Tinkabelle
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2003
- Messages
- 57
Wednesday 31st December 2003 NEW YEARS EVE!!!!!!
Today was a split day for the tribe. Dad, Max and Sophie went to Busch Gardens, while Rob and I made the most of a day to ourselves! We were dropped with me still limping at Animal Kingdom, where we waited for a bus to take us to Epcot. When we got there, we were not prepared for the length of the line we had to contend with just to get into the park!
We headed through the Coca-Cola cooling station (free samples of Coca-Cola products from around the world!), and straight to China in the World Showcase. Rob had tried to get fast passes for Mission Space or Test Track, but the lines were so long just for the fast pass distribution that we decided to do it later. The standby line was 180 minutes!
Once we got to World Showcase things eased a little which was good. We went into the shop in China where we chose the wall hangings we wanted (Im sure that was the only reason Rob was so keen to go back today!), and then we decided that the New Years Eve line up looked so inviting that we would go to Blizzard Beach for the day (lush weather!), and then come back to Epcot in the evening. All we had to worry about was breaking the news to dad! We had a lovely day at BB, Rob and I enjoyed a long float round the lazy river, followed by riding the chairlift up to the family raft ride. Once we had done that (great view by the way of all 4 theme parks from the top!), we walked up to the downhill racers which was fun! We then relaxed in the sun and dried off before heading back to Epcot around 4pm.
After a cafuffle with dad over the new year arrangements, we had a great night in Epcot! Completely off the cuff which was great! We were in England at 7pm, when it was midnight back home which was cool! We watched the early show of IllumiNations and then had something to eat. By this time there were 4 open air night clubs going on around the park, and everyone had been given a hat and a horn to celebrate. We walked around the Land and went on the ride, and we went on Journey into Imagination. Then we watched the 11.40 IllumiNations and saw in the new year right next to the International Gateway, as Dad was watching the fireworks from there and then taking us home. I was so glad that we did, as we ended up seeing MGMs fireworks and Magic Kingdoms too! This made it very apparent that Epcot were late in their count down and we saw midnight hit the country all around us before we were part of it! It really was incredible, the fireworks at midnight were so loud and so many of them that my Disney New Year hat actually fell off! They literally took my breath away. Before midnight, each country had its own mini firework celebration and we were told at what time they had entered the New Year. Then the globe displayed the countdown, it was so amazing! Definitely a New Year Ill always remember, and not a single alcoholic beverage! And a 2 hour drive home really topped it all off nicely (not!). traffic mayhem as the whole Disney resort closed at the same time!
Thursday 1st January 2004
We had a very lazy New Years Day morning! We relaxed in the pool before agreeing to go shopping (again!)! We went back to Old Navy and Gap followed by a return trip to Orlando Premium Outlets to finish what we started! Glad we did as we all found total bargains in Timberland!
We dashed home with time enough to just get changed, as we were off to the Pirates dinner show! We watched the pre-show, had a drink and then went into the main arena very impressive! Tip-We paid for upgrades to get better seats, apparently a better chance of getting picked for taking part, and a free gift. Never saw any of it!!! Dont fall for it!!
The set was wonderful, a huge ship was the stage, and it was surrounded by water. All of the action took place between the ship, and the ropes above us. We all really, really enjoyed ourselves, but the free beer and wine did help matters I have to say! I would definitely go again, but I would skip the tarot card reading I had done during the pre-show what a con!
Friday 2nd January 2004
Our last full day of this trip. We all agreed that we wanted to go to the Magic kingdom as we had yet to see it in daylight! But we also had a few other things we wanted to fit in, so we made an early start.
We went first to Walmart for some tape that was apparently life or death to buy before dad got on the plane, oh dear, Walmart had sold out (whats with this tape?!)! Then we had to stop at Mitsubishi to collect his bits he ordered. We made a fleeting visit to Gap at Belz, followed by a second stop to a different Walmart, which Im sure youll all breathe a sigh of relief to know, meant that dad got his tape! Then, we finally made it to the Magic Kingdom!
It was so nice to finally see it in the daylight! The castle looked much bigger by day. We all went straight in the direction of Space Mountain which was the only main thing we had yet to do ride-wise. We got fast passes, but they were not until 5.40pm. As we made our way around the park we saw that every line was at least 50 minutes. At my absolute insistence we joined the line for Mickeys Philharmagic. The time passed quickly as we had a family in front of us with 3 very entertaining gorgeous boys! The wait was definitely worth it! The show was a lovely concoction of Disney movies and characters cleverly interwoven. All of the other rides in the area were unfortunately 60 minute lines, so this meant no Peter Pans flight for me!
We moved in the direction of Pirates of the Caribbean, but that was a 50 minute line with no fast pass facility so we kept going. This is my first trip to WDW without riding pirates! We did manage to get into the Tiki room, and to climb the Robinson Family Treehouse!
It was an extremely hot day, and when the sun started going down it was lovely. We took some gorgeous photos in front of the castle before we left.
We all went home to do some packing and change our clothes ready to spend the night at Pleasure Island!
Our first stop was the Adventurers club which we all enjoyed. We saw the Mask Room presentation which was fun. We then popped in and out of all of the night clubs until midnight, when we celebrated new year again! There were fireworks and great music, but no ticker tape/confetti I was so disappointed! I was looking forward to this the most! Had a great time though and really dont want to leave tomorrow!
Saturday 3rd January 2004
Our flight home today sniff! After our seamless check-in at Downtown Disney we headed to Blizzard Beach again to finish the holiday in style! It was 80F, and we made the most of the fact that for some reason there were no lines for any of the slides! We all went down the family raft together to get in the swing of things (and to wave goodbye to the theme parks!), and then we began a bit of a tour! We used the lazy river to transport us to the downhill double dipper, where we ended up going on the downhill racers and slalom racers! I had to sit and be happy with soaking up the sun because of my ankle, its a hard life!
When the others all arrived back, we agreed it was a good plan to pack up and get back to the villa, in order to have enough time to have a swim and shower there, and to finish the ice-cream!
It was really sad leaving the villa (closing on the sale next week), lots of happy memories having the door closed on them. A wonderful holiday, and I hope the new owners have as much enjoyment from it as weve had!
I wonder when well be back .
Today was a split day for the tribe. Dad, Max and Sophie went to Busch Gardens, while Rob and I made the most of a day to ourselves! We were dropped with me still limping at Animal Kingdom, where we waited for a bus to take us to Epcot. When we got there, we were not prepared for the length of the line we had to contend with just to get into the park!
We headed through the Coca-Cola cooling station (free samples of Coca-Cola products from around the world!), and straight to China in the World Showcase. Rob had tried to get fast passes for Mission Space or Test Track, but the lines were so long just for the fast pass distribution that we decided to do it later. The standby line was 180 minutes!
Once we got to World Showcase things eased a little which was good. We went into the shop in China where we chose the wall hangings we wanted (Im sure that was the only reason Rob was so keen to go back today!), and then we decided that the New Years Eve line up looked so inviting that we would go to Blizzard Beach for the day (lush weather!), and then come back to Epcot in the evening. All we had to worry about was breaking the news to dad! We had a lovely day at BB, Rob and I enjoyed a long float round the lazy river, followed by riding the chairlift up to the family raft ride. Once we had done that (great view by the way of all 4 theme parks from the top!), we walked up to the downhill racers which was fun! We then relaxed in the sun and dried off before heading back to Epcot around 4pm.
After a cafuffle with dad over the new year arrangements, we had a great night in Epcot! Completely off the cuff which was great! We were in England at 7pm, when it was midnight back home which was cool! We watched the early show of IllumiNations and then had something to eat. By this time there were 4 open air night clubs going on around the park, and everyone had been given a hat and a horn to celebrate. We walked around the Land and went on the ride, and we went on Journey into Imagination. Then we watched the 11.40 IllumiNations and saw in the new year right next to the International Gateway, as Dad was watching the fireworks from there and then taking us home. I was so glad that we did, as we ended up seeing MGMs fireworks and Magic Kingdoms too! This made it very apparent that Epcot were late in their count down and we saw midnight hit the country all around us before we were part of it! It really was incredible, the fireworks at midnight were so loud and so many of them that my Disney New Year hat actually fell off! They literally took my breath away. Before midnight, each country had its own mini firework celebration and we were told at what time they had entered the New Year. Then the globe displayed the countdown, it was so amazing! Definitely a New Year Ill always remember, and not a single alcoholic beverage! And a 2 hour drive home really topped it all off nicely (not!). traffic mayhem as the whole Disney resort closed at the same time!
Thursday 1st January 2004
We had a very lazy New Years Day morning! We relaxed in the pool before agreeing to go shopping (again!)! We went back to Old Navy and Gap followed by a return trip to Orlando Premium Outlets to finish what we started! Glad we did as we all found total bargains in Timberland!
We dashed home with time enough to just get changed, as we were off to the Pirates dinner show! We watched the pre-show, had a drink and then went into the main arena very impressive! Tip-We paid for upgrades to get better seats, apparently a better chance of getting picked for taking part, and a free gift. Never saw any of it!!! Dont fall for it!!
The set was wonderful, a huge ship was the stage, and it was surrounded by water. All of the action took place between the ship, and the ropes above us. We all really, really enjoyed ourselves, but the free beer and wine did help matters I have to say! I would definitely go again, but I would skip the tarot card reading I had done during the pre-show what a con!
Friday 2nd January 2004
Our last full day of this trip. We all agreed that we wanted to go to the Magic kingdom as we had yet to see it in daylight! But we also had a few other things we wanted to fit in, so we made an early start.
We went first to Walmart for some tape that was apparently life or death to buy before dad got on the plane, oh dear, Walmart had sold out (whats with this tape?!)! Then we had to stop at Mitsubishi to collect his bits he ordered. We made a fleeting visit to Gap at Belz, followed by a second stop to a different Walmart, which Im sure youll all breathe a sigh of relief to know, meant that dad got his tape! Then, we finally made it to the Magic Kingdom!
It was so nice to finally see it in the daylight! The castle looked much bigger by day. We all went straight in the direction of Space Mountain which was the only main thing we had yet to do ride-wise. We got fast passes, but they were not until 5.40pm. As we made our way around the park we saw that every line was at least 50 minutes. At my absolute insistence we joined the line for Mickeys Philharmagic. The time passed quickly as we had a family in front of us with 3 very entertaining gorgeous boys! The wait was definitely worth it! The show was a lovely concoction of Disney movies and characters cleverly interwoven. All of the other rides in the area were unfortunately 60 minute lines, so this meant no Peter Pans flight for me!
We moved in the direction of Pirates of the Caribbean, but that was a 50 minute line with no fast pass facility so we kept going. This is my first trip to WDW without riding pirates! We did manage to get into the Tiki room, and to climb the Robinson Family Treehouse!
It was an extremely hot day, and when the sun started going down it was lovely. We took some gorgeous photos in front of the castle before we left.
We all went home to do some packing and change our clothes ready to spend the night at Pleasure Island!
Our first stop was the Adventurers club which we all enjoyed. We saw the Mask Room presentation which was fun. We then popped in and out of all of the night clubs until midnight, when we celebrated new year again! There were fireworks and great music, but no ticker tape/confetti I was so disappointed! I was looking forward to this the most! Had a great time though and really dont want to leave tomorrow!
Saturday 3rd January 2004
Our flight home today sniff! After our seamless check-in at Downtown Disney we headed to Blizzard Beach again to finish the holiday in style! It was 80F, and we made the most of the fact that for some reason there were no lines for any of the slides! We all went down the family raft together to get in the swing of things (and to wave goodbye to the theme parks!), and then we began a bit of a tour! We used the lazy river to transport us to the downhill double dipper, where we ended up going on the downhill racers and slalom racers! I had to sit and be happy with soaking up the sun because of my ankle, its a hard life!
When the others all arrived back, we agreed it was a good plan to pack up and get back to the villa, in order to have enough time to have a swim and shower there, and to finish the ice-cream!
It was really sad leaving the villa (closing on the sale next week), lots of happy memories having the door closed on them. A wonderful holiday, and I hope the new owners have as much enjoyment from it as weve had!
I wonder when well be back .
only joking Mike Jones)
