Disney Trip. December 29, 2003 - January 4, 2004


Hooray! I'm home! And I had a fantastic week at Disney World. Which I shall tell you all about. With pictures! Lots of pictures, actually, so they're separate links. Underlined, mind you. They'll pop up. I'm not leaving the pictures up for very long because they take up so much space. but I'll leave the extensive report in my archives.



Before I start the actual trip, I must introduce you to the cast. And there are a lot of us. Twenty-three, I think, but I'll count as I go along.

1. Grandma--The family matriarch. When she says jump, not only do you say how high, but you also say how many times. Just humor her and you'll be fine.

2. Grandpuff--(old nickname) Think grumpy old men. Complains all the time, but is secretly enjoying himself. And probably laughing at everyone else around him.

3. Mommy--More worried about everyone else and what they're doing than trying to keep up with herself. There must be a reason I don't spend weeks at a time with my mother, she starts to annoy me after about....oh, three days or so. I mean, really. No, mother, I don't know what Grandma had for breakfast today, nor do I care. She ate, that's enough information for me.

4. Me--Yes, you know me, moving on.

5. Marc--my brother. He didn't want to go on this trip in the first place. Was in a bad mood the whole time, especially early in the morning. He's hot, his feet hurt, he's tired, he wants to go home, etc...

6. Matthew--my other brother. He was only there for two days. Didn't talk to me, as he was busy with his girlfriend and her two children. They're so much more important than the family, you know.

7. Jennifer--Matthew's girlfriend. Nicknamed "Whiney." She had a broken toe and had to be pushed around in a wheelchair the entire time. She couldn't go on the rides because she gets motion sickness. She couldn't eat because she has a stomach ulcer. I mean, we paid for her to go to the character breakfast and sit there. She didn't eat a thing. We paid for her to get into Universal Studios and Disney World and she didn't do anything but be pushed around in a wheelchair all day. The woman is 24 years old, she needs to get over herself. Whew. Okay, done with that.

8. Matthew--Jennifer's oldest son, I think he's four. He had a great time, from what I saw. He wanted to hang out with my other cousins, who are close to his age. He wanted to ride all the rides. He wanted to meet all the characters.

9. Brandon--Jennifer's other son, he's three. He refused to do anything. Matthew ended up carrying him around the whole time, unless he was sitting in Jennifer's lap.

10. Aunt Barbara--my Mommy's sister. My Godmother. Has map. Can travel. Is mobile. (inside joke, there)

11. Aunt JoAnn--my Mommy's sister. Didn't see her much, but I heard her yelling at various people in her family. Her family did things mostly without the rest of us, but that is quite okay, as there are a lot of them.

12. Tim--Aunt JoAnn's husband. I don't talk to him, he doesn't talk to me. We say hi, we say bye, see you next year. That'll do.

13. Crystal--my cousin, Aunt JoAnn's daughter, she's 20. We get along and we had a great time. Mostly complaining about the rest of the family and shopping, but I'm definitely glad she was there to hang out with.

14. Krystin (or however they spell it, it's unusual)--Tim's daughter. I don't think we've ever spoken to each other. No, really, I don't. Hmm...

15. Blake--Aunt JoAnn's and Tim's son. One of the twins. He wore this cute little safari hat the whole time.

16. Ashley--the other twin. She and Blake seem to be opposites. They're seven. Neither one has a lot to do with me. They don't really know me, and we've never spent much time together.

17. Aunt Teresa--my Mommy's sister. We're really nothing alike. She's loud and likes to have things her way. She seems to be impatient, too. You always have to be in a good mood and be in a hurry around her. Because she says so. But then again, she does a lot of things for us.

18. Uncle Tom--Aunt Teresa's husband. He is crazy. He came up to me the first day and poked me for no reason. I still have a bruise. He'll also come up and hug you for no reason, too. But he is a fantastic father, and he's the best male role model in my life right now.

19. Ryan--Aunt Teresa and Uncle Tom's son. He's seven. And he's just like his parents. He'll ride any ride, run around the park and get lost (not going there), and talk to anyone else waiting in line. Just for fun.

20. Robin--Aunt Teresa and Uncle Tom's daughter. She is so smart. Aunt Barbara says she's exactly like me when I was three, except I never talked. Robin talks all the time. She told me all about Dora and the backpack and the monkey with the red boots. She also likes to watch Peter Pan. Bonus!

21. Patty--My Mommy's friend. I've known her for about 14 years now. We generally get along just fine, but she sometimes does things I don't approve of. I shared a room with her (much more about that later).

22. Dominique--Patty's granddaughter (Dommie's mother, Nicole didn't go with us. Don't go there.) Dommie is um...not very nice. She's three. Most of her time was spent telling people "Don't look at me! Don't touch me! NO!!" And then she'd hit whoever was closest to her and scream. Yes.

23. Misty--Patty's roommate. She wasn't actually supposed to be on this trip, but she showed up anyway.



Ah, yes. Twenty-three. I was correct. And now, on with the trip. Monday, December 29, 2003

I spent Sunday night at my Mommy's house so that we could get up early and leave. We left around 10:00 instead. Patty, Dommie, and Mommy rode in Patty's car. Marc and I rode in my car. Yes, I drove all the way to Disney World. On the interstate. By myself. In holiday traffic. Go me! Anyway, on the way there, we had to stop every half hour or so because Dommie had to go to the bathroom. I wasn't in the car with her, but apparently she is quoted as saying, "Stop this car, right now!" and screaming until we did so.

Upon arriving at the Walt Disney World All Star Movies Resort, we went to check in. There was no line! We found out that our two rooms were adjoining, something that we hadn't expected. Mommy gave me one of the room cards, which functions like a credit card. You charge whatever you want to your room. We were also in the very first building, right next to the bus stops! Usually, our rooms are in the very last building, waaaaay in the back, but no. We were in the 101 Dalmations-themed building. This three-story-tall dog (Pongo) is what greeted you at the main entrance to the building. If you wanted to take the stairs, you could go up the fire hydrant. Our rooms were ready for us, even if it wasn't four o'clock yet, so we unloaded the cars.

The next order of business was to go get Aunt Barbara. She had flown in on Sunday, and was currently staying in Aunt JoAnn's rented condo with Aunt JoAnn's entire family, plus Grandma and Grandpuff. However, Monday night was also supposed to be the last night of the holiday decorations at EPCOT. We left a day early just so I could see them, so I had to go. Marc wanted to go with me, rather than going to find Aunt Barbara. The two of us waited at the bus stop, which was unusually crowded. We were the last two people on the bus and we illegally stood in front of the white line while the bus was in motion. But it was okay.

The first thing I made Marc do was to ride Spaceship Earth. It's the ride inside that giant ball thing (Spaceship Earth ;)) The ride was exactly the same as all the previous times I've been on it, but it made me happy and that's what matters. We wanted to go on Test Track next, but the wait was an hour and a half, and we didn't want to wait that long. Marc wanted to see the Segway scooter demonstration, and we went into Innoventions East to watch. I even got to participate. The guy tried to run me over while I pushed him backwards. After that, we visited each other countries around the lake. They were all pretty and decorated with Christmas lights and such. But every time we tried to take a picture, my digital camera wouldn't pick up anything. I had no idea what was wrong with it, so I just gave up trying to take pictures. We walked alllllllll the way around the lake and the only place we stopped was the giant store inside the Japanese bath house. Oh, and I forced Marc into the Welsh store and got some Celtic knot earrings. But that was it. To get back to the main EPCOT area, we walked through the International Gateway. It was apparently time for the evening show, because the lights were flashing in time with the music. And the fountain was spraying water at the same time. It was the coolest thing. Really. The song was Carol of the Bells. I was sufficiently entertained.

I tried one last time to take a picture of Spaceship Earth. Except this time, I turned the flash off. It worked. I was angry. All I had to do was turn the flash off. Was I supposed to know that? I didn't want to walk all the way back around the countries again, so I sadly didn't get pictures of them. I did take a picture of the EPCOT Christmas tree.

Back at the hotel, Aunt Barbara was there, along with Crystal. Crystal's family wasn't going to Universal Studios the next day like we were, and she was going with us. As it was late, the only thing we did was go to bed.



Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Dommie woke up at 6:00. In the morning. Screaming and ordering Patty to "get her some milk." And, as I was in the room with her and Patty, I also got up at 6:00. Not that I slept well at all. Misty called around midnight and she and Patty talked for a long time. Misty decided she would join us the next day. And Patty left the TV on. I was not a happy camper.

After everyone was up and dressed, we went to the lobby to meet Matthew, Jennifer, and the boys, who were arriving around eleven. We got them checked into their room and everyone got ready for Universal Studios. None of us had ever been before. I drove there. With Mama and Crystal. We parked on the E.T. level, at the top. This is the view from where I parked the car. You can see the roller coasters and such at Islands of Adventure, but we just went to Universal Studios, which is a separate park. Once everyone met up, we got our tickets. The first thing we saw inside the park was Shrek. So I took a picture.

We decided to go on E.T. as our first ride. It was great. You got to sit in this sort-of-bicycle-seat-thing. And your safety belt was shaped like handlebars. I kept my Interplanetary Passport, even if you were supposed to give it to the ride attendant. *is sneaky* After E.T., we met up with Aunt Teresa, Uncle Tom, Ryan, and Robin at Fivel's playground. Some of us then decided to go eat.

Okay, now brace yourself. The restaurant we ate in was themed with Universal Studios movies. Two of which happen to be The War and Flipper. As you may or may not know, my Elijah Wood was in both of those movies. Hence, his face was plastered on the walls in this restaurant. You have no idea about the level of excitement. I got to each lunch sitting next to my Elijah. See?. So granted, it's an older movie, but still. It's the closest I'll ever get to him. ;)

After lunch, and after they dragged me out of my chair, we again met up with everyone. They decided to take all the kids to see Barney's live show. I took that picture just for all of you to look at. Really, that's what I told Crystal. I said that all of you would appreciate my picture of the Barney fountain. While they watched the show, Crystal and I rode the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster.

Matthew, Jennifer, the boys, Marc, Patty, and Dommie all left the park after the show. Dommie needed a nap and everyone else just wanted to go back to the hotel. That left me, Mommy, Crystal, Aunt Barbara, Aunt Teresa, Uncle Tom, Ryan, and Robin. Aunt Teresa and Aunt Barbara had Fast Passes for Men in Black, the ride.

To explain Fast Passes: If you want to ride something and don't want to wait, the big rides now have this little machines next to them. You put your ticket in the machine, and it gives you a piece of paper with a time on it. If you go back to the ride at your assigned time, you don't have to wait in line. The downside? You can only have one Fast Pass at a time. So by the time you use it and go to get another one for a different ride, those are all handed out for the day.

So Aunt Teresa and Aunt Barbara got in the Fast Pass lane, and Uncle Tom stayed outside with Ryan and Robin. Mommy, Crystal, and me got in the Single Riders lane. You still have to wait, but it's faster because you just fill in empty seats in the cars. Men In Black is an interactive ride. You have a laser gun and you shoot the aliens while the ride is spinning and moving through the city. It was fun. I only scored 9,000 points, but the guy next to me had like 120,000 or something. I should not join the Men in Black, apparently. Our car was also digested by a giant bug thing. And we were zapped with the white light. It was quite enjoyable.

After Men in Black, they wanted to ride Jaws. I absolutely did not feel like getting wet, so I stayed outside with Robin while everyone else went. Robin fell asleep, so my job was easy. I did take a picture of the giant shark from where I was sitting. Shark! We ate at the earthquake themed restaurant and then went to get in line for the Shrek 4-D show. The wait was unfortunately, three hours. We immediately skipped that idea and shopped around for a while. Some guy handed Uncle Tom his Fast Passes for Shrek, but there were only three of them. Aunt Teresa, Uncle Tom, and Robin decided they'd go on the ride while Aunt Barbara waited with Ryan, who didn't want to see Shrek. But before we did that, we made a detour to see Nickelodeon Studios. We watched the Slime Geyser go off, and the building looks exactly like it does on TV.

Mommy, Crystal, and I went back to the hotel. I managed to sneak in a picture of the Universal logo giant world thing in the lake. Aunt Teresa's family was staying in the one right next to ours, so they brought Aunt Barbara to the room. Misty was already there. And we went to bed.



Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Grrrrrrr. Not only does Misty sleep with the TV on like Patty does, she has to have the volume turned up. I got what felt like zero sleep. I was unhappy. We had to get up at 6:00 again, but this time for a good reason. We had reservations at Chef Mickey's restaurant for one of those character breakfast things. Which started at seven. Yes, seven. In the morning. We had to be there at seven. Ahem.

So we drove to the Contemporary Resort (you know, the one with the monorail through it?). I got to see my grandparents and everyone else in Aunt JoAnn's family for the first time. They showed us to our own private dining area. And believe me, we needed it, with 23 people. As soon as we sat down, we had to get back up again and take a group photo. We had our own personal server, too. He stayed in the room with us unless we needed him to get something. The buffet had every breakfast food imaginable. They even had cheese grits! Hooray!

As soon as everyone had their plates and whatnot, the characters started coming through the room. Their job is to pay special attention to each table and sign autographs and pose for pictures. I got pictures of Pluto with Blake, Minnie, signing Ashley's autograph book, and Mickey coming into our room. The sun finally came up, and this was the view out of my window. That's the Grand Floridian resort. The other side of the room had a view of the castle, but that picture didn't turn out very well.

Goofy, Chip, and Dale were also characters that came into our room. A note about the character breakfast: At certain intervals, they play this song, and everyone has to wave their napkins above their heads. Even the servers and characters. Dale happened to be in our room when they did it for the third time, and he grabbed someone's napkin and started dancing around. Uncle Tom, being odd, started waving money over his head instead of his napkin. We laughed at him.

When breakfast was over, we had to go to Disney World. It was only 9:00 in the morning. Everyone else was going to go park in the big parking lot, but I refused. I absolutely refused to get in the crowd to park, and then have to walk or take the shuttle to the main entrance. Not to mention, finding the car that night and getting out. No. So Marc, Crystal, and I drove my car back to our resort to catch the bus that would take us straight to the main gate and pick us up that night. But, I got lost on the way back to the hotel. We ended up at the Wilderness Lodge somehow. I did get turned back around and we safely made it to our room. We caught the bus and went all the way back to Disney and met the rest of our family coming through the front gates. They'd just found parking and made it to the gate. Go figure. I made the smart decision.

Side note: The park employees told us that it was the busiest day of the year. They actually closed the gates at 10:00 am because the park was filled to capacity and they couldn't let anyone else in. And I believe them. There were literally times when you could not move because there were so many people around you. And most of the lines were at least an hour wait for the rides. It was also hot. 80 degrees every day. In January. *cries*

Marc, Crystal, and I went off by ourselves for the day. I was not going to stay in that big group with all those kids who couldn't ride all the rides. The first stop was the Christmas tree. Then, we walked down Main Street and took pictures of Cinderella Castle. My favorite picture I took of the castle was actually from behind it. You can get this view from Fantasyland.

We actually went to the left first, which is Adventureland. The line for Aladdin's carpets was only 20 minutes, so we did that one first. Me, of all people, Miss Disney herself had never actually been on the carpet ride. It was quite enjoyable and the camel did not spit at me. Next, we waited 40 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean. I tried to take non-flash pictures inside, but none of them worked. But that's okay, you're not supposed to take pictures inside anyway. ;) We hurried over to Splash Mountain to get our Fast Passes. Our time was scheduled at 4:30. We refused to wait in line for Big Thunder Mountain, as we'd all already ridden it before. We headed allllll they way across the park to Tomorrowland. We went through the castle and took pictures of Main Street from the other direction. There was practically no wait for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority tour thing, so we hurried up and rode that one.

Then it was lunchtime! Surprisingly, the rest of our family were all in the same restaurant. Grandpuff took my chair when I left and told me that if I saw my grandmother, to let him know. I asked him why he'd lost her, and he said that it wasn't his week to watch her. So I laughed and spoke to my Mommy in line. Grandma was apparently on the other side of the restaurant, so I went back to tell Grandpuff. He said that it was "good place for her to be." Crystal and Marc wanted to ride Space Mountain, but I just didn't feel like it. So I shopped and found this really great, quiet, shaded place to sit. It's sort of around behind Space Mountain. And it's cool and calm. With no other people. At least, not until this teenage couple found the same spot and started making out. I left. Ewww.

I met back up with Marc and Crystal and told them that since I'd waited for them to ride Space Mountain, they had to wait in line with me for the new ride. Disney's Philharmagic 3D show. The wait for it was really not that bad, only 30 minutes or so. There was this really odd family in front of us, but that would take far too long to explain. I will never look at a lollipop the same way again. Ever. *toasts Crystal, who does read this journal* But I do have to say that the Philharmagic was so worth the wait. It was wonderful. I recommend it to everyone. It's just a 3D music show thing, but it's Disney style, which is the greatest.

By this time, it was 3:30, so we headed back towards Splash Mountain to use our Fast Passes. Traffic was literally stopped in Fantasyland. I did not get to ride Winnie-the-Pooh, Snow White's Adventures, It's a Small World, or *gasp* Peter Pan. I did take a picture of Peter Pan, though. Over at Splash Mountain, we got to skip all the way to the front of the line. There was absolutely no wait. Fast Passes are a great thing.

We were getting tired and agreed to head back to the room. (Matthew, Jennifer, and the boys had already left around 3 because Matthew had to work the next day.) We shopped on Main Street on the way out. I bought absolutely nothing. Me, the shopping addict. So far, I'd bought nothing on my trip. (we'll get there, believe me ;)) We took the monorail around to the Grand Floridian Resort, because Crystal wanted to. I took a picture of their lobby. Yes, that tree is that tall, we were on the second floor. You can see the balloons overhead for the big New Year's party. We rode the bus back to the hotel and hung around until everyone else got there. Then I took Crystal back to her family. I refused to sleep in the room with the TV again, so I slept in the bed with Aunt Barbara. Finally! Sleep!



Thursday, January 1, 2004

I got to sleep until 8:30! Whee! We had to change from the All Star Movies resort to the All Star Music resort. So we checked out of Movies and checked into Music. Our rooms weren't ready, but they were going to transfer our luggage for us. So we took the bus to MGM studios.

This time, the entire family went. And again, Marc, Crystal, and I got to go off on our own. The immediate first stop was to get Fast Passes for the Tower of Terror. I'd never been on it. Marc didn't want to go, so just Crystal and I got passes. I then directed our course to the Great Movie Ride. Which is inside this building. It wasn't that great, because the live actors were bad and the special effects were old. But when our traveling car ended up in "The Underworld" with the Mafia bosses, I was thinking "Iso!! I wonder what's happening in the JL RPG! I need to know!!!" Ahem. We ate lunch at the ABC building. We shopped at the Muppet Store and I saw these statues that I just *knew* were done by Weta. And they indeed were Weta statues. Which is odd, because I didn't think Weta/New Line/AOL Time Warner was associated with Disney/MGM. Anyway, it was already time for our Fast Passes.

Let me just say that Tower of Terror is my new favorite thing. It was great. Our car dropped four times in a row. Yay! Fun! I wanted to go again. But oh well. We headed back to the resort and I used my room card to find out the new room number. It was waaaaaaaay in the back. The very last building. As usual. But.....it was the Broadway themed building! It was so exciting.

The main entrance looks like a theater and there were top hats on the sides! And street signs! But it really looked the coolest at night, when it was all lit up.

Moving on. Patty and I went to do laundry. When I came back, Mommy and Aunt Barbara told me about this store at MGM. A LORD OF THE RINGS themed store. It was over by the Backlot Tour, which I did not go on. Um...WHAT?! I missed it!? There was much sadness. But they did buy me a keychain and several magnets. *And* my Aunt Teresa got my birthday present there. They had two posters from the movie on the walls, but they didn't have any in stock. And Aunt Teresa and Uncle Tom made them take the posters off the wall for me. So I have *laminated* posters. One of the hobbits under the tree while the Ringwraith is above them. And one of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in the Two Towers. Success!



Friday, January 2, 2004

Again, I got to sleep until 8:30. I was proud. Today, I went back to EPCOT with Aunt Teresa, Uncle Tom, and Ryan. Just the four of us. Everyone else went various places. The three of them got in line for Mission: Space, but that ride is supposed to cause motion sickness and I wasn't brave enough. Instead, I got in the single riders lane for Test Track and only had to wait 15 minutes to get in a car. I shopped after that and got my souvenir. Most Disney stores now have this station where you can create your own charm bracelet, and I made one. I went to meet up with the other three, and we rode the World of Energy dinosaur thing. Ryan loved it. He and Uncle Tom really wanted to ride Test Track, so they got in the long line. Aunt Barbara and I went to the United Kingdom to get a family crest made for Grandpuff. I got to take pictures of Canada, Italy across the lake, and Japan, but that's all. We went in a store called the Art of Disney, which has unique/collector's/expensive stuff. Like a beautiful expressionist painting of a scene in Peter Pan for 1400 dollars. Not 14.00 1400.00. Aunt Barbara bought me two Peter Pan postcards, though. We went back to the hotel for the afternoon.

That night, we all headed back to MGM for the Fantasmic night show. It was so worth going to. I can't even describe it, really. There were live actors on an island. Walls of water with images projected on them. Floats. Fireworks. Singing. Dancing. I loved it. After that, everyone left except me, Aunt Teresa, Uncle Tom, and Ryan. We all rode Tower of Terror. At night. It was so wonderful. And yes, I did indeed make it to the Lord of the Rings store. Did you doubt that I'd miss it? ;) They had those statues of the characters that I'm collecting. I had Frodo, Merry, and Pippin already. Did they have a Sam? It was, indeed, the only one they had. In fact, I got the very last one. They had to take down the display for me. But now all my hobbitses are together. They are on my shelf in the order they're standing in the coronation scene. *grins happily* I got cheesecake at the hotel, too. It was good.



Saturday, January 3, 2004

Everyone went home today except me, Mommy, Marc, Grandma, Grandpuff, Patty, and Dommie. We drove over to the condo where Grandma and Grandpuff were. We left Marc and Grandpuff and went shopping. I, Margie, drove through Orlando traffic to get to the Belz Outlet center. I was proud of me. But I drove all the way there and I bought nothing. On the way back, we stopped at the gas station, and I could not get it to work. Turns out you have to prepay. We don't have that kind of thing in Valdosta, Georgia. I was so confused. But eventually, we got it sorted out.

We picked up the two guys and went back to the resort. We promptly got on a bus to go to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. But there was an hour and a half wait. We tried to see about eating at Captain Jack's (My first thought? Jack Sparrow!) but it was too expensive. I went shopping and got a sketchbook, a keychain, one more charm for my bracelet, a picture frame, and a decorative license plate for the front of my car. It has Sorceror Mickey on it and it says "Walt Disney World...Where Magic Lives."

We rode the bus back to the hotel to eat in its restaurant. And then I had to take the grandparents all the way back to the condo. But I did get my very own bed, with no TV all night!



Sunday, January 4, 2004

Today! Hooray! We got up early, packed the cars, picked up the grandparents and drove home. And believe me, as much fun as I had, I am so glad to be back. I missed you!