The What-else-can-go-wrong trip report

[mom3sonstt]

Part 1 - Pre-Trip

Participants - Me (Tanya 43 - Trip #17 or 18), DH (Danny 55 - Trip #18 or 19), Walt (63 - Trip #3), Pam (55 - Trip #2)

After purchasing more DVC points this year we have a total of 410 a year which gives us enough for a long family trip with the boys each year with enough left over for some short get-away trips. We decided to take a short trip down to see the Christmas lights. We booked a 3 night stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge with a standard view. Then we decided to ask this other couple (Pam & Walt) that we are friends with if they would like to go at the same time - they also have DVC points. So, they booked the same dates and resort category. So far so good. A month or so before the trip Walt signed up for a workshop that was being held at the Swan the week before our trip. So he moved his flight from flying down with us to flying down a week earlier, plus adding another night at Animal Kingdom the night before the rest of us get there. We were afraid this could mess up our request to have rooms near each other since our dates no longer coincided - but that worked out ok.

Saturday I had the suitcase on the couch and we were checking to make sure we had everything we needed when Danny turned and groaned. His back had gone out - or was pinched - or something. He wasn't lifting anything or twisting too far - he was just standing there and looked to the right an that was all it took! Thought we were really in trouble because he has to do all the lifting - I can't do it. Plus we have to take my dialysis machine with us, and it is heavy - and has to be stored above. I gave him some Aleve and he was extra careful and finally worked it out. He was a little tender - but no more major problems.

Sunday we went and picked up Pam then drove over to Bloomington to spend the night - our flight was at 5:47 and we live over an hour from the airport so decided to stay there the night before. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for supper. The next morning the alarm was set for 3 but at 2:18 I woke up to an "Oh My God!" That woke me right up - I thought we had overslept.....nope - Danny had gone to get up to go to the bathroom and hurt his back again - it was stiff from sleeping. Once he got up off the floor - he was on his knees next to the bed - he took some more Aleve and walked around to loosen it up, and took a warm shower. That did the trick. I couldn't get back to sleep, but I stayed in bed as long as I could then got up and got around. We went over to get Pam and her luggage only to find out that her hands are swollen. She is allergic to green peppers.....or peppers in general, and evidently there was something in the bbq sauce that contained peppers. She has a form of arthritis, and when she eats peppers it causes inflammation in her joints. So Danny's back was touchy and her hands were stiff, and I have all my issues - we were quite a trio!

Our flight from Bloomington to Atlanta was uneventful. It was foggy out, and had the visibility worsened we could have been in trouble, but we got out pretty much on time. Our flight from Atlanta to Orlando was fairly uneventful. It was foggy in Atlanta too so the flights were slow taking off...plus while we were sitting there in the plane on the tarmac the captain came on to tell us what the delay was. We figured it was the weather, but the luggage handlers hauling their cart of luggage out to load had dumped luggage all over the ground in front of our plane, so we were stuck until they got it gathered back up. The captain said it was their competitor.....I assume it was Delta since the planes at the gate we were going by were Delta. More fog in Orlando - we went down to land, heard the landing gear go down, then all the sudden we are leaning back in our seats going up at a much steeper angle than normal and the landing gear is pulled back up. Due to the weather, flights were slow taking off and the flight taking off on the runway we were to land on hadn't cleared it yet. We had to circle around and try again - that took about 10-15 minutes before we got on the ground.

Once on the ground we made our way through the airport and over to Magical Express. When Pam gave the CM her booklet they asked her where the rest of her party was. She told her that he had flown down earlier in the week, but would be returning with us. He had set up his Magical Express before he booked this other trip. She put 3 big X's through Walt's bar code so they wouldn't get charged for him. When Pam saw what she was doing she panicked and asked if he would need that for the return trip. The CM kinda shrugged and said that he could use the one that they leave in the room.

We were the first ones in our line for Animal Kingdom and Coronado Springs. We probably stood there 25-30 minutes before the boarded us on a bus that had been sitting there for at least 15-20 minutes of that time. In addition to the 12 of us in line, there was one family (with a wheelchair) that was going to Pop Century. The fog had finally lifted and we were on our way. First stop was Pop where they had to unload the wheelchair, then Coronado Springs. We were sitting in the front two seats and Danny had been checking his blackberry to see what the temperature was going to be that day. He told us that it was currently 89 degrees. The driver overheard him and said that the thermometer on his dash only said 83. Then he got to talking about how unusally hot it was, and what the normal temps were this time of year, and then we notice that we are heading for All Stars. Our driver was talking and not paying attention and missed his turn. He did a u turn and headed to Animal Kingdom Lodge. He dropped off at Jambo House and finally Kidani. It took us longer to ride the Magical Express from the airport to our resort than it took to fly from Atlanta to Orlando.

Finally we have arrived!! Pam doesn't need to check in since Walt checked in the day before. We go over to check in......we have been up since 2:18, all we have had to eat are the little graham cracker cookie things on the flight, it is after 1:00 and we are tired and hungry - all we want to do is check in and eat. Walt was in room 7729 and the way his room was set up was the way I needed mine set up. I have to have the dialysis machine to my right so I need the nightstand on that side of the bed. I told the guy at check-in that I needed the same layout that Walt has.....he had a blank look on his face, then said that our room was next to his and would be the same. That didn't seem right to me since rooms next to each other are usually mirror
opposites, but since it was DVC and there are different room
configurations I thought maybe he knew what he was talking about. Of course, it was too early for our room to be ready yet. But that was ok - we were gonna drop our stuff off in Walt's room. So I asked if my scooter and my boxes of dialysis fluid had been delivered yet. He went back and checked......nope. Well, I had already gotten a call from the delivery company who delivered my boxes. They were left earlier in the week, signed for by Tony P and they called back and confirmed with Jeff that they were there and that they were in Bin 16. He went back and checked again.....nope. So he called over to Jambo House - nope. I also pulled out my confirmation for my scooter - it was confirmed to be delivered by 9 AM that morning. He called back to Jambo House. Yep - it was over there - they were going to ride it right over. I called my supplier about my boxes and confirmed the Bin 16 thing - yep that's what they had been told. So he called over to Jambo House yet again and this time they found them. Danny
was starting to get "that" look on his face so I had sent him to Walt's room with the rest of our stuff while all these phone calls were taking place. They assured us it would be just a few minutes before they got the scooter to me. He said he had told them we were waiting - I had told him what time we had gotten up and that all we wanted to do was eat. It was probably 45 minutes before they got it there. I am usually the calm one in our family and I was getting mad. Probably madder than I should - but he kept telling me "just a couple minutes" and it was much longer. Finally the scooter arrived and we went in search of food. We wandered around until we found Sanaa only to discover that the menu didn't appeal to anybody - either in content, or in price. We were told that was the only restaurant at Kidani, but that we could catch any park bus and get off at jambo House where there were 3 restaurants. So down to the bus stops and my first foray into loading the scooter. We got off over there and went in search of food. Found a description of the restaurants. Boma and Jiko were nixed and we wandered around trying to find Mara. Now remember - I am on the scooter - so when they go the wrong way it takes me longer to get turned back around. We finally figured out that we had to go outside to get to it. Go in there and half of the menu boards are down - so we saw people with cheeseburgers, but did not see them on the menu. Being starving and exhausted probably did not help us figure out what we were doing....but eventually we had food in our bellies. Of course the burgers were made with the disintegrating buns......but at least it was food! Another bus ride back to Kidani where our room was ready. We go up, walk in the door, and there is our suitcase and my boxes all delivered. We go past those into the room - and there is the nightstand......on the wrong side of the bed.

Things are actually looking up though, I looked at my side of the bed and there was plenty of space between the wall and the bed - sometimes the bed is too close to the wall. Then I looked at the phone and the radio and, unlike at Boardwalk, I could take them off the nightstand. At Boardwalk the radio was attached - not to the table top, but the wires (the antenna maybe??) were screwed into the back of that stand and we weren't able to move it somewhere we could use it we had to sit it on the bottom shelf. But here we could take it off, so I sat them on the bed and we moved the nightstand over to my side of the bed, then we moved one of the little end tables to where the nightstand was, put the phone book on the table and the radio and phone on top of that to raise them up a little. We would have moved a table to my side but they were too low - Walt suggested stacking them, but that didn't seem very sturdy and probably would have been too high. The nightstand I was worried would be too low since the beds there are so high, but it worked out ok.

So by now it's probably close to 4, we have been traveling since 4 the afternoon before (that's when we left home to go pick up Pam and go to the hotel) and we are just now settled into our room. When we came down in November, we left home at 7 - 7:30 that morning, flew direct,
got checked in and settled in our room by.......about 4. That early flight did not save us at all - the only difference was that we had already eaten a meal at Disney - but with the crummy buns it wasn't all that great. If nothing else, we have learned that we will never fly out that early again......it didn't gain us any time - plus we are beat.

But we are settled in our rooms - things have got to start getting better........right??????

 

[disney<333]

I'm here!
You are so lucky to have DVC!
Hope the back problem is resolved.
How were the lights?
We went for thanksgiving and all the christmas decorations were gorgeous. The link to my TR is in my sig.
Can't wait to read more!
Barbara

 

[mom3sonstt]

Part 2 - End of first day

Participants - Me (Tanya 43 - Trip #17 or 18), DH (Danny 55 - Trip #18 or 19), Walt (63 - Trip #3), Pam (55 - Trip #2)

When I left you last, we had finally gotten checked in to our room, which we had to immediately re-model to accommodate my issues (dialysis machine on right side, outlet accessible to plug in scooter...) We left Pam & Walt in their room right next door, with the parting words of "give us a call in about 30 minutes".

I unpacked and got everything put away, got my machine set up, and my boxes of fluid out of the way. Put our hamper and my bathrobe in the bathroom, set up our bathroom stuff. Then I sat down on the couch for awhile. Danny helped with the heavy stuff then got his computer set up and got online. After awhile (more than the 30 minutes) he gave Walt a call. Pam was taking a nap. She woke up while they were talking and said they would be right over. About 15 minutes later or so they came. I thought that we would pick a park and go since we only had 3 nights and the point of this trip was to see Christmas lights at the parks. (silly me)

Well, they didn't have any tickets yet (I had sent them a spreadsheet of various options over a month ago, and again last week so he could decide what to get). So we sat around discussing their options.....again, and looking at the park hours for that day. AK was closing at 6 so that was out, MK had extra magic hours, so that was a possibility, I wanted to go to Epcot when I had a full afternoon because I wanted to try to see some of the Storytellers, and I think Studios closed at either 7 or 8. So my vote was to go to the Studios. Well, then they brought up MVMCP and did we think the extra cost of that was worth what you get out of it. So that was discussed for awhile. They wanted to know if their were any discount rates for going in to the park so close to closing time, so I got on the computer and tried to find something on that. AFter piddling around - talking about what we could be doing - "we" finally decided it was too late to go to a park tonight, so we were just going to go to Downtown and get something to eat and to shop. But first we would go downstairs and they were going to get 3-day park hopper passes and we were all going to see if we could get MVMCP tickets for the next night. Our plans were to go to Magic Kingdom on Tueday and stay for the party, go to Epcot on Wed and maybe try to run over to Studios to see the Osborne lights and get back for Illuminations (don't know how that was supposed to work) and then on Thursday before our flight we would decide later. Not my first choice of plans for the evening - but whatever. I had kind of thought the whole idea of gettin up at 3 (or 2:18 if your husband's back goes out) and flying down there so early was so you would be there early enough to enjoy some park time - but I must have been confused.

So out we go to catch a bus. I have already decided that with the scooter, I do not like staying at AKL. Fortunately most of the buses pick up at Kidani before they go to Jambo, so I could usually get on the bus - but after staying at Boardwalk where I had options without having to take a bus - this staying out in the middle of nowhere wasn't much fun. Once at Downtown we went through a couple shops right there at the entrance, then went over to Earl's for supper. Pam & I had the holiday turkey sandwich. It wasn't as good as I remembered it last time, Danny & Walt both got grilled cheese and potato soup....mmm that sounded good - I should have gone that route! AFter supper it was World of Disney time. Pam had seen a tshirt on somebody that she thought was really cute and she was determined to find it. We had no luck at World of Disney....she did get a sweatshirt, and Danny got some more of those goofy Vinylmation things. I remember going into Once Upon a Toy, and the Christmas store - I think that may have been about it. I ran back over to Earl's and picked up a strawberry yogurt granola cup for breakfast and grabbed Danny a brownie.

On our way back to the bus stop Pam wanted to get pictures taken at the Mickey and gang snow sculpture statues. Walt decided that was a good time to learn how to use the timer on his camera. First they took a couple pics of Pam & I standing there, then they decided to try one of the 4 of us and sat the camera on a flat pole...but the timer ddn't go off. Another couple offered to take our pics - so we did that, and the guys took theirs. They kept looking at the camera determined to figure out the timer, we took more pics of other families, then tried again with our cameras. I think we finally gave up on the timer and went to catch the bus.

I think this was the driver that had me park in the front spot, which is harder to maneuver into, in case there was another scooter at the next stop. There wasn't.

We got back to Kidani with 6 minutes to spare before the gift shop closed. We were down there earlier - after lunch before going up to our rooms. All we wanted for our room was bread and butter for toast in the morning. Pam and Walt wanted cinnamon rolls and something else. So when we pulled in to the bus stop the guys got right off and made a beeline for the store. Now why we didn't buy that stuff earlier when we were down there I have no idea - I guess doing things logically goes against their beliefs. Pam and I came in and saw the cage was down over the gift shop door, but didn't see the guys in the lobby - then we heard them - they were in the gift shop. We waited out in the lobby while they decided on their stuff then rode up together with plans to meet in the morning.

Our rooms were 7729 and 7731 - from our balcony we could see the parking lot right in front of us and the pool through some trees on the other side of the lot. If we looked all the way to the right we could see the outer edge of the savannah. That evening we could see some brown deer-like animals lying down in front of a tree - or we assume they were animals - they didn't blend in with the grass, but we obviously couldn't see them well enough to tell what the were - it was also dusk when we were looking so that didn't help. And we saw the occasional ostrich, and some other really large bird but that was about it.

The night before - at the Bloomington hotel, I had re-set my dialysis machine to only run 6 1/2 hours and to only do 3 fills instead of 4 - I didn't have time for the full 8 hours with such an early flight. When we were setting up stuff in the room I had hooked my bags up to it to make sure everything was working and forgot to reset the machine before I did that so it was still set up for the lesser amount. Not the end of the world, but not the best either. Around midnight I went to bed, with the alarms set for about 8 or 8:30 the next morning.....because, after all, "we aren't in a big rush to be anywhere". At least, our friends weren't in a big rush to be anywhere - I was still disappointed that my first day was over and we hadn't really been anywhere or done anything and we only had two nights left.

But it's bound to get better........

 

[mom3sonstt]

Part 3 - Second Day

Participants - Me (Tanya 43 - Trip #17 or 18), DH (Danny 55 - Trip #18 or 19), Walt (63 - Trip #3), Pam (55 - Trip #2)

Day 2 - It's Tuesday - will we actually see the inside of a park today???

As I mentioned, the night before I had set up my machine before I re-set the settings, so for two nights in a row I had one less "cycle" of dialysis than usual. That, along with the havoc traveling in general or flying specifically does on you, I was feeling over-full or kinda bloated in the morning. I had made a pot of coffee, drank a cup, had my yogurt and a piece of toast. I probably shouldnt have eaten that much because it felt like it just sat there on top of my stomach. With all of the dialysis fluid plus my over-sized kidneys, I honestly feel like there isn't enough room inside for everything to work the way it is supposed to. Sometimes when I eat I don't feel like the food is making it to my stomach - more like there is a traffic jam just past the bottom of my throat. That's how I felt this morning. I took some tums (I have to take tons of them for the calcium but thought it might also help with the full feeling too) and I sat there and rubbed my tummy - just like a baby sometimes I need help getting burped. And well, sometimes when you burp a baby it's a good thing if you have a towel or burp rag on your shoulder..... I didn't "get sick", but I did need to change my shirt. So I had brought 4, wore one, and wasted one - that meant the shirt that I had worn on Sunday and threw in the suitcase just in case I needed a warmer shirt (it was long sleeve, everything else was short sleeved) would be brought back into use later this week.

We had planned to meet around 10, which turned to 10:30 - 10:45.....beacuse, remember - we aren;t in a hurry to get anywhere (????) We caught the bus to Magic Kingdom, then took a boat over to Fort Wilderness to eat at Trails End. Last trip Danny & I had come over here for the very first time and loved it. The highlight for me was the super-buttery corn.....today - they had green beans The meal was still good and we sat there quite awhile talking, Walt was telling us about the conference he had attended earlier in the week. Danny & Walt are also starting a company together and were discussing different aspects of that. And we sat and talked, and talked and sat. We were there quite awhile. Pam left to go to the restroom and we sat and talked some more waiting for her to come back. Eventually she called to say she was going over to the trading post and wondered where we were. Evidently when she got up she told Walt she'd meet us outside. We sat there thinking she was coming back because it went in one ear and out the other.....until his phone rang - then he said "Oh - we were supposed to meet her out there...."

Over at the trading post she saw a Santa milk and cookie cup and plate set she wanted. We thought we could have it sent back to our resort, but can't do that from resort to resort - only from park to resort. We assured Pam that it would be at the parks (if we ever got to them) and if not, then the guys would come back over and get it for her.

Back at the boat dock we just missed a boat leaving. The next boat came and it was one of the smaller ones that you can't load a scooter in, so we had to wait for the next one to come. Back to the Magic Kingdom where - at last - we entered a park! (Yay!!!) However, entering a park - and doing anything at the park, I learned are two different things. We shopped Main Street, found her cookie plate, and some really cute post cards. Pam & Walt were going to send theirs back to the room - we were buying some post cards too and asked if we could stick it in the box in their sack so they wouldn't get bent. Apparently you can't do that. Once she explained why it made sense - if the package wouldn't turn up they can only verify that what is on the packing receipt is in the sack - if they had paid for our cards we could have put them in there, but not with a seperate receipt. They were using their Disney Rewards, so we didn't want to mess with that and put our cards back.

From there I think we went over to Hall of Presidents. We were going to go to the Christmas shop, but the Presidents was starting shortly - and a parade was getting ready to come (yes, it's 3 o'clock of our second day and we are finally entering our first attraction). We watched the presidents, then shopped in that shop and the Christmas shop. Then Danny & Pam went to the restrooms, Walt & I watched Tiana's showboat jubilee parade come marching by. Danny and Pam came back and we followed the boat around. Walt went in to Pecos Bills and got him and I fountain sodas, while Danny went to the refreshment wagon and got him & Pam bottled sodas (I tease Danny that Pam 7 I should switch husbands because we have a lot of the same little oddball things in common with the others spouse). We sauntered down to Splash Mountain. I am thinking "this is not going to work" - Pam does not like "big" rides. She rode this on her last trip and did fine, but all she remembers is getting drenched on Kali River and refused to get on. We told her that it is very unlikely to get very wet on Splash Mountain anymore, but of course some of the people getting off (we wet up the exit since I had the scooter) were wet - not soaked, but were somewhat wet. We get to where I park my scooter and I get off and get my stuff and she is gone. She went back out the exit and wouldn't ride. None of the threee of us got wet at all - at least no more than a half dozen drops. Walt was irked that she wouldn't ride, I couldn't read Danny, I was disappointed, but figured if she didn't mind waiting while we rode, then so be it. Until Walt said "You rode all these rides at Dollywood without a single word" Then I was a little irritated. She had been telling me that she gets motion sick - and I knew last trip she freaked out on Thunder Mountain - but we have been to Dollywood, too and if she could ride those without complaining, she should be able to ride these too. At Dollywood they had taken her mother and her somewhat mentally challenged sister (able to drive and hold a simple job, but lacks social skills and needs routine) I am guessing she wanted to make sure they had a good time since they never get to travel, so bit the bullet and rode the rides, but with us just wasn't going to do it.

From there we walked over to Pirates - Walt said "you can handle this one" she said "is it a ride?" Danny told her it's a boat ride but that its just floating by scenes, there aren't any big drops or anything. She said that she wasn't going to ride anyrides - but she would watch shows. We got to pirates and it was roped off - technical difficulties. But there was a Pirate show going on so I rolled over and watched the end of it. It was the "good" Jack and when he made his escape ran right through us.

Now we are headed back to the front of the park to see what we need to do in order to get armbands for the MVMCP that night. Pam asks what we are going to do for supper and maybe we should get some ice cream to tide us over. We had just eaten at a buffet - had they not been with us we may have split a bucket of popcorn later and called it a day. They didn't have any wrist band stations set up, and Pam was complaining that it was a bad system to have to go clear back to the front of the park to get the wristbands. We went out to the front gate and got our wristbands - didn't have to exit and re-enter, but did go out to the entrance to do it. We noticed later they had a place at Belles garden where you could get wristbands, but it must nothave been set up yet. Wristbands are in place and we shop up the other side of Main Street, stopping at the Ice Cream Parlor for ice cream. Found some tables over at the Tomorrowland Noodle station and sat and ate. While we were there they were putting up the signage for hot chocolate, cookies and apple slices for the party tonight. They also wheeled out a bank of DS games - I assume they were set up later during the party.

From here we went down over the Tomorrowland bridge and staked out a spot to watch the castle lighting ceremony at 6:15. We thought we had a good spot, but it turned out we couldn't see anything on the stage - just their feet. We did see the castle come to life, but didn't see a single character. The guys took 1000s of pictures of the castle, playing with different settings on their cameras and messing around. Then we made a mad dash (or as much of one as we could make in that kind of a crowd with me on a scooter) back over to Liberty Square where there is a handicap section for the parade. We got settled into there, the guys got me set just so, so they could see over me and Danny got his tripod set up for the video camera, all trying to use up as little space as possible to accomodate other families. Pam asked again about supper, so the guys took off over to Pecos Bills. I told Danny just to get me kids cheeseburger - I wasnt really too hungry. He came back with a full size burger. He said he forgot to ask for a childs because the cashier who was ringing him up was new - she had troubles with the guy ahead of him, then in the middle of taking Danny's order a manager or somebody came over and told her that she needed to be taking people from both sides of the register, that got her flustered and she didn't remember what she had already entered for Danny's order, so he said he just wanted 2 single cheeseburger meals and drinks to keep it simple. They brought them back, but it was awkward trying to eat them - he sat the tray on my basket of my scooter and I was afraid it would slide off, so I was trying to sit very stlll, and hang on to it - and those awful buns fall apart so quickly and he didn't think to grab a fork so I didnt eat but about half of the burger before giving up.

The Christmas parade - and our view of it was wonderful! There was a little girl in a stroller, maybe 5 or 6 - the stroller was laid flat and she was hooked to oxygen, just really looked like a sad case, and another family with an older mentally impaired woman in the same seating area (others too - but those 2 families stuck out) The older woman was as excited as a little kid - she'd bounce up and down and hugged any walking character that got close enough to her for her to get ahold of. I noticed Cinderella notice the little girl in the stroller and acknowled the mom, and Santa did too. overall the parade was just totally fantastic.

When it ended we went back to the Tomorrowland bridge to watch the fireworks. Tinker Bell flew right over the top of us and the fireworks were great. Danny doesn't remember the fireworks going off around the park before - I thought I had seen them do that, but wasn't going to argue with him. When the fireworks were done I thought we might go do something else - see some of the characters dressed for the holidays, get some hot chocolate - something. No we moved a few feet and they parked us for the parade again. This time we weren't in a handicap area. We were near a walkway. When we got settled in a family that was there said that they would stand beside me and could watch the parade coming from that angle. Danny told them that the parade was coming from the other direction. The were insistent that the parade was coming up Main Street. We told them that we had just watched it and it had started in Frontierland - as it says in the program. They didn't say anymore, but stayed where they were. Pretty soon Danny moved down th street a ways looking for a better angle. He hollered back to me that I may want to turn my cart to a different angle. I shook my head. Well, this woman didn't see me and shegot up from her spot and came over and told me if I want to move she would let me in. Well, when she got up her kids did too - and as her bad luck would have it, they moved the walkway rope and some people who were further down got shifted into where she had been. I didn't understand what she was asking me and she got huffy and said "well, he wanted you to move (motioning at Danny) and I was going to let you in my spot - but now I've lost it" I felt bad for her, but I had no intentions of moving - and I don't think she was offering from the kindness of her heart - I think she finally realized she was lined up in the wrong direction. There were kids on the curb in front of and beside me and I wasn't going to try to move that cart an inch - I just turned in my seat for a better view. She finally moved on somewhere else out of our immediate area.

After the fireworks we followed the crowd back down Main Street. I noticed a rack of MVMCP t shirts but couldn't get across the stream of people to look at them. I finally ran into Danny and had him look at them but all they had left were smalls and mediums. I got the postcards we tried to get earlier and a couple more Vinylmations. He had run back to the Christmas store in Liberty Square and picked up a book of the Miracle on 34th Street.

Pam and I went out to the bus while the guys took pictures of Main Street. When we got there they had just started loading a new bus. I hung back until it was full then pulled up. I dont like getting loaded ahead of a line of people who are waiting. Thepeople who were still in line when that bus left still made it on the bus I was loaded on so I didn't feel bad about that. By the time a second bus came the guys had caught up with us.

It was a late night back to the room and we are becoming more accustomed to the lack of interest our traveling companions have with doing anything very early (or at all....). I got my machine re-set for the full amount and went to bed. The next day was an Epcot day, so my expectation of riding any rides was low. I'd kinda thought we might do something at Magic Kingdom, but one show and one ride (well, for 3 out of 4 of us) was our limit. The parade, fireworks, and castle lighting were amazing. And holiday lights were what we came for so I dialed back my expectations and went to sleep.