary Resort from our balcony. We were able to watch the Wishes fireworks every night. It was our second stay there and we plan on going again some day. Its our favorite resort at Disney.
The highlights of the trip...
Surprise Gifts - The girls were given gifts less than 10 minutes after walking through the Magic Kingdom gates. We stopped to get pictures from one of the Disney photographers and he gave the girls special Tinker bell pins for their lanyards. You cant buy them at the stands. Both girls went from no pins to umpteen of them in a weeks time. They had to look at all of them they saw to see if they *had* to own it or not.
They also had autographed notes from the Mad Hatter and Chip n Dale waiting for them in the room, next to the surprise baskets I ordered for them.
Kamikaze Melon - Cae and I were sitting in the lounge area eating breakfast. The lounge area for the Concierge is made up of seating that is next to the railing on the top floor. I was eating a piece of melon and it slipped out of my fingers, bounced on the carpet, off the railing and then fell over the edge; plopping on the lobby floor. We were seven floors above the main lobby and my melon took a nose dive over the edge. I guess it really didnt want to get eaten! She and I were convulsing with laughter when Chris walked up. I, of course had moved away from the guilty chair so that anyone looking up wouldnt see me. It was so embarrassing! They still havent let me live it down.
New Rule! - Cae and Kathy had gone to the beach area to lounge in the sun. There was a family with a little girl of maybe 3ish playing a game that the Dad was making up as they went along. After he said new rule and changed something to the detriment of the little girl for the last time, she stood up, said New Rule; Im not playing! and walked away. When the dad laughed and asked where she was going, she ignored him and went and sat with her mom. We spent the rest of the trip using New Rule! to open any joke/jab/pot shot at each other.
Tower of Terror - Excuse me while I squee like a fangirl okay, now that I have that out of my system. I LOVE this ride. The girls were not going to get on it, no way-no how. Chris will ride it with me just to hear me laugh hysterically during the ride. We had fast passes for it at 5:15 and as we were walking towards the ride to wait, a couple stopped and asked us if we wanted a set of fast passes for 5:20. Score! I got to ride it twice in a row. *bounce* *bounce* On Friday, Cae decided she did want to ride it after all so I got to ride it a 3rd time. My heart be still. I was in ToT heaven.
Expedition Everest - The new rollercoaster at Animal Kingdom freaking rocks! Its fast and twisty and dark and unpredictable. I wouldnt ride it twice in a row because it messes with your equilibrium, but it was super fun.
Foodies! - We tried out the Dining Plan this trip. It was a great deal. Well, if we hadnt been on the concierge it would have been a great deal. We ended up with 10 unused counter service credits because we kept grabbing a light dinner at the lounge instead of doing more walking to go to a counter service place. Otherwise, it would have been perfect. I would recommend it to anyone planning a trip.
Epcot Segway Tour - Okay, so here is the thing about me; I have a huge issue with being the center of a what is happening moment. You know, where people stop and stare because something different is going on? Well, I choked this down mightily so I could go on the Segway tour with Chris. They show you a short tape, the instructor gives some demos and then they take you out of the room into an open area where God and everyone can watch as you learn to ride a Segway. *Gulp!* I somehow ended up at the front of the line, which put me at the front of the class too. There were probably 50+ people watching at any given time. Thank goodness it is fairly intuitive. You just need good posture and a good sense of balance and it is pretty easy. There were only 6 of us in the class. There was a mom and 3 teen boys and the two of us. The mom had a really hard time at first, she was fighting how it worked. She eventually got the hang of it though.
I just kept my eyes down so I could not see the people and actually physically swallowed down my anxiety about it all. Once we were sufficiently trained, he took us to a garden area and roped it off so we could ride around for a while. There is a 2 hour tour that takes you around the park, but I am glad we did what we did. It was harder on my back then I expected it to be because you use your torso a lot. Another hour would have messed me up. Chris had a blast, so I was really glad I went with him. I would do it again, I think but maybe at a less crowded time of year. ;p
DVC - Chris and I had some time to kill while we waited for the girls to join us for some lunch reservations. There was a kiosk with info about the DVC, so we checked it out. It was interesting enough to go to an open house. Besides, they gave each attendee 3 VIP fast passes for attending. We talked the girls into going for the fast passes and we set up an appt. They were supposed to pick us up at 4pm but for whatever reason, the van didnt come.
The girls really wanted those fast passes, so we caught a cab. When we got there, they felt bad, and gave us 6 VIP fast passes each! Busiest week of the year and we had the ability to pretty much walk onto any ride, as long as the fast passes were not gone for the day. We made good use of them on Friday, park hopping to go on every ride we had missed. We bypassed the 170 minute long line for Soarin' and the 120 minute long line for Expedition Everest. They were both cool rides, but most definitely not worth standing in line for 2+ hours. We still had some left on the day we left, so the girls gave them to a family in the lounge. To say they were excited to get them is an understatement.
Visitors - Kathy is a very social, friendly girl. When we went on the cruise with the whole family in 2005 she made friends with Dave. They have stayed in contact ever since the cruise, thanks to My Space and cell phones. Dave is now a college student in FL, so he came down to spend the day with the girls on Thursday. They used the fast passes where they could, and the food credits and he even joined us for the dinner show Hoop-De-Doo. He and Chris proceeded to see how many buckets of ribs and fried chicken they could eat. I was surprised they could walk after dinner. He is a really nice guy, and we were glad to have him along.
That naughty Cheshire Cat - One of the fun things about Disney is that the housekeeping gets in on the fun. In their surprise baskets the girls each received a stuffed toy. There was a Cheshire cat for Cae and Jack Skellington for Kathy. Cae also has a stuffed lamb (Lamby) that she takes with her everywhere. Every day when we came back to the room, those silly toys were up to mischief. We would come in to find them lounging against pillows watching cartoons, or hiding our mints under their little feet or something. Somehow, the Cheshire cat was always the one holding the bag. ;p We tried scolding him, but it did not do any good at all.
Kathy, the Hat Girl - So, Kathy looks good in hats: any and all hats. We made a point of pausing to snap pictures of her trying on some of the more unwearable hats we found. Who new anyone could still look cute wearing a Yetti hat?!? Chris though, notsomuch. ;p
Wishes Fireworks Cruise - We had friends who were going to be in Disney at the same time as us. We invited them to join us on the fireworks cruise we booked for Friday evening. We rode a pontoon boat around the lagoon, getting stories from our boat captain, Joel, like why there is a tree with scores of tennis shoes hanging from it and where the original Animal Kingdom was located. It was freezing cold Friday night, but there were blankets and a great show to watch. Our guide drove us around the lake telling us stories, and then found the perfect spot for fireworks viewing. It even blocked some of the wind on the water so that we werent so cold. The kids who joined us (4 and 6) were in awe. We brought them each a small gift, a little bracelet for the girl and binoculars for the boy. He watched the whole show with them; even spotting Tinker Bell on her flight. Somehow, there were no pictures taken at all of the fireworks. I had gone and sat with our friends and their kids and Chris had the bag with the camera. There never seemed to be a second to ask him to fish it out and hand it to one of the girls for pictures. Kathy had her Nikon, but being ADD, she waited until we were on the boat to try to adjust the shutter speed. She got quickly frustrated and we made her stop so she didnt spoil her ride. We didnt want her to be upset over it. Oh well, it was beautiful and we can do it again the next time we go there.
"They look so real!" - There is a huge variety of birds and such living at DW. They are not afraid of people and can be found all over the place. Every time we would pass a critter, Chris would exclaim, It seems so real! or some variation on the theme. He said it to us, to little kids trying to lure the bunnies from under the bushes, anyone he thought would find it funny. *shaking head* I think he made a few of them believe they were animatronic bunnies.
Blisters - For all the effort I put into being sure people had comfortable walking shoes with them, Chris and Kathy put up quite the battle to see who would win the blister battle. By the end of the trip, both of them wore moleskin and band aids on toes, heels, and tops of feet.
Topiaries - It is flower/garden show week at Epcot. There were really cool topiaries scattered everywhere and flowers planted in arrangements only Disney would think to plant. They were so pretty!
We found it! - When Chris and I went to Disney for our honeymoon in 2003, we did one of the Leave a Legacy tiles at Epcot. When we went back in 2004, they gave us a non existent location, so we had never seen the tile. We were determined to find it this trip. I took pictures and there will be an icon, Im sure. ;p
Jesus Loves U - There was a skywriter over Disney almost everyday we were there. You could see it from MGM and Epcot. One day he wrote, Jesus Loves U he also made a smiley face and wrote Love U , there were others too, but I have pictures of these two.
Hometown peeps - We were riding the bus back to the hotel and there were people on it from my hometown! How small of a world it is; Bloomington, IL is not exactly a large population place.
I got a rock - Chris and I were sitting at the pool bar one evening and one of the other guests had started naming the rocks. There were rocks on the bar to be used as paper weights to keep receipts and such from blowing away. Each one had to have rock in the name. We ended up with Kid, Punk, Pride (from the Lion King) Rolling, Hudson 3rd and a few others. It was fun to try to think of names with Rock in the title. We are so easily amused.
"I have friends, we go to parties" - We had watched an episode of SNL shortly before the trip. There was a skit about a person who had to one up anything anyone else had to say. If someone said they were friends with the host, she was closer friends, and they went to parties with big named people and if someone said they were born on the moon, she said she had a house there and was friends with Martians, etc, you get the idea. It was all said in a mumbly, monotone sort of way. This too, became part of our Disney trip. If someone said I had some candy, someone else would say something better and finish it off with we go to parties. I know it is one of those things you have to be there for, but it was always funny.
"I'm bored!" - Another Chrisism. It started at the airport on the way there and kept going until we got home. If he had to wait for anything at all, wed hear Im bored or Im tired or some other 2 word complaint followed by a raffish grin. He just loves to make people laugh.
Whew! Sorry about all of that, but the tale is in the telling and all that. If I don't write it all out, we'll forget these little things.
The cast -
me, DW and most awesomest mom evar! (heh heh)
DH - loves all things Disney and is a source of endless jokes
DD - Kathy aka, the Punk. This is her senior year so we brought her and her BFF to Disney World!
DD BFF - Cae, our *adopted* kid, as she spends as much time with us as her own family sometimes. She and DD have been best friends since middle school.
We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, on the Concierge level (thanks to 3 years worth of saved up Disney reward points) and it was totally awesome. The CMs were so helpful with clearing up any confusion, helping me set up little surprises for the girls and just making sure we were comfortable the entire time. We could see the castle and the Contemporary Resort from our balcony. We were able to watch the Wishes fireworks every night. It was our second stay there and we plan on going again some day. Its our favorite resort at Disney.
The highlights of the trip...
Surprise Gifts - The girls were given gifts less than 10 minutes after walking through the Magic Kingdom gates. We stopped to get pictures from one of the Disney photographers and he gave the girls special Tinker bell pins for their lanyards. You cant buy them at the stands. Both girls went from no pins to umpteen of them in a weeks time. They had to look at all of them they saw to see if they *had* to own it or not.
They also had autographed notes from the Mad Hatter and Chip n Dale waiting for them in the room, next to the surprise baskets I ordered for them.
Kamikaze Melon - Cae and I were sitting in the lounge area eating breakfast. The lounge area for the Concierge is made up of seating that is next to the railing on the top floor. I was eating a piece of melon and it slipped out of my fingers, bounced on the carpet, off the railing and then fell over the edge; plopping on the lobby floor. We were seven floors above the main lobby and my melon took a nose dive over the edge. I guess it really didnt want to get eaten! She and I were convulsing with laughter when Chris walked up. I, of course had moved away from the guilty chair so that anyone looking up wouldnt see me. It was so embarrassing! They still havent let me live it down.
New Rule! - Cae and Kathy had gone to the beach area to lounge in the sun. There was a family with a little girl of maybe 3ish playing a game that the Dad was making up as they went along. After he said new rule and changed something to the detriment of the little girl for the last time, she stood up, said New Rule; Im not playing! and walked away. When the dad laughed and asked where she was going, she ignored him and went and sat with her mom. We spent the rest of the trip using New Rule! to open any joke/jab/pot shot at each other.
Tower of Terror - Excuse me while I squee like a fangirl okay, now that I have that out of my system. I LOVE this ride. The girls were not going to get on it, no way-no how. Chris will ride it with me just to hear me laugh hysterically during the ride. We had fast passes for it at 5:15 and as we were walking towards the ride to wait, a couple stopped and asked us if we wanted a set of fast passes for 5:20. Score! I got to ride it twice in a row. *bounce* *bounce* On Friday, Cae decided she did want to ride it after all so I got to ride it a 3rd time. My heart be still. I was in ToT heaven.
Expedition Everest - The new rollercoaster at Animal Kingdom freaking rocks! Its fast and twisty and dark and unpredictable. I wouldnt ride it twice in a row because it messes with your equilibrium, but it was super fun.
Foodies! - We tried out the Dining Plan this trip. It was a great deal. Well, if we hadnt been on the concierge it would have been a great deal. We ended up with 10 unused counter service credits because we kept grabbing a light dinner at the lounge instead of doing more walking to go to a counter service place. Otherwise, it would have been perfect. I would recommend it to anyone planning a trip.
Epcot Segway Tour - Okay, so here is the thing about me; I have a huge issue with being the center of a what is happening moment. You know, where people stop and stare because something different is going on? Well, I choked this down mightily so I could go on the Segway tour with Chris. They show you a short tape, the instructor gives some demos and then they take you out of the room into an open area where God and everyone can watch as you learn to ride a Segway. *Gulp!* I somehow ended up at the front of the line, which put me at the front of the class too. There were probably 50+ people watching at any given time. Thank goodness it is fairly intuitive. You just need good posture and a good sense of balance and it is pretty easy. There were only 6 of us in the class. There was a mom and 3 teen boys and the two of us. The mom had a really hard time at first, she was fighting how it worked. She eventually got the hang of it though.
I just kept my eyes down so I could not see the people and actually physically swallowed down my anxiety about it all. Once we were sufficiently trained, he took us to a garden area and roped it off so we could ride around for a while. There is a 2 hour tour that takes you around the park, but I am glad we did what we did. It was harder on my back then I expected it to be because you use your torso a lot. Another hour would have messed me up. Chris had a blast, so I was really glad I went with him. I would do it again, I think but maybe at a less crowded time of year. ;p
DVC - Chris and I had some time to kill while we waited for the girls to join us for some lunch reservations. There was a kiosk with info about the DVC, so we checked it out. It was interesting enough to go to an open house. Besides, they gave each attendee 3 VIP fast passes for attending. We talked the girls into going for the fast passes and we set up an appt. They were supposed to pick us up at 4pm but for whatever reason, the van didnt come.
The girls really wanted those fast passes, so we caught a cab. When we got there, they felt bad, and gave us 6 VIP fast passes each! Busiest week of the year and we had the ability to pretty much walk onto any ride, as long as the fast passes were not gone for the day. We made good use of them on Friday, park hopping to go on every ride we had missed. We bypassed the 170 minute long line for Soarin' and the 120 minute long line for Expedition Everest. They were both cool rides, but most definitely not worth standing in line for 2+ hours. We still had some left on the day we left, so the girls gave them to a family in the lounge. To say they were excited to get them is an understatement. Visitors - Kathy is a very social, friendly girl. When we went on the cruise with the whole family in 2005 she made friends with Dave. They have stayed in contact ever since the cruise, thanks to My Space and cell phones. Dave is now a college student in FL, so he came down to spend the day with the girls on Thursday. They used the fast passes where they could, and the food credits and he even joined us for the dinner show Hoop-De-Doo. He and Chris proceeded to see how many buckets of ribs and fried chicken they could eat. I was surprised they could walk after dinner. He is a really nice guy, and we were glad to have him along.
That naughty Cheshire Cat - One of the fun things about Disney is that the housekeeping gets in on the fun. In their surprise baskets the girls each received a stuffed toy. There was a Cheshire cat for Cae and Jack Skellington for Kathy. Cae also has a stuffed lamb (Lamby) that she takes with her everywhere. Every day when we came back to the room, those silly toys were up to mischief. We would come in to find them lounging against pillows watching cartoons, or hiding our mints under their little feet or something. Somehow, the Cheshire cat was always the one holding the bag. ;p We tried scolding him, but it did not do any good at all.
Kathy, the Hat Girl - So, Kathy looks good in hats: any and all hats. We made a point of pausing to snap pictures of her trying on some of the more unwearable hats we found. Who new anyone could still look cute wearing a Yetti hat?!? Chris though, notsomuch. ;p
Wishes Fireworks Cruise - We had friends who were going to be in Disney at the same time as us. We invited them to join us on the fireworks cruise we booked for Friday evening. We rode a pontoon boat around the lagoon, getting stories from our boat captain, Joel, like why there is a tree with scores of tennis shoes hanging from it and where the original Animal Kingdom was located. It was freezing cold Friday night, but there were blankets and a great show to watch. Our guide drove us around the lake telling us stories, and then found the perfect spot for fireworks viewing. It even blocked some of the wind on the water so that we werent so cold. The kids who joined us (4 and 6) were in awe. We brought them each a small gift, a little bracelet for the girl and binoculars for the boy. He watched the whole show with them; even spotting Tinker Bell on her flight. Somehow, there were no pictures taken at all of the fireworks. I had gone and sat with our friends and their kids and Chris had the bag with the camera. There never seemed to be a second to ask him to fish it out and hand it to one of the girls for pictures. Kathy had her Nikon, but being ADD, she waited until we were on the boat to try to adjust the shutter speed. She got quickly frustrated and we made her stop so she didnt spoil her ride. We didnt want her to be upset over it. Oh well, it was beautiful and we can do it again the next time we go there.
"They look so real!" - There is a huge variety of birds and such living at DW. They are not afraid of people and can be found all over the place. Every time we would pass a critter, Chris would exclaim, It seems so real! or some variation on the theme. He said it to us, to little kids trying to lure the bunnies from under the bushes, anyone he thought would find it funny. *shaking head* I think he made a few of them believe they were animatronic bunnies.
Blisters - For all the effort I put into being sure people had comfortable walking shoes with them, Chris and Kathy put up quite the battle to see who would win the blister battle. By the end of the trip, both of them wore moleskin and band aids on toes, heels, and tops of feet.
Topiaries - It is flower/garden show week at Epcot. There were really cool topiaries scattered everywhere and flowers planted in arrangements only Disney would think to plant. They were so pretty!
We found it! - When Chris and I went to Disney for our honeymoon in 2003, we did one of the Leave a Legacy tiles at Epcot. When we went back in 2004, they gave us a non existent location, so we had never seen the tile. We were determined to find it this trip. I took pictures and there will be an icon, Im sure. ;p
Jesus Loves U - There was a skywriter over Disney almost everyday we were there. You could see it from MGM and Epcot. One day he wrote, Jesus Loves U he also made a smiley face and wrote Love U , there were others too, but I have pictures of these two.
Hometown peeps - We were riding the bus back to the hotel and there were people on it from my hometown! How small of a world it is; Bloomington, IL is not exactly a large population place.
I got a rock - Chris and I were sitting at the pool bar one evening and one of the other guests had started naming the rocks. There were rocks on the bar to be used as paper weights to keep receipts and such from blowing away. Each one had to have rock in the name. We ended up with Kid, Punk, Pride (from the Lion King) Rolling, Hudson 3rd and a few others. It was fun to try to think of names with Rock in the title. We are so easily amused.
"I have friends, we go to parties" - We had watched an episode of SNL shortly before the trip. There was a skit about a person who had to one up anything anyone else had to say. If someone said they were friends with the host, she was closer friends, and they went to parties with big named people and if someone said they were born on the moon, she said she had a house there and was friends with Martians, etc, you get the idea. It was all said in a mumbly, monotone sort of way. This too, became part of our Disney trip. If someone said I had some candy, someone else would say something better and finish it off with we go to parties. I know it is one of those things you have to be there for, but it was always funny.
"I'm bored!" - Another Chrisism. It started at the airport on the way there and kept going until we got home. If he had to wait for anything at all, wed hear Im bored or Im tired or some other 2 word complaint followed by a raffish grin. He just loves to make people laugh.
Whew! Sorry about all of that, but the tale is in the telling and all that. If I don't write it all out, we'll forget these little things.
Hey there Champaign! 
