Note: Min's trip report is in Coral and Bill's comments are in Blue. In the Gallery links, pictures without a border link to the specific picture and those with a border link to a gallery of related pictures.

Prelude

I started thinking about this trip right after last year's holiday trip. We had gotten my mom a Florida Resident's Seasonal Pass, so I was actually thinking about two holiday trips. The first weekend in December with my mom and then the second weekend in December for the RADP and MouseFest meets. Well as the year went along, things changed a great deal and it looked like we wouldn't be having any kind of holiday trip. Well... sort of... we were still planning on a day trip to attend some of the Saturday meets.

Then a funny think happened, my mom was infected by the Walt Disney World magic. It happened in May, when we took her and Bill's mom to WDW for our Mother's Day a Week Late trip. After seeing WDW with Bill and me as tour guides, my mom started thinking about going again with us as tour guides for her and my dad. After looking over our website and hearing me talk about WDW during the holidays, she decided that that was what she wanted to do, go to WDW during the holidays.

Yep, Rick and Linda even upgraded our Play-Four passes to Seasonal Passes so that Min and I could play tour guide during the holidays...  :)

Once it was decided that we were going to WDW during the holidays, my mom and I talked about what her and my dad wanted to do and see. We made our plans, then changed some plans, then made more plans. We will be going down to WDW on Friday, December 10th and staying at All-Star Sports Resort. We will be having dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern and attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on Friday night. On Saturday morning, Bill and I will be attending the RADP meet and the Mega Mouse Meet, while my mom and dad visit Disney MGM Studios.

Yep, Rick and Linda gave us a little time for ourselves and what did we choose to do with it? Spend time with our Disney friends from the internet...  :)

Saturday afternoon, we will meet up with my parents at Epcot and then have dinner at the Garden Grill. Afterwards, we will be closing our evening with Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. On Sunday, we will probably have breakfast at Donald's Breakfastosaurus before spending some time at Animal Kingdom.

Yep, got to get by Animal Kingdom for some Expedition Everest construction photos...  :)

Trip Report

December 10, 2004 - Friday

I was up early and finished some laundry then did some last minute packing. Bill got up and we were getting ready to load up the car, when it started to rain. A summer-like thunderstorm in December, it was really coming down. When the rain finally slowed enough for us to load the car without getting soaked, we were off. We stopped by McDonalds for some breakfast before getting on I-95 and heading south. We drove through some really heavy rain as we were on the edge of a front that was passing through the area. Things cleared up a little after Palm Coast, but there were still clouds to the west and we would be heading into them as we turned for Orlando. We arrived at Disney a little after noon and called my parents, they were just getting on the road. We checked-in and got the keys for both rooms.

We were in line for about 20 minutes, not too long a wait, but it started to drag a bit towards the end... we were assigned rooms 6131 and 6132 in the Surf's Up building... nice location... close to the parking lot and not too far from the main building and food court...

The rooms were next to each other and shared the same entry alcove. Once we got our stuff to the room, we talked about doing something until my parents arrived. Then it started to rain. Since we were in for a late night with the party and knew that the rain would pass in a couple of hours, we decided to rest instead of going out in the rain.

Yep, pictures of the Expedition Everest Construction could wait... we had been discussing visiting Animal Kingdom...

After my nap, I was feeling hungry so we made our way to the food court. There were cheerleaders everywhere.

Yep, and some Pop Warner football teams as well...

After a quick bite, we went back to the room and waited for my parents. They arrived around 3:00 and we helped them get their stuff to their room. They rested for a little while so Bill and I went back to our room and watched TV. My parents knocked on our door a little while later and we were off to get the bus for Magic Kingdom and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

It had stopped raining and cooled down some as the cold front had moved through...

After getting to the Magic Kingdom, we stopped at the ticket window and got my Dad's voucher turned into a Seasonal Pass. Then, we headed into the park. Since it was after 4:00, we entered on our party passes and got our wristbands. My parents and I wandered around town square while Bill took some pictures of the Christmas tree.

We didn't get to see the tree during the day at last year's Christmas party because we had arrived after dark... it was a pretty impressive sight...

We visited the Exposition Hall before catching the train to Frontierland. I had decided that I was going to ride Splash Mountain for the first time.

I think the train ride from Main Street Station to Frontierland Station seemed like the shortest train ride ever for Min... she was fidgeting the whole way...  :)

We got to Splash Mountain and it was a walk on. Which was a good thing since I did not have too much time to talk myself out of it. Bill pointed out all of the parts of the attraction as we floated through and we sang along as we had the music for Splash on one of our Disney CDs. We saw the FSU gopher.

I am not sure that he says FSU, but it sure did sounds like it to me...  :)

Then it was time for the big drop, I did fine except for closing my eyes.

And ducking her head... the picture at the photo shop showed me with my arm around the "Headless" Min...  :)

After the drop, we sang our way to the end. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah. It was fun and we will definitely be going on it again.

When it gets a little warmer...  :)  we got soaked from about the chest up from the water spray at the bottom of the big drop and it was just a little too cool to be walking around wet...

Bill got me a Splash Mountain pin to commemorate my accomplishment. My parents were very surprised that I had ridden Splash.

I was very proud...

We headed over to Liberty Tree Tavern and Bill went to check us in for dinner. We sat on the porch for a while before heading inside. Our wait was about 35 minutes before we were seated.

Everyone was hungry and we got there early... even with the wait we ended up being seated about 20 minutes before our PS time...

We enjoyed the food and the characters in their holiday trimmings were great. Dad like the place, too. Which made my mom happy, she had eaten with us here in May and thought it would be a place that daddy would like. He can be a little picky about what he will eat sometimes.

This is my favorite character dinner... simple but good and hearty food... great character interaction... and sweet tea...  :)

We got a little surprise at the end of dinner when Dad picked up the tab, thanks Mom and Dad. After dinner, Bill took some pictures of the castle from the Liberty Square bridge. Then we split up, Mom and Dad went to look for a place to sit for the parade while Bill and I headed down Main Street to get the pins from tonight's party. Bill took some pictures of Main Street as we walked. I went into the Emporium and picked up the pins for tonight's party then headed back down Main Street to find my parents.

I went over to the Exposition Hall and looked over the pins from previous parties, but not much appealed to me... I did get the Christmas Party passholders pin... then headed back down Main Street to find Min and her parents...

I found my parents back at the hub, my dad wasn't feeling well so they took a break and I waited for Bill. When he found me, we called my parents. They had decided to head out and told us to enjoy ourselves (We later found out that they found a great spot near Town Square to watch the parade and the fireworks). We got a place on the hub to watch the parade.

It was a pretty good spot, too... looking down Main Street... we were right on the rail of one of the planters by the walk... looking over a recycling bin and the wheelchair seating area... a great unobstructed view for the parade... at least it was until the parade started... then this jerk climbs over the recycling bin and sits on the rail right in front of us... I took a picture of the jerk intending to post it on the website so that he could be "immortalized" for his jerk-ness... nah... not worth it...

The parade was good, a little differences from last year including Stitch riding on the float with Santa. After the parade, we got a spot on one of the hub benches next to the Partners statue for the fireworks. We talked with a couple from Louisiana, while waiting for Wishes. It was her birthday and she was wearing a birthday button. We wished her happy birthday and that got things rolling. It was a nice way to pass the time before the fireworks. Then Wishes started and it was great.

Yep, Wishes was great... really loved the perimeter shots at the end...

After the fireworks, Bill and I headed for Tomorrowland. As we were passing the Timekeeper, we looked in the door and didn't see too many folks waiting to get their pictures. So, we went ahead and got our picture taken.

It was really empty, there was almost no one there... just a few folks waiting at the various photograph areas... we saw one with no one waiting and stepped up to the table... The cast member at the table asked for our card and we told her we didn't have one, so she gave us one to fill out... as Min was completing the card, I looked up and noticed that there were people coming from the opposite direction from where we had entered... we had came in the exit and not the entrance... I told Min and we apologized for coming in the wrong door... the cast member said it was okay as long as we liked FSU... Min and I both laughed and explained that I had grown up in Tallahassee and my Nana had worked for the university... we got our picture taken and then chatted with the cast member a little more... she was from Brazil and was attending FSU... she had gotten a job at WDW as a member of the college program...

After our picture adventure, we walked over to the Tomorrowland theatre but the Christmas show was almost over so we didn't stick around. We talked to a cast member about finding Winnie the Pooh.

Yep, Min needed her Pooh fix... :)

The cast member stepped into the Buzz Lightyear gift shop area and made a phone call to Guest Services. She found out that Pooh and Friends were in Toontown so off we went.

We took the "secret" path from Tomorrowland to Toontown... sure was much quieter than when we last walked it during the Halloween party in October...  :)

Once in Toontown, we found where Pooh and Friends were and got it line. Tigger and Eeyore were out but there was no Pooh or Piglet. Right after we got in line, Tigger and Eeyore took a break. Bill spoke with the cast member who was with the characters and found out that Pooh and Piglet were replacing Tigger and Eeyore and would be out in a few minutes.

And Min was very happy...  :)

I was happy and so was the little boy in line in front of us. We found out from his mom that Piglet was his favorite character. While we waited, we continued talking with Charlene, the boy's mom, she spoke of the many trips that she and her family had taken to WDW. She introduced us to her husband Roy and her two children, Meredith and Nicholas. She was upset that they were not giving out MVMCP buttons like they had at last year's party. She was also a little upset about the cookies. When we agreed with her, she asked us to be sure and stop by Guest Services to let them know how we felt.

Listening to Charlene talk about WDW, I had this familiar feeling of speaking to a local so I asked her where her family was from... and... well... yep... wait for it... they lived in Jacksonville... it was our first its a small world Jacksonville style moment for this trip...  :)

Pooh and Piglet came out and Bill got my picture with them. We gave Charlene and Roy our website address, said goodbye and headed out. We made a much needed pit stop then headed over to Fantasyland. We checked in Pooh's Thotful shop for a Christmas Pooh, no luck, so we headed further into Fantasyland. There was a dance party going on at the pavilion between Dumbo and Pinocchio Haus. We stopped and watched the kids and characters dance for a while before heading towards Liberty Square. We saw that Donald had a Christmas tree lot, so we stopped to get a picture with him and guess what, he had to go call Dumbella and check on the boys.

Yep, it was break time, again...  we didn't really mind as we talked with the folks in line with us... a Donald Duck and family trivia-fest ensued... the next thing you know, the big quacker was waiting on us instead of us waiting on him...  :)

After our picture with Donald, we headed for the front of the park. We were both getting tired and it was time to go back to the room. We reached Town Square just as the second parade was starting. We got to see the parade without anyone jumping in front of us this time. There was several cute moments, when some of the characters in the parade acknowledged this lady with a baby standing by us. Goofy, Woody and Stitch cradled their arms and rocked back and forth before pointing at her and the baby then waving. She beamed brightly, like a proud mom. After the parade, Bill took a few more pictures then we headed for the buses. The first bus was standing-room only, so we waited for another one. Back at the resort, we picked up some drinks at the food court because the gift shop was closed. Then we headed back to our room.

We decided to have breakfast at Fresh in the morning before the meets. Min called and made a PS before falling asleep. I watched TV for a little while before going to sleep.

December 11, 2004 - Saturday

We were up and out the door by about 9:00. We had the morning and early afternoon to ourselves and planned on attending the RADP Big Meet and Greet, along with the Mega Mouse Meet. We started the trek to Fresh at the Dolphin resort by catching the bus to the Studios. At the Studios, Bill took a couple of pictures of the Christmas tree, then we caught the boat to the Dolphin resort. We made it to Fresh a little before or PS time and were seated immediately. The place seemed very small compared to some of the other restaurants on Disney property. We enjoyed the food, it was good and lived up to its billing as fresh.

Fresh was not really what I had expected... the food was very good... the service was very good... but I guess I had expected the place to be a little bit bigger, it seemed very small... especially the queue area for hot foods... the line waiting for eggs and omelets blocked the other hot food area making it difficult to get to the bacon, sausage and potato dishes... all in all this did not spoil our meal and we will probably eat there again...

After breakfast, we walked around the Dolphin convention center looking for the Mega Mouse Meet area so we would know where we were going later. After walking around a bit, we remembered that the Mega Mouse Meet was going to be in the Swan and headed out. Bill took some pictures of the Dolphin train and Christmas tree. As we were leaving the Dolphin, we ran into Dr. Steve Barrett, the Hidden Mickeys book author, and talked with him about the Mega Mouse Meet. He confirmed that it was going to be in the Swan and gave us the meeting room number. We said that we would see him later at the meet and were on our way. Bill took some pictures of the Swan and Dolphin courtyard then we caught the boat to International Gateway for the RADP meet. We were the first to arrive but shortly thereafter Kenny and Randy showed up. We met so many people that day.

And got the pics to prove it...  :)

I spent some time talking with Mickey Mom and found out that we graduated from the same high school, Orange Park High, but 18 years apart, it's a small world after all...

Jacksonville style... just hum along if you don't know the words... and remember there is a country twang to this version of the song...  :)

I was going to list the folks that we talked with but Bill said he would caption the pictures from the meet instead. So if you want to put some names with some faces from RADP, just take a look at the picture gallery from the RADP meet.

We did miss a few folks during the picture taking odyssey... Laura (Tigger), Lee and Amy managed to slip away without me getting a pic of them... I think we missed a few other folks, too... oh, well... the meet was great and it was fun catching up with friends and making new ones...

After the RADP meet, we headed back over to the Mega Mouse Meet at the Swan. The more adventurous amongst the RADPers, decided to walk to the Swan.

We were lazy and got in line for the boat... but it turned out to be a good thing... we got to meet some of the folks from the Tagrel.com community... we talked with WillCAD and a couple other Taginators whose names we missed...

We made it to the Mega Mouse Meet and said "hi" to Cathy (CeeBee).

She said "hi" to us, too... she was one of the greeters...  :)

We got our name tags and I signed us up for the door prizes. Then it was into the meeting hall. We walked around and talked with most of "the experts." I talked with Jennifer, from Passporter, and got to meet Alex. We talked with Mike Scopa and Lani from MousePlanet. We got to meet Mary from MouseSavers. We talked with Dr. Steve Barrett, again, and met Lou Mongello the DisneyTrivia guy. We met Dave Card of Tagrel. Then they started the door prize drawings and guess what, we won. We got a Disney trivia book and the Lion King DVD from Dave Card. After the drawings, we talked with the All Ears Net team. I left the meeting room and sat for a while my back was bothering me from standing so much.

After Min left, I got a chance to talk with Deb Wills... then did some more circulating through the room... ran into Krista from Texas, who we had met at last year's meet... I met Judy Shaw, the RADP tie tack lady... I took her to meet Min... they talked for a while and we got a couple of pins, one of the old style ones and one of the new style ones... I went back into the hall and met Mike Scibetta of NFFC... I signed up to be on their email list... which turned out to be a good thing as I won a Splash Mountain poster signed by Don "Ducky" Williams...

I caught up with Bill just before the NFFC prize drawing. We talked to some more of our friends from RADP and All Ears communities. Then we went out into the hall and talked with John and Charlotte for a while. Things were starting to wind down, so we went back into the hall and said our goodbyes. I called my parents and found out they were back at the room after spending some time at the Studios. Since we had won the door prizes and did not want to carry them around for the rest of the day, we decided to head back to the room to drop them off. We caught the boat over to the Studios.

We talked with Tramp from Tagrel while waiting for the boat...

Then, we caught the bus back to All-Star Sports and left all of our prizes in the room before getting my parents. We caught the bus to Epcot. We got to Epcot and it was cool to say the least.

Nah... not cool... cold... and windy, too...  :)

We headed for the Lights of Winter and the Christmas tree. I wanted my parents to see the tree lighting ceremony. We found the perfect seats and had about a 20 minute wait. While waiting, we decided that since we were going to Animal Kingdom tomorrow that we would have breakfast at Donald's Breakfastosaurus, so I called and made a PS. When it came time for the ceremony, we had to stand up because people came up and stood right in front of us as it started.

Yep, it happened again... oh, nevermind... it is a fact that common courtesy, isn't so common anymore...

After the ceremony, we went over to The Land Pavilion. We rode Living with the Land then made our way upstairs to the Garden Grill for dinner. We had no Allison, no Steve and no Meagan, but we did get to talk to Susan, the manager, which was nice. She remembered us as "Allison's friends" from when we had previously met her. We all enjoyed the food and the characters were great. Our server brought me some sugar free ice cream which was neat. Thanks for dinner, Mom and Dad. After dinner, Bill wanted to take some pictures but the cold was starting to bother my dad. So, my parents and I ducked into MouseGears while Bill walked around taking pictures.

Got some pictures of the Lights of Winter and the Christmas tree... also picked up a couple of pins from the pin shop...

After warming up a little bit, we went to our favorite spot for Illuminations and waited for the show. WOW, the show was awesome. Towards the end of the show, the cold started bothering my dad again, so my parents left early so they would not be in the crush getting out. The holiday finale was fantastic. I was so VERY glad I had my earplugs. The last shot was extremely loud even with the earplugs.

WOW, is right... the show was great and the ending was spectacular... there were so many large shells going off during the finale you could feel the concussions from blasts...

We made our way to the bus and waited for the second bus so we would not have to stand. Back at the resort, we got our nightly drinks and a few things I wanted from the gift shop. On our way to the room we saw a couple of kids swimming. Yikes, it was 45 degrees out of the water.

Their dad was sitting by the pool all wrapped up... I pointed at the kids, crossed my arms across my chest and shivered... he just smiled and shook his head...  :)

Sleep came quickly for me. My back was still hurting from all the standing.

I watched some TV before going to sleep.

December 12, 2004 - Sunday

Well today was our last day, but not for my parents. They had decided to stay another day after we had made the initial reservations for the rooms and had called to get another night added. So, after Bill and I finished packing, I went with my mom to the front desk to check her and my dad in and get their room keys for tonight. Afterwards, we loaded our stuff in the car and drove over to Animal Kingdom. Mom and Dad rode along with us. As we headed for DinoLand, USA, we were passed by a Safari truck full of characters on their way to the front for the park opening celebration.

We almost ended up as hood ornaments for the truck...  :)

We walked back to Donald's Breakfastosaurus and checked in. We had about a fifteen minute wait before being seated.

One of the highlights of our wait was when a college program cast member came around with some... um, elephant droppings... he was rather embarrassed... and said he usually got to walk around with a small animal, some bugs or spiders... but this morning had gotten stuck with something different... we kidded around with him about getting a college education so that he could work with poop...  :)

I thought that breakfast at Donald's was awesome. The food was great as was our server. The characters were dressed for Christmas. My dad and Bill took pictures, of course.

Linda took some too...  :)

We got to talk with Robin one of our favorite servers. After Dad picked up the tab, thanks Dad, we headed towards Africa. We walked the path up under the Tree of Life for a close up look at the tree. My dad and Bill took some more pictures.

Yep... a few more pictures of the Tree of Life... it is a great subject... even if we already have more than a hundred pictures of it...  :)

When we got to Africa, we walked on to the Safari. It was quite cool and it was neat to see all the animals out and about including both of the baby elephants. After the Safari, we took the train to Conservation Station. After spending some time walking around Conservation Station, we took the train back to Africa. Next we headed for Camp Minnie-Mickey. We saw Festival of the Lion King and then said goodbye to my parents. They wanted to take a break. Afterwards, Bill and I got our picture taken with Santa Goofy and  then we took some pictures of the character's Christmas trees around Camp Minnie-Mickey. We stopped by the otter enclosure to see how things were going with the new couple, but they were not out. Next, we headed back to Asia to walk the trail by the mountain. Bill took lots of pics of the construction.

Of course I did...  :)

I got a seat outside of the Theatre in the Wild and listened to Tarzan Rocks while he took pics. Then we walked by Flame Tree Barbecue and I waited while he took more pictures of the construction from the Flame Tree seating area.

Then, I took some pictures of Min with Pooh and friends...  :)

After all the pics, we headed toward the front of the park. We walked through Disney Outfitters and Island Mercantile. We bought a couple of pins then decided to leave. As we were walking out, we decided to have a late lunch at Chevy's. Afterwards, we headed home.

The trip home was not too great. I was not feeling very well, not the usual blahs associated with having to go home. I ended up being sick for the next two weeks with severe bronchitis and an upper respiratory tract infection.

I really enjoyed the trip and would like to say thanks again to my mom and dad for all that did for us on this trip.

All in all, it was a good trip. It was neat playing tour guide for Min's parents and showing them some of the things we like to do at WDW. I would also like to say thanks to Linda and Rick.