[nicatene1]

Mon. Nov. 29th -- Day 2

Awoke about 7:20. the plan was to see MK. I was crushed thinking that we had missed the rope drop ceremony. Then I checked my print out of PS's and the outline of my plans and was delighted to see that the rope drop was actually an hour later then I thought. YAY!!! We made it in time to see an incredible ceremony. It was as magical as described on this site. I am so glad that we were able to see it. After the ceremony we decided to stroll casually down Main Street. When we arrived at the start of Main Street, my daughter was screaming "The Castle mommy, The Castle!" She was in complete awe. We had a PS at 1900 Park Fare for 10:30 so we didn't want to venture too far into the park. We did some lite shopping (Mickey ears for DD, sunglasses for me) on Main Street and took a closer look at the castle, then headed back out to the monorail. The crowd leaving the monorail was huge and I was fearful that we would get run over as we tried to make our way to the resort monorail. We were the only ones getting on and were very surprised when we were asked if we wanted to sit up in front with the driver. DD loved this. She was concerned however that the monorail driver didn't sit down while driving and we all laughed at her caution. The driver was so nice and told jokes and explained everything that he did to make the monorail run. DD loved it.
We arrived at the Grand Floridian with enough time to look around. It is truely a beautiful resort. The decorations were breathtaking. The gingerbread house was wonderful. I had no idea that it was a shop too. We bought gingerbread ornaments for the tree. DD got a butterfly and niece got something else. Have to say they didn't make the tree (YUM).
Time for breakfast. 1900 Park Fare was a great place. The buffet was flowing with delicious foods. DD got her first look at Mickey waffles (I don't know if anyone remembers, but we saw these on TV and they were all she had talked about since.) She loaded up on waffles and bacon with tons of syrup. Back at the table I was so excited. This was the meal that I was going to surprise her with The Mad Hatter. She loves him. She did wonderful the day before with Mickey and crew, so I just knew she would be excited. WRONG!!!!!! I couldn't have been more wrong. She was such a mess that we had to take her into the lobby area when he was still tables away. That too turned out to be the wrong move. Mary Poppins was out there taking pictures and signing autographs. So, my mother swept her away to the buffet while The Mad Hatter appeared at our table. DD and mom come back to the table when it was all clear. DD proceeded to eat a little when she spotted Alice in Wonderland. I was given the oaky to have Alice sign the book and have my picture taken with her, but under no circumstance was she allowed to speak with my DD. Alice came over and I explained that I would be the one taking my picture with her as my DD could not. Alice posed with me then, calling my daughter by name (a feat that I still can figure out how she knew) asked why she could not have her picture with her. She proceeded to walk over to DD speaking very softly and noticed that Allena had a band-aid on her arm (some imaginary boo-boo healed only by the presence of a band-aid). Alice asked all about the boo-boo, Allena made up some story of how this boo-boo came about and Alice took Allena into her arms and placed her on her lap. She kissed the boo-boo and hugged my DD for a picture. I can not thank this Alice enough. If it was not for her, I fear that DD may not have reacted well to the rest of the characters. Tigger was already at our table while Alice was leaving and DD could not have been happier to see him. She laughed with him and by the time Pooh came over, she was in love. Pooh dropped the autograph book and DD laughed at him and said "Oh Pooh you silly bear". I still thank God for Alice.
After breakfast it was back to MK. We went straight to Fantasyland. We decided that we would go on Winnie the Pooh. This was the only ride that we had to wait in line for. We waited for about 40 mins. Then we rode the carousel (many times) the tea cups (many times) Dumbo (many times) and Buzz lightyear (also many times.) On our last time riding we ran into Chip and Dale who must have just arrived because there was no line. DD ran right up to Chip and gave him a hug. I couldn't believe it. It was the cutest. She posed for pictures and blew them kisses goodbye. We went to Mickey's toontown. We looked around Mickey and Minnie's house, took some photos and hopped on the train. It occured to me on this train ride that we were exhausted, so we headed back to the room for a rest. Back at the resort DH decided to take DD to the playground for a little bit. I met up with them about a half hour later. When I entered the pool/playground area I was rather surprised to find them not at the playground, but in the pool...in their clothes!! What could I do. I jumped right in!! We stayed for about 10 more minutes and then went back to the room to change and head to DTD for something to eat and more shopping.
Took the ferry boat from OKW to DTD. Lovely, except for the masses of mosquitos that plagued the trip. The ferry left us off right next to the Rainforest cafe. We decided to give it a try. Turned out to be DD's favorite place and she kept calling it Animal Kingdom. She got the biggest kick out of us sitting under a mushroom and when it started raining she decided that we would not get wet because we were under this mushroom. The food was delicious. I got jambalaya (called pastalaya here due to the fact that it is served with pasta not rice.) I substituted the pasta for rice because, well you just can't serve jambalaya over pasta!! My mother got the shrimp sampler thing. Grandmother got the crab cake and who knows what my husband got. He was deep in conversation with the table next to us. They saw that he had a '76ers jersey on and it turns out that they were from Phila too.
After dinner we head out for some shopping. This also included a stop at Legoland where DD had a ball. We also took a trip on the little train ride that they had and the carousel both of which my DD stated were better then the big ones she rode that day! Who would have thought that I could have saved hundreds on park tickets and taken her to DTD!!! We wanted to try Ghiradelli's for dessert, but we were still too full from dinner.
It was getting late, so we decided to turn in for the night.

Tues. Nov.30th -- Day 3

Had an 8:00 PS for breakfastosaurus. After rushing around to make it time we decided that this was too early and I made a mental note to change tomorrows PS from 8:00 to later.
Donald's breakfastosaurus was very cute. Very fun. The buffet was nice. I had some yummy chocolate chip pancakes (I actually thought they were blueberry). We got to see Donald, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto again. DD interacted pretty well with these guys. I was still a little nervous after the day before. After breakfast we explored the AK a little. DD found two acorns that she picked up and I had to hold!? We went to the area for kids with the amusement games. I think it was still very early as there was no one else here. It was nice though, because we were guaranteed one of us would win. We played the whack-a-dinosaur game and the water skirt gun game. Rode the dinosaur flying ride. The park must have officially opened at this point because there were more people coming in. We left this area in search of the Safari ride. My mother and grandmother left AK so they could attend a race-car driving school that my grandmother wanted to try. We decided to meet up later at the resort to regroup for MVMCP that night. We found the safari and DD had a great time looking at all of the animals. When we left this we saw the Lion King show was starting, but not for 40 minutes. We decided to find some place that sold drinks and we would sit and wait. DD had other plans. She started fussing alot. We decided to skip the show before a huge scene was made and left AK (DH hated it there anyway). Right outside of the gate we ran into Chip and Dale again. Again, there were no lines and I thought this to be odd. There were other characters that had lines, but none for Chip and Dale. Once again, DD bolted out of her stroller while it was still moving and ran straight for Dale. She hugged him for what had to be 45 seconds. I didn't think she was going to let go!! Then she asked me for the acorns and gave one to Chip and one to Dale for them to eat. They acted so happy and ate them. DD got a big kick out of that.
She posed with the Christmas tree and then we left. She was not interested in any of the other guys so we skipped them. While waiting for the bus back to the resort, DD informed me that Chip and Dale follow her around because they love her and they are her pets. She must have a supply of acorns for when we see them again.
We went back to the resort for a rest before our 4:10 PS at Crystal Palace before MVMCP. I was surprised that DD fell asleep as soon as we got to our room (thankfully too since she was miserable!). This was surprising because DD has not napped one day since she turned one two years ago. Mom and grandmom found us at the resort and we told them we would call them when DD woke up. I napped too!! Disney is wonderful.
I woke up at 2:45. I decided that DD was sleeping so nicely that I wasn't going to wake her. We had a late night ahead of us and she had to be pleasant. I cancelled our PS at Crystal Palace and we decided to have dinner at Olivia's in OKW when everyone was up and about. This worked out well. We ate a nice dinner and arrived at MK for MVMCP exactly at 6:00. We got our wristband and went in. I couldn't believe the amount of people coming down Main Street leaving the park. I felt special to be going into the park with so many coming out. We walked down Main Street and were ushered through Tomorrowland. As we entered Tomorrowland we saw one of the places to get our photos. We took this opportunity to have that done. I wasn't aware that every person in your party receives a copy of the photo. We will get 4 of them (adults only). After this we went straight to Fantasyland so DD could ride more of her favs. I was shocked to see that there was not one other person in line for Winnie the Pooh. I was sickened that we waited the day before for so long. Who would have known. We made our way back to ride Buzz (again) and over to Frontierland. We took in the Country Bear show. They have a special Christmas one. So cute. DD enjoyed very much. The bears were dancing around in the street out front of the hall. After the show we picked up some cookies and hot chocolate. Delicious. We found a spot for the parade right out front of the Country Bear hall and waited about 15 minutes. The parade was phenomenal. I enjoyed this so much and was more in the spirit then ever. Mom and grandmom were getting tired after the parade and we headed toward Main Street to see them off. They were going back to the resort and we decided to stay. Somewhere on the way the fireworks started. We all of course stopped and stared skyward until they were finished. Then we said goodbye and went back to do some more favorites. When we were leaving the walk down Main Street was my favorite part of the entire trip. The snow was unlike anything I have ever seen. I adored it. DD wanted to walk through it, so DH was pushing the stroller behind us. DD was once again looking skyward with her tongue out trying to catch the snow. I don't know how she didn't crash into anything. She loved it on her face and still tells me that the snow in Disney is going to be her sweet dreams before she goes to bed every night. Main Street looked absoultely beautiful. It was lit up with all of the decorations and the snow was somehow sparkly. It almost twinkled. I could almost get teary-eyed thinking about it if I let myself.

Wed. Dec. 1st -- Day 4

I had wisely switched my PS for O'hanas from 8:00 to 9:40. We took the first bus that stopped which was Epcot. We then got on the monorail and got off at the transportation center and walked over to the Poly. What a nice walk. This resort seems very peaceful and everyone that we ran into was rally friendly. Ohanas was very nice. Breakfast is served family-style. They start you off with some Hawaiian bread made with pineapple and coconut. I don't eat either of these, so I had none, but mom and grandmother loved it. We saw Mickey, Goofy and the ever popular Chip and Dale. DD had her acorns ready and they showed the same appreciation as they had the day before. I was worried as they were different Chip and Dales so I didn't know how they would react. I was no longer nervous how DD would react to the characters though. After breakfast we ventured onto MGM. Tonight was the highly anticipated Fantasmic. After what I went through to get this dinner package, I could not wait. We walked in and to my horror the Green Army Men from Toy Story were right in front of us. No avoiding them. I saw a fit coming on. I was preparing myself for the worst. And DD walked right up to all three of them and posed for pictures. She amazed and confused me the entire trip!?!
We saw the Muppet 3-D. This was one of my favorites from a prior visit. The two guys in the balcony crack me up and apparantly my DH too. I couldn't believe how loud he was laughing. Dork!! We went to Honey We Shrunk something playground. DD had a great time here. We then stopped for our first ice cream bars. I was disgusted that I had not done this sooner, but I was full from meal to meal that I never thought about it until now. DD enjoyed her first Mickey bar. We made our way to the Little Mermaid show and then over to Playhouse Disney. I was surprised to find that we sat on the floor here and I was more than a little concerned about how I was getting back up. The show was very cute even though I didn't really know any of these characters (with the exception of Pooh & friends and Rolie Polie Olie). I was surprised how well behaved this room full of kids were except of course the one little boy that happened to be right in front of us. He started off okay, but got worse as the wait and the show went on. He was screaming like someone was killing him and was pulling his mother's hair and slapping her. She had him restrained in her arms (hence the screaming) while smacking him in the head. Twice he grabbed my DD's foot (it was in his reach) and tried to twist it around. She was not impressed! I almost suggested that it may be time to take him for a nap, but the show started and we forgot about him. After this show it was time for my grandmother and me to ride some rides! We went on TOT. My grandmother loved it. She was disappointed with the race cars the day before stating that they didn't go fast enough (145 MPH). So, I took her on Aerosmith's roller coaster. Again she loved it. When we came out of TOT my DD was asleep in her stroller (another nap. This was too much. I may have to move down here!) We made our way over to Mama Melrose for our 3:50 PS. What a great restaurant. I was less than impressed with the salad or the pizza for that matter. The reason was that they had blue cheese (or something very similar gorgonzola perhaps) and I don't like. But everyone else at the table really liked them. My grandmother got the chicken parmesan, my mother got some pasta with peas (yuck) that she really enjoyed. DH got the veal and I got the penne ala vodka which was delicious and huge. We all got the tiramisu for dessert with the exception of my grandmother who got the chocolate gelato. I also got a delicious capuccino. DD slept through the entire meal and woke up right before dessert which she gladly helped us eat. After Mama Melrose we stopped in Pizza Planet to get DD some pizza and to play some games. What fun. Right away DH won a huge stuffed Minnie from one of those crane machines and DD loved the dancing machine game. Being three she had no idea how to "play", but she had a great time dancing up a storm. We made our way over to Fantasmic. We found some seats in about the 10 - 12th row and waited for about 30 minutes. During this time we were again food for the mosquitos....ouch. I had never seen this show before and did not know what to expect. As most of you know, I had much trouble getting a dinner package for this and almost didn't see it. I was tossing around whether to bring my 3 year old and then when I decided too I could not get a PS for the package. I didn't want to wait up to 90 mins with a 3 year old, so I was going to skip it. I am sooooo glad that I did not. What a show. We loved it. My DD thought it was the best thing she has ever seen. It was beautiful. I can't even describe it. If you haven't seen it, you must. By the time the show was over we were completely misted (you still get wet 10-12 rows back!) and stunned. Then we made our way over to the Osbourne Christmas lights complete with some more snow! I thought it was going to be sensory overload. First the spetacular show and now the lights. What an amazing night. The crowd to see the lights was a bit overwhelming, so we went through pretty quickly and then headed back to Pizza planet for a few more games. Back to the room again.

Thurs. Dec 2nd -- Day 5

We had a 11:00 PS for Chef Mickey. The place was packed. We waited about 20 mins with the PS. It was okay though we got our picture taken and played around with Goofy. DD was excited about this restaurant. She had yet to see Minnie (we saw a line for her twice during the week, but both times we went up we were told that Minnie was leaving to get ready for a parade.) We were seated and went wild with the buffet. This has to be the most extensive of the buffets. What a selection. DD got her Mickey waffles with M&M's just the way she saw on TV! She was thrilled. She also saw Goofy (in the lobby), Mickey, Chip and Dale (acorns of course), and Minnie. We were waiting for Pluto and waiting and waiting. We were told that they were bringing him over, but 10 mins. later they informed us that Pluto had an emergency and was not coming back out. Oh well, we had seen him before. We went to the gift shop in the Contemporary to buy DD one of those pressed coin books (she had quite a little collection going). I found the cutest little Chip and Dale figure with bobbly heads that had acorns all around their feet so I had to buy it.
We then took the monorail back to MK to do some of DD's favorites one last time. We saw a trash can that moved and spoke and interacted with people. Very funny. Nothing too exciting to report here. Oh, DD saw Santa next to City Hall.
We left MK and went to DTD for dinner and yes shopping. I have to tell you that I needed to buy two new bags to tote home all of my purchases!! We ate at Planet Hollywood this night. What a mistake. The food was okay, but the noise was unbearable. Every other place was too crowded to wait (Rainforest Cafe was 1 hour and 45 mins). We rode the rides again and DD sat for a very cute characature.

Fri. Dec 3rd -- Last hours

We had a pick-up scheduled for 1:30 so there wasn't alot of time to do anything. We checked out at 11:00 and went to DTD to have something to eat at Rainforest (promised DD we would go back). By the time we finished, we had to catch a bus to make our van.
We arrived at the airport and checked our bags curbside where the man who checked our bags informed us that he was upgrading us to first class...who knew he could?! He walked us in to where you normally check your bags and took care of everything. What a great ending to a wonderful trip.

Hope you all enjoyed this. I had alot of fun and will try to get some pictures up for you all to see. There were some things that I found out and observed on my trip...

1- Who can understand kids. The things I thought my daughter would hate were the exact things she loved! They will drive you crazy!

2- Planning things to an extent is a good thing. It went so smoothly with rough drafts of the day, but with a 3 year old you have to allow for changes.

3- Don't force your kids to do things they don't want to do. You will both end up miserable.

4- Always allow extra room when you pack for things you buy. It sure beats lugging around several extra bags!

5- When you get tired go back to the resort and unwind. It works wonders for everyone.

6- 5 days isn't enough. There was so much that I forgot to do, or didn't get around to. That makes me sad.

Since we have been home we have discussed checking out becoming DVC members. We really enjoyed OKW.
We already have narrowed down next Sept. or Jan. of 2006 for our next trip. Anyone want to help me start planning?
Thanks for reading this. I promise to get better the next time.

[Dana]

Nikki -
I loved every word. Excellent report. Your DD sounds like she had the best of time. Your DGM sounds like a VERY cool granny...love it! Thanks for sharing it all with us. It was worth every second I waited for it. Thank you.

[cinderbella]

this sounds like one of the "postcard moments" your whole trip does...i loved reading it...you must post some of those pictures~!

[Dopey]

yes, another successful trip. Planning does save you some time in the end, even if some small thing changes now and then.
Great!

[lisalovesmickey]

Thank you so much for the great TR. Your family seems so cool, ie husband cracking up at Muppets and Grandma racing cars......

I will help you plan anytime!!!!!!!!!!!

Lisa

[DougiesMommy]

Love your trip report! We were there during the same time Nov 28th - Dec 5th and even at some of the same places at the same time. Plus we have a 3 yr old. Still working on my TR but yours brought back so many great memories for me.

[tinkerbell]

I loved your trip report .. I felt as if I was magically transported to WDW with you and your fabulous family !!! Thanks so much !!!!!!!