Mousefesters…Start Yer Engines

How does that song go?

Oh yeah”¦.”It’s that most wonderful time of the year.”

No, no! Not Christmas time silly”¦.MOUSEFEST BABY!

Yes sir.

It all started for me on Wednesday.

I won’t tell you what time I woke up to prepare to leave”¦.uhhh”¦.many of you were probably still doing the R.E.M. (Rapid Eye Movement) part of your evening.

Anyway, I got to the airport early because I still wasn’t sure how this new Southwest boarding policy was going to work

It was even a bit more confusing when I came across this”¦

While waiting to board the plane I was joined by my neighbor and fellow AEN colleague Michelle Scribner-MacLean.

This made the flight all more enjoyable and FAST because we talked Disney and Mousefest all the way down”¦not to mention educational and training philosophy”¦two areas which we are both immersed in.

We made plans to have lunch once we were checked in”¦unfortunately one of the drawbacks of flying down early is that there is a good chance your room wasn’t going to be ready. This was the case with the both of us.

We had lunch at the Big River Gille and Brewing Works”¦..we both ate light because of the impending Begin and the end trail’s end dinner later in the day.

We then walked over to EPCOT and made the rounds through world Showcase and saw a few story tellers…France…

Japan”¦

We noticed something we hadn’t noticed last year”¦.a little village and train set up around the Christmas traded outside the American Adventure Pavilion.

We went into AA and listened to the story of Chanukah and checked out the Kwanzaa exhibit.

The Voices of Liberty performed in their Victorian Christmas Garb. Some of the arrangements for the songs they did were “different” and I didn’t think it was one of their best performances”¦.it could have been that some of my favorite “voices” weren’t there either.

Up to the American Adventure attraction”¦my favorite and most appreciated attraction in all of Walt Disney World.

Hmm”¦next time you enjoy the attraction during the scene with Teddy Roosevelt and john Muir”¦check out the mountains on the left”¦.is that a hidden Mickey on the slope?

Saw the Monkey King storyteller in China.

Tried to do the Maelstrom”¦queue was too long for our taste.

Went into Mexico”¦sent a few cliff diver video postcards and continued walking around World Showcase.

We checked out the Christmas ornaments in one of the World Showcase Plaza stores”¦I need to bring some home.

We continued walking around World Showcase”¦.saw Off Kilter and British Invasion.

I ran into my cousin Patty and her two traveling companions, Peg and Richard. They were on their way to the monorail to the Grand Floridian for dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

Since I was going to Fort Wilderness I offered them a ride.

I dropped them off and Michelle and I went to FW.

We got to Trail’s End and met up with 60 friends and wed all enjoyed our traditional pre-Mousefest meal”¦where we Begin at the End. Get it?

My friend Masayo and her husband Mamaru were there and Masayo always so generous”¦brought me some wasabi beans from Japan.

After dinner we went to Epcot”¦took in the Lights of Winter

We saw Oh Canada, and then settled in to see Illuminations”¦one of my favorite things to do at Mousefest.

Then it was time for me to call it a day. .I was in hour 21 of my day and the energy level was dropping fast.

I returned to Pop Century and dropped off Patty, Peg, and Richard”¦called the front desk to find my room number”¦and then made good use of my time to unpack and settled down for a long winter’s nap.

It’s Mousefest Baby!

Time to recharge because once Thursday morning hit I knew it would be time for someone to say,

“Mousefesters”¦start yer engines!“