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We knew from the start that
this would be a whirlwind trip for us. There were just so many
things going on at the same time . . .
We would be joining some
friends from the
Tagrel.com
web site for our annual Tag-O-Mania meet; many other friends who go to
the annual RADP get-together would
be there and our good friends at
AllEars.net and
Mouse Fan Travel were
hosting some 30th Anniversary events. AllEars was celebrating 20
years and Mouse Fan Travel was celebrating 10 years.
There was so much to do that
we knew that the pace would be hectic. It was everything we
expected, and more. I hope you enjoy reading about the trip, we
sure had a great time! |
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Thursday December 3,
2015
There was no need for an alarm clock; we were both excited and wide
awake at 6:00 a.m. We dashed through our usual morning routine and by
7:15 we had the house all locked up and secured for a few days.
We hopped in the car, raring to go, but had to wait a few minutes. It
had rained overnight and then temperatures fell below freezing. The
windshield was covered with frozen raindrops; not a heavy coating of
ice, but just enough to obstruct our view. Within a few minutes the
engine had warmed and the defroster did its job. We pulled away at
7:20. a.m. |
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The sun was just rising above a grey bank of low clouds
as we approached the US border. |
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There was no line at the
border and by 7:50 we were southbound on Interstate 81.
It always strikes me as
funny, we travel on Canada’s busiest highway to get to that bridge - and
once we cross the border there is no traffic at all. That part of I-81
travels through a remote and sparsely populated area of Upstate New
York. |
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We pulled off at Watertown
New York and picked up a coffee at Tim Horton's then headed on south to
Syracuse. By 9:30 Carol was scouring the aisles at the Christmas Tree
Shop in Mattydale, just south of Syracuse’s Hancock International
Airport. I browsed along with her for a few minutes, then returned to
my usual spot, reading in the car. It wasn’t long until she finished and
we made the short hop to the airport.
We pulled into the
parking lot at 10:30 and by 10:45 we had checked in with Jet Blue,
cleared security and were headed to our departure lounge. Have I
mentioned how much we like our Nexus cards? They give us automatic TSA
pre-clearance!
Alas, we were early but
our flight was late . . . but only by a little bit! We watched our
aircraft approach and wait just outside our window, not far from the
loading bridge. It couldn’t pull in until a flight to La Guardia pulled
away from the gate.
We took off at 12:14,
about 10 minutes behind schedule and after an uneventful flight we
landed in Orlando at 3:00 p.m. On our way to the baggage carousel we
chatted with Roberta, from Syracuse, who had been on the same flight and
will be at the same Anniversary events Carol and I are going to. Carol
sat beside Roberta on a flight home from her annual EPCOT pin events a
few years ago.
Carol waited for our
giant, overweight (50.5 pounds) suitcase while I carried on downstairs
to Alamo to do all the paperwork for our rental car. She arrived with
the suitcase and we walked across to the parking garage where we picked
out a blue Hyundai Sonata from the line-up of cars. We were on the road
by 4:00. After a quick stop at a convenience store to pick up some soft
drinks for the room we headed to our happy place. |
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We spotted Mickey through
a rain-spotted windshield at 4:20 p.m. |
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Our first stop was Fort
Wilderness where we had a short visit with our campground friends Hilda
and Stephanie. |
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We picked up some pins
Hilda had for Carol, then carried on to Port Orleans French Quarter. |
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Carol had received a text
message that our room, #7101 was ready so I waited in the car, under the
porte-cochère, while she popped into the lobby
to pick up our magic bands. |
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We had a very nice corner
room, but it was a long way from the lobby. In fact, it was as far from
the lobby as it could possibly be. We were closer to the lobby at the
neighbouring Riverside Resort! It worked out very well for us, we spent
very little time at the resort, got back very late each night and there
was always plenty of parking way out there in the boondocks! |
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We were all unpacked and
settled in the room by 5:45 and it was time to head out for dinner. We
walked along the bank of the Sassagoula River in a light drizzle and
watched the boat to Disney Springs pull away from about 50 yards
upstream of the dock. Dang! |
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The next boat arrived 20
minutes later and we enjoyed the scenic ride past the tree-houses and
golf courses. |
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Carol’s first priority was
pins so we headed directly to Pin Central where she picked up everything
she had on her wish list! |
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There were a few she
hadn’t expected to find so she was a happy pin trader!
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By
6:30 we had settled in for some fine dining at Earl of Sandwich, then
Carol shopped while I sat outside, sheltered from the rain,
people-watching and reading my book. She managed to scour all the
stores in under two hours and only had one small bag when we headed back
to the boat dock ay 8:30. |
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Our
ship sailed within 5 minutes and had us back to the resort by 9:05. I
snapped a few pictures of the Mardi Gras themed décor in the Jackson
Square gift shop while Carol checked out the resort themed merchandise. |
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By
9:30 we settled in the room, tuckered out after a long travel day! |
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Friday December 4, 2015
We always have a restless sleep the first night in a new hotel and this
was no exception. We were up at 7:00 a.m. but neither of us felt fully
refreshed. |
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We had breakfast at Sassagoula Float Works, the resort’s food court, and
discussed our plans for the day. We had intended to go to Animal
Kingdom for a few hours for a ride at Kilimanjaro Safaris and a plunge
down Expedition Everest but changed our minds over breakfast. We knew
we’d be very busy for the rest of the weekend and decided not to rush
that morning. |
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Instead we took a leisurely drive over to Property Control, the Disney
liquidation shop, and browsed.
Carol was admiring a Vera Bradley shoulder bag. It was an exact match
for a smaller bag that I had bought her last year for Christmas and I
could see the wheels turning in her mind. Even though it was marked
down quite a bit, did she really want to spend that much on another
bag? Then I saw the light go on . . . it actually flickered in her
eyes! She handed me the bag and said, “This would make an excellent
Christmas gift for me!” Bonus! I think my shopping is now all done! |
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We still had some time to kill before reporting for work at Kidani Lodge
so we went to Animal Kingdom Lodge and walked out to Arusha Rock to see
all the animals on the savannah. What a shock we had . . . there wasn’t
a single animal, not even a bird. |
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We’ve never seen it that desolate before! I really wanted to get a
picture of some wildlife, but the picture to the left was the closest
thing I could get! |
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We wandered back out through the lobby at Animal Kingdom and drove to
the nearby Disney Vacation Club property, Kidani Lodge, where we were
helping to host the AllEars/MFT open house at one of the Grand Villa
suites. Wow! It was magnificent! The suite had three bedrooms and
three baths spread over two stories. Three balconies overlooked the
savannah and we were entertained by wandering giraffe, zebras, antelope
and several other species who wandered by during the afternoon. |
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Our friend Melanie Camphouse, an event coordinator from Denver, reviewed
the duties she had assigned for all members of Team AllEars, then we had
some time to mingle with our fellow team members before the guests
started arriving at noon. |
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Our special guest for the afternoon was Ron Schneider, the original
Dreamfinder. If you were at EPCOT between 1982 and 1987 you may
remember the bearded man who carried Figment around Future World and
mingled with guests. The two pictures below show our son Rob and a
friend Jenny with Ron Schneider in his Dreamfinder garb, one was taken
in 1982 and the other in 1984. |
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Guests came in four shifts, 45 families during each time slot, from
12:00 to 1:00 p.m., 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 3 to 4. Each hour there were
draws for some wonderful door prizes and every guest left with a “swag
bag” with some special mementos of the day.
I spent the first hour directing traffic around Ron Schneider who was
chatting with fans, signing autographs, posing for pictures with guests
and autographing the book he has written about his Dreamfinder days.
Then I went to help Carol for the next three hours. She was on the
second floor manning a pin trading board and overseeing the folks who
were swapping AllEars Trading Cards. There are over 70 different
trading cards and two brand new ones were released that day. Each guest
was given a pack of 32 cards, one each of the new ones, and five each of
six other cards. The trading was intense as folks tried to trade their
duplicates away in exchange for cards they didn’t have. It’s always a
good “mixer” to get people talking and interacting! |
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We both had a great time. There were plenty of familiar faces, people
we’ve met at previous AllEars functions, people we’ve met on Disney
cruises and some friends from the Tagrel.com site we’ve been members of
for years. There were several people who enjoy the blogs both Carol and
I write for AllEars who stopped by to introduce themselves. We had a
terrific afternoon! |
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After the guests left the AllEars team lingered and presented Deb Wills
and Linda with a special gift to commemorate 20 years of AllEars.net
Deb Koma, Editor at AllEars, gave them a bottle of wine and a memory
book on our behalf. Many of us on the team sent in pictures and stories
which Alice McNutt Miller crafted into a wonderful hard-covered book. |
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Carol and I left just before 5:00 p.m. and headed back to the French
Quarter where I had a brief nap. It was actually a very brief nap, we
were back on the road by 6:00 heading to Hollywood Studios where we met
our Tagrel friends Susan, Lynne, Kristen, Cheri, Karen, Naomi, Terri,
Amy, Sharon and John. |
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We wandered the Streets of America and enjoyed the Osborne Spectacle of
Dancing Lights with about 10,000 other people while we visited with the
Tagrel gang. |
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We had planned to pick up some dinner at a quick-service spot in the
park, but the Tagrel group had a 7:50 p.m. reservation at 50’s Prime
Time Café and there was room to squeeze us in so we gladly joined them. |
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We had a fun-filled time with Karen (Rosebud), Karen (Merlesgirl), Mark,
Robbie, SusanL, Pam & Mike. |
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It was after 9:00 when we left 50’s Prime Time. The park had closed at
9:00 so we found a park bench and sat for a relaxing half hour while the
park emptied out. At about 9:40 we made our way out the exit and headed
to the big Christmas tree near the boat dock. That was where we were to
meet for our last adventure of the day. Mouse Fan Travel was hosting a
special after hours dessert party and our friends Beci, Annette and
Brock were waiting for us near the tree. There were 158 invited guests
in the group which included long time clients of MFT, key suppliers and
business partners and a few Disney cast members who the travel company
wanted to thank for exemplary service. Carol and I have been Mouse Fan
Travel clients for over 10 years, and so have our Tagrel.com friends
Susan (Topaz), Lynne, Kristen & Lizanne who were there as well. |
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At 10:00 p.m. we donned our special lanyards for the event and Disney
cast members led us through an empty park to the deserted and darkened
Streets of America. After Mouse Fan Travel founder and owner Beci
Mahnken greeted us she and her staff threw the big switch to turn on the
lights. Wow! What a thrill! We had the place all to ourselves . . .
only 158 people in the same place we had walked through with 10,000
people just a few hours earlier! |
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Look Mom, no people! |
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In the town square area, under the big illuminated globe and all the
flying angels there were linen draped tables, comfy chairs, hot and cold
drinks and a sumptuous array of deserts. Carol sampled “nitro infused”
popcorn, the popcorn was topped off with a shot of liquid nitrogen and
the bowl wafted out an eerie white mist for several minutes!
It was nice to relax in comfort for a few minutes and enjoy the
desserts, but we didn’t want to miss such a special opportunity under
all those lights so we were soon up wandering up and down the almost
empty streets, snapping pictures all the way. It was extra special
since this is the last time we’ll see the lights in that location. That
area of the park is being re-developed and Disney has not decided if the
display will be used again. It sure would be a shame if the lights
don’t return in some other location! |
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The lights went out
at 11:30; we were dog-tired by then so we thanked Beci for a truly
amazing evening, said our goodbyes then began our trek home. As we
exited the park we spotted our friends from California, Mari May and
Raleigh, at exit asking directions. There were no buses running at that
late hour and they didn’t have a car. Their resort, Saratoga Springs is
just around the corner from ours so we gave them a lift home. It was
12:10 when we walked back into our room and crashed for the night! |
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Saturday December 5,
2015
It was another early start, up at 7:00 a.m., with another long day ahead
of us! |
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We were in the Sonata on our way to EPCOT at 8:30 and arrived at the
gate at 8:45. |
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As you probably expected Carol had to stop and check the new pin
releases. The pin trash can, Pinnifer, was standing nearby so she
stopped for a trade. |
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We met our Tagrel.com friends at The Land at 9:00 and once everyone was
assembled we posed for a group photo before 17 of us stepped into the
FastPass line for a ride on Soarin’. |
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John, Sharon, Mark, Robbie, Karen (Rosebud), Karen (Merlesgirl), Karen (JellyRolls),
Marie, Susan (Topaz), Susan (SusanL), Cheri, Naomi, Lizanne, Pam, Mike,
Carl and Diane were there! |
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Mike had saved several tables at Sunshine Seasons so we all stopped for
coffee and a snack before moving on to Spaceship Earth where 16 of us
stepped into the FastPass line and enjoyed a trip back in time. |
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Most of us walked to World Showcase and stopped in France. |
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While we waited for a few Tagrel friends who were on the way to join us,
Carol spotted four ladies wearing some unique, hand-crafted Disney
attire. They all wore themed t-shirts, Mickey ears and carried
one-of-a-kind Disney purses. Carol asked one of them who created their
wonderful stuff. The woman looked at her and said, “Do you blog? Are
you Carol?” Wow, what a small world; Lisa from Pittsburgh reads our
blogs and we spent a few minutes chatting with her and her three
friends. Soon our Tagrel friend Pam joined in the discussion. Pam
enjoys sewing and is very good at it; she makes lanyards for our meets,
fish extenders for our group cruises, luggage tags, etc. She now has
some new ideas to work with! Thanks Lisa, it was nice to meet you! |
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It wasn’t long before Mark and Robbie joined us and we wandered off to a
quiet corner for a short Celebration of Life. Our Tagrel.com group has
lost four people in the last few years. Cheri took us back through some
wonderful memories and gave a stirring tribute to our fallen friends. |
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We said goodbye and headed toward the exit. |
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The new Canadian Holiday Voyageurs were playing as we approached the
Canadian Pavilion so we stopped to give a listen. Now that’s more like
it . . . so much better than those wretched lumberjacks! |
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We had a cronut from the Refreshment Port for dessert then followed it
with chicken nuggets at the Electric Umbrella. We were back at the
resort by 2:00 p.m. and I took another very brief, almost instant nap.
By 3:00 we were back in the car making our return trip to EPCOT. It was
time for the big gala anniversary celebration. |
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We caught the Friendship boat from Canada to Morocco at 3:30 and joined
the AllEars team at the American Adventure pavilion. Carol and I helped
Event Coordinator Melanie and the Mouse Fan Travel team with the
check-in process. The 150 guests began arriving just before 4:00 p.m.
and by 4:30 everyone was checked in and waiting for our first event, the
5:00 p.m. Candlelight Processional. |
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At 4:45 Disney cast members led us to our reserved seating area in the
America Gardens Theatre for this wonderfully moving rendition of the
Christmas story. Carol and I really enjoy the event; it has become a
holiday tradition for us; we always attend the processional when we’re
at the parks during the Christmas season. |
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That evening the guest narrator was Whoopi Goldberg and the guest
conductor was Dr. Don Sinclair. They both did a terrific job! |
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Next on the evening’s agenda was dinner in the magnificent rotunda at
the American Adventure. They had closed the rotunda and redirected
people wishing to watch the show through an alternate entrance. At 6:40
we were led into the hall to find it lavishly set up for our dinner.
There were two buffet tables, one at each end of the hall, and we
savoured the delicious fare. It was several levels above normal buffet
fare, the salmon, chicken and beef were outstanding! |
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We were still enjoying our dinner at 7:25 when the Voices of Liberty, a
professional singing group who perform daily in the rotunda, arrived to
give us a private concert. They were dressed in Victorian era Christmas
attire and sang a number of Christmas carols and songs in perfect a
cappella harmony. What an awesome treat! |
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The AllEars Team |
As soon as the Voices of Liberty left the rotunda another special guest
arrived. Scrooge McDuck joined us and stayed over an hour posing for
pictures with all the guests. Scrooge is a character you seldom see in
the parks so it was extra special to get a picture with him. |
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At 8:45 Disney cast members had us line up and follow the big red
flashlight beacons as they led us through the crowds waiting for the
nightly Illuminations fireworks spectacular. All 150 of us paraded
behind the guides from the American Adventure to our reserved viewing
area just past Mexico, near the Port of Entry and the Friendship boat
dock. Comfy chairs, linen covered tables and a very nice dessert buffet
awaited us. We sat, sipped coffee and enjoyed drinks and a nice variety
of sweets, cheese and crackers and fresh fruit with whipped cream as we
watched Disney’s largest pyrotechnic display. To be honest,
Illuminations is not our favourite fireworks show, but this was a
wonderful way to watch it! |
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The park was officially closed when Illuminations concluded. We sat for
another 20 minutes, enjoying the buffet, while guests exited the park.
Once the crowd had thinned our Disney guides arrived once more and led
us all to Future World. |
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We walked up the ramp into The Land pavilion and were treated to a
private ride on Soarin’.
What a great way to wrap up a fabulous day!
Once again we drove
Mari May and Raleigh home to Saratoga Springs, got back to our resort
just after 11:00. We were exhausted and crashed almost instantly! |
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Sunday December 6,
2015
We were up at 7:00 and on the road by 8:00. |
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We drove to the Polynesian Village Resort to have breakfast at Captain
Cook’s. |
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The lobby décor was fabulous so we stopped to admire the tropical
Christmas tree. It was filled with orchids, hibiscus, bird of paradise
and many other exotic tropical flowers. Very nice! |
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At Captain Cook’s I lined up to order our food while Carol went off to
pick up utensils, napkins, etc. She came back with a long face, “I
can’t believe it,” she said. “There were no forks and no napkins. I
asked one of the cast members for help and they came back with a box of
forks but told me they couldn’t find napkins. We would have to do
without!” What? Definitely not the kind of service you expect in a
deluxe resort where the cheapest rooms cost $429 per night! That’s a
definite faux pas, but it’s symptomatic of the recent decline in service
at Walt Disney World. I went to the condiments table and found some
soggy napkins under a jug of cold water. They had absorbed some
condensation, but they were better than nothing! |
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We hopped aboard the monorail at the Polynesian Village station and
arrived at the Magic Kingdom at 9:05 a.m. |
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We slowly browsed our way through the Main Street shops and checked in
with our AllEars friends at Tomorrowland Terrace by 9:30. |
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The entire AllEars team were there for a “Meet & Greet” session from
10:00 to 11:30. We mixed and mingled with AllEars fans from far and
wide who came to say hello. Guests were delighted to meet AllEars
founder Deb Wills, “Mister Hidden Mickey” Steve Barrett, and a number of
AllEars bloggers. It was a great session, Carol passed out the special
AllEars trading card produced for the event and others passed out pens
and a variety of swag as we mingled and spoke with AllEars fans from all
across North America. It was a nice relaxing time with old friends and
new acquaintances. |
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The crowd had thinned by 11:45 so Carol and I said goodbye to the
AllEars team and scurried off to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train where we
had a FastPass. It’s the newest attraction at Walt Disney World and the
standby line was over an hour long. Sure glad we had those passes!
After our high speed trip through the mine we walked over to Liberty
Square to checked in for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Carol had a few
minutes to browse the nearby pin store while I waited near the
restaurant. We were seated by 1:00 p.m. and had a nice lunch. |
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Our time at Disney was coming to an end, this was the last time we’d
spend in a park until our next trip in April, so we moved slowly on our
way toward the exit, savouring the atmosphere before boarding the
monorail for our return trip to the Polynesian where the car was parked.
We made a quick stop at the Contemporary Resort to check out the
gingerbread house in the lobby and got back to the French Quarter at
3:00 p.m. I relaxed and enjoyed a full length nap; Carol packed our
suitcase and had a shorter nap. |
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At 5:15 we left again, this time it was a short drive to the Wilderness
Lodge Resort where we met friends and fellow Fort Wilderness campers Al
and Jane, from Missouri, for dinner at Whispering Canyon Café. They had
just checked in at the campground that afternoon and will be staying
until about April. It was sometimes difficult to have a conversation
over the raucous background noise in that always rowdy restaurant, but
we had a very nice visit over dinner. |
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Al and I settled in some comfy chairs in the lobby while the girls
checked out the shops, then we said goodbye and headed back home. We
were back at our resort by 9:00. |
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I dropped Carol off
at the lobby; she needed just a teensy bit more retail therapy at the
Jackson Square shop. She snapped a few more pictures of the Christmas
décor before joining me in the room. |
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We watched a bit of TV
and went to bed early since we had an early start the next day! |
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