Day 1 – Tuesday December 19
Cast of Characters
J40 - your humble narrator (dad)
J4* - his wife
J8 - Darling daughter (8 of course)
J12 - Ditto DD 12
D - Papa (J40’s dad)
M - Grandma (J40’s mom)
This is the story of our short pre-Christmas trip with the family (J40, J4*, J12, J8) joined by my parents, D (Dad, and his initial) and M (Mom and hers too!).
K, our trusting and deeply, deeply stupid dog was in the car of our vets, and B, our trusty hamster, was being watched by my grandmother.
Had an early flight out of Midway, so we got the family and my parents up at about 4. It would be a long day.
No traffic going to Midway, and parking was easy. There was a small line at the Skycap, much better than the line to check luggage inside.
On the flight J8 sat next to an unaccompanied minor (a fascination of the kids since seeng the movie of the same name, which I admit was not as painful as I thought it would be enering the movie theater). We shared our DVD player with him, and J8 had someone new to talk to.
We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge about 1. Our room 251*) was ready, but was unfortunately non-smoking (D & M will just have to stay out on the balcony!)
We dropped our stuff off – the bulk of the luggage would come from Magical Express later.
We got the bus to the Studios and started our park day. We rode the Great Movie Ride, a favorite of J8, although the finally functioning alien (first time she had ridden where he actually worked correctly) was more than she would have preferred.
The plan was to spend a few hours and then go to Raglan Road for lunch (most likely taking a taxi to avoid a Disney bus transfer). As it was, we ended up eating at Backlot Express around 3 (they somehow charged us 7 meal credits for our 6 meals - which I later had fixed at the hotel desk).
This was our first time on the Disney Dining Plan, and I realize that it does require a bit more thought! Sure in concept it seems easy, but keeping straight the points and just placing the order for 6 folks can stress brain cells that always seem to turn off when out of work and at Disney! Still, it appears it’ll work out well for us.
Did Muppets and called to move our Raglan Road priority seating (they still apparently use that system as opposed to ADR’s) to 8PM. Disney Dining couldn’t do it, but I called information fo the Raglan Road number and did it with them.
Watched the Spectacle of Dancing Lights. It doesn’t have the feeling of going on forever as the old Spectacle did, but the Dancing part really makes up for it!
We returned to the Wilderness Lodge, where our luggage had arrived, and shortly left again to go to Downtown Disney.
We had the WONDERFUL VWL DVC sharing tree delivered. This is a tradition on the disboards, where one family donates a tree which is then passed from family to family before being shipped back o the donating family.
The folks who put together our tree, magicalmcwho on the disboards, did an amazing job. For now though, we left it in the box (singing to it “Oh. Christmas box, oh Christmas box…”)
Every once on a while you get the Disney Bus to Hell. This was that time. We boarded at 7:30 (after waiting a while for a Downtown Disney Bus). An hour later, we had made the 5 mile journey to Downtown Disney! This guy would not have made it as a CTA driver. Of course the route we took was about the longest you could drive (I’m sure that was just some Disney flow control), but if he could have maybe used the accelerator a bit!
We arrived (J8 a bit cranky after falling asleep on the bus). D loved the place, being a great fan of al things Irish. The meal was great, and the DDP was a great value here! J8 was tired, but ate well. She and J12 perked up when we went to Once Upon a Toy to build light sabers. This was confusing at first, but once you get started, it makes sense. Basically, you stick a bunch of stuff on your light saber base and just make sure the button is accessible. I made a double bladed one (although only one blade lights up), and we got out free pins (the kids were Jedi, I was Sith). The receipt is very long, as they have to list every part you use!
Back to the room (return bus trip – 10 minutes!). Set up the tree and went to sleep.
DAY 2
The plan was an early meal at Boma, then Animal Kingdom. Well, I woke at 7:19, so I called to switch our res from 7:30 to 10. The Nightmare Before Christmas pin that was supposed to come out today was delayed, so no real reason to get out early.
We took a taxi to Boma (about $18 on the meter). Breakfast was great, but noticed this year there was no chocolate village in its usual place! Wonder if the 50th celebrations cut back some budgets this year? Had out favorite quinona. It’s a grain dish, like say cream of wheat, but completely unique, Topped with brown sugar and sesame seeds (at least I think that’s what they are!) it’s great.
The family aside from me went to Animal Kingdom. Again, that bus driver from AKL to AK would fail on the CTA – he stopped loading right in front of us when the aisle was comfortably full – from taking Chicago busses, I know you can squeeze another 30 people on after that! Safer too, as you all get tightly packed! I returned to the room to wait for our order from Garden Grocer. They are great! They did forget one item that I added to the order later, but left it at the hotel a few hours later. It’s obvious they are very busy, but the service was fantastic.
While I waiting for them, I decorated the tree. Boy, had I the time I could festoon the entire room and balcony with all the lights included. What a great job magicalmcwho did!
About 1:30, I went to Fort Wilderness to pay for our Hoop De Doo tickets. I decided to pay cash for those instead of using our DDP credits, as it requires 2 table service credits per person.
Getting there, I took the boat (which went to MK first, for about a 20 minute trip). At night, the same boat went FW-MK-WL instead of WL-MK-FW. After getting the tickets, I took the bus back. A nice short trip! The best options to get between FW and WL seem to be the busses (but ask in case routes change!). The Wilderness Lodge bus from the Settlement (the stop nearest Pioneer Hall) goes straight to the WL.
However, the Studios and Epcot busses from WL stop at the Settlement first (but ask the driver!), making a really quick trip. The Settlement is the stop closest to Pioneer Hall, so if going to FW for Hoop, make sure you get off at that stop.
When I returned, D called. He and M were in line for the Finding Nemo show while the J’s were on Kilimanjaro. I told him I wouldn’t make it, but when I returned to WL, the AK bus was waiting! It was 2:35, so I got on the AK bus. After 5 minutes we stopped at the Grand Floridian, and about 17 minutes after that, we were at AK. I got to the theatre at 3:08, and went in through the exit, catching the show from just before Bruce the shark came on.
What a great show! The songs and pacing are great, the jokes are funny (I liked the penguins especially) and technically it’s a marvel. I stood at the back (which is a great view – the family was at the front, but I probably had the better view). I made my way out and waited to the rest of the family.
We took the bus to FW. It stops only at the Outpost, so we had to take the Purple bus to the Settlement, but as one was right behind us, there was no additional wait.
Hoop De Doo was great. Food (fried chicken and ribs) was fantastic, and the show was especially good. We saw it back in June ’04 with the same cast. Tonight, they were really great. “Six Bit” even broke up the male lead at one point. If you haven’t seen this show you should. It’s corny, but the cast is really talented and sells the material really well.
When they brought the strawberry shortcake to share, they put a plate of it in front of J12 – her eyes lit up thinking it was hers alone! We had 2 others at our table, so she ended up getting most of it anyway.
We returned to the room and relaxed. The kids and I had a promised lightsaber duel (the Jedi vanquished the Sith) and D, J8 and I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (D had never seen it) on the DVD. Can’t wait until the Villas get the widescreens like the WL rooms have now!
Off to bed.
