Jessica Johnson - December 2006

Day 5 - December 26, 2006

Our wakeup call came early- or at least much earlier than I wanted it to. I wasn't feeling much better at all, and had managed to mostly lose my voice over the course of the night. I told Chris that I didn't think I could make it for the day, and he called Annette to tell her that I wasn't going. I laid back down, and tried to settle in and go back to sleep, and then decided that I'd manage the day somehow, and that I didn't want to miss the fun. So, he called her back and told her I'd be downstairs in a little bit.

I drug myself up and got dressed, and then pulled my hair back. I headed downstairs, where I soon found Annette, Joanie, and Marie in their car, and I climbed in, and we set off for Downtown Disney. We parked the car, and headed into World of Disney, where we met up with Deb and Kayla, and then got ourselves checked in at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. They told us it would be a bit of a wait, and then handed us the pager and said that the Fairy Godmother would speak to us when it was time.

A short while later, we were called over, and they passed out our personalized invitations, and had us pick the hairstyles we wanted. Then we were ushered into the Boutique, and one by one, we were called by our Fairy Godmothers in Training. Deb was the first one to go, and I was the last one- so I got some pictures of everyone while they were in process. Kayla seemed pretty mortified to be there when it started- but she soon got into it, and we all had a blast. Annette and I had already gone to the Boutique on a previous trip, so we had fun watching everyone else do it, and of course getting our own hair done. Everyone except Joanie and I did the Disney Diva hair style. I chose the Fairytale Princess, and Joanie got the Rock Star one. Joanie had been a little concerned that they wouldn't be able to do anything with her hair, as it's quite short- but they were able to! I went with the Fairytale Princess because I'd had the Disney Diva last time, and because the Fairytale Princess doesn't involve the hair extensions. On my previous visit, I discovered that they don't offer red extensions- which I found sort of strange. It worked out ok, because, well, my hair used to be brown, they went with the brunette ones and it blended pretty well. Still, this time I wanted things to be all one color.

The Boutique is always fun, and the Photopass photographers are there to get lots of pictures too. When we were done, we had a few group pictures taken, and then headed over to check out, wearing our sashes, and we were presented with our bags containing our makeup. They've changed the bags a bit since last time, they now have purple maribou handles.

We shopped for a few minutes, and then headed back to Annette's car, where we piled in, and made our way to the Grand Floridian. We were scheduled to have tea at 2 pm, our yearly girls tea. The boys were going to go golfing, but Rick had stayed home to build some shelves, and Bob was meeting a friend at Animal Kingdom, so Chris and Kyle went to DisneyQuest. I called Chris and asked him to bring my jacket when we met up later, as it was getting colder out. We were early for tea, so we checked out the shops at the Grand, and I bought some awesome mint foot lotion, and then settled onto a chair in the lobby. Lots of people kept stopping us to comment on our hair- some were polite- others were saying things like we couldn't hear them. But, I figure it sucks to be them, we were having fun, and too bad if they didn't want to!

Soon, we were seated at a table for tea, where we had the strangest server. She was nice, at first, and then just got weird. She knew we'd all been there before, but kept talking to us like we had no clue what would happen. In any event, they have changed things a bit, as they have a new tea supplier, and they have a bigger variety of tea, with lots of custom blends. The menu lists the new teas, but they also bring a humidor to the table with little jars of the various teas for you to smell and see which you want.

We all pretty much ordered the same options, the Buckingham Palace, and then our choice of tea. I chose the Harmony, as it's a minty blend, and I'm a huge mint tea person. Eventually all of our teas showed up, most in pots, but a few in a French Press (the mint teas tend to be too fine to go through the strainers, so they use French Presses to contain them.) Harmony was really pretty good, and I was glad that I'd chosen it.

Then our tea sandwiches showed up. As usual we get 5, there was a shrimp salad, an egg salad, a chicken salad with almond, watercress and cucumber and pear and gorgonzola. Many of them are things I wouldn't normally eat, but for the most part they're pretty good. Once we finished our sandwiches, we were given scones and jam tarts with devonshire cream. These are always yummy! Then it was time for our last course- we could either choose pastries, or strawberries and cream. I love strawberries, so that's the way I went, but you have to be careful, because sometimes the strawberries are nasty- not really ripe, and ugly looking. This time they were yummy though- so that's what I went for.

After we finished up our tea, we headed back out to the car. I called Chris to see where he and Kyle were, and they were shopping, so I told him we were on our way back, and that I'd meet him at the hotel. Annette dropped me off, and I headed upstairs and decided to change. I was wearing capris, a tee shirt and a cardigan and it was cold, so I changed to pants, sneakers and a fleece shirt. Chris got up to the room after I finished changing, and then we ran back downstairs to grab our coats from the car, and then just drove to the Boardwalk, since we already had the car.

Once there, we met up with Annette and Kyle, and we headed into Epcot to make our way to Le Cellier, where we had dinner planned. We met up with Joanie, Bob and Marie, and then got checked in. We had to wait a bit, but that was fine, we settled in on some benches, and soon were escorted to our tables, in the back corner of the restaurant. We were at a combination of 3 different tables, but all in a row.

ur server came over and introduced herself, and then passed out menus, and gave us some time to consider what we wanted. While munching on some pretzel bread, Chris decided to get the Cheese Soup for his appetizer. I went with the Crab and Salmon Timbale, smoked salmon layered with Canadian rock crab, mascarpone cheese, and citrus syrup. For an entrée, we each got the 7 oz. Filet Mignon, glazed with maple barbecue sauce and accompanied by cream cheese mashed potatoes. Chris loved his soup, and we both thought the filet was amazing, and really liked the barbecue sauce on it. My appetizer though was icky. I can't even really describe it, it was just nasty, and after a bite, I knew I was done with it.

The food is always good and this was no exception. Everyone loved their food, and when it was time for dessert, Chris was excited to get the S'Mores. Kyle also got the S'Mores, but Annette and I each went for the Chocolate Cake. It was very yummy, and was served with a vanilla tarragon sauce. The sauce was a bit weird, not bad, but it's not an herb I usually associate with dessert.

When we finished eating, Joanie, Bob and Marie headed off to get some more pictures taken while Chris, Kyle, Annette and I just kind of wandered our way through the World Showcase. When we got to the American Adventure, we could see that the line was already building, so we hopped in line to make sure we all got good seats. This is very important because both Annette and Joanie LOVE Gary Sinise. Every year, they joke about inviting him to go to lunch with us, or trying to find a way to meet him. So, we had to make sure we got good seats. Plus, we had to be able to take good pictures (which seems to be next to impossible), and Joanie had brought their video camera to tape the show. Last year we'd really missed Gary, and though John Stamos was great, it was weird to have a Christmas without him.

We waited in line, though I wandered off to use the restroom at one point, and soon Joanie and Bob happened to wander by and joined us. The line went pretty quickly with just one upset- an family with two elderly members on scooters nearly crashed the line. So, the son took over the driving for his father (he got a bit wild, but it was kind of funny and no one was hurt), and got him turned around and into the accessible line. After avoiding that danger, we were let into the theater to find some seats. We ended up splitting up a bit, Annette, Kyle and I were on one of the shorter benches in between the trees while Joanie, Bob and Marie were further down on the aisle in the row behind us.

The Candlelight Processional was awe inspiring, as it always is. This is about as close as I get to church around the holidays, and it's just always a wonderful, uplifting experience. The music is always powerful, and the musicians are amazing. This year I really enjoyed watching the guest conductor work (yes, I'm still a band geek), as well as the interpreter. And Gary Sinise just has a wonderful voice for the story- it's very powerful and moving all at the same time. If anyone has any doubts about attending this show- do it!!!

At the end of the show, we made our way out of the theater, and headed towards Morocco to find a spot to watch Illuminations. Did I mention it was cold? To quote Annette, it was "booger freakin' cold" out, and getting colder as the night went on. Once we found a spot, I decided that I needed hot chocolate, so I set off to find some. Morocco doesn't make any, and neither does Japan. I found some at the American Adventure, and also some cinnamon covered pecans for Chris, and found him just as the show was starting. It turns out that everyone had relocated to behind the arch in Japan, so he showed me where they were. I handed Annette her hot chocolate, and we introduced Kyle to the wonders of the nuts, while we watched the show.

Before the fireworks, Chris had been telling Kyle to watch me, because I'll cry through the ending. Kyle, of course, thought this was silly, and I'm not sure he really believed Chris. Of course, I did cry, as I always do, because it's just so incredible. And, especially in the finale, it actually almost hurts your chest- the fireworks come so fast! I think Chris managed to get some video clips of the finale.

We had a quick meeting with everyone, and Annette decided that rather than staying for Extra Magic Hours, she was too cold, and wanted to head back. I totally agreed with her, so we said goodbye to Joanie, Bob and Marie, who were staying, and then headed for the International Gateway. As we were approaching the exit, I commented that I had to stop to use the restroom, and Kyle said he did too. (I'm one of those people who knows where every bathroom is!) Annette said she was going into the shop, because it was too cold to wait outside, so Kyle and I headed out while Chris and Annette headed to the shop.

I was out before Kyle was, so I kept glancing at each person when they left the men's room, because it's generally a bad idea to lose your friend's kids. They don't like that much. A guy came out, and I happened to catch his eye, he smiled, nodded hi, and then headed over to talk to someone who was waiting near me. Still waiting for Kyle, I started thinking- and then I grabbed my cell phone, walked a few feet away and called Chris. When he answered I said "Get Annette and get out here!" And then he hung up on me.

Apparently Annette was in the process of looking at a pin, and he walked up to her, and just said "Put it down, we have to go NOW!" Then, of course, he had to assure her that nothing was wrong with Kyle. They came out- and Chris guided her to where I was- and also explained that standing about six feet from me was Gary Sinise!

He was in the middle of a conversation with someone, so we waited while he was finishing it- it turns out it was someone he was there with, and he was waiting for his wife and daughter who were in the bathroom. As he was about to walk away, Chris stopped him and just said that he was sorry for interrupting him, and that he wanted to tell him how much we enjoyed the Candlelight Processional. He took a minute to talk to each of us, and shook all our hands (Kyle was back by then), and we told him that we come to see him each year and had missed him the year before. He and his wife were both very sweet, and very gracious. Then we headed off and wandered down towards the Boardwalk.

As it turns out, Gary was heading that way too, so we were kind of walking behind him for most of the way. While I was waiting for Chris to come out, a few people had asked him for pictures, and he politely declined, because he didn't want to create a crowd, so I had told Chris and Annette this when they came out, and we hadn't asked. But, while we were on the way to the Boardwalk, there was no one around, and Annette finally said "I can't stand it! I have to ask!" and headed over to ask if he would take a picture. He said "Sure!" and his wife apologized for not being able to take it, as she didn't have her glasses. So, he had his daughter take them, and make sure that they weren't blurry and that everyone had their eyes open. She took one with our camera and then Annette's, and then we thanked him, he shook hands with all of us again, and we headed to the Bakery. On our way out, we happened to walk past his wife again, and she waved and said hi to us- she really was very sweet about us stopping their trip.

So- that was our big excitement! Of course we had to call pretty much everyone we knew to tell them what had just happened! We felt so bad that Joanie wasn't with us though. Chris and I got our car, and decided to continue our tour of resorts. We headed off to Caribbean Beach, and did a few others before heading back to the Dolphin. Of course we uploaded the picture as soon as we got to the room, and then emailed it to everyone we could think of ;o)

We snacked on our bakery goodies, and then headed off to bed. I was still feeling kind of off, but I was so glad I'd gotten up and headed out instead of staying in bed. It turned out to be a wonderful day- start to finish.

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