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Since I was in bed by 10pm, I was up
bright and early. Even after the mostly sleepless trip, I could only
sleep until about 5am! I let the others sleep, and got myself
ready. I decided to take over the majority of the luggage and check
in at the Grand Floridian while the rest of the crew got ready. Worked
out great - with my early am arrival (6:30am) we ended up getting a room
immediately. The resort was booked solid, but they had had an early
checkout so a room in our Garden View category was ready and waiting.
We were in Sago Cay, and the view was of the Monorail as it leaves the GF
station and heads over the edge of the lagoon. We liked it quite a
bit, and the girls loved seeing the monorails zip by; but I'm getting
ahead of myself. After getting the bags in the room I zipped back to
the Wilderness Lodge to pick up the family. Grabbed the overnite bags
and headed back to the GF (glad the two resorts are close!).
Took the family through the lobby (for effect). Everyone was sufficiently
impressed! The decorations were magnificient. Beautiful trees
are everywhere, and the main lobby tree is massive. Truely amazing.
The life size gingerbread house (and store) is beautiful, and an amazing
sight in itself. We dropped off a couple bags in the room and jumped
on the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) and then on
to Epcot. Brinn asked to ride up front from GF to TTC, and there was
no problem. They can only let 4 people ride up front, so Kristen and
I switched off when we stopped at the Contemporary. The view was beautiful,
and the girls each got a Pilot License from the very friendly CM driving
the monorail. I can't remember her name, but she has been driving for
about 8 months now, and was so friendly. Hope to see her again,
because I forgot to give her an appreciation card! I'll have to track
her down!
On to Epcot! We arrived around 8:30, and the park was already open.
We zipped right in, and headed back to World Showcase for the Princess
Storybook Breakfast. The girls had picked this princess breakfast
over the one in the castle (whew!). Brinn was wearing her birthday
pin, and received lots of attention along the way. I love walking
through World Showcase before the crowds get there, and we got some great
pictures in Mexico and Norway. To bad the breakfast isn't all
the way in the back, but then I'd need to leave at least an hour
or so for the walk back! :-) They took us right in, and the
girls started looking for princesses to see who was there. It took
a while for them to get to our section, but the wait was worth it.
We saw Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Mulan and Mary Poppins. No Jasmine
(a favorite) this time, but that was OK. We had never seen Mulan before
and Maddy LOVES Aurora. The food was pretty good, especially when we
asked for a bit more (and they brought more than the first time) and everything
was good and hot. Brinn was having a great start to her birthday!
After leaving breakfast, we now had some time to take a few more pictures
on the way back to Future World, and really enjoyed all the Christmas decorations.
The Norway restaurant had been very nicely decorated with garlands and
landscaping throughout Epcot was beautiful. There are poinsettias
EVERYWHERE,
and the topiaries and trees are Christmas themed throughout the park.
Grandma isn't big on the rides (they have to be pretty calm), so we planned
much more siteseeing and shows as opposed to the more exciting attractions
like Test Track or Body Wars. We started out with Journey into Your
Imagination. The girls love Figment, and we had a good time.
On to the Land to see Food Rocks (another family favorite) and the Living
with the Land Tour. Grandma enjoyed all these as much as we did.
Next we headed for The Living Seas, and some of the lighting effects gave
Grandma a bit of vertigo. We quickly passed through here and it was
almost time for the Magic Alley meet at Beaches and Cream. I had
promised the girls birthday sundaes, and would get to meet some of the
club members in the bargain! :-)
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