This
is a short trip - mainly to attend MouseFest activities, and to have an
adults only trip. My mom and a family friend are watching the
girls for us, and this will be the first trip by ourselves in around 7
years! We headed out after work Thursday night and caught an
evening flight through Pittsburgh, and on to Orlando. Both
flights were on time, and we hopped right over the big snowstorm that
was headed North. Arrived in Orlando around 11pm, and headed for
baggage claim. We didn't wait too long for our two checked items,
and then walked out to National's Emerald Aisle to see what cars they
had tonight. We found several PT Cruisers, which Kristen really
likes, and I didn't mind trying out for this trip. Plenty of room
for just the two of us, and decent stowage for the bags. Only
problem was finding the power window controls when we approached the
checkout booth! Turned out that they are in the center
console area - and I never really did get used to them being
there!
 We
traveled a very empty route 417 and arrived at the All Star Music
Resort shortly before midnight. It was our first stay in the All
Stars, and we found the grounds very pretty, and the rooms very nice
for the reasonable price ($55 tax included AP rate). We ended up
in Broadway, which was about as far from the main building as you could
get. Not really a problem with a rental car, but I'd hate to have
to hike that distance on a regular basis! The room was clean, and
in good repair. It had a slightly stale smell, but other than
that was perfect. We crashed pretty quickly after getting things
organized for a quick departure in the morning.
 Woke
up at 6am (my typical non-sleep pattern while in WDW!) and got ready to
meet Lime Green Cheri so I could pass off the nametags and some
pins. We met up in the Food court, and I found out that they were
having a rough time with a stomach bug running through the
family. Little
did I know that our family would soon have the same problem (although
ours had to be a NY strain!) It was great to see Cheri in person
again! We sat and talked for a bit, and then I had to get back
and pick up Kristen and head over to check in at VWL.
As I got back to the room,  Cinderella
(Claire) called and we told her we were headed to the WL right
then. Second meet of the day before 7:30am! :-)
We threw the bags back in the car, and headed on out. It was kind
of misty this morning, and threatening to rain. Pulled up to the
Lodge, and a bellman helped unload the bags and took them off to
storage while we checked in. Claire and her husband Ron found us
before we even made it to the front desk. It was great to finally
meet them, and we all had a nice, but short conversation. Claire
did a GREAT job with some special canvas bags that were personalized
for them people coming to the meet at FW that day. Since we
didn't know if we would be able to make the meet, Claire gave us ours
early! :-)
While Kristen continued to chat, I checked in and although our room was
not currently ready, I did ask about where it was. Turned out to
be the furthest from the elevators that it COULD be, and after I asked
to be a bit closer to the elevators, he found another room and assigned
that one. After doing the LONG walk last July (Furthest out room
at BCV), it was nice to be a bit closer to the elevators this trip.
After talking a bit more with Claire and Ron, we headed off to catch a
quick bite to eat at Roaring Fork before catching the boat to the Magic
Kingdom. I had a breakfast plate and Kristen tried the breakfast
pizza. Both were very good. We arrived at the dock around
8:20 or so, and waited for the first boat. We didn't even have to
share with FW this morning. We had a direct ride to the MK.
We arrived before 8:45, but the park was already open. After
activating my AP, we headed into the park. Turned out that they
were filming the Christmas Parade today (at least some of it), so we
stopped very close to the end of Main Street to watch and
'participate'. We had a great spot, and think we have a good
chance to make it on TV when the parade airs on Christmas Day.
Look for us in the crowd on the right side of the street when they show
Wayne Brady singing on the Tarzan Rocks float. :-)
Taping was interesting to watch. Things move pretty slow between
takes, and we were there from 9am - 10:30am! JUST to see that one
segment taped. The float stopped just down the street from us,
and we had a perfect location from which to watch. They had us
clapping, and cheering on cue, and Wayne Brady was very friendly, and
interacted with the crowd a bit. Their was a baby in a very cute
Winnie the Pooh outfit that he really liked. He went on about it
so much, the lady next to us offered to buy him an outfit for
himself! That got a big old laugh from the crowd! :-)
Along with Wayne singing, their were skaters from the Tarzan Rocks
show. They did a whole number during the song, and even did a
bunch of jumps. Very cool to watch. Even Tarzan 'swung' by
for a quick visit! :-)
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Once
this segment was complete, we headed out. First and foremost on
the list was to see Mickey's Philharmagic. We lucked out, and
walked right in as a show was about to start. Got a great seat
fairly close to the front, and center stage. The show is very
cute, and the 3D effects are excellent. Easily the best 3D show
on property. They did a great job with the 3D characters that our
show in the movie. Two thumbs up! :-)
Back to Big Thunder for a great ride. They did an excellent job
on the rehab - it looks like new! The FastPass line through the
attraction has been moved, and now you walk right by the back edge that
over looks the entire ride. And last, the coaster itself seems to
run the course very smoothly now. Nice job Disney!
Had time to enjoy Carousel of Progress before Space Mountain time, and
we were glad it was open. I love this ride, and wish they could find a
way to keep it forever. Wanted to do the Transit Authority, but
it was closed for a bit and we missed it. A bit more shopping and
then off to Space Mountain! It was great riding WITH Kristen
again! :-) 
Fort Wilderness is VERY pretty, and Trails End is just a short walk
from the boat pier. Nice planning, and since I missed lunch here,
we'll have to go back on a future trip to try it out. You walk
past a nice playground for the kids, and I saw Cheri's husband Ken
playing with their kids there. As I got closer to the building I
saw a HUGE group hanging out on the porch! I was able to get
fairly close before they saw me coming, and I believe it was BetsyAnn
that yelled out "There's Dave". Well you remember Norm on
Cheers? It was my moment to Have everybody 'know my name'!
:-D A big old DAVE when up from the group, and it was really
overwhelming for someone that doesn't do well as a center of
attention! ;-) I think I was smiling ear to ear for
the rest of the time there! So MANY people were able to make it,
and I did my best to get around to everyone and say hi. If I
missed you, I'm so sorry, and will try harder next time! :-)
WillCAD made a presentation to the group and presented me with an
absolutely HUGE copy of an annotated Satellite Photo of the Disney
property (the one we have a link to on the site). He did an
AMAZING job with the photo, and printed up smaller copies for
EVERYONE!!! Thanks Will for working so hard on these! 
We all chatted, and then gathered together for a group photo.
What a great group, huh? :-) I was really sorry that
Kristen missed the meet, but she really needed a nap if she was going
to be able to attend MVMCP that night. As the meet broke up we
headed for the Contemporary to continue the meet touring the Monorail
resorts and checking out the Christmas decorations at the Contemporary,
Polynesian and Grand Floridian. We ended up being REALLY late for
our 4pm start time. The boat from FW took quite a while to first
get there, and then get us to the Contemporary. Sorry to those
that had to wait. 
I'm NOBODIES tour guide, and DisneyPam graciously stepped up to lead
the way! She should really do this for a living! :-)
She even provided Trivia on the spot! (I had never seen that 5
legged goat in the mural at the Contemporary before! Look for him when
driving by on the Monorail through the building.)
The Grand Floridian was almost as
beautiful as last year, but they had a new tree this year that was
about a 1/3 smaller than previous years. While still large and
beautiful, it didn't have that same 'GRAND' feeling as last year, and
was a bit disappointing. It also has VERY yellow lights, that I
did NOT like at all. All the other decorations and trees have the
bright white lights, and these just looked jaundiced and weren't
attractive at all. :-( Disney needs to rethink that tree...
The Gingerbread house on the other hand was as beautiful as ever!
They did an excellent job with it again this year, and we all loved
that! 
It
was starting to get late, and Kristen and I needed to take that map and
other items back to the WL before MVMCP. We caught the monorail,
but really didn't look forward to the heading to WL and back since it
can take a while to catch two boats. Decided to ask at guest
services, and they were able to store the map (think 40" cardboard
tube) for us (Yeah!) I just had to be back before midnight to get
the items.
We ran into
MargaretJ and her son Matt on the way, and chatted for a few
minutes. Continued on to Tomorrowland and JUST made the first
showing the Mickey's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas show. They
REALLY do an excellent job with this show! We loved
it! Since we had already done all the rides earlier in the
day, we just enjoyed walking through the park. The line for
cookies/pictures in Tomorrowland was very long, so we decided to wait
on that. Kristen was starting to feel worse, and thought eating
mine help. We stopped in to Cosmic Ray's for a quick bite, and
then headed back to the center of the park as the Celebrate the Season
Show was playing in front of the Castle. I was able to get a
couple good shots of the Castle with snowflakes projected on it! :-)