WDW December 2001
Part III
This is just a short summary about the rest of our trip . My memory seemed to go blank upon our return , so a lot of what happened on this world wind trip is now a big blur .
The next few days were spent at the parks having a great time . We made several trips to Epcot ( thanks to the great transportation from the Contemporary resort ). TJ finally learned the system and on several occasions went off on his own to explore . Of course no trip to Florida would be complete for us if we did not do some serious shopping. One evening while at Downtown Disney we found someones wallet at the Disney Store . We turned it in to one of the CM's at the register. They seemed surprised , and for our time they gave us some Disney money to spend . We had a great time at the new toy store . The girls and I stuffed one of the potato heads to full capacity and even got Dad in on the action .
Before we knew it it was Christmas Eve and the trip was winding down. One of my fondest memories are of that day though . This was MGM day for us . We spent a great deal of time at the park , but that evening the weather had turned chilly and the crowds had picked up ( very different from our arrival at the beginning of the week ). Earlier that week we had been at Epcot to see the fireworks show , and had a small scare when the fireworks touched down on the bridge where we had just moved from . Needless to say the girls were not interested in seeing any more firework shows . But I had convinced them to go see Fantasmic . Although the show was very good , I suggest to anyone who really wants to see this show that you book the Fantasmic dinner . The wait for this show than the moving and pushing to get into the open theatre is not worth it to me . We had gotten separated from Marc ( who just had to have a turkey leg , which is a whole nother story ) , but thanks to walkie talkies he was able to meet up with us and we set together as a family for the show . To make a long story short , the show was great , but the fireworks pretty much did the girls in . The just wanted to go back to the hotel. It was close to closing time and I was determined to see the Osborne Lights and see the snow falling on the New York street . TJ had already made his way back to the hotel , so it was just Marc , the girls and myself. The temp. was around 64 degrees , so we had on hats, gloves and a blanket wrapped around us ! The lady at first turned us away because they had just let the last guest of the night through . With a little help from the pixie fairies she called us back and we proceeded down New York street . As you enter they give you 3-D glasses so that you can see the "angels" flying around . There is Christmas music playing and I could have sworn I smelled hot cocoa and cookies . All of a sudden it begin snowing . Now mind you , I know Disney can do snow . But snow on Christmas Eve , in Florida , with temperatures in the 60's ? You can't beat that . Add to that angels dancing , Christmas carols and walking on backstreet with all of the lit up houses . Less just say that it was a true Disney moment ! We went back to the room that night very happy that we picked Christmas to come to WDW.
Christmas morning was very different from any Christmas we had ever experienced before . First , we were far from home and family . And second we were in a hotel on Christmas morning. But , the best part was that we were at Disney ! And Daddy Santa had struck . This trip was actually suppose to be our Christmas present . So the kids and I had prepared ourselves for no presents that morning . Well , anyone who knows my husband knows that besides talking , his next favorite thing to do is to give gifts . So , we woke up that morning with gifts at the foot of the bed from him to us . We actually broke the rules ourselves , because we had spent days trying to find Disney models to add to his collection of die cast cars . We were able to get him the monorail and the test track car .
I don't remember what we did for breakfast , but our plans were to hit the parks early . Apparently it was every ones plan ! There seemed to be thousands of people in the park that day , so I think we probably spent 10 minutes at MK and left . We were meeting friends from back home for dinner that day , so I had made reservations at the Wilderness Resort for lunch . A stickler for details , I had researched every aspect of this trip . What I missed was that the WL was charging twice as much for lunch Christmas Day . $25.00 pp was not in my budget for this meal . We did have a nice ride over on the friendship boats and a quick tour through the lobby of the resort . Needless to say we did not eat lunch there .
By the afternoon it had started to rain , and we needed to get to Anthony and Denise's timeshare for Christmas dinner . To make a very long story short . We had several mishaps that day that if I had been any other place but Disney I would have probably cried. First we got lost trying to find the timeshare . Than we got a flat tire on the van ( the same van that broke down the first day we hit Orlando ). Marc was able to change it with the emergency tire , but because we were leaving the next day for home and this was Christmas Day , we were concerned about where we would find a tire ( he did find one the next morning ). But the delay caused us to leave Orlando late ( thankfully the Contemporary let us do late check out ).
We finally made it to Anthony and Denise's ( which by the way was in the opposite direction of where we had been looking ) for a great home cooked meal and great company . It was nice spending Christmas Day with familiar faces . That evening we took them to the Contemporary and for a ride on the monorail . We also stopped at our favorite hotel the Grand Floridian for pictures in front of the Christmas tree . Considering all of the mishaps , the day ended very well.
That evening we packed our stuff , and hit the bed early . The next morning Marcus found a place to get new tires ( it took a while so the reservation desk extended our check out until 1 pm ). Packing the van was another story all together . We looked like we had been at the world for a month ! After a lot of shifting around the van was packed and we were on our way . Of course we never leave Florida without hitting the outlet malls one last time . We got home to Virginia very late , but after a wonderful week at WDW the ride didn't really bother us . Everyone agreed it was our best vacation yet . And the best part was that we would be back "home" in 8 months thanks to annual passes .
Hope You enjoyed the trip report.
