The "Griswolds" do Disney and MNSSHP *UPDATED: One last visit to DTD*

[White as Snow]

Cast

Starring:
DMe Laura Beth (aka Snow White)- stressed out college Music Theory and Composition major, who needs this Disney trip - badly!

DH Robert (aka Pooh Bear) - aspiring chef (currently a catering and advertising director at a specialty foods market) who is a converted Disney nut (hey, he’s married to me!)

DM Sharon - The cutest, sweetest, and best Mom and Disney lover. The woman puts Martha Stewart to shame.

DF Mike - Dad is a pastor and also has a job at an oil co. so, he needs this trip pretty badly, too. We say he has a split personality - one part Robert Schuler (eloquent pastor of The Hour of Power fame) and the other part is Homer Simpson (nuff said).

Also starring:
DB Joey - who has the unfair advantage of living in Orlando and seeing his beloved Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster on a regular basis.

DSIL Holly - (aka Tinker Bell) Has lived in FL most of her life. Now works at Disney and definitely has a giant stash of pixie dust somewhere

With guest appearances by:
DNephew Skeeter - Joey and Holly’s dog #1, a feist. Also known as Skeeturd (if you’re talking to Joey).

DNiece Audrey - Dog #2 a German Shepherd mix. Joey has lovingly dubbed her Lardrey due to her Pooh-ish size. He also refers to her as The Lard Missile and one other name that isn’t appropriate for the DIS.

Pre-trip report elation and explanation:

Originally this trip was to be taken by Robert’s cousin, her husband, and their niece. They had a change of plans in August and had to back out. Soooooo, Mom and Dad decided that this would be a great time to go see Joey and Holly (and Mickey). Also, I had already bought tickets to MNSSHP ( 5 of them to be exact) so Robert and I were going - no matter what (a little Nazi-ish of me I admit, but c’mon it’s a trip to Disney AND MNSSHP we’re talking about!!)

Also, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus over the summer, and this trip was the only thing I really had to look forward to. The planning and anticipation of the trip (along with discovering the DISboards) really helped to keep my spirits up in the first few months of dealing with the disease. Maybe I should write the Disney powers that be a thank you letter? Nah, hundreds of dollars of my family’s money should be enough of a thank you, don’t you think?

Discovering the DIS has been truly great. It’s a wonderful community, not to mention a whole slew of people who are as obsessed with Disney as I am! *cue “Hallelujah Chorus”*

So, Mom and I have braved Home Depot at rush hour to collect our LGMHPC. Robert even picked some up for us!! He handed them to me one afternoon and I was counting them. When I got to the end there was a Galactic Blue paint chip ( which is actually a color I might paint a room some day). I asked him why he got one that color and he said, “Well, these ladies near me were staring at me and I picked that one up like I was comparing colors.”

We’ve debated what to do about costumes for MNSSHP. Originally, Robert and I were going to take our Snow White and the Prince costumes (Mom made them for us and they are awesome!). However, satin+Disney+Orlando humidity = one very cranky couple.
We ditched that idea pretty quickly.

Dad was actually going to dress up with Mom (big shock to the rest of us - he’s not always a costume kinda guy). I think they were going to go as Mouseketeers. But, we finally all decided that we would rather wear Halloween or Disney (or Disney Halloween) shirts and enjoy the party (and being in short sleeves). We also figured Joey and Holly would have nothing doing with dressing up.

Now that the Costume Debate of 2006 is over, here are the results (cue CNN breaking news announcement): Mom, Dad, and Robert will most likely buy shirts when we get to the World. I might possibly wear my Wicked the Musical shirt and get my face painted green and black or just wear a Snow White shirt and a red ribbon in my hair. Joey joked once about getting a shirt that said “If you’re skeered, say “Skeered.” (We’re from an interesting part of North Alabama, so we’ve actually heard people say this in everyday life). Ideas from all of you are welcome in this matter because we still have 13 days to change our plans.

Mom and I are in the final stages of our Disney planning routine. We’ve both drilled our DHs. I just asked Robert if he has everything he needs, he’s a big boy and if he forgets something - well, he’s up a creek without a paddle. Mom’s a little more serious. Here’s a sample of the dialogue.

Mom: Mike, do you have comfortable shoes to wear in Orlando?
Dad: Yes.
Mom: All right then, prove it. I want you to wear them this weekend and prove to me that they are comfortable.

You see, several times that we’ve gone to Disney, Dad has waited until the last minute to buy shoes. A DIS carnal sin. Not to mention that said shoes are cheap ones from Wal Mart. Dad claims that the only difference between brand names and generic is that they stop the production line and start adding a label. He claims he has seen this done. With white bread. Whatever. We have all tried to impress upon him that with some brand names you aren’t paying for the label, you are paying for quality. He doesn’t believe us even though he begins wincing with pain after 3 hrs at Epcot in his Wally World sneakers. Mom is trying desperately to make sure that this doesn’t happen this time around. Good luck, Mom, you’re a more persistent woman than I.

Since this trip was kind of a last minute thing, we haven’t made ADRs. I know, I know, what can I say, we like to live on the edge. No, really there are several places outside of Disney that Joey wants us to try. Also, we are planning on eating our way around the Food and Wine festival one day, Tusker House and Beaches and Cream the next day, and eating things like dole whips and funnel cakes at MNSSHP. ADRs aren’t really necessary.

Our itinerary is pretty simple, Epcot all day Saturday Oct. 14th. It’s our favorite park, and yes, it will take us a whole day to do what we want to d here. Not to mention that I have a surprise planned for Robert on this day. Next day we’ll open AK and close down MGM. The last day is a relax day so that we can all party hard at MNSSHP that night.

We leave in 13 days on Oct. 13th. Yes, I know why would an otherwise intelligent family of 4 drive 8 hours to Orlando on Oct. 13th only to drive 8 hours back in 4 days? Well, duh it’s Disney.

[serendipity]

I love the start of your report. I can't wait to hear more. The part about the costumes is priceless and I'm sorry to hear about your illness. Here's some pixie dust for a great start :wizard: pixiedust:

[White as Snow]

Thanks serendipity!! I'm thrilled that you enjoyed it. A usual Friday night for us is sitting around reading TRs together. It brings the whole family a lot of joy because we get to experience the most wonderful place on earth through the eyes of other families. I hoped that by doing a TR of our trip, other people might get the same kind of fun out of it.

Wow, that sounded hauntingly like some kind of Miss Trip Report Queen of America speech.

Thanks for the pixie dust and stay tuned!! popcorn::

[serendipity]

hahaha I know what you mean. It's just me and my fiancee so far but we love to read the trip reports, well I do, and he sometimes gets sucked into the magic....I'm going to convert him though!!! pixiedust:

[White as Snow]

The preparations continue:

Robert and I just got in from errands a play at school. Since we will be driving to Orlando (or in reality Dad will be driving to Orlando), Mom, Robert and I have selected DVDs,and CDs to keep us all entertained (we can only talk and tease each other for so long). Mom has informed us that we will be viewing Alton Brown’s Good Eats* for at least the first 4 hours of the excursion because she has not had time to watch them yet.

Robert has made his pre-Disney purchase of the third season of the Golden Girls on DVD. The first time he went with us to the World was in November 2004 and I surprised him with the first season for his birthday, which is also in November. He loves his girls. Lifetime, TV for women, and Robert.

Our family believes in the celebration of self. Meaning, if we do something right - good grades (for me) or something good at work for everyone else - we treat ourselves. I’ve been saving all my “treats” since oh, July. So I can get what I want at Disney without feeling guilty. I’ve become the saver in mine and Robert’s marriage - not that he’s a huge spender, but I hate to buy anything unnecessary even if I want it. The point of that long spill - I’m saving my pre-Disney purchase for Disney also, you all won’t think I’m completely crazy when I start dealin’ out cash to CMs. (I’ve also got a surprise for Robert on the day we leave - I guess that would have been my pre-trip purchase). I can’t reveal what my surprises for him are at the present - because he’s probably reading this right now. “Hi, Honey!!” :wave:

Mom and Dad had yard sale today to scrape up some more moolah for the mouse. I believe Dad made a comment that every penny we earn/save goes right into Mickey’s glove. Yup, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We’ve also been hoarding things like cheap ponchos and wet wipes for two months now. Robert and I just bought a truck load of granola bars to take with us. Not sure if we’ll even need them, just seemed like we needed to have it - kind of like the renter’s insurance we took out on our apartment.

One last preparation tidbit before I say “adieu.” Since we are going to MNSSHP, a friend of ours made us these really neat bags to take for trick or treating. She made 3 sets of 2, so each couple can match. She’s great, and if she’s reading, “Hi, Linda!” :wave:

Well, the countdown clock says 13 days 0 hours and 40 mins. :banana: That’s great, unfortunately, the real clock says 11:14. That means all good DISers (well, this one anyway) should be headed to bed! Night All!


*For those who are not Food Network fanatics like we are, Alton Brown is a chef who hosts Good Eats, a show about how foods “work” - the science of cooking. We all have our fave chefs (Me- Rachael Ray Robert - Paula Deen Joey - Alton Mom- well, she likes whatever the rest of us are obsessed with but in addition she likes Ina Garten Holly - I’m not really sure, I’ll have to ask her if we have a long wait in line during the trip Dad- doesn’t really care because he would rather be watching The Colbert Report)

[GypsySue]

Great pre-trip report! Only two days left for me--Whoohoo!

Your husband and the Golden Girls DVD craked me up!

I LOVE Alton Brown too!

[White as Snow]

Glad to hear you liked it GypsySue. I can't wait till we get to the two day mark! Actually, I can because I have a Psychology debate that day!!

Here are some pictures of Joey and Holly's children. Enjoy!

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/getmsg-1.jpg
Sibling rivalry

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/getmsg-2.jpg
Skeeter supporting his team

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/getmsg.jpg
The Lard Missile in all her glory

Up Next: Pictures of the less hairy among our party so you all have a visual reference.

[White as Snow]

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/Picture348.jpg

From left to right, Joey, Holly, Me, and Robert.

This was made at mine and Robert's wedding reception (we don't walk around like this). I'm trying to scrape up one of Mom and Dad where they are both looking at the camera and Mom has her eyes open (hard to come by).

Up Next: The Joy of Packing

[GypsySue]

Super cute picture!!

[White as Snow]

Thank you! Say, aren't you IN WDW right now?

[White as Snow]

Well, the surprises just keep coming

Robert is about to pop because he can't figure out what my surprise for him is going to be. He now says he has a surprise for me! I have no idea what it could be. He promised it isn't food related (mine IS somewhat food related). Btw, if you really want to know what my surprise is, just PM me. I can't post it here because Robert knows about the DIS and knows how to check my TR.

Joey also has a nice surprise. The hotel he works for is hosting the Southern Women's Conference. Their guest speaker is staying at his hotel. The guest speaker just happens to be Mario Batali!! I had hoped Mario would stay a few extra days so that Mom, Dad, Robert and I would get to meet him, but I guess he didn't know we would be coming down on Friday. ;)

One week from today!!!!! The packing craze starts tomorrow!!

[serendipity]

ohhh I want to know the suprises! cute pictures!

[resol37]

Love the PTR so far. I was originally going to comment that you can't be the Griswolds because my family is the Griswolds, but you've won me over and now I'm going to be nice. My family lived in Germany for three and a half years when I was 4-7 years old. National Lampoon's European Vacation? Yeah, that's us - or at least, that's my dad. We love the whole series and watch Christmas Vacation every Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. I even had a dream about a month ago that I got down to WDW and it was closed. You can imagine the shock and horror!

Anyway, have fun on your trip. My next trip will be launching off in exactly one week and I've got the LGMHPCs all ready, so don't hesitate to say "Hi" if you see me!

[White as Snow]

resol37, thank you for being nice, and for reading my TR! :teeth: The holidays just aren't the holidays without a viewing of "Christmas Vacation!"

Maybe we'll see you at the World!! Thanks again for posting!

[White as Snow]

Dad wanted me to post a revision to the Wal-Mart shoes fiasco. He said that he did not buy the shoes at Wal-Mart. He found them at home. They were shoes of Joey’s that Joey had outgrown. So, Dad thought he might be able to wear them to WDW. Problem is that he didn’t try them on until the first morning we were actually at Disney. Yes, Dad, that is so much better than buying cheap shoes at Wal-Mart.

I forgot to mention that I already gave Robert part of one surprise. He had a bad day on Friday and needed something to boost his morale. I had gotten him some magazines to read on the way down to Orlando (Rachael Ray, a Halloween special of ...something, etc.) He liked them, but I think he suspected that surprise.

We’ve started packing! Well, we’ve gotten our suitcases out of the closet - hey, it’s a step in the right direction. Robert is insisting that he will pack Thursday night and that if he needs a certain item of clothing, he will wash it Thursday night. :sad2: Considering that he was responsible for a recent “pink/whites” incident with our towels.... I don’t know how good of an idea that is. I’ve got to decide what I’m taking today because there is no guarantee I’ll even have time to say “WDW” this week.

Stay tuned! There are still 3 unrevealed surprises and adventures in packing! Not to mention Arrival Day!!

[serendipity]

that's really cute that your DH loves the golden girls. What are you going to school for?

[White as Snow]

:happytv: Yeah, Robert loves his girls. Every time I hear the theme song it reminds me of the first time we went to WDW together.

As to why I'm going to school, I would love to be a free lance composer (or a composer for Disney!!), but I'll probably end up getting a PhD and teaching in a College or University.

[serendipity]

that's such an amazing field. I'm also in school studying to become a teacher :cool1:

[White as Snow]

Arrival day!!

As I type, we are on our way to Orlando. Last night was interesting. Sit back, relax, grab a Coke and let me tell you a story. Robert and I decided we would have to wait until Thursday night before we left to pack. Robert was trying to get as much work done as possible because “I don’t want them calling me while I’m on vacation.” It’s inevitable, Robert takes a day off and the whole catering department goes to heck. I had several tests this week as well as a Psychology paper and debate this week. (I hate public speaking - my performance medium is piano, so I’ve had to train myself not to let my hands shake or sweat when I get nervous - as a result, my voice now tends to shake/crack when I get nervous. I sound like a prepubescent boy.) It really didn’t take us as long as I thought for us to get everything together. So far, the only thing we have discovered that we forgot is my Clarinex - no major loss I just won’t get to meet Skeeter and Audrey now.

We ordered a pizza, finished an episode of Law and Order: SVU and fell to work. Robert didn’t want to bring shorts, even though he would be warm in Antartica. He claims he just doesn’t want to, Mom and I think it is because his legs aren’t “dark” enough. Okay, most of my life I’ve been against tanning. Now that I have lupus and the sun is like poison, I’m definitely pro-pasty skin. Nevermind that I have the whole Snow White image to keep up! Robert knows he can’t say anything to me about wanting a tan because I’ll just tell him that he’s really cooking himself ( food turns darker the more burnt it is) and that when he is 30 he will look 90. Can someone help me down off my soapbox now, anybody.....anybody?

Oh well, if he gets hot, he had the chance to get shorts. I just realized how unfortunate men are. They can’t wear capris (half of my wardrobe for this trip). They can wear shorts or pants, but they don’t have the option of capris, how sad for them. Okay, this thought was obviously a product of my early, pre-Disney awakening this morning. I didn’t have to be on campus until 10:45 at the latest but I still woke up at 6:20. (of course, since I’m such a diligent psych student, I know I’ve been classically conditioned to wake up at the same time every day - but that test isn’t for another week and a half). It was actually really fun getting up that early when I didn’t have to - it was like a reminder that today was a different kind of day - it was a pre-Disney day!!!!! Robert got up shortly after I did and cooked breakfast (fried eggs, sausage, biscuits, and chocolate gravy - what more could a girl ask for?). I finished some homework and we finished gathering most of our worldly possessions for the trip.

We then went to the post office to pick up a package I had waiting there for me. I’m addicted to making cards and stuff using scrapbooking products. My mom is a Stampin’ Up! representative so she’s my main enabler. However, someone from my home church (remember, Dad’s a pastor) sent me this huge box FILLED with stamping stuff. It was a great surprise and really added an extra shot of pixie dust to my day. My mom promises she didn’t do it. I think it could be Linda, the same lady who made our trick or treat bags. Oh, I forgot to mention what those actually looked like!!! They are awesome. One set is orange and has a jack-o-lantern face on it. Another set is black and has white ghosts on it. The third set is....get ready... DIS green!!!!! They have spiders on them. I’ll post pics after MNSSHP , you know, when they are filled with candy!

After the post office we went to the bank to deposit our Disney fund into my checking account. My side of our office is decked out with Snow Whtie stuff ( including an awesome statue that Robert got me on our honeymoon at the World of Disney in NYC.) We have this little Disney princesses purse on my desk that we dump all our extra cash and change into. We’ve been saving since July and we had over $150 in it!! It’s amazing how much a few dollars here, a few cents there, can add up in just a very few months.

Robert dropped me off at school so that I could go watch a Supernanny video for Psychology - I love professors who give fun homework! Then I had Theory which was great because we got back a semi-big project we had to do - I got a 30/30. Woohoo! Well, Theory IS part of my major, but still a girl can celebrate if she wants to. Then we had a choir rehearsal for the presidential inauguration at our University. It’s basically a coronation. When Robert picked me up after the rehearsal he informed me that as of 12:00, my parents had still not left their house (which is an hour and a half from our home). The good thing is we were able to go home and do away with the leftover pizza from the night before so that it wouldn’t meet us at the door when we get back.

We ate and watched Paula Deen. Then the doorbell rang.... Robert looked at me and said, “Let’s go!” Just those two words made me so excited. It was great to see my Mom and Dad. I hadn’t seen Dad in a while so that was especially nice. We loaded the car and now here we are packed in like sardines with our luggage. Which I actually like because it’s really cozy, besides we like each other and to our knowledge none of us has a communicable disease. We’ve already listened to the entire “The Color Purple” the musical soundtrack.(well, except a few songs - anyone whose heard it will know which ones aren’t suitable for parental listening!) This is mine and Robert’s latest musical obsession.

The update right now, Dad’s driving and listening to the Symphony channel on Sirius (Mom and I are hoping he’ll change it in about 15 minutes when Seth Rudetsky on the Broadway station does his Studio A Cabaret - Seth is amaahzing!) Mom is reading various cooking magazines and marking them with post it tabs. If I looked at all the tabs I could predict Thanksgiving! Robert is snorin’ away. I’m, well duh, I’m updating my TR!!!!

Okay, from here on out, everything is typed in real time (aka, we're back from Orlando.) Robert made lost of yummy stuff for us to eat on the way down to the World. Such as, caramel apples, coconut truffles, walnut caramel bars. Here is a pic of the coconut truffles. Notice the not-so-hidden Mickey.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0374.jpg

Okay, I'll post more later. I started getting sick on the way home and I think I have strep throat, so that might hinder my progress.

[serendipity]

ahhh, now the addiction starts! Sounds like you had a very busy day, it must have been hard to sit still in school!

[OhMari]

I got you moved to the TR Board.
I hope you had a great vacation to WDW.

Oh well, if he gets hot, he had the chance to get shorts. I just realized how unfortunate men are. They can’t wear capris (half of my wardrobe for this trip). They can wear shorts or pants, but they don’t have the option of capris, how sad for them. Okay, this thought was obviously a product of my early, pre-Disney awakening this morning. I
Guess what, men have been wearing capris for about 2 years now in Europe. I wonder if the trend will come to the U.S.

[White as Snow]

Yeah, class ticked by slower than a ToT queue in the middle of July!! I was so restless.

I'm going to update soon. It doesn't look as if class will be a possibility tomorrow (I can barely talk), so I may have time to put up the rest of arrival day and part of day one. First I have to finish watching Project Runway. :happytv:

[White as Snow]

Thanks OhMari!!

Hmmm, maybe Robert could be the one to start the trend of men's capris in the states - yeah, and maybe the sun will burn up. :rotfl:

[serendipity]

Man capris were popular here in manhattan for awhile like 2 years ago by the way....very popular in the village, and caught on across the island :cool1:

[White as Snow]

Arrival day part deux:
We stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel somewhere around 9 I think. Of course, we had to drive through the ghetto before we could settle on a place to eat. Dad has this knack for finding the shady part of any town. I thought we were going to have an honest to goodness Griswolds moment - I was afraid our hubcaps were going to be stolen!! I fell asleep after we got back on the road after dinner.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that when Robert picked me up from school he had a surprise for me - not THE surprise, but a surprise nevertheless. He got me this awesome Snow White purse from the Disney Store.

Okay, back to the trip. When I woke up we were very close to Orlando. I started seeing the signs for Disney World, so I whipped out my iPod and listened to “Just Around the Riverbend.” I nearly cried. Just driving into Orlando makes me excited for Disney.

We finally arrived at the hotel (after having to call DB Joey for directions). It was so great to see Joey again. We’ve actually been closer as adults than we ever were as kids, I think it has to do with the 10 year age difference. We unloaded the van (which was quite a feat) and headed up to our rooms. Joey and Holly had put trick-or-treat pumpkins in our rooms filled with candy and snacks. We had to debate about what to do as far as a schedule, because....... of the surprises.

Okay, are you ready for the surprises? My surprise for Robert was a breakfast at 1900 Park Faire. He loves organs and I had heard about “Big Bertha” at 1900. Also, he’s my Pooh Bear, so a Pooh type character breakfast was also perfect. Our reservation was for 10:50, but we had to meet Holly at Epcot at around 9. Robert’s surprise for me was a spa day at the Grand Floridian - he’s such a sweetheart.


We finally decide to leave the Hampton Inn (convention center) at 9:30. This proved NOT to be the best idea as far as Robert and I were concerned. Oh well, hind sight is always 20/20. Robert and I went to sleep around 4:30. We were so excited it was really hard to fall asleep.

Next up: Day 1 Epcot and the 2 surprises.

[Luvamouse]

So I am tired and kind of "tripped and fell" in here and I love your Pre-TR and TR! I am definitely going to keep following you all. It's so fun to read and you all sound like you are having so much fun! I drive down next year with my DH and 2 DD's to be met by my parents, my cousin and her family of 5 and her parents! You all sound like us! Hope you are having a blast-- can't wait for the surprise!

[White as Snow]

Thanks Luvamouse! I'm glad you like it so far. We did have a lot of fun; we all really needed this trip! It certainly sounds like you are planning one heck of a trip in 2007. Have fun planning, that is half of the fun. :teeth:

[Luvamouse]

Thanks Snow-- I do agree that the fun is in the planning! I am also a huge advocate of the fact that you can't take too many pictures-- Once a day is over, it is all about the memories. Thanks again for sharing!

Heidi

[White as Snow]

Day 1 Part 1

Robert and I told each other our surprises before we went to sleep the MORNING of day 1. We decided to do this so that we could help each other plan how to get to the surprises. As it turns out, we think alike since our surprises were both supposed to take place at the Grand Floridian. I would SOSOSOSO love to stay here some time. Unfortunately we don’t have any pics of Robert’s surprise because we got to the breakfast and our camera’s batteries had died ( so much for the long lasting/rechargeable bit). But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Mom, Joey, and I had debated about what would be best for everyone. Dad drove the whole way, so he was pretty darn exhausted when we got to the hotel. However, being the stubborn Mitchell that he is, he insisted that he would be fine to head out to Epcot with everyone else. I can’t comment too much on his stubbornness though - I inherited it and will most likely one day pass it on to my kids. Anyway, we left the hotel ten minutes past schedule - which is normal for us. None of us really know how we end up always being late, but it just happens.

Mom, Dad, and Joey wished us well as Robert and I ran through Epcot to catch the monorail. A small (DIS) part of me wanted to scrap the whole breakfast thing and do Soarin’ and Test Track before the park got too crowded. Eventually, the loving wife part of me won out and I practically ran to keep up with Robert. (He wonders why I walk so fast when we walk together - he hasn’t grasped the concept that he has nearly a foot of height on me and therefore his legs are about twice as long as mine) We reached the monorail at 10:40. I was so afraid that we wouldn’t make our 10:50 ADR in time. I thought that if you missed an ADR they wouldn’t let you in - this was our first trip dealing with ADRs, I should have DISed a little harder I guess.

We got to Park Faire around 11:00, and had to wait about 5 minutes. Mary Poppins wasn’t out when we got there, but she came out right before we were seated. There were two small children playing with her, so we didn’t ask for a picture. I’m all for character pics, but I have some guide lines for them. I won’t always let kids go in front of me if I’m already in line but if it is JUST that child and the character, I let them have all the time the handler will let them have with that character. I guess I’m trying to get some good karma going for when I take my kids to WDW.

The woman who seated us was so sweet! Robert’s and my last name is Gable, so when she called us back she looked at Robert and said, “Oh, you are like Clark?”

Robert: (laughs) “Yes, I guess so.”
CM: “You are more handsome, though. I love my Clark!” (to me) “You are his Tara?” ( I think she meant Scarlett, but I love Gone With the Wind so I knew what she was referring to).
Me: “I am!” :goodvibes

Our waitress came around to take our drink orders. I seriously considered getting the Mickey’s Magic to drink (it sounded sort of like an Oreo milkshake). I basically let my diet go to heck when I’m on vacation. I passed up the drink though, I figured I would find enough sinfulness at the buffet. Good news, I did!! The only complaint I have about 1900 was that the buffet area does not allow for good crowd flow. It was so crowded it was hard to see what food was where and then it was even harder to get to said food. My favorite thing was the bread pudding with vanilla sauce. I think Robert’s fave was the strawberry soup as well as the corn beef hash. He got the soup as kind of an afterthought but he really loved it. I liked it but didn’t eat but a spoonful - I was too full. They had some interesting offerings, I mostly went for pastries ( I adore sweets for breakfast). The only thing I would not recommend was the southwestern eggs.

Most of the characters were really good at this breakfast. Pooh was the best. He came up behind Robert and patted him on the back. Robert told him “Hi” and he came over to me and kissed my hands. Robert looked at him and told him to watch it. Pooh covered his face with his hands and shook his head like he was in trouble. I patted him on the back and told him it was okay. Robert told him that as long as I was happy it was fine. He then noticed our dead camera on the table (we had tried to take pics with Alice and found that the batteries had died). We told him that it wasn’t working and he covered his face again. He waved to us and went to the next table.

Belle was at this breakfast. I guess the Mad Hatter had another tea party to go to. I was slightly disappointed because I had never seen him before. She and Alice seemed surprised that there were two adults without kids at a character breakfast. I thought a lot of couples without kids went to character breakfasts. Tigger didn’t really seem to want to talk to us after he found out that our camera didn’t work. Overall the characters were good though.

After breakfast, we went to one of the gift shops in the GF. We didn’t look at all of them, I still feel awkward going in some of the nicer stores/restaurants at Disney dressed in park clothes, even though I know they allow it (well, with the exception of V&A, Jiko, etc.). I love shopping at Disney - I need a 12 step program for souvenirs, but remember I warned you all that I would be going souvenir crazy on this trip. However, I didn’t buy anything at this stop because I knew I’d have to carry it for the rest of the day. After we got our first burst of shopping out of the way, we hopped on the monorail back to Epcot.

This was the first monorail ride we’ve ever taken where the monorail actually broke down. We heard the whole “Please stand clear of the doors, Por favor....” a million times over and over again, it was reminiscent of IASW. The horror. We did manage to make some friends while we waited for the technicians to fix the offending monorail door. They were kind enough to offer me a seat when Robert and I boarded the car. It was a fairly numerous group from NJ. The woman who was sitting beside me had a “Wicked” song as her ring tone. I commented on it (we adore “Wicked”) and the conversation went from there. We saw them the next day at Tusker House - it really is a small “World” - I crack myself up.

The monorail finally pulled into Epcot’s station again and we headed to the American Pavilion to hear the Voices of Liberty. They are really great if you haven’t heard them yet, check them out the next time you are in Epcot.

Well folks, I’m still sick so I’m going to go get some rest. Hope you enjoy the first installment of day 1.

Next: Day 1 finale complete with rude smokers and Illuminations

[serendipity]

1900 sounds like a blast. That's strange that the characters acted weird around you guys :confused3 . Well, I can't wait to hear more!

[rthutchens]

Can't wait for more trip report. :earboy2:

[nolacindy]

Just found your TR and am loving it so far! Cant wait to read more :goodvibes

[Mouse511]

Can't wait to hear more :)

[White as Snow]

Thanks for the support guys, I'm almost done with the rest of day 1. I should have it up by the end of the night.

[White as Snow]

Day 1 Part 2!
I just realized that I left out a most important part of day 1. Prior to this trip, I had never had a funnel cake. My family thought that this was just a travesty. So, I decided to get one on this trip. I even passed up getting one at IHOP because I wanted my first funnel experience to be at WDW. We hopped in the somewhat long line to get a funnel cake before the next performance of the Voices of Liberty. Mom basically threatened Robert and me within an inch of our lives if we didn’t let her pay for everyone’s funnel cake. We got three with only powdered sugar to split among the 5 of us. They were SO good. I will give this tip for eating a funnel cake outdoors - don’t stand down wind of them. Dad and I were on the receiving end of a sugar snow storm. Of course, Dad and Joey had to make jokes about the way the sugar looked on us. This would be a sampling of the Homer Simpson side of Dad.

After the funnel cake and Voices of Liberty (and a $16 pack of batteries for our camera), we decided to move onward toward France. We shopped around a little. The last time we were in France in 2004, Robert and I had found this really great china. We asked if we could order it from Disney (or, more importantly, if our wedding guests could order it since we were newly engaged). Of course, they said the only way to get it was from the store or the supplier in France. It wasn’t there this time - bummer. I did fall in LOVE with the tapestry pillows they had. I’ve always wanted an overthetop dining room. Decorated like an old banquet hall ala King Henry VIII or something. I guess that’s why I drooled over those for 5 minutes. I debated buying a magnet with a painting of ballerinas on it ( I know it was a famous French painting, but I don’t know the name nor do I particularly feel like googling to find it at the moment) for a friend of mine. I nixed that idea after I saw the price tag and we headed toward the UK. As we started to leave France, we saw Belle, the Beast, and Aurora. This is the part where we ended up lying to Belle. We had told her at 1900 that we would stop by and see her in France. We neglected to tell her that we wouldn’t come see her in France if her line was nearly to Morocco.

Here’s us walking in Epcot
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0377.jpg

Dad claims he has spent approximately 1/3 of his life waiting on Mom. So, here’s Dad waiting and holding Mom’s bag. We call this “Are we having fun, yet?”

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0379.jpg

I had never noticed until this trip how many rude smokers there are at Disney. I probably wouldn’t care so much if I didn’t have asthma. However, since I do, I rarely don’t notice when someone is smoking where they shouldn’t be. The UK Pavilion was the WORST! Maybe it was just because we spent a lot of time there. Dad loves the Beatles type band that performs in the UK ( the name is sadly escaping me at the time). They were about to play when we got there, so Robert went shopping and Mom and I found a bench to relax on. We were NOT in the smoking section. However, this guy sits down a foot from the bench and lights up. The wind was blowing his smoke right in our faces. Robert had come out and gotten drinks for us so that I could take some Tylenol (my lupus stayed pretty well under control during the trip, but I had to take some anti- inflammatories to make sure that it didn’t ruin the Disney magic). When the man started smoking, Robert found a nearby CM and asked if she would request that he move to the smoking section (which was just around the corner). She said she was sorry the smoke was bothering us, but there was nothing she could do. Okay, if one guest was beating up another guest, or in some other way jeopardizing their health, a CM would do something about it, correct? However, when one guest is blowing harmful cigarette smoke on another guest (which is harming their health ESPECIALLY if they have asthma), the CMs won’t do anything about it. That doesn’t make sense to me. Why have smoking sections and other rules if they aren’t going to enforce it? Okay, the gripe session is over now, in case anyone was wondering.

I decided to go shop around a little since my feet had rested some (note to self: next time I WILL have Crocs). Robert bought himself a pair before we left. I adore the shops in the WS, especially the UK Pavilion. My heritage is Scotch-Irish, so it holds a special place in my heart - and my pale skin. I nearly broke down and bought books in one store, but then I figured that amazon.com would have them for half the price. The toy store is so cute. Since we’re big fans of Pooh, I nearly bought a stuffed Pooh to give to Robert for his birthday, but then I thought, he would probably like something he could use - he’s not like me in that he doesn’t cover his desk (and every other part of the house) in kitschy unusable stuff. I just claim that since I’m a composer, I draw inspiration from all that stuff - that’s buyable, right? Sure. So, I resisted the urge to buy all kinds of Pooh, Alice, and Peter stuff and walked back out to meet the rest of the crew.

We decided to walk on to Soarin’ to see what the wait was - haha it was somewhere around 90 minutes. The longest wait we saw the whole time we were there. Now, I’ve been dying to ride Soarin’ since I started reading the DIS. I totally would have waited that long if anyone else would have gone with me. However, the vote went to going to find something for dinner. We had planned on going to Beaches and Cream, so we left Soarin’ I was mentally dragging myself away from it.

After we found B&C - which, if you don’t know exactly where it is, is quite a feat, we were seated almost instantly. I probably won’t do a DR for this trip, so I’ll just give our opinions of the food and restaurants here if that won’t throw off anyone’s karma.

Our overall thoughts on B&C were that it was great. Our servers were pleasant and the service was quick - it was almost rushed feeling, but that feeling wasn’t blatant. The atmoshphere was really fun and different. We loved the ice cream cone light fixtures. We joked that we were going to get my cousin Marc one of the pastel striped uniforms. Some of the guys in there didn’t look too happy to be wearing them. I think we all had a burger of some sort. Mom had onion rings and the rest of us had fries. The burgers, fries, and onion rings were extremely good. The burgers had that great chargrilled flavor (which I know is being investigated as not being good for you - but oh well, it’s a burger and fries we’re talking about, not tofu.) We all split two (it might have been three, but I can’t remember). Okay, Robert says it was three, so three it is. These were heavenly, especially since we are big peanut butter + chocolate fans.

We thought Holly might be able to get away from work in time to meet us at B&C. She didn’t make it, so we decided to meet at the UK Pavilion (shocker). Before we got to the UK we saw Snow White near the International Gateway. Everyone told me to go on, but there were a lot of little children, so I said I would just do my character meets at MNSSHP. We were watching her with the children and her handler started saying “Hey, sir I like your shirt.” (or something along those lines). Dad finally realized that he was speaking to him. I think Dad’s daily amount of love for Disney ran out after the funnel cakes. Anyway, Dad had on a University of Alabama shirt. Turns out that Snow White’s handler was from Gadsden, AL. So they chatted for a minute and then the handler must have realized that Snowy was about to be mobbed by kids. We proceeded toward the UK.

Joey and Holly love Harry Ramsden’s Fish and Chips, so Holly got an order of that and she settled down with the rest of us for another viewing of the British Invasion. My Disney ADD kicked in again so Mom and I went shopping. We saw Alice and Tigger and almost went back out to get Robert so that we could get our missed picture from 1900 PF. In the end, we just stood back and admired the way this Alice was totally in character. These characters make Disney, Disney. She was curled up in the window seat coloring a mask. That was just fun to see, it was also kind of a special Disney moment that Mom and I got to share together. We headed back out of the shop and the British Invasion had almost finished their concert. I had hoped we might be able to head back to FW to catch Soarin’ and maybe even Turtle Talk (since we’ve never done either one). However, it was after 6:30 and FW closed at 7. We decided to walk back into the WS. Dad has really bad knees and they don’t work well with Disney. He staked out a spot to rest and wait for Illuminations in Morocco. Robert and I went on to Italy because we LOVE that Pavilion.

I can’t remember if I have already mentioned that I decided not to keep my reservation for the Spa at the GF. Robert and I would have ended up spending most of the day at the GF. We really wanted to see Epcot, so I decided to reschedule the appointment for departure day.

I was pretty tired by this point and somewhat disappointed that we didn’t get to see the new attractions (well, new to us) in FW. I decided to rest a minute in the Italian pavilion (after drooling over the handmade masks in one of the shops. I have always wanted one of these with the pieces of music on them. Robert told me he was going to buy some amaretti cookies that they carry at the market where he works, but get this - they’re cheaper at Disney. That has to be a first. Anyway, I went to the other store in the pavilion, the one with all the perfumes. I briefly considered buying some Bulgari perfume (Robert bought me some on our honeymoon in NY and I haven’t seen it anywhere else). Finally, I couldn’t take all the strong smells and wondered back over toward the mask/candy store. I sat down outside and notice a CM leaving with a box wrapped in a shopping bag.

Robert came out, held out for around 3 minutes, then told me that he had bought me the mask that I wanted. Really and truly, this is my big surprise because I decided I would rather spend more time in the parks than spend time in the spa. He’s such a sweetie. It now has an honored spot in our living room.

Robert and I went on to the German pavilion. I love this pavilion because they usually have Snow White merchandise. We didn’t really find much of interest (well, we did just not much we could afford.) Robert tried to talk me into getting a ring that had a crystal Mickey glove on it. I told him that I would hold off on it. Since I’m a pianist, rings are hard for me to do on a daily basis. I finally got used to my wedding rings. Anyway, Mom found us about this time and told us that they were definitely going to watch Illuminations from Dad’s spot in Morocco.

We wondered around a little more and debated going to Norway to get school bread. We got as far as the little African pavilion and then decided we wouldn’t have time to go there and get back to Morocco in time considering it was almost 8:00.

We found Mom, Dad, Holly, and Joey on a bench near the Friendships launch in Morocco. Now, I’m sure those of you who are Illuminations pros will know that this is NOT the best viewing spot. We are not Illuminations pros, though, as you will see. We sampled some of Robert’s amaretti cookies. They were very tasty. Robert and I wanted a pic of all the lights around the WS. Sadly, our camera does not do that well at night. This was the best one out of around 50.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0387.jpg

Here we are waiting for Illuminations to start.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0389.jpg

So, if you saw this picture in real life and thought, “What a bunch of weirdos.” Have mercy, it’s us.

Around 8:30 we went to sit at the bottom of the wall because there were some people sniffing around for a spot. We asked if we could go down onto the ramp for the Friendships, but the CM said it was reserved for VIPs (there ended up being 6 people in that whole space, wow).

This is us guarding our spot.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0399.jpg

Now, having never seen Illuminations before, I did not realize that where we were standing, we would not be able to see the globe at all after it finished moving. We could see most of the fireworks, just not the globe. Robert and I were the only two in our party who had never seen the show, so we scooted as far over to the left as we could, and we could see the globe! Until...... some extremely rude woman WITH A CIGARETTE!!! came up and took the spot Robert and I had been standing in. I was beyond annoyed. I believe I actually cursed at this point. Robert asked the CM guarding the ramp if she would mention to the woman that that was NOT a smoking section because I have asthma. The CM just said, “Well, no, she’s not supposed to be smoking there, but there’s nothing I can do about it.” Thanks. I think Robert ended up asking the woman to put out her smoke if she was going to stand there. She got all mad and threw the cigarette down onto the ramp. (Yeah, lady, sorry to inconvenience you, I mean you only could have sent me to the hospital - but we’re the rude ones.)

Here are two shots from Illuminations.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0401.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0402.jpg

After the fireworks, we said good night to Joey and Holly and headed back towards the International Gateway. I don’t know why, but I felt the urge to do some souvenir shopping. We stopped in World Traders or Travelers, something like that. Sadly, we didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without, and walked on to the Boardwalk. While I would love to stay at the GF, I would “settle” for one of the hotels near the Boardwalk. Apparently they were showing the tail end of the Auburn game at ESPN, so Dad had to stop. We told him we were going to check out the bakery. The bakery was completely wiped out. They only had a very few things left, so we left. We went on to the candy/fudge/ ice cream shop. Here again, we resisted buying various sweets until we could go to Goofy’s in DTD. Dad found us and we trudged on to the car - we had trudged before now, I just neglected to note when.

We all basically collapsed when we got back to the hotel. Robert thought I was crazy for getting a shower before I went to bed. I believe his exact words were, “If you’re so tired, why don’t you just go to bed. You’re just going to wake yourself up by getting a shower.” What Robert has forgotten, is that #1. I hate going to bed feeling unclean, and #2. while the shower might wake me up, the hair dryer has this weird power to put me to sleep. I think it does this because my mom used the hair dryer on me when I had chicken pox. Now the whirring sound of a hair dryer or a vacuum cleaner puts me to sleep. Yes, I do know that that is weird, thank you for your concern.

The only eventful thing to happen during the night was a monster of a cramp in my ankle. I knew we should have stretched before we did Epcot.

Well folks, that’s the complete Day 1. Hope you enjoyed it, and hopefully Day 2 will be up before too long - complete with EE and Robert’s first time on RnR!!

[mlill]

Love the pictures! :goodvibes So glad that you finally got a funnel cake in WDW! We always have to get one or two on each trip! You went to Beaches & Cream and didn't get the Kitchen Sink?!? :confused3 Sorry you had to deal with rude people - I just hate it when people think they can smoke wherever they please! :sad2: You should definitely try to stay at the Boardwalk someday - you wouldn't be 'settling' at all! It's my 'home away from home' after all, and I love it!!! :love: Looking forward to reading more...

-Michelle

[3NJDisneyDivas]

Great trip report.
I love the pics.
Can't wait to read more.
Thanks
Lisa

[White as Snow]

Michelle-I'm glad you're enjoying the TR. We debated heavily about the Kitchen Sink, but then decided we wouldn't come close to finishing it. We're also huge PB+chocolate fans, so the No Way Jose was right up our collective alley. I'm also glad I'm not the only one who gets annoyed with people who smoke outside designated areas. I've never stayed in anything other than a value resort (we just prefer to spend the money on souvenirs and food), so none of them would really be "settling" - shouldn't have used that word :blush: My dream place would be Sugar Loaf Key at GF though, because I have a cameo fetish. The Boardwalk seemed like a really great place though - I would definitely love to stay there some day, too! And AKL, and the Poly, and POR, and well, you get the idea.

Lisa - Thanks for reading! I'm so glad people actually like my ramblings. This is the first of what I hope will be many TRs over the years so it's nice to know I'm doing it "write." Stay tuned!! :happytv:

I have a school break coming up for Turkey Day, so maybe I can get some more TR done then.

[White as Snow]

Day 2 Part 1

The next morning we (Robert and I, I don’t know many details about everyone else’s morning) got up, got ready and were down to the lobby for breakfast in a reasonable amount of time - imagine. To explain my sarcasm, I should tell you that Robert and I stayed at a hotel that offered a complimentary continental breakfast everyday. Robert and I never made it down there to get it - not once. So, it was pretty amazing to me that we actually took the initiative to go down to breakfast. It was pretty good as continental breakfasts go. I don’t remember exactly what we had. I remember bagels and yogurt on my side, and it seems like Robert had something that required a fork - go figure.

After breakfast, we went back up to see if Mom and Dad were ready yet. Dad was, Mom wasn’t that’s the usual story in our family. Luckily, she was in the home stretch. We headed out for AK.

We parked at AK and Joey and Holly ended up parking right behind us - small smidge of pixie dust there. We boarded the tram and off we went. Here’s a pic of Joey and Holly all revved up for AK, well, Holly is anyway.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0403.jpg

As we were walking in, we spotted the first of many character photo ops. We love Robin Hood (every time Joey and Holly pass a Hess gas station Holly says “Stop hessing in my ear!”) Anyway, everyone chickened out except for Hootier and me. Here we are with Friar Tuck. For some reason, he wouldn’t hug Holly, maybe because she wasn’t paying attention - oh dear, she’s caught Mitchell ADD. Robert is also showing symptoms.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0404.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0405.jpg
Aaaah, the Tree of Life

Okay, after a hot day at Epcot, AK is an oasis of Disney happiness and shade. You can tell this is the newest park because in our collective opinion, it is the most guest-friendly. Plenty of shade, benches, and relatively close ride proximities.

I had a definite game plan today, none of this “What do you want to do?” reminiscent of the Jungle Book vultures. Come heck or a stampede of preschoolers, we were going on EE! Robert and I were halfway there when Holly stopped to get popcorn - I think this was a stalling tactic - it didn’t work we still got to EE. I was shocked. I expected the line to greet us at the howler monkeys. There was a 20 min wait posted, but we really walked right on. We noticed that some spiritual tourist had left a chewed gum offering to the yeti - nice. This was an awesome ride. We all really liked it, Holly got kind of sick afterward, and I have to admit that I was a little woozie - can’t decide if it’s general lupus stuff or the fact that I had a strep type virus the second we got home. Anyway, we hung out in the gift shop until everyone had collected themselves.

Here are some pics we took of the howler monkies and EE.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0406-1.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0407-1.jpg

After EE we decide to meander over to KS since Mom, Dad, and I had never done it before. Everyone enjoyed it, our driver was funny, but he didn’t really explain the story line very well, oh well, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much if he had been all concerned with the story instead of letting us look at the animals. Here are the pics we took on the safari.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0411.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0414.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0415.jpg
I think it really freaked Robert out for a minute that the crocodiles/alligators (I can't tell the difference) were SO close.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0416-1.jpg
Roll Tide!
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0420.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0423.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0424.jpg
Yes, we did try to edit out the rhino butt. It didn't work.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0425.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0427.jpg
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0430.jpg

Okay, here comes the “I could have had a V8” moment. When we exited the safari jeep, we saw the people from the jeep right in front of us admiring their new Dream Fastpasses! I think Mom and I were the only ones who noticed, or cared but it wasn’t that big of a deal since there were really no waits that day. After this, Mom, Robert, and I went to shop around in the store right outside of the safaris. Holly and Joey went to find drinks for everyone and Dad did his customary “stand outside the store and wait” routine.

Joey and Holly came back and asked if everyone just wanted to go eat lunch instead of getting drinks. We all decided it was chow time and went to Tusker House. I think it was split up that each couple got the same combination of food. Mom, Robert, and Holly had the roast chicken and Dad, Joey, and I all had the fried chicken sandwich - which is delicious. Everyone who had the roast chicken said that it was very good also.


Here’s some Disney serendipity for you. Robert’s and my friends from the monorail were sitting behind us (or in front of us if you were Dad, Holly, or Joey). We said “Hi” to them, but that was about as far as it went. Here’s a video of everyone. Mom is a slow eater, so we have to give her a hard time about it. This is all of us lovingly giving Mom and hard time. I’m the commentator and, yes, I know I have a thick as molasses southern accent.

For some reason, Photobucket won’t upload my video, I’ll try to edit the video in here some other day.

Before I wrap up this section of the TR, I need to add that I left out one of the funniest parts of Epcot day. Mom always brings these little clear plastic cups so that we can share water, cokes, etc and not waste any. Okay, she whipped those out when we were at the Funnel Cake stand and Joey said, “What are these for, in case Mickey comes up and says, “Ha, ha, screening time!” The funniest part was that Joey actually did a Mickey voice, complete with the Mickey laugh!! Maybe it was the funnel cake talking, but I nearly fell over laughing, which is usually my reaction to things that issue from Joey’s mouth.

Well, read this part slowly because I may not be back until after finals, or at least until after juries! Up next: We get some extra pixie dust!!!!!

[tinawv]

I am really enjoying your trip report. What great photos; especially the one of the Tree of Life. Hope you are feeling much better. :)

[White as Snow]

tinawv - I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying my ramblings! This was our first time really trying to be good "photographers" at the world, so I'm happy you like the photos. I'm feeling better, thanks! I'll be muchmuchmuchmuch better (though tired) after finals are over! :faint: Stay tuned, I hope to have more up at least by next week if not sooner.

[mlill]

Hi! :wave2: Awesome Animal Kingdom pictures! :thumbsup2 Can't wait to see/read more! Hey, didn't you mention that you were going back to WDW for Christmas? If so, when are you going to be there?

-Michelle

[White as Snow]

Michelle,
I'm really not sure when we will be there or if we're going to Orlando for Christmas at all. :confused3 Joey moved to Knoxville, TN for a few months to fill in for a woman on maternity leave, so that changes things a little. There has been talk amongst the crew about staying and about going. Anywho, if we do end up going, we'll be getting there late Christmas night, and staying through probably the 29th or 30th.

[White as Snow]

WOOHOOO!! :cool1: I'm a Mouseketeer!! :banana:

[tiggerwannabe]

:thumbsup2

Great Writing Snow

[UtahMama]

Yay! I love anything Griswalds, and this is no exception!

Ive read all three pages and even took notes on some stuff:

I was watching (with my other eye) Paula Dean on Food Network at you wrote about all the great cooks on FN! I like them all. I did the Alton Brown Thanksgiving last year like a pro! Food Network or HGTV is on my TV all day as background noise!

:cloud9: SPA day at Grand Floridian.....awwww! I think that would be the BEST! :cloud9:

I had never had a funnel cake till last year too! GOOD, eh? Fun to watch them make them too!

CROCs- ugly but happy feet!!!! Now I wear mine all the time and have very comfy footsies. I cant wait to get some Disney-ish ones!

Smoking! I too have issues with this! I refuse to leave if i was there first...It took me a while to "confront" inconsiderate people. Screaming, "Dont you know who I am???!" usually works! I'm the type to make the biggest deal over it till a CM has NO choice but to rid my lungs of the offending smoker. Disney NEEDS to enforce the smoking only in designated areas only rule just like the no line jumping rule etc.

Other than my little notes, this is really fun to read. You and your mama look German, are you? I am!! Love the German Pavillion!

[White as Snow]

UtahMama!
Oh my gosh, this is going to totally weird you out, but you're like a celebrity to my family! :rotfl2: Mom, Robert, an I are addicted to your TR, we're only half-way through though because no one is allowed to read it alone - we all have to be together (well, at leat Mom and I do). Every time we see Johnny Depp there is a comment made about UtahMama. Okay, I'm through gushing.

I'm so glad you like my TR. FN and HGTV are pretty much all Mom used to watch, she's branched off and added diyNetwork.

The funnel cake experience was indeed fun all around - well, except for Mom and her threats ;)

No, Mom and I aren't German, that would be cool though, because that's what Snow White is - sorry, I'm a fanatic. Nope, we're as Scotch-Irish as they come. I have a really "red" complexion (gotta love the wonders Bare Minerals can work!) because I'm an Irish brunette - aka I'm supposed to have red hair but I don't. Mom may have some German somewhere in her heritage, but I'm not sure. Now that I've given you lots of useless information about our heritage....

Tiggerwannabe - I'm also very glad that you like my TR.

Be patient with me everyone - a new installment IS on the way! My juries (piano test, basically) are in an hour and a half so then most of the stress and consumed time will be done with. I slipped in here to calm my nerves a little bit, and it was really great to see that two more DISpeeps have jumped on the Mitchell/Gable/Griswold bandwagon! :grouphug:

[UtahMama]

Nuh-uh!!!!! Me? That is "nicking fruts!!!!" Thank you for that! I'm honored!!

Can you immitate Snow White's singing warble? I LOVE her singing voice! So old old school! She IS the fairest of them all.

Now, I'm craving funnel cakes (a CARB) with butter and powdered sugar! Thanks alot. :goodvibes

I'm just reading other's TR's to avoid my own. I'm in a creative funk, hoping to gain inspiration from other's.

Your fan!
Wendy

[White as Snow]

YAY!!! Okay everyone, finals are OVER!!. Soooo, I’ve got to get this TR rolling because......WE LEAVE IN 10 DAYS for the WORLD!!!!!!!! We finally decided to go spend Christmas with the Mouse! We’re also staying at the Dolphin for part of the trip! This is the first time we’ve ever stayed at a Deluxe resort. I guess that about does it for my excited rambling. Now, on with the TR.

After we finished at Tusker House, Robert and I tried to coerce everyone to go on Kali, but no one wanted to get wet - good grief, if I don’t melt, none of them will. It was probably just as well though, because we walked over toward the Tree of Life. We went through this little thing where you are supposed to be able to view otters as well as other animals/fish/whatever. There was no otter present, so we walked back up near the DVC info place. Now, for those that payed attention to the pic of Hootier and me with Friar Tuck (because I know you all covet my fashion sense :rotfl2: yeah) , you remember that I was wearing my Lion King The Musical shirt. This CM from the DVC booth came over and asked us if we had seen FOTLK yet, since we had obviously seen the musical (sadly, only Robert and I got to experience it - it was a wedding gift from me to him - btw, our 1 yr. anniversary is SUNDAY!!) We told him we had not seen FOTLK yet. He motioned for us to follow him! I turned around and grinned at Mom (remember, we’re the only ones who care that it’s the YOMD.) He made a phone call and asked us for a name. Holly was elected, so he told us to go to the exit of the FOTLK theater about 30 minutes before the start of the next show, give the attendant our name, and they would tell us what to do. Pixie dust! I knew it would be a smart choice to wear my Lion King shirt to AK. Smart or dorky.

We decided to amble on over toward Camp Minnie Mickey. I love the bridge as you walk over, it is so peaceful to me for some reason. Holly wanted to get an ice cream, so she and Joey went thataway and the rest of the packadermy went to stake out some benches near the character greeting site. The line for Pluto was short, so Mom and I grabbed Robert (our designated photographer) and jumped in line. Pluto was so adorable! When children had an autograph book, he would bend down and have them put it on his snout, he would stand up, sign the book and then bend back down so the child could get their book off of his nose. When it was our turn Mom told him, “You are just adorable!” He seemed to appreciate that. Here we are with Pluto.

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I’m having a bit of a memory melt down - I guess I’m having a “student moment” (finals have worn my brain out I guess). I can’t remember if we went in to FOTLK or if this was when Holly and I got our pic made with Goofy. I’m going to go with the first option.

We walked over to FOTLK and gave the attendant our name, Holly, which had now become my name because we weren’t sure what we were going to have to do. The real Holly didn’t want to risk having to get up in front of everyone, so I assumed the alias of “Holly.” The CM told us to wait close by because they weren’t quite ready yet. We parked it on a bench and listened to the music being piped into the park. I have this old Disney Classics CD that Robert and I listen to all the time, and Robert’s favorite song on it is “Minnie’s Yoo-hoo” - I think this is his fave because it annoys the blazes out of me. Well, I noticed that this was what was playing on the speakers (it was some kind of acoustic guitar version, really neat). Robert and I hummed along to the rest of it, then another song came on and Joey and Holly decided to entertain us. Joey stands behind Holly and makes her pretend to play a guitar. It may sound weird, but it was extremely hilarious to us at this moment - I love the giddiness of Disney! Here’s the proof they actually did it, in case they try to deny it.

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We noticed that there were a lot of people giving their names to the CM, so we figured we wouldn’t have to do anything too embarrassing. When we were finally let in to the theater, we found out that our pixie dust was second row seats to the show. This is by far one of mine and Robert’s (and I think everyone else (except Joey) now claims it as a favie) favorite things in Disney, I love it because I would love to compose for Disney someday, Robert just loves the overall experience of the show. Most of you have seen the show, so I’ll just post the awesome photos that we made with our 2nd row seats!

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Robert was so psyched that we were in her section - he absolutely adores her voice and attitude.
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How could you not love these guys?
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I kept thinking to myself, “He must have one heck of a podiatrist.”

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I absolutely adore this guy’s voice - there’s nothing like a good bass.


We tried to avoid the stampede after the show let out, we headed back toward the character area, Holly and I stepped up to get our pic made with Goofy, he was really really sweet! He gave us a big hug, and when we started to leave, he blew us a kiss. I love it when the characters act as though they enjoy greeting guests, not like they would rather be having dental surgery.
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After the show and Goofy, we headed over to Dinoland. I was in serious need of some ibuprofen at this point, so we went in search of some drinks. We went in the store across from Primeval Whirl - okay, if you don’t like ciggy smoke avoid this store, there’s a smoking area right behind it, so the whole shop is basically permeated with the scent of smoke. We shopped around a minute and then Joey started asking if there were any takers on riding Primeval whirl with him. Robert and I were the only ones who wanted to ride. Mom, Dad and Holly took a breather and promised to wave to us.

This was an absolute walk on, the only downside was that Robert had to chug his Coke so he could throw it away before we boarded. The seats on this thing are WAY too small. I squished my Pooh-sized bum in beside Joey - which left poor Robert all by himself on the edge. I think the best part of the ride was Robert freaking out because he was afraid we were going to go over the edge of the track. When we walked back over to Mom, Dad, and Holly, they said they could hear Robert screaming from across the street!

Well, that’s all I can offer for now. Robert and I are off in a few hours to have Christmas with his family, then we are going to have Christmas with my mom’s family tomorrow. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

[White as Snow]

Now for the Griswolds riding Dinasour. Oh my goodness do I hate this ride. Except for Joey and Holly, this was everyone’s first time on this ride. We had been looking forward to it, even though Joey warned us we didn’t want to ride with Holly. Holly tends to hit when she gets scared or excited. When we watched “The Ring” together, she nearly beat the stuffing out of the couch cushions - and she had SEEN the movie before!

Okay, that being said, I’ll commence with the Dinasour saga. There was not wait, so we breezed through the queue area. I can’t remember how we were seated, I know Joey was the only one close to Holly because he was the only one that came out with bruises. I however barely came out. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t know if I got sick because I had the beginnings of a bacterial infection, or if lupus patients just shouldn’t try thrill rides. I will know more after next week. I felt like I was going to pass out. Robert and Dad hovered around to make sure I didn’t REALLY hit the floor (it wouldn’t be the first time!) Mom, Joey, and Holly were looking at our pic. It was extremely funny. Joey is giving Holly the death look, Holly is slapping Joey’s arm and screming, I’m screaming and covering my ears with my arms (that ride is SO loud), Robert is screaming and gripping the lap bar (Joey told him he better never commit a crime b/c his prints are ingrained in that bar!) I believe Mom is screaming and Dad is just smiling. I think that will be our Christmas cards next year. What do ya’ll think?

After the photo was purchased and I felt like walking again, we headed out. We had talked before Dinasour about getting frozen bananas. We passed by a kiosk and Robert treated everyone to a frozen chocolate ‘nanner. We decided that if we were going to do any MGM today, it was time to head out. Joey and Holly had to go give Audrey her medicine - poor thing has seizures. So we said we would meet them when they got to the Studios.

When we got to the studios, for some reason, Robert’s and my tickets wouldn’t work. They admitted us and told us to go to Guest Relations so they could issue us a new ticket. After that, we decided to shop around a little. I know all the guide books say that all the shops are basically the same, but I really have to disagree. If nothing else, all the shops have their own personality. The shops in MGM are so much fun, and they have some of the best windows. Here’s a pic of one of the windows in MGM. My aunt has a party poodle (one of the small ones) so we always take pics of things with poodles or poodle skirts!

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Our first stop after browsing was TGMR, we all love this ride, yes, it could stand an update but it’s a classic. We had never had the cowboy version before and we were told that if you request a version, they’ll let you have that version. This isn’t necessarily true....because it didn’t work. First of all, I didn’t know Mom was going to request it, so when they opened the doors for us to board the car, I forged ahead....Only to realize that the rest of my party was still in the holding area. Robert nearly knocked the door down to get to me - he’s so sweet. The let me get off that car and go back to the boarding area. I felt so stupid. As it turns out, we ended up getting the gangster version, again. We weren’t too happy about this, especially given all the confusion beforehand. Oh well, I did see the hidden Minnie and the poster that has Mickey’s foot on it. I pointed these out to Robert, he was really into looking for hidden characters on this trip! I read somewhere that one poster has part of Snow White on it? Anyone know about the validity of this?

After that, we had to let Dad get his muppet fix. Dad loves Muppet vision. His fave characters are the two old men, whose names I’m blanking on right now. I love the subtle things about this show, the holding area is so funny. After Muppets we headed to Star Tours, not to ride, to shop. Joey turned 30 Dec. 12th and we had a big surprise Star Wars themed birthday party for him Saturday. We didn’t buy anything in October, but it did give us some great ideas. I nearly bought the Leia hair headband and we all stood around laughing about the ideas in the cookbook. If you have never looked at the shirts in Tatooine Traders, go look at them the next time you get a chance, they are hilarious. Dad loves the Darth Tater shirt.

We wandered back toward the “Main Street USA” of MGM. There were some street performers out, but my estrogen kicked in and I had to go shop. By the time this shopping binge was over, Joey and Holly called and said they were parking. We stayed around “Main Street” until they arrived. We then headed toward the thrill ride section of MGM. My fave is ToT, but we decided to do RnR because Joey has problems riding ToT. The wait was pretty long and FPs were sold out by this time, but there wasn’t really anything else we could do before Fantasmic - which we were going to see come evil dragons or high water. We hopped in line and began making our customary jokes to pass the time. Poor Robert had never ridden this before and he thought once we were in the building, we were in - poor delusioned, Disney deprived thing. I wish I had a picture of his face when he saw the queue INSIDE!

Once the ride was over - it was fun, but yet again I got dizzy. It was about time to head toward Fantasmic to grab some seats. Holly and Joey didn’t want to see Fantasmic because they wanted to get carrot cake cookies at The Writer’s Stop (the shop on the back of Sci-Fi). After some debating about who was going to get cookies and who was going to see Fantasmic, Joey and Holly headed off for cookies and Mom, Dad, Robert, and I hiked over to Fantasmic. This show was SO good. It gave me Disney chills! Robert took several pics, but our camera is terrible when it comes to night time shots.

After Fantasmic, Mom and Dad found a bench to rest while the sea of people rolled on out of the park. Robert and I went to the Christmas shop. Okay, someone’s child in that shop was going nuts. I didn’t even see a parent near this kid who coulnd’t have been more than five. He was running around the store and nearly knocked me over, nearly because instead of knocking me over, he just stomped on my foot. So, if this was your child, please corral the little guy next time. We were going to buy a Mickey - pumpkin ornament for my aunt, but the shop was just too wild and crazy.

When we exited, or should I say escaped the shop, we saw Mom and Dad on their bench. Robert tried to take some pics of them before they noticed.

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Mom was a little teary eyed because she said that they had been watching a family skip down the street. She said, “I know the parents probably thought it was silly, but those children will remember that for the rest of their lives.” When she told me, I started crying! The crowd had cleared a little by then, so we went off to find Joey and Holly, and the cookies! Unfortunately for me, Robert still had the camera out. Here’s me stuffing my face with carrot cake cookie.
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Sadly, it was time to leave my favorite park and head back to the hotel.

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Up next: DTD and MNSSHP!!

[White as Snow]

We decided to sleep in on Monday morning so that we would be more rested for MNSSHP that night. It was really nice not to hear the phone ring with the wake up call that morning. We got breakfast from the lobby and then headed to DTD with Mom and Dad. After a morning of shopping, we went off site for lunch and then back to the hotel for some still much needed rest. We did take some pictures at DTD, here they are in all their glory.

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Before we knew it, it was time to leave for MNSSHP. We decided against costumes because we wanted to be able to enjoy the park and festivities without worrying about getting costumes dirty. Robert had bought a festive orange shirt and I decided to wear my “Wicked” shirt. Other than that and our custom made treat bags, we were just everyday park peeps.

This party was awesome. I would recommend that everyone try it once. We saw so many adorable families having such a great time - don’t get me wrong, we had a great time, but our adorable factor is somewhat low since none of us have any younguns. I can’t wait until Robert and I have kids so we can take them to WDW! I really really wanted to see the Wicked Witch from Snow White - not the Evil Queen, the Wicked Witch. Holly called and asked where she would be and we were informed she wasn’t appearing at this party. Oh well, I was still interested in seeing the Evil Queen since I’ve never seen her up close before.

Here are some pics of the castle and a couple that was dressed as Tootsie Rolls, they made me wish we had decided to do costumes.

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We made it to the end of Main Street just in time to see Dream Along with Mickey. This is SUCH a cute show. I teared up. Robert vidoed parts of it and I cry every time I watch it. It was so geat to be at Disney with my family. Here are some pictures that Robert took of the show.

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My favorite character is by far Snow White, but Minnie is SO adorable!

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I was so glad to see that Snow White was in this show. I worry that since her movie is so old that kids will lose interest in her. I promise, I do have a life even though I do worry about stuff like that.

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After the show, we headed toward Toon Town so that Holly and I could get our faces painted. This is really a fun thing to do. I had always thought I wouldn’t enjoy this, but it really helps put you in the spirit of the party. I just wanted some black and green scroll work to go along with my shirt. Holly and I didn’t realize that you can ask the face painters to do anything you would like. The least they can do is say “No.” Luckily, my scroll work and Holly’s butterfly were designs they agreed to do. These pictures were taken just before the parade, but I’m going to place them here.

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Meanwhile back at the ranch.....Mom, Dad, Joey, and Robert did the Alice treat trail. I had wanted to see the Walrus since he is such a rare character. My wonderful hubby remembered this (he can’t remember to pick up milk, but he remembers this). Here is a surprised Alice - I guess they snuck up on her, and my Pooh Bear with the Walrus.

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I wanted to go see what characters were hanging out in TT too, but we ran out of time - we tried to see the first Villains show, but it was cancelled because...dun dun dunnnnn it rained. Okay, I’m being over dramatic. It didn’t pour, but it did make just enough of a mess that the Horseman didn’t ride and they cancelled the first show. Thankfully, the first parade still happened. We scored a front row - albeit soggy - seat. Since it was raining, Mom whipped out our ponchos. Robert decided to sit on his. I had my jacket, so I declined mine. Joey said, “No,” just because he’s Joey. Dad found alternate means of rain protection.

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Mom and Holly were the only ones that actually ended up wearing the ponchos. Holly even tried to sell our human saran wrap to a guy on the street that asked her where we bought our ponchos. Holly if you’re reading, $15 might have been a little steep.

We sat right in front of the castle for the parade, which was a wonderful spot in my opinion. Here are some of our photos from the parade.

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Well, that'll have to be all for now, because I can't post any more pics in this installment. Happy New Year, everyone!

[White as Snow]

Okay, here are the rest of the parade pics and the rest of the party!

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This guy kind of snuck up on me, he scared me to death!!

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Is it just me, or does Clara Cluck sound an awful lot like Ethel Merman?

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The CM riding in the car with Pluto was having the best time! He was dancing around and just enjoying being in the parade - it’s CMs like that that make it fun for everyone.

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After the parade, we headed toward the HM, because honestly, how could you do MNSSHP and NOT ride HM? It was so much fun what with the atmposphere of the whole park being Halloween. When we got out, these guys were performing. They were kind of in front of the Liberty Belle if you want to find them next year. We have a friend who sings with a men’s quartet, so we took tons of pics and video of them. They were singing about the Headless Horseman. One of the last lines of the song says something about “Because you can’t reason with a headless man.” One woman yelled out “Or any man!”
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We went through the Trick or treat line near the riverboat (I know there is a great fan base of the riverboat on the DIS, please don’t flame me for not knowing the exact name of it. We’ve never ridden it because it just doesn’t appeal to us. There, that was my sad attempt at a disclaimer.) The candy offerings for the whole night weren’t especially fantastic, but we were just going for the overall experience, not necessarily candy, characters, or rides.

Anyway, we checked our watches and decided to head back toward Main Street to catch the fireworks. I thought Main Street might be a pretty good bet since it was a party and there wouldn’t be quite as many people. We staked out a spot on the left side of the street if you are facing the castle. Joey and Holly went to get some popcorn or something, so they ended up in the middle of the street because they didn’t make it back before they lowered the lights. The fireworks were incredible. Robert took a lot of video instead of pics so I don’t really have any to post. I would recommend just trying to go to a party, though, because pictures just can’t do this show justice. Even a villain themed Disney fireworks show makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I guess it was just the experience of it with the whole family.

After the fireworks, it was time for the next attempt of the villains show. I suggested going ahead to the castle to get good seats even though it was a little early. While we waited for the show, Robert got a turkey leg for dinner. Wow! We had never had a turkey leg before, they are so juicy and tender! We didn’t get as many stares from passersby as I had feared either.

The villains show was really fun. It is great to see the characters that aren’t always out and about. I did miss some characters that I had seen pics of from previous parties (i.e. Stromboli, and the Wicked Witch). Oh well, we ran around like crazy after the show, trying to get as many pics as possible. Holly is the only one brave enough to come with me for some of them. I used to be EXTREMELY shy, being married to an extrovert like Robert and being a music major in college has brought me out of my shell a good bit, but let’s face it, about some things, I’m still a huge shy chicken!

Regretably, the only villain we didn’t get was Cruella. She was really popular, hence, a mile long line. Oh, also while we were running around getting pics with villains, another black-clad, horse riding villain rode right by before we noticed him. That’s right, we missed the ride of the HH in all our running aound trying to get pics. I guess we’ll just have to go back next year! Here are our pics with the bad guys.

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I remembered to bow to the Queen and say, “Yes, your majesty!” Holly forgot and got mime-cussed out by the Queen. It was pretty funny
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The Queen was awesome!
Queen: Interesting make-up you’ve chosen tonight.
Me: Oh, do you like it?
Queen: Not really.
Me: Yours is nice, but of course, you’re the Queen.

Holly’s dialogue was a little risqué for the boards, but I’ll try to tone it down a little.
Queen: You have a bug on your face, did you know that?
Holly: Yeah, just smacked into me, little *backstabber.

*Only thing I could come up with.

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The Captain was very congenial for a villain. So was Jafar.
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Maleficent was almost as good as the Evil Queen. When I walked up she said, “Black is such a wonderful color, isn’t it?” Gotta love the Disney villains!

Since we had already seen the parade, we decided to head off toward Fantasyland to find who else, Snow White! Joey and Holly decided to call it a night and go check on Audrey and Skeeter.

We ran across some Hundred Acre Wood folk and decided to get a pic with them.
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Piglet was so cute, at first he started to act like he was going to snub Mom, and then he came back and hugged her. They were both really cute.

We went looking for Snow White and the gang, but we got side tracked by a candy line. Thanks to Robert for catching Mom and me getting candy.
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We asked around and were told that Snow White should be out soon. We debated about riding Dumbo, but decided to ride Snow White instead, well, I decided and everyone else followed me.

This ride never gets old for me. I just think it’s charming, no, it may not be the most up to date, but it’s old school Disney and I love it. After this, we checked again to see if Snow White was actually making an appearance. She wasn’t back from her Princess break yet, so, inspired by Piglet and Tigger, we went to ride Pooh’s ride for the first time. This ride is adorable!! It’s so much fun, even for adults. The heffalumps and woozles part was great.

When we came out, Snow White and the dwarves had finally come out of hiding. We got in the somewhat long line. There was a mother and her daughter in front of us. The little girl was dressed in a Snow White costume and the mother was priming her for meeting her fave Princess and her pals. This woman realized that she had left he camera with her stroller, which was parked at Dumbo. We promised to hold her spot while she went to get her camera. I figure it was spreading a little pixie dust to a future Snow White enthusiast.

There were a few young people in front of us, I wouldn’t call them teenagers. They were twenty-somethings I guess. They were somewhat obnoxious because they multiplied like rabbits. Now, I know we were holding that woman’s spot, but that was because 1. she had a child with her and 2. she was in line to begin with. These people were apparently saving spots for their friends, of which there seemed to be 300. There were probably less than 10, it just seemed like more because they were taking up a lot of space in line. After the obnoxious people and the mom and daughter had their turns with the fairest of them all, it was our turn. I’ve never seen all 8 of them together before, so this was special to me.

Dad coaxed Robert into getting into the pic with me and this is the result.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m24/SnowWhite_017/100_0685.jpg

Ironically, this was the last picture available on our camera. Ahhh pixie dust. At this point we decided to head over to Frontierland since Robert had never ridden BTMRR or SM. We walked right on BTMRR (all 4 of us). Robert fell in love with it. It’s probably his favorite ride. Mom and Dad decided one ride was enough for them. The CMs told the rest of us if we wanted to ride again, we could just stay seated.

After we exited BTMRR, it was on to SM. Mom and Dad passed on this one also. Robert had never ridden this and didn’t know that there is a whole cool little ride before the drop. At every little fake out drop he would ask, “Is this it?” and at every little fake out drop I would answer “Yeah, I think this is it, hold on!” What fun is a DH if you can’t scare the pants off of him every once in a while? There was a Dad and son on the ride that we talked to a little bit. I had forgotten how great this ride is. Robert liked it after he realized the drop wasn’t life threatening.

As we exited the ride, we tried to look at our pic, but it never came up. There was a family there dressed like Pinocchio characters. The dad was Gepetto, mom was the Blue Fairy and one little boy was Pinocchio and the other was Jiminy Cricket. We had seen them several times that night. The dad make a comment to a nearby CM that they were from Alabama. Robert told him that we were also from AL and we found out that they live close to where we do, one other thing I love about Disney.

When we found Mom and Dad (which was harder than it should have been), we realized that the party was pretty much over and our only option was to head back toward Main Street. I’ve always wanted to get a hot dog from Casey’s but they were packed so I decided to wait until the December trip to try one. We went shopping in the Emporium even though it was a mad house. I found a pin for my uncle and Robert got a Pooh stuffed animal for our nephew ( not Skeeter, his brother’s son). Robert also got a Snow White bank for my desk ( so that we have something to put our loose change in for the next Disney trip). I found a HM keychain that I had to have (the freshmen tag I had been keeping my keys on was getting a bit old). I also bought the Wishes soundtrack.

We fought our way through a very crowded Main Street to the exit. Sadly, we didn’t find the troughs of Snickers that other DISers have talked about. The tired Mitchell/Gable clan hopped the monorail and reminisced about the wonderful time we had at the party and all of that weekend. We also talked about how much we would love to stay at the Polynesian, or the Grand Floridian. I think we may have found our fave hotel after our December trip - the Dolphin!

Up Next: The last installment!

[mlill]

There you are! I'm still a bit behind after being gone for 2 weeks! :surfweb: I've been trying to catch up on everyone's TR!!! Love the new installments! Your face painting at MNSSHP turned out great! We never seem to do that! :confused3 WoW! You got a pic with all of the dwarfs! How cool is that?!?

-Michelle

[White as Snow]

The next morning wasn’t as sad as I had expected it to be. Usually, after a Disney trip, I’m devastated that I have to go home. I think I was just so tired - not of Disney - just physically exhausted. Ah, well, such is life with lupus. Hm, sounds like a sitcom. “Next time on Life with Lupus!”

This morning is kind of a blur to me now. I know Robert and I had to have packed at some point. I just can’t remember the exciting details. After everyone was packed up, we headed back to DTD for some last minute shopping and to meet Joey.

Goofy’s candy shop was on the agenda for today since we had missed it the first DTD go around. We liked this shop - c’mon, all that sugar, what’s not to love? While I wanted to purchase one of everything I saw, I refrained and settled on a piece of mint chocolate fudge for me, a piece of apple pie fudge for mom, and a dipped rice krispie treat. When we went to check out, this woman with a stroller (and a kid IN the stroller) had been bagging up candy from the front of the store. When the CM at the cast member weighed her bag and told her the price she slammed the bag down on the counter and said “That’s ridiculous!” Then she marched out of the store. Robert and I just gave the CM a surprised look. She told us, “That happens a lot, even though the price is displayed everywhere.” Robert commented on how rude that was to just leave the bag full of candy there. The CM told him that most of their time ends up being spent putting away various candy.

We payed for our goodies and went back out to meet Dad. Mom and Joey had headed into the $10 and under store. I pinched off a little of the mint fudge and then decided to go back to the Christmas shop to get an ornament for Robert. We have a tradition in my family that when we go on vacation we each pick out an ornament for the family tree. Robert and I are trying to build our collection of ornaments for our tree. Since we had gotten in an argument when we were at the Christmas store earlier, Robert had not gotten an ornament. I made a mad dash through the store since we were supposed to leave to go eat as soon as Mom and Joey finished their shopping. I found a Pooh ornament dressed in holiday garb. Perfect. I purchased the ornament and met back up with my family.

Robert didn’t know what I had bought in the shop. I was going to just hang it on the tree and let him notice it. I didn’t make it that far, but at least I kept it a secret until we were about 5 miles out of Orlando. He loved it!

Holly was working, so Mom, Dad, Joey, Robert, and I went to lunch at Olive Garden (it’s almost a traditional going away meal on Disney trips, which is kind of weird since there is an Olive Garden where Robert and I live). After lunch, we said goodbye to Joey. :sad1:

The ride back up to Alabama was uneventful except for the fact that my throat got increasingly more sore. I went to the doctor the next day and they said I had a bacterial infection (ew). The doctor asked me if I had been around anyone who was sick. I told him that was hard to say because I had just come back from Disney World. Well, at least I wasn’t sick on the trip!

Well, there you have the Griswold’s October adventure! Be on the lookout for our December quest!!