cshore
12-22-2003, 03:38 PM
Cshore and Alikat’s Very Merry December Trip
(aka: Chris and Ali eat Disney World)
The Cast: Cshore—Chris—mom—6 trapped in an adult body
AliKat—Ali—Daughter—19
The Scene: Walt Disney World, of course!
The Time: December 13-18, 2003
DAY 1:
4:00 A.M. December 13… Rise and Shine, we have a plane to catch in 2 hours! We hustle and bustle around for about 45 minutes, trying to remember all the last minutes things we forgot to pack the night before… oh yeah, and get showered and ready to go to. In just a few short hours we’ll be with Mickey! The car service (aka, father/grandpa) picks us up promptly at 4:45 and we head to the Akron/Canton Regional Airport. Check-in and security take no time at all and we are on the plane ready to leave at 5:40. The flight to Atlanta is fairly smooth, and then it’s off to Orlando! We arrive at MCO around 10:00 and are greeted by Mr. Gregory Nicholas himself as we head towards the baggage claim. It sure is nice to be away from the 18-degree weather at home, but we sure hope for highs above 68 here. We have a quick ride over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and arrive around 10:45. To our surprise, they have our room ready and we are checked in and settled in to room 2515 on the Zebra Trail by 11:00! We take some time exploring our room and notice some fun zebras and bongos off our balcony. We change into our swimmies, grab a quick lunch of tandori pizza at Mara (no more sugar cane chickenL ), and head to the pool. But where is Mr. Sunshine??? We explore the pool area and get a little sun before heading back to the room to go renew our AP’s at the Magic Kingdom. We were expecting AKL to be a little more decked out for the holidays, and were kind of disappointed at the lack of decorations. It sure is a beautiful resort, but we wouldn’t want to stay here at Christmas again. Hopefully Wilderness Lodge will be better tomorrow.
It’s over to Magic Kingdom by bus around 3:30 to renew our AP’s. We usually don’t go to MK the first day, but since our mini-meet at the Contemporary wasn’t for another hour, we decided to stroll in and look around Main Street a bit, stopping at the Bakery for a yummy toll house cookie ice cream sandwich. http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/200.jpg Yum! Around 4:30, we hop the monorail to the CR and make our way to the food court. Slowly we approach two women who seem to be straining their eyes as much as we were—it’s Betsyann and the Mom (Elaine)!!! We share giggles and hugs and start chatting away. Soon 3Princesses (Wanda) arrives with two of her princesses. They are the most adorable, outgoing, well-behaved children we’ve ever seen! http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/444.jpg We are all having a wonderful time until we realize that it is 5:55… and our PS at Chefs is at 6:00! UH-OH! We quickly say our goodbyes and dash for the monorail to the TTC, then to Epcot, run through the park and make it to Chefs by 6:30. With a little coaxing and mentioning birthdays, we are soon seated. Phew! We made it. This is always a first night tradition for us, and we love it here. We split the French Onion Soup, Brochettes de Mer (Shrimp, scallops, and salmon on a skewer), and Crème Brulee for dessert. Unfortunately, we were so excited (and hungry) that we forgot to take any pictures of our dinner. Guess we’ll have to come back again this trip! We were going to stay for the Candlelight Processional, but after being up since 4:00 A.M., we just head back to AKL and call it a night. Tomorrow is breakfast in the castle at 8, so it’ll be another early morning!
DAY 2:
Riiiiing Riiiiiiing—its Mickey calling to wake us up at 6:00. We get ready and are checked out of AKL bright and early, only to find that it is raining outside. We take the first bus of the morning to the Magic Kingdom and arrive there about 7:10. Unfortunately the gates don’t open until 8 and we are shy one poncho, so we stand and wait for the gates to open. We DO have the title of being the first in the Magic Kindgom that day, though! 8 o’clock and we rush to buy a poncho… when all of a sudden it is discovered that ALL the cash is still in the safe at AKL. However, we still have the key and decide to wait until after breakfast to handle the situation. A brisk walk to the castle and we are one of the first to be seated for breakfast. We get a lovely window table for two. Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Aladdin, and Cinderella all come by for pictures and autographs while we enjoy our delicious breakfast! http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/202.jpg On our way out, we see 3Princesses with all her princesses and hubby and say hello. They look so cute dressed up in their princess costumes! We get outside around 9 and it is pouring! We don our ponchos and begin making our way through the park. Since the rain has deterred people from coming, we walk on to Philharmagic, Peter Pan, Small World, Snow White, Pooh, Teacups, Buzz, TTA, Timekeeper, CoP, Indy Cars, and Space Mountain… all before lunch at 1:00!!! We make a quick stop for soup at Cosmic Rays and when we finish, it has stopped raining. We ride the Carousel, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, BTMR, Country Bears, and the Jungle Cruise before having a Dole Whip around 3:15. And NO, we were NOT NOT NOT commando touring!!! Then, we decide it is time to head over to AKL to retrieve the money. It is still in the safe and they don’t charge us any money for forgetting to return the key. Phew! We get over to Wilderness Lodge and check in around 5. They upgrade us to a courtyard viewing overlooking the Hidden Springs pool at the Villas. Yes, it is definitely Christmas at WL!!! The Christmas music, the decorations, everything is wonderful! We settle in to the room and then start getting ready for our special birthday dinner at Narcoose’s.
We take the boat to MK, then to the Grand Floridian. Our slightly cramped table has a great view of Cindy’s castle. Dinner is amazing! We have the Butternut & Blue Crab Soup http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/209.jpg, Black Grouper with Pumpkin Risotto and Cranberry Salsa http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/210.jpg , and then the Fruit Pyramid for dessert http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/217.jpg. This is one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten at WDW and will definitely be coming back again. We take our time looking around GF and take lots of pictures. The gingerbread house is incredible, as are all the decorations… except those darn yellow lights on the large tree. We just don’t get it… After spending some quality time in the resort, we catch the monorail to the MK, then a boat to WL. On our way to Fort Wilderness we stop to watch Wishes!!! It was like we had our own fireworks cruise. The only downside is that we were both only wearing ¾ length shirts, and the temperature was about 45 and really windy. It sure is hard to enjoy ANYTHING when you are freezing and just want to get back to the resort for hot cocoa! Eventually we end up at WL, change into our swimmies (yeah, we are nuts), and head down the hot tub with some hot cocoa. It is wonderful! After a nice long (ready almost hour) dip in the hot tub, we head back to our room and fall in to bed. Tomorrow is yet again an early morning—heading to early entry at Animal Kingdom.
Part 2, Part 3, and Pictures to come!!!
(aka: Chris and Ali eat Disney World)
The Cast: Cshore—Chris—mom—6 trapped in an adult body
AliKat—Ali—Daughter—19
The Scene: Walt Disney World, of course!
The Time: December 13-18, 2003
DAY 1:
4:00 A.M. December 13… Rise and Shine, we have a plane to catch in 2 hours! We hustle and bustle around for about 45 minutes, trying to remember all the last minutes things we forgot to pack the night before… oh yeah, and get showered and ready to go to. In just a few short hours we’ll be with Mickey! The car service (aka, father/grandpa) picks us up promptly at 4:45 and we head to the Akron/Canton Regional Airport. Check-in and security take no time at all and we are on the plane ready to leave at 5:40. The flight to Atlanta is fairly smooth, and then it’s off to Orlando! We arrive at MCO around 10:00 and are greeted by Mr. Gregory Nicholas himself as we head towards the baggage claim. It sure is nice to be away from the 18-degree weather at home, but we sure hope for highs above 68 here. We have a quick ride over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and arrive around 10:45. To our surprise, they have our room ready and we are checked in and settled in to room 2515 on the Zebra Trail by 11:00! We take some time exploring our room and notice some fun zebras and bongos off our balcony. We change into our swimmies, grab a quick lunch of tandori pizza at Mara (no more sugar cane chickenL ), and head to the pool. But where is Mr. Sunshine??? We explore the pool area and get a little sun before heading back to the room to go renew our AP’s at the Magic Kingdom. We were expecting AKL to be a little more decked out for the holidays, and were kind of disappointed at the lack of decorations. It sure is a beautiful resort, but we wouldn’t want to stay here at Christmas again. Hopefully Wilderness Lodge will be better tomorrow.
It’s over to Magic Kingdom by bus around 3:30 to renew our AP’s. We usually don’t go to MK the first day, but since our mini-meet at the Contemporary wasn’t for another hour, we decided to stroll in and look around Main Street a bit, stopping at the Bakery for a yummy toll house cookie ice cream sandwich. http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/200.jpg Yum! Around 4:30, we hop the monorail to the CR and make our way to the food court. Slowly we approach two women who seem to be straining their eyes as much as we were—it’s Betsyann and the Mom (Elaine)!!! We share giggles and hugs and start chatting away. Soon 3Princesses (Wanda) arrives with two of her princesses. They are the most adorable, outgoing, well-behaved children we’ve ever seen! http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/444.jpg We are all having a wonderful time until we realize that it is 5:55… and our PS at Chefs is at 6:00! UH-OH! We quickly say our goodbyes and dash for the monorail to the TTC, then to Epcot, run through the park and make it to Chefs by 6:30. With a little coaxing and mentioning birthdays, we are soon seated. Phew! We made it. This is always a first night tradition for us, and we love it here. We split the French Onion Soup, Brochettes de Mer (Shrimp, scallops, and salmon on a skewer), and Crème Brulee for dessert. Unfortunately, we were so excited (and hungry) that we forgot to take any pictures of our dinner. Guess we’ll have to come back again this trip! We were going to stay for the Candlelight Processional, but after being up since 4:00 A.M., we just head back to AKL and call it a night. Tomorrow is breakfast in the castle at 8, so it’ll be another early morning!
DAY 2:
Riiiiing Riiiiiiing—its Mickey calling to wake us up at 6:00. We get ready and are checked out of AKL bright and early, only to find that it is raining outside. We take the first bus of the morning to the Magic Kingdom and arrive there about 7:10. Unfortunately the gates don’t open until 8 and we are shy one poncho, so we stand and wait for the gates to open. We DO have the title of being the first in the Magic Kindgom that day, though! 8 o’clock and we rush to buy a poncho… when all of a sudden it is discovered that ALL the cash is still in the safe at AKL. However, we still have the key and decide to wait until after breakfast to handle the situation. A brisk walk to the castle and we are one of the first to be seated for breakfast. We get a lovely window table for two. Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Aladdin, and Cinderella all come by for pictures and autographs while we enjoy our delicious breakfast! http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/202.jpg On our way out, we see 3Princesses with all her princesses and hubby and say hello. They look so cute dressed up in their princess costumes! We get outside around 9 and it is pouring! We don our ponchos and begin making our way through the park. Since the rain has deterred people from coming, we walk on to Philharmagic, Peter Pan, Small World, Snow White, Pooh, Teacups, Buzz, TTA, Timekeeper, CoP, Indy Cars, and Space Mountain… all before lunch at 1:00!!! We make a quick stop for soup at Cosmic Rays and when we finish, it has stopped raining. We ride the Carousel, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, BTMR, Country Bears, and the Jungle Cruise before having a Dole Whip around 3:15. And NO, we were NOT NOT NOT commando touring!!! Then, we decide it is time to head over to AKL to retrieve the money. It is still in the safe and they don’t charge us any money for forgetting to return the key. Phew! We get over to Wilderness Lodge and check in around 5. They upgrade us to a courtyard viewing overlooking the Hidden Springs pool at the Villas. Yes, it is definitely Christmas at WL!!! The Christmas music, the decorations, everything is wonderful! We settle in to the room and then start getting ready for our special birthday dinner at Narcoose’s.
We take the boat to MK, then to the Grand Floridian. Our slightly cramped table has a great view of Cindy’s castle. Dinner is amazing! We have the Butternut & Blue Crab Soup http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/209.jpg, Black Grouper with Pumpkin Risotto and Cranberry Salsa http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/210.jpg , and then the Fruit Pyramid for dessert http://www.worldisround.com/photos/1/341/217.jpg. This is one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten at WDW and will definitely be coming back again. We take our time looking around GF and take lots of pictures. The gingerbread house is incredible, as are all the decorations… except those darn yellow lights on the large tree. We just don’t get it… After spending some quality time in the resort, we catch the monorail to the MK, then a boat to WL. On our way to Fort Wilderness we stop to watch Wishes!!! It was like we had our own fireworks cruise. The only downside is that we were both only wearing ¾ length shirts, and the temperature was about 45 and really windy. It sure is hard to enjoy ANYTHING when you are freezing and just want to get back to the resort for hot cocoa! Eventually we end up at WL, change into our swimmies (yeah, we are nuts), and head down the hot tub with some hot cocoa. It is wonderful! After a nice long (ready almost hour) dip in the hot tub, we head back to our room and fall in to bed. Tomorrow is yet again an early morning—heading to early entry at Animal Kingdom.
Part 2, Part 3, and Pictures to come!!!