Sharing is Caring - Christmas Trip to the World: Link to Photos Added 4/8/05 About This Page:

[Jillybean]

It's hard for me to be in Orlando without being in Disney!

You handled your exile fine though!


Jill

[Caldercup]

[ QUOTE ]
No Mom hath more love than to lay down her life on a roller coaster ride for her son, you know.

[/ QUOTE ]

Still loving this report!!
Eileen

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Karen

More please

[Tara O'Hara]

[ QUOTE ]
Phew! Ten hours of exile from WDW is about all I can take.

[/ QUOTE ] It sounds like you guys really enjoyed your day anyway!

[zacksmom_1993]

Oops! Don’t Feed the Animals – Day Six Part Three

Our consecutive early mornings were beginning to catch up with us so when we got back to the room all Zack wanted to do was kick back and watch a little TV. We got a head start on the TV watching, as the set was already on. The words were out of the mouth before I could help myself, “Zack. You forgot to turn the TV off this morning. Think of all of the electricity you’re wasting…” Oops. I noticed that the large stuffed cheetah we’d purchased the day before at Animal Kingdom had the remote control in his paws and was turned towards the TV. Just an act of Mousekeeping magic, not an act of pre-teen forgetfulness! Sorry Zack!

I relaxed on our balcony with some elegant hors d’oeuvres and my wine from a glass of fine crystal. Ok, ok, it was actually Gold Fish crackers and a water glass from the bathroom vanity. But, I still felt pretty special relaxing in the warm twilight with the animals enjoying their evening meal on the savannah in front of me. I had finished one lovely glass of wine, and I began to reminisce about our adventures thus far. The sun was slowly going down behind me, and the air was becoming heavier and a bit darker. It was a wonderful, relaxing half hour.

I decided to keep the fun going and poured myself another glass of wine. I must have been really relaxed because as I went to put my glass on the table after taking my first sip, it slipped out of my hand and went crashing to the concrete below. Glass shattered seemingly everywhere and a slow red stain crept towards the edge of the balcony. I ran inside and grabbed some towels from the bathroom and tried to sop up the mess as well as I could. Of course, it was completely dark now so I was having a hard time locating any small pieces of glass. The balcony got a nice thorough scrub down by me to try to get out the stain and pick up any missing pieces.

I immediately called Guest Services, concerned that I had dropped some glass down into the savannah. In retrospect, that would have to be one magical piece of glass to reach all the way out to the savannah. Zack was worried that they’d kick us out of the hotel. I told him to relax, it wasn’t like I had tried to grab a ride on one of the zebras, but I was a little nervous at the reaction as well. I shouldn’t have been. All the hotel was worried about was whether or not I was hurt. Although, when we got everything cleaned up, the cast member did give me a hard time. He joked that they sometimes had issues with kids throwing food out to the savannah, but I was the first one to try to get the animals liquored up.

Zack and I relaxed for a bit more, “No more wine for you, Mom.” Then, we decided to head out to Downtown Disney. The bus picked us up quickly enough, and we got off with a large stack of people at the Marketplace stop.

My sisters had told me about this interesting painting they had seen at the Art of Disney store. It was of the Evil Queen from Snow White, and it had these really bold strokes of purple and black. It was very simple, but striking. To be honest, my sisters thought they could re-create it in some way for a t-shirt, and they wished there was some way to get a photo of it. I didn’t think the cast members would like it too much if I went into the gallery and just took a picture of a piece of art work. But, I could get a picture of the piece in the background if Zack stood in the doorway. The picture turned out great, but my sisters haven’t seemed very inclined to do anything with it. So, it’ll just sit in my photo album and not on anyone’s chest!

Zack is a huge fan of the Rainforest Café. I really should think about joining their Safari Club, but I always forget about it until I’m at the restaurant. People were being told that there were 60-90 minute waits. We’ve had some pretty epic waits of our own at various RFC’s, but we’ve always managed to do pretty well when we were just a twosome. This time was no different, and we were told to go immediately into the gorilla room for our table. We were seated right by a large aquarium and had a good time looking at the various fish before our server came.

Zack said he was hungry so he ordered an adult size pepperoni pizza. The kid’s meals here are really small. I got what I usually get, a house salad and the Caribbe Chicken Fingers appetizer as a meal. I also ordered one of their rainbow coladas (hey Disney’s driving and there’s no live animals around) while Zack got the rainbow Icee. It was way too much food. Zack could only finish about half of his pizza, and I think I ate maybe a third of my chicken fingers. I don’t know what I was thinking after I had consumed nearly a bag full of Gold Fish and Zack had that huge sundae. I felt so bad leaving the food, but I knew there was no way we would end up eating it if we took it back to the room.

We waddled out of the restaurant and started our shopping excursion. I got some Christmas gifts at Disney Home, and I heard the cast members talking about how it was closing. It seemed that a couple of them weren’t sure about other work opportunities, so I hope everything worked out for them. I’ll really miss this store. We looked through the sidewalk sale at the “Everything Under $10” merchandise. I was intrigued by the grab bags, but I decided against it. Now I feel like a total dolt as I’ve been reading about all of the goodies people managed to get from these.

A quick turn through the pin store and the Pooh store and we were on to our main destination, Once Upon a Toy. Zack could spend hours in here, and I usually let him. The previous year, I purchased all of the Christmas presents I needed to buy for children from this store. I had an equally long list this year. Last year Zack had grown so exasperated with me asking, “What do you think a 7-year-old-girl would like?” (As if a 10-year-old-boy would know any better than I. ) I eventually had just asked someone in the store who was the same sex, and looked about the same age, as my gift recipient.

This year I was ready for shopping battle. I had little “Thank You” cards (just colored card stock with the message “Thank you for making someone’s Christmas gift extra special,”) and Disney holiday stickers. I’d scope out my child target for each gift, ask them if they could help me with something, and then asked them what their favorite toys in the store were. A couple of parents were a little skeptical of me , but I must look pretty trustworthy because most people took it in stride. After a little while, the kids were coming to me. They’d bring their siblings and say, “He’s a 9-year-old-boy. Do you want to know what he likes?” Thank goodness I had lots of extra stickers and cards!

I had such a good time, and it seemed like all of the kids did too. The whole process was completely painless, and gave Zack the chance to be independent in the store while I was shopping, as well. And, I have to tell you, the presents these kids picked out were spot on, right down to the very last one. I don’t know what I’ll do this Christmas since another birthday trip to the World is not in the cards.

Bags in hand we moved onto World of Disney and the Lego Store. Zack saw lots of things that interested him in both stores, but I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the possibilities. We eventually left without purchasing anything! The one thing I keep coming back to is the Winnie the Pooh luggage set. I’ve wanted this set forever, but I always pass. Someday, however, it will be mine! We went out towards the busses, and got back to the Lodge a little after 11:00. We took some pictures in the quiet lobby and headed off to bed. We each had our own bed tonight, since the sisters had left, and we were quickly in dreamland.

Next Up… Another Day, Another Pen

[Jillybean]

Your goldfish crackers (my appetizer with wine is usually Cheez-its ) and wine on the balcony sound wonderful - - and relaxing until the shattering of glass. Believe me, I have broken more than one wine glass - - sweet of you to be concerned about the animals.

I love your idea about having children help you pick out other children's gifts! They're bound to get it right!

Jill

[Tara O'Hara]

Awesome update and I agree with Jill!! Wine and goldfish sound terrific!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Karen So glad that you were able to get your Christmas shopping done at Once Upon a Toy, and how nice of you to try and liquor up the animals Glad no one was hurt

More please

[zacksmom_1993]

Another Day, Another Pen- Day Seven Part One

Our usual 7:00 AM wake-up call got us moving early again this morning. Zack always had a smile on his face when he heard Stitch. I, however, was more than ready for a straight, old-fashioned Mickey wake-up call. We made our way to the bus stop and started to wait with the crowd. The bus took forever to arrive, and we didn’t make it to Epcot until after the 8:00 opening ceremony. Will I ever get to see one of these opening ceremonies?

We walked immediately to Test Track and grabbed a Fast Pass for later. Twenty minutes after Epcot Early Entry, and there was already a 50-minute wait. We jumped into line for Mission Space. It was actually the first time we’d ever waited in the real line for this ride, and it already had us wrapped around the corner of the building. The Christmas crowds had definitely arrived. We decided to wait it out anyway, and the line really moved quickly. I think when they have all the rooms open; Mission Space can really accommodate many people per hour. We probably ended up waiting no more than 20 minutes.

While we were in line, there was a family behind us of two teenagers / young adults and a dad. They started talking about Fast Pass, with the father saying, “I think you can buy a pass or something.” Well, call me nosy, but I had to correct them. They called their mom/wife over and told her to get Fast Passes for Test Track while they rode Mission Space. I don’t know what else Disney can do to get the word out about Fast Passes. I guess it seems so strange to me that people aren’t coming to Disney World a little more prepared. I think there are still so many people who come here for vacation and have no clue about where they’re going to eat, what they’re going to see, etc. Not like us Passporters, eh?

We made it to Mars safely, but I think my long voyage during hyper-sleep had left me really needing to use the facilities. (Ha!) Or, maybe it was the pot of coffee I had polished off to keep me awake that morning. Anyway, I left Zack to play the video games at the end of the ride while I went in search of a bathroom. Is there one anywhere near Mission Space? I don’t know; the nearest one I could locate was in the Wonders of Life pavilion. I walked into the pavilion with maybe two other brave souls. The place was as deserted as a McDonald’s during a mad cow scare. Very, very sad. At least, the bathrooms were clean.

I went back to Mission Space only to find Zack very contentedly playing video games. I could have left him there forever. I wanted to get back to Wonders of Life and go to a few attractions. With the state of that pavilion, I figured this trip might be our last chance to see it. We jumped in line for Body Wars as the wait time was posted as 0 minutes. But, we soon came across a substantial line that wasn’t moving at all. We waited about five minutes, looked at each other, and decided to blow it off. This ride is really not one of our favorites, ever since we witnessed (and smelled) someone who thought the inside of the body on Body Wars looked a little too authentic.

The one thing we didn’t want to miss was Cranium Command. So, we got in line about five minutes before the show, and watched the line grow behind us. As always, we enjoyed our time with Buzzy. I especially love General Knowledge. (“If you piloted a chicken, it would be cruelty to animals.”) I’ll be so sad if they close this after The Land pavilion reopens.

We got done with the pavilion a little after 10:00, and I knew the character bus would be at Spaceship Earth at 10:15. So, we headed that way. I this character bus, especially after you’ve gotten autographs from some of the more popular characters like Mickey and Goofy. The lines for the “big names” were always so long, but we found practically no wait for most of the others. Zack quickly got photos and autographs with Timon and Robin Hood.

And, then it happened, yet again. While the very proper Mary Poppins went to sign Zack’s autograph book, our third pen broke. I started to look around for a cast member, but none were nearby. I asked the man behind us in line if we could borrow his pen, and he looked at me like I had grown two-heads. He literally just turned to his kids and said, “I guess it’s your turn now.” Mary Poppins to the rescue because she replied, “Spit, spot. Please let me use your pen for this well behaved little man first.” Well, he listened to her, even though he didn’t listen to me, and we had her autograph. Zack was too embarrassed to get anyone else’s autograph so we left.

We were starting to get hungry, so we went to the Fountainview Bakery for some pastries and drinks. It was shaping up to be a nice warm day, so we enjoyed our breakfast out on the patio and watched the fountain for quite awhile. There was a great mass of humanity walking past us. Today was looking to be a crowded one at Epcot. Our Fast Pass time for Test Track had arrived, and we enjoyed walking right past the huge line. It was well over an hour wait in Standby by then.

We were put into a car in the front seat, Zack on the far left and me in the middle. And then, an older woman, single rider was placed next to me. I wasn’t sure what was going on because she immediately grabbed my knee once she sat down. When I turned to her, it was very clear that she was terrified. She immediately asked, “Hablo espanol?” Unfortunately, my high school language was French, not Spanish although I don’t know if I’d be able to comfort a terrified Parisian any better than I could this woman. I racked my brain for any safe sounding Spanish words. But I could only come up with ok and bueno. She would just reply back, “ok?” I’d say, “ok!” “Ok?” “Ok!” Then, we’d repeat over and over again.

She kept a firm grip on my leg the whole time on Test Track, but she ended up with a big smile on her face at the end of the ride. When we got off, Zack and I wished her a, “Feliz Navidad” (yeah, of course I can remember that one ) and we were on our way. It was all pretty funny.

The character caravan was due at World Showcase Plaza any minute. So, Zack and I hotfooted it over there. I ran into the store, while I told Zack to get in line for some new characters. I had both an old pen and a receipt this time, but I was in such a hurry with the characters I just paid for a new pen. If you’re keeping score, that’s four pens for a one week trip to Disney World. Sigh.

Zack managed to get autographs and pictures from Foulfellow, Pinocchio, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Prince John. We got in line for the characters from Brother Bear, but they left before we had a chance to visit with them. We vowed to catch up to them at their next stop at 12:30 at the Japan pavilion. With an hour to wait, we made quick stops at Innoventions and Ice Station Cool and then took the boat over to Morocco. The bus arrived shortly after 12:30 and we were the second in line for Koda and Kenai. Mission accomplished.

Next Up… An Afternoon of Sunning, Shopping, Swimming, Shakes, and Sandwiches

[Tara O'Hara]

Another great update!! I your story about Test Track! That was very sweet of you to allow your knee to be held for the whole ride! It's a good thing for that lady that she sat next to you and not the man who was behind you in line for autographs!

[Jillybean]

Oh my gosh, the story of the lady with the hand on your knee had me rolling!

And let's hear it for Mary Poppins - - putting a stop to rudeness! I think I love her even more now!

Jill

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Karen MOre please

[disneymom9092]

Great update KAren! I am so enjoying this!

[jude411]

I am glad Mary Poppins told that man off in a polite way of course. That was not very nice of him. That was nice of you to let that lady hold your knee during TT. It sounds like you and Zack are having a great time together. You don't see that very often with that age boys. Usually they don't want their mothers around. It is nice to hear thats not all truth.

[zacksmom_1993]

An Afternoon of Sunning, Shopping, Swimming, Shakes, and Sandwiches – Day 7 Part 2

Our autograph adventures complete, we began a more leisurely exploration of World Showcase. I bought a few stocking stuffers, including some for myself. (Hey! At least I know I’ll like what’s in my stocking Christmas morning. Although I did feel a little silly wrapping my own presents at 2:00 in the morning on Christmas Eve. ) Among my purchases for myself were the Candlelight Processional CD and the Hidden Mickey’s book. On my upcoming trips to the World, I’m going to have to plan time for a couple of HM hunt excursions!

I got Zack a couple of small cheetah cub ceramic animals at Der Teddybar in the Germany pavilion. They had a wide variety of different animals, and at $2.50 apiece, I felt like these were pretty reasonable souvenirs. Shopping was completed with a tea assortment from The Tea Caddy for my Dad’s stocking and lip glosses for the girls’ stockings from La Signature in the France pavilion.

At the France pavilion, I felt like the cast members were trying a little too had to give me that authentic, snotty, Parisian experience. I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, with the cast members looking me up and down and judging me to be an unworthy sales target. “Hey ladies, I’ve got a huge credit limit on this ol’ Disney room charge, and you’ve just inspired me to spend very little of it.” As my friend Julia would say, “Big mistake. Huge!”

We managed to leave Epcot via the International Gateway before my credit cards had completely melted. The day was nice and warm, but starting to get a little humid, like maybe rain was on the way. We walked slowly towards Beaches And Cream and noticed a pretty substantial number of people playing in Stormalong Bay. As I was waiting to check-in for a table, I noticed many of the patrons were wearing only their bathing suits and some shoes. Aahh, December in Orlando, now this weather was more like it.

We decided to take a seat at the counter, because our favorite server, Maria was working there. Now I know some others on this board have a different favorite server here, but Maria always remembers us and treats us just like her family. I asked how long Maria has been at Beaches and Cream and I think she said 14 years. So, if you’ve been to Beaches and Cream, you’ve probably seen Maria.

The real reason I Maria is because she always lets me order the kid’s grilled cheese meal. There is just something about a grilled cheese sandwich and some salty fries. It’s my comfort food. Zack did pretty well for himself, as well, with the kid’s cheeseburger and chocolate malt. We enjoyed our meal, said goodbye to Maria until next time, and headed towards the boat dock.

Before too long, we were resting on the boat towards MGM. When we got off the boat, a group of ducks was very loudly greeting us from the lawn area next to the dock. Zack spent so much time talking to them, feeding them, and watching them. I felt my little foot tapping up and down. We’ve got an African savannah outside our hotel window, and you want to hang out with the ducks? I tried to remember that it was these little moments that I cherished, and sat back and enjoyed Zack enjoying the ducks.

A quick bus ride and we were back at Animal Kingdom a little after 3:00. We had a priority seating for Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:30 that night, but Zack really wanted to enjoy himself at the pool. I managed to change the seating until 7:45 that night and make a PS for Cape May Café for Christmas Eve morning. It seems to be so easy to get these last minute seatings for parties of 2 around the holidays. My little family of two helps out again!

We ran back to the room to change into swimsuits. I also grabbed the dirty laundry, as I really did not want to spend my Christmas Eve doing laundry when we got back! Zack jumped in the pool, and I started the laundry and joined him.

We had the best afternoon. I swam with Zack, we spent some time in the hot tub, and I talked to other parents. The weather was nice and warm, and everyone seemed so happy. I changed the laundry into a couple of dryers, and went back to resume my relaxation. But, the best was yet to come.

I went to take some pictures at the animal overlook as they were feeding the animals. The number of animals out, and within 15-30 feet from the overlooks was incredible. I forced Zack out of the pool. (I know. He’ll spend 20 minutes looking at some common ducks, but won’t get out of the pool to see a menagerie of African animals! ) I then proceeded to use a roll and a half of film. It was just incredible, and I was finally beginning to understand why pool hopping is restricted at AKL.

One of the cast members at the overlook was a young man from South Africa. He was so great with Zack, helping him count the number of different species he could see. (It was 15.) Then he was really cute, telling Zack that he saw another species on the savannah, one that only appeared a couple of times a day. He said, “It’s that large tan species, called a ‘tu-ruck.’” And, then he proceeded to point to the animal feeding truck parked in front of us. Zack thought this joke was just hilarious, or at least I assume so since he kept repeating it to me the rest of the night.

Eventually we tore ourselves away from the animals, grabbed our completed laundry, and went back to the room. Some showers, a glass of wine, and some animal gazing from the balcony, and we were ready for our night at Magic Kingdom.

Next Up… I’m So Excited!