More Fun Than Sitting at Home! Our Dec 2009 TR-UPDATE: 6/11 Final Thoughts & Big News [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

khertz

12-18-2009, 04:13 PM

:wave2: Welcome to my very first TR! And welcome back if you have followed me over from my PTR (found here (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2128297))!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Intro & DAY 0 & DAY 1: Travel Day - below

Friday December 4th
DAY 1: Resort Hopping! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34705975&postcount=2)
DAY 1: Resort Hopping! Continued... Check-In & DTD (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34706158&postcount=3)

Saturday December 5th
DAY 2: Epcot Rope Drop (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34743431&postcount=15)
DAY 2: Epcot Continued...Tackling Future World! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34743740&postcount=16)
DAY 2: Epcot Continued...World Showcase (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34762636&postcount=21)
DAY 2: Epcot Continued...Candlelight Processional (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34762914&postcount=22)
DAY 2: Epcot Continued...IllumiNations (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34763062&postcount=23)

Sunday December 6th
DAY 3: Islands of Adventure (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34805327&postcount=36)
DAY 3: Islands of Adventure Continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34805765&postcount=37)
DAY 3: Islands of Adventure Continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34805879&postcount=38)
DAY 3: Universal Studios (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34878705&postcount=42)

Monday December 7th
DAY 4: DHS...Rope Drop & Toy Story Mania mania! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35021480&postcount=56)
DAY 4: DHS continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35021788&postcount=57)
DAY 4: DHS Continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35089335&postcount=64)
DAY 4: DHS Continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35089925&postcount=65)
DAY 4: DHS Continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35090809&postcount=66)
PhotoPass Pics Are In! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35104394&postcount=70)
DAY 4: DHS Continued...Finishing @ DHS & Hopping to MK! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35153863&postcount=81)
DAY 4: MK...Welcome to the Magic Kingdom! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35154219&postcount=82)
DAY 4: MK Continued...Castle Dream Lights (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35154323&postcount=83)
DAY 4: MK Continued...SpectroMagic (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35185792&postcount=89)
DAY 4: MK Continued...Wishes! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35186636&postcount=91)

Tuesday December 8th
DAY 5: Late morning @ Animal Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35229550&postcount=99)
DAY 5: AK Continued...FOTLK & Camp Minnie-Mickey (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35229698&postcount=100)
DAY 5: AK Continued...Meeting the Characters! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35255449&postcount=4)
DAY 5: AK Continued...Character Trees & Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35255748&postcount=106)
DAY 5: AK Continued...Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35255953&postcount=107)
DAY 5: AK Continued...Maharajah Jungle Trek & MORE Characters! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35350055&postcount=116)
DAY 5: AK Continued...Pooh & Friends! & MVMCP (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35350787&postcount=117)
DAY 5: MK Continued...MVMCP! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35404529&postcount=124)
DAY 5: MK Continued...It's a Small World After All! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35404819&postcount=125)
DAY 5: MK Continued...Small World Nightmare! & Holiday Wishes!! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35405549&postcount=126)
DAY 5: MK Continued...Holiday Wishes! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35405752&postcount=127)
OT Post!: New Orleans Mardi Gras & Wedding Fun (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35689907&postcount=136)
DAY 5: MK Continued...Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35690219&postcount=137)
DAY 5: MK Continued...Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade continued (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35690458&postcount=138)

Wednesday December 9th
DAY 6: Universal Studios (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35692293&postcount=140)
DAY 6: Universal Studios continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35693175&postcount=142)
DAY 6: Islands of Adventure & dinner at The Melting Pot (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35693962&postcount=143)
DAY 6: IllumiNations & Osborne Lights from our room! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35694093&postcount=144)

Thursday December 10th
DAY 7: Animal Kingdom...Kilimanjaro Safari (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35747932&postcount=150)
DAY 7: Animal Kingdom continued...more Safari & we meet the Yeti (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35748223&postcount=151)
DAY 7: Animal Kingdom continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35748493&postcount=152)
DAY 7: Hollywood Studios afternoon (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35805467&postcount=158)
DAY 7: Hollywood Studios continued...Future Animators? & Osborne Lights! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35805962&postcount=159)
DAY 7: Hollywood Studios continued...Osborne Lights (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35806465&postcount=160)
Video of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at DHS (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35876161&postcount=163)

Friday December 11th
DAY 8: Breakfast at Chef Mickey's! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35895751&postcount=170)
DAY 8: Magic Kingdom morning (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35967682&postcount=175)
DAY 8: Magic Kingdom continued...Jungle Cruisin' (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35968033&postcount=176)
DAY 8: Magic Kingdom continued...Stopping to smell the roses (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36030223&postcount=182)
DAY 8: Magic Kingdom continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36030984&postcount=183)
DAY 8: Magic Kingdom continued...Solo? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36138769&postcount=190)
DAY 8: Magic Kingdom Solo continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36139040&postcount=191)
DAY 8: Epcot (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36337251&postcount=194)

Saturday December 12th
DAY 9: Universal Studios (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36338153&postcount=195)
DAY 9: Universal Studios continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36338852&postcount=196)
DAY 9: Winter Summerland Mini-Golf (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36562602&postcount=205)
DAY 9: Winter Summerland Mini-Golf continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36563093&postcount=206)

Sunday December 13th
DAY 10: Early MK Morning & KTTK Tour (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36620357&postcount=212)
DAY 10: KTTK Tour continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36621303&postcount=213)
DAY 10: MK Afternoon continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36621558&postcount=214)
DAY 10: MK evening & Grand Floridian (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36621661&postcount=215)

Monday December 14th
DAY 11: Last Day! :-( DHS Rope Drop (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36676712&postcount=224)
DAY 11: Last day continued... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36676945&postcount=225)

Extras
Final Thoughts & Big News! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36963423&postcount=233)

First a little background...

Over a year and a half ago, my DH and I decided to take a vacation to Disney World during the holiday season. Eventually we settled on the dates of December 4th-14th, 2009. Along the road of planning, we decided to make it a family trip and invited our parents to come along. Of course, they were excited to accept! My parents (Paul & Kathy) both love Disney, and have been visiting almost every year for the last 12 years. My in-laws (Kathy & Jamie) hadn't been in almost 17 years, so there was lots of new things to see and do since their last visit. And visiting during the holiday season was a first for all 6 of us!

For seven nights, we stayed in a three bedroom suite at DHs and my timeshare, the Wyndham Bonnet Creek which is pretty much sandwiched onto Disney property, so we didn't feel as though we were truly staying off-site since we were still so close to the action! We had a fireworks view room, which we really enjoyed as well. On the 7th day of our trip, our parents spent the day in the parks with us, then headed home that night while DH and I stayed an additional three nights in a 1 bedroom suite to enjoy some time just the two of us.

Here is a picture of all 6 of us from a few days into the trip:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1122.jpg
My parents on the left, in-laws in the middle, and DH & I on the right

DAY 0: Thursday December 3rd
The day before DH & I left for vacation was a hectic one! I had been working like crazy in the days leading up to the trip so I wouldn't have to use as much of my paid time off, and DH was left in charge of doing laundry! Finally on Thursday morning, it was time to start getting our last minute things together and leave the house. The plan for the day was to drive from our house in Lafayette, LA to my in-laws house in McComb, MS to drop our cats off. Then we would be stopping in Tickfaw, LA for dinner at my aunt and uncle's house, and finally getting to my parents house to get to bed to leave for Disney in the morning...Things didn't quite go that way, though!

I forced DH to take a picture of me crossing the LAST day off of our countdown calendar!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DSCN4345.jpg

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No more days left!! :woohoo:

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All of the stuff we managed to cram into our little Honda Civic!

We left our house pretty close to the time we had said we'd like to be on the road. We made decent time to my in-laws' house and the cats did fine on the car ride. They were of course a little freaked out when we brought them inside, but they adjusted pretty quickly. DH's grandmother was nice enough to stay at the house with not just our two cats, but also my in-laws' cat and dog. She has kept them plenty of times, so I knew they were in good hands.

I had been in touch with my uncle David all day about going to their house for dinner, so that was our next destination. We got in the car, and I saw I had a message from him on my cell phone asking if we'd like wine or beer with dinner. I called him back to give him an answer, and he said that he was sorry, but it wasn't a good time for us to come over now. :confused3 I was a little confused and disappointed, especially since I had so been looking forward to seeing my two little cousins Skylar and Sawyer that night. So instead of stopping off, we headed straight to my mom's house for the night, and picked up Burger King on the way.

We made it to my parent's house at a decent time, which actually may have worked out better anyway. We were able to shower, and get everything packed into the van before going to bed. My MIL even gave me one of her Ambien to help me sleep because I knew the excitement of leaving in the morning would keep me up ALL night!! And OMG did it work great! :laughing:

DAY 1: Friday December 4th
At 5:30 am Friday morning, my MIL dropped DH and myself off at the airport for our 8:00 am flight to Orlando. Then she drove back to my mom's so the four of them could hit the road at a decent time. We tried to convince them to fly with us instead of driving, but they were too chicken! It worked out for us though, because they were able to take our large suitcase so we didn't have any bags to check. We just printed our boarding passes, grabbed some breakfast at Popeye's (YUM!), and headed through security to wait for boarding.

I was too excited to sleep, too excited to read my book...too excited to do pretty much anything but look around and try to guess who else was going to Disney World. :thumbsup2 While DH read his book and tried to hide from me, I snapped some pictures.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0057.jpg
DH doing his best to ignore me.

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Me: tired but excited! DH: tired & not that excited (yet!)

We were in the first boarding group, so we got decent seats on the plane. The guy that ended up sitting next to us was from New Orleans, but you'd think he was a tourist looking at him! He was all decked out in Saints clothes, wearing beads around his neck, etc. It was pretty funny. He immediately noticed DH's Saints hat and sat with us! He then proceeded to show us Saints pictures on his phone and sing, "Stand up and get crunk!" at random times. He was heading to Disney to meet up with his wife & kids. This will be important later. HAHA! All I can say is, luckily it was a short flight!

We landed a little earlier than expected, around 10:20, and headed right over to where our Mears shuttle would be picking us up. It was POURING rain! Not a good start!! However, what was nice was not having to even go to baggage claim, and only waiting about 10 minutes for our shuttle. There were a couple stops before us, but soon we were at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek! They had 3 bedroom units available immediately, but if we still wanted our fireworks view, we'd have to wait. We decided to wait, and just did pre-check in. They said they would call us when our unit was ready. We picked up some shuttle information, and headed outside to find a shuttle to MK and Epcot had just pulled up...perfect timing!

UP NEXT: Exploring the resorts in the rain, and unexpected obstacles

khertz

12-19-2009, 10:57 AM

DAY 1 Continued: Friday December 4th

We hopped on the shuttle, which dropped us off at the Transportation and Ticket Center. Now, it was sprinkling, but for some reason, we had decided to leave all of our bags except the camera bag with bell services at the resort, including the bag with our ponchos in it?? :confused3 Stupid decision! But we were so excited to finally be in Disney that I guess we didn't care, even though both us hate being wet! Oh well.

We promptly hopped on the Resort Monorail, our destination in mind the Grand Floridian! This was the resort I was most excited to see dressed up for Christmas, so needless to say, I was very excited!

When we arrived, we immediately noticed a choir inside near the monorail station, which got me even more excited, to be serenaded with Christmas carols while exploring the GF! Then we got more inside and noticed a lot of camera equipment and people standing around the balcony...then we heard an announcer and a sudden rush of noise. We were able to sneak a peak over the balcony to see a GIGANTIC sea of people packed into the lobby!! :scared1: Not good. Apparently because of the weather, they had decided to move the castle shows for the Christmas Day parade to the GF. :eek: Really not good. All we were able to do was make our way in a circle around the balcony in the walkway made by the people on either side, glance around the giftshop, and get right back on the monorail. While inside, the resort called to say our room was ready, which was a relief. It meant when we got tired of traveling around, we wouldn't have to still be waiting on our room!

I hadn't really planned on stopping at the Polynesian or Contemporary, but with my plans foiled and our bellies starting to rumble, we stopped at the next monorail stop, the Contemporary. The first thing we came across was the gingerbread tree! Not as great as the gingerbread house at the GF, but it'll do...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0063.jpg

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We decided to grab some burgers at Contempo Cafe, and really liked using the ordering kiosks! Very cool. The food really hit the spot, that's for sure. So with full bellies, we continued exploring the lobby and the gift shop, Fantasia.

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A cool Monorail tree display!

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Window display.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0069.jpg

The giant Mickey wreath you see when you enter on the monorail. I was very excited to see this because I had seen it on the Disney Holiday special on HGTV and couldn't wait to see it! I tried to get a picture of it from the monorail later in the trip when it was all lit up, but that was pretty impossible. Still, crazy big!!

After leaving the Contemporary, the only resort left on my must-visit list was the Wilderness Lodge. We used an app on Dustin's iPhone that was supposed to tell you the best way to get from place to place around Disney, and it said we could catch a bus from the TTC, so we got back on the monorail and got off at the TTC stop. Mistake! By now the rain was coming down harder and we were running around looking for resort busses that didn't exist!

Eventually, we stopped at the bus information desk to ask what our best option was for getting to WL, and he suggested taking the express monorail or the ferry to MK and getting a bus from there. We decided to take the ferry since we had already been around on the monorail more than any of our other trips combined and it had only been a few hours! :lmao:

We only had to wait a few minutes for the ferry, but it was a very cold wait as the wind started picking up. What miserable weather for our first day in Disney! But our spirits were still up, because in the distance we could see...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0074.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0076.jpg
THE CASTLE!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0087.jpg
Still smiling!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0088.jpg
The Grand Floridian from the ferry

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0092.jpg
Cinderella Castle and Space Mountain

We ran through the rain to the bus stops, which was a bummer that we didn't even have a chance to stand there and check out the train station and take in that we were in front of the Magic Kingdom! We didn't wait too long for a bus, and it was so nice to sit on a warm bus out of the cold & wet.

We got on the bus around 2:30 pm, and arrived just a few minutes later.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0097.jpg
Christmas tree!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0099.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0108.jpg
The balconies decorated with pretty garlands

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I love the theming of this resort! These lights showed up in a lot of the pictures we took because they were so pretty. I'm not much of an outdoorsy wilderness girl, but I love the look of it, so this resort is perfect for me! I don't have to be out in the wilderness, I can just pretend I am.

We took time to relax in the lobby amidst taking pictures. It was so relaxing in there, and there were plenty of people in rocking chairs in front of the fire. I almost didn't want to leave to go back out in the nasty weather!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0116.jpg

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Continued in next post...

khertz

12-19-2009, 11:25 AM

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After finishing up at the Wilderness Lodge, we made our way back to the TTC to catch a shuttle back to Bonnet Creek. We had to wait a little bit for one because of their schedule, and there was a lot of other people waiting, so we were worried about not getting a spot. Well, I was worried, DH probably wasn't! :laughing: We realized we hadn't even really paid attention to what the bus looked like, so that was a little nervewracking for me that we didn't even know what we were looking for! But eventually the bus came, and everyone that was waiting was able to get on.

We stopped at Epcot on the way and crammed some more people onto the bus, which made for a pretty hot and unpleasant ride with everyone standing and so many wet ponchos inside the bus. But the people we were sitting next to were really nice, and I felt bad for them. They had saved MK for their last day of vacation, which was that day, and it was all cold and rainy all day! It was kind of cute though because their little girl fell asleep standing up with her head in her mom's lap. Too funny!

It was about 5:30 when we got to the resort to check in, pick up our bags and get a parking pass for my parents rental van for when they arrived. The rain had let up a bit and we were in the next building over, so we decided to walk over instead of waiting for a little golf cart thing to bring us over.

Our suite was on the 11th floor and all the way at the end of the hall, which was nice. Of course, I had to snap a few pictures before we moved all our junk in and got the place wrecked! When you first walk in, there was a little hallway with a doorway to the left leading to the two extra bedrooms, the washer and dryer, and second bathroom.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0159.jpg
Second bedroom where DH's parents stayed

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0160.jpg
Third bedroom my parents slept in

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0161.jpg
Second bathroom.

When you kept walking straight, you would end up in the living room with the dining table to the far left, and the kitchen in the middle with the door to the master bedroom next to the kitchen and the balcony straight ahead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_0149.jpg
Dining table and kitchen

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Kitchen and breakfast bar

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The door to the master bedroom is on the far left, then the balcony and the living room

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Looking out to the living room from the master bedroom

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Master bedroom

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Around 5:45 our parents arrived and we had to haul all of our luggage and boxes of snacks and drinks up to the room. Everyone unpacked, then we met in the living room to decide what to do that night. The plan had been Downtown Disney for Characters in Flight and shopping, then mini golf at Winter Summerland. Characters in Flight and mini golf were definitely out because of the weather. I was pretty cold and tired so I could have just stayed in and got to bed early for rope drop in the morning, but the majority wanted DTD, so we got in the van and made our way there.

Everyone was hungry by that point, so we made our first stop Earl of Sandwich for dinner. DH and I both got meatball sandwiches, and I remember my MIL getting the caribbean chicken one or something like that, but I don't remember what everyone else got. But we all thoroughly enjoyed our sandwiches.

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My first and last food picture! I had trouble remembering, but really, we ate a lot of burgers, chicken and pizza, nothing to take pictures of daily!

After the food, we went to Once Upon a Toy. I got 2 potato head boxes and stuffed them with accessories for the kids at the hospital where I work! I had been helping our child life specialist clean her toys for the activity room one morning earlier in the week, and her Mr. Potato Head made me think of the boxes you can stuff at DTD. So she said if I got some, to keep the receipt and the hospital would pay me back. I was able to get at least one of everything, if not more! The kids already love it! :thumbsup2

Then we went to the Christmas store, where nothing jumped out at me and DH, but my MIL bought some ornaments for her tree, and my mom got a couple of things my aunt had asked us to get for her. Then we wandered through World of Disney and Art of Disney, but didn't spend any money.

We got back to the room just before 9 pm. Around 9:30, we found out why waiting for the fireworks view room had been well worth the wait! It was hard to see a lot of the buildings in the dark, but we could easily see Spaceship Earth to our right and the hat from Hollywood Studios and the Tower of Terror to our left. We could see the Osborne lights as soon as they went on, and at 9:30...ILLUMINATIONS AND HOLIDAY WISHES SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!

It was SO incredible! I was in my Mickey Mouse pj's with a cup of hot chocolate, sitting on the balcony in Disney World, and watching two fireworks displays at the same time. Definitely made the cold & rainy day well worth it!! In the dark, we couldn't even tell that MK was further to the right and behind Epcot, so the Holiday Wishes were a surprise. But Illuminations was so close that the sound was crazy loud. It sounded like thunder right on top of us! What an amazing way to end the night before crawling into bed!

UP NEXT: My very first rope drop at Epcot!

dhertz

12-19-2009, 06:35 PM

Wow, it's sad to look back at the beginning and realize that's all over with. It's nice to see our first and last slow day of the trip, even if you posted those bad pictures of me at the airport.

khertz

12-19-2009, 10:56 PM

Wow, it's sad to look back at the beginning and realize that's all over with. It's nice to see our first and last slow day of the trip, even if you posted those bad pictures of me at the airport.

I know what you mean!! Going in, it seemed like it would last forever, but now it seems like it was over way too quickly.

And I love those pictures of you at the airport! Classic you until we get to our destination. ;)

praisehisname

12-20-2009, 07:12 AM

Loving your report so far!

khertz

12-20-2009, 09:23 AM

Loving your report so far!

Thank you! I'm glad someone besides me and DH are reading it!! :laughing:

stich626

12-20-2009, 09:46 AM

I'm reading. Jealous that you got to go during the holiday season. I think I have finally convinced the family to go in 2010.

khertz

12-20-2009, 10:06 AM

I'm reading. Jealous that you got to go during the holiday season. I think I have finally convinced the family to go in 2010.

Thanks for commenting! This was our first experience going during the holidays, and we all really enjoyed every minute of it! I hope you are able to go this year, it's a really magical experience. :santa:

DisneysRedhead

12-20-2009, 10:39 AM

Wow the room you stayed in looked so awesome! It almost makes me want to stay offsite!

khertz

12-20-2009, 06:36 PM

Wow the room you stayed in looked so awesome! It almost makes me want to stay offsite!

I was nervous to stay offsite, but it was actually great. The resort is within 10 minutes drive of each park so getting around wasn't a problem at all with our rental van. It was nice not having to wait on bus transportation. I missed having the access to EMH, but honestly, we went from morning to night every day, I doubt we could have handled extra hours on top of that! I would do it again in a heartbeat. It worked out even better than I could have hoped!

skier_pete

12-21-2009, 12:52 PM

AlohaPolynesian

12-21-2009, 10:21 PM

Hey! I just noticed the link in your signature so I had to come over and take a look. Love the pictures of WL lobby. We never actually made it over there, so it was nice to see the decorations here in your TR. Your resort looks awesome (even if it IS off property, haha).

khertz

12-23-2009, 10:06 AM

Wow! What a great looking room/suite...it almost would tempt me to stay off site! (Almost!) I would definitely do that if we had a multi-room group. But I so love being able to use Disney transport.

We checked out Comtemp and WL as well. I just loved that "Monorail" Tree in the gift shop. We were very tempted to buy a monorail to go around our christmas tree, but didn't.

Looking forward to the rest of your TR....mine will be started in the next few days!

SkierPete

To be honest, I thought I would miss using Disney transport so much, but I actually found I'd rather do without it!! Of course with adults, walking back to the car isn't as big of a deal as when you have little ones, so that is still something to think about. But I liked being able to get up and get moving in the morning and not have to worry about waiting for the next bus to show. Same as at night. But of course, if you don't want to drive around Disney, staying onsite is the way to go. The shuttles from Bonnet Creek were decent and bigger than I expected, but if you couldn't fit on the bus because there were too many people, you had to wait until the next scheduled bus which could be up to two hours later. Didn't like that idea!!

I'm looking forward to your TR as well! :goodvibes

Hey! I just noticed the link in your signature so I had to come over and take a look. Love the pictures of WL lobby. We never actually made it over there, so it was nice to see the decorations here in your TR. Your resort looks awesome (even if it IS off property, haha).

Welcome!

Hahaha The only reason we decided to stay offsite was because it was FREE! But it actually worked out really well for us.

The WL and the GF were the two resorts on my must-see list, and I wasn't at all disappointed! The WL was actually a really great lobby to just sit and relax in. Glad you enjoyed the pics! I just wish they hadn't come out so dark. I promise, not all of our pictures came out that dark!

khertz

12-23-2009, 02:08 PM

DAY 2: Saturday December 5th

The next morning, we were all up bright and early for our first park day!! While we were getting ready, my dad set up the tripod on the balcony to get some pictures of our amazing view in the daytime, where we could really pick out more details.

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The view all the way to the right of one of the Epcot resorts (Beach/Yacht Club maybe?) and Spaceship Earth.

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Spaceship Earth to the right and the Land building to the left

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World Showcase buildings

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The Swan & Dolphin

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Hollywood Studios! Tower of Terror, the top of the Sorcerer Hat, and the Mickey water tower

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Zoomed in on Tower of Terror where you can see the top of Expedition Everest

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Zoomed in on the Hat & Water Tower, with the top of the Great Movie Ride

And a couple more of the Bonnet Creek Resort...

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The pool that we never visited

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The main building

It was already drizzling and a little cool, but not too bad. We piled into the van and arrived at Epcot for around 8:30. It was our first experience with the AAA Diamond Parking, and it was great! Just a short walk and we were at the turnstiles waiting to be let into Epcot!

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I love the Christmas topiaries!! It was the first Christmasy thing we came across, and I immediately knew that it was going to be a great trip!!

The turnstiles finally opened and we rushed in. Stitch and Daisy Duck were out, so we hopped in line to meet Stitch, who I just :love:

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DH had left the camera on a timer, so this picture came out terrible but oh well. lol

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My mom was the only other person who wanted a pic with Stitch.

We decided to skip Daisy because she had formed a bit of a line, and we were ready to get to our first ride! However, we didn't realize that just getting through the turnstiles didn't mean it was time to ride, and that there was still a Rope Drop ceremony to be done! I got a little impatient waiting there because I couldn't see anything anyway, and I was just so antsy to get my butt in a seat on a ride. My dad distracted me by taking some pictures of everyone.

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Kathy & Jamie

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Mom & Dad

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All of the people waiting for Rope Drop!

Finally, the characters started coming out for the Rope Drop ceremony! I still couldn't see anything, and could only hear some music. And DH couldn't tell me what was going on because he was too busy trying to get crazy paparazzi-through-the-bushes pictures of Donald like this one:

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Little did we know, we'd be seeing a LOT more of Donald over the coming days! But finally, the rope drop and we started moving in a huge herd over to the Land for our first ride of the day...

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A TON of people went straight for FastPasses, but we figured if we decided we wanted to ride again, we could grab some on the way out. So we headed straight into line. We had about a 15 minute or so wait, which was great considering the volume of people we had just been following!

I enjoy this ride, but I'm not a diehard over it like some people. Our parents agreed, so we decided we didn't need FPs for it. Besides, Epcot has SO much more to do, and we weren't sure if we'd be able to make it back to Epcot that week. Next stop was Mission:SPACE with a 5 minute wait! On our way over there, we grabbed some FPs for Test Track for later, then hopped in line. My parents opted for Team Green, which DH's parents were considering, but we convinced them to go for Team Orange! :thumbsup2

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Kathy grabbed barf bags for her and James, but I kept telling her it really wouldn't be that bad if they just listened to the instructions and faced forward with her head back. As worried as she was, they both really liked it, and no one needed to use the barf bag! Gary Sinise guided us safely to Mars, and we were able to continue on our day to Epcot unharmed. :cool2:

Despite being on two different spacecrafts, we all made it back to Earth about the same time, so we met up outside to decide what to do next. My mom really wanted to do Ellen's Energy Adventure, but I was wary to do it so early in the morning because it's such a long attraction, and there were other things I felt like we could be doing before it got too crowded. But she really REALLY wanted to ride, so the four parents decided to go learn about energy with Ellen, and DH and I had about 45 minutes before we were going to call each other to meet somewhere.

Hmmm...what to do?

Continued in next post...

khertz

12-23-2009, 02:41 PM

MEET SOME CHARACTERS!!

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We headed into the Character Spot to find the whole Fab 5 there doing meet & greets. The line was a little long, but we figured we had plenty of time with our parents doing Ellen. So we hopped in line, but it ended up not being too bad of a wait. The line is narrow and of course most of the people in the line were in families or groups, and the character handlers were doing a great job of keeping the line moving. We watched some funny classic Disney cartoons while we waited in line.

The first character we met was the Big Cheese himself, Mickey Mouse!

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I had decided this trip I wanted to bring some index cards to get autographs of some of the characters to use in the scrap book, and Mickey was my first autograph. I felt a little silly doing it, but I know when I start making my scrapbook I'll be happy I did it!

This was also where we went ahead and got our PhotoPass card, which we were able to use at the Character Spot for all the characters except Donald. I'm in the process of editing them (we ended up with a total of 224 pictures, so that's a LOT of edits!) so that we can order the CD, but I'm thinking that'll take a little bit of time. When I do get the CD, I'll get the pictures all caught up in a post or 2.

Next up was Pluto, who gave me a big lick on the cheek!

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Then we met Minnie Mouse, who I just love, and had never gotten a picture with before, so I was very excited!

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Getting Minnie's autograph. <3

Then it was DH's all time favorite Disney character EVER...Donald Duck!!

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Again, DH failed to tell me he was doing the thumbs up with Donald, so I end up looking silly! He did that to me on our honeymoon but with Stitch. Oh well. When Donald gave me his autograph, he wrote #1 under it and kept pointing to the #1 then himself so I would know he was REALLY #1! It was too cute.

While we waited to move on to Goofy, Donald noticed DH trying to get a picture of just him by himself, so he flashed him this great pose:

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I love it! I kind of fell in love with Donald this trip. I guess that happens when you end up stalking the poor duck all around Disney World! Hahaha

Last but not least was Goofy, who was not afraid to pull me in tight for the pictures.

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Looks like Goofy needs some glasses!

After finishing up with the characters, we still had some time before our parents would be done. So we wandered through the Innoventions buildings and thought about trying some of the games but all of the lines were a little too long. Before we could look around too long, our parents called and we decided to meet in front of Spaceship Earth for a ride.

As we started walking over there, the rain started coming down, and the temperature dropped like crazy! I had gone from being comfortable in my long sleeved t-shirt to needing my big sweatshirt again, and we had to put on our ponchos because they posted a 10 minute wait, but most of it was outside and uncovered.

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The line moved pretty quickly, but we definitely could not get inside the building fast enough! The wind was even worse standing under the ball, and I was freezing! Plus the wind was making everyone's poncho billow up, so we'd occasionally get a spray in the face with water when that happened, which was less than pleasant. lol

Finally, we were able to board our time travel vehicles and head back to the beginning of mankind! I really love this ride. It's so relaxing, and the animatronics are great. I especially love Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. This was mine & DH's first time riding SE since the update. They were working on it on our honeymoon in '07. So it was our first time "building our future" at the end, but it was a lot of fun!

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When we got off of SE, the rain had stopped, so we decided we should try to ride Test Track now before it started raining again and got shut down. We trekked over and got in line, and were inside pretty quickly before we stopped for a little bit. So I took over the camera and snapped some pictures while waiting.

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Does this count as a hidden Mickey??

We got up to the point where they let you in for the pre-show when they made an announcement that they were down for technical difficulties. *GROAN* I figured it had started raining again, and we'd be stuck in there forever! I should learn not to be such a Debbie Downer, because we were actually on the ride within 15 minutes of that announcement. lol

As we were loading into our ride vehicle, I glanced over at the people still moving through the line, and caught a glimpse of a familiar face just before we pulled off...The Saints fan from the plane!! I barely had enough time to point him out to DH before we started to move.

Kathy & James really enjoyed this ride! It was among the MANY new attractions they experienced at Epcot since the last time they were there, and I think they liked it a lot more than Mission Space. Unfortunately, the ride pictures were down, so we couldn't add ours to our PhotoPass card. :-(

After riding Test Track, we figured we had time for just about 1 more thing before we needed to start heading to World Showcase so that we wouldn't be late for our 2:10 ADR at Biergarten. So we discussed our options, and ended up deciding to head to the Imagination Pavilion for a ride with Figment!

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At some point, we were looking around MouseGears when we heard someone yell out, "Hey you're from the plane!" Yep, we had been spotted by Saints Fan Man!! It was kind of funny that we ran into him, actually, considering how many people are in Disney World at any given time. But that was the last time we ran into him. He sure did give DH & I some laughs!

UP NEXT: Epcot continued...Exploring World Showcase & lunch at Biergarten.

paulgio

12-24-2009, 01:30 PM

I'm patiiently waiting for the rest.

Love, Dad:yay:

praisehisname

12-24-2009, 02:09 PM

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Your resort is really pretty. I think I could be talked into staying off-site.

Great character pics; can't wait to see your photopass pictures!

kaguilbeau

12-24-2009, 02:44 PM

We were there the week of Dec 12 - 19 and drove from Carencro LA (pulling our camper and staying at Fort wilderness)

Saw lots of people with LSU and Saints clothing. It looked like one big "who dat" party on the Sunday.

Your resort really looked nice. I think if we ever got the hang of driving ourselves to the different parks, that would be a great way to stay. Even when we take Disney transportation, we complain because it seems to take so long for our bus to come.

khertz

12-24-2009, 08:29 PM

I'm patiiently waiting for the rest.

Love, Dad:yay:

:goodvibes I finally got ya on the DIS, Dad! I'll probably make another post this weekend. :thumbsup2

Your resort is really pretty. I think I could be talked into staying off-site.

Great character pics; can't wait to see your photopass pictures!

The resort was really amazing! If you're willing to miss EMH and rent/drive a car, Bonnet Creek is a great place to stay!

I'm still working on those edits. Still have a LONG way to go!

We were there the week of Dec 12 - 19 and drove from Carencro LA (pulling our camper and staying at Fort wilderness)

Saw lots of people with LSU and Saints clothing. It looked like one big "who dat" party on the Sunday.

Your resort really looked nice. I think if we ever got the hang of driving ourselves to the different parks, that would be a great way to stay. Even when we take Disney transportation, we complain because it seems to take so long for our bus to come.

I live right outside Lafayette! We saw TONS of LSU and Saints gear all over the parks. It was so funny. I loved it! DH was getting updates on his phone for the games so we wouldn't miss out on anything. It was great. Lots of people made comments about his hat or our shirts whenever we wore them in the parks, and we got lots of "Who dat!"s from other Saints fans.

khertz

12-26-2009, 01:20 PM

Here are a few more pictures we took around the Imagination Pavilion:

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And one of my mom reading her HUMONGOUS custom map! :rotfl: She can't read the text on the small park maps, so she took them all to Kinko's and had them blown up so that she can see them without her glasses.

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At this point it was around 1:15, and we needed to be in Germany for 2:10 for our Biergarten ADR. So we started to make our way towards World Showcase so that we wouldn't have to rush to make it to our reservation on time. As we crossed the bridge from Future World into World Showcase, we caught our first glimpse of the Epcot Christmas tree!

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After seeing the HGTV Holiday decorations special, it was really amazing to see one of those trees in person and appreciate how huge and impressive they really are!

We started out on the Mexico side because we figured that was our shortest route to Germany.

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As we were walking through, my mom spotted Donald off to the side down a little walkway with hardly anyone in line. Of course, we had to stop for pictures, being that my DH is such a huge Donald fan! This was our second Donald meeting, and it was only our first day. Pretty good, if you ask me!

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I was hoping to have time to catch a Holiday Storyteller or two along the way, but most hadn't started their shows yet, or were on the other side of WS. So we settled for walking at a pretty determined pace towards Germany, but stopping to glance at things every now and then still. We made it to the Germany pavilion with lots of time to spare, and spotted Snow White doing greetings, so my mom, DH, and I jumped in line while my in-laws wandered around the shop, and my dad went for a beer.

There were two little girls in front of us that were too cute! They found some huge dry leaves and started using them to sweep up the other leaves on the ground. They were so excited to show Snow White how they were cleaning with the leaves! Snow White bent right down and started "sweeping" with them when the girls got up there for their turn. It was too adorable.

Finally, it was our turn, and my mom went up first. This Snow White was VERY into her character! She had the voice, the giggle, the wide eyes and everything. I'm sure to a kid that's great, but for us adults, we found it pretty amusing.

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She started asking if Dustin was my prince, and then she said in her best Snow White, "Did you meet him at the wishing well?" with a huge giggle at the end! We were quoting that pretty much all trip. It was a little creepy, but very funny! DH and I had no clue how to respond to her, so I was very ready to take our picture and be gone. I'm not all that crazy about face characters. I prefer when they can't actually talk and ask questions I guess. lol

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We were still a little early to check in for our reservation, but we decided to go over to the restaurant and see if we could check in a little early. Good thing we did...the line to check in was HUGE! We ended up waiting almost 20 minutes in line just to get up to the counter to check-in. Here's a few pics DH took while we were waiting.

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There was a very loud gut a couple of groups ahead of us talking to the couple right in front of us, and we couldn't help overhearing a lot of what he was telling them. Most of it was ridiculous, that the turkey legs they sell around Disney World are really emu legs. But then he asked the couple what time their reservation was for, and the couple said they didn't have one. The loud guy said they probably wouldn't get in without one. So then the couple in front of us and another couple without reservations who overheard decided to partner up and LIE to the girl at the counter to say they had a reservation for 4 people! They argued with the poor girl and everything for a good 5 minutes while we stood there waiting to check in for our REAL reservation. Oooh, that burned me up!

So after waiting 20 minutes and the group of 4 finally giving up, we were able to actually check in at 2:10, which was our reservation time. There were a TON of people waiting outside who had already checked in waiting to be seated, so we knew it would be awhile. We joined the mass of other people waiting and held on to our pager.

While we're standing there, DH realizes that all the CMs coming out to announce (very loudly) who they were seating were actually from Germany. It became his goal to hear how our last name, which is German, is actually said by a German. After waiting 30 minutes, DH is holding our pager and it starts going off, but he hides it so that the CM will have to yell out our name! At this point, we were all hungry and crabby, so I told him if he really wants to know, my aunt is from Germany and he can just ask her, so he wisely handed over the pager. lol Turns out the CM said it anyway, so he still got to hear it, it just wasn't announced at the top of his lungs.

We got seated at a table with 2 other women, who my mom made instant friends with. She tends to do that wherever she goes. lol We had to wait a few minutes for our server, and by then, the line for the buffet was HUGE! When we finally all got a plate of food, I'm pretty sure everyone inhaled their meal.

DH and I are not adventurous eaters, but we managed to find plenty on the buffet to eat. My favorites were the pretzel bread, the meatballs, rosemary chicken, and some kind of schnitzel. But I tried to sample a little of everything, even if it didn't look that great. The cheesecake on the dessert bar was delicious too!

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The inside of the restaurant. Very dark, but pretty. It makes you feel like you're eating outside at night in a German village!

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The band

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I took a picture of this with no clue what it meant. But appliedlanguage.com says it means "Rejoicing, Excitement, Amusement"

The meal was great, and I think we all really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. The problem came when we were ready to leave! Our server kept coming to ask if we needed anything but we were all saying no and just sitting there with empty plates and glasses. It was pretty obvious we were done. Finally we had to flag him down to ask for our check. It was so strange. But we finally got the bill paid and got our stickers for our Candlelight Processional package. It was already 4:05 by the time we left the restaurant, and our CP showing was at 5 pm.

Continued in next post...

khertz

12-26-2009, 02:06 PM

We left the restaurant and stopped to get a few pictures of the train set.

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We realized we didn't really have time to do anything before the CP show, so we decided to head over to the America pavilion and get in line. As we were walking towards it, we see a HUGE line of people that seems to go on forever and ever leading up to the America Gardens Theater. The line stretched all the way from America, through Italy, and into Germany! Luckily, it turned out to be the stand-by line, but I felt bad because it was pretty obvious that most of those people would be standing in line up until the last show if they really wanted to see it.

Our line for the package guests was actually on the other side of the theater entrance, and our spot in line was in front of the Japan pavilion. By the time we started moving in, even that line had grown tremendously! It definitely stretched all the way into Morocco.

DH took some cool pictures of the Japan pavilion while we were in line waiting to be let in.

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While we were waiting, we caught a performance of the drummers also, which was cool. A great way to pass the time.

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Finally the line started moving around 4:40 to let us into the theater. By the time we got in, all of the seating in the covered portion was full, so we ended up a few rows back in the uncovered portion. But we were right in the center, so we had a great view of everything. The only negative was that at this point, it had gotten VERY cold, and VERY windy. I never actually wear the hood on my sweatshirt, but I had to all during the show or my neck and face were freezing!

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A couple of the theater before the show started.

First out on stage was the band, who played some instrumental Christmas music, which was just beautiful. I love big orchestras with violins and cellos and trumpets anyway, so the fact that they were playing Christmas music was just like a big bonus!

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Then the orchestra was joined by the Voices of Liberty.

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And then the choirs began processing in.

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Finally, they were joined by our narrator, Steven Curtis Chapman.

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I had some idea of what the show was about in reading here on the Dis, but I was not prepared for how beautiful it was actually going to be. Steven Curtis Chapman read the Nativity story from the bible, and he was really a great narrator. This part I knew. But I didn't realize that between lines of the story, there would be beautiful performances of Christmas hymns. I'm not sure how I expected it to all fall together, but it very much exceeded my expectations.

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They sang some of my absolute favorite Christmas songs, like Do You Hear What I Hear?, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and Silent Night. DH and I were a little apprehensive about seeing Steven Curtis Chapman because we had no idea who he was, but we were slightly reassured by popular reviews of him as a narrator on the boards. We were really blown away by how great he actually was! After telling the story, he left us with some very inspiring words about the power of Christ's birth and the impact Jesus has on us every day of our lives. Of course we have never seen another narrator perform the show, so I have no idea if any of them do little speeches like that or not, but we were very happy that we had chosen to attend on a night that Steven Curtis Chapman was performing.

After the show, it was starting to get dark, and DH got this pretty picture of the lights twinkling in the trees.

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A little Christmas tree in the America pavilion.

After mom, MIL, and I waited in a FOREVER long line for the bathroom in the America pavilion, we decided since we were there, we'd catch a show of the American Adventure. We had just missed the previous show, but I was more than happy to wait inside out of the cold! DH and I looked around the rotunda at the different paintings and had time to explore the little museum until the next show started.

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I loved this quote. :love:

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Decorations inside the American Adventure.

I don't remember ever seeing this show before, or if I did it was too long ago for me to remember a lot of it. But it was a really great little show! I love history, so this is just my style, even though DH could do without it.

Our special viewing area for IlliumiNations from our CP package was at the Showcase Plaza, so we headed in that direction rather than checking out the rest of World Showcase. Our first stop was everyone's favorite WS attraction, Maelstrom in Norway!

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We got on with about a 5 minute wait, so not bad at all. Of course, we all walked right through the movie theater at the end. I felt kind of bad, but not bad enough to sit through the movie. lol

After that, we took a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour, which we got on with no wait at all.

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After riding, we walked down to the Showcase Plaza to scope it out. There wasn't really anyone inside the roped off area yet, so DH and I went to look around in the gift shop right there to waste some time. My mom really wanted to do Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and no one else was ready to go wait for IllumiNations that early, so the four parents left us to go back to Future World to try and catch the show. DH and I eventually made our way down into the viewing area and got a spot right behind the rope that was perfect. We grabbed a cup of hot cocoa to share while we waited because it was VERY cold at that point, and we were shivering.

Continued in next post...

khertz

12-26-2009, 02:26 PM

Some pictures of the Christmas tree all lit up...

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I love this one, of the tree and Spaceship Earth all lit up.

My parents finally came back to join us a few minutes before IllumiNations was about to start. Turns out they walked all the way to FW only to find out HISTA was no longer showing for the day. DH's parents decided to skip IllumiNations because they were worn out, and the cold was making James' knee where he has a metal plate start to hurt. So they waited for us inside the Fountain View Ice Cream shop near the front of the park.

Finally, the fireworks started! Mom and I invited a couple of little kids standing behind us to come stand up against the rope so they could see.

At the beginning of the show, DH was having some problems getting good shots on the camera because he hadn't had much chance to work with the new lens we had gotten to let him take better pictures in the dark. But about midway through, he figured it out and got some really great shots. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. :-)

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The Let There Be Peace On Earth Holiday ending was absolutely beautiful. It definitely brought tears to my eyes! Overall, I would definitely recommend booking the package to see the Candlelight Processional and get a great spot for IllumiNations. It made for a fantastic end for our first day in Disney World!

We caught up with Kathy and James at the front of the park and made our way out to the car, which we got to by 10:15, and we had no trouble getting out of the parking lot and back to Bonnet Creek. None of us had difficulty getting to sleep that night, that's for sure! Our first day had been very eventful, but very exhausting.

UP NEXT: Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure

NMW

12-26-2009, 03:15 PM

subscribing

praisehisname

12-26-2009, 04:13 PM

We decided to skip the Candlelight Processional this past trip, but after reading your review I'm wishing we had done it! Definitely next trip!

skier_pete

12-26-2009, 07:02 PM

Nice reviews - I agree, our first CP was much better than I expected, very moving.

Though, I have to say I PREFER the face characters. It took a while to get used to it, but holding conversations with them is so much easier. (Though I always have fun talking to Donald and telling him how HE should be running things - he loves that!) We had a nice conversation with Cinderella telling her about how we saw her step-mother and step-sisters walking around outside the castle...we were wondering whether she would let them in or not!
(Only if they behaved themselves, she said, so it seemed unlikely.)

That Snow White in Germany asked my DD if she made me Gooseberry pies for my birthday. I should've come back and said "I prefer Apple." I wonder what she would have said to that. :lmao:

SkierPete

khertz

12-26-2009, 09:04 PM

subscribing

:welcome: Thanks for commenting!

We decided to skip the Candlelight Processional this past trip, but after reading your review I'm wishing we had done it! Definitely next trip!

It was SUCH a pretty show! I considered skipping when I found out how much more the package cost this year vs. last year, but everyone in the group agreed they were willing to pay. I'm so glad we still went! If you go at the holidays again, make sure you see this show!!

Nice reviews - I agree, our first CP was much better than I expected, very moving.

Though, I have to say I PREFER the face characters. It took a while to get used to it, but holding conversations with them is so much easier. (Though I always have fun talking to Donald and telling him how HE should be running things - he loves that!) We had a nice conversation with Cinderella telling her about how we saw her step-mother and step-sisters walking around outside the castle...we were wondering whether she would let them in or not!
(Only if they behaved themselves, she said, so it seemed unlikely.)

That Snow White in Germany asked my DD if she made me Gooseberry pies for my birthday. I should've come back and said "I prefer Apple." I wonder what she would have said to that. :lmao:

SkierPete

We had a couple of really great moments with Donald this trip!

I'm sure once we have kids, it'll be easier to interact with the face characters. Kids seem to not have any problems with that, so they may take the pressure off us! Lol

Like I said, that Snow White was definitely very much in character, but it made it a little more awkward for us being just adults.

AlohaPolynesian

12-27-2009, 09:24 AM

tink's girls

12-27-2009, 07:04 PM

Sounds like you had a great trip and your pictures are beautiful! We saw Gary Sinese (not sure if I spelled that right) two years ago at the CP but would LOVE to see Steven Curtis Chapman. Can't wait to read more.

stacikristine

12-28-2009, 02:40 PM

Hey Kristy! I'm here--sorry it took me so long to sub and get caught up! It's been crazy... :upsidedow

WOW!!! What incredible updates! :thumbsup2 I absolutely love the pictures of all of the different Christmas decorations! I'm sorry it was so rainy on your first day, but the WL pictures were amazing! They totally made up for it. That, and your view of Illuminations and Wishes from your room! :cloud9:

Congrats on your first Rope Drop! Sorry you couldn't see the little show. You didn't really miss anything at Epcot--the characters just come out and wave. We were the same way about Soarin'--we loved it, but we didn't have to do it again during the trip. And the decorations at Epcot just look GORGEOUS! :goodvibes

That's too funny about Snow White. I feel the same way. I just feel silly to be so old and taking a picture with a Face Character. I think we only took 3 characters total during our whole trip.

I would have LOVED to have been at the CP with Steven Curtis Chapman!!!! Michael and I were both HUGE fans when we were little, and his Christmas album is still one of my favorites. :goodvibes I bet he did such a great job. All of the show just sounds fantastic! I can't wait to see it someday... The picture of the tree with SE is amazing. Tell your DH good job! :thumbsup2 It's just beautiful. And he did a great job on the Illum pictures!

What a wonderful start to your trip--and a great start to your TR!! :)

khertz

12-28-2009, 08:36 PM

Sorry I missed so many updates! I love Stitch, too!! During our CP our narrator was supposed to be Vanessa Williams who I love from Ugly Betty, but last minute was changed to Chita Rivera. I didn't know who she was but I guess she was/is a huge Broadway star. She was actually really good and her little speech at the end made me cry :( Can't wait for more!!

I'm glad that even though y'all wound up with a replacement narrator, that it was still a good one! It's such a beautiful story though, I bet it would be hard to not still be moved by it and all of the music even if the narrator isn't the greatest.

Sounds like you had a great trip and your pictures are beautiful! We saw Gary Sinese (not sure if I spelled that right) two years ago at the CP but would LOVE to see Steven Curtis Chapman. Can't wait to read more.

Thank you! DH has to take the credit for almost all of the pictures. He was quite the amateur photographer this trip, and I couldn't be more thankful for that! He is more than happy to see the shows & fireworks from behind the camera lens so that I can enjoy them in the moment and have the pictures for reminders later on.

I would have loved to see Gary Sinise! I was hoping either he or Neil Patrick Harris (or Marlee Matlin, I'd LOVE to see her!) would be narrating during our week so we could see one of them, but no luck. I guess it's better they didn't do it at all this year, because I'd be more disappointed if they were on the list but for dates I couldn't see them! :laughing:

Thanks for commenting. :goodvibes

Hey Kristy! I'm here--sorry it took me so long to sub and get caught up! It's been crazy... :upsidedow

WOW!!! What incredible updates! :thumbsup2 I absolutely love the pictures of all of the different Christmas decorations! I'm sorry it was so rainy on your first day, but the WL pictures were amazing! They totally made up for it. That, and your view of Illuminations and Wishes from your room! :cloud9:

Congrats on your first Rope Drop! Sorry you couldn't see the little show. You didn't really miss anything at Epcot--the characters just come out and wave. We were the same way about Soarin'--we loved it, but we didn't have to do it again during the trip. And the decorations at Epcot just look GORGEOUS! :goodvibes

That's too funny about Snow White. I feel the same way. I just feel silly to be so old and taking a picture with a Face Character. I think we only took 3 characters total during our whole trip.

I would have LOVED to have been at the CP with Steven Curtis Chapman!!!! Michael and I were both HUGE fans when we were little, and his Christmas album is still one of my favorites. :goodvibes I bet he did such a great job. All of the show just sounds fantastic! I can't wait to see it someday... The picture of the tree with SE is amazing. Tell your DH good job! :thumbsup2 It's just beautiful. And he did a great job on the Illum pictures!

What a wonderful start to your trip--and a great start to your TR!! :)

Yay, Staci! I understand, every once in awhile life has to take priority over the Dis, as sucky as that can be. :rotfl:

Seeing the WL definitely made up for the rain, and even for the fact that I missed seeing the GF that day. But I'm glad if there was a day it was going to rain ALL day that it was our arrival day and not a park day! :thumbsup2

Rope drop was fun! We saw DHS rope drop twice, but didn't make it in time for MK or AK, so I'd like to see those on our future trips. I've read they are both really great shows!

DH will be happy to read that you enjoyed his pictures. :thumbsup2 I think he had a lot of fun playing around with lenses and settings on the camera, so he didn't mind being our designated photographer. We took over 3,000 pictures in 10 days!! Crazy!!

Anyway, thanks for stopping in! :goodvibes

ladybugmom

12-28-2009, 10:29 PM

khertz

12-29-2009, 10:06 PM

Hi!! I just came across your TR and I'm sooo excited to read it! We are planning to go next year before Christmas and I'm researching as much as I can--can't wait to read more tips/experiences from you! Did you like the week that you went? How were the crowds? The weather? I have loved all of your pics--I love taking pics and took around 3,000 on our trip last May--what type of a lens were you talking about that your dh used for the night pics? (I have a Canon Rebel) I was so excited to see that Steven Curtis Chapman was your narrator at the CP! I have been a fan of his for years and have been to several of his concerts. Do you know if he narrates every year and if it's around the same time each year? Oh and BTW--my in-laws have a timeshare through Wyndham and stay at Bonnet Creek when they go to WDW. We prefer staying at the Poly b/c we have 2 young girls and being on the monorail is so convenient. But your resort looks beautiful!! Anywho, sorry for all of the questions--can't wait to read more!! :goodvibes

Thanks for commenting! You sound just like me last year, I was eating up every December TR I could find for information!

We absolutely loved the week we chose to visit. There were lots of people in the parks, but the wait times for rides weren't bad and fastpasses were easy to come by (except TSM, and occasionally Space Mtn). The weather, as you'll see as the TR progresses, was very up and down. We had rain a couple days, very cold weather about three days, some really beautiful days in the mid-70s that were the best, and some downright HOT days in the mid 80's! It can really go from one extreme to the other in no time at all.

I asked DH about the lens. We have a Canon Rebel XSi, and he said the lens is called the Nifty 50. He got it on amazon. I hope that helps, if I find out more info from him about it I'll let you know.

I think the list of celebrity narrators changes every year, but SCC is one of their more regular participants, so there's probably a good chance he'll be there next year. The list came out I want to say during the summer this year, so it gives you plenty of time to consider your options before you are tied down to a date. At least it did this year because the booking window was only 90 days. If it goes back to 180 days for CP package also, I don't know how that would work or how early the narrators would be determined.

We enjoyed staying offsite. It was not a hassle at all getting to and from the parking lots like I expected, and it was so close to everything! Although with young ones, I can see where staying close, especially at a monorail resort, would be more convenient.

I am more than willing to answer questions, so if you think of any more, fire away! :thumbsup2

ladybugmom

12-30-2009, 12:28 AM

Thanks for commenting! You sound just like me last year, I was eating up every December TR I could find for information!

We absolutely loved the week we chose to visit. There were lots of people in the parks, but the wait times for rides weren't bad and fastpasses were easy to come by (except TSM, and occasionally Space Mtn). The weather, as you'll see as the TR progresses, was very up and down. We had rain a couple days, very cold weather about three days, some really beautiful days in the mid-70s that were the best, and some downright HOT days in the mid 80's! It can really go from one extreme to the other in no time at all.

I asked DH about the lens. We have a Canon Rebel XSi, and he said the lens is called the Nifty 50. He got it on amazon. I hope that helps, if I find out more info from him about it I'll let you know.

I think the list of celebrity narrators changes every year, but SCC is one of their more regular participants, so there's probably a good chance he'll be there next year. The list came out I want to say during the summer this year, so it gives you plenty of time to consider your options before you are tied down to a date. At least it did this year because the booking window was only 90 days. If it goes back to 180 days for CP package also, I don't know how that would work or how early the narrators would be determined.

We enjoyed staying offsite. It was not a hassle at all getting to and from the parking lots like I expected, and it was so close to everything! Although with young ones, I can see where staying close, especially at a monorail resort, would be more convenient.

I am more than willing to answer questions, so if you think of any more, fire away! :thumbsup2

Exactly!! I'm hunting down every December TR that I can and subscribing!! :thumbsup2 Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of my questions!! It is sooo helpful in planning for next year--I really appreciate it!! I will definitely let you know if I think of anymore questions! And thanks for letting me know about the lens!! :goodvibes

khertz

12-30-2009, 11:44 AM

Exactly!! I'm hunting down every December TR that I can and subscribing!! :thumbsup2 Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of my questions!! It is sooo helpful in planning for next year--I really appreciate it!! I will definitely let you know if I think of anymore questions! And thanks for letting me know about the lens!! :goodvibes

No problem!! :santa:

khertz

12-30-2009, 12:31 PM

DAY 3: Sunday December 6th

DH and I got up very early on Sunday morning for the dreaded Owner's Update that is one of the downfalls of staying at our timeshare. In Las Vegas, they pressured us into spending another huge amount of money, in Hawaii we avoided it completely, but this time we decided to do it because they would give us $100 in Disney Dollars as compensation. We had to make a pact before heading in that we were going to stay strong and not let them bully us into paying any more money for upgrades. It turned out to be easier than we thought because what they were offering us wasn't something we needed or could ever possibly use. We sat and talked with someone for awhile, then he took us to view their new suites to get some feedback. After that, we got the high pressure stuff from someone called an "exit manager," then we got our Disney Dollars and went back to our room to collect the parents. Not bad!

When we got back up to the room, we ate some breakfast while the parents finished getting ready, then we jumped in the car and headed to our first morning at Universal Studios! We didn't have a set plan for this day, except that we wanted to go to the Studios in the morning to ride the new roller coaster, the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. After parking in the garage and taking the long walk to the entrance of City Walk, it came time to decide which direction to take: the one leading to Universal Studios or the one to Islands of Adventure. And that's when we ran into it...our very first BRAZILIAN TOUR GROUP! :scared1:

They were taking up a huge part of the walkway and starting to chant, so we slowed our pace to see which way they were going. 75% of the group turned towards Universal Studios, so we hurried away in the opposite direction. Islands of Adventure for us today!

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Our first ride of the morning was our favorite (well, DH's & my favorite at least) ride, The Incredible Hulk Coaster!

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DH and I got ourselves sufficiently rattled by sitting in the very last seat, which is definitely the way to experience it most intensely! The takeoff is amazing, even more so than Rock'n'Roller Coaster (ahh forgive me for saying that!) because not only does it take your breath away, it sends you right into a crazy drop before you can even catch your breath!

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After collecting our belongings from the locker (and taking an Excedrin...when I said it rattled me around, I was being literal!), we took off to enjoy the rest of Marvel Super Hero Island.

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Up next, we got our assignment from Jonah Jameson from the Daily Bugle, but ended up having to be rescued from deranged villains by Spider-Man!

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As much as I love the coasters, I think The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is one of, if not THE, best attraction at Universal Orlando. The 3-D effects and movement of the car is astonishing in how real it all feels! You literally feel like you're falling from the top of a 30 story building and about to hit the ground! Definitely the best and most real feeling motion simulator ride ever.

After our exciting adventure with Spider-Man, we made our way to Toon Lagoon.

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It wasn't nearly as cold as it had been the day before at Epcot, but it was still pretty chilly, and we knew some warmer days were coming later in the week. So since all the rides in Toon Lagoon are water rides, we skipped them today, but did get some pictures as we walked through.

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This one we took for my sister Katie who was really bummed she couldn't come on the trip with us. We definitely did miss having her around on the trip!

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After Toon Lagoon, our next stop was Jurassic Park, my favorite Island at IoA! Even though there's really only 1 ride in this area, the theming is incredible! I love the Jurassic Park theme music and aside from there not being any dinosaurs roaming around, you feel like you are really IN Jurassic Park. Walking through here, I almost forget that I'm in a theme park with other very different themed areas surrounding me.

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See?! Great theming!!

Continued in next post...

khertz

12-30-2009, 01:03 PM

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While walking through Jurassic Park, we came across some construction for...

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I'm SO EXCITED about this addition to the park!! DH and I are big Harry Potter fans, so we're both ready to come back in a few years when this is all done and check it out. Unfortunately it'll be awhile before we get to experience it, but at least by that time, the popularity will hopefully have died down.

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HOGWARTS! I think this is all going to be so amazing when it's finally completed!

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Our next ride was another good one, the Dueling Dragons! Unfortunately, we have no pictures of this because there was nothing to take pictures of! They have removed the two giant dragons, presumably to work into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The entrance was a little roped area that led us through the construction walls around Hogwarts.

We stopped to put all of our stuff in lockers, and for some reason, this one time DH decided we needed two lockers because his hat and sunglasses wouldn't fit in with our bags. Mistake #1. The 6 of us made our way up to the ride and got on the Ice coaster first! We only had to wait a few minutes before we were on our dragon and flying through the air!

When our first ride was finished, me, DH, my mom, and my MIL decided we wanted to ride again on the Fire coaster, but the dads wanted to sit out. We got back in line expecting not to have to wait too long because we walked up just as a coaster was leaving and we were next in line. Mistake #2. After standing there a few minutes, they decided to add another coaster, which add an extraordinary amount of time to our wait, as we then had to wait while they sent an empty coaster around to test it. Not getting out of line? Mistake #3! Why? Because we were out of time on our lockers by this time, and all the women had been the fingerprint providers, so my dad and FIL couldn't even go get the stuff out of the lockers!

We took our ride on Fire, which was thrilling, but we were all grousing about the locker situation as we left the ride to find my dad and FIL. Of course, there were NO locker attendants in sight, so DH and I had to pay $6 for our TWO lockers, and everyone else had to pay $3 for theirs. At this point, I'll admit, I went off on DH. Not only because we had gotten 2 lockers, but also because the touch screens take forever to navigate through because you have to hit the buttons multiple times. DH finally got into our locker, cursed about paying the money, then exited to let his parents retrieve their stuff instead of just getting our stuff out! I was pretty annoyed at that point, and really let it get to me.

We decided we were hungry, so we grabbed some burgers and fries at a little counter service place, Fire Eaters Cafe. By the end of lunch, DH & I weren't at each others throats anymore. Lack of food in my stomach and riding so many coasters in a row probably didn't help in such an annoying situation! So filling it up definitely helped.

Next, we made our way to the Lost Continent.

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Our first stop was to the Mystic Fountain, where my mom tried to engage it in banter, but the voice person wasn't very into his job today. It mostly made comments about the Drew Brees jersey she was wearing, and kept calling her "Number 9."

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We decided to try and catch the next show of Poseidon's Fury.

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My dad was still drinking his beer from lunch, so he decided to wait outside while we headed in.

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I made DH take a picture of the big foot because I'm a HUGE fan of the show LOST and it reminded me of the 4-toed foot statue. :goodvibes

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We made it all the way to the front of the line, and were told we had just missed the show, and the next one would be in 20 minutes! :eek: Definitely didn't feel like waiting that long for an attraction that isn't all that great. So we headed back out to collect my dad and move on to Seuss Landing.

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The line for the High In the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride was too long, so we skipped it. My mom wanted to ride the Carou-Seuss-el, so her and my MIL got on while we wandered around to take some pictures.

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After two cycles on the carousel, the ride stopped! It was pretty weird, and it didn't seem like they were going to start up again soon. So they got off, and we all went to get in line for The Cat In the Hat.

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While in line, my mom made friends with the guy behind us in line, who commented on all of our Saints gear. Turns out he was a Redskins fan, and that's who the Saints were playing that day! We all talked sports, Disney planning, and found out that his family was going to be at the MVMCP the same night we were! It helped pass the time in line, and we were soon spinning through The Cat in the Hat.

Continued in next post...

khertz

12-30-2009, 01:11 PM

The rest of our Seuss Landing pictures...

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And to think that I saw it on Mulberry St!

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The people from Green Eggs & Ham

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After finishing up in Seuss Landing, we decided we were done at Islands of Adventure for the day, and headed across City Walk for an afternoon at Universal Studios!

UP NEXT: Universal Studios

exwdwcm

12-30-2009, 03:49 PM

I am a little late to the party, but found you now! reading through everything now and can't wait to hear how your adventure went!! :thumbsup2

exwdwcm

12-31-2009, 09:58 AM

wow, your timeshare is pretty amazing- nice rooms and facility and the view on the balcony- wowza!!! did you guys request a certain room or do many of them have that view? DH is seriously considering DVC now, but not sure any DVC has views that good. :goodvibes

looks like a good time was had by all so far. Love the Seuss landing pics. Can't wait to see how the HP stuff is when it opens- should be cool!

khertz

12-31-2009, 10:28 AM

I am a little late to the party, but found you now! reading through everything now and can't wait to hear how your adventure went!! :thumbsup2

wow, your timeshare is pretty amazing- nice rooms and facility and the view on the balcony- wowza!!! did you guys request a certain room or do many of them have that view? DH is seriously considering DVC now, but not sure any DVC has views that good. :goodvibes

looks like a good time was had by all so far. Love the Seuss landing pics. Can't wait to see how the HP stuff is when it opens- should be cool!

Thanks for joining in, Michelle!

To get that view, we did have to request fireworks view room. I don't know exactly how many there are that offer that, but we had no problems getting it. We called about 3 weeks before check-in (they had told us to call as early as 1 month before), and put the request on our reservation. When we went to see if our unit was ready, we were told they could get us in one right away, but it wouldn't have fireworks view, or we could wait and get the fireworks. Luckily, we chose to wait!

The great thing about Wyndham is that it has timeshares all over the country where you can stay, and once you pay it off, it's yours forever to will to your children or whatever you want to do with it. It's a sister resort of RCI, which has made a deal with DVC where you can actually use your points to stay at DVC resorts! I think that's a bit harder to get into, but you can bet on our next trip, I'll give it a try! Plus, we found staying offsite to be easy. As long as you can do without the onsite perks like EMH, which we did easily by going at a time when wait times were minimal and staying longer than a week, and skipping on the dining plan, it's very doable. The resort is practically ON Disney property, so with our rental van we made it to and from the parks in no time at all, and it was nothing to hop from one park to the next. No waiting for a bus! We definitely enjoyed it a lot more than I thought we would.

khertz

01-04-2010, 09:39 PM

When I left off, we were heading across City Walk to Universal Studios after a morning conquering most of the dry parts of Islands of Adventure!

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The time stamp on our pictures shows we went through the gates at Universal at 1:20 pm. Since we knew the line for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit would be crazy so late in the day, we knew we'd have to save it for another day. As we walked up the street taking pictures, we figured we'd see what the wait was like at The Mummy.

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Rip Ride Rockit

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Snoopy & Woodstock balloon from the Macy's Holiday Parade

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The Christmas tree. Pretty, but not nearly as impressive as the Disney Christmas trees!

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The balloons for the Holiday Parade were up everywhere! Very cool to see, as I wasn't expecting that at all. Here's a few more we saw while still on our way to The Mummy.

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A Garfield one in front of our destination, The Mummy!

After storing our stuff in the lockers, we jumped in line and only had about a 10 minute wait. This is one of my favorite rides in Universal, so I was very excited! On our honeymoon, DH and I had skipped this ride thinking it wouldn't be that great until we were leaving the park for the last time and decided to ride it, and we were blown away! We were very disappointed that we'd been missing out on such a great roller coaster that entire time. This time, we knew better.

SUCH an intense ride, despite the fact that it slows at some points, and even stops. And it doesn't even go upside down! But it is still one of the best coasters for sure.

After catching our breath and collecting our stuff from the lockers, we made our way down to the San Francisco area of the park to check out Disaster!

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This ride has changed so much in the years since I can remember going to Universal, and I think now it is the funniest I've ever seen. The guy picking "extras" for the disaster movie they were shooting was just hysterical. He embarrassed some poor guy by making him show everyone his "guns." When they spliced the scenes together at the end, it had us in stitches, especially because the "movie" starred The Rock! Oh man, so funny!

We continued barreling through the park with our next destination in mind, Jaws.

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I think they have updated this ride and added more splashes and possibly even more of the shark popping up out of the water? We all thought it seemed like the "scary" elements had been beefed up. But maybe we just hadn't rode in awhile. Still such a cheesy ride, but a must-do. I bet this one will be getting the boot soon to make way for something more updated.

As we continued making our way through the park, we could see up ahead an attraction that was new to all 6 of us: The Simpsons Ride!

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Map of Krustyland

While standing in line, which was about a 15 minute wait, we were treated to some VERY funny clips of The Simpsons to keep us entertained while we waited. Actually, I might have been the only one paying attention because every time I laughed, everyone else in our group looked at me funny.

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The preshow was funny too! After a few minutes, we boarded our ride vehicle, and when the screen opened, we ended up being in the lowest level which I think is closest to the screen. The combination of being close to the screen, being thrown around and feeling like we were REALLY on a roller coaster after going on so many real coasters had my stomach feeling ALL KINDS of funny when we came off. It was a great ride, so realistic and so much smoother than Back to the Future had been. But not good on the belly.

When we exited the ride, we were pretty close to Men In Black, but I wasn't the only one not feeling too hot evidently as everyone turned down riding another ride that would spin us around. We decided to take a little break and sit for a few minutes to let our stomachs settle. My dad decided to get a beer and a soft pretzel, and the pretzels were buy one get one half off, so he got the second that me and DH split while sitting.

When we finally got up and moving again, we started heading towards the exit as it was getting close to 4 pm and we had to get to out of the park before the 5:30 parade because we had to get to church for 6 and we didn't want to get stuck by the parade. At the front of the park, we saw Shrek 4-D didn't have much of a wait, so we decided to make that our last attraction of the day.

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We went right into the preshow area, and before long, we were putting on our 3-D glasses and heading into the theater! I absolutely love Shrek & Shrek 2, I think they are really hysterical movies, and this attraction is no exception! The only bad thing was that we were at the far left end of our row, and my seat wasn't always working. There were a few times that I could see Dustin's mom next to me moving with the shots on the screen, and my seat wasn't doing anything. But still a must do, for sure.

We leisurely made our way to the front of the park and got some pictures of the gigantic snowmen up front.

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We headed into City Walk, and as we were passing the Nascar Grille, we heard the Saints game playing over the speakers on the porch! We had been keeping up with the game all day on DH's iPhone, and by this time, they were into overtime. My mom got VERY excited when she heard the broadcast and ran up onto the porch of the restaurant and pressed her face against the glass to watch the game on the screens inside. It was so funny when the waiter standing inside turned around and saw her standing there with her face up against the window and a grin on her face. He nicely invited us all in to watch the game at one of the booths, because they actually weren't busy at all. After watching the Saints dominate overtime and go to 12-0!

After all that excitement, we finally got ourselves back to the car to head to 6 pm mass at Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine. We dropped DH's parents off at the nearby outlet mall to shop while the 4 of us went to church. It was so hard to stay awake, I'll admit. We were exhausted, and it had been a long day. After church, we went to pick up Kathy & Jamie and grabbed some dinner at the outlet mall's food court before heading back to Bonnet Creek for the night.

We had an early morning coming up, so we all got to bed early, but only after enjoying an encore presentation of simultaneous IllumiNations and Holiday Wishes from the balcony! Never got enough of that, for sure. But Monday morning meant Rope Drop at DHS!!

UP NEXT: Did we make it in time for Rope Drop & get to ride TSM??

ladybugmom

01-04-2010, 10:43 PM

WOW!! Great Universal updates!! :goodvibes I haven't been there since '94 and BOY has it changed--I barely recognize it!

skier_pete

01-05-2010, 07:57 AM

Ahhh..the halcyon days of an undefeated Saints team...it seems like so long ago.

Boy, am I the only one that thinks "Rip, Ride, Rockit" just completely ruins the theming at Universal Studios? It's supposed to look like a Studio Back-lot and instead now looks like an amusement park. It just looks so ridiculous in those pictures.

It sounds like you had fun at Universal, but doing both parks in one day seems like too much! I would love to try the Simpsons Ride, as I've been a huge fan since the beginning. (Though I've finally given up on watching the show this season, as it is just embarrassingly bad now.)

It's funny, I am a huge movie fan, and have loved much of Universal in the past, but don't feel in a hurry to get back. DD was recently watching Expedition Everest on Youtube (she's suddenly become obsessed with Yetis), and we watched the Jaws ride too. She wanted to watch it several times, but watched it through her fingers. She says she doesn't want to go on it, but I try to explain to her "That's not Disney, we're not going there."

We went on the Jaws ride shortly after it opened in 1997...at the time it was the most expensive theme park ride ever, but was always kind of lame right from the beginning...I don't know with the original cost if they will change that out anytime soon. If people are riding it, they'll probably keep it around.

SkierPete

praisehisname

01-06-2010, 07:28 AM

Great Universal update! Looks like you had a fun, but exhausting, day!

exwdwcm

01-06-2010, 01:59 PM

great update. love the universal stuff as we don't ever go over there. We have tended to just stick to WDW and even then in 10 days, we don't see it all. We always talk about doing universal and some how, it gets thrown off the schedule. Once HP opens, i am sure we will go back. The last time i went was for a private party at Universal for a tradeshow for work in Orlando. That was a lot of fun. I haven't been since and never done IOA. hopefully we can start fitting a day at universal in as our son gets older.

and i've been to mass there too- lovely church. not sure how you did mass after such a long day. you guys must have been so exhausted!!!

okay, and sorry for the saints. but GO COWBOYS! ;)

khertz

01-06-2010, 08:49 PM

WOW!! Great Universal updates!! :goodvibes I haven't been there since '94 and BOY has it changed--I barely recognize it!

The first year I went was in '94, and really, so much has changed since then! It has definitely improved, and IOA is amazing! If only they had fastpasses, it would be perfection. But when you go at a slow time of year, US/IOA is usually dead compared to Disney.

Ahhh..the halcyon days of an undefeated Saints team...it seems like so long ago.

Boy, am I the only one that thinks "Rip, Ride, Rockit" just completely ruins the theming at Universal Studios? It's supposed to look like a Studio Back-lot and instead now looks like an amusement park. It just looks so ridiculous in those pictures.

It sounds like you had fun at Universal, but doing both parks in one day seems like too much! I would love to try the Simpsons Ride, as I've been a huge fan since the beginning. (Though I've finally given up on watching the show this season, as it is just embarrassingly bad now.)

It's funny, I am a huge movie fan, and have loved much of Universal in the past, but don't feel in a hurry to get back. DD was recently watching Expedition Everest on Youtube (she's suddenly become obsessed with Yetis), and we watched the Jaws ride too. She wanted to watch it several times, but watched it through her fingers. She says she doesn't want to go on it, but I try to explain to her "That's not Disney, we're not going there."

We went on the Jaws ride shortly after it opened in 1997...at the time it was the most expensive theme park ride ever, but was always kind of lame right from the beginning...I don't know with the original cost if they will change that out anytime soon. If people are riding it, they'll probably keep it around.

SkierPete

Aw, I know, those were the good ole' days! I have to say though, being a Saints fan has never been as fun or exciting as this year, despite their 3 losses at the end!

I agree with the sentiment on RRR. And it ended up not being that great of a ride anyway. :confused3 Definitely didn't live up to the hype!

It wasn't bad doing both in one day. Park hopping is a lot easier than at Disney! :thumbsup2 We still had a lot of things we skipped, so plenty to keep us busy on our other Universal days.

And the Simpsons is a great ride. It the preshow felt like classic Simpsons to me, not the crazy stuff they have come up with recently. So you'll probably enjoy it. :goodvibes

Great Universal update! Looks like you had a fun, but exhausting, day!

You are so right! Most of our days on vacation I could say were fun but EXHAUSTING! We kept ourselves busy for the entire 10 days for sure. :thumbsup2

great update. love the universal stuff as we don't ever go over there. We have tended to just stick to WDW and even then in 10 days, we don't see it all. We always talk about doing universal and some how, it gets thrown off the schedule. Once HP opens, i am sure we will go back. The last time i went was for a private party at Universal for a tradeshow for work in Orlando. That was a lot of fun. I haven't been since and never done IOA. hopefully we can start fitting a day at universal in as our son gets older.

and i've been to mass there too- lovely church. not sure how you did mass after such a long day. you guys must have been so exhausted!!!

okay, and sorry for the saints. but GO COWBOYS! ;)

We could never do Disney and NOT do Universal, at least not now while we have no kids. It's DH's favorite parks, and I do enjoy having more thrill rides to ride than in Disney. I prefer Disney for the magical stuff & warm fuzzies it produces. :goodvibes We thought about booking our honeymoon just Disney but the more we talked about it, we realized we just couldn't do it and added two days at US. I'm SO excited for the HP stuff to open though it'll probably be awhile before we get to enjoy it!

I'm not sure how we did mass either without falling asleep, but we did it two more times on this vacation and somehow we managed! Did you see the nativity scene? Beautiful!

Haha I'm still a Saints girl!! WHO DAT! :thumbsup2 But I won't fault you for being a Cowboys fan. :rotfl:

stacikristine

01-07-2010, 11:50 AM

khertz

01-09-2010, 07:56 PM

Oh my goodness!! Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure look SOOOO fun! :thumbsup2 Michael and I are definitely visiting them the next time we're in Orlando! Thanks so much for sharing all the pictures. My parents went to the one in CA and really didn't like it at all, so I wasn't expecting much from the one in FL. But I was so wrong--it looks great!

How neat that all of the balloons were still up! And I loved all of the Christmas decorations in the Dr. Seuss place. It looks like you all got a ton done--and still got to bed at a decent hour!

Can't wait to read more!

If you like thrill rides, which Dustin & I definitely do, you'll love it. It's definitely something to try before you have kids because there aren't too many kid rides, especially at IoA. Plus, I LOVE the ease of parkhopping between the two parks. So easy! Staying onsite for the unlimited express pass is great too, although if you go at a slow time, you don't even really need that. Almost everything had waits of 10 minutes or less! With those kind of waits, it was easy to do a lot in a short span of time. Plus, it kept us away from all the parade taping MADNESS over in Disney! :rotfl:

disneybarbie

01-10-2010, 10:34 AM

AlohaPolynesian

01-10-2010, 01:09 PM

Cool pictures from Universal! I've only been there once to the side with Jaws in it I think. And I was with a friend who doesn't like rides and one that does so we really didn't get to do too many big ones! I'm not a Harry Potter fan but that looks like it will be a really cool addition to the park. My sister that hates Disney but loves Harry would like that....maybe I can convince her to ask the parents to take us to Florida now LOL!

Queenofallthings

01-10-2010, 02:29 PM

Fantastic TR!! I love TR's with lots of pictures and your pics are great!!

We haven't been to IoA and Universal since 2002, The Mummy wasn't there when we last visited....will have to plan to do that on a future trip.

Can't wait for morepopcorn::

khertz

01-10-2010, 08:40 PM

Subscribing! popcorn::

I think we were on the same KTTK tour on Sunday 13th?! I noticed you and DH had DIS green mickey tags on your bags.. but there was so much to take in on the tour, I didn't get a chance to say hi!!

Emma princess: x

Thanks for joining in! I do recognize you from the tour! I guess I didn't notice your LGMH or I probably would have said hello. Although you are right, it was a pretty overwhelming day with so much going on. Oh well, nice to meet you now! :goodvibes But wasn't it a great tour?! I just loved it. DH and I were so glad we did it!

Cool pictures from Universal! I've only been there once to the side with Jaws in it I think. And I was with a friend who doesn't like rides and one that does so we really didn't get to do too many big ones! I'm not a Harry Potter fan but that looks like it will be a really cool addition to the park. My sister that hates Disney but loves Harry would like that....maybe I can convince her to ask the parents to take us to Florida now LOL!

If she likes HP, she'll definitely want to go to Fl to see this! I haven't talked to a single Harry Potter fan that isn't excited about this. Unfortunately, it'll be a long while before we get to see it, but at least by then it will be complete, and hopefully the "newness" will have worn off so it won't be crazy!

Fantastic TR!! I love TR's with lots of pictures and your pics are great!!

We haven't been to IoA and Universal since 2002, The Mummy wasn't there when we last visited....will have to plan to do that on a future trip.

Can't wait for morepopcorn::

Thanks for joining in! I love TRs with lots of pictures too, which is why I pestered DH for 10 days saying, "Take a picture of that!!" :lmao:

Definitely plan on doing Mummy, it's AMAZING! My favorite ride at Universal Studios, hands down.

I'm worn out from working all weekend, but tomorrow, I plan to check out your January TR! :goodvibes

exwdwcm

01-13-2010, 01:54 PM

i think you have me convinced to give Universal a try again- was there a lot of Kid friendly stuff too? I do love thrill rides, but DH can take them or leave them (he gets sick on some motion stuff).

khertz

01-13-2010, 07:47 PM

i think you have me convinced to give Universal a try again- was there a lot of Kid friendly stuff too? I do love thrill rides, but DH can take them or leave them (he gets sick on some motion stuff).

They have a few things, but of course not near as much as Disney. At Universal, there's E.T., a kid coaster similar to the Barnstormer with Woody Woodpecker, Jimmy Neutron, and some shows (Barney, Shrek 4-d, and an Animal Actors show that's VERY cute!). At IoA they have all of Seuss landing that's kid friendly, and hang glider type ride in Jurassic Park, plus the Sinbad show is okay, but has some bangs and stuff. Their website has a lot of info on their rides and shows (universalorlando.com). If you or your DH isn't crazy about riding every thrill ride/attraction, you could probably do everything you wanted to do at both parks in 1 day.

khertz

01-15-2010, 03:11 PM

DAY 4: Monday December 7th

Monday morning was a VERY early morning for us! Why? Because we were heading to DHS for rope drop to get our first ride on Toy Story Mania! This was the one morning that I was VERY insistent that everyone be ready on time to get to the park early, and it worked. We made it to the parking lot around 7:45 and the AAA parking was pretty close to the entrance. Not as close as we had found it to be at Epcot, but it still was a nice perk.

Soon enough, we were passing the huge Christmas tree just outside of the entrance.

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We were at the turnstiles for 8 am sharp, and we were the first ones to line up at our turnstile!

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We stood there at the turnstile for about 30 minutes, and the crowds quickly started building. But we had an unobstructed view of the park pretty much empty. Only some CMs still getting the park ready for visitors, and some families entering for an early morning character breakfast.

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After a few minutes, the crew from the American Idol attraction came out and started trying to get the crowd pumped up about the show, and letting people audition.

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I probably don't need to say that none of us tried out. lol None of us are singers!

At around 8:30, the green lights lit up on the turnstiles and we were putting our park tickets through! :woohoo: DH and I went through first and immediately hurried up to the rope. I told him to stay to the right since that was what I had read on the DIS, but the crowd formed all the way up the sidewalks on either side, so we ended up a few feet away from the curb. It felt like forever that we were waiting there! But there were a couple of nice CMs standing there to "entertain" us until the rope drop show.

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The girl CM could see how excited I was (maybe the bouncing up & down gave me away??), and she asked if I was ready to run. I said something about not having my running shoes on this morning (it was the only day all trip that I wore flip flops), and she told me I should kick my flip flops off and come back for them after I rode TSM! lol

We snapped a few pictures of the empty street while we waited.

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A few more CMs came out to tell us some corny jokes and keep us from getting restless, I guess. Right before 9, this came around the corner!

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The opening show was VERY cute! I loved the little nerdy guy, but I forget his name...

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After yelling our "line" for the camera ("Hollywood, Here We Come!"), the CM's dropped the rope and started leading the mass of people all towards Pixar Place for Toy Story Mania! It was kind of funny because I happened to glance to my right and saw one guy go tearing down Sunset Blvd towards ToT and RnRC only to realize very suddenly that NO ONE was following him!

DH and I stayed as close behind the CM and as close to the right as we could. When we approached the ride, something amazing happened...EVERYONE to the right of us at the front of the group split off to get FastPasses! And just like that, DH and I were FIRST in line for Toy Story Mania!! In all the craziness, we had put our camera away, and our parents fell behind. My DMIL managed to get a few shots of DH and I in line...I was so excited!

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Since we were first, we of course had to go ALL the way down to the last car. So we weren't the first ones on the games, but I still consider us first. haha

You can barely see us in this one, but this is when we were in our car and heading out to the games!

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DH and I LOVED this ride! At first, we were getting a little too ahead of ourselves, and not releasing the string all the way back into the shooter. But once we got the hang of it, we had an absolute blast playing all the games! Buying the game for the Wii helped and hurt. It helped in that we knew what to expect from the games. But it also gives away all of the "secrets" of how to score more points with not as much time to complete the objectives. I spent so much durn time trying to do things that would open up more points that I ended up not scoring as much! Oh well, it was still insanely fun and worth getting to the park over an hour before opening!!

After waiting, Dustin took everyone's park tickets and went to get us some FPs for later. I think the time on them was around 1 or 2 pm by that point already! While he got FPs, I took some time to get pictures of Pixar Place since the rush to get to the ride had left us a little worried about keeping the camera out. lol

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Continued in next post...

khertz

01-15-2010, 03:38 PM

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A Green Army Man keeping everyone in line!

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My mom had her camera out while we were in line the first time, and got a few pictures of the queue and Mr. Potato Head.

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I love how the CM sees her taking a picture & is waving!

So with FastPasses in hand for later, we headed off in the direction of our two favorite rides, Tower of Terror & Rock'n'Roller Coaster! First up, we decided we needed some speed, so we went to RnRC first. I was so very excited to ride this again since it's one of my favorite Disney rides, and it was closed in '07 for our honeymoon.

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This ride is so amazing. The takeoff always gets me, even when I think I'm ready for it! And it doesn't hurt to be jamming to some of my favorite songs while being flipped upside down and all around either. I hope they never change this from an Aerosmith ride!! I get scared every time I read the rumors.

After getting our bearings, we headed over to Tower of Terror.

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I love the interior of this ride, everything looks so spooky & authentic! Disney really knows how to theme a queue that's for sure.

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This picture doesn't even do this guy justice, because he looked way creepier in person! Lol My mom asked if she could take his picture, and he said, "Suuuure..." in a very creepy voice, put on his best creepy smile, and leaned forward very...creepily! lol Really no other way to describe him!

After nearly plummeting to our death (a few times!), we stumbled off of ToT on shaky knees. :laughing: I still love that ride, but going on it so many times, I think it loses some of the surprise of the drop. It doesn't make my stomach feel like I left it at the top of the elevator shaft anymore. Some people might consider that a good thing, but I love that feeling! It's still fun though, and it doesn't stop me from riding multiple times a visit.

By then, it was 10 am and we had already done all three of the headliners! The temperature was also starting to warm up, so my mom and I went back to the car to change (I traded my long sleeves for a t-shirt), while everyone else stayed inside the park and shopped.

So far, our morning was going more smoothly than we could have imagined! Did it stay that way? Stay tuned to find out. :thumbsup2

Queenofallthings

01-15-2010, 06:53 PM

ladybugmom

01-15-2010, 10:50 PM

How cool that you were the very first people to ride TSM!!! :thumbsup2 This is something we missed on our last trip but is a "must-do" this May!! Now TOT is a different story--no one in my family has any interest in this ride!! :scared1:

DisneysRedhead

01-16-2010, 09:53 AM

I loved TSM so much we ended up doing it twice too! I had no idea there was a Wii game for it! I might have to look into that.

khertz

01-16-2010, 02:30 PM

:woohoo: For being first on TSM...that is so neat!!! We usually send my BIL to get us Fastpasses while the rest of us head to ToT and RnRC...he will not ride ToT so we do that until he gets back then we all head to the coaster.

I love that part of the park...the toys all remind me of being a kid...especially the barrel of monkey's.

We will have to run and get our own FP's this time since BIL won't be with us:confused:

Loved the pictures from the turnstiles....I love how the parks look empty....they're so peaceful.

DH and I were SO excited! It was probably our most talked about moment when we came back from the trip. The whole area of Pixar Place was new to all 6 of us. It was so bright and colorful! And every time we went through the TSM queue, we noticed something different and cute.

How cool that you were the very first people to ride TSM!!! :thumbsup2 This is something we missed on our last trip but is a "must-do" this May!! Now TOT is a different story--no one in my family has any interest in this ride!! :scared1:

ToT is a LOT of fun! I rode for the first time at 9 years old and my sister rode for the first time at 6. The first time it's pretty scary, but after that, it's just FUN! Give it a try!! :goodvibes

TSM is definitely a must-do! It's crazy though, so definitely go with a game plan. :thumbsup2

I loved TSM so much we ended up doing it twice too! I had no idea there was a Wii game for it! I might have to look into that.

The Wii game is great! It's all of the games from the ride, plus more. There are about 5 games for each game on the ride (5 alien/Buzz games, 5 Woody/Jessie games, 5 army men games, etc). But be prepared for your arm to be VERY sore afterwards!!

disneybarbie

01-16-2010, 04:40 PM

Thanks for joining in! I do recognize you from the tour! I guess I didn't notice your LGMH or I probably would have said hello. Although you are right, it was a pretty overwhelming day with so much going on. Oh well, nice to meet you now! :goodvibes But wasn't it a great tour?! I just loved it. DH and I were so glad we did it!

We lovedthe tour too.. I was a little worried before that it might 'ruin' the magic? but it just added to my appreciation of Disney and all the cast members at WDW!! I want to do it again and take a list of questions to ask.. I just couldn't think of anything when our tour guide asked for questions!! :rotfl: I just got to the KTTK tour on our TR.. brough back lots of fun memories.. like when we saw Dr Facilier from Princess & the Frog!

Looking forward to more updates.. I did Universal parks for the first time in years last summer, they do have some great attractions.. the parks just lack that 'Disney touch' ;)

Emma princess: x

ps - my DF is currently watching the Saints game on tv.. I think you guys are New Orleans fans too?!

khertz

01-17-2010, 04:00 PM

We lovedthe tour too.. I was a little worried before that it might 'ruin' the magic? but it just added to my appreciation of Disney and all the cast members at WDW!! I want to do it again and take a list of questions to ask.. I just couldn't think of anything when our tour guide asked for questions!! :rotfl: I just got to the KTTK tour on our TR.. brough back lots of fun memories.. like when we saw Dr Facilier from Princess & the Frog!

Looking forward to more updates.. I did Universal parks for the first time in years last summer, they do have some great attractions.. the parks just lack that 'Disney touch' ;)

Emma princess: x

ps - my DF is currently watching the Saints game on tv.. I think you guys are New Orleans fans too?!

I agree with you on Universal for sure. I like the parks well enough, but we usually do them first, to end on the Disney magic side of our vacation. On our honeymoon, US was an afterthought, and it just wasn't the same leaving Disney to go to Universal for two days. This time, since we'd be there so long, we decided to spread them out throughout the trip, which worked out great for us as well. But Disney will always be superior for me in experience alone!

We are native New Orleanians, so we have been Saints fans for as long as I can remember!! It was crazy seeing so many people wearing Saints gear in the parks because honestly, they haven't been very good until the past few years, so it wasn't something we are used to seeing! :rotfl: Last night's game was a great one! Hopefully they play like that again next weekend against the Vikings. :thumbsup2

khertz

01-20-2010, 03:07 PM

When I left off, we had just spent the first hour of park time at DHS riding Toy Story Mania, grabbing FPs for later, then riding Rock'n'Roller Coaster & Tower of Terror with no wait!

When the group got back together, we quickly put our heads together for form a loose plan for the rest of the day. First up, we all wanted to do The Great Movie Ride, which had a 10 minute wait posted, but wasn't really even that long at all. Somehow, not one of us took pictures of this ride, which is just crazy to me! At least not the outside, which I love because it's the "landmark" of DHS to me (even though, yes, I DO like the gigantic hat also!!).

Luckily, to save me from being a really horrible TR-writer who actually did something at Disney and didn't take a picture of it, my mom did get this shot from inside the ride:

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Coincidentally, this is my favorite part of the ride anyway, The Wizard of Oz! Our ride host/guide/whatever was a little lackluster, but we enjoyed the ride anyway. We had the cowboy "villain," which was different as I always remember getting the gangster, but the part was played by a girl, so not quite as convincing. :rotfl:

After our ride through the movies, we stopped to try and decide on a plan for the day. The shows were what was giving us the most trouble, because they all had only a couple of times during the day that they were performing. Priority was Lights Motors Action since my in-laws had never seen this one, and it's such a cool show! They also wanted to see Indiana Jones, but we decided it would have to wait until our next DHS day because there was just no way of fitting it in with the show times they had that day. Our other problem was the reservation I had made for noon at Sci-Fi. We couldn't decide if we wanted to keep it or not because we all remembered how long we had been at Biergarten and how much park time we had wasted on a sit down meal, and we were worried we wouldn't make it to the 1:20 pm LMA show.

So since it was about 11 am by this time, we decided to walk over and see if they would be able to seat us any sooner, like around 11:30. They said they could seat us now for sure, and possibly closer to 11:30 but they would have to check at that time. Since none of us were hungry just yet, we decided to go take a ride on Star Tours and come back. If they couldn't seat us, we would cancel the reservation and grab a CS lunch instead.

Off we went to take a trip to the moon of Endor (right? lol).

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After getting ourselves sufficiently tossed around on a ride that is just as jerky and jarring as I always remember it, we went over to Sci-Fi again to try our luck at getting seated early. They said it would only be a short wait, so we checked in and got our pager. After only waiting about 5 minutes, it went off and we were seated in our car! DH and I took the front seat, my parents in the middle, and DH's parents in the back.

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Our mealtime entertainment! We were in the front car and all the way to the left of the screen so it was an awkward position, but we still enjoyed all of the cheesiness!

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Me, DH, and his parents all four got burgers and fries, which were delicious and really hit the spot! My dad got a reuben that he enjoyed, and my mom got the spinach & artichoke dip as her meal. I tried some of that too, and it was delicious!!

We finished our meal around 12:15, and this time our waitress (Holly) was speedy with bringing out the check! Since we still had time to kill before getting to the Lights Motors Action area, we decided to go check out Muppet Vision 3-D first. We got into the next show with no wait again, though I wouldn't have minded watching some of the pre-show. I LOVE the Muppets! Sorry to say DH didn't take any pictures here either, but we have some on a later day!

I just love this show. It makes me feel like a kid watching The Muppet Show again! And I <3 Bean Bunny, he's SO cute! Did anyone ever see the Muppet special from MANY MANY years ago called The Frog Prince? I used to LOVE this as a kid and watched it all the time, and started looking for it on DVD, but apparently it's only available on VHS. :-( Random, but such a fond memory.

By the time the show was finished and we walked through the Streets of America to get to the LMA stadium for the 1:20 showing, we were getting our seats for 1 pm. Not bad.

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DH took a bunch of pictures of this show, but a lot of them you can't really understand what is happening, so I'll just post some of the best "action" shots.

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The rest of the park in the distance

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The set while we answered the trivia questions & waited for the show to start.

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The backwards jump

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Shootout!

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My favorite part of the show, the cars driving on 2 wheels!

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Continued in next post...

khertz

01-20-2010, 03:43 PM

And DH's favorite part, the explosive finale!

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After the show, those TSM fastpasses were just burning a hole in our pockets, so we headed back towards Pixar Place to use them! We took our time getting there to get some pictures of the Christmas decorations that were part of the Osborne lights display in the daytime.

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The wait time was like 70 or 80 minutes by that time, so we were happy to breeze on in through the FP entrance. This time, I made sure DH got some pictures of the queue while we walked through!

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After another fun spin through the games, DH still beat me!

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We talked about doing the Backlot Tour next, but the wait time was something ridiculous like 40 minutes, so instead, we decided to check out the attractions close by that we normally skip. My mom has recently become pretty obsessed with the Narnia movies, so she really wanted to do the Prince Caspian attraction. None of the rest of us were interested, so we split up so her and my dad could go check it out. Here's some of her pictures from Narnia.

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Can't you tell how excited she is to be meeting Prince Caspian?!

Meanwhile, DH and I and his parents decided to go over to Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. We had a nice while to walk around and explore before the next presentation for the movie started, so we did just that.

If it was up to me, we'd have a picture of literally everything in this walk through, but unfortunately (or luckily!) DH had control of the camera.

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Mock up of Main Street USA

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Model of Sleeping Beauty Castle for Disneyland

Continued in next post...

khertz

01-20-2010, 04:37 PM

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Model of Adventureland

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Model of Spaceship Earth

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No explanation needed for this one!

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Model of Typhoon Lagoon

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Model of the castle from Disneyland Paris

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Model of the Tree of Life

After about 10 minutes of looking around, the theater opened for the next showing of the movie, so we filed into our seats. I got myself a little close to tears a couple of times during the movie, but I kept myself composed.

Next, we met up with my parents again outside, and decided to head into the next showing of Voyage of the Little Mermaid. This is one of my favorite shows, so DH was happy to use his new lens to get good pictures in the dark without the flash. Most of the ones of Under the Sea came out blurry, but he got a few good ones of Ariel and Ursula.

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UP NEXT: Finishing up at DHS and hopping to MK for Spectro & Wishes!

Queenofallthings

01-20-2010, 06:39 PM

Great pics!!! I love One Man's Dream.....I can't wait to wander through there again.

skier_pete

01-21-2010, 12:41 PM

Great pics. We usually give DHS the short shrift, often only spending a few hours there per trip. There's a lot of stuff that I have seen enough times or that I don't care for. (GMR, LMA, Backlot Tour) We never get to "One Man's Dream" or "Magic of Disney Animation" though, which I would like to do. I think in October I want to devote a day to that park, though.

I do like VotLM, though I think it could really use an update. I wonder if the opening of the new Little Mermaid ride will lead to its eventual demise. (There was a similar Lion King puppet show in MK until they opened AK abd FotLK, then the MK Lion King show got the axe in favor of Philharmagic.)

SkierPete

khertz

01-21-2010, 02:26 PM

Great pics!!! I love One Man's Dream.....I can't wait to wander through there again.

I think I have sped through it before on previous trips, but it was nice to wander around and take everything in. Walt Disney was such a great & inspiring man! :thumbsup2

Great pics. We usually give DHS the short shrift, often only spending a few hours there per trip. There's a lot of stuff that I have seen enough times or that I don't care for. (GMR, LMA, Backlot Tour) We never get to "One Man's Dream" or "Magic of Disney Animation" though, which I would like to do. I think in October I want to devote a day to that park, though.

I do like VotLM, though I think it could really use an update. I wonder if the opening of the new Little Mermaid ride will lead to its eventual demise. (There was a similar Lion King puppet show in MK until they opened AK abd FotLK, then the MK Lion King show got the axe in favor of Philharmagic.)

SkierPete

DHS has always been my second favorite park after MK, but this was the first year where I felt like we really EXPLORED this park and did more than just the thrill rides. We took our time at One Man's Dream, DH and I did the Animation Academy 4 times (we LOVED it, I bet your DD would too!). I know most people aren't crazy about this park, but there is so much to do! We went three times over our trip, and actually spent 95% of our very last day there, which I wouldn't have ever thought I would want to do.

I hope they don't get rid of Voyage! Although, you make a point that they probably will. :sad2: I really hope not though, because it is one of my favorite Disney shows. I love the music! But I am excited to see what they come up with in the way of a Little Mermaid ride too. :thumbsup2

khertz

01-21-2010, 02:38 PM

After taking the entire 30 day to edit, then order, our PhotoPass Pictures are FINALLY in! I made myself crazy by doing a ridiculous amount of edits, which ended up on 8 discs :scared1:! I didn't want to look back and say, "Oh, I wish I had put that border on this pic!" so...I did them all? :confused3 I will probably be much less ambitious next time, though!!

But anyway, I picked out a few to catch me up to where I am on the TR, which isn't many considering we only took them with characters at Epcot on Day 2, and I haven't got to the DHS ones yet. So here they are!

From the Character Connection at Epcot:

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Meeting Donald at the Mexico Pavilion of World Showcase:

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And meeting Snow White at the Germany Pavilion of World Showcase:

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disneybarbie

01-21-2010, 02:38 PM

ladybugmom

01-21-2010, 11:03 PM

Holy cow!! EIGHT PP cds?!?! WOW!! I thought I was bad with 2--I edited like crazy adding LOTS of borders as well. I can't imagine how long it took you to do that!! Impressive!! :thumbsup2

Looks like ya'll did a lot in HS!!! Oooh--we need to check out One Man's Dream in May--that's somethign we didn;t see last year. It looks fascinating!! TSM is also something on our list for this May!! And your DH did get some great pics from the Little Mermaid Show!! I was unsuccessful in getting any decent pics last year. Your mom looks sooo cute posing with Prince Caspian!! :goodvibes

khertz

01-22-2010, 09:30 PM

Nice update :thumbsup2 .. I love One Mans' Dream, spent ages there on our trip in 2006 because I was doing my final paper at university (10,000 words!) on 'Inspirational Leadership'.. who else to pick but Walt Disney?! ;)

Lol nice to know I'm not the only one who gets choked up in the film at the end of the attraction!!
My sister and I both cried a little during the KTTK tour, when our guide explained the partners' statues?! :sad1: .. we both had to put our sunglasses on to hide our eyes!! :rotfl:

Emma princess: x

I wish I'd had an assignment in school that let me do a paper on Walt! :thumbsup2 I would definitely enjoy doing that kind of research. He's such a fascinating guy!

I got tears in my eyes at that same part of the tour! It gave me chills, for sure. :hug: I won't ever look at those statues the same way again...

Holy cow!! EIGHT PP cds?!?! WOW!! I thought I was bad with 2--I edited like crazy adding LOTS of borders as well. I can't imagine how long it took you to do that!! Impressive!! :thumbsup2

Looks like ya'll did a lot in HS!!! Oooh--we need to check out One Man's Dream in May--that's somethign we didn;t see last year. It looks fascinating!! TSM is also something on our list for this May!! And your DH did get some great pics from the Little Mermaid Show!! I was unsuccessful in getting any decent pics last year. Your mom looks sooo cute posing with Prince Caspian!! :goodvibes

Haha I know, I was a little embarrassed to post the number here! But I'm the kind of person that always looks back and says, "I should have done this instead of that!" and I didn't want to do that with the pictures. And I figure I'm paying the same price for the CD whether it has one picture on it or one million. So why not go crazy a little??

I think I have breezed through One Man's Dream before, but this was the first time I really explored it. It was fantastic! And you can't miss TSM! It's so fun, your kids will really love it! :thumbsup2 My mom reads my posts, so I'm sure she'll appreciate your compliment about her & her newfound love, Prince Caspian! :love:

ladybugmom

01-22-2010, 09:46 PM

Haha I know, I was a little embarrassed to post the number here! But I'm the kind of person that always looks back and says, "I should have done this instead of that!" and I didn't want to do that with the pictures. And I figure I'm paying the same price for the CD whether it has one picture on it or one million. So why not go crazy a little??

Oh no!! Please don't be embarassed!! I felt the same way when I was doing the editing on my pictures. I just didn't end up with as many PP pics b/c of all the rain we had on our trip or I would have had A LOT more cds. The PP photographers just weren't out in the rain and it rained the entire week we were there! I totally agree about getting your moneys worth!! :thumbsup2

Nancy for Disney

01-23-2010, 08:31 AM

I just found your tr. I have been like this :surfweb: all morning. We were there the same week as you, Dec 8-13. Maybe we will cross paths. I already found someone on anther tr that we sat next to at dinner one night. It is a small world after all.

Thanks for posting all those pictures of Bonnets Creek. I have heard of other people staying there. I am looking for other options for our family of 5. Do you have buy into the time share to stay there? If not I wonder how reasonably priced it is.

DAY 4: Monday December 7th

Buying the game for the Wii helped and hurt. It helped in that we knew what to expect from the games. But it also gives away all of the "secrets" of how to score more points with not as much time to complete the objectives.

I had no idea there was a TSM Wii game. That is so on my list to buy the kids. All Christmas we were trying to figure out a good new game to get them. I am so excited that I may even start to play the Wii. :rotfl:

HOGWARTS! I think this is all going to be so amazing when it's finally completed!

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I love this sign. It stays true to HP. We are all big HP fans in my family. My oldest was just learning to read big books when the first one came out and hasn't stopped reading them. We have had to replace a few of her copies because she has read them so much. Our next trip will certainly include Universal for HP but your other photos have encouraged me to go to the Universal Parks for other reasons. Dare, I say that I have a feeling my kids my prefer that to Disney?:confused3

Can't wait to read more.

khertz

01-23-2010, 07:59 PM

I just found your tr. I have been like this :surfweb: all morning. We were there the same week as you, Dec 8-13. Maybe we will cross paths. I already found someone on anther tr that we sat next to at dinner one night. It is a small world after all.

Thanks for commenting! That would be funny if you turned up in some of our pics! I have a lot to post still, so it could happen. I found a picture of my DH in someone's trip report [we were on KTTK together and I didn't even know!]

Thanks for posting all those pictures of Bonnets Creek. I have heard of other people staying there. I am looking for other options for our family of 5. Do you have buy into the time share to stay there? If not I wonder how reasonably priced it is.

We own there, but you don't have to be an owner to stay there. It would probably be cheaper to rent from an owner than to book with them yourself. Whenever you plan to stay there, start looking at the board for Orlando hotels right here in the Dis. There is a guy who rents his Bonnet Creek timeshare out for a good price. I can't remember his name, but if you check out other Bonnet Creek threads, it'll probably say. It's a beautiful resort, and no more than a 5 minute drive to all the parks from there! We had no trouble with staying there with a rental car. I actually preferred it to the busses! No standing and waiting 30 minutes for a bus when you are dead tired and then having to stand on a bus all the way back to your resort!

I had no idea there was a TSM Wii game. That is so on my list to buy the kids. All Christmas we were trying to figure out a good new game to get them. I am so excited that I may even start to play the Wii. :rotfl:

This would DEFINITELY have you playing the Wii! The kids & you would love it. We love it and don't even have any kids! :laughing:

I love this sign. It stays true to HP. We are all big HP fans in my family. My oldest was just learning to read big books when the first one came out and hasn't stopped reading them. We have had to replace a few of her copies because she has read them so much. Our next trip will certainly include Universal for HP but your other photos have encouraged me to go to the Universal Parks for other reasons. Dare, I say that I have a feeling my kids my prefer that to Disney?:confused3

Can't wait to read more.

If your kids like fast thrill rides, be prepared for Universal to surpass Disney in their minds! It did for DH, though we both still love Disney for the magic! Universal is great and there is a lot to do there, but just enough to only need a few days max to see it all, so you can spend more time at Disney. :thumbsup2

I can't wait for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to open! I'm a huge fan of the movies and an even bigger fan of the books! I've read the entire series at LEAST 5 or 6 times if not more. It's like I can't just pick one and re-read it, I have to read them all!

khertz

01-23-2010, 08:01 PM

Oh no!! Please don't be embarassed!! I felt the same way when I was doing the editing on my pictures. I just didn't end up with as many PP pics b/c of all the rain we had on our trip or I would have had A LOT more cds. The PP photographers just weren't out in the rain and it rained the entire week we were there! I totally agree about getting your moneys worth!! :thumbsup2

Luckily we didn't have a lot of rain to stop us when it came to PhotoPass. But you could bet if we saw a photographer without an extraordinarily long line, we were getting in it! :rotfl:

khertz

01-24-2010, 09:38 PM

THE SAINTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!

:dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3::d ance3::dance3::dance3:

Sorry, had to do it!! I'll be back with a REAL update tomorrow!!

skier_pete

01-25-2010, 05:43 AM

:dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3::d ance3::dance3::dance3:

Sorry, had to do it!! I'll be back with a REAL update tomorrow!!

Ya know, I knew when I turned on the computer this morning I'd find this post. I was rooting for the Saints, though, 'cause I am sick of Brett Farve and wish he would go away. (Though I'm guessing he won't.) Though the Saints were lucky the Vikings were so sloppy, because they're vaunted offense pretty much vanished in the second half with the turnover parade from the Vikings.

But, I like the superbowl match-up, should be a good game this year. The Saints will have to play better than that to beat Manning, though.

khertz

01-25-2010, 09:07 AM

Ya know, I knew when I turned on the computer this morning I'd find this post. I was rooting for the Saints, though, 'cause I am sick of Brett Farve and wish he would go away. (Though I'm guessing he won't.) Though the Saints were lucky the Vikings were so sloppy, because they're vaunted offense pretty much vanished in the second half with the turnover parade from the Vikings.

But, I like the superbowl match-up, should be a good game this year. The Saints will have to play better than that to beat Manning, though.

:thumbsup2

You know, the broadcasters said it last night and it's so true. The Dome has seen one of the worst times in New Orleans history when it became a shelter for Katrina. So to see it rebuilt and then to have a Saints team make us so proud to be Saints fans bring the playoffs to the Dome and then win the NFC Championship is a HUGE thing for our city. After my Facebook news feed exploded, it was so crazy that I knew I needed somewhere else to cheer! :rotfl: Such an emotional and exciting win! You are right though, they will have to bring their A+ game to beat the Colts, but it will be an exciting game anyway!!

khertz

01-25-2010, 11:21 AM

When I left off, we had just rested our feet and watched Voyage of the Little Mermaid! Well, it was getting late in the afternoon, and we wanted to be making our way over to Magic Kingdom for SpectroMagic and Wishes that night. First, though, we stopped at the Indiana Jones store to see if we could a new fanny pack for James because the one he'd had for a ridiculously long time had ripped! But no luck there.

We made our way to the front of the park and found some lonely looking Photopass photographers, so we decided to stop for a little photoshoot! It was crazy how almost deserted the front of the park looked, but we really hadn't found the park to be crowded all day long. Using the touringplans.com suggestions was proving to be a wise decision already!

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My mom and I demonstrating what 24 hours a day for a week together will do to our relationship! lol

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One of the Streetmosphere characters was out at that time too, the Police officer (don't know his name!). He was in the middle of the street with some young cheerleaders and they were showing him how to stretch. He also saw my shirt (which says "got lost?" on the front like the got milk? ads from a tour DH & I took of filming locations for the show Lost), and said, "Are you lost, ma'am?" very concerned like! :rotfl:

It was about 4:30 pm when we left the park, snapping a few pictures of the street and the Christmas tree on our way out to the car.

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Soon enough, we were in the van, and in no time, we were driving under this sign!:

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We had no trouble securing a AAA Diamond Parking spot at the TTC, despite how late in the day it was. We still had a little bit of a walk to the monorail though, so we followed some signs to get us there. :-)

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And then we found Mickey Mouse himself waving us on!

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Apparently, there was some celebrating going on as well.

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There was no debate when it came to taking the ferry vs. the monorail...Monorail it was!

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We had a little fun with the cameras as the Monorail zipped us around Bay Lake to the MAGIC KINGDOM!!

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One side

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Other side!

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After only ever seeing the MK decorated for Halloween/fall, I was VERY excited to see this just after putting our tickets through the turnstiles!

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Continued in next post...

khertz

01-25-2010, 11:51 AM

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We made our way under the train station...

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...and stepped into a real winter wonderland!

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Our first glimpse of Cinderella Castle from Main Street USA!

I was a little disappointed to note that not only was the Christmas tree not up, but neither were the garlands and wreaths that are usually strung across Main Street from the rooftops. But that didn't stop us from another impromptu photoshoot in front of the Castle.

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The front of the park was absolutely packed, a start contrast to the crowds we had just left at DHS! Figuring we wouldn't have much time to ride anything, we consulted Dustin's iPhone to check the wait times and saw Pirates of the Caribbean had the shortest wait time at 20 minutes, so we squeezed our way up Main Street toward Adventureland.

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We waited in line for about 15 minutes or so before boarding our boats and heading out on a pirate adventure! DH attempted to get a few pics using his no-flash-needed lens, and some of them came out ok, but VERY red. lol

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The best we could get of Captain Jack Sparrow

After exiting the ride, we decided it was time to stop for something to eat. We split up here because my parents wanted to go to Cosmic Ray's to use their Disney Visa reward points, but I wanted to eat at Pecos Bill's, so that's where DH and I headed instead. It was practically empty when we walked in! I've never seen a CS that slow. I still was pretty full from lunch earlier, but I knew once we got a spot for the parade, we'd be planted to that spot so I wanted to eat before scoping out Main Street.

I got the kids burger with fries and grapes, and some cheese sauce from the fixin's bar for my fries. Yum! DH got the bacon double cheeseburger, but the bacon was a disgrace, so he ended up pulling that off! I have to say, it amazes me that Disney changed their buns to multigrain or whatever to be more "healthy" but they don't have just a single hamburger or cheeseburger on their adult menu! Multigrain isn't doing much when you have 2 patties and bacon!!

Continued in next post...

khertz

01-25-2010, 12:00 PM

Around 6:30 we started walking towards Main Street. We had missed the Castle Lighting Ceremony, but it was great to suddenly be greeted by an icicle-covered castle!

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We squeezed down Main Street again, searching for a spot to enjoy the parade. DH and I ended up behind a family with 2 young kids just in front and to the right of the Ice Cream Parlor on Main Street. We were standing behind a garbage can, so we had a pretty good and unobstructed view of the street. The lady in front of me was very chatty, and she started asking me about my t-shirt (another Lost fan! :thumbsup2). DH headed into the street to get a couple of more shots of the castle, so I spread my legs wide to save his space, and the lady's little boy, who was probably about 3, decided to go under them like a bridge! It was pretty funny. She made him apologize to me, and as an apology, he offered me one his soggy fries. :rotfl:

We called our parents to tell them they could still come stand with us if they hurried. The CMs had put a rope up behind us to mark the walkway, but we still had plenty of room. They said they had gotten a spot by the bridge to Liberty Square where they were going to watch the parade. So DH got the camera ready to catch some good shots of SpectroMagic!

UP NEXT: SpectroMagic and WISHES!

Queenofallthings

01-25-2010, 08:02 PM

Love the pictures of the castle with the lights....I actually get a lump in my throat when I see it. All of your pictures are great!!!

ladybugmom

01-25-2010, 11:12 PM

Beautiful pictures!!! I wonder why the Christmas tree and garland weren't up?! :confused3

khertz

01-26-2010, 04:26 PM

Love the pictures of the castle with the lights....I actually get a lump in my throat when I see it. All of your pictures are great!!!

Thank you! Seeing the castle lit up in pictures so many times I thought I would be used to it when it came time to see the real thing, but it is 100x more beautiful in person! I'm so glad & thankful we had the opportunity to go at the holidays!

Beautiful pictures!!! I wonder why the Christmas tree and garland weren't up?! :confused3

Thanks! I think because of the parade taping over the weekend. Because of the rain, some things got pushed back, and if I remember right, they were even filming as late as Monday morning! But don't worry, they eventually make their appearance. :thumbsup2

praisehisname

01-26-2010, 06:35 PM

khertz

01-27-2010, 12:17 PM

That is so cool that you got to be first on TSM! :woohoo:

Oh no...there are rumors that RNRC is going to be changed??? :eek:

Love all your pics from One Man's Dream. I had really wanted to do that, but we ran out of time.

I wonder why the garlands weren't up at MK yet? Was it because of the parade taping?

Denise

:thumbsup2 Being first on TSM was definitely one of the highlights of our trip & the story we told most often!

Rumors about RnRC being changed to Hannah Montana or Jonas Brothers pop up every now and then on the Theme Parks board. I doubt that would ever happen, but I worry when the contract with Aerosmith runs out that it might change to a generic rock music rollercoaster.

I think the garlands weren't up because of how much the parade taping had to be adjusted due to the torrential rain on Friday. But they made an appearance eventually!

khertz

01-27-2010, 12:27 PM

I will gladly admit that DH and I normally are not parade people. We are "ride the rides with no lines while all those suckers watch the parade!" people normally. I had my heart set on seeing the Christmas parade at MVMCP of course, but when I sat down to make our plans, I realized with so much time in the parks, we'd be crazy not to try and see all of the nighttime shows. Wishes was certainly a must, since I LOVE fireworks, but we had never given much priority to Spectro. This year, I decided to change that, and designated Monday night as Spectro & regular Wishes night!

So when I left off before, Spectro was just about to begin. We had gotten our spot on Main Street about 30 minutes before parade time. MK was PACKED! Obviously, many other people had the same plan as me. But luckily, we had those park hoppers, so we were able to spend a relatively crowd-free day in DHS prior to coming to the MK for the nighttime stuff.

DH took A LOT of pictures, but with the movement of the floats, most didn't come out so great, though no one can say he didn't try! So on with the pictures!!

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Continued in next post...

ladybugmom

01-27-2010, 12:48 PM

I just LOVE Spectro!!! :lovestruc Great pics!

khertz

01-27-2010, 01:14 PM

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After the parade, Main Street became an absolute madhouse. It was nearly impossible to move in either direction. We went into the shops along Main Street to try and avoid some of the crowds while we waited for Wishes to start. At some point, I decided to try and go to the bathroom and headed up towards the ones by the Plaza, but it was literally impossible to move after a little bit. So I had to turn around and go back the opposite way to get to the ones by City Hall. I think by the time I got back to the store and found DH, I think he thought I'd gotten lost!

Finally, it was time for WISHES! We took a lot of pictures this time too, but it took DH awhile to get the right settings. And there was no wind that night, so all the smoke stayed right over the castle where the fireworks were going off. Not the best night for the fireworks, but I promise, the Holiday Wishes will make up for it!

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After WISHES was over, even more people started spilling out of the park, while DH and I booked it against the flow of traffic to get to the bridge to Liberty Square. As we were walking, we passed our parents and told them we were heading to Thunder Mountain to try and get a ride before the park closed. They all complained they were tired and ready to go (wimps I tell ya! :rotfl:) but we pouted enough that they said they would go get ice cream and wait for us. So we ran all the way to Big Thunder Mountain and were through the line in less than the 10 minute posted wait time.

It had been SO LONG since we'd been on this ride, because it too was closed during our honeymoon. I know DH really missed it because it's his favorite ride. Soon enough, we were whipping through the wilderness on the fastest train in the west! It was so fun in the dark. I don't know if I've ever done that before! And I had forgotten how LONG of a ride it is! So much fun!!

The wait time was WAY longer when we came out, so we had gotten there just in time. :thumbsup2

We got a couple more pics of the castle and Main Street on our way out.

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We found our parents and wandered through the Emporium a little before leaving and taking the monorail to the TTC and collecting our car. It had been a long day, so we all hit the pillows VERY early that night!

UP NEXT: AK morning, and MVMCP Day!

ladybugmom

01-27-2010, 01:21 PM

Yay for Holiday Wishes!! It looks soooo pretty!! :lovestruc And that is great that you were able to ride BTMR!!! Ally rode that on our last trip and LOVED it!! Maybe I'll get to ride it in May!!

disneybarbie

01-27-2010, 02:03 PM

Love your spectromagic & Wishes photos!!.. that last one of the floats & the castle in the background could be an official advert for WDW!! :rotfl: ... seeing the pics of Spectro made me remember something we learnt on KTTK!! :goodvibes

Emma princess: xxx

ps - bet you were happy on Sunday after the Saints game!! It was on tv waaay too late here for DF to watch so he had to wait til morning to know who won hehe! :laughing: x

khertz

01-27-2010, 02:40 PM

I just LOVE Spectro!!! :lovestruc Great pics!

Yay for Holiday Wishes!! It looks soooo pretty!! :lovestruc And that is great that you were able to ride BTMR!!! Ally rode that on our last trip and LOVED it!! Maybe I'll get to ride it in May!!

I absolutely love Wishes! Definitely my favorite nighttime show that Disney has!

Love your spectromagic & Wishes photos!!.. that last one of the floats & the castle in the background could be an official advert for WDW!! :rotfl: ... seeing the pics of Spectro made me remember something we learnt on KTTK!! :goodvibes

Emma princess: xxx

ps - bet you were happy on Sunday after the Saints game!! It was on tv waaay too late here for DF to watch so he had to wait til morning to know who won hehe! :laughing: x

I know, I LOVE that picture! Disney is free to contact me if they'd like to use it. :thumbsup2

Girl, at the end of that game I CRIED massive tears of joy! My facebook news feed exploded! It was such an exciting night for Saints fans!!

The video in this article about sums it up: http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2010/01/who_dat_nation_erupts_with_joy.html

Queenofallthings

01-27-2010, 10:18 PM

As I was looking at your Wishes pictures, I could hear the music in my head. Isn't it amazing how we can be instantly transported. Spectro moves me to tears every time I see it and I honestly don't know what it is about it that does it to me....FOTLK I'm usually a blubbering idiot too.

praisehisname

01-28-2010, 07:09 AM

I've never seen Spectro in person, so I enjoyed all your pictures! Love BTMR at night! :love:

skier_pete

01-29-2010, 07:41 AM

I love your wishes shots. I never get good nighttime photos, or more generally can't be bothered. I tend to spend more time videotaping than getting photos anyways. I taped like 4.5 hours this past trip, though I haven't watched them yet.

khertz

01-29-2010, 07:34 PM

I've never seen Spectro in person, so I enjoyed all your pictures! Love BTMR at night! :love:

I had seen bits & pieces of Spectro, so it was nice watching it start to finish for once. ;) And BTMR at night was amazing!!

I love your wishes shots. I never get good nighttime photos, or more generally can't be bothered. I tend to spend more time videotaping than getting photos anyways. I taped like 4.5 hours this past trip, though I haven't watched them yet.

The holiday wishes shots came out even better. Those are coming up soon! :thumbsup2 My mom did some video taping. I tried taping holiday wishes while DH took pictures, but after awhile I decided I'd rather watch the real thing instead of watching through the camera lens so I stopped. My mom taped a few things though. If she ever figures out how to get the videos to me so I can put them on youtube or photobucket, I'll post them.

khertz

01-30-2010, 02:22 PM

DAY 5: Tuesday December 8th

This was our semi-sleep-in morning, since we would be attending Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night and planned to be there until they kicked us out! At 9:30, DH, myself, and my mom and dad went to mass at Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It was the absolute emptiest I have ever seen this church being that it wasn't a weekend Mass, I guess. We even saw a Brazilian Tour Group there! They were of course much more well behaved than in the parks, and I probably wouldn't have even noticed them except that the priest pointed them out during the homily.

After church, we went over to Downtown Disney to grab a couple of things from World of Disney. We had been searching everywhere for an Ariel mug that my aunt asked us to get for my cousin, and that was the only place my mom had been able to find one. Also, one of my co-workers really wanted a Cinderella Castle playset for her little girl for Christmas, but they were sold out online. These things were huge, so we figured this would be the best time to get it so that we could bring it straight to the room.

Once we had made our purchases, we headed back to the resort for a quick lunch before we all 6 set out for a leisurely day at Animal Kingdom.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMGP0214.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip094.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMGP0212.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMGP0213.jpg

3 guesses as to the first order of business? If you guessed PhotoPass, you're right! We just couldn't resist taking pictures everywhere!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1203.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1224.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1290.jpg

Finally, we got ourselves inside the park, and armed ourselves with some maps. We very quickly realized that we all had differing priorities of what we wanted to accomplish before leaving AK to get to Magic Kingdom for the party. Look, we even have evidence!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip095.jpg

The parents were more interested in doing all of the shows, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo the Musical, and Flights of Wonder. DH and I didn't feel the need to do Nemo again, but really wanted to do FOTLK. Our other priorities were meeting characters, especially Mickey & Minnie in their Christmas sweaters, seeing the character trees, and walking the nature trails. So we decided it was best to split up. DH and I stopped for a couple more PP photographers before moving on into the park.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1312.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1358.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1362.jpg

I just LOVE the Tree of Life! So be warned, there are lots of pictures of it from all over the park.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1546.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1553.jpg

We had plenty of time to wander before needing to head to Camp Minnie-Mickey for the next FOTLK show. Our first stop was at the Tree of Life Garden to check out some animals.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1555.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1560.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1561.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1566.jpg
Some kangaroos...love those!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1570.jpg
Sleepy flamingos

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1573.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1576.jpg

After watching the animals for a bit, we decided it was about time to be heading to Camp Minnie-Mickey to get in line for the show. But which way to go?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1558.jpg

Oh, that way!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1579.jpg

Continued in next post...

khertz

01-30-2010, 02:35 PM

We made it to our destination quite easily!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1581.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1582.jpg
No, Daisy does not have some disgusting lip fungus...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1583.jpg
...it's a lizard!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1588.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1591.jpg

We still had a bit of a wait, but luckily we were in line in the shade. And we were pretty close to the doors. So once they opened up, we got right in and got a seat on the third row from the floor in the elephant section. We actually ended up at the same show our parents had decided to go to! I guess they had just taken a different route to get there. lol

Finally the show started!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1600.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1601.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1620.jpg

I love this show! The music, the acrobatics, the colors...it's just really amazing. The fire dancer guy is my favorite, followed closely by the monkeys. I was glad we had decided to see this show again, since it had been awhile since DH and I had seen it. Well worth the wait.

UP NEXT: Meeting some real characters!

praisehisname

01-30-2010, 04:22 PM

Love all the animal pictures you got, especially the sleeping flamingos!!!

Denise

khertz

02-01-2010, 12:01 PM

Love all the animal pictures you got, especially the sleeping flamingos!!!

Denise

I need to remember to forward those pictures on to DH's grandmother in Seattle...she LOVES flamingos! :thumbsup2 We loves taking the time to sit and watch the animals this time. We kind of did on our honeymoon, but not as much.

ladybugmom

02-01-2010, 12:16 PM

khertz

02-01-2010, 12:25 PM

When I left off, we had just been let out of the Festival of the Lion King show in Camp Minnie-Mickey. We were hesitant to stay in the area to meet characters right after a show had ended because we thought it would be swarmed with people, but it actually turned out to not be a big rush of people at all! Just to be safe, we hopped into Mickey's line first, since I figured if anyone's line got long, it would be the line for the most famous Mouse in WDW!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1649.jpg
Mickey's Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1624.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1625.jpg
(I used this picture for our Christmas card this year!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1626.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1371.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1398.jpg

After Mickey, our next priority was Donald, since he's DH's favorite! I was disappointed that Donald wasn't in something more Christmas-y, but I was still excited to get another picture with him.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1630.jpg
Donald's Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1632.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1634.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1428.jpg

After taking a couple of shots, I leaned close to Donald and told him, "You know, you're my husband's favorite!" After some hand gesturing, I got came away with this picture, which is probably one of my favorite shots from the entire trip:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1635.jpg

Up next, we decided to hop in line for Goofy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1638.jpg
Goofy's Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1641.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1474.jpg

Unfortunately, Goofy wasn't so great. He had been very fun and playful with other families, but just as we got up for our turn, he went to the back for a treat and came back much more subdued. ;)

Last but not least was the very pretty Minnie Mouse!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1627.jpg
Minnie's Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1646.jpg
The pretty decorations in Minnie's hut. My favorite color, PINK!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1644.jpg
They had these hand sanitizer things (complete with Mickey hand!) at all the huts...DH thought they were funny.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1647.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1648.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1507.jpg

Chip & Dale, and Thumper and his girlfriend (is her name really just Ms. Bunny??) were also out for meet & greets, but we decided not to get in their lines. Instead, we decided to wander around the area and snap pictures of the different character trees while trying to figure out whose they were. Most were easy, but a few had us stumped. Maybe some of y'all can figure them out?!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1652.jpg
Lilo's Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1653.jpg
Stitch's Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1657.jpg
Not sure, although this one may just be a generic tree!

Continued in next post...

ladybugmom

02-01-2010, 12:28 PM

GREAT character pics!! I LOVE how they are all dressed up for Christmas!! Adorable!! And their trees are sooo cute!! :goodvibes

khertz

02-01-2010, 12:46 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1658.jpg\
We were pretty sure this one was Mulan's tree until we saw...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1659.jpg
...this one! Maybe one is Mulan & one is Mushu??

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1661.jpg
Another shot of Donald's tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1663.jpg
A Bug's Life Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1665.jpg
Nemo Tree!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1666.jpg
Yes, we had to "find Nemo" on the tree!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1669.jpg
Simba's Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1672.jpg
Not sure

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1674.jpg
Pluto's Tree

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1675.jpg
Chip & Dale's Tree

Once we finished poking around Camp Minnie-Mickey, we decided we were ready for some more "aminals." So we headed toward Discovery Island, then made a quick left to Africa.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1678.jpg

How nice that Disney decided to move those continents to central Florida so that it's only a short walk away! lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1679.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1682.jpg
Pretty shot of Everest over there in Asia.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1684.jpg

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I made DH take a picture of the sign because I knew I'd never remember what these animals were called. I only remember the CM saying they were related to the giraffe and not to the zebra, they just borrowed the zebra's pants!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1689.jpg
Now I remember, they are Okapi!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1691.jpg
Some pretty green birdies up in the trees

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1692.jpg
As my mom would say, "FISH!" (Kind of a funny OT story that I hope she won't mind me telling...My dad brought home this motivational-how-to-work-as-a-team movie they had showed at work about the guys who work at the fish market in Seattle where they throw the fish. He made us all watch that movie about a dozen times! When the guys throw the fish, they yell out "Goin' to Montana!" One day in the grocery store, my mom picked up some fish to pretend she was going to throw it to my dad, only couldn't remember what they said, so she just yelled, "FISH!")

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1694.jpg
One of about a dozen more pictures of ducks that DH took!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1696.jpg
Pretty waterfall. One of the many reasons I just love this park. It's so PRETTY!

Next we came up on the hippo pool. There were two hippos (and a TON of ducks!) in there going after each other for a good long time. I have no idea if they were fighting or mating, but it was pretty entertaining to watch. I'll let you be the judge.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1700.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1703.jpg
Looks to me like they need to see a dentist!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1710.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1716.jpg

Continued in next post...

khertz

02-01-2010, 12:59 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1717.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1724.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1728.jpg
Whatever those other hippos were doing, looks like this one lost!

Off to the next animal, and DH's favorite...the MEERKAT!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1730.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1734.jpg
The meerkats' hidey-holes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1737.jpg
Some buzzards, I think

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1741.jpg
I think he caught DH's scent here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1743.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1746.jpg
Yep now he's scanning the crowd, looking for DH!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1755.jpg
"Dustin, I missed you! Why haven't you visited me since 2007?! Is that wife of yours keeping you from me?!?!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what he was saying. lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1759.jpg
Poor Pumbaa...

Next we went over to the gorillas...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1764.jpg

Apparently it was naptime for the lady gorillas.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1760.jpg
1 sleepy gorilla...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1765.jpg
...2 sleepy gorillas...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1769.jpg
...3 sleepy gorillas!

Luckily the male gorillas were a little more active.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1771.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1774.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1777.jpg
He looks like he doesn't want to be caught doing...well, whatever it is he's doing!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1780.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1781.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1782.jpg
Hey look, another sign! In case you haven't noticed yet, I wanted pictures of almost every sign! lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1783.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1785.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1522.jpg

And one more not so sleepy gorilla...this one was actually pretty mischievous! I saw it snatch a little girl's hat and try to put it on, and it even grabbed the same little girl's autograph book and tried to scribble on it! Luckily, the little girl took it in stride and laughed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1787.jpg

UP NEXT: Looking for some tigers in Asia!

khertz

02-01-2010, 01:11 PM

Love the Stitch PP pics!! CUTE!! And your pics of AK are wonderful!! We just love FOTLK!! It was one of my favorite shows! The singers are incredible--and the music is fabulous!! Can't wait to read more! :goodvibes

GREAT character pics!! I LOVE how they are all dressed up for Christmas!! Adorable!! And their trees are sooo cute!! :goodvibes

Thanks. I love FOTLK too! I'm a big Cirque du Soleil fan, and this show reminds me of that with all of the different acts going on. Plus, I just LOVE the music! Lion King ties with Little Mermaid for the Disney movie with the best songs for me!

We loved exploring Camp Minnie-Mickey for the holidays! The trees were just adorable, and we loved trying to figure out who each tree belonged too. Plus, meeting all the characters in their Christmas outfits was great!

skier_pete

02-01-2010, 01:24 PM

praisehisname

02-02-2010, 11:28 AM

Yeah, what was up with Donald's outfit??? Everyone else got Christmasy stuff, why didn't he? :confused3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1672.jpg
Not sure

Could it be the Country Bears? The washboards are what make me think that.

Denise

khertz

02-05-2010, 10:29 AM

Great pix!

I am going to say that your "unknown" tree in the last set is a tree for the "Country Bear Jamboree" The Washboard, moonshine jug, and fiddle are all instruments that are in that show. There also looks like a small bear on there.

Yeah, what was up with Donald's outfit??? Everyone else got Christmasy stuff, why didn't he? :confused3

Could it be the Country Bears? The washboards are what make me think that.

Denise

Good guess! It probably is the Country Bears. I think DH and I tossed that out as a guess, along with Brother Bear, but the washboards probably don't go with BB (never seen the movie).

I was disappointed in Donald's outfit. At first I thought he didn't have ANYTHING Christmas on, but then I noticed the little piece of garland wrapped around his hat. Lame!

exwdwcm

02-05-2010, 11:01 AM

khertz

02-08-2010, 10:34 AM

Oh man, it was an exciting night last night!!! I think I was in too much shock, but it's still true this morning...

THE SAINTS ARE SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONS!!!!

Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!??!?!

BLESS YOU BOYS!!

:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

:dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3::dance3:

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

The only place I would rather be than New Orleans today is in the Magic Kingdom to see the Superbowl MVP DREW BREES in the parade!!!

Real post coming up later. :thumbsup2:thumbsup2

exwdwcm

02-08-2010, 10:38 AM

loving all the updates- you got some amazing hippo pics! you guys also have so many great family pics and PP pics!

khertz

02-08-2010, 10:48 AM

ok, i'll have to finish catching up thsi weekend, but just read all the HS day- you guys got SO MUCH accomplished!!!! love that you were first in line for TSM!!! that is so cool. can't wait to read the rest and loving all the great photos.

loving all the updates- you got some amazing hippo pics! you guys also have so many great family pics and PP pics!

Being first in line for TSM was probably the best moment of the whole trip! I had obsessed over strategies for riding/getting fastpasses, but being first in line never crossed my mind. It was amazing! :thumbsup2

We were happy with the fact that we allotted so much time to be able to stay and watch the animals, not just snap a pic and keep going. I appreciated AK so much more on this trip than previous trips when we just rode the rides, saw a show, and moved on to another park.

khertz

02-08-2010, 01:15 PM

Last post, we had just finished up on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and got our pictures taken with Terk. We left Africa, and crossed the park to Asia to check out the animals on the Maharajah Jungle Trek!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1792.jpg

We stopped along the way to watch some monkeys playing on their giant jungle gym. It looked like they were having a great time!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1794.jpg

Then it was time to enter the jungle on our hunt for some more animals.

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First up was a Komodo Dragon catching some sun.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1799.jpg

Then, my FAVORITE big cats, the Tigers! :woohoo:

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Unfortunately, the tigers weren't all that active. They were mostly lounging or pacing in the shade. I don't blame them, it was a pretty warm day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1824.jpg

I like the other trail because it has SO many interesting animals, but I love the themeing of this trail with all of the ruins. So gorgeous!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1826.jpg

Next up was a pool of ducks that DH really enjoyed! :rotfl: He spent a lot of time trying to get the perfect shot of this Mandarin duck.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1853.jpg

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More ducks!

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By that point, it was time to start heading towards the front of the park to meet up with our parents and drive over to MK for the Christmas Party that night. But we still had some time, so we decided to check if there were any more character spots that we could hit up along the way, and found one! So we detoured off to spend some time with our friends from the Hundred Acre Wood.

The CM at the entrance said there was no wait to meet Pooh & Friends, so we hurried down the walkway. Normally, I'm not gung-ho over Winnie the Pooh, but I figured if we had time and they had no wait, why not? :confused3 Plus, they were all in their cute Christmas gear. :santa:

Unfortunately, just as we got to the front of the line for our meet & greet, the characters had to go grab a quick "snack," so we ended up with a short wait anyway.

Continued in next post...

khertz

02-08-2010, 02:03 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1856.jpg

Finally, they came back out! First up was Winnie the Pooh.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1858.jpg

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Pooh Bear's Christmas Tree

Next was Eeyore.

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And finally...Tigger!

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Tigger's Christmas Tree

I'm sure Eeyore had a tree too, but I guess we missed getting a picture of that.

As we exited the Character greeting location, we ran smack into the end of the Jingle Jungle Parade. I was disappointed that we had missed it, but at least I got a pic of my favorite Mouse!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1865.jpg

We got up to the front of the park and met up with our parents to get in the van and hop over to the Magic Kingdom for MVMCP! My parents ended up deciding to go back to the resort and nap before coming back to the park closer to party time so that they would be able to make it until the end of the party. So they dropped us off at the TTC and we made plans to meet up later. I had wanted to get into the park for 4 pm when they start letting in people with party tickets, but we ended up getting there closer to 5 pm. Still not bad. We had 7 hours of MVMCP time ahead of us!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_3215.jpg
The MVMCP sign at the TTC.

We were so excited to be getting in that we forgot to take pictures at the turnstiles! So these are from another night, which is why it's so dark outside in them.

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We got our wristbands and headed into the park, passing under this as we made our way under the train station:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_3178.jpg

Once we stepped onto Main Street, I was VERY excited to see that the park had been transformed overnight! Since the night before, the Christmas Tree was now up, as were the garlands and wreaths across Main Street!

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I think we must have stood on Main Street just taking pictures forever, taking it all in. I couldn't believe how different the park felt, finally seeing it how I had been picturing it all this time. <3

The first thing we wanted to do was get some food so that from then on out, we could focus on the rides, the parade, and Holiday Wishes without our tummies rumbling. DMIL decided she wanted pizza, and that sounded good to the rest of us, so we took the path from Liberty Square to Fantasyland towards Pinocchio's Village Haus.

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I love this view of the Castle!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1873.jpg
Cinderella's Fountain

We got inside, and all got pizzas for dinner. DMIL, DFIL, and DH all had pepperoni and I had cheese. They were very good, and really hit the spot. I snapped some pictures of the murals on the walls while we ate.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1875.jpg

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Now that our bellies were full, we pulled out our party maps to decide what to do first!

UP NEXT: More MVMCP

disneybarbie

02-08-2010, 04:26 PM

ladybugmom

02-08-2010, 06:53 PM

khertz

02-08-2010, 08:13 PM

Aww I love Pooh & friends' holiday outfits! We saw Pooh & Eeyore at MVMCP but they just had scarves on :goodvibes

Emma princess: x

ps - we woke up this morning to find out that overnight the Saints won the Superbowl... you guys must be soooo happy!!! :woohoo: :yay: x

We are ECSTATIC!!! I just switched around my work schedule so I can drive to New Orleans tomorrow night for the Saints Victory Parade!! :woohoo: My aunt was lucky enough to get to actually go to the game. Her group of season ticket holders won tickets to the Superbowl! Crazy!

khertz

02-08-2010, 10:51 PM

YAY on the Saints win!! :cheer2: I know you must be thrilled!! :goodvibes

I just LOVE the Christmas outfits on Pooh & friends--sooo cute!! Your PP pics in MK are beautiful! :lovestruc Can't wait to hear about MVMCP!! :santa:

:lmao: Thrilled does not even describe it!! :cheer2: I'm hopefully going to the Saints Victory Parade in NOLA tomorrow...keeping my fingers crossed it works out!!

Thanks for the compliments on the pics. :thumbsup2 The next few posts (which I'll hopefully get to at the end of the week) will be jam-packed with MVMCP goodness!! :santa:

Queenofallthings

02-09-2010, 06:49 PM

khertz

02-12-2010, 10:24 AM

Today I am finally getting caught up on all my reading. Another great update:cool1: We watched the Super Bowl on the plane on the way home from Disney....we were very happy the Saints won!! With all that the state has been through, it was wonderful to see them win!!!

How awesome that they showed the Super Bowl on the plane!! And I agree, this has been a long time coming for Louisiana. I saw someone (an Indianapolis fan) post on facebook that maybe now with the Saints winning, the people of New Orleans can "get over Katrina." :furious: Oooh, stuff like that burns me up!! But I'm still happy over the win, and froze my booty off Tuesday night at the Saints Victory Parade (aka Lombardi Gras!!) in NOLA! It was great welcoming our boys back home and seeing Sean Payton fist pumping the trophy for all the fans to see!! :love:

khertz

02-12-2010, 11:54 AM

After the four of us had stuffed ourselves with some yummy pizza from Pinocchio's, we decided to head to Tomorrowland to check on the wait time for Space Mountain and do the other rides there. On our way, we passed Donald's Tree Farm and saw $crooge McDuck, so we stopped for an autograph and a picture with Donald's famous Uncle!

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They made an announcement while we were in line that Donald would be coming out soon, and I asked DH if he wanted to wait in line again to meet him, but he said we could get to the rides and check back for Donald later. So we continued on our way to Tomorrowland!

The wait for Space was something ridiculous like 40 or 50 minutes, so we decided to help defend the galaxy from the evil Emperor Zurg with Buzz Lightyear instead.

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After DH beat the crud out of me in points (I can never see where I am shooting! :confused3), we relaxed on a turn around the Carousel of Progress! I know some people think this is a boring attraction, but it's a MUST DO for me! I love it, especially the song! I don't mind having it stuck in my head, unlike another Disney staple song, but we're not there yet. ;)

Next, we took a leisurely spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and I, like most, missed the old commentary from the ride before the refurb. But it was still nice to continue being off our feet after a long morning at AK. While on the TTA, we noticed the wait time for Space Mountain had decreased dramatically since our last check. I think it had probably been down prior to that 40 minute wait time we had seen earlier. So we made that our next stop. The wait said 20 minutes I think, but we waited maybe 10. We got to see the new games and stuff they put in the queue, but didn't take time to stop and check them out. We wanted to get on the ride!

I didn't notice much different about the "new" Space Mountain except that the seats were more cushioned and they took our picture...And maybe it was a little darker? I have always loved this ride anyway, so it was still FUN!

At that point, my parents called and said they were in the park, so DH and I went to the bridge to the hub from Tomorrowland to meet up with them while DMIL and DFIL went on Stitch's Great Escape (love Stitch, but NEVER feel the need to do that attraction again!).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1888.jpg

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Once the 6 of us were together again, we decided to take on Fantasyland, since it was now officially party time and the crowds had gone down. First order of business was The Mad Tea Party, one of DH's favorites.

(I got these on a later day which is why it looks sunny!)
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I agreed to ride with DH in his teacup only if he didn't spin excessively, which he is notorious for...just check out the intensity!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1895.jpg

After a few seconds of crazy spinning, I told him he'd better relax or I'd be reliving my pizza from earlier in a most unpleasant way. :crazy2:

Luckily, he listened! After that, the ride wasn't so bad, and DH was obviously still enjoying himself...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1896.jpg

The Kathys were not brave enough to ride in the same teacup as DH, so they opted for their own, while the dads sat out entirely.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1898.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1899.jpg
I love this shot!

After getting our heads back on straight following all that spinning, we decided to visit our Hundred Acre Wood friends again.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2723.jpg

We decided we were ready for some cookies & cocoa, so we made a stop into Pinocchio's again for our free treats.

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The cookies were really good! I ate mine, and one of Kathy's since her and Jamie had gotten 2 each for their anniversary pins. The cocoa was good too, but it would have been better on one of our cold nights.

After enjoying our treats, we went to Mickey's PhilharMagic! This is definitely my FAVORITE 3-D show in Disney! I love the songs, and the scenes from all the different movies that I grew up on. And of course, DH likes that it's all about his favorite duck, Donald!

We stopped in the gift shop to try and find DH a good Donald shirt, but they didn't have much of a selection. All we ended up getting there was a couple pictures.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1900.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1901.jpg

Continued in next post...

khertz

02-12-2010, 12:13 PM

After finishing up at PhilharMagic, we decided to go on It's a Small World. My dad tried to sit out, because he really HATES this ride, but through our powers of persuasion, my mom and I convinced him that one time on the ride wouldn't kill him, and we wouldn't have to ride again. So off we went on the happiest cruise that ever sailed!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1902.jpg

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I was begging DH to take pictures with the low light lens, but he refused after a couple, saying he in no way wanted to relive this ride ever. lol So my mom decided to take some pictures for me, but she went a little overboard! I present to you, an ENTIRE POST of It's a Small World!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip099.jpg

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(Love those Fleur de Lis! WHO DAT!!)

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My heritage, the Italians!

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Just as we were nearing the end of the ride...our boat bumped into the one in front of us. Then the one behind us bumped into the back of us. And just like that...we were STUCK!

Continued in next post...

khertz

02-12-2010, 01:10 PM

At this point, I whipped out my phone to update my facebook status with "my dad's worst nightmare just came true...we're stuck on it's a small world! lol"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip132.jpg

Then he said he was going to kill my mom for convincing him to go this godforsaken ride!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip133.jpg

(DH is at a class in Houston, so we are chatting right now while he's at lunch...when I told him about the Small World post, he said I was going to lose all my readers with a post like that! :lmao: No love for Small World!!)

Luckily, we made it off the boat with no real injuries! It was an experience, I'll say that.

We still had time before I wanted to grab a spot on Main Street for Holiday Wishes and the second parade, so we went over to Liberty Square for a ride on the Haunted Mansion. I love riding this at night! I'll admit, it still creeps me out a little, though!

We headed down to Main Street to stake out our spot for Holiday Wishes!! I was about to burst with excitement at this point, especially when this is what you round a corner to see:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip140.jpg

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We got our spot in front of Casey's, and it was still pretty crowded from people who had stayed on Main Street after the first parade for Wishes, but there were actually quite a bit of people streaming out of the park as well!

Finally, the icicle lights went off, and the music started...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1929.jpg

Then came Tink!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1930.jpg
(She's the green speck! lol)

DH got some REALLY great shots of the Holiday Wishes show, so I'll shut up now and let the pictures do the talking.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_1933.jpg

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Continued in next post...

khertz

02-12-2010, 01:25 PM

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WISHES was AMAZING!! I got choked up at that point, because I love love love Wishes, but the Holiday version with the Christmas music was just beautiful. At the conclusion of the fireworks, the Dream Lights popped back on, and it was the most gorgeous thing I think I've ever seen!

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I'll leave you with that image for now. :love:

UP NEXT: Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade

exwdwcm

02-19-2010, 09:20 AM

Queenofallthings

02-19-2010, 07:21 PM

We missed seeing Wishes this past trip and I still can't believe it!!! Your pictures are beautiful....I love the castle with those lights...I think it's absolutely beautiful!!!

BippityBoo

02-19-2010, 08:53 PM

Who Dat!!?? I am from Louisiana as well :goodvibes

I am all caught up on your TR! I love it :lovestruc I was on the fence about holiday wishes and if it was worth it (thought it might be similar to regular wishes) but your pictures and comments have convinced me to schedule it in on our upcoming Christmas trip 2010!! SO pretty. They played Christmas music during it?? I would love that!

Again, great job. Looking forward to more popcorn::

ladybugmom

02-20-2010, 08:17 PM

Sorry I've been MIA--busy, busy week! But I'm all caught up now! I love your pics from MVMCP! And your pics of Holiday Wishes--absolutely incredible!!! WOW!! :lovestruc

khertz

02-24-2010, 12:39 PM

Holy cow girl, you got some AMAZING photos of WISHES. I so 'wish' (no pun intended) i was as good of a photographer, of course i would need a good camera for that. I might have to borrow my dad's nikon for our Dec 10 trip!

LOL at small world- such cute pics. My DH refused to even ride it- lol- he went and got coffee instead. :confused3:rotfl:

Looks like an awesome time at MVMCP so far, can't wait to hear more! Sounds like you guys got so much done. Did you find it very crowded? Did you do the second parade? that is what we did.

DH was the photographer for almost everything, so I was SO PROUD of him for getting such amazing shots of Holiday Wishes!! I would definitely take the Nikon if your dad will loan it out to you. We took my dad's Canon Rebel on our Hawaii vacation, and loved it so much that we bought our own. We even brought our point & shoot with us this trip, but didn't use it at all. Everything came out so much better on our Rebel!

We did the second parade, and I found it pretty uncrowded, definitely not nearly as crowded as people made me think it was going to be here on the boards! We rode everything we set out to with minimal wait, had a great spot for the fireworks and parade, and didn't feel like we were fighting through people to get places. People were pouring out of the park in droves after the first parade, and then even more after the fireworks!

We missed seeing Wishes this past trip and I still can't believe it!!! Your pictures are beautiful....I love the castle with those lights...I think it's absolutely beautiful!!!

It was beautiful to see in person!! And I'm happy my DH was able to get such amazing pics. We had a code for some free 8x10s from an online site, and got a couple with the fireworks. It was hard to choose from them, because they are pretty much all great!

Who Dat!!?? I am from Louisiana as well :goodvibes

I am all caught up on your TR! I love it :lovestruc I was on the fence about holiday wishes and if it was worth it (thought it might be similar to regular wishes) but your pictures and comments have convinced me to schedule it in on our upcoming Christmas trip 2010!! SO pretty. They played Christmas music during it?? I would love that!

Again, great job. Looking forward to more popcorn::

WHO DAT!! Where in LA? We are south of Lafayette right now, but we're both originally from the New Orleans area. :thumbsup2

I absolutely LOVE Wishes, so I was even more excited about Holiday Wishes! The music is all Christmas/holiday themed, and there are different fireworks sequences than regular Wishes. Definitely an entirely different experience! I would say it's a must do for your upcoming trip!!

Sorry I've been MIA--busy, busy week! But I'm all caught up now! I love your pics from MVMCP! And your pics of Holiday Wishes--absolutely incredible!!! WOW!! :lovestruc

I understand, it has been a crazy couple of weeks myself, between Mardi Gras and my cousin's wedding that I stood in. I'm hoping to squeeze an update in soon!

Thanks! I have DH to thank for almost all of the really great pictures we got this trip!!

BippityBoo

02-24-2010, 05:08 PM

Hi! Very funny b/c we live by New Orleans now and I use to live by Lafayette! :lmao:

I want to know what camera you have. The fireworks pics are awesome!!

praisehisname

03-01-2010, 12:01 PM

All caught up again. :thumbsup2 Your shots of Holiday Wishes are AMAZING!!! We had a craptastic spot and missed out on most of them, so I especially enjoyed seeing your pics!

khertz

03-04-2010, 09:12 AM

Hi! Very funny b/c we live by New Orleans now and I use to live by Lafayette! :lmao:

I want to know what camera you have. The fireworks pics are awesome!!

That is pretty random! I miss NOLA like crazy, but I have adjusted to Lafayette easily. And it's not THAT far of a drive, so I try to get home when I can.

Our camera is a Canon Rebel XSi.

All caught up again. :thumbsup2 Your shots of Holiday Wishes are AMAZING!!! We had a craptastic spot and missed out on most of them, so I especially enjoyed seeing your pics!

Thank you! :thumbsup2 Like I have said before, I have to give DH all the credit for those shots. He did all his research to get great shots in different lighting.

khertz

03-04-2010, 09:22 AM

I have been totally lacking in updates lately, but I promise, it's not out of laziness! :laughing: The past few weeks have been absolutely nuts. Usually, I do not have nearly as many things going on in my life! So I'm going to share just a few pics as proof before the real update. ;)

First, I went to New Orleans for the Saints Victory Parade, and froze my buns off, but had a great time! My uncle David and his wife Jessica were nice enough to let me come with them and their girls and stay with them in their hotel on the parade route since my DH was out of town for work. It was a crazy day, and we didn't have the best spot for the parade, but it was fun seeing our boys back home!

Next time I was off, it was time for Mardi Gras! The supervisor let me off work early the Sunday of the Bacchus parade so I could try and make it there in time to see Drew Brees, but didn't make it. DH was there with his dad, and got me some good pictures.

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Drew and his wife Brittany

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We stayed with my mom Sunday night and Monday night, then came home Mardi Gras evening. Monday night, DH and I went to the New Orleans parades, Proteus and Orpheus. Another freezing cold night on the parade route, hence our appearance in this next picture...The wind was insane!

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I got smacked in the face with a bead, which was unpleasant to say the least. But we saw Harry Connick Jr., The Imagination Movers:

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...And the back of Sean Payton:

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On Mardi Gras day, I decided I was parade-d out, so DH spent the day with his dad at parades, and I spent the morning at home with my mom watching Harry Potter. I went home early in the afternoon, and DH came home that evening. After working a couple days, then it was time for my older cousin Christopher's wedding, and I was a bridesmaid!

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Me & DH (he was an usher)

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Luckily, they paired me with my cousin Levon so I didn't have to walk with someone I didn't know!

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The bride Lori & my cousin Christopher

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My favorite picture from the day :love:

The wedding was last weekend, but after working a couple days, I got sick! Hence, no updates then either. But as you can see, I really was very busy! But now it's back to normal, so back to updates!

khertz

03-04-2010, 09:42 AM

After Holiday Wishes was over, DH and I decided we wanted to stay in our spot for the 10:30 parade. I think our parents left to go ride something, but I don't really remember what exactly they did.

There were people pouring out of the park by this time, mostly parents pushing small kids in strollers. The snow continued to come down on Main Street, which had now started to lose its appeal since it was getting all over everything and making it sticky! Little did we know, if we had moved up the street towards the castle a few feet, we would have been out of the soap blizzard. Oh well!

While we waited, DH and I shared some chocolate & vanilla ice cream, which we managed to keep the "snow" mostly out of! It definitely hit the spot as far as snacks go, because it was a pretty warm night.

Finally, the lights dimmed, the music started, and we could see the parade coming towards us! These pictures probably don't need much commentary, so I'll let them do the talking. But any big spots in front of the lens are "snow" because it continued to come down during the entire parade! DH was not happy about that, because he was so worried about the camera, but all was well.

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Continued in next post...

khertz

03-04-2010, 09:56 AM

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I love how when these floats passed, it smelled like gingerbread!

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The gingerbread men are my favorite!

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I REALLY loved the parade!! The gingerbread men were my favorite, but the toy soldiers were really amazing. I enjoyed them a lot. Plus, the reindeer are fun because they are still the same ones from the Christmas Disney Sing a Long Songs tape my sister and I used to watch!

After the parade was over, even more people started heading for the exit, so DH and I had a bit of a fight on our hands to go against the flow and back into the park. We still had an hour of party time left, and we weren't going to waste it! Since we were so short on time, we put the camera away for the night.

Our first ride was Splash Mountain, which took a bit of convincing on my part since it's my all time favorite Disney World ride, and I love it even more at night, but DH hates getting wet! We zoomed right through the line with no wait, and I don't think we ended up getting very wet at all this time.

To dry off, we got ourselves whipped around on Big Thunder Mountain, which only had a 5 minute wait. This put DH in a better mood after Splash, because this is his favorite ride. We didn't know if we'd have enough time to do it, but I was determined to ride Peter Pan without having to wait in line forever and a day. So after our train ride, we hauled butt over to Fantasyland, and still had a good 10 minute wait or so, even though it was almost midnight. But I got to ride Peter Pan, so it was all good! That's another of my favorites, and always a must do.

Once we left Neverland, it was time to go home. :sad: It seemed like the party had just flown by! But we had gotten a lot accomplished, so it was definitely a successful night. :thumbsup2 We left the park and took the monorail to the TTC parking lot. By the time we got back to Bonnet Creek, it was quarter to 1 in the morning, and we all still needed to shower before bed! It had definitely been a long night, and it didn't take long for me pass out until morning.

Continued in next post...

stacikristine

03-04-2010, 11:04 AM

khertz

03-04-2010, 11:55 AM

DAY 6: Wednesday December 9th

After having such a late night the night before after the MVMCP, we let Wednesday be our sleep-in day. We didn't really have any alarm clocks set, and we just got up and moving when we felt like it. After a quick breakfast, we headed out the door and arrived at Universal Studios around 10:20 am.

Since we had missed Rip Ride Rockit last time, that was supposed to be our very first stop of the morning. However, things don't always go as planned, right?! As we were going through the turnstiles, there was a sign overhead that said RRR was down. AHH!! We were not happy about this news, especially when the girl letting us in said she didn't think it would be up all day. Say it isn't so!!

But we still had other things we wanted to do, so we kept trucking even though we were all very disappointed in this turn of events. The park was all but deserted though, even though it was already pretty late in the day.

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The first thing we did was the Terminator 2 3-D show, which I have done many times before, but this was the first time I actually understood what was going on! Haha If you followed my PTR, you might remember that DH and I came up with a list of movies that had rides or shows based on them in the Disney and Universal parks, and attempted to watch them all. We didn't quite succeed, but most of the ones we didn't watch are ones we had already seen. DH had of course seen the Terminator movies before, but I hadn't so I watched 1 and 2 before going to the parks. For the first time ever, I could actually follow the story line of the show and know what was happening!

Since we had accomplished so much ride-wise already on our first day, we decided on another show my parents have never done, and I had only done for the first time on our honeymoon, the Horror Make Up Show.

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I had never been interested in this before, but DH had convinced me to give it a try and it ended up one of the funniest shows I have ever seen in a theme park! So we did the same this year for my parents, who loved it just as much. It is really quite hysterical. I don't want to give anything away, but if you ever go to Universal, DO NOT skip this show!!

After exiting the show, my mom got stopped by one of those survey people, who wanted her to sample some yogurt. lol That is one thing I really dislike about the Universal parks, is all those dang survey people!

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Right after snapping that pic of my mom declining to try the yogurt, the Blues Brothers drove by...

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Since the crowds were so low, we made our way to E.T's Adventure, which had had a long wait the first day we had come. As we approached the ride, there was a very cute dancing and singing show going on in front of it, with Curious George & the Man with the Yellow Hat, Scooby & Shaggy, and Woody Woodpecker & his girlfriend. It was a VERY cute little show, but I felt kind of bad for the performers because it was such a hot day, and since the park was so empty, they barely had an audience. But you would never know it, they danced their hearts out!

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The characters stayed out for a meet & greet after the show. Of course, almost all of the kids that had been watching the show lined up for Scooby & Shaggy, so we decided to give the other characters some love instead.

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We got in line for E.T. without a long wait ahead of us.

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While we were waiting in the outside line before you go inside and find out how you are going to save E.T. there was a little kid having a meltdown on the ground. The dad made us all laugh because the kid was laying on the ground screaming his head off while the dad stood there and waited out the tantrum, then the dad says, "And don't forget to kick your legs!" :rotfl: I hope I remember that one when we have kids.

By that time, we were starting to get a bit hungry, so we headed back up Hollywood Blvd to our favorite place to eat in Universal, Mel's Drive In!

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My dad loves taking pictures with the cars.

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Came out kind of dark, but a picture of the wreath they had hanging inside.

I think we all got burgers for lunch, which were very good. And their seasoned fries are so good!

After lunch, we headed to the back of the park for another spin on Men In Black Alien Attack.

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Continued in next post...

exwdwcm

03-04-2010, 12:47 PM

yeah, you're back! love the New Orleans pics- those parades must be so cool!

lovely dress for the wedding too!

Wasn't the MVMCP parade so fun? you got some great shots with the castle in the background too. i love all the smells from the floats too- hot cocoa etc.

So did you guys enjoy Universal? I've done the one in LA before and I've done the main park ni FL when it was closed for a private party (work function) i was part of. I enjoyed it, but not sure I want to take a day away from disney for it- DH isn't big on thrill rides. But i might have to go just check out Harry Potter and Seuss landing (for my son). we'll see if we manage to give upa day for Universal or not in December.

khertz

03-04-2010, 12:51 PM

We walked through Amity on our way to ride the Mummy again. After seeing Jaws before vacation, again for the first time, I could really appreciate how authentic this part of the park is. It feels like you are in the little beach town of the movie on 4th of July weekend.

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While walking, we saw Beetlejuice and I guess the other people from his show, so DH and I stopped in line for a picture. Another funny moment here! The kid in line in front of us was probably about 10 or 11 years old. When he went up for his picture, he asked Beetlejuice if he could give him a hug, and Beetlejuice said sure. So the kid has his arms wrapped around Beetlejuice with a huge grin on his face, and Beetlejuice is cringing and looking scared of the kid. I wish we had been able to snap a picture of this, because his expression was so funny, but DH was still getting the camera ready for our picture.

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Random picture of Rip Ride Rockit

Finally, we got to the Mummy, which had no wait.

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While putting our stuff in the lockers, my mom popped across the street for a couple pictures of the Blues Brothers performing.

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Our ride on the Mummy was thrilling, as always! SUCH a great roller coaster!

We started heading for the front of the park to check if RRR was open yet. We got some more pictures of the Christmas tree.

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Then we saw that the next showing of Twister was coming up, so we got in line for that.

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It's a fun attraction, but all of the videos they show while you are in line are just depressing! Seeing how much devastation a tornado can do in no time flat... But the effects during the attraction are really well done.

After Twister, we checked on RRR, but it was still closed. We decided to give up on it and head on over to Islands of Adventure, since we had skipped some rides because of the cold weather our first day there.

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We stopped in the gift shop to check out the merchandise, and I found some really cute Christmas ornament displays! DH made fun of me for taking all of these pictures, but I liked them. :-)

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Random picture of the Incredible Hulk Coaster. I love the shape of it!

Our first destination once in the park was Seuss Landing.

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We still wanted to ride the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train. Even though it's a total little kids ride, it's so fun to be so high above that part of the park and get a different perspective on things.

Continued in next post...

khertz

03-04-2010, 01:42 PM

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Some of the Whos down in Whoville

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I liked seeing the garlands around pretty much everything in Seuss Landing. Aside from this area of the park, most of Islands of Adventure wasn't decorated for the holidays.

Anyway, we got in line for the Trolley Train Ride, which if you've never been to IoA, it's based off of the Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches and Other Stories. The Sneetches was one of my favorite stories as a kid. There are Sneetches with Stars on their bellies and some without stars, and the ones with stars think they are better than the ones without. So this guy comes to town...

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Sylvester McMonkey McBean

...and he has a machine that can put a star on the belly of the Sneetches that don't have them for some $$ of course. But then the ones that originally had stars still want to be different so he tells them the machine can also remove stars, but of course they have to pay also. So basically the Sneetches are going back and forth getting stars put on and removed until they can't remember who had what originally, and McBean takes off with all their money. So then they are all friends and whatnot. It's a really cute little story, and the ride is themed like the Star Putting & Removing Machine.

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This is the inside of the Circus McGerkus Cafe Stoo-Pendous from the ride.

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Marvel Superhero Island from across the water while on the ride.

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Another one of the Hulk from the Train

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Seuss Landing from above and Rip Ride Rockit in the distance

After finishing our very quick train ride around Seuss Landing, we stopped in the Lost Continent for a ride on the Fire coaster of Dueling Dragons. None of us was up for a follow up on Ice. lol

Next we went on the Jurassic Park River Adventure, which I was pretty excited about, but scared! Those dinosaurs look SO REAL, especially the huge T-Rex at the end. I'm pretty afraid of him! But the drop is so fun! Random funny moment: a rather large guy who was getting in the front seat of our raft tried to take his shirt off when he sat down, and the TM at the loading ride had to yell, "Sir! SIR! You have to leave your shirt ON!" How nasty!! Thankfully, the man listened and kept his shirt on for the duration of the ride. lol

The only other water ride that anyone wanted to do was Dudley Do-Right's Rip Saw Falls in Toon Lagoon. And really, only my mom wanted to do it. But DH had worn his bathing suit as shorts because he was determined to do some of the water rides that we always skip, so he volunteered to ride with her.

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We all stood on the bridge, my dad and I with our cameras ready, to watch them come down. The ride is a log flume ride like Splash Mountain, but you get SOAKED, not just a splash. The splash at the end literally covers you with water from head to toe.

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Here they come!

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Take note of the fact that not only does my mom have a poncho on, she has the hood completely closed around her face!

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I found out when they got off that DH had cheated and put a poncho on too at the last minute!

We left Toon Lagoon, and while walking through Marvel Superhero Island, my mom decided she really wanted to do Dr. Doom's Fear Fall. She's the only person in our family that likes this ride, and DH's parents didn't seem interested at first, but she convinced DH's mom to ride with her. So while the two Kathys got in line, DH and I went to shop at the Marvel store to look for a Hulk shirt or something for DH. We didn't find anything we wanted, so we went back to the ride to wait for them just as they were getting on.

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Our moms are on the left side of the picture, the ones closest to the front. You can see my mom's big white knee brace. Haha

Our last ride of the day was the Incredible Hulk Coaster before heading out of the park earlier than expected to get ready for dinner. We had planned to just go straight to the restaurant but we were pretty much done park wise for the day and had some time to kill before our reservation. So we headed back to Bonnet Creek to shower and change.

We got to the Melting Pot for dinner a little early for our reservation time, but they were able to seat us right away. It wasn't very busy in there, it seemed.

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It took us forever to order because DH and I were the only ones that had ever been there, so it took some time to help the parents understand what was happening. My mom was a little freaked out by being served raw meat, I think! Almost everyone got the French Quarter, which is shrimp, filet mignon, chicken, and sausage with cajun spices, except my mom and I who got the Land & Sea, which was just chicken, shrimp, and sirloin. Once everyone got the hang of it, they really seemed to enjoy the food.

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For dessert, DH and I wanted to get the same one we had gotten before, which was the Smores chocolate fondue. Our parents decided on the turtle chocolate fondue, which I tried, and was also very good. But we were all so stuffed, that we had plenty of leftover meat, vegetables, and some of the dessert selections like the strawberries and stuff to take back.

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The Turtle fondue before it was mixed

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The Smores fondue.

Continued in next post...

khertz

03-04-2010, 01:50 PM

Lest our day be completely Disney-free, we got back to Bonnet Creek from dinner at the Melting Pot in time to watch IllumiNations from our balcony! DH took some pics, and most of them came out blurry since it's still pretty far away, but a couple came out ok.

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After IllumiNations, DH got some pictures of the Osborne Lights over at DHS, which came out pretty good considering how far away it is. It was cool to see them dancing from the balcony.

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All of DHS lit up

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Epcot at night

UP NEXT: Animal Kingdom morning

khertz

03-04-2010, 02:07 PM

Oh my. I've missed so much over the past million years that I haven't been on the DIS! SO SORRY!!! :guilty:

Let's see if I can remember all I wanted to comment on (I took some notes!).

First of all, WOO-HOO for being first on TSM! How cool is that?! And isn't it awesome to be first in line at the entrance? We loved that. The ToT CM does look creepy. That has to be one of the best jobs!

Being first on TSM was definitely one of the best memories of the trip. Also, for our first rope drop ever, we did pretty good to be right up against the rope! That was a very fun morning.

Oh goodness. The MK decorations are just gorgeous! I really, really, really want to go someday when it's all decked out for Christmas. :cloud9: The story of the little boy crawling through your legs is hilarious. Kids are just so funny! And I loved the Spectro picture where you could see the Castle in the background. Tell Dustin his pics are good!

Dustin said thanks. :thumbsup2 The decorations were so pretty. Now that I have been on back to back trips with the parks decorated (Halloween, then Christmas), I don't think I ever want to go when it's not decorated!

I LOVE all of the character pics at AK!! So cute. Their Christmas clothes are adorable, and the character trees are so fun. Only Disney... :goodvibes

That is too funny that you all got stuck on IASW!! :rotfl2: Your dad's and Dustin's reactions crack me up! That serves them right for hating it! The Holiday Wishes pictures are just gorgeous. It looks like an amazing show. :thumbsup2 And the parade looks like lots of fun too!! What an incredible day.

Getting stuck on IASW was the highlight of my night, although my dad I'm sure would consider it the exact opposite! :lmao: Their reactions were just so funny. When our boat ran into the one in front of us and we came to a stop, my dad's jaw just dropped like he couldn't believe something so heinous was happening in Disney World!

I'm glad I'm finally caught up, and hopefully I'll actually stay on top of things now!

I'm glad you're back!! :goodvibes

yeah, you're back! love the New Orleans pics- those parades must be so cool!

lovely dress for the wedding too!

Wasn't the MVMCP parade so fun? you got some great shots with the castle in the background too. i love all the smells from the floats too- hot cocoa etc.

So did you guys enjoy Universal? I've done the one in LA before and I've done the main park ni FL when it was closed for a private party (work function) i was part of. I enjoyed it, but not sure I want to take a day away from disney for it- DH isn't big on thrill rides. But i might have to go just check out Harry Potter and Seuss landing (for my son). we'll see if we manage to give upa day for Universal or not in December.

I'm not a huge Mardi Gras fan like DH is, but I enjoy some of the New Orleans parades, especially when they have some good celebrities in them! This year it was all about which Saints players were going to be in the different parades. :laughing: I don't think the city cared about anyone else!

The MVMCP parade was beautiful! I loved seeing all the characters dressed for Christmas and all the other little Christmas touches. It was one of the Christmas things I was looking forward to the most when planning.

We all love Universal. Of course, it's no Disney, but it's still a lot of fun and has a lot of the themeing touches that people who have never been there wouldn't realize were there. Growing up and going on trips with my parents, we always took a day or two for Universal parks. It's even better now that you can stay on property and get unlimited Express pass privileges with your room key. Luckily the crowds were so low when we went, we didn't really need that anyway.

If you aren't that into thrill rides, I would probably say you could do everything you wanted in a day, especially if you are going in December. Wizarding World of Harry Potter might still be crowded, but I think the only rides right now will be the Dueling Dragons, which y'all probably wouldn't ride, and a kiddie coaster than you might with Will. Just to walk through and explore everything though shouldn't be too bad. I can't wait to go back and see it when it's done. We are huge HP fans! And Will will love Seuss Landing. It's so fun and colorful, you feel like you just stepped into a Dr. Seuss book. :thumbsup2

skier_pete

03-05-2010, 09:53 AM

Nancy for Disney

03-05-2010, 11:25 AM

I think I just got caught up. It has been a while since I have had time to read trip reports. I love you Universal report and it is making me excited about planning my trip for 2011. I also loved you fireworks photo's from MVMCP. I scrolled down really fast and felt like I was there. :goodvibes
The parade pictures were great too.

stacikristine

03-08-2010, 01:13 PM

Isn't the Melting Pot fantastic?? We went for New Years with my family and we loved it. It took a really long time (we were there over 2.5 hours!) but it was good. The s'mores one was our favorite too! SOOOOO good. :cloud9: Have you ever tried the cheeses? They were really good too. I think that we'll probably just get cheese and dessert next time.

khertz

03-08-2010, 04:27 PM

Hey there...great update...and you made me get my butt in gear and update my TR too! Hah hah.

I enjoy the Uni pics. I keep thinking I would love to go back there, but DD would NOT do almost anything there...though she would totally love Seuss Landing...we are huge Seuss fans in our family. (Dr. Suess lived in Springfield, MA, right near where I grew up.) But I don't think I can justify a visit to that park for a few more years.

Yeah, unfortunately it's not all that great for kids. A lot of their kids stuff seems outdated, like Barney, etc. Does that even come on anymore?

The other thing I noticed is that the Curious George / Scooby / Woody stage show looks so...well...cheap compared to Disney's productions. (I'm thinking of the castle show, and in particular the castle christmas show.) And...ugh...I so hate what RRR did to the themeing of the original US park. "Hey look, we're like a old time movie studio - except there's a giant roller coaster slapped throughout the park!" Still, it's a bummer it was shut down for you.

I see what you mean, the show does look cheap compared to the Disney castle shows. But I try not to compare too much and just take Universal for what it is. :confused3 I love their rides, and they have some very well themed areas, but it will never be Disney for me! I do still have a great time at the parks though because I love thrill rides!

Hope you can keep up the TR - we'll have to race to see who finishes first! (I will be starting Day 7 soon, once I get the pictures uploaded.) I also want to finish before our NEXT trip - which less than 7 weeks away!

I'm betting you will finish first...I still have 5 days and TONS of pictures left to go!! :rotfl:

I think I just got caught up. It has been a while since I have had time to read trip reports. I love you Universal report and it is making me excited about planning my trip for 2011. I also loved you fireworks photo's from MVMCP. I scrolled down really fast and felt like I was there. :goodvibes
The parade pictures were great too.

I do that with the Wishes pictures too! :thumbsup2 It does make me feel like I'm there, just the tiniest bit.

Have fun planning your 2011 trip! If you have never been to Universal/IoA before and have questions about anything in the midst of your planning, please let me know!

Isn't the Melting Pot fantastic?? We went for New Years with my family and we loved it. It took a really long time (we were there over 2.5 hours!) but it was good. The s'mores one was our favorite too! SOOOOO good. :cloud9: Have you ever tried the cheeses? They were really good too. I think that we'll probably just get cheese and dessert next time.

I LOVE the Melting Pot! It was only our second time eating there, but it is so delicious. We don't have one here in Lafayette, the closest one is in Baton Rouge. It is a VERY long meal, you're right! The first time we ate there, we were probably there about 2 hours ourselves. We have never gotten the cheese just because it hasn't worked out. But getting the cheese and the dessert sounds like a great idea. :thumbsup2 We might have to try that next time. There is no way we could eat all of the courses!

khertz

03-08-2010, 06:48 PM

DAY 7: Thursday December 10th

When I left off, we had just finished our second full day at Universal Orlando, had a great dinner at Melting Pot, and finished off the night with a viewing of IllumiNations from the balcony.

We had had two sleep-in mornings so far, but it was now time to get back in the swing of things! We didn't make it to Animal Kingdom in time for rope drop. We actually arrived around 9:20 am, so not too bad. The top two rides we wanted to do were the Kilimanjaro Safari and Expedition Everest. The Safari had a 15 minute wait time posted, so we headed there first.

We snapped a few pictures on the way to the ride of Everest in the distance.

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Finally, we made it to the safari!

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Mom & I waiting in line

The line moved pretty quickly, and soon enough our safari vehicle pulled up.

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We ended up all 6 in the very back row...let me just say it was VERY bumpy back there! There was one point where I came so far off my seat that I thought I might very well fly out of the back of the truck! It was a little unsettling, and didn't lend itself to great picture taking, which DH was disappointed about.

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DH & I call this the dead rhino picture...I know, that's awful of us!

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The family of hippos in the water

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More hippos.

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The cheetahs relaxing

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2273.jpg

Continued in next post...

khertz

03-08-2010, 07:09 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2276.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2283.jpg
Some fake ostrich eggs

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip213.jpg
And a very REAL ostrich!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip214.jpg

Check out this AMAZING picture of the lions that DH was able to get!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DSCN2599.jpg

...I lie, that's from our trip to the zoo near Seattle. :lmao:

Here is the real lion pictures!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip210.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip211.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2299.jpg
We saved Little Red from the poachers!

After returning from our 2 week safari (man, it felt like it just flew by!), we made our way to Asia to look for the Yeti on Expedition Everest. This is by far my favorite roller coaster in Disney!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2336.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2306.jpg

We jumped in line, and only waited 10 minutes! The queue is so interesting, so of course, I made DH snap some pictures, especially of the signs!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2307.jpg

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DH and I rode in the very first row, and I'm pretty sure I screamed my head off the entire time!! Love that ride, but it was the first time I got really disoriented when doing the backwards part. So much so, that I didn't think I could ride again right away, so we got fastpasses for later instead. In the time it took to get the FPs, is suddenly started pouring! Our parents decided to take cover, but DH and I put on our ponchos and headed to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur (no pictures of this, we had our camera put away because of the rain).

I was terrified, as usual. DH and I had been bickering, I don't remember what about, on the way over to the ride, so when it came time to get into our ride vehicle, he refused to switch places with me when I ended up on the outside of the car! I know those dinosaurs are fake, but I'm still honestly terrified of that ride! Luckily, I only had to endure it once.

When we came out of the ride, it was still raining, so we hurried to It's Tough to Be a Bug so that we'd at least be inside.

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I'm really not crazy about this attraction either and usually skip it, but it was fun to do again. I'm not scared of the dark, but I hate bugs and when I HEAR things, especially bugs, moving around in the dark, it freaks me out. But I leaned forward so I wouldn't get stung in the back, and it was all good. Haha

Continued in next post...

khertz

03-08-2010, 07:29 PM

DH and I were starting to get hungry, so we started heading in the direction of our favorite CS place in AK, Pizzafari. Along the way, we saw a couple of my favorite characters, Lilo & Stitch!

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We got into Pizzafari around 11:45, and it was the absolute least crowded I have ever seen it. I got a cheese pizza, DH had pepperoni, and we shared a large Coke (with the weird paper straw!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2319.jpg

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Now that our bellies were full and the rain seemed to be over for good, we decided to go back to check out the rest of Dinoland since we had hurried through earlier. We saw a lonely Photopass photographer hanging out by the Tree of Life, so we stopped for some shots.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1863.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1886.jpg

I think we got turned around a couple of times, but we made it to Dinoland USA eventually.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2324.jpg

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Even the dinosaur skeleton was in the Christmas spirit!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2329.jpg

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I'm also not crazy about spinning mouse coasters, but DH likes them so I agreed to go on Primeval Whirl since the line was about 5 minutes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2334.jpg

Luckily I was able to keep my lunch down after all that spinning.

We searched for the character spot shown on the map, but it was just Goofy and Pluto, and we didn't feel like waiting to meet them again, so we didn't wait. Instead, we went back to Asia to use our FPs on Everest! It was time for us to be able to get some more, so we got a couple for the scrapbook. I felt bad doing it, but really, you didn't need FPs to ride it, the wait was always 15 minutes or less!

After another fearsome encounter with the Yeti, we spied another PP photographer getting shots with Everest, so we hopped in her line.

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After taking our pictures, we stopped to watch the monkeys play for a little bit.

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We were ready to leave AK and head over to DHS for the rest of the afternoon, but we decided to run over to Camp Minnie-Mickey to look for Chip & Dale since we had skipped them our last time in AK. But there were no characters out. :( So we headed for the exit.

At the park exit, we found some characters! So my disappointment was short lived. Baloo, Brer Bear, Rafiki, and Pluto were out for pictures, but we only stopped for Baloo and Rafiki.

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We got in touch with our parents to see where they were, and if they were ready to leave. My parents had already taken the van over to DHS, but DH's parents decided to spend more time in AK to walk the animal trails since they hadn't done that when we had been there Tuesday, and they really enjoy that kind of stuff. So DH and I headed out to the bus to take us to Hollywood Studios!

UP NEXT: DHS and Osborne Lights!!

exwdwcm

03-09-2010, 12:35 PM

stacikristine

03-09-2010, 03:34 PM

Yay! What a great update! Oh my goodness. I laughed so hard at your pic of the lions. I was absolutely amazed that Dustin got that shot--especially from the back!!--until I saw it was a fake! :rotfl: I'm scared to death of Dinosaur too! Yum...I could go for a Pizzafari pizza right now. Actually, I could go for ANY food right now. Yall got some really great character pictures! So fun.

khertz

03-09-2010, 06:12 PM

WHat another great update! So you have a TON of character pics. We didn't do many. I want to next time- what was your strategy and did you wait long for them typically?

I didn't even notice the big dino skeleton was decked out in hoilday gear! i'll have to check it out this year. I missed taking DS to the boneyard, so that is on the list for this year!

Thank you!!

With the characters, I gotta say, we didn't have much strategy. :confused3 Most of our character interactions were unplanned. We just happened to be passing by and they didn't have much of a line. The only day we were really actively seeking characters was the morning in AK before the MVMCP night. Really, we didn't wait very long for ANY of the characters we got pictures with. The only ones I'd say we had an average wait for were Snow White and Scrooge McDuck; Snow White because we were killing time before our ADR anyway, and Scrooge because he was an exclusive MVMCP character. Otherwise, we skipped characters with long lines.

Hopefully y'all have more luck with the characters this year!! :goodvibes

Yay! What a great update! Oh my goodness. I laughed so hard at your pic of the lions. I was absolutely amazed that Dustin got that shot--especially from the back!!--until I saw it was a fake! :rotfl: I'm scared to death of Dinosaur too! Yum...I could go for a Pizzafari pizza right now. Actually, I could go for ANY food right now. Yall got some really great character pictures! So fun.

:lmao: I couldn't help injecting a little humor. I love that picture of the lions from Seattle...I wish we could get a picture like that on the Safari! Maybe one day...

Thank you! We enjoyed meeting the characters this year, and met more than we ever have before without really meaning to. It just all kind of fell into place! :)

skier_pete

03-10-2010, 07:30 AM

khertz

03-12-2010, 04:33 PM

Just wanted to say, you inspired us to go to the local Melting Pot here in Buffalo, it's been open a few years, but we haven't been yet. (Been to the one in Myrtle Beach twice though.) They are having "restaurant week" here in Buffalo, and had a deal for the 4-course dinner for $29.50, we couldn't pass it up. It's funny, afterwards, I said to DW, next time we come, we should just get the cheese fondue and the desert fondue. The main meal is the least impressive part. "It's just boiled meat" I joked. And I was so stuffed by the end, skipping the entree portion would be plenty for me.

Continuing to enjoy your updates. I knew instantly that the picture of the Lions wasn't real, though DW did get a pretty good shot of one of the Lions last trip.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n147/skier_pete/lion_cropped.jpg

Oh my goodness, all 4 courses for $30?! That's awesome!! :thumbsup2 I probably couldn't ever eat it all, but I'd certainly make an attempt for that price. I always feel stuffed at the end, but it's better to me than a regular meal in a restaurant because I'm a very fast eater, so I get full quickly. Since the meal takes so long, I was able to try more food without getting stuffed immediately.

Oh well, I couldn't fool ya with my lions? :rotfl: The one your DW got is pretty impressive though! :thumbsup2 We have never gotten a good picture of the lions on the safari. Which bums me out because all of the big cats are my absolute favorite! I didn't even remember seeing any cheetahs when we were on the ride, but sure enough my dad had gotten a picture of them. :thumbsup2

khertz

03-12-2010, 04:54 PM

When I left off, DH and I had just caught a bus from AK to DHS for our afternoon there. We waited maybe 5 minutes for the bus, and it was a quick ride, so from the time stamps on my pictures, it shows we made it to DHS about 25 minutes after leaving AK. Not too bad!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2348.jpg
A shot of the decorations

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2350.jpg
And one of the crowd. Not bad at all for 1:45 in the afternoon!

We went first over to Rock & Roller Coaster. The line was a little long, so DH and I did something I had never done before and rode using the Single Rider line! I usually would balk at the idea of doing this because I HATE doing things by myself, but I decided in the interest of time, I'd give it a try. And wouldn't you know, it was great! We waited 5 minutes and DH ended up on the limo right behind mine so we met up quickly after the ride was over and grabbed some FPs for later.

We caught a PP photographer outside of the Tower of Terror and had to stop for some shots, of course!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image1958.jpg
Normal...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image2016.jpg
...then SCARED! Or silly, I guess. lol

It was about 5 or 10 minutes to showtime for the next Beauty & the Beast show, and even though we hadn't planned on seeing it, we decided since we were right there and there was still plenty of seats to go and watch. Turns out when we texted my parents, they were in the same show at the front! So some of these pictures are ones they took which are very close up and some are DHs and mine from the back of the theater.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DisneyTrip216.jpg

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The four of us met up after the show, and decided to drop in on the Tower of Terror since there wasn't a long wait at all.

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After a really great drop sequence (it stopped for a long pause to where we thought it was finished, then it shot us back up to the top and kept dropping us a few more times!!), we split up again. I don't know what my mom and dad decided to go do, but DH and I were set on going to the Magic of Disney Animation and doing the Animation Academy. We had never done it before, and after seeing it some TRs I was reading before the trip, we both really wanted to try even though we don't consider ourselves artists!

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I had read that we could skip the movie and enter through the character greeting entrance or the gift shop, but we decided to watch the movie again anyway.

After watching the origins of Mushu, we exited into the gallery and immediately spotted Fantasia Mickey with a not-too-bad line, so we jumped in!

Continued in next post...

khertz

03-12-2010, 05:35 PM

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After meeting Mickey, we went to the waiting area to wait for the next animation class.

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We only had to wait a few minutes before we were let in and took our seats on our drawing stools.

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I figured we needed a shot of the page before it was potentially massacred by our drawings. lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2384.jpg

DH and I were both nervous and a little disappointed when the animator said we'd be drawing Ray from Princess and the Frog. We had been looking forward to drawing some of the classic characters, and Ray looked HARD to draw! But we went into it with open minds and just give it our best try.

This is what we came up with, which surprisingly wasn't so bad!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2385.jpg

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After the class, DH went to ask the animator who he'd be drawing for the next class, but he said another animator would be coming in for the next class, but thought we'd be drawing Goofy. So we exited the class and got back in line for the next one!

Sure enough, we were drawing Goofy, which I had a much easier time with even though I made Goofy's snout a little short.

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We debated going to a third class, but decided to move on to other things. By the time we left, it was about 5 and we were getting hungry. So we went over to the Backlot Express and got chicken nuggets and fries for dinner. When we finished eating, we called our parents and found out they had met up and were actually on the Backlot Tour in Catastrophe Canyon when we called.

DH and I decided at the last minute to go ahead and see the 6:30 pm showing of Fantasmic. I hadn't worked it into my itinerary because it's not a must do show for either of us. But since we had already ridden two of our favorite DHS rides, RNRC and ToT, and the wait for TSM was way too long, we decided to go get in line with the understanding that our parents would be meeting up with us there.

Somewhere along the way, DH's parents decided not to come to Fantasmic and to just go straight to the Osborne Lights instead. My mom and dad found us just before the show and we watched together. No pictures for some reason? :confused3 But it was even better than I remembered it! Maybe it was the fact that I was choosing to see it myself and not being "forced" to by my parents. lol Sorry, Mom!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2397.jpg
DH snapped this creepy shot of ToT at night before we headed to...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2402.jpg

I was so excited about seeing the Osborne Lights in person!! It was so incredible to turn the corner and just be overwhelmed by the colors, the music, the atmosphere! Truly a beautiful sight. It ended up being my favorite secular Christmas activity in WDW (CP was my favorite traditional Christmas activity!), and I didn't really expect that. I didn't realize how impressive and amazing and spectacular of a sight it would be in person.

I have tons of pictures that DH took while we wandered around for over an hour, looking for Hidden Mickeys in the lights and just taking it all in, but I promise not to post them all. That would be way too many! But seeing it in pictures just doesn't do it justice at all. You have to see it in person to really appreciate how impressive it is!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2404.jpg

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We got in line for the first Photopass Photographer and it was almost our turn, but then the lights started dancing! We didn't mind watching the show until it was over to get our picture.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image2128.jpg

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Continued in next post...

khertz

03-12-2010, 06:27 PM

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During our walk around, DH and I stopped for two more Photopass photographers, and BOTH times, the music would start up just as it was our turn! We couldn't help but laugh at the luck. But it was definitely not a problem to stop and watch the lights dance in time to the music.

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Before we left, we checked out the little merchandise area that was set up to buy some stuff. I really wanted the t-shirt I had been seeing people wear that was black with the lights on it and said Lighting Crew, but it was evidently from a previous year. :-( So instead, I got this longsleeved DHS t-shirt.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DSCN4426.jpg
It was 50% off because it said 2009!

DH had been eying Vinylmations almost everywhere we went and kept saying he wanted to start collecting them, but this is most definitely not the hobby for him! Mostly because he only liked a few of the designs and would be super annoyed if he got ones he didn't like. This is a hobby for people who get the thrill of not knowing which one they are getting when they buy. And that is NOT DH! lol So he saw ones out that were for the Osborne Lights, and there was only 1 design, so he got that one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DSCN4422.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DSCN4424.jpg
The front

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DSCN4423.jpg
The back

Around 9 pm after watching the lights dance one more time to Feliz Navidad, we left the park and headed back to Bonnet Creek. We had some packing to do that night because we were moving in the morning to the one bedroom that DH and I would share for the last three nights. Which meant our parents were packing up, because the next day was their last one!

I have a video of the lights that is uploading to youtube right now, so I'll come back and post that when it's done. Otherwise...

UP NEXT: Breakfast with Chef Mickey & Magic Kingdom farewell

exwdwcm

03-17-2010, 04:06 PM

that vinylmation is SO cute! and the shirt too! once again, amazing pics - of the lights!

khertz

03-17-2010, 10:07 PM

that vinylmation is SO cute! and the shirt too! once again, amazing pics - of the lights!

Thanks! The Osborne Lights were hands down my favorite holiday thing at Disney this trip! I can't wait to hopefully one day see them again. :lovestruc

khertz

03-17-2010, 10:09 PM

It took forever because youtube kept deleting the audio every time I uploaded it, and photobucket kept stalling out at 60% and making me think it wasn't working when I had actually uploaded it 3 times!

But anyway, here is the video DH took on his iPhone of the lights dancing to one of my favorite Christmas songs on our night at DHS.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Disney%20World%202009%20TR%20-%20Other/?action=view&current=OsborneSpecticleofDancingLights-1.mp4

skier_pete

03-17-2010, 10:14 PM

khertz

03-18-2010, 10:14 AM

Great pics of the Osborne Lights. I agree wholeheartedly...my favorite secular thing too! (Like your phrasing on that one!) I usually don't go for over the top lights - but these are so far beyond over the top, they are just awesome.

Thanks!

I love love love Christmas light displays! When we were younger, my mom would drive us down some of the streets that were know for going big with their lights so we could see them, or take us past Al Copeland's house (he owns a ton of restaurants & businesses in the New Orleans area & had one of the biggest houses with the biggest light displays in the area) to see all of the lights. The Osborne Lights were of course even BETTER! So beautiful, I could have just stayed all night if we didn't need to get back & pack for our move in the morning!

stacikristine

03-18-2010, 10:29 AM

What a great update!! Gosh...your post makes me want to be at WDW SOOOOO bad right now! :sad2: And I don't even know when we'll be back...

Anyway, DHS is our favorite--I'm so glad yall had a great night there! B&tB is just amazing. I started singing along with the pictures in my head! And I'm so happy that you tried the Animation Academy! Your pictures look great--aren't they fun keepsakes??

And OH. MY. WORD. I want to see the Osborne Lights!!! You and Dustin got some great pics--I think the last PP pic with the red behind you is my favorite! :thumbsup2 They just look incredible. I just texted Michael and told him that our next trip HAS TO be during December so we can see all of the great Christmas stuff--your TR just confirmed it! ;)

khertz

03-18-2010, 05:44 PM

What a great update!! Gosh...your post makes me want to be at WDW SOOOOO bad right now! :sad2: And I don't even know when we'll be back...

I know what you mean, I'm so ready for another trip but I know it is YEARS away! :sad1:

Anyway, DHS is our favorite--I'm so glad yall had a great night there! B&tB is just amazing. I started singing along with the pictures in my head! And I'm so happy that you tried the Animation Academy! Your pictures look great--aren't they fun keepsakes??

We really loved DHS this trip. I have never disliked it like other posters seem to, but this time I really fell hard for it once we decided to check out more of what it has to offer. The animation classes were a BLAST! And definitely a fun keepsake. We both really enjoyed them.

And OH. MY. WORD. I want to see the Osborne Lights!!! You and Dustin got some great pics--I think the last PP pic with the red behind you is my favorite! :thumbsup2 They just look incredible. I just texted Michael and told him that our next trip HAS TO be during December so we can see all of the great Christmas stuff--your TR just confirmed it! ;)

Thanks! I like that one too!

You will LOVE it at Christmas time, there is nothing like it! I will always be up for going to WDW whenever it comes up, but as far as planning a trip, I never want to plan another one that is not around the holidays. It was amazing!

:goodvibes

AlohaPolynesian

03-18-2010, 06:51 PM

khertz

03-19-2010, 11:34 AM

Hey girl! I know I've been MIA but I just caught up on your report! I just loved your pictures of Wishes and I agree that the cookies at MVMCP were delish! And, I totally watched the Christmas sing-a-long tapes and heard many of the songs from that played throughout the night when we were there. I can't wait for more!! PS I don't remember if I told you or not but I got to go to the Super Bowl and was rooting for your Saints...even bought a Reggie jersey b/c I've loved him since his USC days. Congrats on the win, you guys deserved it!

Thanks! Glad you're back!! How awesome that you got to go to the Super Bowl! My aunt's season ticket group won tickets to the Super Bowl so she got to go too. I would love to even just go to a regular season Saints game, but this year will probably be impossible with how crazy the fans are going to be since winning!

khertz

03-19-2010, 11:54 AM

DAY 8: Friday December 11th

Friday morning was kind of crazy! Not only did we have an 8:15 am ADR for Chef Mickey's, we also had to check out of our three-bedroom, and figure out what to do with all of our stuff until we could check into the one-bedroom DH and I would be staying in for the rest of our trip! We couldn't put everything into the van, because then we wouldn't all be able to fit in it to get to breakfast. We thought we'd have to bring everything down to luggage services in the lobby, but we decided to call and see what our options were. They said we could have everything packed and loaded onto luggage carts and leave it just inside the door of the three bedroom. When the one bedroom became available, they would come move it for us! So that's just what we did, and it worked out perfectly.

After checking around to make sure we weren't forgetting anything, we jumped in the van and headed to the Contemporary. We arrived and got up to Chef Mickey's to check in around 8:05.

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We waited about 5 minutes for them to call our names. While we waited, I snapped a couple of pictures of the decorations.

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After taking our group picture, we were taken to our table. Our waitress came to get our drink orders. I think everyone got orange juice but me & DH who got chocolate milk. Yum! Then we hit the buffet. My first round up, I got some tater tots, a Mickey waffle, a piece of French toast, some eggs, and a biscuit. I don't normally eat a lot for breakfast, so I didn't actually eat everything! I just wanted to try a little bit of each.

We didn't have to wait long for the characters to start coming! First up was none other than the top chef himself, Mickey!

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Our next visitor was Donald Duck (I think this made the 4th time DH and I had gotten pictures with Donald!).

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Next up was Minnie Mouse.

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At this point, I got up and went back to the buffet for a few more things, but I decided to be good, and got some grapes and a hard boiled egg for my second plate. DH decided NOT to be good, and came back with this:

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Then came Goofy and Pluto one right after the other.

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Some pictures of the restaurant I took while waiting for the check...

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For this being my very first character meal, I was very impressed! I had worried the characters might skip over us since we were all adults, but they were happy to pose for pictures from all 3 cameras, and we never felt rushed with them. They also came through quickly enough that we were not sitting around waiting for a character after we had finished eating. In fact, we were finished eating and had met all the characters by 9 am!

Against my protests, the parents decided to leave the van parked at the Contemporary so that we could just take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. What can I say, I'm a good DISer (& a nervous Nellie!). So with me hoping we wouldn't get towed away, we set off for one last day all together at the MK!

UP NEXT: Magic Kingdom morning

skier_pete

03-19-2010, 12:31 PM

BippityBoo

03-19-2010, 01:41 PM

Chef Mickey's looks so fun!! We need to try that one! Like the pic with your DH "double fisting" with sweets :lmao: Ohhh I hope your car does not get towed! :scared1:

stacikristine

03-19-2010, 03:11 PM

I'm glad you all enjoyed your CM breakfast so much!! We didn't do any character meals this time, but I've done three in the past and really enjoyed them. I think I liked them more because there were little kids there, though. Well, except for CRT. I was SOOO excited to meet all of the princesses--and that was only 3.5 years ago! :upsidedow Oh--and I hope your van doesn't get towed away!!! :scared1:

khertz

03-24-2010, 09:47 AM

Hey, that was our arrival day...while you were munching with Mickey, we were flying into MCO! Haven't been to CM breakfast since 1997! (pre-kids) We've done the dinner...great character interaction, food is so-so.

You heading into the home stretch - keep those updates coming!

I had heard not so great things about the dinner food, so that's why we decided to go with breakfast. It was also a way to meet the Fab 5 without having to stand in line to see them, but that was useless for DH and I because we had already met all 5, some of them more than once! But it was good for our parents because none of them wanted to stand in line for characters. It was a fun breakfast, and a great way to start our last day together!

I haven't been feeling so hot lately, but I'm probably going to get an update in this afternoon. :thumbsup2

Chef Mickey's looks so fun!! We need to try that one! Like the pic with your DH "double fisting" with sweets :lmao: Ohhh I hope your car does not get towed! :scared1:

:rotfl: DH was so annoyed that I posted that picture! I had to promise him I'd post an embarrassing one of myself in a future update.

I'm glad you all enjoyed your CM breakfast so much!! We didn't do any character meals this time, but I've done three in the past and really enjoyed them. I think I liked them more because there were little kids there, though. Well, except for CRT. I was SOOO excited to meet all of the princesses--and that was only 3.5 years ago! :upsidedow Oh--and I hope your van doesn't get towed away!!! :scared1:

I do better with fur characters than with face, so I'm kinda hoping whenever DH and I have children we have some boys so I can avoid the princess meals. :lmao: Although eating in the castle would be amazing. I would like to try it at least once! The lunch & dinner options are a little too adventurous for us, so we'd probably have to stick with breakfast. :laughing:

We'll see about the van! :rolleyes1

khertz

03-24-2010, 03:13 PM

When I left off, we had just had a great breakfast at Chef Mickey's and taken the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom for our last day as a group of 6. We arrived around 10 am, and since we didn't necessarily have anything we HAD to do first, we decided to go shopping! All of the CS places had 20% off coupons attached to the receipts to be used from 9am to 12pm in certain stores at each park. So DH and I hit the Emporium since we hadn't bought much of anything yet besides what we had gotten the night before at DHS.

Here's what we ended up buying:

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A scrapbook kit I'd had my eye on for awhile

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A t-shirt for me

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A long sleeved t-shirt for me

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A magnet

We also bought a Christmas ornament with the castle in icicle lights that I forgot to get a picture of before we packed up our Christmas stuff this year. And we got a very cute Minnie Mouse onesie for my cousin Sawyer and an Aladdin and Jasmine playset for her big sister Skylar. Since we had gotten so much stuff, we also went ahead and got this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/DSCN4435.jpg
The castle fleece throw. It's SO comfortable!!

We used the package delivery to the front of the park so we wouldn't have to carry so much stuff around, then off we went.

We had a little photoshoot on Main Street in front of the Castle and the Christmas tree.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image2265.jpg

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Most of the pictures from this day are wandering pictures, because we did a lot of it! We had done pretty much everything in the Magic Kingdom we had wanted to do, so DH & I took time to explore and see all of the unique things we had missed earlier in the week rushing from ride to ride and show to show. One thing I absolutely loved was the window displays on Main Street! They were just incredible, especially the ones depicting scenes of Mickey's Christmas Carol. So hopefully you all don't find them too boring, but I'm going to share them!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_2687.jpg

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Pretty Main Street U.S.A.

And a few more of the Castle...

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I took a picture with Br'er Rabbit since Splash Mountain is my favorite WDW ride. :-)

Continued in next post...

khertz

03-24-2010, 03:34 PM

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Love those side shots of the Castle!

By now it was almost noon, and we hadn't done anything yet! So DH and I headed first to Frontierland to grab some FastPasses for Big Thunder Mountain.

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FPs in hand (or DH's pocket really) we crossed over into Adventureland for a trip around the world on the Jungle Cruise! It was one of my must-do attractions that we hadn't accomplished yet, and luckily it only had a 10 minute wait.

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A pretty flower I spotted while waiting in line

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A giant tarantula!

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Our skipper was full of corny jokes, but her delivery was too dry and not in a good way. She just sounded like she was reciting the script. Not much personality in it, but it was still a relaxing ride through the jungle.

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After the Jungle Cruise, we decided to stop by the Enchanted Tiki Room. While waiting in line, DH said something about how he didn't know why we always took the time to do the show anyway because he hates the updated version. I offered the leave the line with him, but he quickly said, "No! Because I love it!" So we sat through the Tiki Birds, then called our parents to see what they were up to. They were heading towards the Country Bear Jamboree, so we decided to meet them over there...

UP NEXT: Stopping to smell the roses!

BippityBoo

03-24-2010, 05:36 PM

GREAT update!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Christmas Carol window displays :love: Thank you so much for posting them. I hope they put them back up this December!

I love the days when you can just walk around and take it all in. I really want to check out that Deluxe Scrapbooking Kit. Great :thumbsup2

You must have had the same girl doing our Jungle Cruise. We were not impressed at all!

What is the Tiki Room like? We wanted to stop last time, but never did. Do you think my kids (2&6) would like it??

We did the Country Bear Jamboree though. Want to see what you thought of it! Update soon ;)

stacikristine

03-25-2010, 11:10 AM

I do better with fur characters than with face, so I'm kinda hoping whenever DH and I have children we have some boys so I can avoid the princess meals. :lmao: Although eating in the castle would be amazing. I would like to try it at least once! The lunch & dinner options are a little too adventurous for us, so we'd probably have to stick with breakfast. :laughing:

Haha--I think I'm just not very good with any of the characters. I got a TON of character pics in 06, but I think that'll be it for a very long time. But I know our kids will want to get them someday. You really need to try CRT breakfast--we really liked it!!

Great update!! I love all of the pretty window displays. Thanks for sharing! :thumbsup2 That scrapbook kit looks incredible--have you started your scrapbook yet? I still haven't started ours...maybe this summer. All of your other purchases look great as well. And your PP pics turned out SOOO good!!

It looks like you had a super relaxing morning/early afternoon at the MK. :goodvibes The Jungle Cruise actually surprised us--we didn't think we'd like it as much as we did. Sorry your skipper wasn't very good. Aw, the Country Bears. My grandma always HAS TO see this, so we skipped it this time! :upsidedow

Can't wait for another update. I'm telling you, you're making me want to go in December SOOOOO bad!

skier_pete

03-25-2010, 11:21 AM

Hi, more great pictures! Love the jungle cruise shots! Bet cha didn't know that spider came from the Haunted Mansion. It was re-moved in the refurb a few years ago. It moves occasionally. Scared the bejeebus out of DD!

Great shot of the savannah and the sandstone cliffs...though I hear many people take it for granite! (Bah dum bum!)

I've said this before...but you guys look soooo happy in your pictures! I don't think ours ever look that good. (I'm a lousy smiler, though.)

AlohaPolynesian

03-25-2010, 12:21 PM

Nice updates! I love character meals because I feel more out of place waiting in long lines in the park to take pictures with them than I do meeting them while I'm at a meal. I mean you need to eat, right? I just think it is so easy! I've never done breakfast at Chef Mickey's but I am glad you liked it. We always did the dinner and it used to be one of my favorites but lately it has been impossible to get an ADR there.

Love all the souvenirs!

khertz

03-27-2010, 12:35 PM

GREAT update!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Christmas Carol window displays :love: Thank you so much for posting them. I hope they put them back up this December!

Thanks! I loved the windows too. Glad you enjoyed the pictures. :goodvibes Hopefully they will put them back up because they are really incredible.

I love the days when you can just walk around and take it all in. I really want to check out that Deluxe Scrapbooking Kit. Great :thumbsup2

You must have had the same girl doing our Jungle Cruise. We were not impressed at all!

What is the Tiki Room like? We wanted to stop last time, but never did. Do you think my kids (2&6) would like it??

I think little kids would enjoy it for the most part. It's some tiki birds that sing, and the show is "run" by Iago and Zazu. Parts of it are a little dark and loud, so it might be a little scary for the 2 year old, but otherwise, a harmless little attraction. If you never saw the original Tiki Room (without Iago & Zazu) you will probably enjoy it. Most people hate it because they messed with a classic attraction.

We did the Country Bear Jamboree though. Want to see what you thought of it! Update soon ;)

:goodvibes

Haha--I think I'm just not very good with any of the characters. I got a TON of character pics in 06, but I think that'll be it for a very long time. But I know our kids will want to get them someday. You really need to try CRT breakfast--we really liked it!!

Great update!! I love all of the pretty window displays. Thanks for sharing! :thumbsup2 That scrapbook kit looks incredible--have you started your scrapbook yet? I still haven't started ours...maybe this summer. All of your other purchases look great as well. And your PP pics turned out SOOO good!!

Thanks! I have NOT started my scrapbook yet, which is crazy because I'm so ready!! The problem is that I have been so focused on working on the TR when I have time that I haven't even sat down to order prints yet! But when I get on it, I think it'll be great.

We loved our PP pictures! We had fun taking them any and everywhere we could!

It looks like you had a super relaxing morning/early afternoon at the MK. :goodvibes The Jungle Cruise actually surprised us--we didn't think we'd like it as much as we did. Sorry your skipper wasn't very good. Aw, the Country Bears. My grandma always HAS TO see this, so we skipped it this time! :upsidedow

Can't wait for another update. I'm telling you, you're making me want to go in December SOOOOO bad!

You will LOVE going in December! You should set that up soon!! :thumbsup2

Hi, more great pictures! Love the jungle cruise shots! Bet cha didn't know that spider came from the Haunted Mansion. It was re-moved in the refurb a few years ago. It moves occasionally. Scared the bejeebus out of DD!

Great shot of the savannah and the sandstone cliffs...though I hear many people take it for granite! (Bah dum bum!)

I've said this before...but you guys look soooo happy in your pictures! I don't think ours ever look that good. (I'm a lousy smiler, though.)

I did NOT know that the spider came from the HM! Good to know. ;) I did catch it move once and it scared the bejeebus out of me even though I knew it moved! lol So I can relate to your DD. :laughing:

Thanks! I usually don't like my smile in pictures, but I think something about being in Disney makes me so happy that I don't mind having my picture taken dozens of times a day!!

Nice updates! I love character meals because I feel more out of place waiting in long lines in the park to take pictures with them than I do meeting them while I'm at a meal. I mean you need to eat, right? I just think it is so easy! I've never done breakfast at Chef Mickey's but I am glad you liked it. We always did the dinner and it used to be one of my favorites but lately it has been impossible to get an ADR there.

Love all the souvenirs!

I was so worried we wouldn't get the ADR at Chef Mickey's, so I was VERY happy when I managed to score one, especially for a pretty early time so we could go before the parks. I know what you mean, I felt silly waiting in line to meet the characters a few times (especially Snow White!) and being surrounded by kids, but it was fun and we got some great pictures! The meal was definitely fun though, and it was nice for our parents to be able to get pictures with the main characters without standing in line because I know they weren't interested in doing that.

Thanks! :goodvibes

khertz

03-29-2010, 11:31 AM

When I last left you, DH and I were heading to Frontierland from our ride on the Jungle Cruise to meet up with our parents. While we had been shopping, they apparently took a spin with Buzz Lightyear...

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...and my mom mourned not being able to see Carousel of Progress.

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If you remember, the night of MVMCP DH & I had ridden CoP with his parents while mine went back to Bonnet Creek for a nap. Well, this is one of my family's favorite attractions, so my mom was disappointed we had done it without her, and had been looking forward to doing it today on her last day in the parks. But it was closed ALL day! She was so bummed.

But moving on...

DH and I had to practically run over to Country Bear Jamboree to make it into the same show as our parents, but we just made it. We weren't sitting together, but we were still all in the same showing! :-)

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I have to say, this show is not at all my cup of tea, and 7 days of non stop park touring was starting to catch up with me. DH offered his shoulder, and I gladly accepted it for a quick nap! lol I did wake up in time for the grand finale to catch these shots.

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After the show, the six of us got back together and rode Thunder Mountain using our FPs. Then we decided to head over to the Haunted Mansion, which again, only had a 10 minute wait. 10 seemed to be the lucky number that day!

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Once we finished on the Haunted Mansion, we were starting to feel a touch hungry. We all decided on eating Cosmic Ray's, so we started across the park towards Tomorrowland. Along the way, we saw a PhotoPass photographer hanging out in the rose garden with no one waiting for pictures. We stopped in just intending to get some PP pictures and get to lunch, but ended up staying awhile to enjoy the quiet & get an impromptu photo session.

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Literally stopping to smell the roses!

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I did that border for them because they didn't take a single PP picture at the MVMCP!

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Continued in next post...

khertz

03-29-2010, 12:17 PM

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DH got creative with the camera to get this shot that I just love!

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By the time we finished our photo session in the Rose Garden and made our way to Cosmic Ray's it was already after 2 pm. But the place was packed beyond belief!! :scared1: We all split up to order from different counters, and the fixin's bar was an absolute madhouse. There was a huge line, but everyone standing in it was only letting one person go at a time. There are 3 ketchup dispensers, but if the person at the front of the line stopped at the first one, no one was getting out of "line" to use the other two!! Eventually I got tired of that madness and just went up to get what I needed. People may have thought I was rude for that, but the system they had unofficially formed just didn't make sense to me.

DH's parents had gotten a table inside because it was pretty cool outside that day and they wanted to be inside, but my parents had gotten a table out on the porch. DH and I decided to go eat out there because it was so stuffy and crowded inside. I'm pretty sure DH & I got burgers, my dad got the BBQ pork sandwich, and my mom got a salad and the chicken noodle soup.

After lunch, we stopped to decide what we wanted to do next. But a week in the World had started to do some people in! lol DH & I were talking about going to Epcot that night to do some more wandering around the World Showcase, and my parents seemed up to joining us, but DH's parents wanted to rest before they 4 parents hit the road that night.

At first, we thought we'd all need to go back to go back to Bonnet Creek so that we could leave Kathy & Jamie in our hotel room to rest, and they could pack up all the luggage so that when my parents decided to leave from Epcot to go get them, they could just hit the road. However, they needed DH to be able to check into the new room to get the keys, and I wasn't really ready to leave the MK yet, and I didn't really feel like spending a couple of hours traveling back and forth for nothing. So, I started debating something I never would have thought I'd EVER in a million years do...Should I stay in the park by myself??

UP NEXT: To stay alone or to go?!

stacikristine

03-29-2010, 12:54 PM

praisehisname

03-30-2010, 05:33 PM

All caught up again! I love the pictures you got in the Rose Garden. That was the day we were at Epcot and it was COLD!

khertz

04-01-2010, 10:48 AM

What a great update! I know what you mean about getting edgy after being there for so long. I think that next time we'll work in a strictly relaxing day. Your PP pics turned out so great--all of the different poses were really cute! And that picture of the pink rose is beautiful, but the one with the yellow/peach rose with the castle in the background is GORGEOUS!! It would be so beautiful in a frame. :goodvibes I'm anxious to hear if you stayed in the park by yourself or not!! I don't know if I could have that much courage...but then again, it might be fun!

Thanks! :goodvibes Disney is an exhausting vacation!! I wish we had planned in a rest day, but there was SO MUCH to do that even 10 park days didn't feel like enough time! Although, we did end up taking it a little easier once it was just the two of us.

I love that picture too! We are starting to print our pictures (finally!) so I can start on my scrapbook. but I'm thinking about getting an 8x10 of the rose with the castle.

I will probably post an update tomorrow!

All caught up again! I love the pictures you got in the Rose Garden. That was the day we were at Epcot and it was COLD!

It WAS cold that day!! And it seemed to come out of nowhere because it had been getting pretty warm the days before.

Thanks, I love the Rose Garden pictures too. I don't think I had ever really paid attention to it before except to take Photopass pictures & move on!

skier_pete

04-01-2010, 12:58 PM

Thanks! :goodvibes Disney is an exhausting vacation!! I wish we had planned in a rest day, but there was SO MUCH to do that even 10 park days didn't feel like enough time! Although, we did end up taking it a little easier once it was just the two of us.

Well, doing Disney + Universal, I would agree. Exhausting! Our first trip as a couple (in '97) we did the 3 theme parks, the 3 water parks (river country was still open), Universal and NASA in 7 days + two nights at Pleasure Island. Talk about exhausting!

One thing I find since we started going every year...since we go more frequently, it's much easier to take a laid back pace. When you know you'll be back in a year (or less), if you miss something, it doesn't seem like a big deal. In fact our upcoming *bonus* trip I think we'll be pretty busy since we only have 4.5 days, I am also not fretting about our pace...anything we miss, we will be back in 6 months!

So, just go more often! (And go just the two of you! Family is great, but a trip just the two of you would be awesome!)

BippityBoo

04-02-2010, 01:56 PM

Ohhhh! Stay in the park alone :yay: I hope you did so I can see how it went!

I JUST updated on Country Bears. My kids loved it, but good thing we went first thing in the morning because I probably would have fallen asleep too :laughing:

I have to say, I can not stand Cosmic Rays! You are right, the system makes no sense! I like simple and relaxing counter services.

Can't wait to see what you decide popcorn::

khertz

04-06-2010, 02:05 PM

Well, doing Disney + Universal, I would agree. Exhausting! Our first trip as a couple (in '97) we did the 3 theme parks, the 3 water parks (river country was still open), Universal and NASA in 7 days + two nights at Pleasure Island. Talk about exhausting!

One thing I find since we started going every year...since we go more frequently, it's much easier to take a laid back pace. When you know you'll be back in a year (or less), if you miss something, it doesn't seem like a big deal. In fact our upcoming *bonus* trip I think we'll be pretty busy since we only have 4.5 days, I am also not fretting about our pace...anything we miss, we will be back in 6 months!

So, just go more often! (And go just the two of you! Family is great, but a trip just the two of you would be awesome!)

Oh, I SO WISH my DH had this attitude!!!!!!! :rotfl: I can't complain though, because as much as I LOVE Disney, we haven't had a shortage of travels in the time we have been married. We've been to Disney twice, Seattle, Vegas, and Hawaii, and this summer we are planning a trip for D.C. I think once we have kids and they are a little older, DH might be more willing to go to Disney every year or at least every other because it will be so different when we take our children. Only time will tell! :goodvibes

Ohhhh! Stay in the park alone :yay: I hope you did so I can see how it went!

I JUST updated on Country Bears. My kids loved it, but good thing we went first thing in the morning because I probably would have fallen asleep too :laughing:

I have to say, I can not stand Cosmic Rays! You are right, the system makes no sense! I like simple and relaxing counter services.

Can't wait to see what you decide popcorn::

:rotfl: Country Bears is probably my least favorite Disney attraction. I can handle AA shows no problem, but CB is just painful! It was actually a nice & refreshing rest for me and kept me going the rest of the day. :thumbsup2

I like the food at Cosmic Ray's (I think it's one of the only CS places that serves a single patty burger!), but the condiment station was just ridiculous. Probably because there was SO MANY people there, which was just crazy for 2 pm!

khertz

04-06-2010, 02:25 PM

Despite all of my reservations...I decided to STAY IN THE PARK ALONE! :banana: Just to put this into perspective, I hate to do ANYTHING by myself!! When DH is gone for work, it takes a lot for me to even go to Wal-Mart by myself when my pantry & fridge are totally empty! lol I did debate over it quite a bit, but decided I wasn't ready to leave the MK yet, and no one really needed me to help move any of the luggage since I'm an admitted weakling.

So after we stopped at City Hall so DH could pick up our purchases from that morning to bring back to the room, I set off on my own with the camera and DH's iPhone so I could keep in touch with everyone since I had left my phone in the room. Since we were near City Hall, I got a couple of pictures around the area while I tried to decide what I was going to do first.

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Chip & Dale were out at the Firehouse

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I first considered riding Splash Mountain since it's my absolute FAVORITE Disney World ride of all time, and DH is much less enthusiastic about it. However, it was REALLY cold that day, so even though I really wanted to do it, I decided it just wasn't a good idea. But another thing DH wasn't interested in doing again that I really love is Pirates of the Caribbean, so that's where I went first!

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It was a very weird experience to tell the boat loader I was alone, and even weirder to sit on a row with 3 people I didn't know. But it was nice and relaxing, and I didn't have to hear from anyone how we had already done this, etc. etc.

After the ride, I wandered through Frontierland snapping some pictures, and took the walkway on the water, which was really nice and quiet.

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The Haunted Mansion from across the water :-)

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Next up, I made my way to Fantasyland and saw that the next showing of PhilharMagic was coming up quickly with no wait, so I headed into the theater.

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A picture of DH's favorite Duck!

I really love this show. It's just so magical! I love the music & scenes from all of the best Disney movies and the way they incorporate the scents and everything into the 3-D show. <3

After PhilharMagic, I decided to wander over to Toontown since we had not been there yet all trip.

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First, I went to Minnie's House because I couldn't even remember the last time I had walked through it.

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Her adorable little Christmas tree!

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Minnie's house was PACKED!! Especially the kitchen! I had to literally squeeze my way through all of the kids going crazy over the stuff in the kitchen!

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Continued in next post...

khertz

04-06-2010, 02:41 PM

After exploring Minnie's House, I went over to visit Mickey's, which was much less crowded, thankfully!

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Mickey's Christmas tree! It was kind of funny because while I was in there, this crazy alarm sounding thing kept going off...I think it was because people were hopping over the railing to take pictures with the tree. :rotfl:

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After taking my time around Toontown, I headed to Tomorrowland for a relaxing ride on the TTA.

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I love those Green Aliens!

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It was nice to ride around with my feet up just soaking in the atmosphere! While on the ride, the phone started ringing, and it was DH calling to say they were about to leave Bonnet Creek. My parents had apparently decided they were too wiped out to come to Epcot with us, so the 4 of them were just going to start driving home earlier than expected. So the plan was for me to take the monorail over to the TTC, where my parents would drop DH off to meet me, and we could take the monorail over to Epcot.

One more picture to share from my parents' camera...some deer they saw on the way back to Bonnet Creek.

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UP NEXT: Epcot World Showcase at night

praisehisname

04-19-2010, 09:57 AM

Yay for staying and doing some stuff you really wanted to do! :goodvibes You're headed to Epcot now? I wonder if we crossed paths?

khertz

04-20-2010, 10:41 AM

Yay for staying and doing some stuff you really wanted to do! :goodvibes You're headed to Epcot now? I wonder if we crossed paths?

It was a really great experience!! I'm glad I decided to do it instead of chickening out and spending a couple of hours just moving luggage around. Though, I have to say, I'm not sure how people take solo trips, because by the end of those couple hours, I was starting to get a little lonely!

Yes, Epcot is next! I'm about to start working on it now. I don't think we have a lot of pictures from that night because once it got dark, it was hard to get anything to come out. I don't remember seeing you in any of the pictures, but maybe you will spot yourself somewhere!!

khertz

04-20-2010, 11:25 AM

After getting the call from DH that he was on his way to the TTC to meet me, I made my way to the front of the park to catch the monorail to the TTC. I ended up getting there before him, but only had to wait maybe 5 or 10 minutes for him to find me so we could take the monorail to Epcot. This is something that in 7 trips to WDW, I had NEVER done! It was kind of exciting to arrive to Epcot in a new way and to circle the park on the monorail. We arrived in the park around 5:10 pm

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We hadn't really gotten many PhotoPass pictures on our first Epcot day, and none in front of Spaceship Earth, so we decided to rectify that situation before going any further!

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Another window display I liked! :-)

First we checked out the Art of Disney store to see if anything struck our fancy. The only thing we saw that we liked was a small Larry Dotson painting similar to the one we bought on our honeymoon of Cinderella Castle, only this one was the Castle in icicle lights with Holiday Wishes in the background. It was so pretty!! But we figured it was little too pricey to only hang up during the holiday season.

As we walked along a little further, we saw Chip & Dale out doing meet & greets. We had seen them many times in the parks, but hadn't gotten our pictures with them yet, and their line wasn't too long, so we hopped in. A very cute little girl behind us kept saying, "Where's Theodore?!" because she thought they were Alvin & Simon, no matter how many times her grandma tried to tell her it was Chip & Dale! lol

Just when it was our turn to go up for our picture, in the distance, we heard the sounds of chanting and feet stomping! Dale took off running to hide behind a tree...

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...because he was scared of THIS!!

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BRAZILIAN TOUR GROUP!!!! :scared1:

DH & I were dying laughing, especially when it took quite a bit of coaxing by Chip to get Dale to stop hiding, and when DH handed them our index cards for autograph and Dale's hand was shaking like crazy. It was too funny! He even kept checking over his shoulder for the group to come back.

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Chip turned DH's hat sideways just before the handler snapped our pic!

After finishing up with the chipmunks, we decided to hit the only ride we had skipped in Future World before heading to World Showcase, The Seas With Nemo & Friends.

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I had wanted to stay and look at the aquariums longer, but it was getting late and we were starting to feel tired, so we headed over to World Showcase. Not a lot of pictures from this night because it was so dark and they just weren't coming out great. We mostly just hit up every PhotoPass photographer we saw!

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We started on the Canada side this time since we had started on the other side the first time.

No pictures in Canada, but then we went over to United Kingdom to check out the shops and saw this cute little display.

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And we caught a few minutes of British Invasion playing.

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There was a PP photographer on the bridge to France, so we had him take our picture.

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And another one at the fountains in France.

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We checked out the shops in Morocco, and saw Aladdin & Jasmine out for meet & greets, but their line was too long, so we skipped it.

We skipped over Japan, and finished off in America, where we caught the tail end of the Kwanzaa performer telling her story.

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One more with the tree!

Since we had ended up where we had finished up last time, we decided to head to the front of the park in search of dinner. We ended up at Electric Umbrella for our usual, burgers and chicken nuggets. It hit the spot!

We were pretty much ready to go, but we had a little time before the next Bonnet Creek bus would be there, so we went for another ride on Spaceship Earth, which had no wait. DH decided to make a silly face for our pictures this time, which hopefully you can see in some of the pictures!

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We had a bit of a hike to find the area where the Bonnet Creek bus would be arriving, but we got there not even 2 minutes before the bus showed up and it was a quick ride back to BC. We went up to our new room, now a 1 bedroom unit that we'd be living in for the next 3 nights. It was nice, and perfect size for just the two of us. I didn't get any pictures, but it was nothing spectacular. Similar in decoration to the 3 bedroom but smaller.

After quickly unpacking the stuff we had left (we had sent a lot of clothes and souvenirs home with our parents), we hit the sack early.

Continued in next post...

khertz

04-20-2010, 12:23 PM

DAY 9: Saturday December 12th

The first order of business on Saturday morning before getting to a park was to pick up our rental car. We had arranged for a shuttle that would pick us up from Bonnet Creek and bring us to the AAA Car Care Center in the MK parking lot. The shuttle picked us up around 8:30 am. There were already two guys on the shuttle when we got on, and they warned us to hold on tight, and man they weren't kidding! Our shuttle driver gave us about the wildest ride I've ever had in Disney World!

Luckily we made it to the Car Care Center in 1 piece, and had no trouble getting our car. Unfortunately, the other two guys weren't having as much luck, because their mother in law had rented the van they were supposed to be picking up on her credit card, and she needed to be there to pick it up! I felt bad for them, because they were really nice guys. Anyway, we had a choice between a PT Cruiser and a VW Beetle. DH wanted the Beetle, but we went for the PT Cruiser at my insistence! lol

With our maps in hand, we headed straight from there to Universal Orlando for our last day there!

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The snowmen seemed VERY out of place today, because it was about 80 degrees already!

We arrived just after the 9 am opening, and decided to head to the Studios first in hopes of riding Rip Ride Rockit first, but we found out upon entering that it opens later than the rest of the park for some reason. So took another (what? 5th?) ride on The Mummy, which had a 5 minute wait.

As soon as we came out and retrieved our stuff from the lockers, DH spotted someone with a clipboard, and was determined to get stopped because he had been wanting to do one of the network TV previews, but we didn't on our other days because our parents were with us. She was just the one we were "looking for," much to DH's excitement, so once she got us approved, we followed her to a little viewing center where we watched an episode of the NBC show Community. We had to hold two buttons in our hand while watching, and hold down one when we liked what we were watching, and one when we didn't like it and would turn the channel if we were watching at home. I thought it was pretty funny, and mostly pushed the good button, but DH hated it! lol I was kind of amused by this since he had wanted to do it SO BAD! After the show, we had to answer a bunch of questions about what kinds of TV shows we watch, what we liked & didn't like about the show, what we thought of the characters, etc. DH gave them TONS of feedback. lol We each got $10 for doing it, so hey, free lunch!

After finishing up there, we headed over to check on RRR, and saw it was OPEN! The wait was 90 minutes, but we decided to stick it out because it wasn't like we had a ton of things we still wanted to do so we had the time to kill. We could have gone through the Single Rider line, but chose not to since it was our first time riding, and we wanted to experience it together.

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The wait was BRUTAL! It ended up being more like 105 minutes before we boarded. And we were subjected to the same video OVER AND OVER AND OVER of how to pick your song, and another one of the song choices for the different genres of music. You think Small World is bad?! Those videos were making me crazy by the end!! And I was scared because it kept saying "You WILL lose any items from your pockets, I PROMISE!" and I was freaking out because DH had left his iPhone in his pocket. He wasn't worried and kept laughing at me when I'd say, "But it's going to fall out, SHE PROMISES!" lol Just for the record, it stayed in his pocket. ;-)

DH had found an app on his phone about how to unlock a TON of hidden songs on the panel, so he was researching those to see if there was anything and how to access them. I had meanwhile decided LONG before I was going to pick the Limp Bizkit song. When it was time to board, the guy loading us was pretty funny. He saw DH's Saints hat, and when he was directing us to a lane he said, "Row 3 Go Saints" all in 1 breath. So we sit in our seats, and the lap bar was so heavy, the guy working the ride had to come help me. And in just how long that took and how long it took me to get off the screen for the country songs, the ride started moving, and I DIDN'T GET TO PICK MY SONG!!!!! I was so annoyed at being stuck listening to some terrible electronica song for the whole duration of the ride, that I barely enjoyed it! I will probably ride it the next time we go back to Universal, but I definitely won't wait that long again just to not be able to pick my song! We decided it wasn't even worth getting in the Single Riders line to ride again, so we just moved on.

By this time, our tummies were rumbling, so we headed to Richter's Burger Co. for some lunch.

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With full stomachs, we decided to take a spin with the Men In Black and kick some alien butt!

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I always try to get the bonus at the end of this ride, because every once in awhile it bumps up my score enough that I beat DH, but even if it doesn't, it makes my score not so pathetic. This time though, BOTH of us somehow got the bonus, so he still beat me!

At this point, it was getting even hotter, and I still had my thin long sleeved shirt on. We decided we were ready to go over to Islands of Adventure for a little bit, so DH waited for me at City Walk while I went back to the car to change into a t-shirt. That is 1 thing I hate about Universal...the parking garage is like eons away!!

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The first thing we did there was get one more ride on The Hulk, since it's our favorite ride at IoA.

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We thought about going to do the Dueling Dragons, but decided we'd had enough of that coaster this trip. So instead, we went into the big store to shop a little bit. We both ended up getting a t-shirt. I got this Jurassic Park one.

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And DH got this one of Homer Simpson as the Vitruvian Man.

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We realized there really wasn't anything else we wanted to do at IoA, so we started back towards the entrance, but found a little out of the way spot by the water and stopped to take some pictures.

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Seuss Landing

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Part of Toon Lagoon

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Poseidon's Fury on the Lost Continent

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And me!

DH had really been wanting to see the Animal Actors show at Universal, so we crossed City Walk again back to Universal Studios. But this time instead of walking all the way to the main entrance, we used the "Super Secret Entrance" we had seen while standing in line for Rip Ride Rockit!

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The Super Secret Entrance!

We still had time to kill before the show at 3:45 pm, so we stopped to do the trick photo on Hollywood Blvd.

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Then we found another out of the way area where we got some more nice pictures.

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Continued in next post...

khertz

04-20-2010, 01:05 PM

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We headed over to the stadium for the show, but decided to stop for some snacks first. I had found $10 in my shorts pocket a couple days before and kept calling it my snack money and held onto it until the right time, and this felt like the right time!

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Me & my (upside down) snack money!

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DH got a picture of me finally spending my snack money. lol

I got us a soft pretzel and a Coke to share during the show.

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Another random and funny thing happened while we were waiting for the show. DH & I love Family Guy, and there was an episode where Peter was obsessed with the song Surfin' Bird and drove everyone crazy singing it. We would randomly sing it to each other, and my dad an I would every once in awhile send each other texts saying, "Have you heard? The bird is the word!" The song started playing while we were waiting for the show to start, and I think I nearly choked on the pretzel laughing!

Finally the show started and they had a bunch of animals running across the stage to get to their places!

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The stage

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Kind of hard to see, but there's a raccoon walking up the right side of the slide.

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A skunk on the left of the picture, and some ducks on the right

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Came out dark, but this is one of the black dog that did some tricks

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Frank the Pug from Men In Black

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This skit was VERY cute! There was a basket of clothes, and the guy told the little boy he just had to think of an item of clothing and the dog would go find it in the basket. The dog comes back with the bra, and the handler is "fussing" the little boy for "thinking about that" and the kid is saying, "I was thinking of a t-shirt!" while dying laughing, and out comes the owner of the bra, the orangutan!

And then they did some cute and funny stuff with another orangutan.

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A very entertaining and funny show!

The last thing we wanted to do was DH wanted to ride the Simpsons ride again. I did much better this time because we were a little further away from the screen and we hadn't ridden a coaster in awhile.

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And finally, this ride is where the title of the TR comes from! In case you hadn't noticed, I was pretty obsessed with taking pictures of signs. All over WDW and Universal! We were waiting inside the little holding room where you watch a video before they load you into the cars, and DH saw his first sign that he wanted a picture of because up until that moment, he had given me a sigh every time I asked for a picture of a sign! lol

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Around 5 pm, we said goodbye to Universal Studios for good and headed to Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine for church at 6 pm. After Mass, we grabbed some dinner at Chik-Fil-A, and saw the most amazing sight...a huge tour bus of Pop Warner kids LEAVING!! That meant no more PW kids for the rest of our trip!! Now I have to say, we really did not have any problems with any of the PW groups we saw during our entire week there. But it was just nice to know that a bunch of people that had been filling the parks in the evenings would be leaving!

UP NEXT: Mini-golf at Winter Summerland

praisehisname

04-20-2010, 01:42 PM

disneybarbie

04-20-2010, 02:04 PM

Great update!
I understand the name of your TR now! :thumbsup2

That is sooo funny about Chip, Dale and the Brazilian tour group!! :rotfl: .. one time I saw C&D chasing each other around Dinoland USA in AK, it was so cute.. always fun characters!

Think your're coming up to 'our' KTTK tour soon :woohoo: !

Emma princess: xx

skier_pete

04-20-2010, 02:54 PM

Thanks for more updates...can't believe you got through 1/2 of WS so fast, we spent almost 2 days there this past trip. DW and DMIL loved the shopping. DD love the Kim Possible adventurers - and I admit to thinking they were kind of cool myself. My favorite part is the food (and drink)...too bad you can't eat and drink it all!

What I hear of Rip, Ride, Rockit leaves me underwhelmed. It's kind of sad that they plopped this roller coaster down in the middle of a backlot movie theme park. Can't say I would have stood for 90 minutes for it myself. It is kind of amazing to think that there is almost nothing left ride-wise from our first and only visit to Universal back in 1997. The Animal Actors show was there back then, though! I figure another 4-5 years before DD is ready for it. (Getting her to try "thrill" rides is like pulling teeth...though once she tries it she mostly likes them.)

Keep those updates coming.

khertz

04-21-2010, 09:49 AM

I looked, but didn't see myself in any of your Epcot pics...:confused3 :rotfl2: I did get a photopass pic taken on the bridge to France around the same time you were there, though...

Love the Chip & Dale story!

That would be so funny if we crossed each other on the bridge & never even knew it!

The Chip & Dale story was one of my favorites from the trip. Very funny to see!!

Great update!
I understand the name of your TR now! :thumbsup2

That is sooo funny about Chip, Dale and the Brazilian tour group!! :rotfl: .. one time I saw C&D chasing each other around Dinoland USA in AK, it was so cute.. always fun characters!

Think your're coming up to 'our' KTTK tour soon :woohoo: !

Emma princess: xx

C&D are too funny! I was so glad we decided to stop for pictures & autographs when we did, because that ended up being one of my favorite moments from the trip! Of course, being on the Dis and knowing how much people loathe Brazilian Tour Groups made it even funnier. Maybe Dale is a Diser!

I am ALMOST to the KTTK tour...and you are in one of my pictures! :goodvibes

Thanks for more updates...can't believe you got through 1/2 of WS so fast, we spent almost 2 days there this past trip. DW and DMIL loved the shopping. DD love the Kim Possible adventurers - and I admit to thinking they were kind of cool myself. My favorite part is the food (and drink)...too bad you can't eat and drink it all!

What I hear of Rip, Ride, Rockit leaves me underwhelmed. It's kind of sad that they plopped this roller coaster down in the middle of a backlot movie theme park. Can't say I would have stood for 90 minutes for it myself. It is kind of amazing to think that there is almost nothing left ride-wise from our first and only visit to Universal back in 1997. The Animal Actors show was there back then, though! I figure another 4-5 years before DD is ready for it. (Getting her to try "thrill" rides is like pulling teeth...though once she tries it she mostly likes them.)

Keep those updates coming.

We are just not big on Epcot, no matter how many times I say I'm going to give it more of our time. Also, I like walking through the WS, but we don't find the need to shop there much. :confused3 Although, I can say, had the week not been so packed, and we weren't so tired that night, we probably would have given it more attention. I had wanted to do a KP mission after reading people's TRs about them, but we just didn't have the time! I thought we'd get more accomplished on our first Epcot day but the CP took up SO much time, between waiting to be seated, waiting forever for our check, then having to immediately get in line for the show. I hadn't expected it to take up so many hours of our day!

The absolute only reason we waited 90 minutes for RRR was because it was our 3rd day at Universal/IoA, and there's no way you need 3 days to do everything there! So we had plenty of time to kill as we had already ridden our favorites multiple times over. The ride was fun, I was just so pissed off in the moment at not getting to pick my song that it made it less enjoyable. I would give it another chance, but not 90 minutes of my day!

BippityBoo

04-25-2010, 02:11 PM

khertz

04-25-2010, 05:49 PM

I am all caught up!!!

I am so happy you decided to stay and tour alone. That must have been so strange, but so fun too! Your EPCOT photopass pics were wonderful! I especially love the one of you in front of the fountains in France :cloud9:

We may go to Universal in December. My SIL wants to go to the new Harry Potter theme park area. Is it hard to navigate? Just seems like we would be let down because we love Disney so much. We may skip it and let them go. What do you think? (my kids are 6 and 2).

Can't wait to read more popcorn::

It was definitely strange, but good. I got to experience the MK in a whole different way! The one at the France fountain is my favorite too. :goodvibes

The Universal parks aren't hard to navigate, especially not IoA because it goes in a circle. The only problem is there is no central "hub" like at the MK so if you are in the middle and want to go back to one of the lands at the beginning, it can be a hike. But both are pretty compact parks, so nothing is really too far. Universal doesn't have much of a "plan" that I can see to the navigating. It's kind of like DHS in that way.

I think there's still a lot that a 6 & 2 year old would enjoy! There's the Shrek 4-D movie, E.T., Woody Woodpecker coaster (similar to Barnstormer), Jimmy Neutron ride, and some very cute shows at Universal. IoA is a little more thrill ride oriented, but the Seuss Landing area is amazing! Their website has lots of info that might help you decide.

exwdwcm

04-26-2010, 09:44 AM

It was a really great experience!! I'm glad I decided to do it instead of chickening out and spending a couple of hours just moving luggage around. Though, I have to say, I'm not sure how people take solo trips, because by the end of those couple hours, I was starting to get a little lonely!

Yes, Epcot is next! I'm about to start working on it now. I don't think we have a lot of pictures from that night because once it got dark, it was hard to get anything to come out. I don't remember seeing you in any of the pictures, but maybe you will spot yourself somewhere!!loving the updates!!! and lol at the sign that inspired your TR name, i wondered where that came from, i thought it was very clever!

you know, i was the same way too- i wasn't much on doing stuff alone. but once i started travelling on business by myself about 10 years ago, now it is a breeze. i often will do a day at WDW solo if i am in town on busienss or something. it is awkward sometimes, in fact i was in line for soarin once by myself and this family kept looking at me and finally asked if i was alone, i said yes and they seemed impressed. lol. it is fun to go your own pace. although while watching WISHES, i got a bit lonely and had to call my sis to let her listen in. ;) now that i have a toddler, i cherish those moments alone, you know where i can shop for a bit in a store on main st, without worrying about him trying to pull everything off the shelves. :rotfl:

khertz

05-07-2010, 10:04 AM

loving the updates!!! and lol at the sign that inspired your TR name, i wondered where that came from, i thought it was very clever!

you know, i was the same way too- i wasn't much on doing stuff alone. but once i started travelling on business by myself about 10 years ago, now it is a breeze. i often will do a day at WDW solo if i am in town on busienss or something. it is awkward sometimes, in fact i was in line for soarin once by myself and this family kept looking at me and finally asked if i was alone, i said yes and they seemed impressed. lol. it is fun to go your own pace. although while watching WISHES, i got a bit lonely and had to call my sis to let her listen in. ;) now that i have a toddler, i cherish those moments alone, you know where i can shop for a bit in a store on main st, without worrying about him trying to pull everything off the shelves. :rotfl:

I think my problem is that I like to talk, but I'm not one to strike up a conversation with strangers. So I went such a long time without talking to anyone that I was starting to go crazy! lol Although you are right, it's nice to go at your own pace for awhile and do what you want to do, even if that means riding the teacups until you puke. :rotfl: Oh my goodness, though, you are so right about shopping!! I don't have to have kids to know what a relief that must be to shop alone for awhile!! :rotfl2:

khertz

05-07-2010, 10:34 AM

I forgot to mention something when I was wrapping up Friday, the day our parents left Disney! Remember that my parents had left the van parked at the Contemporary parking lot and I was worried about it getting towed?? Although it did NOT get towed, my dad told DH to tell me that the reason it took so long for them to drop him off at the TTC to meet me was because the van had gotten towed and they had to go get it from the impound lot! So all was well, although I wouldn't recommend the stress of leaving your vehicle parked there and not knowing that it will be there when you get back!!

So when I left off, DH and I had just finished up our last day in Universal Orlando and gone to church, then had dinner at Chick-Fil-A and saw Pop Warner busses leaving. Now that our bellies were full, we hopped back in the PT Cruiser and started navigating our way to the Winter Summerland Miniature Golf course.

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We both LOVE mini-golf, and I have always wanted to play in Disney, but we had never found the time. Even this time, I was saying we should just go back to the resort and go to sleep because I was so tired. But we pushed on, and I was very happy we did because we ended up having a BLAST!

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We went up to the counter to pay for our round and get our golf balls and clubs. We decided to do the Snow Course verses the Sand even though the Sand side had less wait. I had originally wanted to do both, but let's face it, we were lucky if we made it through one side with how tired we were! lol Plus, the Snow course seemed more appropriate since we were there for all of the Christmas decorations.

This is going to be a mostly picture update because how much can I really tell you about us playing mini-golf?! :confused3

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Your snacks pop up when your ball rolls under the ice chest!

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Poor Santa...not a very good skier!

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I love the Snow castle!! I wanted a picture of the Sand castle, but we couldn't get to a good spot to get one.

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This guy got us both with water more than once!

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Continued in next post...

khertz

05-07-2010, 11:18 AM

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DH spotted Donald, so of course, we needed a picture!

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You can see the water on my pants from that dang snowman!!

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Our score card. We tied!! Check out DH's three Hole-In-One scores! It was the only way he was able to catch up with me...I was kicking his butt at first!

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Our souvenir golf balls.

Before we left, I wanted my picture with Santa Claus.

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But DH said it was boring just having me standing there in front of Santa. So...

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...I posed. But DH still was not impressed.

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So I tried to eat Santa's fish!

Then DH wanted HIS picture with Santa.

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And he was just as boring as I had been.

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So he gave Santa a high five!

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One of just Santa

We started out the the car. By that time, it was about 9:15 pm. I spotted something moving in the bushes along the path. It was a cute little bunny!

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We got in the car and made our way back to Bonnet Creek. I was so glad that DH had not listened to my whining and let us miss out on such a fun night. We laughed so much & had a great night together. While we were playing, I forgot how tired I was because I was having so much fun!

But I had NO trouble falling asleep when we got back to the resort, that's for sure. It caught up with me as soon as my head hit the pillow. That was okay though because we had an early morning ahead of us!!

UP NEXT: Keys to the Kingdom Tour

disneybarbie

05-07-2010, 03:23 PM

praisehisname

05-08-2010, 11:05 AM

That golf course looks really fun! I'll have to plan time to try it out next trip.

skier_pete

05-08-2010, 11:26 AM

Those mini-golf courses look fun. Our family loves mini-golf...but we haven't been on a Disney Trip yet...I've avoided them because DD would want to go ALL the TIME...and they are so inconvienent to get to. Someday!

By the way...check out my new TR! Link is in my Signature! (I couldn't update the old one with it...the moderators locked my old TR!)

ag98

05-10-2010, 03:40 PM

Well, I'm caught up with you now!

Love your TR! We are going a similar time this year 12/4-12/11.

I have a couple of questions thus far:

1. Where is this secret entrance to US from IOA? We too are going to spend a couple of days at Universal this trip.

2. Do you know the name of that app your DH has on his iphone for wait times? There are a few out there but I want to be sure to get a good one.

3. Do you think touring plans was worth it? Were they accurate? Do they also do Universal or just WDW?

4. I've heard frontier land is the best place (well in front of LTT) is the best place for parades, but I'd be afraid we would be too far away from the castle for fireworks. Did your parents say anything about this?

5. How early did you get to Main street to get your places for the parades and fireworks? We will have DD(5) and a stroller so we won't be as flexible as you two were about our space.

THANKS! Loving the TR!

khertz

05-12-2010, 09:34 AM

looks like you had fun at Winter Summerland! :goodvibes

we went there last July - but it was in the afternoon, bright sunshine & about 95 degrees.. it made the holiday decorations & music seem a bit surreal!

Love Disney mini golf courses though - I only just 'discovered' them last year! nice way to spend an hour or so & I like the souvenir golf ball! :thumbsup2

KTTK tomorrow!!

Emma princess: x

We had a blast at mini-golf! I just wish we'd had more energy to do both courses because the Sand side looked fun too. Now that I have experienced it once, it won't be so easy for me to push it to the back burner in favor of something else!

I'm about to start working on the KTTK posts!

That golf course looks really fun! I'll have to plan time to try it out next trip.

Definitely give it a try! It's so cute, and lots of fun. And since we were there in a sort of off season and went later in the evening, it wasn't crowded at all. The only reason we ever really had to wait for the next hole was because the group in front of us was a group of 4 and it was just the 2 of us so of course we moved faster than they did. But that gave us plenty of time to take all those pictures!

Those mini-golf courses look fun. Our family loves mini-golf...but we haven't been on a Disney Trip yet...I've avoided them because DD would want to go ALL the TIME...and they are so inconvienent to get to. Someday!

By the way...check out my new TR! Link is in my Signature! (I couldn't update the old one with it...the moderators locked my old TR!)

I can see where you may want to wait a few years before giving it a try! :laughing: I love mini-golf, so I can't blame your DD if she wanted to be there all day every day while in Disney!! We had no problems getting to it by car, but I can see where taking the busses would be a pain. Hopefully you get to try it out someday!

Well, I'm caught up with you now!

Love your TR! We are going a similar time this year 12/4-12/11.

It is SUCH a great time to go, you'll love it!!

I have a couple of questions thus far:

1. Where is this secret entrance to US from IOA? We too are going to spend a couple of days at Universal this trip.

:laughing: It's not really a secret entrance, I guess, we are just silly and called it that because we had no idea it was there. But basically, if you are walking towards Universal from Islands of Adventure, there is a little path to your left at the point where you can see most of the Rip Ride Rockit. It doesn't look like there is anything down there, so I guess most people just walk on past it, but there is a little stand there where they can scan your park ticket and let you in.

2. Do you know the name of that app your DH has on his iphone for wait times? There are a few out there but I want to be sure to get a good one.

At the time, we used the Lines app by touringplans.com because it was free. However, we found it to be an excellent tool to help us navigate the parks and decide what to do next, so even though you now have to pay for it, I would still recommend it. Were we going again this year, we'd pay for the service in a heartbeat. Not only because you can see what is going on in the park you are in, but if you are planning to hop, you can check out the wait times at the other parks to give you an idea of the best place to go. And it gives you their crowd calendar for the next 10 days. Great app!

3. Do you think touring plans was worth it? Were they accurate? Do they also do Universal or just WDW?

We used a lot of what TP had to offer. I read the Unofficial Guide cover to cover, and their website had some great touring plans that you can print out to bring to the parks. Most days we found we didn't need to use it because their recommended Best Park almost always had low wait times. But it was a good tool to have regardless. I don't remember if they had Universal touring plans on their website, but there are definitely some in the book. Although at the time you are going, I doubt you will need them. We walked on to EVERYTHING at Universal (except Rip Ride Rockit).

4. I've heard frontier land is the best place (well in front of LTT) is the best place for parades, but I'd be afraid we would be too far away from the castle for fireworks. Did your parents say anything about this?

They enjoyed watching the parade from there, and said they had great viewing. But, it probably is not the best place to see Wishes. I would try to move to Main Street after the parade is over. It should not be too hard because you should be moving with the flow of people trying to leave the park after the parade.

5. How early did you get to Main street to get your places for the parades and fireworks? We will have DD(5) and a stroller so we won't be as flexible as you two were about our space.

DH and I found our spot 30 minutes before the parade was scheduled to start, and it took another 10 minutes for the parade to actually reach us. Then we just stayed on Main Street shopping until the fireworks so we wouldn't have a hard time getting back to a good spot. But if you have a stroller and all, you may want to consider getting a spot closer to an hour beforehand. We were lucky to walk up and find a spot behind a family that we could see over easily, but with a stroller it would be better for you to have a spot on the curb.

THANKS! Loving the TR!

Hope that helps!! Thanks for reading. :goodvibes

khertz

05-12-2010, 10:25 AM

DAY 10: Sunday, December 13th

Our last full day in Disney World (*tear*) started bright and early. I was so excited about this day, not only because of the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, but also because we would be getting into the Magic Kingdom before opening! So after eating a quick breakfast in the room, we jumped into the car and left Bonnet Creek for 7:45 am. I think we had been hoping to leave a little earlier, but we were dragging a bit.

I was also a bit excited to be riding in the front seat, because I was finally able to snap this picture.

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We parked the car and took the monorail to the MK entrance, and we were through the turnstiles and into the park by 8:15 am. Our tour was for 8:30, so at that point, I was getting a little huffy because I had hoped to have more time to wander Main Street. DH snapped these pictures while we made our way to City Hall to check in for the tour.

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We got our pins and chose our lunch (we both picked the fish & chicken basket), and had a little less than ten minutes to run to the castle to get our pictures taken before we had to go back to meet the group.

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There were PhotoPass photographers out in front of the castle, and the tree. We didn't have time to take pictures with both, so we opted for the ones in front of the castle. Which turned out to be good because the girl taking the pictures in front of the tree said something like, "Oh good, they're passing me up...they're New Orleans Saints fans!" lol We were all decked out in our Saints gear (as were a couple other people on the tour) because it was GAME DAY!

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After taking our pictures, I started hustling back down Main Street and yelling at DH to hurry up or we'd be late. He was much more laid back about the whole thing, and just kept taking pictures (which at the time was making me more annoyed, but I'm now happy he did!).

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We made it back to the tour garden to meet up with the group, and DH was continuing to annoy me by taking pictures of me snapping at him to stop taking my picture! I promised I'd post at least one. lol

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I picked this one because there is disneybarbie & her sister behind me!

Turns out I could have stopped freaking out because it was another 5 minutes or so before the tour guide even came out get us started. So in the meantime DH got a few more pictures.

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Our Guest passes

Around 8:35, our tour got started. Our tour guide was Evelyn, who gave us some background on herself before we started moving. She had started out at Disney as part of the international college program, met her husband there (he still works at Disney too!), got married, and has been working at Disney for 10 years.

The first part of our tour was on Main Street, where she gave us the back stories on the "credits" on the windows on the buildings, and some information on the structures.

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Roy O. Disney's window

We stopped at one of the little side areas on Main Street where we were supposed to get a chance to sit, but the chairs were still wet from being hosed off that morning! Here Evelyn explained to us the 4 Keys to the Kingdom and some other information on the park and how it was designed.

Then we stopped to see Walt's Window!

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At this point the park was open, so we were kind of smack in the middle of the mad rush to Dumbo and the mountains, but it was ok. We stopped at the hub for a bit and got some good pictures.

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We crossed the bridge into Adventureland first where she pointed out a lot of little details and intricacies that were put into the park that I had NEVER noticed before! It was pretty cool, but I don't want to spoil too much.

We rode the Jungle Cruise without the spiel so that Evelyn could give us facts and secrets about the ride.

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Kitty prints (and hopefully some chocolate?) in the cement!

Next we went to Frontierland, for our first trip backstage! On the way, we saw Woody & Jessie.

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Backstage we saw the trash system, and the warehouse where the parade floats are stored. And we may have seen a certain cowboy without an important uppermost part of his anatomy!

Continued in next post...

khertz

05-12-2010, 11:29 AM

We went back onstage to Liberty Square which is just bursting with little hidden details!

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After seeing Liberty Square in a whole new way, it was time to stop at Columbia Harbour House for lunch.

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We had a section of the top floor roped off for just us with our own condiment station. Our lunches were already set out and ready for us, along with the pins we received as part of the tour. DH and I were actually at a table by ourselves.

Lunch was delicious! We had about 30 minutes to eat and relax before the tour resumed with my favorite part, riding Haunted Mansion! We got to enter through the Servant's Quarters, which was so cool! It's kind of crazy how much detail they have for an area that is hardly ever seen by guests! For this part, we had to turn our headsets off, so Evelyn had given us lots of tips and things to look for while going through the ride. I found so many new things, even though I have ridden this ride so many times!

After the ride, she gave us more trivia, and answered some questions I have wondered about for a LONG time! That ride is so much more complex than I thought!

The last part of the tour was going down into the utilidors, which was VERY cool, but a little less exciting than I thought it would be. We didn't see a whole lot under there, but it was cool nonetheless. While backstage, we also got some interesting information about Tinkerbell's flight before Wishes!

We finished up on Main Street with a tear-inducing story about Walt Disney, the Partners statue, and the Roy Disney & Minnie statue. It was a great way to end a great tour!

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Overall, I would definitely recommend this tour! Even though a lot of the information is available on the Dis, and I knew a bit of the things Evelyn told us, there was just as much information that was totally new to me. It was great seeing two classic rides sort of "behind the scenes," and of course, going backstage was an awesome experience. DH and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, and I'd like to do it again someday.

The tour ended around 1:40, and our plan was to go to Animal Kingdom that afternoon for a last ride on Everest. But we decided since it wasn't too late, we'd stay in MK for awhile. As we were walking back up Main Street toward the hub trying to decide what to do first, a guy handed us two FPs for Space Mountain! We had been debating FP'ing that or Big Thunder, so we were able to have FPs for both! I love Pixie Dust. :-)

After grabbing our FPs for Thunder Mountain, we went to Fantasyland to ride Snow White, because we hadn't ridden it yet, and I have to ride it at least once!

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There were some sax players playing Disney songs for us while we waited in line, and they had the whole line of people singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! It was a great way to pass the time in an otherwise boring line.

After our Scary Adventure, we headed into Toontown to look around in their big store, but didn't see anything we wanted to buy. And we took one more walk through Mickey's house, since DH hadn't been with me a couple days before when I went through it. So sad that will be gone next time we go to Disney. :-(

We crossed the park to use our Big Thunder Mountain fastpasses, then backtracked to Tomorrowland and used our FPs for Space Mountain.

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And then I guess because we enjoyed crisscrossing the park that day, we went back to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain, which had hardly any wait.

On the way, we caught a PP photographer at our favorite angle of the Castle, so of course we had to stop!

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Look how blue that sky is!!

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DH was satisfied with this ride on Splash, because he always gets soaked when the logs stop next to the big drop and the water cannons hit us, but they just BARELY missed us this time!!

We realized we could use our Disney Visa points at the Splash Mountain exit store, so I looked around for a good souvenir from my favorite ride, and ended up getting this shirt...

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There was a PP photographer out on the bridge in front of Splash, so of course we had to stop...it's my favorite ride after all!!

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After our wet ride on Splash Mountain, we were starting to get hungry after such an early lunch. We ate at Pecos Bill's around 4:30, which really hit the spot.

We decided to check out Donald's Tree Farm to see if we could catch Woodsman Donald out, since we had been seeing Scrooge all day when we passed.

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He was out! So we hopped in line and hoped they wouldn't swap characters out before it was our turn for pictures. Luckily, he stayed out!

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Donald absolutely LOVED DH's shirt! Of course, because it had Donald himself on it :-) Donald made a heart symbol with his hands and pointed to himself on the shirt. It was so cute!!

It was getting so late, and we were having so much fun in MK that we decided to skip going to Animal Kingdom and just stay there for the rest of the day. The park was closing early because of a party, but we didn't really mind.

So after meeting Donald for the 5th and last time, we went back to the castle to watch the castle stage show, Dream Along With Mickey!

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Continued in next post...

khertz

05-12-2010, 11:46 AM

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The show was really cute! We were both a little thrown off by the characters' mouths and eyes moving, and it was weird getting pictures of the characters with their eyes closed! But we got used to it, and ended up really enjoying it. Of course, it didn't hurt that it was a lot of Donald Duck. lol

After the show, we went up to the Chapeau on Main Street to order a pair of Mickey ears for my Aunt Kelly's godson Austin that she had asked me to get.

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I miss when they used to have a person actually moving the hat through the embroider machine to embroider the name instead of using a computer. But we ordered the ears and were told it'd be about 20 minutes. We stepped outside the hat shop just as the Move It Shake It Celebrate It Street Party was starting, so we caught a few minutes of that.

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We looked around the Emporium one more time before it was time to pick up the finished ears, which came out so cute! We made our way after up to the hub to find a spot for the Castle Lighting Ceremony, and caught the end of MiSiCi again.

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Then it was time to light the castle!

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I was SO glad we had decided to stay in MK for our last night to see this!! It was so incredible to watch the Castle light up piece by piece with the characters helping. It was a beautiful sight, and one of my favorite things of the trip!!

After that, it was time to say goodbye to Magic Kingdom because the party was about to start...

Continued in next post...

khertz

05-12-2010, 11:53 AM

But on the way out, we hit up every Photopass photographer we could find!

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We hopped on the resort monorail, because I was determined that I was going to see the Grand Floridian! And since my plans had been foiled on the first day, this was really our last chance to check it out.

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The gingerbread house was AMAZING!!

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The tree was pretty incredible too, all lit up. Disney has some amazing Christmas trees!

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We saw a Photopass photographer taking pictures in front of the tree, and thought maybe it was one of the photo sessions going on. But then the family that was taking their pictures grabbed their card and left, and the photographer was still standing there waiting. So we decided to get a couple of shots in front of the tree as well.

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We caught the monorail back to the TTC and made our way to the car with heavy feet. Not only were we exhausted from a long day...it was time to pack! :sad1:

UP NEXT: Last day. :-(

praisehisname

05-12-2010, 01:00 PM

disneybarbie

05-12-2010, 02:22 PM

Aww wow the KTTK Tour!!

Lol I look very thoughtful in the photo!! :laughing:
It's cool to see the tour again in different photos :goodvibes

Your whole day looks wonderful - lovely to see MK as the sun was setting.

I just remembered that when we were backstage, we saw a couple of Jungle Cruise skippers dancing along to the MiSiCi parade, that was out on Main Street! :thumbsup2

Emma princess: x

khertz

05-13-2010, 09:03 AM

Great update! Question: Your title says "Saturday, December 13" but the 13th was Sunday. I'm asking because we were at DHS on Saturday and MK on Sunday. I looked for myself in your pics, but didn't see me...:rotfl:

I love, love, love the Splash shirt you got!!! :love:

You are SO right!! It was Sunday. I don't know why I keep getting those days mixed up!!

I had looked for myself in your pictures from this day and didn't see myself. Wasn't this the day you saw Penn Jillette?? I think we might have been on opposite sides of the park most of the day because of the tour.

I love the shirt too, and I usually don't find shirts that I like in Disney, but this year I found a bunch!!

Aww wow the KTTK Tour!!

Lol I look very thoughtful in the photo!! :laughing:
It's cool to see the tour again in different photos :goodvibes

Your whole day looks wonderful - lovely to see MK as the sun was setting.

I just remembered that when we were backstage, we saw a couple of Jungle Cruise skippers dancing along to the MiSiCi parade, that was out on Main Street! :thumbsup2

Emma princess: x

I remember that! I had forgotten to put it in my notes, I guess because we were backstage and I couldn't take out the iPhone at the time. But that was such a great moment to see the CMs having a good time backstage!

skier_pete

05-13-2010, 09:25 AM

dhertz

05-13-2010, 09:26 AM

We parked the car and took the monorail to the MK entrance, and we were through the turnstiles and into the park by 8:15 am. Our tour was for 8:30, so at that point, I was getting a little huffy because I had hoped to have more time to wander Main Street. DH snapped these pictures while we made our way to City Hall to check in for the tour.

A little huffy?! You weren't even talking to me when we were walking back from the castle except to tell me to hurry up. :lmao:

I remember thinking when Evelyn walked out with her riding crop, "What the heck is going on here and what kind of tour did you sign us up for?" :goodvibes

praisehisname

05-13-2010, 10:46 AM

Wasn't this the day you saw Penn Jillette??

Yep! Wow, I'm impressed with your memory!!!

ag98

05-13-2010, 11:36 AM

Great post!
Thanks for not sharing too much (even though I secretly wanted you too) about the tour.

Thanks for answering all my questions in my last post!

khertz

05-17-2010, 10:11 AM

Wow, what an awesome last day. It was so cool that you and DH got some alone time.

KTTK tour does sound pretty awesome. We will do that someday when DD is older. I like that you didn't really spoil too much in your notes...that would be my greatest worry taking the tour is that I would already know everything that they tell me.

We are going to do our first tour in October...but this will be the "Family Magic" Tour. I don't think it is particularly informative, but more about fun, almost like a scavenger hunt and more designed for the kids. DD is super into Peter Pan, and supposedly he comes out at the end and greets everyone, so that right there will be worth the cost of admission!

KTTK was great. You will still enjoy it! There were a lot of things I knew just from picking up info here on the Dis, but there was so much many more things that our tour guide told us or showed us, I was really impressed! I would probably even do it again someday because I bet by the time we can, there will be new secrets and behind the scenes things to see. :thumbsup2

Everything I have read about the Family Magic Tour includes Peter Pan, so your DD will surely love it! Hopefully you get a good Peter...I have read some interesting threads about him on here. :laughing:

A little huffy?! You weren't even talking to me when we were walking back from the castle except to tell me to hurry up. :lmao:

I remember thinking when Evelyn walked out with her riding crop, "What the heck is going on here and what kind of tour did you sign us up for?" :goodvibes

:rotfl: Okay, so I was a little more than huffy! You should know by now I don't take it well when my plans get messed up!!

And I will make sure to include your thoughts about Evelyn & the tour when I make the scrapbook. :goodvibes

:love:

Yep! Wow, I'm impressed with your memory!!!

Haha! My memory can be downright scary when it comes to random things like that, but I'm also the type of person that often gets up, takes 2 steps, and then realizes I completely forgot what I was getting up to do!!

Great post!
Thanks for not sharing too much (even though I secretly wanted you too) about the tour.

Thanks for answering all my questions in my last post!

No problem! I was worried that I knew too much about the tour going in, so I definitely wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone else!!

And I don't mind answering questions AT ALL, especially about Universal because I know a lot of people on the Dis are not big into USO and the Universal boards can be kind of slow. So if you come across any more things you are unsure about in your planning, feel free to send me a message or whatever!! :thumbsup2

khertz

05-17-2010, 11:14 AM

DAY 11: Monday December 14th

Our last morning seemed to get there WAY faster than I wanted it to! Of course, I wasn't ready for my Disney Holiday Vacation to end, but we still had a pretty good chunk of the day ahead of us, so I was prepared to make the best of it.

No sleeping in that morning! We were awake at 7 am to finish packing our toiletries and the last of our clothes so that we could get dressed and check out of the Bonnet Creek resort for good. We left all of our luggage with the bell hop and headed out to get our car and return it to the AAA Car Care Center. When we had picked up the car originally, the lady at the counter said something about the shuttle bringing us back to our resort when we brought the car back. So we were thinking we'd have to go all the way back to BC and wait for one of their shuttles.

However, when we got there, we found out that the shuttle could take us back to the resort, or to anywhere we wanted on Disney property! Our hopes had been for one more morning at DHS to ride Toy Story Mania, so this worked out perfect. The shuttle dropped us off at DHS around 8:25, so we were still in time for rope drop! :woohoo:

We weren't as close to the rope as the first time, but still pretty close. No pictures because we were VERY focused this morning since it was our last one! We hurried behind the crowd to Toy Story Mania, and got in line with only about 20 or 30 people ahead of us.

DH still beat me, but we had fun!!

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As soon as we got off the ride, DH got in line to get some FPs for later. The FP line was HUGE, but we still got a very decent return time of 11:45.

Next, we headed back towards the front of the park for another ride on our other two DHS highlights, Tower of Terror & Rock'n'Roller Coaster!

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The fog was SO thick that morning, but I think it made for a really cool effect!

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After a fun drop screaming our heads off on ToT, we ran over to RnRC.

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The wait was a little longer than we had hoped, and we definitely couldn't get anymore FPs yet, so we went through the single rider line again. Pretty much no wait!

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We still had some receipts from CS places for the discount when you shopped between 9 am and 12 pm at certain stores, plus some Disney Visa points to use, so we went shopping at Mickey's of Hollywood. We didn't end up with much, but DH got himself 2 more t-shirts, and we finally found a picture frame we liked.

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(After we got home from vacation, we bought a new bookshelf for the living room that this frame just looked perfect on with our Mickey & Minnie bride and groom bobble heads, so I had my friend who went to WDW in January pick us up a second frame, and it looks great in our house!!)

After enjoying the animation classes so much earlier in the trip, we decided to do another one. We ended up getting into the animation building a little too early for the first class of the day, so we played around on some of the machines. We did the one called You're a Character where you answer some silly questions and it tells you which Disney character you are.

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I got Belle

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DH got Captain Hook!

At 11:00 am it was time for the first animation class. We headed into the classroom hoping we'd be drawing someone good. We ended up with a choice of Minnie Mouse or Dale, and I was really hoping we'd do Minnie, but more people in the class wanted to do Dale.

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My finished product

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DH's Dale masterpiece

The teacher for this class wasn't as good as the others we'd had, and since we knew they usually teach 2 or 3 classes in a row, we didn't stick around for the next one. Instead, we decided to grab an early lunch, so we made our way to the Streets of America for some pizza at Pizza Planet.

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We got a seat upstairs next to the window so we could people watch while we ate our last Disney World meal. :-(

With full bellies, we headed back outside so I could get some pictures of Muppets 3-D since I hadn't gotten any when we had done it earlier in the trip.

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Another couple saw us taking pictures of the fountain and offered to take our picture in front of it if we'd take theirs, so we did!

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Since Monsters Inc. is one of my favorite Disney movies, I couldn't leave Disney World without meeting Mike & Sulley! They were harder to find this time since their old meet & greet spot is now an audition spot for the American Idol attraction, but the new area is SO much better! Lots more to look at, and you are inside a covered building instead of lined up in the sun.

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Continued in next post...

khertz

05-17-2010, 11:38 AM

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After meeting my two favorite monsters, we decided to go use our TSM FPs for our very last ride!

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DH STILL beat me!!

We decided to stop by the animation building again for one last class. We did the You're a Character kiosks again while waiting for the 1 pm class, and this time I got Tinkerbell, and DH got Jafar. Then we did the ones where you record yourselves saying lines from Disney movie scenes and it plays the scene back with your voices. We did a scene from Beauty & the Beast, and it was pretty hysterical!

We got into the classroom for our 1 pm class and found out we'd be drawing...

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Donald Duck!! Of course DH was thrilled, and that is his finished product, which came out better than mine.

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I made his beak a little short! :laughing:

Some PP pics on the way to the front:

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Once the class was over, we knew it was time to get moving. We went back to the front of the park to pick up our packages, then decided to try and hit the Magic Kingdom just one more time before we really had to leave.

We grabbed a bus to the TTC, then hopped on the monorail to MK.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_3250.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_3252.jpg
Our last view of the Castle and Main Street as we hustled up to our destination...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_3253.jpg

...to get the one snack I had REALLY REALLY wanted the entire time I was planning the trip...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_3255.jpg
...an ice cream cookie sandwich!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/IMG_3256.jpg

We sat down inside the bakery and hastily split our snack before we really had to get a move on.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image3676.jpg
One last Photopass picture!

We took the monorail to the TTC and luckily made it there just before the next shuttle back to Bonnet Creek to catch our Mears shuttle back to the airport. :sad1:

When we got to the airport, we had plenty of time before our 7:10 pm flight, which was good because the check-in line was SO long. We got up to weigh our bags and were over by like a pound and a half. So DH pulled the suitcase off the scale, opened it, and started shoving things into our backpacks to avoid having to pay the baggage fee (we only fly Southwest when we can to AVOID baggage fees altogether!). Wouldn't you know when he plopped that thing back up on the scale it weighed exactly 50.0 pounds! Even the girl behind the counter was impressed!!

We grabbed some dinner at Chick-Fil-A in the food court and looked around at the Disney store before we made our way through security. Our flight ended up delayed from 7:10 to 7:45, so we had some time to sit and look through our pictures on DH's laptop while we waited to board.

The flight home was mostly uneventful, except that when we landed, it was POURING down rain. I called my dad as soon as we landed to let my parents know they could come pick us up, but he said it was raining so bad by their house that their street was flooded!! :scared1: By the time we collected our luggage and had digested the whole situation, I had dissolved into tears from a combination of the events at hand and sheer exhaustion from 10 days in WDW. I called my aunt Sheri & uncle Mike at their house and started crying explaining the situation to my aunt and asking if they could come get us, but turns out my dad was on the phone with uncle Mike at the same time asking him the same thing! My aunt just said, "Stop crying, your uncle is on his way!"

So he came and got us and drove us to my parents' house in his truck that could handle the water in the streets. He is the best!! So that was our semi-dramatic return home story. :rotfl: The next morning, we drove to Mississippi to pick up Callie & Linus who had missed us SO much, had lunch with DH's parents, then headed for home. And that was the end of our Disney Holiday Vacation!!

EDITED TO ADD: Here is the video DH took Sunday night of the Castle lighting ceremony. For some reason, photobucket squished it, I guess because he had videoed it up and down instead of side to side on his iPhone. But still, here it is is you are interested.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Disney%20World%202009%20TR%20-%20Other/?action=view&current=IMG_0033.flv

UP NEXT: Final thoughts and BIG NEWS (with a new ticker!)

skier_pete

05-17-2010, 12:00 PM

Oh ho...I was going to ask when you are going back!

I guess I'll find out soon.

Looks like you had a good last day (on my birthday!)...we were at MK most of the day...I wonder how close we came to crossing paths.

disneybarbie

05-17-2010, 02:04 PM

Looks like you made the most of your last day at WDW... it's always sooo sad to leave isn't it?! :sad2:

Lol I'd forgotten about that fog on the monday morning! .. we'd been to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast and then to MK... it was so foggy that you couldn't see the castle at the end of Main Street :scared1: - the Photo Pass photographers were taking photos in front of the xmas tree & train station instead!

Emma princess: x

praisehisname

05-18-2010, 06:06 AM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/zorianna/Disney%20World%202009%20TR/Image3426.jpg

Love the fog and the eeriness it adds!

Your Dale picture turned out great! :goodvibes

Was that ice cream sandwich as good as it looked? :love:

UP NEXT: Final thoughts and BIG NEWS (with a new ticker!)

I hope it's what I think it is!!! :rolleyes1

khertz

05-21-2010, 07:39 PM

Looks like you had a good last day (on my birthday!)...we were at MK most of the day...I wonder how close we came to crossing paths.

Probably not very close unless you were right at the front of the park! We literally ran up Main Street to the bakery, ate the ice cream sandwich, and ran back to the gates because we were cutting it SO close to catching the next shuttle back to Bonnet Creek.

Looks like you made the most of your last day at WDW... it's always sooo sad to leave isn't it?! :sad2:

Lol I'd forgotten about that fog on the monday morning! .. we'd been to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast and then to MK... it was so foggy that you couldn't see the castle at the end of Main Street :scared1: - the Photo Pass photographers were taking photos in front of the xmas tree & train station instead!

Emma princess: x

The last day is always so depressing! Even though I'm usually kind of ready to get home, I'm really never ready to leave Disney. We hadn't planned out where we wanted to go on our last day, and we were both surprised to find that we wanted to go back to DHS. We really found a lot of things we love about that park that we had never tried before!

The fog was crazy that morning!! How funny that they were taking pictures of just the tree & train station. That probably wasn't very funny though to people who were leaving that day and wanted one more picture in front of the castle, though!!

Love the fog and the eeriness it adds!

Your Dale picture turned out great! :goodvibes

Was that ice cream sandwich as good as it looked? :love:

I hope it's what I think it is!!! :rolleyes1

I love the fog in front of ToT too! It works so well with that ride!!

lol Thanks. I was surprised it came out so well considering our animator wasn't very good. But I guess Dale is pretty easy to draw. :goodvibes

The ice cream sandwich was DELICIOUS!!! :love:

Hmm...you'll see soon!!

khertz

06-07-2010, 08:23 PM

Sorry there has been such a long delay in my wrap up post! We just got back from a great week in Washington D.C. so I was pretty preoccupied leading up to the trip. But I'll have the last post done within the next few days!!

praisehisname

06-08-2010, 05:53 PM

Glad you had fun in DC! :goodvibes

khertz

06-11-2010, 07:56 AM

Glad you had fun in DC! :goodvibes

Thanks!! We only had 4 days there, but we got a lot accomplished. It was just so dang HOT!! I'm used to hot in south Louisiana, but I expected it to be a little cooler up there than it was. It made for some pretty exhausting days. But it was a great little getaway. :goodvibes

khertz

06-11-2010, 08:40 AM

I'm pretty bummed that my first trip report has come to an end, mostly because it has kept me reliving the fun we had on our first trip to Disney World during the holidays. I guess now I really need to start on my scrapbook to extend that feeling a little longer!! :thumbsup2

1. CROWDS
The six of us agreed that while the parks felt crowded at times (there were times at MK you couldn't turn around without running into someone), the wait times were excellent. Following the recommendations by touringplans.com really helped, and there were days it was 100% noticeable. Our second day when we started out in DHS (the recommended park) and went to MK (the park to avoid) for Spectro and Wishes, the difference in crowd levels was obvious! I would love to continue going at times that are considered lower crowds, but I will probably always use TP on future trips as long as they are still providing their service. It was spot on! Between most rides being walk-ons or very short waits and using Fast Passes when needed, we never had to wait in line for anything!

2. WEATHER
Whoever on the boards has said that December is a mixed bag when it comes to weather was totally right!! We had a little bit of everything: some rain, a few days we couldn't stop shivering in the cold, and some where we were sweating it out in shorts & t-shirts! Staying at a Wyndham was definitely a benefit here because we could pack less of all kinds of clothing for all types of weather and do a load of laundry at night instead of packing enough clothes to last us 10 days for both warm days AND cold!

3. WYNDHAM BONNET CREEK
This was my first time since my very first trip that I have stayed offsite. I was worried at first, but it ended up being so much better than I could have expected. We didn't miss out on anything we wanted to do in the parks despite not having those EMH hours available to us. Transportation to and from the parks would have been more difficult from this resort if you had to depend on the buses, but having a rental car made it a breeze. We were never more than a 5 minute drive from a park. We had plenty of room to spread out, and we were able to bring some of our own food and drinks to prepare in the kitchen. The fireworks view was INCREDIBLE! Being able to see every single park from our balcony, being able to watch Illuminations every night (when we were in early enough to catch it!), and even getting the bonus treat of watching Illuminations and Holiday Wishes simultaneously was just the most AMAZING thing about staying at WBC! I know people are hardcore about staying onsite, and I understand completely, but if you have to stay offsite, this is the way to do it!!

4. CHARACTERS
DH & I met a LOT of characters this year! I had anticipated only really wanting to meet characters out of the ordinary, like the Fab 5 in their Christmas outfits at AK, Scrooge McDuck at MK, etc. But we really had a GREAT time interacting with the characters this year! It was fun to see how many we interacted with when we got home to review our pictures. I think we will definitely keep doing this. It made our trip more fun, and we had more silly stories to tell to remember the trip by, like our weird encounter with Snow White, or Dale hiding from the chanting Brazilian Tour Group!

In addition to the general things, we had a LOT of firsts on this trip. Most of them were holiday related, but we had even more that weren't.

1. DECORATIONS
By far, Magic Kingdom wins in the decorations department!! What else could top the towering tree at the foot of Main Street, the garlands strung across the building tops, and of course, Cinderella Castle in icicle lights?! An added bonus was that we had seen MK before they hung the garlands and set up the tree, and were able to return the next day and see how Main Street had been magically transformed. I loved all of the little details that each of the parks put into their decorating, even something as simple as poinsettias! And each tree was just amazing. But MK will win in my book every time!

2. CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL
I loved this show way more than I had anticipated I would in the planning stages. It was so moving and beautiful, it is definitely a must do experience for people visiting during the holidays. I understand that Disney has to be more commercialized when it comes to Christmas because they are appealing to people all over the world with different beliefs, But I'm glad they have this one experience that still reflects the Christian foundation of Christmas. Steven Curtis Chapman was a FANTASTIC narrator! I would love to see him perform the show again on a future trip. And the dining package was a must! Even though we did not get to eat at our first choice of Le Cellier, and we had a less than stellar experience at Biergarten (the food was great, but the wait time and the service...not so much!), it definitely beat waiting in the miles-long standby line & hoping to get in!

2. MICKEY'S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY
This was our first party of any season, and it was definitely magical! However, I did not enjoy it as much as I had thought. I loved the parade and the fireworks, but felt the shows available were not anything to spend my party time waiting for. I was disappointed that we missed out on seeing Twas the Night Before Christmas (which I hear might be coming back this year?!) as I had been looking forward to seeing that one. I guess I can't understand why they got rid of such a popular show?! The Tomorroland show and the Belle Storytime show didn't appeal to any of us. But it was nice to get a late night in the parks with no waits for any of the rides! I would possibly do this party again in the future, but I guess I wouldn't consider it a must.

3. OSBORNE LIGHTS
This was another experience I had underestimated, but I think anyone would until they actually see the lights in person!! It is so much more beautiful and amazing in person than can EVER be captured in pictures or even videos! Watching the lights dance to some of my favorite Christmas music is definitely one of my favorite memories from the trip.

4. RESORT DECORATIONS
Even though our first day of exploring got thwarted by torrential rain and the parade taping taking over the Grand Floridian, I still managed to see the two resorts I wanted to see the most, the GF and the Wilderness Lodge. Same as the O Lights, it's just so much more impressive than a picture could ever show!!

5. KEYS TO THE KINGDOM TOUR
DH & I are so happy we did this tour! It was something special the two of us decided to do together after our parents left, and it was a great way to spend a half of a day in the Magic Kingdom. I learned so many new things about the park and Walt Disney, got some long time questions answered by our great tour guide, and got to go backstage & into the utilidors! What could be better?!

6. MINI-GOLF AT WINTER SUMMERLAND
I just love playing mini-golf, and it's hard to believe that I had never played at a Disney course before! DH & I had a blast playing and seeing all of the Disney characters in snow. The snow castle was definitely my favorite!

7. CHARACTER MEAL
Eating at Chef Mickey's was my very first character meal, and I loved it! It didn't feel as rushed as I had expected, and we got to meet the Fab 5 without having to stand in line (although DH & I ended up doing that for all of them anyway! :laughing:). The food was delicious! The buffet had a great variety. We would definitely eat here again, but I also look forward to trying other character meals with other characters!

So overall, it was a great trip with no regrets! We gave ourselves enough time in the parks that we had plenty of time to do all of the attractions and shows we wanted to do, and then some. We had time to wander around the parks and take in the environment, rather than rushing from one thing to the next. We enjoyed having the time to wander through the rose garden, take our time exploring One Man's Dream, take several animation classes, and wander the nature trails at Animal Kingdom. And it has been great sharing all of this with everyone who read and responded to this TR. Thanks for all of your comments and encouragement! It may be awhile before my next TR, but I hope that some of you will still be around when I get to it!!

And last but not least, yes, I have added a new ticker to my sig, but it might not be what you expected!! We will definitely be going on more Disney trips in the future, but it will probably not be for a few more years because...we are having a BABY!! Our future pirate or princess will be joining us in early November of this year, and we could not be more excited about the addition to our little family. :love:

Thanks for sticking this out with me, guys!!