[JoeyS]

we started out on dec. 15 packing.. our flight was early the next morning and we spent four days in WDW. i didn't keep a detailed journal of what we did, so most of this will just be off the top of my head.. (probably not that great of detail) i started out by packing my way, which was abruptly taken over by a professional, my wife, when she got home from work.(thank God).. i think i had a shirt, shoes, camera, jeans, and a change of underware. thank goodness my wife knows how to pack..

this trip was planned to be our daughter's, victoria, first trip to WDW. if i can get pics up most of them will be of her.. hope ya'll don't mind..

we woke up early on the 16th, or what i thought was early, and barely made it to our flight on time. we had a 6:30am flight and i thought leaving the house a 5am was good enough. well, as it goes, that was just enough time to make it as the plane was boarding..i didn't factor in the idiot factor which is all the people that will do things to make you late..

anyway, here are a few pics of our departure..

[JoeyS]

jen packing and tori's first plane ride....

i'll continue later, but now i have to get to sleep.. i hope i'm posting the pictures right.. can ya'll see them???

[Val32]

Originally Posted by JoeyS

jen packing and tori's first plane ride....

i'll continue later, but now i have to get to sleep.. i hope i'm posting the pictures right.. can ya'll see them???

Yup! I can see them!!!! your dd is Adorable!!!
But if you click on the little paper clip, well the little down arrow to the right of it and click on "insert all" all your pics will show up in the post instead of having to click on each one!! (the paper clip is located in the top row above the text box, just right of that little smilie! See it???)


You were there same time as us!!!

and yeah women are better packers!

can't wait to read more of your TR!!!

[MissDisney]

We can see them! And your little princess looks like she is enjoying that window seat!

[Dopey]

I can see ! and I can't wait for more. We all love pictures of little people so keep them coming.

[JustaT]

Back already?!?! Your DD is so cute!!!!

Can't wait for more.

[JoeyS]

day one.
we woke up to catch our 630am flight. everything was packed but it took a little longer to get tori up and ready. of course i had that "i'm forgeting something" feeling the whole way to the airport, but the only thing left was tori's princess flashlight for times in dark areas. no biggie, we would just get one at wdw. when we got to the airport, we got in the check in line behind the only waiting person. as i was making an account of all of our things, my wife started about something and i wasn't really listening. when i looked up, two other groups had cut in front of us. i asked her what had happened and she said people were coming in from around the people barricades and jumping in front. well, the two people that cut were being served and some others were trying to do what they did, so i went to the counter and dared anyone else to try and cut.. it was funny to watch them scamper back around the barricades to where the line should form. anyway, when we were checking our luggage the guy puts a late tag on ours and says we are late because we needed to check our luggage 30 minutes before the flight and it was 29 minutes. oh well, i'm not going to tick off the person in charge of our luggage. anyway, we made it to boarding just in perfect time to walk onto the flight.. the flight went great. i was so involved with my daughther that before i knew it we were about to land. tori loves flying and she kept saying,
"tori's on a big plane." when we reached orlando, we went to the ME area and they were very nice. they had us on our way in no time. tori was so excited to be going on a bus.. i think i could have just scheduled a trip with bus rides and she would have loved it. she kept saying "tori go on the skoo bus."

we arrived at the AKL and check in took a while because there were tons of people checking out. tori and jen went inspect the grounds while i took care of business. everything went smoothly and we had our room overlooking the savannah. we got to our room and i thought our luggage would be there but it wasn't so i called the desk to find out that the luggage would be there within 5 hours of check in i didn't know that little tidbit of info. tori's stroller was checked so there was no going to the park until we had that. oh well, no biggie, it was early and we were starving and tired. we went have lunch at mara. we got way too much food and as i was about to pay, the cashier asked if i was on the dining plan. i almost forgot, it cost us three counter services and i thought that was great. as we were checking out, the cashier said we could get two more desserts so i told my wife to go pick some out. she came back with two and said she almost got some things called "zebra something or another" and i remembered from this site-- ZEBRA DOMES!!!!!!! i told her "GO GET THEM". oh boy, i finally get to have zebra domes.. well, everything that was said about zebra domes is ---- absolutely true!!!! they are awesome.. we started eating our meal and we found out that we don't like african cuisine.. we ate it but it just wasn't the kind of food we really like.. hey, we're from louisiana and food is a way of life here. as we ate we started thinking boma might be a mistake for dinner on our last night.. the decision was made to switch to jiko because the menu looked more to our liking..
after lunch we went to our room and tori was exhausted so a nap was in order. evidently we were all exhausted because we all fell asleep. no sooner than i was sleeping the bellhop came with our luggage. i opened the door all groggy and noticed that all he had was tori's stoller and one other suitcase(tori's clothes).. i began to get nervous that the other suitcase was lost but he informed me that it is not unusual to have pieces arrive at different times. well, at least we had the stroller. i let tori and jen sleep for another hour and i just chilled on the balcony watching the ostriches, deer, and a wilderbeast.

[JoeyS]

i just wanted everyone to see these beautiful, luscious, succulant-----------





ZEBRA DOMES

[JoeyS]

more






ZEBRA DOMES
oh yeah, also a good picture of jen and tori.

[JoeyS]

here's a shot of tori checking out the wildlife. there's a few ostrich in the background and a wilderbeast, but i don't thing you can make them out.. we were supposed to be able to see giraffes, but we never saw any.

[JoeyS]

continue day one:

once everyone woke up, it was time to head to magic kingdom. tori loved the bus. she thought that was the best thing geting to ride on a bus without being confined to her car seat. we arrived at magic kingdom around 3pm and there was not much of a crowd. we went straight down main street to the castle and tori was just in awe at seeing a real castle. she kept asking if cinderella was inside. after a couple of pictures, we went to fantasy land to let her have a little taste of some rides. she was a little apprehensive at first with all the "business" but once she saw the carousel she was in heaven. we rode that a few times and then headed over to the winnie the poo ride. she did great on that. next it was dumbo. i hung back and let her and jen ride while i watched from the ground. by the time that was over, it was time to go watch the lighting of the castle. we walked over and showed up just a few minutes before the show. we were basically front and center for the show. when mickey came out, all she could say is "there's mickey." the lighting of the castle is a must see. the whole thing with the fairy godmother and cinderella just makes a little girl's eyes light up. after the lighting, wishes started because of the MVMCP. tori was a little scared at first with the noise, but she soon got into it. especially when tinkerbell flew over. jen and i truely had the time of our lives watching tori just stare in awe. after wishes, we started back down main street to make our 745pm reservation for whispering canyon. we took the boat over to WL and showed up for 7 o'clock. while i went take care of checking in, tori and jen sat by the christmas tree and listened to the choir sing christmas songs.
now, i'm going to digress a bit. the WL is the place to be for a family christmas vacation. if you want the christmas theme, it has it all. i immediately knew that we should have stayed there rather than AKL. the atmosphere is just so perfect for christmas. the choir was truely like listen to angels. the fire place really sets the mood and it just gives you a good christmas feeling. AKL just didn't provide that. don't get me wrong, AKL is nice, but i can honestly say, once was enough.
now, back to the trip. we were seated promptly and our waitress was tabitha. she was very nice and as attentive as possible with the amount of people she was tending to. all the antics that go on happened, the ketchup, the straws, the cell phones, etc. but this really wasn't our kind of restaurant and tori was just too young to get into the theme. i did let her do the pony race, which she was confused about. we dine out often, and she knows that you are supposed to behave when eating, so she didn't quite understand. she did have fun though. chef eddie came to our table and chatted a while. he was a very cordial person and we talked about food, louisiana, and whatnot for a while. we were visited by another CM and he asked about louisiana and talked with us for a while. i finally turned to jen and said, what's with everyone coming up to us and asking about louisiana? finally, i realized tori had her LSU sweat shirt on. well, as it goes whispering canyon is a great place for kids, but as it is, jen and i did not care for it too much. the food was not so great. nothing against chef eddie, i know he's limited by the menu. we had the skillet and a prime rib steak and it all just tasted the same. the salad was salad and that's about it.. i did fill up on the chocolate milk shakes.. after dinner, we called it a night and headed back to the AKL. tori was exhausted, as well as jen and i so we went right to sleep. we had a big day ahead with CRT and HDD the next day. pics to follow

[JoeyS]

the token first castle pic

[JoeyS]

going on the pooh ride

[JoeyS]

carousel with jen

[JoeyS]

tori and jen on dumbo