WENDY & FAMILY DISNEY TRIP JUNE 22-30, BEACH CLUB VILLAS---COMPLETED!!!! About This Page:

[DVC_Don]

Thanks Wendy. So there is a real Dexter out there! I thought there was only one on the TV. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Wendyismyname]

Don, remember that tv series, Dynasty? Dexter was named after a character on there. Or, whichever night time soap there was a Dexter. I remember my mom and sisters watched Dynasty and Dallas.

We also have a Gage, who was named after the Pet Cemetary boy. At least I think that's right. LOL!! Okay, here's another day!

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25

Cast of Characters: Myself(wendy), 28
Joshua(son), 8
Carlee(daughter), 7
Whitney(niece), 16
Dexter(nephew), 13
Kaylie(niece), 11

Up and at'em quite early. We want to be early at MK! We get there and there's a nice line already, but are quickly thru the turnstiles and into the preview area. Boy, it's hot and sticky! Sure am glad the kids brought their water fans! Uh-oh, who's that? That's the train coming around the bend! I sure do love the welcome to the Magic Kingdom bit, and the song 'good morning, good morning' quickly gets stuck in my mind.

Rope drop, off we go to Tomorrowland. We shortcut thru the Plaza and wait for a little bit at the rope there. There's this really short lady next to me that really wants thru. Pushy grandmother! I only know she's a grandma because her daughter says 'mom, that's enough' since she was trying to push her way thru us with no reguard for other people, nor saying 'excuse me'. I mean, seriously, I think when we left Indy, we left the polite people. Rude rude rude people were all over the place. Maybe it was the heat and humidity, but a simple excuse me and thank you can go a long way!
Okay, rope drops and we prepare to hoof it rather quickly to Space Mountain. What?? That little granny stepped on Whitney's flip flop and nearly caused her to fall. We stopped and crowded around her while she could get it, trying to keep her from getting knocked to the ground. If I would have seen that lady again, I would have told her off immediately!
On to Space Mountain! We stand in line while Whit gets fast passes. Lines not moving, they're shut down for technical stuff. Oh well, we've got the FP, over to Buzz with a 3 minute wait. I only got 14,000 points, thankfully, 10,000 of them came from one target. I'm terrible! Ha ha.
Off Buzz and onto TTA. I love this ride, don't know why, but it's cool! " Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow, your party from Saturn has arrived, please give them a ring". That cracks me up. Doesn't take much though!
Off TTA and over to the water fountains, smoking area and bathroom. All done there and off to Space we go! LOVE IT!
We head out of Tomorrowland and over to Frontierland. A long way to go with stops in between!
Hmmm, It's a Small World is definitely in order. Whitney HATES that ride! I give a realy evil laugh and we ride it. It's a classic. It's something that HAS to be ridden every time you visit!
Hmm, Peter Pan is another favorite and fast pass return time is only 1/2 hour away. We're starving, so we get the FP, head to Pinnochio Village Haus and get burgers. We really like the burgers there. While paying, the lady says, hope you are able to find a table all right. I look around and laugh because we are the only ones in there! She said they were told to expect larger than normal crowds. I told her I hope they stay away!
So, those burgers are very yummy and that topping bar is really nice. I got smoke while we wait on my daughter. she's the slowest eater. Plus we had about 5 minutes left to kill for our FP. When I am done, we head to Peter Pan. This ride is really neat. It's also a must do, but only when the wait time is low or with FP. No ride is worth standing in line over 30 minutes(not for us anyway).
Done with Fantasyland and over to Liberty Square. First thing we do is Haunted Mansion. Complete walk on, only stopping for the Stretching room. I ride with Josh of course, as he likes to hide his face during the part where the heads pop up and scream. I just find it a bit annoying, probably because last September I rode it and the ride stopped there!
Okay, out of Haunted Mansion and over to see my BEARS! I love the Country Bear Jamboree and I can say the whole show word for word. But only when I am down there, when I am at home, I can bearly remember the songs!
Now, over to Splash and Big Thunder Mountain RR. Wow, the lines are way too long for both, so we make our way to Pirates of the Caribbean. What? First time I've ever seen a line that long for that ride! So, we go see the Tiki Birds. What a cute show! It is really really cute, and a nice cool little theater too!
It's mid afternoon by now, so we head over to the resort for a little break. No swimming as we weren't going to be there very long, but needed to get out of the heat.

I make plans for Kona Cafe and we head over to the Poly. But, of course, we first need to get to a theme park and then transfer. Back to Magic Kingdom and up to the Monorail station. We're soon 'zooming' over to the Contemporary, Ticket and Trans. Center and Poly where we check in and given a pager. Quickly we are seated(i timed it just right!) and I remember that I order their teryaki beef, which consists of a strip steak, along with mashed potatoes and summer veggies. It used to have sticky rice, which was good also, but I liked this better.
I don't remember what every one gets, but I am sure there were a couple of cheeseburgers and chicken strips. Seems to be the typical kids orders. Ha ha.

Okay, time for dessert. We order two kiddie cones as the kids are quite fascinated with them. Whitney and Carlee share one, and Kaylie, Dexter and Josh share another. I, on the other hand, get my favorite, Kiluea Torte! Ahh, sinfully deee--lish!
Now we head over to MK and go back to see about Splash and Big Thunder. Nope, not waiting 80 minutes for Splash. Kaylie argues with me about 'we'll have to wait long no matter when we do it', I tell her that's not how it is at WDW, especially when we have a lot of days left! So, instead we wait for about 40 minutes for Big Thunder. I'm really wanting to catch the Spectromagic parade, and it's 8pm now. I know the spots get filled up really quick, so I want to go and get a good view, having never seen it(only in passing). nope, kids want to ride Jungle Cruise. Okay, okay, let's get this one out of the way. Last April, I didn't enjoy it much as our guide wasn't really into character. Tonight, the lady was. Maybe it was because it was one of the last cruises that night, I don't know. Cracked us up, even though those jokes are super old.
Okay, now we head out towards the front, just trying to find a spot. Wow, all the way up by the train station. That's okay because it's really close to the gates! So, we wait for about 20 minutes. The kids are getting really ansy and grouchy(ier). While waiting, we see this woman walking, next thing we know, we see her face flat on the ground. She slipped off the curb and fell. The people next to her just watched. I would've helped, but I was across the way and the CMs were there. Poor lady, they got her a wheelchair and then I don't know what they did, but probably took her to first aid.

Okay, the parade begins and it was really neat. I took some pics and hopefully they came out good.
That was the end of our night, we head out of the park and intend to watch the fireworks, but part of the group had to use the bathroom and the others were just wanting to go to bed. So, we head to the bus stop and catch the bus. Standing room only, but at least the driver kept us entertained with trivia. I was rather pleased with myself as I answered quite a few of them, but then I felt like a butthead because I did answer them. We also song happy birthday to a couple of people.
They took it in stride, but I was embarrassed for them.

Next up, Thursday. Don't worry folks, it's almost done!

Wendy

[Wendyismyname]

I'm starting to run out of steam as it gets towards the end of my TR.

THURSDAY JUNE 26

Cast of Characters: Myself(wendy), 28
Joshua(son), 8
Carlee(daughter), 7
Whitney(niece), 16
Dexter(nephew), 13
Kaylie(niece), 11

Today is our 'do pretty much nothing' day. We sleep in as much as we dare and head over to Ft. Wilderness to catch breakfast at Trail's End. I really miss staying at MK resorts, it's so much easier when we do. We catch the bus to MK, boat to Ft. Wilderness and over to the best breakfast in our opinions. We fill up quickly and take a 'bus tour' through the cabin loops(outpost purple). Up to the Outpost we go and wait for the bus to Downtown Disney. One DD/Typhoon Lagoon bus stops, but it's really full, so we wait for the next one. It takes longer than 20 minutes though, but we're in no hurry. The kids get ahold of their moms and they feel better(i think my sisters felt better about hearing from them then the other way around). Finally our bus pulls in and we carry on a nice conversation with a family who lives about an hour from WDW and come to Ft. Wilderness quite often.
At Downtown Disney, I check in Pooh Corner for a Nurse Eeyore for my friend. I forgot her address, so I didn't get it, next time I am there, I will bring it.
Over to World of Disney. Oh, I love that store! I keep eying a t-shirt and finally break down and get it. It's black with Scar and the Hyenas on it. Really awesome.
Next is water break. Ghiradelli(sp?)for bottles. $2.75 for each? Well, that's the price you pay for leaving your own bottles in your room. We rest for a while and then go into Basin. I quickly fell in love with that store, and I am not a woman who likes bath and bodyworks or candles or anything like those kind of stores. I purchase 12 shampoo bars($5something a piece)for Christmas presents. Whitney gets her and her friend, Brittney, a couple bars of soap, Dexter gets his mom a cool candle, and Kaylie gets a couple of bath bombs for(this is a confusing part)her mother's boyfriend's mom(who is pretty much like a grandma to her and she gave her money for the trip so she wanted to get her something). Okay, enough of the confusing part.
Those shampoo bars smell really nice, Macaroon. Can't wait to use them(little did I know I would get to use the sooner than I thought).
We decide to head back and rest my feet. I let the kids go swimming while I sit down to read my Harry Potter book. Then I fell asleep. I thought some one else was in the room with me, because I heard snoring! Oops! I guess it was myself! Ha ha.
We make tentative plans for friday. Friday is the day that I take my kids and the other three go off on their own and do their thing.
Dexter tells me he'd rather go with me instead. I said, that's fine. He either jammed his toe really badly, or broke it(nothing you can do about it anyway) the first night we were there! Time for bed and it didn't take long to go to sleep.

Hang in there folks, only a few days more!
Wendy

[Wendyismyname]

FRIDAY JUNE 27

Cast of Characters: Myself(wendy), 28
Joshua(son), 8
Carlee(daughter), 7
Whitney(niece), 16
Dexter(nephew), 13
Kaylie(niece), 11

We awake early(7am) and get Josh and Carlee up. Dexter and I are early risers, so we enjoy some quiet time before waking my heathens up.
I can't believe how much better my feet feel. Maybe it's because we slowed down and I rested them. Either way, today was shaping up to be a good day.
We have breakfast in the room(doughnuts, cereal, whatever) and head over to MK. First I tell Whit to have a good time and that we were leaving. We arrive at MK with a smaller crowd and get to see the opening again. This is my favorite park and I'd rather be here than anywhere else.
We decide to head to Frontierland since we hadn't rode splash yet. We get to the rope at Adventureland and wait impatiently for them to let us in. As the CM leads us thru the bathroom(shortcut) area, who do I see ? Whitney and Kaylie! We yell and wave and that was the last we seen of them until later. By then I remembered that I forgot to tell her what time to be back. But I trust her wholeheartedly and know she'll make me proud.
We get FP for Big Thunder, then ride Splash. We get off, and ride it again! Then over to Big Thunder, I decide to smoke while keeping an eye on the time. Oh well, let's wait in line and then ride it again with FP. So that's what we did. It showed a 20 minute wait, but it was a total walk on. We get off and FP time is up, so we get back on. The CM awaiting to take the FP said, "hey weren't you just on here?" Yep. She said she remember my pin---my Passporter Pin. Cool!
Both times Josh and Carlee ride together and Dexter and I ride. Love it! Except that I have to hold onto the bag. Off BTMRR, we head to Country Bears. This was another good show, but even better than the last one because people really got into it. It made me sad as that was the last time we watched it.......

Over to Haunted Mansion. Showed a 5 minute wait, but again, we walked right into the Stretching room. Josh rode with me again. This time, I really got a fright! The CM that walks backward right when your bar is coming down??? I see him, and am working on putting my bag down, when I hear this growling sound. I look up and he's right in my face, I screamed! Then I laughed so hard. He sure was a cutie though! I said to Josh, I wonder how many people's faces he would get into if I would have reached out and gave him a kiss?? LOL!! Anyway, that was the scariest part of our ride.
Out of the Mansion and by this time we are starving. We knew that we had rode everything we wanted to and we also knew we'd be back again tomorrow, so we head over to the Kona Cafe at the Poly. I wanted, no I needed to get my beef teryaki salad. That is good stuff!! Josh and Carlee get chicken strips and Dexter gets a cheeseburger. Our waitress was really nice. We also ordered some pot stickers for appetizers. Those were good too. Dexter and I ate every one of them, fighting over the last! LOL! Dessert is the same thing. Carlee and Dexter get the kiddie cone, I get the torte and Josh tries the KoKo Puffs. Big mistake! Nasty stuff! I felt so bad for him. Our waitress asked him if he liked it. His brown eyes were big and sad and he said No. So she brings him a couple scoops of choclate ice cream in a to go cup, free of charge! Bless her!

So, now we catch the bus from the Poly to MGM and first ride was the Great Movie Ride! It was the first time we've ever rode it that it had about a 30 minute wait. It was good and we got the western scene again. Over to Muppet Vision 3D. Cute show. Out of there and now to try to find the Backlot Tour. Finally found it! Enjoyed that show, really glad to see the facade for the Golden Girls house. My favorite show! Okay, now we head back over to Star Tours. Where's the people? Is the ride running? We walk all the way up to the CM at the loading dock before we encounter any one. Right onto the ride!
We head out of the park and over to Wilderness Lodge for supper at Whispering Canyon. I get the vegetarian pasta, Carlee gets a PB&J, Josh gets Macaroni and Dexter got the pork chops. We got sidetracked as Dexter and Carlee went up for the Pony rides. Josh stayed at the table while I watched. Felt kind of sorry for him, but it was his choice. By the time I got back(withing 5 minutes) he was done. I did NOT like that vegetarian pasta even though I loved everything in it. I think it was the 'sauce'. Quite nasty. But to be polite, I ate half of it(I could hear my mom in my head saying 'there are starving people in this world....yadayadayada".
Well, we're now tired as it's approaching 7pm and we've been out all day. So, over to MK to catch the bus back to Beach Club.
We get back into the rooms and I'm tired, but not drained like I had been. It was a really pleasant day. The kids got along, no bickering, which made me in a better mood.
I could tell Whitney and Kaylie had been back at some point and had PB&J. Saw the knife. I know they went to MK, AK, and MGM. They were able to ride RnRC 5 times that day!
We go to bed and feel good about being able to sleep in the next day!


Only a couple more days to go folks!

Wendy

[Wendyismyname]

SATURDAY JUNE 28

Cast of Characters: Myself(wendy), 28
Joshua(son), 8
Carlee(daughter), 7
Whitney(niece), 16
Dexter(nephew), 13
Kaylie(niece), 11

Our last day for any parks, so we chose to visit MK at night. The kids swim and I read more of H.P.
Good good book.
We eat breakfast later than normal and head over to MK to get to Ft. Wilderness at about 3pm, so we can eat supper at 4:30pm. We end up waiting 1/2 hour for it to open, so this time, the transportation didn't take as long as I figured it would.
We sure were glad we ate there! We got to see Joy, our favorite and she said she remembered us. I am sure she did. Bellies, full, we catch the boat to MK. First thing we do is Space. We get FP, ride, then take hoof it to Toontown and catch the train. We ride it around and back. then we still have a little time to kill, so onto TTA. After that, it's smoking time and water time. Then onto Space again. This time, while screaming, for some reason, i get the giggles. I'm talking full belly laughs. Sides hurting, all that. whitney hears me screaming, then cackling so she joins in. The ride ends and I am still laughing. I can barely get out of the rocket. Josh is getting mad because I couldn't tell him why I was laughing! I didn't knw myself! I get that way sometimes. Anyway, we now head over to Splash and BTMRR. Wow, neither had too long of a wait. We knew these would be the last rides we ride. It's about 8pm now, and we ride BTMRR. Line looks long, but we weren't queued up much, pretty much a walk on. Good ride! We screamed on every turn. So much fun!
Now time for Splash. We get FP and then stand in line. It's about 30 minute wait and we sure did wait that long. We were really loud on all the drops and got super wet! By the time we got off, it was time for our FP. Got drenched again. Kind of sad to know that was the last ride.......
Okay, no time to drown in our sorrows, we've got fireworks to see! We find a nice spot in front of the Crystal Palace and sit on the sidewalk. We start walking as the finale begins and when we get to main street, we see a whole sea of people! LOL!! So that's where they were all walking to!
Back to the bus, and we actually get to sit!
We get back to the BCV and realize we are starving! So we order room service and get ready to turn in.


Just a couple days left!

Wendy

[Wendyismyname]

SUNDAY JUNE 29

Cast of Characters: Myself(wendy), 28
Joshua(son), 8
Carlee(daughter), 7
Whitney(niece), 16
Dexter(nephew), 13
Kaylie(niece), 11

Ah, it's nice to sleep in again! I can't believe this is our last full day at WDW. Dexter and Kaylie have already used up their five day park hoppers. Dexter, Josh and I awake early again. Go figure. I think we slept in until 8am. I tell Whitney that they can sleep as long as they want and eat where ever they want and do swimming at stormalong bay.

We decide to get ready and go to Downtown Disney. We arrive at 10am, nice and early. We stop at Pooh Corner and I am able to buy and ship my friend her Nurse Eeyore. Cost more for shipping than the price of the beanie, but that's alright. The guy acts like he didn't want to ship it for me, but I'd rather they shipped it than me carry it home and then try to find something to ship it in.
We head over to Once Upon a Toy. I buy Haunted Mansion Clue and Disney Trivia Pursuit and have them shipped home to me. That cost a small fortune, but I didn't want to bring them on the plane. Next we head over to World of Disney. I bought a Cooking with Mickey cookbook and two magnestic clips for my fridge. By now, everyone is starving. We ask the CM at the information booth at WoD about what time Kona Cafe starts serving lunch. He says 12noon. Okay, I am disagreeing with him in my head, but we head over that way any how. We arrive and lo and behold, we have to wait about 20 minutes as they don't start serving on Sundays until 12:30pm! I thought that was how it was. So, the boys are starting to whine a little. Okay, so it was just Josh as you'd think I never fed that boy. He's starrrrrrrrrving!
We get seated and our waitress tells me I look familiar so she knows I've eat there before. Yep, Beverly waited on my husband and myself in April. I got the salad again. I looked that recipe up in my book, it wasn't there by the way, and that's when I noticed I bought Volume II. Wish I could have gotten Volume I.

We head back to MK to catch the bus back to BCV and the girls weren't there. Then I heard the knock. They had went to Stormalong Bay for a little while, then Carlee had to potty, so they got out and headed to the quiet pool when she was done. They went to eat at Beaches and Cream and the boys got ready for their time at Stormalong Bay. They only swam for about 30 minutes, each saying it was just too busy. So we went to the quiet pool where they swam for about 30 more minutes. By then, I was feeling very sick to my stomach. It seemed to get hotter by the minute. I called them out of the pool and we went back in. We had every intention of swimming later in the day.

At about 5pm, we ordered room service. The guy brings the stuff in, sets the tray on the counter and takes two of the dishes off. CRASH! The remaining dishes fall to the floor along with the dish of ketchup. The plate that had my spinach salad on it shattered and it looked like there was blood everywhere. It was just ketchup. Unfortunately, one of the plates was Josh's chicken strips, so we had to wait on them. He calls in another order of strips and salad and also has them call housekeeping right away. Less than probably 20 minutes later, he arrives with the salad and strips. Housekeeping had not been there yet. We eat, I call them to come get the dishes and tell them that housekeeping still had not been there. I would have cleaned it up, but I was afraid to make a bigger mess, plus I didn't do it, no one in my party did it, so I wasn't cleaning it. B*tchy, I know, but by this point, I did not care one bit.
Finally, after almost two hours since it happened, the maid came. Then she left, then she came back about 30 minutes after that, with only a sweeper and a couple of towels. I just rolled my eyes at that one.
I was out on the 'porch' smoking and enjoying the thunderstorm. It was a good one! Rained in sheets! That was the most rain we had gotten the entire trip(minus the storm we landed in).
It quit raining and we were already to put on our suits and then it cut loose again! We never got another chance to swim, but most of us were about done in from the heat. Only Whitney liked this weather, but I kept telling her us normal people don't have ice in our veins(she's VERY cold natured).
I tell the kids that we can sleep in, but not too late as I want to do laundry in the morning before we pack. So we call it a night and I reluctantly put my HP book down.

One more day left!

Wendy

[Wendyismyname]

MONDAY JUNE 30

Cast of Characters: Myself(wendy), 28
Joshua(son), 8
Carlee(daughter), 7
Whitney(niece), 16
Dexter(nephew), 13
Kaylie(niece), 11

I slept in until 7am and started laundry. Dexter got up right after me. We're all pretty grumpy, with me being the saddest at the prospect of going home. I missed my husband and my animals, but I really wanted to stay!!
Everything is packed, got my bill, and bell service whooshed our bags away. We were out the door by 9:30am! We decided that it's only fitting to have Whispering Canyon our last meal since it was also our first. We wait at the bus stop and let the first MK bus go by. It stops at Yacht Club first, then Beach then Boardwalk, yet it was already standing room only. We waited more than 20 minutes again(only the second time we had to wait that long) and decide to get on this bus no matter what. We got seats at the back and went on to pick up at the Boardwalk. Several people got on. There was already one wheel chair, but it was portable one(the lady was sitting elsewhere) , so the bus driver had the husband fold it up and hold onto it so he could make room for another lady and her electric wheelchair. I really felt for the lady as I over heard her say they had to change their plans three weeks prior. they were supposed to have went to Denver and horse back riding. They decided WDW was friendlier than horses for some one in a wheelchair, or electric cart. She did have a rather pretty toe ring. I think she broke something below the knee because her foot was straight out.
Don't know, didn't ask(unsual for me).
Okay, so we finally manage to get to MK with that bus full of people(including a couple strollers)and we just miss the boat for WL and FtW. So we wait a little longer. While we were walking to the boat dock, I saw this family stop and take pictures of the bricks. I didn't think anything of it, I figured they found their name or some one they knew, until I looked down and saw the snake. It looked like and overgrown gardner snake. Green, small head, stripe down the center, bout 3 ft long. I say, "Hey Whit, there's you a snake!" I've never seen that girl move so fast! Women screaming everywhere. Funny!!! Overheard some security guys saying they better get that snake! HAHAHAHA! At least it wasn't a spider. Okay, so now we're waiting at the boat dock. It's hot but a nice breeze on the water. We head to Ft. Wilderness first, then WL. We get off and go into the lobby to wait. Kids are getting ticked off at each other, bickering constantly. We have to wait for almost an hour, but it went by fast. Those leather couches in the lobby are very comfortable. I go and smoke and strike up a nice conversation with a couple who live near WDW also. Lakeland. They came down for the weekend. Lucky little buggers! I told them I'd live in FL except for the heat, humidty, and gators. LOL! Very nice couple indeed.
I walk back into the lobby and see that it's time. We check in and are seated right away. Mustang Sally is our waitress(real name escapes me)and she was super funny. I get the meatloaf again and I absolutely love it. It's so different than how I make it. I wish that recipe was in my cookbook too, but it's not. We splurge and drink cokes with our meal. I think the entire time, we ordered cokes with our meals three times. Big water drinkers this time.

We're done with our meal and head out to the bus stop and go to DD to catch our bus. There was a lot of people waiting. Most of them got on our bus! LOL!

We now only have two hours to kill until Tiffany TownCar picks us up. The kids sit in the lobby and watch cartoons while I go out and smoke. Here I meet a wonderful lady. She's here for the first time, and celebrating her 70th birthday! She's from Boston and has 6 kids and if it weren't for them, she'd never take vacations. Ahhh, they love their mom!! Such a sweet lady.

We go out to wait for TTC to pick us up and its really sad to ask for the luggage and say we are checking out. Oh well, we'll be back.
Mr. Lamy picks us up and he is right on the dot. Very punctual. I highly recommend him to anyone who needs a van instead of a towncar. He gives me his cell phone # as Tiffany Town Car MIGHT be changing hands and who knows, next time, he might not be there. I hope so, I can't say enough good about the man.
We arrive at MCO and I recognized that smell again. We had to take our shoes off yet again! I knew I should have worn my sandals!
Off to the gate we go. We were thru security almost three hours before our plane leaves, but this gives us plenty of time to eat and relax before the flight.
Everything went just fine on the plane and I read more of my book. Couldn't hardly put it down once I started it.(I'm currently re-reading it).

We arrive in Indianapolis at about 9pm and go to baggage claim. Where's my driver?? I have no idea. I call my husband to have him call as I didn't have the phone number on me. The guy was there, but at the ground transportation center. Honestly, I didn't know there was such a thing there. We find him and are on our way home. No mishaps, no traffic. Good time to be coming in.


LESSONS LEARNED
Next time, we'll try to come off season when the weather is a bit cooler.
I would bring them all again, they were pretty good considering. The bickering was the worst thing about them, wish they would have had an all out fight instead and got it over with. But everyone calmed down once I entered into it.

SPECIAL THINGS WE BOUGHT
I bought Whit a Dopey bobble head, Dexter a Grumpy bobble head, Kaylie and anklet(all cost $12ea.), Josh and Carlee got t-shirts.
I also bought us all mickey ears. Whit and I got a Crown ears, Carlee Minnie Mouse, Josh Sorcerer Mickey and Dexter and Kaylie got plain mickey ears. All these were the head band type. Mine and Whitney's light up. too cool!
Picked up a Beach club Villas t-shirt and DVC hat for Ben for his birthday.
I got a cookbook and fridge clip magnets(with the castle) and I bought myself two t-shirts, a Goofy and the one with Scar.

Both Kaylie and Dexter bought me pins. that was really sweet of them and totally unexpected.


Beach Club Villas were nice. I loved having the washer and dryer in the room. I loved all the extra space. I loved the location we had. I didn't appreciate not getting a smoking room, however I didn't smoke near as much and I really had no problem smoking outside.
Next time we stay, we hope to stay at Villas at Wilderness Lodge. Wish when we bought into DVC, there would have been some open, but there wasn't(until a few months later go figure).
I liked hearing the Welcome Home.

Next time we go(2005) we plan on doing a cruise(3 nights) and then a stay at WDW. Maybe the cruise last, but with so many points(since we'll bank 2004) we'll be able to stay almost three weeks if we wanted to! Hmm, maybe I could squeeze two trips that year!

I hope you enjoyed my trip report. It took me a while to write this down. I never take notes and having to rely on my memory is painful.

Side note, remember when I said I'd get to use my shampoo bars sooner than I thought? Two of them broke on the journey home. So that leaves two less Christmas presents, but more for me!!


"thanks for bearing with us until the bear end"!
Thanks for reading this!
Wendy

[tikibird]

Wow! You had an eventful trip!

Loved hearing about your trip to Basin - I recently discovered this store in DD in California. Sounds like the shampoo bar breakage turned into a good thing for you - you'll have to let me know how they are - I didn't get any and now wish that I did!

Sorry about the mishap with your room service dinner, but glad it got resolved!

I really enjoyed your trip and your wrap up - again - kudos to you for taking your family, and thanks for sharing your adventures with us! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

[luvnwdwgal]

What a wonderful Aunt you are!! I really enjoyed reading your trip report!! Glad all of you had such a good time!! Thanks!! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[DrDolphin]

Wendy - you had the Fantasmic package and you waited two hours for Fantasmic to start?? Was that just so you could get front row seats? Or was the dinner package side gonna be that crowded? We are doing the dinner package in Janauary and I was hoping that I would not have sit for an hour or more like we did last January when we did not know about the dinner package......

[coffeechef]

I enjoyed reading your trip report. Thank you for sharing. It sounds like you all had a great time there.

[chezp]

A great trip report Wendy! Thanks for posting it so soon after you got back. I've just finished reading it and I really enjoyed it. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I'm so pleased to hear you had a good time and the kids didn't give you too much trouble - I still think you were very brave though, taking them all on your own! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Cinderbrella]

I really enjoyed reading your TR!! Sounds like you did very well taking all of those kiddos with you!! What an awesome aunt you are!!!! I am looking forward to trying out Hollywood & Vine; I was glad to hear that you had a great dinner there. I know what your mean about the HP book; I have had a hard time putting mine down, too!! It's so well written, which is something that I did not really expect considering that it's the fifth one!

[DVC_Don]

I am so glad you enjoyed your first DVC stay. The BCV's sound nice. We'll have to give them a try, maybe next year. Thanks Wendy. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[kimdisneynut]

Thanks for the report. It was great.

Kim