Kim Howe - February 2005 - Offsite

[Trip Reports]

Kim Howe - February 2005 - Offsite

Time of Year: Winter
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: Standard
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran

Kim Howe -- February 2005 - Walt Disney World (Offsite)

Players:

Kim - 18th visitand trip report writer
Bill – 14th visit
Transportation:

Air and rental car

Accommodations:

Off Site Time Share:

Polynesian Isles
3045 Polynesian Isle Blvd.
Kissimmee, FL 34746
407-396-1622
Planning:

Time share

On February 22, 2004, I booked two back to back weeks thru RCI for a timeshare called Polynesian Isles. The exchange fee came to $260. It is a place we have stayed at before and we’re quite pleased with its accommodations, convenient location to WDW and quiet atmosphere. It’s also a gold crown resort, RCI highest rating. The unit has two bedrooms, two baths, full kitchen, dining area and living room. I invited my mother and brother and their significant others to join us telling them to coordinate between themselves when each would be there unless one couple wouldn’t mind sleeping on the sofa sleeper in the living room as there was only one extra bedroom.

Southwest opened up their flights on September 28 and I bought them right away for $536.60 total round trip for two ($268.30 each) including all taxes and fees. I couldn’t get the earliest non-stop flight down we usually take for the cheapest rate, so I booked next flight with a lay over in Baltimore instead for the cheapest rate. My hope was to get on the non-stop like we did last year by getting to the airport early and asking if it is full. We will be staying an extra night in order to get a non-stop flight home at the cheapest rate and can probably stay with Mary and Peter that night. We usually like to get home a day before we return to work and this will allow us to at least have the good part of the afternoon to unwind.

Car reserved with National on October 1 for $411.78 for a midsize for two weeks and one day. I used a Mousesavers code (5125601) with an Entertainment Book coupon for $20 off. Got cheaper rates with Alamo but I really want to use National’s Emerald Aisle.

My brother and his girlfriend will be joining us for a week and will be driving down. My mother decided they would come, too, but hadn’t decided exactly what dates yet. I let her know as soon as I made my flight reservations, that Southwest had opened up their schedule but she didn’t buy them.

On October 22 I was checking flight availability and cost for tickets for my mother. I was concerned if they didn’t get their tickets soon they would have trouble getting convenient flight times at a good rate. What I discovered was that there were many seats left and prices had actually gone down since I purchased my tickets a few weeks earlier. I was able to modify my reservation and get the non-stop flight down for only $5.80 additional for both tickets. I could have stayed on my original flight and reduced the cost by $22. All but the higher rates were already booked on the flight home so I stayed with my original flight.

The car rental reservation was also modified because we would be arriving two hours earlier. Luckily, the rate did not change. Last year, though, we were three hours early and we had to pay for an entire extra day.

On November 23, I went on the Southwest site to see how far out their schedule was open since I will be traveling to WDW in April for an alumni gathering for the college I work for (but that’s another report entirely). The schedule wasn’t open that far yet but for the heck of it I plugged in my February travel dates. Low and behold, they had opened up more seats in the lower priced fares. I modified my reservation, again, and was able to get on the Saturday evening non-stop flight home, which I wanted originally, thus giving up the Sunday morning non-stop flight and eliminating the need to stay an extra night. The price reduction resulted in a $118 credit on my account. Big savings and since I’m planning that other WDW trip in April, I consider that flight half paid for already.

On the rental car front, the adjustment in travel times did not change the price of my reservation even though we would be returning it 15+ hours earlier.

At this time I realized that the 90-day reservation window was long past open. Darn it! I wanted to try and get an IllumiNations cruise lined up for all of us. I consoled myself that since my mom and brother hadn’t totally committed to the dates they would be with us, it would have been difficult to do anyway and I should just to ahead and try to get one and who can do can, and those who can’t don’t. I called and nothing was available. I decide to keep calling and hope to get in if someone cancels.

I also learned that there is a new two-hour tour at the Magic Kingdom called Mickey’s Magic Milestones available Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m. for $25 per person with 15% discounts for DVC members and AP holders. I’d read in the All Ears newsletter last August that a guest had reported participating in a new tour that was being developed and so I kept watching for an announcement when it was available to book. I’d hoped it would be available for my November trip but I hadn’t heard anything by the time I left. During my November trip, my CM friend told me she’d heard about a new tour and I thought to stop by City Hall to see it was indeed available but I never did. Now only a little over a week after my return, I read it’s officially open. Okay, so I can plan on it for this trip.

Early December my mother finally made her flight reservations with SW and was able to get non stop flights both ways at the same price as I had. They will fly out on Tuesday and return on the following Friday evening. This proved the thought process of purchasing tickets as soon as they are released because they will only go up wrong. By waiting, she didn’t loose anything. It also helped that they weren’t flying Saturday to Saturday.

Now it was time to work on their car reservation. Her friend, George, said they would just get one when they arrived. I gasped! Since that was absolutely crazy, I made a reservation with Alamo for them for a mid-size for 10 days at $205. I chose Alamo since I felt it would offer the best price. Then, for the heck of it, I checked out National and plugged in the Entertainment Books’ code and coupon and got a low $180. Heck, I tried Priceless Vacations’ code (which provided the best price for me so far) from Mousesavers.com and an Entertainment Book coupon code and got a lower $166. Wow! I thought, hey, let me plug in our dates and low and behold, I got a low of $250 which shaved off $161 from my previous reservation. Double wow!

Throughout this time, I’d call WDW for the IllumiNations cruise hoping to catch a recent cancellation. No luck but with the 48 hour cancellation policy, I’m hoping to snag one as the dates I want get closer.

In a newsletter from SW in late December, I learned that they were offering flights from the northeast to FL for $49 one way. Wanting to stay with my Saturday to Saturday flights, this rate did not help me as it was already booked on those dates. But, my mother’s dates were available at that rate. She changed her reservation and saved over $200. Note that SW doesn’t credit your credit card but instead holds the credit on your account with them to use for a future trip which pretty nice of them. Airfare and car rental for my mom and George added to free lodging by staying with us is really making for a very reasonable trip so far.

After Christmas dinner, Mom and I talked about the new WDW ticket pricing VS the old and what would be the best for their needs. We decided on and she purchased (12/28) two five-day hoppers from the Disney Store for $245 each. The next day, I purchased a 7 day hopper plus on line from floridaticketattraction.com for $317 with tax (no shipping $) just to have for future trips. An added bonus was in addition to an old hopper plus I already have, Bill and I would now have two hopper pluses to use for entry into Pleasure Island and water parks during this trip.

Late December while on the phone with a CM trying to get that darned cruise reservation, I made a reservation for Mickey’s Magical Milestones tour for the first Monday of our trip. With our AP discount 15% off $25 each) I was charged $42.50 for the two of us. I was instructed to cancel 48 hours in advance if necessary, bring photo IDs and arrive at 8:45 a.m. The Magic Kingdom opens at 9 a.m. that day so we will have to let a CM at the turnstiles know we are there for the tour and will be let in under the rope.

During this time I also checked out off site things we might like to do ourselves but mostly things for Mom and George to do. You see, George’s previous WDW experience was not good and he isn’t apt to want to spend all ten days going to the parks. The reason he had a bad experience was not WDW’s fault though. He did everything wrong—went during peak season, didn’t get to the parks early, etc. etc. We hope to change his views by showing him how to do it right and actually enjoy your time instead of spending it on lines and being frustrated.

Well, another month has gone by and tomorrow is our departure date. Since the last time I updated this report, I finally booked a specialty cruise. Not for IllumiNations but for Wishes. The CM actually suggested it as an alternative since I wasn’t having any luck getting a cancellation. I thought Wishes cruises were only for Magical Gatherings guests. We (eight in all) are to arrive at the Wilderness Lodge Marina at 6:15 p.m., depart at 6:30 p.m. for Wishes at 7 p.m and then return to the marina at 7:30 p.m. Unfortunately, the cost of these cruises recently increased so instead of $120, it will cost $150. It is more if you add on any food service. I have to pay attention to the park schedule and if Wishes is shown at another time, our cruise time will change too. The CM also made a PS at the Whispering Canyon Café for 5 p.m., the earliest dinner PS. She couldn’t guarantee a table for eight but said that since it is the first PS of the evening there should be no problem with putting our two tables of four together.

I called the timeshare to check on the status of renovations there. During my November trip I’d stopped in to inquire about getting a unit with a queen bed in the second bedroom and learned that half of the resort was being renovated due to water damage from the late summer hurricanes. This included the two buildings with queen beds in the second bedroom. The person I spoke to was hopeful one of these buildings would be open again by the time we arrive and adjusted our reservation so we could stay in the same unit for both weeks.

Bill’s mom will also be joining us for a few days driving up from West Palm Beach once my brother and his fiancée head home. So the couch is going to get a lot of use this trip.

The weather temperatures here in NY have been below zero at night and only in the teens during the day. The ten-day weather forecast for WDW is mid to high 70s which will be quite welcome.

Well, three weeks have passed since I last wrote and we are back from our trip. This is how it went:

Day One: Saturday, January 29, 2005

It is dark when the alarm goes off at 4 a.m. and it’s six degrees outside when we get in the car at 4:50 a.m. It actually feels warm to us after the below zero temperatures the past couple of weeks. With a clear sky and dry roads we make it to the Park and Fly with no problem. There are a lot of people and cars about, the most we’ve ever experienced but the staff are working quickly and we are on the shuttle and at the airport in no time. I’d made a reservation on-line for the Park and Fly this time which saved a few minutes at check-in.

The terminal was busy and the line at the Southwest ticket counter was long. It was not nearly as long as the USAirways line, however. Once the SW counter opened at 6 a.m., the line moved quickly. No lines or problems at security and we were at the gate at 6:30 a.m. We queued up in the front of the “B” boarding section and read until boarding began at 7:10 a.m. for our 7:30 a.m. flight. We board the plane through the back entrance while most people are going to the front entrance. We score emergency row seats so Bill has lots of leg room and even get the row entirely to ourselves. The crew is comical as usual and we experience a smooth flight once taking off a few minutes late. I read and nap and we are landing at MCO at 10:20 a.m., ten minutes early. The usual routine follows: rest room, EarsPort and baggage claim. Our bags were already on the belt—wow!

We walked directly to the parking garage since we had an Emerald Aisle reservation with National. We checked out all the cars in the row available to us and choose the one that will be easy to locate it in the parking lots. It was a Pontiac Aztec in a pumpkin orange color. Well, okay, maybe others would call it bronze. Either way, it was ugly! Even though I’d reserved a mid-size, we are allowed to choose any vehicle in the Emerald Aisle for the same price. So we got an SUV for the price of the mid-size, $242.50 for two weeks.

We follow the south exit from the airport and I call my brother to determine when and where we will meet them. The tentative plan was to meet them for lunch. I left a message and he called back in a few minutes. They were at Islands of Adventure taking advantage of a 3rd day free and would meet us at the resort between 4 and 5 p.m. So, we had lunch without them at Bennigans on SR535.

Bill got a nice salad with chicken on it. I got a Mexican appetizer sampler but found it too spicy for my taste and didn’t finish it all, which is very unusual for me. Lunch came to $28 with tip. Next stop was just up the road to the Premium Outlet Mall and Disney’s Character Premiere. As usual of late, I didn’t find much of interest but did get a box of glass Mickey head ornaments for $4 marked down from $16. Thinking we had to kill time until check-in at 4 p.m. we stopped at the Lake Buena Vista Factory Mall next. We found that the Character Corner had moved from the front of the mall to the back. Once again, I didn’t see anything I had to have right away.

At this point we were burning out since we’d been up so early and decided to give it a shot at the timeshare, Polynesian Isles, to see if we could check in early. It was just around the corner and we arrived just before 2 p.m. We were able to check-in right away—hurray! I got enough key cards (4) and parking passes (3) for everyone for the next two weeks so I wouldn’t have to return to the desk. We were in building eight, just like I wanted and in unit 822 on the second floor (no elevator). I think we were able to check in so early because the units were just reopened after the renovation. Bill layed down to take a nap and after I unpacked I joined him. We woke up around 5 p.m. from the ringing of my cell phone. It was my brother, Jeff, and his fiancé, Laura, at the front gate calling to find out which unit we were in.

We helped them carry their stuff in. They’d driven down the previous weekend and had been staying at the hotel plaza next to Downtown Disney. I think it was the Best Western and they paid $69 night. Once they got settled in the second bedroom, we went to Publix at the corner of SR192 and 535. We picked up breakfast items, snacks, wine and beer. Bill got a few bottles of liquor next door. Jeff and Laura were nice enough to pay $87 for the groceries. Bill said his purchases came to $30. Back at the timeshare we had a few drinks before heading out for dinner around 8 p.m.

Our first choice and stop was at Bahama Breeze at the intersection of SR 535 and Vineland Road but it had a one and a half to two hour wait. No way, so we left for Chevy’s at the Cross Roads Plaza across from WDW entrance to Downtown Disney. It was only at 20 minute wait and we got seats at the bar, margarita and chips and salsa while we waited. We were stuffed after eating only half of our dinners because we ate so many chips. Bill got an order of wings that were so hot he broke out in a sweat. I got a salad with the dressing on the side. Jeff and Laura got huge platters loaded with some Mexican concoction. Needless to say, we all got to go boxes which we ate the following night for dinner. Between our bar bill and dinner Bill and I paid $36 with tip.

Back at the resort at 10 p.m. and to bed.

For those of you planning a trip during this time period in the future, here is what our experience with the weather was and how we dressed:

The weather today was partly sunny and about 68 degrees. The weather for the next two weeks was good with little rain but it could have been a little warmer. We found the weather forecasts to be inaccurate and inconsistent even within the same report. Go figure. This made it difficult to know how to dress. We just kept extra layers, hats, gloves, umbrellas and raincoats in the car all the time. Anyway, temperatures during the two weeks ranged from low 60s to high 70s during the day and high 30s to high 50’s at night. We found the sun to be very strong and warm even on the cooler days.

As far as clothing we wore during the two weeks goes…I wore short sleeve and long sleeve tops often layered with a light jacket. This was necessary for cooler morning and evenings while the afternoons were pleasant. I wore long pants the majority of the time but wore capris a few days. Bill wore short sleeve shirts with a light jacket now and then with jeans everyday.

The Polynesian Isles Resort is on Polynesian Isles Blvd. in Kissimmee, a quiet residential street which runs between SR 535 and SR192 allowing for a quick travel up SR535 to SR536 and on WDW's Epcot Center Drive--a great location. We never encountered any traffic and were closer to some WDW parks than some of the WDW resorts are. The master bedroom had a king size bed with TV. The master bath was large with two sinks, toilet, shower and a Jacuzzi tub. The guest room had a TV, a queen bed with a bath that could also be accessed from the common area. The common area consisted of a full kitchen with breakfast bar, dining area with table and chairs for six and living room are with sofa sleeper, chairs, TV, VCR, etc. which opened up to a screened balcony and back (second) entrance. The balcony overlooked the tennis courts.

There was a swimming pool and spa right across from our building, too, which we pretty much had all to ourselves whenever we were there. The resort itself is on the small side and appeared to be established some time ago since all the vegetation was very full and mature-very tropical. It was in the process of being renovated due to storm damage from last summer’s hurricanes and our building had just been completed. Due to the renovations taking place on the buildings around us, there was limited parking and workers around during the day. Although this is a timeshare resort affiliated with RCI, units can also be rented by the general public.

Day Two: Sunday, January 30

We were up around 7 a.m., got dressed and had some breakfast of coffee, juice, fruit and bagels. Around 9 a.m. we left for Cypress Gardens while Jeff and Laura planned to go to the Disney/MGM Studios for the day.

I chose to go to Cypress Gardens today because there was a concert featuring George Jones. I planned on getting the ticket option with a second day free within six days so that would also get us in the following Saturday to see the Tanya Tuck concert. Cypress Gardens is located in Winter Haven which is about an hour southwest from WDW on SR 27. I chose to go to this park because I’d never visited it before and while Bill had as a child, he didn’t remember it, only seeing pictures from the visit. It had been closed for a period of a year or so before being sold and reopening last fall. Besides all the work needed to get the park reopened after the closure, the hurricanes set the opening back a couple of months. The new owner has added the concert venue for the adults and a midway with 40+ country fair type rides for the kids and teens and thus, the new name of Cypress Gardens Adventure Park. It seems as if they are trying to make it more attractive to families and we saw a lot of grandparents with their grandchildren, so I guess it’s working.

Our drive to the park was pleasant and easy enough even though there was a lot of construction on SR27 and a teeny tiny sign at the cross road to turn off towards the park. As we approached the park around the 10 a.m. opening there was a bit of traffic backed up to get off the main road and into the parking lot. It looked as if this intersection could really get backed up but our wait wasn’t too long. We paid our $7 to park and were directed to a space in Begonia. It was very obvious that things weren’t running as efficiently as they do at WDW and we would find this to be true all day. Not that we found anything really bad, they just need to do some tweaking here and there. There were shuttles but we were close enough to the entrance so we just walked.

The entrance area looked new and nicely decorated. There were plenty of ticket booths advertising a $35 a day ticket (with second day free) and an annual pass for about $60. I asked if they still offered the opening special price of $30 with a second day free and they sure did. I’m glad I asked! The reserved seats for the concert were sold out though. In hindsight, I should have bought them before we left from home but I was trying to be a little more laid back this trip than I usually am but it came back to bite me today. The security check point had metal detectors in addition to bag checks. Once in the park we got our second day free tickets right away, no lines, no waiting. What we had to do was just go to Guest Relations and sign the second day tickets. When we returned for the second day, we would simply resign them.

We saw a couple of teenage girls dressed in the southern bell dresses which the park was famous for in earlier years. These girls needed to smile and greet people with a smile. We checked out the concert area called Star Haven Amphitheatre. The reserved seats were under a cover. Behind them was an uncovered large lawn area were people were setting up lawn chairs. They appeared to be locals who probably had season tickets. In the far back were bleachers. It was obvious that we would not be able to see George at all. Darn it, we forgot to bring binoculars too.

We sat down and studied the map and entertainment schedule deciding to see the first ski show at 11 a.m. In the meantime, we walked through Plantation Gardens, Wings of Wonder (a butterfly exhibit) and along Topiary Trail to the ski show. The topiaries were huge and quite nice.

We got a snack (fries, pretzel and water $8) to go before getting seats in the full stadium. The stadium was small compared to the one used at Sea World for ski shows. Many people simply sat on the lawn area and watched from there. It was probably warmer being in the sun. Our seats were in the shade and were a bit chilly at 11 a.m. especially with the wind off Lake Eloise. The show’s storyline was cute with a small cast (6 or so skiers) performing various stunts in order to earn their orange berets. Of course, there was the comic relief and he was quite good at screwing up everything he did. The ironic thing was that he was probably the best skier of them all.

On our way back through the Topiary Garden after the ski show, we stopped to watch the Living Garden. This was very similar to the Living Statues at WDW. The difference being that this woman was supposed to be a garden statue and didn’t interact with the audience. Instead her routine was performed to music. She had a hose under her costume and actually became a fountain with water spraying from her fingertips and the top of her head. Pretty cool!

By the time we made our way to the ice show, it was full and the doors were closed. A guest who had been turned away at the door told us since there was no sign or employee outside to let people know. I guess we shouldn’t have spent so much time watching the Living Garden. We never made it back to the later shows since the times conflicted with the concert and from this point on we just wandered around the park waiting for the concert to start.

We rode the Sunshine Sky Adventure which lifts a circular platform high above the park and slowly rotates. It was very quiet and smooth running. We walked all around Adventure Grove, the amusement park area. It is new and landscaped nicely. Unfortunately, people were walking over the new plantings to make short cuts to their destinations. There was also little to no shade in this area which wasn’t a problem for us but in the heat of the summer would be unbearable. There were rides for the little kids to teens and adults. Nothing really thrilling though. The roller coasters were really very tame. I rode all three with having taken a motion sickness pill and felt fine.

I found a reserved seat ticket for the concert on the ground and turned it in. People who witnessed my doing so, said what a nice person I was. Well, what else was I going to do with it? If I used it, it was likely that the person who lost it was with someone else and it would be obvious the ticket wasn’t mine. Duh! Plus it was only one. If I’d found two, then maybe…Naaa!

Our stomachs were grumbling and it was hard finding someplace to eat. The park was packed at this point and there were lines everywhere. We decided to split up since we wanted items from two different places. The lines were so long because the service was soooo sloooow! Pick up the pace people! Those teens are going no where with that kind of work ethic. I got a turkey leg, kettle corn and a water for $12. Bill got a pulled pork sandwich and a soda for $6. We managed to find a nice quiet place to sit next to Gator Bites snack bar which was amazing. It was adjacent to an area of the park that was not yet fully reopened so not many people were around. Some employees on break were sitting near us and I could hear on their radios that they were in overflow areas for parking and only had about 80 spaces left.

After we ate we walked through the Nature’s Way area that wasn’t fully open yet. The animal areas were empty and closed off while the two shows scheduled in the area were “coming soon” but there was a new board walk along the shore of the lake. It was new and quite a nice escape from the crowd but could have used some benches. Since it didn’t have any, we moved on and returned to Jubilee Junction (the main shopping/dining area to find wall to wall people.

We decided to find a place to sit in the concert area and found some lawn in the shade on the side of the bleachers against the fence. It afforded a great place to people watch as it was right at one of two entrances/exits. We had one and a half hours before the 3 p.m. show but it went quickly. We saw some pretty interesting sights! Finally it was show time and the current owner of the park came out on stage and thanked everyone for coming and apologized for any inconvenience with parking and whatnot explaining that they were still working out some kinks. He also announced that today was a record crowd in Cypress Gardens history…and we were there!

The preshow was organ music. It reminded me of the music at a roller rink. They actually give one away at each concert. We were sorry we didn’t enter the contest—NOT! Afterwards, George Jones’ fan club members were invited backstage to meet him. Holy cow! The darned concert never started until 4 p.m. and it was a long after noon waiting. Once it started, we moved out where we could actually see the stage, not George, but the stage. You see, George was positioned behind the sound booth which we were also behind, so we didn’t see him at all. I was exhausted and had a splitting headache so I lay down and closed my eyes for a while until I couldn’t stand listening to the whining kid behind us anymore. We moved a couple of times on the lawn but didn’t manage to find a better place. We finally sat in a section of the bleachers which were in the shade now. George put on a good show, unfortunately, our being so far away from the stage made it difficult to completely enjoy. We left before the end of the show because we were afraid of getting stuck in a huge traffic jam in the parking lot. I know, I know…we waited all day for the darned show and then leave before it’s over. Not our usual style but we also were tired and wanted to get the heck out of there with the least amount of hassle.

We had no problem finding our ugly car and were successful in our mission. However, we were not allowed to turn left out of the parking lot to return the way we came in. So we turned right and just followed the road and followed the road and turned left and followed the road some more. After about 15 minutes we came back out to SR27 only south of where we’d turned off it this morning. Oh well, we managed without the hassle of a traffic jam and we were on our way north east again passing through miles and miles of orange groves. Cypress Gardens has a lot going for it but it needs work on efficiency. It was also not prepared for the size of today’s record crowd. I would recommend a visit to anyone looking for a break from WDW just don’t go on a day George Jones is performing.

By 6 p.m. we were back at the Polynesian Isle. I took two pain killers for my headache and when they weren’t helping after an hour, I took two more. We watched tv and ate our leftovers from last night’s dinner. We took a walk around the resort which was quite short because it’s a small place and then went to bed shortly after 9 p.m.

Jeff and Laura hadn’t returned before we went to bed. When we caught up with them the next day, we learned that that spent the day at the Studios and saw Fantasmic. Then they walked around the Boardwalk and saw Illuminations in Epcot. They returned to the resort shortly after we went to bed, although we didn’t hear them, and ate their leftovers too. I woke up around 2 p.m. and went out to the living room to see if they were home yet and saw that their door was closed. I felt like I was acting like my mother did when we were teenagers!

Day Three: Monday, January 31

The alarm was set for 7 a.m. this morning to make sure we were up and out on time for Mickey’s Magical Milestones tour at the Magic Kingdom. After the usual morning routine, we left at 8 a.m. Jeff and Laura weren’t stirring yet, so I left them a note on the counter suggesting we get together later. Fifteen minutes later we were parking in Minnie 36 (second row from TTC). The trams weren’t even running yet. When we got off the monorail at the Magic Kingdom I noticed the resort side of the station was boarded up. At first I wondered if it wasn’t running but it was and guests enter and exit from the same side.

As we are approaching the turnstiles Jeff calls asking about a discount coupon we’d discussed for Silver Springs, near Ocala, since they were planning on going there for the day. There were few people at the turnstiles so there was no wait to get through. We were allowed into the park once we told a CM we were reporting for a tour. Other guests were being held outside the Main Street Rail Road Station for the opening ceremony with Mickey and Minnie and tons of other characters arriving on the train.

We checked in at the tour check-in/package pick-up building (most recently a gallery) next to City Hall. CM Regina checked us in, told us she would also be our tour guide and that we were the only guests on the tour this morning. Cool. She gave us our name tags which were light blue card stock shaped like Mickey’s head with a string and a safety pin to secure it to you. The Keys to the Kingdom tour pins were a much nicer button type pin that would make a nice keepsake. Regina was wearing the costume that Lillian Disney designed: white blouse, blue vest, short plaid skirt with white knee socks, riding cap and crop, which Bill really liked. Perhaps it reminded him of his Catholic school days or maybe it was the crop that turned him on. We were offered complimentary coffee or bottled water. Wow, complimentary? I took a bottle of water just because.

By this point our tour didn’t start for another 40 minutes at 9 p.m. so we wandered around Town Square and Main Street. I highly recommend checking in for your tour as early as you can so you have lots of time inside the park before it officially opens. We spent our time taking pictures and soaking up the atmosphere. I was sitting on the bench with Roy and Minnie while Bill was taking my picture and Jeff called again. They decided not to go the Silver Springs but instead spend the day at the Magic Kingdom and asked to meet us for dinner at Ohana at the Polynesian. I suggested he to call and make a PS and he said he would do so at guest relations when he got to the park. Bill took my picture while I was talking on the phone. It’s so unlike me to actually use my phone. I used more minutes during this vacation than I did in the last year. Bill and I continued down Main Street and asked the CM photographer to take our photo with both his and our cameras. We got our Photopass which we used for the rest of our vacation. There was a huge wall all around the hub in front of the castle--yuck. I wonder if it will really stand out in the picture.

Continuing down Main Street we passed a family talking to a CM, a man in his 50s or 60s, wearing a green jacket. He didn’t seem to have a uniform on but perhaps he did because I wasn’t paying too much attention to them. By the time we got to the end of the street they passed us by walking quickly toward Crystal Palace. I overheard the mother talking excitedly to her two children, boy and a girl, ages 7 to 10. She was trying to make them understand the significance of what the man had just told them. I guessed they were going to be the grand marshals in the Share a Dream Come True parade and asked her so. She was just beaming as she confirmed they were and we high fived! She was simply walking on air! The dad said that the CM picked them because he was playing with the kids and having a good time while they were walking down the street. We congratulated them and they went to breakfast. I was so excited for them and took their pictures later during the parade as they passed by us. They had Mickey Mouse Club ears on except the girl who wore white ears on a headband with a veil attached.

Bill took another picture of me near the Crystal Palace with the castle in the background. From this angle the wall wasn’t so obvious. I really felt bad for people who would be visiting the Magic Kingdom for the very first time because this wall ruined so much of the magic of walking down Main Street and seeing Cinderella Castle. Oh, well. We walked back toward Town Square as it was nearing 9 a.m. Bill decided to use the rest room before the tour. I was standing outside City Hall listening to the opening ceremony taking place on Main Street Rail Road Station when it dawned on me that I could make the darn priority seating for Ohana because I was already in the park. What a DUH moment that was!!! So I went inside CM Nancy made one for 5 p.m. I left a voice message for Jeff to let them know not to bother.

I saw a black Percheron horse pulling a carriage coming out of the barn next to the barber shop. Wow, I’d never seen that used on Main Street before and I wanted a ride. It would have to wait, though, since we had the tour to go on. It turned out that this small carriage (sat four adults) was being used instead of the larger trolleys because of the limited space around the hub with the construction wall there. We did ride on our last day.

Boy oh boy, only 40 minutes in the park which hadn’t even opened yet and I had so much to put in my report already!

The park officially opened and I stood in front of City Hall and watched as a wall of guests moved toward me with big smiles on their faces. The scene gave me an overwhelmingly happy feeling.

Regina was outside the tour check-in building looking for us so we walked toward her. The characters from the opening ceremony were coming down a stairway from the rail road station right next to where we were standing and exiting to back stage next to the building. What a great opportunity to see so many characters at once. We waved and said, “hi!” How exciting!

Although the morning was sunny, it was cool with temperatures in the high 50s, low 60s and we were glad we put our jackets on when we left the car earlier.

Time for our tour. At some point during the tour, it dawned on me that I’d hadn’t read a report on this tour yet, so I experienced some surprises I wasn’t expecting. Also, I felt obligated to pay close attention and take notes to be able to give a good report. My memory isn’t what it used to be. My doctor says it’s because I have so much life experience stored in my brain, I don’t have room for the day to day crap…like where I parked my car and what I had for lunch yesterday. Or, what was said on Mickey’s Magical Milestones Tour. Unfortunately, I lost my paper with my notes. Bummer! So don’t expect much detail to follow.

The tour officially began in front of the Mickey Floral where we learned there are 13,000 plants making up this Mickey shaped garden. The theme of the tour was Mickey Mouse as: a star, a hero and a host. It began with the history of Walt Disney’s original creation of Oswald the rabbit and then the Mouse himself, his partnership with UB Iworks and their cartoon shorts.

Exposition Hall was our next stop where we looked at the mural on the wall of various characters. Regina pointed out that it was painted by memory by the artist whose name I don’t remember (it was on the sheet I lost) but his initials are on Pongo’s dog tag. She pointed out some mistakes such as Wendy having no feet, Alice has only one leg and Hook’s hook is on the wrong arm. Believe it or not but they were very hard to notice until they were pointed out. Next we watched Steamboat Willie, Mickey as the star. We were to look for characteristics in Mickey that you wouldn’t see in him today. What was most noticeable to me was the amount of violence an example being the swinging of the cat by its tail. Discussion followed on the image that Mickey portrays today and the differences there are from his beginnings. In Steamboat Willie his character is a lot like Donald. Today he is much more politically correct to protect the Disney image. Throughout the tour Regina would talk about Mickey VS Donald.

We took a ride on the Main Street Railroad next to Toon Town. Along the way our assignment was to draw a picture of Mickey Mouse just like how Walt first created the main Mouse while riding cross country on the train. I chose the time to make some notes, too (you know what happened to them).

Toon Town was not open yet and some families were already waiting behind the rope. Our group was allowed in and we toured Minnie and Mickey’s houses with Regina mentioning lots of trivia (now lost) along the way. One thing I can tell you is that Steamboat Willie was Minnie’s debut. Both Minnie and Mickey have large wardrobes with Minnie having 250 outfits and Mickey 200. Regina also spoke about hidden Mickeys and pointed them out as we went along also. While we were in Mickey’s house, he surprised us by making a visit. This is very special because he only greets guests of this tour in his house. We were allowed to take pictures and we had ours taken with Regina in it too. Afterwards he went outside and opened Toon Town.

On this portion of the tour we learned about Mickey as the hero with regard to good will programs and the white glove that is used to symbolize this. There was a rest room break before leaving Toon Town for Fantasyland. We walked through Fantasyland and stopped by the Teacups where Regina talked about the various ways Alice appeared in Walt’s work with one example being the first time to mix real live actors with cartoon characters. How that tied in to Mickey, I didn’t quite catch. She attempted to take us on the pathway from Tomorrowland to the backside of the castle. Unfortunately, there was a construction wall up due to the crane used to put up the 50th anniversary decorations being parked behind the castle. Regina spoke more about hero Mickey and his good will donations to charity from money collected in Cinderella’s wishing well, as well as other places where people throw money in water.

We made our way back into Fantasyland and to Sir Mickey’s shop where Regina pointed out the Beanstalk giant peeking in under the roof. Mickey’s Philharmagic was our next stop entering through the fast pass entrance. Don’t you think this is really Donald’s show? Anyway, show just started so we had a few minutes to wait. During this time, the CM working the FP line and Regina told us about the hidden Mickey’s in the film. In the Beauty and the Beast scene, Lumiere’s shadow casts one. In Little Mermaid there is one in the cave scene near the top hat on the right as Ariel swims up. Aladdin has one created by the roofs of three buildings in the flying scene above the city. There is also one on the edge of the flying carpet and one is created by the whole left in a cloud after Jasmine and Aladdin fly through it. Lion King and Peter Pan have none known. Of course there is a real obvious one in one of the horns on the right side of the stage. I say it’s obvious because I saw it all on my own the very first time I sat in the theater.

After the show, as we walked by the gift shop Regina asked us what we thought the first Mickey Mouse merchandising item was. Many guessed the watch. The correct answer is a writing tablet that Walt sold the rights to for $300.

From here we walked on the path behind the castle past Sleepy Hollow snacks. Cindy’s show was taking place and Regina told us that when it was over, Donald would be meeting us. She took us to a roped off area behind the Christmas shop to wait for him. We used the time to chat a bit and to ask any questions we might have. She asked us what we thought of the tour. I told her that I learned new things that were not covered on the Keys to the Kingdom and the Backstage tours. (Or, perhaps, I just forgot stuff from the other tours) Then, sure enough within seconds after the show was over, Donald appeared. Wow, I commented that he made good time and Regina responded with, “Disney magic!”

Regina explained that we had “earned our ears” on the tour and Donald presented us with Mickey Mouse ears with our names written in gold on the front of the ears. She said we could have our names embroidered on them in the hat shop on Main Street. We had our picture taken with Donald with our ears on. This is where the tour had ended and we were on our own. It was 11 a.m.

We decided to get FastPasses for Space Mountain before getting lunch at Columbia Harbor House. Being so early, there were no lines, service was quick and it was very quiet and peaceful. We sat upstairs next to a window overlooking Liberty Square. This restaurant is really nicely themed with lots of interesting stuff on the walls to look at. Since we were having a big dinner in six hours, we split a fish and chips and a coke for $9. Wow, I hate to have to feed a family at that price. It was a measly portion of three small pieces of fish with an equally small amount of fries. It didn’t hold me until dinner.

Since we were in the vicinity, we rode Haunted Mansion. There was a 10 minute wait posted. I wondered what happed to the usual and more fitting “13” minute wait. No matter, we walked on anyway and were the first out of the stretching room. I still didn’t find that darned hidden Mickey and the grave yard scene.

We were on to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for Fastpasses. It was very crowded in this area of the park. Then, back across the park to ride Space Mountain with our Fastpasses. We ask and are granted the first and second seats. It feels so much faster riding in the first seat. Try it! We rode the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority with no wait, as usual, while waiting for our FP window to open for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad so we can get FPs for Stitch. Back across the park to ride Big Thunder where there was a long standby line which we blew past right to the ramp.

We sat on the rocking chairs on the porch outside of the Hall of Presidents to wait for our window to open for Stitch. There were three chairs and one was already taken by a woman with her head back resting. We said hello to her and sat down. The chairs were in the sun and its warmth felt good. The temperature had probably risen to the low 70s and was quite comfortable in the sun but it was still cool in the shade. After a minute or so, the lady says, “So where ya from?” Bill and I are not antisocial but we don’t feel the need to start conversation with strangers too often. It seemed this phrase would follow us everywhere this trip and it became a real joke between us when someone would say it. She was from Michigan and of course the next thing you talk about is the weather at home. After a while she said she was going to set out to find her husband and left.

Another lady sat down and started a conversation asking the same darned question. She also asked about the Disney outlets. She had quite a few grandchildren to buy for and was put off by the prices being charged for items at WDW. She asked what kind of items they had and where they were. I answered her questions and tried to explain directions to her but she didn’t have a clue as to any of the roadways or landmarks I gave her. She didn’t even know where their timeshare was. I thought it would be over the top to pull out my “helpful hints” sheet with their phone numbers on them and suggest she call them for directions from her timeshare. Bill went on and on how she asked the right person and how I knew everything about WDW. Geesh! When her husband and granddaughter (about 13) arrived, I went over the directions again with him. I wasn’t confident they would find the outlets. I mentioned the phone number thing to Bill after she left.

Funny thing was, we saw them later in the day on Main Street and she stopped us to ask if there was any don’t miss attractions they should do before they left the park since they were going home the next day. We ran through our not to be missed list with them and there didn’t seem to be anything they missed or just didn’t do for one reason or another, so they said goodbye, again. The granddaughter looked mortified that she stopped to talk to me again. Oh, yeah, Bill had to throw in that I had the phone numbers for those outlets if she needed them. He makes fun of me for my WDW knowledge and “helpful hints” sheet but is quick to brag about it.

So after our chats our FP time is finally open for Stitch and on the way we grabbed FPs for Buzz. During Stitch one girl about 9ish leaves with a parent before even sitting down. A boy about 7ish sitting near us, cries during the whole show. I think the seats in this show are THE most uncomfortable anywhere. As soon as Bill sat down he looked at me and said that he felt the seats where very comfortable. Must be how our bodies are build because I strongly disagree. I sat up straight so my harness wouldn’t be so tight. I found that to help.

We shop a bit on Main Street as we wait for our Buzz FP window to open. It’s nearing 3 p.m. so the streets are crowded for the Share a Dream Come True Parade. We heard the Main Street Philharmonic and went outside to see them. Then we saw the family we’d met in the morning selected to be grand marshals riding in one of the Main Street vehicles. I took their picture.

At 3 p.m. our FP window was open so we went back to ride Buzz. The CM collecting the FPs inside didn’t take mine since she was preoccupied by another CM arriving to relieve her. As I turned the corner, I saw Bill give his to her. I gave him a “DUH” look and he shrugged his shoulders signifying he didn’t think quickly enough or we could have ridden again. Oh well. My score stunk big time! Bill did much better as always. I blame my low score on his steering.

After our ride we went right out to Main Street to catch the parade. After that we rode Space Mountain and Bill rode in the front this time. He agreed that it does seem faster from the front car. I told you.

On our way out of the park to meet Jeff and Laura for dinner, we stopped along Main Street to listen to the Daper Dans who where accompanied by a band of horn players. What is their name? We got our Mickey Mouse ears embroidered at the hat shop too. The CM asked for our receipt for the ears and when we told her we’d gotten them from a tour and showed her where Regina had written our names on the ears in gold pen. She said something about the shareholder’s tour. No, but that’s okay. She was hard to understand and she obviously had a hard time understanding us too. She did a really good job running the embroidery machine, though. She looked as if she’d done it for years and years.

We monorailed to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then walked to the car. I got my heavier jacket and brushed my hair. We left our Mickey ears which we’d been wearing all afternoon there too. We walked back to the TTC and rode the resort monorail to the Polynesian. We were early so we got drinks in the lounge—Blue Hawaiian and a Zombie. I checked in at the podium at 4:45 p.m. and was given a pager. When Jeff and Laura showed up she ordered a Blue Hawaiian, too, and we were called to our table. CMs Mandie and Cliff were our cousin servers. We had a great table by the window overlooking Cinderella Castle. It would have been great to watch Wishes! from. All the food was good but I enjoyed the first course of chicken wings, salad, green beans, wontons and fried rice more than the main course, the grilled meats—turkey, pork, shrimp and beef. We asked Cliff to take our picture with Mandie serving us from the huge skewers. We’d wind up with lots of pictures of many meals eaten over the next two weeks! We enjoyed the pineapple with caramel sauce, too. Bill, who hates pineapple, even tried it. I though the sauce was too thin and ran off too quickly. Our bill for the four of us came to $140 with tip.

Jeff and Laura’s friends who will also be vacationing at WDW later in the week called during dinner. They are coming down on Wednesday and staying at the Beach Club. Only in reality they didn’t stay there because the pool wasn’t completely open. So, they moved to the Grand Floridian—must be nice”! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and split up. They went to do some attractions and wound up doing Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. We found a nice spot to watch Spectromagic at the rope right outside the barber shop where the parade enters Main Street. We were lucky since Main Street was mobbed multiple people deep. The parade was as enjoyable as always. Bill notices there were only six dwarves in the parade.

After it was over, we walked through the shops browsing a bit. It was pretty chilly and windy outside so we found a place to stand outside of Casey’s by one of the baseball player statues and waited for Wishes! We people watch while we waited. As one lady walked by us, she does a double take and says that Bill looks like the statue. Too funny! We took a closer look and he did. It was the mustache for sure. As the time for Wishes! drew nearer, we moved out into Main Street up where it meets the hub by the popcorn cart. There are speakers there so you can hear the sound track really well and it’s just the right distance from the castle too.

I’ve come to really like Wishes! I didn’t at first preferring Fantasy in the Sky’s weepy looking fireworks better. I like the choreography of Wishes’ music to the fireworks. Afterwards we joined the mass of people and exited the park. It wasn’t too bad, though, moving quickly. We chose to take the ferry but just missed getting on but another one was there in a few minutes. We walked all the way through it to the exit on the other side and were the first ones off at the TTC. Walk to the car again and drive back to the Polynesian Isles. We opened and closed the Magic Kingdom today!

Jeff and Laura were back before us getting a head start by watching Wishes! from the train station. We had some chips and dip and wine sitting at the breakfast bar before going to bed.

One thing I noticed today was sale items. Yes, sales! An 8 ounce box of chocolates was marked down from $10 to $7.50. Some of the boxes even had Valentine’s Day bow on them. The candy boxes were part of a Valentine’s Day display in the candy shop. The second sale items were tee shirts under $19 were buy one, get one half price. Over the next two weeks I saw these sales all over WDW.

Day Four: Tuesday, February 1

We woke up shortly after 7 a.m. Today my mom and her friend George are joining us and would be arriving about 11:30 a.m. Bill and I were sticking around to meet them at the resort so we didn’t head to a park. We also didn’t go out for breakfast because I figured they’d be hungry when they arrived and we’d go to lunch together. Jeff and Laura decided to visit Silver Springs today and left about 9 a.m. The plan was for the six of us to have dinner at the Boston Lobster Fest during early bird hours (4 – 6 p.m.). Bill brought his pole, so he went fishing at a pond nearby the resort. I thought I’d have lots of time to relax and update my notes but time just flew by. I loaded and started the dishwasher, collected all our trash and bagged it up, made a few phone calls, and showered before I got to my notes. A few minutes later, at 11 a.m., mom called to say they were 10 minutes away. I scrambled to finish dressing and grabbed the bag of garbage to take to the dumpster on my way to the entrance to meet them. Bill walked in the door as I was headed out.

By the time I got to the entrance, they were waiting for me. They had a great morning with no problems whatsoever with getting to the airport, the park and fly, ticketing and security. Their flight landed early, which seems to be common. Mom said everything went just like I explained right down to the amount of toll money they’d need. They’d got a silver Pontiac Grand Am with the National reservation I made for them and were not hassled about paying the added insurance fees. The last time they traveled this happened and mom gave in paying hundreds of dollars more than she should have. I was relieved that everything went as planned.

After they got settled in, we went to lunch in our vehicle. We wound up at TGI Friday’s at the CrossRoads plaza. We had a nice meal and George picked up the tab. Thanks, George!

Since we had an early dinner planned with Jeff and Laura and mom and George only had park hopper tickets VS our annual passes, there was no sense in going to a park for just the afternoon and wasting a whole day of their passes. So, I suggested we walk around Downtown Disney to kill a few hours. We parked behind the Marketplace, got a chocolate sample from Ghiradelli and then walked all the way down to the West Side and back browsing in stores and checking out menus. We couldn’t walk through Pleasure Island, however, because decorations for Parti Gras were being installed. Once we returned to the Marketplace, George and Bill got a cocktail at the margarita bar by Capt’n Jacks while mom and I went into the Days of Christmas and the World of Disney. We didn’t buy anything since it was pretty much just a scouting mission. By 3 p.m. mom was feeling the effects of getting up at 3:30 a.m. so we headed back to the resort after a grocery stop at Publix. I figured on them needing a break/nap in the afternoon, because Bill and I did last Saturday.

We just hung out and relaxed until 5 p.m. when Laura called to say they were about 15 minutes away and did we want to meet at Boston Lobster Fest. I said that wasn’t necessary since we just had to be seated by 6 p.m. to get the early bird price ($25 VS $30) for the buffet. I thought by returning to the resort, they could freshen up a bit before dinner. What I didn’t realize until later in the evening was that they would be driving right by the restaurant to return to the resort since they didn’t go the same way to Silver Springs as we did last year. Oh, well.

We took two cars to the restaurant since we all couldn’t fit in one with Mom and George riding with us. Jeff didn’t want to ride in the luggage space in the back. Come on, boy, where’s your sense of adventure?! It was an easy drive just down SR192W and the parking lot wasn’t too full so that was a good sign that it wouldn’t be real busy and it wasn’t. Laura doesn’t eat much seafood but there are enough non-seafood choices (carved roast beef, London broil, chicken and vegetables, etc.) on the buffet along with the salad and dessert bars that she didn’t go hungry. We each made numerous trips to the buffet plus eating at least two lobsters a piece. Jeff ate three! The buffet has tons of seafood selections: steamed clams and mussels, California rolls, smoked salmon, peel and eat shrimp, crab claws, three seafood soups, seafood newburg, steamed crab legs, soft shell crab, oyster’s Rockefeller, fried clams, shrimp, fish and scallops and a few baked or broiled fish selections too. We also got free drinks (beer, wine, sodas and some mixed drinks) with coupons we’d clipped from tourist brochures. Well, Bill’s bloody Mary was not free like it was the last year. Instead he got $3 off the cost. That’s not a big deal when they charge $8 and put it in a small souvenir glass. “What a rip off!” as George says. Interestingly, we ate here again the following week and bloody Mary’s were included free and were served in larger glasses too. I guess it depends on the mood your server is in. We added another picture of us all eating to our heart’s content. We found the lobsters tonight to be a bit chewy but had no problems with them on our previous or following visits. Service is very good here plus the manager stops by your table at least once during your meal to make sure everything is okay. They also ask you to fill out comment cards. I saw the wait staff actually reading them after guests left their tables. Our portion of the bill came to $68 with tip. Outside we took photos with the VW bug customized with a huge lobster over it from bumper to bumper.

Back at the resort, Bill and I went to the hot tub, Jeff and Laura did laundry and mom and George went to bed since they’d been up so long. Jeff and Laura continued to sleep in the second bedroom while mom and George camped out on the sofa sleeper in the living room. After we returned, we watched some tv in our room and then lights out at 9:30 p.m.

Day Five: Wednesday, February 2

Awake at 7:20 a.m. Discuss the plan for the day along with morning routine. Put our towels out for fresh ones before we leave at 8:50 a.m. for Disney MGM Studios. Jeff and Laura are going to Animal Kingdom and we’ll meet them there at 12:30 p.m.

At the Studios, we park in Stage 42 and take the tram to the entrance. As we are exiting the tram, Bill realizes he forgot his wallet in the car so he got back on and rode back out to the parking lot. We went into the park and wandered around until he returned.

We rode Rock n Roller Coaster which George said was “pretty good” which is high praise for George. Tower of Terror was next after a short wait in the queue. George said he lost his “bung hole” on this one! Mom bought the photo because it was so good with George and Bill posing for the camera.

We walked into the 10:30 a.m. Who Wants to be a Millionnaire show right at 10:30 a.m. The studio was half empty. I got halfway up the leader board for the first contest. Afterwards, George wanted a snack so we tried the carts by the hat but they weren’t open yet. We tried Bill and Min’s next but it didn’t offer what he was looking for. Checked out the Commissary menu—no. Bookstore—yes! Everyone had coffee and pastries but me. I just got a rice crispy treat—yummy. Tires your jaw out with all that chewing.

Back out to the big hat and into the Great Movie Ride. We walked right on and got the gangster scene—the only one they were running since there wasn’t a large crowd. It was now 12 noon and we needed to head out at this point to drive to Animal Kingdom to meet Jeff and Laura.

At the Animal Kingdom lot we parked in Dino 32 and took the tram into the park. Mom and George question swiping their cards again. They were worried that another day would be taken off. I assured them that wouldn’t happen and we set out through the Oasis. We stopped at the other side and had the CM there take our photo with his camera and ours, adding the shot to our PhotoPass.

We hurried to the Safari in order not to be late to meet Jeff and Laura. Just as we are walking up to the entrance, my cell phone rings and it’s Jeff. They met up with friends and had already done the Safari. In other words, they blew us off! We planned to meet them for dinner at the Wilderness Lodge at 5 p.m.

We walked on the Safari and saw lots of animals on our tour. Tough to be a Bug was next and we walked on that too. We did take our time walking through the queue in order to look at the trunk and point out all the animals we saw. What a fun show.

We took a quick walk in order to catch the 2:30 p.m. Festival of the Lion King show which was in five minutes. That’s not easily done in George’s low gear—what a sloooow walker! It had started by the time we entered but they were still letting guests in. They were introducing the different animal sections and we were in giraffe—baaa! The show was as wonderful as usual. I just love the music and there is so much action to watch. It’s Mom’s favorite.

Over to Dinoland next and rode Dinosaur. It was posted as a 15 minute standby but we walked on. The preshow had already started but the doors were still open and guests were joining it as they arrived. We walked across the room to the exit and were the first from our room headed for the Jeeps. We were pulled out of the line ahead of a large group in order to fill a Jeep and we were on our way. It was rough, dark and scary. Bill and George posed, again, for the camera. The picture was very funny but we didn’t get it. They are just too expensive to buy every one.

It was time to head out of the park (3:40 p.m.) in order to return to the Polynesian Isles for a rest, snack and freshen up before our PS at Whispering Canyon Café in the Wilderness Lodge. We only had less than an hour before leaving again at 4:30 p.m. While we were there, I tried calling to a PS for Chef Mickey’s on Sunday morning to see Chef Mickey Marge—none available. Bummer. I also called to check on the status of our Wishes! Cruise tonight and was told unless the fireworks were cancelled it was a go. Yikes, it was raining. Hopefully it will clear up.

We met Jeff and Laura and Mary and Peter in the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge and I checked in at the podium. We were to wait for the dinner bell to ring and then return to the podium. We chatted until then. Our server was Devon and we were seated at a table for eight. When I made our PS I was told that we had two tables for four but since it was the first seating, it was likely we would get a larger table and it worked.

CM Devon threw our straws at us, had me pass out the napkins and Peter the salad plates. We all ordered the all you can eat skillet. Salad and cornbread came out first and then a huge skillet with pork sausage, pulled pork, chicken and ribs. Another one had mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. Everything was great and we got refills. I asked about the cole slaw and Devon said he could bring it but it wasn’t that good—funny. He did and it was fine. I just think he forgot it.

We’d been pretty occupied eating and talking and not paying attention to our surroundings. When I looked around it was obvious the other servers we playing around with their guests. The table next to us had eight bottles of ketchup! Another table was wearing their napkins like bandana with straws sticking up out the backs to look like feathers and thus Indians. A woman at another table had a huge coffee filter on her head tied on with her napkin to fashion a bonnet. Too funny!

After the stick horse race for the kids, Devon had Jeff hand out the certificates to all of the participants. We got a kick out of this because Jeff is so quiet. So all the kids lined up in front of him and he passed them out. Bill even got down on his knees and got one too! Jeff was a good sport. George told us later he thought Devon selected Jeff as a sort of payback because Jeff had asked him to get Laura a glass of water. Devon brought it but Jeff didn’t realize it and asked him again with attitude. When Devon pointed this out, Jeff didn’t acknowledge it to Devon’s approval I guess. It was very funny and even more so once we learned the story behind it.

It was nearly time to meet out at the boat dock for our Wishes! Cruise so we hurried up. Peter paid using his CM discount of 20% off and every couple paid him back $42. We put in $50 to cover Bill’s beer. We rushed out to the marina.

As I mentioned, it had been raining earlier and it was now pouring. Jeff and Laura went out to their car and put on rain suits. We had on rain coats but we were soaked before we even made it to the marina. Our captain, CM Bradley, was wiping off the seats on the pontoon boat. What a wasted effort that was! He surprised me by saying I had the option of canceling with no charge. Wow, the CM I talked to earlier said there was no canceling without being charged. I asked if I could reschedule and he directed me to a house phone on the side of the building while the rest of the group waited under the cover of the overhang.

The CM at reservations told me the cruise was not cancelled. I explained that the CM boat captain told me that “management” said I could cancel. After a long conversation in trying to get another cruise—Wishes! or Illuminations for another day, I finally got one for the following Thursday out of the Polynesian marina. I gave him my VISA number to hold the reservation. After he gave me my confirmation number, he asked to speak to a CM and I put Bradley on to confirm I could indeed cancel.

Everyone was happy with my decision to cancel since we would have been soaked in a matter of minutes. It was just too bad that Jeff and Laura wouldn’t be able to do it since they were leaving for home before next Thursday. Two other families did go out tonight because they were going home soon and had no time to reschedule. It was very foggy and we don’t think we’d be able to see fireworks anyway. When we did take our cruise the following Thursday, our captain that night confirmed that you couldn’t see anything that night because he had taken a boat out.

Back inside the Wilderness Lodge we went to Roaring Forks and got snacks. Bill and I had ice cream. We sat for quite a while and chatted some more. Jeff and Laura left and returned to the Polynesian Isles before we did. We finally said goodbye to Mary and Peter and headed back ourselves. It had stopped raining! Mom and George went to the hot tub while Jeff and Laura were just hanging out in their room. Bill watched some tv in the living room and I updated my notes.

Mary will be Mickey at Chef Mickey’s on Sunday and Donald at the Studios and Mickey in Toon Town in the upcoming week. We’ll try to see her.

The day had been about 68 degrees and cloudy and misty. At times it showered but we were inside most of the time and missed them except for the down pour for the cruise.

Day Six: Thursday, February 3

Awake at 7:40 a.m. It was a slow morning hanging out and taking longer than usual to get ready and leave for the day. While I was standing in the kitchen with rollers in my hair drinking orange juice, Laura asked me to be a bridesmaid in the wedding. She said she wanted to ask me the other night on the Wishes! cruise but, as you know, that didn’t work out. I was honored she asked and accepted. It’s going to be nice having a “sister.”

I called Cypress Gardens to order reserved seats for the Tanya Tucker concert on Saturday. We didn’t want a repeat of the George Jones concert from last weekend. The tickets are usually mailed and since the concert was only two days away, it was too late for that nor would they hold them at a will call window. Instead, at this point, I could only purchase them at the park. Bummer.

It was very foggy outside with was rain predicted so we decided to go shopping and maybe a movie. We (me, Bill, Mom and George) left about 11 a.m. for the Belz Mall and stopped at the Outdoor World Bass Pro Shop on the way. Bill bought a seven day fishing license for $17. He saw a small boat that he’d like to have outside and I took a picture of him in front of it. It was a very small boat for only $400. While looking at the boats, George stepped in a large hole and nearly fell down but Bill caught him. Jokes followed about letting him fall and owning all of the boats!

At the Character Premier in the Belz Mall I got a short sleeved button down shirt Bill picked out and a travel mug for him, too, for $20. I thought the shirt looked familiar and told him I may have bought the same one for him on my November trip. Sure enough, when we got back to the resort and he checked, I did. It still had the tags on it. So later in the trip I returned the one purchased today.

Next door in the Woolrich store I bought a couple of sleeveless tops for $15.

Across the canal to another mall we went into the Character Warehouse where I hit the jackpot. I bought five 4x6 pewter frames for $8 each, four pairs of underwear at $2 each, a 2005 calendar for $5, and a tee for $9 for at total of $66. I bought a lot of the frames because on a previous trip frames were in the outlets and Paula and I each bought one. We’ve said a number of times since then that the next time we see them at the outlet, we’re going to buy more because you always can use a frame. I gave her one.

Even though I made quite a few purchases at the outlets today, I was disappointed with the merchandise selection and I just don’t like the clothing styles or quality. I used to be able for find tons of things I liked and just had to have but not any more.

Our next stop was Universal’s City Walk for some lunch. George is a NASCAR fan so I thought he’d appreciate going to the NASCAR Café there for lunch. We paid $9 for parking and tried as I may, could not get reimbursed for it. I learned if you go to the movies you can get $9 worth of concession food which probably amounts to one box of popcorn! It turned out to be too nice of a day for a movie anyway. Also, if you eat at Emeril’s or Margaretaville, they will reimburse you. Too bad I learned this AFTER we ate at the NASCAR Café.

It had turned out to be a beautiful day, so much for rain, so we sat outside. This kind of defeated the purpose of eating here so George could enjoy the themeing and check out the memorabilia inside. Oh well, he went inside and checked the place out. Lunch was good. Mom and I had salads and Bill and George had sandwiches. The bill came to $56 and Mom bought. Thanks, Mom!

We wandered around City Walk a bit. I picked up a bottle of margarita mix for a co-worker at the gift shop at Margaritaville. Some of the area was closed due to a private party later that evening.

We returned to Polynesian Isles and relaxed a bit. At 6:30 p.m. we headed out again for the Boardwalk. There was a lot of entertainment this evening. It seemed as one act finished another one was starting. We saw the tail end of The Great Carlos’ act when we first arrived and then watched Bill and Lynn’s juggling.

As we walked by the surrey bikes, George showed some interest and before he knew it Bill was signing the paperwork and we were off. We had the CM take our picture before we left. It cost $20 for a half hour and that turned out to be all the time you’d want. We had an absolute blast! We peddled hard and laughed hard. People just DON’T get out of your way no matter how much you ring the bell. At one point Bill yelled out it must be a deaf mute convention! Hope no one finds that offending but at the moment when no one was moving out of our way, it was hilarious. We made two laps around and our time was almost up so we returned it.

Since we were at the Boardwalk, George had to get a hot dog. I wanted ice cream so we walked over to Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club. I got a pager and brought a menu back to the rest to look over while we waited (20 minutes). George saw that a hot dog cost $6 and he didn’t want one. So, I returned the pager, got my cone take out for $4.50, and we moved on. Mom was not pleased with George but we didn’t care.

To kill some time before IllumiNations, we walked to the International Gateway but didn’t go in because Mom and George don’t have annual passes and it would have been a waste for them to use a day on their hopper. While we were looking into Epcot, a man asked if you could see the fireworks from that location. I told him probably not and to go out to the bridge between the Boardwalk and the Beach Club. We did the same after a few minutes. We waited there for a while until Bill decided he wanted a beer so we all left. Bill got his beer and Mom and George got slices of pizza at the Spoodles take out window and then we returned to the bridge. After IllumiNations was over, we walked back to the Boardwalk and saw Bill and Lynn again. This time the act was a bit different.

Mom and George were tired. I had shown them the Atlantic Dance Hall since they love to dance, but they were too tired tonight. On the drive back to the Polynesian Isles there was a lot of traffic and we witnessed some crazy driving—people switching lanes and cutting us off, a DISNEY bus running a red light and then crossing in front traffic that had just gotten a green light—YIKES!

Jeff and Laura were there when we arrived, safely, I might add. We chatted with them about their day with their friends. It turns out their friends were supposed to stay at the Beach Club but since the pool is be refurbished and some areas are not open, they moved to the Grand Floridian. Must be nice! While at the Grand Floridian they saw Cinderella’s coach. Laura was pretty excited with that. They said their friend’s room was smallish and it had a mini bar with the usual overpriced items stocked in it. They ordered room service pizza which they said was pretty bad. I guess we’re not missing much by not staying there.

We went to the pool with Mom and George and then went to bed at 11 p.m.

The weather today turned out to be wonderful. There was no rain at all. Instead it was partly sunny and warm—go figure.

I’m burned out on tour guiding and gently suggested Mom and George set off on their own tomorrow. We’ve been spending all our time with them since Tuesday and driving and showing them around. We enjoyed our time with them, they are a pleasure to be with, but it’s time they did some things on their own. It’s always difficult for me to tour guide because I work so hard at trying to do things that I think people will like to make them happy and I often find myself not having the best time. It’s been difficult coordinating the needs of everyone especially meals and meal times. Park touring was difficult also with Bill and I having annual passes and the freedom to come and go in and out of parks for just short periods of time VS the others with hoppers who needed to spend a good portion of the day in a park to get the most out of them.

Day Seven: Friday, February 4

We are awake shortly after 6:30 a.m. but laid in bed a while before getting up and ready to leave by 8:30 a.m. or so. We are on our own today. Mom and George and Jeff and Laura weren’t ready yet anyway. It is very chilly at 49 degrees and cloudy this morning. We should have shopped today instead of yesterday. Hindsight is always 20/20.

We set off for the Studios for the morning and planned on moving on to Epcot’s World Showcase for the afternoon. We parked in the front row at the Studios and walked in. We are walking quickly to keep warm and before I know it we are almost at the turnstiles and realize we didn’t go through security. When I mention this to Bill he said there was a security station but we blew right by it. Oh yeah, we said, “Good morning” to two security guys. I didn’t realize it was a security check and I guess they didn’t stop us because we had no bags to check. Well, no bags they could see anyway. My small purse was under my zipped coat.

So we are at the turnstiles at 8:50 a.m. and have to wait to get in the park. It is really chilly and many people are not dressed warm enough. We are let in the park but kept behind the rope at the end of the street. When it’s dropped we are instructed to follow the CMs and stay behind them to the Rock n Roller Coaster. We wind up in the first car of the day in the front seats! We rode two times before heading over to the Tower of Terror.

The line was relatively short but after a few minutes it stopped moving. Soon people in the line ahead of us began to leave and said that the ride was down. We waited a while longer and then left too.

We browsed in some of the shops. I was looking for a specific ornament for my friend Paula. I bought one last November for myself and she wanted one too. She looked for it when she was at Disneyland in January but didn’t find it and asked me to look on my trip. I didn’t have any luck today or any day. I did buy a necklace for the girl who is bringing in our mail and newspaper and watering our plants.

We head to the newly revised Animation tour next and have to wait 15 minutes or so. The first part of the tour is the same as it is at California Adventure with a movie featuring Mushu. The second part is in the area where the animators used to have their desks and work. It is not as well themed as the California Adventure version. We play around with some of the interactive stuff and then queue up for photos with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. Frozone had to leave before it was our turn. Their costumes are really cool and they look just like the cartoon characters.

It’s 11 a.m. at this point so we leave for Epcot’s World Showcase. We walk over along the canal and discuss the difficulties I mentioned above of touring with a group. Once at the Boardwalk we cut through the Luna Park pool area and inside a short hallway to the courtyard behind the Boardwalk lobby. This short cut was a real step saver.

After entering the park through the International Gateway we headed to France. We browsed the wine shop and noticed quite a few sale items which you don’t find too often. When it was time for the next show of Impressions de France we went inside and enjoyed that.

Our next stop was Morocco where we had lunch at Restaurant Marrakesh. We’ve been wanting to try this restaurant for the last few trips. It felt good to be inside where it was warm. Being so early, there were only a few other tables occupied and it was very quiet. I ordered tea and I found it to be too bitter. When I mentioned it to the waiter when he asked how I liked it, he made more only weaker which I enjoyed much better. We ordered a seafood appetizer and soup to share so we could each try both. The seafood appetizer was taking a long time to cook so our waiter brought us two soups and then the appetizer when it was finally done. Both were very good. The soup reminded us of Campbell’s beef vegetable. We both ordered the sampler entrée and thought it was very good. The show started just as we were finishing our entrée and lasted about ten minutes. The belly dancer was quite good and I got a couple of good pictures of her as she was twirling around. We found the atmosphere in the restaurant to feel like the inside of a church. Our meal came to $60 with a free soup and $5 off with our annual pass discount.

We ran into the Fife and Drum Corps at the American Adventure and stop and watch their show before continuing on to Italy. Our mission in Italy is to buy something for the couple who is watching our new dog. We’d only had her for two weeks and we got her from them. We were very lucky that they said they would watch her while we were on vacation for two weeks. They are both from Italy and we wanted to get them something special. I picked out a wine carafe because John makes his own wine which he serves when we visit. Then I asked the CM what type of candy Italians would like that is difficult to find in the US. She made a couple of suggestions and we picked a box. We paid for our purchases ($30) and she wrapped that carafe until it was triple in size. The candy turned out to be a big hit since it was John’s favorite. Marie wanted to know where we’d gotten it because she can only find it at an Italian store on Long Island.

In Germany we browsed the shops there and I saw a Steif cocker spaniel for $41. If it were cuter, I would have gotten it. We continued walking and browsed in the Puffin’s Roost in Norway too.

We walked over to Future World and got fast passes for Test Track and then Bill rode Mission Space. I sat outside in the warmth of the sunshine and waited for him. The standby wait time said five minutes but it took him twenty-five minutes before he met me. Next we walked through Innoventions East and West. These places just don’t do anything for us. We did e-mail a couple of photos to two of my friends at work. Paula got hers but the other one never showed up. Oh, well.

We used our fast passes for Test Track next and had quite a long wait outside the briefing rooms. The outside part of the ride seemed faster today. Maybe it was because of the cold wind blowing on us. We browsed through Mouse Gear a bit then moved on.

At World Showcase Plaza I checked my phone for messages and saw I missed a call. It was from Mom and George saying they were in Epcot, too, and to call them. They were in Morocco, half way around the lagoon from us. We decided to meet at the American Adventure knowing we would walk twice as fast as they would. Once we met up we talked about our days so far. They spent the day with Jeff and Laura beginning with breakfast at Perkins before coming to Epcot. Jeff and Laura just left the park (4:30 p.m.) because Laura wasn’t feeling well. Mom felt she needed to eat.

We listened to the Voices of Liberty outside since there was a private event inside. We entered the show through the exit for the same reason. We enjoyed it as always. George figured out how the mechanism works to raise and lower the animatronic scenes on stage but it took him a few minutes before he realized they weren’t real people.

Remember George had a couple of bad WDW visits and we were trying to show him how to do things in a manner so that it would be enjoyable. Well, he was enjoying himself but the Disney magic was just not overcoming him no matter how much pixie dust we sprinkled on him. Mom said he was very interested in figuring out how attractions work than with the attraction it self. He was also impressed with the size of the entire resort and the man power needed to keep it up and running. We did learn that his favorite character is Tigger.

We moved on around World Showcase and stopped in Norway to ride Malstrom. I pointed out the hidden Mickey in the mural before we boarded our boat. After the ride, we stayed for the show. The chairs are very comfortable and the show isn’t too difficult to sit through. We walked through the Stave Church exhibit also and then split up.

Mom and George left the park (7 p.m.) to go get something for dinner. Remember the $6 hot dog George didn’t want to pay for?...thus the need to go off site to eat. We walked around to the International Gateway and split an order of fish and chips as we walked to the Friendship. We got off at the Boardwalk and reversed our walk from the morning cutting through the building and Luna Park then along the sidewalk towards the Studios where we left our car. We stepped over the guard rail and carefully crossed the roadway where the buses enter and exit for an additional short cut to the ugly, but easy to find, pumpkin car.

We had a stupid person sighting on our trip back to the Polynesian Isles. They stopped in the center of three lanes of traffic because they missed their turn. Yikes! That’s a good way to get us all killed. Back at the resort we ate junk food for dinner—carrots and dip, chips and salsa, Doritos and beef jerky and watched tv. Jeff and Laura were there and she was feeling better. They had dinner at Bahama Breeze after they left Epcot. Something we were planning on doing together, oh well. Mom and George returned at some point too. Bill called his Mom who will be joining us on Sunday afternoon around 1 p.m. We went to bed around 10 p.m.

Day Eight: Saturday, February 5

Up at the usual time followed by the usual routine only we say good bye to Jeff and Laura this morning. They are driving home today. Jeff asked Bill to be an usher in their wedding and he accepted. That’s nice, we are both in the wedding. I didn’t even know Jeff asked him because I arrived at their car shortly after Bill did. He told me once we were driving out of the resort. Mom and George are going the Sea World today and we are going to Cypress Gardens.

Tanya Tucker is in concert at Cypress Gardens today and we are using our second day free ticket from last weekend. The second day has to be used within 7 days, so we were lucky that last week’s concert was on a Sunday and this week’s is Saturday. The drive south takes us an hour. We arrive a little earlier today than we did last week and it is easier getting into the parking lot. We pay our $7 to park and are directed to the Azalea section of the lot and walk in. It’s not 10 a.m. yet so we wait for the park to open.

We encounter some confusion next. We wanted to buy reserved seats for the concert and that was our first goal. Once we were let into the park, we walked directly to guest services but were told that the reserved seats were sold inside the concert area. We walked in there and found no place to do so. When we returned to guest services, the person who directed us to go in there told us he just found out that they are sold at a ticker booth outside of the park. Oh, brother! We waited about 10 – 15 minutes outside of the park this morning waiting to get in to buy these tickets. Now we find out that we could have bought them while we were waiting. I was concerned about leaving the park because we turned in our second day free tickets when we entered and would have nothing to show when we reentered the park. It didn’t turn out to be a problem, though. The lady at the exit stamped our hands for reentry and said that’s all we’d need when we explained about our tickets.

We made our reserved seat purchase with no problem. We got seats off to the right of center stage in the front row of the second section. That will be good for leg room. They came to $32.50 and were well worth it.

With that task taken care of we set out to experience some of the rides in Adventure Grove. They are mainly carnival/country fair type rides with no themeing that are geared to young children and/or teens. I did three of the roller coasters and the Ferris wheel. The roller coasters were short and sweet. I rode them all with no motion sickness pills today with no ill effects. The Ferris wheel was huge and we had a great bird’s eye view of the park and surrounding area, especially the lake from the top.

Bill also rode other spinning, turn you upside down, make you sick rides while I waited for him. This area of the park is new and thus, all the rides are too. It is park like with lots of newly planted landscaping. Unfortunately, much of it was being run over by people taking short cuts instead of the sidewalks. Disney certainly has queue designing much better thought out than this place. We walked on every ride and sometimes, weren’t sure the ride was open because it was not running because no one was there to ride it. We made our way onto everything we wanted to experience in no time. This park is a nice place for young families to visit while in the area visiting with parents/grandparents.

At 11:30 a.m. we decided to get some lunch before the lines became very long and before the first ice show of the day. We wanted to catch this show because we missed it last weekend and all the other show times would not coordinate well around the concert. Bill wanted to try the barbeque we saw last weekend. We went to the place that had lots of smoke but it was only serving burgers and such. We found the barbeque place next door and got two rib dinners for $20. It was in the area where a couple was playing country music so we had some entertainment while we ate. The food was good and filling and we were watching the clock and people entering the ice show theater while we ate.

With ten minutes to spare before the beginning of the show, we found the doors roped off and ushers taking groups of guest in one at a time as they found empty seats. Some people worked their way in front of us and I was ticked. We got in ahead of them, though, when an usher came from another door looking for the next people to be let in. The others were not paying attention so we went in. “You snooze, you lose!” We were there before they were anyway…nay!

Well, we were in but our seats were pretty bad. We were in the very front and off to the very right of the stage. When we looked straight ahead, the curtain was in front of us. I thought that it might open wider but soon realized it would not and we would have to crank our necks to the left to see anything. We weren’t able to see a portion of the right side of the stage but could see enough so that we could follow the show. The show was nice but the skaters no where near making it to the Olympics. But, hey, they were skating better than I can do so I have to give them credit.

We sought out the Botanical Gardens next since isn’t that why this park is here. It was hard to find the entrance which was located behind a construction fence. You’d think they’d have a sign directing people to the entrance. This was another example of needing to take some lessons from WDW. The gardens were a nice quiet place to escape from the crowds. Walking through one area kind of felt like we were in a “Honey, I Shrunk the Tourists” movie. There were huge houseplants growing everywhere. They never get that big up north inside homes, that’s for sure. There was also a huge banyon tree. The lawn area was beautiful with beds of white and red impatients. Two teenage girls were dressed in “southern bell” dresses and sitting on a bench for added atmosphere—what a tough job.

We left the Botanical Gardens and sat on the lawn on the side of the lake and watched what was left of the ski show which we’d seen last weekend. Next we walked over to watch the Wild West Shenani-guns comedy show that we didn’t have time for last Sunday. It was very funny with some obvious adlibbing going on.

At 2 p.m. we went to our seats in the concert area. It took an hour before Tanya Tucker actually walked out on stage. First we had to listen to a guy playing the organ and then her band warmed up. In between the two, the guy sitting next to Bill says to him, “So, where ya from?” I could see Bill stiffen but he was polite and had a conversation with the guy.

Tanya put on a good show and we enjoyed it surprisingly recognizing most of her songs. She’s been singing a long time and she reminisced a bit by telling stories from time to time. We left after her last song and walked quickly to the parking lot. Bill said it wasn’t hard getting a head of this crowd! We got out of the parking lot with no traffic problems and had to turn right out of the lot today. There was no choice. There were police directing traffic today also. We guessed that these differences from last weekend were due to the large crowd they had last weekend and to try and avoid traffic jams. We agreed that we probably missed a real mess by getting out early last Sunday.

The drive back to the Polynesian Isles seemed real long with lots of traffic and red lights. Traffic slowed down a lot on I-4 so I took an opportunity to get off and take a short cut down Old Lake Wilson Road to SR192 that Mary had taught me while on my trip last November. We stopped for gas near the resort ($29.50). The whole drive back took over an hour and I was tired when we finally reached “home”.

While we were hanging out at the resort, I called Mary to let her know Bill and I would be meeting Peter the next morning at Chef Mickey’s. Neither of us was able to get a PS so our strategy was to get there when the restaurant opened and try and get a table that way. We also snacked and bit and I did some laundry. Mom and George would be moving from the sofa sleeper into the second bedroom now that Jeff and Laura went home, so I made up that bed up with clean linens. About 7 p.m. we were headed out to get some dinner at Macaroni Grill on SR192 when Mom and George came in. We chatted with them a bit and they decided to join us.

Mom and George’s day at Sea World was good and they got second day free passes. Even though the crowd was light, they didn’t see any of the shows expect for Shamu. The dolphin show area was being renovated and under construction. Lunch was at the Deli inside the tasting area. They tried Bacardi drinks and beer with their sandwiches. George rode Kracken, their big roller coaster, and about a third of the way up the incline he realized he’d made a mistake and would have gotten off if he’d had the opportunity. He was SO funny telling the story and he did make it through the ride. They stopped at the Lake Buena Vista Factory Outlet Stores on their way back to the resort. George found a good deal on kakis and bought a few pairs and Mom bought a denim Mickey shirt at the Character Corner.

Macaroni Grill had a half hour wait so we walked over to Pizzeria Uno in the chilly evening air. There was only a 20 minute wait so we stayed. Our real wait came after we were seated at a table, however. We could see our waitress was stressed out about something or somebody as she flew all around us. She promised twice she’d be right with us—not. Finally, she took our order and by the time we got our pizza, we’d been a t our table almost an hour. We were all tired and had burned out by this point. My pizza was pretty near the worst I’ve ever had. It was cold and soggy on the bottom. It was very disappointing since I was really looking forward to what I expect from Pizzeria Uno. Mom and George bought, again. Thank you guys but this has got to stop. You’ve gone overboard on showing your appreciation for having you as our guests.

We went to bed when we returned to the Polynesian Isles and set the alarm to get up at 5:45 a.m. in order to meet Peter at Chef Mickey’s to see Chef Mickey Marge.

Day Nine: Sunday, February 6

It was an early morning but our only way to get to see Marge at work at Chef Mickey’s. Since reservations told both Peter and I there were NO tables available all morning, we agreed on trying the strategy of arriving at opening in hopes of getting one as a walk ins.

Mom and George weren’t joining us this morning. They were going to drive to the east coast and spend a few days there. Bill’s mom, Terry, would be arriving this afternoon too.

It was still dark when we left the resort. The traffic on the WDW roads was surprisingly heavy but then we realized it was due to CMs going to work. We saw one of the Magic Kingdom parking lots full of parked WDW buses. Some were beginning to pull out. These buses were in addition to those parked in the Ticket and Transportation Center parking lot. How many buses does WDW have? It was neat being on site so early and watching WDW wake up.

The security guard at the Contemporary gave us a three-hour parking permit. She was going to look up our PS but we told her we didn’t have one and that was why we were there so early. We parked in the lot to the right of the guard house. That was a first for us and we got a space quite close to the lobby entrance.

Peter was waiting for us when we got off the elevator at 6:50 a.m. He’d been there since 6:20 a.m. The view out over the lake was pretty as the sun was beginning to come up. No one was at the podium, we chatted with him for a while until others began to arrive then we moved to the podium and were first in line. We watched CMs making final preparations before the morning rush began. We had to wait a few minutes before a CM came, turned on the computer and opened the podium.

Our strategy was a success getting a table with no problem. Before being taken to our table, Bill and I had our picture taken in front of the big Chef Mickey’s dish but we didn’t buy the package when it was offered during our meal. It was $26 for two 5x7s and some wallets. We were seated in the annex room by the windows. We could see the sun rising above the trees over Fort Wilderness from our table. Bill said they should be playing the Circle of Life song from Lion King. In a few minutes the shades were lowered and we could no longer see the beautiful view.

Mary called Peter to see how we made out and which room we were in because she has her choice of where to begin greeting guests and would start in our room. She said she’d be able to come out between sets. Also, that the Panamanian president was there with undercover security everywhere. He didn’t want to be seated by a window because of possible snipers. Maybe we got his table! We went to the buffet and when we returned the characters began coming out--Minnie, Chip and Dale, Pluto and Goofy. I ate very little all morning because I didn’t want to miss anything. Plus, I am not an early morning eater. What I did eat was good, though, and there certainly was a huge selection to choose from. When Chef Mickey came out we took lots of pictures. We took photos with all the characters as they came around to our table. Chef Mickey made his way around to us again when it was time to twirl our napkins.

We witnessed Minnie with her drawers down around her ankles! The CM servers were laughing and pointing it out to each other. They tried to help her but wound up having to usher her into the kitchen. Poor Minnie she was so embarrassed. It was very funny and, darn it, I didn’t get a picture.

Mary came to our table in street clothes for a few minutes during her break and I took a picture of her with Bill and Peter. She left back through the kitchen. Peter got his CM discount on our bill which takes off 20% but adds an 18% gratuity. It came out to $50 and Bill gave him $40 towards it. On the way out of the restaurant, Goofy was in the entranceway and Bill took my picture with him. We said goodbye to Peter. We will see him tomorrow to get a hopper pass for Bill’s Mom to use and then on Tuesday for dinner at the Boston Lobster Feast. We got on the monorail to go to the Magic Kingdom.

It was still early so we stopped at the Grand Floridian. I browsed the shop and Bill went to the rest room downstairs. When he returned, we’d just missed a monorail so we waited for the next one inside the double doors because it was warmer there than outside. Why we didn’t just go back inside, I don’t know. We found we had to stand very still, though, or the doors kept opening.

I wanted to get to the Magic Kingdom before opening at 9 a.m. in order to watch the opening ceremony when all the characters arrive on the train. We got there just in time for the countdown but no train. Did we miss it or didn’t it come today? Bummer. We joined the crowd entering under the train station and headed for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. As we walked by Cinderella Castle, we noticed new decorations for the 50th anniversary celebration on some of the turrets. At 9:02 a.m., we got FPs with a return time of 10:05 – 11:05 a.m. We got in the stand by line and rode three times without getting off. We did have to get out of our seats but moved to empty seats further up on the train since no one was waiting to sit in them. After the third ride, we exited and got back in the stand by line and rode two more times doing the same thing. By this time the stand by line was getting too long for us so we took a break.

We rode Pirates of the Caribbean next which was a walk on. I was concerned that it wouldn’t be open until 10 a.m. but it obviously was. We had our own boat all to ourselves!

After a restroom break, we headed back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to use our FPs. We rode two times before getting off and calling it quits for Big Thunder after a total of seven times by 10:15 a.m. with a diversion to Pirates and the restroom.

We set off for Tomorrowland next to get FPs for Space Mountain. We were going to go behind the castle and along the walkway directly to Tomorrowland but the crane used to put up the 50th anniversary castle decorations was parked there. So, we detoured through Fantasyland instead.

At the Space Mountain FP machine we thought the return time was 11:05 a.m. – 12:05 p.m. but once we got them realized that they were for 1:05 – 2:05 p.m. We gave them away since we have to be back at the Polynesian Isles to meet Bill’s Mom at that time.

We walked out to the hub and took some photos of the new castle decorations. They are very pretty and tastefully done. At this point there were only gold roses and bunting draped around the turrets. Gold bands with stars on them were encircling the spires. We were going to catch the next Hall of Presidents but the 10:45 a.m. show was about to start of the stage so we hung around and waited for that until it was time for Hall of Presidents at 11 a.m. It was a little late getting started so we could only watch a few minutes before leaving for Liberty Square.

We walked in to the Hall of Presidents and got seats in the middle of the theater. I was very tired from sleeping poorly the night before and ready for a nap. I guess I was worried about oversleeping. I actually dozed off a couple of times during the show. Afterwards, we left the park to head back to the Polynesian Isles to meet Bill’s Mom, Terry.

We had some time and there was an opportunity to ride in the cab of the monorail, so guess what? We did and decided to stay on for a complete loop. When we told him that, he explained that this monorail was assigned to the Polynesian today so that if guests there wanted to ride in the cab, we have to get out and continue our ride in a regular car. The CM was very nice and gave us pilot’s licenses. At the Contemporary, a boy and his dad joined us. The boy had a small monorail toy in his hand and the CM asked if he was a monorail freak which the dad confirmed. The CM said he was, too, and in 20 years the boy will be sitting where he is. It took him 29 years before he became a monorail pilot since his first career took precedence. We continued around to the track to the Poly and there were guests there who wanted to ride in the cab so we all got out and rode in a regular car where mom and baby sister of our companions had been riding.

We got off at the Contemporary and browsed the shops a bit before walking out to the car around noon. We had gone over our three-hour limit but didn’t have any problems by doing so. I checked my phone for messages and Peter had left one letting Bill know he didn’t need a fishing license to fish in the ponds on the golf course in his community. Figures, Bill already bought one because he felt he would need it. He also asked us to check the one day hopper pass’ expiration date that he’d given Terry last year to be sure it was still valid.

Back at the Polynesian Isles, we found Mom and George still there along with Terry. Wow, we expected they would have left by now and Terry to arrive between 1 – 1:30 p.m. Mom and George had gone to breakfast this morning and were driving out of the resort heading for the coast when they saw Terry driving in so they turned around, helped her carry her stuff in and waited for us. We all chatted for a little while and then I kicked Mom and George out and told them to get to the beach since it was afternoon already. They did and we snacked on carrots and dip while Terry ate left over pizza from dinner last night.

We were really tired and could have used a nap but since Terry was already there we felt we shouldn’t so we pushed on. We checked her hopper and it did not expire until July 2005 so we went to Epcot. On our drive there we saw a police car (not WDW security) with radar set up. Someone had reported this in the AllEars newsletter before we left, so I had cautioned Bill earlier to watch his speed. Thank you whoever reported this. We saw this radar trap quite a few times during our two-week visit.

We parked close enough to walk in by the kennel and did Spaceship Earth and the Living Seas where we saw another Turtle Talk show with Crush. It was just as excellent as the first one we saw and Terry enjoyed it too. We decided to make a PS for dinner, so I called *88 from a payphone for a 7:30 p.m. PS at the Beer Garden figuring this would give us enough time to eat and then watch IllumiNations at 9 p.m.

We wandered slowly counter clockwise around World Showcase catching an act of the World Showcase Players in the UK. Grail, grail, grail! Terry got ice cream in France and we sat on a bench while she ate her cone. We saw Serveur Amusant come out so we went over to watch. This was the show I was selected to participate in last fall and it is very good. Today it was quite windy and I was impressed that they still carried on with it.

We browsed in the department store in Japan and walked through the tin toys exhibit there also. The exhibit is nicely done and you can get through it pretty quickly. It would have been more interesting if I had recognized any of the toys, but I didn’t.

Outside of the American Adventure, I got popcorn. It was still hours from our PS and I was hungry. Bill just rolled his eyes. He was saving room for dinner.

In Italy we watched the World Showcase Players acting out Romeo and Juliet. While we were doing that, Bill decided to go out the car and get our jackets since he was cold so he left. We agreed to meet in Germany. A couple of minutes later, I realized that he didn’t have the door opener for the car because I had driven. After the show ended, Terry and I walked to Germany. I told her what had happened and suggested she browse through the shops and that we would meet her back here and pointed to a bench where we look for her to be waiting.

I set out walking in the direction he went hoping to find him walking back before I got to Mexico because I wasn’t going further due to the two different routes he could take. It was a weird feeling looking into the crowd as I walked so I wouldn’t miss him. There were so many people and I was walking quickly, they were kind of a blur. Luckily, we didn’t pass each other and he came shortly after I got to the other side of Mexico. I saw him coming on the sidewalk around the Odyssey restaurant from Future World. He said he got all the way out to the gate before he realized he couldn’t get in the car and thanked me for coming to meet him.

I walked back to Germany and didn’t see Terry on the bench. I sat where I could see that bench and into the pavilion. After a few minutes I saw her sitting on another bench right across from me. It was a good thing I didn’t sit on the bench we were suppose to meet at because I would have never seen her sitting there. I went over and sat with her until Bill returned about a half hour later. We still had lots of time before our 7:30 p.m. PS so he got a beer and we moved to a more comfortable bench overlooking the water. After he finished his beer, we were tired of waiting and decided to just try and get in to eat early. It was 6:50 p.m.

We were successful and the show started as we sat down—good timing. We stuffed ourselves full from the buffet which is heavy on the meat choices. Everything was very good, as usual. ($89) Bill and I were just exhausted so we decided just to leave the park and not wait for IllumiNations. We had a leisurely walk out to the car.

On our way back to the Polynesian, Terry asked me what time to be ready tomorrow morning. Ugh! I was so tired, I didn’t want to think about getting up tomorrow already. She is used to the days of our commando touring when we were always up and out before park opening. Since our touring style is more relaxed, I had no real plan for tomorrow so I didn’t know what time to tell her but she needed to have a time so I just told her 9 a.m. We were in bed before 9 p.m. It was a long day

Day Ten: Monday, February 7

We slept in until 7:40 a.m. this morning and woke still feeling tired. I updated my notes from yesterday until 8:45 a.m. Bill and Terry were up and ready to go at 9 a.m., I wasn’t. I didn’t really plan on it anyway. I was ready by 9:45 a.m. and we left for Epcot to meet Peter at the gate to get another one day hopper for Terry. We were not planning on touring Epcot today, so Bill dropped me off by the kennels and they waited for me. It was poor timing arriving at 10 a.m. and I knew it but just couldn’t bring myself to get around any earlier this morning. Of course, the lines were long and go SO slow now that every person has to use the biometers. There also isn’t a line here for guests without bags to go through. He gave me two hoppers in case we needed both. I didn’t think we would and told him we’d return one when we saw them for dinner on Tuesday night if she didn’t use it.

I walked back out to the car and we were off to the Disney/MGM Studios to see Mary at work. We parked in the lot there, a tram was about to leave as we approached it. Since we were not together and I didn’t see Bill and Terry a few cars away and that they also could have gotten on, I didn’t get on so neither did they. We missed the tram-grrr! More waiting, I’m weary of waiting. Then there was a long line at the security bag check. It REALLY pays to get to the parks earlier than this and I know better. At the turnstiles, the CM questioned me because my pass was showing that it had already been used this morning. I explained that I’d been at Epcot and got my hand stamped (as a precaution, even with my annual pass because I figured this might happen). She didn’t have a black light and bypassed the turnstile so I could get in.

I checked at Guest Services for Donald’s schedule. The CM wasn’t hopeful that he’d be appearing today but I knew better. She used the phone and made a big deal when she found out he’d be appearing and wrote down his set times. We went right to Mickey Avenue and were first in line outside his trailer. A CM knocked on Donald’s trailer door because Donald and Daisy had done that to Mickey earlier that morning when he’d been running late coming out. I said that she was going to get us in trouble and sure enough the CM inside yelled to stay away from the door. When the door opened and the CM came out the CM who knocked on the door pointed to us and we pointed to her.

Donald was very excited to see us and we had lots of pictures with various poses and combinations of our group taken on our cameras since there was no CM photographer there. I was concerned they wouldn’t come out well due to the direction of the sunlight. When we were done, Daisy tried to walk away with Bill but Donald playfully got her to come back. As he walked away, Bill said we’d call and do lunch and got a thumbs up. However, Donald motioned a kick after Bill’s comment about having duck with orange glaze. Too funny.

We stood back and watched Donald and Daisy work their magic with the rest of their fans. One boy was quite small and timid. Donald coaxed him ever so carefully and gave him a long gentle hug and then turned him toward the camera for a great photo. When he left Donald the boy cheered for himself! He was so proud he’d done it. His parents cheered too! It was a wonderful site to witness—magic. We continued to watch until the end of the set.

We walked down toward the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground and found the area all boarded up. We managed to find our way through it all to the Big City Street. Mary called and we made plans to meet her for lunch. Then we did the Muppets. The key is still under the mat—look for yourself! Inside we saw most of the pre-show which is still fun to watch. “A net full of jello” is till hanging inside too. It’s been a while since I’ve done this attraction and I enjoyed it very much. We sat in the middle back and the 3D effects were not as good as when you sit closer.

Afterwards we met Mary and went to the Backstage Express for lunch. The line was REALLY slow. Bill saved a table outside while we ordered. The food was good once we got it. I had a grilled vegetable sandwich, Bill had grilled turkey and Terry got the kids chicken and vegetable meal. I ordered for Terry since she was afraid she couldn’t get a kids meal. Marge got a burger and fries.

When lunch time was over, we walked Mary back to Mickey Avenue and said goodbye. We just made it in a Who Wants to be a Millionaire show. It was fun and the contestant went to the 250,000 point question. There was a really strong cold breeze from the air conditioning blowing on us which made it very uncomfortable.

Back out on Mickey Avenue, I saw there was a CM photographer at Donald and Daisy’s trailer. It started to sprinkle so we went into One Man’s Dream, walked kind of quickly (for us anyway) through the exhibit and then saw the movie. Afterwards, we checked Donald and Daisy again and the CM was still taking photographs so we got in line in case the ones from the morning didn’t come out too well. Earlier, the sun was very strong yet the characters were in the shade of the awning. We also had some taken with our camera and hoped they come out great. They did.

We left the park afterwards and returned to the Polynesian Isles around 4 p.m. I put in a load of laundry, updated my notes and chatted with Terry while Bill went fishing. He caught one small mouth bass and returned at 6 p.m. Just as we were ready to leave to get some dinner Mom and George returned.

They had planned on staying at the coast longer but said they found the beaches were still very eroded from the hurricane damage last summer. There wasn’t any sand to walk on so it wasn’t very pleasant. Their impression of the area around Cocoa Beach to be run down but New Smyrna was nice. Between their hotel not having a pool or a hot tub and not being able to reach friends in the area to visit, they just returned to the Polynesian Isles. Let me point out that the Super Bowl was held the day before in Jacksonville and their were few hotel rooms available due to the Super Bowl fans staying in the area and the residents of Jacksonville getting out of town, so they were lucky to even GET at hotel room without a reservation. Also, without letting their friends even know they would be in the area, it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t connect with them. They don’t have a problem doing no preplanning so they were fine with the results. Remember, these were the two that were just going to rent a car when they arrived at the airport.

Mom and George decided not to join us for dinner. Our original plan was to go to the Magic Kingdom since it was open until 9 p.m. but after spending time chatting with Mom and George, there wouldn’t be enough time for that since with was 7 p.m. Instead, we went to the Boardwalk and ate at the Big River Grille. It was a beautiful evening and we sat outside and enjoyed sitting back and watching people walking on the boardwalk. There were conventioneers and families. Our meals were good but found our server too smothering. I thought, perhaps, he was new and simply trying too hard but learned he’d been working here for a few years. Yikes.

There were lots of entertainers out on the boardwalk which was a nice surprise for a Monday night. The Amazing Carlo, Musicale Mark and a magician who’s name I don’t recall. We watched each of their acts before walking over to Epcot at 8:45 p.m. to watch IllumiNations from the rail next to the beer garden in the UK. Just as they started I had to use bathroom and there was no waiting, so I missed the whole show. I began to wonder if I’d ever see the show this trip.

We walked back out to the car via the International Gateway and along the boardwalk and went to bed when we returned to the Polynesian Isles. Mom and George were enjoying the hot tub.

Day 11: Tuesday, February 8

We were awake after 7 a.m. and it was a slow morning. We left in two cars at 9:30 a.m. for breakfast at Perkins in the Cross Roads Plaza. Later in the week we realized there was one much closer on SR192. Live and learn. It wasn’t as busy as the previous Saturday when Mom, George, Jeff and Laura ate there. Our food and service were good and the prices reasonable in comparison to WDW. Terry insisted on a picture of everyone to use up her film so she could get the roll developed when she got home, so we found a few bushes to make a nice background out side. The picture really came out nice for being right outside the front door or Perkins. Mom and George set out on their own.

We were planning on going to Mary and Peter’s house but they had errands to run and would call us when they returned home. To kill time until we could meet them, we drove around looking for thrift stores which I’d looked up in the phone book this morning. We drove up and down John Young Parkway and Orange Blossom Trail with no luck in finding any of them. It was very frustrating with lots of traffic, construction and poorly marked buildings. We wasted an hour. During this time, Mary called to say there was an accident on I-4, they were detoured and were just getting to WDW. Once we gave up on our thrift store hunt and were heading back towards WDW, I called her back and suggested we met them at WDW. This way, they didn’t have to drive back home and then back to Kissimmee for our dinner plans at the Boston Lobster Feast at 5 p.m. So, it was a plan.

We met at Epcot at noon or so using our cell phones to find each other. Terry used the second hopper pass Peter had given her on Monday for what turned out to be three hours of park touring. What a shame to waste it that way. After connecting with Mary and Peter, we walked clockwise around World Showcase. Bill got a margarita in Mexico. Mary was hungry and got some lunch at the Lotus Blossom Café. We sat at a table outside in the sun and it was very hot. I felt as if I was melting. In the USA we caught American Vybe at 1 p.m., Voices of Liberty at 1:15 p.m. and the Fife and Drum Corps at 1:30 p.m. We moved on to catch the British Invasion in the UK at 2 p.m. Once there we sat on the ground—where are all the benches for crying out loud?!

Mary and Peter hadn’t seen Turtle Talk yet so we headed to Future World. We skipped the movie and went directly on the hydrolaters to Sea Base Alpha. Mary and Peter enjoyed this great new show and we enjoyed it, too, since it is a little different each time depending on audience responses and Crush. At this point it was time to head to the Boston Lobster Feast to get there for the beginning of the early bird hours from 4 to 6 p.m. We split up to go to our cars since Mary and Peter had parked backstage and then we met at the restaurant (on SR 192) at 4 p.m.

It wasn’t busy at all but Mary and Peter had tried getting in one other time since we ate with them there last year and it was very busy so they wanted to get there right at opening. We sat in the large room off to the right with only a few other groups. We enjoyed our meals. The lobster was better than the other night and we each had at least one. Mary’s appetite was not as big as usual since she had been sick with a cold and was still not herself. We used coupons for free drinks—even the Bloody Marys were free tonight. Go figure. We said goodbye to Mary and Peter since we probably wouldn’t see them again and Terry was leaving the next day.

On our way back to the Polynesian Isles, we stopped and picked up some groceries at Publix. I went inside by myself and while I was checking out at the register, the guy bagging asks…you got it, “So, where ya from?” It was not funny and funny all at the same time and I had to tell Terry and Bill when I got back in the car. Mom and George were in the pool when we returned to the Polynesian Isles. I updated my notes while Terry and Bill watched TV.

I wanted to go to Parti Gras at Pleasure Island that night because it would be our last opportunity but knew Terry probably wouldn’t want to since she was very tired. No decision was made and time was ticking by. Finally, at 8 p.m. I said to Bill, let’s go. Sure enough, Terry decided to stay behind which was fine. Mom and George went out to get some dinner.

We were going to take SR535 all the way up to the WDW entrance for Downtown Disney across from the Cross Roads but there was an accident on SR535 and it was blocked off at the intersection of I-Drive and SR536. So, we turned left onto SR536 which becomes World Drive and got off at the first exit for Downtown Disney. This is actually an easier drive with less traffic and lights. We found a parking space right away close to Pleasure Island which was surprising and welcome.

We walked into Pleasure Island and it was warm enough tonight to go without jackets. I checked for the time of the next Comedy Warehouse show which was not until 9:15 p.m. so we wandered around. I asked if there was going to be a parade like the last time we attended for Parti Gras a few years ago. Unfortunately, there would not be. Then I asked about getting wristbands for club entrance with our hopper pluses and was directed to the ticket windows at the Pleasure Island entrance.

Here we found ONE CM for the entire entrance! He was doing okay but one person was just not fast enough for the demand. As we were waiting in line I noticed a new option and price change. Now you could pay $9.95 for admission to one club excluding the Adventurer’s and Comedy Clubs. I guess this is geared towards those who come just to dance at one of the other clubs. For $20.95 you could get into all the clubs. For the previous few months this all inclusive price had been reduced as an experiment.

When it was our turn, he “upgraded” our hopper pluses and gave us new ones that said Pleasure Island on the cards instead of having a character on them. He said he transferred everything from our old ones to the new ones. Okay, but I was skeptical. I was pleased that he didn’t have a problem with the new hopper plus I’d purchased on line from an unofficial site before the new Magic Your Way Tickets started in January.

With new hoppers in hand, we headed for the Comedy Club since show time was nearing. As we made our way through the street, there was a bead toss and some stilt walkers were out along with the juggler from the Boardwalk with out his assistant, Lynn. He was juggling on his unicycle. At the Comedy Club queue we had to show our hoppers in order to get in line. Then, as we got closer to the entrance, another CM was working the line taking hoppers inside, swiping them and returning with the hoppers and wristbands. When you actually enter the club, a CM was checking wristbands. To me, it seemed like a lot of extra work for the CMs compared to the old way.

While we were in the queue people watching, we saw a mix of people of all ages in the street with a significant amount of male conventioneers. There was also a group of conventioneers of both men and women wearing black turtlenecks with a Disney pin which I hadn’t seen before. They were gold and shaped like the three circle Mickey with a black “D” on them. I wondered what they represented. Once inside we order a beer and a water. The show was okay and when we exited we queued up again for the next one. We got a beer, water and popcorn this time and watched another just ok show. The CM cast doesn’t seem to be as good as usual.

Now it was time to get some beads! We went to the bead toss at the middle stage where CMs on stilts were throwing them into the audience. We got a few before moving to the West End stage for the midnight New Year’s Eve fireworks show. Before that, they had a huge bead toss and we collected a lot. People were very aggressive and there were many really tall guys around so I had to either jump really high or gather up the ones that dropped to the ground. The juggler guy was still on his unicycle and tossing his hat into the crowd for people to toss is back to him to catch with his head. There was also another juggler performing too. The music that was playing was pretty good, usually I hate the music at the West End stage. The crowd was older than usual tonight, too. We left after midnight and returned to the Polynesian Isles to find everyone in bed and we followed.

Day 12: Wednesday, February 9:

We awaken around 7 a.m. and follow with the usual routine. Terry left at 9 a.m. for home in West Palm Beach. We left soon after for the Belz Mall. Mom and George were headed to Sea World to use their free day.

I didn’t find anything great of different at the Disney outlets at Belz so I only bought two half price pins. One was Libra pin (my zodiac sign) with Jiminy Cricket and the other was Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas which I’ll give to Paula’s son. We stopped at Outdoor World for a gift for a neighbor boy whose sister is getting our newspaper and mail. We have a gift for her, so we felt we should have a little something for him too. Instead of backtracking down I-Drive to Kirkman and Sand Lake Roads to I-4, we took Oak Ridge to John Young Parkway to Central FL Parkway to the southern end of I-Drive. It is a nice drive and a good alternate to the other way. As we drove past the Orlando Premium Outlet Mall we stopped in to the Character Premier but found nothing to buy.

It was time for lunch at 1 p.m. so we went to Bahama Breeze, finally. We had great service from Zach and a good filling meal. Jeff and Laura had recommended the skewer of chicken wings because they are very big. They were also a little too spicy for us but managed to eat them all.

Animal Kingdom was our next destination at 3 p.m. We were able to pull all the way up close to the park and walk in. We did the Maharaja Jungle Trek, safari and Pangani Forest Trail. There were no tigers and we had a poor jeep driver. We walked around to check out the construction on Expedition Everest and then left the park at 5 p.m. Everest is coming along and there is now a lot to see—roller coaster track and wire mesh covering--above the construction wall.

I guess today was the day for alternate routes, since we took the Osceola Parkway to get off property and back to the timeshare. Quite by mistake we found an exit, before any tolls, for the apartment complex next to the Polynesian Isles. It was marked “no through traffic” but what were we going to do at this point, we had already exited. So, we drove through the complex. My intention was to exit at the Poinciana exit but this was even closer and no toll.

Mom and George had just returned from the pool. Mom said Terry called earlier to let us know she made it home safely but was tired. We had some cocktails and watched TV before deciding on having dinner at the Olive Garden. We waited 20 – 30 minutes to get in and had an excellent meal. This is George’s favorite restaurant and he’d been looking forward to a meal here all week. Mom and George bought again. After we finished, the servers were pushing us to get the heck out because, as usual, there were lots of people waiting to get in. The manager was very obvious when she came to tell our waiter to encourage us to leave.

Back to the timeshare at 9 p.m. and to bed with plans to be up and out at 8:15 a.m. for opening at the Magic Kingdom.

It had been a beautiful sunny day close to 80 degrees—the best so far.

During our stay so far, besides people from Jacksonville escaping the Super Bowl, we encountered many guests from LA escaping Marti Gras. There were also many people visiting from South America and the United Kingdom.

Day 13, Thursday, February 10:

We are up and out by 8:15 a.m. as planned for the Magic Kingdom. Mom has wanted for us to visit the Magic Kingdom together since last week. On our drive onto WDW property we see a sheriff’s car again with radar set up. As we enter the parking lot there were sprinkles on the windshield. I was optimistic and left my umbrella behind when we left the car in Pluto 11 for the tram. It kept up, though. From the monorail as we approached the Magic Kingdom we saw the Main Street Railroad train sitting on the tracks loaded with all the characters for the opening ceremony. We were at the entrance for the opening but with the darned rain they just stayed on the train and didn’t do the usual opening show. We walked up Main Street inside the stores to stay dry. Our plan was for Bill to get everyone Space Mountain FPs while I took Mom and George to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. But with the rain, we all walked over to Space Mountain and got FPs before riding it so we would be inside. I asked for the front seats and put George in the very front. He said it really jerked him around but he shook it off. It was still raining outside and I broke down and bought an umbrella in the Space Mountain arcade/gift shop. Buzz Lightyear was our next stop and it was a walk on. Bill and I were in the vehicle in front of Mom and George and I turned around and took a picture of them which came out pretty good considering I took it in a dark area and couldn’t see them in the viewfinder. I stink at this ride while Bill seems to have a real knack for it scoring 216,000. I took Bill’s picture behind the bars with Zurg. What a big kid. Since it was still a walk on, we rode again. Bill’s laser beam was weak but he still scored higher than me.

We walked to Fantasyland where we rode Snow White and Peter Pan. I took another picture of Mom and George this time as they flew over London. We toured the Haunted Mansion before taking a break in Sleepy Hollow so Mom and George could have coffee and a muffin. Bill went on to Frontierland and got FPs for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for everyone. Our FP window for Space Mountain was now open and Mom and George decided to pass on a second trip, so they stayed in Sleepy Hollow and we took their FPs to Space Mountain.

The first time through the queue the stand by wasn’t very long but the second time through, it had grown considerably. We took turns riding in the front car. We met back up with Mom and George and watched some CMs and guests square dancing in Frontierland as we walked to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the “wildest ride in the wilderness!” The stand by line wasn’t too long even this late in the morning. After our ride we got FPs to go again.

In the meantime, we boarded the Main Street Railroad for a complete loop around the park. When we returned to Frontierland we rode Big Thunder again. Bill and I were now feeling hungry so we got ice cream to hold us over until lunch. Mom and George had just eaten so they weren’t hungry.

We walked back to Fantasyland and queued up in standby for Mickey’s Philharmagic but bailed out once we got inside and saw how long the line was. We got FPs instead and had a half hour wait. During this time we took pictures in front of the castle. The characters were in front of the stage signing autographs and posing for pictures. Bill was watching Donald who was misbehaving. It appeared that the guests didn’t have pens so he threw their autograph books on the ground. The greeter CM reprimanded him and he gave her THE finger! Oh, my!

As we walked back through Cindy’s castle we stopped to browse in the gift shop inside before returning to Mickey’s Philharmagic. I enjoy this show very much. I couldn’t find the hidden Mickey in the Little Mermaid scene this time but saw the one in the Aladdin scene (roofs of the buildings on the left of the screen) that I missed the day of our Mickey’s Magical Milestones tour. We headed out of the park to get some lunch at this point but managed a few pictures, to George’s chagrin, as we walked down Main Street. He was burning out on photo taking.

I suggest the buffet at the Trail’s End at Fort Wilderness since it would be the most economical option in the area. We were lucky enough to catch a launch at the dock as we arrived. I checked my watch and it was close to 2 p.m. and hoped we make it before they closed for lunch at 2:30 p.m. Our waitress was Edith, the same slow waitress that Bill and I had last year. After one trip to the buffet she asked if we were ready to pay. I guessed she did this because it was 2:30 p.m. and she wanted to leave and get her tip before she did so. We told her we were not and she mumbled something and didn’t appear too pleased. She left and another waiter, Ken, began to take care of us. He was very attentive and did an excellent job. The fried chicken at this buffet is excellent but the rest of the selections were just okay. Later in the day I realized we could have gotten an AP discount—bummer. Before we left the building, Bill checked out the stuffed bears in the bar area and I took his picture with them.

Outside we found Mom getting a foot massage at one of the machines for 25 cents and about 25 seconds too. Stopped and browsed the Trading Post before heading back to the dock. George saw a jazzed up golf cart that looks like an old car. He and Mom got in it and I took their picture. We had to wait for a launch so we sat at a table near the dock. The wind had picked up quite a bit.

Back at the Magic Kingdom, Bill and George sat on a bench while Mom and I went inside to check out the photos. She bought two 5x7s with the Main Street Train Station in the background for $23. In the shots with the castle in the background we all had squinty eyes from the sunshine so she didn’t get that pose. Oh, yes, forgot to mention it stopped raining shortly after I bought the umbrella and the sun had come out leaving me to carry it around for the rest of the day.

We took the monorail back to the Ticket and Transportation Center, tram to the parking lot and drove back to the Polynesian Isles by 4:30 p.m. We only had a short amount of time to take a break, freshen-up and dress warmly for the specialty cruise to see Wishes! that night. The temperature for tonight was predicted at 39 degrees—brrr! We left for the Polynesian Resort at WDW at 5:30 p.m to meet Mary and Peter in the lobby at 5:50 p.m. We just happened to catch the torch lighting ceremony out front which was cool and something none of us had seen before.

Afterwards we walked out toward the marina where CM Capt. Omar was preparing the pontoon boat. At 6:15 p.m., the cashier window opened and I paid $150. We were the only transaction before the window closed again. We boarded and were off shortly after 6:20 p.m. Omar asked if we just wanted to cruise around quietly or have him give a tour. We chose the tour and he was a very outgoing and full of stories. He took us from the Seven Seas Lagoon to Bay Lake and spoke about how the lake was made and the sand dredged out was used to build up the land the Magic Kingdom was built on. There is a canal over the roadway by the Contemporary Resort to Bay Lake. He also said the Polynesian was the first resort built and the Contemporary was second by one and a half hours. He spoke about all the resorts as we passed by them along with Discovery Island and Fort Wilderness. He pointed out the face of bear on the backside of Wilderness Lodge. The eyes are dormers, nostrils spot lights and paws something else I don’t recall. He asked trivia questions and we knew all the answers. For Bill and I, Monday’s Magical Milestones tour helped us a lot. Afterward the cruise, I agreed with Mary and Peter that some of the information Omar told us was not accurate. Oh well, his pleasant and enthusiastic demeanor made it sound good anyway.

He managed to have us in front of the Magic Kingdom just as Wishes! began with the music soundtrack and all. It was absolutely wonderful! I loved it so much it brought tears to my eyes. The others said they enjoyed it. Omar did a great job keeping the boat centered in front of the railroad station which required constant attention with the strong wind that was still blowing since the afternoon. After the show we headed straight back to the Polynesian marina.

I had a discussion with Omar about our getting rained out the previous week. He said he took a cruise out that night and the fireworks could not been seen at all with the fog. We were really glad we didn’t go and rescheduled. I told him how hard it was to get the original and then rescheduled reservation for a specialty cruise being told time and again there was just no availability. I noticed that two other pontoon boats at the marina did not even go out that night. Omar said that reservations and marina CMs don’t communicate/coordinate boat availability very well and recently met about the problem. Sometimes, he said, that the boats are overbooked. All this seemed very unusual for WDW to me.

We took group photos with Omar once we returned to the marina. Peter tipped him $20. The evening was indeed cold and windy as predicted but we were dressed appropriately plus Omar had lots of blankets which Mary and Peter bundled up in—thin FL blood.

We went inside to the lounge outside of Ohana and had drinks on George. The area was very chaotic and loud. We said goodbye to Mary and Peter about 8:30 p.m. and gave them extra diet Pepsi and laundry detergent we didn’t want to carry home. It was too cold to wait around on the beach for the Electric Light Pageant so we were back at the Polynesian Isles by 9 p.m. We snacked on some chips and went to bed by 10 p.m.

Day 14: Friday, February 11

Today was Mom and George’s last day. There flight was at 6 p.m. so they had the whole day at least. We said goodbye to them when we left around 9:30 a.m. We set out for the Fish Camp where they took an airboat ride one day when they were on their own. It was a scouting mission for us so Bill could check out the fishing boats for another trip. I thought it was down Poinciana Blvd. but soon realized after looking at the brochure it was not but on Boggy Creek Road instead. Crap! In order to get to the Fish Camp from where we were, we had to drive through Kissimmee which I always try to avoid. At least I had a good street map with us and we found our way okay. Mary called to give me her set times for Mickey in Toontown today. While I was on the phone, we missed a turn and had to backtrack again. Jeesh!

Once we arrived, we found the Fish Camp to be nothing special. The 15’ rental fishing boats came with just a motor provided for $65 a day. The campground was simply a RV parking lot. Bill might consider renting one of the boats on another trip but it’s really bare bones. He’d have to provide himself with a lot of equipment. He didn’t even think there was an anchor provided.

Scouting mission accomplished we headed back toward WDW taking a direct route on Osceloa Parkway which was much better than the zig zagging route we took to get there. I was hungry since I forgot to eat before we left this morning—duh! What a morning. We decide to have lunch at the Ale House just passed the CrossRoads. I’d read that it was a good place to eat and frequented by locals and we hadn’t tried it yet.

In the meantime we went to the Marketplace for some shopping. Bill was on a man shopping mission and suggested we split up and meet at the car when we’re done. I got some fries at McDonalds then went to World of Disney. What a zoo that was! I would have told Bill t use his AP for a discount at World of Disney and gave him a coupon we found in a tourist guide for a free pin but I wasn’t expecting him to want to split up and take off so suddenly. I didn’t think of it until afterwards. I tried to find him with no luck. I got my free pin from the service desk and picked out a few things then stood in a very long line to check out. I did remember my AP discount. They were offering a free lithograph for purchased over $75 but I didn’t have nearly that much.

I went to Pet Tails next and got two tee shirts for Bill I hadn’t seen anywhere else. I was glad he wasn’t with me so I can give them to him for Valentine’s Day. I was able to take advantage of the buy one get one half price sale. One said “Bone A Fide Dog Lover” with Mickey and Pluto on it. The other shirt said “I’m Well Trained, Just Ask My Wife.” I also got treats for my co-worker’s dog in a tin shaped like a bone. She likes to collect tins. I got a yellow sweater with Mickey embroidered on it for our dog. The color didn’t thrill me but it was the only one it came in. I didn’t like the other styles of sweaters since they didn’t suit her personality. I wish they had this stuff at World of Disney so I could have gotten the discount and qualify for the free lithograph.

I also wanted to get our dog a tag with her name and our phone number on it. I didn’t see the tag I wanted here but there was a self serve machine that engraved tags. I checked that out and it had a good selection of six or so tags for $10 each. I decided to try to find the tag I wanted at Days of Christmas first and set out for that store. They didn’t have it either.

While there, I checked out all the bride and groom Mickey and Minnie stuff since it was all in one place. I wound up buying an ornament since I wasn’t sure if Laura was going to like a lot of this stuff. She mentioned getting the cake topper which I got at World of Disney but I didn’t want to go overboard with it if she wasn’t really interested in having more of it.

I returned to Dog Tails and got the Mickey Mouse shaped name tag from the self serve machine and was very pleased with the quality of the tag and how easy the machine was to use. I just swiped my credit card and followed the instructions and in a minute I had the tag. It had Mickey’s face painted on one side and the information engraved on the other. It was actually better quality than the ones Disney was selling.

I returned to the car at this point where Bill was waiting. I asked him if he thought to use is AP for a discount. He didn’t—man shopping. The CM that checked me out actually asked me if I had an AP for a discount. Too bad his didn’t. He also said she didn’t mention the free lithograph either.

We set out for lunch at the Ale House. It was obviously very popular by the number of cars in the parking lot. We were able to get a table right away, though, as it was the end of the lunchtime rush. We ordered a few specials. One was $1 margaritas which were all sour mix. We didn’t stick with them and switched to something else. The other was the $4.99 for fish and chips which were okay. It was the cheapest meal of our entire trip at $22.

Afterwards Bill had decided to fish at the pond near the timeshare instead of going to see Mary at work so I dropped him off at the timeshare. He was burned out on Disney and I understood. It’s just disappointing that he doesn’t share my enthusiasm for WDW. He’s a good sport, though, as this was our fourteenth day. It was 1:30 p.m. and I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to the Magic Kingdom in time for her lunch break, so I went to the Character Corner at the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores and bought a silk outfit (skirt, tank and camp shirt) and some socks. I was able to use the rest room to try it on. It wasn’t the most pleasant place but I really wanted to try the stuff on before I bought it since we were leaving tomorrow.

It was time to make my way to the Magic Kingdom and I wound up parking way out in the Donald lot so I had to take the tram. I’d really rather park close and walk in. I found Toontown to be very busy but the line to see Mickey wasn’t too bad. If I could tell this from the outside, I wouldn’t have gotten in line so soon. Since her set wasn’t to start for quite a few minutes at 4:30 p.m., I just watched the cartoon loop twice and let people ahead of me so I wouldn’t be too early. There was a big group of cheerleaders entering the queue just as I was ready to rejoin the line. I’m glad I was ahead of them because they doubled the length of the entire line.

I asked the CM at the head of the line for the “C1” Mickey (since there are three on stage at one time in different rooms) but she didn’t know what I meant. I said that was okay and just went where she directed me. When I entered the room and saw Mickey, I knew I didn’t get the right one but had my picture taken anyway. When I was finished the CM I spoke to at the head of the line came in and motioned for me to go with her. She took me outside to the hallway and when the door was shut another CM took me to the right room. Yay! I was glad that she had asked the other CM where the right Mickey for me was.

The family ahead of me was just finishing up with their pictures. They were all dressed in Mickey Mouse Club tee shirts and there must have been a dozen of them. When they were finished, I was alone. We did two poses for photos with my camera and the CMs camera. One was a traditional side by side but for the other Mickey stood on a box behind me and put his head on mine and wrapped his arms around me. It felt funny and I was laughing. Mickey wished me a safe trip home and I waved good bye.

I wandered around aimlessly afterwards but I was tired so I decided to leave after the flag lowering. I checked on the photos from Toontown but they weren’t ready yet. I really didn’t expect them to be since enough time hadn’t passed yet but thought I try for the heck of it.

On my way back to the Polynesian Isles, I stopped at a Walgreens and bought a Valentine’s Day card since it was Monday and I wanted to make sure I had a selection to pick from. Once we got home Saturday night, I didn’t want to leave the house on Sunday to go get one. I found a nice one and then found Bill at the timeshare when I returned at 6 p.m. He said he didn’t see Mom and George when I dropped him off earlier so they left for good in the morning. He tried to nap at first but couldn’t so he went fishing and had just returned. He was heating up his leftovers from the Olive Garden so I did the same. We had some drinks using up the wine and various ingredients for his cocktail concoctions. We also finished up the chips and watched four episodes of Friends before going to bed at 9 a.m.

It was a chilly day but sunny. I wore a sweatshirt all day. In the morning it was in the 40s but warmed up to the 60s during the day.

Day 15: Saturday, February 12

Today is our last day. We got out of bed after 7 a.m. and got ready. We packed our stuff and tidied up the place—taking garbage out, starting the dishwasher, returning any of the furniture that we’d moved, etc. We checked out at 9:30 a.m. and paid $1.76 for phone calls. We stopped at the Hess station of the corner and filled up with gas. I cashed in the winning FL lottery ticket Terry had sent Bill for his birthday, bought another one with the $1 we got and won another $2. I saved it to cash in on my next trip in April.

We were headed to World of Disney for Bill to get his AP discount and for me to get another free pin with the second coupon I had. These coupons were a real find. They were for a free tradable Disney pin which you got by bringing the coupon to the service desk at the World of Disney. You didn’t have any choice as to which one you were given and they had quite a variety of them. The one I got was Lilo which I traded later that day for a Tinkerbell pin. When I first saw the coupon in a tourist booklet, I couldn’t believe my eyes—something free from Disney. When we returned to the Belz mall I picked up another booklet. I jokingly said I should get a couple of armfuls of them or just rip that page out but didn’t. We could have each gotten a free pin each day of our trip. Bill was successful getting his discount and the lithograph too.

I picked up a few more small items. It is a much more pleasant experience today since it is early and not crowded. I suggest, if you can, do your World of Disney shopping when it first opens.

By 10:30 a.m. we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom for Bill to get his haircut. There was a lot of traffic on the way. We parked in Daisy and there were tons of people in the parking lot waiting for the tram. Where did all these people come from? We are not used to getting to the park so late in the morning and dealing with such crowd s and lines every where and we ween’t even at the park yet.

At the Ticket and Transportation Center there has been an area enclosed for construction for the past two weeks. Today the walls were down and it was an automated ticket vending pavilion. I also noticed that the park would be open until 11 p.m. that night when for the past two weeks it closed at 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 p.m. on weekends. I guess high attendance was predicted and rightfully so based on our experience so far this morning.

Once in the park, our first stop was the barber shop. There were three families ahead of us. One was an 18 month old boy getting his first hair cut. He was very well behaved sitting very still. He received Mickey Mouse ears with “My First Haircut” embroidered on the back, a certificate and some of his curls wrapped in tissue paper with confetti.

I overheard his mom mention they were going to the Posh Pooch event at Celebration afterwards. Hmmm. We’d seen a sign outside of Celebration advertising that. Perhaps we should head that way too. It would be a nice change and we LOVE dogs.

Anyway, back to the barber shop…there were also two girls there just to get their hair styled with colored gel and confetti. The same female CM that cut Bill’s hair last year cut it again today. This time, however, since we were flying home today he didn’t accept her offer for the colored gel and confetti. He didn’t think that would be cool to walk around the airport like that. Isn’t it funny what you’ll do/wear at WDW but not in the real world.

After Bill’s haircut, it was time for the carriage ride I wanted to do since the first Monday I saw it when we were going on the Mickey’s Magical Milestones tour. So, we waited out by the center entrance to the train station, where you rent lockers, for the carriage to return and pick us up. I was really looking forward to it. The carriage was small and could only seat four adults and was pulled by one draft horse. There were two women waiting also, a mother and daughter. I thought we’d go by ourselves since other couples had done so but the CM told the two women to go with us. It was not very pleasant facing total strangers who weren’t even appreciating the ride and their surroundings. They just yakked the whole time about something else. I was disappointed.

The carriage dropped us off in front of the castle and from there we went to Frontierland. Bill was hungry and wanted to get a burger at a place with huge toppings bar so we went to Pecos Bills. I also got a cup with just ice and extra straws to use later. We sat outside but under a roof. The birds were really bad in the open area swooping down and taking food from plates so the people sitting there were moving under cover. While one family was feeding the birds French fries the father of another family, that had to move due to the birds bad behavior, made the following comment out loud to his children: “That’s why we don’t feed the birds!”

We were ready to leave the park and head to Celebration for the Posh Pooch event. On our way out we stopped in Town Square to view my photos with Mickey from the day before but they were not on my PhotoPass card. The cast member asked me what the photographer looked like and pulled out a binder with the photographers’ pictures in it and showed me the pages of Toon Town photographers. I laughed at him! I did remember it was a female with dark hair. When that didn’t work, he asked me what time the photos were taken and pulled out a log book listing the photographers, their shifts and picture numbers. He began putting picture numbers into the computer. We reviewed the pictures and when I saw the family wearing the Mickey Mouse Club tee shirts I knew we were getting close. I bought both pictures since I wouldn’t be able to view and purchase them on line. They are so expensive at $24 for two 5x7s. I should have just gambled and hoped the photos taken on my camera would be good. They were.

We finally left the park and took our last monorail and tram rides to our car. Once there, we used our cups with ice. I put the last of the wine in mine and Bill had some cocktail concoction to put in his. We got on the Ocseola Parkway from WDW and exited, I think, at the new southern extension of I-Drive. We made our way to Celebration from there. There must have been a better way, though. We followed the signs to Market Street and parked in a large parking lot. We began seeing dogs right away. I found a letter on the ground outside of the post office and took it inside. The post office employee was very appreciative.

Once on Market Street we found vendors lining the street selling dog paraphernalia (treats, food, toys, clothes, etc.), raffle tickets and food vendors for people too. There was a stage area for a dog/owner fashion show, a disc-connected (frisbie) and K-9 police demonstrations and a dog wedding. There were lots of various breeds of dogs everywhere and it was fun to see them all. Some were even dressed up for the occasion. I took tons of pictures. The event started to wind down about 4p.m. and we headed for the car. We sat on a bench nearby which overlooked a park and finished up the last of our food—chips, salsa, carrots and wine coolers. We packed up some stray items and left for the airport at 4:20 p.m.

It was an easy ride and convenient with an exit for SR 417, the Greenway, right from Celebration. The toll was only 50 cents more. The National rental car return is so simple and the receipt was correct at $242. At 5 p.m. we were making our way over to the Southwest ticket counter where we found a long line but it moved quickly. There was a mega huge line at security. It moved along but it was so long that it took us a half hour to get through it. People arriving late were rewarded with their own express line. This is just NOT RIGHT! Bill picked up an airport comment card and returned in promptly telling them so. We arrived at the gate at 6 p.m. and were the first in line in the “C” boarding section. After rest room breaks our plane arrived and we boarded shortly thereafter. We got a row to ourselves.

That’s where my notes end. We made is back safe and sound and found our home, dog, family and fiends well too.

My next trip was just a few months away. Bill was not going on this one. In April 2005 I attended a gathering of alumni from the college where I work. We stayed at Coronado Springs where most of our gatherings were scheduled. I arranged the entire event through Disney’s Group Services.

It is January 2006 as I finally gave this report a final proof read through and will send it on to MousePlanet. I also have the April report written and will do the same with it soon. I took two more trips after the April trip…one in June and one in December for MouseFest. I still have to write those reports. Bill told me I had to get them done before our next trip in three weeks. We’ll see.

Kim Howe