Cast:
Myself(32)
Lori(32)
Greta(3)
Daniel(7 months)
Lynn(Mother in law, babysitter, etc)
plus side characters including my Mom and Dad, Sister and hubby and 3 kids(ages 5d, 8s, 11s), Cousin and wife and 2 kids(12s, 9d) and Uncle.

Planning:
We had an absolutely magical time on our trip over President's weekend in Feb 2006 and excited to go back in a few years when our DS would be 2. Then we learned that my sister and cousin's families were planning to go in Feb 2007, since we said it was an excellent time to go. So after about 2 months of discussion we decided to join them on the trip. We decided to take evening flights out of Philadelphia on Tuesday, Febuary 13th and stay to following Tuesday the 20th and leave mid morning. We also arranged to do the Grand Gathering Safari Celebration and dinner on our final night together at Coral Reef as a whole group. We also made ADRs for smaller groups, including Liberty Tree Tavern, Playhouse Disney Character meal, Mama Melrose, Garden Grill and CRT. I convinced DW and MIL that we should try the P&PP, since DD loved meeting her favorite princess the first trip. As it got closer to the trip date, we estimated our diaper, formula, baby food and other snack and drink needs and placed an order through Gardengrocer.com. My parents also decided to hire a bus company to drive us down to the airport and then pick us up when we get home.

Week before the trip:
I began checking the weather the week before our trip and saw that they thought we may get snow on the day that we were to fly out. I was alittle nervous about it, but no one else seemed overly concerned. As the week went on the little snow turned out that it would be a winter weather mix of snow/rain/ice type of storm.

Tuesday, Febuary 13th:

We wake up and the snow is already falling, but all the planes are still taking off. So we proceed as plan and head to my Parent's house in the afternoon to catch the bus down to the airport. We hear from MIL that her plane boarding in Harrisburg and we will see her down in Orlando. We get to the airport with no trouble and everything seems to be running perfectly. Then as the time gets closer for us to load the plane Southwest tell us, our flight will be delayed alittle as the plane is coming into Philly. This actually give my cousins family a chance to switch from a later flight onto ours. We load the plane quickly after the planes gets there. We taxi out and that's when the trouble begins. We our in line to take off and of course it starts to ice rain. So our pilot pulls out of line, according to Southwest policy. The rain continues and the pilot takes us back to the terminal. After about 45 minutes, Southwest tells us that all the flights out that night have been cancelled. DS has been a perfect angel the whole time. His first time on a airplane and he slept the whole 90 minutes on the plane. DD and the other kids are a little wired, running aroudn the terminal as we decide what to do.

Since we had no ride home and we couldn't find a nearby hotel room, we decided to sleep at the airport. We got scheduled on Southwest flights in the morning, so we figured we would be good. We realized that we didn't have enough formula for DS and did not have a boarding pass either, so i had to get escorted to our luggage by security to retrieve some formula from our bags. DD and DS actually slept very well considering the situation. DW and I on the other hand didn't get much sleep and were very sore from laying on the chair.

Wednesday Febuary 14th:

Around 5am the airport came to life again and found out my families and my cousin's family's flight has already been cancelled. My sisters flight was still scheduled to take off on time. We quickly called Usair and got a flight for both families and were quoted a price. First we ran to find a Southwest employee and see where our luggage was, and after several minutes we found out it was going to be put on the first plane to Orlando. Then we ran to the Usair terminal to stand in the longest lines on my life. When it was finally our turn, the ticket agent told us the price was 3 times the price of what we were quoted on the phone. Since MIL was already in WDW, i decided to get tickets for us and my cousin went back to Southwest and see what they could get from them. After finishing the purchase, and getting through the security line, we ran pushing DS in one stroller, second stroller full of carryons and DD running along side of us. Luckily the one flight attentant had not arrived yet, so the flight was still delayed. DW and DD run to the bathroom and to get breakfast. While they are gone the plane starts to finally load. They get back and get on with DS, while they finish their food. We find out that everyone else is on planes and in line to take off as we sit in the 2 hour line to have the planes take off.

Can't wait to read the rest of your trip report. Thanks for sharing!

We finally landed in Orlando and rushed to ME and got the bus to POP. DW and me were totally exhasuted, but DD was ready to go. We really wanted sleep, but decided to get some dinner and then head to MK. We get to MK and head to Dumbo for DS's first ride at Disney. He didn't cry, so we were frilled. We next head to its a small world for DD's favorite. DS was so amazed at everything..he face was so priceless. Then we rode Peter Pan, &then DS fell asleep, so we took DDon Buzz Lightyear. She had never been on this one. She had fun shooting lasers. She scored 2600 - DW scored 375,000 (She beat me again). By that time we were totally exhausted, and headed back to the hotel after the fireworks. Of course when we get to our rooms 3 of our 4 bags are in the room. I collect all of our ME paperwork to get ready to head down to the front desk and as i open the door I see the castmember delivering our final bag. Finally we got to sleep in a real bed. Yes

Thursday Febuary 15th- Princess and Pirate Party

Today was our big long day at MK with P&PP being that evening. It was also EMH at MK, but we did not wake up to be there at 8am. We were trying to catch up on sleep and had a ADR at CRT for around 9:20am. On the bus to the park, we ask Greta which ride she wants to go on first and she tells us Buzzlightyear. We head there, even Daniel got into the action by playing with the gun, not much of a shooter yet. Then Greta asked to go on Snow White. Last year, she did not like this ride but this year it was one of her two new favorite rides, with Buzzlightyear of course. Next off to the Teacups. First Greta, Lynn and Greta rode then as we were getting on again right away, we noticed Alice and the Madhatter near by taking Pictures and signing autographs. We send Lynn and Daniel to stand in line. We ride the Teacups two more times and after the last time, Alice and the Madhatter get on the ride. I can't ride it again..way too much dizzyness, but i tell DW to get on again. All the cups are full as she is walking past Alice and the Madhatter, when my DW asks to get in their cup and they say yes. DD was in such aww, she was a little nerovous of the Madhatter though. Alice asked about her Cinderella dress and DD told her that Cinderella was her favorite princess. ALice wasn't offended. DW said they were very talkative and stayed in character the whole time. After the ride Alice, Greta and Lori held hands and skipped around the area a little. Then we had pictures with them and Greta got a Dream Certificate.

Next was our CRT ADR and Greta got to meet her favorite princess again. Greta was so excited about to meet her...she was smiling from ear to ear. Daniel was not as sure. When we finally got to eat, DD was so hungry that she barely payed any attention to the Princesses as they visited. She got her hug, autograph and picture..then back to food. Daniel enjoyed meeting the princesses and kept try to give away his toys to them. We really enjoyed the breakfast and definitely will try it again with Greta.

Next we headed off to Pirates of the Carribean to meet everyone else. While everyone else was coming, Greta and me ran to Aladdin's Magic carpet ride adn then got the Genie autograph. I didn't realize that DW was in line for Captain Hook, till we got back to PoTC and saw her standing next to them at the front. They were suppose to got on break, but castmember let them see Greta before leaving. We then had another minor cell phone miscommunication, when my sister called at said they were at Peter Pan and we thought they we at the Peter Pan ride, not meeting the character on the other side of POTC. A bunch of us then rode POTC. It was Greta's first time on it. She didn't like the dark first part, but once it got a little brighter and she could hear the POTC song that she knew, she liked it. To her the first part was the mean pirates, then second part was the nice ones.

Next I went to Splash Mountain with the older kids and adults and DW and MIL took Greta, Emma(5yo neice), Daniel and my Dad to the Tiki Birds. The girls were very scared of it. Defintely not a favorite of them or of the adults either. Everyone else loved Splash Mountain and luckily no one became to wet. After Tiki Birds, the girls went on Aladdin to cheer the girls up as my Dad walked Daniel back to POTC, when he fell asleep. That was Daniel that fell asleep, not my Dad. I hooked back up with DW and we decide to head back to the hotel to get some rest. With Daniel already sleeping, we begin to push him and Greta out of the park and Greta quickly falls asleep, so we decide to hang out in the park and let them sleep in quiet corners of Tomorrowland with Lynn, as me and DW went on Space Mountain.
to be continued

It took us a while to ride Space Mountain and the kids were still sleeping as we got back to them. We decided to get a spot for the afternoon parade. Greta and Daniel both woke up when the parade began. Daniel wasn't to interested in the parade, but Greta enjoyed it, especially seeing Ursala. WE realized that we didn't have warm enough clothes for the evening, we had to go back to POP to change and eat a quick dinner. The women took the kids back to the rooms, as I stopped at the Food Court and got us couple slices of pizza on the dining plan. The pizza was fairly good, but more importantly was quick and easty to eat. We packed back up and went to the bus stops to go back to MK. Unfortanetly, we were not pleased with the bus service at POP. There always seemed to be long lines to catch buses to the parks. Even leaving early in the morning it was crowded. When we went to Music last year, the only time we had long lines for the buses was when we went back in the evenings

We get back to MK as the party was about to begin. Our first mission of the night was to get Ariel's autograph. We get in line and of course they were having trouble with the lighting, so they said it was going to be closed for a while. So we headed back to Toontown to see the princesses. Of course our first princess was Cinderella and Prince Charming. First, we met Suzy and Daniel was intrigued by the mouse...he wasn't totally sure what to make of it. Greta meanwhile was in heaven, meeting her favorite princess. We a special walk with them as they were leaving to head to the parade as we were the last one in line and so we got to walk with some to they got to the castmember exit. We then ran aroudn and got in line for Snow White. Snow White and the Prince were perfect together. While waiting for another kid to come upto them, they would turn and talk and stare into each otehr eyes. We felt like they must really like each other. We have a great picture of Greta standing there holding up HEr autograph book trying to get their attention, it si so cute looking,

Next on our list was Princess Minnie, her dress was absolutley gorgous. By this time Daniel was sleeping and we got a nice pciture of him in the stoller with Minnie standing over him. Then it was Princess Daisy and finally Princess Aurora. It was amazing how great all the princess's and princes wer with the DD. She loved the whole thing. Next we headed over to Cinderella's carriage and then it was time for the Fireworks. They were absolutly amazing. I loved the whole story line and the whole attack of the castle. As we were getting ready to check out the parade, it began to rain and the parade was postponed. So Lynn and Daniel stayed undercover to save us spots for the parade, while we went to Fantasyland and rode some rides. As we were getting off Small World, we saw we had a message of the cell phone, it was lynn telling us we missed the parade. We were very tired by this time and decide to try Areil again. We sit down in the line look at each other and decide we are too tired to wait. We head back to POP very happy and exhausted.

Wow, what a HORRIBLE trip down. Glad that it seemed to have turned around. It would've taken me days to recover. Looking forward to the next installment!

Friday Febuary 15th

We headed off to MGM after a good night sleep. The first place we went to Mickey Avenue for the character greeting and met Jojo and Leo from the Little Einsteins. What would end up being a theme of the day, Leo loved Greta's pigtails and played with them. Greta loved that. Next was off to The Little Mermaid, since Daniel was sleeping I took him and the girls went to see the show. I walked Daniel over to see the Cars which were cool. Very loud but cool. After Little Mermaid, we rushed over to see the Beauty and Beast show. We had met up with the rest of our crew of 17 at the show. Greta loved the show, Daniel enjoyed being passed from person to person.

By then it was time for our lunch at Hollywood and Vine with Playhouse Disney. I forget the actually time that we got there, but they were in the process of slowly switching breakfast to lunch. So we had a very nice selection of food. It was all very well prepared and very good. I could have ate their all day. Since it was not crowded, the characters got to sit down and play with Greta. She got to play patty cake with JoJo, color with June and Quincy and dance with Goliath. Most of them also played with her pigtails. Daniel unfortanatly did not want to be anywhere close to the characters. He would look at them, but if they touch him, he would start crying. They had several times for the kids to get up and dance with the characters and it looked like so much fun DW joned them.

Next we seperated, so I could ride my favorite ride Tower of Terror. DW and kids went to see the Cars. Greta thought they were great. She kept going back to the front and looking in the mouths. Don't know what she was looking for, but she kept looking and checking them out. Next they went to see Sully from Monster Inc. He was huge. The funniest thing was Daniel was scared of JoJo, but perfectly fine with the huge monster. Go figure.
Their next stop was off to the Toy Story characters of Sarge, Buzz and Woody. I had gone to ToT and made my way to the front of the line. When the CM sat me in the front row. The next group behind me was a group of 3 and the CM asked me to move. I said sure and moved to the back row. The ride was great as always. As we were getting off the ride i was the last one off. The CM totally in character comes up to me and tells me to follow him. He passes me off to another CM and she takes me to an elevator back up to the front of the line. The CM then sits me in the front of the next car. So that was my magical moment of the trip.

We hook up with the rest of the family and head to see Muppets 3D. After seeing Philaharmagic, Muppets needs some updating. I love it, but the movie has lost much of its newness. Next my sister and MIL took Greta, her 5yo DD and 11yo DS to Honey I Shrunk the Kids playset. Greta and Emma had a blast playing around. My sister and MIL couldn't keep up with them so they watch the exit and made Ethan chase after the kids. My mom and dad were watching the sleeping DS, so we ran over to Rocking Rollercoaster. It was DW's first time on it and she loved it. I love the darkness and the speed of it. The only draw back is that it is a short ride.

We all met up again and quickly split up. The younger kids went to see Disney Playhouse and the older ones went to see Indiana Jones. I forgot how much I liked the show. I wonder if they will be updating it with the new movie coming out. The kids loved Playhouse Disney and getting up and dancing and playing. Then walking back to the meeting place, my niece, who was scared of characters with heads, sees JoJo and Goliath. She asks to go see them and then even hugs Goliath. When we heard this, we all were shocked.

We orginally had a ADR at Mama Melrose for around 5:45. We all met up at 5 and DW and me decided that we were too hungry and tired to wait till then. So my sisters family took our information and to use our ADR and see if they can then see Fantasmic. We left and quickly grabbed food at the ABC Commisionary. The food was ok, but it was counter service meal. I don't expect excellent food from them. My sister's family wasn't really pleased with Mama Melrose either. They also miss Fantasmic and were escorted out of the park, because their dinner didn't end to after 7, when the park closed.

I took Daniel and put him to bed, while the girls went Downtown Disney to do some shopping. Greta really enjoyed going into the stores and finding things she wanted. She had earned money before the trip, so got to spend her monies. She bought herself a brush, wallet and lipstick and DW got her princess cups and a Cinderella jewelry box.

thanks tdelaney--the first few days were fine, but it does catch up to us by the end of the week us adults were dragging. The kids were full on energy though

Saturday Feb 16th

We head back to MK on a mission. Since We failed on 3 occasions of getting Ariel signature at the P&PP, DW decided that would be the first thing we did. The park opened at 9 and the Grotto opened at 10, so we got to the park around 9:40. Then I walked at top speed with DD riding on my shoulders from the bus drop off, through security and the front gates, leaving DW, DS and MIL behind me in the dust. I did get back there before it opened and was going to be the 6 or 7th family, so that worked for us. Unfortanatly it was on the cold side, so Ariel had to wear a shaw top but DD didn't notice. DD was so excited to see her, she is her second favorite princess. Next we decide to hit some of the rides that we have missed previously. First we went on the Carousel and then Greta saw Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. MIL stood in one line by herself and DW and DD stood in the other line, while I went to give DS his bottle. They nearly got to the front of the line at the same time. Greta had to run from Tigger to get to Winnie the Pooh just at the right time.

Next the girl went on the Winnie the Pooh ride and then we went to Mickey's Philharmagic. Of course while I was standing there waiting for the girls to head to the bathroom, I noticed this group of 4 people standing to the side of the theater. Then out of a near by door popped out Cinderella and the "Dream Squad". The four people pull out a video camera and follow Cinderalla onto the Carosuel to award a prize. I believe it had to be the Castle stay, because by the time they got of the Carosuel with two teenage girls a path was roped off to the Castle. The girls then got to walk down the path with Cinderella, followed by serval people, the whole thing getting filmed. I was definitly jealous, knew i should have gone on the ride again while I waited for them. I told my DW and MIL what happen as we waited to go in Philharmagic and they both felt the same way. I was surprised that Daniel was so behaved durning the movie. I thought it might be too much for him, but he enjoyed it.

Next we caught the little show with Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip behind the castle. Greta enjoyed dancing and limboing with the other kids during the show. But she really enjoyed dancing on the stage while we waiting for Mommy who was shopping after the show. We then headed to lunch at Pinnochio for pizza. Its always so crowded in there, but luckily they found a table while I went to get the food. After lunch we could tell a noticable increase in the crowd levels. Both kids took fell asleep in there strollers as we wandered alittle deciding what to do next. We took Lynn and the kids to a quiet, shaded bench to stay with the kids as DW and I ran to Big Thunder Mountain. I've always enjoyed this ride, but after riding it in the night time last year I think I like it better in the dark. Before DD had fallen asleep, she told us to take pictures for her on the ride, so she would know it looked like, so we did for her.

When we made our way back to Lynn and the kids, they were awake and it was time for our fastpasses on the Jungle Cruise. We missed this ride last year due to bad timing everyday, but this year we made a point of getting on it. We wondered during the ride if Greta would be able to tell the difference between this and the Safari the next day. We next caught the "Dream Along With Mickey" show in front of the castle. It was a fun show and both the kids enjoyed it. By the time the show was over, it was time for our ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern, with my parent and uncle.

We had quite a wait for our table, so the kids hung outside with the grandparents as we waited in side. Daniel was more at ease with the characters today, but he still was not sure of them. Greta as always loved meeting them and playing with them. We loved the food again, as this is a favorite restuarant of ours. We try and eat there every time we go. After dinner, we had time for a quick ride on Aladdin, before Spectromagic began. Lucky the grandparents staked out a nice spot across from the Liberty Tree Tavern for us to watch the parade. Then we went on a high speed dart across the park Buzz Lightyear. My mom didn't take part in the journey, but some how my uncle and MIL kept up to us. Luckily the line was super short and we got on right away. As we were crossing the bridge back to hub, we run into my dad, who was still slowly making his journey behind us. We decide to walk up Main Street, so we would be in the front of the park and can easily leave after the fireworks. We definitly felt like we were fighting more crowds after lunch, but it could have also been the lack of sleep, catching up us.

I had also forgot some things that happened earlier in the week. On the first night, I was getting two boxes of popcorn after the fireworks and the park was closing. Of course when I got to the front of the line the computer for the Dining plan card went down. They were rebooting the system and asked me to step to the side. I did, then the CM who was actaully filling the popcorn boxes, asks me what I needed, and then filled the two boxes and tells me that its my magic moment for the evening.

Then on Thursday or Friday, we realized that we could stay an extra day to make up for missing the first day. First we called Southwest and they said that it would be no problem for them. Then we start calling Disney. They told us that there was no rooms or suites available at any resort. They told us to keep calling every day and see if there is any cancellations. One of the days, we got excited that there was a room at POP, but the CM had typed in the wrong date in the computer.

Thanks for the update! Enjoying the report!

Sunday Feb 17th

Sunday was our day for Animal Kingdom and our Grand Gathering Safari. All 17 of us headed to the park at the same time. All the buses were packed and it took us the 3rd bus to head to AK. We had finally learned to put Daniel in the Baby Bourjn, since he fell asleep on the bus and could then sleep longer while we walked around. I ran with everybodies passes to Everest, while the group headed to Lion King. We love this show and its a can't miss every time for us. I got back to the rest of the group right befroe the show started and held Daniel in my lap. He was wearing a Tigger sweatshirt outfit and alot of performers seemed to like it and came to visit him. He was just mezmorized by everything to notice though. After getting autographs in Camp Mickey, we realized we needed to go get lunch if we were going to catch the Nemo show.

We rushed across to the place with Mcdonalds food. I can not think of the restuarant name right. Not all 17 of us went for lunch, becasue the older kids wanted to get more autographs and weren't really hungry yet. DW and I stood in line for food as our moms found a table and got the kids organized. I usually wouldn't eat there, but was definitly a place that we knew the kids would like the food and eat it quickly. My sister called and told us they were in line for Nemo and that the line was huge. We quickly hurried over to them and could not belive how big the line was. My sister and cousin decided to skip on the show and take their FPs to Everest. The only person we could not find was my Dad, we knew he was heading to Nemo but no one had seen him yet. Finally we were entering the show, I could not belive how many people they could fit in there. We saw my Dad sitting in the middle of the front row by the main walkway and he took Greta off our hands and had her sit in his lap. Greta loved the show. She was singing the chorus of the one song so much. We liked it too, it was very good, but a little long for the 5 month old.

After the show, the moms took our kids so we could ride Everest. Since we had our FPs and Greta and Lynns too, we got two rides after each other. It was great. It was the first time my wife rode it and she loved it. We both loved going backwards. This is soon when our tiredness fianlly hits us and Greta. Daniel had fallen asleep in his stroller, so Lynn took Greta on Trceratops Spin and then into the Boneyard. Greta ran all around there and totally tired herself out. She found were you could dig for bones and stayed for atleast an hour. The rest of us were so tired, we took turns watching her digging and resting. I did try and run to the Safari and get FPs but they were sold out by the time i got there around 2.

We finally got Greta out of the Boneyard for her to see the Parade but she was half asleep for it. She fell totally asleep for as we then went to our Grand Gathering. We signed in and entered and met our tour guide Krista. She was absolutly great. The kids fell in love with her. She talked to us and answered any questions we had. The she started talking about the pin trading with the kids and all the secrets and what to look for. The kids had a new friend. Luckily, Greta was still sleeping and doesn't know about pin trading yet. As we were walking from the Birds show to the Safari, all the kids wanted to walk with her and hold her hand. So there was the tour guide in the middle of the six kids walking, it was so cute. My cousin kidded, that it looks like we foudn our babysitter for the eveing.

Unfortanatly with the time of day and weather being a littel cold, not alot of animals were out. Most had headed back to the shelters to warm up and sleep. After the ride we headed to Tusker house for the dinner. We were seated at a large table and served an African meal. They had a live music playing in the back ground and eventualy the kids were allowed to make musice with the group too. I missed the explanation of what the food was, but i know there was chicken and a beef stew type of dish, salad and potatoes. It was all very good, but DW is a picky eater so she bypassed much of it. I think the under nine kids were given chicken fingers to eat. Then Chip and Dale were available for autographs and pictures. We did get a nice group shot.

After dinner was over it was about 7:50 with the park closing at 8. We decided that we could make one last run across the park and try and ride Everest again. We rushed/ran/speed walked across the park. It was completly deserted and when we got to Everest, they said the ride was still going, so the non-riding adults took care of the younger kids, while we got right on the ride. It is way better at night then during the day. We got off the ride and exited the shop and the other people in our group said they were still letting people in, so we rushed in again and got to be on the fianly train of the day.

DW and Lynn took DS and DD to the hotle for bed. Some of headed to MKsome more rides. I know my legs were really getting tired there, but we did manage to see Stitch Great Escape and go on the Indycars and Buzz Lightyear. By then everyone esle was way tired and headed back to the hotel. I tried to have enough energy to actaully say that i used EMH on a night that MK was open to midnight, but I couldn't. I went on PotC and walked to BTM, but the line was still about 30 minutes and I decided at 11:30 I was way to beat.

Monday Feb 18th

Our final full day was devoted to EPCOT. We decided to have me take the two kids through the ticket center and then go to The Living Sea for Nemo and Crush. Unfortanely DW got stuck at the ticket booths when her key would not work. So i had taken the kids on the ride, then Lynn rode the ride by herself and finally my DW came through with some other man. When we finally got together, we attended the Crush show, which is totally awesome. Definitly the coolest thing i have seen in awhile.

I rushed off to Test Track then and rode it through the single rider line. It was totally crowded unfortanely because Mission Mars was broken down. It is a very cool ride, gogin through all the tests. The girls and the kids went to get autographs while I was on the ride. Greta really loved meeting the characters. She got the hugest smiles. She was laughing an giggling so much with Minnie. The pictures are so precious. We had realized that we had 1 extra table service meal left over. So we decided to try and use in Lecellier. It was about 10:50, so we rushed toward lecellier to get there when they open. Poor Lynn had to keep up with us all week and our rushing.

I got there first and asked if they had a table for us. they said since we were 4 and a baby that it is techinically can put us at the table for 4 they had, but the CM called someone else and they then told me it would be no problem and we would be seated in 15 to 20 minutes. Greta and DW had gone down to the KIDcot station and loved coloring the masks there. We had a fabulous meal and servers. Our server was training a new hire and both of them met our need excellently. I got the shrimp cocktail and also had my wife's appitezer, which was the beer cheese soup. they were excellent. Our shrimp cocktail came with chopstick and Greta loved using them to eat her meal and the great breadstick that were on the table. The appetizers were so good i forget what my main course was :). My DW got the smorse dessert and it was huge and she loved it. Greta dropped some of her sundae topping right when she got it and the training wasitress was so great about it with her and quickly got another bowl of toppings for her sundae. IT was definitly the best meal and service we had all week.

The kids were tired, so we went back to the hotel to pack and rest. The kids feel asleep on the bus, slept at the hotel and Daniel made it back to EPCOT asleep. Greta choose to go on Nemo again, before our big group dinner at Coral Reef. It was definitly not the same as Lecellier. Our waiter was very slow and wasn't very concerned about us. 4 in our group had a deifferent waiter and they were done well before us.

Greta wanted to go one last time on Nemo, we had to buy the CD of music for the show she loved it so much. We then head back to MK for Dumbo, Small World and teacups. Then we headed to toontown, because we knew Cinderella was there. She told Cinderella that is was her final night and that CInderella was her favorite. The princess gave her a kiss on her cheek that left lipstick on her cheek. It took days for that smile to come off her face. Poor Belle, who was after Cinderella in line, all Greta could then talk about was how Cinderella was her favorite and how she gave her a kiss. We tried to leave then, but Greta knew about the pictures telling you who was back there and saw Minnies picture. So we had to see Minnie, then we left for bed.

Tuesday Febuary 20th
The only thing planned for thsi day was our trip home. Our flight was about 1pm, so we caught ME around 10. The bus was crowded with two large groups. Eventually a second bus pulled ulp and made ti a whole lot easier. I have to admit I love the airport people working the Southwest drop off area for ME. Last year the one gentlemen grabbed our stuff took us to a closed line and had another Southwest worker open the line up and get us on our way. This year was very similar, the guy took our luggage and got us in line. Our flight home was great and the ride home on the limo service was great. When we got to our house we saw that our one poor neighbor had cleared a path for us to drive into our garage. We foudn out later that he had to use a baseball bat to break the ice, since it was so thick.

I really enjoyed the trip report! However, it seems as if it ended abruptly. Was there a conclusion cut off or the neighbor with the bat was the end. Any reflections on the trip or summary?

I am so glad you were able to stay a bit longer. Your first day was a bummer.
Thanks for writing,
Ellen

I'm glad your daughter got to see Cinderella so much. My favorite princess is Belle, so I always liked to see her as much as I could.

Great Trip Report! It was real bad luck about your journey to Disney, but at least the trip was good to make up for it! And wow! Your neighbor had to use a baseball bat to break the ice! That must have been some tough ice!

-Kazie

Thank you. Yes he had waited a few days to clear our driveway and it and melted and refrooze couple times, so it was hard as a rock. He only cleared a single path for us. I had to clear the rest it was murder.

We had a great time even with the bad start. The lack of sleep definitely tired us out at the beginning, but we will never forget this vacation. Luckily we had packed our carry ons thinking that we wouldn't get our luggage to the next morning, so we had all of our night time supplies with us. It has us rethinking our plans to go in Feb 2009 though. So we our trying to decide between the last week of August, in October or Febuary again. But after the fairly nice weather we have had in Disney the past two Febs, I don't think i could go again in the summer. We are excited to go back again but my DW thinks I'm getting a little obsessed about it.

I think its best to go in February or around that time. We went in summer 2005 and it was murder. Even the locals were telling us it was record breaking weather, and since i'm from England February is hot enough for me!!!

-Kazie