hey there,
This is the three part of our Walt Disney World vacation, and there are going to be four parts, and then maybe a post with some of the things that didn't really fit anywhere else. You can go back and read part one and part two. This weeks post covers the first four days of December and a praise to Disney's guest relations and lost and found services. Enjoy!
Dec. 1st: Wishes
December 1st found us at Disney Downtown in the morning - we got most of our shopping done at World of Disney (I got a very cool hat!) and we went to Wolfgang Puck Express for lunch - they took our dining credits :-) It was so nice to eat off real plates again and to use cutlery that wasn't made of plastic.
The kids (and of course, us) played for a couple of hours at Disney Quest and went back to the hotel for a nap. We actually had plans for the night for once...
We made it to the magic Kingdom with a bit of time to spare before the Parade - we looked at the character houses in Toontown and Dorian took his first ride on a roller coaster, Goofy's barnstormer. We found a great spot in front of the castle for the Electrical Parade, next to THE sweetest gay couple I've ever seen. One of the guys used to work at WDW and we got talking - he was at the lost children department and told us a bit about the inner workings.
The kids were completely mesmerised by the parade and I loved it, too - just the music got a bit annoying after the tenth repetition...
We saw the "Wishes" firework at 8 pm and this is by far the best firework I've seen in my life. I love the way this is set to music, just perfect.
Dec. 2nd: Some thing's missing
Let me say this up front: I'm not very proud of my reaction, 'kay? And I used to think that I keep my head in an emergency...
The day started off nice enough - we made it in time to the magic kingdom to get in early with the extra magic hour. Only when we got to the entrance I noticed that my wallet was gone. I knew I'd had it when we where at the hotel because I used my key card to pay for breakfast, so there was no chance that I had accidentally left it in our room. I started panicking, Chris went back to check if I'd lost it on the way to the bus and I got in line at the guest relations counter - I knew that I'd have to cancel my credit card if the wallet didn't show up right away.
Chris went into the park with Dorian and we agreed on a meeting point.
After that, I pretty much went to pieces. I started crying, and everyone in the queue was so nice to me! One lady even gave me 20$ so I could enjoy the rest of my vacation. I didn't want to take it, but she just stuffed it in Lilith's pocket.
Guest relations helped me sort out the credit card and key card mess and got me a day pass for WDW so I could go in and join my husband and son. We had a nice enough time at the magic Kingdom - we finally had that pineapple float everybody is talking about - and went back to the hotel for a nap. We headed out pretty late to go to Epcot in the evening to see the illuminations. It was really impressive, but the Wishes are still my favourite firework. The sidewalk and fountain lightart in Epcot is stunning. I've never seen anything like that...
Interlude: Guest relations and Lost and Found at WDW
If you can't live without the experience of having your wallet stolen, do it at WDW ;-) The guy at Guest relations went out of his way to help me cancel my credit card and ATM card, he even called my austrian bank to do so.
My wallet was found the next day (minus credit card and room key) - I'm so glad that I didn't have to retake my drivers licence!
As nice as everybody was, I still don't recommend it :-)
Dec. 3rd: Animal Kingdom
The kids had been so great the last couple of days and everything had worked so well that we ignored the feeling that it was time for another rest day. That was not the smartest plan...
The kids where pretty grumpy for most of the day, but we managed OK after a while. The Safari was great and the kids loved seing the animals - the jungle trail was pretty impressive, too!
We had the most fattening breakfast EVER in animal Kingdom. The muffin and chocolate shake where so rich, we shared them four ways and the kids didn't want to eat the chocolate lolipop that came with it afterwards...
We had fun banging the drums, we went to the lion king show where we learned that giraffes go "baaaa" like sheep and I got to ride the Expedition Everest coaster while Chris went to see the Nemo show with the kids. We ended up on the playground, where the kids finally started having fun - and I had a chance to go see the bugs life show inside the tree of life.
I love the look of Animal Kingdom - theres such an incredible amount of detail! The kids didn't really dig that park too much, but there wasn't so much for them to do.
I went back to Epcot after the kids were in bed. I skipped the Illuminations this time, got some chinese food and went on Mission Space six times in a row. So Much FUN!
Dec. 4th: Pause and unwind
After a somewhat stressful day at Animal Kingdom the day before, Chris took off by himself to the Hollywood studios and Blizzard Beach. We met for lunch at the earl of sandwitch and I went to the JoAnn store a bit later where I spent the 20$ the nice lady gave to me :-) I would probably have spent 100$ or more if I'd had them...
I got a great set of pretty tissue paper that I want to use for
my window stars and a box of mini candy canes :-)
I really wanted to make it in time for the christmas tree lighting at the hotel, but we ended up being a couple of minutes late.
So much for the third part of our Florida adventure - the next part will be up next sunday!
Vee: Hello there! Its great that you found the time for this interview! Can you tell me a bit about you? 
I want to see more! Where can I buy your creations?
What does your day look like?
My biggest tip would be to only do it if you LOVE it, and MOST importantly, make sure you still have time to make art/creations simply for the joy of it...just for yourself or you'll get burned out. 
Do you want to offer a promo code/give away something to the blog readers? 
