Dsnygirl
12-21-2008, 05:05 AM
The cast on this trip:
Me - 41 year old kid at heart who loves all things Disney, and planner extraordinnaire for our trips...
DH - 42 year old adult at heart who loves Disney and enjoys our trips more & more each time!
DD10 - closely following in her mom's footsteps as a Disney lover & planner w/ lots of ideas for this trip...
DD7- future Disney lover who was all about the rides and the characters this trip
Day Four, Friday Dec. 12
Well, today was the first day we were really starting to feel tired, and had to change plans a bit... having gone to bed so late, none of us were well-rested, esp. Dan & I b/c Julia decided to sleepwalk not long after we'd fallen asleep!! Luckily, we had the bolt on the door, and it was hearing her fiddling w/ it that woke me. Scared me half to death -- she's only ever sleptwalked once or twice before at home, and you just never stop to think it would happen on vacation. So, once I got her back in bed, we put a chair in front of the door... and did so the rest of the trip... but we certainly didn't sleep well after that, being unsure if she'd get up again.
The girls and I had the chance to sleep in a little, but poor Dan... he had a tee time at Magnolia for 9:15 and b/c of transportation and the rules on when he had to be there by, plus his own desire to check out the course and hit the range first, he had to be picked up at 7:45, so was up before 7am. But -- like he said -- better little sleep and golfing at Disney than working at home!! :)
When the girls and I got up and got going, their number one concern for the day was being able to ride Soarin'... we were supposed to head to a miniature golf outing w/ friends and then to Epcot later in the day, and they were afraid we'd not be able to get on it. Plus, it was pretty cold when we walked outside, and they weren't wild about being outside for a couple of hours straight. So, we called & made our apologies and headed straight for Epcot at about 10:30. Luckily, there were still FP's available, so we got some for later and then opted to wait in the 60 minute line anyway, as they really wanted to be able to ride it twice, if possible. My DH isn't fond of the ride, so we knew he wouldn't really want to wait a different day, and wouldn't mind waiting for us to use our FP's once he joined us later. So -- it was our first time waiting to ride Soarin', and although it truly was a 60-70 minute wait, we had fun... we made friends w/ the families around us and had fun playing the games on the big movie screens. The time flew by, and before we knew it, we were on the ride and loving it -- what a great ride! We were glad we got FP's for later...
After Soarin', we got snacks and headed to the Living Seas to ride Nemo... that was new for the girls, and they really like it. We visited w/ Bruce and got their picture taken in his jaws afterwards and checked out the fish tanks... then it was off to go on Imagination w/ Figment, which Julia really likes... Emma thought it was "okay", but wanted to know where Epcot's "big rides" are!! ;)
While we were leaving Figment, we heard from our friends that we'd missed at the golfing tournament, and they were at the Electric Umbrella getting lunch. So, we joined them and I got the girls lunch and we had fun chatting w/ them and waiting for Dan to arrive from his golf game. These particular I'cot friends of ours are from only an hour away from our house at home, so the girls thought it was great fun to get to see them at WDW, too!!
After lunch, we parted company and our friends went off to do some things on their own... the girls and I went to FP Soarin' while Dan took some time to himself to shop and look around. The ride took a bit longer than we expected, so we only had time to head over to Mexico before our ADR's at Le Cellier. But, being the :marg: lovers that we are, we still had to stop at the Cantina for some frozen ones and some nachos -- just couldn't resist!! Then it was on to the Three Caballeros ride, which was new to all of us and very cute... but honestly, we just like the boat ride and the scenery best.
After Mexico, we headed to Canada for dinner... it was starting to get pretty chilly at this point, but you couldn't tell outside of Le Cellier -- what beautiful grounds they have!! Looked the peak of spring there, and we just wandered, taking pictures. We didn't have to wait long to get seated for our dinner, and we have to say, this was one of our favorite meals during this trip. The food was excellent, as was the service -- we enjoyed getting to know our Canadian server, he was cute -- and we ate WAY too much!! Our Julia actually got the most expensive meal on the menu, the NY Strip Steak -- as she's 10 yrs old, she's an adult on the DDP -- but this meal was definitely worth it for her, as she loved it and ate almost every bite!! I think they almost had to roll us out of there... we will definitely be back!! After we left, we went and watched the O Canada movie, which was really, really good... and then it was time to go line up for the Candlelight Processional.
Thank goodness we had done the package, b/c we didn't have to wait very long, and we had great seats. We were a bit cold, but hey -- being from upstate NY, it just made listening to the Christmas carols and music feel more like Christmas to us! We thought our narrator was going to be Monique Coleman, from HSM, and the girls couldn't wait to see her... but we found out earlier in the day that it was actually going to be Marlee Matlin. To be honest, I was thrilled -- I find sign language to be very beautiful, and I think she is a really neat person. But I felt bad for my girls -- they were disappointed. They still enjoyed themselves, though, although Emma did curl up on Dan's lap halfway through, she was so tired. I thought everyone did a marvelous job and it was lovely -- something I would definitely repeat. This was Marlee's 90th show... I wasn't aware she'd been doing it that long, but you could tell -- she was totally into it, and you could see how much it meant to her.
As we were leaving, the announcement came that Illuminations would be starting in 10 minutes... so although we had intended to head back for bed, how do you resist that?? We found a good spot to watch just past the R&C and settled in for another great fireworks show... Illuminations has definitely become one of my very favorite, "not to be missed" things at WDW.
Finally, it was time to take our tired little family home for bed... we sure felt like we needed it this night!!
Me - 41 year old kid at heart who loves all things Disney, and planner extraordinnaire for our trips...
DH - 42 year old adult at heart who loves Disney and enjoys our trips more & more each time!
DD10 - closely following in her mom's footsteps as a Disney lover & planner w/ lots of ideas for this trip...
DD7- future Disney lover who was all about the rides and the characters this trip
Day Four, Friday Dec. 12
Well, today was the first day we were really starting to feel tired, and had to change plans a bit... having gone to bed so late, none of us were well-rested, esp. Dan & I b/c Julia decided to sleepwalk not long after we'd fallen asleep!! Luckily, we had the bolt on the door, and it was hearing her fiddling w/ it that woke me. Scared me half to death -- she's only ever sleptwalked once or twice before at home, and you just never stop to think it would happen on vacation. So, once I got her back in bed, we put a chair in front of the door... and did so the rest of the trip... but we certainly didn't sleep well after that, being unsure if she'd get up again.
The girls and I had the chance to sleep in a little, but poor Dan... he had a tee time at Magnolia for 9:15 and b/c of transportation and the rules on when he had to be there by, plus his own desire to check out the course and hit the range first, he had to be picked up at 7:45, so was up before 7am. But -- like he said -- better little sleep and golfing at Disney than working at home!! :)
When the girls and I got up and got going, their number one concern for the day was being able to ride Soarin'... we were supposed to head to a miniature golf outing w/ friends and then to Epcot later in the day, and they were afraid we'd not be able to get on it. Plus, it was pretty cold when we walked outside, and they weren't wild about being outside for a couple of hours straight. So, we called & made our apologies and headed straight for Epcot at about 10:30. Luckily, there were still FP's available, so we got some for later and then opted to wait in the 60 minute line anyway, as they really wanted to be able to ride it twice, if possible. My DH isn't fond of the ride, so we knew he wouldn't really want to wait a different day, and wouldn't mind waiting for us to use our FP's once he joined us later. So -- it was our first time waiting to ride Soarin', and although it truly was a 60-70 minute wait, we had fun... we made friends w/ the families around us and had fun playing the games on the big movie screens. The time flew by, and before we knew it, we were on the ride and loving it -- what a great ride! We were glad we got FP's for later...
After Soarin', we got snacks and headed to the Living Seas to ride Nemo... that was new for the girls, and they really like it. We visited w/ Bruce and got their picture taken in his jaws afterwards and checked out the fish tanks... then it was off to go on Imagination w/ Figment, which Julia really likes... Emma thought it was "okay", but wanted to know where Epcot's "big rides" are!! ;)
While we were leaving Figment, we heard from our friends that we'd missed at the golfing tournament, and they were at the Electric Umbrella getting lunch. So, we joined them and I got the girls lunch and we had fun chatting w/ them and waiting for Dan to arrive from his golf game. These particular I'cot friends of ours are from only an hour away from our house at home, so the girls thought it was great fun to get to see them at WDW, too!!
After lunch, we parted company and our friends went off to do some things on their own... the girls and I went to FP Soarin' while Dan took some time to himself to shop and look around. The ride took a bit longer than we expected, so we only had time to head over to Mexico before our ADR's at Le Cellier. But, being the :marg: lovers that we are, we still had to stop at the Cantina for some frozen ones and some nachos -- just couldn't resist!! Then it was on to the Three Caballeros ride, which was new to all of us and very cute... but honestly, we just like the boat ride and the scenery best.
After Mexico, we headed to Canada for dinner... it was starting to get pretty chilly at this point, but you couldn't tell outside of Le Cellier -- what beautiful grounds they have!! Looked the peak of spring there, and we just wandered, taking pictures. We didn't have to wait long to get seated for our dinner, and we have to say, this was one of our favorite meals during this trip. The food was excellent, as was the service -- we enjoyed getting to know our Canadian server, he was cute -- and we ate WAY too much!! Our Julia actually got the most expensive meal on the menu, the NY Strip Steak -- as she's 10 yrs old, she's an adult on the DDP -- but this meal was definitely worth it for her, as she loved it and ate almost every bite!! I think they almost had to roll us out of there... we will definitely be back!! After we left, we went and watched the O Canada movie, which was really, really good... and then it was time to go line up for the Candlelight Processional.
Thank goodness we had done the package, b/c we didn't have to wait very long, and we had great seats. We were a bit cold, but hey -- being from upstate NY, it just made listening to the Christmas carols and music feel more like Christmas to us! We thought our narrator was going to be Monique Coleman, from HSM, and the girls couldn't wait to see her... but we found out earlier in the day that it was actually going to be Marlee Matlin. To be honest, I was thrilled -- I find sign language to be very beautiful, and I think she is a really neat person. But I felt bad for my girls -- they were disappointed. They still enjoyed themselves, though, although Emma did curl up on Dan's lap halfway through, she was so tired. I thought everyone did a marvelous job and it was lovely -- something I would definitely repeat. This was Marlee's 90th show... I wasn't aware she'd been doing it that long, but you could tell -- she was totally into it, and you could see how much it meant to her.
As we were leaving, the announcement came that Illuminations would be starting in 10 minutes... so although we had intended to head back for bed, how do you resist that?? We found a good spot to watch just past the R&C and settled in for another great fireworks show... Illuminations has definitely become one of my very favorite, "not to be missed" things at WDW.
Finally, it was time to take our tired little family home for bed... we sure felt like we needed it this night!!