DAY 3 – Sunday, December 24

Dad and I got up at 8:30, while Mom and Kristin slept. Dad and I left for the bus stop at 9:15, and once we got there, we waited 15 minutes for a bus, and that bus was the second one we saw. To me the bus service already looked bad. We got on and went to Magic Kingdom. Once through the turnstiles, we went straight for Space Mountain. There was a 20 minute wait, and we were pleased. Normally it is much longer for us.

After riding that, we went to Frontierland, going through Fantasyland. Just let me say, when we were going through Fantasyland, it was great! Normally we can’t get through with all the strollers and little kids running around. It seemed like a ghost town! Anyway, we got in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with another 20 minute wait. Yet again we were pleased because it is normally longer for us. Now we debated riding Splash Mountain, because in 2 hours we had to meet Mom and Kristin at Whispering Canyon Café at Wilderness Lodge, and we didn’t know if we wanted to get wet. We thought what the heck and got in line. This wait was the most surprising of all of ours the whole trip. 10 MINUTES! It was great!

As we were waiting to get on a boat, we noticed that a CM was talking over the loudspeaker on the ride. Apparently, someone tried to get out of the boat. As we listened to the CM’s conversation at the controls for the ride, they said that the guy was caught, because a CM was riding the ride had caught him. WEIRD!! Then one of the CM said “We forgot to predict how earlier this would happen!” I didn’t know this was a regular thing. Then the CM said “There goes the first one of the day!” So, this happens multiple times during the day? I was so confused!

Anyway, we rode it and barely got wet due to the fact that we were sitting in the back of the boat. We decided to head to the main entrance and to the boats to go to Wilderness Lodge. As we were approaching the dock, the boat was just pulling in. Perfect timing! We hoped on, and took a leisurely ride to Wilderness Lodge. As we got off and approached the pool and lobby entrance, I started to get memories from last year at Christmas when we stayed there for the 2nd time. We love this resort!

As we went into the lobby, we decided to go to the new Villa’s part of Wilderness Lodge, and check them out, because we might be staying there soon! We absolutely loved it! We walked in and asked a DVC CM how we would go about seeing a model villa later (because we wanted Mom and Kristin to see it too.) We said we were DVC member’s, and might be staying there. This is where we got our “Welcome Home”. I thought to myself ‘we got a welcome home!’ and then I thought, ‘that is great he said that, because when we checked into the Boardwalk the CM didn’t say that!’ I was very pleased to hear him say that.

So, he told us that someone would be on there to show it until 5:00, and to come back and ask him where to go. We looked around the lobby there, then went back to the Wilderness Lodge lobby. We looked around, and went over by Whispering Canyon to wait for Mom and Kristin.

They showed up at 12:15, and when we went to check-in, they seated us right away. That was good because our reservations weren’t until 12:30. Our waiter was “Marshall Zeke” (his real name was Ron.) This was a great dining experience. He kept teasing everybody. He even had me get up, and told the whole restaurant about my hair. He asked if I went to a barber and got it done and if I paid for it. I said ‘no’ and he said “that’s good because that would have been a waste of money!” He told the whole restaurant not to go to Ohio, because you might get a weird hairdo like mine. I was a little embarrassed because everyone was looking at me, but I knew he was teasing and it was all fun. The food was great! We definitely got our money’s worth. This is definitely a place I would recommend.

After we were done eating, we went back over to the Villa’s so that Mom and Kristin could see them, and so we could all see a model villa. The guy at the DVC desk was different, but he was nice to us, and showed us the way to the model villa. They were very well themed and decorated. We will definitely have to stay there some time. The DVC lady showing us the villa gave us all a pin when we left.

Now, Dad and I were going to go to Epcot, while Mom and Kristin went back to the resort to switch our rooms, and wait for the rest of the family to get there. I decided that I wanted to ride the Monorail into Epcot, because it looked neat how it went around Future World. We hopped on the Boone bus to TTC, where we got on a Monorail to Epcot. It was a great ride, and I loved seeing Future World like that! We went straight to Test Track to get a FastPass, but the time was 7:30-8:30, and we had to meet the whole family at the Boardwalk at 5:30. So, we went in the Stand-By line, which was a 45 minute wait. During that time a car broke down and you could see it being towed around the banked curve in front of the building to get it off the track. We were just getting ready to do the first test, and it stopped to load a wheelchair person. This took forever. What happens if you are on the outside part of the ride, and they stop it? I would hate it if you lost the high speeds just to load a wheelchair person!

Now we decided to go through the countries starting with Mexico. This is fun to do. We just looked at how they were themed to look like that country, and looked at all the architecture. Once we got to France, we stopped because I wanted to look at it more in depth than we did the other countries because I am taking French in school. On our way in, there was a Living Statue. The person that was doing that did such a great job. This was my first time seeing one, and I was very impressed. We went into France while the statue was still there. When we came out it was still there. A lot of time passed too! They must have been tired!

We started to notice people were lined up along the sides of the walkway. Why? It was because it was almost time for Tapestry of Nations. I really wanted to see this parade, so we stopped in front of a cart just outside of France. This was a great spot during the parade. This is definitely in my opinion the best parade I have seen. A puppet even interacted with me. I was so excited!

It was 4:30 once the parade had ended, and we decided to head back to the resort even though we weren’t supposed to meet them until 5:30. When we got there, we went to the front desk to find out our new room number. We went up there and nobody was there. We went to our old room, and nobody was there. We decided to look outside where people unload their luggage to see if Mom and Kristin were waiting for them. When we went out, we saw them and the rest of the family just got there! Perfect timing! So, we helped them, and took their stuff to their room. (The room we switched from was going to be for Ron, Sue and Brenden, and the room we moved into was a 1-Bedroom, so the studio part was for Grandma, Grandpa, Teresa, and Chuck) Our rooms were pretty close together, so that was good. The studio was 3085, and the 1-Bedroom was 3105 and 3107.

We stayed in the rooms for a little bit, then decided to go eat at Dixie Landings Food Court because we like it there. We stopped at the Front Desk so everybody could get their cards and buy their passes on the way out. Hopped on a bus to Downtown Disney then switched onto a Dixie Landings bus. This took a long time.

We ate, then decided to take a bus to MGM, and use the walkway, instead of making another long trip on buses. Once we were back at the Boardwalk, we decided to walk along the boardwalk, then went around the whole lake. (Again for me and Dad!) We came back to the rooms and opened some little gifts everyone brought down before going to bed at 11:00.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day and our first day at the parks as one big family! We will be at MGM with a PS at Sci-Fi Dine-In.

Part 3...

 

Recommend this page to a friend

Discuss this at the message boards.

 

Disney World - The Online Guide is not affiliated with, maintained by, or in any way officially connected with the Walt Disney Company.

Walt Disney World & it's theme parks, resorts, attractions & area names are trademarks of The Walt Disney Company. All information contained in Disney World - The Online Guide, including prices, dates, times, availability, is subject to change & not official. Joanne will not be held liable for any information (valid or invalid) presented on any page in this site, and will not be held responsible for anything that happens as a result of following advice or information on this site, and does not represent the Walt Disney Company in any manner.

© text, photos, background images, artwork are all copyright Disney World - The Online Guide 1998/1999/2000/2001. Text and/or photos & artwork may not be used in any way, shape, or form without permission from Joanne.