December 1th, 2005 Fly in Early Checkin at VWL AK - Parade Meet MVMCP and Meets

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MouseFest 2005!!!  It’s finally here!  :-)  First, a bit of pre-trip information... Planning for MouseFest starts almost a year in advance for me.  Actually, a bit more than a year since we always seem to end up talking about NEXT MouseFest during the current one.  So, in planning for this year, I thought that I would have to pass on MouseFest 2005.  The dates of the land portion (which is what I can attend) fall during my youngest daughter’s birthday (12/2).   I could NOT miss her birthday, so struggled for a while with what to do.  My wife and I talked over the possibilities, and decided to make it a family trip!  And we decided to keep it a secret from the girls.  We told the girls that I would be going, which made keeping the secret much easier to keep.  I could openly do all my planning and preparations while they continued to think that it was a trip only I would be going on.   Maddy kindly said that it was OK that I would miss her birthday, as long as I returned with a great Disney present!  ;-)   But as December approached, she was feeling a bit less enthused that I would be gone...  And I’ve decided that Disney Marketing is VERY cruel.  For the week before we left, I swear that every third commercial on TV was one for Walt Disney World!  I kept pointing out to the girls that I would be there soon ---  They took it amazingly well!  My wife kept telling me I was cruel!  ;-)  So finally, it was time to leave for MouseFest.  This would be our first time flying on SouthWest, but that meant a 2.5 hour drive to Albany.  We decided to drive there the night before, so that we could easily make our early morning flight.  The girls were told that they had to drop me off at the airport for my trip.  Even this didn’t tip them off; they just accepted it and looked forward to staying in a hotel... They love doing that!   We arrived in the hotel a bit before 8pm, and headed down for a late dinner.  Kristen and I were going to wait until we got to the airport to tell the girls that they were coming too, but decided it would be too hectic that early in the morning.  So, we decided to tell them at dinner.  I had bought gold necklaces as birthday presents and had placed the pearl pendants we made during our August trip on each chain.  I also made them both MouseFest nametags and lanyards as well.  After we ordered I let them open their presents.  They loved the necklaces, but didn’t catch on.  Even after I gave them lanyards, they didn’t catch on.  Until I said, that they would need them so everyone would know their names at MouseFest!   The big smiles started – first with Maddy!  Once she knew that she was REALLY going, she was bouncing all over the place!  Brinn was more reserved.  Not because she didn’t WANT to go, but because she would miss a couple days of school!  :-)  After we reassured her that all was taken care of, the smiles and excitement started for her as well. We had a nice dinner and then headed back to the room.  We all had to get to sleep early so that we could be up and ready to go by 6am!  We stayed at a Wingate for the first time, and it was really very nice.  Large, clean room – free internet...  I was happy!  ;-)    After a good night’s rest we were up and to the airport on time.  We parked in the garage (I did NOT want to dig the car out of snow when we got back!) and headed over to the terminal.  We really liked the Albany airport, and had a great first experience with SouthWest.  I had printed our boarding passes at home the day before, so we just had to check our luggage and then head to the gate.  Lines were very short, and we were quickly headed through security.  This took a few minutes, but wasn’t too bad.  There was a bit of a line here but it moved pretty quickly.  Off to the gate and we found the 4 lines that SouthWest has.  Preboarding, A, B and C.  We jumped in the already growing A line and Kristen went off to grab us some morning snacks.  There was not a lot to choose from near the gate.   Boarding started about 30 minutes before takeoff, and went pretty smoothly.  One couple tried to sneak into the middle of the A line, but Kristen helped them understand the definition of a line and then went to the end!  ;-)   Gotta love teachers and the way they can teach even those lacking common courtesy!  We easily found good seats together, and settled in.  We really enjoyed the flight simply because the flight attendants had a great sense of humor.  Little jokes here and there and a generally light attitude made it fun and painless.  We will definitely fly SouthWest again.  This is a direct flight to Orlando, which we REALLY love.  Its so nice not to have to catch a connecting flight, and we just settled in for our 3 hour trip.  It was pretty cloudy in Albany, but we quickly climbed above the clouds and enjoyed a very pretty view of the sunrise and cloud tops.   The girls played for a bit, and then we all tried to get a bit of shuteye on the plane.  It was going to be a REALLY long day, and we would need a bit of rest to keep us going.  We arrived on time and our gate was in terminal A.  We jumped on the monorail to the main building, and headed out to find our luggage.  Another reason to love direct flights -  our bags were off quickly, and were all together!  Very nice!  :-)   We threw them all on a Smart-Cart ($3.00, with 25 cents back upon return) and headed off to the National Emerald Aisle to get our car.  SCORE!  Unlike our last visit, the Emerald Aisle was fully stocked, and had a GREAT van which we grabbed.  SO much easier to get the family and all that luggage in a van!   We quickly loaded up and headed out.  We had planned to drive to the resort and check in first, but after I zipped right by the Magic Kingdom exit we decided to just drive to AK and go there first.  This worked well, since I had planned to drive here anyway, and we only had a few hours at this park this trip.  So it maximized our AK time, but meant I’d miss the 5pm meet at the MK.

While I was bummed to miss the 5pm Haunted Mansion meet, it was GREAT to really enjoy the Animal Kingdom for once.  During our summer trips this park is just WAY too hot to enjoy.   Kristen really had a good time here today – we all did!  We grabbed FastPasses for the safari and we had a great lunch at Tusker House.  A family at a table next to us recognized our party from the website and my trip reports.  It was fun meeting someone that had visited the site, and they weren’t even there specifically for MouseFest!  Just a chance meeting!  :-) Right after lunch it was time or the Safari.  FastPass moved us to the head of the line and we were quickly on our way.  It was GREAT today.  I think the cooler temps make the animals much more active – we saw a ton more than usual.  Then we did the Pangori Trail and I got a few more pictures NOT ruined by all the bumps in the road!  ;-)   That is my challenge on the Safari – how many shots can I get while that truck is bouncing, twisting and turning along the attraction road!  I like the trails because I can wait for a really good shot!   Next we headed for Asia.  I wanted to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek today since I’d missed it in August.  My favorites are the fruit bats and tigers.  The fruit bats weren’t into posing too much today, but the tigers were pretty cooperative.  Look at that bite range!  Yikes!     We also checked out the Everest area as much as we could.  Can’t wait for this one to open.  The theming looks incredible and that ride looks like it will be a winner as well!  It should be going before our July trip!   After that we walked over through DinoLand and I took Maddy on Primeval Whirl.  She loves this one (Brinn and Kristen passed in favor of Triceratops Spin!) and we had a good time.  Then as we left Dinoland we stopped in to see the Pooh Characters.  They have a nice spot where the old boat ride used to load and were all decked out in their Holiday clothes!  The girls got to see Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet.  Time was getting on, and we had to get ready for our first meet!

Expedition Everest Pictures