MouseFest 2005

Brunch at the Ball
Eveyone chatting and enjoying brunch	Eveyone chatting and enjoying brunch
Frogman and MissBianca show us their incredible handiwork! Thanks guys!	Another great turnout for 'Brunch at the Ball'
A great shot of all our Marathoners!	Beast takes 'Brunch at the Ball' a bit TOO literally!

I arrived at my table just a bit after noon and started getting things set up.   The Dolphin people were great and even provided velcro to attach the banner on the wall.   It worked great and looked even better! I had brought a blown up poster size version of our MouseFest Ad with all the names and had people sign it as they visited the table. I also had lanyards, nametags and pins for people that visited the table. It was great chatting with people, and I got the change to meet several members that couldn’t make the meets, or people that I knew from other boards. I also met lots of new people and talk a bit about the site.

Thanks GOODNESS that Ursulinda came to help me out at the table. I’m NOBODY’S public speaker, and she was a great help. Moley also came to help out and that helped me immensely as well. I really want to thank them both because it took off a lot of pressure and allowed me to run off and make the rounds myself. And I got to take the girls over to meet Margaret Kerry and get a signed picture showing her and Tinkerbelle. Again, she was WONDERFUL with the kids. She spent quite a bit of time explaining how ‘she’ was Tinkerbelle, and showing the girls pictures. It was an awesome experience, and one I’ll always remember. A special thanks to Margaret for her kindness and enthusiasm!

It was an awesome meet, and I got to see both Shontell from DVCbyResale and Gregory from Quicksilver Transportation.   Gregory has been to all three MouseFests and its always good to see him again! Poor Shontell was on the phone for HOURS waiting to book the next Disney Vacation Club (DVC) membercruise, while trying to get her table all set up! But I think all went well, because when I checked back later she was set on the cruise, and said she had enjoyed a great day meeting all the MouseFesters! :-)

I missed quite a few of the prize awards at the end of the meet, but I know a few Taginators won. I think Kathleena won something, and I know Ray Sharpton won the set of books I donated.   Anyone else win a prize at the Mega Meet?

To finish off our every eventful MegaMeet, MikeS stopped me for a live Podcast broadcast interview! I haven’t listened to myself yet, and I hope it came off OK!   Thanks goodness Moley was there to help me out!   Mike was great and I saw with running around with his microphone all afternoon. I’m looking forward to the broadcast being put on WDWToday as a downloadable podcast so I can listen. I keep missing the live broadcasts...

So, that was about it for the Mega Meet. I really enjoyed it again this year, and I with the way it has grown in the last few years, I can see us needing an even larger room next time! A huge thanks to AllEarsNet and Passporter for hosting this event and letting us be a part of it!

MouseFest Mega Meet
Our Tagrel.com Table	A blowup of our MouseFest ad for all to sign
MikeS and Tagrel	Photographer (Lisa) and MikeS
DVCbyResale.com - Shontell and her Fiance	Moley, Quicksilver's Gregory and Ursulinda
AllEarsNet.com	Bob Sehlinger - the Unoffical Guide to WDW
Ddoll helping out at the kids tables	Lynner and RaySharpton
Zakerdog (Carol) and Gary	Brinn, Margaret Kerry (Tinkerbelle) and Maddy
Ursulinda, Gary and Tagrel	Maddy, Brinn and Kristen help at the table

After cleaning up we headed out. I dropped some stuff off at the car, and then we walked over to Epcot. We had a 5:20 dinner, and we arrived with about 20 minutes to spare. While waiting the kids enjoyed watching a street performance of ‘A Christmas Carol’ with LOTS of very funny twists and turns. The CM’s did a fantastic job, and their audience helpers were very funny as well. As it finished up our beeper for dinner went off. Perfect timing.

Tonight we are eating at the Rose and Crown for the very first time. We were seated out on the patio, and it was still warm enough to be very enjoyable. (Later when it cooled off a bit they even turned on overhead heaters that warmed us right up).   We were here on the Candlelight Processional package and so the dinner included our choice of whatever we wanted, including appetizer, dinner and dessert.   I had the prawns cocktail as a starter and then the steak and fish as a main meal. Both were delicious! For dessert Kristen and I shared a sampler platter - and everything was wonderful. We will definitely return to Rose and Crown in the future!

After dinner we had some time before our 8:15 CandleLight Processional performance, so Kristen went off to shop a bit (and buy sweatshirts for the girls - Kristen hadn’t brought along even clothes!) and I gave up my sweatshirt once again! Good thing I don’t need long sleeves until it hits 40 degrees!   I refused to spend $50 for a new sweatshirt that would cost $20 at home! ;-)

We walked back so we could see the lighted archway and Christmas tree. I was bummed that I missed Ray Sharpton’s Christmas tree lighting meet here, but we DID see the tree light up from our seat at Rose and Crown! :-)   I took a few minutes to snap some pictures and then we jumped on the boat across to Germany.   I went to get in line for the Processional while Kristen hit Germany for a bit more Christmas shopping. The line was all the way back to the very farthest edge of Japan when I got there (it was back to Morocco not long after that!) and we waited. Again, thank goodness for Cell Phones. I don’t think Kristen ever would have found us without that! We finally started in to sit down and got some pretty good seats toward the center of the theatre. It was a great show and we all really enjoyed it. Our reader was Haley Joel Osment, (The kid from ‘Sixth Sense’) I believe he is in his mid to later teens now and really did a very good job.

After the show we went in for MORE shopping at the American Pavilion and then Kristen wanted a picture of the pavilion before we headed out. Illuminations was starting soon, but we decided to keep moving around the lake toward the International Gateway since everyone was tired. We stopped on a bridge to watch the special Holiday portion of the fireworks, and then walked with the crowd out of the park.   We walked back by the Boardwalk and took a few minutes to check out the decorations. Then we continued on to the car and headed back to the Wilderness Lodge.   I had really wanted to do the Karaoke Meet at the Swan, but there was not way. I was exhausted tonight and so were the girls. Someday I HAVE to make this one, because it sounds like great fun!

Another jam packed day, and everyone was MORE than ready for bed. I grabbed a few pictures of the WL and VWL decorations before I returned to the room for a good nights rest. Tomorrow we have a 7:30a breakfast at the Polynesian Kona Cafe and then we enjoy the Magic Kingdom.

Epcot at Night, Boardwalk and Wilderness Lodge Pictures
SpaceShip Earth	Arch
Arch	Epcot Christmas Tree
American Pavilion	Candlelight Processional
Candlelight Processional
Illuminations	Illuminations
Boardwalk Front Entrance	Boardwalk Display
Wilderness Lodge Tree	Wilderness Lodge Tree and Fireplace
Over the Wilderness Lodge Exit