Tink
So whats the sitch?
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
This is my continuation from Fantasmic trip days 6-12. Cast is myself not so 30ish Mom, 6yoDD and 70yo Aunt. DH stayed at home to work. Did I mention I was crazy. You all must have laughed watching me keep track of a 6yo and 70yo!
Nov 30 Thurs
DD 6th Birthday! I've been waiting 18mos for this!
She was very excited because today we would be at MK. She was up and dressed and waiting at the door to go at 7:15am. (Could we possible be ready this early for school?)On the monarail 8, rode up front so DD could "co-pilot". They used to give little cards that said co-pilot, but everytime I asked they said "oh, yes we do that, but I don't have anymore" Things have changed, they would have never been empty. Anyway DD was thrilled. I love the feeling of the magic washing over you as you enter Main Street. As many times as I've been, I still get excited, especially to see it thru DD's eyes. We saw so many unhappy little kids this day. Screaming parents, screaming kids, that we really in need of serious pixie dusting. I don't every remember MK being like this. My DD was thrilled to be there, I was thrilled to be able to enjoy it with her and my Aunt. Anyway for EE it was not all that crowded until later. We headed straight for Splash MT, Aunt really had been wanting to do that, but after coming face to face with the MT, she chickened out! She thought it might be like the old flume ride we had back home! So off to Pirates. Didn't do this with DD at age 3, but she likes pirates now and thought she'd like this. She loved it, acutally got to do this 3 times, no wait at all. Then to jungle cruise. They've add a few things since our last trip 3 years ago. DD got to drive the boat! No wait did this 2 times, Then to Swiss Family. DD loved this had lots of questions about how they lived. Aunt waited for us, too many stairs. Walked her over to the Presidents and came back to Adventure land with DD and did Swiss 2 more times, in a row. Can I tell you I lost 15lbs! Back to pick up Aunt and off to the Haunted Mansion. Sign said 30min wait, but we were inside in 5 mins. DD was a little nervous about this ride. She liked it, but noise and some creepy sights. But she wanted to do it again. Time for our PS at Cindy's. Gave my last name and CM said to DD "well Princess Victoria I see today is your 6th birthday!" DD was tickled pink! Our table was ready right away, which had streamers and Mickey confetti. Lunch was outstanding. DD had a free birthday dessert which was awsome. 2 scoops of ice cream over lemon poppyseed pound cake with chocolate sauce and a chocolate crown and candle with the song! Yummy! Now to Toontown because Cinderella will be there at 2pm. Lines were short so we decided to wait first for Eeyore and Pooh and the gang. What was supposed to be a 5 minute wait according to the CM turned into 15 of waiting and never moving. DD decide since she has loads of autographs from everyone here she didn't want to wait anymore, she'd rather "do" something. Goofy's Barnstormer was her choice. She has never done a rollercoaster so I thought this was a good begining. Sign said 15min wait we were on in less than 5min. DD face was priceless. Have you ever seen a smile smear back across someone's face until it reaches their ears?! DD thought this was the coolest and fastest thing she has ever been on. Of course we do the mouses' houses. Getting time for the Magical Moments Parade. We made our way to 1/2 way down Main St because we'll be leaving after parade along with 1/2 of the other people in the park. We had a curb side seat across from the Candy shop. DD loves the parade, does the arm motion that the characters do to the music and she sings the song. She had the Barber shop quartet sing her two songs one of course was happy birthday, while we waited for the parade. She got to be in the parade twice. Super moments for Mom! Watching your child in a Disney parade, can't get better than this! By now Aunt needs a break, DD is wound and could use a swim so off we go. We are heading back for MVMCP tonight. We are thru the gates by 7:30. Aunt rents a motorized wheelchair. She has two bad knees and back. She's been popping 600mg of motrin 3 times a day to stay nimble. Unless you use a motorized wheel chair or are willing to run people down with it, this is not a good thing.
$30 to rent $10 deposit. I could have easily wheeled her in DD in a regular chair but she would hear of it. She really need a chair to sit in to wait for the parade and see the parade. What would have taken me 3mins to get down Main St took us almost 30 mins with her motorized. Everytime she tried to move forward there was always someone stepping in front of or over her. It was constant stop and go. It was the relief she need for the day and not having to be weary of where she was stepping in the dark so that out weighed the disadvantage of making time. We did get our pictures taken at Buzz (they came out great) we had our hot chocolate and cookies while waiting for the parade to start. The 9pm parade started at 9:20. It was of course spectacular. Love smelling the Gingerbread house when it comes by. We were fortunate enough to have front viewing with Aunt in a wheel chair. We got the last available spot at 8:50. Watched the incredible fireworks, love the 360 degree fireworks, the Spaceshuttle lauched during the fireworks and saw Rudolph fly!
Saw the court show, this was part of what used to be the Jolly Holiday show years ago. By this time DD and Aunt were pixied out. I bought my tickets early for $31 and $21. Was it worth it?
Absolutely. DD and Aunt didn't care about riding anything, they wanted the Christmas stuff! Off to the parking lot. DD was off to neverland before we hit the main drag!
Dec 1 Friday
This was DD and Aunts recup day and my laundry day! Do I need to recuperate? Never, I'm always in 5th gear, live on 3-4 hours of sleep a night.
Visited Disney hotels to see the Christmas decoration, loved WL and PO. Going tuesday to GF my most favorite.
Dec 2 Sat
Off to MGM today. There before the 9:00 rope drop. Saw the Army men from Toy Story. They are fun with the kids. Great Movie ride was first. DD loved the fact that there was really real people moving in this! Then to Backlot and Catastrophy Canyon. DD and Aunt both enjoyed this. Over to Indiana Jones. Walked right in for 1st show. DD thought "stunt" people were great. She has a better idea now that TV isn't all that "real" They just make things look real. Over to have her face painted in the court yard in front of the Muppets. She had the glamour eyes and she thought she was something! Loved the muppets. DD kept standing trying to touch things in the movie!
Stolled thru the NY lot. Wish the Honey I shrunk the kids playground was open that was fun last time. Off to Little mermaid and Belle. Super shows
however I think Mermaid is a little intense especialy since it's dark. Some little tikes had trouble with this. Belle is outstanding. Lunch at Rosies where DD lost her 2 front teeth! Back to rest. And some rest it was. DD fell in the duck pond of the resort. She wears a vest when she swims and of course after swimming in the pool had taken it off. This would be the last day to feed the baby ducks at the resort. They have feeding station where you can buy food for the ducks. DD got a little too close to a baby and the mama duck wasn't happy and in all the commotion, DD took a dive right in, no vest. Well can I say she learned to swim. I ended having to go in after her because she started to panic. A dirty, slimmy, can't stand up because of the rubber bottom made for a difficult dip in the duck pond. Luckily a man was jogging by and came to our rescue. Once out my DD says I thought you weren't going swimming today Mommy. Well the mama duck has her duckling and I have my baby. Whew. After all that we headed back to MGM for the Osborne lights and Fantasmic, but at 5:30 it was a mob scene at the parking gate to get in. I was not ready to deal with all that so we head to Epcot instead. Spaceship Earth of course was first, off to the countries we hadn't toured yet.
Mexico, Norway, Aunt got her flume ride! China Aunt watched the film and DD and I watched young girls tumble and twist themselves into and out of tubes and incredible balancing. She also did the fun spot here and started a mask. Strolled thru Germany, Japan, Saw the carolers in The American Adventure. Took the last boat across the lagoon before the Illumination. You could easily find a spot anywhere even along the rail at 9pm tonight.
Once again the noise level for DD was intense but she loves the show. Holds her ears throughout it, mesmerized.
Dec 3 Sunday
Leaving Vistana and going to Shades of Green.
Off to Seaworld. Today was the only full overcast and really cool day. I've been in shorts and short sleeves since we arrived, but today I have on jeans and a windbreaker. And needed it, as the day went on it got cooler. Seaworld has gotten very big since I was last there in 1987. DD was very impressed by the grand size of Shamu. It amazes me to see people darned in their Disney finest (the yellow ponchos) just to get wet from the whale! Lots of fun. Clyde and Seamore, the sea lion and otter were laugh out loud silly, loads of fun. Hand fed the seals. Hand fed the dolphins. This was an exhilrating exprience. DD could have spent the day with them. Lunch at the dockside was tasteless. This is the only negative thing about Seaworld. Watch the extreme games, went thru the barn and the penquins. By 4:30 we were ready to call it a day. This was a fun time, would do this again when we go back to Orlando.
Checking into SOG was a breeze. Had a very good dinner buffet in the Garden Restaurant. Watch the bats fly back and forth outside for entertainment!
Loads of "free roaming" wildlife here. Wild deer, turkeys, alligators, really! I will stay here again, hotel is lovely, staff is helpful and polite, rooms are HUGE, two queen size beds, sleeper sofa, large table with 4 chairs, private balcony and pool water at 87degrees! We didn't swim, :-( Air was too chilly even for us to go swimming! But people were in the water.
Dec 4 Monday
Our last day at WDW parks, when I told DD this, she asked are we ever coming back? Yes, someday we will get to come back. She asks "For my 7th birthday?!" No flies on this kid. Anyway we started a day at MK. Had to get my glass sipper glass that I forgot on 11/30 then off to Dumbo.
This and Pooh were the only attractions we had any kind of wait for. Of course I didn't do any of the big major rides like the MTs of TOT and such because this whole trip was really for my DD.
We did Dumbo, the carousel, Merlin was doing the stone. Watch with joy as a young boy from make a wish foundation was chosen to pull out the sword.
You know when you think that you've got it bad, just take a look around and see the world really isn't fair. This is my DD 2nd trip and hopefully not our last. But when you look at these kids you really hope it's not their last. I'm so glad Merlin's stick was able to find "Paul" and let him rule for the day.
Then we were off to Pooh. This was our longest wait. Sign said 40min and it was 40min. Would have done the fastpass but we wouldn't be there at the comeback time of 2-3pm. So we did the wait.
Actually saw Beverly's friend, or she saw me with the lime green ribbon. Never got her name, but she was looking for the special edition pins and was in the fastpass lane of Pooh at 11:45am. Anyway we were of to COP, this was my Aunts favorite from 20 years ago. She fell asleep this time, just resting her eyes she said! Well, now it's time to head to AK. Did the Safari again, loads of animals, are driver was better the first time but the sights were still exciting. Strolled the pathways over to DinoLand to let DD dig awhile and then to Tarzan Rocks. DD found this a little overwhelming for the load music but liked it when Tarzan came out swinging. Hey, so did Aunt and I, who wouldn't like those pecs! Now to MGM for Osborne and Fantasmic. We exchanged stroller for regular wheelchair this time. We headed straight for Osborne Lights. At 5:45 we were on the NY street. They handed out the glasses which let you see snowflakeswhile looking at the lights. We parked it right in the middle of the street and waited for the show. Had some hot chocolate, watched the pre-show, watched it snow. One little girl asked "Is this what it really looks like when it snows?" This blew me away. Having lived in Rhode Island my whole life and having snow every winter and praying for snow as a kid in school hoping for a snow day, you just never stop to think not everybody in this world has seen it snow. She was amazed, but hey in a world of animatronics who knows whats real? So I said to her yes, this is exactly what it looks like when it snow. The smile I got from her was heartwarming. It's amazing what a little snow can do for someone! Anyway, the street was a mob scene and when they flipped the switch at 6:15 it was the mad dash. It was just like a NY city street at rush hour. Everybody toe to heel, inching along. It was well worth it. It is breathtaking. I'm sure if we waited until later the crowds would have thinned but we really wanted to see Fantasmic for our final adventure.
So thru the lights and back to Fantasmic, it was standing room only but my Aunt was sitting so she was game. We didn't even ask for viewing, they just ushered us in and we had a great spot, upwind of the blowing water! The show was a spectacular way to end our park adventures.
Dec 5 Tuesday
Packing up and last laundry and then to GF for tea. According to the CM at the front desk you need only show up no PS required to have tea between 2-6pm, however not the case when we got there at 1:25pm. Guest relations said they now require PS for tea. Okay, so I asked the "seating gal" if we could be put on a wait. No problem. After they called the PS's in, we were seated too.
Tea was scrumptious! DD loved having her own teapot with chocolate milk! The tree is magnificant! What isn't at GF. What a lovely way to wind down our trip. We wander the shops and grounds before heading back to SOG.
Dec 6 Wed
Heading back to reality today. Of all the thousands of people we saw during our trip, here sits at Orland airport, three white haired ladies who we saw 2 times during our trip to MK, felt like I was in a Stephen King movie. And come to find out after chatting with them at the airport, they were on the same flight as us! Too creepy!
You may think we did nothing on our adventure to WDW, however, pushing a 6yo and dragging a 70yo you have to go with not to high expectations. We did more than we planned. We put into priority everything that DD and Aunt really wanted to do and got to do it and then some. My next trip will be for at least 14 days. I've done the 7night 8 day trip way in the past and will never do that again for WDW. Some folks don't get the lesiurly time at WDW because of vacation time, and feel the need to rush to do everything. You can't WDW has become too big to do it all in the average vacation time frame. We enjoyed our days away from the parks. Our days in the parks watching folks race from point A to B and back again with screaming kids. Do you think those kids will want to come back again? We enjoy watching the wildlife all around, the cranes picking lizards out of the grasses in Epcot, the fish in China's water gardens, the buzzards circling everywhere now, the alligators sunning themselves. Talking with the CM's and listening to the vast array of language being spoken at any given moment. Talking with the other hotel guests at the pool.
Going back to the hotel for a swim a cup of tea and not feeling pressured to hurry up.
People have complained about the parks being dirty now. Well, if you sit long enough on a bench in the park and watch the "guests", you'd see why the park is dirty. People smoking in no smoking area, and throwing their lit butts on the ground, kids of all ages, grownups too, tossing litter. Today's society of people are pigs and expect someone else to clean up after them. 30 years ago when it was just MK, you never saw the CM with the little sweeper. Now out in front of AK, after every tram, the CM is right there, sweeping up after everyone was waiting for the tram. Things have changed and in just the 3 short years since my last trip, and they will change again. But I think WDW does a mighty fine job after having something like 250million guest walk thru the gate. I sprinkle everyone with Pixie Dust and wish everyone as memorable a trip as ours. Pixie Dust for everyone!
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings
Tink
[This message was edited by tink&pan on 12-13-00 at 12:50 AM.]
[This message was edited by tink&pan on 12-13-00 at 01:39 AM.]
Nov 30 Thurs
DD 6th Birthday! I've been waiting 18mos for this!
She was very excited because today we would be at MK. She was up and dressed and waiting at the door to go at 7:15am. (Could we possible be ready this early for school?)On the monarail 8, rode up front so DD could "co-pilot". They used to give little cards that said co-pilot, but everytime I asked they said "oh, yes we do that, but I don't have anymore" Things have changed, they would have never been empty. Anyway DD was thrilled. I love the feeling of the magic washing over you as you enter Main Street. As many times as I've been, I still get excited, especially to see it thru DD's eyes. We saw so many unhappy little kids this day. Screaming parents, screaming kids, that we really in need of serious pixie dusting. I don't every remember MK being like this. My DD was thrilled to be there, I was thrilled to be able to enjoy it with her and my Aunt. Anyway for EE it was not all that crowded until later. We headed straight for Splash MT, Aunt really had been wanting to do that, but after coming face to face with the MT, she chickened out! She thought it might be like the old flume ride we had back home! So off to Pirates. Didn't do this with DD at age 3, but she likes pirates now and thought she'd like this. She loved it, acutally got to do this 3 times, no wait at all. Then to jungle cruise. They've add a few things since our last trip 3 years ago. DD got to drive the boat! No wait did this 2 times, Then to Swiss Family. DD loved this had lots of questions about how they lived. Aunt waited for us, too many stairs. Walked her over to the Presidents and came back to Adventure land with DD and did Swiss 2 more times, in a row. Can I tell you I lost 15lbs! Back to pick up Aunt and off to the Haunted Mansion. Sign said 30min wait, but we were inside in 5 mins. DD was a little nervous about this ride. She liked it, but noise and some creepy sights. But she wanted to do it again. Time for our PS at Cindy's. Gave my last name and CM said to DD "well Princess Victoria I see today is your 6th birthday!" DD was tickled pink! Our table was ready right away, which had streamers and Mickey confetti. Lunch was outstanding. DD had a free birthday dessert which was awsome. 2 scoops of ice cream over lemon poppyseed pound cake with chocolate sauce and a chocolate crown and candle with the song! Yummy! Now to Toontown because Cinderella will be there at 2pm. Lines were short so we decided to wait first for Eeyore and Pooh and the gang. What was supposed to be a 5 minute wait according to the CM turned into 15 of waiting and never moving. DD decide since she has loads of autographs from everyone here she didn't want to wait anymore, she'd rather "do" something. Goofy's Barnstormer was her choice. She has never done a rollercoaster so I thought this was a good begining. Sign said 15min wait we were on in less than 5min. DD face was priceless. Have you ever seen a smile smear back across someone's face until it reaches their ears?! DD thought this was the coolest and fastest thing she has ever been on. Of course we do the mouses' houses. Getting time for the Magical Moments Parade. We made our way to 1/2 way down Main St because we'll be leaving after parade along with 1/2 of the other people in the park. We had a curb side seat across from the Candy shop. DD loves the parade, does the arm motion that the characters do to the music and she sings the song. She had the Barber shop quartet sing her two songs one of course was happy birthday, while we waited for the parade. She got to be in the parade twice. Super moments for Mom! Watching your child in a Disney parade, can't get better than this! By now Aunt needs a break, DD is wound and could use a swim so off we go. We are heading back for MVMCP tonight. We are thru the gates by 7:30. Aunt rents a motorized wheelchair. She has two bad knees and back. She's been popping 600mg of motrin 3 times a day to stay nimble. Unless you use a motorized wheel chair or are willing to run people down with it, this is not a good thing.
$30 to rent $10 deposit. I could have easily wheeled her in DD in a regular chair but she would hear of it. She really need a chair to sit in to wait for the parade and see the parade. What would have taken me 3mins to get down Main St took us almost 30 mins with her motorized. Everytime she tried to move forward there was always someone stepping in front of or over her. It was constant stop and go. It was the relief she need for the day and not having to be weary of where she was stepping in the dark so that out weighed the disadvantage of making time. We did get our pictures taken at Buzz (they came out great) we had our hot chocolate and cookies while waiting for the parade to start. The 9pm parade started at 9:20. It was of course spectacular. Love smelling the Gingerbread house when it comes by. We were fortunate enough to have front viewing with Aunt in a wheel chair. We got the last available spot at 8:50. Watched the incredible fireworks, love the 360 degree fireworks, the Spaceshuttle lauched during the fireworks and saw Rudolph fly!
Saw the court show, this was part of what used to be the Jolly Holiday show years ago. By this time DD and Aunt were pixied out. I bought my tickets early for $31 and $21. Was it worth it?
Absolutely. DD and Aunt didn't care about riding anything, they wanted the Christmas stuff! Off to the parking lot. DD was off to neverland before we hit the main drag!
Dec 1 Friday
This was DD and Aunts recup day and my laundry day! Do I need to recuperate? Never, I'm always in 5th gear, live on 3-4 hours of sleep a night.
Visited Disney hotels to see the Christmas decoration, loved WL and PO. Going tuesday to GF my most favorite.
Dec 2 Sat
Off to MGM today. There before the 9:00 rope drop. Saw the Army men from Toy Story. They are fun with the kids. Great Movie ride was first. DD loved the fact that there was really real people moving in this! Then to Backlot and Catastrophy Canyon. DD and Aunt both enjoyed this. Over to Indiana Jones. Walked right in for 1st show. DD thought "stunt" people were great. She has a better idea now that TV isn't all that "real" They just make things look real. Over to have her face painted in the court yard in front of the Muppets. She had the glamour eyes and she thought she was something! Loved the muppets. DD kept standing trying to touch things in the movie!
Stolled thru the NY lot. Wish the Honey I shrunk the kids playground was open that was fun last time. Off to Little mermaid and Belle. Super shows
however I think Mermaid is a little intense especialy since it's dark. Some little tikes had trouble with this. Belle is outstanding. Lunch at Rosies where DD lost her 2 front teeth! Back to rest. And some rest it was. DD fell in the duck pond of the resort. She wears a vest when she swims and of course after swimming in the pool had taken it off. This would be the last day to feed the baby ducks at the resort. They have feeding station where you can buy food for the ducks. DD got a little too close to a baby and the mama duck wasn't happy and in all the commotion, DD took a dive right in, no vest. Well can I say she learned to swim. I ended having to go in after her because she started to panic. A dirty, slimmy, can't stand up because of the rubber bottom made for a difficult dip in the duck pond. Luckily a man was jogging by and came to our rescue. Once out my DD says I thought you weren't going swimming today Mommy. Well the mama duck has her duckling and I have my baby. Whew. After all that we headed back to MGM for the Osborne lights and Fantasmic, but at 5:30 it was a mob scene at the parking gate to get in. I was not ready to deal with all that so we head to Epcot instead. Spaceship Earth of course was first, off to the countries we hadn't toured yet.
Mexico, Norway, Aunt got her flume ride! China Aunt watched the film and DD and I watched young girls tumble and twist themselves into and out of tubes and incredible balancing. She also did the fun spot here and started a mask. Strolled thru Germany, Japan, Saw the carolers in The American Adventure. Took the last boat across the lagoon before the Illumination. You could easily find a spot anywhere even along the rail at 9pm tonight.
Once again the noise level for DD was intense but she loves the show. Holds her ears throughout it, mesmerized.
Dec 3 Sunday
Leaving Vistana and going to Shades of Green.
Off to Seaworld. Today was the only full overcast and really cool day. I've been in shorts and short sleeves since we arrived, but today I have on jeans and a windbreaker. And needed it, as the day went on it got cooler. Seaworld has gotten very big since I was last there in 1987. DD was very impressed by the grand size of Shamu. It amazes me to see people darned in their Disney finest (the yellow ponchos) just to get wet from the whale! Lots of fun. Clyde and Seamore, the sea lion and otter were laugh out loud silly, loads of fun. Hand fed the seals. Hand fed the dolphins. This was an exhilrating exprience. DD could have spent the day with them. Lunch at the dockside was tasteless. This is the only negative thing about Seaworld. Watch the extreme games, went thru the barn and the penquins. By 4:30 we were ready to call it a day. This was a fun time, would do this again when we go back to Orlando.
Checking into SOG was a breeze. Had a very good dinner buffet in the Garden Restaurant. Watch the bats fly back and forth outside for entertainment!
Loads of "free roaming" wildlife here. Wild deer, turkeys, alligators, really! I will stay here again, hotel is lovely, staff is helpful and polite, rooms are HUGE, two queen size beds, sleeper sofa, large table with 4 chairs, private balcony and pool water at 87degrees! We didn't swim, :-( Air was too chilly even for us to go swimming! But people were in the water.
Dec 4 Monday
Our last day at WDW parks, when I told DD this, she asked are we ever coming back? Yes, someday we will get to come back. She asks "For my 7th birthday?!" No flies on this kid. Anyway we started a day at MK. Had to get my glass sipper glass that I forgot on 11/30 then off to Dumbo.
This and Pooh were the only attractions we had any kind of wait for. Of course I didn't do any of the big major rides like the MTs of TOT and such because this whole trip was really for my DD.
We did Dumbo, the carousel, Merlin was doing the stone. Watch with joy as a young boy from make a wish foundation was chosen to pull out the sword.
You know when you think that you've got it bad, just take a look around and see the world really isn't fair. This is my DD 2nd trip and hopefully not our last. But when you look at these kids you really hope it's not their last. I'm so glad Merlin's stick was able to find "Paul" and let him rule for the day.
Then we were off to Pooh. This was our longest wait. Sign said 40min and it was 40min. Would have done the fastpass but we wouldn't be there at the comeback time of 2-3pm. So we did the wait.
Actually saw Beverly's friend, or she saw me with the lime green ribbon. Never got her name, but she was looking for the special edition pins and was in the fastpass lane of Pooh at 11:45am. Anyway we were of to COP, this was my Aunts favorite from 20 years ago. She fell asleep this time, just resting her eyes she said! Well, now it's time to head to AK. Did the Safari again, loads of animals, are driver was better the first time but the sights were still exciting. Strolled the pathways over to DinoLand to let DD dig awhile and then to Tarzan Rocks. DD found this a little overwhelming for the load music but liked it when Tarzan came out swinging. Hey, so did Aunt and I, who wouldn't like those pecs! Now to MGM for Osborne and Fantasmic. We exchanged stroller for regular wheelchair this time. We headed straight for Osborne Lights. At 5:45 we were on the NY street. They handed out the glasses which let you see snowflakeswhile looking at the lights. We parked it right in the middle of the street and waited for the show. Had some hot chocolate, watched the pre-show, watched it snow. One little girl asked "Is this what it really looks like when it snows?" This blew me away. Having lived in Rhode Island my whole life and having snow every winter and praying for snow as a kid in school hoping for a snow day, you just never stop to think not everybody in this world has seen it snow. She was amazed, but hey in a world of animatronics who knows whats real? So I said to her yes, this is exactly what it looks like when it snow. The smile I got from her was heartwarming. It's amazing what a little snow can do for someone! Anyway, the street was a mob scene and when they flipped the switch at 6:15 it was the mad dash. It was just like a NY city street at rush hour. Everybody toe to heel, inching along. It was well worth it. It is breathtaking. I'm sure if we waited until later the crowds would have thinned but we really wanted to see Fantasmic for our final adventure.
So thru the lights and back to Fantasmic, it was standing room only but my Aunt was sitting so she was game. We didn't even ask for viewing, they just ushered us in and we had a great spot, upwind of the blowing water! The show was a spectacular way to end our park adventures.
Dec 5 Tuesday
Packing up and last laundry and then to GF for tea. According to the CM at the front desk you need only show up no PS required to have tea between 2-6pm, however not the case when we got there at 1:25pm. Guest relations said they now require PS for tea. Okay, so I asked the "seating gal" if we could be put on a wait. No problem. After they called the PS's in, we were seated too.
Tea was scrumptious! DD loved having her own teapot with chocolate milk! The tree is magnificant! What isn't at GF. What a lovely way to wind down our trip. We wander the shops and grounds before heading back to SOG.
Dec 6 Wed
Heading back to reality today. Of all the thousands of people we saw during our trip, here sits at Orland airport, three white haired ladies who we saw 2 times during our trip to MK, felt like I was in a Stephen King movie. And come to find out after chatting with them at the airport, they were on the same flight as us! Too creepy!
You may think we did nothing on our adventure to WDW, however, pushing a 6yo and dragging a 70yo you have to go with not to high expectations. We did more than we planned. We put into priority everything that DD and Aunt really wanted to do and got to do it and then some. My next trip will be for at least 14 days. I've done the 7night 8 day trip way in the past and will never do that again for WDW. Some folks don't get the lesiurly time at WDW because of vacation time, and feel the need to rush to do everything. You can't WDW has become too big to do it all in the average vacation time frame. We enjoyed our days away from the parks. Our days in the parks watching folks race from point A to B and back again with screaming kids. Do you think those kids will want to come back again? We enjoy watching the wildlife all around, the cranes picking lizards out of the grasses in Epcot, the fish in China's water gardens, the buzzards circling everywhere now, the alligators sunning themselves. Talking with the CM's and listening to the vast array of language being spoken at any given moment. Talking with the other hotel guests at the pool.
Going back to the hotel for a swim a cup of tea and not feeling pressured to hurry up.
People have complained about the parks being dirty now. Well, if you sit long enough on a bench in the park and watch the "guests", you'd see why the park is dirty. People smoking in no smoking area, and throwing their lit butts on the ground, kids of all ages, grownups too, tossing litter. Today's society of people are pigs and expect someone else to clean up after them. 30 years ago when it was just MK, you never saw the CM with the little sweeper. Now out in front of AK, after every tram, the CM is right there, sweeping up after everyone was waiting for the tram. Things have changed and in just the 3 short years since my last trip, and they will change again. But I think WDW does a mighty fine job after having something like 250million guest walk thru the gate. I sprinkle everyone with Pixie Dust and wish everyone as memorable a trip as ours. Pixie Dust for everyone!
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings
Tink
[This message was edited by tink&pan on 12-13-00 at 12:50 AM.]
[This message was edited by tink&pan on 12-13-00 at 01:39 AM.]
