Three Weeks in the Magic About This Page:

[bfth]

Seems like it's been a while since a new installment was written. (Hint, Hint)

[bfth]

Guess Andrew was trying to tell you something! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Emily]

MVMCP sounds cool! I've got to do that one of these days. That, and MNSSHP.

I wanna see those pics Mikki! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Keep the reports comin'!

[mikki]

I have been most remiss at doing these reports but I am going to make up for that now! I've got to get them done before I go to WDW again in less than 3 weeks!!

Day 15 – 14/12 Shopping again……
Today was our last free day with the car so some shopping had to be on the agenda. I wanted to go back to Belz and get some more shoes. We headed up to I-drive and the information centre to see if there was anything on at the museums - not today. We stop off at Tennis and Golf World to see what they have (not much!) and decide to walk around the corner to beanie world (always dangerous) I get a spaceman Mickey and a Halloween pumpkin Mickey as well as a pooh in a Xmas tree for our friends daughter (I told you it was dangerous to visit). We go to Belz and I get 2 pairs of shoes. Next we go back down I-drive stopping off at various spots. By now it is lunchtime and we decide to see what Pointe Orlando has to offer. A restaurant we have enjoyed in the past is closed for renovation so we end up at XS, which is new, and rather odd as the second level is all taken up by games (we were told). Food was OK but nothing special but it got our parking paid for. Not much to interest us in the shops either - except Dalton bookshop, which always has something interesting. This time it was a big book called "Mickey Mouse, the evolution, the legend the phenomenon" which was excellent. We bought that and a couple of others and headed out.
Our last stop was Quality Premium outlets. Here we wandered and I found some tennis trousers in the Adidas shop - hurrah! Finally we headed for home via a last stop at Gooding’s to get a few things like water and orange juice.

At home we snack on combos and later go out to take some pictures in the dark of this very beautiful resort. Time for bed - busy day planned tomorrow.

[mikki]

Day 16 – 15/12 Pin event and Candlelight Processional
The alarm goes off at 6-30am as we plan to be at Downtown Disney by 8am to get a Walt birthday pin (this is following the advice of a cast member). There are about a dozen people there already, some of whom have bought their own chairs, some on the ground and others using chairs from nearby. We do the latter and I get a couple of chairs for us to sit in. This does make the wait more comfortable! We meet some nice locals including the outgoing president of the ‘world’ chapter of NFFC - great idea!

While waiting there is the inevitable pin trading and I do a couple of good deals. This and the pleasant conversation makes the time go by quickly and we go in to get our pins. Someone else in the queue runs to the main pin room where they have some of the 5th Anniversary of World of Disney pins - very nice so I run and get the last 2 on the stand and get back to Andrew to get our Walt pins. The people we had been chatting to did not get them so I gave them one of mine. We went back to the pin room and someone was putting more of the 5th ones out so I grabbed 2 more. When she realised they were popular she took them behind the counter so people could only get them there. Our new friends reappeared so we told them how to get more pins and they queued behind us.

While in line the person ahead saw my UK Pooh pins and was desperate to trade for them. After I had paid we went and looked at her pins and I found a third Pooh pin and got some really nice pins, including one of the MVMCP pins in exchange.

Now we moved on to the pin event proper over at Motions on PI where I found I had got all 6 pins. Disney had been greedy asking a $25 fee to do the event and had not sold as many tickets as expected so instead of a random selection of what you asked for you got everything and they had some left over to sell. It did mean one less line to stand in!

We also saw Minnie, Goofy and had hot cider and cookies (Andrew shared mine as he had not booked on the event). Then they had one of those visit the stores, answer the clues, get your card stamped to get a free pin chases which we both rushed round and did and received a nice Mickey Xmas Tree star pin.

The reason we were rushing around is because I had booked our Candlelight Processional dinner package for the 5pm session that day before I knew about the pin event. Anyway we dropped off our stuff at home & caught a bus to Epcot. We had a quick lunch at the Electric Umbrella before shopping at Mousegear to take advantage of the 15% discount. We had a couple of things to get from Italy and Germany so took a waiting boat, grabbed our Christmas cracker fillers and caught a boat straight back just in time for the character bus. We had 2 kittens with us so had pictures with Minnie, Mickey and Pinnochio. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

The Tapestry of Dreams parade was due to start at 4pm so we aimed to get to the line by then - this turned out to be a good plan as the line was already long, even for reserved seats. We saw some of the parade and then we were moving to our seats. We had a good view of this always excellent and inspiring show. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Our PS at Canada was for 7pm so no rush - & even when we got there they were running 30 minutes after the set time. The little pda they gave out as a pager was fun, but not for that length of time! It was our servers last day, which may be why she was mediocre. She certainly got off to a poor start asking Andrew if he had forgotten his reading glasses! Normally in WDW everyone recognises his extremely poor eyesight (he is registered blind) so we were taken aback. The food was good but not quite as good as we remembered. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

It had been a long day so we headed for home, stopping only to take a few more pictures on the way.

[mikki]

Day 17 – 16/12 Contemporary breakfast, Downtown Disney and Studios
Our last day with the car so we drive to the Contemporary for breakfast and then use the business centre for Andrew to send a long email [img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img] to his union about work in the hope that something will be sorted before he has to return to work after Xmas (it wasn’t and still isn’t). Next we pop into MK to look at a photo taken a few days earlier - very nice so we buy it.
We drive back to Wyndham Palace to drop the car off and do a couple of shops in the village - Ghiardelli Chocolate cherries are a favourite of Andrew’s mother! Then we catch a bus home to drop things off before heading for MGM and a 4-10pm Fantasmic Dining package booking. The park is busy so we wander round and see in the Animation shop the 'purrfect kiss' ornament with Figaro and Cleo. We had not seen this all trip and I had bought the classic collection redemption certificate with me to the USA but did not have it that day. We ask if they can hold it for us for the next couple of days and they say yes.

We go to Mama Melrose for dinner where pandemonium reigns - a long line to check in and a crowded a foyer. We check in but it is so noisy we decide to cancel a few minutes later - we tell the cast member before we go so they won't have to look for us! Now what do we do? We decide to go for a bus and get our papers for Figaro. Our apartment is between the first and last stop of the bus so we tell the driver we hope to get back to our apartment and pick something up and rejoin him at the last stop. He promises to drive slowly! I sprint off to get the papers while Andrew goes to the last stop to wait. The papers are not where I thought they were and I search around and finally spot them in an obvious spot! Off to the bus stop and I can see what looks like a bus waiting and I sprint across the middle of the 4 way stop and up to the bus to find it is not ours, nor is the next one. Ours is the one after and the driver has a big grin on his face when he sees us. "I told you I would drive slowly,” he says as we get in and thank him. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Back in the park we pick up Figaro, wander a little and go home. We have an excellent Dinner in a nice quiet Olivia’s (mine was Filet with Lobster stuffed Shrimp).
Our friend Mary is due to meet us the next day with her colleague Keith to go swimming at Blizzard Beach so we ring to find out what time we should expect them. Mary is not in so we leave a message but she does not call back that evening.

[mikki]

Day 18 – 17/12 Winter / Summerland Golf
We decide to be ready by 9 and ring after 9-30 if we have not heard from Mary. At 9-30 she rings and says she has an appointment at 11 and could be with us by 1-30pm. As the water park closes at 5 it does not seem worth going there so we agree to meet and go and play mini-golf.

We catch a bus to the studios where I get a fast pass for Millionaire for 11-10am - this will give us plenty of time to get back to meet Mary. We have an hour to wait so we wander around and take some photos and see Muppet 3D – we always enjoy that show! We sat near the back for a change and it gave a slightly different perspective.

Back to Millionaire and I arrange to meet Andrew outside afterwards. I go in and end up next to someone who is doing it for the first time. I explain how it works and we chat generally. I get the fastest finger first wrong but then do well. I am halfway up the leader board at 1000 points and top at 32000. Unfortunately both the contestant and I got the next question wrong! AAGGHHH! [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img]

On to the next contestant and I am still doing well - top of the board at 1000 but she is still playing at the end of the show and I can't do the next one. Another time! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I meet up with Andrew and we head home - bus comes straight away so we are home even earlier than expected and have time for a few trip notes.

Mary arrives with her business colleague Keith and we go for some lunch at Pebbles. [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] We then go to Winter Summerland golf and play the winter course. It is quite fun but think I prefer Fantasia Gardens. I am quite lucky and get the lowest score by a fair margin. We go to Westside and Bongos for a drink and then wander thru to the marketplace. Bongos looks quite nice – the menu looks interesting and we might try eating there some time. We head back and they drop us back at OKW where we begin packing - tomorrow is our last full day!

[mikki]

Day 19 – 18/12
We have arranged to meet Arlen (we saw him again at the pin event on Saturday) at Epcot at 10am as he said he was meeting someone else from Intercot and I wanted to meet a fellow intercottee if possible! Turns out it was DisneyDollarless but we had a fun morning again watching him show them some of the things he had shown us back in March. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] We then went into image works to send an email to Beth saying her package had arrived and then got some lunch - we had not had breakfast and I was feeling hungry! Andrew and I were both tired so we got a bus back and had a nap and did more packing. We had a pleasant surprise waiting for us - a message from Beth who had received our package of small gifts and obviously liked them! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Our plan was to catch a MK bus and resort hop the monorail resorts and then get a meal after the MVMCP had started. We looked around the Contemporary & then took the monorail to the Polynesian. We had dinner at the Kona cafe & a far better experience than our first visit. I had the crab cakes & Andrew the pot stickers & we both followed with beef teriyaki. Good food & service. Glad I tried it again. Next time I will have to consider breakfast there! [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img]

We hop on the monorail to MK & walk to the buses - from a distance it looks like one is there so I run ahead. It is just pulling away as I arrive but the driver sees me waving madly & stops. [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] There is no one else on board & when Andrew catches up he sets off & we go home for a last Jacuzzi.

[mikki]

Day 20 – 19 / 12 Last day
We finish packing and the bags get taken back to Hospitality House. Our car is due to pick us up at 2pm so we catch a bus to Downtown Disney to wander and get an early lunch at Portobello. It was a lovely way to finish. We hoped to get a boat back to OKW but it looks as though our timing is wrong so we go for a bus and get one quickly. It seems we have only sat down for a minute back at OKW when the car arrives to take us to the airport. A very pleasant journey later and there is no queue at check-in and we get straight through, again getting our requested seats. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

We have a brief look around the shops and then head through to the departure area. The security is tighter than in the past but it moves quickly, despite me being wanded as we go through. The security guard seems grateful that I don’t mind and it only takes a few moments. We have a last drink in the Shipyard pub and move to the gate just as they call our rows out so we go straight on. The plane is again empty and we have 4 seats again. We probably could have got a row each if we had wanted!

Day 21 Home
I don’t like night flights [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] and losing 5 hours at the same time makes it worse. I could not sleep or get comfortable so ended up reading most of the time – even the films could not hold my interest. We were about half an hour out when the pilot announced that we would be heading straight in for landing as they had declared a medical emergency with a man taken ill. They asked everyone to stay seated when they landed to let the paramedics on, and if necessary took the man off. The paramedics arrived swiftly and must have stabilized the patient as everyone was then allowed off the plane. Everything seemed to go smoothly – in fact we even beat our taxi driver to the information kiosk where we always meet.

We also had an early Xmas present; we went through the Red customs channel as we had spent over the allowance (this seems to happen most trips!) and the officer let us go through without having to pay the duties. Very kind of him. The weather was cold and wet and made us appreciate Florida all the more. Home and a huge pile of post – lots of Xmas cards which was nice and only a few bills. The good news is (apart from Christmas only being a few days away) is that we already have two trips booked for next year – April in a studio at Wilderness Lodge and October back in a one bedroom at OKW. As the April trip is fast approaching I thought I had better hurry up and finish the trip reports from December – sorry to be so tardy!
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