[tragic312]

Day 1 - Monday January 3

it was early in the morning when we got up to get ready to leave for WDW. we were flying with Song Airlines, a sister airline to Delta. Flying with Song was a lot of fun. There were movies to watch, though you had to pay for them, there was music to listen to, for free!, and direct TV to watch for Free as well. there was a menu, which you had to pay, but the food was good. the flight was smooth all the way to Orlando.
we arrived in orlando around 10:30. after we got our bags, we met our transportation, Franco Transportation, and away we went to our hotel, All Star Music. our room wasn't ready yet so we put our luggage in storage for the time being and had lunch in the food court. we explored our hotel grounds for a while to get an idea where everything was. we were staying at the Country Fair building, which is at the very back of the resort. all of the buildings are so festive to the music they were portraying, the broadway buildings reminded me so much of times square, so it was kind of like being at home. the jazz buildings had large scale drum sets, the country fair buildings had large scale cowboy boots. it was just a fun place to stay!
after exploring our hotel, we went back to the lobby and explored the gift shop. i bought postcards for my nieces and nephews and my baby brother. i brought stamps with me. so while we waited in the lobby to kill some time, i filled out my postcards and mailed them out right away. finally our room was ready and we headed to our room. our luggage arrived before us. we put our bags on the spare bed and took a nap. it was about 3:30 or so when we took our nap.
we got up around 6:30 and talked about what we were going to do. we settled on going to see Illuminations. so, off to EPCOT we went to get a good spot for Illuminations. while waiting for the show, we had snacked on freshly baked warm cookies from the boardwalk and hot chocolate. it wasn't cold at all but i wanted hot chocolate. we also talked about where we were going for dinner. we decided on ESPN Zone.
after Illuminations, we headed over to the ESPN Zone but realized there was a game on due to the loud cheering and clapping inside and the wait it was to get a table. so, we decided to go to DTD instead to get some dinner. we were going to go to Wolfgang Puck's Express to eat but it was blocked off. so we went to the rainforest cafe instead and had dinner. i wanted to get cat collars for jay and silent bob so after we had dinner, we went store hopping looking for collars. we even went to the new pet store, which barely had anything for cats to begin with. i was really disappointed about that. no cat collars at all. rob keeps telling me that the place is run by a mouse so how would he feel if there was stuff around for cats? i said, he's 6 feet tall and our guys at 3 and 5 pounds. i want collars for my kitties! after no such luck of finding collars, we headed back to our hotel. once we got back, we watched the weather channel to see how the next day's weather was going to be, unpacked our bags, and talked about what to do the next day. we decided on AK because they were having the EMH later in the afternoon. after that decision was made, off to bed we went.

[tragic312]

Day 2 - January 4

rise and shine. we got ready for our day in the AK. we had lunch in our hotel's food court. after lunch, off to AK we went. there was a huge christmas tree still up in front of the main entrance. once we got inside, i asked a CM when the bracelet's were being given out for the EMH. she told me after 3 PM and the locations they were going to be given.
the first thing we did was we went to Africa and went on the Kilimanjaro Safari. there was a sign posted saying that the last ride was at 4:30 due to the sunset time. it was around 2 when we did the safari so we were in no trouble on missing out. after the safari, we went to find a spot for Mickey's Jingle Jamming Parade. not jungle jamming, jingle jamming. that was another reason why i wanted to go to the AK that day because they were still having a christmas parade running. we found a spot near the Tree of Life and camped out for a while, in the shade no less. there was a store behind us so we poked around to see what we can find. i looked through some pins and bought a couple. the CM was kind enough to simply give me one off her lanyard. it's sorceror mickey on it and it reads WDW Travel Company. she put the pin on the strap of my tinkerbell purse. the parade started at 3 and i got a good view of it; by standing on this little wall that had a lot of trees on it. i looked around to make sure i wasn't blocking anyone's view, but being that the trees were, i was in no trouble. the parade was so much fun. seeing the christmas decorations on the floats, goofy was santa, oh it was just so much fun. i'll post pictures as soon as there uploaded.
after the parade was over, we went up to rafiki's planet watch. we were up there for quite a while that by the time we got to the petting zoo, they were bringing the animals in. we were in the conservation place just looking at all the neat things inside. so, after the animals were brought in, we left rafiki's planet watch and headed to dinoland U.S.A. dinoland was about the only thing we could really do for the EMH because everything else was closed. we did primeval whirl. we couldn't do DINOSAUR because it broke down. there was nothing else that we really wanted to do so we left AK.
we went to DTD again and had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Express. the food was really good. we went looking for cat collars again; no such luck. we left DTD and went back to our hotel. we had an early morning so we needed to get to bed.

[tragic312]

Day 3 - January 5

today we were having breakfast in Norway with the princesses. we had breakfast at 9:50. we got there and the place is gorgeous. it's much bigger than CRT. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Mary Poppins and Bell was there. i was hoping for other princesses i haven't met yet like Esmerelda and Mulan but eh, what can you do? anyway, breakfast was delicious. we had the exact same thing that we had at CRT; bacon and eggs, potato cassorole, fruit, and pastries. i met all of the princesses and took pictures with them.
after breakfast, we waited for world showcase to open. as soon as it did, we went to china to see if mulan was there. i was told she wasn't coming out until after 12. so, we watched the movie on China. from there, we explored all of the countries. when we got to France, there was this guy there with a whistle that was putting a show on with chairs. he pulled some people out of the crowd to do dance moves and pretty much whatever he whistled for them to do. then, he did a handstand on the chair and picked a "random" guy to do the same. one by one, they stacked chairs together higher and higher as this "random guy" did handstands on the chairs. it was pretty intense to see him up so high. after the show was over, we left france and headed to the U.K. we explored the U.K. and Canada and left the countries. we went to the Living Seas and saw Turtle Talk with Crush. that was fun. we figured out how they were doing it but i don't think i would want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet.
rob was getting tired so he went back to the hotel and i stayed behind. i went to the Journey in Imagination with Figment. i didn't like it at all. I thought it was silly. i went to the "What If" labs and didn't care for that either. i wanted to see the Making of Me movie but the Wonders of Life was closed. that was all that was left for me to do in Future World. I popped in and out of stores hoping to find cat collars but didn't. so, i went back to the hotel.
we were having dinner at 1900 park fare with the cast of "Cinderella" at 8. so, we went to the GF and had dinner. the fairy godmother was at the entrance. i got to meet the rest of the cast and i was thrilled to meet prince charming because i never met him. towards the end of dinner, cinderella and prince charming were dancing in the middle of the room. it was so cute. and they rubbed noses together at the end of their dancing. it was so cute!
we left 1900 park fare and went back to our hotel to call it a night.

[sandanv1]

Sounds like a good time. I wonder if one of the kennels may have had cat collars?

[tinkerbell]

:) so far the only thing missing is pictures!! you know I remember seeing cat things at Everything Pop .. as well as things for dogs. something I was wondering though ... when you said you asked about bracelets for EMH (extra Magic Hour) ..do they make you have bracelets for that now? or did you mean the E-night thing that you pay extra for?

[Dana]

Tragic -
WElcome home. Trip sounds great. Sorry about the cat collars.

[cinderbella]

Hey Tragic great report!
i too looked for cat collars for my little jaxon....
but they didnt have any...i was disspointed in the pet store in DTD also bc of there lack of cat stuff!!!!!
post pictures post pictures!

[tragic312]

Day 4 - January 6

Today we were going to MK. we got to MK in the early afternoon. we did Mickey's Philharmagic, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, we went on the riverboat, tried many times to go on Peter Pan's Flight but the time for stand by grew longer and longer and we already had a fastpast for WTP. we browsed around MTTF and did stitch's great escape, which by the way, i enjoyed. i don't care for dark scary things but i had to do it for our love of stitch. i laughed when stitch jumped on us and spit at us. after watching mickey's philharmagic, i said, this is my favorite 3-D show out of all of them! i enjoy it so much more than muppet's. when they show the lion king and simba's face pops up singing "i just can't wait to be king", my smile stretched from ear to ear. seeing his adorable face made me miss my guys back at home.
we searched stores looking for cat collars and again no such luck. i did buy some pins that i liked every time we went into stores. i came across a CRT pin in the gift shop for MPH. it's a pretty pin.
we had dinner at LTT. getting PS was no problem at all. we walked in at asked for 6:30 and it was available! we had fun at LTT. we met minnie, chip and dale, pluto and goofy. dale was funny when he came over to our table. rob moved his drink away from dale and told him, you spilled my drink on me the last time. chip kept saying that wasn't him. (note: during our first trip, we had breakfast at CMC, and dale accidently knocked over rob's juice. luckily there was only a couple drops left in his glass.) so i told dale, "it couldn't have been you because you're always getting into trouble. maybe it was chip." dale jumped up and down pointing at me. yet it was chip who spilled rob's juice.
we kind of watched Spectromagic from LTT. we were still having dinner when spectromagic went off. i missed out on seeing goofy in spectromagic so i missed out on seeing rowdy if he was in spectromagic. i told rob there could be a 50% chance that the goofy we met in LTT was rowdy. one only hopes. after dinner, we found a nice spot and watched "Wishes". we watched it from the christmas store and wow, what a view. even though there were trees in our way, seeing the fireworks closer than you do on main street was definitely a sight to see. we waited until the crowds died down a bit to attempt to leave MK. we finally left and headed back to our hotel.
on our way back to the hotel, our bus broke down not too far from the contemporary! the driver didn't tell us what was going on at all until one of the passengers screamed out, "the bus died!" another bus showed up about 5 minutes later and we transfered to that bus. the driver on that bus was nice enough to apologize to us for the other driver not telling us what happened to the bus. also, she was nice enough to warn us when the lights were being turned on. (note: out of the entire trip, only 3 drivers warned us when the lights were being turned on. don't you hate it when they just turn the lights on without warning you first? ) we made it back to our hotel safe and sound and called it a night.

[tragic312]

Day 5 - January 7

today was our first visit to a water park. yep, this was our fourth trip there and we never stepped foot in a water park until this day. we went to blizzard beach and had lots of fun. after we rented a locker and changed into our bathing suits, we took the ski lift up to the top of mount gushmore and went on summit plummet. rob let me go first. i loved it. i didn't get a water wedgie at all from summit plummet. i'm very happy about that! next, we went on the slush gusher. i didn't get a water wedgie from the slush gusher but boy did the slide hurt my butt. it hurt to walk for a minute or two. i actually had to hold onto my butt to stop it from hurting as i walked! we did the tobaggan slide and another racing one that had three tunnels and a red and green light but i forget the name. we did that one twice. after that, we went on the lazy river and just bobbed around for a while. we got off at one point to do the tube ride, i don't know the name of that one either. we got a double tube and rode it down to the pool. after that was a trip to the bathroom, followed by lunch. after lunch, we went to the beach haus store to get rob a new t-shirt. he forgot to bring one with him so he wore the one he came into blizzard beach with on the rides. after we got him a new shirt, we left blizzard beach and went back to our hotel to take showers.
we had dinner that night at the california grille. we got to the Contemporary around 8 and browsed around the stores looking for collars again. came out empty handed but i bought a couple of pins. our PS was at 9:30. we checked in at 9 and got seated at 9:30 when our pager went off. i requested a window seat when we checked in and we lucked out. we got a window view and looked at MK while we ate dinner. we had a lovely time there at the California Grille. we finished dinner sometime around 11 and we went back to our hotel to call it a night.

[Dana]

I can't wait to read the rest. I am hoping you found the collars. If you came up empty handed, I will take a look while I am there too if you want.

[tragic312]

Day 6 - January 8

our plans for the day was to go to MGM. so we did. we got a fast pass for TOT and had lunch at Catalena Eddie's. after lunch, i told rob i wanted to meet The Incredibles. so we went over to the animation studio. we got there and the tour was starting in 5 minutes. ok, let's take the tour. i'm glad we did because there was so many changes in this tour. there was a CM there and showed us a film and talked through the film, it was part of the show, on how they create the characters for the movies. she wanted to focus on Mushu and mushu interacted with her. it was great with all the little jokes that mushu was telling and just being mushu. after the film, we went into this room that had displays of the early sketches of The Incredibles and Chicken Little. in the next room was this big interactive room of computer stuff where you got to make yourself into a character. we got on line to meet Mr. Incredible and Frozone. i told them that my brother loves their movie and saw it 5 times. they asked me if i did but i said i only saw it once. they were disappointed so i said but i took him to see his first show. cause of me, he saw it 4 more times. they liked that answer. they stamped my book and posed for a picture with me. in another room was really cool. there was an artist there and a bunch of little work desks set up so we can draw a character! he showed us how to draw goofy. i messed up on goofy's nose but i think it came out really good. after that room, there was another room of more early sketches of different characters, like stitch, the beast, ursula, etc. then finally, of course, into the gift shop you went.
after we left the tour, we headed for TOT. on our way there, there was this show going on that was like the dating game. a guy was sitting in a chair and the bachelorettes had to introduce themselves. the third one looked like marilyn monroe and wore this long red dress and black glasses. all the guys were whistling at her as she approached the mic. once she spoke though, everyone laughed because she had this high squeaky voice. we left the show and headed for TOT. i love TOT.
after TOT, we went to see the Muppet's 3-D show. i forgot to mention earlier that i bought a pal mickey doll. i brought him with me to MK and MGM. he's not supposed to go off in the middle of shows. well, he went off in the middle of the muppet show. he kept vibrating on my leg and giggling. i held his nose tight because that's where the transmitter is and it stopped him from going off in the show. as soon as we got out, i pressed his hand and all that nonsense was to tell me a joke! i spent $60 on this doll and all he's really done for me was tell me jokes. i wanted to know useful tips and character locations and all that good stuff. i showed my nieces mickey today and they loved him so it was worth the $60 spent.
after the Muppet's, we did the backlot tour and got a sneak peak at the stunt show location. it looks pretty impressive. the seats are bleachers and are pretty high. the backlot tour has changed a little bit. i guess it's from the construction of the stunt show.
after the backlot tour, we left MGM. mickey went off and said to me, "I had fun touring tinsletown but it tuckered me out. so i'm going to take a nap. goodnight." i thought that was a riot.i turned mickey off when we got on the bus. we had plans of doing a little resort hopping so he wasn't needed.
we had massage appointments at the GF at 7. after our massages, we took a walk over to the Polynesian. on our way there, Wishes was going off. we we were between the wedding pavilion and the Poly and watched wishes. after wishes, we explored the Poly for a bit. i wanted to eat dinner at Ohana but it was pretty crowded. so, we went to the T&TC and caught the bus to the WL. we explored the WL and came across the Whispering Canyon Cafe. so, we went up to the hostess's desk and asked how long the wait was. she said a half hour. we looked at the menu and thought ok, let's eat here. she gave us a pager and we went to the gift shop. as soon as we stepped in the gift shop, the pager went off. back to the desk we went and we were seated immediately. i had this penne grilled chicken dinner and rob had this skillet. there were two waiter's there, bobby and j.j., that were constantly yelling at one another from time to time. but it was good yelling. then it got hysterical later on. from what i overheard, it was bobby's birthday. so, j.j. came out with a piece of cake and smushed it in bobby's face. he screamed out, "happy birthday brother!" j.j. left and attended to his tables while bobby disappeared into a room. i turned to rob and said, "wouldn't it be funny if he comes out with a pie?" needless to say, he did. he chased j.j around with the pie. j.j. jumped over a chair that was strategically placed in the middle of the floor and bobby tripped over it and fell face first in his pie. that was a riot. this little girl was celebrating her birthday there so she got up and helped bobby clean up the pie. j.j. was already cleaned up by then. bobby picked up the remaining pie and j.j. was being held by another waiter. bobby finally got j.j. in the face with the pie. j.j. screamed, "it's not even my birthday!" just as bobby was all cleaned up and cake free, j.j. came out and smeared chocolate syrup on his face. i loved how they have the kids ride these wooden horses and parade around the restaurant and later on they did this pledge that ended with, "i promise to never ever ever ever ever ever go to universal studios."
during dessert, i noticed this little girl that was harassing the hostess as to what happened with the logs at the lobby of the restaurant. she told her that the villains took them. the little girl argued with her by saying, " i don't believe you. they didn't take them." this little boy went up to her and asked, "are you going to argue with her all night?" and the girl replied with her arms crossed her chest, "maybe!" this little girl went up to just about every waiter and waitress in the restaurant asking where the logs are. this one waiter screamed to bobby, "bobby, this little princess has a crisis." he turned to her and said, "go tell bobby your problem." she stormed up to bobby and told him her problem. he disappeared into a room when all of a sudden, the hostess went running across the room screaming, "bobby no!" bobby came out with the bucket that had the logs in them and gave it to the girl. that was just too funny.
after dinner, we explored the WL a little more and left. we went back to our hotel to call it a night.

[tragic312]

Day 7 - January 9

our departure day. we got up early in the morning and i packed both of our bags while rob shaved and showered. we left our room at a quarter to 11. rob did the express checkout. we put our bags in storage and had lunch in the food court. the running marathon was going on and during lunch i saw some runners with medals on. i didn't know the signaficance behind the medals because i saw quite a few medals that were donald heads. we decided for the day we would go to DTD to give it one more shot on finding the collars. so, on the way down there, i asked the driver if the roads were clear yet from the marathon. it was noon and the marathon started at 6 am from what i was told. he said it was still going on. i told him that i saw some runners with donald medals. he said those who got donald medals did half of the marathon and those who got mickey medals did the whole marathon.
we got to DTD and explored some more stores in hopes of finding cat collars. no such luck. we left DTD and hopped to the AKL just to give it a shot. we explored the AKL for a while and went through their gift shop. no collars. so, in the end, we didn't get cat collars for the kitties. i did find breath mints and they loved them. jay doesn't normally eat treats but he loves the mints. i guess he prefers disney treats.
we left AKL and went back to our hotel. our ride was picking us up at 3:45 and our flight was at 5:55. our ride showed up at 3:25 and we left WDW. we got to the airport and went through security and all with no troubles. we waited in our terminal for our flight. we boarded and away we went to go back home. the flight was smooth and comfortable.
we got home around 9:30 or so. our flight landed about 8:15 but after getting our luggage, waiting for our ride, going home, we walked in the door at 9:30. i kicked off my shoes, took off my jacket and headed straight for the living room where jay and silent bob were asleep. i turned on the light, with warning of course, and picked up jay and rob picked up silent bob. we switched kitties and hugged and pet them both. rob went straight for the computer after words but i stayed with the kitties and gave them lots of loving (petting, hugs and kisses). i got my suitcase and dug for their breath mints. i put them on a plate and gave it to them. they ate the treats and i was just so thrilled.i stayed with them more for a little while. i had jay in my arms at one point and he began to pur. i was so happy to hear him pur. it felt good to be home with my kitties. later on in the night, i got my pj's on and went to crawl into bed. i hate making beds so our bed was unmade. i pulled the comforter down to climb into bed when i noticed something on my side of the bed. we have these mickey sheets from the Disney catalog. the sheets are white with classic mickey posing. very comfortable sheets. the point of this is that there was cat hair on my side of the bed. and only on my side of the bed. i showed rob and i just stood there and awed. jay slept on my side of the bed. i knew it was jay because he doesn't shed as much as silent bob does. he must of liked the sheets as well because they're flannel and warm. i cleaned the hair off the bed and went to bed.

i unpacked today and laundry is all caught up, souveneirs are put away and back to reality we are. so, this concludes my trip report. now i have to upload the pictures to show you guys. i hope you enjoyed reading my trip report as much as i enjoyed writing it for you guys.

[Erin]

Tragic, you left so quietly, I didn't realize you were on your trip! Welcome home!

I would first off like to say that you sound like THE sweetest person on the face of the earth.

Second of all, I REALLY -really- REALLY enjoyed this trip report!

Great job!

[tragic312]

Originally Posted by Erin

Tragic, you left so quietly, I didn't realize you were on your trip! Welcome home!

I would first off like to say that you sound like THE sweetest person on the face of the earth.

Second of all, I REALLY -really- REALLY enjoyed this trip report!

Great job!

i thought i left a little message saying i was leaving. i have a memory like dory so it's hard to remember simple things sometimes. if i didn't, i'm sorry. thank you for your kind comments. your comments just made my night. thank you. i'm uploading pictures onto shutterfly.com right now so, in about 15 minutes or so, i will have pictures posted. i'm glad you enjoyed my trip report.

Originally Posted by Dana

I am hoping you found the collars. If you came up empty handed, I will take a look while I am there too if you want.

i appreciate the offer very much, dana. i searched high and low for disney cat collars and was disappointed on how much stuff there is for dogs but not much for cats. i have settled on just getting my kitties collars from the pet store. cat collars are easier to find here at home than they are in WDW.

[Cavey]

I didn't notice any cat things at WDW. Lots of dog stuff.

BTW, Rowdy was off from Goofy last week due to the heavy parade schedule in December.

Great trip report. It's amazing how we could be at WDW at the same time, yet be worlds apart in activities. Sorry I missed you.