Wednesday 24th December 2003 – Christmas EVE!!!!!

After a lazy morning, and with Rob’s dad’s back still in bad shape, we set off in convoy to Walmart to do our Secret Santa shopping. We all pulled ears out a Minnie Mouse Santa hat, and had to spend $15 on that person. I had Rob’s mum and was finding it hard to find something I liked for her, until I came across the ideal gift set! It was called the Ice Cream Social by Hershey’s, and consisted of 4 sundae glasses, and 6 different tubs of toppings! We all finished shopping in Walmart ( I took the longest as I had to do the kids stockings too!) and then we went for a buffet lunch at Stevie B’s on the way to Ross. We loved it, the food was fresh and the choice was great! Once we were stuffed full (again!), we made our way to Ross where I ended up buying a beautiful red evening dress which I have no idea when or where I am ever going to wear! But it was $26!!!!!!

Rob, max and Rob’s parents went back to the villa for a swim, while dad took us girls on to Gap at Lake Buena Vista Outlets for some more shopping!

We had to be back at the villa and ready to go out again by 5, as dad had booked Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede for our xmas eve dinner. Sceptical as I was, I actually quite enjoyed it, a touch of American cheese on xmas eve got people nicely into the spirit! Once the show was finished, we went to Downtown Disney for a couple of hours to soak up some Disney xmas atmosphere, and for me to buy some Tinkerbell goodies for my desk at school!

When we got back, we all took turns wrapping presents, and we were beginning to figure out who had who for their Secret Santa! I stayed up late wrapping the stocking fillers. Santa’s coming!



Thursday 25th December 2003 – CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!!

We have had a lovely Christmas day here in Florida! We started off our day with the present opening which was so much fun! Everybody had chosen very appropriate presents for each other and we all had a giggle! We had a wonderful lazy morning with fresh melon and pineapple for breakfast, and an hour and a half in the pool and hot tub! That was definitely an alternative way to spend Christmas! Once we finally managed to organise all 7 of our tribe we went off for the day to explore the Disney Resort hotels. We drove to the Grand Floridian and parked the car. We made our way to their lobby to have a look and were extremely impressed with what we found. The grandeur of the decorations was amazing, the tree was decorated with the twelve days of xmas as its theme and it was stunning. We also visited the life size gingerbread house for a sample of the gingerbread!

We caught the monorail from the GF which took us past a FULL Magic Kingdom! We switched monorails at the Transportation and Ticket Centre and had a tour of Epcot too! I was very glad not to be in the parks as it looked like mayhem! We continued our hotel lobby tour at the Polynesian resort, which wasn’t overly decorated for the holiday season, but we really liked it all the same! Inside was a huge centrepiece which was a living rainforest, and all around was themed to perfection. We stopped here for a drink before we headed home to get dressed up for our xmas dinner at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We tried to get into Wilderness Lodge on the way home, but it was too late to get in.

Our PS was at 8pm in Boma’s African fare Buffet inside AKL, and it really was something special! The food was all outstanding, and the desserts….mmmmmmm! the chocolate mousse was to die for! And not a turkey or Christmas pud in sight!

After dinner we went for a stroll around the hotel grounds. We could walk to a viewpoint that overlooked the savannah, but it was too dark to see much, and no word of these night vision goggles I hear so much about!

We really did have a wonderful Christmas day that I’m positive we’ll never forget!



[img]/forums/Data/200411615214_Florida 2003 073.jpg[/img]

Animal Kingdom Lodge Lobby, wow!