Rhonda Horinski & Family - December 2008

The Horinka Family - Disney Christmas
Day 6 – Wednesday, December 24 - Magic Kingdom
Cast of Characters: Rhonda, 44 years young, single mother of 3 awesome punks and lover of all things Disney, Sharon, 19 year old DD, Morgan, 16 year old DD, and Payton, 12 year old DS.

Oops!!!

After waking up EXTRA early (5:45 to be exact) and wondering why the bus was running soooo late (it didn't arrive until almost 7:00) I realize that, due to a change on the calendar ("Times subject to change without notice!") I still had 7:00 a.m. MK opening on my spreadsheet. It doesn't actually open until 8:00. I'm sure it was a Disney scheduling change and not a mistake on my part!

After suffering the wrath of my three children, we decide to hop on the monorail and head over to The Contemporary for some breakfast. I'm glad I messed up, because this gave us a chance to see the lovely Gephetto's Workshop Display they had set up for Christmas. While in line to pay for our breakfast, a man offered to "buy" our meal on his dining plan as they were leaving that day. We took him up on his offer with the intent of donating any of our leftover counter service meals to another family on our last day. After we ate, we headed back over to the Magic Kingdom on the monorail and arrived at 8:15 (15 minutes after the park opened).

We headed to Tomorrowland and got FPs for Space Mountain and then the kids rode the Teacups again. After that, we headed to Fantasyland and rode the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Snow White's Scary Adventures and Mickey's Philharmagic. This is our favorite 3D show! By now it was 9:30, so we headed over to Liberty Square for a ride on the Haunted Mansion and then to Frontierland for Big Thunder. We then went to Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean and explored the Swiss Family Treehouse. I went back to Frontierland to secure FPs for Splash Mountain while the girls shopped in Adventureland. We all headed in for a showing of the Country Bear Jamboree. I haven't seen this one since 1979 and then kids had never seen it. They thought it was hokey, but enjoyed the nap time! After we used our FPs for Big Thunder and then got seated on the curb for the 12:00 Christmas Parade across from Peco's Bills. The sun was in our eyes, but the parade was still awesome. It was about 82 degrees out, so we were a little warm. We left that park at 12:45 for our afternoon break, which included a nap for everyone as we had arisen so early (oops!). We returned to the park at 5:00 for dinner at Crystal Palace. We had a great view of the castle in its icicles and were able to see and hear the stage show during our wait for a table. We really enjoyed the meal. It was another one of those meals that I didn't think would be that good, but really was. They have a nice buffet there, we had wonderful character interaction, and we all got a bit neurotic watching Tigger bounce all over the place!

We left Crystal Palace at 6:40 and headed over to ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder using our FPs. We then headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Space Mountain using our FPs. At 8:45 the girls split to do some shopping while Payton and I did Buzz Lightyear with a 10-minute wait. We then walked to Toontown and rode Goofy's Barnstormer and then toured Mickey's house and checked out the Country Fair. We then headed to the front of the park to meet the girls. Sharon and Morgan had shopped and then gone to First Aid as Sharon's leg was not only hurting, but was actually swelling up! They had given her two ice packs and declared it was a shin splints issue and that she needed to spend a day off her feet and then go to the doctor after she got home. She was in a wheel chair when we met up with her. We wheeled her to the turnstiles, leaving the wheel chair and headed to the bus for the trip back to CBR. We had a nice treat on the way out. The Electric Water Pageant was going by so we were able to see it all from the bus as we headed back! It was a very eventful bus ride back, and I was grateful not to be sitting on the front of the bus as a teenager had "lost his dinner" all over about 5 passengers, including a poor, poor French woman who took the brunt of it on her legs and shoes. I felt so bad for her!

We arrived back at CBR at 10:30 and got some mug refills and did some pin trading. The kids headed back to the room while I sat outside on the tables near the bar (I didn't drink, however) and just relaxed in silence for a little while, made some phone calls and then headed back to the room for a shower and in bed by 11:50.

Tomorrow - Christmas Day at Animal Kingdom

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