Graduation Trip - June 2002

Cast is: Joanie (DW-40), Bob (DH-50), Marie (DD-18-grad), 3 friends - Kelly, Jamie & Ashley - all 18 and grads staying in a 2 BR unit at BWV

We've been planning this trip for 15 months (in lieu of a grads only trip to the shore which is very common in NE PA, and can typically become a week of boozing and beaches) and it is finally here! I am usually a last minute packer and this trip is no exception - I finally put the last items in my suitcase a 2:30 a.m. just in time to take a shower and be ready for a 3:30 a.m. departure for the airport - so what if I didn't get any sleep - I'm going to DISNEY - I'll thrive on adrenaline and excitement (all fun and games until the end of day 1 comes and I feel as though I was hit with a truck). We head to pick up the girls who stayed at Jamie's house the night before which is on the way to the airport - LVI. When we pull into the driveway, Kelly is so excited that she's jumping up and down and yelling - I wish I would have had the video camera going. Anyway, we head off to the airport and there is only about 3 groups of people in front of us so we make it through the security check and down to our gate very quickly. Once we are at the gate I break out the Mickey Mouse juice drinks and fruit snacks along with the Disney coloring books and crayons I purchased. You would have though I promised them the moon - amazing - 18 years old and they still love to color. We boarded the plane and had a relatively smooth flight to Pittsburgh and then an on time flight to Orlando. Took the shuttle to baggage claim and our driver from Tiffany was waiting for us. Claimed all our bags (6 people - 10 bags - nothing lost - this is OK) and headed for a grocery stop. He took us to a store called Kash N Karry as they have the best prices and then off to the Boardwalk.

We arrived at the boardwalk to check in and realize how humid it is outside - it must be close to 100% even though the temp is only in the 80's. When we go to check in - the CM says they have 2 rooms set aside for us and we need to decide which one we want. We were meeting another family there who has a set of twin boys who also graduated with the girls and when they checked into their preferred 2 BR the day before they didn't like the view so they were moved. After they were moved they called the desk and said that we were checking in and to give us a room next to them. So, to make a long story short, at this point they had 2 rooms and we could pick which one we wanted - the one next to theirs or the one originally assigned to us which was an EPCOT view which is what I requested when I made the ressie's 11 months earlier. We asked the girls what they wanted - they took the EPCOT view but, the room wasn't ready yet so we looked up the boys after purchasing 3 Ultimate Park Hoppers for 3 of the girls (DH, DD, and I are getting annual passes since we're coming back for Christmas). Their family was in their room in the 4100 section so we went up and paid them a visit until it was time for our 3:00 p.m. lunch ressie in Germany. While we were there, it started to pour - and I mean pour. Of course, our bags were in storage so the first thing we did was stop and buy 2 more ponchos - the 2 we had were packed and since this storm came up so quick we didn't want to have to go down and request access to our bags and dig them out (as the reports go on, we'll realize what an excellent investment this would be). Headed over to Germany with 4 very excited girls to eat. My DH is friends with the drummer in the Biergarten and I had emailed him to say we were coming and that this was a grad trip so he could embarrass the girls. He finally did dedicate a song to 4 special girls who graduated from HS in PA. None of them would dance. Finally, 2 of them wanted to but didn't know how to polka - so I took my big butt out on the floor with them and showed them. It ended up to be a great meal and everyone had a good time. After dinner, we waited until Mark (the drummer) was on break and came back to the hotel since DH made a custom piece of equipment for him and he wanted to pick it up. We checked into our room - the girls loved it. For those of you who aren't aware - BWV doesn't have a dedicated 2 BR, it is a 1 BR and a studio. So, guess who gets the studio - DH and I. ( I realize it would have been less points to book the 1 BR and studio separately, but I wanted to make sure we would be side by side). At this point, we went our separate ways. DH and I headed over to OKW for our dinner ressie at Olivia's. We walked over to EPCOT thru the international gate and rode Spaceship Earth with virtually no line. However it is now 6:00 p.m. and has been raining steady since 5:00 p.m. (after a brief break from the 2:00 p.m. storm). Caught the bus to OKW - our take on this place was good food but the service wasn't so hot. Stopped in the gift shop and bought a DVC shirt for DH and walked around the resort a little bit as we had never been here. It was hard to see anything because it was pouring. We took the bus back to EPCOT to walk thru and back to the BWV. Illuminations was just starting, so we listend and watched as we walked. By now, I have been up for over 32 hours and the motor is shutting off. Went back to the room and all the girls were there plus the twins and they were making tombstone pizzas. I didn't care how much noise they made - I was set for some Disney dreaming.................

Woke up at 6:00 a.m. as we are taking all of the girls plus the 2 twins that graduated - Josh & Jeremy - to breakfast w/Chef Mickey at the Contemporary. Headed to the bus stop by 6:45 a.m. for our 7:30 a.m. ressie. We only had about a 10 min. wait for the bus to the MK for character breakfast - namely this bus is for CRT - but we had our first sprinkle of Pixie Dust - after the bus dropped off at the MK - we were the only ones on it so he took us directly to the Contemporary. The place was absolutely packed - people everywhere. We waited over 30 minutes to be seated. We had great character interaction w/ Mickey during the celebration song but he never came to our table for pictures, so after 1 hour we made a request to our server and he appeared in less than 5 minutes. The kids all left and DH and I walked over to the MK. We got a FP for Splash Mountain then rode Big Thunder twice (DH's favorite ride), people watched until it was time for our FP - rode Splash Mountain - walked over to Liberty Square to go in the Haunted Mansion. When we came out it was pouring. However, we were prepared today - had 2 ponchos plus an umbrella. Needless to say, our feet were soaked and we would eventually have to go back to change shoes. We walked back to the Contemporary to catch the bus to DTD as I needed a bathing suit and I knew there was a store there that sold beach attire - guess again - it wasn't there any longer so we took a bus to the Yacht & Beach Club and I found a nice suit in the gift shop. DH must have liked it too because he didn't even squawk (dollarless spoiler here) when he had to pay $80.00 for it. Since we were over there, we decided to eat lunch at Beaches N Cream. Great food and fast service - I had suddenly got an urge for a hot dog - it was one of the best ones I ever had. The sun is now out again so we went back to the BW to go swimming and do some laundry (DD didn't realize this isn't like the poly and you don't get clean towels everyday and as they used their's they threw the wet ones on the floor in a pile, so I wanted to wash them). The girls wised up since and would bring some extra towels up from the pool area and then take deposit them in towel return the next day. Showered and then headed to catch a bus to the MK for dinner at Chef Mickey's and E-ride. The bus pulled up just as we got to the bus stop - yay - no wait. But, its raining hard - AGAIN. Walked from MK to Contemporary to eat at Chef Mickey's. Food was good. Lori Wagner - close your eyes - I tried the parmesan mashed potatoes - they were OK - but I think they need to grow on me. I'm so used to cheddar garlic mashed down there, that the taste was different than what I expected. Sorry Lori! Cindy was our server at Chef Mickey's - she was the best. Made every one at every one of her tables feel like they were her only customer. Decided to take the scenic route to go back to the MK - resort monorail to Poly - walked thru the gift shop then took the boat to the MK. Arrived in time for Spectro Magic. Walked over to the plaza pavilion and got a seat to watch the fireworks. This was an excellent spot where we were - not crowded and a great view of Tink. E-ride was more crowded than we have ever experienced for the first 1 1/2 hours. The wait for Space Mountain was posted as 60 minutes and although this may have been over stated, with the line out the door, I wasn't taking any chances. Rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (my favorite ride), Buzz Lightyear twice, TTA again, Alien Encounter, Haunted Mansion and the Country Bears. All of the kids were at e-ride too, but we never ran into them and they actually left before we did. I gotta say, those young 18 year old athletes (most of them distance runners) just couldn't keep up with the weel built up WDW stamina!!!!!!! Bus back to BWV and time to call it a night.

We slept in this morning and didn't wake up until 8:30 a.m. I walked down to the bakery and ended up getting a brownie w/chocolate icing and M & M's. It was very sweet so I only ate 1/2. DH had cereal that we got at our grocery stop. The 4 girls were still sleeping. DH and I donned our bathing suits and headed over to Storm Along Bay to take advantage of the DVC pool hop while it is still available. This will be ending on July 1, 2002, so unless we stay at the Yacht & Beach Club in the future, this could be a first and last. We found a table to put our stuff on and a CM came over right away and asked to see our room ID and gave us a wrist band - no wrist band - no swimming. What can I say - this pool is awesome. We swam and explored every inch of it - it wasn't very crowded yet as it is only about 10:00 a.m. DH even tried the slide - I passed on that. Went back to BWV to shower and head to MGM. We took the long walk. We wanted to try and get fast passes to Milli! onaire since we had never done this. The fast pass was for 3:55 p.m to 4:05 p.m. and we had a dinner ressie at 3:30 p.m. at Hollywood and Vine for the Fantasmic Dinner Package. Walked through the exhibit for Walt's dream and headed over to Hollywood and Vine to meet the girls, the 2 boys and their parents. Sat and ate (gotta love that red velvet cake with cream cheese icing) and then went out to stake out a place to watch the 5:30 p.m. parade. The 6 kids took off and said they would meet us at 8:15 p.m. for Fantasmic. At about 5:10 p.m it started to pour and rained through the whole parade. This was the first time we've seen this parade - it was very good - but would have been better minus the rain. DH and I went and rode the Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror twice and went outside of the park to Stitch to meet everyone. It finally stopped raining after 3 hours. We went through the back theatre entrance and had 2nd row seats for Fantasmic. It started to rain again.! The theme of this trip is slowly changing from "grad trip" to "Who says there's a drought in Florida?!!!!!!" Definitely enjoyed Fantasmic - it was great down front, but I wouldn't want to be that close on a cold windy night. We all walked back to BWV because the kids were going to go to Pleasure Island. Took a little bit longer because Joshua through Jamie in the pool - clothes and all. She took it like a sport. I only wish I would have captured that on video. Stopped at Spoodles for Bob to get pizza and then I walked over to Beaches & Cream for a hot dog. (Did I mention earlier how good those hot dogs were! LOL) Then, back to the room to sleep

Or so I though, at 3:00 a.m. when the kids came in, they just had to tell us they were back and DD made a point of jumping on our bed to make sure we were awake. Someday, I'll do that to here.

Sweet dreams!

DH and I got up early this morning in order to catch the bus in time to make it for our 8:10 a.m. ressie at Donald's Breakfastasaurus in Animal Kingdom. This is DH's favorite since it's the only one with Donald Duck. Had a great server. We set next to a woman and her son who had been there since Monday, now it's Thursday and this is the child's first day our. He got sick the first day, had to call a doctor, told her husband to take there other son to the parks, the first day she realized she hadn't eaten and didn't want to leave the boy alone so then she had to order room service - spent an extra $500.00 she wasn't counting on between the dr., prescriptions and room service. I felt so bad for her. They were leaving on the 3 day cruise this afternoon and of course, what was predicted but a tropical storm. She was definitely trying to make the best of it - hope they don't get seasick. Anyway, after breakfast we rode Dinosaur twice (even my weak stomach is not bothered by this ride), got a fast pass for Kali and went to the stand-by line for the Safari. We met a gentlemen from Illinois who was on this trip with 9 other family members but they were taking a rest day and he didn't want to since he had a conference later in the week. We spent the whole time talking and then rode the safari together. There weren't a whole lot of animals out, but the giraffe's, my favorite, were rather close to the vehicle. Now we went to use our FP at Kali - it is still hot out, but starting to cloud up. Time to change into water shoes which I carried with us since I didn't want to slosh around in wet sneakers. The first time we were a little wet but not too bad, so we decided to ride again. This time we were totally drenched - but at least we had dry shoes to put back on. Stopped at Tusker House so Bob could eat. Headed out to catch a bus, and just as we approached, the bus was pulling out. DH held up his hand and the driver stopped and waited for us - wonderful pixie dust again. Got off of the bus and walked to the BWV - it is now pouring. We stopped in to see the sample room set up like the Beach Club Villas - gotta get me some more points - and then headed back to the room to take a nap. It poured for 2 more hours so we decided to brave it and walked to EPCOT. Rode Figment twice - raining too hard - no lines at all. This is definitely improved - still not as good as the first time, but better - just follow the bouncing figment ........ yeah, yeah - I like this ride. We walked through imageworks - sent an email to the MFL group and then off to the Land. Took a ride on Living with the Land, stopped for an ice cream and walked over to Mouse Gear. DH found a shirt on sale and bought it for me. Left EPCOT and walked back to BWV - it is still pouring - for 5 hours now. We met all of the kids and Josh & Jeremy's parents and walked over to the Beach Club for our dinner ressie at Cape May Cafe for the clam bake. We had never eaten here before and were very much impressed. We will definitely do this again. The kids left after they were done eating, but Karen & Dave, and Bob & I sat and talked until nearly 11:00 p.m. It had now stopped raining so we walked in a circle twice around the whole Y&B and BW complexes and then off to bed - tomorrow is our dinner at Victoria & Alberts.

Got up at 6:30 a.m. so I could walk Jamie and Kelly to the lobby to be picked up for a dance rehearsal. They will be dancing on Sunday the 23rd in the Magic Kingdom with a local dance group from Tamaqua. I came back and went back to sleep. Finaly got up and headed to the Magic Kingdom with Josh and Marie. Since Bob and I are going to Victoria and Alberts tonight he is ready to get his hair cut in the MK barber shop (his father's day present from Marie). In order to get to the MK, we took the scenic route - walked over through EPCOT, took the monorail to the TTC and the ferry to the MK. DH, DD and I went to get in line at the Barber Shop (2 people ahead of us) and Josh took all our passes and went over to Space Mtn. to get a fast pass. The only mistake I made her was not getting the name of the woman working in the barber shop. She was absolutely wonderful. DD and I took her aside before she started and asked about the glow in the dark gel someone had mentioned to me on this list and she said she would do it. She cut Bob's hair while we watched and then put the gel on and sprinkled him with pixie dust. We didn't tell him until after it was on that it glowed. He took it in stride. Then she put pixie dust in my hair, DD's hair and put blue gel in Josh's hair with pixie dust - and the only thing she charged for was DH's hair cut. Needless to say, we gave her over a 30% tip. She even came outside and posed with us for pictures. We were all hungry now since it was 11:30 a.m. so we split up since we were meeting the other girls and Jeremey for the stage show at Cinderella Castle at 12:30 p.m. DH and I headed over to Pecos Bill's for lunch. I have never eaten here and it wasn't our only stop here this trip. I ended up having another craving for a hot dog and although it wasn't as good as Beaches & Cream, it was close. After lunch, we headed back to the castle and was able to find everyone. We watched the show and then went to Space Mtn. for DD, Josh, DH and I to use our fast passes. When we went through the area with the black lights, DH's hair really did glow. We left the MK, took the monorail to the TTC and then over to EPCOT since we were meeting Dave and Karen in the food court of the Land. Some of us ate while others just waited. After eating, we headed over to Test Track - Dave and Karen had some kind of a special fast pass from their daughter who was down on the college program from Jan. - May -so it was good for all 10 of us. It was starting to rain, so we went over to ride FIGMENT - DH's hair really glowed in here for everyone to see. The Kunkel's and us decided to have the kids pictures taken in Imageworks and purchase one for each grad as a memory of the trip. By now, it was 3:45 p.m., pouring rain and we had to rush back to get showered and changed for our 6:00 p.m. ressie at the chef's table at Victoria & Albert's.

Tonight it's time to bag everyone else as we are belatedly celebrating Bob's 50th birthday. I have been planning this night since October. I didn't know what to get him for his birthday (April 7) since he is a simple guy. I just didn't want to buy him Disney clothing or gadgets since 50 is a special birthday and he isn't really a party guy, so after reading other trip reports and people who say it was the best money they ever spent, I took the plunge and reserved the chef's table at Victoria's and Alberts. On his birthday in April I printed up a little invitation for this and put 3-$100.00 bills in it to pay for it which is roughly what I figured it would be (knowing we wouldn't do the wine parings since that would be more wine in one night than what we would drink in a year). So, the time has arrived - we were late getting ready, it was raining, and we knew we wouldn't make it using Disney transportation, so we took a Mears cab. Definitely not dollarless, but neither was anything else going to be, so $15.00 dollars later (including tip) we arrive at the Grand Floridian with 15 minutes to spare. They did not open the doors until 6:00 p.m. and when we gave our name and we had the chef's table we were asked to have a seat until we were ready. At this point I am worried, thinking what if I spend $300.00 and we don't like it (DH is a really picky eater), DH is already stressed because we were running late and had to spend the money on a cab and we hadn't said a whole lot to each other since. Butttttt, like everything else at Disney - not to worry - magic awaits. We are taken back to our table and it is just magnificent. It's hard to believe that 3/4 of the area is kitchen and then you have this elegant room - beautiful china just waiting for you. We are seated, poured a glass of champagne and asked to wait for Chef Scott Hunnel who will come out and have a toast with us. After our toast, they removed the china (you never sit down to an empty table) and were brought out caviar with little toasted pieces of bread and capers and dollops of something with sour cream, cream cheese and spices. I have never had caviar, and probably won't again, but I did try it and eat everything else. DH ate all of his, and I could just watch the stress leave his body and we both started to thoroughly enjoy watching everyone in the kitchen. We've barely eaten anything yet and I can tell, this is definitely going to be worth it. Chef Scott asked us our likes and dislikes - and then he was off to prepare. I started with Maine Lobster and Lentil Salad with Spicy Lemon Vinaigrette while DH had Australian "Kobe" beef with Heirloom Tomatoes and Hearts of Palm. Both delicious - DH doesn't like tomatoes, but he did try them. Next I had Seared Scallop over Green Apples and Icicle Radishes (I don't like radishes and didn't know that's what they were until we received our menu after the meal - but I ate them tonight - yum) and DH had Georgia Shrimp "Lasagne" (homemade pasta squares) with Fennel, Saffron and Capers. Now it is time for the soup dish - I had Roasted Red Bell Pepper Cream (didn't look that great - but wow - looks are deceiving), this was one of the best soups I ever had and DH had Gamebird Consomme'. After the caviar, they started bringing out rolls, fresh out of the oven, and butter in the desing of the Grand Floridian logo. DH would finish his roll and then they would give him another. It took him 5 rolls to figure this out. After 5 1/2, he caught on and realized that's what would stop them from always giving him a fresh one. Anyway, he is now on carb overdrive, and being a diabetic, I'm surprised he didn't roll right over on the floor. Anyway, after our soup we received a fish dish which is something you don't receive in the main dining room. Alaskan Ivory Salmon over Fiddle Head Ferns and Fingerling Potatoes for both of us. I did try the ferns but they looked like a rolled up green bug of somekind and I wasn't crazy about the taste. The salmon was fabulous beyond belief. Soo, now before the main entree, I received a terrine of sorbet with seasonal fruits and because DH is diabetic, they just gave him the fresh fruit. For our main meal, we each got Grilled Prime Filet over Buttermilk Blue Creamy Polenta (darn, I forgot to tell Chef Scott in the beginning I didn't like polenta, but I tried it) and I had Colorado Lamb with Mushroom "Canneloni" and Chanterelles and DH had Jamison Farms Lamb with same. After the entree, was the cheese dish - Ossau-Iraty and English Stilton with Burgundy Poached Pear. Me, being the cheese fanatic I am (I'll take a good hunk of sharp cheese over a hot fudge sundae any day) certainly liked this and those little poached pears were too cute for words. And finally, as if I'm wondering if I can get out of here without calling a backhoe service already, they come with dessert. DH had a pie slice sized piece of fruited gelatin surrounded by fresh fruit and I had a Kona Chocolate Souffle' with peanut butter sauce - call the artery blocker patrol now - I'm ready. At the end, we were presented with our menus (Bob's even had happy birthday on it) and a chocolate birthday card and a long stemmed red rose for me. This was a very perfect and large rose. Overall, this meal was in fact the best money we had ever spent. Total with tip - $293.00. The service was fantastic, everyone in the kitchen took the time to say hi - we could ask any questions we wanted and it was totally fascinating. Fortunately, since the menu is a surprise, we liked everything but the polenta. My DH and I definitely enjoyed this and although we can't afford to do it on every visit, we would do it again. The chef's table only has one seating a night at 6:00 p.m. where as the dining room has two seatings, but it did take us 3 1/2 hours.

It is now 9:30 p.m. so we went up to take the monorail to MK and then a bus to Boardwalk to change. We are now stuffed to capacity and it is time to exercise it off since we have e-ride tickets for the Magic Kingdom. We quickly changed and went out and caught a bus to MK. Stood in line for our wristbands and headed off to do some rides. It wasn't as crowded tonight as it was on Tuesday. We rode Big Thunder twice, the Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Buzz light year - twice and headed back to the Boardwalk. Now, more disney dreams about the wonderful evening we shared.

Well, today is the last day Josh & Jeremy will be with us. They will be leaving to drive home tonight by 11:00 p.m. Kelly & Jamie had to meet over at MGM before 9:00 a.m. this morning for a dance class backstage since they are performing with a dance group from Tamaqua at the MK tomorrow. However, before the alarm could go off this morning, we awakened to horrific thunder, lightning and heavy rains. We could not even see the Y & B Club which was directly across from our balcony. I could not believe how strong these storms were. It rained for about 3 1/2 hours, right up to when Kelly, Jamie & I arrived at MGM. DH was meeting me at 9:30 a.m. and we rode Tower of Terror twice and Rock N Roller Coaster (gotta do RNRC each trip no matter how queasy I get - its my fight against growing older). Now the sun is out, so we walked back to BWV so I could get my sunglasses and we had an 11:30 a.m. ressie at LeCellier. We walked over to EPCOT and arrived in time for lunch. We were not disappointed - love the food here - especially the cheddar cheese soup and we always find the CM's who work here to be most friendly. We went to guest relations after lunch to try and get an extra ticket to the Hoop De Doo tonight. We booked this as a grad present to the girls and thought the boys were leaving Sat. morning, not Sat. nite. Jeremy didn't want to go, but Joshua did. Now, I'm really hoping I can get a ticket or I was going to give up mine. The gentlement couldn't at guest relations couldn't do much but he gave me the phone number for HDD, allowed me to use their phone and gave me a tip - ask if we are at a table that was designed for 6 people or for 8, because if it's for 8, there should be no problem getting an extra ticket. Guess what - he was right - I was able to purchase 1 extra so now everyone is happy and no one will be left out. We went over to Test Track to ride the single rider line and went to Mexico to ride El Rio Tempo. When we came out, the skies were dark again, so we went to Norway to ride Maelstrom since we haven't done that the last several times. Line was fairly short, got on and when we got to the part where the boat switches direction, we could see outside that there was - YOU CAN GUESS - a torrential downpour. Oh well, enjoy the rest of the boat ride, watched the movie, looked in the gift shop - finally - it slowed to a dull roar. Walked over to the American Adventure - caught the end of American Vibe and watched the film/show. We walked back to BWV to shower and get ready for the HDD. Took a bus to the MK and was going to catch the boat over to Ft. Wilderness. Here is where we encounted our one and only problem. We got in line and of course, it was still raining. The guy at the dock, said everybody squeeze under, there will be room for all of you on the next boat. When that boat pulled in, several people pushed in front of us, the boat wasn't even filled and that CM closed it up saying they had to go the next boat was ready to pull in - he must have been hallucinating - because he was the only one to see the next boat - there was none in sight. I was starting to panic a little because I still needed to pick up the extra ticket I reserved from Guest Relations in EPCOT. There was a gentleman behind us who was really perturbed, and kind of carried on a little bit, because when the next boat came 15 minutes later - it was the same size as the first. They could hold 125 people and the rude CM before said he had to stop at 84. Well, this was only a minor inconvenience as we made it in time to get the ticket and had a wonderful time at the show. All of the kids loved it. We went back to BWV sincle the Kunkel's were going to be leaving. All of the kids - boys and girls - went up to the room. When I went up to get the boys - the shower head in the girls shower was laying on the bathroom counter. I'm not really sure what happened, didn't really want to know, but I think they were trying to throw one of the girls in the shower and one of the boys banged it. They're both about 6'6" tall. They said they had already called maintenance. I told all the kids to go downstairs and I would wait. I figured that we would have to pay for this - but maintenance said not to worry about it. These guys were fantastic. They couldn't fix it and had to call out a plumber - at midnight on a Saturday night - but within an hour - all was fixed.

Another night draws to a close!

Woke up early today - Kelly & Jamie had to take a cab to meet the dance group at 7:00 a.m. DH, Marie, Ashley and I were meeting the parents and brother of another girl in the dance group at Chef Mickey's for breakfast. We initally had this breakfast booked for the 6 of us before we knew 2 of the girls would have to have breakfast with the dance group. Here was where that little tip about what size table was booked came in handy when I asked this other couple to join us. I called to see if we were at a table for 6 or 8 - they said 8 so I changed the ressie to 7 people and everyone fit. Character interaction was wonderful. After breakfast, everyone split up and DH and I rode the Jungle Cruise, Pirates (you can never do this ride enough), Splash Mountain and then over to Tomorrowland to watch the dance group at 11:20a.m. I wanted to videotape the girls so their parents could see them. This was one of the times that the sun was out hot and strong (doesn't last long as you will see later). I videotaped most of the show standing in the sun since there is no seating at this stage or shade, and my neck is now the color of my red shirt and hair. I now feel like a wilted flower, burned at the edges and quickly saw Carousel of Progress was open. We headed right over, figuring we can watch a great show and cool off at the same time. This ride is one of my favorites, and I will be totally disappointed if they ever close it permanently. Sooo, just in case, I asked a CM of I could tape and they said yes as long as I didn't use any exterior lights. Great - now I have this on tape. We rode the Tomorrland Transit Authority and saw that Space Mountain was closed down. When we went inside, they had all the lights on so now we know what that track looks like in the light - I'll still ride it although I'm not sure about DH. Walked over to Pecos Bill for lunch via Toontown and stopped at some of the places to take pictures. After lunch we staked out a spot to watch the 3:00 p.m. parade because we haven't seen this yet. We were in frontierland and had a place where we could sit which worked out well since it was only 2:00 p.m. Of course, it started to rain again. At 2:45 p.m. they had 2 drum corps there for the pre-parade. Yea - I love drum corps. Right as the second one was ready to approach these 2 boys about 20 years old pushed me out of the way and stood right in front of me. I just looked and said that I hoped they didn't think they were going to stand there after I had been there for 3/4 of an hour (if it would have been small children I probably wouldn't have said anything - of course I would have been able to see over them to) This boy told me I was rude, (still can't figure this out as he butted in front of me out of nowhere),pushed me again and said did I know who I was talking to that he was a member of a drum corp. My DH jumped right to my defense and said he had been dealing with drum corp longer that this kid was alive and if he didn't move real quick, he never would again. Fortunately the kids left because I had visions of Disney Security coming real soon. Those 2 boys were really the only truly rude guests we encountered. Anyway, we watched the parade - certainly worth the wait and decided to go and catch the monorail to the TTC and then over to EPCOT to try and catch Schockwave. Of course, now its pouring again, but we figured our days here are now numbered and if they were going to have they show, we had our ponchos on and would sit through it. The show did go on, it stopped raining by the end, and we were glad we stayed to see it. There were some really talented musicians and I loved their version of Bohemian Rhapsody. We walked back to our room to get showered since we had a dinner ressie at Narcoossee's at the Grand Floridian. Took the bus to MK and then the resort monorail to Narcoossee's (we would have taken the boat but it was pouring again). Our dinner was excellent and we decided to go to DTD to do some shopping. We experienced some more pixie dust again when we went to catch the bus back to BWV after shopping. The Boardwalk Bus pulled in but the guy never even opened the door. Finally, a bus for the Swan/Dolphin came and we got on that and were telling that busdriver. He wasn't even scheduled to stop at the BW but felt bad and took us right to the resort. What a nice man! Time to call it a night.

Woke up and DH and I headed over to the Cape May Cafe for breakfast. After breakfast the sun was out and decided to take advantage of it. Went back to the hotel, changed into our swimsuits and headed to Blizzard Beach. Jumped in the wave pool, did Teamboat Springs, Runoff Rapids in the double tube - definitely drank to much water on the landing of this one, Teamboat Springs again, would have done it a 3rd time but with all of the water in my lungs, I didn't think I could do the steps so we opted for the lazy river. The sky started to darken so we headed back to the Boardwalk to change and went over to Beaches and Cream for lunch. After lunch, we walked over to MGM to try to get a fast pass for Millionaire - finally - successful. While waiting, we did the inside Animation tour then went to millionaire. Didn't get into the hot seat, but will definitely do this again in December. It started to rain again so we went back to the BWV. I caught the bus to DTD to pickup a few things in the Christmas store. DH will never let me do that again along with his credit card. I went back to BWV to meet the girls, change and head over to the California Grill for our dinner ressie. We were also meeting another couple who arrived that morning for their honeymoon and since we missed the wedding we decided to take them out to eat. We absolutely love this restaurant. The girls were ecstatic. Took them out on the catwalk while we waited for our table. Had a delicious meal and watched the MK fireworks from our table. It was raining when we left after dinner, but DH and I went to the MK anyway to try and catch the late showing of Spectro Magic. The rain slowed down enough for them to not cancel so we got to see tht and then headed back to our hotel to pack. Check out and go home tomorrow - boo hoo.

Today is our final day at disney - boo hoo - so we slept in a little, packed our belongings and called for a luggage pickup and asked to have it stowed until the afternoon. We all headed over to the MK. DH and I rode small world and then headed to the Tiki birds. When we came out of the Tiki birds - it was a - what else - torrential downpour yet again. Waited it out a little bit and then headed to the Crystal Palace to meet the girls for our lunch ressie. This is one of DD's favorite restaurants. We saw piglet, eeyore, and pooh. After about an hour when we hadn't seen Tigger we asked our server if we could see him since we were leaving that day and he is Jamie's favorite character. She went to check and said she would bring him over but we had to be careful because a guest with special needs got so excited and hugged him so hard that he had been injured. Tigger definitely had no bounce and was limping. We felt so bad, so we quickly took a few pictures and let him go on his way. We had never really thought about the work hazards of being a character - hope Tigger recovered. After lunch we headed over to EPCOT - rode Figment again, did Honey I Shrunk the Audience and Ellen's Energy Advernture. Unfortunately, we now had to go back to BWV, get our luggage out of storage and meet the Tiffany driver to head to the airport.

All in all, this was a wonderful trip that we will never forget. With taking 3 extra people it took a lot of planning but was well worth it. Now we can count down until our December trip - 135 days and counting.