Christmas 2005
Narrative Trip Report

[NOTE: The following trip report for our December 2005 visit to Disney World was originally posted on the Mouseplanet web site in March 2006 and is available here in its original form.]

Cast of Characters

• Arnold, 55 -- 7 WDW trips since 1973 and 1 DLC trip in 1985
• Helena, 56 -- 6 WDW trips since 1982 and 2 DLC trips in 1972 and 1985

Prior Mouseplanet Trip Reports

• 30 Years at Disney World: 1973 to 2003
• Christmas 2003
• Christmas 2004

Advance Planning

Believe it or not, a requirement that auditors receive a certain amount of continuing professional education each year was the trigger for this visit with the Mouse. The members of my audit staff and I were scheduled to participate in a week of training on our home island of St. Thomas during the last week of September 2005. The only problem was that I wouldn't be able to attend the September training because that same week I had to participate in a deposition for a court case that was coming up soon. So, I began looking through the auditor training catalogs and found two excellent courses that were being offered in early December 2005 in, of all places, Orlando! The wheels in my head immediately started turning and I quickly shot off an email to my supervisor with three different options for training before the end of 2005. The other two training opportunities were in Washington, DC. But much to my surprise, my supervisor told me to pick whichever training option I preferred since the overall cost would be the same for all three. With that "go ahead," the trip planning all came together very quickly and was basically completed within 5 days.

On September 8, I received confirmation of my registration for the two December training courses in Orlando. That same day I made hotel reservations at the Doubletree Guest Suites resort on Hotel Plaza Boulevard, where the training was being held, and at Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter (POFQ) resort, where Helena and I would stay for the 6 days/5 nights I would have free between the two training courses. Our POFQ reservation included a water view room and 6-day Magic Your Way tickets with park hopper option for a total cost of $1,305 ($108.75 per day per person). I requested a first floor room because Helena has some knee problems that make stairs a painful task. The young lady at the Disney reservation center who helped me (I think her name was Marie Jean) was very pleasant and efficient. She offered to make any dining reservations I needed, but it turned out that I was a few days too early for the 90-day reservation window. In conversation, she mentioned that she and her husband had honeymooned on our home island of St. Thomas a few years ago and loved the beaches and the time spent here.

For Helena and I, this would be our third consecutive December visit to Disney World. In 2003, we stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort for our fourth time (prior visits in 1989, 1992, and 1997). In 2004, we stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort for the first time. And this year we'll be at POFQ also for the first time. The only moderate resort left for us to try is Port Orleans Riverside -- maybe next year.

On September 9, I made airline reservations from St. Thomas to Orlando, via Miami, at a cost of $850 for me (government policy is to use "unrestricted" tickets in case of trip cancellation) and $460 for Helena's "non-refundable" ticket. I also made a rental car reservation with Hertz, using an AICPA discount code, for the post-Orlando part of the trip and appointments for Helena and I for our usual year-end medical checkups in Deerfield Beach. We would also be spending the Christmas and New Year holidays with our daughter, Selene; son-in-law, John; and newborn granddaughter, Jaidyn, in Port St. Lucie.

On September 12, I called the 407-WDW-DINE number and made advance dining reservations for each of our 6 days at the Disney World parks. Because the Doubletree resort where my training will take place is so close to Downtown Disney, we also hope to visit there for dinner some of the evenings during the training period. An evening visit to the Boardwalk is also a possibility.

One thing that I had forgotten in September was to make ground transportation arrangements to and from the Disney World resort area. So, I took care of this during the last week in October. Based on the endorsement of the All Ears newsletter, I decided to go with Happy Limo. I made reservations online for a pickup at Orlando International Airport on our arrival day to go to the Doubletree Guest Suites resort and a pickup at the Doubletree on our departure date to go to the Hertz facility near Orlando International Airport, where we would get the rental car we had reserved for the post-Orlando part of our trip. The roundtrip cost was about $118 before gratuity.

This should have been the end of the planning, but 2005 had a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, and a mean "lady" named Wilma passed through southern Florida in October, putting our post-Orlando travel plans in jeopardy. Port St. Lucie, where Selene lives, only caught the edges of the storm and her home suffered no damage to speak of. But Wilma hit Broward County very hard, and that included Deerfield Beach, where my sister lives and our doctors are located. So, in early November I reconfirmed our Deerfield Beach Comfort Suites reservation and all of our medical appointments to make sure that storm damage wouldn't force any change of plans for the post-Orlando part of the trip.

Then disaster struck again -- this time man-made! One hour before quitting time on November 21 I received a call from my headquarters office in Washington to inform me that they had just received word that the auditor training center had cancelled the two training courses I was scheduled to attend in Orlando. This meant that the business part of our trip had also been cancelled! Because our Florida vacation had been planned around the timing of the training courses, I went into panic-mode until I figured out the best (though more expensive) work around -- turn the originally-planned training time into additional vacation time. I made all of the necessary travel reservation changes before going home that afternoon.

First, I cancelled my airline reservation on the government travel system then went on the web to re-book the same American Airlines reservations with my personal credit card. Unfortunately, because of the late date, the only fare I could get and still match Helena's existing reservation was at $873, almost double Helena's fare. I then changed the Doubletree Guest Suites reservation for December 4 to 9 from the government credit card to my personal credit card. Although I was able to keep the government rate by showing my government ID upon check-in, the $728 total cost for the 5-night stay would be my personal expense. During those days, instead of attending the training, we'd try to visit some non-Disney attractions in the area. Next, I cancelled the Doubletree reservation for December 15 to 16 and called 407-W-DISNEY to extended our POFQ stay by 1 day and then changed our Happy Limo pickup and rental car reservations from Friday, December 16 to Thursday, December 15. This way, we would be able to spend an extra day in Port St. Lucie with Selene and family. Oh yes, I also made arrangements for a self-study course on "how to prevent and detect computer-related fraud" in order to meet my annual training requirement. Hopefully that's the end of the trip planning disasters!

In summary, our final itinerary looked like this:

• Sun 12/4: AA flight from St. Thomas to Orlando via Miami, Happy Limo ride to hotel, Doubletree Guest Suites check-in

• Mon-Thu 12/5-8: Non-Disney touring

• Fri 12/9: Transfer to Port Orleans French Quarter, Animal Kingdom, Dinner at the Rainforest Cafe‚

• Sat 12/10: Magic Kingdom, Lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern

• Sun 12/11: Disney-MGM Studios, Lunch at the Brown Derby

• Mon 12/12: Magic Kingdom, Dinner at the Crystal Palace

• Tue 12/13: Epcot, Dinner at Le Cellier as part of the Candlelight Processional package

• Wed 12/14: Epcot, Lunch at the San Angel Inn

• Thu 12/15: Port Orleans French Quarter check-out, Happy Limo ride to Hertz for rental car

• Fri-Sun 12/16-18: Visit with Selene in Port St. Lucie for Jaidyn Alma's baptism on Sunday

• Mon-Thu 12/19-22: Drive to Deerfield Beach for annual medical checkups

• Fri-Mon 12/23-1/2: Drive back to Port St. Lucie for the Christmas and New Year holidays

• Tue 1/3: Drive to Orlando for our AA flight from Orlando to St. Thomas via Miami

What Actually Happened

Sunday, December 4

The Plan: AA flight from St. Thomas to Orlando via Miami, Happy Limo ride to hotel, Doubletree Guest Suites check-in

The alarm went off at 5:00 am and we were up to shower, get dressed, eat a quick breakfast, and load up the car for our trip to the St. Thomas airport. My brother, Steven, kindly also got up early on a Sunday to drive us to the airport. There was almost no one in the airport check-in line and security was an absolute breeze. We had a 90-minute wait for our flight's boarding time; but we like to get to the airport early and just read a book and/or listen to music rather than be rushing through the airport at the last minute (more on this later). The American Airlines flight took off right on time, and we were on our way to Miami. The plane was only half-filled, and we had plenty of room to spread out and get comfortable for the 2-hour flight. During our descent into the Miami airport, we could see many blue FEMA tarps covering the roofs of houses that had been damaged by Hurricane Wilma. But it was strange that isolated groups of houses had roof damage, while other groups of houses surrounding them had no sign of damage. Presumably either the damaged houses had been built to older, less stringent building codes or they had been struck by hurricane-spawned tornadoes that touched down randomly.

Thankfully, our Miami arrival gate was just three spots away from the departure gate for our Orlando flight, but we had another 90-minute wait for that flight's boarding time. To help kill the time, we had a leisurely lunch at a sit down restaurant at the airport during the layover. This flight was completely filled, but it again took off right on time. During the smooth flight, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. I can't think of any other flight during which the sky was so clear. In fact, as we were descending for our landing at the Orlando airport, we could clearly see the huge vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center (where the space shuttle is mounted to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters) and the two shuttle launch towers, which were some 50 miles away.

Not so great was the 30-minute wait for the first of the luggage from our flight to begin rolling onto the luggage conveyor. Unfortunately, our one checked suitcase was also one of the last to show up. We called Happy Limo while we were waiting to let them know that we had arrived in Orlando but were waiting for the luggage. Once we were ready, we called them again to let them know we were ready for pickup. But I misunderstood the directions to the pickup location and we ended up on the wrong side of the Level 1 transportation area. After another call to Happy Limo, we got the directions right and found our driver, Tom, waiting for us next to his white limo sedan.

The drive to the Doubletree Guest Suites on Hotel Plaza Boulevard was uneventful and rather quiet, as Tom was not very talkative. But that was okay, and we just watched the scenery as we went along. Pretty soon we were at the Crossroads intersection and driving past the huge "Welcome to Walt Disney World" sign at the head of Hotel Plaza Boulevard. Check-in was quick and painless, but we were almost immediately accosted by the Hilton vacation club representative. For Pete's sake, at least let us get settled into our room!

In terms of room quality, the Doubletree was like night and day when compared to the rooms at Disney's moderate resorts. Don't get me wrong, our rooms at the Caribbean Beach and Coronado Springs on prior Disney World visits have been perfectly comfortable. But our Doubletree room was a large 1-bedroom suite with a main room housing a kitchen area with refrigerator, sink, and microwave; dining area with a table and four chairs; and living area with a sleeper sofa, plush chair, coffee table, and TV. The separate bedroom had a king-size bed, dual night stands, 4-draw armoire/TV cabinet, and roomy bathroom. This suite, which was costing us about $132 per night (plus tax), will really spoil us for future stays at Disney's moderate resorts.

After unpacking, we went downstairs to check out the hotel's facilities, and were a bit surprised to find a small Disney Store just off the lobby. It had a nice collection of standard Disney items, but nothing we felt we couldn't do without. Later, back in our room, we were really bushed from the long day and ordered room service around 7:00 pm. The double order of chicken quesadillas, salads, and cheesecake were tasty but huge, and we just couldn't finish everything (cost $53 including gratuity). We watched TV for a while and called it a night around 10:00 pm.

Monday, December 5

The Plan: Non-Disney Touring

The weeks leading up to our trip to Florida had been very hectic and included having our car rammed by a drunk driver the evening before Thanksgiving and then having the hassle of getting repair estimates and a copy of the police report, filing an insurance claim against the other driver, etc. So, we decided to sleep in late on our first morning and just take it easy the rest of the day. We got up around 9:00 am and got ready to go downstairs for breakfast. But first, we noticed that the message button on the phone was blinking, and checked it to find that the Hilton vacation club lady had left a message trying to entice us into attending a timeshare open house. (Do you see a pattern forming?) I just deleted the message.

Streamers, the Doubletree's restaurant, had a daily breakfast buffet at $14.95 per person, and that's what we went with most days of our stay at this hotel. The buffet was a very nice spread, with an especially nice fresh fruit selection. After breakfast, we made the 15-minute walk down Hotel Plaza Boulevard to Downtown Disney. We spent a good part of the day just browsing through the many stores, ending up buying a few small items, including the new Holiday Wishes and Cinderellabration park music CDs, a Princess sketch pad for a young niece, and matching lined and hooded wind breakers (not so small a price at over $50 each) for both of us. We ate a late lunch at Gloria Estefan's Bongos restaurant, with Helena having Cuban-style chicken breast and I having a Cuban-style steak, both with black beans and rice and green plantain chips (tostones). We were stuffed and skipped dessert (cost $65 including gratuity).

While walking through West Side, our attention was caught by a promotional sign for the Disney Vacation Club (DVC). Although we already owned a timeshare in Aruba that included access to the RCI chain of resorts around the world, we signed up for a DVC open house. Joaquin, the DVC representative, made a very low-key but fact-filled presentation on the DVC program. We couldn't help but be impressed by what DVC had to offer and the affordable price. Why hadn't we looked into this years ago! The tour of the Saratoga Springs complex and suites was even more impressive. We had been talked into buying the timeshare in Aruba a couple years ago by very high-pressure sales tactics, but soon found that, although there's nothing wrong with the plan we bought into and the Aruba resort is very nice, it just didn't match our vacation preferences, which included an emphasis on Disney vacations at Disney resorts. Over the life of a DVC ownership interest, we could enjoy significant savings on future Disney vacations. Joaquin was truthful with us about the poor prospects for selling our Aruba timeshare in a market that is filled with timeshares for sale, and made no attempt to pressure us into signing up with DVC. We took all of the information back to the Doubletree with us, and we'll have a lot to think about. But we're very glad we took the couple of hours to participate in the DVC presentation. An investment of about $200 per month for 10 years would give us access to a Saratoga Springs 1-bedroom suite (or other comparable Disney accommodations) through 2054. We would most likely be long-departed by then, but could will our DVC ownership interest to our daughter, Selene, and granddaughter, Jaidyn.

After the DVC presentation, we went back to the Doubletree and called it a day. Before turning in for the night, I updated the trip report and checked email using the hotel's free wireless high-speed internet access with our laptop computer, which we brought with us to Disney World for the first time.

Tuesday, December 6

The Plan: Non-Disney Touring

On Monday, my brother, Steven, flew up to Orlando with two of his coworkers for a conference for the public auditors of the U.S. territories (the Virgin Islands and several Pacific island groups). So, we planned to get together one evening for dinner. As it turned out, the conference hotel was the Renaissance Resort at Sea World.

After breakfast at our hotel, Helena and I stopped by the guest services desk to buy two tickets for Sea World at $63 each, including tax. But then we were again stopped by a Hilton vacation club representative. Although we told him that we already had a timeshare and didn't need another, he still tried to pressure us into participating in an open house so he could get credit for having sent us over. Talk about being pushy! This was completely in line with the stereotypical timeshare high pressure tactics, and completely unlike the "no pressure" behavior of the Disney Vacation Club representatives that we had experienced yesterday.

We took a taxi from the Doubletree to Sea World (cost $20 including tip) and entered the Sea World park for the first time since 1992. One thing immediately became evident to us -- although Sea World gives you a very detailed map of the facilities, there's simply not enough clear signage to direct visitors to the location of the various attractions. We weren't the only ones to find this to be a problem, because several other visitors also expressed their frustration as we exited one show and were trying to find the location of the next one that was scheduled to start in 15 minutes.

Despite the navigation problems, Helena and I had a nice time at Sea World. We were able to take in the penguin exhibit, dolphin-feeding area (the dolphin show wasn't presented today), pet animal show, sea lion and walrus show, shark exhibit, Budweiser Clydesdale horses, and Shamu show. Lunch at a counter service eatery -- Greek salad for Helena and chicken salad wrap for me -- were filling, but nothing spectacular (cost $20).

We finished our Sea World touring around 4:30 pm and walked across the Sea World parking lot to the Renaissance Resort to meet my brother and his two coworkers. A taxi van took us the short distance to an Olive Garden on International Drive, where we all had a nice time together enjoying the great food and great conversation. Helena and I had the mixed grill platter -- grilled steak and chicken skewers with sauteed potatoes and veggies. Dessert was a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for me and a pumpkin cheesecake for Helena (cost $57 including gratuity). After dinner, the same taxi van took everyone back to their respective hotels. Back at the Doubletree, I used the wireless internet access to download and install updates for Norton Antivirus and Windows XP to our laptop before hitting the sack around 11:00 pm.

Wednesday, December 7

The Plan: Non-Disney Touring

This was another relatively quiet day, because we didn't want to wear ourselves out before even starting the Disney World theme park phase of our trip. We slept in until 8:30 am, got the hotel's breakfast buffet, and then took a leisurely stroll to Downtown Disney. We browsed through the World of Disney store, picking up polo shirts for Helena and I and a 50th Anniversary t-shirt for me (cost $110).

Since Monday, Helena and I had been discussing the pros and cons of investing in a Disney Vacation Club membership although we already had an Aruba-based timeshare. The pros eventually won out, and we called Joaquin to set up an appointment with him on Thursday morning to finalize the transaction. When we get back home to St. Thomas, we'll ask a cousin of mine, who is a real estate attorney, to give us some pointers for trying to sell our Aruba timeshare. Basically, we just want to get out of the remaining 8 years of our financing commitment (at $185 per month) and would be willing to forfeit what we've already paid as a "sunk cost."

After setting up the DVC meeting for Thursday, we went to the AMC 24 theater and spent a relaxing couple of hours watching "Yours, Mine, and Ours" with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo. I guess this qualifies as a "chick flick," but I enjoyed it as much as Helena did -- just a light romantic comedy to spend a little time. From there, we hit the Rainforest Cafe‚ around 3:00 pm for a late lunch/early dinner. Helena had a huge Chinese salad that she couldn't finish and I had a BBQ chicken wrap. We had apple cobblers for dessert, but these also were huge and we didn't do them justice at all. We should have shared one instead (cost $63 including gratuity). Then it was back to the Doubletree for the rest of the evening. I updated the trip report, while Helena watched the evening news and reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond." We hit the sack around 10:00 pm.

Thursday, December 8

The Plan: Non-Disney Touring

Today was basically a wash out as far as the weather in Orlando was concerned. It started out with a light, misty rain that lasted pretty much all day and into the late evening. Helena and I sleep in late again, and eventually went downstairs for breakfast around 9:00 am. We were picked up at the Doubletree by a van from the Disney Vacation Club, which took us to Saratoga Springs for our 10:30 am meeting with Joaquin. We told him that we had decided to purchase a DVC interest of 200 points. He went over the cost, financing arrangements, and other aspects of the DVC in greater detail than during our first meeting with him on Monday. We also asked for and were provided with the opportunity to take a second look at the model suites. The 200 points we settled on will give us a good opportunity to stay in a 1-bedroom suite just about anytime except the premium seasons (Spring Break and Christmas weeks). Later, a DVC financial specialist took our financing application and guided us through the process of filling out and signing all of the necessary forms. We're now officially DVC members, and we're already thinking about the possibility of a future family visit to include our daughter, Selene; my brother, Steven; and their families.

After being brought back to the Doubletree by the DVC van, we spent a couple hours doing the week's laundry so that we could pack later in the evening for our move to POFQ on Friday morning. Around 5:30 pm, a cousin of Helena who recently moved to Kissimmee picked us up at our hotel, and we spent a wonderful 4 hours with her and her family at their home. We got back to the hotel around 10:00 pm, finished our packing, and were in bed by midnight.

My overall impression of the Doubletree Guest Suites was very positive. Our 1-bedroom suite was very spacious and comfortable, housekeeping was efficient and always kept the room clean and provided us with an ample (actually overload) supply of clean towels, the free wireless high-speed internet connection was an absolute godsend, and the guest laundry facilities were clean and more than adequate. The restaurant staff, including servers Rolbert, Karen, and Danny and hostess Lola, were very friendly and efficient, and the food was well-prepared and not unreasonably-priced, given the prices one expects to pay at Disney World. The hotel was also very conveniently located within walking distance to Downtown Disney and to the Crossroads shops (although we didn't actually go there). Although we didn't use them, the hotel also was served by buses to the Disney theme parks on a 30-minute schedule. The buses were similar to regular city buses and had distinctive white, yellow, and red color schemes. The only real negative about the Doubletree was the absolutely pushy attitude of the Hilton vacation club representatives, who kept pestering us each and every time we passed their desk, which was located in such a way that it was almost impossible to pass by without being noticed. Even if we didn't already have our minds set on a DVC membership, their pushy attitude would have soured us on even considering the Hilton vacation club.

Friday, December 9

The Plan: Transfer to Port Orleans French Quarter, visit Animal Kingdom, Dinner at the Rainforest Cafe‚

Today went off pretty much as planned, although more rain interfered towards the end of the day. We set the alarm for 6:00 am to get an early start, got dressed, had breakfast downstairs, and then called the bell captain to get our bags and call a taxi for us. A short drive later, the taxi driver was helping us deposit our bags at the luggage storage room at POFQ. Inside the main building there was absolutely no one else in line to check-in -- not surprising since it was still only about 9:30 am. Cast Member (CM) Anna had us checked-in in no time, but it was too early for our room to be ready, so she gave us a number to call later in the day to see if it was ready. Helena and I then went to the nearby bus stop (the only one at POFQ) and were on the bus to Animal Kingdom in less than 10 minutes.

I found the ride from POFQ to Animal Kingdom to be quite long compared with prior rides from the Caribbean Beach Resort and Coronado Springs Resort. But that wasn't unexpected, given that POFQ is on the opposite end of the Disney World property from Animal Kingdom. Helena, myself, and another gentleman were the only three passengers on the bus. But when we arrived, I was immediately surprised by the huge crowd of people going through the security check and the turnstiles at the park. Animal Kingdom was more crowded today than at any other time that we've visited before (Christmas week in 2003 and the week before Christmas in 2004). I still can't figure out why the park was so crowded this early in the month. I hope this isn't a sign of what we can expect the rest of the week!

We had several pictures taken as we entered the park and were given our first Photopass card (more on this later). Our first goal was to get Fastpass tickets for the Kilimanjaro Safari. The return time was at 11:10 am, so we then headed over to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, in the hope of seeing the gorillas. We weren't disappointed. They were in plain view, and most were actively moving around, resulting in some great pictures.

We then returned to the Safari and walked right past a 45-minute stand-by line. (Don't people read the park pamphlets or other literature to learn about Fastpass and other Disney theme park tips and tricks?) Well, their loss is our gain since, if everyone used Fastpass, the advantage of the system would likely disappear as the Fastpass lines grew to be as long as the standby lines are now. Anyway, the Safari ride was another great success, with many animals being active and out in the open -- even the ever-elusive lions.

Next, we took the Wildlife Express Train over to Rafiki's Planet Watch, where we did a quick tour of the facilities. Nothing was going on in the veterinary units, and a CM told us that most of the staff was on a lunch break at the time. Throughout our travels in Africa, I had my eyes open, hoping to spot DeVine, but no such luck. We did see Flik as he was going to a meet-and-greet station.

By now it was getting close to time for the 1:00 pm showing of the Festival of the Lion King. We got there about 15 minutes ahead of the starting time to find a crowd gathered outside waiting for the doors of the theater to open. When they finally did, we ended up in the Lion section. As usual, the show was great -- great music, great acrobats, and great fun for all.

Exiting the Lion King theater, we found that the next showing of Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends was just about to begin. Surprisingly, there were still plenty of good seats for this low-key, but still entertaining presentation. We soon noticed, however, that the skies were becoming very, very dark. By the time Pocahontas had returned to her village, a light, misty rain had started up -- just like yesterday. This nuisance rain continued the rest of the afternoon and really slowed up everyone's progress and our ability to finish touring the park in 1 day. With ponchos covering us from the rain, we slowly made it through the crowds over to Asia for the Maharajah Jungle Trek. However, because of the rain, there weren't many animals out in view; but at least we did get to see the Komodo Dragon, a couple of those huge bats, and a couple of rather inactive tigers.

We would have liked to have seen the Flights of Wonder show, but felt that a higher priority was to see Tarzan Rocks one last time before it closes here in the U.S. and moves on to Tokyo Disneyland sometime after the Christmas season. The show was as high energy as ever; but Helena, tired from the late-night packing the night before, had a hard time keeping her eyes open -- even through all of that deafeningly loud music. During the walk through Asia over to the Tarzan Rocks theater, we had a great close-up view of the nearly-completed Expedition Everest. The mountain is absolutely breathtaking and fits perfectly into the lush vegetation and surroundings. It really looks like it belongs there.

By now, it was about 4:00 pm and Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade was getting ready to start. But the rain was coming down a bit harder by this time, so we reluctantly decided to call it a day. We headed out of the park, stopping to collect our Photopass pictures. But when the CM scanned our Photopass card, someone else's pictures came up. She was eventually able to pull up ours by scrolling through all of the pictures taken that morning by the same photographer, but we never would have been able to retrieve them if we had waited until getting back home to view them online.

From there, we went over to the Rainforest Cafe a little early for our 4:45 pm dinner reservation and had just a 5 minute wait to be seated. CM Kelly was our server, and she was extremely friendly and attentive throughout. Helena and I both had the filet mignon with portobello mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and vegetables with small side salads. We had no room for dessert, but even so, the bill, including gratuity, totaled a surprising $89!

After dinner, we headed over to the bus stop and crowded in for the "standing room only" ride back to POFQ. We went to the check-in desk to get our room assignment and then to the bell services desk to claim the bags we had left there early this morning. We headed over to our first-floor room in building 5 (room 5117), which was very near the main pool and almost right at the edge of the river that connects POFQ to the Riverside section and to Downtown Disney. By the time we were finished unpacking and settling in, it was about 10:00 pm. Helena showered and went to bed, while I worked on the trip report until about 11:30 pm before also showering and heading to bed. I really hope that tomorrow will bring some sunshine, because touring the theme parks in the rain is a real pain in the "you know where."

As for the POFQ room, it was as nice and as comfortable as any other Disney moderate resort room we've stayed in. It had two full size beds, a 3-drawer armoire/TV cabinet, table and two side chairs, and a night stand between the two beds. The bedroom area had light blue walls with deep blue curtains and yellow-tone bed coverings. The bed coverings were adorned with colorful Mardi Gras masquerade characters. The bathroom had two pedestal wash basins with a full-length shelf above them for our toiletries. This proved to be more convenient than I would have thought (as compared to the full vanity counter and two inset wash basins we were accustomed to at the Caribbean Beach Resort). A small separate room housed the tub and toilet.

Saturday, December 10

The Plan: Magic Kingdom, Lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern

As would be our pattern every day while at POFQ, we were up at 6:00 am and had breakfast at POFQ's food court, the Mardi Gras-themed Floatworks Food Factory. We alternated between french toast, pancakes, and eggs for breakfast, along with one fruit bowl and one bottle of orange juice that we shared each day (cost about $15 daily). We also bought a couple of refillable mugs ($12.50 each), which we used daily for coffee. Unlike the food court at Coronado Springs, at the Floatworks Food Factory, you get your food at the various food stations (each with selected specialty items) and pay a cashier as you leave this area. At the dining area there are drink stations for coffee, milk, and soft drinks. (If you read my trip report from last year, you might remember I said that at the Coronado Springs, a CM directed you to your table, got your drinks for you, and gave you a card to have stamped as you got your food at each station. Then you paid at the end before leaving the food court. That setup is probably used at Coronado Springs because it's a convention resort catering to more business travelers.)

Most days, we were able to finish our morning routine and be at the bus stop by 8:30 am. This morning, we had only a 5 minute wait for our bus to arrive, and we got to the Magic Kingdom just as the park opening ceremony was beginning. We missed some of it as we went through the security check and then used the biometric entry procedure for the first time; but we were still glad to have experienced some of the opening fanfare. There was a large crowd assembled in front of the Main Street railroad station as the ropes dropped, but it dispersed surprisingly quickly as we proceeded down Main Street. We had pictures taken by a Photopass photographer and, after yesterday's fiasco, requested a new Photopass card. This Photopass worked just fine and all the pictures from the rest of our Disney World stay were accessible online.

We headed right up Main Street, taking some pictures of Cinderella's Castle in its "Greatest Celebration on Earth" decorations and the Partners statue along the way. Our first destination, as is our custom, was Fantasyland. Unlike the large crowds yesterday at Animal Kingdom, Fantasyland seemed to be almost deserted today, and most attractions were straight walk-ons. By 10:30 am, we had visited Snow White's Scary Adventure, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Peter Pan's Flight, and It's a Small World. It's a Small World was a special treat, since this was our first opportunity to ride since its recent rehab. The new decorations in the loading area (patterned after the exterior of Disneyland California's ride) was a welcomed addition, and the entire ride was like new, with bright colors from the new paint and fabrics throughout. Many people just hate the little tune on this ride, but I always enjoy the Sherman Brothers' addictive little ditty.

Next, Helena and I headed off to the left side of the park towards Liberty Square. The Haunted Mansion was another walk-on, and we enjoyed our ride with the "999 happy haunts." At the Hall of Presidents, the audience was small enough that we were allowed to sit anywhere we wanted. Of course, that meant front and center seats for us. I was able to get very clear pictures of the entire lineup of presidents (yes, without using flash photography), which I'll be able to seamlessly blend together with photo-stitching software for a wide-angle panoramic shot.

Moving on to Frontierland, the situation was a little different because we were the last persons let in for the next showing of the Country Bears Holiday Jamboree. So, we were forced to sit on the far left side of the theater. Even so, using manual settings on my digital camera, I was again able to get reasonably clear pictures of all the bear performers, again without having to use the flash. As we exited from the Country Bears, we noticed a large Brasilian tour group all decked out in bright yellow jumpsuits. We later saw them riding down the Splash Mountain flume in one log after another, accompanied by loud shouts of approval. Helena and I, however, decided to bypass both Splash and Big Thunder Mountains this year.

Moving on to Adventureland, we rode with the Pirates of the Caribbean, again as walk-ons, and then went over to the Jungle Cruise, where the line was decidedly longer and we opted for Fastpass tickets, with a return time of 1:10 pm. In the meantime, we headed over to the Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management for another walk-on show. Then it was back to the Jungle Cruise, which was marred somewhat by a very noisy and rather annoying group of teenage cheerleaders, who seemed to have a goal of trying to embarrass our Jungle Cruise captain. But, he just ignored them and did a pretty good job with the standard ride spiel.

From there, we headed back to Liberty Square for our 2:00 pm reservation at the Liberty Tree Tavern, for which we were able to get seating 15 minutes early. Russell was our server, and he took our orders -- the traditional turkey dinner with all the fixin's for Helena, and the Yankee pot roast for me. We both also had house salads and, for dessert, Helena had the apple tart with cinnamon ice cream and I had the lemon pound cake with caramel-pecan sauce and vanilla ice cream. As expected, all of the food was great and the servings quite filling (cost $63 including gratuity).

After lunch, we returned to POFQ, where we checked out the gift shop and picked up our tickets for Tuesday's Candlelight Processional. We then went to our room and napped until about 6:00 pm, when we went out to the bus stop to return to the Magic Kingdom. We had a 30-minute wait for the bus, and finally entered the park around 7:00 pm to find that people were already staking out spots for the 9:00 pm Spectromagic parade. We wandered around Main Street for awhile and eventually took up viewing positions next to a recycling bin just in front of the Arcade and Theater. While waiting for the parade to start, we talked with an elderly couple who were next to us. During the parade, the husband and I took turns leaning over the recycling bin for unobstructed pictures of the parade floats.

After Spectromagic, the large crowd moved slowly towards Cinderella's Castle in preparation for Wishes. We stopped on Main Street adjacent to Casey's Corner because we didn't want to get any closer to the castle. The view from here was perfect, and the fireworks show was as spectacular as ever. I was a bit disappointed, however, that the perimeter fireworks were not used for tonight's show. Afterwards, we followed the crowd slowly down Main Street and stopped at the Exposition Hall to pick up our Photopass pictures from this morning, surprisingly with a rather short line.

At the bus stop, we had only a 10 minute wait for the bus back to POFQ. We showered, and I just made a few quick notes for the trip report before turning in. I was just too tired to write up the trip report narrative in detail.

Sunday, December 11

The Plan: Disney-MGM Studios, Lunch at the Brown Derby

We were again up at 6:00 am and got ready for breakfast at the Floatworks Food Factory. Then it was to the bus stop, where we had a 10-minute wait for the bus to Disney-MGM Studios. At the Studios, we were through security and the turnstiles and onto Hollywood Boulevard just a few minutes before the 9:00 am rope drop. We had Photopass pictures taken in front of the Sorcerer's Hat and then proceeded straight to the Great Movie Ride, which is our traditional first ride at the Studios. This was a walk-on, with the ride vehicle only being about half filled.

We then headed to the backlot area to get in line for the new Lights, Motors, Action! auto stunt show. We were among the first group let into the huge stadium and got great seats down in front and very near center. By the time the show started, 45 minutes later, the stadium was completely filled. As a long-time auto racing fan and car buff, I found the show quite entertaining. But for Helena it was bit of a snooze, both literally and figuratively. I think she was hitting "the wall" already, because she said that she actually nodded off a couple times, even with the roaring noise from the stunt car engines.

After Lights, Motors, Action!, we back-tracked to take in the next showing of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Play It!. The show started just a few minutes after we were seated. Unfortunately, Helena and I both missed one or two questions and didn't have any chance of making the Top 10 board. From there, we went to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which was another walk-on. By now it was after 12:00 noon, and the light, misty rain had started up again, forcing us to don our ponchos. This rainy weather was getting real old real fast! We splashed our way over to the Magic of Disney Animation attraction. After the presentation by the live CM and animated Mushu, we walked past some of the glassed-off studio areas where, to my surprise, people were actually seated at desks painting assorted animation cels. However, these appeared to be promotional cels, and not part of an actual under-production animated film. From there, we were let into a meet-and-greet area where Chicken Little and Abby Mallard were posing with the little ones. In the hands-on area, all of the computer stations were being used, so we didn't stick around to wait for any to be freed up, but instead headed over to the Brown Derby Diner for our 2:00 pm advanced reservation.

We had about a 15-minute wait, during which we witnessed a man with a British accent verbally abuse his wife, who was almost to the point of tears. Poor show, that one. They definitely weren't feeling the "Magic." As we waited, we kept track of guests before us who were being seated and then noticed a hostess looking around (inside and outside) with a reservation card in her hand. She didn't call out the party's name, but we could tell she was looking for someone. Finally, I went up to her and asked who she was looking for -- it was us. She said that she was looking for someone with a Disney World baseball cap, as was noted on the card. But I had taken my cap off after signing in at the desk. Anyway, we were finally seated and CM Laura soon came over to explain the menu items and offer recommendations. Both Helena and I had the New York strip steak with four sauces and mashed potatoes. Although the cost was high ($76 including gratuity) we weren't very impressed with the meal -- we've had tastier steaks at much less expensive and less exclusive restaurants both in Florida and back home on St. Thomas. The quality of the meat was just fine, but the "four sauces" just didn't appeal to us. However, the desserts -- creme brulee for Helena and white chocolate macadamia nut cheesecake for me -- were great.

By the time we were finished eating, the misty rain had finally fizzled out. We strolled over to Star Tours and got Fastpass tickets for 3:45 pm and then took in the Muppet*Vision 3D movie with a 5-minute wait during the pre-show. It was now almost time for the 3:30 pm Hollywood Holly Days parade; but we were lucky to find great viewing spots right next to the Sounds Dangerous show building. A new addition to the parade this year was the Power Rangers. After the parade, we returned for our Fastpass ride on Star Tours and then rushed across the park for the 4:15 pm showing of Beauty and the Beast. This was the last showing for the day, and we didn't want to miss it.

After Beauty and the Beast, we went over to the area just outside Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, where wristbands for tonight's Extra Magic Hours were being distributed. Although the line was rather long, the process went quickly and we had our wristbands within 10 to 15 minutes. From there, we went to the entranceway for the Fantasmic show, where people were already starting to line up. The rope was dropped at 5:30 pm for the 7:00 pm showing, and we followed the group into the lake-side amphitheater. With cloudy skies all day, tonight was going to be a very chilly night. But Helena and I had prepared by wearing our leather jackets and carrying our lined wind breakers in our backpacks during the day. These now kept us toasty warm as we waited for the show to start. A couple of groups passed the time by trying get a "wave" started, but it kept dying out after one or two cycles. Eventually, it was 7:00 pm, and the Fantasmic show was as great as ever. My new-found manual camera settings let me get some great pictures that I'd never been able to capture before.

After Fantasmic, we held back and let most of the crowd leave the amphitheater. We then followed behind and made our way slowly to the Streets of America for our first viewing of the new version of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights. We definitely weren't disappointed! On the way out of the park, now around 8:30 pm, we stopped to take a few great night-time pictures of the Sorcerer's Hat and to pick up our Photopass pictures, with only 4 or 5 families ahead of us in line. When we exited the park, the bus was already there and waiting to take us back to POFQ. Although the Studios would be open until 11:00 pm for Extra Magic Hours, we had done everything we had hoped to accomplish today. So, getting to bed at a reasonable time was more important if we were going to survive our last few days at Disney World.

Monday, December 12

The Plan: Magic Kingdom, Dinner at the Crystal Palace

We were again up at 6:00 am for our breakfast routine. The temperature this morning was only 47 degrees; but it was a bright, sunny day, and it warmed up nicely later on. We were at the POFQ bus stop by 8:30 am, and arrived at the Magic Kingdom a couple minutes after the 9:00 am park opening.

Today we would be concentrating on the right side of the Magic Kingdom, and Stitch's Great Escape was our first stop, as walk-ons. Boy, the smell from that chili dog burp really stays with you! Our next ride, also a walk-on, was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Helena scored 81,000 points to my measly 2,500 points; but I demanded a rematch because I was sure my gun was malfunctioning. So, we got right back on the ride and, although Helena still beat me, my score was a much more respectable 98,100 points to her 98,700 points. The ride picture turned out good, so we decided to buy it.

By now, it was about 15 minutes before the scheduled 10:40 am showing of Cinderellabration, so we walked to the hub to wait for the show to begin. In the meantime, a trolley came up Main Street with a load of musicians and dancers, who put on a short show right in front of the Partners statue. Cinderellabration was a nice 15 minutes of Disney entertainment, but clearly geared more towards the younger audience. After the show, we returned to Tomorrowland and took a leisurely ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Unfortunately, neither the Carousel of Progress nor the Timekeeper were open. Carousel of Progress may have been down for maintenance, but it appeared that the Timekeeper theater was being used for character meet-and-greets with the Incredibles, Stitch, and Buzz Lightyear. I'm afraid that Timekeeper may be gone forever.

Since we had an advanced reservation for dinner at the Crystal Palace, we only wanted a light lunch today. So we stopped at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe‚ for grilled chicken sandwiches, no-sugar brownies, and soft drinks (cost $25). We then toured Mickey's Toontown Fair, visiting both Minnie's and Mickey's country homes. The furniture and decorations in these homes are really imaginatively portrayed and certainly worth a look, even by grownups. From there, we continued over to Fantasyland for a return ride (from Saturday) on It's a Small World. The Magic Kingdom was more crowded than it had been on Saturday, but still not overwhelming.

We continued a leisurely stroll through Liberty Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland on our way to Main Street for the 3:00 pm Share a Dream Come True parade. This was the first time we had ever seen this parade, although I have the music CD and have listened to it many times. While waiting for the parade to start, the Dapper Dans barbershop quartet entertained the crowd. The parade itself was a nice change of pace from Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade, which we've seen on four previous December visits to Disney World since 1992.

After the parade, we boarded the Walt Disney World Railroad at the Main Street station and took the full circle tour around the park. Then we headed over to the Crystal Palace for our 4:30 pm advanced reservation. Although we were a half-hour early for our reservation, we were seated after a wait of only 5 minute. Our server was Michael, who appeared to be rather harried by the constant stream of new diners. The food was up to its usual good standard, with a wide variety of offerings at the different food stations (cost $69 including gratuity). All four of the characters in attendance -- Eyore, Piglet, Pooh, and Tigger -- stopped by our table for quick pictures before being rushed on to the next table by their attendants.

After dinner, Helena and I strolled back down Main Street and exited the park, to be greeted by a beautiful red/orange sunset sky, which resulted in some very nice pictures. We had the bus back to POFQ completely to ourselves for a quiet ride to the hotel. Upon arriving at our room, I called housekeeping for a cable to use the available in-room high-speed internet access with my laptop computer. Unlike the free wireless internet access at the Doubletree Guest Suites, POFQ charged $9.95 per 24-hour access period for wired internet access. We were really tired by the end of the day today, and Helena hit the sack by 8:00 pm. I checked 4 days worth of emails and updated the trip report, then followed her to bed around 9:30 pm.

Tuesday, December 13

The Plan: Epcot, Dinner at Le Cellier as part of the Candlelight Processional dinner package

We had a restful night and were awake again at 6:00 am for our morning routine. A dose of pixie dust came from a kind lady from Canada who was going home today and offered to pay for our breakfasts with unused coupons that she still had on her Disney dining plan. That was very nice of her and completely unexpected by us. We got to the bus stop around 8:30 am, just as the Epcot bus was driving up. At Epcot's rope drop, we followed the crowd to The Land pavilion to ride Soarin' for the first time. Despite the large group, the wait to get on the ride was quite short; but that ramp into and out of the Soarin' ride is very, very long. The ride itself was a wonderfully exhilarating experience and is a close tie with Mission: Space in its appeal to me. We liked Soarin' so much that we went right back on, again with a very short wait.

Next up was The Living Seas, which is now completely themed to "Finding Nemo." We first stopped for Turtle Talk with Crush with a 15 minute wait for the previous show to finish, then we explored the many sea life exhibits. Except for Turtle Talk, the oceanography-style exhibits are similar to ones we have at home at the Coral World Sealife Park on St. Thomas; but they're still interesting. It's my understanding that the sea cabs that used to run in The Living Seas pavilion are being rehabed and will be running again in 2006. I hope this is true.

After visiting Nemo and friends, we trekked across the Future World promenade to get Fastpasses for Test Track. Then I rode Mission: Space as a single rider, with no wait. I was the pilot on this mission and pushed the buttons right on time. After my trip to Mars, Helena and I went over to Test Track for our Fastpass ride. That outdoor speed run seems to get more exciting with each ride, and Helena said that she might skip Test Track in the future. The in-ride camera caught me pushing my glasses back on my face, so we didn't buy the picture. By coincidence, the young couple who rode with me on Mission: Space were also our front-seat riders on Test Track.

Because we were going to be having dinner at Le Cellier at the Canada pavilion, we wanted a very light lunch snack, and settled on a couple of hot dogs and soft drinks from a cart in front of Test Track (cost $12.50). After that, we headed over to Mouse Gear, where we purchased a number of items, most as gifts for family members back home, at a total cost of $177.

About this time, I realized that I had forgotten our tickets for this evening's Candlelight Processional in our room. So, I had to return to POFQ to get them. Helena and I took the bus back to POFQ around 2:00 pm, got the tickets, took 15 or 20 minutes to walk around POFQ and take pictures, and returned to Epcot by 3:30 pm. We saw that there was no line for Spaceship Earth, so we climbed aboard for a ride through the history of communications. The Spaceship Earth ride has special meaning for me because, when I ride it, I always remember my dad telling me about the opportunity he had to ride it in 1983, shortly after Epcot had first opened, during the second of his only three trips to the United States. His last trip to Florida was in 1989 to a cancer hospital from which he didn't return home. . . . Sorry for the somber remembrances.

From Spaceship Earth, we headed across the way and visited with Figment on his Journey into Imagination. I think I finally get the point of this ride and how it ties in with the hands-on exhibits at Imageworks. But I still miss Dreamfinder and the more prominent use of the original ride music. At Imageworks, Helena and I sent a photo-email of ourselves to Selene and to my brother, Steven. It was our intention to then take in the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience 3D movie, but the next showing would conflict with our dinner reservation at Le Cellier at 4:10 pm. So, we just headed over to Le Cellier and were seated right at 4:10.

Our server was Ashlea, who's from Ottawa. She explained the menu options and made some recommendations before getting our drink orders. For dinner, Helena and I both had the filet mignon with cheddar mashed potatoes, with maple creme brulee for dessert. These steaks were much better than the ones we had a few days earlier at the Brown Derby Diner. The Candlelight Processional dinner package cost was $92, which included gratuity.

After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll from Canada to the American Adventure pavilion, where we browsed the gift shop and took in the Kwanza holiday storyteller. Around 7:00 pm, we saw other people with badges for the 8:15 Candlelight Processional beginning to form a line, so we got in line. The time actually went by quickly as we listened to the music from the 6:45 show. When it was our turn to enter the theater, we had great seating just four rows back and very near the center aisle. Lou Diamond Phillips was the narrator, and did a great job. Of course, the Candlelight Processional orchestra and choir were just fabulous.

After the Candlelight Processional, we stopped at the deck that protrudes into the lagoon in front of Italy to catch Illuminations. While we were waiting for Illuminations to start, the Wishes fireworks at the Magic Kingdom were clearly visible in the distance behind the Canada pavilion. I noticed that the perimeter fireworks were shot off tonight -- a real bummer, since they were not used when we viewed Wishes at the Magic Kingdom on Saturday night. It was a bit cold at the water's edge, but the view of Illuminations was fantastic. The special holiday finale, set to the music of "Let There Be Peace on Earth," was really awesome, with a rapid-fire staccato of firework bursts ending the show.

We slowly followed the crowd to the exit, stopping to take pictures of the illuminated country pavilions along the way. There was a large crowd waiting for the Port Orleans bus; but, luckily, three buses soon arrived and we made it on the third one, even if we had to stand. Helena hit the sack around 11:00 pm, and I checked email and updated the trip report until 12:30 am.

Wednesday, December 14

The Plan: Epcot, Lunch at the San Angel Inn

Despite the late night, we were up again at 6:00 am for our morning routine. But we decided to change plans a bit today and make a morning visit to Animal Kingdom to take in a few attractions that we had missed on Friday (December 9) because of the afternoon rain. After entering the park and getting a couple new Photopass pictures taken, we went to see the It's Tough to Be a Bug 3D movie. We only had a 5-minute wait but, boy, I had forgotten how long that entry ramp is.

We wanted to take in the Flights of Wonder, but the next show was still an hour away, so we went on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. But we actually only saw a very few animals out and about. These included some deer and assorted birds. One tiger was pacing back and forth at the viewing glass and another was behind some shrubs moving around, but only partially visible and at a distance. After completing the walking tour, we went to the Flights of Wonder show. It was very interesting as usual, but had an unexpected twist when the star owl decided he didn't want to perform and instead flew up into a nearby tree. He was eventually retrieved backstage and the show went on without his performance.

At this point, it was about 11:00 am and we had a 1:00 pm reservation for lunch at San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavilion at Epcot. But before going to Epcot, we wanted to drop off our rain ponchos and heavy wind breaker jackets at POFQ because the day was turning sunny and warm. So, we took a bus over to POFQ, quickly dropped off the items in our room, and were back at the POFQ bus stop within 15 minutes of arriving. But the driver of the Epcot bus that showed up was so slow that it felt like he was driving at 10 mph all the way through the French Quarter and Riverside bus stops and on to Epcot. When we finally arrived at Epcot, we practically had to sprint from the park entrance to Mexico, and were a few minutes late. Luckily, we were still seated right away.

For years I've wanted to dine at San Angel Inn because I found the ambiance, with the twilight backdrop of the pyramid and volcano, to be quite enchanting. Helena and I both had the Mexican Platter (consisting of beef taco, chicken enchilada, and cheese quesadilla) with flan de vainilla for dessert. But the food was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't bad, but we've had better tasting Mexican food at a couple local restaurants back home on St. Thomas. Our server, Jose, was very attentive and helpful, but the food didn't live up to my expectations (cost $60 including gratuity).

After lunch, Helena and I started a leisurely tour of the World Showcase pavilions, beginning in Mexico and working our way around to Canada. We rode El Rio del Tiempo and Maelstrom, and visited the Viking exhibit in the Stave Church in Norway. We didn't bother with the films in China, France, or Canada because it was our intention to catch either the British Invasion or Off Kilter show. But after taking in the American Adventure show, we were feeling quite tired and decided to forget about any more World Showcase attractions. We stopped at Mouse Gear to pick up a few more final gifts for family members back home and then headed to the bus stop for a ride back to POFQ.

We stopped at the Floatworks Food Factory for a quick dinner, consisting of a Philly cheese steak for me and a foot-long hot dog for Helena, and then returned to our room to pack for our check-out the next morning. We stuffed everything away by about 8:00 pm, at which time I went online to check email and then updated the trip report. We hit the sack by 10:00 pm.

Thursday, December 15

The Plan: Port Orleans French Quarter check-out, Happy Limo ride to Hertz for rental car

We slept in a little later today and got up at 7:00 am to get ready for breakfast at the Floatworks Food Factory and to check out. Our pick-up by Happy Limo was scheduled for 11:00 am, so we called bell services at 10:30 am to get our bags. Robert, the Happy Limo driver, arrived about 15 minutes early and helped me retrieve our bags from the luggage holding area. We were soon on our way to the Hertz facility near the Orlando airport to pick-up our rental car. Robert was a very friendly and talkative chap (in contrast to quiet Tom on our arrival day). Robert is originally from Panama, but has lived most of his life in the United States. He worked on television news crews for many years and, after retiring from that profession, took up limo driving as a retirement pastime. Robert entertained us with stories about his wife, who's originally from Jamaica, and his family's Christmas traditions. He was very amiable, and our lively conversation helped the ride seem much shorter than it actually was.

At the Hertz facility, there was no one else in line, so check-in was a breeze. We were assigned a brand new, pale blue Toyota Camry. With instructions on how to get to the Florida Turnpike, we were on our way to Port St. Lucie. Exactly 2 hours later, we were pulling up to Selene's driveway.

Friday, December 16 to Sunday, December 18

The Plan: Visit with Selene in Port St. Lucie for Jaidyn Alma's baptism on Sunday

It was nice visiting with Selene and John and seeing our granddaughter, Jaidyn, again. On Sunday, December 18, we participated in Jaidyn's baptism, and we're now her godparents as well as being her grandparents. For the ceremony, Jaidyn wore a long, white-laced christening gown that is over 115 years old. It has been used by Selene, Helena, and her brothers, father, uncles and aunts, and many cousins on the occasion of their baptisms.

Monday, December 19 to Thursday, December 22

The Plan: Drive to Deerfield Beach for annual medical checkups

On Monday, Helena and I drove down I-95 to Deerfield Beach and checked into the Comfort Suites hotel where we stayed for four nights. We took care of our annual medical checkups during the week, with everything checking out okay. We also had the opportunity during this time to visit with my sister, brother-in-law, and a nephew and to do some last-minute Christmas shopping for family in Florida.

Friday, December 23 to Monday, January 2

The Plan: Drive back to Port St. Lucie for the Christmas and New Year holidays

On Friday morning, we checked out of the Comfort Suites and drove back up I-95 to Port St. Lucie and Selene's home. That afternoon, I copied all my Disney World digital photos (some 700) to a CD and took them to a Wolf Camera store to have them printed out for mounting in "Greatest Celebration on Earth" photo albums I had purchased while at Disney World. Despite the new digital technology, I still like to have the photo albums in hand to be able to flip through. The per-print price at Wolf Camera was less than half the cost back home.

On Saturday (Christmas Eve) I logged onto Disney's PhotoMovie site www.disneyphotomovie.com and uploaded a selection of 120 Disney World photos to be converted into an animated movie and slideshow as part of this new Disney service. The cost is $49.95 for the first DVD copy and $19.95 for each additional DVD copy. I purchased two copies, one for Selene and the other for Helena and I. Surprisingly, the DVDs arrived at Selene's home 3 days later via UPS. I suppose the fast turnaround was because this is a new service that not many people are aware of yet. But even so, I was surprised that my order was processed over the Christmas weekend. As for the finished product, I'm completely satisfied with the animated movie produced by Disney from the 68 pictures the service allowed me to select for the movie part of the DVD. It's fun seeing the Disney characters interacting with our own photos, all to appropriate Disney music. But I was disappointed that the accompanying slideshow included only those 68 pictures, not all 120 that I had uploaded. The PhotoMovie web site states that the slideshow on the DVD would include "all" photos uploaded to the PhotoMovie site. This clearly wasn't the case for my DVD, and I sent an email to Disney to complain about this. On January 6 I received a response from Disney saying that they were sorry for the misunderstanding, but that the intent is for the slideshow to include only the 68 pictures selected for the photomovie. If you plan to order a Disney Photomovie DVD, be aware of this policy.

During Christmas week, we were joined in Port St. Lucie by John's mother, stepfather, and three brothers. That gave us the opportunity for some combined family outings and a big family dinner on Christmas Day. For New Year's Eve, Helena and I took care of Jaidyn so that Selene and John could go for an evening out without the baby. On New Year's Day, we all went to lunch at a local Olive Garden.

Tuesday, January 3

The Plan: Drive to Orlando for our AA flight from Orlando to St. Thomas via Miami

What, up to now, had been a wonderful vacation ended with a travel day I would rather forget. From the outset, it was a "comedy of errors." Helena and I got up around 7:00 am to get ready to leave Selene's home by 9:00 am for our drive to Orlando to catch our flight back home. Everything went well until I hit the intersection leading out of Selene's community. I caught myself, at the very last instant, making a right turn headed towards I-95 instead of a left turn headed towards the Florida Turnpike. Then, after stopping at the Turnpike toll plaza, I was momentarily distracted and took the Turnpike entry ramp headed South to Miami instead of North to Orlando. We then had to continue on the Turnpike for 7 miles until the next exit ramp, where we had to pay the toll up to that point (70 cents) and then make a U-turn back to the northbound entry ramp.

Things were going just fine until we exited (correctly) onto the Beeline Expressway headed East toward the Orlando Airport. But at that point we had trouble following the directions to the Hertz rental facility, as listed on a card provided by Hertz. As it turned out, I exited from the Beeline about 5 miles too early; but continuing to drive in an easterly direction, by a complete stroke of good luck, we came upon a sign directing us to the Hertz facility.

We returned the car and took the Hertz shuttle to the Orlando Airport, where we checked our two pieces of luggage at curbside and got our boarding passes. The next hurdle was security check, which was a complete madhouse. There were basically two huge queues for all passengers going to gates 1 through 39, with a snaking line that reminded me of the worst queues at Disney World. These two areas were just jam packed with people slowly making their way forward. Then, to make matters worse, for some unknown reason the security personnel opened up one end of the queue lines so that now five separate lines of people had to converge into one line to enter the actual screening area. We were in that queue area for at least 40 minutes before we finally got into the screening area. That wasn't too much fun either, because everyone was still trying to surge forward and get their carry-on items onto the x-ray machine belt. Finally, we finished with that mess and got to our gate to wait for our flight to Miami, which was still about 45 minutes away from boarding time.

We boarded on time, but the flight ended up taking off 30 minutes late because of a combination of late passengers and late luggage. The flight itself was uneventful and the pilot said that we had made up 15 minutes of the delay. But upon landing in Miami, our plane was held on the taxiway for another 40 to 45 minutes because all the arrival gates were occupied. So now the 90-minute layover time that Helena and I had before the departure of our flight to St. Thomas had been cut down to only 30 minutes. On top of that, we arrived at gate D43, and our departure gate was A7. Anyone who has flown through the Miami airport knows that the concourses are huge, and getting from concourse D to concourse A in less than 30 minutes was going to take a miracle. Well, Helena and I, each carrying a backpack and an additional carry-on, practically ran all the way and made it just in time. We were in a group of about 10 passengers who were the last to board the plane.

The flight to St. Thomas was completely smooth and they showed Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" as the in-flight movie, which kept me occupied while Helena read her romance novel. My brother, Steven, was at the St. Thomas Airport to meet us when we landed pretty much on-time at 10:00 pm local time. The final act of the "comedy of errors" was that only one of our two checked suitcases arrived on our flight. Helena had hers, but mine was still in Miami. So, we had to return to the airport the next day to pick that up.

In retrospect, I think that I'd much rather fly from St. Thomas to Miami, rent a car there, and then drive to Orlando. The Miami-Orlando connection (in both directions) just adds the opportunity for too much to go wrong. Also, if we had driven on this trip, we would have been able to stop at Selene's home on the northbound leg of the road trip to drop off some luggage items that we really didn't need to have with us in Orlando, and we would have had the car available to us while we were in Orlando. I think that will be our plan in the future.

Conclusion

Overview

Except for the fact that the cancellation of my training courses resulted in us having to cover the cost of my roundtrip airfare to Florida and the cost of our stay at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Orlando, the month we spent in Florida was a wonderful and relaxing time for Helena and I. We had an originally unplanned opportunity to visit Disney World again and plenty of time to spend with family -- including our new granddaughter.

The Highs

| Home | Intro | Ventures | Sea | Air | Space | SciFi | Racing | Movies | Art | Travel | Exit |

| Intro | Magic Kingdom | Epcot Center | Disney Studios | Animal Kingdom |
| Water Parks | Downtown Disney | Resorts | All the Rest |

Last Updated: March 25, 2006