Dorothy Filz - December 2001

Hi Everyone. Our Christmas trip was fantastic. We left Alabama about 12:30 on the 19th. We had reservations for 2 rooms at the Day's Inn in Gainesville, Newberry Road. It was horrible. The worst motel I have ever stayed in. I just got the number for Day's Inn to complain to. We all worried that this might be an omen of things to come but, I guess we got all the bad stuff out of the way right off the bat and the rest of the trip went reasonably smooth. Several of our family members had to cancel so we wound up with 3 rooms for 4 adults and 4 kids. Plenty of room to spread out. We stayed at the All Star Sports on the second floor in building # 9. It was pretty close to the bus stop and an easy walk to the food court. The kids liked the quiet baseball diamond pool better than the main pool. We could see the pool from our room. Our maid went above and beyond to make our stay something special. Every day the grandchildren would race to the room to see what surprises she had left for them. She left all kinds of things made out of towels and washcloths. Over the 5 full days we stayed they found a duck with one of their toothbrushes stuck in it's tail feathers, Grandpa found his razor in a duck one day, she left a rabbit with a toothbrush in it, a large snake with the soap caught in it's coils, my daughters found a shirt and tie made out of a towel and washcloth on their beds, an alligator on the bed, and I found an elf on my bed, she also left roses made out of washcloths in all the bathrooms on top of the towels. It was really neat. The kids felt very special. I got the name of the maid's manager from the front desk and I have written him a letter telling him about how Irina the maid had made our Christmas with the Grandchildren special. The funny thing is that another set of Grandparents (our ex daughter-in-laws parents) stayed in Building # 8 and their maid never left anything special. We really liked the Food Court at the Sports and our daughters and grandchildren all agreed that if we go again they want to stay at the All Stars. We had been very leery about staying at the budget motel of WDW because we usually stay at a moderate. Even my husband liked it. But, the rooms are smaller than a moderate. Since we had 3 bathrooms it didn't seem to be a problem for us though. We found the staff (except for the gift shop) to be very friendly and helpful. When I checked in I changed my room from my Disney Card to AMEX. The CM checking me in said that since I would be charging a minimum of 2 nights charged to my AMEX it qualified me for the White Glove gift. He said they had just changed it from the fanny pack to something new. What a surprise. It was 2 lanyard's and 2 Disney AMEX pins that were tradable. The youngest 2 grandchildren had a ball trading that pin for a Disney pin. Later during our stay our 2 teenage grandson's even got into the act. I bought several pins from the Shades of Green for only $3 each and they had a ball trading their pins over and over again. It really surprised all the adults that they would get such a kick out it. The parks were empty for this time of year. The longest wait we had was 12 minutes with one exception. My littlest grandson wanted to ride Peter Pan. On our second evening at MK the lines were still very long. I refused to wait 45 minutes to ride Peter Pan. My softy of a husband said for the rest of us to go on and get places to watch the lighted parade and he would take him to see Peter Pan. Talk about a Christmas Surprise. It shocked all of us. DH hates lines. Luckily, they finished with Peter Pan and arrived just in time to see the parade with the rest of us. We had a set of construction walkie talkies with a range of 2 miles. They worked great. The only minor disappointment we had was with Epcot. Imagination was closed. The Living Seas doesn't have the ride through the fish tank anymore and there aren't very many fish in the tank anymore. Test Track was better than ever though. We had a great time listening to the Christmas music though while we waited for Illuminations. I want to thank the person (I don't remember who) that suggested getting the strawberries and cream beaver tail from Canada. They are really good. They even sang the little song when we bought them. My grandchildren thought that was hysterical. We had a very laid back and restful trip this time. I even went through the Swiss Family Treehouse for the very first time this trip. About 10:20 AM Christmas Eve morning we decided we were really tired of hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken fingers, and pizza. I called to make lunch reservations at Crystal Palace and was shocked that I got them for the exact time I wanted. We had 12:20 reservations. We really enjoyed the characters and the staff was great. We did have one small problem though. We had finished eating and the kids went and got ice cream. My youngest daughter (the baby of 4 at 23) decided she would rather have fruit. She stirred the fruit bowl up and got her favorite fruit out. Cantaloupe. She was eating a piece of the cantaloupe when she said she had a problem. She had felt something crunchy in her mouth and pulled out a shard of glass. I went and got our server and quietly told her my daughter had found glass in her food. She came to the table right away and my daughter explained what had happened. She asked what she had been eating and was she sure that it had come from the fruit. My daughter assured her that she had finished everything else and had only been eating the cantaloupe. The server disappeared and then she and a manager came back to the table. They said they had pulled the bowl of fruit where she had gotten her cantaloupe from and asked our daughter some more questions. She laughed and said she had really been surprised when her fruit was crunchy. That we had brought it to their attention because if it had been one of the kids they would have probably swallowed the glass. The manager said that she appreciated that we were being so nice about everything and had kept a sense of humor about the situation. We told them that we hadn't wanted to scare the kids or cause a panic but that we felt that they had needed to know because it was a health hazard. The server and the manager left. We figured that was that. Later our server came over and said that since we had been so nice about everything and that were going to take 2 of the adults meals off of our bill. That brought the meal (with included tip) down to $95 plus change. Christmas Day we got a late start. We had stayed late at MK the night before. Thank heavens we had already gone to MGM one evening and saw Fantasmic and the Osborne lights. There again we had a great night because of a really nice CM. After Fantasmic I was disappointed to find out it was 8:30 PM. The park closed at 8 and the lights were only open until 8:30. A very nice CM told us as everyone else was leaving that they really stayed open until 9 but they didn't tell everyone because they'd never get everyone out of the park. We even got our traditional hot chocolate. There was a CM selling the last of his mugs on the street. He had just enough for us. We had the lights almost to ourselves and no one rushed us. We played in the snow as we left and the grandkids made a big deal to their grandpa about the big mistletoe ball that was hung over the street. They made him kiss grandma going in and coming out. It was really funny. This was the second time we have been in WDW for Christmas Day. Both times it has rained. After starting out late we made it straight into Who Wants to be a Millionaire with no wait. It was a blast. Then everyone except me and the youngest grandson went and rode Rock 'N" Rollercoaster. We shopped. We had forgotten our poncho's and everyone but him had a windbreaker. So we asked a store clerk for 2 bags. She gave us a large and a medium one. When everyone else caught up with us I had made him a coat out of the big one and a hat out of the medium one. His cousins started laughing and the poor little fellow was about to get upset when a CM at the gate stopped him and told him that he really liked his raingear. He told him he needed to sell the idea to Disney. He made a big deal about how he would have never thought to make a hat and cover out of Mickey bags and how cool they looked. David beamed and told him proudly that his Grandma had made them just for him. The other kids caught on and told him that they had only laughed because his raingear looked so neat. Another disaster diverted. We left and went back to the motel to dry off and get the van. We had dinner reservations at SoG. After dinner it was still raining so we decided to take the kids to Disney Quest. They had a ball. We turned them loose with strict orders that each older cousin was in charge of one younger cousin. The 4 of them paired off and agreed to meet us at the Christmas Tree in 2 hours. DH, myself, and our 2 daughters walked next door to the Adventurer's Club and had a great time. We saw 2 shows and DH and I managed to embarrass our youngest thoroughly. The French Maid in the Radio broadcast came down and kissed her Dad and the Aviator kept coming over and punching me the arm and leering. Her older sister was about to roll onto the floor laughing, After we picked the kids up we went shopping in Downtown Disney. The next morning we checked out sadly and went back to Downtown Disney. It has become a tradition that on the day we leave we go shopping and the kids get to play at Legoland under Grandpa's sleepy eye. There weren't many bargains though. I splurged and bought that gorgeous white velvet Mickey and Minnie Tree Skirt. It was expensive but it sure is pretty. I also want to thank the people who suggested having lunch at the Liberty Tavern. DH really liked the clam chowder in the bread bowl. The kids got a real kick out of a soup being served in a bowl made out of bread. It fascinated all of them. It will probably be a while before we get back so I am really glad things went so well. This year is our 30th Anniversary and the kids have planned a big trip for us. There goes the WDW money. Except for one small thing. They all know their Mother. They planned 2 days in Disneyland during our big trip. Oh boy! We also get one week in the adult Fantasyland called Las Vegas. Happy New Year Everyone! I hope your Christmas was as enjoyable as ours was.