Jim Hunt - May 1998 - Wilderness Lodge

[Trip Reports]

Hunt Family Trip Report, May 17 to May 24, 1998

Trip Summary:

Our 6th trip to WDW in less than 4 years was from May 17 through May 24, 1998. Our family consisted of myself (Jim), my wife (Kim), our son Alex (age 10) and two daughters: Elizabeth (age 24 mo.) and Jennifer (age 9 mo.). For the first time, we drove from Pennsylvania (via Tennessee), bought APs, stayed at the Wilderness Lodge with an AP discount, saw the new Animal Kingdom, met lots of characters, got badly sun burnt, went to our first E-Ride night, went to the CentraCare with a sick kid, fought the Memorial Day Weekend crowds to catch a glimpse of Spectromagic, saw tons more characters, and generally had a magical time.

Introduction:

For the past 4 years, Kim has been a very faithful RADP lurker, occasionally venturing forth and adding a post or two. I'm responsible really. I've had Internet and USENET access at work for nearly a decade and when we finally got an ISP at home I showed her the web and news groups. At first she was unimpressed: "Why should I care what these other people write?" Eventually, she got hooked.

Kim had been to WDW back in '77 and had wanted us to go for a long time. When our only son finally reached school age we made our first trip to WDW with Schellinger's Unofficial Guide in tow as kind of our bible. Well, it really helped, but I think it misses the mark, or should I say, misses the "Magic". I'd still recommend it for first timers.

After that first trip, Kim started reading RADP more and more faithfully, often groaning about the 400 messages she'd get after a few days away as if they had all landed in her own mailbox. We even attended the First Annual Holiday RADP Meet in Dec. 96 (I am the "Person with Baby" in the group photo, and that's Kim behind Deb And Kenny in another photo). The information on RADP is so valuable, especially the trip reports. It does wonders for keeping The Magic alive between pilgrimages to The World.

Lately, Kim's been really busy with our two new daughters and trying to start her own business, so I've taken it upon myself to start reading RADP for her. Now, I'm hooked. And so, I am making an effort to contribute this belated trip report, to try and give a little back. I apologize if I am long winded, but someday I hope the two people that enjoy reading it the most are Elizabeth and Jennifer.

Getting There:

After flying for our previous five trips, we had convinced ourselves to start driving, buy annual passes, and use the money saved for an extra trip during the year. Our original plans called for us to leave Friday and arrive Saturday. Then I switched jobs and, after a few months at the new job, discovered that there was a company meeting in Nashville scheduled the same time our vacation was to start. It wouldn’t end until Saturday evening. So we switched our ressies, and in the process, went from staying at the Coronado Springs, to getting AP discounts at the Wilderness Lodge -- $159 + tax. We love visiting the WL because it is so beautiful, and were so excited to be staying there for 7 nights. We justified the increased price by moving our Christmas ressies back a week from peak to value season (they've since changed back to the peak time anyway :-).

So, we actually started our trip Wednesday night, with the drive to Tennessee. We left in the evening from Pennsylvania, and eleven hours later arrived outside Nashville. The whole way I kept wishing we were headed for Florida instead of Tennessee! The kids slept pretty good, and a Wednesday afternoon nap and a bunch of caffeine pills got me there safely. After a short nap, I was fine, having driven all night. I was now much less apprehensive about the second leg of the drive to Orlando. Kim drove on to Chattanooga on Friday to visit her sister, and I would join her via the Greyhound Bus Saturday evening.

Well, my mind constantly wandered to The World during the two days of meetings. As I left my last meeting Saturday afternoon and started walking toward the Greyhound station, I thought, "Wow! I'm on vacation now!" I couldn't wait to get back to my family and hit the road. My excitement was really building.

My plan was to get some sleep on the bus, but that was not meant to be. I tried to shut my eyes at the station during the hour wait for the bus, but there were too many interesting people to look at. They loaded us right at the departure time, and there we sat for 45 minutes. I tried again to close my eyes, but couldn’t because I was so annoyed we weren't moving. When a connecting bus that we were awaiting finally arrived, we departed. We were told that to make up time, the bus was now non-stop to Chattanooga as they had sent another bus on ahead to stop at all the little towns in between. But I couldn't relax or get comfortable enough to sleep. Oh well.

As we pulled into the Chattanooga bus station, I was so glad to see our van waiting, cargo carrier and all. We drove back to the sister-in-law's new house and I got the grand tour. I was ready to hit the road, but we needed to finish doing some laundry and repack the van. We didn't get going until 11pm, but that was ok because the kids, and Kim, crashed right away.

The nine hour drive from Chattanooga to Orlando went really quick. Georgia highways are really smooth and fast, and the only thing I stopped for was gas. By the time we passed Ocala, I was getting a bit sleepy, but my excitement was too great to let Kim relieve me. As we hit route 192, the kids woke up, with a vengeance. The girls were crying in harmony, but I wouldn't stop, not this close. As we went through the WDW gates, I think Elizabeth saw Mickey and friends waving to her and suddenly figured it out. A few minutes later and the EPCOT ball was in sight. "DEE!" Her word for everything Disney. We had arrived!

Sunday, May 17 (Day 1):

We pulled into the EPCOT parking lot at 8am, right on up to the second row behind the handicapped parking area. No trams were running yet, but we were so close, none were needed. We unpacked the doublewide stroller and headed toward Guest Relations to buy our APs.

As we passed by the ticket booths, Kim suggested we ask if we can buy them there. I thought there was a reason we couldn't, but I was so tired from driving all night and so excited, I didn't argue. Well, the nice woman in a booth that just opened up said, "Sure," so we handed over the MKC card and VISA and started giving her all our info. When she was almost done punching in the information, she asked if we had paid to park, because she could give us $5 credit. We said yes, but we had left the ticket in the car. Then we remembered: we had some old hopper passes with days left on them that we wanted to exchange.

The CM in the ticket booth was having trouble with my VISA (coming back expired even though it wasn't) so off I went to the car. Don't know what possessed me to jog to the car and back. I'm not in shape and had no sleep for the past 24 hours. Guess I was a bit too excited! When I got back to the booth, the family was gone, and I was dizzy and ready to pass out. The CM explained that we could only exchange hoppers at Guest Relations. Doh! That was the reason.

Everything was going smoothly at Guest Relations, until the credit card came back full. What?! It is empty! The CM tried to call my bank but no one was working so early on a Sunday morning. Finally, it came back with security problems, "customer must call bank's security dept." So I handed over another card, which worked fine. I called the bank which said they were concerned that the card had been stolen since they had tracked purchases through VA, TN and GA. Geez, guess I need to ask this bank for permission to go on vacation. They fixed it, so now I had the card I wanted to use for the rest of the vacation. At least I won't worry if someone ever steals that card.

The turnstiles were just getting ready to open. Time to try out the finger thing for the APs. First time they just make a recording, so there was no trouble. I never had much trouble, but Kim and Alex had trouble every other time or so. One CM even tried resetting it for them later in the day, but they still had trouble up until near the end of the week when they finally got the hang of it. Isn't it funny how everyone in line behind you thinks they need to stick their fingers in the readers also?

Inside EPCOT, we started a slow stroll toward The Land. Despite an already growing line for Spaceship Earth, Alex wanted to ride it anyway. "We always ride Spaceship Earth first!" Well, I was too hungry and needed coffee. Besides, I wanted to see Mickey first! We assured Alex we would ride it some evening when there would be no line at all.

The hill up to The Land was steeper then I remembered, or was it because I was so tired? Elizabeth started crying when we got inside because of the noise from the fountains. For some strange reason she has been afraid of fountains lately (cured by the end of the week). All was fine as we walked up to the Garden Grill and saw Minnie Mouse. Now she really understood. "DEE!" Off she wanted to run into the restaurant, and got very upset when we picked her up to wait. But the wait was non-existent as we were seated immediately (without PS).

The Garden Grill wasn't crowded and Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale came around. Elizabeth responded as she had last fall -- so excited as they approached, but overwhelmed when they came up to her. She starts paying attention to everything but the character, and that seems to always include Mom and Dad's requests to look at the camera. Jennifer, on the other hand, was down right terrified! She had started the meal in a high chair in the aisle, and finished tucked safely behind Mom, away from those scary big mice and chipmunks.

With all the commotion, it was tough to enjoy the breakfast, but we are used to that. Sometimes the girls cooperate, sometimes they don't. The Garden Grill food is always great and the service is okay. The problem with the service here is we always compare it to our first trip and our waiter, Stinky. Stinky was great and I think he is probably the only CM with a place in one of our photo albums. We have heard that Stinky has moved on to another WDW restaurant (don't remember which). Stinky had a real sad story about how he got his name. He was "the last of 14 kids, and it was too far a hike from the creek to change the bath water..."

After breakfast, we headed over to Journey into Imagination -- one of our favorites. We enjoyed it as we always do, and the girls just kind of soaked it in. Alex was getting anxious to do something "fun" and was disappointed we wouldn't let him go up to the Image Works. We were tired and wanted to head over to the WL, to see if, just by chance, a room would be ready.

Back to the parking lot, and by now, at 10am, it was filling up with regular trams running. We walked to our close spot and noticed that they were already parking on the other (west) side. Hmm.. If we came back, I think I'd try to sneak over to this (east) side because there were a lot of empty spaces.

Pulling up to the Wilderness Lodge, we had bell services take all our bags and let them valet park the car. I had been saving every $1 bill I got for change for the past few months, and was going to live it up by valet parking every time we came back to The Lodge. Having only stayed at value and moderates in the past, we wanted to take advantage of everything our deluxe accommodations had to offer. Our woods view room facing the MK wasn't ready, and in fact, wouldn't be ready until 3 or 4pm because the guests checking out of it had requested late check out. Hey! No fair! But we would be sure to do the same on our check out day.

So off we headed to the Magic Kingdom via the boat -- one of the big bonuses for staying at the WL. The doublewide stroller rolls right on to the boats, which is great. By the end of the week I think it became one of Elizabeth's favorite rides as she would wave and say "HI!" to every passing boater. She especially liked the open front and back decks on the boat.

Heading up to the MK turnstiles, there were few lines and few crowds. We were only slowed by that darned AP bio reader, with which Kim and Alex were having trouble. Through the tunnel under the railroad, and out onto Main Street for our first good glimpse of the castle -- without the cake. The last 3 trips were during the 25th anniversary, but now the castle looked so much more pretty than I had remembered it was, before all the pink icing got slathered onto it. They have done a great job cleaning up from the birthday party.

Now Elizabeth was getting really excited and Jen was starting to get into it too. Alex, of course wanted to head for Space Mountain, but we curbed his excitement by reminding him we bought E-Ride tickets and that he could ride it to his heart's content then. I fear in a few more years he will become a full-fledged Space Cadet and we will never see him during our vacation as he rides the mountain from dawn ‘til dusk. I felt bad not letting him just go get it out of his system, but the tip board said 45 min wait, and we weren't sure how long we would be here. As soon as our room would be ready, I needed sleep!

After staring at the tip board, we realized we were in the MK with no plans and no clue what to do. Wow! Were we becoming WDW veterans? MK wasn't even on the itinerary for this morning. So we wandered on into Adventureland and immediately got drawn into the character greeting area to meet Rafiki, Timon, and Baloo. Jen was now starting to warm up to these big guys, but now Elizabeth wasn't so sure. We would see Rafiki and Timon a few more places, and by the end of the trip I think she really grew fond of old Rafiki whom she points to and waves at and kisses in the photo album. While I made a second trip into the characters with the girls (Mowgli and King Louie had come out), Kim and Alex went for Dole whips. They were so cold they hurt.

From Adventureland we headed over into Liberty Square, and it was packed! We made our way to the Haunted Mansion via a couple shops and Alex dragged Kim into it. Kim is still afraid of this ride after more than a dozen times because it scared her bad when she was 10. Maybe not, but we are convinced she is still scared. While they rode HM, I called the WL, and the room was ready.

We already had our Resort IDs/room keys, so we headed straight up to the room. I think one of the valets described the WL best. He was normally a valet at the Beach Club but was helping out one day and all he could say was: "So much wood!" That kind of described our room too. Having wood bunk beds, rustic furniture, large wood posts on the balcony all added to the theme of the place. The room was nice, but not so much nicer than DxL or CBR.

Having a balcony was a treat. Elizabeth tends to get very upset when we go back into our room, not wanting The Magic to be over. We brought along bubbles and it was very easy to entice her in with a "Do you want to go blow bubbles?" Soon, even Jen was banging on the patio door to come out to blow bubbles. After a few minutes, they would settle down and be ready to come back inside.

Bell services arrived with our bags a few minutes after we called for them. Valet and bell services at the WL were great. CM Mike was especially great for washing our van for us. I had asked him for directions to a car wash, and he offered to do it for us. Yes, we gave him a big tip, but these guys/gals always seemed to be so happy and helpful, tips or none. Guest services at the WL seemed a bit slow and confused when trying to give directions for a character breakfast or to sell E-Tickets. The gift shop CMs were nice, and the CMs at the restaurants were very good.

After unpacking and finally getting that well needed nap, we pretty much called it a day. I think the Nashville stint and the family visit in Chattanooga really took its toll. Next time, we drive straight to Disney, with none of these detours.

Monday, May 18 (Day 2):

Disney's Animal Kingdom was on the itinerary for today. We had mixed feelings about this new park. Kim had read some RADP reviews from the soft opening where only resort guests were allowed in, but Kim had already began to curtail her RADP lurking and we had few ideas what to expect. We were not expecting the crowds or the heat.

We had planned to go to the AK first thing in the morning, maybe even early enough to catch the Safari ride when the animals were supposed to be out. We would let the girls wake us up whenever they got up, but they must have been as exhausted as we were because they slept past 8am. It was past 9am until we got going and we decided to just get breakfast at the park. Silly us, we had no idea that there are few breakfast options at the AK.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I asked the CM directing traffic if there was somewhere I could drop the family off. He directed me to the taxi drop-off/handicapped area where I let the family out. They had a walk about the same distance as the WDW buses had on the other end of the parking lot. I circled the lot to park with all the rest of the regular folk. I noticed the Peacock lot just past the handicapped lot was half-empty. Hmm.. Maybe somewhere to park if we were park hopping later in the day?

I parked the van what seemed a mile away from the entrance and headed to the tram that was full when I got there and it was starting to leave. I headed to the front of the crowd to get on near the front of the next tram. A CM was telling folks up front that the next tram was stopping farther back. These folks were griping that they already missed this one, why couldn't the next tram come to them? I walked, they didn't. Guess what? I got on the next tram, they didn't. Of all the Disney parks, I think we encountered the grumpiest people this trip at the AK. Wonder why?

On the tram, the CM was telling us that the line for the Safari ride was already over 2 hours. Think this stopped any of these grumpy people from going there first? Doubtful. The CM was encouraging people to see It's Tough To Be A Bug and Countdown To Extinction which had small waits.

I met up with the family and we went through the turnstiles, still fighting with those bio reader thingys. Inside, we got maps and tried to get our bearings. We were already feeling like dumb unprepared newbie guests for not doing more research on the AK. This was nothing like our first trip to WDW where we had touring plans for everything. We decided to try and do Donald's Breakfastaurus, but by he time we maneuvered there through the crowds with our doublewide stroller, they were done serving breakfast. We hung around about 15 min., and ate lunch there instead. Lunch was typical counter service food, but the various dining rooms have lots of neat props to look at.

After brunch, we strolled back toward the Tree Of Life (did I forget to mention how magnificent your first glimpse of it is after emerging from the Oasis and cross the bridge?), guide maps out trying to decide what to do. Kim had heard the Festival of the Lion King show was really good, so we headed that way. It was hot, we were tired already, and when we finally crossed the park and got there, the line was intimidating. A show was almost over and a CM said we wouldn't have to wait long for the next one and that the line wasn't long enough to keep us out of the next show. He was right, and in we went.

This show is incredible! All of us loved it. The monkey acrobats were the highlight for me. Elizabeth watched in awe, and when Simba came out, she just kept waving and waving and blowing him kisses. Every seat in this theater-in-the-round seems to be a good one. Anyone in the front row might get to participate in a small way (hint: know your animal sounds!). All in all this is probably the best show in all of WDW. Our opinion of the AK was now sure to be a positive one from henceforth. Even so, we and now the girls were too tired to do much more touring, so we headed back to the WL.

On the way out, we noticed throngs of other guests leaving the park. We made note of this and wondered if the AK is like Future World and would be mostly empty closer to closing time. We would have to come back and see. I returned to the van on the tram, and circled the lot to pick up the family. Yes, I would have to go for that Peacock lot in the evening.

Having so far been denied his preferences, Alex was really anxious to try out the WL pool and its slide. The girls needed naps, so Kim went with Alex to the pool, while I stayed with the girls. They slept. I slept. Kim slept by the pool. Alex played. When the girls finally woke up, I took them down to the pool. When the question of sunscreen came up, we decided that it was late enough not to worry. But wait, Kim and Alex had been out since early afternoon and had not used sunscreen. Uh oh.

The girls were generally afraid of the water. Neither would have much to do with the kiddie pool. Elizabeth did wade out into the main pool with me holding her, but didn't enjoy it too much. She worried each time Alex went under. Kim watched both girls in the kiddie pool long enough for me to go down the water slide with Alex a few times. Alex rates hotels by how good the pools are, and rates the pools by how good the slides are. According to him, the WL pool was not as good as DxL, but better than PO or CBR. He has yet to experience the Boardwalk or Beach Club, the poor deprived boy!

Today's itinerary had read: AK, Blizzard Beach, hotel dinner, bed early. Tomorrow we had 7:30am PS at Artist Point character breakfast. We decided to can the itinerary and go over to EPCOT for dinner. So after showers and such, we were off to EPCOT. The parking trick worked -- slipped through a few cones and over to the east side with plenty of empty spaces up front, while everyone else was jockeying around the other side waiting for spaces to open up. (Am I bad?)

We got to the Electric Umbrella just after 8pm and got dinner. We sat outside just as a fountain show was ending. By the time we were finishing dinner, another show started. Eating a late dinner outside the Electric Umbrella while watching the fountain show is one of our favorite things to do at WDW. When it was over, we strolled around to the other side to see if we could catch any of Illuminations.

Could we! It was the perfect spot. No crowds, not too, too loud for the girls, and we could hear the music and see a little of the laser show on the water. When it was over, we beat the crowds out the exit. Elizabeth seemed to really like the fireworks. She loves the fireworks at the end of the Disneyland Sing-A-Long video. I couldn't wait to watch her see Fantasy in the Sky at the MK. Jen watched, but didn't get too excited.

We didn't exactly get up or go to bed early this day as hoped, but we had a very magical day anyway. We hadn't done any "rides" at all and only saw one show, one fountain, and one set of fireworks, but yet felt we had a full day at the parks. Part of becoming a Disney veteran is having the ability to have a truly magical time by just being there, and not having to do everything. Visiting WDW with two toddlers is work enough, I couldn't imagine trying to drag them to everything in a touring plan while feeling any magic at all.

Tuesday, May 19 (Day 3):

The phone rang at 6:45. No one budged. I answered to hear Mickey tell me, "Come on, time to get up, there's so much to do and so much to see, get out of bed and let's get going!" All our trips to WDW and this was the first time we used the wake up call. Boy, what we have been missing! Someday, when the girls are a bit older, it will be really fun. The one morning Alex answered it, I had to bet him $5 he could beat me to the phone, but since he never said anything into it, the recording never came on for him. I think it is voice activated. Alex "isn't into characters anymore." The rest of the trip, I'd be the only one to hear Mickey and Goofy try to wake us up.

We had 7:30am seating at Artist Point for breakfast with Pooh and friends. Even at age 2, Elizabeth says very few words yet, but one she does say is "Pooh!" whenever she sees that silly old bear. I think Tigger is her favorite, especially when he bounces Pooh. On our past three trips, we always made it to Artist Point for breakfast because the food is great, and it is nice just to walk around the WL. We originally came because at age 7 mo., Pocahontas was the only movie Elizabeth would sit through. We don't miss Pocahontas too much, because the girls love Pooh and Tigger, and Eeyore is one of Kim's favorites, and the food is still delicious.

We were seated right away and just started to get our food when the characters started making their rounds. This time, Jen started to get really interested in them. Eeyore came first and was super! He picked up a crayon and colored part of Elizabeth's place mat. He let Jen grab onto his hand for a long time and play with his ear. He hung around for quite awhile. Character meals are great when the restaurants aren't crowded. When Pooh and Tigger came buy, Elizabeth tried to hand them crayons too to color her place mat. Jen cried when Pooh left our table.

The previous day's sunburn had taken its toll on Kim. She just wanted to nap after breakfast, but the rest of us were ready to go. I finally talked her into taking a nap while I took the kids to EPCOT. We arrived at EPCOT around 9:30am, and again Alex wanted to do Spaceship Earth. I said, "Okay, you're on your own." He was psyched! On previous trips, we had let him do Tomorrowland on his own, but never EPCOT. He got covered in sunscreen and set his watch alarm for 1pm. He said he was going straight for Image Works, but then I saw him head into Innoventions. Why does he act so much more mature and responsible when his parents are NOT around?

I checked out the character greeting guide and decided to go to the Emporium first, before heading to World Showcase. The map indicated character greetings at the Emporium all day, from 6:20-9pm. After waiting for a while for a character to show up, it finally dawned on me that 6:20-9pm is not 6:20am to 9pm, and why would there be characters out at 6:20am? Silly me. On to World Showcase.

As we walked toward the entrance to World Showcase, a whole bus load of characters had just unloaded. There must have been more than 20. Jen was snoozing in the stroller, so I would park her within reach and let Elizabeth walk up to the characters. We visited ones that few were waiting to see: Maid Marion, one of Cinderella's mice, Mary Poppins, Governor Radcliff. Elizabeth was starting to have a ball, running up, freezing, and babbling to herself, as she again and again would get overwhelmed. Snow White did not know what to make of her as Elizabeth proceeded to point out everything and everyone around the area. Tigger was bouncing from place to place, and Chip and Dale were getting into mischief. We were slow getting around, with having to maneuver and park the double-wide stroller at each queue, otherwise we could have been greeted by many more of our Disney friends.

Then, they all got back on the bus, while Elizabeth frantically waved goodbye to them all. She was a bit hot and exhausted from the encounter since there was no shade at all in the greeting area. I filled some bottles with cold water, impressed that almost every drinking fountain we encountered actually had cold water. Jen awoke, and we all sat in the shade, drinking water, waiting for the rope drop outside Canada.

Once the rope dropped we strolled on over to the UK, where we met Tigger and Eeyore, Peter Pan and Mary Poppins in the little gardens toward the back of the country. Mary Poppins remembered Elizabeth and explained to Peter that she talks a lot but you have no idea what she's saying. An older kid asked Peter to fly, to which Peter replied, "I'm all out of Pixie Dust. Have you seen Tinker Bell? If you do, tell her I'm looking for her." Usually, Peter is a bit too flighty for my tastes, but today he was really sharp and fun to watch.

From the UK we headed over to France and then on to Morocco. We hung around for a while at the time the characters were supposed to be there but none showed up. I ducked into a restroom to escape the heat and change some diapers, and came back out just in time to see Genie leaving. It was past 12:30 now, so we grabbed the boat across the lake and headed toward the fountain to meet Alex. He had showed up a few minutes early and told me how he had played a few video games, went to the Image Works, rode Spaceship Earth and Horizons.

Kim was still asleep when we got back to the WL, but after some lunch felt a bit refreshed. We were now abandoning our itinerary again (AP breakfast - MK - BB - EPCOT) and decided to head over to AK. We got there around 3pm and there was no CM directing traffic, so I headed toward the Peacock lot and found a space in the first row. Woo hoo! We fought the mass exodus leaving the park and also fought those bio readers again. We spent a bit more time wandering through the Oasis. (Actually, I wandered ahead with the girls and we got separated.)

As we headed toward Africa, Alex and Kim wanted to see It's Tough To Be A Bug. Kim loved the 3D movie -- better than HISTA; on par with Muppets. The effects were outstanding, scaring Alex pretty good. Now he won't do it (or HISTA) again. I can't wait for my turn (not to be on this trip). The path to the entrance wound around the Tree of Life, and with no line, Kim and Alex didn't stop to admire it and actually got held up a bit by guests clogging up the pathway to stare at the many sculpted animals.

While Kim and Alex battled with bugs, I took the girls over to Camp Minnie Mickey to be greeted by Chip and Dale. We came back to Pizza Safari to meet up, and I couldn't resist the urge to eat a supreme pizza. Delicious, and we had a whole air conditioned dining area to ourselves. Elizabeth ran around climbing on and off chairs, while Jen and I ate pizza. (Tiny Jen has a terrific appetite, while Elizabeth does the Ghandi thing.) Kim and Alex came back ranting about how great/scary the show was.

We next headed to Africa, to find a very small wait for the Safari ride. We walked and walked and walked through the empty queue only to discover at the end that one of the girls had a stinky diaper. We walked back out to change her, and then decided to bag it, because of the heat. We noted how empty the park was becoming and vowed to come back and do Africa another day toward park closing.

After a short rest back at the WL, we decided to venture on over to the MK. Another very pleasant boat ride, and through the turnstiles to find.. Tigger! Third time today we met Tigger. There were a few other characters at the entrance to MK, but by the time we saw Tig, the other queues were a bit too long for Elizabeth to wait through. We headed down Main Street and decided to eat in Tomorrowland.

We settled on Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe for a standard fare of burgers, fries, and chicken strips. Toward the end of dinner and part way through one of the singing alien's numbers, Elizabeth barfed all over herself. She had just finished ten days worth of antibiotics for an ear infection, and had also thrown up a little in Nashville, Chattanooga and once at the WL. Other than that and a smaller than usual appetite, she had been acting fine and was drinking plenty of fluids. But the antibiotics must not have worked for the ears so we would need to take her to see a doctor tomorrow.

We were prepared to call it a day, when Elizabeth started acting fine and eager to go. Ask any parent, kids are like that. (Even up through college age: drink, barf, drink some more...) We were going to let Alex roam Tomorrowland, but had to disappoint him again because we weren't sure about Elizabeth. He would have to stay with us. We headed over to Toon Town, and let Alex ride Goofy's Barnstormer, as we went to meet Minnie, Goofy and Max. By now, Jen was really starting to enjoy the characters. Goofy played with her for a long time with Jen as she was getting over her shyness. Elizabeth was having difficulty waiting in line, wanting to run up. Then, when it was her turn, overload! So we figured that we had done quite enough characters for one day.

We met up with Alex as he was finishing his second ride. From Toon Town we headed over to Fantasyland. There were only about twenty minutes until the park closed and the start of the fireworks. Jen fell asleep and Kim's sun burn was starting to kill her and she was dying of thirst. We let Alex ride Toad while I got a Root Beer float for Kim. By the time we got back to her, she was in desperate need of some aloe for her aching skin. We figured she would have to either go to First Aid or wait until we got back to our room. Determined, she asked at the nearest shop if she could buy some aloe anywhere nearby, and luckily they were selling it right there.

We bought Kim some aloe at the shop next to Snow White's Ride, and I noticed there was no one at all in line for the ride. It was starting to drizzle, and Fantasyland was all but empty. I saw more CMs than guests. I wanted to go on Snow White, but no one else did so Elizabeth and I walked right up and got on. She seemed to really enjoy it, waving to Snow White and each of the dwarves. She blew kisses to the witch -- something she does to all the villains. I think she is saying, "Please be nice!"

As we were disembarking Snow White, I heard a loud BANG. The fireworks had started. I located Kim and Alex by the Carousel and we all watched from there. This is a perfect spot to watch the Fantasy in the Sky, unless you want to see Tinkerbell. That night was too wet, and Tink's flight was canceled anyway. The overhang from the Carousel provided cover from the drizzling rain. Elizabeth clapped through most of the fireworks while Jen managed to stay asleep. Why is she such a light sleeper at home, I wonder?

After the fireworks, we took our time leaving the park, not wanting to fight the stampede. This was impossible though, because of the way Main Street works like a funnel. Try as hard as I might, I still clipped the heels of a few people who insisted on changing directions without looking. Once past the traffic jam of empty, returned strollers, we easily made it to the boat launch for the WL, where we would catch the last thrill ride for the night.

Instead of the usual large boat, one of the smaller, Discovery Island boats arrived to pick up guests. We had to unpack and fold up the stroller, but fortunately Jen stayed asleep in my arms. From the time we shoved off from the dock, it seemed as though our pilot was racing the Electrical Water Pageant to the channel by the Contemporary. There is not enough room for both boats to maneuver through and leave room for any oncoming traffic. We came up right beside the Pageant pontoons just as their lights went off. Up close, the pontoons are a mess of what appears to be christmas tree light strings, supporting wires, speakers, and miscellaneous boxes all slapped together. From a distance it is quite impressive and I suppose that’s all that matters!

Our pilot failed to beat the Electrical Water Pageant to the channel, and yielded, drifting over to the side. When it came our turn to follow, we were stuck in the mud. Our pilot tried in vain to get out, eventually requesting most of the guests in the rear of the boat to come forward. That did the trick and we were on our way. We got back to the WL in time to catch the end of the Pageant.

Wednesday, May 20 (Day 4):

Although we had planned to go to the AK early today, after our late night at the MK and the need to take Elizabeth to the doctor today, we changed plans and went to try the Whispering Canyon for breakfast. We had been to the WC for lunch on another trip, so we knew it could be a lot of fun. None of the kids were really in the mood for fun this morning, and the food was just not up to the same quality as Artist Point. We all got the bottomless skillet. Jen was real rowdy, Alex was sleepy, and Elizabeth was not hungry. Our waitress thought it best to mostly leave us alone. I made the mistake of asking for ketchup...

After breakfast, we decided that I would drive to the CentraCare with Elizabeth, while Kim, Alex and Jen would do some shopping at Downtown Disney. Alex had his choice and was enticed by the idea of a Lego superstore. We had a single umbrella stroller for Kim to use with Jen, and I dropped them off at the entrance to the Marketplace, er um, Downtown Disney.

Elizabeth had gotten an ear infection during one of our previous WDW trips, so this wasn't the first time we, or she, had been to the CentraCare. The wait was only about 30 min., and they had Disney's Robin Hood playing in the waiting room which helped pass the time. The doctor confirmed that she still had a double ear infection so off we went to Walgreen’s to pick up more antibiotic and some analgesic ear drops.

We weren't back at our WL room for long when Kim called wondering if she should go to the Rain Forest Cafe for lunch. I thought we would just nap, so told her to go ahead. Elizabeth wasn't sleepy, however, so we took a walk in search of a playground. We found it by the bike rental and it was completely in the sun and surrounded by hot sand. I decided to rent a bike with a kid carrier instead.

Elizabeth really wasn't sure what to make of the helmet and the bike seat at first. When we started riding, she got kind of scared, but after some encouragement, started to enjoy it. We rode on the wooded path that leads to Fort Wilderness. It is a short ride, but would be a good hike on foot. At Fort Wilderness, we found the petting farm and Minnie Moo! Elizabeth loves to see cows when we ride in the car and it was a treat to get to pet Minnie. We also got to feed some goats and a pig -- Elizabeth liked that pig the most. I was tempted by the pony rides, but I am too big, and Elizabeth too small, and I wanted to get the bike back within an hour and not be late for Kim.

Meanwhile, Kim was not having a good time at the Rain Forest Cafe. Her (expensive) sandwich came on hard, inedible bread; Alex lost a baby tooth; and Jennifer needed changing in the middle of the meal. The waitress made a somewhat chastising remark about leaving Alex all alone, and instead of bringing Kim another sandwich, just brought her two pieces of (softer) bread on a plate. Alex couldn't eat because of the tooth, and then Jen wanted to fall asleep. The waitress disappeared on a break, and a real nice waitress came back and really tried to save this lost cause of a lunch. She brought Alex an ice cream soda and took all the uneaten food off the bill. The restaurant wasn't crowded and they were seated at a really nice table for six.

Of the rest of their trek through Downtown Disney, Alex thought the Lego store was a dud. Not much to really get his hands on, just lots of other people's large Lego creations. There was one computer game that he really wanted to play, but could not get a turn. The prices for Legos are cheaper at Wal Mart, and the whole layout of the store was like a big warehouse. And Kim notes that after walking the whole way from the West Side, she only found one store that sells sun screen: The Gourmet Pantry, at the east end of Downtown Disney. Then they had to contend with one bus ride to the TTC and then the Boone (or was that Crocket?) bus to the WL. But Alex was helpful, and Jen behaved. It's funny how Fort Wilderness guests complain about having to stop at The Lodge all the time. (Hint: catch the bus that goes the other loop direction -- to Fort Wilderness first and then the WL.)

After naps and some pool time for Alex, we headed off to the Magic Kingdom. We rode the TTA and were surprised how much Jen loved this ride. We were in the front of our group of cars and she was facing forward with the breeze blowing on her face. She just oohed at everything that went by.

We may have done some other rides, but I can't remember. The plan was to stay until the park closed and Alex and I would venture forth for E-Ride night while Kim returned with the girls. All the girls got tired quicker than expected, so we all rode the boat back to the WL, and helped bathe the girls and get them ready for bed. Alex and I sneaked out and took the boat back to the MK. Kim stayed and was surprised when she found out she could see the fireworks from the balcony!

Alex and I arrived at the MK a few minutes before park closing. We got our wrist bands at the Town Hall, and headed off to Frontierland. I suggested to him to hold off on Space Mountain because there would still be regular guests in the line. I wanted to ride Splash Mountain, having missed this ride for the past 4 trips. Alex agreed, but then changed his mind. I threatened to nix the evening if we didn't do Splash Mountain first. He agreed again, complaining about getting wet. This is the same kid that drenches himself with the misting fan -- go figure.

We watched a few minutes of the fireworks as we headed into Frontierland. The CM that checked for our wristbands said there was practically no wait for Splash Mountain, so in we went. Walking through the queue, Alex froze up and refused. I said fine, he could wait for me to ride it. He was sure I was trying to trick him, but I wasn't. His mad dash across the boat was hilarious as he gave himself a big "YES!" as he made it to the other side without being tricked. I told the CM he whimped out and would await my return, which is an okay thing to do. (It is also how the baby swap works with one parent waiting with junior.)

I had forgotten how wonderful Splash Mountain is! It is such a shame that little ones can't do the first part of this ride. The animitronics are some of the best -- very colorful. The tunes are snappy, and the story line is cute. If Song of the South ever comes out, I am sure to buy it, if for no other reason than to figure out what the story behind this ride is all about.

I was in the last seat by myself and the rest of the boat was filled with adults, half of which had never been on the ride before. The more experienced riders kept fooling the first timers with each small drop that, "This is the big one!" Worked each time. The double hill roller coaster section took me by surprise. I had no recollection of it from before. The big drop was fun. In the picture everyone was hunched down, while I was practically standing with arms high in the air. Kind of reminiscent of my ToT pose.

I met up with Alex and could not convince him that he missed a great ride. We headed off to Thunder Mountain next, which he was anxious to do. We had never ridden it at night so that was a treat. Thunder and Space Mountain are about my limit as far as roller coasters go. Just don't have the stomach I used to. There was no line when we got there but we had to wait a few minutes while they were removing a train from the tracks.

I gave Alex one last chance to ride Splash Mountain, but after we walked near the bridge over the big drop there was no amount of convincing that would get him on. We headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean, and as we passed Jungle Cruise, it looked like it was running. As we approached, a few CMs had to disappoint us. Guess they were just testing the boats or something. We walked right onto Pirates and almost had the boat to ourselves until a couple got on at the last minute. With an empty boat there is almost no splash at the bottom of the one drop. This ride is almost as good as Small World for putting a tune in your head.

Next we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. We walked right up to the door and waited a few minutes all by ourselves. I tried to get Alex to knock, but he was too scared. After a few more bodies showed up, we proceeded through to the stretching room. Our CM sneaked up behind one girl and just hovered, staring over her shoulder. It gave her such a screaming fright when the girl turned around, that the CM almost couldn't contain her own laughter -- almost. Alex is too big now to try to spook while on this ride with any of my little gotcha tricks, so I'll have to wait for the girls to get a little bigger for that nonsense.

Fantasyland is completely closed during E-Ride nights, so we trekked back through Liberty Square and by the Hub on our way to Tomorrowland. The rest of the park was practically a ghost town compared with Tomorrowland. It had quite a bit of activity, lots of lights, Mickey and friends running around in their futuristic outfits, a lot of people mulling about, but no lines for anything.

Alex could be contained no longer. I told him to go ride Space Mountain twice and then wait for me at its exit, unless he wanted to go on Alien Encounter with me. Off he ran! Alien Encounter scared him half to death when he was 7, even though he sat with his feet on the seat, knees at his chest, hooded sweatshirt over his head, hands over his ears, and eyes shut tight. He never heard or saw a thing, but the idea to this day terrifies him. This was the third time I went on it and I think it gets less scary each time. It's not as much fun by yourself, with only a few people on the ride and knowing what's going to happen next.

As I came out of Alien Encounter I caught Alex getting off Astro Orbiter. He thought he could sneak a ride in between two Space Mountain rides. The queue for Space Mountain had taken him a few minutes to get through. I decided to go on SM with him and this time the walk to the loading area took longer than the wait to get loaded. I sat near the back and this was a mistake. I need to ride up front or else I end up motion sick. I wasn't too bad after we exited, just very hungry. I told Alex to ride on while I went in search of food.

Remembering that I read that Main Street is about the only place to get food during E-Ride, I headed in that direction. As I passed by Mickey and Goofy, they actually looked bored, trying to entertain themselves. No one at all was waiting to see them or even taking pictures. I began thinking that it might just have been a good idea to keep the girls out late. I was going to stop and chat with Mickey for a while, but he was having fun with Goofy now and I didn't want to interrupt him, so I just waved and walked on toward Main Street.

The smell of food led me straight into Casey's Corner. It was empty and I asked the CM behind the counter if they were open. "You bet! Whatda ya have!" she said in her best ball park vendor impression. I got the quarter pound hot dog, large fry, and large coke. I loaded the hot dog with the works and headed back to Space Mountain. The hot dog was gone before I got back there, and the drink and fries were almost gone by the time Alex came out. He wasn't hungry anyway -- it was past 11pm -- and must have been tired because he said he had rode Space Mountain enough.

We started to head back to BTMR, but Alex wanted to ride Astro Orbiters again. I do not attempt to ride AO, because I get nauseous when I go in circles. This time I rode the elevator and waited in the viewer's area -- something I had never done before. There was no line, but the elevator ride, loading and unloading takes a lot of time.

We crossed the park and arrived at BTMR about ten minutes before the park closed for good. When we got there, the CM said that BTMR was not running due to technical difficulties. As I recall, the CMs seemed really confused early about getting a train off the tracks. Wonder if they screwed something up? Alex was disappointed because he wanted to ride one more thing before we left. I suggested Splash Mountain.

After some convincing that he wouldn't get wet, Alex agreed. This time he didn't chicken out. There was absolutely no one in line, but we did share our boat with one drenched gentleman who stayed on from his previous ride. Alex and I sat in the front and he had a ball. He bumped his head on the big slide from ducking and got a bit upset that a sprayer and the waterfall got him a little wet, but it was no big deal. I asked if he wanted to ride a second time, but he still said no. It didn't matter, because the ride, and park, was closing.

E-Ride night was great. I came away with the feeling of having the park to ourselves. The only regret is not buying tickets for Kim and Alex on the other night available during our stay. Any time E-ride is offered on future trips we will be sure to be there.

Thursday, May 21 (Day 5):

The girls actually woke up early today right before 7am. We had planned on sleeping in after E-Ride night, but the girls went to bed early so now they were up and ready to go. We decided to do Artist Point again for breakfast, but couldn't get Alex out of bed. Eventually we gave up and let him sleep. Our breakfast with Pooh and friends was just as nice as it was Tuesday. Jen was warming up really well to the characters and even Elizabeth wasn't nearly as overwhelmed when they came around.

After breakfast, we gathered up Alex and headed for the Studios. We had lunch time priority seating at the 50s Prime Time restaurant and wanted to catch our favorite shows before and afterwards. We arrived not too long after the park opened and headed for the Beauty and the Beast show. Elizabeth was both enjoying the show, but Jennifer was cranky and Alex looked half asleep still. I got up and stood with Jen in the far right aisle, out of everyone's way, but a CM made me take my seat.

Most of the way through the show, Alex started complaining his stomach hurt. Then we both looked over and he had his hand over his mouth like he was going to barf. Kim took him out and in a few minutes was okay, so she got him something to eat. He had refused to eat anything earlier, but now admitted he was hungry. Poor kid has such terrible parents.

When Alex was feeling a little better, we headed over and watched Voyage of the Little Mermaid. The girls did better this trip than last with the misters and the lighting. It is one of my favorite shows but this time is seemed much shorter and was over rather soon. We lingered in the costume shop outside of the Mermaid show and debated whether or not to buy princess dresses for the girls. We were going to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table tomorrow morning and thought the girls would be really cute all dressed up. The price ($55 ea.) and sizes (started at 4T) convinced us otherwise.

We headed over to the 50s Prime Time. It was really busy and we had about a 20 minute wait. I was just getting ready to ask if they forgot us, when 'sis' rounded us up for lunch. We enjoyed our previous dining experience here as we had a great waiter, um I mean, brother last time. This time, though, Elizabeth fell asleep just before we got seated and Jen was in desperate need of a nap too.

Seeing our difficulties, I think our waiter decided we were best left alone. He was doing great entertaining nearby tables though. Kim ordered just a salad, but after waiting quite a while, gave up just before it arrived and took a now extremely fussy Jen outside to fall asleep in the stroller. Elizabeth soon woke up and ate the meal we had ordered for Jen. Alex finished just enough of his burger to get desert, and I made sure to finish all my vegetables. Kim never returned, so we boxed her salad and she ate it outside on a bench. With small children, dining can be a very hit or miss experience.

After lunch, we ventured forth to see the Hunchback show. This is absolutely the best performance at the Studios. The performers seem to always give 110% every show. This time we got there early enough to get good seats and see the juggler's pre-show. He certainly lived up to the great reputation that he's gotten from the reviews we've read.

Next, we headed over to the HISTK playground to let Alex have some fun. One year he spent 2 hours in there and still wanted to go back for more. We found a seat and I headed to the restroom to change the girls' diapers. Here's a tip for you Dads capable of changing diapers: Do it. There is never a wait in the men's room for the changing area. Kim reports that there is almost always one or two people waiting for it in the women's restrooms.

On the way back I passed a beer stand and the thought of drinking a beer on this hot afternoon seemed like an irresistible one. Kim said ok, so I bought us each a light beer. We are not beer (or alcohol) drinkers, and the idea of a cold beer was much better than the real thing. Kim didn't like the taste and I got a stomach ache after half of mine. So $12 went in the trash. We rounded up Alex and headed back to the WL for a break.

In the evening, we again headed over to EPCOT for dinner at the Electric Umbrella. Kim wanted to look for a watch at the Emporium, so we went there first. We headed toward the character greeting area where we found Goofy all by himself! Just chatting with his handler. Elizabeth ran right up to him and gave him a big hug when he knelt down to her. Jen was asleep (again!) and Elizabeth had Goofy all to herself for quite a few minutes. We snapped a bunch of pictures, one showing Kim and Alex in the background both holding cameras (more on our camera/film woes later). We said goodbye to Goof, shopped a bit, and then had dinner.

After dinner, we headed toward Horizons, by way of the Emporium. We met up with Chip and Dale and this time there were a few groups around. It looked like they had already gotten all their autographs and photos, and were just standing around watching the frisky chipmunks play. Elizabeth ran up to Dale and started hopping up and down. Dale thought this looked like a fun game and started hopping up and down too.

Chip got down low to give Elizabeth a hug, but she was too interested in the hopping game with Dale. So Chip went along and the three started hopping around. Eventually a line of newcomers with cameras and autograph books started to form, so we tried to gather up our daughter. The chipmunks didn't want to stop playing, but since we had had more than our share of time, we said our good-byes and picked up Elizabeth to leave.

We walked right on to Horizons and enjoyed this classic. It will be a shame to see it go, but hopefully something even better will take its place. The ride layout has a lot of potential and the continuous loading can handle many visitors per hour. Please, Disney, don't replace Horizons with something cheesy! (But The Mouse does enjoy his cheese here and there, doesn't he? :-)

We finished Horizons with 3 minutes to go before 9pm. We wanted and promised Alex that we'd do Spaceship Earth, so we walked/jogged very briskly over to the entrance. We shuffled the girls out of the stroller and got into the queue just as Illuminations was starting and the CM barely let us in -- how could he deny us after our sprint?

Kim is still a bit tired of Spaceship Earth from our last 2 trips when we rode it a dozen times. There is never a wait in the evening and we'd always ride it twice a night -- both on the way in and out of the park. To improve its popularity, I think they should play It's A Small World in the background for the portion where modern communication makes the world smaller and smaller. (Hehe, then we could have the ride to ourselves in the morning too!)

As we unloaded from Spaceship Earth we were immediately directed out the emergency exit closest to the front of the park. We found our stroller and joined the throng leaving after Illuminations. We had done the parking cheat again, so we skipped by jammed lines for the tram and monorail and walked to the car. We went right to bed because the next day we would need a very early start to make it to breakfast at the castle.

Friday, May 22 (Day 6):

From the day we arrived, we had been asking all varieties of CMs how we can make it to the MK for our 8am PS at Cinderella's Royal Table. The WL boats start running at 8:15am. The monorails from TTC to MK start at 8:30am. A taxi was possible, but taxis to the MK leave you at TTC. We had finally resigned ourselves to drive to the Contemporary and walk from there but worried that if we told the guard what we were doing they would say no-no. The guards at the Contemporary can be tough.

Finally we got some good advice to take the bus to the TTC and then ride the resort monorail which runs earlier for the resort breakfasts. When we boarded the first bus at 7am, the driver gave us an inquisitive look and asked where we thought we were going. We told him that we had 8am PS at the castle, and he told us to make sure we told the monorail operator to stop at the MK, because they won't this early unless someone needs to. At the TTC, we had to ask to be let in to the monorail, and then had to wait for them to start running at 7:30am. We and some others asked to get off at the MK. We also discovered that the double-wide stroller rolled onto the handicapped car much easier than the standard cars.

We arrived at the turnstiles for the MK at 7:40am, expecting to be let in and then leisurely stroll down an empty main street, taking our time to get to the castle. Not. The gates would not open until 8am. So we had hurried up to wait. More guests arrived also expecting to get in for their 8am seating at both CRT and Crystal Palace. Some were irate. The CMs were not very helpful. Around 7:55am, they told breakfast guests to line up at the CM turnstiles where a CM went down the line verifying that we all had PS. Meanwhile, some special tour groups of kids were starting to be let in. This really set off some of the irate breakfast goers.

About a minute before the regular turnstiles opened, they let us in. There were no bio readers, so it was a quicker than normal process for us. Most of the breakfast crowd made a mad dash to their respective destinations. We didn't bother -- the castle wasn't going anywhere. When we arrived at the podium, there was a line of CMs waiting to seat parties, so there had been no need to run. I think CRO and Disney Dining should try to educate guests to both transportation routes and park entrance procedures to alleviate some of the stress that was needlessly caused. All they say is to allow an hour for transportation. We were only mildly aggravated, while others were hopping mad.

Well, when we finally got situated, we were able to enjoy our breakfast. We were seated at a table for 8 and had plenty of room to spread out. The food was ample and delicious, and we once again enjoyed the company of our Disney friends. Belle came by first and had the audacity to kiss Alex on the cheek after posing for a picture. Alex was so embarrassed that he refused to pose with Cinderella or Snow White unless they promised no kissing. The girls liked the princesses very much, but after the initial excitement, seemed more interested in the tasty food. Peter Pan and Wendy came by together and were perky as ever. Last fall, when Jen was only 4 weeks old, Wendy had exclaimed, "She's just like on of my doll babies in the nursery!"

We finished breakfast just before the 9am rope drop. Outside the restaurant, we got packed into the crowd like sardines. Alex, who skipped the facilities after breakfast, started complaining that he now needed to go. Also, he did not want to do Fantasyland with us -- he wanted to ride Space Mountain. We showed him on the map how to cut beside the castle toward Tomorrowland, and where there was a restroom along the way. He set his alarm for 11am to meet at the Hub.

When the rope dropped, we waved goodbye to Alex and stood aside as the crowd surged forward. Every one of them raced toward Dumbo -- true blue Dumbo In A Day Or Die folks. We chose to do Peter Pan first and then catch the first showing of the Legend of the Lion King. No wait for either and the Lion King theater was sparsely populated. Next, we did It's A Small World and then Snow White. This time Elizabeth was a bit frightened of the witch. We were going to visit Ariel next, but her grotto was being spruced up all week, so we would have to visit her at the Toon Town Country Fair.

It was only 10am, so we started heading to Toon Town. Jen fell asleep just as we passed the character greeting area by the Lagoon. Kim took Elizabeth in and they had to wait about 10 minutes before they got to the queues. Jen woke up, so I took her in and asked to cut in line to join Kim and Elizabeth. Aren't I a naughty line jumper?

Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Foul Fellow, Gideon, Pinocchio, Captain Hook and Smee, greeted us. Elizabeth and Jennifer had a blast. Neither of the girls was too overwhelmed or shy. Gideon was another character that seemed to adore Jen. He held her for pictures and wouldn't give her back. She played with his whiskers and wouldn't let go of his glove. Eventually, after a long line formed, we retrieved our daughter, thanked Gideon and said our good-byes.

(One thing we wanted to mention is how annoying it is when families line jump in the character queuing areas. For example, a mother and her kids line up for Robin Hood, while the father gets in line for the Sheriff. As soon as the kids are done with Robin, they get to jump right over in front of their father and see the Sheriff. In another case, families just wander right into or in front of existing lines, and then give blank stares if you try to direct them to the back. The problem seems to be if you stand back far enough for the family in front of you to get pictures, people take advantage of the extra space and cut in line. I forgive any over anxious kid that runs up out of turn. I have one that wants to do that. But not parents who encourage it. It's especially annoying when Elizabeth is having difficulty waiting her turn and others are pulling stunts like the above. Okay, I'm sorry. No more ranting.)

When we got to the Hub to meet Alex, there was a show going on in front of the castle and the place was really crowded. Alex was right where he was supposed to be and we found him right away. (This is the reason people don't recommend meeting at the Hub, especially at parade times.)

After Alex had left us earlier, he went right past the restroom because he didn't have to go after all, and proceeded to get on the Grand Prix Racecars. From there he hit Space Mountain only once, because the line was long. We gave him $10, and he spent $2.50 on a bottle of water, only after determining he would have enough left to buy one of those balls that have a water balloon inside. He rode Astro Orbiter and then went to the Hub early. He really misses Take Flight because he could ride it once or twice before meeting us, just to kill an extra 5 or 10 minutes (there was never a line).

After our busy morning at the MK, we headed back to the WL for lunch and a nap. Later, around 4pm, we headed over to Blizzard Beach. The place was fairly deserted. We found a shady spot by the kiddie area, said goodbye to Alex, and got the girls into their bathing suits. It took a real long time for them to get used to the water. They've never been exposed to a swimming pool. Eventually, Elizabeth found a bucket someone left behind and enjoyed filling it and dumping it out. She was too scared of the kiddie slides, even when going down together with Kim or me.

We walked over and tried the big wave pool, and both girls didn't mind wading out with me. After playing at the edge of the water for a while, both girls got a little braver and started playing in the waves. Jen started to get cranky and tired, so we changed her and let her take a nap in the stroller. Kim wanted to lounge with a novel, so I got Elizabeth a life preserver and met up with Alex when he checked in.

Together, the three of us decided to do Teamboat Springs, after checking and finding that the only requirement for a child was riding with an adult. This is simply the best water ride anywhere and I hate passing up an opportunity to get on it. The sky lift had a wait, so we hiked up the stairs. Carrying Elizabeth really winded me. It was about a half hour before the park closed and there were only a few people in the line. We hung around the water fountain for a few minutes while I caught my breath and Elizabeth relaxed.

As we got in the raft for our Teamboat Springs run, we were grouped with a Spanish speaking couple. At first, Elizabeth just screamed. Alex went to one side of the raft and the rest of us fell to the other. It seemed as if Alex ended up on the high side of every turn because of the way the weight was distributed. He loved it. He fussed with the water camera to get a picture of us and then tossed it too me. I couldn't do anything with it because I had to hang onto Elizabeth.

About half way down Elizabeth started to enjoy the wild ride as much as her brother was. Up to that point, the couple we were with didn't know what to make of us or the ride, but as Elizabeth started to yell, "WEEEE!" they were thoroughly amused. They were cracking up in laughter as we went over the last big drop and splashed to a finale in the slow moving river. They gladly took a picture of the three of us. It was a blast and we would have done it again if it weren't for that climb. Next time, all five of us are doing it and I can't wait!

Next, Alex hopped into Cast Away Creek right before the tunnel and waterfalls. Elizabeth was crying as we walked through, but eventually settled when she realized we weren't getting wet. On the other end we hopped into the water too. I wanted to have a lazy ride around the park, but it was closing in 15 min., and we needed to use the changing rooms (which close promptly 15 min. after closing).

So Alex got to be our engine for a while, but soon ran out of gas. I ended up pushing Alex and Elizabeth in a tube around the creek to get back to Kim in time. The neat thing was that there wasn't another soul at all in the creek. In an effort to finish up the water camera, I snapped a bunch of pictures in the creek, all showing it completely empty except for us.

We met up with Kim as the park's closing announcement came over the loud speakers. We dressed in the changing rooms and headed over to the AK. We had about an hour and a half before the AK closed, so we headed straight for Africa. First stop was to try Conservation Station. We asked a CM about whether we needed a stroller at CS to which she replied that we'd have to fold it up to put it on the train. We didn't feel like unpacking it (we usually have two packs with extra clothes, diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, water, toys, etc.) and she assured us it was only a short walk from the train station.

The wait for the train was brief, and the ride only took a few minutes. There was very little to see but a few buildings that house animals at night. We disembarked from the train and began to walk. Short walk, my arse! In the heat with two girls to carry, it was a hike. Fortunately, Elizabeth had the energy to walk almost the whole way herself.

At Conservation Station, we watched a bit of the goings on in the veterinary areas. We had a tough time listening to Grandmother Willow's nature sounds with the girls squirming around the booth. We skipped the other show and interactive areas, and went outside wondering if that's all there was, when we discovered the petting area. Elizabeth and Jennifer both got a kick out of the animals. The hand wash area is a really cool design.

We hiked back to the train station, carrying Jennifer and Elizabeth. There was a train waiting to leave so we hurried up and got on. Then we waited. And waited. Eventually there came the announcement that another train was stuck on the tracks and they were trying to figure out what to do with us. One CM on the train, who was a former Jungle Cruise CM, helped pass the time by having kids sing their favorite Disney song into the train's loud speakers.

After about a half hour, Rob, the station manager, showed up to tell us that it wasn't his fault, and that we would have to walk back to the other station. At this point Jen was asleep, and we had no stroller. When we asked Rob if there was anything he could do for us, he went looking and came back with a spare wheel chair. Kim pushed Alex and Elizabeth in the chair and I carried a sleeping Jen.

The walk wasn't as hot as sitting on the train. We were told we could take any photos that we wanted of this "backstage" area, but there wasn't anything to see along this service road. As we approached the other train station, we saw the broken train being pushed by another train. After it passed, we got stuck in a line of people trying to get out of the station back into Africa. After a long delay, word of mouth said they were getting everyone drinks. At that point, we just wanted to be reunited with our stroller and get out of Africa.

The line eventually started moving, but they ran out of drinks by the time we got to the soda cart. We were told we could stick around and wait, they would have more soon. A lot of people left in frustration. A few minutes later, though, a dozen CMs arrived bearing cases of cold sodas, spring water, PowerAde, fruit juices, etc. We were welcome to as many as we wanted, so we helped ourselves to a few bottles.

We turned in our wheelchair, and found our stroller. There was about 15 min. left until the park closed and both girls were awake and in good moods so we decided to try and do the Safari and then Gorilla Trail. The wait for the Safari was very short, but the park had closed by the time we finished. We saw hippos, gators, gazelle, lots of birds and other herd animals, giraffes, elephants and a single male lion. We thought the plot to this ride was kind of lame, and that the roughness of the ride was a bit excessive. It made it impossible to really get any decent photos. One bump was so rough that Jen almost cracked her head on the seat in front of us even though I was holding her tightly.

Opinions on the Safari ride are in abundance, so I'll add mine. It seems that the Imagineers couldn't make up their minds between a see the animals bus ride, and a thrill ride. Since both have been done before they went for a hybrid of the two. I've also had the notion that it may have started like a see the animals ride, but when they realized that the animals were not always going to be out, added the thrill part as compensation. I don't think I'll like this ride until they do some tweaking with the story, or smooth out a few of the nastier bumps, or put in a few Kodak moment stops where the animals are likely to be. Our driver slowed down a few times, but kept saying she couldn't stop. From reading other's opinions, I think this ride is genuinely a hit or miss and you won't know if you like it until you try it a few times. Who knows, maybe I'll even like it after I do it some more, but I probably won't make the opportunity.

We returned to the WL, and grabbed a late dinner from the snack bar. We ate in our room and then watched the fireworks from our balcony. It was a terrific view, even from this distance. Especially touching was a little girl's rendition of "Remember the Magic" from a nearby balcony. What a sweetheart!

Saturday, May 23 (Day 7):

We had no firm plans for this morning -- "sleep late" was first on the itinerary. This was going to be our last full day at WDW and the MK was open until midnight with two showings of Spectromagic. After we got up and got going, we called and got a late 10am seating at the Soundstage for breakfast.

We were hesitant to eat at any of the buffets because of a horrible experience on our last trip to Chef Mickey's. The girls fussed way too much anytime one of us would try to go get some food. And the characters got them way too hyped up on top of that. We ended up eating very little, and not enjoying ourselves.

But today, the Soundstage was a pleasant experience. Both girls behaved and ate very well. They did extremely good with the characters: Meeko, Pocahontas, Rafiki, Genie, and Aladdin. Meeko was into everything, as raccoons always are. Rafiki took another opportunity to really charm Elizabeth. She was quite upset when he left. The Genie was loads of laughs, and would keep stopping by our table as he made his rounds. Alex, who "isn't into characters anymore," picked up the same conversation with Aladdin that he had started a year ago -- "You call me Al and I'll call you Al." Aladdin was a bit forgetful at first, but then remembered.

I had plenty to eat by the time the girls got restless, so I packed them both up while Kim went back for seconds (or thirds or fruit or something). We hung around the exit where a CM was out on the street trying to drum up business: "Come in for breakfast and stay for lunch for just one price." Hmmm. Might have to try that next time.

The costume store across the street beckoned me to come browse, but once again I resisted the urge to buy the girls princess dresses that they wouldn't fit into yet. Kim and Alex came out and we headed back to the WL and on to the MK.

We still hadn't seen the MK parade or the Tiki Birds, Under New Management. The park was a little crowded, but for a Saturday we didn't think it was too bad. We arrived at the Tiki Birds in plenty of time to catch the new preshow. The new show inside was very entertaining. Both girls had plenty to look at, and Elizabeth watched Iago and Zazu with much interest. She watches Aladdin and the Lion King on video a lot, so I'm pretty sure she recognized them. Whereas in the past we very rarely made it a point to see the Tiki Birds, the new show will become one of our favorites.

The parade was starting in Frontierland in less than an hour, so we decided to check for any good spots. There were plenty, but in the sun. We picked one that we could park our stroller at, while being able to stand behind it in the shade. But even in the shade it was way too hot. Jen fell asleep and we draped spare T-shirts over the stroller to keep the sun off of her. To get out of the heat, Kim, Alex and Elizabeth ducked into the Country Bear Jamboree.

The parade was about to start when they finally emerged. While waiting in the heat, Alex's mister fan was a life saver. The family beside me that I chatted with appreciated it also. As the parade started, Kim sat down with Elizabeth and had a great view. Since Jen was still asleep, we backed the stroller away from the rope and let some kids take up the prime spot.

We never got a close up look at the Remember the Magic parade last year, but this seemed to be pretty much the same. Elizabeth was in heaven waving to all the characters and having them wave back. The floats are beautiful and I think we used a whole roll of film on the parade. But the pictures aren't that great because we were too close for photos -- seemed as if every angle was straight up. But it was just perfect for watching.

We wanted to go to Toon Town after the parade, so when the last float went by, we got behind the parade and followed along. This is a really fun thing to do and after a while you feel like part of the parade. The fire crackers on the last float woke Jen up, but she just sat and watched all the characters dancing around. Others following the parade were just a bit pushy, and I felt the urge to become a stroller terrorist. Instead, I just made my way up to right behind the crowd control rope at the end of the parade, where the view was wonderful.

When the parade passed the bridge from Liberty Square towards the Hub, the crowd control rope stopped for 2 minutes and the CMs announced that when the rope dropped it would be two way traffic on the bridge. I worried it would be a big jam of people, because there were a lot of hot, cranky guests on our side that were preparing to overrun the CMs if they didn't let them through. But all went smoothly, and we got through the crowds and on our way to Toon Town. The heat can really get to some people.

We let Alex do the Barnstormer again, which was quickly becoming one of his favorite rides, while we went in to the Country Fair to meet some Fairy Tale Friends. Inside, we finally got to meet Ariel. We were looking forward to this because although Elizabeth can only say one character's name (Pooh), she hits all the notes to the Little Mermaid song, "Part of Your World." Needless to say, Ariel was impressed.

Snow White and Peter Pan were also there, and Peter was as flighty as ever! Snow White was even getting a little annoyed with him because he kept complaining about her singing and talking about her dwarf friends. The girls really liked meeting Snow White again, and Elizabeth proceeded to sing for her. None of us knew quite what to make of Peter today. I think he had better lay off the Pixie dust for a while.

Tonight was going to be a late night at MK with Spectromagic running at 9 and 11pm, so we headed back to the WL. We grabbed something for dinner and rested up in the room. At around 8pm we went down to the boat dock, which, for the first time this trip, was completely packed. We barely made it on, and some kind souls made room for us to sit with the girls. On the ride over, the boat pilot warned everyone that MK was open until midnight, that Spectromagic was at 9 and 11, and the fireworks were at 10. He said that because this was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, many locals would come to the MK and it would was already FULL.

Full was an understatement. It took about 30 minutes to get down Main Street. The big problem was that CMs were already directing people off the parade route and the sidewalk was packed with people holding their spot for the parade. We made it through a couple shops until we hit the bakery and the double-wide stroller just would not fit. Back out on the sidewalk, I nearly had to become a stroller terrorist to get through. It was horrifying to see an identical double-wide stroller approaching. He was a stroller terrorist and ran over some bystanders to get by us. Enough was enough. We got to a street crossing and made a bee line up the parade route, ignoring any potential CM directives. Once at the Hub, things weren't so bad, so we got off the parade route.

We wandered down the path toward Adventureland and found a spot along the rail that had a good view of the parade as it would pass by the castle and over the bridge to Liberty Square. We planted ourselves. A nice family came up beside us and got the same idea. They had an older boy with Cerebral Palsy in a wheelchair, but didn't want to go fight for the handicapped viewing areas. Our spot was not ideal, and impossible to get any pictures. We had a good view, albeit from a distance. Spectromagic is Kim's favorite thing at WDW, so she was pleased just to be there.

After Spectromagic, we decided that I would take the girls back to the WL and that Kim and Alex would hang around for the fireworks and second running of Spectromagic. So off I went toward Main Street. Everything was fine until I got to the end of the street and nothing was budging -- just a wall of people waiting to see the fireworks. After saying, "Excuse me," about 100 times to no avail, I gave up. In disgust I headed the opposite direction.

Going down the path from the Hub toward Toon Town, I passed under Tink's flight path and saw an open spot among a row of wheelchairs lined up for the fireworks. It was not roped off for handicapped, so I parked the stroller. There was a tree that I think scared most people off, but it did not end up blocking too many of the fireworks.

When Tink flew overhead, both girls were amazed. They both stretched around the sides of the stroller to see where Tink flew too. Then we all tried to watch the fireworks. Almost immediately, a crowd formed in front of us. The people with the wheelchairs complained with no luck, so they rolled away moaning about people standing in front of their "spots". I held both girls and we had a great time watching. Elizabeth clapped and clapped.

After the fireworks, I again headed toward Main Street. This time, they again had the street shut off to foot traffic to clean up and prepare for the parade. No way was I going down that sidewalk again! I veered off over the bridge to Tomorrowland.

Tomorrowland was packed. The TTA had stranded what must have been a group of teenagers who were yelling school cheers pack and forth from over top Alien Encounter to over top the Time Machine. We went the whole way through and onto the path behind the Galaxy Arcade to head toward the train station at Toon Town. I would just have to pack up the stroller and girls and ride out.

The path was deserted, and so was Toon Town! The CMs at the train station said that the trains were not running until they got the all clear after the fireworks. Toon Town smelled of sulfur and was very smoky. Apparently the smoke from the fireworks chased everyone away. We practically had the place to ourselves. I couldn't resist, so we went into the Country Fair to meet Pooh and friends.

While in line, Elizabeth started to get very restless. I was starting to have second thoughts, because the short lines weren't moving. Then Elizabeth found a way to entertain herself: hanging on the queue line bars and swinging. The miniature jungle gym did the trick and soon Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger greeted us. We took our time in Pooh's long line first and by the time we met him, most of the rest of the crowd had left. For a short time after we met Eeyore, we had Tigger and Pooh to ourselves! Then Tigger started bouncing around the room out of control. He was harshly scolded by one of the handlers. The only other family in the room got their picture taken with all three characters! But sadly, I had no camera along.

We said goodbye to Pooh and friends and headed outside through the Country Fair gift shop. It was time to get the girls back to the WL and into bed. We saddled up the stroller and walked over to the train station which by now had no one waiting. This was either a sign that a train came by and picked everyone up, or that the trains were shut down for the night. A quick chat with a CM confirmed that the trains would not be running for the rest of the night. It was 11pm and there was no way I was going to battle the Spectromagic parade to leave the park. So back into the Country Fair!

On the way inside, I purchased a disposable camera with a flash -- $18, ouch! This was the 5th camera in our possession now. We started the trip with our good camera, a disposable water camera, and we bought a cheap 35mm camera for Alex, along with 8 rolls of 12 exposure film. The idea was that he would shoot a roll each day, have it developed at the hotel's 2 hour developing, and then create a day by day photo journal as a school project. Well, we forgot to bring rolls of film for our good camera and Alex left his camera behind in his Aunt's car in Chattanooga, so we started using Alex's film and bought him a disposable camera. Alex's camera caught up with us after a few days via Federal Express and we quickly gave up on doing the photo journal day by day (he did the whole thing after we got home).

Armed with my new disposable camera, I took the girls to see Minnie and friends. The wait was very short and there were only two other families in the group. We spent a lot of time playing with Goofy and Max. Both girls were over their shyness and even Elizabeth wasn't overwhelmed anymore. When we got to Minnie, she played with the girls and held each of them for pictures. Goofy and Max got bored and came over too. One of the CMs offered to take our picture and we got a great photo of me holding the girls with all three characters around us!

Elizabeth waved goodbye and ran out the exit, as if she knew there were many more characters to see. There were no fairy tale friends this late so we went back to see Pooh again. We had to wait a while for Pooh to finish a honey snack or something, so by the time we got in to see him, there was quite a crowd. Eeyore was very tired and just sat along a wall to greet guests. Tigger was still wound up and even Pooh was having trouble staying in one place. I got pictures of the girls with all of them but didn't hang around for a group photo because, again, Elizabeth waved goodbye and headed for the exit.

Having seen all the characters at the Country Fair, we headed over to Mickey's House. We didn't wait but a few minutes and were the only ones in line when the CM let us in to see him. As we entered Mickey's room, he was standing in the middle of 4 teenage girls for a group photo courtesy of a CM. They all had posed smiles on their face until they saw Elizabeth explode with excitement when she saw Mickey. Their smiles became genuinely huge. After their picture they stepped aside and just stood around watching Mickey play with the girls.

Mickey sat down on a box and Elizabeth climbed up beside him to give him a hug. Jennifer got such a kick out of playing with Mickey's nose, giggling uncontrollably when it would wiggle. Elizabeth just wanted to give him lots of hugs and kisses. We got our photo taken and played some more. I realized the teenagers were still hanging around when I overheard one of them say she wanted a picture of just Mickey. I apologized for taking so long and went to gather the girls, but they said it was fine because they thought it was just wonderful to watch. Elizabeth eventually started to wave goodbye, and so our magical moment with Mickey Mouse came to an end.

Outside, I loaded two exhausted little girls into the stroller and made my way out of the park. Spectromagic had ended a while ago and the crowds on Main Street had dissipated. The line for the boat was long, but we made it on. The girls were both sound asleep and went smoothly into bed.

To my surprise, Kim and Alex were already back, having had a much less successful night than the girls and I. After Kim and Alex had left us, they headed over to BTMR. They had to wait about 20 minutes. As a really special treat, though, they got to watch the fireworks while on the ride. It really made the ride fantastic. Afterward, things didn't go so well.

Alex wanted to do Space Mountain next, so they attempted to take the train. They boarded the train okay, but then sat there for a very long time. Eventually, the announcement came that another train was stuck on the tracks, but that they would be hopefully moving shortly. Kim and Alex gave up the train idea and disembarked. It was a good thing they did, because the trains never did run again.

Kim and Alex fought their way through the crowds to Tomorrowland. When Alex checked the wait for Space Mountain, he found out it was 40 min. Disgusted by how many people were still in the park this late, and figuring that I had gone back to the WL already, they decided to try get out of the park before the next Spectromagic.

That idea backfired too, because the boat for the WL had just left as they got there. They decided to ride the ferry boat over to the TTC and catch a bus from there. Well, the ferry boat was standing room only until they got on, and they had to wait a while for the bus. And when they got back, they discovered that I was still out. Maybe we'll need to invest in pagers or digital walkie talkies in the future.

Sunday, May 24 (Day 8):

This was the last day of our trip. We started out immediately by requesting a late 1pm checkout, and headed straight for the MK. We bought delicious danishes at the bakery. The ropes had dropped by the time we finished eating, and Alex was anxious to get one more Space Mountain ride. He set his alarm for 11:30am, and headed off for Tomorrowland.

We strolled on through the castle and into Fantasyland. We didn't really want to ride anything there, just wander through a few shops and see which characters were at the Lagoon greeting area. They were the same set of characters as we had already met a few days before, so we headed for Toon Town. Along the way we stopped at the Tea Cups, and Kim suggested taking Elizabeth on. They had a Tea Cup to themselves and Elizabeth really enjoyed the ride.

As Kim and Elizabeth exited the Tea Cups, we saw that the Queen of Hearts had come out to greet guests. We waited in line and watched the Queen's antics. She was kicking a small girl out of the picture her mother was trying to take, and then feigning innocence. She was not in a very good mood and seemed very displeased at having to sign autographs.

When our turn came, the Queen was extremely impatient to get her hands on Jen. She reached out and beckoned us to hand our baby over. She held her and played with for a long time. I began to worry that we weren't going to get our precious little baby back. Elizabeth didn't know what to think and was quite cautious. We snapped some pictures of the Queen tickling Jen, and some more of the girls and I with the Queen.

By the time the Queen of Hearts gave us Jen back, a long line had formed, but then dispersed to go meet Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and Alice whom had also come out. We said thank you and goodbye to the Queen and went to meet the other characters and get our pictures taken with them. The lines weren't bad, but Elizabeth was getting increasingly impatient, and then she didn't know what to make of the Tweedles.

After we left Wonderland, we headed off to Toon Town. We figured Elizabeth would only be patient enough to wait for the characters once. That was okay since she had seen plenty of Pooh, Minnie and all their friends last night. We got in the Fairy Tale Friends line and Elizabeth hung on the rails again to pass the time.

Inside, we got to meet Ariel once again, and also Belle. Jennifer was really starting to enjoy the company of the characters, but Elizabeth was once again starting to get overwhelmed, just wanting to rush to the next line. The Mad Hatter was also here, and was acting strange -- very, very strange, indeed. The girls weren't too sure about him, so we took a quick picture and were on our way.

On the way out, we encountered Cruella DeVille sitting on a bench. There was only one family in line in front of us, so we stopped to meet her. When Cruella discovered that this family owned dalmations, she got very excited and chatted with them for a very long time. The girls got impatient waiting, and a huge line formed behind us. When out turn came, Cruella noticed the line, and our babies. She declared that she didn't want to be pooped on and sat with the girls just long enough to get their picture taken. She then proceeded to be very hasty with everyone behind us. Such a dreadful woman, with only a horrible interest in dalmations! ;-)

We headed back to the Hub and waited a few minutes for Alex to return. He got to ride Space Mountain a few times, and also the TTA to kill a few minutes before coming back. We examined all of the cameras and found that they all had half used rolls of film. We snapped a bunch of pictures of the castle, main street, the monorail, the Seven Seas, the ferry boats, each other, our boat ride, the WL, the geyser, etc.. We must have looked like we had just arrived! We managed to use up all the film, though.

We frantically packed everything, and called for bell services at almost exactly 1pm. The bell services CM arrived very promptly and took our bags down to our waiting van. We had about 20 bags and he had extreme doubts that it would be easy to help pack the van. I had him just hand me bags because by now I knew exactly how everything fit. The van was loaded within minutes, and as I was tipping him, he said it was the most efficient pack job he had ever seen.

We pulled away from the Wilderness Lodge at 1:30pm and would arrive home another 15.5 hours later at 5am. Everyone was exhausted and slept all night except when I started fussing because I took some wrong turns trying to get on to the D.C. beltway. It's disorienting when you are the only car on the beltway at 3am.

Overall, the trip was great. The heat was wearing, but the crowds were not too bad, except for Memorial Day weekend. In the future, we will try earlier in May, when we go in the Spring. We got ressies at the ASMovies for the first week of May next year hitting both Kim and Elizabeth's birthdays while we are there.

Buying Annual Passes seemed like a real money saving idea. We had forgone APs the previous trips, and ended up going three times during the 25th anniversary. Had we bought APs, we would have saved a bundle. Now, our idea was to return next May before our APs expire, and one other time around Christmas.

Last Christmas when my family converged on my parents house, it was so crowded and so overwhelming for Elizabeth, I declared that next year we were skipping the annual exchanging of gifts, and using the money to head for Disney World. It certainly had to be less crowded than that fiasco. We shall see -- we've got ressies at CBR from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day.

But now, in our post trip depression, we (or was that I?) scheduled a trip for the last week in October. We will hit Mickey's Halloween Party and hopefully see plenty of the AK and WDW that it won't matter if we don't do much over Christmas because of the crowds. These APs are really saving us money now. Right?

But wait. After reading on RADP about smaller crowds this summer, and some of the great AP discounts available, I've planned a quick trip in August for our Anniversary. We'll be at the Contemporary for three nights. Please tell me these APs are saving money, right?

Thanks for reading. Sorry again for being so long winded. Until our next trip...

Jim Hunt

j_hunt@my-dejanews.com