Time of Year: Holiday Season
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: Dixie Landings
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: Jennifer and her new husband John spent their honeymoon at WDW in December. This report covers several restaurants...plus the usual great insights of a rookie visit. I particularly enjoyed Jennifer's accounts of the Hoop Dee Doo, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, and the Jolly Holidays Dinner Show.

It has been a while since we took our trip, but I thought it still might be of some interest. We were on our honeymoon and this was our first trip to Disney, sort of. Also, we had the bright idea of doing the majority of our Christmas shopping at Disney. We knew we would be so busy with the wedding and we would get home from our honeymoon about 8 days before Christmas, plus we knew we would want to bring gifts home for family and friends. Interesting experience, Christmas shopping in the World. We had about 17 family members and friends to buy presents for. Yikes! Hope there is some useful information contained within for somebody.

PHASE I: PLANNING

The participants for this trip, were myself, age 27, and my husband John, age 32, from Cincinnati, Ohio. When we started kicking around ideas for a honeymoon, WDW was one of the first to come up, and we're so glad that's what we decided! My husband had never been, and I had been once about 22 years ago or so and really didn't remember being there. So, for all intents and purposes we were first timers.

We started our research about 10 months ahead of time and quickly got addicted to all the various guidebooks (didn't have a computer then). It just so happened that we were being married on December 7 (insert Pearl Harbor Day joke here), which put our 12/8 through 12/16 vacation right in the middle of value season. Yippee! At first, me being in the "budget conscious bride" mode, I thought maybe we would stay at the All Star Resort. We really didn't consider staying offsite, but I was still trying to stay on the conservative side of things. The more we read about Dixie Landings, the more it seemed the obvious choice, as I am really interested in the Old South period of history. Also, I have a friend who is a former CM (internship in Guest Relations) and he recommended it highly; this is where he stays when he visits.

So, Dixie Landings, it was. John surprised me by getting reservations for Hoop De Doo (we hadn't really discussed it) and started calling in May for individual tickets to Jolly Holidays. (I am one of those people who just adores everything about the Christmas season.) I think he finally got them on October 1 (The CM said this was when they go on sale outside of a JH package, but we reserved for our December trip this year months ago. Go figure.)

PHASE II: DRIVING (AND DRIVING, AND DRIVING...)

DAY 1: Sunday, 12/8/96

We had already decided that we wouldn't leave Cincinnati until about 12:00 p.m., this being our first day post wedding. We had already planned to spend a little time with my mom first, and lunch on leftovers from our wedding dinner and wedding cake, which we didn't eat any of at the wedding!

John's sister and her husband had loaned us the use of their video camera, one of the handy little ones that takes the little tapes, for the trip, so we were planning to make sort of a "travelogue" for our family and friends, many of whom had never been to WDW.

TIP: For anyone who is planning a WDW honeymoon, I would strongly suggest, if you have enough vacation time, taking the day after the actual wedding to "debrief," so to speak. I had heard this suggestion and didn't take it very seriously, but I had no idea of the extremely emotional state I would be in the day after the wedding. There is something very moving about having everyone you love there for you in one place, and the actual meaning of the day and the event, etc., really sinks in and doesn't let go right away. I was just a big bundle of tears the whole day, not really for any good reason. (I've been told everybody does this, it's just the stress of all that wedding planning coming out). It was also really hard to just leave my mom, who had worked so hard on our wedding, and just say "Well, bye, I'm going to Florida now!"

Okay, so we're finally off! A little video action, to document the fact that it was snowing when we left. There was really no question as to how we would get to WDW, as I refuse to set foot on an airplane, but we really enjoy driving together, so we really didn't mind. We took my car, a '95 Saturn sedan, and it was plenty big enough for two people. I drove for about the first hour, crying a little (or "leaking", as John put it.) He took over in Dry Ridge, Kentucky.

We stopped for dinner in Sweetwater, Tennessee. It was about 35 degrees or so, a normal December day at home, but the hostess at the restaurant kept saying it was soooo cold. We called our parents from the Cracker Barrel to let them know where we were, and I cried again. Back in the car, and I tried to drive for a little while. I had been having trouble with my contact lenses and had not had time to get them checked out right before the wedding, so between that and the fact that I'd been crying on and off all day, I couldn't see very well. It only took about 20 miles of me asking "Honey, how far away is that car in front of us?" for John to start driving again. Our destination was the Quality Inn in Tifton, GA, about an hour from the Florida border. My cousins lived in Jacksonville when I was little, and I sort of remember going through Georgia, but they must have made it even longer since then! ARGH! It wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't left late in the day, but we just didn't think we were ever gonna get there. When we entered Georgia we were at exit 300 something, and our hotel was in Tifton, Exit 19. ARGH!

Atlanta was interesting, though. Someone had told us that at one point the highway was 7 lanes one-way, (the most we have here is 4) but it looked even more impressive than it sounds. There wasn't much traffic, it being late Sunday evening, but it was a bit exhilarating. And of course, while John was trying to concentrate exhilarating, and of course, while John was trying to concentrate on driving, I just had to point out little things along the way: "Look, honey, CNN! Coca-Cola! Oh, there's the Olympic village!" This is now one of John's favorite honeymoon stories. Beautiful city, by the way.

So, we're through Atlanta and the rest of Georgia is just...Georgia. By about 10:30 I was just unable to keep my eyes open. I would nod off for about a minute, wake up for a minute, afraid John was going to fall asleep, and then nod off again. Finally, finally, we got into Tifton around 11:45 p.m. Counting our stop for dinner, we were on the road around 11 hours. We absolutely CRAWLED into the hotel room. Called our parents to let them know we were there, and just literally crawled into bed.

DAY 2: Monday, 12/9/96

We got a slow start the next morning, considering our lingering exhaustion. We had the hotel's continental breakfast and got on the road just before 10:00 a.m. While he was waiting for me to get ready, John went outside with the video camera and discovered a huge lake right across from the hotel, which we had not even noticed the night before. The temperature was in the 50s and got up to about 70 later that day. We stopped in Lake City, Florida for a quick lunch at Burger King and the first thing I noticed, as soon as we got out of the car, was how intense the sun was. It was still a little chilly, probably about 65 degrees, but compared to winter in Ohio, it felt like we were about 3 feet from the sun. Ah, Florida.

PHASE III: WDW AT LAST!

We really started getting excited and we got closer to Orlando and could tune in the Disney radio station. We listened to the same promos over and over and over! Coming in on I92 E, we knew we were close but didn't know how close, and we were getting really antsy. I wanted to start taping as soon as we got there, because I wanted the tape to be running when we first saw DxL. So, I was taping everything as soon as we saw the first road sign for Disney. Once on Disney property, I was taping and trying to navigate at the same time, while John was driving. We found our way to DxL with no
trouble, actually. We gave our name to the guard at the little house and proceeded from there. It's really funny on the video because she's still talking and John's starting to drive away, like "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

We pulled into the parking lot and then John had to wait for me to put on my shoes (John spends a lot of his life waiting for me to put on my shoes.) We went into the main building to check in and waited about a half hour total to check in. There were quite a few CMs working fairly quickly; it just seemed that we got there at the same time as everyone else. We finally got to the counter and were given our Length of Stay passes/room keys and the little brochures and things. Strangely, the first two CMs we encountered were the only two on the entire trip that we thought were a little rude. This one marked for us on a map where our room was, 9516 in Parterre Place (we had requested Oak Manor, but oh well) and then explained the flex feature (which I thought was pretty self-explanatory) in detail, marked on our brochure the ones that she thought "worth anything." On to the Guest Services desk, where we picked up our tickets for Hoop De Doo and Jolly Holidays. This CM was a little snippy, too, and we had heard so much about the courtesy of Disney CMs that we were a little bit disappointed.

The room was beautiful, I thought. I made John videotape the floral cloth shower curtain.

At about 5:00 or so got ready to go over to the DVM. We had heard good things about the Fireworks Factory at Pleasure Island from some friends who had honeymooned at WDW, so we had planned to go there for dinner. By this time, it was quite chilly, maybe 45 or 50 degrees, so we both had on sweatshirts, long pants and jackets. Walked over and explored the main building at DxL and got a big cookie at the bakery. We considered partaking of the refillable mugs, but they were still $.79 for a refill and we really didn't think we'd be drinking that much at the actual resort, so we passed. Walked out to the boat launch and found we had just missed the free cider and X-mas cookies.

Waited about 10 or 15 minutes for the boat. It was a little chilly, but the driver was very entertaining, pointing out things like the Treehouse Villas along the way. It was an impressive site as we came across the lake at DVM at night, seeing all the lights. I really had no idea what this place would look/be like, as it's hard to picture. We shopped around a few of the stores and then made our way to the Fireworks Factory. It was early in the evening, but the place was quite deserted. The Fireworks Factory was...cold. We were seated in an area that was rather open, sort of halfway outside, and I was freezing. Other than that, it was okay. The food was pretty good, but nothing to get overly excited about. John had the Firecracker Platter, which was chicken, ribs and ½ pound of crab legs. I had the porkchops. The cornbread, applesauce and horseradish mashed potatoes were all good. I was still in the mindset of the budget-watching-bride, even though this was the honeymoon, so it was a little bit scary to be paying $22 apiece for dinner. We are more used to eating in places like Applebees, Fridays, etc., where we can both have a nice dinner for $25 or $30. It only took me a little while to get used to Disney meal prices, though. All in all, the FF was okay, but I don't think we would though. All in all, the FF was okay, but I don't think we would make a point to go there again.

Something interesting happened on the way out. While we were having dinner, 7:00 had come and gone-I guess that's the time after which you have to be 21 to enter Pleasure Island. We couldn't leave the FF the way we came in, and had to leave via a different exit that dumped you just outside a turnstile entering PI. As we were going through (first-time nerd guests fascinated with sliding our admission passes through the little scanner thing) the CM in attendance there wanted to card me! I am 27 and, though I'm told I look younger, I don't look that young. We are not big drinkers, but I hardly ever get carded anywhere, especially with John, who is 32 and definitely looks well over 21. Well, this lady was not going to let me into PI without an I.D. It had never occurred to me to bring an I.D. with me. I told her I was 27 and John said "I can vouch for her. She's my wife" but I really thought she wasn't going to let me in. Finally she did and put some dumb paper bracelet around my wrist and told me if I tried to get a drink I'd probably be carded. Oh, joy.

We explored some of the shops (I really liked the one where you could buy items that belonged to famous people). I bought a pen with a picture of Marilyn Monroe (one of my favorites) on it. We walked around PI for a while. Obviously we were there way too early, but it was really dead. We walked into 8Trax, thought we might like that one, and felt like total nerds because there was NOBODY in the entire place. We made a potty stop there and went on. We walked around the Adventurer's club for a few minutes. We didn't go into Mannequins because I didn't want to go through getting carded all over again. We decided we were way too early for PI, so we headed back to the DVM for some shopping (!!!). Spent quite a long time in the World of Disney store, since we love looking at all things Disney and also, since I am a huge Pooh Fanatic, I was on a search for the best Pooh sweatshirt at WDW. All we really bought at that point, however, were postcards. We browsed along the other stores.

I had really looking forward to the toy shop there, because I had read in Birnbaum's book that they had the biggest collection of Barbie dolls in the world. Wrong! I had been looking for a certain doll (I like the collector Barbies), Barbie as Maria in the Sound of Music (might sound silly, but it's a really pretty doll). I was disappointed-they really had quite a small collection of Barbies. Boo hoo. My spirits were restored, however, by a chocolate Rice Krispie Treat from the Gourmet Pantry. Around 10:00 we headed back for the room so we could get some rest and be fresh for the next day. Our bus driver was hilarious! He entertained us the entire time with a running commentary of jokes. Now this was what we expected from the Disney CM's! By the way, he said that every one of the 160 busses is cleaned every night. Does anybody know if this is true? I rode public transportation throughout college and these were some of the cleanest busses I've ever been on.

DAY 3: Tuesday, 12/10/96

As I mentioned, that night was rather chilly. The next morning, we got quite a laugh at the local news. Evidently it was cold enough the night before for a frost. They showed video of just somebody's field somewhere with a covering of frost. Being from Ohio, where it was snowing when we left, we got a real hoot out of that. Of course, we know they have to worry there about the citrus groves and things but it was still really funny for us, since we'd been driving through snow less than 48 hours before.

John had called the night before to see which character breakfast featured Winnie the Pooh (my CM friend wasn't sure) and found out it was the Crystal Palace. We walked out to the main bus stop at DxL, a nice, pretty walk, and caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom. It got up to a high of about 72 degrees or so that day. We had to stand on the bus on the way to the MK but we didn't care. We frequently offered our seats to older people and people with children on the busses anyway. Like I said, I rode city busses in college so public transportation is no big deal. One of the things I'll always remember is being on the bus when all of a sudden we could see the castle! Yippee! At that point we really felt like we were at WDW. Yahoo! We felt like total and complete amateurs making our way down Main Street, because we actually had to look at a map to locate the Crystal Palace. Like I said, the books are good but they don't give you a realistic sense of where things are if you've never been there.

I must say, we absolutely fell in love with the Crystal Palace. I thought the place was just beautiful and the atmosphere very relaxed and peaceful. It was decorted so beautifully for Christmas. The food was great, I thought, especially the puffed French toast and breakfast lasagna. Our service was very good. Manuel the waiter kept up a steady supply of orange juice for me and milk for John. We took some pictures with Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. Tigger stuck his tail in John's ear!

After breakfast, we headed over to Tomorrowland. We had read all the touring plans in all the books but we thought since we were going in the offseason, it would really be preferable to just sort of wander around and explore. There was no practically no line for anything. I think the tip board said the wait for Alien Encounter and for Space Mountain was 15 minutes and that was the longest wait we saw. I wasn't quite ready for AE yet (John had been teasing me about aliens getting me for the better part of a year) so we happened upon the Timekeeper and went in there. That was really good. John used to teach high school history, so it was especially interesting for him. From there we happened upon Dreamflight, which is a nice little attraction. It's definitely not a thrill ride, but a little Disney magic can make anything fun. Next we came upon Carousel of Progress and had to look on the map to see what it was. I must say, I really, really enjoyed this attraction. I'm not sure why, but this became one of my favorite attractions. Maybe it's because it's one of the attractions that Walt was very personally involved in, but I just loved it. On from there to Space Mountain, for which I think we waited about 20 minutes, which I think was our longest wait anywhere.

My mom tells a funny story about Space Mountain from our trip there in the early 70s. My mom is now a young 51 and will do any roller coaster standing, but back then she was a whimp. I was about 4 years old at the time and I guess back then the seats were different, sort of like a log ride where everyone sits between each other's legs, so my dad got in first, then my mom got in front of him, with me in front of her. My mom wigged out when the CM told my dad he should take his glasses off and my mom should take off her headscarf (protecting that 70s hairdo, you know!). My mom was absolutely terrified the whole time, squeezed her eyes shut the whole time, and at the end of the ride was horrified to find that I had slid down and was lying on the floor of the car in front of her.

Riding SM now, I think she had to be nuts, or else the ride was a lot scarier then. We live about 30 minutes from Kings Island, which up until the last four years or so was a fairly decent amusement park, with some really great roller coasters (you may have heard of The Beast). So, I was really raised going on roller coasters and to me, SM is just not that exciting. It was pleasant, but I think if it hadn't been in the dark it would have been boring. I guess you just have to think of it more as an attraction, but still, I don't think I'd wait hours to ride it.

From Tomorrowland we wandered down to Mickey's Toon Town. By this time, I had seen everybody else in their Mickey ears, and I wanted some. Call it peer pressure. For me, we got the Minney ears on a headband with a big bow, and for John a black courdoroy baseball hat with ears. My husband is 6'3" and a very big man. The ears were just too cute on him. We looked at a few things in Mickey's Toon Town and then headed into Fantasyland.

We stopped and did Mr. Toad's wild ride, which was okay. We wanted to try to experience everything if we could, so this was kind of fun. The wait was about 10 minutes. On to Small World, which I enjoyed. It really has that Disney feeling. We only waited about five minutes. Snow White was closed for refurbishing at this time. We went on Peter Pan next, and this turned out to be my favorite ride in the MK. It was so beautiful, and there was something really magical about flying past all the scenes. John really liked this one, too. We waited about 10 minutes or so.

On to Adventureland. The Jungle Cruise was fun. I sort of knew what this would be like, since we have home movies of this one from long ago. It didn't look too much different in person. John really enjoyed this one, too. For some reason, this line seemed to move quite slowly, maybe since from the line you can't really see anything but the line. We only really waited 15 or 20 minutes, though. On to Pirates, which we liked as well. We basically walked on that one. Shopped for a while in one of the stores in Adventureland, looking for X-mas gifts. On to the Haunted Mansion. We walked right into the room that stretches and then right onto the Doom Buggies. Kings Island has a ride here called Phantom Theatre that they obviously copied from the HM, and it's not nearly as good. During college I also worked in the Rides department at Kings Island, so I tend to look at things with a sort of critical eye as far as amusement parks go. Now I just think they all should be like Disney. Especially in attractions like the HM, the attention to detail is just amazing.

By this time, we were getting hungry, just for something small, so we stopped into the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon for some sandwiches and chips. Definitely not fine dining, but it was pretty good, since we just wanted a little something to keep us running till evening. That's a really pretty building, by the way. We were continually amazed at the variety and beauty of the X-mas decorations at Disney. At each place, be it different sections of the parks or just the different resorts, the decorations were themed to that specific place. For instance, some of the X-mas trees at DxL were trimmed with little tufts of cotton and red and blue checked material. The rest of DxL was decorated in a classic southern sort of theme that was very subtle, but just beautiful. After lunch, the parade was getting ready to start. We had seen previews of the Mickey Mania parade on the Disney planning videos and this did not look to be my cup of tea. I think they were actually running the Remember The Magic parade, which now I think I would have enjoyed, but at that point we decided to skip the parade.

While that was going on, we rode Big Thunder Mountain with almost no wait. This was pretty good as far as roller coasters go. Again, it's more of an attraction and you really do need to ride it more than once to look at things. John got a big kick out of one part where an animatronic possum swings down from a tree. (He finds it absolutely hilarious that I'm afraid of possums.) We watched the boats coming down from Splash Mountain for awhile, trying to see how wet people were getting. I had told John if he really wanted to do this, I would, but we finally decided that it was just a little too chilly for walking around in wet clothes, so we decided to skip it for now. The parade had just ended, and I was pleasantly shocked to see two CMs vacuuming up the confetti from the parade. Ah, Disney...

Somehow we missed the Hall of Presidents. I think maybe it was because it was quite crowded after the parade and we thought we would skip it for now and stop back later.

We headed back across the park and stopped into the castle for a few minutes. Now, I really think the birthday castle is kind of pretty. Of course, I've only seen it on TV the regular way, not in person, but I kind of like the birthday one. Maybe not for the next 25 years, but I think it's sort of festive.

Well, it was finally time for me to face Alien Encounter. (Don't read if you haven't been on it yet!) I wasn't at all sure what to expect, considering the mixed reviews I had heard. We waited only about 10 to 15 minutes. The pre-show was okay, but it started to get on my nerves a little because I knew the scary part was coming and I wanted to get it over with. When we went into the seating area, it was a little disconcerting that my seat was wet, but I reasoned that at least it looked like water was all they'd be spraying me with! We were in the top row of seats. I actually handled it pretty well until the Alien "touched" my neck. I let out a scream that could probably be heard back in Ohio! Oh my goodness! All in all, I think the people who say this is a really horrible attraction are exaggerating. It was definitely the scariest thing we did, and I definitely wouldn't take a kid under about 12 in there, but it wasn't so horrible as I had heard.

Now I needed something calm. We rode the nice, peaceful Tomorrowland Transit Authority for a while. By now my feet were killing me, too. When we went through Space Mountain I noticed that the wait was considerably longer than it had been earlier in the day. By now I would estimate it was about 40 minutes. Our plans were to leave the MK at closing and go over to Epcot for dinner and to see Illuminations. I don't think that Spectromagic was running that night, although there were fireworks, I believe. However, when I worked at Kings Island I was employed on the Eiffel Tower, which is a 1/3 replica of the real one. I watched fireworks every single night from 332 feet in the air and really I've seen all the fireworks I need for a lifetime. So, fireworks are really never a priority for me.

We shopped around a little bit on Main Street and stopped in at the bakery for a snack. We shared a piece of pumpkin cheesecake (yum, yum, yum!) with a coke for me and milk for John and got our first souvenir cups.

From here, we took the monorail over to Epcot, arriving around 6:15 or so. Amateurs that we were, we did not realize that if we were wanting to have dinner in Epcot we probably should have had a priority seating. We passed up Future World (paused to look at what we called the "singing and dancing fountain." There is truly something mesmerizing about that thing. I could have watched it for hours.) On to World Showcase, where we wandered into Mexico. Wow! Friends had told us how impressive this pavilion was, but it was even neater than I expected. You truly do feel like you're in a little Mexican plaza. We had sort of a schizophrenic time looking for somewhere to eat dinner. Stopped by the San Angel Inn, but they were all booked up. Proceeded around World Showcase. Stopped at Germany, but I didn't really want that kind of food. Finally, we just gave in and settled on cheeseburgers at the American pavilion. Well, this actually turned out to be quite a nice experience. I waited outside at a table while John brought our dinner, and the Christmas show in the little theatre on the water there was going on. I can't think of the name of it, but this is the one with the 450 singers and the 50-piece orchestra. I must tell you, I don't think I have every heard anything so beautiful. The choir and orchestra would perform various Christmas carols, of the more religious variety, and in between there's a celebrity narrator telling the Christmas Story. (When we were there it was Miss America. We missed Buzz Aldrin and Lou Gosset, Jr. by a few days on either end of our vacation, boo hoo!) It was just breathtaking. I planned for us to come back later in the week with the video camera to take this one. Beautiful.

So. I've read the other posts and various reports but I gotta tell ya, I thought the fast food in the American pavilion was pretty darn tasty. We each had a cheeseburger (I think John may have gotten a double or something like that), fries and a slice of apple pie and a coke. The bill was around $20 which is a lot for fast food if you are say, at McDonalds, but we both thought this was really good. This was one of the best cheeseburgers I've had, and it was so big that I couldn't even finish all of my dinner. I think sometimes people are either looking for anything to complain about or they live in some unrealistic world where a cheeseburger is more than just a cheeseburger, because we really didn't have any problems with any of the fast food at Disney.

After dinner we just walked around the lagoon. I don't think we ventured into very many pavilions that night. As we were coming around past England, an older lady tripped on the curb and fell flat on her face right in front of us. My husband does physical therapy at a retirement community and hospital, so he just naturally sprung into action to help her. He got her rolled over on her back, with her head lying on her purse, and had her bend her knees to see if there were any fractures. By the time he had done this, there was a CM right there ready to help her get to first aid to get checked out. Ah, Disney...

Now it was time to get into position for Illuminations. I wasn't sure if I would even like it, given my feelings about fireworks. I felt that the best place, since we weren't even sure we were going to stay, would be nearest the walkway to Futureworld. Several other people had this idea too, as we were about 3 or 4 people back in a crowd by the fence, but I didn't mind. We watched about 5 minutes of Illuminations or so and I'm sorry to say, I just wasn't too impressed. We had read so much about why it wasn't to be missed and had kept trying to figure out what everyone thought was so great about it, and I'm still trying to figure it out. Perhaps this kind of thing is just not my cup of tea. If anybody could tell me why they like this so much, please tell me, because maybe I'm just not getting it????? Anyway, after five or 10 minutes we decided we had had enough, so we headed back to the bus for DxL. (Which was nice, because we got on the bus and back without a crowd.) Back at DxL, we shopped around the gift shop for a while, identifying possible purchases for X-mas gifts. I needed a watch really badly, so we stopped here and I picked out a very nice one with Pooh and Piglet, sort of a honeymoon gift. We later got the same on for John's sister. John had saved for almost a year for this trip so we would be able to sort of *live it up* so it was a pleasure to just say *I need a watch* and go buy one for 50 dollars.

DAY 4: Wednesday, 12/11/96

This was to be our first full day at Epcot. By arriving on Monday, our plans for touring were all off for Early Entry by one day. However, I don't think we would have taken advantage of it anyway because for one, the parks weren't very crowded, and also because since it was our honeymoon we had already decided that we weren't going to rush doing anything.

With that in mind, we took our time the next morning and went to breakfast around 10:00 or so, at Boatwright's at DxL. The prices were pretty decent, considering where we were. I found the receipt the other day and breakfast for both of us only cost about $14. John had some sort of Cajun sausage thing (I think he really wanted the crawfish but he knew I would be too grossed out) and I had the Crazy Cajun Cakes, which was 1 buttermilk pancake, 1 blueberry and 1 chocolate. I had never had a chocolate pancake before and it was very good. We were seated right away and got our food within 10 minutes at the most.

From here we took the bus to Epcot. Going anywhere from DxL, we rarely had to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus. More often, we would wait five minutes or less. Getting to Epcot, we paused to videotape the outside of Spaceship Earth. The line for it was pretty short, so that was the first place we went. This turned out to be one of my very favorite attractions as well. I thought it was just breathtaking. Disney does these things so well that there really, truly is something magical about them. At the end, when you're way up in the sphere and the stars are twinkling, etc., it just almost takes your breath away.

And then we got dumped out into Innoventions. I would say that Epcot was the place where we really were the most unorganized. It was hard from reading the books to get a sense of where things were and what else we should be seeing. We spent quite a lot of time in Innoventions trying out all the little gadgets and things. John did a thing where you sit on a little bench in front of a camera and your image comes up on a screen like you're on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Jay asks you questions and interviews you. I was videotaping, and John was coming up with these really bizarre answers like "I'm in town for the Shriner's Convention. Hey, where's my fezz?" and I was thinking, who IS this person I have married? When he was done I found out that he was reading off a teleprompter. Duh. Anyway, the tape of this makes a really cute little honeymoon souvenir.

From there we went to the Wonders of Life pavilion. Both of us From there we went to the Wonders of Life pavilion. Both of us being in the medical field, I think we spent a little bit longer time here than most people would. We went to Body Wars first. It was fun, but I think this one had definitely been built up in our minds a little bit too much. This is another attraction that while I enjoyed it, I doubt that I would wait in line for an hour to see it. We waited about 10 minutes. It's hard to remember this long afterward. From there we saw Cranium Command, which was great. It was really empty, too. There were probably 20 to 30 people in the entire place. Watched the Making of Me, which was very sweet. There's such a refreshing innocence about the things that Disney does. We spent quite a while looking at the various exhibits in the Wonders of Life and then went on to the Living Seas.

The Living Seas was pretty neat. I actually would have maybe bought the bit about the "hydrolater" if I hadn't been watching the floor and my husband hadn't told me we weren't really going anywhere. Call me gullible. The aquarium part was just beautiful. We were taking some nice manta rays and other fishies for our travelogue video when we ran out of tape. Amateurs! I would have liked to have taken a look at some of the souvenirs in that pavilion too, but we had to go because it was almost time for our 2:00 priority seating at Alfredos.

Now, I have heard lots of bad things about Alfredos and I have come to the conclusion that people are just too darn picky. We loved it. John had the spaghetti with veal and I the fettucine Alfredo, and then we split a dessert, a little custard like thing made with Grand Marnier, with a wine and caramel sauce. Yum, yum, yum. We agreed this was one of the best desserts we'd ever had, and this is a compliment coming from a little family who loves to eat. We were seated almost immediately and waited only about 15 minutes for our lunch.

After lunch I believe we cruised through a few more of the pavilions. Bought a t-shirt with a VanGogh painting on it in France, for John's sister. Bought some chocolates in Italy for my maid of honor, Avery, and her mom. Somehow in Epcot we spent so much time in Innoventions without really seeing much that we missed a whole lot, especially that first day. Sadly, my memory fails me after 9 months, and the next thing I remember is stopping to buy a sweatshirt ( a nice thick blue one that simply said "Walt Disney World" on the front) we were off to Hoop De Doo.

We had little trouble getting there, considering the horror stories I have heard.I believe from Epcot we monorailed to the TTC and then took the Crockett bus to Ft. Wilderness. I have heard horror stories about this particular transportation scenario, but we had no problems. We were dropped off at the end of a driveway sort of thing, not very much of a walk at all to Pioneer Hall in my opinion. They told us when we checked in to leave an hour early for our resort, so of course we were way way early. The rustic-ness of the campground was a little bit of culture shock after we'd been treated to so much Disney grandeur over the last few days. I had to videotape the Christmas tree outside, which was decorated with cowboy boots hanging in it.

TIP: If you are bargain-hunting for Disney merchandise, you might want to check out the general store at the campground. They actually had a clearance rack out on the porch, and John got a nice dark green t-shirt with Timon and Pumba on the pocket for less than $15. We picked up some Disney coffee mugs and a few other things there for presents for John's parents. We had heard that we could have our purchases sent back to the room for free, but when we inquired, we were told that this took three or four days. Since we were leaving on Saturday, we didn't want to chance it. (Does anybody know, does it only take this long from the campground?) So we were lugging around a big plastic Disney shopping bag.

About Hoop De Doo...We had been a little bit afraid it would be really hokey, especially once we got to the campground and it felt so rustic after the rest of Disney. We were very pleasantly surprised. I felt that the seating process was very organized and efficient, and we had a nice table even though we only called two months in advance (thank goodness for value season!) We were seated on the upper level, but it was just the two of us at the table and we were almost in the center of the balcony. When our dinner started arriving, our server noticed that I was not eating my salad and asked if I didn't like it. I have really bad allergies and am allergic to a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables (actually, we think it's a pesticide) so I have to be careful with things like lettuce, celery, etc. but usually cooked things are okay. We explained this to the CM and he was very concerned about whether or not I would be able to eat the corn on the cob (which I told him I usually can eat), because it was cooked with bits of fresh peppers, and told me if I couldn't eat it he would try to find me something else. We assured him I would be okay, but we were so impressed with his kindness that we gave him a $10 tip besides the gratuity that was already added.

Our impressions of Hoop De Doo in total were that we had a great time. Only Disney can do such hokey humor and not make it seem hokey. I would recommend it highly to anyone. It's not for nothing that this show can be booked two years in advance, as I have heard. By the end of the show, nature was calling and I really could have used a stop in the ladies' room, but because of where we were sitting, we were kind of ahead of the crowd heading for the busses and I didn't want to stop. I think we got right on the bus to the TTC from Fort Wilderness, and then once at the TTC we had to wait a few minutes for the bus to DxL. Ah, time for a potty stop. As I was getting ready to leave the stall, I could not for the life of me get the door open. I probably tried for four or five minutes and was considering climbing underneath when I finally got it open. Walked out the door and I could see John standing, holding the bus for DxL. So I had to go charging over to the bus with my bag full of Disney souvenirs since the whole bus was waiting for me. To quote John, *That's my wife.* (Another favorite honeymoon story).

DAY 5: Thursday, 12/12/96

We had loved the Crystal Palace so much that we decided to go there for breakfast again before going to MGM. Taped some footage of Main Street and the castle, and the Crystal Palace before another lovely breakfast with Pooh. From there, on to MGM. I used to have an acquaintance who was in the Beauty and the Beast show, so I wanted to see that very first. For anyone who hasn't seen it, it is terrific. The costuming is beautiful, the staging is wonderful, it's just great. I believe the theatre had already been opened when we got there and we were able to walk in, and took seats on the side in about the third row. The theatre filled up very quickly. It is outside, it was about 80 degrees at that time, and it wasn't too hot. There there is a tarplike cover over the seating area. The weather, by the way, had been beautiful the whole week. It was just a little chilly on Tuesday but the rest of the week it was about 80 degrees and wonderfully sunny. It was just delightful to be wearing shorts and teeshirts in December since it had been snowing when we left home!

After Beauty and the Beast, we briefly contemplated the Tower of Terror and decided not to attempt it. John has a pretty serious fear of heights and, after a harrowing experience with the alpine mountain tramway last year in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, I don't push. We explored some of the shops along the main street. This is the one place that we did not find conducive to wandering around. We kept ending up in the same spot, and the map was hard to follow. We saw The Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which was very good. It's a little hectic when you first go in, as everyone is in a very confined space as they're moving into the theatre. If I'd had a small child with me I would have kept a very tight grip on same. The show was really good, though.

We happened upon Buy The Book, a replica of the bookstore on Ellen, and bought a very nice Marilyn Monroe book for me, a little Snow White book for John's sister, and a tape of some Disney music that we thought we would play on the way home. It took a very long time to check out because there was a little rip in the jacket of the MM book and we wanted to see if they had another one (for $50 I wanted a nice one) so they had to climb up in the attic or something to get another one.

We went to the Great Movie Ride during the Toy Story Parade. (Passed Princess Jasmine on the way and she was a bit snooty.) Now, John and I had been having a running argument for two or three months about where the Gene Kelly (another one of my heroes) song "Gotta Dance" comes from, whether it was Singing in The Rain, as John said, or An American in Paris, which is what I thought. Well, there we are in the line for the ride, in this area where there's a huge movie screen and who should it be but Gene Kelly in a trailer for Singing in The Rain, belting out "Gotta Dance." Shoot!. About the Great Movie Ride...loved it. Wonderful, beautiful, fantastic. My Heros Gene Kelly and Julie Andrews, PLUS The Wizard of Oz, and then at the end, a montage of clips where at one point Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Marilyn Monroe are on the screen at the same time. Brought tears to my eyes. For me, it doesn't get any better than that.

For some reason or other, the things we actually experienced at MGM were far outnumbered by the ones we missed. We had lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby, which was, sadly, not a very nice time. We were just starting to learn by this time that when one chows down on a nice breakfast buffet at 9:30 or 10:00, one is not ready for a big sit-down lunch at 2:00. There were just so many restaurants we wanted to try! Hence, the plan was for a small meal or dessert here, just to sort of get the feel of things. Apparently our waiter could sense this, because he did not come near our table for over 20 minutes after we were seated. He approached just as we were seriously considering leaving. I had the split pea soup and white chocolate cheesecake and John had a BBQ pork sandwich. The waiter was very abrupt, verging on rude, when he was actually present, and all in all it took at least an hour and a half for a so-so meal with rotten service. I try to be optimistic about all things Disney but this just really sucked.

Later that day we did some shopping for ourselves and the X-mas list. Found my Pooh shirt in a shop there on the main street, plus a white MGM sweatshirt for me and a gray one for John. There was another store like the one at PI, where they have items that belonged to famous people. They had a shirt that Jane Russell wore in Gentleman Prefer Blondes, with a picture of her wearing it in a scene with Marilyn Monroe, a steal at a mere $450. They had a pair of pants that belonged to Sammy Davis, Jr., that were about $900.

They had a frame with a picture of Marilyn with something really autographed by her...but John, it's only $950...Also they had a frame with a picture from Gone With The Wind and a personal check made out to Atlanta Power and Light, signed by Butterfly McQueen (Prissie, if you're not up on your GWTW trivia) that was only $250. This was not too long after her death, which I figured accounted for the relatively low price. I was almost tempted to beg for that one...Clutching our various purchases, it was back to DxL to spruce up a little before Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP).

Now, if someone could clear this up for me I would appreciate it. We tried to make dinner ressies at various restaurants in the MK during the MVMCP, including King Stefan's, Tony's Town Square, Liberty Tree, and were told that all of the full-service restaurants were closed during MVMCP. Hence, we decided we would go with a fast food dinner. Arriving at the MK, however, we found the Crystal Palace open for dinner, opted for the buffet, and were glad we did. The place was almost empty, the food was awesome and Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore were dressed in their Christmas finery. In my usual fashion, I slopped some gravy or something down the sleeve of my brand-new white MGM sweatshirt. Peter from Dublin, our waiter, took note of this and dashed off to the kitchen for a paper cup of soda water to take the stain out. He, too, got a VERY generous trip. (When I tell this story to non-Disney-goers, they are soooo impressed.)

I have to say, compared to the Disney vacation planning video, I was disappointed with the snow on Main Street. The video makes it look like a virtual blizzard, and in reality it was more of just a little drizzle. But it was still festive. First stop was for a Santa hat with Mickey ears for each of us. (Peer pressure again.) Compared to what we had been experiencing the rest of the week, this was a crowd. I'm sure if you compared it to July, it would seem practically deserted, but there were actually lines for things. Hence, we spent a good deal of our time just enjoying the festive atmosphere. We did go on the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan, waited around 20 minutes to half an hour for each. At the time that the first parade was beginning, we were down around Pirates and there were women literally running, cameras in hand, to the start of the parade. I thought that was a bit much. Stopped to get our picture taken at the little station near Pirates (this one had the shortest line), got our little badge thingies and some cookies in hot chocolate (very weird to be in Florida, with shorts on, drinking hot chocolate). When it was our turn to have our picture taken, we posed for the photographer, and after he took the picture, the flash went off, and we just stood there until he said "That's it." Oh! We had had so many wedding pictures taken that we didn't know how to act anymore! This makes a wonderful souvenir of our honeymoon, by the way, since it is the only picture that actually has both of us together.

Towards the beginning of the second parade, we happened to be on Main Street, doing some more shopping. Got a really cute pair of Tinkerbell silver earrings, a pair for me and a pair for another one of John's sisters (he has 4). We ended up watching about ¾ of the parade from the sidewalk closest to the entrance gate. I actually enjoyed the parade very much, and then the second it was over we headed for the bus. By this time it was well after midnight, I was beat, and by God I was going to be on the first bus back to DxL. (In case you haven't caught on, I'm not a night person).

DAY 6: Friday, 12/13/96

Yes, it was Friday the 13th. The plan was to breakfast at the Grand Floridian, have a look around there, and then head to Epcot for the rest of the day to take in what we missed there, and then we had Jolly Holidays that evening. By now we were getting more organized and actually had a priority seating for both breakfast and lunch! Trying to get to breakfast at the GF, we encountered the only problem in the entire week with Disney transportation. Our seating was for 10:00 (like I said, we were still taking it easy).

Consulting our trusty Disney transportation schedule, it said we should take the bus to the Village Marketplace, and then transfer to a bus to the GF. How difficult could that be? Well.....we waited and waited and waited at the bus stop at the Marketplace. It seemed like 12 busses came for every other resort but that one. Finally we gave up and took a bus to the TTC and then caught the monorail to the GF. Silly us, it seemed so simple to just take the bus to the actual resort. We finally showed up at the GF, 40 minutes late for our seating, but they still seated us right away and told us it was no problem. Ahhh, Disney.

TIP: We are thinking that from now on, if we are going from DxL to any other resort, particularly a monorail resort, we will take a bus to the MK and transfer there, since it seemed like the MK busses were only about five minutes apart everywhere we were. I don't know if anyone else does this, but it seems like a good idea in theory, if only in the offseason.

Thoughts on the Grand Floridian: Well, the buffet at 1900 Park Fare is fantastic. Anything you have ever eaten for breakfast is probably on this buffet. We were visited by Mary Poppins, Goofy, I can't remember who else. Here, too, they bring you glass after glass after glass of orange juice (we decided there was someone in the kitchen whose job it was to just squeeze juice). As far as the GF itself, it is, of course, absolutely beautiful. Even the ladies' restroom outside 1900 Park Fare looks like Martha Stewart was just in to decorate. We took a little tour around and bought a polo shirt for John and a nice, big, fluffy sweatshirt for me (I came home from this trip with five sweatshirts and three t-shirts). Went outside and admired the beach and the wedding pavilion. All in all, though, honestly, I like DxL better. The GF seemed sort of busy and hectic and sort of all cramped together. It is a beautiful place, though.

A side note: It's interesting to me that I've been there since the recent very very sad passing of Princess Diana. I had read that she was so delightful to everyone there, and even though we didn't stay there, of course, it's sort of neat to me that I was in the same place that she and the boys had been. May sound dumb, but it's sort of a neat little thing to me. I've thought it was interesting in reading other trip reports while in the process of constructing mine to read the reactions to this tradgedy of people who were at Disney at the time. I think her passing will be one of those moments where everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing...

Back to Disney. Off to Epcot, to try to see a few more things there, and by this time we really had to get down to some serious Christmas shopping, as we had basically avoided this all week. First stop, Mexico. Our technique was to quickly tour each pavilion while scanning for any possible gifts for the myriad of people we had to buy for. In Mexico, I found just what I was looking for for my grandma, a straw purse decorated with embroidery, with the word "Mexico" embroidered on it. She'd had one from a visit to Mexico years ago and it was destroyed in a fire. Perfect! Got a big woven poncho/shirt thingy for my brother, who is 20. We also took pictures of the pretty CMs who helped us in Mexico, Italy and one of the little merchandise carts, for my brother.

Next stop, Norway. Finally got to ride the Maelstrom, *awesome*. As we got off, there was a CM on there talking on the phone, chattering away in Norwegian, which was kind of exciting. Took in the $200 sweaters*think not.* No presents to buy here, apparently. On to China, where John got a shirt with the year of his birth (he's a dragon) on it. Doing well on the Christmas shopping, so far we had three things for us and two for anybody else. Thought the department store place in Japan was kinda tacky. Took a break for a pretzel and beer in Germany and explored the shopping there. Stopped in Italy for some chocolates for John's dad and some goodies for me to take back to work. Outside Italy, there were some kids from an art school in Milan doing pictures with chalks. My mom is an artist, so we took some pictures of this for her.

Somehow, we missed the American Adventure. I'm not sure how this happened. I think the first day we were at Epcot this show was not running, for some reason, and I guess the last day we were focusing on shopping. By this time we had already decided to come back again in 1997, so we weren't really sweating anything we missed.

By now it was time for our lunch at the Coral Reef. John will basically eat anything, and I do mean anything, but I do not do any form of seafood whatsoever. However, this restaurant sounded so neat to us that we just had to try it. John ended up getting some kind of crab things (I just think that is so gross when they bring all those instruments to the table just so you can take apart and eat your food. Yuck, yuck, yuck.) I got a dessert, an individual Boston Creme Pie. Sadly, this was our only other so-so dining experience at Disney. Our waiter seemed to have three tables in his station, and one of the other tables was a group of four adults who were having bottles of wine and huge lunches and the whole works, and the waiter appeared to be a lot more interested in them than in us. The food was so-so. (For $6.00, I was expecting a better dessert, honestly).

We have now learned our lesson. If you're really into touring the parks, a mid-afternoon lunch at a more formal restaurant puts a big crimp in your plans. This was another time when it took well over an hour for just the little snack, really, that we had, mostly because the waiter did not have time for us. Happily, this and the Brown Derby were really our only two bad experiences. The atmosphere, there, is quite serene and pretty, however, most of the tables are a lot further away from the aquarium than you might expect.

By this time, I must say, we were just pooped. We then embarked on a little whirlwind tour of some of the pavilions and at least saw part of every one but Canada. We hit one of the little open-air gift shops near the entrance to World Showcase for some X-Mas shopping (and some stuff for us, of course!). 4 Epcot sweatshirts**one for me, one for John, one for my mom and one for my maid of honor. Three teeshirts, for John's best man and his wife, and one for me! Epcot sparkly drink glass and souvenir pen for me.

On to that really huge giftshop near the fountain, for another Xªmas shopping raid. Mickey t-shirt for grandma, Mickey ears for my mom and John's sister, Merlin Mickey hat (as a joke) for my brother, Pooh teeshirt for me, Beauty and the Beast snowglobe for another sister, WDW snowglobe for my mom, various magnets for various peoples' refridgerators.

With our arms stretched to the ground, lugged our many packages out to the bus stop, stopping at the locker to retrieve yet another package, our stuff from the Grand Floridian. (By the way, the locker cost $5 to rent, and they give you $2 back, in Disney dollars. They're not stupid.) Isn't it funny how Disney makes it seem so unobjectionable when they're trying to get all your money? Back to DxL to freshen up for Jolly Holidays. We had been told that the bus would pick us up right in front of the resort, one hour before the show, and to be there 15 minutes before that. We arrived promptly, and I struck up a conversation with a total stranger from Massachusetts about how badly our feet hurt! I still get a giggle out of that. Then the bus came, a chartered affair with big puffy seats, and transferred us directly to the entrance to the Contemporary.

Once inside, we noticed that while most people were dressed somewhat casually, quite a few were dressed up and some of the ladies even had on cocktail dresses. We were, as usual, in shorts and sweatshirts. Oops! NOBODY told us to dress up for this, and since we had been everywhere the whole week in shorts, we didn't think to ask. Oh well. At least we were comfortable. They were having cocktails in the lobby but before opening the ballroom, but we did not partake. Called my mom to say hi, and then in a little souvenir stand in the lobby we managed to find what we had been looking for all week: a plain, unadultered, WDW Christmas ornament.We have a little tradition of buying an ornament everywhere we go, and it was darn near impossible to find one that just said "Walt Disney World."

You sit at a table of about 10 people at JH, and the people at our table turned out to be quite nice. There was a couple in their 40s from Boston (where there was a blizzard at the time), another couple in their 40s from South Carolina, and a lady with her young niece and nephew from Pennsylvania. It was very interesting finding out where everyone was staying (Port Orleans, Caribbean Beach and All Star Sports) and what they had been doing and their opinions on things. They asked us how long we had been married and we had to say "Six days."

The meal was pretty good. Not great, which I think you have to expect when someone's cooking for 1000 people or so. There was wine on the table when we got there. The waiters came around with huge trays of every soft drink you could think of, even chocolate milk, and you could have whatever you wanted. They brought out salad and bread first, then the main course was turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and I think green beans, gravy, and I think cranberry relish stuff. Dessert was a cake roll (they called it a yule log) rolled up with icing. In between courses, just like at Hoopie Doo, the show is going on. It's a little bizarre to have to ask a stranger to pass the gravy, but it was really fun. I am very, very critical of shows and I thought this one was pretty good. One thing I thought was interesting: I have seen this show billed as having alternately over 100 performers and 200 performers, which is not true. There is a cast of about 30 or so who are seen at various times in various costumes. Hence, this might up to 100 "characters" but if you're expecting to see 100 or 200 people on stage at one time, not happening. There are three stages on different sides of the room, and at different points the performers also walk through the room at various places, so all the seats really are good. Chalk it up to that Disney efficiency-we walked right out of the Contemporary, got right on the bus, and almost immediately it headed back to DxL. We had been joking about being "The Longeneckers from Sheybogan," because John really looked like Joe Tourist with his cord around his glasses, video camera around his neck, regular camera in hand, fanny pack around his waist, and Sheybogan just sounded like a place where tourists would be from. So, we're joking about this to each other right after getting on the bus, and an older gentleman leans over and asks, "Excuse me, are you from Sheybogan?" Caught! We said no, and the gentleman said "Oh, we have friends there." "Really? Us too, " we said. "What a coincidence." Ha ha.

Back to DxL and time for a final Christmas shopping blitz. By the way, this was a total pain in the behind by this point in time. In the DxL gift shop, ended up purchasing: Mickey sweatshirt/jacket for John's dad and nightgown for his mom, WDW sweatshirt for my mom, Donald Duck sweatshirt and drink bottle for one of my grandmas, Mickey ears for my mom and John's sister, Pooh watches for my mom and John's sister, DxL polo shirt for John and T-shirt for me, DxL coffee cup for mom, DxL glass for us, Pooh drink bottle for me. Very embarrassing-at the end of it all, I had to send John back to get more traveler's checks. But, at last, we had most of our X-mas shopping done. Yahoo!!!

PHASE IV: GOING HOME

DAY 7: Saturday, 12/14/96

Darn it! Time to go home! We walked over to the main pool and videotaped that for the travel video, and the inside of the food videotaped that for the travel video, and the inside of the food court, lobby, etc. We had planned to grab breakfast at the food court but it was VERY crowded and we wanted to get going, so we decided to skip it. Taped the boat dock area out back, took some pictures, and headed for the car. Darn! Now, we had known all along that there was no way I could come to Florida and not at least see the ocean, so we were planning to stop and see Daytona Beach on the way home. Stopped at the little guard shack leaving DxL to ask for directions, and the guard there gave us a map of Orlando. How nice! Ahh, Disney...one last time.

Stopped at a McDonalds somewhere in Orlando for a quickie breakfast. It took longer to get to Orlando than we had anticipated, probably about an hour and 45 minutes or so. Parked illegally at McDonalds (though we did go in and buy a drink so I'd have a cup for my shells!) Walked down to the beach, which was nearly deserted, and hung around for about 20 minutes, videotaped and stuck our toes in. (I had not been to Florida for about 18 years, and hadn't been to the ocean for 6, so this was a big treat). Gathered some nice shells and a little sand to take home and then it was back in the car. (I was actually able to help drive this day). Drove up through Jacksonville and then crossed over and got back on 75 North. We had a reservation at our favorite hotel in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where we were going to stay Saturday and Sunday nights before going home on Monday.

Another absolutely grueling drive through Georgia this night. ARRGGHH! John drove through Atlanta again. I entertained him at this time by asking him about the deductibles on his insurance policy, now mine too (I used to work in auto insurance). Just what he needed to hear whizzing through 7 lanes of traffic! Stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Macon.

Two things were happening as we got close to Tennessee: once again, I was so tired I could not humanly manage to stay awake for more than a few minutes, at a time, and two, the absolute worst: I was getting a cold. I have asthma that is pretty bad and so for me a cold is like a major illness and I get SO sick and end up with bronchitis. Not good at all. I had been terrified pre-wedding and honeymoon of getting a cold (I tend to get sick for major occasions) and had practically OD'd on vitamin C drops. At least it was at the end of the honeymoon, but still, what a bummer.

Finally, finally, finally, pulled into Gatlinburg around 12:45 a.m. and stumbled into another hotel room and crawled to the bed. One side note, non-Disney, for anyone who lives in my part of the world and frequents Gatlinburg: This is one of my favorite places in the whole world and every summer when it gets warm, this place absolutely calls to me. However, I did not like it too much in winter. They have a "Winterfest" there and there are lots of Christmas lights and the like, but everything is very brown and it really was sort of depressing. I would be interested to see what others think of this.

Day 8: Sunday, 12/15/96***Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Anyway, we had breakfast at the Log Cobin Pancake House, my favorite restaurant in the whole world besides the Crystal Palace. Stopped at the drugstore for some Nyquil. Drove up and videotaped the mountains for my mother the tree-hugger. Then, around 12 or so, I went back to the hotel and went to sleep, while John went out and videotaped Gatlinburg and finished the Christmas shopping. Got up around 6:00, drug myself to dinner at Howard's (another favorite) and drug myself around Gatlinburg till around 9:30 or so, until I was just certain I was going to die, and went back to the hotel. Saturday night when we arrived, we got the last parking space at the hotel, and by Monday morning when we left, we were the only car there.

DAY 9: 12/16/96-Home Sweet Home

Breakfast again at the Log Cabin, and then...home. After driving to Disney, the 5-hour trip home seemed like a brief jaunt.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS:

DISNEY TRANSPORTATION: With the one exception, we were very, very pleased. We never waited more than 10 to 15 minutes for any bus, and we found it ever so convenient. We were delighted that from the time we arrived to the time we left, we never got in the car. We also found that for the most part on the busses people were very polite and courteous.

DIXIE LANDINGS: Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I have heard that this resort is often full when others are near empty, and I can see why. We have discussed staying at another resort for a future trip, but honestly love DxL so much I think we will always stay there. It is very, very quiet and peaceful despite its size and popularity. The food court was better than average, IMHO, and we just think it is a beautiful place.

HOOP DE DOO: Go and see it if you possibly can. You, like us, will be singing the theme song nine months later. It was absolutely delightful. If you are expecting haute cuisine you will be dissapointed, but otherwise it should be a good time had by all.

JOLLY HOLIDAYS: I would recommend this highly as well, though for $56 or so a person, I might expect the food to be just a touch more yummy. Did note that there was not a huge number of kids there, and the lady at our table with two little ones seemed sort of embarrassed that she had brought them. We did not encounter any bratty children, there, however. If you do plan to go, take note that the attire of most people is the upper end of casual-not shorts, like we wore.

All in all, of course, it was a fantastic time-surprise-and we rave about it to anyone who will listen and recommend WDW to everyone. We are going back this year from 12/13 to 12/21 and taking my mom. We will be driving again from Cincinnati (we have rented a mini-van for the trip, just for fun). We'll be staying at DxL again, and have our plans made for meals at the Crystal Palace, of course, Rainforest Cafe, Cinderella's Royal Table (is it really as bad as I've heard, and does anyone know if there are any desserts on the menu?), Ohana, Alfredos, Artist Point, Sci-Fi, San Angel Inn, 1900 Park Fare, Hoop Dee Doo and Jolly Holidays. This time we have PLANS! Hopefully next time it won't take me nine months to get a trip report together (just kidding!)

If anyone has any questions or comments, I love to get email!

Jennifer Longenecker

fantine@fuse.net