North Carolina RADP MEET – June 13, 1999
North Carolina RADP MEET
June 13, 1999
So, you need a Disney fix and that next trip seems so far away? Why not gather together some fellow Disney fans for an afternoon of fun! That's what 16 RADP folks did yesterday in Raleigh, NC.
It began a few weeks ago on IRC when a couple of fellows (Hi Brian, Keith) and I were talking about how nice it would be to have another RADP meet. We decided on a date, then a place, and then spread the word. Yes, it's that easy 😉 We have a email list of NC radp'ers that the invite was sent to and we also posted it to RADP and got responses from both places.
I have attended RADP meets in NC and at WDW but had never "hosted" one before. When I arrived at the Crabtree Valley Mall yesterday afternoon, I'll admit to being just a little nervous. A few minutes after 2:00, a family approached as I hovered around the outside of the store and asked "are you here for the meet?" Hooray, somebody was there!! It was the Montgomery family (Brian, Denise and daughters Elizabeth and Ashton) who are lucky enough to be going on a Disney vacation very soon. We were quickly joined by Cindy and Keith Barrett, Rob and Linda Williams, Brian Martsolf and Tim and Tracey Kugel.
After chatting for a while, we all went into the store for some retail therapy 😉 and more chatting. A big thanks to CMs Lorraine and Barbara for taking pictures of us and being good sports about our being there. The CMs are wearing really neat Tarzan tee-shirts. For you Donald Duck fans, there was a nice display of DDuck stuff commemorating his 65th birthday.
We hung out in the Disney Store for a while then went to dinner together. There's a new Bahama Breeze restaurant in Raleigh and we were there at 4:00 when it opened. We were joined by Kaycee and Louie Hannen, bringing our merry group to a total of 16 (counting me, my hubby Bryant and son Stephen). The staff at the restaurant was wonderful, seating us in 2 8-person booths side by side.
Most of us had brought photo albums of our Disney trips so we started looking through those and comparing notes on attractions, restaurants and resorts. Our host, upon finding out what kind of group we were, completed the small world chain by revealing that he was from Orlando. The waitress even divided the check for us after the meal. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food too but I was so busy talking and listening that I can barely remember what I ate.
After a good long meal, our time together had to come to an end. We talked for a while outside (while dodging the valet parking line), took another photo, then said our good-byes. Someone made the comment that the only thing that could make it better would be if we could all hop on >the monorail to go to the Magic Kingdom 🙂
A big thanks to all of you who came to the meet yesterday. You gave me a big Disney boost! To anyone thinking about hosting a meet, go for it. Disney fans are the greatest.
Your reporter on the scene,
Cathy Bock
