WDW 2002 - Day 1

December 19th and 20th, 2002

Drive to WDW
One night at Wilderness Lodge

Comments? Questions? Send me an email! tagrel@tagrel.com

We left Apalachin, NY at about 4:30 pm and headed south on I-81. Only 1200 miles to go!

Tried to nap this afternoon so I could drive most of the night, but didn't get much sleep. That was OK though. Kristen and I would switch off driving and sleep in between (at least that was the plan). I really liked driving at night. Much less traffic, even through Baltimore and DC and the kids slept from about 9pm through until moring (with a couple short 'wakeups'). While the weather wasn't too bad, it was foggy, misty and then out and out rain the farther south we went. Pulled off in a rest area in South Carolina for a couple hours sleep during the worst of the rain.

By daylight, the rain ended and the clouds started to move out. Beautiful day. Sunny and warm (Mid 60's - which was much better that the 20s and 30s at home).

The remainder of the drive through Florida was pretty good, except for quite a bit of construction on I-95. It didn't slow us down too much, but the barriers were a bit distracting. Coming in on I-4 was VERY busy, and we were slowed down by two fender benders. The traffic was very heavy, and this was between 2 and 3 pm. I don't think I want to drive through there at rush hour!

Eventually, we made it to the Walt Disney World exits! Everyone was getting a bit more excited now, and the kids 'Are we there yet' queries could be answered in a much more positive manner! :-)

We got off at the Magic Kingdom exit, and headed under the big entrance arch - We Made It!

Headed right for the Wilderness Lodge, and it was as beautiful as everyone has said. The main Christmas tree and decorations are amazing. We checked in with a relatively short wait. There was plenty of staff handling the check-ins, but the line moved pretty slowly. Even though it was after 3pm, our room wasn't quite ready. We walked around and took in more of the atmosphere and beauty of the resort.

Almost immediately, that Disney Magic started to work. An Animal Kingdom CM was visiting the lobby, getting some pressed coins for a niece. She saw the girls and started talking to them, and ended up making each of them their own Wilderness Lodge pressed quarter! She was so very friendly and thoughtful (and WAY over the call of duty!) The girls were thrilled, and we handed out our first CM Appreciation card. :-)

Checked on the room and it was ready now. We headed up, and it was very nice. The view wasn't spectacular (5110), but we had the cheapest room because we were staying just tonight.

Even after the long drive, we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom for a bit. We wanted to get Grandma's 'Fun in the Sun' pass activated (a 30 day pass that works much like a Premium Annual Pass with a few extras thrown in - we bought it through ticketmania.com). Just missed the boat to MK, so we took the boat to the Contemporary instead. Saw a few of the decorations, and a beautiful Ginger Bread House display. Jumped on the Monorail for a quick ride around the world, and a peak at the Grand Floridian, where we would be checking in the next day. Eventually arrived at the Magic Kingdom.

Even though this was a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) night, the crowds were mostly headed out by 5pm. We marvelled at the beauty of the Christmas decorations. Made a quick stop in the City Hall to pick up birthday pins for Brinn and Maddy. Brinn's Birthday is the 21st (tomorrow) and we would be 'celebrating' Maddy's birthday (12/2) on 12/22. (Can't leave out the 4 year old!). They were both very excited.

We headed up Main Street toward Fantasyland. I was amazed at how quickly we walked on Snow White, Small World and even the wait for Peter Pan was only 10 minutes! No wait for Haunted Mansion either so we zipped on that one too. It was getting close to 6pm (closing time) so we headed back up Main Street. It was a great 'quick fix' of the MK, but we were all tired and hungry and headed back to the Wilderness Lodge for a bite to eat at the Roaring Fork.

We took a stroll over to the Wilderness Lodge Villas to check out the decorations of our DVC 'Home'. Very nice. We relaxed in the lobby there for a few minutes and then headed back to the main building.

While Kristen and Grandma got the girls settled in the room, I ran around taking a few pictures. There was a choir singing in the lobby, and the atmosphere was quite beautiful. I also found a nice outside overlook on the fifth floor and took a few 'night shots' of the courtyard. Very pretty.

OK, I HAVE to get some sleep. It's starting to catch up, and we have an early morning planned. We are moving to the Grand Floridan (GF), and then off to Epcot. Brinn is having her birthday breakfast with the princesses and we have a meet planned at Beaches and Cream around 1:30pm