Highs & Lows

Yesterday was kind of a weird day of ups and downs. I like to start out with the bad news, because it only gets better from there:

1. I didn't mention this before, but on Friday night, one of the panel members got chosen, at random, to sleep in Cinderella's Castle on Sunday night -- It wasn't me.

2. The mom who did get chosen could have 5 guests. We chose names out of a hat. -- I still didn't get picked. (Let me say, that I couldn't be more excited for the 6 moms who are staying in the castle!)

3. The entire group was supposed to get our picture taken in front of The Osborne Lights -- BUT can you say CROWDED. There were soooooo many people there that picture taking was IMPOSSIBLE.

4. We had a couple of moments of free time, and we tried to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster (this was our second attempt in 2 days), but the Fast Passes were all gone, single rider lines were closed, and the wait was 60 minutes -- yesterday, we had gotten up to the loading area when the ride shut down -- we were given FP to come back, but we thought we would be generous and give them away (where's the good karma when you need it?).

Alright, in retrospect I sound whiney -- the good FAR exceeded the bad.

1. We went on a resort tour and saw the Suites at All-Star Music, the newly themed pirate rooms at Carribean Beach, the DVC suites for Animal Kingdom Lodge (my favorite) and Contemporary Resort.

2. We saw the Osborne Lights (amazing) several times because of the enormous crowds. It took us a looooong time to walk down that street.

3. We rode Toy Story Mania!

4. We had an excellant meal at the Brown Derby, and our special guest was Gary, a cast member in charge of media publicity (I think I got that right.) Anyway, he's the one who works with all of the celebrities who come into the park. He was hysterically funny and had a lot of interesting information to share.

5. After dinner, Gary showed us the soon-to-be-open American Idol experience. We were not allowed to take pictures, but let me just say, it's going to be AMAZING!!!!

6. I came back to my room to find Mickey had decorated it and left not one, but several presents for me and my family! I took pictures, and I promise I'll post them all when I return. It was seriously like Christmas!!!

Overall, it was another INCREDIBLE day at Disney!