There's no place like home for the holidays . . . and by "home", I mean Walt Disney World

Today, Sunday, December 10, 2006 was a catch-up and rest day before heading home. I spent most of the entire day at the Magic Kingdom. I wanted to see The Country Bear Jamboree. It was my dad's favorite attraction when we visited the Magic Kingdom for the first time 35 years ago, and he passed away just before Thansgiving. I also waited because I thought I might start crying when I saw the show (I didn't). I got my picture taken with the Big Cheese (Mickey Mouse) and the Big Ham (Donald Duck). There was a little excitement during the day. I went on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and left my camera and bag onthe ride when i got off. I didn't realize it until I was on Splash Mountain. When I went back they still had it. Evidently the lady and her son who got in the car after me were really nice and honest people. I was worried for a while but whatcha gonna do? I never made it back to Pirates of the Caribbean but I did get to ride its a small world and see the new facade. it looks more like Disneyland's its a small world. One of the new perks Disney has is PhotoPass. They hand you a card and you can get your picture taken anywhere and all over the parks where there are Disney photographers. They even had a special card the night of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. The perk with my vacation package was that I was entitled to a free 5X7 photograph but it has to be claimed online (I still need to do that). The perk with my MVMCP ticket was 50% any one 5X7 photograph taken that night in the park and 50% off any photograghs I ordered online. Both cards with their photos are valid for 30 days and then once I register online the photos are available for purchase for the next 60 days. While all the photographs are online I can send them to friends and family. Also you are able to edit and add borders to your photographs. You also have the option of buying the CD with all your photographs but without the added borders. Quite a marketing tool! I bought the one photo from MVMCP that night and bought the CD with ALL my photos from BOTH cards on it before i left on Sunday. Like I said: Quite the marketing tool!
The morning at the Wilderness Lodge was a relaxing breakfast since I had already packed the night before. I have to say that Magical Express works pretty well. The check-in desk was able to check my luggage but wasn't able to print a boarding pass for me. That was okay. I was more concerned about getting my bags back home. I could always use self-check-in at MCO to obtain my boarding pass. When I checked-in from STL I upgraded to First Class because my flight was being delayed and I was hungry (I figured it was the addition of a free meal). First-class was wonderful! Plenty of leg room, hot roasted nuts, a heated towel before dinner, free drinks, great meal, direct check-in and automatic boarding. So on the way home from MCO, I upgraded again (I was already spoiled from staying at the Wilderness Lodge). This time I sat by a talkative guy named Jim. He was traveling with his wife and baby daughter, and his brothers. It was nice to have a conversation partner on the flight. We discussed various topics and he shared some PowerPoint presentation on his laptop. I have to admit he was quite intelligent. On the trip in a and the trip back they (magical Express) have the on-board video pretty timed to the trip, welcoming you to Walt Disney World and bidding you a fair farewell and hurry back. Well, not I have a favorite new resort hotel and it is Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Don't know when I can afford to stay there again, but I am hoping to be back to WDW for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in 2010 (I have to wait until All Saints Day falls on a Monday to get a longer weekend to enjoy the trip).
So ends my fourth trip report for day 4. There is snowplace like Disney for the holidays!

Yuletide Fantasy Tour

Today was a double-header. I went on The Yuletide Fantasy Tour in the morning and The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney-MGM Studios in the evening. I also caught Mickey Jingle Jungle Parade during the afternoon.
When I went to Disneyland the summer of '05 to celebrate it 50th, I took two tours: A Walk In Walt's Footsteps and From Imagination to Celebration. These behind the scene tours got me spoiled to find our more about what makes my favoirtie parks tick. Both were great tours with surprise gifts for the attendees. This tour was not different. Our cast member facilitators were David and Bryan. While I was on the bus from the Wilderness Lodge to this tour I met Ethan and Jennifer who were also going to be on the tour. The YFT gives you a in-depth look at Christmas traditions and decorations around Walt Disney World. A few higlights to the tour: fresh gingerbread from the Grand Floridian (now I want soft warm gingerbread cookies at home), seeing the warehouse where all the decorations are stored and repaired (its HUGE), being in World Showcase before it opened up to anyone else (aren't we special), being backstage at the Magic Kingdom and walking out onto Main Street (that was fun and the looks on some people's faces---where did these people come from), my free pin.
Did you know they start planning the decorations and changes five years in advance? And I thought I was an uber-planner thinking about next year!? Did you know that each store on Main Street has a different theme to their Christmas decorations? The Christmas tree in Main Street Square used to be real, but now it is artificial and put up in sections? Why are there birdcages in the tree at the Grand Floridian? No seriously, why are there birdcages in the tree's decorations? Germany's Christmas decorations are green and red while Italy's Christmas decorations are gold and elegant. The glass ornaments origianlly represented apples to hang in the tree. Really the glass ornaments were used to reflect the candle light from the Christmas tree. There is a hidden Mickey in the Christmas decorations on the New York Street at Disney-MGM Studios (as well as a black cat in the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights). Any other trivia facts you would like to know?
The Osbourve Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights is incredible. Most of the Streets of America (New York and San Francisco streets) are all decorated from top to bottom with lights. I mean there are lights everywhere! There is Christmas music playing and every 15 minutes there is a radio interuption to play one of three songs and then the lights along the main thoroughfare begin dancing/blinking on and off to the rhythym of the music. I heard both Feliz Navidad and TransSiberian Orchestra. It even snows! The crowd control at first was awful and everything and evryone came to a stand still while the music was playing and the lights were dancing. Then when it stopped, people started trying to leave anywhicway they could. Fianlly some cast member started standing in the streets with flashing light batons directing foot traffic in a one-way direction only. I bought some hot cocoa on my way out. They were selling them in souvenir mugs that had racing lights inside the mug.
And so ends my third trip report for day 3. There is snowplace like Disney for the holidays!

Holidays Around the World

On Friday, December 8, 2006, I spent part of the day at the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney-MGM Studios. Basically I tried to catch the updated attractions or the rides I haven't been on in awhile. Pirates of the Caribbean has been updated with Captain Jack Sparrow now in the ride (the well dunking scene, one of the burning town scenes, and at the end in the treasure room scene) along with Barbarossa in the attack on the fort scene. There is a really cool special effect with Davey Jones at the beginning of the ride like you're going through a waterfall. EPCOT now has Soarin' at The Land pavillion (just like the DCA version) and Finding Nemo at The Living Seas pavillion. I like riding in the clamshells and the effects along the way. MGM was the same, I missed out on the new Lights, Action, Motor Cars show because of some techinical difficulty, but I di get to ride Rock 'n' RollerCoaster and The Tower of Terror before heading back to EPCOT. TOT is one of my favorite rides. I get so psyched out and scared before the ride but the love the dropping feeling when it occurs. Go figure! I had dinner reservation at Chefs de France as part of my Candlelight Processional package, so I rode the boat back to EPCOT. DId I mention I rode the boat over to MGM? I'm starting to get spoiled riding around in these boats from resort to resort. Maybe it's the pirate in me? AARRGGHH!
The meal was good, but it is the Christmas Concert I always look forward to. Brian Dennehey was the narrator. He was fine. It was cold. What is so wonderful about this is listening to the Christmas story being told with orchestra and various choirs. I bought some hot cocoa and got in line after dinner for the 8:15pm show. A really cold front moved into Orlando that day/night and I could feel it was the wind blew off the lake. It was an Extra Magic Hours nights, so I hopped from ride to ride until about midnight and then headed home. (I mean The Wilderness Lodge. I'm really liking this resort.) When I got back I fixed some hot tea and sat by one of the fireplaces to warm up and get nice and cozy before I headed off to bed. I had a behind the scenes tour the next morning and wanted to be relaxed and refreshed for it.
So ends my second trip report for day 2. There's snowplace like Disney for the holidays!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

On the evening of December 6, 2006, I flew down to Orldando to spend the next four days at Walt Disney World. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:10pm but was delayed. You would think this would bother me but it didn't. I upgraded myself to First Class and didn't worry. I knew I would make it to Orlando somewhat on time, a little late but who cares, I was on vacation. The parks would be closed by the time I got to Walt Disney World. Flying First Class was nice I have to admit. So nice, I did it on the return trip. But more on that later.
I got to Orlando sometime before 10pm and to the Wilderness Lodge around 11:20pm. (I had figured on 11pm) One nice surprise on the flight was I got to see the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom as we were preparing to land. That was cool! Checked in, went to my room, didn't like the view initially (first floor looking out toward the Wilderness Lodge Villas) but had a change of heart in the morning. The room was for hadicapped but the hotel was filled to the brim. One plus is that the shower was very roomy. Anyway I changed and went down to the pool and hot tub to relax before heading off to bed and to the parks the next day. If you haven't been to the Wilderness Lodge during the Christmas season it is the place to stay. Very warm and cozy and rustic. VERY CHRISTMASSY! I'm glad I chose it now. Spent the next day at the Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. I rode Expedition Everest multiple times. I am a roller coaster freak and this coaster freaked me out. Every time I rode/ride it I kept thinking that the Yeti was going to grab me. I know it is animatronic but it seems so real and the thimeing is so good. Also caught the new Finding Nemo show. It was cute. Spent the late afternoon and evening/night at the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I can only say it was a magical experience for me. I love Disney. I love Christmas. Two thing I love in one! I was guess what I enjoyed most was the ambience. There is something to be said about drinking hot cocoa and eating a sugar cookie while it is snowing on Main Street. The parade is just like I have seen it on TV all these years. I bought myself a Santa Goofy hat with light-up ears and got caught up in the spirit of the season. It's the most magical time of the year.
Coming and going to the Maigic Kingdom, I took the boat alunch from the Wilderness Lodge. This is a fun and different way to arrive and leave the Magic Kingdom. The monorail doesn't run through or stop at the Wilderness Lodge but I liked the boats better. Don't ask me why. When I was out at Disneyland I almost always rode the monorail into Disneyland. And to get around and over to EPCOT I preferred the monorail. The bus system is effiecient but these alternate means of transportation just make Disney a little bit more Disney.
So ends my first trip report of day 1. There's snowplace like Disney for the holidays!

Gus has passed up to The Heavyside Layer

Some of you may not know me personally enough to know that my pop passed away this past week.And some of you may have read my previous blogs and know that I was in a community theatre production of CATS this past summer.But what a lot of people don't know is that I based that performance on my pop.
"Asparagus/Gus the Theatre Cat" is an old cat who sings a song at the beginning of Act II. His paws shake from palsy. My dad had Parkinson's as well as Alzheimers and serious coronary diseases. When I had to reach down and make Gus real to the audience I thought of my pop. There were people who said that the song gave them goosebumps when I sang and I made some people cry. (No it wasn't from my singing --- I hope). Friends told me that was the role I was meant to play.When Gus is finish singing he basically walks off stage to die.
What is now playing through my mind is the short amount of time I had left with my pop after CATS ended this summer. He had been disabled for almost thirty years and spent the past five and a half years in a nursing home. There hasn't been a time since my senior year in high school when I didn't see and know my pop as being sick. He had been hospitalized numerous times as I was growing up as a child, and there were numerous times as an adult when we thought "this is it...he is going." only to have him somehow recover. I am grateful for those times.
But this past January, he was hospitalized again with pneumonia. This time he admitted he didn't bounce back like he usually did. My mom has known since May he was wasn't doing well. And then last week we had a family care meeting for him. Within 24-48 hours he went from being coherent and lucid to being incoherent and in pain. He had fallen and broken his hip and we decided on hospice for his final care and to keep him comfortable. That was Friday and he died on Monday. I am glad to say that Saturday was a good day for him and everyone got their chance to say goodbye and let go. And even though we were expecting it, it still came too soon.
My pop was a simple and great man and I love him dearly and will miss him immensely. But he is in a better place now and he isn't in pain. To use a line from CATS, he is now "up, up, up past the Russel Hotel, up, up, up, up to the heavyside layer".

I'm so excited . . . and I can't hide it.

I called down to WDW today to update my DME information for my arrival at MCO. While I was calling, I also called to update my reservation to request an inner courtyard view room at the WL. The CM was helpful to put all my reservation under the same phone number to make it easier when I arrive. That was very thoughtful. I realize that this mini-vacation is real and is happening soon. I just can't wait.

Way to go Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals won their game last night!
I had free tickets to the game and invited my buddy Dustin to go. He is always being dragged to theatre productions his wife or her friends (which I am one) are in. So I thought it would be fun to do a guy thing one night. Even though we didn't sit around drinking beeer, smoking cigars, and spitting on the people below us (that was my junior high fantasy of what my best friend and I would do when we grew up and went to the ballgames) we still had fun and the Cards were winning anytime we were in out seats. When we left to get more food and Dustin to smoke, then the Millwaukee Brewers would score. We learned our lesson. But it was nice just to hang out with Dustin, even thought the SAT did creep up in the conversation as well as QAS. But Dustin is cool.
Lots of other stuff is happening with the start of school. The new principal seems honest and fair. There are quite a few more changes occurring than we thought, most for the good, so time will tell. Looking forward to Trivia Night at Bishop DuBourg with the SAT table. That should be a fun night. Right now lots of people think the SAT hangs in the balance of whether we will get to do a show nect summer or not. I hope we can. Of course, I hope to go back to Disneyland Paris also. Maybe in July? So we will see.

Happy Birthday to me . . . Happy Birthday to me . . .

Today's my birthday!
But that's not the reason I am celebrating. Today I made the final reservation I needed for my upcoming Walt Disney World Christmas vacation. Now I have my reservations to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, Candlelight Processional, and the Yuletide Fantasy Tour. Plus I also have advanced dinner reservations to the Chefs de France and Liberty Tree Tavern character dinner.
So if you know me and know what a BIG DISNEY FAN I am, then you know how excited I am. I am looking forward to this trip. My principal says it isn't a problem for me to take a personal day, only that there is some form I will need to fill out. (Those are being discussed/explained/handed out at this week's faculty in-service days?) The asisstant principal usually takes off at this same time [read same day(s)] and she says it isn't a problem (since she knew last May) and probably already has my sub lined up. COOL!
So Mickey & the gang, here I come!

It is done . . . and we kicked butt

I always go into a funk after a show is over. I think it has to do with the fact that I throw myself into the show completely and then when it is over, it is a let-down both physically and emotionally. I mean it's not depressing just sad to know it is over and we can't go on again or go back to rehearsals. The cast of CATS was awesome. The group bonded so tightly it is hard to believe we haven't been friends and doing this longer than we had. We have made the committment to try and get together at least once a month. I have met some wonderful people and made some great friendships, and renewed some previous friendships. Now come the moment of truth, when we see if these freindships survive outside of the Guild, or actually outside of the show. After doing this for three years, I now know that this is possible. Some of the really cool people I met this year and became friends with are people like Jeremy and Kelly and Chuck. Some people I became closer to than I had before like Teri and Kevin and Jim B and Mindy. And some I just kept on being friends with like Joie and Cheryl and Stacey. The Leibrechts will always be there and be a friend to each and every one of us, we are their kids and they are our other parents.
Now it is back to school for me. I went today to get the list of chemicals I need to send to the Science Lab committe. I just have to find it. I know I placed it down somewhere in the house. Then the storm came, blew the roof off the apartment, lost electricity for a few minutes, and now I don't know where they are at. Tomorrow might mean a day without power if AmerenUE comes out and needs to shut down the transformer to repair any of the lines. (Part of the roof landed on the neighbors power lines) So while I have power I am trying to get some work done. Adrienne wants me to send out a reminder to people about JPs on Friday night. If you are reading this, here is your reminder.

All we need now is the audience

All we need now is the audience. I think the show is ready. Well, pretty much ready. There is always a few rough spots to work out and transitions to make crisper and cleaner. But we are at the point where an audience would add the energy and response we need to perform. Gus keeps getting better, I won't say I don't have my moments of going crazy but I want Gus to have his moment and not have to share the spolight with someone else trying to steal his thunder. After all, Gus is the cat at the the theatre door . . . and that moment of mystery when I made history is such a moving point in the song and the show, I don't want anything or anyone ruining it.
With that said, this is one of the closest casts I have had the privelege to work with. I hope we do keep in touch afterwards and continue having our nights out.