Mary
Cast Member
Posts: 465
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 01-02-03 05:12 PM
Christmas Day, 12/25
Cast:
Mary, David & Dale (see part one for descriptions)
The Plan: Be in Epcot by 11am, CP dinner package
I wake up first to find bags of chocolates on the doors. Merry Christmas from Mickey! After showering, I went to get coffee. Woke the boys. Was scolded by David for not getting them coffee. Went with David to get more coffee. Woke Dale again. Checked weather channel, ate breakfast and woke Dale again. Finally Dale makes it over to eat and we open presents. I had picked them both up Chicago Disney sweatshirts several months ago when they were half price. Along with Passporter pouches and name tags, they were outfitted for the trip. I got a Mickey parts tea kettle and ornament. We rush Dale off to the shower while David and I got more coffee. It was after 12 before we even made it to the bus stop. I was not happy. David wants me to chill but tells Dale he needs to be moving in the mornings. We have made efforts to accomodate his sleeping habits (he works the midnite shift) but please make an effort to cut the 3 hour prep time to no more than an hour. What's that old adage about women taking so long to get ready? I tell the boys that we only have a few scheduled activities and that the one who makes us late for departure will have to pick up the cab fare. Dale is a heavy smoker. I explain to him about designated smoking areas and that I will be militant about it. I am also a smoker but manage fine with the smoking policy. Our first stop in Epcot is the lockers. It is fairly nice but the evenings are expected to cool off so we bring sweaters and jackets for later. I come out of the locker room and see Dale lighting up just the other side of the ladies room (near the backstage fence). I high-tail it over there and tell him to put it out. We get in the long line for Spaceship Earth. We then head over to the Land Pavilion. It is pretty crowded so we see Food Rocks and sit and have a lite snack so we can make it until our CP PS at LeCellier at 4:50 pm. We finish and as soon as we get out the door Dale is pulling out his cigarettes. I tell him it is not a smoking area. He said that people were smoking there when we were on the way in. I said that does not make it right. He will wait until we get to the smoking area. I spend a lot of time telling him this. Now David and I are maybe being a little too rigid about stopping for a cigarette. But, if we are being held up getting out the door we want to get as much done as we can. Stopping for a smoke every 10 minutes is just not going to cut it. Dale will have to try to cut down to my smoking schedule (just under a pack a day). It really is in his best interest, his health is really suffering. I have tried to convince him that I would quit with him but he keeps saying next week, or as soon as I finish this pack etc. I say right now, throw them away. It is just not working.
Anyway, we head over to Imagination. I never saw the original. This version is much better than what I remember of the 2nd version without Figment. I stop to pick up a few Figment items, taking advantage of the 15% shopping discount today. We head over to the Living Seas (I always skip HISTA. Real bad snake phobia so I won't go through it. I will wait if the boys want to do it but they say no. David has just as bad fear of snakes but I get the teasing about it). Line into Living Seas is VERY long so we finally take a smoke break. We then head to MouseGear so I can at least look a little before shopping later. We then headed over to Canada and checked in for dinner at 4:45. Dale moves down a little and pulls out a cigarette. I scold him. He puts it away and points out the other people a little further down smoking. I again tell him I don't care about other people, just my party and we WILL follow the rules. We get seated about 4:20 and have a wonderful, leisurely dinner. I believe we all had the filet. It was very good. Ordered creme brulee, 100 Yrs chocolate cake, and apple tart for dessert and shared them all. Only the tart did not receive a thumbs up. Our server is Justin and we write a note about him (complimentary) on the little survey card they are using to evaluate PS. Left and went to the smoking area on the way back toward Future World. I was having a flare up of plantar fascitis so David and Dale went to the lockers to get our sweaters and jackets while I waited and watched the lights on the bridge. It was very pleasant. Now bundled up a little we made our way to the CP. We all enjoyed this very much. Gary Sinise was just OK. He did not sing along as others do but he did seem to enjoy looking around at the crowd since he was always smiling as he was doing this. At the end we got a chuckle at his expense. He complimented the choir on their bowing saying they had not done so well at the two previous shows that evening. He then proceeded to completely flub his next lines. We exited, used rest rooms and had a smoke in the designated area outside the American pavilion. We did a little back and forth to find a spot for Illuminations. John had told us the previous night that WDW was definitely NOT crowded for this time of year. This was when I realized how right he was as there was plenty of places still available between Germany and Morocco just ten minutes before starting. We chose the fence just in front of the smoking area (I was tiring of scolding Dale and figured it was easiest) and there were only 20 others here. We no sooner pick our spots than he leaves to take care of his other vice-coffee. Day and night we were always searching or waiting for Dale to get coffee. So, he misses the beginning of Illuminations. I don't think he saw the beginning one time while there. After Illuminations we headed to Mouse Gear. I had planned to do all my shopping here with the extra discount. Alas, they did not have one of the two items I actually was looking for. My Mickey parts shower curtain needs to be replaced. Mouse Gear does not carry it. So I got a new Mickey watch, the Epcot snowglobe that I wanted to get last May, a new Epcot baseball cap (I just love this new style at each theme park that has a Mickey head silhouette, only ended up with the Epcot one though), some bowls for our cereal then for home use (the food court does not seem to have the larger paper cereal bowls left out for this purpose anymore. I found it annoying that Dis would take this away. Like it is going to stop folks from bringing their own breakfast items!), and a Buzz Lightyear hat for my nephew. My SIL specifically asked me to get it, he had seen the one I bought for his 'future' cousin from last months trip and really liked it. Dale had found the smoking area outside Mouse Gear and waited for David and I there. We made our way to the bus stop and were halted by a CM who directed us to a closer lane where all the late folks were waiting for bus on demand system to pick us up. We rode back with two other families. Off to bed.
Tomorrows plan: Animal Kingdom.
Edited to correct typo.
[Edited by Mary]
Mary
First Mate, Good Ship Stickey Mickey and Keeper of the Ships Log
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