Arnold van Beverhoudt, Jr. -- December 2012 -- Animal Kingdom Villas, Kidani Village

Arnold van Beverhoudt, Jr. -- December 2012 -- Animal Kingdom Villas

Travel Dates: December 14-21, 2012
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas, Kidani Village (Savannah View)
Accommodations: Two Bedroom Villa
Ages Represented: 2nd Grader through Older Adults
WDW Experience: Veteran (annual visits since 2003)
Comments: Our first full family visit since 2009

Cast of Characters:

Arnold, 62 (trip reporter) -- 17 WDW trips since 1973 and 1 Disneyland trip in 1985
Helena, 63 (wife) -- 16 WDW trips since 1982 and 2 Disneyland trips in 1972 and 1985
Selene, 35 (daughter) -- 10 WDW trips since 1982 and 1 Disneyland trip in 1985
John, 43 (son-in-law) -- 6 WDW trips since 2001
Jaidyn, 7 (granddaughter) -- 5 WDW trips since 2006

Advance Planning:

Because we hadn’t visited Walt Disney World with our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter since 2009, from the beginning, this year’s trip was planned as a family vacation. Helena and I had seriously considered going to Hawaii this summer with Selene, John, and Jaidyn, staying at Aulani on DVC points and using American Airlines frequent flyer miles to cut down on the cost as much as possible. We also considered including a stopover in Los Angeles on the way home to spend a few days at Disneyland Resort and visit with Helena’s brother and sister, who live in Southern California. But different things -- including the high level of DVC points needed during that time of year, vacation scheduling issues for Selene and John, and the realization that Disneyland Resort will probably be a madhouse for the next year or two because of the big Disney California Adventure relaunch -- discouraged us from this plan. Hopefully, American Airlines’ financial troubles won’t cause us to lose our 350,000 frequent flyer miles so that we can make that trip to Hawaii and California sometime in the near future.

The planning for this trip began in early February, with Helena and I deciding on the preferred timing for our annual visit to Florida for medical checkups, family time, and a visit with Mickey and the gang. On February 7, we settled on some dates and I went online to the DVC website and made a reservation for a 2-bedroom suite during the week of December 14 to 21, 2012 at our home resort, Saratoga Springs Resort (SSR). That took 252 DVC points. These dates were a bit of a compromise because we would have preferred to be at Disney World earlier in December when it’s less crowded, but we also wanted to get our medical checkups out of the way in South Florida before heading north. We absolutely didn’t want to be at the parks during Christmas week itself and we also had to accommodate Jaidyn’s school schedule and John’s vacation schedule. So that really only left the week that we chose. Hopefully, we’ll miss the worst of the crowds by checking out prior to the weekend before Christmas.

With that settled, next up was to check out the airfares on AA.com. Playing with the travel dates to find the least expensive fares between St. Thomas and Miami, we finally settled on Friday, December 7, 2012 for our STT-MIA flight and Friday, January 4, 2013, for the return trip. The total airfare and taxes for the two of us was a few pennies under $800. That’s only $20 more than we paid last year, so we figured we probably wouldn’t be seeing anything much lower than that, given the ever-increasing airfares. On February 17, I booked the flights. Next on the list was reserving a rental car with Hertz. We got a mid-sized car with NeverLost GPS for the full month at $893 plus an additional $369 for various taxes and fees. We’ll be in Florida for exactly 4 weeks. The first week we’ll do our medical appointments, the second week we’ll be at Disney World, and the last two weeks we’ll spend with Selene and family at their home for the holidays.

I then set everything aside and waited for the 7-month window to open so that I could try to get a DVC reservation at a different resort. On May 14, I went online to the DVC site and found that there was availability at Animal Kingdom Villas (AKV) in both standard and savannah view 2-bedroom suites. What luck! I went for the savannah view, knowing that Jaidyn would just love being able to see the animals from our room. But I had one obstacle -- I couldn’t figure out how to get the online system to let me borrow the 40 extra DVC points needed for this room. After several unsuccessful tries, I gave up and called DVC customer services at their 800 number. Surprisingly, a cast member (CM) came on the line right away, without my having to go on hold. She was very pleasant and in no time canceled my original reservation at SSR, borrowed the 40 DVC points from our 2013 use year, and confirmed my new reservation at AKV.

Our dining reservation window wouldn’t open until June 17 but, in the meantime, I communicated with Selene about restaurant preferences. This was a bit tricky for this trip because Selene has been vegetarian (almost completely vegan) for 2 years now. To complicate matters, she’s learned through trial and error that Jaidyn reacts to many artificial substances in foods, most notably petroleum-based additives, such as artificial colorings and preservatives. Selene has seen a very noticeable difference in Jaidyn’s behavior if she consumes anything with these chemicals. Surprisingly, Jaidyn has even been able to notice the difference in her own behavior and mood depending on what she eats or drinks. Because of all this, Selene contacted Disney directly to research what dining options were available, and we made dining reservations accordingly when the reservation window opened in June. By the way, you can find more information about the effect that the many chemical additives in our food can have on our bodies and behavior at http://www.feingold.org.

Another dining-related decision was whether to go with the Disney Dining Plan (DDP) or the Tables in Wonderland (TIW) discount card. The standard DDP costs about $54 per adult and $16 per child for each day. That’s a total of $232 per day! Helena and I discussed this and I sought advice on MousePad. We finally decided that there’s no way that the five of us are going to eat $232 worth of food each day. If we did, we’d be eating a heck of a lot more than we should. Plus, that $232 doesn’t even include gratuity. So, we instead decided to go with the TIW discount card at $100 for annual passholders (the cost went up from $75 shortly before we arrived at WDW). The TIW card will give us a 20% discount on most meals which, in effect, pays for the gratuity. Once we’ve earned a total of $100 in discounts, the card has paid for itself and the rest is a real savings in dining costs. Assuming we visit the parks again in 2013, the TIW card will still be available for us to use.

Helena and I also discussed the matter of park tickets and decided to go with annual passes (APs). We would get ours at a $100 discount as DVC members and reimburse Selene for the Florida resident discounted price that she pays for theirs. That’ll be our Christmas gift to them this year. We were going to wait to purchase our tickets until we got to WDW but, on June 1, Disney announced ticket price increases that would go into effect in 2 days! So, I let Selene know and she went ahead and purchased her 3 Florida resident APs on the 12-month payment plan. The total cost was $1,210, with a $265 downpayment and $79 per month. I also purchased the DVC APs for Helena and I, at a total cost of $892 which, of course, we had to pay in full.

On June 4, I checked out the park hours on the WDW website, which was finally showing the December park schedules, and decided on which days to visit each park. (I rechecked the park schedules every month to make sure there were no changes.) A couple days later, I called the Bluegreen Vacation Club customer services and made a points reservation at their Gulfstream Manor Resort in Delray Beach for our first week in Florida for medical appointments. I also called to make those medical appointments.

On June 17 (Father’s Day), I went online to the Disney dining website to make our Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) at the opening of the 180-day window. Besides having trouble with our local internet service, I was soon pulling my hair out (what little I have left), because the Disney site wouldn’t accept my DVC resort reservation number so that I could make the ADRs up to 10 days beyond our check-in day. I had to call the Disney dining phone number and got caught in a loop with the computerized answering system and pulling out some more hair! Finally, I wised up and told the computer voice that I wanted “something else” when asked whether I wanted to “make reservations,” “cancel reservations,” or one of several other options that didn’t apply. That finally put me over to a live cast member (CM).

The CM who answered was quite helpful, and she soon found that the online dining system wasn’t accepting my DVC resort reservation number because it was being shown under Selene’s name, not mine. That probably happened when she had contacted Disney dining regarding the food restrictions. At least the CM was able to straighten it out and get all of our desired ADRs confirmed, except one. We wanted to go to the Garden Grill on Thursday, December 20, but all available times for dinner at the Garden Grill, Coral Reef, Le Cellier, and Rose & Crown were blocked out. The CM said that those were probably blocked out for people making reservations for the Candlelight Processional dinner package. That’s a real bummer!!! Anyway, I emailed Selene to get her suggestions for an alternate Epcot eatery, given the challenges of addressing her vegan requirements and Jaidyn’s food allergies. We ended up getting an ADR at Via Napoli, where we’ve never eaten before.

On November 16, I pre-ordered the Disney PhotoPass Plus package, saving $50 ($149 versus $199) by ordering the package before our arrival date. I had the PhotoPass package shipped to Selene’s home in Florida to be sure that it wouldn’t be delayed in mail delivery to the islands.

On December 8, Selene again contacted the Disney dining rep to go over the specifics of the food allergies/restrictions that she and Jaidyn have. The chefs for several of the restaurants later contacted Selene to discuss the available acceptable options. Selene has been very impressed with Disney’s attention to this issue.

With the planning now completed, our final itinerary looked like this:

- Fri 12/7: AA Flight from St. Thomas to Miami, Drive to Delray Beach, Gulfstream Manor Check-In
- Sat 12/8 to Sun 12/9: Visit with Family in Deerfield Beach
- Mon 12/10 to Wed 12/12: Medical Appointments
- Thu 12/13: Gulfstream Manor Check-Out, Drive to Port St. Lucie
- Fri 12/14: Drive to Orlando, AKV Check-In, Dinner at Boma
- Sat 12/15: Magic Kingdom, Dinner at Crystal Palace
- Sun 12/16: Epcot, Dinner at Teppan Edo
- Mon 12/17: Hollywood Studios, Dinner at SciFi Dine-In
- Tue 12/18: Animal Kingdom, Dinner at Yak & Yeti
- Wed 12/19: Magic Kingdom, Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern
- Thu 12/20: Epcot, Dinner at Via Napoli
- Fri 12/21: AKV Check-Out, Breakfast at ‘Ohana, Downtown Disney, Drive to Port St. Lucie
- Sat 12/22 to Wed 1/2: Visit with Selene and Family Over the Holidays
- Thu 1/3: Drive to Deerfield Beach, Overnight at Hampton Inn
- Fri 1/4: Drive to Miami, AA Flight from Miami to St. Thomas

What Actually Happened:

Friday, December 7:
The Plan: AA Flight from STT to MIA, Drive to Deerfield Beach, Gulfstream Manor Check-In

Helena and I often end up going to bed very late on the night before our travel day because of all of the little details we have to attend to before leaving home for a month. Surprisingly, this time we went to bed by a reasonable time (10:00p). The next morning, we were awakened by the alarm clock at 5:00a and quickly ate a light breakfast and got ready to leave. I dragged our two suitcases out to the car and we were at my brother’s home by 6:30a, where he was already up and giving his two dogs, Caesar and Cleo(patra), a morning walk. We drove to the airport in my car and arrived there shortly before 7:30a.

There were only a few other travelers at the American Airlines check-in area, and we had absolutely no problem using one of the self-service kiosks to get our boarding passes and check our two suitcases. We went through the U.S. Customs check without any problem, and then things started to go bad. The retractable handle on Helena’s suitcase was stuck in the “out” position and, even after opening the suitcase to try clear the handle, it just wouldn’t budge. I was afraid that TSA and/or the airline would refuse to accept the suitcase with the handle sticking out almost a foot, but it turned out not to be an issue. They accepted it that way.

The TSA security check was a bit more rigorous than in the past, including the new step of being scanned by the controversial x-ray scanner, which highlighted something suspicious on the upper left side of my chest. I don’t know what the scanner was seeing, because I have no heart pacemaker or other metal in my body. Anyway, I was subjected to a physical pat-down and then allowed to continue. Helena had her own experience, having to empty out her backpack because of two rolls of quarters that were flagged in the carry-on x-ray machine. After about 15 minutes, we finally were cleared and made our way to the departure gate, where we settled down to wait for our flight’s boarding time.

We later went to the airport caf for a light snack, and boarding began around 9:30a. We were in “Group 4” and were allowed to board the plane (Boeing 757) through the rear hatch. We quickly found our seats (aisle and center), stowed our carry-ons, and settled in for what was a completely smooth and uneventful flight. We actually took off about 10 minutes before the scheduled 10:00a departure time and arrived in Miami almost 30 minutes before the scheduled 12:00p arrival time (1:00p St. Thomas time). At baggage claim, our two checked bags were the first two to appear on the carousel, and we were soon trekking along the moving walkways to MIA’s central rental car facility.

Thankfully, Hertz had absolutely no line and I was checked in and directed to the location of our car within just a few minutes. It was a silver Chevy Cruze with Tennessee license plates, and the trunk was JUST long enough to hold the suitcase with the stuck handle! We exited the rental car facility onto the streets of Miami and that’s when all hell broke loose.

Right out of the facility, the NeverLost GPS system (which we always refer to as “Sarah” after the mother in Disney’s Carousel of Progress) was acting up and didn’t want to connect to the GPS satellite, which was a big problem. There have been a lot of road construction and routing changes around the Miami Airport over the past couple of years, so the immediate roadways were somewhat unfamiliar to me. To make matters worse, when the NeverLost system finally acquired the GPS satellite, it wasn’t indicating the need to make a turn until we were already at the place where we were supposed to turn. So, we were overshooting our turns, one after another. On Okeechobee Boulevard, one of the busiest roadways in downtown Miami, I changed lanes to try to get to a quiet side road to stop and try orient myself as to where we were and where we needed to go. But we were immediately struck from behind by a semi-truck (without an attached trailer) that was in a blind spot in the rearview mirrors. We were sent spinning into a side road and the truck ended up sideways blocking two lanes of Okeechobee Boulevard. Thankfully, no one was hurt!

I immediately called 911 to report the accident and then went to check on the driver of the truck. He was bent over his steering wheel, but motioned to me that he was okay. Luckily for us, he wasn’t a burly trucker who would be steaming mad for what had happened. Instead, he was a very mild-mannered gentleman from Guatemala and, as a highly religious person, had bent over his steering wheel right after the accident to say a prayer thanking God that he was unhurt. He told us that he would have hit us full in the rear if he hadn’t swerved at the last minute, thus giving us a glancing blow in the right rear corner of our rental car.

It took a police officer almost half an hour to arrive and he took all of the necessary information and retreated to his squad car for at least another half hour. My guess is that he was running FBI checks on all of us to see if we had criminal records or if the truck driver was legally in the country. In the end, I was ticketed for improperly changing lanes into other traffic. Add $180 to our trip expenses. (I’ve been driving for 45 years, including almost 15 consecutive years of driving in Florida during trips there. In all that time, this was the first accident that I’ve ever caused and the only traffic ticket I have every gotten. It’s a blemish on my driving record that I wish had never happened!) I firmly believe that the malfunctioning NeverLost system in the car was the cause of the accident, because I wouldn’t have been distracted and we wouldn’t have been anywhere near Okeechobee Boulevard if it had been working properly.

After I had called 911, but before the police arrived, I also called Hertz’s roadside assistance to report the accident and they told me that a nearby local Hertz office would be able to take the damaged car and exchange it for another one. So, after the police left, we drove there and, after a 15-20 minute wait to be served, were told that they had just rented out their last vehicle. That meant that we had to drive the damaged car all the way back to the Miami Airport to make the car exchange. Luckily, I was able to get us there through what was now rush-hour traffic and sheepishly drove into the Hertz return center with the damaged car. The clerk helped us fill out an accident report and then took us over to customer service, who had us in a replacement car within 10 minutes. We were given an identical silver Chevy Cruze, but with Alabama plates.

This time “Sarah” guided us properly and we were soon on I-95 headed to Delray Beach, some 60 miles away. We stopped at a McDonald’s in Delray Beach for a quick dinner and then drove the short distance to the Gulfstream Manor Resort, a small but comfortable ocean-side resort that’s affiliated with, but not owned by, the Bluegreen Vacation Club. It was now about 6:30p, and so ended a very long and stressful travel day.

Saturday, December 8 to Sunday, December 9:
The Plan: Visit with Family in Deerfield Beach

Saturday, December 8: We slept in a bit later than normal for us, unpacked our suitcases, and then headed out to a nearby Burger King for a quick breakfast. From there we went to Publix to buy some groceries -- mostly breakfast items -- that we’d need during our week in the Delray/Deerfield area. Back at the resort, I took time to call the American Express claims department to report the accident and file a claim for insurance coverage, since I had used my AmEx card for the Hertz rental. The AmEx rep took all of the pertinent info and told me that I could expect to receive a followup email from them within a couple days with info on the claims process. Around mid-day, Helena and I drove to the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton and spent a few hours there, mostly just window shopping. We did buy a few small items as Christmas stocking stuffers for Selene and family and also ate dinner at a Chinese kiosk in the mall’s food court before heading back to the Gulfstream Manor Resort.

Sunday, December 9: After breakfast in our room and catching up on email and Facebook, we headed to nearby Deerfield Beach to spend the day with my eldest sister Marion and brother-in-law Richard. Three of their five children and some of their grandchildren were also there, along with the son of my second sister, Joan, and his wife and son. They were on a stop-over from Colorado on their way to the island of St. John (another of the U.S. Virgin Islands) where they were going to have a memorial service and bury Joan’s ashes. She died in June from the long-term effects of a series of strokes she had suffered several years ago. (Unfortunately, our travel plans had already been fixed by the time Joan’s children settled on when they would travel to St. Thomas and St. John for the memorial service. My brother, Steven, and his family will represent us there.) Marion had prepared an impromptu family luncheon with delicious “island” dishes. We all had a great time catching up, reminiscing about old times, and remembering Joan, including looking at old family photos that included her. We also had an opportunity to say “goodbye” to Joan, since the urn with her ashes was there, set on an impromptu shrine Marion had arranged in her living room.

Monday, December 10 to Wednesday, December 12:
The Plan: Medical Appointments

Monday, December 10: Today was our first doctor day. In the morning we underwent extensive eye exams at the Florida Eye Care Center in Boca Raton. The Center has an array of sophisticated machines to examine the interior of the patient’s eyes to detect signs of macular degeneration and other internal eye disease, along with other tests for peripheral vision (affected by glaucoma), detection of cataracts, and determining any changes in the patient’s eyesight. We both passed all of the tests and, although my eyeglass prescription has changed since last year, the change is so slight that I can wait another year before getting new glasses. In the afternoon, Helena had an appointment with her breast cancer specialist. This was an important examination this year because her routine mammogram screening and a followup sonogram back at home had shown something suspicious. The doctor scheduled Helena for a needle biopsy later in the week because he was unsure, based on the images from back home, if there’s something there to be concerned about. Of course, this has Helena and I in a rather distressed frame of mind. We’re praying that Thursday’s biopsy will turn out negative. If not, we’ll have to stay in Florida longer so that Helena can receive the necessary treatment.

Tuesday, December 11: Today was supposed to have been my appointment with a lung specialist I’ve been seeing for a number of years for my pulmonary sarcoidosis, but he had to cancel because of some personal emergency and won’t be available until after we’re back home. I’ll have to reschedule the checkup for sometime in 2013. Because of this change, we slept in later today and, after breakfast in our room, headed out to Pompano to do some shopping at the City Centre Mall. Our main targets were Sears and JC Penney, where Helena usually gets clothes that she likes, that fit well, and aren’t too expensive. Before returning to the Gulfstream Manor, we wanted to stop at a Chili’s for lunch/dinner. We both really enjoy the food at Chili’s and I vaguely remembered that there was one somewhere nearby. I programmed “Sarah” to direct us to the nearest one and “she” promptly directed us to exit the City Centre parking lot, head about 1/2 mile down U.S. 1 (Federal Highway), make a U-turn, head in the opposite direction about a mile, make another U-turn, and then return to the City Centre parking lot. Turns out that Chili’s was located within easy walking distance from where we were originally parked!! I guess Tennessee “Sarah” and Alabama “Sarah” just aren’t as familiar with the roadways in Florida as is native Florida “Sarah.” :-)

Wednesday, December 12: This was another morning to sleep in a bit. After breakfast, we headed out to a Super Target not far away to look for a few specific items we hadn’t found elsewhere. These included a few Christmas stocking stuffers, such as catnip toys for Selene’s two kitties, Delilah and TC. When we were finished at Target, we stopped at a Boston Market for lunch. Gone are the disposable plastic plates and flatware, replaced by real plates and silverware. After you place your order, they bring the food to your table and tell you to leave the dishes there for them to pick up when you’re done. This particular Boston Market, on Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield, has been a favorite of ours for almost 15 years. We especially like the rotisserie chicken/white meat with mashed sweet potatoes, sweet corn, and a fresh cornbread muffin. Of course, gooey chocolate chip cookies hit the spot for dessert. After this inexpensive yet filling meal, we headed back to the Gulfstream Manor. Helena and I stopped by the front desk to inquire about the possibility of staying there in January if Helena needs to have additional treatment, and we ended up having a very nice and reassuring conversation with the office manager, who is herself a breast cancer survivor. We then headed to our room to do some last-minute laundry and pack for tomorrow’s check-out. One disturbing thing that has happened the last three days in a row is that our laptop computer crashed with the “blue screen of death.” Luckily, it came back up each time I shut it off, restarted it in “safe mode,” shut it down once again, and then restarted in regular mode. The crashes all happened while I was watching videos, so I’m wondering if there’s a problem with Adobe Flash Player software. You can bet that I’m backing up my work every few minutes to an external USB flash drive!

Thursday, December 13:
The Plan: Gulfstream Manor Check-Out, Drive to Port St. Lucie

We got up around 7:00a, quickly ate breakfast, and checked out of Gulfstream Manor by the 10:00a deadline. We drove the short distance to Helena’s breast surgeon’s office and fearfully awaited her turn for the breast needle biopsy. In a hopeful turn of events, the doctor was unable to see anything in his sonogram-guided examination that matched the possible target spot in the mammograms and sonogram from St. Thomas. He showed us the various images and pointed out what the St. Thomas radiologist had flagged, explaining that he couldn’t corroborate the findings. He therefore decided to have Helena have a more exacting mammogram done of the left breast (with an added test called tomosynthesis) to see if anything shows up on that. We were able to schedule this additional mammogram for the morning of December 24, Christmas Eve. Helena now also has a followup appointment with the breast specialist on the morning of January 2. Things are hopeful again, but we’re still on edge about this.

When we left the doctor’s office, we stopped at a nearby Burger King for a quick lunch and then headed out to I-95, enroute to our daughter Selene’s home in Port St. Lucie. We arrived around 2:00p, just in time to go with Selene to pick up our granddaughter Jaidyn from school. Jaidyn was quite surprised and happy to see us! Back at Selene’s home, we settled in and caught up on family news and spent a quiet afternoon and evening. We’re all excited to be heading to Walt Disney World tomorrow. Helena and I plan to leave Port St. Lucie around noon to get a head start on checking in and purchasing our APs and the TIW discount card. Selene and family will leave Port St. Lucie around 3:00p after Jaidyn gets out from school.

Friday, December 14:
The Plan: Drive to Orlando, AKV Check-In, Dinner at Boma

We slept in a bit later today and were up by 9:00a to have a quick breakfast, re-pack our suitcases with just the items we would need in Orlando, said goodby (temporarily) to Selene and headed out to a nearby Walmart to pick up a few grocery items we needed to restock, the most important being bottled water. After a stop to fill up the gas tank in the rental car, we headed to the Florida Turnpike headed North. We made one stop on the way up for a quick lunch at KFC in one of the rest stop facilities. The Turnpike toll was $9.80, $1.20 more than in previous years, and the Osceola Parkway toll was the usual $1.75.

When I pulled up to the security booth at Animal Kingdom Lodge right around 3:45p, the guard couldn’t find my name on his list, but he let us through anyway without any problem. At Kidani Village, we walked right up to the check-in desk and Amyril from Australia had us checked in within a few minutes, even though she had to call for an alternate room that was ready because our assigned room wasn’t. We got room 7704, on the 3rd floor. We then went to move the car to the underground parking, ending up in the Rafiki 7 section, just a short distance from an elevator. We unload the suitcases and backpacks from the car and headed up to see our Disney home for the week. As expected, it was a very nice 2-bedroom suite with savannah view, and we checked everything out to make sure there weren’t any issues that needed attending too. Helena then started to unpack her stuff while I went back down to the car with Selene’s small luggage trolley to bring up the two boxes with grocery items. We finished unpacking and putting everything away and then turned on the TV to hear the terrible news about the deadly shooting at a school in Newtown, CT.

[I don’t understand why our governments (at all levels) can’t see the need to strengthen gun control laws in this country. I grew up with my father and other close family members having guns at home. But those were either handguns for personal protection or shotguns and rifles for hunting. In fact, I used to go hunting birds and deer on St. Thomas with my father and other family members on a regular basis. As I got older, I had BB and pellet guns and pistols that I used for target practice in our backyard. I also was given the opportunity to use my father’s shotgun while hunting wild doves and pigeons. So, I understand the appeal of the sport. But there is absolutely NO justification for any private individual to have possession of the high-powered, rapid-shooting weapons that are being used in so many of these shootings. Those types of weapons should ONLY be in the hands of trained military and law enforcement personnel while they are on active duty. Would you really prefer to live in a country where there are armed guards at all of our schools and colleges, movie theaters, shopping malls, supermarkets, churches, hospitals, etc. than to put a limit of the amount and type of guns that anyone can own? Where and when would it all end? I really do not believe that our current state of affairs is what the Founding Fathers envisioned by giving us the right to “bear arms.” If I’m not mistaken, that right was meant as a means of maintaining an armed “militia” capable of defending the new-founded country in the event of attack from outside, a need that no longer exists with our vast military and national guard capabilities. Off the soapbox.]

We originally intended to head out to Animal Kingdom to pick up our APs and TIW card, but we were really tired at this point and decided to just deal with getting them at the Magic Kingdom in the morning. As it turned out, Selene texted us around 4:00p that they had gotten behind and were just leaving their home in Port St. Lucie. So, they weren’t going to be able to stop at Animal Kingdom to pick up their APs either. Instead, we’ll try to get an early start to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow so that we don’t waste too much time getting our park tickets.

Selene, John, and Jaidyn arrived around 6:45p and came up to the room to bring up just their cold storage food items. We were close to our Boma ADR time, so they decided to get the rest of their stuff from the car after dinner. We headed to Kidani’s lobby area to catch the shuttle van to Jambo House. On arriving, we quickly headed downstairs to Boma and checked in almost a half-hour late for the ADR. Even so, we had only about a 15 minute wait to be seated at a nice table close to the food service area. On check-in, we reminded the CM that two of our group had food allergies or special requests. Since Selene had contacted the Disney dining staff ahead of time, Boma was prepared. A chef, named Arol, came to discuss this with Selene and eventually prepared very attractive and, apparently, delicious dishes for Selene and Jaidyn. He also pointed out to Selene which dishes in the regular line-up were okay for her vegan diet. John, Helena, and I ate from the regular buffet items, sampling just about everything that was available. Our server was an older gentleman named Jeff, who said that he was originally from West Virginia. The total cost of dinner for the five of us, without any alcoholic drinks, was $203, including 20% gratuity. Unfortunately, without the TIW card, we missed out on a discount of about $32.

Back at Kidani Village, via the shuttle van, we headed down to the parking area to retrieve the rest of Selene, John, and Jaidyn’s luggage from the car. They unpacked and settled in while Helena checked email and Facebook. I later did the same and worked on the trip report. As I finish this, it’s now 11:50p. So, that’s it for today. Tomorrow is our first park day, at the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, it’s going to be opening at 8:00a (according to the Disney park guide on the TV), so we’ll lose some park time in the morning while we stop to pick up our APs and TIW card.

Saturday, December 15:
The Plan: Magic Kingdom, Dinner at Crystal Palace

We were all up by 6:30a and quickly got ready and had breakfast. We left our room by 7:45a to face a very foggy morning with minimal visibility. We were at the bus stop by 8:00a and had about a 10 minute wait for the Magic Kingdom bus to arrive. Because Kidani Village is the first stop, before Jambo House, it was empty. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom by 8:30a and stopped at Will Call to pick up all of our APs and a TIW card. We actually went through the turnstiles and entered the Magic Kingdom around 8:55a.

Our first stop in the park was at the Town Square Theater to pick up our PhotoPass Plus card. On the way down Main Street we stopped a couple times for PhotoPass pictures. Then it was off to the New Fantasyland section. It was really amazing to see all of the detail that the Imagineers put into that new development. Superb! We first headed to the Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid dark ride. It was posted as a 20 minute wait but was actually a walk-on. We all really enjoyed it and planned to return later to ride again -- at Jaidyn’s request. Next, we headed to Enchanted Tales with Belle, which was already showing a 60 minute wait. The time actually went by quickly and we were soon in the preview room, where John volunteered to be one of the royal guards and Jaidyn was drafted to be Mrs. Potts. Helena, Selene, and I scored seats in the first row of the library room and we all had a nice time with Belle. On leaving, John was given a PhotoPass card to access the photos that were taken near the end of the presentation. Some of us needed a rest stop, so we headed over to Belle’s village, where we met Gaston near his tavern and had some photos taken with him. He really does have a huge ego, doesn’t he? ;-) By now, it was shortly after 11:00a and we headed back for our second ride with Ariel. However, we were disappointed because the stand-by line was already up to 90 minutes! Instead, we headed over to the new Storybook Circus area.

At Storybook Circus, all of us went over to ride Goofy’s Barnstormer, except Helena, who doesn’t do roller coasters of any kind. She waited for us with her Kindle. This was actually my first ever ride on Barnstormer, as I had never ridden it during its Toontown Country Fair days. It’s a nice little ride, but so very short for the amount of time spent in the standby line! By now, it was about 12:40p and we stopped at the Starlight Caf in Tomorrowland for a quick lunch. Selene asked to see the manager about her and Jaidyn’s food allergies, and the eatery’s manager came out right away to discuss the options with Selene. Their meals actually were ready before those of the rest of us from the basic menu. Selene had a veggie burger and Jaidyn had a grilled chicken sandwich on a gluten-free bun, while Helena had a cucumber salad, and John and I had the regular chicken sandwiches. The total cost of lunch was just under $60 (TIW card not accepted). After that, John wanted to introduce Jaidyn to Stitch’s Great Escape, but Jaidyn would have none of it, although Stitch is her all-time favorite Disney character. She also didn’t want to ride Buzz Lightyear, Splash Mountain, or just about everything else suggested. This was a complete change of attitude from earlier in the day, so Selene suspected that the gluten-free bread in Jaidyn’s sandwich at Starlight Caf might have had some preservative or other artificial ingredient that triggered a mood swing. This is typical if she eats anything with preservatives, food colorings, or other similar artificial ingredients.

Jaidyn eventually agreed to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, and we had about a 20 minute stand-by wait before a great and enjoyable ride. This included our first encounters with the new mermaids on that ride, which really pass by too quickly to really be appreciated. We were planning to take the Jungle Cruise next, but the stand-by line had a 90 minute wait, so we opted for a relaxing visit to the Enchanted Tiki Room. This was the first time John and Jaidyn had seen this classic Disney attraction. It was also a nice break for us all to sit for a short while and rest our feet.

It was now almost 2:30p and next up was “it’s a small world,” which was basically a walk-on. After that ride, we headed back to the other side of Fantasyland to check on Ariel’s wait time, which was just growing longer and longer, now up to 120 minutes. So, we rode on the Mad Hatter’s Teacups, which Jaidyn just loved, as John spun their teacup faster and faster. Helena and I rode at a slight more sedate pace, but still enjoyed the ride. We next went back to Storybook Circus to catch the Walt Disney World Railroad for a round trip ride. We made a full circle and continued on to the Main Street station, where we got off at just about 4:00p. Since we had a 4:30p ADR at the Crystal Palace, that was our next destination.

We had barely a 10 minute wait before we were seated and our server, Angela, took our drink order and alerted Paul, the Crystal Palace’s chef, that there were food allergy concerns in our group. Paul, who Selene had corresponded with directly during the weeks before our trip, soon came over to our table and showed Selene all of the dishes in the regular buffet line-up that would be suitable for her vegan lifestyle, prepared a special pasta dish for Jaidyn, and also arranged for appropriate ice cream desserts for both Selene and Jaidyn. We all had a fun time at the Crystal Palace, with Eyore, Tigger, Piglet, and Pooh coming over to our table for greetings and pictures. I did notice that the characters seemed to have limited their interactions with guests to very quick picture and autograph opportunities. I remember them sticking around a little longer in past years. Even so, this was a fun meal which we all enjoyed. The total cost was $175, including a $33 TIW discount and a 20% gratuity for Angela.

John was really beat by this time (around 5:30p) because he hadn’t slept well the night before. Selene, Jaidyn, and Helena were also somewhat tired, so they all left the park and returned to Kidani Village. I was determined to see the Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes, so I stayed alone and set out to walk around the entire Magic Kingdom taking “after dark” photos before staking out a spot for the parade. According to the time stamps on the photo files, I started my after dark trek in front of the Main Street Railroad Station at 6:10p, headed down Main Street to Cinderella’s Castle, then over to and through Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Liberty Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland before ending back in front of the Main Street Railroad Station by 8:30p. I found my usual Electrical Parade/SpectroMagic photo spot against a light pole in front of Tony’s Town Square and waited out the time for the parade to start. Thankfully, no one tried to squeeze me out of my special spot, although a young girl sitting on the curb near me kept letting her Mickey balloon pop up and nearly hit me in the face. At least her father eventually had her move the balloon away.

The Electrical Parade started promptly at 9:00p and was finished by 9:20p. It was just about this time that I realized that I didn’t have my Tigger baseball cap with me and feared that I may have left it at the Crystal Palace. I called Helena on the phone to verify whether I had put the cap in the backpack that we were using during the day. I hadn’t! So, I headed back up Main Street, getting caught in the opposing currents of people who were trying to leave the Magic Kingdom and others who were trying to head up Main Street to see Wishes from closer up. What a traffic jam of humanity! I eventually made my way to the Crystal Palace and asked if their “lost and found” might have might Tigger cap. They DID indeed have it in safe keeping. I was so happy to not have lost a third Tigger baseball cap -- the first flew off during the drop on Splash Mountain a few years ago and the second was left behind in the stowage area under the seats on Soarin’.

With Tigger safely on my head, I reversed direction and headed back to the entrance hub end of Main Street, again fighting the currents of people all the way. I eventually took up a viewing position on Main Street, near the Christmas tree and standing right behind a group of four elderly guests, over which I could easily see and shoot photos. Wouldn’t you know it -- a man taller than me stood right in front of the group of seniors with a child up on his shoulders. The senior folk had to move to a different location to see Wishes and I had to step to the side to also be able to see it somewhat unobstructed. Some people just don’t think of anyone but themselves! About 15 minutes before Wishes was scheduled to start, the new Celebrate the Magic projection show was presented, followed immediately at 10:00p by Wishes. I never saw the previous Magic, Memories, and You projection, so I can’t compare it to the new presentation. However, I did enjoy this one. On a future visit, I’d like to see it from closer to the Castle. As for Wishes, what can I say, other than that I just love that fireworks presentation!

When Wishes ended, I immediately headed for the park exit, arriving at the AKV bus stop just in time to catch a bus that was already there. Thankfully, it wasn’t crowded at all, and everyone had a seat. I was back in our room at Kidani Village shortly after 11:00p. Selene, John, and Jaidyn were already asleep, and Helena was in bed reading a book, having already done a small load of white clothes. I took the time to download the photos from our cameras and iPhones and write up the trip report notes. It’s now 1:20a, and I’m headed to the shower and then to bed. Tomorrow is scheduled to be our first Epcot day.

Sunday, December 16:
The Plan: Epcot, Dinner at Teppan Edo

Unlike yesterday, today we awoke to a bright, sunny sky and zebras, ankole cattle, and large birds (possibly vultures?) right outside our window. We were at the bus stop by 8:15a and a Magic Kingdom bus pulled up within 10 minutes. But the driver had to load a wheelchair guest so, when the Epcot bus arrived a few minutes later, that driver had to wait for the Magic Kingdom bus to pull out of the way. Even so, we were at Epcot’s entry plaza shortly before 9:00a. There was a mass of people at the security station, which took a good 10-15 minutes to clear. Finally through the turnstiles, we headed directly to Test Track to experience the new version of the ride. But we were disappointed to find that it was down with some type of malfunction. Even the FastPass (FP) machines were closed and unavailable. So, we went next door to Mission: Space, where we (John, Selene, Jaidyn, and I) rode the “orange” spinning version -- the first time for me in several years because of a history of vertigo. Thankfully, we all survived our trip to Mars with no ill effects. Helena waited for us near the pavilion’s exit, since she doesn’t ride the more extreme rides for health reasons.

We next headed across to the opposite side of Future World and got in the standby line for Soarin’. This turned out to be about a 20 minute wait, and we all enjoyed the flight over California. I tried to take photos of the screen (as I’ve done successfully before), but not a single one turned out well. That was just one more realization that I really need to get myself a new and better camera. Almost all of the “after dark” photos that I had taken at the Magic Kingdom the night before were slightly blurred despite my best efforts to make sure the camera was steady when I was taking the photos. Very, very disappointing!

After Soarin’, we headed over to Living with the Land for a relaxing boat ride through the hydroponic farm. Jaidyn especially enjoyed this ride and seeing some of the plants for fruits and vegetables that she likes to eat. Leaving The Land, we headed over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends, where we enjoyed the dark ride that takes you into the pavilion. By this time, it was almost noon and Selene, John, and Jaidyn decided to return to Kidani Village to get in some pool time. They planned to return to Epcot in time for dinner at Teppan Edo. Helena and I took in Turtle Talk with Crush, which was again very entertaining, and then headed back to The Land for a light lunch of a salad and Coke for Helena and a cinnamon bun and Sprite for me, at a total cost of almost $14.

After that light lunch, Helena and I headed over to Spaceship Earth for a ride through the history of communications and technology. We changed up our answers to the interactive section of the ride and were shown a future where we would be living in a high-tech, self-sustaining tree house. We stopped at Mouse Gear to pickup a visor and a bag of licorice jelly beans for Helena at a total cost of $28. After that, we headed over to Test Track to pick up two FP cards, using Helena’s and my APs. There was quite a line there for the same reason, and the process was slowed even more because at least three of the FP machines were malfunctioning. Eventually I got two Test Track FPs for 8:10p to 9:10p.

We then started a slow tour of World Showcase, beginning in Mexico and making our way all the way around to Canada and then back-tracking to the American Adventure pavilion, where we found seats in the shade to just relax for a while and people watch while waiting for Selene, John, and Jaidyn to return from Kidani Village.

Selene texted us when they left the resort on the Epcot bus and again when they arrived at the park. At that point, Helena and I went over to the nearby Japan pavilion to wait for them to arrive for our 4:30p ADR at Teppan Edo. By the time they made it over to Japan, it was just time to check in and we were given a pager, which went off within 10 minutes. We climbed the rather intimidating stairs up to the second floor of the Mitsukoshi building and were immediately taken by the hostess to the room where we would be sharing a hibachi table with another family. Yuria was our main server, and she very efficiently and politely took care of us. (It has always stricken me how polite the Japanese people are, and that politeness is always exhibited by the cast members in the Japan pavilion.) The chef at our table was also a Japanese lady (I don’t remember her name), and she put on an entertaining show while preparing our meals at the hibachi grill. The restaurant’s manager also came over to confirm Selene and Jaidyn’s special dietary needs. Selene was served vegan-acceptable vegetables and California rolls, while Jaidyn had a preservative-free salad with miso soup, both of which she just about cleaned out. Jaidyn’s not a big eater, but she really enjoyed this simple meal. John ordered the spare rib appetizer, which he shared with Helena and I, and the steak and shrimp combo. Helena had chicken and I had the steak and chicken combo. As usual, all of the food was delicious and the atmosphere enjoyable. I guess that’s worth the rather steep cost of $226, including 20% gratuity. Unfortunately, Teppan Edo doesn’t accept the TIW discount card.

By the time we finished dinner, it was going on 7:00p and Jaidyn was getting tired. So, Selene, John, and Jaidyn decided to head back to our resort and Helena joined them. I stayed at Epcot to ride the new Test Track and to catch Illuminations later in the evening.

It was still too early for me to head back to Test Track for a FP ride, so I decided to take a slow walk around Future World, taking photos of each of the attraction buildings after dark. Later returning to Test Track, I grabbed a nearby bench to wait for the 8:10p FP window to open. A family with three young children were seated near me, but the children were continuously climbing up on a concrete retaining wall behind the bench. I was fully expecting one of them to fall and have to be attended to, but luckily they didn’t. Frankly, I felt much more relaxed once that family left the area.

When the time eventually arrived for my FP ride, I headed to the entrance and joined a long line of riders. On entering the main show building, the sophisticated, high-tech layout and decor of the building was immediately evident. From what I could see, it appears that Fastpass and Single riders are given the opportunity to select one of several pre-configured vehicle designs on touchscreen computer displays that are activated by RFID cards. Riders who are in the regular standby line are allowed to go a few steps further by actually designing their vehicles from the ground up. After the ride, which is pretty much the same layout of the original Test Track but with lots of blue neon lighting that brings to mind the world of “Tron,” riders are able to use the RFID cards to compare the performance of their vehicle designs to those of other riders. Overall, I think the new Test Track is a great enhancement to a great original.

After my Test Track ride, I headed over to World Showcase Plaza to find a spot to watch Illuminations. I was almost too late, but did eventually find a spot near the Cantina in Mexico. As expected, Illuminations was a spectacular show, made even better by the amazing Christmas finale. After the show, I immediately joined the crowd heading for the park exit, arriving at the bus stop to find an AKV bus waiting for me to arrive. A short while later, I was at Kidani Village, where I joined the others in watching the finale of Survivor, which was already underway. (I was rooting for Lisa. Too bad she didn’t win.) This is yet another late night of writing up the day’s activities for the trip report, which I’m finishing at almost 1:00a. See you tomorrow at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Monday, December 17:
The Plan: Hollywood Studios, Dinner at SciFi Dine-In

We were all up by 7:00a to find another foggy morning. It was so thick that we could barely see the trees in the savannah just outside our room’s windows, much less any animals. At least the fog was expected to burn away very quickly and leave us with comfortable temperatures all day long. Except for John, we made it to the bus stop at Kidani Village by 8:10a and a Hollywood Studios bus arrived within 5 minutes. Luckily, the driver had to load a wheelchair passenger, because John had gone back to our room because he forgot his shades. The delay gave John just enough time to get back, so we didn’t miss this bus.

The driver was somewhat of a comic, which seems to be becoming more rare than in past trips to Walt Disney World. He had amusing comments and used pre-programmed announcements in the bus’s public address system to prank us. The best came when we were stopped for a traffic light at an intersection near Hollywood Studios park and an announcement came on with “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re sorry to announce that Hollywood Studios has reached its operational capacity and has been closed at this time to further guests. We apologize for this inconvenience.” We were all stunned! A few seconds later, the drivers ‘fessed up that he was pulling our legs. He said we should all have seen our faces because “it was priceless.” We were all relieved when we pulled into Hollywood Studios’ bus station by 8:30a. There was already a huge crowd at the turnstiles and, at the point when we reached the security tables, the guards announced that they were told to temporarily stop screening any more incoming guests. Apparently, Disney managers didn’t want the backup at the entrance turnstiles to get too large. We were eventually allowed to complete the security checks and then go through the turnstiles by 8:50a.

Once inside the park, we headed directly to Toy Story Midway Mania (bypassing any PhotoPass photos on Hollywood Boulevard) to get FP tickets. Surprisingly, the FP line was much shorter than we’ve seen at park opening onn prior trips. We soon had FPs for 10:35a to 11:35a, and then went to the standby line, which was posted as 60 minutes but was actually more like 30 minutes. On our first rides, I beat Helena’s score 120,600 to 98,000, but John, who had ridden with Selene and (non-playing) Jaidyn, beat my score by about 20,000.

Since it was still too early to use our FPs, we went next door to experience the new Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow attraction. This wasn’t a walk-through like the Narnia exhibits, which is what I was expecting. Instead, it is a somewhat interactive virtual reality experience all staged in one room with nice theming and high-definition video projected on certain sections of the wall. The room is made to look like a large cave with various pirate artifacts scattered around and a large replica of the bow of a pirate ship projecting into the room. The ghost pirate seen in the attraction’s logo is our “host” and tests us in preparation for joining Captain Sparrow’s crew. Later on, Captain Sparrow himself appears on the deck of the ship and completes our induction into his crew, which requires us to perform certain tasks as part of the process. Overall, it’s a pretty simple attraction and probably won’t be very repeatable for most guests. But even so, the overall technology is quite impressive. The video projections of Captain Sparrow (Johnny Depp, not a stand-in) are extremely realistic and it took many of us a few minutes to realize that it was a projection and not a live person up on the ship’s deck. If you like Pirates of the Caribbean, you should experience this short (about 15 minute) attraction on your next visit to the Hollywood Studios park, but don’t expect a full-blown attraction.

Because it was still not time yet for our Toy Story FPs, we stopped in at the One Man’s Dream exhibit room and spent about 20 minutes looking at the exhibits, especially some of the additions related to the New Fantasyland expansion. By that time it was almost 10:30a, so we headed back to Toy Story Midway Mania for our FP rides. I again beat Helena, this time 120,300 to 80,500. But this time Selene beat everyone else’s scores. Next, we got in line for the 11:20a showing of the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which is always a favorite of ours. Jaidyn enjoyed it, but we could tell that she was beginning to get a bit cranky (perhaps a combination of tiredness and the beginning of the effects of residual artificial ingredients in foods she had been eating the past few days at Disney World). She didn’t want to meet any of the characters that were available, even characters that she normally likes. This was a bit of a disappointment, because we had invested in the PhotoPass Plus program and it was not being used to the fullest. Hopefully, Jaidyn will be a bit more open to character meet and greets in the days still left.

To try get Jaidyn to perk up, Selene and John took her to the Animation Academy drawing class at the Art of Disney Animation facility, since she loves to draw at home and has shown a talent for it. While the three of them were engaged in that activity, Helena and I spent some time viewing the animation art exhibits nearby. When the drawing session was over, Jaidyn was in an even more cranky mood because she wasn’t satisfied with how her drawing of Tinker Bell (the character chosen by the majority of the participants) had turned out. We all tried to encourage her and compliment her drawing, which was quite good for someone her age, but to no avail. The drawings by Selene and John, both of whom have had formal art training, were excellent representations of Tinker Bell. [Side Note: John loves to draw very detailed sketches of super hero and fantasy characters. I posted a sample of his fantasy art here on Facebook. You don’t have to be a Facebook member to see the album.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...025573&type=3]

By now it was 12:15p, so we stopped at the ABC Commissary for a light lunch. One of the cashier’s helped Selene select items that were appropriate for her vegan diet and (as best as possible) safe for Jaidyn’s food allergies. The total cost for the meals, which consisted mainly of salads for the three ladies, a burger for John, and a chicken sandwich for me, came to a total of $52. After lunch, we headed over to Star Tours, where Selene, John, and I enjoyed a great ride after 15 minutes in the standby line. Helena watched over Jaidyn near the Star Wars store at the ride’s exit. The Star Tours ride was a big hit, with this being John’s and Selene’s first rides on the new, upgraded 3D version. We were especially surprised to see that John was selected as the “Rebel Spy” aboard our Star Speeder! Also, the second segment of this ride was one I had never experienced before in my rides last year.

To give Jaidyn a treat, we next went to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids play area, which she has enjoyed on prior visits to the Studios park. Helena and I waited on a bench near the play area’s exit, while Selene and John stayed with Jaidyn to have some fun. Unfortunately, when they came out, Jaidyn was in full “melt down” mode, angry about something and almost to the point of tears. None of us know what set her off, but suspect there was some ingredient in her lunch meal that affected her. We took a break from touring and found a shaded bench near Echo Lake to just sit and relax for a while. Jaidyn clung to Selene most of that time and eventually calmed down and returned to her usual self. While we were there, the Pixar Pals Countdown parade passed nearby and I went over to view it and take a few photos.

Shortly before 4:00p, we all headed over to the SciFi Dine-In for our dinner ADR. Valeria was our server and took good care of us. Jaidyn had a fruit salad and allergy-safe chicken nuggets, Selene had a veggie burger, John a turkey sandwich, Helena had an Angus beef burger, and I a chicken pasta dish. Helena and I also had ice cream sundaes. The bill was $107, including a $20 TIW discount and 20% gratuity added. After dinner, the others all decided to return to Kidani Village, while I again stayed solo to do some after dark touring.

Around 5:30p I started down Sunset Boulevard to wait for the 6:30p showing of Fantasmic. The walkway to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater was already opened, and I took my time walking up to the theater. Although it was still an hour to showtime, it went by quickly thanks to new pre-show entertainment, which consisted of Disney CMs engaging the audience in song trivia competitions in which two halves of the audience competed against each other. The Fantasmic show was as great as always, and my location right at stage center and about a third of the way up from the bottom of the stadium gave me an excellent view of the entire show. The exit walk from the amphitheater was as jam packed as ever, but I was soon headed down Sunset Boulevard towards the Osborne Family Lights. I spent about 20 minutes walking through that area of the Streets of America, enjoying the visual display and the Christmas music. Then I headed back down Hollywood Boulevard and towards the park exit, stopping to catch one last photo -- of the Grauman’s Theater all lit up with the half moon in the background.

I was at the bus stop by 7:45p and gave Helena a call on the phone to let her know I was on my way to Kidani Village. No sooner had I hung up with Helena the bus arrived. Although I had to stand during the ride, I was soon back to our room. As I’m finishing up this trip report update, it’s 11:30p (much better than last night’s 1:00a). John is watching Monday Night Football, Selene and Jaidyn are asleep, and Helena is in bed reading one of her novels. I’ll be closing down the computer now and getting ready for bed also. Tomorrow is our Animal Kingdom day.

Tuesday, December 18:
The Plan: Animal Kingdom, Dinner at Yak & Yeti

You know the morning routine by now -- awakened by the alarm at 6:30a, get dressed, breakfast, and out the door by 8:00a. So far the bus for whatever park we were going to each day had arrived within 10 minutes of our arriving at the bus stop. But today, the Animal Kingdom bus was driving away as we arrived, and it was a full 1/2 hour before the next one came along. Even so, we were at Animal Kingdom by 8:50a. We stopped for PhotoPass pictures at the park’s Christmas tree just outside the turnstiles and again at the bridge onto Discovery Island with the Tree of Life in the background.

Our plan of action was to head to the Kilimanjaro Safari to get FPs and then get into the standby line. This worked out well, and we were on the safari vehicle by 9:20a. Unfortunately, we were in the second to last row, which means we had a very bumpy ride and not many good photos. Selene was getting photos on the left side and I was on the right side of our row. Our tour driver was full of interesting information on the animals and spoke very clearly so that everything he said was understandable. There were many animals out and about, including hippos, rhinos, two types of giraffes, mandrills, elephants, Ankole cattle, cheetahs, ostriches, warthogs, tons of zebras in the new section, and even the male lion! When this safari tour ended, the time was already in our FP window, so we got right back in line for a repeat. This time we got seats much closer to the front of the truck, with Selene and I exchanging places so we could get pictures on the opposite sides from before. The bus driver this time was a young lady who was also full of interesting information about the animals. But she spoke so rapidly and almost non-stop that I just couldn’t help thinking of Vanellope in “Wreck-It Ralph.” Even her voice sounded like Vanellope’s. We again saw most of the animals that we had seen the first time out, with the addition of wildebeests and various types of antelopes and gazelles.

We next took the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where we were surprised by the huge number of bird nests and birds in the aviary section. We had never noticed so many on prior visits. At the gorilla enclosure, the silverback daddy was fast asleep against the viewing glass and the mommy gorilla and her baby were at a distance and mostly out of sight. At one point, however, the young one started playing with a white canvas bag and pulled it over her head while she was walking around. Really cute! In the bachelor section, one of the males was at a distance sitting under a tree munching on some vegetation. A larger male soon came out in the open and stopped for a long time looking at the smaller male before finally sitting to also eat. For a long time, though, he gave us a long and close up view of gorilla butt! :-) One thing we noticed during our tour was that there were no meerkats in their usual habitat. I don’t know if they’ve been permanently moved or if they were just somewhere else for medical care. The meerkats are usually fun to watch and I certainly missed seeing them.

Continuing our tour, we headed into Asia and took in the Wonders of Flight show, which was just about to begin. Jaidyn was a bit grumpy at the beginning of the show because she didn’t want to see it, but she soon warmed up to the birds and enjoyed the rest of it. As always, it was a fun and interesting show, featuring the wayward tour guide and a knowledgeable host, along with the wonderful exotic birds.

We next headed over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek, where the standout animals were the beautiful Asian Tigers. (I’ve been calling them Bengal Tigers in prior trip reports, but a CM at the viewing area said they are Asian Tigers.) Although most of the big cats were resting, a couple were alert and moving around. At one viewing area, one of the tigers came up to the glass through which we were viewing it, perched up with his head just inches away from the glass and stood there looking at us. It was really an amazing experience being so close to this beautiful beast, even if still separated by protective glass. Selene got some great photos, since she was herself right up to the glass taking pictures at the time. The tiger then moved away and plopped down on a pile of dried leaves. Then another tiger sneaked up from behind and just leaped at it playfully. It reminded us of how the younger of Selene’s two cats often jumps at the older one in a mischievous way. A little further along the trail, many deer, both young and old, and a large buck were out and about.

By now it was almost 2:00p and we stopped at a kiosk near the Wonders of Flight to grab a light meal. Except for John, we had fruit salads, each one served in the hollowed out shell of half a pineapple. John got sweet and sour chicken from the counter service window at Yak and Yeti. Total cost for lunch was about $55. While taking our break at a table overlooking the river and the Tree of Life, two friendly ducks and several of the white birds with long, curved beaks (are they ibis’s?) stopped by to beg for handouts, but we didn’t give them anything. The ducks in particular were just so cute, looking at us with sad eyes.

After this quick lunch, John, Selene, and Jaidyn wanted to do the Kali River Rapids, which I’ve never done before. So, they gently persuaded me to hit the Rapids with them. I took the challenge and enjoyed the ride very much, especially since I lucked out and only got a few splashes of water on my pants. Actually, we wore our rain ponchos and all got off relatively dry compared with people we saw who were soaked from head to toe. I decided not to press my luck and stayed on the bridge near the ride exit while the others went for a second ride, which they again survived without being soaked. In the meantime, Helena had been relaxing on a shaded bench with her Kindle while waiting for us to return.

The last attraction of the day was Expedition Everest, where John was able to get in two rides. Selene was lucky to identify John when the ride vehicle was on the long hill climb segment of his second ride, and she was ready to capture a great photo of John in the front row of the vehicle as they came down the steep, curving drop out of the mountain.

It was now going on 4:00p and we were very near the Yak & Yeti, so we checked in early for our 4:30p ADR. They were able to accommodate us and we were seated within 10 minutes. Selene alerted our server, Jenna, about the dietary restrictions, and the chef came to our table shortly after to go over some acceptable options for Selene and Jaidyn. These included grilled chicken breast and white rice for Jaidyn and vegetables, rice, and tofu for Selene. John had spare ribs, Helena had the stir fried beef and broccoli, and I had the sweet and sour chicken platter. This was another eatery that didn’t accept the TIW card, so we paid full price of $158, including 20% gratuity.

Before exiting the park, we helped John try to find a “coolie” pouch for water bottles, but despite stopping at several stores in Asia, Africa, and Discovery Island, we couldn’t find the one he wanted, which is black and has safari Mickey and the Animal Kingdom logo stamped on the sides. We found a new, more brightly-colored version, but that wasn’t the one. So, we headed for the park exit and, when we reached the bridge from Africa to Discovery Island, were astonished to see the trees on both sides just filled with white birds with curved beaks (ibis’s again?) like the ones that had come looking for handouts at lunchtime. It looked like big balls of cotton were growing on the trees. We’ve never seen anything like that before.

We exited the park right at 5:30p and headed to the bus stop. We had to wait only 10 minutes for our bus to arrive and, a short ride later, we were back at Kidani Village. Selene, John, and Jaidyn freshened up a bit and then headed over to Jambo House to take advantage of the opportunity to view the savannah animals with night vision goggles, while Helena did a couple loads of laundry and I sorted out the day’s photos and updated the trip report. We were finished by 10:30p and ready for bed, with tomorrow planned to be our repeat day at the Magic Kingdom.

Wednesday, December 19:
The Plan: Magic Kingdom, Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern

I awoke this morning with a slightly scratchy throat and a persistent cough, which probably means that the curse of Helena or I getting sick during our annual December visits to Florida will continue. At least I was still able to generally enjoy our second day at the Magic Kingdom. We got to the bus stop at about 8:15a to find the bus just arriving. By 8:40a we were walking onto Main Street USA. We stopped for a few PhotoPass pictures on Main Street and then headed to Fantasyland to again ride the new Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid ride -- at Jaidyn’s specific request. We stopped for some more PhotoPass pictures outside the attraction and then headed over to “old” Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan, which we had missed earlier in the week, with just a 10 minute wait. Next up was Winnie the Pooh, which we had also missed earlier in the week, but it was down with no estimate of when it would be running again. So, we took a quick spin on the Mad Hatter’s Teacups instead. This was a complete walk-on.

Continuing around towards Tomorrowland, we (except Helena) took a spin on the Tomorrowland Speedway with John and Jaidyn riding in one car and Selene and I in the other. Helena watched from the bleachers because getting into and out of the cars is difficult with her bad knees. Surprisingly, our wait to ride was less than 10 minutes, which is unusual for this popular attraction. On the way to ride Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, we saw Push the trash can for the first time ever and stopped to enjoy the antics for a few minutes. Buzz Lightyear was also a walk-on with Selene, John, and Jaidyn in one spaceship and Helena and I in the second. Remarkably, I almost immediately hit a couple high scoring targets in the evil robot room and I eventually ended up with my highest score every -- 565,600! Unfortunately for me, Helena also hit some high scoring targets and maxed out her score at 999,999! I just can’t win!!!

Since our first visit to the Magic Kingdom on Saturday, John had been trying to convince Jaidyn to go on the Stitch’s Great Escape attraction, since she’s a huge Stitch fan. She finally agreed today and that was our next stop. Going in, I was skeptical about how Jaidyn would react to the dark part of the show, but she later actually said that she’d go see it again. Returning through Fantasyland, we saw that Winnie the Pooh was running again, so we got in the standby line, which had a posted wait of 20 minutes. But there was a steady stream of FastPass riders (presumably those who couldn’t ride earlier when the ride was down). Even so, our actual wait was about 30 minutes. At least Jaidyn was kept occupied by the hands-on activities in the standby queue area, especially the drums and the pop-up ball bins. When we left the Hundred Acre Woods, we headed over to “it’s a small world” at Jaidyn’s request. We pretty much walked right onto the ride, with no wait to speak of.

Because it was now approaching 12:00 noon and we had an ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern at 12:55p, we started heading in that direction. [Side Note: Helena and I got iPhones in November and I added the new Disney World app to both phones. We found the app to be quite useful in guiding our touring by giving us wait times and FP return times on a realtime basis.] The app was showing that Splash Mountain had a 30-minute standby wait. So, we decided to take a quick ride before lunch. Helena doesn’t ride this one, so she waited near the Liberty Tree Tavern with our bags/backpacks while Selene, John, Jaidyn, and I rushed over to Splash Mountain and got into a pretty short standby line. Unfortunately, there again was a steady stream of FP riders and, although we eventually got in our ride, we were going to be late for our ADR. Another bummer was that there was no ride picture for us to add to our PhotoPass Plus card because the ride camera was out of order.

By the time we got back to the Liberty Tree Tavern, we were about 20 minutes late. I checked in and we were told that we’d have a 25-minute wait before we could be seated. Luckily, we found a bench to sit on while we waited. Once we were seated at our table, the restaurant’s chef came over to discuss with Selene her and Jaidyn’s dietary restrictions and worked out suitable menu options. Selene had a veggie burger, Jaidyn had a salad with no dressing (Selene travels with an acceptable one for Jaidyn) and a pasta dish, John had a bacon cheeseburger, and Helena and I had the “Pilgrim’s Feast” consisting of turkey and traditional sides. Including a couple desserts, the total cost of the meal was $94, including a $17.75 TIW discount and a 20% gratuity for our server, Bill. This was certainly the least expensive table service meal we’ve had so far on this trip.

Since we were near Adventureland, we headed over there after lunch for a ride on the Jungle Cruise. This was basically a walk-on and included the standard jokes and some that were new or changed from versions we’d heard before. It was a nice ride on this classic attraction. Surprisingly, Jaidyn wanted to ride Splash Mountain again, so we headed over there for one last ride of the day. Unfortunately, after waiting in the posted 20 minute standby line for about 15 minutes and getting near the loading area, the ride went down, with no estimate of when it would be back up. We took that as a sign and started heading for the park exit at about 4:30p.

A bus to AKV arrived within 10 minutes and a short drive later we were at Kidani Village. Helena and I stop at the gift shop to buy a case of bottled water (the 2 cases we brought were finished off today) and Contact Cold+Flu for me. Meanwhile, Selene, John, and Jaidyn found Stitch doing meet and greets near Kidani’s Christmas tree and stopped for some pictures with him and then caught up with us to also get into some pictures. Then we headed to our room. Selene, John, and Jaidyn were planning to go to Downtown Disney to explore some and to get some vegan baked goods at Baby Cakes. Helena and I stayed in, she relaxing and reading on her Kindle and I updating the trip report. I’m actually finishing off early tonight -- at almost 8:30p -- and plan to turn in early also. Hopefully the Contact will help me to get a good night’s sleep and wake up with lessened cold symptoms. Tomorrow is our last park day, with Epcot being our target.

Thursday, December 20:
The Plan: Epcot, Dinner at Via Napoli

We all got a slightly later start today and didn’t get to the bus station until 8:30a, but our luck held as a bus was already there boarding. After a quick ride to Epcot and clearing security and the turnstiles, we were in the park, with the first order of business being for me to be the runner for Soarin’ FPs, which had a 10:25a to 11:25a return time. We then headed to Test Track for our first ride of the day and the first ride on the new version for Selene, John, and Jaidyn. Helena waited for us on a bench in the cool breezeway between Mouse Gear and Electric Umbrella. I had ridden earlier in the week through the FP line, so this was the first opportunity for all of us to experience the more detailed design elements of the new attraction in the standby line. Selene and Jaidyn were assigned to one design station and John and I to another. At the touchscreen stations, riders can change the overall shape of their vehicle; add a variety of accessories; optimize elements like performance, handling, and efficiency; and even create a custom color scheme. The ride itself (as I noted before) follows the same track layout as the old ride, but the new theming with its Tron-like neon look is fresh and appealing. In the post-ride area, the electronic results board allowed us to compare our designs with everyone else’s. In this case, Selene and Jaidyn’s design was 5 points better than John’s and mine -- 208 to 203. John and I were way down on efficiency, having gone for more emphasis on power. Lastly, in the showroom area, we all agreed that the coolest cars were the present and future Corvette designs, and Jaidyn sat behind the wheel of the sub-compact model (don’t remember the name).

We then all returned to The Land pavilion for our FP ride on Soarin’. We were in the second row of the left-most set of benches. I was glad to see that the film in this concourse didn’t have the large dust blobs that Helena and I had seen last year and again earlier this week. I didn’t try taking ride photos this time and just concentrated on the ride images and details. We next went over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends pavilion, but entered through the gift shop so that we could go directly to the Turtle Talk with Crush waiting area. Jaidyn was way down in front of the kids’ area and the rest of us were in the front row of benches behind her. However, she wasn’t called to interact with Crush. We saw Jaidyn talking with a girl sitting next to her, so she seems to have made a new friend, even if just temporarily.

It was now about noon and Selene, John, and Jaidyn went back to AKV for an early afternoon swim. Selene later told me that they went over to the Jambo House pool, having used the Kidani Village pool earlier in the week. Meanwhile, Helena and I stayed in The Land pavilion for a quick lunch from the Asian stir-fry counter, chicken cashew for Helena and sweet and sour chicken for me, at a total cost of $27. It wasn’t the best stir fry we’ve ever had, but it was relatively inexpensive and filled us up (neither of us could finish the full amount we were served). After a quick rest stop, we began a slow walk around World Showcase, this time starting in Canada. We saw quite a few characters holding meet and greets, including Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, Belle, Jasmine and Aladdin, Goofy, and Donald. But the lines were all pretty long and we didn’t stop.

We eventually reached the American Adventure pavilion and hung out there for quite a while. We first went inside to enjoy the Voices of Liberty and then the main audio-animatronic show. We also saw the fife and drum corps hold a short ceremony outside the pavilion, during which they invited younger children to volunteer to participate. By now, it was after 3:30p, so we headed over to Italy to wait for Selene, John, and Jaidyn to get back for our 4:30p ADR at Via Napoli. While there, Sergio came out and put on an entertaining juggling clown routine, enlisting several youngsters and a grownup to join in the fun. Selene sent us a text message when they had arrived back at Epcot, and we all checked in at Via Napoli right at our reservation time. The hostess couldn’t find my name on the reservation list and, upon checking the reservation number, found that it was in Selene’s name. (There had been a mix-up in the dining reservation system when Selene contacted the food allergy CM at Disney dining earlier in the year, but I thought I had straightened out all of the reservation names. I guess this one got through somehow.)

Regardless of the mix-up, we were quickly seated in the semi-enclosed section off to the right side and were well-attended by Adam and a couple assistant servers. A food manager came out to discuss Selene and Jaidyn’s special dietary needs and quickly settled on some appropriate food choices, including a gluten-free kid’s pizza for Jaidyn and a vegetarian pizza for Selene. Helena had a pepperoni pizza, John had a pasta dish called a “Candele,” and I had the vegetarian lasagna. The food was all quite good and we enjoyed the afternoon meal there. The total cost of dinner was $137, including a $26 TIW discount and 20% gratuity.

After dinner, we started back to Future World, going through the Canada side so Selene could stop there to pick up a small bottle of pure maple syrup. Jaidyn can’t use the artificial pancake syrups commonly found in restaurants, so this was a “must get” before tomorrow’s ‘Ohana breakfast. On the way out, we took one last ride on Spaceship Earth. This time, Helena and I chose health and city living as our key interests, again trying to see what the different programmed scenarios look like. The last ride of our 2012 Walt Disney World vacation was a roundtrip ride on the monorail from Epcot to the Ticket and Transportation Center and back to Epcot. Getting off the monorail at Epcot, we were lucky to find the AKV bus just arriving for a quick ride back to Kidani Village.

Back in our suite, I realized that I was again missing my Tigger baseball cap!!! I eventually remembered that I had taken it off while riding Spaceship Earth. It must have dropped behind my backpack on the floor of the ride vehicle, where I didn’t see it. That’s three Tiggers gone now! :-(

We began the process of packing for our check-out in the morning. Helena did one last load of laundry while Selene and family packed their stuff and I packed ours while battling a heaving dry cough that wouldn’t go away. Helena and I were really feeling badly by now with whatever bug we had picked up and were considering visiting a walk-in clinic tomorrow after our ‘Ohana breakfast and before our drive to Port St. Lucie. I’m signing off now at 10:45p.

Friday, December 21:
The Plan: AKV Check-out, Breakfast at ‘Ohana, Downtown Disney, Drive to Port St. Lucie

Today being our check-out day, we all got up at 6:00a, quickly got dressed, finished packing last-minute items that we didn’t get to the night before, and took all of our stuff down to our cars in the ground-level parking garage. We had an ADR for breakfast with Stitch and friends at ‘Ohana for 9:00a and needed directions to the Polynesian, for which we would normally rely on the Hertz Neverlost GPS system. However, despite several attempts to restart the system, it just wouldn’t/couldn’t lock on to the GPS signal, even after we were outside of the parking garage and on the Osceola Parkway for several miles. Luckily, the road signs were clear enough that we found the Polynesian without too much trouble.

Today was the chilliest day of the week, with the temp in the low 50s, so the walk from the parking lot to the Polynesian was a bit uncomfortable. Once inside, we took the elevator up to the second floor and were checked-in within a few minutes. We then headed over to the area where formal portrait photos were taken, in our case being included on our PhotoPass Plus card. By the time we had finished with that, our buzzer went off and we were seated at a round table with a nice view of the Seven Seas Lagoon and the Grand Floridian Resort in the background.

‘Ohana’s chef came over to discuss with Selene the dietary restrictions for herself and Jaidyn, and they soon had acceptable options worked out. This included gluten-free waffles for Jaidyn. Our server, Denni, was very helpful and accommodating, which made the experience enjoyable. All of the food was quite tasty, especially the tropical fruit juice blend, and we ate and drank our fill. Pluto, Mickey, Lilo, and Stitch all came by our table during the time we were there and, although Jaidyn wasn’t exactly in a character-friendly mood this morning, she did pose for photos with them. The tab totaled $121, including a $21 TIW discount and 20% gratuity. Pretty steep for breakfast, but still money well-spent. On the way out, we stopped to look at some of the great paintings on display at the Wyland Gallery on the ground floor of the Polynesian’s Great Ceremonial House, and then headed out to the parking lot and our cars.

The GPS system in our rental car started acting up again and I took a wrong turn (with Selene, John, and Jaidyn following in their car) and ended up on the Osceola Parkway outside of Disney World property. Luckily, Selene had Google Maps running on her iPhone and she texted us that they would take the lead in guiding us to Downtown Disney. We were soon back in familiar territory and headed towards the Downtown Disney parking lot entrances. Helena and I turned off to park near Westside, while Selene and John continued along, parking nearer to the Marketplace.

We eventually met up at the Lego store, where Jaidyn was having a ball with John building a structure in the play area and selecting some pieces for a new collection. Helena and I went over to the World of Disney store to pick up a new baseball hat for me (classic Mickey this time) and generally to just browse through the store. They joined us over there a short time later and we did a bit more shopping, including making stops at Once Upon a Toy, Team Mickey’s, and the Pin Trading Center. On the way out, we also stopped at Baby Cakes to get some of their delicious, gluten-free baked goods. Being parked closer to Marketplace, Selene, John, and Jaidyn were on the road back to Port St. Lucie before Helena and I. Again, the Neverlost system wouldn’t connect to the GPS satellites, but we used the Google Maps app on Helena’s iPhone until, several miles later, “Sarah” woke up from hibernation and guided us to the Florida Turnpike on-ramp. Helena and Selene texted each other on the way down, keeping track of our progress along the highway, with they being about 15 to 20 minutes ahead of us. We arrived at Selene’s home around 3:00p, officially ending our Walt Disney World vacation. We began to settle in, unpacking our things in Selene’s guest room.

Later in the evening, Helena and I discussed her upcoming mamogram with tomosynthesis to try zero in on a suspicious area that the radiology lab on St. Thomas reported but the breast cancer specialist here in Florida couldn’t find by physical examination and sonogram. Her appointment in Boynton Beach is for 10:30a on Monday, December 24, and we’ll have to drive through the busiest section of I-95 during morning rush hour traffic. So, we decided to drive down to Boynton Beach on Sunday afternoon and stay in a Hampton Inn that’s close to the clinic for that night only. This way we (especially Helena) can be more relaxed in getting to the clinic on Monday morning.

Saturday, December 22 to Wednesday, January 2:
The Plan: Visit with Selene and Family Over the Holidays

Saturday, December 22: Helena and I are still battling the colds we picked up sometime before going to Disney World, and suffering from stuffy noses, heavy coughs, and the chills at night. I just checked my temp and it was 100.1 degrees. John’s also got something but he’s being affected more by sinus headaches and a cough. Thankfully, Selene and Jaidyn seem to be okay so far. Today was a quiet day at home, during which I loaded all my and Selene’s photos on the computer and started to edit out the bad ones. Between the two of us, we took almost 3,600 photos!!! It’s going to take some time to whittle that down to the 200 best ones to be printed for our photo albums. I also went online to the PhotoPass website to add borders to some of the better PhotoPass pictures and place the order for our pre-paid PhotoPass CD. I had a bit of a scare because I couldn’t find the redemption code to be entered during the checkout process, but I finally found it in the box with the stock Disney photo CD that came as part of the package.

Sunday, December 23: This was a quiet day at home until the afternoon, when Helena and I drove down to Boynton Beach to overnight at a Hampton Inn close to the Bethesda Women’s Health Center, where she’s scheduled for a followup mammogram tomorrow morning. At check-in, the hotel clerk upgraded us to a suite at no extra charge -- sweet!

Monday, December 24: We were up early, enjoyed a complimentary breakfast, and then checked out of the Hampton Inn. We were at the Bethesda Women’s Health Center with time to spare and the staff quickly got Helena registered and called in for her mammogram with tomosynthesis. This is a new technology that, in effect, creates a computerized 3D image of the breast from the mammogram images. Because most health insurance doesn’t cover this added test, we had to pay the $50 cost. Well worth it, if it gives a more definitive image for the doctor. Now to wait for the doctor to contact us with the news on whether Helena does or doesn’t have a mass that needs to be biopsied. After a quick stop at Boston Market, we drove back to Port St. Lucie to spend the rest of the holiday week with Selene and family. In the evening, we put the NORAD Santa Tracker on the laptop so that Jaidyn could see when he was approaching Florida and it would be time for her to head to bed.

Tuesday, December 25: Merry Christmas! We were all up by 8:00a, with Jaidyn leading the way to the living room to see what Santa had left under the Christmas Tree during the night. We had a fun time opening gifts and sharing in Jaidyn’s excitement. Later in the day, we all shared a great dinner prepared by Selene and John, with our traditional island-style potato stuffing made by Helena.

Wednesday, December 26: Today was another quiet day at home. Jaidyn played with some of the toys she got for Christmas and recruited me to play with her some of the time. In between, I started to go through the 3,600 photos that Selene, Helena, and I took at Walt Disney World to select the best ones to post online and to have printed for the photo albums we got at the parks. This turned out to be a very daunting job, which didn’t get finished today. I also had a frustrating experience trying to make a change to the hotel reservation Helena and I have for our last couple of nights in Florida. We’re going to drive down to Deerfield Beach on January 2nd for Helena’s followup doctor appointment and will stay there until our January 4th departure day so as not to have to drive all the way from Port St. Lucie to Miami for our flight home. It took several unsuccessful phone calls before I was able to reach someone to make the reservation change. We’ll be staying at a Doubletree Hotel in Deerfield, because it had a lower room rate than the Hampton Inn for those nights. (Both are part of the Hilton chain, for which I have a frequent guest account.)

Thursday, December 27: Another December in Florida, another trip to the emergency room! I woke up this morning coughing up bloody cold mucus, which meant a visit to Martin Memorial’s emergency room just around noon. After several visits there over the years, I have to consider Martin Memorial a model for emergency rooms across the country. They had me registered in a few minutes and being tended to by a nurse in one of the emergency bays. They took an x-ray of my lungs, drew blood for routine lab tests and for a culture to identify any bacteria, did a swab of my sinuses (painful) for evidence of the flu, and had me use a nebulizer to open up my air passages. The doctor eventually concluded that I had bronchitis and probably ruptured small blood vessels in my throat and wind pipe with all of the coughing. He ordered an IV with an antibiotic and a steroid (most likely prednisone). After staying there for observation and most of the test results (the bacteria culture will take a few days), my coughing eased off and I was released with a prescription for a Z-pak antibiotic and a strong cough medicine, which we later had filled at Walgreens. I was feeling well enough and hungry enough after Helena and I left the emergency room around 4:30p that we decided to stop at a Chili’s on the way to Selene’s home. Since Selene and John are now also dealing with the same tough cold, we ordered take-out for them so they wouldn’t have to worry about fixing dinner today. Once back home, we had a quiet evening, all hoping to be feeling better tomorrow.

Friday, December 28: Well, Helena and I were feeling better today and spent a couple hours at the Treasure Coast Mall to pick up some clothes that we needed -- mainly tops and a pair of casual shoes for Helena and jeans and socks for me. We also had lunch at Ruby Tuesday at the mall. When we got back to Selene’s home, we were pleasantly surprised by a letter that had come in from the Bethesda Women’s Health Center indicating that Helena’s mammogram with tomosynthesis proved to be normal, meaning no sign of anything out of the ordinary. This is such great news!! Helena still has a followup appointment next week with her breast cancer specialist to confirm this news, but things are looking up. We can’t believe all the stress we’ve been under because of an apparent mis-diagnosis by the radiology lab back on St. Thomas. I think we’ll sleep much better tonight. Later in the day, I spent a few hours going through all of our Disney photos again, still trying to select 200 to be printed for our photo album, with duplicates for Selene. I’m down to 220 and finding it hard to delete any more of them. I’ll get back to this task tomorrow.

Saturday, December 29: Today was a quiet day at home. I worked most of the day continuing to select photos from our week at Disney World to be printed for our photo albums and also to be posted on Facebook. Everyone else had their little projects around the house and just relaxing. I finally posted our 2012 Walt Disney World photo album to Facebook before turning in for the night.

Sunday, December 30: Selene and Helena went to a shopping center at the nearby Tradition community to do some final shopping, while I started to proofread and edit this trip report. Jaidyn and John spent some time together working on an art project based on a cute iPhone game. In the afternoon, we all went out to a nearby Carrabba’s for dinner and spent a quiet evening at home.

Monday, December 31: We all celebrated New Year’s Eve with an early dinner at a Japanese/Thai restaurant called Sake Too. Selene and John had sushi, while Jaidyn ate a bowl of miso soup along with white rice and a salad. Helena and I had stir fry chicken, Helena with Miso soup and I with a salad. It was all delicious and very filling. We then went next door for dessert -- Selene and Jaidyn having frozen yogurt and Helena, John, and I enjoying ice cream with waffle cones. We all stayed up until the New Year watching the ball drop at Times Square, even Jaidyn. Some of the neighbors were shooting off firecrackers and fireworks for a good part of the night.

Tuesday, January 1: Everyone slept in until after 10:00a today and then had light breakfasts. Helena put a couple last loads of laundry to wash so we can pack this evening for our “goodbyes” tomorrow. In the afternoon, Helena and I went to Target to buy a new suitcase to replace the one damaged on our flight up and also stopped at a nearby Olive Garden for dinner. We brought back dinner for John, who had to go back to work today. Selene and Jaidyn don’t eat at Olive Garden because of their dietary restrictions, so Selene prepared dinner for them.

Wednesday, January 2: Because Helena had a followup appointment today with her breast cancer specialist, we had changed our hotel reservation in Deerfield Beach to check-in today instead of January 3rd. After breakfast and getting dressed, we finished packing and spent the morning hours with Selene and Jaidyn. We left Selene’s home around noon and drove down to Delray Beach. We stopped at a Burger King for a quick lunch and then drove the short distance to the doctor’s office. The consultation went well, with the doctor showing us the comparison of the mammogram images taken in St. Thomas with those taken a few days ago at the Bethesda Women’s Health Clinic here in Florida. The newer images do not show the mass seen in the St. Thomas images. The doctor’s not concerned that Helena might have some malignant mass, but suggested that she have a followup mammogram done in 6 months, preferably at the Bethesda Clinic. That means we’ll be making a trip to Florida in June/July. That kind of works out because my lung doctor had to cancel my appointment this December because of some personal emergency. So, I should be able to see him in June/July also. We checked into the Doubletree Deerfield hotel around 4:00p and spent a quiet evening watching some TV.

Thursday, January 3:
The Plan: Drive to Deerfield Beach, Overnight at Hampton Inn

This was our last full day in Florida. We slept in a bit, got dressed, and then went downstairs for breakfast -- a buffet setup at $17 per person. Although we usually stay at a Hampton Inn on our last night, when I was making this year’s reservation the Doubletree had a lower senior citizen rate and they both are part of the HHonors frequent traveler program. In the future, however, we’d be better off sticking with the Hampton Inn because they give you complimentary breakfast, have small refrigerators in their rooms, and have guest laundry facilities. The Doubltree, which seems to be more geared to a convention clientele, doesn’t have any of these amenities.

After breakfast, we went to the nearby Town Center Mall, mostly to just kill some time. The McLaren and Aston Martin supercars we saw during our first visit to the mall earlier in our trip were still on display. I told Helena that I’d be happy with either one for my birthday. :-) We picked up a couple of gifts for my Mom and sister-in-law (we had previously gotten Disney T-shirts for my brother and two nephews). Helena also picked up a pair of sandals for herself and I got some much-needed polo shirts for me. From there, we stopped at a nearby Chili’s for one more great meal, including a paradise pie dessert. Back at the Doubletree later in the afternoon, we re-packed our bags for tomorrow’s flight home and just relaxed watching TV and spending some time online before turning in at an early hour.

Wednesday, January 4:
The Plan: Drive to Miami, AA Flight from MIA to STT

The alarm woke us at 6:00a, but we stayed in bed watching a half-hour of news on the TV before getting up. We showered and got dressed, packed the last of our items in the suitcases, and went down to the hotel restaurant for a light breakfast. We ended up leaving the hotel just about 8:30a, stopped at a nearby gas station to top of the tank, and then headed out to I-95 South. The drive all the way down to Miami was just wall-to-wall traffic, and I must say that it was a rather stressful drive for me (especially after the accident on our arrival day). The NeverLost GPS system was giving us bad directions as we neared the exit for the Miami airport, but thankfully this was a familiar part of the drive and I knew better than to follow “Sarah.” We arrived safely at the central car rental facility and turned the car in at Hertz.

We got a luggage rack ($5) and stacked our two suitcases and camera bag on it, while slinging our backpacks over our shoulders. The long trek to MIA’s check-in terminal was a bit tiring, but we made it to the American Airlines concourse without trouble. But that’s when things got very hectic. There was an absolute mass of people at all of the AA counters and I couldn’t find the self-service kiosks. Finally, after asking for directions at least three times from AA representatives, we finally found the kiosks and quickly got our bags checked in and our boarding passes printed. The only problem was that the larger suitcase was 10 pounds over the 50-pound limit, so that cost us a whopping $100 in overweight fees! At this point, we had nowhere to unload items from the suitcase without a big hassle of finding a bag to buy at one of the airport shops and then opening the suitcase in a common area to transfer items. We just paid the $100 and made a mental note for the future to check the weight of our suitcases early enough to be able to do something about it.

Next was dealing with the packed TSA security line. It seemed to be crawling along, but we actually had less of a hassle than when we were leaving St. Thomas at the beginning of the trip. We went through the metal detector and our carry-ons went through the x-ray scanner without any buzzers going off. A short monorail ride later, we were at our departure gate with a little less than an hour to spare before boarding time. We welcomed the short rest and were soon seated aboard the plane. We took off about 30 minutes late because (as the pilot explained over the PA system) there had been a scheduling mixup by the ground crews and we had to wait for a tractor to be available to push us away from the terminal. I’ve never heard that excuse before, but leaving 30 minutes late wasn’t a problem since we didn’t have any connections to make.

We arrived at St. Thomas also just about 30 minutes late and were met by my brother. Our two suitcases were among the last to come up on the carousel, but we were soon driving out of the parking lot. On the way home, we stopped at a Domino’s Pizza to pickup Hawaiian pizzas that my brother had ordered, and we soon arrived at his home, where we spent a couple hours catching up on family and island news with my brother and his family and our mother (who lives with him). We finally drove the short distance to our home, arriving around 7:00p. We turned on the water, opened all of the windows to let in the fresh evening breeze, and sat in the living room to catch up on the evening news on TV while going through the bag full of mail that had accumulated while we were away.

Conclusion:

Overview:

Despite the colds that Helena and I started to get early on, our week at Walt Disney World was great! The weather couldn’t have been nicer, the crowds couldn’t have been smaller (for that time of year), and the rides couldn’t be better. It’s been a few years since our last family visit, so it was a nice treat having Selene, John, and Jaidyn with us in the parks. Jaidyn was a bit shy about meeting the characters and had a few mild meltdowns (probably influenced by food allergies), but she enjoyed all of the rides we went on, even if she didn’t really want to do some of them to begin with. On the Disney dining front, the Tables in Wonderland (TIW) discount card was just a bit above a break-even position. The card cost $100 and we saved $119 in discounts at table service meals. Assuming we get to use it again in 2013, it will have been worth getting.

The Highs:

o Being at Walt Disney World with Selene, John, and Jaidyn for our first family trip since 2009.

o Enjoying the magnificent Animal Kingdom Villas, Kidani Village, with the interesting savannah view, easy access to all of the parks through always “on-time” bus service, and friendly staff everywhere.

o Having great weather during our stay. The highest temperature all week was about 85 for a short time one afternoon and the coldest was in the high 50s during the earliest part of a couple mornings, especially our Downtown Disney day. We also had absolutely no rain.

o Being able to experience pretty much all of our “must see” attractions. This included the new Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid dark ride, the Enchanted Tales with Belle character interaction, and the Barnstormer with the Great Goofini at the Magic Kingdom; the new Test Track, Soarin’, and Mission: Space at Epcot; Toy Story Midway Mania and Star Tours at the Hollywood Studios; and the Kilimanjaro Safari, Kali River Rapids, and (for John) Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom.

o Beating Helena twice on Toy Story Midway Mania (120,600 to 98,000 and 120,300 to 80,500). For Helena, she kept her Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger streak alive while maxing out her score at 999,999 to my 565,600, which was an all-time high for me.

o Being able to see all of the night-time shows after several trips where I missed several of them. Although the rest of the family didn’t feel like sticking around at night, I went solo on several nights to catch the Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes at the Magic Kingdom, Illuminations: Reflections of Earth at Epcot, and Fantasmic! and the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at the Hollywood Studios.

o No rude guest encounters to speak of.

The Lows:

o Helena and I coming down with scratchy throats and colds almost from the start of our week at Walt Disney World. One or both of us seem to get sick every single December during our trips to Florida. I don’t know what we can do to change this string of bad luck. We took Airborne in the days before our flight from St. Thomas to Miami and tried to be very careful about not exposing ourselves to bugs; but they always seem to get us anyway.

o Although Jaidyn had a great time during the trip, including loving the animals outside our Kidani Village room and enjoying the rides we went on (with Soarin’, Splash Mountain, Kali River Rapids, and Stitch’s Great Escape being her special favorites), she seems to be at an age where she was just not interested in meeting and interacting with the characters. As recently as a May 2010 visit to Walt Disney World with her parents, Jaidyn absolutely enjoyed the interaction with Stitch at the ‘Ohana breakfast, even to the point of getting Stitch to sit on the floor to play with her and her Stitch plush toy for a few minutes. On this trip, she was visibly uncomfortable being held by the characters we met at the Crystal Palace and ‘Ohana, although she did agree to play the part of Mrs. Potts at the Enchanted Tales with Belle attraction and seemed to be having fun at Turtle Talk with Crush (although he didn’t call on her during the little show). My guess is that she’s probably self-conscious at her age about appearing to be childish. Hopefully she’ll be over this phase by our next family visit to Walt Disney World.

o Not specifically Disney-related, but being at the parks with the specter of a possible breast malignancy for Helena definitely put a damper on our overall frame of mind. Thank God that her followup mammogram with tomosynthesis turned out to be normal. What a relief that news was!

What’s Next:

I see another trip to Walt Disney World next December, but it’s still up in the air whether it will be another family visit with Selene, John, and Jaidyn or a solo visit by Helena and I. We all have APs that will be valid until mid-December 2013, but with Jaidyn’s school schedule and John’s work schedule, another family visit in December seems unlikely. More probable is that Selene, John, and Jaidyn will visit the parks at some point during the year when Jaidyn is out of school and John has some vacation time (Selene is self-employed). Helena and I probably won’t be able to visit again until December, unless we win the lottery or receive an inheritance from a long lost uncle. Even though we’ll probably be in Florida in June or July for Helena’s medical followup, the extra cost of a Walt Disney World visit at that time is probably not in our budget, given my fixed retirement income and the ever-rising cost of living in the islands.

Photo Album:

I’ve posted a selection of about 200 photos from this visit to Walt Disney World on my Facebook page at the link below. Please remember that you do not have to be a member of Facebook nor do you have to log-in or identify yourself in order to view the photos. Therefore, please feel safe taking a look even if you’re not on Facebook. The link below will take you to a page with thumbnails of all of the photos in the album. There are two ways to access the individual photos. One is to click on the first thumbnail, which will open up a photo viewer overlay where you can click forward or backward. However, I’ve found this overlay to be quirky, sometimes skipping photos or showing the same one twice.

Therefore, I suggest that you right-click on the first thumbnail and select “open in a new window” or “open in a new tab” from the drop-down menu that comes up in your browser. This will display the first photo full sized. Then you can then just click on each full-sized picture to go to the next one. There will also be "previous" and "next" links at the top of the page.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...9626721&type=3

If you’d like to contact me privately, my email address is:

arnoldvb@islands.vi

Prior Disney Trip Reports on Mousepad:

30 Years at Disney World: 1973 to 2003
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=67012

December 2003
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=66932

December 2004
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=67027

December 2005
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=67092

December 2006
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=68905

July 2007
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=75549

December 2007
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=88757

April 2008
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=102122

December 2008
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=123939

April 2009
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=126592

December 2009
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=138196

December 2010
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=159937

December 2011
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=179581