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Sunday, December 2, 2001

The plan: For me, Mass at the Polynesian and a quiet afternoon at the hotel; Lesley would sleep in, then hit the parks. We had PS for dinner at Chef Mickey's, and tickets for MVMCP (with Leanne, Michelle, and Todd).

I got up super-early . . . 6:30 a.m., I think. I tried to be as quiet as possible so Lesley could sleep some more; she's a pretty sound sleeper, though, so I probably didn't have to worry quite so much. I left the room about 7:15 a.m.

I never thought I'd be able to say that I took a monorail to Mass! It made me smile several times on the trip over to the Polynesian. It was a beautiful morning, and the walk from the Great Ceremonial House to the Luau Cove was really lovely; it got me in a rather prayerful mood. I was surprised to see so many people walking toward the Cove, and more surprised later when it turned out to be a standing-room-only crowd.

The priest, Fr. J. Harte, set a really informal tone. He started out by asking where everyone was from. Each time, he would say, "New Jersey! You're welcome here" and something about a sports team from that state, like, "Oh, your team lost last night, sorry about that." When I said that I was from Minnesota, he looked at me with great pity and said, "Oh, they always lose. But you're welcome here." Ouch! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Later, when "New York" came up, he said, "We're proud of you, New York. You're welcome here." Really lovely.

It was a very odd Mass -- no standing, no kneeling, no singing. Only sitting. The chairs at the Cove are very heavy and very low to the ground, and Fr. Harte said he was afraid there'd be some accidents and chair-tipping if we stood and sat as often as we normally do.

After Mass, I took the monorail back to the Contemporary and then called Mom while Lesley called Mears. I can't believe she goes home tomorrow already! We went to breakfast, then Lesley headed for MGM and I had another quiet day in our room. I like that I've been to WDW often enough now that I don't feel like I have to be at the parks all day, every day. I've learned that I much prefer a WDW vacation that includes some relaxing time. That's the whole point of a vacation, right?

When I got back to the room, I called Bruce and we chatted for quite a while . . . it's always nice to know that he misses me when I'm gone. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] The rest of the day, I read, watched TV, did some crossword puzzles, and chatted with the Mousekeeper, Jusleine. She was great fun!