Did we bring enough lime-green mickey heads? It would appear so....*FINISHED! 9/29 **

[mmtska]

I figured since I had some pretty awesome PhotoPass shots from the first day, I'd add them I'm so excited that they showed up so quickly! Off to order from Shutterfly now lol!

While I'm here, I figured I'd do a little review of PhotoPass itself. I preordered with a discount code I got off of the Theme Park community board. That made the CD only $84.95. MUCH cheaper than the $149.95 that you have to pay now if you don't prepay. I highly recommend PhotoPass. It's really hard to get pictures of a whole family without asking someone to take the picture. Then you have to find a person to take it, and hope they aren't going to run away with your camera (and yes this happened to someone I know...it was just weird).

It is so easy to work with!. We showed up to the MK the first day and got our picture in front of the flower Mickey. That photog gave us a little card that the other photogs scanned after they would take a picture. I heard a good tip also that helped me out: take a picture on your own camera of the number on the back of the card. That way, if you lose that card, you can get a new one, and still get the pictures off of the lost card. I didn't lose my card, but I wanted to play with the pictures and left the card at home while we were in Philly. I opened the pic I took and got all the pictures!

I had a blast playing with the pictures when we got home too. I started with around 80 pictures, and with borders and cropping, I now have 241. Plus, I noticed that the borders change depending on pictures. Now THAT was really cool!

Onto the pictures!

This one is pretty much my favorite from all that we took

Celebration Balloons!

In front of the castle

Tinkerbell!! Excuse Dh's strange look.....

 

[MrsSpratt]

More! More! Please, more!

 

[KatMark]

AWESOME! Great pictures...can't wait for more pics and more reviews.

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Great trip report so far. I was reading along and not until I got down to the pix did I realize that I know who you are. I'm not sure you'd recognize me from my sig but I know that you know me quite well. You have stayed over night at our home and I babysat your goldfish for you. We are finally going back to "the world" this Sept. It will be our first trip back since we visited with Emma one month before the fire. This trip we are staying at the Contemporary and we are going with Shelley and her DH and our new little Isabella.

Keep up the trip report I am truly enjoying it and I love your pix.

Lynda

 

[mmtska]

More! More! Please, more!

AWESOME! Great pictures...can't wait for more pics and more reviews.

Coming soon! I had like 10 minutes to jump on lol! I'll write more tonight!

Great trip report so far. I was reading along and not until I got down to the pix did I realize that I know who you are. I'm not sure you'd recognize me from my sig but I know that you know me quite well. You have stayed over night at our home and I babysat your goldfish for you. We are finally going back to "the world" this Sept. It will be our first trip back since we visited with Emma one month before the fire. This trip we are staying at the Contemporary and we are going with Shelley and her DH and our new little Isabella.

Keep up the trip report I am truly enjoying it and I love your pix.

Lynda

*hugs* Yeah I think I've met you once or twice-or practically lived at your house for like 6 years I'm so excited to hear more about your trip! And I'm totally jealous of the Contemporary. I want to get the monorail in my hotel.

You know-we were talking about the fish the other day. And how we took it from BF to EC so it would stay with you, but my dad couldn't figure out how we'd move it when we moved there so he flushed it. Lame.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thanks for the dining review of Narcoosse's. The food looks super good and what a great place to celebrate your anniversary.

Love the photopass pictures.

 

[mmtska]

Our first full day!! Here's what we had planned:

Show up for Rope Drop around 730-am EMH hours
Use Ridemax to the best of our ability
Eat wherever for lunch
Use free time from Ridemax to do whatever
Eat at Crystal Palace
Finish Ridemax Plan.

And here's what ACTUALLY happened (and why I love Ridemax)

So I was WIDE awake at 630 trying to wake (unsuccessfully I might add) DH up so he could get ready. Apparently my memory wasn't working because I forgot how long he takes to get ready in the morning. So running behind already. We get to the bus stop around 715.

The nice thing about the CSR are how close the bus stops are-at least IMO. Ours was maybe a 2 minute walk away, and right in the middle. The chances of us not getting seats to the parks were pretty slim. Another plus to the Ranchos.

We got to MK about 15-20 minutes before the Park opened, got through the turnstiles and lined up. I don't know how many people were ahead of us under the train station or whatever, but there weren't a HUGE amount standing outside. Ok, when people say go to the left LISTEN!!! DH figured since we were going to be heading to the right when we got in the park we should line up over there. I told him we should go to the left. And here's why that was a good idea.

Here's the line on the right-right before you enter under the train station.

Here's where we were-on the left

We actually ended standing by the guy in the backpack before we went in so we were a little further up. Plus there weren't that many people behind us!!

The day was really gloomy. It had rained and everything was still wet. The sun was still hiding so it looked to be a really blah day. A couple minutes after we got there, the sun bursts out of hiding and the music for the opening starts. I kid you not-it was PERFECT timing! Everyone around us was like WHOA!! The guy in the backpack goes-man, Disney really knows how to make an 'entrance'. Even has the sun under its control! It was so cool and then Mary Poppins and Alice and a bunch of other characters came out with the family of the day and Mickey at the end of course!

I didn't get a really good picture because we were right under them

Then into the park!! It was like the running of the bulls-but with fast walking.

However, when we got to this part of the park-you can see how busy it....wasn't.

I can't really tell where that was, but I was just amused that it was that dead!

We headed over to Winnie the Pooh and ended up being the 2nd group in line! I have to say that I was spoiled by going to Tokyo Disney first. There, you have no track that you can see. They send 3 or 4 'hunny pots' in at a time, and they travel along to each scene. Then you move randomly around so you're in a different position in each scene. When Tigger comes out you really bounce up and down! The heffalumps and woozles in Pooh's dream are a lot more interesting too


After we got off of there, we headed off to Snow White and did that, BTMR and Splash all in about 45 minutes. At this point we're ahead of the Ridemax schedule and PotC was listed next-well Adventureland didn't even open for 45 minutes. So off we went to the HM. We figured if there wasn't a long line we could ride it. I'm pretty sure 5 minutes was doable I love that ride-the stretching room makes me giggle.


Off to PotC! This is my favorite Disney ride-since I was 3 so nothing can touch it. I remember it being less PC-and I think it was better that way, but Capt. Jack and Barbossa being added is pretty cool. We counted-they say Dead men tell no tales' at least 7 times that you can hear by the time you cross under Davy Jones. Slightly repetitive

After that we hit Jungle Cruise-the longest wait of the day. Still, 30 minutes isn't bad at all! This I liked better than Tokyo-for the entire reason that I could understand what was going on. Very helpful heh.

When JC was done, Ridemax had us with free time. HA! So we decided to see what we could ride without too much wait time. We managed to hit every other ride that was on our list! Well minus the carousel, but that's ok. Even the tea cups didn't have a long wait. While we were there, we saw Alice ride with a little girl. The girl was so happy! We got to meet Alice afterwards.

We ended up just walking around after that. Luckily we went around the castle and lo and behold, Lady Tremaine and the Stepsisters were there! Now this is where I felt bad. I made an autograph book with character pictures in it. I hadn't read of these ladies being anywhere but 1900 PF, and we weren't going there.....so I didn't put their pictures in the book. So they made me draw them a page! Then of course I took too long so they started being all rude and everything (and I'm laughing too hard) and Anastasia drew their pictures instead. I look stupid in the picture but here it is.

Drucsilla was killing me though! I have to say, this was my absolute favorite character interaction. Hysterical!!

Ok more later. I had to rewrite the 2nd half of the report so I'm typed out!

 

[meeko_33785]

Great update. The Stepfamily is awesome. You should post the pictures that you and Anastasia drew.

 

[BigEeyore]

Sorry I am so clueless - but what is Ridemax????

 

[tinkgurl]

Whoa, that lobster looks yummy! What a great view of the Castle too!

 

[mmtska]

Great update. The Stepfamily is awesome. You should post the pictures that you and Anastasia drew.

I totally should! I'll do that later today. I have to find my book hehe

Sorry I am so clueless - but what is Ridemax????

Ridemax is a program for either WDW or Disneyland that you download to your computer. You can pick the day and park, choose the rides/shows/breaks and food you want to do that day, and it makes you a schedule. You can use either the slow or normal rate depending on if you have a large group or small kids. It then tells you when to go where. I wasn't sure DH would like it since he's not a planner, but after the first day he loved it! We got to ride everything with minimal wait. It was pretty great

Whoa, that lobster looks yummy! What a great view of the Castle too!

It WAS yummy!! I definitely enjoyed it.

 

[mmtska]

Ok as requested: This is the page that the stepsisters/Lady Tremaine signed/and drew

I started the really crappy sketch dress. Heh.

Anyway, after we hit pretty much every ride that we wanted to ride, we decided to stop for lunch. We had ended with Buzz Lightyear, so we walked over to Cosmic Rays and had lunch there. I had the grilled chicken sandwich-I thought it was pretty yummy.

DH however had the chicken and ribs combo with mashed potatoes.

I kept stealing some of his food. We both thought the chicken was really good. The ribs were ok. I wasn't too fond of the bbq sauce though. For a CS meal I thought this was a really good value. There was plenty of food. I liked that you could get a large drink as well. I'm a picky person for dessert so I didn't get one. We also had fun listening to Sunny Eclipse

We wandered over to the Carousel of Progress-I've never ridden and went in there-I'm still singing the song! We also met Buzz right outside

and Stitch right next door

I love me some Stitch! Stitch loved the fact that he had his own page in my book and went crazy about it! We also saw Push the trashcan

I wanted to ride the PotC again, so we headed over, but it was closed! I wasn't sure why, but I realized that we were by Aloha Isle so we went and got a Dole Whip float to split. Ok, it may not be my most fave snack we got, but the Dole Whips are really yummy. I would definitely make that a stop again though!

Then off to Toon Town! I figured we'd just check out the area. When we went into the area where the Fairies and Princesses were and saw that the line for Princesses was only 25 minutes-the Fairies were over an hour! I thought it would be cool to get some Photopass pics with them so in we went!

The photog for Cinderella mentioned that I had Pooh on my shirt-I thought he said blue, so I was trying to figure out where the blue was. It was pretty pathetic when I realized what he said hehe.

Anyway the 3 Princesses were Aurora (YAY!)

Cinderella

and Belle

At this point it was more than sweltering outside. We took the train back to the Main Street Station and checked out Exposition Hall. I'm so glad that I heard about what is in there! We headed in and went to the back where the cartoons are supposed to be. They weren't showing. While we were back there, Mary Poppins showed up and even made a comment how they weren't showing! We took some pictures with the character boards.

Then as we walked outside we saw Pinocchio!

We decided to wait for the parade at that point. We just wanted to sit too so we watched the band and parade. It was pretty cool-Hi Mickey!

Since we had caught the end of Dream Along with Mickey the day before, we headed over there to watch it before dinner.

If you haven't seen it, the whole premise is that Donald doesn't believe in dreams anymore, and doesn't think that anyone else does either. So of course we (the audience and Mickey) has to prove that people still believe in dreams. Minnie wishes that she could be a princess, and Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip, Cinderella and Prince Charming and Snow White and her Prince come out and they dance around and Minnie is Mickey's princess. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Then Goofy want's to be a pirate and Peter Pan, Wendy, Capt. Hook and Smee come out and they act all piratey

Maleficent comes out and tried to destroy all the dreams, but we all get together and overcome! YAY DREAMS!!! LOL The end-ish.

Then off to the Crystal Palace for dinner. Next post!

 

[mmtska]

We checked in about 20 minutes early and waited about 5 minutes we were called up and taken in.

They had a little surprise for us at the table.

How sweet!

The buffet here for dinner is really good. I had trouble deciding exactly what I wanted, and I managed to only take 2 pictures of food here. The first plate was the mixed greens salad and the peel and eat shrimp. They were so good!

I also had mac and cheese, chicken nuggets with bbq, pulled pork, turkey, mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Everything we had was absolutely delicious there, and I would recommend it to anyone. There was plenty to choose from, and even picky eaters would find something. I think it's a great place for families and couples alike.

The character interaction is great too! We saw both Pooh and Piglet twice in the time we were there.

They also have a parade every 20 minutes or so where the characters lead the kids in the restaurant around. The kids seemed to have fun with it. I teased DH that someday he'd be the dad walking around with our kids who were too small to walk by themselves or wanted to go, but with the parents

We then met Tigger

can you tell he's my favorite??? All the pics I've ever taken with Tigger have me hugging him. It's tradition at this point hehe. Eeyore came over as well

and really enjoyed my autograph book. He stayed around and made me flip through almost the entire book!

We went back to CSR after MK and just chilled. We had a surprise when we got back!

Yay for towel Mickeys!! I really wanted to go swimming, but DH was tired so he took a nap. I didn't feel like going by myself so I wrote my live report By the time he woke up I was over swimming so we took a walk around the resort. That was a lot of fun too, we ended up grabbing a snack at the PM and chilled by the lake. Great ending to a great day!

Tomorrow-Animal Kingdom. My first time ever!

 

[KatMark]

Awesome update. Tigger is my favorite too!

 

[onelilspark]

I love your TR! It's so upbeat and happy and excited!

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

Thank you for the info about the "Do you Dis" sign! I've started working on mine!

I think my DBF would like this...

Loving your pics and reviews! Keep up the good work!

 

[dd50]

Loving your report. I wish you didn't show me the picture of the lobster or suft & turf. They are some of my favorite foods.

 

[BigEeyore]

Thanks for the info about Ridemax. I'd never heard of it before!
We love CP too - we've been every trip the last 4 times. We had decided we'd skip it on our upcoming trip but changed our minds, and now we'll be eating there yet again!

 

[meeko_33785]

Great update. Thanks for posting the autographs and drawings. How cute is that? Anastasia did a nice job.

Looking forward to your first time at Animal Kingdom.

 

[mmtska]

Awesome update. Tigger is my favorite too!

YAY He makes me happy. I had the BEST character interaction with him my senior year trip. He cracked me up

I love your TR! It's so upbeat and happy and excited!

Thanks I tend to get excited over little things, so this being a big one....hehe it helps relive the trip too!!

Thank you for the info about the "Do you Dis" sign! I've started working on mine!

I think my DBF would like this...


Loving your pics and reviews! Keep up the good work!

No problem! The window clings made it so easy. I just wish I had made a few more-the window looked so bare compared to the door.

Loving your report. I wish you didn't show me the picture of the lobster or suft & turf. They are some of my favorite foods.

Thank you I wish I didn't look at them again, I've been craving lobster for a week!

Great update. Thanks for posting the autographs and drawings. How cute is that? Anastasia did a nice job.

Looking forward to your first time at Animal Kingdom.

Sure! I took a couple pictures of other autographs that made me laugh, but that goes with another day


And sorry for the delay! It's been a busy weekend, and I didn't realize how long it takes to type one segment up-although it takes less time when your computer doesn't delete things....sigh. I have nothing to do tomorrow, so Animal Kingdom-here I come!