The Disney Grump & Family Take on the World-Our '09 Christmas w/ the Mouse, COMPLETE

I keep hearing all these good reviews of Tutto Italia and Yak&Yeti; they're going on my "must try" list!


First up was Primeval Whirl, but hmmmmm, it had a wait time of 40 minutes – no one likes it enough to wait 40 minutes do they?

Although I do love Primeval Whirl, I would *never* wait 40 minutes for it! :eek:


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They look like they're all lined up to go somewhere! :rotfl2:
 
I know there will be a few times on the May trip when I wish the boys were with me. Seeing poop at AK will probably one of them :rotfl: (I think I'll get over it quickly when someone says "lets grab a margarita then ride EE again!")

Looks like our paths may cross a couple times in the parks, and of course at the resort!
 
Great update!! You got some really beautiful pictures of the park and the animals!! :lovestruc I can't wait to visit AK again! When we were there in May it rained 11 inches the day we were there! Needless to say we didn't get to explore the park like we had hoped!!

I love AK, it's very photographable (is that a word??)

Oh my, it rained 11 inches in one day? :scared1: I can't even imagine. I knew that there was a stretch last May when Orlando got dumped on in the rain department, but that is a crazy amount of rain!

I can't imagine what people were thinking riding Kali in those temps. Seriously, you deserve to be cold for even trying it. Just crazy. I didn't even think about riding while I was down there in Dec.

I was actually amazed that the ride was even open. The kids did mention riding once, I just looked at them like they were crazy and said 'do you really want to be wet right now?' They thought about it for a minute and wisely changed their mind!
 
Great update! I have never been to Animal Kingdom--it looks gorgeous! I can't wait to see it in person (and to ride EE!).
 


Perfect photo of EE and the statue! Great job!

Thanks! I was happy with how it turned out :thumbsup2

Great update! Why is it not at all suprising that boys are fascinated with poop? Go figure.

The pretzel sounds yummy. Much better than my shredded wheat I'm eating for breakfast.

Yak and Yeti sounds like it was delicious! Is it on the dining plan? Yum!!

You got some gorgeous safari pictures. Good work. :)

Boys and gross stuff go hand in hand, I think. :rolleyes:

Yak & Yeti is on the dining plan, at least it was, I haven't actually checked this years list of participating restaurants, but I would assume that it is still on there. It was good!


Yeah, when you're a boy, it is hard to get excited about elephant tusks when you know someone is talking about poop nearby! :rotfl:

It looks like the tigers and safari animals were pretty active -- we have never seen the cheetahs so visible before!

We enjoyed the food and theming of Yak and Yeti as well -- it's nice to be able to escape to a nice, quiet restaurant during the day.

I think the tigers were more active than I have ever seen them, usually they are just laying around. I was trying to remember if I had ever even seen the cheetahs before, I think this was the first time!

:laughing: thanks for the "shout-out"! ;)

The poop comment made me laugh. I know those days are soon approaching when Henry will find it hilarious! Currently just the word makes him laugh, but when he sees it ON DISPLAY! I'm sure it will be a highlight....:rolleyes:

NYE week at Disney did something kinda funny to me - when you mention a 40 minute wait I now think..."not bad". :laughing:

Oh man, just wait! Soon poo, burps, farts, anything gross will be the funniest thing ever!! Boys - gotta love 'em!

Isn't it funny how 2 hr wait times change what you think is an acceptable line length?

Great pictures of the safari the animals were out posing for you! We ate at Yak & Yeti it was quite tasty! Wish I would have had the wontons, those sound great. We all split the brownie sundae.

The animals were out & about. I pulled out the 'big' lens for the safari hoping to catch some decent shots.

The wontons were really good, they had carmel drizzled over them and came with pineapple - they were yummy!

I keep hearing all these good reviews of Tutto Italia and Yak&Yeti; they're going on my "must try" list!

Although I do love Primeval Whirl, I would *never* wait 40 minutes for it! :eek:

They look like they're all lined up to go somewhere! :rotfl2:

I know - they are all facing the same direction and everything - except that one rule breaker! :laughing:

I know there will be a few times on the May trip when I wish the boys were with me. Seeing poop at AK will probably one of them :rotfl: (I think I'll get over it quickly when someone says "lets grab a margarita then ride EE again!")

Looks like our paths may cross a couple times in the parks, and of course at the resort!

Or 'let's grab a Lost on Safari & then ride EE again'!!! After hearing Happydog & CP raving over that drink, I can't wait to try it!

We do cross paths quite a bit - I'm sure we'll bump into each other at some point!
 
Great update! I have never been to Animal Kingdom--it looks gorgeous! I can't wait to see it in person (and to ride EE!).

Animal Kingdom has so many great things to look at - don't miss the details, it's really well done!

I think EE is probably my favorite WDW ride, I love it.
 
Thank you for sharing such wonderful pictures! I agree with you about AK, I have so many pictures from that park... very "photographical" ;)
FOW is amazing, I am glad you liked it too! We went in there just on a whim and really enjoyed the show. I would go again.
Yes!! I am with you regarding the creepiness of bats when they crawl!!! :eek: They are super freaky when they do that!! We had a bat in our house in December and because of the cold it was in slow motion with its wings spread and it crawled on the floor..... ewwww!!! It was easy to catch because of being sluggish but I do NOT like bats! :rotfl:
 


Sorry I am late in catching up :flower3:

My advice for the May trip- get the Sci Fi ADR ASAP. It's getting pretty tough to score lately :confused3 You can always cancel it later if you change your mind. Also, I probably wouldn't mess with going to a park on your last day with a noon DME pick up. Just stay out late the night before and finish packing in the AM.

Great AK pics!! And lol on the poop! And I am adding the stuffed pretzels to my list of junk to try in June :thumbsup2

More!!! popcorn::
 
All caught up. Great updates so far! You and your Mom should have a great time. Your plans look great!
 
Thank you for sharing such wonderful pictures! I agree with you about AK, I have so many pictures from that park... very "photographical" ;)
FOW is amazing, I am glad you liked it too! We went in there just on a whim and really enjoyed the show. I would go again.
Yes!! I am with you regarding the creepiness of bats when they crawl!!! :eek: They are super freaky when they do that!! We had a bat in our house in December and because of the cold it was in slow motion with its wings spread and it crawled on the floor..... ewwww!!! It was easy to catch because of being sluggish but I do NOT like bats! :rotfl:

:scared1: You had a bat in your house???!!! I've seen them around here a few times at night flying around, but I don't know how I'd handle it if one got into the house and I had to try and dispose of it! I'm getting the chills right now just thinking about it! :lmao:

Sorry I am late in catching up :flower3:

Thats ok!

My advice for the May trip- get the Sci Fi ADR ASAP. It's getting pretty tough to score lately :confused3 You can always cancel it later if you change your mind. Also, I probably wouldn't mess with going to a park on your last day with a noon DME pick up. Just stay out late the night before and finish packing in the AM.

I think I will go ahead and make that ADR for Sci-Fi, just in case. And, you're probably right about that last day - I just love to go to a park for at least a little while on the last day, but we really wouldn't have much time.

Great AK pics!! And lol on the poop! And I am adding the stuffed pretzels to my list of junk to try in June :thumbsup2

More!!! popcorn::

The stuffed pretzel was yummy!!

More, coming right up! :thumbsup2

All caught up. Great updates so far! You and your Mom should have a great time. Your plans look great!

The closer we get to May the more excited I am, I just can't wait to share Disney with her - I hope she loves it as much as I do!
 
Oh my, it rained 11 inches in one day? :scared1: I can't even imagine. I knew that there was a stretch last May when Orlando got dumped on in the rain department, but that is a crazy amount of rain!

YES!! 11 inches!! It was CRAZY!! We ended up leaving the park early and going back to the Poly to get ready for dinner and dry out. I'm hoping for better weather this May--we really want to explore AK more!
 
After our 2 weeks on an African safari were over we decided to head over to Camp Minnie Mickey for Festival of the Lion King. Of course, I took a few photos as we walked.

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I love all these little statues - so cute!

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Pretty little tree as you enter Camp Minnie Mickey

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We got in line for FoTLK pretty early, I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was at least 45 minutes before the next show started. There were already a ton of people there! We had to sit pretty high, but I still managed to get a few decent photos.

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We all love this show; even the Grump thinks it’s very well done!

After the Lion King we walked over to see Nemo. They were already seating for the next show so I was worried we wouldn’t get in, we didn’t have the best seats, but we were in.

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I think this is a cute show too, I much prefer it to its predecessor. Sorry but I wasn’t a fan of Tarzan Rocks…

We all agreed that it was now time to call it a day, so towards the exits we went. We got to the front gates and the boys needed to use the restroom, so while they took a potty break I went and took a few pictures of the giant Christmas tree. I love this tree!!

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Continued in the next post
 
We got back to the resort and took our time getting back to the room, snapping pictures along the way.

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We walked around the pool, and talked to the lifeguards on duty. I asked one of them if they had had a boring day, it was really too cold to swim. He said they hadn't had a swimmer since he'd been there that day - yeah, he was a little bored!

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Once in the room my goal was to get organized. First I unpacked everything and got the suitcases out of the floor. Then I unloaded the grocery bags. Finally we got around to decorating the room. Our sparsely decorated tree (I’m almost ashamed to post this after seeing Happydog’s tree!).

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You can also see the cute little tree that mousekeeping left for us in that picture. Here is a close up of it

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The stockings I made for the boys.

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I didn’t want to bring their ‘real’ stockings, those needed to stay home for Santa. So I bought those super cheap felt ones that they have at Target, then I used my cricut (love that thing!) to cut out the characters and make the name tags. I think they turned out pretty cute. We also had window clings on the window but I forgot to take a picture of those.

Now I felt better – suitcases, boxes, bags were all unpacked, room was decorated, we were organized! Whew!!

That done, it was time for dinner, so off to the food court we went.

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This time Don had the chicken quesadilla, he said it was really good. I had pepperoni pizza and a small salad, the salad was good……the pizza, ehhh, not so much. Justin had chicken nuggets & fries and Jared had spaghetti. He said his spaghetti was just alright; Justin tasted it and said it was nasty. For dessert we had cheesecake, chocolate cake & a brownie. They were all just ehhhh as well.

The boys were itching to go play in the arcade but had left their cards in the room. Don walked them back to get them and I strolled through the gift shop then met them at the arcade.

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Justin found a basketball goal - I think he spent the majority of his time here!

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Once they were settled, Don & I went over a got a few beers at the Scat Cat’s Lounge and took them back to the room. It was nice to sit in a quiet place and unwind a bit.

We had planned on going over to MK for EMHs that night, but as Don & I sat there and unwound we decided that we really didn’t want to go. The boys got back from the arcade and moaned and complained about it, but it wasn’t too difficult to convince them not to go. We promised them that we would change up the next day’s plans and head to MK first thing in the morning & they were good with that.

On tomorrow’s agenda: MK & The Epcot Storytellers
 
The FOTLK and Nemo shows are so great!! Glad you got to do both!! :goodvibes And that AK tree is amazing!! LOVE the tree and stockings you brought!! I'm impressed with what you did with the stockings!! :thumbsup2 What a great way to make your room feel more Christmasy!! :santa:
 
YES!! 11 inches!! It was CRAZY!! We ended up leaving the park early and going back to the Poly to get ready for dinner and dry out. I'm hoping for better weather this May--we really want to explore AK more!

That is crazy! I'm right there with ya keeping my fingers crossed & hoping for dry weather in May!!
 
I love that you decorated your room!

I can't wait to see FOTLK again and Nemo for the first time!
 
Your camera took some great closeups!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (OT, but I was never so disappointed with mine until this past trip. I really hope the new one I got for Christmas from the IL's is better then its predecessor!!)

I love the decs in the room too!!

More! More!
 
Fun that you decorated your room! I can't imagine how exciting it would be to be at Disney at Christmas time.... I like the tree in AK too, very unique.
Hummm, the bats... well, we live on a golf course and the course has a few bat houses to help cut down on the insects here. So unfortunately all of us along this fairway have bat "visits" in the summer. They are sooo unnerving, especially at 2:00 am when you are sound asleep and it flies over your head! Talk about jolting awake! :scared1: They are pretty easy to get back outside but I really don't like them! (sorry about the long story!!)
 
I think you had a great ending to the day! You got to see two nice shows (I've missed Nemo everytime we have been there) and then had some nice downtime at the resort. I love the way you decorated the room. Very cute. :) The little baby tree that you got from Mousekeeping is adorable! How fun of them to leave that.
 
Sounds like your day was great at AK! You got some nice shots from FOTLK........one of my favorites! It is so well done! :goodvibes

Your room decorations were too cute.........love the tree and stockings! :thumbsup2 I was always curious as to how well the cricut worked.....you did a wonderful job on the stockings!

I'm loving your resort pics! Chris and I are taking a road trip this summer and decided to book POFQ as our hotel in the Disney portion of our trip. It looks pretty nice from what I've seen in your pics!
 

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