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01-12-2009, 06:56 PM
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Arnold van Beverhoudt - December 21-27, 2008 - Off-Site
Arnold van Beverhoudt, Jr. -- December 2008 -- Off-Site
Travel Dates: December 21-27, 2008 Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car Resort: Bluegreen Vacation Club’s The Fountains Accommodations: 2-Bedroom Suite Ages Represented: Older Adults WDW Experience: Veteran (annual visits since 2003) Comments: A different kind of Walt Disney World trip, with plenty of resort touring. Cast of Characters: Arnold, 58 (trip reporter) -- 12 WDW trips since 1973 and 1 Disneyland trip in 1985 Helena, 59 (wife) -- 11 WDW trips since 1982 and 2 Disneyland trips in 1972 and 1985 Prior Trip Reports on Mouseplanet: 30 Years at Disney World: 1973 to 2003 http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=67012 December 2003 http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=66932 December 2004 http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=67027 December 2005 http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=67092 December 2006 http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=68905 July 2007 http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=75549 December 2007 http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=88757 April 2008 http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=102122 Advance Planning: In closing the trip report for our April 2008 visit to Walt Disney World (WDW), I said that we probably wouldn’t be visiting again for a while because we had already used up our Disney Vacation Club (DVC) points for 2008-2009 and had also put a serious dent in our personal budget. But what I hadn’t taken into consideration at the time was a non-Disney timeshare that we own in Aruba. While Aruba is a beautiful island and offers some things (mostly in the way of nighttime entertainment) that are not available on our home island of St. Thomas, it’s still pretty much a Caribbean island with lots of beautiful beaches – something we live with every day. So, we got to thinking about exchanging our week in Aruba for a week somewhere in Florida. As luck would have it, our timeshare company (Florida-based Bluegreen Vacation Club) had availability during Christmas week 2008 at it’s “The Fountains” resort in Orlando. This resort is on International Drive, just a few miles from WDW. We were going to be in Florida in December anyway, for our annual medical checkups in the Deerfield Beach/Boca Raton area and a couple weeks with our daughter, Selene, and her family in Port St. Lucie. The extra expense for a week in Orlando would mainly be an extra week on our rental car and the extra meals for that week. So, we decided to go ahead with plans for a December 2008 visit to WDW. In early July, I reserved a 2-bedroom suite at The Fountains (all units are 2-bedroom suites) for Sunday, December 21 to Saturday, December 27, a total of 6 nights, 7 days. Next was making airline reservations. American Airlines had their non-stop flights between St. Thomas and Miami at $439 per person, roundtrip, including fees and taxes. A mid-sized rental car from Hertz, including fees, taxes, and the NeverLost GPS system, would run $1,185 for the month that we would be Florida. I also made medical appointments for Helena and I, and reserved a room at the Comfort Suites in Deerfield Beach for the week we’d be spending there. All that remained was for us to decide what we wanted to do with our time in Orlando. Our initial idea was to not visit the theme parks at all, but to make this trip a hotel-touring visit. With that in mind, I made Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) at Spoodles (Boardwalk Villas), Whispering Canyon (Wilderness Lodge), Kona Café (Polynesian Resort), The Wave (Contemporary Resort), Jiko (Animal Kingdom Lodge), and Olivia’s Café (Old Key West Resort). We made these choices after checking out the menus posted on the All Ears Net website (http://www.allearsnet.com). We also hoped to get the chance to eat at the new T-Rex restaurant at Downtown Disney, but they weren’t in the ADR system as yet. So, we’ll play that one by ear (no pun intended). Because we won’t be staying on-site, the Disney Dining Plan wasn’t an option. I’ll look into the Disney Dining Experience (now called Tables in Wonderland) discount card when we’re closer to our trip dates. All of this planning was completed by July 15. But, in later correspondence with fellow trip reporter Steve Russo, he suggested that we try to fit in at least a few hours at the theme parks. Also, in late-August word came that my favorite rock and roll band, The Ventures, had been signed to appear at Epcot’s Flower Power Concert series again in April 2009. The wheels in my head started turning -- not a good thing sometimes -- and I rationalized that if I bought Annual Passes (APs) for Helena and I to use during Christmas week 2008, we would be able to use them again in April 2009 and a third time in early December 2009 (when we would have DVC vacation points available again and the possibility existed for another family visit to WDW with our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter). I finally gave in and ordered APs for Helena and I in late September. With a $100 per person DVC discount, the two APs cost a total of $786 including taxes. What we now plan to do is visit a theme park for a few hours each morning, go to the particular resort for each day’s ADR around mid-afternoon so that we have some time to explore the resorts, and then head back to the theme park after dinner. We fully realize that the crowds are going to be very big and the attraction lines very long during Christmas week. But if we can ride one or two of our favorites and see the parades and firework shows at each park, we’ll be satisfied. The only thing that I, personally, was not looking forward to was the prospect of having to do all of the driving myself because we’ll be staying off-site and won’t have the availability of the Disney bus transportation system. At least we will be able to use the monorail and water ferries. Regardless of that one negative, our final itinerary looks like this:
What Actually Happened: Sunday, December 14: The Plan: AA Flight from St. Thomas to Miami, Drive to Deerfield Beach If you’ve read any of my previous trip resorts, you pretty much know our travel day routine. We were awakened by the alarm clock at 4:00a, showered and got dressed, ate a light breakfast, packed our luggage into the car, and drove to my brother’s home. He again graciously agreed to get up very early on a Sunday morning to drive us to the airport. We arrived at 6:15a for our 8:45a flight to Miami, only to find that there was already a long line of other passengers checking in for the flight. We used one of the self-service kiosks, but it didn’t print out our boarding passes because of some malfunction. So we had to repeat the process on another kiosk. We were surprised to find that American Airlines had added a $15 per bag fee for each of the two suitcases we were checking in, one each for Helena and I. (This “first bag” fee wasn’t in effect when we traveled to Florida in April.) If we had taken more than one bag each, there would have been an additional $25 per bag fee for each extra bag. The Customs check was completely routine. (You might not know, but although the Virgin Islands are territories of the United States and most of its residents are U.S. citizens, travelers to the mainland still have to clear U.S. Customs the same way that foreign travelers do.) The security check was also a breeze and, for the first time in several trips, we didn’t have to open any carry-ons or be subjected to wanding. (For our flight in April, metal underwires in Helena’s bra kept setting off the metal detector.) Although we had about an hour and a half to wait before the boarding time for our flight, we prefer to get to the airport early and just relax, instead of being caught in the last-minute rush of late-comers. In fact, our flight turned out to have been over-booked, and quite a few of those late-comers were stuck in “standby” status. Once onboard the plane, one thing I found unusual was that the flight crew was actually rushing people to their seats so that the flight could make an “on-time” departure. Even so, we rolled away from the gate about 5 minutes late. The flight itself was completely uneventful, and we landed in Miami a few minutes before the scheduled arrival time of 10:40a (11:40a back home). After deplaning, we had to walk what felt like 5 miles from the arrival gate to baggage claim (the Miami terminal is HUGE!), but at least our two bags were already on the carousel by the time we got there. We headed outside to the rental agency shuttle pickup area to find a Hertz bus already there waiting for passengers. Within a few minutes we were on our way to the Hertz rental center. We had about a 15-minute wait to be served because of other customers in line ahead of us, but the actual check-in process went very quickly. We were assigned a silver Chevy Malibu with the NeverLost GPS system and Virginia license plates. Hertz had a “manager’s special” on racy Chevy Corvettes, but as much as I’d have loved to get behind the wheel of one of those babies, it was priced out of our range and wasn’t practical for us and our luggage. Once we left the Hertz facility, we were soon on I-95 North, headed to Deerfield Beach. The drive went off without a hitch or much traffic. Within about 50 minutes, we were stopping at a Boston Market in Deerfield Beach for a quick lunch/dinner. We then made our way to a nearby Winn-Dixie supermarket to pickup a few grocery and toiletry items we would need for the week. Our Comfort Suites home for the week was just a couple miles away, and we were soon checked in. After unpacking our suitcases and calling home to let our families know we had arrived safely in Florida, we showered and settled in for the night. Helena was beat from the very long day and was asleep by 8:00p. I managed to stay awake long enough to see the entire Survivor finale and live reunion shows. We were both happy that Bob won Survivor, as we were cheering for an old-timer (like us) to win for a change. Tomorrow our medical appointments begin. Monday, December 15 to Saturday, December 20: The Plan: Medical Appointments and Some Last-Minute Shopping in Deerfield Beach I won’t go into too much detail on the happenings during this week, but here are a few of the highlights: - On Monday, Helena had her annual breast exam, and the exam and mammograms turned out okay. She just needs to followup again next year unless something unexpected turns up before then. We spent the afternoon at Sawgrass Mills, a huge outlet shopping mall in Fort Lauderdale. We had lunch at a Cheesecake Factory at the mall and passed by a Disney Character Outlet store. It was filled with stuffed toys and children’s clothes, but nothing that we really felt inclined to buy. - Tuesday was the day for my visit to a pulmonary specialist to check out my lungs. You may recall my mentioning in a prior trip report that I suffer from pulmonary sarcoidosis, the same chronic inflamation of the lungs that was at least partially responsible for actor/comedian Bernie Mac’s death earlier this year. In his case, his lungs were probably too compromised to survive the pneumonia that he caught. For me, over the past year, I’ve been suffering from a chronic cough and I’ve been undergoing some tests to try to determine whether the cough is being caused by the sarcoidosis or the gastric reflux from which I also suffer. Based on CT scans and a physical exam, the doctor found that my sarcoidosis was stable and had not progressed since last year, and he believes that my cough is being caused by a combination of gastric reflux and severe nasal drip, both of which are irritating my throat. He gave me some medication to try for a couple weeks, after which he wants to see me again for a followup (which we scheduled for January 9). After the doctor’s visit, Helena and I spent some time at the nearby Town Center mall in Boca Raton, but we didn’t do much shopping other than my picking up the latest Star Trek novels at Waldenbooks. (Yes, I’m also a rabid “trekker” and am anxiously awaiting next summer’s new Star Trek movie.) In the evening, we had dinner and spent an enjoyable few hours with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and his son, all of whom live in Deerfield Beach. - On Wednesday, Helena and I had eye exams scheduled. These exams included computerized scans of our retinas to detect any signs of macular degeneration, plus tests for glaucoma and cataracts, and for new prescription glasses. The eye exams all went well. Helena’s glaucoma is under control and we got prescriptions for new glasses. At the adjacent LensCrafters, we placed orders for new glasses with progressive lenses instead of the tri-focals we normally use. They’ll be ready for pickup in about 10 days, but we won’t actually pick them up until we’re back in the Deerfield Beach/Boca Raton area for my medical appointment on January 9. Helena and I were really surprised that the cost for eyeglasses has gone through the roof since the last time we got new glasses about 2 years ago! They set us back about $500 for each pair. While at the Town Center mall (where the eye doctor and LensCrafters are located), we had lunch at an Asian restaurant called Stir Crazy. The food was quite good and reasonably priced. After lunch, we drove to the Pompano Citi Centre mall, which is the only one nearby that has both Sears and J.C. Penney stores. Helen picked up a handbag and a pair of jeans. From there we went to a nearby Muvico theater to see “Bolt.” Helena and I thoroughly enjoyed the film and think it’s probably Walt Disney Studios’ best animated feature since “Lilo and Stitch.” I think it bodes well for the future of Walt Disney Studios animated movies. We also enjoyed the little Pixar short “Tokyo Mater” that aired before the feature. It places Mater (the tow truck from “Cars”) in Japan competing against a drifting champion. (For the benefit of non-motorsports enthusiasts, “drifting” is a fairly new form of auto racing originated in Japan where souped-up import sedans race around the track letting the rear of the cars skid sideways around the corners in a cloud of tire smoke.) After the movie, we headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night. - Since our medical appointments in Deerfield Beach were taken care of, on Thursday we checked out of the Comfort Suites and drove up to Port St. Lucie, where we stayed three days at a Hampton Inn and visited with our daughter Selene, son-in-law John, and granddaughter Jaidyn before heading up to Orlando on Sunday. We had a very nice time with them over the three days, including being charmed by 3½ year old Jaidyn, who’s becoming quite the little young lady. We’ve seen so much of a change in her since we last saw her in late July, when Selene and family visited us on St. Thomas for a week. In addition to knowing her alphabet and numbers, Jaidyn’s learning to sing pieces of songs she hears on the radio and TV, and also learning a few words in Spanish, including counting up to ten. We all ended the day with dinner at a local Olive Garden. - On Friday we spent some time with Selene and family again, most of the time playing with little Jaidyn. Helena and I also took a couple hours to visit the Treasure Coast mall in Jensen Beach, where Helena bought a couple dressy tops. We also had a late lunch at the mall’s Ruby Tuesday and brought some take-out back for Selene and John. - Saturday was laundry and packing day to get ready for our road trip to Orlando on Sunday. We did the laundry at Selene’s home and again loved the opportunity to play and interact with Jaidyn. We ended up having a late lunch at the local Chili’s and again brought back some take-out for Selene and John. Back at our Hampton Inn later in the evening, we packed our bags in preparation for our drive to Orlando tomorrow morning.Sunday, December 21: The Plan: Drive to Orlando, Downtown Disney, Lunch at T-Rex, The Fountains Check-In The alarm woke us at 7:30a, and I checked email while Helena showered. After we were both dressed, we got a quick breakfast downstairs (complimentary hot breakfast at Hampton Inn). By the time we packed up the car and got on the road, it was close to 10:30a. The long ride north on the Florida Turnpike went by quite quickly and smoothly, including a “pitstop” at a rest area along the way. Tolls included $8.70 on the Turnpike and $1.50 on the Osceola Parkway. By 12:30p, we were pulling into Downtown Disney’s parking lot, which was absolutely packed. We were lucky to find a spot right in front of the entrance arch for the Pleasure Island area. After another quick “pitstop,” we headed directly over to T-Rex for lunch. Although the check-in stand wasn’t mobbed, there were many people who had already checked in and were just waiting to be called to their tables. Many of these were large groups of 6 to 12 guests! I’m pretty sure that many of these large groups were locals enjoying a little bit of Disney magic on a Sunday afternoon. Helena and I were actually called within 15 minutes of having been checked in, and were led to our table just where the “wooly mammoth” section turns into the “ice cave” section. Even if someone didn’t know that T-Rex is owned by the same company as the Rainforest Café, the relationship would immediately be obvious. The general layout of the restaurant and attached gift shop and the overall concept of the theming is so similar. However, where the Rainforest Café is themed to a jungle setting, T-Rex is themed to a prehistoric setting. The animatronic bull elephants and gorillas are replaced by dinosaurs and wooly mammoths, and the occasional thunderstorms are replaced by meteor showers. But overall, the atmosphere is exciting and thoroughly entertaining, even if a bit noisy. T-Rex is a definite must-see if you’re ever at Downtown Disney. Our server was Mike, and he was very attentive and friendly. Helena and I both went full hog for the tenderloin filet. Unfortunately, Helena’s filet came out medium-well instead of the well done that she always requests for meats, and mine came out closer to medium than the medium-well that I requested. I believe Mike may have suspected that the filets weren’t properly cooked because, when he brought them to the table, he asked us to check them while he looked on, and apologized profusely before taking them back to the kitchen to be put on the grill for a few more minutes. Despite the short delay, the quality of the meal was very good, and we had no complaints with Mike’s service. We passed on desserts, and the final bill, including tax and gratuity, was $89. Leaving T-Rex, we made our way through the Marketplace area, spending quite some time looking around the World of Disney store. We ended up picking up a few little goodies (a coloring book, an autograph/sticker book, and a packet of 200 stickers) for Jaidyn and a nice photo album for this trip’s pics, at a total cost of $48. We would have liked to have spent some more time at the World of Disney, but we wanted to get to our off-site timeshare before dark. We did, however, take some time to enjoy delicious hot fudge sundaes at Ghiradelli’s, at a cost of $17 for the two, before heading back to our rental car. Hertz’s NeverLost GPS system (which my brother christened “Sarah” during our July 2007 WDW vacation with his family) got us safely and without wrong turns to the Bluegreen Vacation Club’s The Fountains complex on International Drive. It’s directly across the street from the Sheraton Vistana resort, and is a very large and very new complex. This was our first time staying there. Check-in went quickly and with no wait in line, but we were then sent to the guest services desk to get the parking pass for our car ... and the inevitable hard sell to attend an owners’ update seminar. We reluctantly signed up for a session on Tuesday morning at 8:00a, even though we know it will cut into our park time at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We had a bit of trouble finding our building (No. 6) because the only signage is on the buildings themselves, but we finally got to the right place and started to unpack the car. The 2-bedroom suite is very, very nice and, in fact, might actually be a bit roomier than a comparable 2-bedroom suite at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort (SSR). The quality of the furnishings, construction, and facilities are every bit equal to those at SSR. The only complaints we have are that high speed internet is $9.95 per day (discounted to $4.95 per day if you sign up for a full week) and there is no free mid-week housekeeping service. That costs $25. One thing that was a pleasant surprise to me was that “Stacey’s Top 7 Must Sees at Walt Disney World” airs 24/7 on the internal TV system. Once we unpacked everything and settled in, we watched some TV and checked email, after which I sat down to write up these trip report notes while Helena showered and got ready for bed. I finally shut down the PC around 9:30p and also got ready for bed. Tomorrow will include some park time at Epcot, plus touring the Epcot resorts and dinner at Spoodles. Monday, December 22: The Plan: Epcot, Dinner ADR at Spoodles (Boardwalk Villas) The alarm buzzed at 7:00a and, after our morning routine, we enjoyed a slice of that island Christmas tradition, Caribbean sweetbread, which I believe I described in last year’s Christmas trip report. (Earlier in the month, Helena baked four of them and we had them express mailed to Selene -- three for her and one for us to use while in Orlando.) We were on the road to Epcot by 8:45a and were driving up to the parking lot by 9:15a. Although there was a crush of cars at the ticket stations, we got parked and through the park security check without any problems. The first order of business after that was to exchange our annual pass certificates for the actual passes. This went a little slower than I remember from that last time we got annual passes and, to make matters worse, the guest services CM who attended to us issued both passes in my name. It’s a good thing we caught this mistake right away and returned to her to reissue Helena’s pass in her name. On going through the turnstiles, we noticed that the CMs were not requiring guests to scan their fingers and, later in the day, a CM at the International Gateway said that they often bypass the finger scans in the mornings. We wanted to get a Photopass picture in front of the holiday topiaries and Spaceship Earth, but there was such a crush of people in that area that we just skipped it. Instead, we followed the masses over to the Land pavilion to get Fastpasses for Soarin’, with return times of 11:45a. We then walked over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends pavilion to take in the cute ride and look around at the exhibits. It was pretty crowded in here also, and we decided not to wait for the next available showing of Turtle Talk with Crush. It was about at this time that I told Helena that I was having to repeat to myself: “Take a deep breath, take a deep breath.” I had to fight my tendency to want to do everything at the parks on every visit and get frustrated when they’re crowded, as Epcot was today. Eventually, I did talk myself into taking it calmly and reminding myself that this trip to Walt Disney World was all about relaxing and visiting the resorts. After Nemo and Friends, we headed over to the Imagination pavilion, where we first took in the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience movie and then the Journey into Imagination with Figment ride, both as direct walk-ons. In the ImageWorks area, we emailed a humorous photo-postcard to Selene, having electronically pasted google-eyes onto our faces. We then back-tracked to the Land and watched the Circle of Life environmental film. One thing that caught our attention during the short pre-show film was the fact that the Earth does not produce any new water. The water that exists today is the same water that the dinosaurs drank and over which Columbus sailed more than 500 years ago. That really makes you think how precious a resource water is. Oil can and probably will eventually be replaced by renewable sources of energy, but water is irreplaceable. After the film, we headed downstairs to grab a quick lunch at the Sunshine Seasons food court. We didn’t want to eat anything heavy because we had a 4:30p ADR at Spoodles, so Helena settled on a fruit salad and I had a banana nut muffin, both washed down with orange juice. We also got a couple chocolate chip cookies to snack on later. The total cost was $15. By now, it was almost 12:00p, and we were inside our Soarin’ Fastpass window. As we walked down the virtually empty Fastpass line, we were just amazed that so many people just don’t get the concept and, instead, line up for an hour or more in the standby line. Well, their loss is to the benefit of those of us who use Fastpass. Helena and I were directed to the left side theater and, unfortunately, to the far left seats in the second row. Although we still enjoyed the ride very much, I did notice some distortion of the picture because we were so close to the curvature at the edge of the screen. At this point, the park was very crowded and the wait times for the attractions on the opposite side of Future World were beyond belief. So, we headed over to the International Gateway, via the Canada side of World Showcase. In all of the years that we have visited Epcot, this was the very first time we had ever exited the park through this way. I stopped at a guest services window and purchased a Tables in Wonderland (formerly Disney Dining Experience) card at a cost of $60. This should give us roughly a 20% discount at most Disney World eateries. After that transaction, we spent most of the next two hours just strolling along the walkway connecting the Epcot resorts and visiting each resort in turn. This turned into a very peaceful and rewarding afternoon, and we noticed several other family groups doing the same thing. First up was the Beach Club, where we were fascinated by the gingerbread and chocolate carousel. That was really an amazing piece of work. The detail on the horses was incredible. Helena found six of the nine “hidden Mickeys” that were supposed to be on the carousel sculpture. We also looked around the lobby area and visited the Beach Club’s gift shop, where I found the new “Four Parks, One World” park music CD set (2 discs) and a lanyard with clear plastic pocket for park tickets and Fastpasses. Unfortunately, I lost the receipt for these two items, but the total cost (based on the price tags on the items) was about $30, before taxes. Just a little further down, past the Stormalong Bay pool area, was the Yacht Club. On entering the lobby area, it was immediately apparent that this sister resort to the Beach Club caters to a slightly more “elite” clientele. It’s not quite as intimidating as the Grand Floridian, but we certainly felt under-dressed compared to the guests who were milling about the lobby. At the Yacht Club, the centerpiece of the Christmas decorations was a very picturesque mountain village, complete with cable car, railroad train, and even a miniature homeowner clearing the snow from his front yard with a snow blower. At the gift shop here, I picked up a nice polo shirt with a little Mickey figure on the left front. I hope the shirt lasts a long time, because it cost $38. Next up were the Swan and Dolphin resorts. We didn’t actually venture inside these two resorts, but we walked around the grounds, checking out the architecture. One question that I had (and Helena said she had similar thoughts) was whether the sculpture on the top of the Dolphin is supposed to represents the mammal dolphin (aka porpoise) or the dolphin fish. To us, that sculpture looks nothing like the dolphin mammal, but much more like a fish. We continued up the bridge from the Swan to the main Boardwalk area, checking out the stores and other establishments along the way. One quick stop was to take a look at the DVC model rooms for the Boardwalk Villas. We haven’t had the opportunity to stay there as yet, but the model rooms seem to be comparable to those at our Saratoga Springs home resort. At the Boardwalk resort/villas lobby area, we stopped to check out their gingerbread creation, a large gazebo with characters of Donald and Daisy seated inside. This lobby was quite busy, with many people milling about, so we didn’t get to look around as much as we had at the Beach and Yacht Clubs. By now, it was around 3:00p, and our ADR at Spoodles wasn’t until 4:30p. So, we grabbed a table on the boardwalk in the sun to just relax and enjoy the scenery for a while. The seagulls there were very aggressive. Once in a while one would fly down and sit on the railing right next to us hoping for a bite to eat, and when someone appeared in the area with food, they just went wild. (Incidentally, I didn’t mention before that a cold front had passed through Florida on Sunday night. So, although Sunday’s high temp was around 80 degrees, today’s high temp was only in the 60s, with a strong breeze making it feel even colder. Unaccustomed to temps below 70, we were all bundled up with longjohns under our jeans and leather jackets over our shirts. The high temp on Tuesday is supposed to go back up a little to the low 70s, and that would be much more bearable for us.) While we were sitting there near the entrance to Spoodles, we noticed that several family groups would go inside and come right back out a minute or so later. Eventually, we went to check out the place and found that they weren’t going to open for dinner until 5:00p, although we had been given an ADR for 4:30p. We also checked out the menu and decided that it really didn’t appeal to our simple tastes in food. So, we called the WDW-DINE number and cancelled out of Spoodles. Instead, we headed over to the ESPN Club, which was virtually empty, and enjoyed some of their barbeque ribs and shared a chocolate cake for dessert. We used our new Tables in Wonderland card for the first time, and saved $8. The net cost totaled $42, including gratuity and tax. Incidentally, our server, Tula, was most gracious and attentive. After dinner, we headed back over to the International Gateway and re-entered Epcot just so that we could make our way to the front exit and the main parking lot. We had no trouble finding our car in that huge sea of vehicles, and “Sarah” had us back at The Fountains on International Drive without any wrong turns. The rest of the evening was spent by Helena doing some laundry and myself catching up on emails and updating the trip report. Helena was in bed by 10:30p and I followed shortly after 11:00p. Tomorrow begins with the owners’ meeting for the Bluegreen Vacation Club, followed by a few hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and dinner at the Whispering Canyon. I really hope that owners’ meeting doesn’t kill too much of our time! Tuesday, December 23: The Plan: Hollywood Studios, Dinner ADR at Whispering Canyon (Wilderness Lodge) We were rudely awakened by the alarm at 6:00a this morning. We had to get an earlier start because of the 8:00a Bluegreen owners’ meeting. I won’t go into the details, but it was the typical hard sell and the whole thing dragged on for almost 3 hours, not the promised 1 hour. At least we got $75 in Disney gift cards out of the deal. We didn’t actually get on the road to Hollywood Studios until almost 11:30a. We got to the Studios’ parking lot without much trouble, only to find it packed. This wasn’t promising for what awaited us in the park. The lines at the security stations and turnstiles were short, but only because almost everyone who was planning to visit the park were already inside. Hoping against hope, we headed directly to Toy Story Mania to see if any Fastpasses were still available -- they weren’t -- or if the standby line was reasonably short -- it wasn’t. The wait time was posted at 80 minutes and the line was wrapped all around the outside of the building. Walking by, I noticed that the next section of the building (closer to the Backlot Tour) had a sign indicating that “a new production is in preparation.” So, something new (probably Pixar-themed) appears to be in the works. Helena and I continued to the backlot area and were just in time to catch a performance of the High School Musical 3 show. It’s now being presented at the backlot end of the Streets of America instead of in front of the Sorcerer’s Hat. Amazingly, the entire Streets of America area was filled with people. I swear there were as many people there as there are for the Osborne Lights at night! After the show, we slowly made our way to the head of the Street and got in a 15-minute line for Muppet*Vision 3D. Of course, there was a family who stopped in the middle of their row although the CMs kept up their announcements about not doing that. Eventually, one of the CMs made the family move down to the end of the row. I was very glad to see that happen, and kudos to that CM. The film was, as always, quite enjoyable and I got a tickle out of the first-timer reactions of the gentleman who was seated next to me. We next continued towards the area in front of the Sorcerer’s Hat, noting the new marque for the American Idol Experience attraction, which is scheduled to open in early 2009. We also noticed that there is now a stage in front of the Sorcerer’s Hat, where Mud, Sweat, and Shears was putting on a show. I guess they and High School Musical just traded places. I definitely do not like that stage in front of the Hat. Having the Hat hide the Chinese Theater was bad enough, but now that area just looks so cluttered and almost claustrophobic. Yuk! Helena and I stopped at Gertie the Dinosaur’s ice cream stand for waffle cone twists, cost about $8. After taking a short break and finishing off the ice cream, we headed for the exit at around 2:00p. We really hadn’t been able to accomplish too much in the 2 hours we spent at Hollywood Studios. Getting a late start at the parks is definitely not the way to go. Since we had a dinner ADR at the Whispering Canyon, we next headed over to Wilderness Lodge to have time to explore around the resort. However, “Sarah” must have had a bad night, because she kept wanting to steer us in the direction of Fort Wilderness, not Wilderness Lodge. After we made a U-turn in Fort Wilderness’s campground, “Sarah” finally got her bearings and guided us successfully to Wilderness Lodge. As others have commented, the Lodge’s massive lobby is an amazing place, and the Christmas tree one of the largest I have ever seen -- even counting those at the theme parks. We went out to the pool area to look around and saw two families waiting for the geyser to erupt, so we joined them for the short wait. What a mistake! All of us, 7or 8 people, got absolutely soaked because the gusty winds blew the water spray in our direction. The wind was blowing so hard that even when we retreated to the far end of the large swimming pool, we were still feeling the spray from the geyser. To make matters worse, the temp was fairly cool today, barely breaking a high of 70 degrees. Once back inside, Helena and I visited the Lodge’s gift shop to pick up a couple dry t-shirts that we could change into. The total cost was $32, and we used the Disney gift cards that we had gotten this morning for attending the Bluegreen sales pitch. We then plopped ourselves down on one of those large, comfortable couches in the lobby and waited for the Whispering Canyon to open for dinner. When it did, we were either the second or third family group seated. Our server was Sergio (aka Senor Dusty according to the receipt) and he gave us just the right amount of shtick without going overboard. Helena had the roasted chicken and I ordered the ribeye steak, with dessert being vanilla ice cream for Helena and the apple caramel pie for me. The net cost, including gratuity and taxes, was $66. We saved $13 by using the Tables in Wonderland discount card. After dinner, we headed out to the car for our return drive to The Fountains timeshare. We stopped at a 7-Eleven along the way to top off the gas tank, and were back in our room by 6:00p. As I write this, it’s still only 9:00p, and we’ll be turning in shortly for an early start tomorrow, Christmas Eve. The plan is to visit the Magic Kingdom in the morning and have dinner at the Polynesian Resort’s Kona Café. Depending on the weather and how tired we are, we may try to catch Wishes from the Polynesian’s beach area. Wednesday, December 24: The Plan: Magic Kingdom, Dinner ADR at Kona Café (Polynesian Resort) The alarm got us out of bed at 6:00a again on Christmas Eve. After getting dressed and enjoying an in-room breakfast of Caribbean sweetbread, we were on the road to the Magic Kingdom by 8:30a. Traffic on the way was actually lighter than I was expecting, and the parking lot seemed to be less filled than the lots were at Epcot and Hollywood Studios on Monday and Tuesday. We parked in “Pluto, row 15.” We took a half-filled ferryboat from the Ticket and Transportation Center over to the Magic Kingdom. If I remember correctly, this is probably the first time we’ve traveled on the ferry since 1982. All other Disney World trips since then have included on-site hotel stays where we used the Disney buses. It was an enjoyable few minutes across the Seven Seas Lagoon. The security check was a breeze, as was getting through the turnstiles. One thing we have noticed so far on this trip is that none of the entries have required a finger scan, but the CMs staffing the turnstiles have had to use the bar code reader to register our annual passes. Once inside the park, we paused for a few minutes to admire the Christmas tree and take a few pics. Am I correct in saying that the decorations on the plaza around the tree are different this year from previous years? I could be wrong, but I don’t have access right now to my photos from earlier trips to check it out. We made our way down Main Street, stopping for a set of Photopass pics with Cinderella’s Castle in the background. Because we’re not going to have many on this trip, I’ll just order prints of the good ones online and then scan them into the computer to have electronic versions for myself and for backup. (Incidentally, you might be interested to know that a couple years ago I undertook a project to scan all of my family and trip photo albums. I now have a collection of family photos going back to 1910 all in digital form and backed up on two computers and several DVD copies. It literally took me months, sometimes working until after midnight, to scan all of the photo album pages and then clean up damaged and faded photos with Photoshop. I also spent over a month copying all of my home movie videotapes into DVD format, including video from Disney World and Disneyland trips from 1982 through 1997. Anyway, back to the trip report ...) Our first ride of the day was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. We picked up Fastpasses with a return time of 10:25a and then entered the standby line, which was a complete walk-on. We immediately got a big surprise when we (and others entering the attraction at the same time) were given Dream Fastpasses. Helena and I have visited Disney World at least five times since the Year of a Million Dreams started, and this was the first time we received anything of real significance. (One time I was given a Dream certificate for completing a quiz based on the One Man’s Dream exhibit, and another time Selene received two Dream collector pins at the then Disney-MGM Studios.) Helena and I were really pumped up about getting the Dream Fastpasses ... and on Christmas Eve! As for the ride, Helena clobbered me with a score of about 88,000 to my 42,000. Neither of those are very good scores, but she beat me 2-to-1. We were then going to use our Dream Fastpasses to ride Buzz Lightyear again, but the Fastpass return line was closed because the standby line was only 10 minutes. Instead, we took a relaxing spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, followed by the Carousel of Progress. I guess I never paid attention before, but I was amused to learn that the wife on the Carousel of Progress is names “Sarah.” Helena and I joked that now we have a face (even if an “animatronic” one) to associate with the female voice of the Hertz GPS system. The audience for this showing of the classic attraction couldn’t have been more than 20 or 25 people. That doesn’t bode well for the future of this beloved classic. We next made our way to Fantasyland to use up some of our Dream Fastpasses. First up was the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, where I love “bouncing” with Tigger. As we were passing Snow White’s Scary Adventure, we noticed that the standby line was pretty short. So, we decided to take a ride although we didn’t have Fastpasses for that ride. The wait was less than 5 minutes. While in the queue, we saw a young family with a little girl around 3 years old who was screaming her head off because she didn’t want to go on the ride. Unfortunately, her parents forced her onto the ride anyway, and the little girl had her hands over her eyes as their ride vehicle disappeared into the darkness of the ride. That’s certainly not the way to encourage a child to want to ride this or other attractions in the future. Next up was Mickey’s PhilharMagic, where we also used Dream Fastpasses. For the second time in 2 days, we saw a CM call out a family that stopped in the middle of a row despite the repeated announcements to move to the end of the row. (Remember, that happened at Muppet*Vision yesterday.) This is probably my favorite of the 3D movies at the theme parks, but I really do wish it was longer. That being said, I’m a big Muppet fan, and if Hollywood Studios ever gets a new Muppet 3D film, that one will probably jump to the top of my list. By the time we got out of Mickey’s PhilharMagic, it was about 11:00a, and a priority for us today was to catch the new Christmas parade, which was scheduled to begin at noon. So, we headed back to Main Street and staked out a spot on the right (East) side. While we were waiting, a CM passing by our location told Helena that she couldn’t use her cane/seat because it was a fire hazard. What?! She’s been using it at all of the parks since 2003 and no one has ever made a comment like that. In fact, many people, including CMs, have commented to Helena about how ingenious the cane/seat is and asked where she got it. Anyway, after the CM left the area, Helena opened it and sat back down without further incident. While we were waiting, two “opera divas” from the turn of the century entertained the crowd in our area. One of them started to make up lyrics using the words written on people’s shirts, and included the “Hard Rock Café, St. Thomas” that was on the shirt I was wearing. We’ve never seen these two ladies performing before, but they were a riot. Eventually (around 12:15p), Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade reached Main Street. This was our very first time seeing this particular parade and, although it was obvious that some of the floats from the old Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parade were redressed for this new version, the parade was quite good. I liked the new music and the way that the classic characters were worked into the parade floats. I took tons of pictures, which I’ll have to sort through to pick out the best for posting. After the parade, Helena and I stepped back from our spots on Main Street and went into the nearby bakery for a quick mid-day snack of apple turnovers. We didn’t want to eat anything heavy that would spoil our appetites for this afternoon’s ADR at the Polynesian Resort, but we needed something to quench our hunger. The turnovers were light and crisp, even if a little on the cool side. The cost for the turnovers and a couple soft drinks was just under $10. Since we still wanted to use up more of our Dream Fastpasses, we then headed back to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz Lightyear. Helena again clobbered me by a 2-to-1 score, this time about 300,000 to 150,000. On exiting, we immediately re-entered the Fastpass line, using the 10:25a Fastpasses we had gotten at the beginning of the day. This time I insisted on taking the left side of the ride vehicle (I always sit on the right) to see if the scores would be any different. Well, my score was ahead of Helena’s almost to the very end, when she got a high scoring target and still beat me by a sizeable margin of about 180,000 to 140,000. I guess I’m just not good at shoot-em-up video games. What can I say? We wanted to also use the Dream Fastpasses for Stitch’s Great Escape, but all day long that attraction’s Fastpass line was closed off, although the standby line was way out in the Tomorrowland walkway. So, we headed back to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan’s Flight, followed by an adventure on the Jungle Cruise, both using more Dream Fastpasses. Our skipper on the Jungle Cruise improvised the script just enough to make it unique. He also had a young brother and sister take turns steering the boat, and they got a big kick out of that. By this time (around 2:30p), the Magic Kingdom was a solid mass of people, so we headed towards Main Street and the park exit. We caught the monorail to begin our resort touring for the day. We didn’t get off at the Contemporary Resort because we’re scheduled to have dinner there on Christmas Day and will tour that resort then. Instead, we first stopped at the Grand Floridian. I had heard about the almost life-sized gingerbread house there, but that was a pretty amazing sight. I can’t imagine the amount of baking and delicate construction work that went into putting together that masterpiece. We also soaked in the atmosphere in the grand lobby and browsed some of the gift shops. As much as I feel out of place at the Grand Floridian, I’d still like to stay there sometime (even if only for a day or two) just to say we did it. Once we were through at the Grand Floridian, we headed back to the monorail to make the loop back around to the Polynesian Resort. We first took in the sights of the upper and lower lobby areas, including the collection of gingerbread buildings on display here. Instead of one large gingerbread display, the Polynesian had about a half dozen smaller gingerbread houses created by different food service CMs at the resort. Most (if not all) of the houses were recreations or based on real buildings in Hawaii and other Polynesian islands. My favorite was the recreation of the Iolani Palace in Honolulu. The real palace was built in 1891 and was the residence of the last Hawaiian monarchs, including Queen Lili'Uokalani. Helena and I next went outside to tour the grounds of the Polynesian Resort. It is really a lush and tranquil place, and we still have high hopes of someday spending some vacation time at this resort. When we came back inside the Great Ceremonial House, we staked out a couple comfortable chairs in the upper lobby to wait for the Kona Café to open for dinner. While we were there, families were arriving for dinner at O’hana. After each wave of guests was called into the restaurant, a tired, but still friendly, CM would pull the chairs and side tables back to their assigned locations from where the dinner guests had moved them while their family groups waited for their turn, only to have the next wave of guests move them all over the place again. That poor CM must be pretty frustrated by the end of each work shift and suffer from a lot of back pain. Those chairs that she was moving around all afternoon are not lightweight. Right at 5:00p, the Kona Café opened for business, and we checked in at the podium. We, along with other dinner guests, were given pagers and we were called to our table in about 5 minutes. Our server was Marisol, who’s from Argentina. She was very pleasant and answered some questions we had about the menu options. Helena ended up ordering the pan-seared prime rib, and I had the teriyaki pineapple New York strip steak. Both were excellent and cooked just right. For dessert, Helena had a Kona Kone (ice cream in a large waffle cone), and I had the banana chocolate creme brulee. Although the Kona Café normally accepts the Tables in Wonderland discount card, Marisol told us that Disney had imposed a blackout on use of the card for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and for New Years Eve and New Years Day. So we had to pay the full price of the meal, which was $85 including gratuity and tax. By the time dinner was over, it was after 6:00p, and Helena and I were really feeling tired from the long day of fighting the crowds at the Magic Kingdom. So, we decided to just call it a day and head back to our timeshare. That was accomplished by way of the monorail. We got off at the Ticket and Transportation Center and quickly got on a tram to the parking lot. Now, earlier in the evening when Helena and I were relaxing in the lobby and waiting for the Kona Café to open, I casually asked Helena, “Our parking spot is Goofy, row 15, right?” She, however, remembered it as “Pluto, row 15.” After that, I was wracking my brain trying to remember which was the correct parking location. I even closed my eyes and tried to visualize what I had seen written on the pavement after we had parked. So, when we got off the tram with “Goofy” on one side and “Pluto” on the other, it was really a toss-up as to which was the right place. As it turned out, Helena was right. As we started walking towards “Pluto, row 15," I started to press the “lock”and “unlock” button on the car’s keychain. Sure enough, just a few vehicles down the line, we saw the lights flashing on and off each time I hit the button. You’ll have to excuse a tired and retired accountant is he’s losing his memory. After that “adventure in parking lot land,” our drive back to the timeshare on International Drive was a breeze. “Sarah” got us home safely again. Back in our room, Helena put a load of clothes in the washer, took a shower, and went to bed by 10:00p. As usual, I stayed up an extra hour finishing off this section of the trip report before also turning in. At least, neither of us was awake when Santa made his midnight appearance. Thursday, December 25: The Plan: Magic Kingdom, Dinner ADR at The Wave (Contemporary Resort) After the madhouse at the Magic Kingdom on Christmas Eve, we were completely intimidated by the idea of having to navigate the park with an even larger crowd on Christmas Day. Therefore, we decided to change our plans a bit. Instead of visiting the Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day, we’ll sleep in later to rest our weary bones, and head over to the Contemporary in the early afternoon to look around and for our 5:30p ADR at The Wave. But, there was another complication. A couple days before, the All Ears Net newsletter reported that the Contemporary was going to be very restrictive about parking at the resort on Christmas Day. Non-resort guests who were planning to visit the Contemporary on that day were advised to plan on using either the monorail or the ferryboat to get to and from the resort. That brought up a question I had posed on MousePad a few weeks before as to what would be the best parking strategy when driving from an off-site resort to the Disney theme parks and resorts. What I plan to do is to drive to Wilderness Lodge and park there. We’ll then use the ferryboat to either get directly to the Contemporary or, at least, to get to the Magic Kingdom where we could then use the monorail to get to the Contemporary. Find out below how that went ... ~ ~ ~ We slept in a little later today, getting up shortly after 8:00a. In addition to again having an in-room breakfast of traditional Caribbean sweetbread, we exchanged gifts, called home to wish various family members a “Merry Christmas,” and got a couple more loads of laundry done. We didn’t drive out of The Fountains timeshare complex until almost noon. I realized this morning that one resort we had forgotten about visiting was Fort Wilderness, so we set “Sarah” to guide us there instead of to the Wilderness Lodge. The route “Sarah” set for us was through the Magic Kingdom parking area and as we approached, there was a mass of cars trying to get into the parking lot. This was despite the fact that signs were posted along the way stating that the Magic Kingdom was already “full” and “closed,” and it was only about 12:15p! We bypassed the Magic Kingdom parking lot and were soon parked near Fort Wilderness’ Outpost (check-in area). Within a few minutes, one of the internal buses arrived, and we took the short ride to the Settlement (Hoop Dee Doo Revue area). We spent some time looking around, checking out the facilities and gift shop, and taking some pics before heading over to the dock to catch the ferryboat to the Contemporary Resort. One thing we noticed at Fort Wilderness was that many of the campground guests had erected Christmas decorations at their campsites (more on this later). The short ferryboat ride included a stop at the Wilderness Lodge before continuing on to the Contemporary. The seaside entrance is on the ground level, which is where the main lobby and The Wave restaurant are located. We looked around a bit, then took the escalator up to the 4th floor, where all the action is. In addition to Chef Mickey, this level has a whole array of shops (including the new Fantasia shop) and a counter service area. One level up from there is the monorail ramp. While we browsed in the Fantasia shop, we saw a cute Finding Nemo picture frame, which we bought as a little gift for Selene and John. I used the Disney gift card we had gotten from our Bluegreen owners’ meeting on Monday. The cost of the frame was $21. The 4th floor is also where the Contemporary’s gingerbread house was on display. This one wasn’t actually a house, but a large diorama featuring Pinocchio and Geppetto. It was really an amazing piece of work, with intricate detail and “right on” appearance of the two characters’ faces. After spending quite a bit of time on the 4th floor, we went back down to the lobby level and staked out a comfortable couch on which we just relaxed and people-watched until it was time for our dinner ADR at The Wave. In one section of the lobby area, resort staff were serving lemonade and Christmas cookies to guests, and Mickey and Minnie were taking turns posing for photos with the guests. Mickey was in his finest “top hat and tails,” while Minnie sported a fancy red dress with white fur trim. After the stint for each character, their guides accompanied them through the main lobby to a backstage area. While we relaxed, there was also a steady stream of hotel guests going to and fro, and many little children running around, some with the parents oblivious to what mischief their children were up to. Our ADR was for 5:30p, and about 15 minutes before that time we headed over to The Wave and checked in. Within 5 minutes, we were escorted to our table. Our server was Yvonne, from Germany, who explained some of the items on the special holiday menu the restaurant was using today. She also apologized that use of the Tables in Wonderland discount card was blocked out for the day. Helena and I both had the traditional turkey dinner, which included all the usual sides plus dessert samplers as part of the fixed price. I added an avocado citrus salad as an appetizer. The food was all very good, the main course servings were quite large, and Yvonne’s service was impeccable. The total cost for dinner was $79 including gratuity and tax. After dinner, we headed outside to catch the ferryboat back to Fort Wilderness. We boarded at just about 7:00p, and were at our destination within 15 minutes. A short walk to the bus stop at the Settlement was rewarded by an internal bus just arriving to take passengers back out to the Outpost area. We were amazed, along the way, by the number and sophistication of the Christmas light displays that many campground guests had erected at their campsites. We had seen evidence of decorations earlier in the day, but at night, the glowing Christmas lights were more visible through the trees and extended into the distance. The bus ride ended almost too soon, as we were delighted by the lights. We found our parked car quickly and were soon on the road back to our timeshare. Helena showered and relaxed watching some TV, including a rerun of Grey’s Anatomy, while I updated the trip report notes. Lights out was around 10:30p. This was a very unusual Disney World day for us, as we never went anywhere near a theme park. It was also a very low key Christmas Day without family members around. But then again, it was a very relaxing day, and that’s what vacations are all about, isn’t it? Friday, December 26: The Plan: Animal Kingdom, Dinner ADR at Jiko (Animal Kingdom Lodge) That @#$% alarm woke us up again at 6:00a, and we were on the road to Animal Kingdom by 8:30a. The traffic going into the parking lot was surprising light, although the tram to the park entrance was completely filled. We were through security in a flash and then through the turnstiles. I noticed that again finger scans were not used as people were entering the park. The scans haven’t been used at all this week. Is this just a temporary thing to speed up entry during this peak attendance period? We stopped for a minute on the bridge leading onto Discovery Island so that I could get a pic of the Tree of Life. (How many of these do I have now? I guess it’s just my obsession with trying to get just the “perfect” picture.) We headed directly into Africa and over to the Kilimanjaro Safari’s Fastpass distribution area, where we picked up passes for 10:15a. Then we went next door to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Three of the gorillas, a male and two females, were asleep right next to the glass viewing area. They really were feeling lazy today. In the singles section, we only saw one of the bachelors, again fast asleep in the shade. At the meerkat habitat, three of the little critters were standing upright on their hind legs watching a vulture that was perched on a rock nearby. Once, when the vulture spread its wings, the meerkats dropped down on all fours and arched their backs, leery of an attack. The CM in the area was concerned about the vulture’s aggressive behavior, and asked the guests present to let him know if the vulture made any move towards the meerkats. (The CM was standing behind the crowd that was gather viewing the meerkats, and didn’t have a clear view of the habitat area.) There wasn’t very much else exciting going on at the trail today, as very few other animals were in view. After the Pangani trail, we were still about 15 minutes too early for our safari Fastpasses, so we sat on a nearby bench until 10:15a. Once we entered the Fastpass return line, it took about 10 minutes to get to the safari bus. We were seated in the second row, which proved to be a much smoother ride than when we’ve been near the back on previous visits. Even so, most of the animals were either completely out of view or at a great distance from the bus route. We did get close views of the alligators, elephants, giraffes, and a white rhino. We also caught a glimpse of the male lion, again fast asleep in a shaded area. After the safari, we made our way over to Camp Minnie-Mickey for the 11:30a showing of the Festival of the Lion King. The CM staffing the entrance booth was announcing that they were expecting an overflow audience and, indeed, the theater was completely packed by the time the show started. We were seated about a third of the way up in the lion section. As always, the Festival of the Lion King was a great, fun experience. I think this is my favorite live show in all of WDW (aside from parades and fireworks shows). And -- don’t tell Helena but -- I still think the Bird Lady is a real beauty. :-) After the Lion King, we bought a couple Nestle Crunch ice cream bars and took a short break to enjoy them. Then we set out to Dinoland USA in the hopes of catching the 1:00p showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical. The line was surprising short when we got there, and we ended up being seated in the middle upper section of the theater. By show time, the theater was again completely filled. We always enjoy this show, but today we just didn’t have good seating. For most of the production, I had a great view of the back of some guy’s head plus the back of his little son’s head popping up and down between seated and standing positions. I spent most of the time leaning into Helena’s personal space just to be able to see part of the stage. After Nemo, there was a crush of people exiting the theater combining with the crowds already out on the nearby walkways. So, it took some real effort to make our way over to Asia to take in the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Again, many of the animals you normally see in this area were “missing in action.” At least, the tigers were front and center in their enclosure. One was reclining but very alert in one area, while two others were pacing back and forth in the near background. In the second enclosure, two more tigers were resting in the shade -- one quite alert and the other fast asleep. Since it was now about 3:00p, we started to head for the park exit, because we didn’t want to get caught by the afternoon parade. We did take a few minutes, however, to stopped at the Mombasa Marketplace to pick up a couple souvenirs. These were a Simba plush toy for Jaidyn and a Mickey and Minnie photo holder for my brother back home. The total cost was $37, and I used the last of the Disney gift cards we had gotten at the Bluegreen owners’ meeting earlier in the week. The wait for the tram back out to the parking lot was pretty short, and we found our parked car without any problem. However, the short drive over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our dinner ADR was a comedy of errors. “Sarah” wasn’t clear in her instructions, and I missed a turnoff. Then, “Sarah” sent us on a route that led back to the Animal Kingdom parking lot, and we had to ask an attendant for directions to the Lodge. Finally, on the third try, we found the place. The security guard at the Lodge checked my driver’s license and let us through to the guest parking area. This is an amazing resort, and we’d very much like to stay here sometime. On entering the cavernous main lobby, it’s immediately obvious that the underlying structure is very similar to the lobby at Wilderness Lodge. Of course, though, the details are very different. We explored around the lobby floor, went down to the first floor, where Jiko and Boma’s are located, and looked around by the pool and nearby savannah areas. We then headed back up to the lobby and found ourselves a couple of comfortable chairs to wait for our ADR time. We were within view of a wide-screen TV that was showing classic Disney cartoons, and we enjoyed watching them while we relaxed. By the way, we saw the hidden Mickey in one of the large overhead light fixtures. About 20 minutes before our 5:45p ADR time, we headed down to Jiko and checked in at the podium. The CM gave us a pager, which buzzed within 5 minutes. We were quickly seated and given menus by the host. A short time later, Sally, our server came with a plate holding warm, wet towels for us to wipe our hands. She then went into great detail explaining the items on the menu. We both had the fire-grilled filet mignon with macaroni and white cheese plus a wine sauce. The meat was cooked to just the right temperatures we requested and were excellent, tender cuts. But then, at $39 each, I would expect the quality to be outstanding. Helena skipped dessert, but I had a pistachio creme brulee. Helena doesn’t like pistachios, but the creme brulee really didn’t have a heavy pistachio taste. It was quite good. Although the CM at the front desk had told us the Tables in Wonderland discount card was blacked out for today, Sally accepted it and the 20% discount was applied to our bill. Even after an $18 discount, the net cost was $93 including gratuity and tax. After dinner, we made a quick stop at the Mara food court to pick up a fruit salad for Helena to snack on back at our timeshare. This cost just under $4. We then said “goodbye” to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and programmed “Sarah” to guide us back to the timeshare. This time there were no wrong turns, and we reached our destination by 7:00p. Because we have to check out tomorrow by 10:00a, Helena did a couple loads of laundry to get all our clothes ready for packing. The wash wasn’t done until close to 11:00p, and I took another 40 minutes to get everything (except what we’ll need in the morning) packed away. Lights were out by midnight. Saturday, December 27: The Plan: Hollywood Studios, Lunch ADR at Olivia’s (Old Key West), Drive to Port St. Lucie Today was one of those days you’d rather forget. Our cell phone rang at 4:45a. It was ADT Security Services from back home informing us that the burglar alarm at our home went off and that they were dispatching the police to check things out. I called my brother (it was an hour later, 5:45a, back on St. Thomas), and he also went to our home to check things out. It turned out to be a false alarm, probably triggered when the power went off momentarily during a thunderstorm that had passed by. But my brother found that there was no power in our bedroom nor the kitchen. Fearing the worst, a major electrical short somewhere inside the house, I asked him to please call the electrician to come check things out. Luckily, it turned out that the main circuit breakers at the electrical meter box had a lot of corrosion on them. The electrician cleaned the breakers enough to return power to the entire house, but he’ll have to come back another day to change them out for new breakers. This last bit of good news didn’t come until around 9:00a, and we never were able to get back to sleep after that first call from ADT. We had breakfast in our room and loaded up the car for our eventual return trip to Port St. Lucie. We checked out and were on the road by 10:00a, with the intention of visiting the Old Key West resort and having lunch at Olivia’s Café. On the way, we stopped at a Publix supermarket to pick up a couple toiletry items Helena wanted. But while we were there, she suddenly began to feel nauseous and had to rush to the store’s restroom, where she threw up. She was feeling a little better after that, so we continued to Old Key West to see the place, but decided to cancel our lunch ADR at Olivia’s because Helena wasn’t up to a heavy meal. We looked around the central complex and took a slow walk around the resort, but Helena again started to feel ill and again had to rush to the restroom. We decided it would be best to visit a walk-in medical clinic, and I asked a concierge CM if she could recommend a place. She gave us driving directions to a CentraCare clinic, but “Sarah” incorrectly directed us to another clinic further away on US-192. On the way there, Helena threw up yet again in the car. Luckily we had set out a few plastic bags for this possibility. The doctor ended up giving her a shot to help relieve her symptoms and also containing an antibiotic for the strep throat that he diagnosed based on a throat swab and culture. That seemed to help, because Helena didn’t have any further nausea. The doctor said that he was seeing many patients recently with the same symptoms. One word of warning, though, we were absolutely price-gouged by this doctor and his receptionist, who took advantage of “out-of-towners” who were facing an emergency situation. The doctor’s examination, throat swab and culture, and injection ended up costing us $545! I don’t remember the exact name of the clinic, but it’s on US-192, very near the exit to the Florida Turnpike. At first we were apprehensive about starting out on our 2-hour drive to Port St. Lucie, but Helena felt she would be okay. So, we headed to the Turnpike (toll again $8.70). By now it was around 1:00p. On the way, we stopped at one of the rest stops so that Helena could get a Sprite and I could get a quick Burger King lunch. Then it was back on the road. We were originally planning to spend the next two weeks with Selene and her family at their home. But we didn’t want to expose them to whatever Helena had. So, we called Selene and asked her to contact the Hampton Inn hotel in Port St. Lucie and make a reservation in our name. Hopefully, what Helena has is just a 24-hour bug and I can keep from getting it, so that we can go to Selene’s home by New Year’s Eve. Once we got to Port St. Lucie, we went to a Walgreens that we’ve visited before to fill a prescription for antibiotics and an anti-nausea medication that the doctor in Orlando had given to Helena. But the pharmacist wouldn’t fill the prescription because he couldn’t read the doctor’s handwriting and didn’t want to guess at what had been prescribed. So, we proceeded to the Hampton Inn, where we arrived just around 4:00p and checked in without any problems. We only unpacked a few of our clothes and other essentials and settled in for the night. Luckily, Helena didn’t have any further bouts of nausea, and was asleep by 6:30p after watching a little bit of TV. I stayed up a little longer to check emails, download the Old Key West photos (not very many), and write up the trip report notes. Lights were out by 9:00p. We were disappointed at not being able to spend more time at Old Key West and have lunch at Olivia’s. But the little that we saw really convinced us that Old Key West is perhaps the most “laid back” of the Disney resorts. Just about everyone we saw were dressed casually in t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops, or just in swimsuits. Old Key West resort would fit right in perfectly on a beachfront on St. Thomas. It certainly appears to be a very relaxing place. Sunday, December 28 to Saturday, January 10: The Plan: Visit with Selene and Family at Her Home in Port St. Lucie As I did for the week in Deerfield Beach at the beginning of the trip, I’ll just summarize some of the highlights of our stay in Port St. Lucie. - On Sunday, Helena got up feeling a bit weak and with a very bad headache. We decided not to take any chances, and went to a nearby walk-in clinic that we have visited several times over the years (Martin Memorial Hospital’s MediCentre). The doctor diagnosed Helena as having pharyngitis (rather than strep throat) and gave her a legible prescription for an antibiotic, an anti-nausea medication, and a pain reliever for the headache, which we had filled at Walgreens. Unlike the walk-in clinic in Orlando, this one accepted our health insurance, and we didn’t have to pay anything up front. The rest of the day, we just stayed in our room at the Hampton Inn so that Helena could rest up. I spent most of the time watching some TV and just doodling on the computer. Helena felt well enough later in the day for us to visit a nearby Denny’s, where she had a bowl of chicken soup and I had a chicken ranch sandwich. - Helena was feeling a little better on Monday morning, so we went to Denny’s for breakfast, where she had pancakes. We then went to a local Wal-Mart to pick up a few items we needed. Most of the day we just relaxed in the hotel room, so that Helena could continue to recover from her illness. I spent several hours going through the more than 500 pictures I had taken in Orlando to pick out the best 200 to be printed for our photo album and to put on my sandcastlevi.com web site. We closed out the day with dinner at a Friendly’s diner, where Helena had chicken noodle soap again. While viewing some Disney-related web sites during the evening, I came across a story about a suspected “Norwalk Virus” outbreak at WDW. (That’s the same virus that often makes the news when there’s an outbreak aboard cruise ships.) I then searched for medical information about this virus, and found that the symptoms of the Norwalk Virus are identical to what Helena had experienced -- nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low-grade fever, headache, and muscle pain. We now believe that what she came down with was this virus, and not strep throat or pharyngitis. In fact, she hasn’t had any sore throat, which would be a main symptom of both of those viruses. Thankfully, the worst of it is behind her, and hopefully I won’t catch it from her. We’ve really been put out by the fact that we’ve had to spend these days in virtual isolation at the Hampton Inn instead of being able to spend the time with Selene, Jaidyn, and John here in Port St. Lucie. - On Tuesday, we again had breakfast at Denny’s and then spent a couple hours at the Treasure Coast Mall. Helena must have been feeling better because she made some clothes purchases at Macy’s, Sears, and J.C. Penney. :-) After doing some laundry at the hotel so that we could pack our suitcase to finally go to Selene’s home tomorrow, we had dinner at TGI Friday’s. - We slept in a bit on Wednesday before loading up the car and leaving the Hampton Inn before the 12 noon check-out time. After the short 15 minute drive to Selene’s home, we brought in our stuff and had a restful afternoon and evening with them. Selene, John, and Jaidyn went to the nearby Tradition community to see the 8:00p fireworks, but Helena and I decided to stay home. We were already asleep when the New Year came. - We all spent a quiet New Years Day at home. I got my Orlando photos printed at Walgreens (200 prints at 10 cents per print) and mounted them in a photo album I had purchased at Disney World. I also logged on to Photopass and added borders to two of the pictures of Helena and I that were taken at the Magic Kingdom last week. I ordered 5x7 prints and digital downloads of each one. In the afternoon, after Jaidyn’s nap, we all went to a Longhorn Steakhouse for an early dinner. - On Saturday, Jaidyn woke up pretty cranky and with a fever of 100 degrees. John was working today (he works 12-hour shifts on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays), so we took Selene and Jaidyn to the pediatrician. He said Jaidyn probably had one of the viruses that are going around (not likely the Norwalk virus that Helen had) and just told Selene to give Jaidyn children’s motrin or tylenol for the fever. The doctor wants to see Jaidyn again if she’s not better within 4 days. - On Sunday, Jaidyn woke up in a much better frame of mind with only a 99 degree fever, but by afternoon she was getting cranky again. I spent most of the day creating the web pages for my WDW trip photos and posted them to my sandcastlevi.com website later in the afternoon. But the day ended with the electrical problem back at home rearing its head once again. My brother called to let me know that he went to check our home earlier in the day and found that the power was again out in half the house. This included the refrigerator being off for who-knows-how-long and all the food in it being spoiled. It turns out that the electrician never returned, as promised a week ago, to replace the defective master circuit breakers. My brother said he would call the electrician again to try get him to come finish the job tomorrow. - Jaidyn was feeling much better by Monday and back to her normal self. Helena and I kept her occupied while Selene, a work-at-home web site designer/developer, put in a full day at work. Helena cooked her trademark roast beef with “good gravy” for dinner. My brother called early in the day to let us know that he had contacted the electrician and that he would be going to finally fix the electrical problem this afternoon. - On Wednesday, we were planning to go, with Selene, John, and Jaidyn, to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Deerfield Beach, since they hadn’t seen Selene and family in some time. However, Selene had begun to come down with a cold on Tuesday. Today she again woke up with sore throat, fever, and chills. So, instead just Helena and I drove down to Deerfield Beach. We spent a good four hours with my sister and brother-in-law, catching up on family news and eventually enjoying lunch at Olive Garden. Around 3:00p, Helena and I stopped by the LensCrafters to pick up the new eyeglasses we had ordered earlier in the trip (before the Disney World portion). We’re quite satisfied with the new progressive glasses, although they will take some getting used to. We have been using tri-focals for well over 15 years now, and the progressives (without the visible lines for the distance, intermediate, and reading portions) are quite different. A cold front was passing through Florida today, but we lucked out in not having to drive through any rain on the way back to Port St. Lucie. - Thursday morning Helena cooked a large stack of pancakes for everyone, including some pretty impressive Mickey pancakes for Jaidyn. I joked that she should try get a job at one of the Disney eateries that serve breakfast. Helena and I spent a short while at Target and Border’s, but we were at home keeping Jaidyn occupied. In the afternoon, we all went to a nearby Outback for a great, and very filling, dinner. - On Friday, I boxed up whatever stuff we had purchased in Florida and went to the local post office to mail the two boxes home. Around noon, Helena and I made the long drive back down to Deerfield Beach for my followup medical appointment with the lung specialist. He confirmed that my lungs are clear, and said that he believes the gastric reflux is what’s causing my chronic cough. He suggested several things I can/should do to gain control of the reflux. The only negative of the day was the almost 2-hour drive each way between Port St. Lucie and Deerfield Beach for a 15-minute doctor’s appointment! - Saturday was our last full day in Florida. After breakfast, we took Selene and Jaidyn to the Tradition community to do a bit of shopping and ended our outing with lunch at Chili’s. Back at home, I caught up on the trip report notes while Helena did a last load of laundry. I had our two suitcases packed by early evening and we had lights out by 10:00p.Sunday, January 11: The Plan: Drive to Miami, AA Flight from Miami to St. Thomas The alarm woke us at 5:00a as planned. John was already up, getting ready to leave for his 12-hour shift at the Wal-Mart distribution center where he works. By 6:30a, we were ready to leave, and Selene and Jaidyn were also up to see us off. Of course, it was a very bittersweet moment telling them “goodbye. Helena and I were on the road to Miami by 6:45a. As expected, traffic was very light at this early hour on a Sunday morning. But not expected was the thick patches of fog that lined the highway all the way down to the West Palm Beach area, for a good hour of the drive. Even so, it was a pleasant drive. We stopped for a short time in Deerfield Beach to get a light breakfast (egg croissants and orange juice) at Burger King, and then continued on to Miami. By 9:15a, we were pulling into Hertz’s rental return facility near the Miami airport. The shuttle ride to the airport terminal was just about 10 minutes, but then the traffic at the drop-off area was really a mess. So, it wasn’t until another 10 minutes or so before we reached the American Airlines section. At least curbside check-in was a snap. The porter was very friendly and had our two suitcases processed in just a few minutes. As on our flight up from St. Thomas, there was a $15 fee for each of the checked bags. Once we got inside the terminal, we noticed that the security area had been rearranged to form a neat cue area with multiple x-ray stations and metal detectors. The process was more orderly than in the past, but still quite thorough. My backpack was manually checked, supposedly because my bundle of computer/camera/ipod charges looked suspicious. The real “fun” started, however, once we were past the security check. Our departure gate was in concourse E, which is detached from the main terminal (like the gates are at Orlando’s airport). Normally passengers get to and from the concourse E gates on an elevated monorail-like train. However, the train system was down, and airport personnel were shuttling passengers in buses. It was a madhouse that wasn’t going anywhere fast. Luckily, after about 15 minutes, the train began operating again and we were all directed to the train loading area. The only problem was that the rush of people overwhelmed the escalator and it stopped working also. Helena and I had to walk up the last 1/3 of the flight of stairs, which wasn’t too kind on Helena’s bad knees. At least the train ride over to gate E33 took just a few minutes and once we were at the gate area, we were comfortably seated while we waited for the 11:35a boarding time for our flight. At about 11:40a, we got a call on our cell phone from aa.com informing us that our flight was going to be leaving 20 minutes late. Amazingly, we got this information about 10 minutes before it was announced by the gate attendants. (I always use aa.com when booking flights on American Airlines, and the website lets passengers set up flight status alerts to be sent to either a phone number or an email address whenever there are departure time, gate, or other flight status items. I highly recommend using this service if your airline makes it available.) In our case, our flight was going to depart late because the plane had arrived late from somewhere in the “frozen” North of the country and the flight crew had to get in a mandatory rest period before they could continue on our flight to St. Thomas. Boarding did begin at the new announced time of 11:55a for a 12:25p departure, but we were delayed onboard the plane for another 40 minutes while we waited for connecting passengers who were arriving in Miami on another flight that had been delayed from Dallas. We finally took off at 1:05p, a full hour later than the original departure time. The flight itself went very smoothly, with blue skies all the way. We arrived in St. Thomas around 4:30p (local time) to a light rain shower and a beautiful rainbow arched over the airport runway. My brother was there to meet us as we waited in the baggage claim area for our two suitcases to show up on the carousel. A short drive later, we were home and our month in Florida had come to an end. Now it was back to the realities of life in the islands: dealing with the refrigerator that needed to be emptied and cleaned, doing a grocery shopping trip to replaced the spoiled food items, going through a month’s worth of mail and bills, and getting our two cars inspected and registered for the new year. This first week back home was going to be hectic and tiring. Our week at Walt Disney World and even our most recent time with Selene and family now seemed like a distant memory. Conclusion: [b[Overview:[/b] Mainly because of financial concerns, this trip really wasn’t supposed to happen. But we were able to use a non-Disney timeshare to our advantage and make our sixth December visit in a row to Walt Disney World become a reality. During the week at WDW, we concentrated on touring the deluxe Disney resorts, and were able to visit all of them except Saratoga Springs, which is our DVC home resort. We used DVC-discounted Annual Passes, which we plan to use again in April and December 2009. For the first time, we purchased a Tables in Wonderland (formerly Disney Discount Plan) card. Because of the holidays, however, we weren’t able to use it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Even so, in just three uses (ESPN Club, Whispering Canyon, and Jiko), we were able to save $39 in dining costs. With just a couple more uses in April 2009, the card will have paid for itself. So, this was a great investment and highly recommended to other AP holders. Something else new for us on this trip was that we didn’t have the availability of the Disney bus transportation. Since we were staying off-site, we had to rely almost completely on our rental car to get to and from WDW and, to a lesser extent, to travel within WDW itself. Except for a few missed turns, overall we did pretty well. “Sarah” (our nickname for Hertz’s NeverLost GPS system) was a god-send. We absolutely would never attempt to rely on our own transportation without access to a GPS system. Without “Sarah” we would have been totally lost. One other thing that I didn’t particularly like was the hassle of dealing with the parking lots at the theme parks. Each morning there was a made rush of cars trying to get into the parking lot, then the rush of people getting on the trams to the park entrances, then having to basically do the same thing again at the end of the day. In the future, I think we’ll stick with on-site resorts and let Disney do the driving. The Highs:
The Lows:
What’s Next: As I noted in the advance planning section, I learned in late-August 2008 that my favorite band, The Ventures, would be appearing again at Epcot’s 2009 Flower Power Concert series. The exact dates are April 17, 18, and 19, 2009. That’s the weekend after Easter and exactly one week after my birthday on April 10. By the end of September 2008, I had already made airline, rental car, and hotel reservations for Helena and I to again attend the performances by The Ventures. I’ll leave the planning details for that trip report, except to mention that we’ll be staying at our original Walt Disney World home, the Caribbean Beach Resort (CBR), for 6 nights, 7 days. We first stayed at CBR in July 1989, and have always loved the place. Also, by December 2009, Helena and I will have DVC points available for another family visit with Selene, John, and Jaidyn. Health permitting and God willing, we’re very much looking forward to these two upcoming trips. Catch you on the next trip report in just 4 months! Contact Info: Although I didn’t take many photos at the theme parks on this trip, I did try to capture the themes and the Christmas decorations at the Disney resorts we visited. You can see some of the photos at my sandcastlevi.com website at the following address: Lastly, Helena and I welcome your comments on this trip report and our online photo tour. Our email address is: |
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01-13-2009, 03:35 AM
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#2 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Michigan
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Hooray--I love reading your trip reports! Thanks!
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"A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference." --Eeyore wdwjan@yahoo.com |
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01-13-2009, 06:07 AM
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#3 |
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Disney Addict
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Wohoo! I always enjoy your reports. I haven't read it yet, but I am looking forward to it
 .Jennifer
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Jennifer
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01-13-2009, 06:28 AM
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#4 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
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It is always a great pleasure when I have a trip report of yours to read. I LOVE them. You and Helena travel like my DH and I do.
Thanks so much for sharing another wonderful adventure with us. Ellen |
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01-13-2009, 06:06 PM
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#5 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Ellen, Jennifer, and wdwjan,
Glad you liked the report. We had a great time, despite the problems back home and Helena's illness that interrupted things. Life goes on down here in the islands -- the latest being that the clutch failed on my stick shift car today, so that's something else to deal with this week. We could use some Disney magic right now. Arnold |
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01-14-2009, 10:45 AM
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#6 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Prayers are being sent your way my friend.
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01-14-2009, 01:54 PM
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#7 |
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2005
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holly cow arnold !!in regards to helena seat cane there is always 1 in every crowd. glad you got the tiw card it really does save some money.
 the grand floridian is my fav. resort to visit. just the lobby is so inpressive . so sorry about your wifes illness & your house problems , glad it all worked out .but hey no BRITISH INVASION  .
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01-14-2009, 04:29 PM
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#8 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Ellen, thanks for your prayers. I didn't mean to overstate the problems, because they're nothing compared to what many people around the country are going through right now. At least we got to spend a week at Walt Disney World and three more weeks with family and friends.
~~~~~ Relaxed, we've never had the opportunity to see British Invasion, although we've heard their music in the distance while walking through the U.K. Maybe we'll have a chance to catch them in April when we'll going to see The Ventures again. Arnold |
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01-14-2009, 05:33 PM
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#9 |
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Account Closed
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Thanks so much for sharing your vacation
Hey there Arnold,
I'm not exactly new to the boards but have only been lurking for the past few years. I just wanted to thank you for posting your trip reports and the pictures. I have enjoyed them all so much. I'm already looking forward to reading your next trip report. Take care, Myra |
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01-15-2009, 04:13 AM
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#10 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Myra, thanks for the comments. I'm glad you (and others) enjoy the trip reports and pics.
Arnold |
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01-15-2009, 08:14 AM
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#11 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Tx
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Hi, Arnold -- we were there Dec. 18-24. From your pictures of the parade in MK on the 24th, I think we may have passed behind you on our way out of the park, lol! Once again, I enjoyed reading your report and looking at your pictures. Thanks for sharing.
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01-15-2009, 12:38 PM
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#12 |
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Self-Proclaimed Disney Queen!
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Sacramento, CA
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Arnold, I always love reading your reports...they're so well-written and I can follow your every move as I read! So sorry to read about the health problems, but hopefully all is much better now.
Regarding your alarm issue, we had a similar problem happen to us on our final vacation day last October. We had just returned to Epcot around 4pm and I ran to get Soarin' fastpasses while my hubby waited at Innoventions West for me to come back. When I found him again, I found out that our neighbor had called to tell us our house alarm was going off. It ended up being a problem with the smoke detector (although there wasn't any smoke in the house) but the alarm would not reset. We spent the next two hours tracking down our cat-sitter to go over to the house and cut off the back-up battery supply temporarily so the system could reset! (Poor cat had to live with the alarm going off continuously for two hours...good thing he's getting old and hard-of-hearing!) It was a headache to deal with all of that 3000 miles away (and we sure wished that it could have waited two more days until we were safely home), but luckily there was no real harm done; we just missed out on two more hours of fun at Epcot!  Looking forward to reading your next report! |
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01-15-2009, 02:47 PM
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#13 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Wicky's Friend and Pammer,
Thanks for the comments. It's rewarding to write the reports when they're enjoyed by others. ~~~ Pammer, those security systems can be a pain sometimes with the false alarms. In our case, it's usually the motion detectors. Most houses in the islands aren't air conditioned and, therefore, often the windows aren't as airtight as they are in houses in other places. So, a strong gust of wind can often make a curtain or window shade move just enough to set off the motion detector. They always seem to go off at the most inappropriate times. In July 2007, when my brother and his family were at WDW with us, there was a false alarm the day after we arrived in Florida. Luckily, I had given my neighbor the key for the house and code for the alarm, so he was able to shut it off. This particular neighbor had given me the key and alarm code for his home when he was on vacation, so we felt comfortable doing that. Arnold |
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01-15-2009, 02:53 PM
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#14 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Hi Arnold! I just copied your report onto MSWord. Can't wait to read it!
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01-18-2009, 09:02 PM
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#15 |
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: ♥ TWITTERPATED! ♥
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I'm not done reading yet, Arnold, but wanted to thank you for your description of being able to walk right to those Epcot resorts. We want to see the Christmas decorations, and I thought we would have to see them all by bus.
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01-19-2009, 06:15 AM
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#16 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Yes, there are five resorts all clustered around that one area outside the International Gateway. It's a very quiet and relaxing area and a fun way to spend a few hours away from the hustle-bustle of the Epcot park.
BTW, the five resorts are (in order): Beach Club, Yacht Club, Dolphin, Swan, and Boardwalk. Arnold |
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01-19-2009, 08:01 AM
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#17 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2005
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Great report and pictures.
What type of camera did you use for this pictures? I am heading to Florida in May and want a new camera |
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01-19-2009, 08:58 AM
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#18 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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PrincessD,
I used a 5-year old FujiFilm 3800 camera on this trip. It only has 3 megapixel resolution, but it takes sharp pics and has a viewfinder, which I prefer to use. FujiFilm has a newer version out with higher megapixel resolution, but I don't know the model number. I also have an Olympus Stylus 740 pocket camera, which is actually better for night and low light pics because is has higher ISO settings and 7 megapixel resolution. But it doesn't have a viewfinder, and the display screen on the back is extremely hard to see in sunlight. When using it during daytime, I'm almost guessing where the camera is pointed. Again, Olympus has newer versions of this camera, but I don't know if they've fixed the display screen problem. Arnold |
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01-25-2009, 08:55 PM
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#19 |
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Self-proclaimed Diz nut
MousePad Subscriber
MousePad Community Leader
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Minnesooooota
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I'm only at the "Dream Pass" day, but I'm starting to get sleepy and I want to give your wonderful trip report its full due. I did want to say that we went to a Blue-Green pitch here in MN, then purchased a "sampler package" and tried them out in the Wisconsin Dells. The townhouse there was very,very nice, but we sure did get a HARD sales pitch during our weekend.
We ended up not purchasing from Blue-Green. I'm holding out for DVC, but even that seems like a pipe-dream in this economy. Oh well.... I'll be back to better comment on your most recent TR. SO happy to hear that your (and your wife's) medical exams/tests gave you a clean bill of health!
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Mom & Mikey Will Rock the World in
Tina WDW 75, 85, 91, 99, 05, 3/07, 10/07, 08, 08/09; 10/09; 07/10 DLR 97, 02, 06 |
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01-26-2009, 03:40 PM
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#20 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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The Bluegreen resorts we've used so far have all been very nice. But the "hard sell" is a real turn-off. They should try to let the resorts sell themselves a bit more, as DVC does. Of course, Bluegreen and other non-DVC timeshare companies don't have the "Disney" name, which by itself I'm sure sells many memberships.
Arnold |
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01-30-2009, 12:52 PM
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#21 |
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MousePlanet Staff
MousePlanet Staff
MousePad Community Leader
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Albany, NY
Blog Entries: 6
Latest Blog Entry: Southwest and Disney World
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Arnold,
Great report. I'm glad I talked you into hitting the parks ;-) The holidays are a great time to visit. Sorry about the health issues though - I hope everyone is feeling better. We may also be there next December so I'll be looking for you. PS - I need that recipe for Caribbean Sweetbread...
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Steve |
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01-31-2009, 06:44 AM
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#22 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Steve,
Helena recovered completely from that "cruise ship virus" and Jaidyn and Selene got over whatever bugs they had caught. I've already made reservations at SSR for December 1-7, 2009. When the window opens, I'll try to get waitlisted for either Boardwalk Villas or Beach Club Villas. Selene and family will be joining us on that trip. Lastly, click on the link below to download a jpg scan of the sweet bread recipe. The actual published recipe is on the left side of the graphic, with Helena's notes on the right. Arnold |
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01-31-2009, 11:32 AM
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#23 | |
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MousePlanet Staff
MousePlanet Staff
MousePad Community Leader
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Albany, NY
Blog Entries: 6
Latest Blog Entry: Southwest and Disney World
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Quote:
Thanks for the recipe. We're going to give it a try. For some reason, I thought that coconut was a main ingredient. One more questions... You said, "I stopped at a guest services window and purchased a Tables in Wonderland (formerly Disney Dining Experience) card at a cost of $60." Were you able to purchase this without a prior enrollment? Just walk up to Guest Services, flash your AP and buy?
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Steve |
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01-31-2009, 11:44 AM
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#24 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
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Yes, Steve. I had forgotten to order the discount card before we left home, and decided to try getting it at the parks. There was no problem, and we were able to use it that same afternoon.
Arnold |
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02-03-2009, 01:07 PM
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#25 |
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Registered User
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Loved reading the trip report. Glad all is well now. My clutch just went out last week as well
I was excited to see the link to the bread recipe as well. I had been wondering about it as I was reading.
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Meisha WDW 1988, 1992, 2008, 2009 DCL 2009 No countdown right now
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