Tuesday 9th December 2008

Shopping Time!

We moved out to the stores this morning - first off one of the factory outlet places in Lake Buena Vista followed by a drive over to the Florida Mall. Linda bought lots as usual. I got two t-shirts!

By the time we got back it was past 3pm so we had to get a move on to get back out to the Magic Kingdom where we had tickets for the Mickey's Christmas Party.

Be Careful Out There

We'd not been back in the villa long when there was a knock on the door. There stood a young guy with a sheriffs badge hanging around his neck.

He was canvassing the neighbourhood to see if anyone had seen anything suspicious in the last few days. There's apparently been seven opportunistic break-ins in the vicinity - mostly taking cash and small valuables. This included the place opposite to us. I recall seeing three sheriffs cars parked outside the house opposite on Friday.

Time to Party

We reached Disney World just before 5pm. We'd both decided to join in with the other loonies wearing the Christmas hats, Linda had got her Minnie version this week to match the Mickey version she picked up last year.

Yes, that is me leaving the villa resort complete with my hat.

Unlike last year when we were at the Xmas party, the place wasn't as heaving as we had last time. Indeed it was possible to do walk-ons to most of the rides. 10 minutes was the longest we had to wait (Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan - just why Peter Pan always takes so long I've no idea).

Al last year, we were treated to Christmas themed shows, a parade and an extra firework show.

There were also frequent food stations, offering cookies and hot chocolate (with marshmallows).

After the final show, the " 'Twas the night before Christmas" - standing room only - we made a quick dash over to Adventure Land to catch what was most likely the last ride of Pirates.

A 25 minute drive meant we arrived home at gone 1am.