Yes, CLQ-1, there is a Santa Claus - Updated 1/13 COMPLETE!! About This Page:

[pamcarey]

What a great update! It sounds like you all are having a truly fabulous time!

[travismom]

WOW!!
Just got all caught up and sounds like a WONDERFUL - MAGICAL - FANTASTIC trip so far.
Ya'll's room is beautiful and HUGE! And your balcony is pretty special, too.
Can't wait to hear more.

[Belle*]

Originally Posted by WDWfan

Watching Illuminations with other PPers, listening to them sing along (Larry and Sara), the PPer 10th Anniverary meet, walking around WS with friends in an almost empty park enjoying the atmosphere, laughing at Donald in Gran Adventure...all of it was magical.

Who... me??? Lesley very kindly didn't plug her ears while we sang along and even hugged me when I started to cry as I do every time! Sounds like Eileen and I would do well to watch together too! I was sorry I had to leave the PP party early but I was soooo tired!

[mousestruck]

Awww, thanks Jill! Of course I knew who you were immediately, since your famed induction into the CLT and all of your wonderful TRs! It was so incredible meeting everyone. I was comfortable with fellow Passporters right away... even though we had never met, I felt as though I was among old friends. What a great time we had! Can't wait to read your next update!

[mcc0313]

Your room is amazing...I love the balcony and the view Seems that you all had an amazing time at Epcot despite the cold. The Illuminations Dessert party and the PP meet sounds like loads of fun, and a wonderful group of people to share your time with.

No Soarin but it sounds like everyone was ready to get some sleep from their busy traveling day...

Can't wait to hear more.

[Colexis Mom]

Just getting caught up!! Great room, and what a great night!! More please!!

[DoraDoug]

I love your room! Your night sounds absolutely wonderful too. Boy, I really do feel sorry for you if Mary Devall finds out where you were with Ms. Eileen. I have a feeling that's not going to go down well but I have a feeling it was all worth it. I can't wait to hear more! And Merry Christmas by the way!!

[bearak527]

You guys seem to be having such a great time. I need to go to Mousefest too, just so I can meet you all-you are my kind of people. Keep the updates coming.
Betty

[lonereb]

What a great TR. I can tell ya'll had SOOOOOO MUCH FUN. Your room is wonderful. Never stayed conceirge before. But it is on my list of must do things.

[Lemap760]

Just getting caught up on everything. Sounds like everyone was having a great time. I love the simple response of "I'm with Ms Eileen" when asked where you are.

[Mickeysgal]

What a beautiful room - the view, the balcony - awesome! Sounds like you had a great night with fellow PP's.

[nconover]

I am loving this trip report Jill. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. The wet clothes story was hilarious maybe because that's happened to me before. Can't wait for more, you guys are a hoot!!

[Nala]

WOW! Did you girls ever score an awesome room! Beautiful!!!

What a great evening at Epcot. I am yet to see the American Adventure (I know, shame on me!) but it is on my list. It sounds like the additions of the events of 9/11 are very moving.

Hurry back with more!

[Jillybean]

Saturday, December 13 Day Three

I’ve heard about it . . . I’ve read about it . . . but I just didn’t believe it until I experienced it myself. No matter what time she goes to bed and no matter how tired she was, Sharon gets up at . . . the . . .crack . . . of . . . dawn. She is quiet as a mouse and doesn’t make a peep, but I am still amazed at how little sleep she gets by on. Forget about Big City Girl, she is Super Woman in my book!

Anyway . . . once Eileen and I forced ourselves out of bed shortly before 7 a.m. we got on the move so that we could grab a quick breakfast in the lounge before heading to EMH at DHS. My breakfast didn’t change much from morning to morning - - cinnamon roll, raisin bran and triple latte. Sometimes I threw a little fruit in there just to look healthy.

With our tummies full and a hot drink to go in our hands, we headed down to the boat dock. At this point, I was starting to get just a tad nervous. You see . . . after 12 years of waiting . . . I was actually going to attempt ToT again this very morning. Sharon had arranged a ToT meet for everyone to ride her favorite ride with her and I figured that this was my best chance at actually going through with it. If I had Eileen on one side and Sharon on the other, I thought that I could do it and not chicken out. I also knew that these ladies would have no problem shaming me into it if it came to that.

A boat arrived relatively quickly (just quickening my impending date with death ) and I took the opportunity to give Maddie a call which pretty much consisted of her saying “I’m going to wash my hair now . . . bye . .. “ I could tell that my children were both devastated by my absence.

Eileen was worried that I was talking to Mary Devall because while I was still on the phone with Thom, the boat captain was announcing our arrival at “DISNEY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS” very LOUDLY! She just knew that I was busted - - thankfully Mary Devall was still that morning.

All too soon we arrived at DHS and were quickly through the gates. While Sharon went ahead to see who was at the ToT meet, Eileen and I went to snag some FP’s for TSMM. For once, there weren’t hundreds of people milling about, so we quickly had FP’s in our hot little hands. Before we took off for ToT, a supervisor looking CM leaned over to Eileen and announced that the ride was back up and now would be a great time to ride. Eileen and I looked at each other and considered it for a second, but knew that Eileen might not be able to ride ToT if we rode this first since she had to be back at the Mega Mouse Meet to man a table.

We skedaddled over to ToT and found Heather, Larry and Bob waiting with Sharon. We chatted for a few more minutes before we decided that this was going to be our group. The standby time was listed at 20 minutes, but the old pros assured me that there was no way it would be that long when we walked almost all the way up to the building.

Sure enough we were soon led into a foreboding room where the preshow began. Once that scare the bejeebies out of me , we then moved into the boiler room to wait into a way too short line for our elevator. Okay, I was beginning to get nervous. When we were assigned our row, Eileen and Sharon made sure that I was in between them. Bob, Heather and Larry sat in front of us – in the front row. For some reason, I was at least relieved not to be in the front row.

When the moment arrived and we were instructed to enter the death chamber . . . . um . . .. I mean elevator , I was first surprised to see that we had flimsy little seat belts instead of a bar. The one and only time that I had been on this ride 12 years ago, I distinctly remember having something more substantial than a piece of cloth holding me down. Of course, I also had an “end of the run” boyfriend sitting beside me who wouldn’t even let me hold on to him. Now I had something better - - two sweethearts on either side of me who promised that just for this once I could hold on to them!

Once I was belted in (no matter how flimsy, it was all I had ) and had a hold of my two ladies, our car began moving forward. I thought I was handling it pretty well until Eileen commented how fast she could feel my heart beating. Guess I really was askerd!

They were so sweet and talked me through every single thing that was happening – or about to happen. Just as we were about to start our first fall, I heard “Okay Jill, this is it.”

The next 60 seconds were filled with short heart stopping drops, spine tingling soars to the top and long stomach flipping drops. The first time that my behind lifted out of my seat and stayed that way, I was totally amazed. What a feeling!

When my eyes were open, I kept them fixated on the back of Heather’s head! I even managed to keep my eyes open to see the doors open at the top and catch that one-of-a-kind view of DHS. The things I remembered most though were screaming and keeping ahold of my ladies. If I hurt either of you, I apologize now.

When Eileen told me that it was over, I was completely dumbfounded (I’ll let her tell the whole story since she does it better ). I DID IT!!!

I grew up not riding roller coasters or anything that seemed a little scary, so to find myself at 43 conquering some of these fears is simply unbelievable. Being the mom of two little girls has made me braver than I ever thought I could be. My mom had so many fears when I was a little girl that I know transferred to me simply because I figured that I was just like her. I never want my girls to not try something because of my fears, so I’m learning to conquer them one by one (well at least the ones I want to try – I have no problem with the fact that I will never jump out of a perfectly good airplane or bungee jump ).

I’m a proud mom, but I’m also a proud daughter because I’ve watched my mom gradually conquer some of her fears. She is one of the strongest women that I know and, even though she didn’t urge me to ride roller coasters as a child, she gave me the confidence to shoot for the moon.

Before we were even out of our car, Eileen asked “Would you do it again?” I didn’t hesitate when I answered with a definite “” Although a tad scary at first, I absolutely loved the feeling of being weightless!

I could tell that the ToT queen was proud of me also! She informed me that it was a great sequence for someone who had skipped this ride the past 12 years – lots of short drops and only a couple of long ones!

I was literally shaking all over with excitement as we exited our car. We all headed to see our ride photo which told the story in complete detail – I was screaming while everyone else was as if they were taking a walk in the park (Eileen did have a half scream/half smile on her face - - probably just to make me feel better ). Sharon immediately declared that she was buying it! While she stood in line, Eileen bid us adieu to attend to her Mega Mouse Meet duties.

As I stood there chatting with Heather, Larry, and Bob, I felt my pockets and realized that my camera was no longer with me. I had it in my left jeans pocket and apparently it had popped out in all the ups and downs! I ran back to the unloading area and explained my situation to one of the CM’s. He immediately asked me which side I was on . . . um . . . I think it was his. Another CM who had just brought someone through the chicken exit went back to check on the camera at the front. Heather and Sharon soon joined me and confirmed that we did come out of the elevator where the male CM was stationed.

He then proceeded to check our row each and every time that an elevator unloaded. He was so thorough that he would even shine his flashlight on anything that a person brought out in their hands. I was just waiting for him to yell “THIEF!!!” I was starting to get a bit down when the camera hadn’t surfaced after a few cars had been searched, but finally a man came out holding a camera. Before he could even tell the CM that he had found this camera, this CM was asking me “Is this yours?” I nodded yes and thanked him profusely. He had really gone above and beyond his duties!

With my prized camera back in hand (as Heather said . . . it wasn’t so much the camera that I would have missed, but the pictures on the memory card), we ran back to Bob and Larry to continue our morning. First I had to have a picture to commemorate our big morning. I just hate that Eileen wasn’t in this picture!



We grabbed this CM who actually looks a bit scared by us! Imagine that!

We spotted a PP photographer as we meandered down Sunset Blvd. so we had fun hamming it up! The photographer cracked me up when he asked us to act scared for one photo and then told Bob to keep his day job. Little did he know that Bob would be starring in the Laugh Floor the next day and giving an Oscar worthy performance!

As we continued down Sunset Blvd., I learned once again that it IS a small world when a man yelled out "Go Paladins!" I gave my fellow alumni a yell out for him acknowledging my Furman Paladin sweatshirt (just in case you didn't know . . . a Paladin is a Christian knight on a horse and Furman is a small liberal arts college in Greenville, SC). Further proof of the "it's a small world" theory is the fact that Bob graduated from The Citadel which is a big football rival of Furman's.

The only other thing that I really needed to do at DHS that morning was pick up a couple of presents for a special little boy and a special little girl, so the gang was kind enough to come along on my treasure hunt. I found exactly what I wanted in a store on the main drag and we were soon on our way back to the Yacht and Beach Club for the Mega Mouse Meet.

We cut through the Yacht Club lobby on our way to the conference center and were directed to take the loooong way around to the meet. When we finally made it there, who do we see but these lovely ladies?



They look like they've been up to no good, don't they?

When we entered the room, it was just amazing. I’m one of those Disney fans who has attached herself to Passporter and simply hasn’t ventured elsewhere. I was just blown away by the number of booths and people milling about. I hit a few booths here and there, but the sight of pretzels soon drew me away. I helped myself to a sweet cream cheese pretzel and a bottle of water while chatting with my buddies.

About this time the drawings were just getting started. We all had our numbers memorized and were ready to win. No one claimed the first number, but when the second number was called, a squeal went up among our group and Heather tore to the front with the most enthusiasm that we would see all day! She came back the proud owner of a beautiful Disney throw.

I did enjoy meeting several of the booth sponsors especially Allearsnet - - okay, I do admit to venturing over to that fantastic website a great bit. I love their weekly newsletters and the website is chock full of great info. I also have fun submitting pictures of the girls for Photo of the Week occasionally - - we’ve actually won once with a picture of Maddie and had a couple of photos of Mary Devall included on the website itself.

The most fun of the morning was simply hanging out with my PP buds and meeting some fantastic new ones. I was thrilled to meet Molly (wvugrrrl), Travis (doctorhead) and Joey (ThatGuy) in their kicking t-shirts. They were every bit as funny as their tr’s and I absolutely loved meeting them and getting to know them a bit better. I tried to act as Columbia’s goodwill ambassador and convince Travis and Molly to move there. I also marveled at Joey’s own Sorceror’s hat that he made with his own hands. I could definitely see why you would want "that guy" along on your honeymoon! All three of them were simply treasures.

I also finally got to meet the famous Amy (iamgrumpy). I have loved her tr’s for years and have been following her move to Orlando over the past couple of months. She was every bit as sweet as I imagined she would be - - I was just sorry that I didn’t get to spend more time with her or meet her mom!

During a break in the drawings, Sharon and I decided to head back to the room and drop our bags. Once in our room, we discovered what our mousekeeper had left us today.



On our way back, we ran right into Heidi (goofysdtr) and her parents. What an absolute sweetheart she is! We had THE best time talking with her and her lovely parents!

Once back at the meet, we joined the rest of our PP buddies to listen to the final round of drawings. This turned out to be a long process because so many people were not there to claim their prizes, so they had to move on to the next number. It was amazing how close so many of us came to winning something, but other than Heather, we only came away with some lovely parting gifts.

It was after 1 p.m. by this time and everyone was getting hungry, so Lesley suggested that we try B&C. Sharon and I offered to go ahead and put our names on the list while everyone else finished up at the meet. When we told the hostess at B&C that we had 7 in our party, she gave us the bad news that it would be at least an hour wait. Oh well, it was a gorgeous day outside and we had nowhere to be, so we took our pager and found a table that had just been vacated.

I was feeling a little parched , so I left Sharon with the pager and the table and took off to Hurricane Hannah’s. The Queen of FAB’s shocked me a bit when she said that she didn’t care for anything. The route I took to get to Hurricane Hannah’s ended up being sort of like an obstacle course. I went over hill and dale . . . and a bit of sand . . . before I finally reached my goal.

I was the only woman standing in line on the bar side of Hurricane Hannah’s, so I did feel a bit like an afternoon boozer. Maybe there was a poker game going on some where that I could join later.

A female CM who was propped up at the bar chatting to the bartender while he worked started chatting with me also while I waited. Somehow it came up in conversation that I had left my children at home, so when it was my turn to order, the CM said “This is Jill. She left her children at home.” That’s when I ordered a big, fat margarita on the rocks with no salt.

The bartender was a very sweet guy and made me a most excellent margarita. As I left, he yelled “I’ll see you later!” One sniff of this drink and I realized that I would most probably not be seeing him later. Eileen even commented later that she could smell my drink from afar.

So . . . back over hill and dale . . . and a bit of sand . . . and I finally made my way back to Sharon . . . and everyone else. She had made lots of friends since my departure. It was nice to just sit down, relax, sip my drink and chat some more. While we waited, Sara dropped by and we invited her to join us. The more, the merrier!



By the time that our pager buzzed, we had waited a true hour, but the time seemed to fly with this group again! The staff at B&C was great and had put together three small tables for us right at the entrance. We even had the same server that Eileen, Sharon and I had in June!

Continued in next post . . .

[Jillybean]

We had a big meal coming up that night, so several of us decided to split a cheeseburger. Sharon and I paired up for a burger, but when she asked me what side I wanted I thought she wanted me to choose between fries and fruit (I had just been teasing her about being so healthy with fruit ). Of course, my “healthy” self picked the fries, but then I discovered later that you could have onion rings also. I think Ms. Sharon wanted onion rings - - and I did too in hindsight! They looked good too - - on everyone else’s plates!

The half order was just perfect (B&C was great about splitting our orders for us too ) and left plenty of room for my part of a No Way Jose! We decided to order one No Way Jose for everyone to split. Bob ventured out on his own with a chocolate malt.

We had the best time attacking that sundae with pure, unadulterated gusto! It got so bad that Larry actually had to hold the base of the sundae glass to keep it from landing in his lap (that’s another story that is totally Eileen’s to tell ).

Sara had to leave early, but our wonderful server agreed to take a picture of 7 very full people. See how happy we are!



Up next . . . a night - - and a meal - - to remember!