Johnson - December 2005

Christmas Trip - Day Three - December 24, 2005

The plans for Christmas Eve were basically to have dinner with Pam, Steve and Hanna, and then see the Osbourn Lights. Since Chris had been running on a bit of a sleep deficit, and I'm not one to go to bed or get up early- we'd pretty much planned to sleep in today. In a rare twist, I was up and working for about an hour or so, before I finally woke Chris up. We got ready for the day, and then headed out to MGM. We drove over, because neither of us wanted to wait for the boat. So, we parked the car, and then took the tram up to the gate.

After bag check, we made our way into the park, with absolutely no plans at all. We headed down towards Tower of Terror, which had just a 10 minute wait, so Chris went on, with instructions to give me a call if he was also going on Rock'n Roller Coaster, and I headed back to my "spot". I have lots of spots in each park- if he's on a certain ride, he knows exactly where to find me. The TOT/RNR spot is the corner outside of the Christmas Shop, by the Beauty and the Beast entrance. I'm easily found either on a bench or a planter in that area. This time it was a bench. I spent the time people watching, and pondering the whole past year, and sharing my bench with some adorable children. They were a brother and a sister, along with their mother, none of them spoke English- I felt so bad, because at one point the little boy bumped into me, and his mother told him (I'm guessing, it's what it sounded like) to apologize to me, and he stopped and said something very sincerely. I just have no idea what. So, I smiled. I smiled more when he and his sister sang Rudolph in Spanish.

After Chris showed up, we set off again, a trip through the Villain store, and then off to the Animation Courtyard. I forget what we were looking for- I just know we didn't ever find it. We circled the Courtyard, and then headed back behind the Great Movie Ride, through the back of the park, and over to the Muppets Courtyard. We wound up in the Muppet Store, where I spotted a Pepe the King Prawn character. This is Chris's favorite muppet- so I immediately grabbed the shirt and bought it. He protested a bit, but I knew if we hadn't gotten it, he'd never forgive himself for it. He did manage to resist the urge to immediately change shirts.

Then we wandered back through the park and up to the Big Hat. Here we decided that since we were about 15 mins early for our dinner reservations, we'd just wait for the Forresters to show up. We found some seats outside Brown Derby and settled in. A few minutes later Pam and Steve showed up, so we headed in, and were seated in just a few minutes.

It took our server a little while to make his way to our table, but it was also Christmas Eve, so I imagine things were quite hectic. For an appetizer, Chris and I decided to share the Sake Laced Crab Cake with Nori Crust Miso Aioli, and cucumber watermelon slaw. In general, I'm not a huge crabcake fan, but this one was really good.

For my entrée, I decided to get the Roasted Pork Tenderloin with tomato cheese fondue, sweet corn succotash and Madeira sage pan juices. I'd been a little unsure about the fondue and the succotash, but Pam had insisted it was wonderful. It was- I despise lima beans as a rule, but these were really yummy- I actually ate almost all of them! Chris had the Pan-fired Grouper over balsamic roasted asparagus, lemon plugra butter sauce, topped with Bermuda onion marmalade, which he really enjoyed as well.

When it came time for dessert, I had to try the Grapefruit Cake. I've heard many good things about it over the years, and we'd just never made our way back to Brown Derby since 2001, so I knew at the start I was going to get it. Chris made a few faces when he read the description, but after having a bite of mine, he loved it. I'll admit, it sounds pretty strange, but it really was wonderful. For his dessert, he got the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Praline Cheesecake- with blood orange sauce, and as with any cheesecake, he loved it.

When dinner was done, we made our way back to see the Osbourn Lights. It was interesting, because walking through earlier, I'd been laughing about how it seemed like every surface was just gratuitously covered in strands of lights- just to fit all the bulbs in, so they didn't lose the count. But, strangely, I like the light display so much better now than when it was spread out over the backlot. It's intense- sort of like Christmas puked everywhere, but it's really festive, and I think it has a bigger wow factor. We wandered around, enjoying the lights until Hanna suggested we head to Epcot for Illuminations.

This sounded like a splendid idea, so we made our way out of the park, with the guys stopping to take a few pictures (If you happened to see people laying on the ground in front of the hat, well, one of them was my husband). On the way out, we contemplated how we were going to get to Epcot. Steve dislikes most of the "public" transportation at Disney, and I tend to share his feelings on that one. We'd both driven over separately, but figured that by the time we'd gotten to the cars, driven to Epcot, parked and gotten to the World Showcase, we may as well have taken the boat. So, we headed to the dock, and before boarding asked the driver if we'd be able to get a boat back to get the cars after Illuminations- he assured us that we could, so off we went.

We got to the Swan and Dolphin and ditched the boat idea. We figured, correctly, that we could walk faster than the boat, and so we did. We crossed over to Boardwalk, and then made our way into the park, through the International Gateway. We found a spot right up by the fence on the bridge between France and the UK, and settled in to wait for the show.

I love Illuminations normally- it's a wonderful, moving show, though I've always suspected that I may be biased by seeing it on our honeymoon. I can't quite tell if it's that good, or it's just a sentimental thing. But, I can tell you that the Holiday ending is spectacular no matter what- it's just hands down incredible. After the normal show, you hear "Let There Be Peace on Earth" and there's a slow, choreographed series of fireworks, while Happy Holidays, Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men, is spoken in the various languages, with that country lighting up as the sound plays. Then, there's a general wish from Disney for a wonderful holiday season, and the finale begins. It's huge- giant fireworks, high over your head, more than you can count. It actually kind of hurt to see it, you feel the bursts in your chest, and we could feel and hear the sound bouncing off the buildings behind us too. It's really an amazing thing, and I'm so glad we got there to see it.

After the last shell, I wiped away my tears (because, yes, I really DO cry at everything), and we made our way back out of the International Gateway. There's like 600 people trying to get through 4 turnstiles, so it takes a little while. The line for the boat was pretty long, so we figured we'd be smart, and walked out to the dock at the Yacht and Beach Club, and we'd take that boat to MGM. When we got to the dock, a boat pulled up about a minute later. People got off, and a CM wandered around in the area, and after about 5 minutes we asked if we could get on, and if it was the boat to MGM. He said yes, we can get on, but the boat was not going to MGM as it was too late. We explained that we'd been told that they ran until 10 pm, and he replied "It's 10:04"

There weren't a whole lot of options, so we headed back out to the walkway, and took the path to the Dolphin. Chris and Steve decided they'd do the walk to MGM to get our cars, while Pam, Hanna and I headed up to the room, so they could check it out. We ended up going in the first door we found, which was fine, except we had no idea where in the hotel we were. I looked on the map, and it had a red dot that said "You are here" but, it was off in this sea of blue- which apparently meant we were there, but the hotel wasn't. So, we got on the elevators, and took those to the lobby, then took another set of elevators up to the 14th floor, to our room.

We hung out and talked until the boys came back- after Chris showed the room off to Steve, the Forresters headed out and we settled down for the night. I went online to do some work, and Chris played on his laptop. Around 1 am, I decided to hop in the shower, knowing we needed to make this an "early" night. As I was about to get in, I glanced down and there were these little bugs crawling around on the tub- Chris says they're ants, I didn't look that close. I called him in to see them, and then washed them down the drain and took a shower. While I was in, he called the front desk, just to let them know they may want someone to spray. They asked if we wanted a new room, and he said, no, not unless they get worse. Famous last words.

So, I finish my shower, and am poking around online, when Chris goes to check the tub- there are more bugs. He washes them down the drain, and sprayed some hairspray in the place he thought they were coming from (I'm not really sure why- I guess he figured any spray was better than nothing). A short while later, he decides it's time for his shower, and heads in. Now they're all over the tub, up the shower curtain, and on the sides of the wall. It was a bit too much to ignore, so he called the front desk to get a new room.

They tell him that they don't have a room with a King bed, but, they do have one with 2 twins, and we can change to a king tomorrow night. He explains that he doesn't really want to have to change twice. They say they'll call us back. Twenty minutes go by, and they call back, would we be willing to go to the Swan? Okay, if it's a King. They'll call back. They do, and the Swan doesn't have anything. Wait- the Dolphin has a king bed, but it's not attached to the wall. Chris asks if this means it's broken, or if it just has a different type of headboard. They weren't sure, and said they'd call us back.

After another 10 minutes or so, they do call back. They have found us a new room, in the Dolphin, with a king bed, and they'll be sending a bellman right up with new keys and a cart to move us. So- we hurry and pack all our stuff up, and then sit down to wait for the bellman. And then 15 minutes go by with no bellman, so Chris calls the front desk to see if they've sent one. Apparently, it's quite busy down there, and they said they'd send someone up as soon as they could, so Chris offers to come down and get the keys and the cart himself. They said ok, and so he was off. The keys weren't a problem, but the bellmen didn't seem to want to part with the cart (now, mind you, none offered to actually help us move, they just didn't want us taking the cart).

We loaded up the cart, threw on some shoes (though I refused to change out of my pajamas), and headed up to the 15th floor, to our new room. It was almost at the end of the hall, and now we overlooked the parking lot. But, I think we got upgraded to a Deluxe room, which, I guess, was why they didn't want to put us in there when the bug thing first started. When you walked in the door, you were in a large foyer area. To the right was a small hallway/vanity area that opened into the bathroom. To your left was a lot of space, and then the closet, with the normal safe and stuff. Next to the closet was a wetbar area, with a small sink, the coffee maker, the mini bar, and for some odd reason, the blow dryer. This area had large slate-ish tiles. They were sharp on the corners though, so not good on bare feet.

Then the room opened up- it was sort of a really fat, short L shape. To the left, there was an alcove that had a small chaise, a chair, and the desk. To the right was the "main" part of the room, with a king bed, nightstands, and then on the opposite wall (perpendicular to the desk) was the dresser with the tv. At the far end of the room was a chair with a small table. All in all, a gorgeous, huge room, and we were happy to finally have a bug-free home.

We unloaded the cart and then put it back in the hallway. Chris unpacked stuff for the bathroom, while I went to take my pills, and as I was doing so, I sat on the side of the bed. One thing about the Heavenly beds is that they have beautiful, crisp, white comforters, so, when I glanced down, the stains pretty well jumped out at me. I called Chris, and after he looked at them, he confirmed what I was thinking. They were, umm, to put it delicately, "protein" stains. Not something either of us wanted to sleep under. So, he says- your turn, I'm taking a shower.

I called the front desk, and explain that we got to the new room, and it had no bugs, but that the comforter was stained. They asked if I wanted to speak to a manager, and I said, yes, but not tonight, it was 3 am on Christmas morning and all I really wanted was a new comforter so I could go to bed. I was told it would be right up. So, I sat on the chair, propped my feet on the table, and waited. And waited, and waited some more. Half an hour went by, and I made Chris call the front desk again, because I told him if I did it, I'd ask for the manager, and when they got on the phone I'd reply "Good! Now bring me my comforter!" He didn't want that, so he headed to the phone (which, by the way was cordless, which was cool). It turns out that we had a message- Guest Services had sent us a text message (why?) to see if we got the new comforter. To get a text message, you actually have to call the front desk and have them read it to you, so he told them that no, we hadn't gotten it, it's been half an hour, and can he just come get it himself? No, they reply, because there's no one to let you into that area. But, they'll send one right up.

This time, they did. Within 5 minutes there was a very nice gentlemen at our door with a brandy-new comforter. As he pulled it out of it's plastic bag, I realized we had a small problem- they'd sent a comforter, but not a cover, and seeing as how the stains were on the cover, this wasn't good. The poor guy was confused, and I just said, it's fine, we'll deal with it tomorrow, and he helped me change the bed around, and then took the yucky comforter with him.

I'll admit, I have a temper. I can be pretty, well, bitchy, when I think things aren't going well, and at this point, I was pretty sure they weren't. I didn't want to wait for the comforter cover to arrive, but I was still mad that they hadn't sent the right thing up after we'd gone through all the other issues, and to top it off, hadn't even apologized for the stinking bugs in the first place! (Plus, I want to know how ants get to the 14th floor) So, it wasn't one of my finer moments, but I had to get in my parting shot before bed. I picked up the phone, called the front desk and sweetly explained that we'd gotten the comforter but no cover, and that I was going to go to bed, but that housekeeping will need to bring a cover in the morning, and I just wanted to let them know that it was missing, so they didn't think we stole it. I promise I really did say it sweetly- I guess living in the South is rubbing off on me. Then, I was content, and settled in for a few hours of sleep.

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