Christmas 2007
Narrative Trip Report

[NOTE: The following trip report for our December 2007 visit to Disney World was originally posted on the Mouseplanet web site in January 2008 and is available here in its original form.]

Cast of Characters

• Arnold, 57 (report writer) -- 10 WDW trips since 1973 and 1 DLC trip in 1985
• Helena, 58 (spouse) -- 9 WDW trips since 1982 and 2 DLC trips in 1972 and 1985
• Selene, 30 (daughter) -- 7 WDW trips since 1982 and 1 DLR trip in 1985
• John, 38 (son-in-law) -- 3 WDW trips since 2001
• Jaidyn, 2 (granddaughter) -- 1 WDW trip in 2006

Prior Mouseplanet Trip Reports

• 30 Years at Disney World: 1973 to 2003
• Christmas 2003
• Christmas 2004
• Christmas 2005
• Christmas 2006
• Summer 2007

Advance Planning

All of us (excluding Jaidyn, of course) had annual passes (APs) purchased for our December 2006 visit to Disney World. Helena and I used ours again in July 2007, when we visited with my brother and his family. So, this would be the third use of the APs for Helena and I, and the second use for Selene and John.

Planning was really a snap for this trip. On March 7, I called up the DVC and reserved a 2-bedroom suite at our home resort, Saratoga Springs Resort (SSR). Check-in would be on Friday, December 7 and check-out on Friday, December 14. I requested a room in the Springs section so that we'd be close to the food court/restaurant complex. Last year we got a room that was literally right next to a bus stop, and hope we can get the same room again.

In mid-June (I don't remember the exact date), I called the WDW-DINE number and made five dining reservations. We selected restaurants that had character experiences or other features that would be entertaining for Jaidyn. They included dinner at the Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom), Garden Grill (Epcot), Rainforest Café (Animal Kingdom), and lunch at Hollywood & Vine (Disney-MGM Studios) and Tony's Town Square (Magic Kingdom).

On August 1, I logged on to the American Airlines website and purchased the tickets for Helena and I using frequent flyer miles. The only cost was $10 tax on each ticket. We were able to get reservations for the direct flights between St. Thomas and Miami and return. (These direct flights weren't available in December 2006.) The same day, I reserved a Chevy Trailblazer with GPS from Hertz, at $244 per week using an AICPA discount code. The Trailblazer wasn't really my first choice, but a minivan like the one we had last year wasn't available for the dates of our trip. We needed a vehicle large enough to hold five people, our suitcases, some food items, and Jaidyn's stroller. On August 30, I called All About Kids and reserved a full-sized crib for Jaidyn to be delivered to SSR. We know that Disney provides Pak ‘n' Play cribs, but Jaidyn's accustomed to sleeping in a full-sized crib and All About Kids worked for us last year. The cost was $90 for the week, including a $20 delivery/pickup charge.

For this trip Selene and John wanted to visit the two parks at Universal Orlando. Since Helena and I were covering the cost for the rest of the trip, They picked up the cost of the Universal tickets. On October 9, Selene went online and purchased 2-day, 2-park tickets at a cost of $87 each for the four adults. The tickets were emailed to her as a PDF file.

Lastly, Helena and I are in Florida at the end of each year for routine medical exams in the Deerfield Beach/Boca Raton area. Therefore, in August we made those medical appointments and a hotel reservation for the four days we'd be in that area of the state. Over the Christmas and New Years holidays we'd be staying with Selene and John at their home.

• Thu 12/06: AA Flight from St. Thomas to Miami, Overnight with Selene and Family in Port St. Lucie

• Fri 12/07: Drive to Orlando, Check-in, Downtown Disney, Dinner at Bongo's Cuban Café

• Sat 12/08: Magic Kingdom, Dinner ADR at Crystal Palace

• Sun 12/09: Epcot, Dinner ADR at Garden Grill

• Mon 12/10: Universal Studios, Lunch at Hard Rock Café

• Tue 12/11: Universal Islands of Adventure, Lunch at NASCAR Sports Grille

• Wed 12/12: Disney-MGM Studios, Lunch ADR at Hollywood & Vine

• Thu 12/13: Animal Kingdom, Dinner ADR at Rainforest Café

• Fri 12/14: Check-out, Magic Kingdom, Lunch ADR at Tony's Town Square, Drive to Port St. Lucie

• Sat 12/15 - Wed 01/02: Visit with Selene and Family, Annual Medical Checkups in Deerfield Beach

• Thu 01/03: Drive to Miami, AA Flight from Miami to St. Thomas

What Actually Happened

Thursday, December 6

The Plan: AA Flight from St. Thomas to Miami, Overnight with Selene and Family in Port St. Lucie

Our flight to Miami was scheduled to depart at 9:00a and passengers were urged to check-in no less than 2 hours before departure because we hade to clear U.S. Customs as well as the now-routine security screening. So, Helena and I set our alarm to 5:00a. When it rang on Thursday morning, we had gotten only 4 hours of sleep because we had been up late the night before packing. We showered, finished packing the toiletry items we had just used, and had a light breakfast. We then loaded our luggage into the car and drove to my brother's home to catch our ride to the airport. My sister-in-law drove us this time because my brother was away on a business trip. We arrived at the airport a little after 6:30a and walked right up to American Airlines' ticket counter to check-in. U.S. Customs and security clearance were also a breeze, with only a couple other passengers before us.

Helena and I like to check-in early and just relax at the gate, rather than being all rushed and nervous about being late for a flight. Today, though, it was the flight crew who arrived late, traipsing in one at a time, and we ended up leaving the gate at 9:10a and taking off 10 minutes later. The flight itself was completely smooth, and we actually made up the 20 minutes, arriving in Miami right on time. By the time we de-planed and walked to the baggage claim area, our two suitcases were waiting for us on the carousel. Unfortunately, Hertz's desk at the airport was closed, and we had to take the shuttle bus to their off-site rental center to check-in and pick up our rental.

Although I had reserved a Chevy Trailblazer, which can comfortably hold 5 passengers, I wasn't too sure about its cargo-carrying capacity, so I asked the Hertz attendant if they might have a minivan available. After checking with the garage, he confirmed that a minivan was, in fact, available. We had to wait about 10 minutes until it was cleaned up and brought to the front for us. It was a black Hyundai Entourage with New York license plates. (Someone must have rented it in New York, driven it all the way to Miami, and dropped it off there.) After taking a few minutes to figure out the controls (why can't auto manufacturers standardize the location of basic controls, like lights, seat adjustment, A/C, etc?) and set up the seat and mirrors for my 6' 2" frame, we were on our way to Port St. Lucie - some 120 miles away. The drive was completely uneventful, except for a minor traffic accident that we passed about half-way along, near Boca Raton.

We had a nice welcome at Selene and John's home and were delighted to see the growth and development of little Jaidyn since we had last seen her in July. While Selene finished up her last couple hours of work (she works at home as a web site designer/developer), Helena and I went to a nearby Wal-Mart to pick up some items we'd need for breakfasts while at WDW. Then we all went to a local Hurricane Grill for dinner, before returning home and preparing everything we'd need to pack in the minivan on Friday morning. Helena and I had lights out by 11:00p.

Friday, December 7

The Plan: Drive to Orlando, SSR Check-in, Downtown Disney, Dinner at Bongo's Cuban Café

Helena and I got up at 7:00a to shower, have breakfast, and re-pack just the items we'd need at WDW. Selene and family were up by 8:00a for their morning routine. In the meantime, I figured out how to remove one of the center-row seats from the minivan so that we'd have more room for luggage, breakfast food items (including a cooler with fresh milk for Jaidyn), and Jaidyn's stroller. By the time John and I finished packing everything, we left the house around 10:00a. But first we had to make a couple stops - at the post office to mail a package meant as a Christmas gift and at the bank for Selene to make a deposit. Because of a delay at the post office, we didn't get on the Florida Turnpike headed to Orlando until almost 11:00a. The 2-hour drive was completely uneventful, and even Jaidyn was excited when we drove onto "Di'ney Worl'" property.

We received a cheerful "Welcome Home" from the security guard at SSR's main gate and we were soon in the Carriage House checking in, with no one in line ahead of us. Cast member (CM) Thoa (Japan) had us checked-in in no time. The only problem was that our room, which was in the Springs section as I had requested, wasn't ready yet. Since it was almost 2:00p, we decided to eat lunch at the Turf Club. Our server, CM Nancy (USA), was very friendly and right on the ball. Helena, Selene, and I had chicken breast sandwiches, John had an Angus beef burger (all with different sides), and Jaidyn had a mac and beef platter that included vegetable and fruit sides. The others talked me into getting a small apple pie with ice cream, which was great. Drinks were coke, iced tea, and lemonade for the adults and milk for Jaidyn. (The drinks were basically the same throughout the week, since none of use are really alcohol drinkers.) The total cost was $95, including gratuity.

After lunch (around 3:00p), I called the number that Thoa had given us to check on our room availability. The room still wasn't ready. So, we walked around the area, including the main pool area, where Jaidyn got a kick out of seeing people emerge from the waterslide and splash into the pool. For a while we sat on rocking chairs just outside of the Artist's Palette food court/shop and just enjoyed the fact that we were at Walt Disney World. At 1/2-hour intervals, I again called to see if our room was ready. It wasn't until exactly at the 4:00p check-in time. Before heading to our room (#3821), I stopped by bell services to verify that All About Kids had delivered the crib for Jaidyn (they had) and to arrange for bell services to bring it to our room.

Our room was in the same building we had been in during our December 2006 visit, but this time on the lake side of the building and on the 4th floor (last year we had a parking lot view on the 2nd floor). John and I unloaded the minivan while the ladies checked out the room and waited for the crib to be delivered. Bell services brought it over before John and I had finished brining in our luggage and other packages. The room itself was actually a combination of a 1-bedroom and a studio, with the interconnecting door open. Last year we had a dedicated 2-bedroom suite. But in terms of space and comfort, they were pretty much the same.

After all of the heavy lifting and the long day, we were all just too tired to even attempt going to any of the parks or to Downtown Disney. So, we just unpacked, settled in, and crashed for the night. Of course, we watched Stacey and her "Top 7" countdown for a while, and I stayed up until about 10:30p finishing my trip report up to this point. Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom day, which will include a meeting with an online friend of Selene's who has a little girl about Jaidyn's age and who's mother actually works at SSR. One last look at the Weather Channel before lights out promised great weather all week, with no rain and highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 60s.

Saturday, December 8

The Plan: Magic Kingdom, Dinner ADR at Crystal Palace

As you've probably noticed if you've read my previous trip reports, Helena and I are "early birds." Our WDW routine has almost always included a 6:00a wake-up so that we can get to the parks as close as possible to the 9:00a opening times. This trip was no exception. We were awake by 6:00a and Helena took some time to administer three eye drops that she has to use twice daily to treat glaucoma. After that, we showered, got dressed, and were ready for breakfast. In the meantime, Selene and family got up closer to 7:00a, did their morning routine, and joined us for breakfast in our SSR suite.

In addition to bringing some standard breakfast items, like cereal, bread, cheese, milk, and coffee, we had "sweet bread." Sweet bread is a West Indian variation of fruit cake, but with less than half the amount of dried fruits and nuts, and has a cake-like consistency and texture. It's a tradition back home in the islands to have sweet bread for breakfast during the Christmas holidays. So, before leaving home on St. Thomas, Helena baked two sweet breads, which we brought with us to Florida. We left one at Selene's home to use during Christmas week and brought the other to WDW. Delicious!

We were finished with breakfast and made our way to the nearby bus stop by 8:30a, but we had a good 15-minute wait for the Magic Kingdom bus to arrive. Two Epcot buses, a Disney-MGM Studios bus, and a Downtown Disney bus all arrived before ours. Even so, we got to the Magic Kingdom at 9:05a, and were quickly through the security check and the turnstiles. Stepping onto Main Street, we really felt like we were "home" again! The Christmas decorations were all up, and there was a hustle and bustle of people and the Main Street vehicles (horse-drawn carriages, double-decker buses, and antique cars). It definitely looked like it was going to be a much more crowded day than we've ever seen on prior early-December visits to the Magic Kingdom. It appears that the days of small crowds and short lines in early-December are gone - perhaps forever.

We made our way straight to Fantasyland to make sure that we got in all of the rides there while Jaidyn was fresh and enthusiastic. Surprisingly, queue lines were virtually non-existent in Fantasyland, and in rapid succession, we were able to ride the Mad Hatter Teacups (where Jaidyn was all giggles of glee at the fast spinning), the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (where I finally found the picture of Mr. Toad handing the deed for the property to Pooh), Snow White's Scary Adventure (which didn't faze Jaidyn one bit), Peter Pan's Flight (a great little ride, but way too short), and "it's a small world." We also made a short stop at Pooh's Playful Spot to look around. We were the only persons there at this early hour. We did all of this by 10:30a and before Selene got a voicemail message from her internet friend letting us know that she had arrived at the park and suggesting that we meet at "it's a small world." After greetings and some introductory conversation among everyone (Selene's friend was accompanied by her husband, 18-month old daughter, mother, and a family friend), we all went to ride "it's a small world." During this second ride, Jaidyn was standing between Selene and John and dancing to the beloved (or hated, depending on your point of view) Sherman Brothers' tune. Our two groups parted company after this short get-together, with Selene's friend getting into a 30-minute standby line for Peter Pan, and us heading towards Frontierland.

We bypassed the Haunted Mansion, because we felt it was probably too intense for Jaidyn, and both the Hall of Presidents and the Country Bears, because Jaidyn is at the age where she won't sit still in a theater for a 20 to 30-minute show. We headed over to the Jungle Cruise, but the standby line was over 30 minutes and we decided to skip it. Instead, we went back to Pirates of the Caribbean, which (like Snow White) didn't faze Jaidyn one bit. Even the dark drop near the beginning didn't freak her out.

After this ride, we headed over to El Pirata y El Perico (the Pirate and the Parrot) for a quick lunch, but it was closed. So, we instead went to Pecos Bill's Café, where Helena, Selene, and I had burgers, John had a chicken salad wrap, and Jaidyn had a mac and cheese kid's meal. The total cost, including drinks was $47. The food was filling, but wasn't anything to write home about. John called the greasy burgers and fries "the heart attack special."

After lunch, Selene, John, and Jaidyn headed back to SSR for an afternoon nap, while Helena and I stayed in the park to visit a few more attractions. First, we went on the Haunted Mansion, with a 15 minute standby wait, and were glad to see the recent upgrades to the ride for the first time. They make a great attraction even better. Next we headed over to the Hall of Presidents for a relaxing respite with the Commanders-in-Chief (Helena nodded off a bit). By the time we got back to Main Street (it was just about 2:00p), people were already all lined up practically the full length of the street for the 3:00p Disney Dreams Come True parade. We were lucky to find a spot next to a lamp pole and a recycling bin that gave us a clear view of the parade route. But soon the prospects of our having an unobstructed view didn't look good. A local family group on the other side of the bin were all standing right at the curb and they gave every indication that they didn't intend to sit when the parade started. In fact, when three high school marching bands (I presume from Pop Warner participating schools) and the "dream family" parade grand marshalls passed, they DID stay standing. Luckily, they left before the actual afternoon parade came by, and the family that replaced them sat at the curb. So, in the end, Helena and I had a great view of the parade. One humorous thing was that when the Peter Pan float passed by, a 20-something lady standing behind us was yelling at the top of her voice "Peter Pan, I love you!" Peter's scripted line at that point in the parade was something like "If you believe hard enough, anything is possible." It almost sounded like he was responding to her call.

After the parade, Helena and I headed over to Tomorrowland with the intention of trying to get on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. But by this time of afternoon, the crowds were so thick that this ride wasn't going to happen today. So, we opted to visit the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, which we had never seen before. Both of us came out feeling that, although the concept is good, the jokes in the show were pretty lame. The audience's laugh reaction really wouldn't have been enough to fill up that energy canister if it wasn't just a pre-programmed prop.

It was now getting close to our 5:15p ADR time at the Crystal Palace, so Helena and I headed over in that direction to wait for Selene and family to get back from the hotel. They got back shortly before 4:45p, and I went over to check-in. We were given a new, smaller pager than used in past years, and it went off almost exactly at our appointed 5:15p reservation time. Our table was at the left side of the restaurant, and our server was CM Marie (Maracaibo, Venezuela). She provided excellent service, clearing used dishes immediately and bringing drink refills even before our current glasses were completely empty. She also alerted us as each of the characters was approaching our table. Eyore was first, followed shortly by Piglet and Pooh. Tigger didn't come by until we were on desserts, and we were worried that we'd miss Tigger. (At least I was worried, because Tigger's my favorite Disney character.) Jaidyn's reaction to the characters was much more subdued than last year, when she went wild, screeching happily, clapping, and tugging at the characters' noses and whiskers. This time, she just daintily waved at them and let them give her a hug. I guess she's just a "sophisticated" 2-year old now. :-) The buffet food selections at the Crystal Palace were quite good and tasty, but the roast beef was so rare that I was afraid my piece would walk off the plate. The total cost was $147, including gratuity. (By the way, my paternal grandmother was from the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, and I still have family there. It's a shame what has happened in Venezuela under its current leader. In the past, I used to hear and receive photos from my family via email on a regular basis, but I haven't heard from them in a couple years now.)

After dinner, Helena, Selene, John, and Jaidyn went back to SSR. Helena would babysit with Jaidyn after she was put to bed, and Selene and John would then return to the Magic Kingdom. In the meantime, I went to take some photos of the awesome new Christmas lighting on Cinderella's Castle. Just as I was going to head back down Main Street, the daily show on the forecastle stage started up, so I stayed to watch it. Then I maneuvered through the crowd to the Railroad Station end of Main Street to stake out a spot to see SpectroMagic. I found a perfect spot and only had a minor attempt by a family to force me out of my spot, but I held my ground. One problem I did have (actually it started while Helena and I were waiting for the afternoon parade) was a painfully sore back. Standing for long periods of time does that to me, and sitting on the curb wasn't much better. By the time SpectroMagic was over, I was in some serious pain. Selene and John returned from SSR just in time to join me at this end of Main Street to see Wishes. The Christmas decorations hanging across Main Street obstructed the view somewhat, but this was still a better choice to see the fireworks than joining the enormous crowd that headed up to the castle end of Main Street following SpectroMagic. After the fireworks, I was able to quickly duck out of the park and head to the waiting SSR bus for a quiet, uncrowded ride to the hotel.

Selene and John stayed in the park and were able to take in Stitch's Great Escape and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor (neither of which they had ever seen before), plus the Haunted Mansion and the Jungle Cruise. They were impressed with the upgrades to the Haunted Mansion and agreed that the Jungle Cruise is a whole different experience after dark. At Stitch's Great Escape, they bought a Stitch plush toy for Jaidyn and a set of Stitch claws for John. :-) They also had a very scary time trying to exit the park shortly before its midnight closing time because of gridlock between large groups of people who met in the middle of Main Street heading in opposite directions. They said that there was a complete logjam that lasted a good 20 minutes, with children panicking and parents abandoning their Disney strollers where they stood. John said that if some emergency had occurred at that moment, it would have been a big disaster scene. It sounds like a confluence of vacationing visitors and local visitors on a Saturday evening at the Magic Kingdom resulted in a crowd control breakdown. (A few days later I saw comments about this situation by Debbie Wills in the All Ears Net newsletter. She apparently was at the Magic Kingdom at the same time as Selene and John.)

Selene and John finally got back to SSR shortly after12:30p to find Helena watching TV and me working on this section of the trip report. Lights out was at 1:00a for everyone, except Jaidyn who was fast asleep hours earlier.

Sunday, December 9

The Plan: Epcot, Dinner ADR at Garden Grill

After our morning routine, we were again at the bus stop by 8:30a. Wouldn't you know it? Yesterday, two Epcot buses showed up pretty quickly, but today that we wanted to go to Epcot, it took a good 20 minutes before that bus arrived. Even so, we got to Epcot by 9:10a. The crowds going through the turnstiles were much smaller than we've seen on recent visits, and everyone dispersed pretty quickly. What a difference from yesterday at the Magic Kingdom!

Our intended first stop was the Seas with Nemo and Friends, but on the way we saw a sign for the new Epcot Character Spot at Innoventions and decided to stop there first. We got over 30 great PhotoPass pictures taken with Jaidyn and the various characters (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Chip & Dale, Goofy). I was able to check them out online at the hotel later in the evening, and we'll probably purchase the PhotoDisc with these and other PhotoPass pics taken later in the trip. As we saw at yesterday's dinner with Pooh and friends at the Crystal Palace, Jaidyn was being a lot more subdued in her interaction with the characters than she was last year. She let them get close to her and give her hugs, but no more cheering and clapping at seeing them.

From there, we finally headed over to the Seas, first taking in the dark ride and then spending some time watching the fish in the aquarium and in the various exhibits. We wanted to take in a showing of Turtle Talk with Crush, but we were just a couple minutes too late for the first show and the next one wouldn't start for another 20-30 minutes. Jaidyn wasn't going to sit still for that kind of a wait, so we decided to pass. Instead, we went over to the Land pavilion and took in the Living with the Land boat ride (our first time on this ride since the new, pre-recorded narration). For me personally, I liked the change because in the past, you never knew whether you would get a knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide or someone who wasn't really interested in being there.

Next up was a Journey into Imagination with Figment. This was a straight walk-on, and Jaidyn seemed to enjoy it. We then tried some of the exhibits in the ImageWorks section, and Jaidyn's favorite was the electronic tiles that create different sounds when you step on the photos projected onto the tiles. She went wild on this, dancing on the tiles and really not wanting to leave the place. But by now it was almost lunch time and we headed over to the Electric Umbrella. Chicken sandwiches and burgers were the meal choices for the adults, with Jaidyn getting the mac and cheese kid's meal, this time with some different sides, including a Jello dessert, which she enjoyed. The total food cost was $49.

After lunch, Selene, John, and Jaidyn headed back to SSR for Jaidyn's daily nap time, and Helena and I did some more park touring. Earlier in the day, I had gotten four Soarin' FastPasses (FPs) for the adults. But Selene and John wouldn't be able to use theirs because the return time conflicted with Jaidyn's nap time. So, Helena and I took two back-to-back rides on Soarin' - unfortunately, both times in row 3. But, despite the hanging feet in front of us, the rides were just as much fun as ever. While we were in the FP line on the first ride, we got into a conversation with a couple in front of us. The husband had convinced his wife to try Soarin', but she was still skeptical and asked Helena for her impression of the ride. Helena told her that this is one of the very few "thrill" rides she goes on and that she really enjoys it, but we saw the lady chicken out as we were getting on the ride. We're sure she would have been a convert if she had given it a try.

After our Soarin' flights, we headed over to World Showcase to view the new O Canada film for the first time. It's been a long time since we saw the old film, so I really don't remember it too well, but I do know that we enjoyed this new film and Martin Short's added humor. We then continued around World Showcase, stopping for a few minutes to catch the drummers in Japan, and then heading to the American Adventure. We just caught the tail end of the Voices of Liberty's last song and then followed the crowd upstairs to the show theater. Helena kept nodding off during the presentation and I kept elbowing her awake. I caught some clips near the end of the film that I don't remember seeing before. Has the film been updated recently or am I just mistaken? I seem to remember reading on MousePlanet that the attraction is scheduled to be down in early-2008 for some renovation work, but I was just wondering about possible changes already made to the film.

As we continued around World Showcase, we were amazed to see several people already lined up for the 5:00p showing of the Candlelight Processional, although it wasn't even 3:00p yet! That's a little bit too much for me. Finally arriving at Mexico, we went in to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour, and were surprised to actually find the ride queue completely filled. But the line kept moving continuously, and we were on the ride within 10 minutes. From there we went into Mouse Gear to get a few things - two photo albums for this year's trip photos (one for me and one for Selene), and a new WDW baseball hat for me. I forgot to mention before that I lost my prized Tigger hat on Soarin' after our second ride. I had taken it off during the ride and just forgot to retrieve it afterwards. I just have terrible luck with Tigger hats! My first one flew off my head while going down the flume on Splash Mountain in 2003. Since then, I'd been looking for a similar style replacement, without any luck. A few years later, Selene found for me a similar (but not identical) Tigger hat, and now I've gone and lost that one too. Real bummer! My new replacement now is a generic WDW hat, because I couldn't find anything else that even grabbed my attention.

After our stop at Mouse Gear (incidentally, the two photo albums and the baseball hat cost a whopping $74), we went to the front of Epcot to meet Selene and Jaidyn, who were returning for our ADR at the Garden Grill without John. John decided to stay at the hotel to catch the game between his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots (the Steelers lost). We had a nice time at the Garden Grill with Farmer Mickey, Pluto, and Chip & Dale. Each of them came around twice. Jaidyn was again very subdued in her reaction, but they cheered her up by playing for a short time with her crayons and scribbling with her on the paper dinner menu. The interaction was quiet but genuine, and we got tons of great pictures and video. CM Michelle (USA) was our server, and again we got a winner. Total food cost was $112, including gratuity.

On a negative note, by the end of dinner my throat was feeling a little scratchy, the usual sign that I'm about to come down with a cold. So, I decided not to stay for Illuminations tonight. Hopefully, I'll have another chance to view this fireworks spectacular, either on one of our Universal Orlando days or the day we hit Animal Kingdom. Back at SSR after a short and uncrowded bus ride, I started a regimen of Zicam throat spray to try to stop the cold before it develops. Helena did some laundry in our room and I wrote up today's trip report notes before turning in by 11:00p. Selene and Jaidyn were asleep by then, and John stayed up a little while longer watching TV.

Monday, December 10

The Plan: Universal Studios, Lunch at Hard Rock Café

Today was the first of our two planned days at Universal Orlando. We kept to our morning routine and left the room around 8:30a. Helena programmed the GPS in the rental minivan to direct us to Universal, and we were off. The short (about 15-minute) trip up I-4 went smoothly and we were soon pulling into Universal's multi-floor parking facility, which cost $11 for the day. From there it was quite a walk to the actual entrance to the theme parks. This included a short walk through City Walk, where we planned to have lunch on both of our Universal days.

We finally arrived at the Universal Studios (US) globe and arch, where we had several photos taken by their photographers. At the end of the day we picked up 5x7 prints of the two best photos at a total cost of $24. Selene and John have been to Universal Orlando a couple times in the past five years, whereas, Helena and I have visited there only once - way back in 1992. So, we let them decide which attractions to visit. They wanted to focus on attractions that would be appropriate to Jaidyn, and that's what we did.

All day long, US was virtually deserted in comparison to the Disney theme parks. This was especially noticeable when we first arrived and we were one of only 3 or 4 family groups to be seen anywhere around. Maybe because of the small attendance this early in the morning, most of the attractions we were interested in for Jaidyn weren't scheduled to open until 10:00a or later, although the park was officially open at 9:00a. This was very frustrating at first, because we were basically walking around an empty theme park with almost nothing to do. Little by little, as things came alive, our experiences were more positive.

The first US "land" that we went to was Woody Woodpecker's Kidzone. Once there, we found that one of the few things open was the E.T. Adventure ride. The premise of this ride is that we have to use flying bicycles to take E.T. home to save his planet from extinction. The ride uses a hanging vehicle system (similar to Peter Pan's Flight at the Magic Kingdom) to create the illusion of flight, and it works well. Along the way, we were first chased by government agents trying to stop us from taking E.T. and, after a hyperspace jump (Wow, warp drive bikes!), we see many of E.T.'s fellow extraterrestrials. In 1992, this was one of the first attractions at US that Helena and I had ever ridden, and today's ride brought back some pleasant memories. Jaidyn completely enjoyed the ride.

Next we went to the Curious George Goes to Town playground and, frankly, we were a bit disappointed. Jaidyn watches Curious George on PBS and is familiar with the characters, but the playground has only one static statue of George. Basically, the playground is just somewhere for kids to get very, very wet, and that wasn't on our agenda today.

Fievel's Playland was an even bigger disappointment because all of the interactive sections (slides, ball pool, etc) were closed, supposedly until later in the day. There was simply nothing to do there but walk around and look at the things Jaidyn wasn't able to play with. Right next door was Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster (similar to Goofy's Barnstormer at the Magic Kingdom), but Jaidyn was too short to ride. On leaving this area, we stopped to take a couple pictures with the lion and penguins from the Dreamworks animated movie Madagascar. Two other attractions, Animal Actors on Location and Barney's Holiday, wouldn't be open until 11:30a and 12:00p, respectively. So, we would have to return to those later.

We next headed over to the New York section, passing a 2-story tall balloon of Grover from Sesame Street. This is another PBS character that Jaidyn knows, and she was happy to see the lovable Muppet. John took the opportunity to ride the Revenge of the Mummy, trying - unsuccessfully - to convince Selene that she should also ride it because it wasn't really a roller coaster. But, the warning sign and the presence of lockers for riders to secure all their belongs was a dead giveaway. :-) In the meantime, we listened to some of the nearby Blues Brothers' Holiday Show. John enjoyed the Mummy ride and gave us a rundown of what it was all about.

By now, it was close to 11:30a, so we went back to catch the Animal Actors on Location show. Jaidyn had a bit of a meltdown as the show was starting, but she eventually calmed down enough to enjoy seeing the various animals. I remember seeing a similar animal show (but with much less stage dressing) at Universal Studios Hollywood during a California vacation in 1985. I knew what was coming for some of the gags they played on volunteers from the audience. Even so, it was a pleasant 20-minute diversion.

We then rushed over to the nearby Barney theater for a stage show featuring Barney and his friends. I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of the purple dinosaur, but Jaidyn is familiar with the character and completely enjoyed the show, even to the extent of standing up in front of our bench and dancing along with the characters on the stage. During this show I had a major electronics-related panic attack because the battery in my Olympus camera died and the backup that I charged up the night before also died after just a few pictures. This camera uses a very unusual specialty battery that wasn't going to be easy to replace. More importantly, I was suspicious that the problem wasn't the batteries, but the battery charger. This would mean that even if I bought a new battery, I still wouldn't be able to recharge it. It would be a complete disaster if I was to remain camera-less for the remainder of this vacation trip. Luckily, once we got back to SSR at the end of the day, I fiddled with the wires on the charger and used a different electrical outlet, and I got the charger to successfully recharge both batteries.

After the Barney show, we exited US and went to the Hard Rock Café at City Walk for lunch. Until about 2 years ago, there was a Hard Rock Café on our home island of St. Thomas, and Helena and I always enjoyed eating there. But this was going to be our first Hard Rock Café meal since the restaurant on St. Thomas closed. Helena and John had French dip sandwiches, Selene had barbeque chicken, Jaidyn had small bits of a kid's cheese pizza, and I had chicken fajitas. Desserts consisted of hot fudge sundaes for Helena and I, and a large hot fudge brownie sundae shared by Selene, John, and Jaidyn. We also had a nice group photo taken on entering the restaurant. The total cost for the meal was $133, including gratuity. The photo package (5x7 print plus smaller prints on a magnet and a key chain) was an additional $20. Bob, our server, wasn't a Disney CM, but the quality of his service was certainly up to the Disney standard. So far we're "batting 1.000" as far as restaurant servers go. One last purchase was a $10 Hard Rock Café guitar pin. My guitar pin collection now includes examples from St. Thomas, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Honolulu, and Guam.

After lunch, we re-enter US to have one last ride before heading back to SSR for Jaidyn's afternoon nap. That ride would be Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast. Although Jaidyn was too small to ride in the motion simulator, she and Selene could see the show from stationary seating. However, while we were in the queue line, Jaidyn fell fast asleep in Selene's arms, so we decided to just call it a day and return to the hotel. On the drive back, headed West on I-4, we passed by an accident in the Eastbound lanes with an overturned SUV. We certainly hope no one was seriously injured.

Back at the hotel, Jaidyn, Selene, and John napped, while Helena entered our trip expenses to date into Quicken and I troubleshot the battery charger problems and checked my email. Around 6:00p we headed over to the Artists Palette to pick up a few things to snack on for dinner (very light items after that big lunch at the Hard Rock Café). Jaidyn went to bed by 7:00p, and I was on the computer a couple hours past that writing up today's trip report entry. Lights were out by 10:00p for everyone.

Tuesday, December 11

The Plan: Universal Islands of Adventures, Lunch at NASCAR Sports Grille

Helena and I got up at our usual 6:00a time, and Selene and family joined us around 7:30a for breakfast in our SSR suite. We were finished getting ready and left the room by 8:30a for the short drive to Universal Orlando. Today we would be spending some time at the Islands of Adventure (IoA) park. Parking was again $11. As we entered IoA, it was evident that a lot more attention was paid to theming than at US; although, I guess the idea at US is that you're in a movie studio and the theming is the sets and backlots of that studio. It was also immediately evident that there were going to be more people at the park today than yesterday. Not an overwhelming crowd, but definitely busier.

First priority was the Suess Landing section for Jaidyn. We first went on the Cat in the Hat dark ride, which is similar in nature to the Winnie the Pooh ride at the Magic Kingdom, but on steroids. In fact, I'd get that feeling all day long - "this is similar to ... at WDW, but on steroids." In the Cat in the Hat ride, the ride vehicles do some wild twists and turns that sometimes catch you by surprise, but in a good way.

Next, we all rode on the Caro-Suess-el, which is basically a carousel with weird Dr. Suess animals instead of horses. We were then going to ride One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, but declined when we realized that we'd get wet on the ride. This is another trend that I saw today - there must be a thousand ways to get wet at IoA. There's splashed or sprayed water everywhere. Even the Spiderman motion simulator ride (more on this later) manages to get you wet. The One Fish... ride is like Dumbo the Elephant, but with flying fish instead of flying elephants and with the "we'll get you wet" attitude of the camels in Aladdin's Magic Carpets ride. We instead went on the High in the Sky Suess Trolley Train Ride. This is a very, very mild roller coaster type ride all elevated above the ground and with a rhyming Dr. Suess narration. After this ride, we stopped at a character spot to get some pictures of Jaidyn with the Grinch. Jaidyn was a little shy because she's not familiar with the Grinch character, but the pictures came out great anyway.

Leaving Suess Landing, we began what was basically a walking tour of the rest of IoA, with a few stops along the way. In the Lost Continent section, we stopped at the Mystic Fountain, which (like the talking trash can at Animal Kingdom) struck up a conversation with Jaidyn and had us all entertained for a few minutes. In Jurassic Park, we looked in at the Discovery Center and spent a good while exploring in the caves and buildings at Camp Jurassic. We also stopped for a few minutes to watch the ride boats splashing down at the end of the Jurassic Park River Adventure. Over in Toon Lagoon, we explored Me Ship, the Olive and again spent a few minutes looking at all of the soaked riders on the Dudley Do-Right Ripsaw Falls (IoA's version of Splash Mountain) and Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges (IoA's version of the Kali River Rapids). John helped some of those riders get even wetter by shooting at them with water cannons located on the bridges passing over the ride channels.

At the Marvel Super Hero Island, John, Selene, and I rode the Amazing Adventure of Spiderman while Helena minded Jaidyn. This ride is based on a motion simulator vehicle, like Star Tours and Body Wars but in smaller, more maneuverable vehicles. But again, this ride is on steroids, provided by wild and sometimes violent motion along with mind-blowing 3D animation of Spiderman and some of his many arch enemies. We actually rode twice, back-to-back, because the first time the 3D animation wasn't projected for our ride vehicle. We were allowed to immediately re-enter the ride in a different ride vehicle, and this time all of the 3D animation was there. I'd love to see Disney develop some E-Ticket rides using a combination of motion simulator vehicle and 3D visuals like the Spiderman ride. This ride was really impressive and, if I'm not mistaken, is based on the same technology (and may even be housed in the same building) as the old Back to the Future ride from 1992.

All of us, this time including Helena and Jaidyn, then rode the Storm Force Accelatron, which is like the Mad Hatter Teacups, but again, on steroids. The ride vehicles whirled and twirled at a much faster speed than the Teacups, and Helena and I weren't even trying to spin fast. It was just part of the ride. John, ever the thrill ride junkie, had himself, Selene, and Jaidyn spinning at an even faster clip in their ride vehicle.

By this time, it was almost 12:00p, and we had basically covered what we wanted to do today. So, we headed to the exit, with a stop at the camera shop to pick up the park entry and Grinch photos we had taken earlier in the day. Three 5x7's with a frame for the Grinch photo cost a total of $50.

In the City Walk area, we stopped for lunch at the NASCAR Sports Grille. I'm a big auto racing (not just NASCAR) fan, so this was a treat for me. Outside, I had a photo taken in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s red No. 8. Before our food came, Jaidyn had a bit of a meltdown when one of her crayons broke, but she settled down after a few minutes. As for the meal, all of our selections were tasty and enjoyable - fried cheese stick appetizers, Asian chicken salad for Helena, buffalo chicken sandwich for John, marinated grill chicken breast for Selene and I, and a kid's meal corn dog for Jaidyn. For dessert, Helena had a hot fudge sundae, Selene and Jaidyn shared a chocolate brownie with ice cream, John had a strawberry milk shake, and I had a slice of key lime pie. Total cost, including gratuity, was $128. Our streak of winning restaurant servers was still going strong, with Jeremy doing a commendable job of quick service and attentiveness.

After that big lunch, we headed to the parking garage for our minivan and drove back to SSR via I-4. Back at the hotel, Jaidyn, Selene, and John settled in for an afternoon nap, and Helena and I drove over to the Crossroads shopping area to pick up some bottled water, milk (for Jaidyn), and a few other things at the Gooding's supermarket - cost $73. Around 4:30p, after Jaidyn got up from her nap, John took her to the main SSR pool area for a little swim. The rest of us stayed in the room relaxing. I also took the opportunity to update the trip report up to this point, so as not to have to do it all later tonight.

Around 5:30p, I went to Epcot (with a 15 minute wait for the bus) to catch Illuminations, which I had missed on Sunday evening. As I entered the park and approached Spaceship Earth, I noticed that a gate was open in the fencing around the attraction entrance and a CM was standing there. I asked him if they were running preview rides and he said "yes" and that I was welcomed to go on the ride. What a special treat this was! The initial narration for the ride informed riders that the upgrades to the attraction were not yet complete and that further changes are possible. The actual ride narration is by Dame Judy Dench ("M" in the latest James Bond films). The first half of the ride, the section with the historical animatronic scenes, remains mainly intact except that the animatronic figures appear to be more realistic, upgraded models and the overall scenes have been cleaned up. They now look brand new again. A few new scenes have also been added, including one of a family in a 1969 living room watching the Apollo 11 moon landing on TV, one of a large commercial computer system, and another showing a bearded man (presumably either Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak) in his garage working on a primitive Apple computer. The second half of the ride, where the ride vehicles move backwards down to ground level, has been completely changed. The focus now is on video being played on computer screens mounted inside the ride vehicles. After you answer a series of questions, the computer presents an animated cartoon view of the future based on your answers. Nothing is wrong with this aspect per se, but outside the ride vehicles all you see is darkness with occasional twinkling lights (presumably stars). This section of the old ride had video monitors mounted on the walls and showing glimpses of the future where global communications has become more video-oriented and interactive. Of course, this may change in the final ride, which, I understand, isn't scheduled for official opening until February 2008.

After this unexpected sneak peak ride, I headed over to Mission: Space, which was a walk-on experience. A young couple with a 5 or 6 year old daughter rode with me. This was their first ever ride on Mission: Space, and they seemed to have enjoyed it immensely. (I saw the wife while checking in for lunch at Hollywood and Vine the next day, and she said they had gotten right back on for a second ride at Mission: Space.) I then went over to Test Track, which had a posted standby wait of 20 minutes. But I got in the single rider line, which was another walk-on. Based on their reactions, I believe this might also have been a first-time ride for the family who rode with me (or with whom I rode, depending on your point of view).

By this time people were beginning to save spots for Illuminations, and I wanted to find a good place to watch the show. I remembered that in past years (pre-2000), Helena, Selene, and I used to view the prior versions of Illuminations from the central part of World Showcase Plaza (near where the Epcot Christmas tree is located). However, since that time, we have always viewed Illuminations: Reflections of Earth from World Showcase itself, usually near Germany. Tonight I decided to try the World Showcase Plaza location again. The wait for the show's 9:30p start time actually went by pretty quickly, and I didn't have anyone try to encroach on the space I was saving for myself. Illuminations was great, as usual, and I really do believe that it's better viewed from this location because you get the full effect of the show elements the way they were intended to be seen. This includes seeing all of the country pavilions lit up during certain parts of the show, laser visual effects that can not really be appreciated from the World Showcase side of the lake, and some surround fireworks blasts near the Illuminations finale. In addition, you're much closer to the show action and you can better see the pictures projected on the Earth globe and even feel the heat from the inferno barge. To top it off, the "Let There Be Peace on Earth" Christmas addition was awesome from here.

After Illuminations, I followed the crowd to the exits and was lucky that an SSR bus arrived within 5 minutes of my getting to the bus stop. The bus was packed, but at least I got on early enough to get a seat. One thing that I noticed was that there were at least 6 people on the bus who were not SSR guests and who were going to SSR simply for the short walk over to Downtown Disney (DTD). This had also occurred during our bus ride to SSR on Sunday evening after our day at Epcot. After that bus driver had let off some people who had hitched a ride to SSR in order to walk to DTD, he told those of us still on the bus that more and more people were doing this, to the extent that SSR management was upset about the situation and was considering whether to reintroduce the requirement for resort guests to show their resort IDs when they got on the bus. It would be a shame if some unscrupulous persons would be the cause of such an inconvenient move for legitimate resort quests.

Anyway, I got back to SSR just around 10:30p to find that Selene, John, and Jaidyn had already gone to bed for the night. Helena was on the computer checking her email and playing Solitaire while waiting for me to get back. She then called it a night also, leaving me to finish up this trip report section and get ready for bed by midnight.

Wednesday, December 12

The Plan: Disney-MGM Studios, Lunch ADR at Hollywood & Vine

Remember that scratchy throat I had a few days ago? Well, Selene was the one who got a cold. My throat problem must have been some kind of allergy. Despite Selene not feeling 100%, we still got through our daily routine and to the bus stop around 8:30a for a day at the Disney-MGM Studios. Again we had almost a 20-minute wait for the bus. To make matters worse, the bus was totally packed, with some of us having to stand. I see a pattern of longer bus waits and more crowded buses on this trip versus other recent visits to WDW. Are they running fewer buses on the routes?

Anyway, on entering the Studios, we stopped to have a couple PhotoPass pictures taken. The lady who took the pictures gave Jaidyn a set of two identical "Where dreams come true" collector pins. The pins depict Tinkerbell against a light blue cloud accented by dark blue stars. I don't know how rare these pins are, but Selene gave me one and kept the other for Jaidyn.

As we approached the Sorcerer's Hat, we noticed that several characters were out for greet and meets. Since Jaidyn was carrying her Stitch plush toy, Selene and John decided to get into Stitch's line. Jaidyn was really taken with Stitch, and he spent a good bit of time interacting with her and giving her big hugs. From there, we headed directly over to Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage to see Bear, Jojo and Goliath, Stanley, and Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eyore. Again, Jaidyn was all smiles with these familiar characters, and danced and clapped along with them.

It was at about this time that we realized that Disney-MGM Studios really does not have very much to offer younger children. Today the Voyage of the Little Mermaid was closed, and most 2 year olds aren't going to sit still for a 30-minute show (Beauty and the Beast) or movie (Muppet*Vision 3D). Just about everything else is only suited to older kids. What we eventually did was visit the Walt Disney: One Man's Dream exhibits, but we had to bypass the movie at the end because Jaidyn had a minor meltdown. After that, we really just walked around the Echo Lake and Streets of America areas to kill some time until it was time for our ADR at Hollywood and Vine. Although our ADR was for 12:25p, we approached the check-in podium around 11:30a to see if they could squeeze us in early. Luckily, they could, and we had a pleasant lunch with Jojo, Goliath, and Leo and June from the Little Einsteins. As each one came to our table, Jaidyn immediately put a crayon in their hand so that they could write on her kid's menu. (Remember, that earlier in the week at the Garden Grill at Epcot, the characters all interacted with Jaidyn by scribbling on the paper dinner menu. I guess Jaidyn remembered that and wanted these new characters to do the same thing.) Lunch itself was pretty good, with different food items than served at the buffet dinner at the Crystal Palace. Our server was CM Marj (USA), and she did a commendable job, although she wasn't quite as quick as Marie had been in clearing plates and refilling drinks at the Crystal Palace earlier in the week. Total food cost was $127, including gratuity.

After lunch (around 1:00p), Selene, John, and Jaidyn returned to SSR for Jaidyn's afternoon nap. Helena and I stayed at the Studios to take in a few other attractions. The High School Musical show was just about to start, so we went over to the Sorcerer's Hat to watch it for a while. We then took a ride on the Great Movie Ride, which had the western outlaw hijack our ride vehicle. By this time, people were starting to line up for the 3:00p Hollywood Holly-Day Parade, and Helena and I sat on one of the low walls directly in front of the Academy of Television Arts Hall of Fame exhibit. From there, we had an excellent view of the parade - in fact, perhaps the best view we've ever had for a Disney-MGM Studios parade.

After the parade, Helena and I started walking back to the Streets of America section, where we took a walk-on flight to Endor, via the Death Star, on Star Tours. We then continued over to the Muppet*Vision 3D theater, where we had a chance to see the entire pre-show film and were allowed to pick our seats for the main show because of the small crowd. In fact, small crowds were the norm all day long, with half-empty attractions and virtually no standby lines.

After Muppet*Vision, Helena and I went back to the Echo Lake area, where we snacked on a soft serve ice cream cone (Helena) and an apple-cinnamon pretzel (me). Helena then returned to SSR, leaving me to wait it out for Fantasmic. A fairly small gathering of people was initially let into the Fantasmic stadium at 5:00p, but by the 6:30p starting time, it was completely full. As usual, the show was just great. Originally, I was planning to go see the Osborne Spectacle of Lights after Fantasmic, but my back was hurting me again, presumably still stressed from sitting on the floor the night before waiting for Illuminations to start, and I decided to call it a night. I exited the park and had only a 5-minute wait for the SSR bus to arrive.

Back at the hotel, Selene and John had put Jaidyn to bed for the night around her usual 7:00p sleep time and then went over to Downtown Disney (DTD) for dinner and some shopping. Helena stayed in the room babysitting. After I got back, I turned on the computer to check email, read today's MousePlanet articles and forum posts, and update the trip report. Helena and I finally went to bed around 11:00p, and Selene and John got back from Downtown Disney around 12:30a. They had eaten dinner at Wolfgang Puck's, had ice cream dessert at Ghirardelli's, and did some shopping at the World of Disney and the Virgin record store.

Thursday, December 13

The Plan: Animal Kingdom, Dinner ADR at Rainforest Café

We got our usual 8:30a start at the bus stop and again had almost a 20 minute wait for the bus to Animal Kingdom. On arriving at the park, our first stop was the 10:00a showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical, where we were among the first to enter the theater and scored seats in the lower section right in front of the stage. Overall, Jaidyn enjoyed the show, but was beginning to get a bit antsy by the end. After the show, I bought a couple copies of the show music CD, one for Selene and the other for myself - cost $28.

We then headed over to the Kilimanjaro Safari, which had a posted 20-minute wait for the standby line. However, the actual wait was more like 10 minutes. Unfortunately, we were seated at the rear of the safari truck, which meant a very bumpy ride. As a result, even with my camera set to "sport" mode for fast motion, I didn't get many decent pictures. My hands holding the camera just kept bouncing all over the place, and I couldn't quickly focus and shoot. Riding near the front of the trucks gives a much smoother ride.

We had intended to next take in the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to see the gorillas, but it was getting close to noon and time for Jaidyn to have lunch and her mid-day nap. So, we instead headed over to Pizzafari, where Helena and Selene had pizza, John and I had chicken Parmesan sandwiches, and Jaidyn had a PB&J sandwich. Including drinks and a chocolate cake for Selene, the cost was $46. After lunch, Selene and family made their daily trip back to SSR for naps. After Jaidyn woke up later in the afternoon, they headed over to DTD to have PhotoPass pictures taken of Jaidyn with Santa. They later said that this Santa was just great. He looked like the real thing and took his time getting Jaidyn to look at the camera and keep her fingers from her mouth.

In the meantime, Helena and I went on a little adventure with It's Tough to Be a Bug, where the audience was small enough that we were allowed to sit wherever we wanted. Then we went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek, where we got to see the Komodo dragon, a sleeping tiger, and several of the huge bats, among other wildlife. After that, we headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey for the Festival of the Lion King. We were in the lion section this time and enjoyed what is one of the best non-ride shows at WDW. When we got out of the Lion King, it was close to time for Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade, so we staked out a spot on a low wall close to Pizzafari, from which we had an unobstructed view of the parade. The music for this parade is so lively and we love it.

After the parade, we slowly followed the crowd to the park exit and stopped outside the Rainforest Café, where we had a 5:00p ADR. We called Selene on the cell phone to find out where they were on their return from DTD - they were on the bus - and cooled out on a shaded bench until they arrived. They met up with us at exactly 5:00p. Talk about perfect timing! Dinner selections were Chinese chicken salad for Helena, clam chowder and shrimp platter for John, Tuscan chicken for Selene and I, and kid's meal hot dog for Jaidyn. For dessert, Helena and I shared a cheesecake and Selene, John, and Jaidyn shared a peanut butter pie. Our server, Brian, kept our winning server streak alive. The food cost was $150, including gratuity. This was the most expensive meal of the week, but the servings at the Rainforest Café are huge.

After dinner, Helena, Selene, John, and Jaidyn caught the bus back to SSR to begin packing for our check-out tomorrow morning. (Oh, the misery!) I had another long wait for the bus to Epcot, where I went to purchase a PhotoPass CD with all of the photos we had taken during the week. There were 47 in all. By purchasing the PhotoPass CD at the theme park instead of online, I received three free 5x7 prints of my choice. The CD isn't cheap, at $133 including tax, but it gives me the high-resolution files of all of the pictures and the right to use or reproduce them as I please for personal use. Catching the bus from Epcot to SSR, I had another long wait (this time 30 minutes) for the bus to arrive. While standing there, I had a clear view of the Epcot taxi stand, and I must say that I was tempted to get one to drive me to SSR. Incidentally, two family groups, with a total of at least 8 riders, were again on the SSR bus simply to get a free ride to Downtown Disney. From their questions and comments, it was obvious that these families were not Disney resort guests and knew very little about the Disney resorts. It seems like this situation is getting out of hand, and with the long delays in the arrival of buses, is resulting in more packed buses with standing room only. I hope WDW management can get a handle on this trend, otherwise, Disney bus transportation - at least to SSR - is going to become more and more crowded as non-resort guests use the service more frequently. (Off the soap box.)

Anyway, I got back to the hotel around 7:30p, to help Helena start packing. Selene and John were almost finished with theirs. Around 8:00p, I got a phone call from All About Kids to confirm that in the morning they would be picking up the crib we had rented for Jaidyn at SSR's bell services. After they finished packing, Selene and John went back to DTD for some more shopping and got back a couple hours later. Meanwhile, Helena and I finished our own packing, and we all hit the sack by midnight.

Friday, December 14

The Plan: Check-out, Magic Kingdom, Lunch ADR at Tony's Town Square, Drive to Port St. Lucie

Unfortunately for everyone who visits WDW, this day has to come sometime - departure day. But, because we didn't have any flight to catch, we would be able to spend a few hours at the Magic Kingdom. After breakfast, I dismantled the crib we had rented from All About Kids and took it over to bell services. I had a bit of trouble getting it into the minivan, but eventually squeezed it in there. After the short roundtrip to the Carriage House, I was back and we packed all our luggage and purchases into the minivan. We then headed over to the bus stop and again had a 15 to 20 minute wait for the Magic Kingdom bus.

As we made our way up Main Street, we could hear the strains of happy music. A band and a small group of dancers were performing the Main Street entrance medley near the castle. What a great start to the day! I've heard that medley countless times on the WDW music CD, which I copied to my ipod. After stopping for the little show to end, we went over to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which was a complete walk-on. John got the high score among our group at over 100,000, Helena scored over 85,000, I had a paltry 16,000, and Selene (who was holding Jaidyn) got under 10,000. The two ride pictures came out well, but since we were limited on time today, we didn't stop to purchase them.

We then went across the park to Adventureland to ride the Jungle Cruise. This was about a 5-minute wait. Our skipper asked if there were any cruise first-timers, with Jaidyn being one of two on our boat. We all enjoyed the early morning ride through the jungle. From there, we headed over to Fantasyland to give Jaidyn a chance to get in some of the rides there. All of the dark rides already had long lines, so we went to Dumbo the Flying Elephant, where John rode with Jaidyn, and then to Cinderella's Carousel, with both John and Selene riding with her. We still had some time before our lunch ADR, so we decided to try "it's a small world," which was basically a walk-on. Near the end (in IASW "heaven") the boats were backed up for a few minutes. I'm not sure why.

We were now in our window for our ADR at Tony's Town Square, but I suggested we take a slight detour to the shop at the Winnie the Pooh ride so that I could look for a Tigger baseball hat to replace the one I lost on Soarin' earlier in the week. No such luck. There were a couple Tigger hats, but none that I'd want to wear in public back at home. :-) As we finally made our way down Main Street to Tony's, there was a huge crowd of people entering the park. If this was any indication, today was going to be very full at the Magic Kingdom. When we entered earlier in the morning, there was a sign out front saying that tonight's special event (Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party) was sold out.

We checked in at Tony's about 10 minutes before our 11:35a ADR time and were told to wait in the finely decorated lounge area to the left of the entrance. While we waited, Jaidyn was walking around and approached a young couple, who engaged her in conversation. When the lady asked Jaidyn how old she was, Jaidyn held up two fingers and said "two!" Right at 11:30a, the hosts and hostesses started calling families to their tables, and I noticed that one was looking at her pad and whispering to some of the other hostesses. This has happened to us on prior trips, where the hostesses are unsure of the pronunciation of our last name, "van Beverhoudt." (Sounds like "beaver house" but ending in "dt" instead of "se.") I went up to her, and sure enough, it was our name that she was stuck on. She apologized and guided us through the dining area to our table. She introduced herself as Laura (USA), who would be our server today. She was very attentive to refilling our drinks, clearing used dishes, and making sure our wishes/needs were filled. Laura kept our winning server streak alive to the end, and the food was all very good. Helena had a chicken Caesar salad, Selene had baked ziti, John had a meatball sub, I had chicken Parmesan, and Jaidyn had kid's meal spaghetti and meatballs. We also had desserts, including chocolate bombs for Helena and Selene, a strawberry smoothie for John, a pecan creme brulee for me, and a small ice cream cup for Jaidyn. The total cost, including gratuity, was $108. We found the atmosphere at Tony's Town Square to be very inviting and relaxing, and a great way to end our Walt Disney World vacation.

Before exiting the park, we stopped for a few minutes at the Main Street Confectionary for Selene to get a box of chocolates for a neighbor who was checking her mail and at the baby care center near the Crystal Palace for Jaidyn to get a change of Pampers. While John and I were waiting for the ladies, we saw two ducks come waddling out of Casey's as if they were regular customers and had just come from enjoying a hotdog at the eatery. It was really a funny sight, and I got a closeup picture of the two ducks a few minutes later.

The bus back to SSR was along within 10 minutes of our getting to the station and, once back at SSR, we jumped into the minivan and headed out of Walt Disney World property. Once we were on the Florida Turnpike, we ran into intermittent rain showers, some of them quite heavy. But we finally arrived safely at Port St. Lucie around 4:30p. Before heading to Selene and John's home, we stopped by their local veterinary center to pick up their cat, Delilah, who was having her own vacation in a "kitty condo." (Sadly, Micky, the younger of Selene's two cats, died of heart problems in late November. After we were back at Selene's home post-WDW, sometimes Delilah would go around the house looking for her buddy.) By the way, remember that scratchy throat I mentioned earlier in the week? Well, I finally did come down with the sniffles today - bummer.

Saturday, December 15, 2007 to Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The Plan: Visit with Selene and Family, Annual Medical Checkups in Deerfield Beach

The first weekend back at Selene's home, we all settled in and Selene and I nursed our colds. On Sunday, Helena and I had to re-pack for our 4-day side trip to Deerfield Beach for medical appointments. We left Selene's home around 11:00a on Monday, headed south on I-95. We stayed at a Hampton Inn in Deerfield Beach for three nights, while we took care of our medical appointments and did some last-minute Christmas shopping during the days. (On a side note, Hampton Inn provides its guests with free wireless high speed internet access. Why can't Disney do the same instead of charging $10 per day for wired high speed access?) We drove back up to Port St. Lucie on Thursday. Arriving at Selene's home, we were greeted by Jaidyn's "Hello Mama" and "Hello Papa," her versions of "Grandma" and "Grandpa."

The weekend before Christmas was spent quietly at home, and I took the opportunity to proofread the trip report up to this point and assemble the WDW trip photos to get the best ones printed at a local Walgreens for our photo album. (Although digital photography has changed things, I still like to have photo albums that I can rest on my lap and flip through. Call me old fashioned.) Walgreens charged 15 cents per print for 100 or more prints, while back at home in the islands prints are 35 cents each regardless of quantity. So, I wasn't going to leave Florida without getting the prints made, which I did on Christmas Eve. I had selected almost 300 of a total of more than 1,000 photos, and had two prints made of each, one for my album and one for an album for Selene, both of which I had purchased at WDW.

Christmas morning we all got up around 7:30a to exchange gifts. Of course, Jaidyn got the lion's share, including gifts from family members near and far. Later in the day, John's brother, Mark, and his wife, Lisa, joined us for a nice home-cooked Christmas dinner. The following morning, Helena and I had to drive back down to the Deerfield Beach area for a scheduled followup for Helena with her breast doctor. During her annual exam the prior week, she had some tenderness that the doctor wanted to check into. Today, he performed ultrasound scans and took needle biopsies, which were examined on-site by a pathologist and found to be negative. Thank God for that result! That evening, Helena and I had our first opportunity to babysit with Jaidyn while she was awake, including putting her into bed for the night, while Selene and John went out to see a movie. Jaidyn was a little darling and only fused a little bit when we had her put her Stitch plush toy in her toy box instead of letting her take it to bed with her. She already has four other plush toys, including Mickey and Minnie dolls, that she sleeps with every night. Helena was really ecstatic about Jaidyn responding positively to having "Mama" take her through her bedtime routine instead of "Mommy."

The following evening, Helena and I babysat with Jaidyn again while Selene and John had a "grown-ups only" dinner by themselves. Over the weekend, Helena baked two more sweet breads so that we'd have some for breakfast on New Years Eve and New Years Day. During the morning of New Years Eve, Helena and I drove over to the local post office to mail four boxes of purchases (mostly clothes, but also including some books, CDs, and DVDs) back to our home in the islands. They should arrive within a day or two of us getting back home. That evening, we drove to the nearby planned community of Tradition to see their 8:00p fireworks. This was Jaidyn's very first experience with fireworks (she was already in bed for the various fireworks at Disney World), and it was amusing seeing her try to grab them in her hands. On New Years Day, we all went to a local Olive Garden restaurant (one of my favorites) for an early dinner. On January 2nd, our last full day in Florida, we packed our luggage amid the mixed feelings of leaving Selene and family behind yet glad to be returning to the comforts of home.

Thursday, January 3

The Plan: Drive to Miami, AA Flight from Miami to St. Thomas

Helena and I got up around 8:00a, dressed and had breakfast, then finished packing our last-minute items. We were planning to leave Selene's home around 10:00a, so we had a little bit of quality time with Selene and Jaidyn before leaving. Finally, the time came to say our "goodbyes" to Selene, John, and Jaidyn and take our luggage out to the minivan. A strong cold front had swept through Florida during the night, and the air temperature outside was 41 degrees, with a wind chill in the 30s. What a difference to the rest of the month! I turned on the heater in the minivan, checked that we had enough gas to get to Miami, and headed out to I-95.

The drive was pretty smooth and uneventful all the way down to Deerfield Beach. We arrived there around 11:45a and stopped for a potty break and some orange juice at a nearby Burger King. Then it was back to I-95 for the rest of the drive down to Miami. We arrived without incident at Hertz's airport facility just about 1:00p and then took one of their shuttle buses to the airport terminal. We used curb-side check-in, but even that took some time because of the large number of travelers today. The line for security clearance was also a real "cattle call," but at least we personally didn't have any problems clearing our carry-on items. Then came a pretty long walk to our gate - D47. We were about 1 ˝ hours early for our 4:30p flight, but that gave us time to get something for lunch and just relax a while, watching CNN on the airport monitors.

Our flight left the gate exactly on time at 4:30p, but taxiway traffic kept us from actually taking off for about 20 minutes. We made up that time during our perfectly smooth flight, and actually arrived at St. Thomas right on schedule at 8:00p. My brother was there waiting for us, but it took a good 30 minutes for the luggage to begin coming off the plane. While we waited, Helena used her cell phone to let her mom and mine know we had arrived, and also to call Selene, back in Florida, to let her know we were safely on St. Thomas. Once we finally got our two checked bags, we walked the short distance to my brother's parked car and headed home. On the way, we stopped at his home to say "hi" to the rest of the family, including my mom, and to get my house and car keys. After another short drive, we were home by 10:30p. Everything was in order at home (it had been closed up for a month, with my brother checking it on the weekends), and we showered and went to bed by midnight. Our trip was officially over.

Conclusion

Overview

This was another wonderful family visit to Walt Disney World with Selene, John, and Jaidyn. Jaidyn was a year older and more aware of what was going on than last year. But, as a 2-year old, she was also a bit more demanding and vocal when things didn't go her way. Luckily, her meltdowns didn't last more than a few minutes, and she settled down after she asked her "Mommy" or "Daddy" to "blow my nose." The emphasis of the daytime park touring was on rides that were appropriate for Jaidyn, with daily afternoon naps back at SSR. But the adults also had the opportunity to do some of the things they wanted to do. In the case of Selene and John, they were able to have some alone time at the Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney. Helena and I got to do some of our favorite attractions in the afternoons while Selene and John returned to the hotel for Jaidyn's afternoon naps. And I got a chance to stay late at the parks to see the nighttime parades and shows - my favorite things about going to Disney World. All of our sit-down meals were up to the Disney standard - even the two non-Disney meals at Universal Orlando (Hard Rock Café and NASCAR Sports Grille). All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better vacation.

The Highs

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Last Updated: January 5, 2008