Basking in the Glow of the (not so) Creepy Clown -2/11-Pictures, Final Thoughts, PTR!

[jenjolt]

What great pictures Brook!! OY Henry is such a cutie and those pictures are awesome!! What a great place and great memories!!!! He's just adorable!!!

Many times I have suggested to my dad and mom when they are ready to retire to get a job at Disney LOL Probably for the same reasons LOL Glad to hear your mom is having a great time!!

I'm sad to see this tr come to an end, but am excited because I know another one is right around the corner!!

Dancing with you today

 

[blessedby3]

This photo just cracks me up!! It looks like Henry is skinny dipping in the pool

Love the updates and the photopass shoot pictures are wonderful! I would love to do that someday. I figured that would have taken more than 20mins! She did a great job
You are getting so close to your next trip...I'm sure you are crazy busy and so excited. I know I'm excited for you

 

[mickeystoontown]

The pictures of you guys turned out soooooo good. What a fantastic prize to win!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I looked at this update with great intrepidation, but I read it......and looked at the pictures.....and survived! Seriously, George is creepy, really creepy, what was Disney thinking with those glowing eyes?!

You totally have me sold on a stay at a Boardwalk resort though, the amazing location, the beauty, the beach, the pools, I think it would just be heavenly! Someday....

Henry did GREAT with the photo shoot, you got some awesome pics!

 

[vamassey1]

Nighttime swimming after a hot sticky day in the parks is the best!

Old George doesn't bother me at all. I think I could hang with him just fine.

What a wonderful start to your last morning. A beautiful day and breakfast on the beach. Your photos are fabulous. I think you might have a future model in the works. Can he do the Blue Steel or maybe La Tigra look?

I too really like the action shots.

I'm jealous of your mom too.

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

Oh! I love the pictures! Still don't know if and when we are going this year....I am pouting for early May but I think we'll add that package if so!

Our family pictures consist of shots comparable to your Nemo family picture : )

Didn't get to the post office yesterday since I had a person out at work but will be going shortly. I hope I can fit it all in the medium box

 

[dawnbu40]

It took me awhile but I am all caught up! What a fabulous trip you had and how lucky your next trip is so soon!

You took great pictures and I love the photo shoot on the beach! What a wonderful keepsake!

 

[jenseib]

I told you before..but I'll say it again. I LOVE those pictures. You guys look fablulous. I keep thinking of ways to work it in this trip, but I just think it will be too much for us to fit in. But I do want to do it someday.

 

[brookelizabeth]

...next thing you'll tell us was that she ate at Boma - for FREE!!! [ ...and YOU know what THAT means: an endless supply of ZD's! ]

Oh man...I'd be green with envy!!! But then she could possibly get ME in for free...

ZD's are a MUST for this coming trip, it's been a year since I had them. I will be sure to get some pretty pics for the thread!

Now I want to do a photo session. The pics turned out great!

Thank you! It was a lot of fun, and I love that Henry's 3 year pictures are a bit unique in being taken at WDW!

Brooke, those are GREAT pictures!!!
I love the one where y'all are swinging Henry. And, my favorite is the one of Henry lying on the sand. Too precious!!!!

I'm glad your mom is having a great vacation, I would be jealous too

Thank you! I really wanted one of those where we were swinging Henry since anytime we walk with him like that he requests to swing. I couldn't believe the CM got him to pose in the sand. As soon as she told him to lay on his belly, I was thinking "No way will be do this..." and viola! She was magic!

What great pictures Brook!! OY Henry is such a cutie and those pictures are awesome!! What a great place and great memories!!!! He's just adorable!!!

Many times I have suggested to my dad and mom when they are ready to retire to get a job at Disney LOL Probably for the same reasons LOL Glad to hear your mom is having a great time!!

I'm sad to see this tr come to an end, but am excited because I know another one is right around the corner!!

Dancing with you today

Thank you Jen! We were very pleased with the pictures and the entire experience. The Beach Club location worked out so nicely too!

My Mom says she thinks she will get a part-time job, and hopefully Disney will call her name...since she knows someone that works there, she knows the awesome perks, so maybe that will be a good influence. I really look forward to her living there, no matter where she works. I was so bummed when I found out we were going to miss each other by only 2 weeks, I would love to have met up with her for a day or two!

This photo just cracks me up!! It looks like Henry is skinny dipping in the pool

Love the updates and the photopass shoot pictures are wonderful! I would love to do that someday. I figured that would have taken more than 20mins! She did a great job
You are getting so close to your next trip...I'm sure you are crazy busy and so excited. I know I'm excited for you

I didn't even notice that, but yes, it does!!! And that sly little grin....LOL!

I didn't think we would get as many options as we did in 20 minutes, but we ended up with 85 pictures, which was plenty to choose from!

We are SO CLOSE! I can't believe it. I am so, so excited! I have oodles of things to do, but did make some progress yesterday....finally!

 

[Stasieki]

As you know I am in the middle of attempting to return to work. Sending in resumes, interviewing - that whole ball of fun. I've had three that I really thought I was IN on, but so far, nothing. In the midst of all that is attempting to set up childcare for Henry for the hours for that job that I don't even have yet.

Can someone say "ugh"?!?!

I have a friend in the neighborhood and we are attempting to do a nanny share. We interviewed a great nanny last week. Sounds all good. Except the fact that I don't have a job!

I can't commit to anything because of that fact.

Her husband (who just moved to the United States - she lived overseas for a couple years), found a job and will be starting in early February. So they are under the gun a bit to find care NOW.

I sent her a long, rambling email tonight about the situation and her wise, wise words whittled down to this:

"Girl, take your vacation. Enjoy it!"

She didn't have to say that twice!

THE FEBRUARY/MARCH TWO WEEK ADVENTURE IS ON!



The job search is going to be halted for a while, I hate to get hired somewhere, work for a week and then leave for two-know what I mean??? I'll pick it back up in early February with the goal of starting mid-March. If the nanny share works out, it works out. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Something will pan out for both us and my friend, we are all calm about it. It is what it is.

So with that said...

I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD NEXT MONTH!

43 days baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaby!

Who all is going to be there between February 28 and March 12? I know there are a ton of people - in case you don't know already, March 1, shortly after park opening, BIG DIS MEET at Small World! I'd love to meet each and everyone of you that happen to be there during those dates, so let me know-even if you already have in the past-I now have real trip plans and a schedule, so I want YOU on it! (and yes, if/when I ever finish this TR, there will be a PTR...otherwise I'll just wrap it into the end of this one!)

So, I am waaaayyyyyyy behind, but am loving your handy dandy chapter links. Came across this post. Wanted to let you know we will be at the meet most likely. We have a 8:05 BBB and 10:00 CRT so if all goes to plan, we will be in Fantasyland between 9:00 and 10:00 and will catch up with everyone at Small World. I did tell Memom that we have to do the Dumbo Dash at park opening, though

 

[brookelizabeth]

The pictures of you guys turned out soooooo good. What a fantastic prize to win!

It really was! I still can't believe we won it.

I looked at this update with great intrepidation, but I read it......and looked at the pictures.....and survived! Seriously, George is creepy, really creepy, what was Disney thinking with those glowing eyes?!

You totally have me sold on a stay at a Boardwalk resort though, the amazing location, the beauty, the beach, the pools, I think it would just be heavenly! Someday....

Henry did GREAT with the photo shoot, you got some awesome pics!

So glad you made it through Michelle!!!!!!!!! And even though George doesn't bother me, I'm still in complete awe and wonder why they chose to design him that way. Surely SOMEONE on the board when planning the BW mentioned the common clown phobia??? So weird!

I have never wanted to repeat a resort as much as I want to repeat the Boardwalk. I love AKL and WL too, but I haven't had the itch to stay there again so soon, I always want to try something new...until now! I'm just as excited to go back to the BW as I was the first time! (and they do have 2 pools without clowns! )

Nighttime swimming after a hot sticky day in the parks is the best!

Old George doesn't bother me at all. I think I could hang with him just fine.

What a wonderful start to your last morning. A beautiful day and breakfast on the beach. Your photos are fabulous. I think you might have a future model in the works. Can he do the Blue Steel or maybe La Tigra look?

I too really like the action shots.

I'm jealous of your mom too.

Joe is big on nighttime swims too...and they are a perfect way to cool down after a long, hot day! I hope our weather this coming trip is nice enough for the pool....maybe not at night, but during the afternoon at least!

I'll admit I had to Google those looks you mentioned, but it's familiar once I saw them. I have got to try! I can just imagine Henry attempting it...

Oh! I love the pictures! Still don't know if and when we are going this year....I am pouting for early May but I think we'll add that package if so!

Our family pictures consist of shots comparable to your Nemo family picture : )

Didn't get to the post office yesterday since I had a person out at work but will be going shortly. I hope I can fit it all in the medium box

The photo shoot is a perfect way to get some decent family pictures! We made prints of a couple of them, the last decent family pic we have is from 2008 when Henry was 6 months old!

No worries on the mailing - whenever you have time!!!! I'm so excited.

It took me awhile but I am all caught up! What a fabulous trip you had and how lucky your next trip is so soon!

You took great pictures and I love the photo shoot on the beach! What a wonderful keepsake!

It was! I'm so glad we did it, and I would have been just as happy should we of had to pay for it. Joe mentioned us doing it every few years, and I agreed with him. It's a great way to capture some nice shots at WDW!

I told you before..but I'll say it again. I LOVE those pictures. You guys look fablulous. I keep thinking of ways to work it in this trip, but I just think it will be too much for us to fit in. But I do want to do it someday.

Thank you Jen! It was a great experience, I was very pleased with the CM and the results of it! We will do it again someday too, I might try for the Poly next time, it's so beautiful-and the Castle in the background...

 

[brookelizabeth]

So, I am waaaayyyyyyy behind, but am loving your handy dandy chapter links. Came across this post. Wanted to let you know we will be at the meet most likely. We have a 8:05 BBB and 10:00 CRT so if all goes to plan, we will be in Fantasyland between 9:00 and 10:00 and will catch up with everyone at Small World. I did tell Memom that we have to do the Dumbo Dash at park opening, though

Glad you plan on making it!!! (should everything run smoothly) If we are at RD we too will be doing that Dumbo Dash as well. Wouldn't it be great if all of us were on the same Dumbo rotation? We never move that fast though, we are cool with the 2nd or 3rd rotation and opt to leisurely stroll instead....we are slo-pokes!

The meet is going to be so much fun!!

 

[disneydusted]

Wow! I love the photo session pictures! What a great keepsake of your trip! I will certainly look into that for our next "someday" trip!
Ok, George and his glowing eyes are seriously odd! I never saw the eyes lit up, we were over by the quiet pool so I never had the pleasure! I'm glad you made friends with him!
Don't you love it when people call you while they are in Disney?! I always tell friends they can call me and I will be excited for them!
I can't believe you guys will be down there in a short time! You know we'll all be happy to hear all about it!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Those photos turned out great Brook! Did you blow up one of the wonderful family ones and hang it on your wall? If not, you should!

 

[CJsMom]

OMG - those glow-y eyes! Freaky!
I love the pictures from the photo shoot. What a great prize!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Wow! I love the photo session pictures! What a great keepsake of your trip! I will certainly look into that for our next "someday" trip!
Ok, George and his glowing eyes are seriously odd! I never saw the eyes lit up, we were over by the quiet pool so I never had the pleasure! I'm glad you made friends with him!
Don't you love it when people call you while they are in Disney?! I always tell friends they can call me and I will be excited for them!
I can't believe you guys will be down there in a short time! You know we'll all be happy to hear all about it!

The photo session was great. The CM did a fantastic job and we were very happy with the results...especially for the price tag we paid!

The eyes on the clown are totally weird. They don't bother me, but it's very, very odd. The slide is under a refurb now (or will be shortly), so no glowing eyes this coming trip.

I loved that my Mom called me from the Nemo show! It was exciting! Then I saw all the pics on her boyfriend's Facebook, they got to see the parade later in the day too.

Those photos turned out great Brook! Did you blow up one of the wonderful family ones and hang it on your wall? If not, you should!

We just ordered the prints finally -- just the other day! But, yes, we did get an 8x10 of one of the family shots, and a smaller one of us swinging Henry - along with a couple others to fill the frames we have. We don't have anything recent printed, so it's about time!

OMG - those glow-y eyes! Freaky!
I love the pictures from the photo shoot. What a great prize!!

Aren't they weird???!

It was a great prize! I wouldn't hesitate to book that portrait session again.

 

[eandesmom]

George is creepy. I mean they could have tried to figure out a less creepy clown if they HAD to do a clown. Every time I see him, as creepy as he is, he just looks faded and dated in the picture, like he really needs a makeover.

But creepy faded George clearly loved you guys! Fun pool pics.

Great photo session! I think you had the same CM we did and she really did wonders I thought. I agree, for the quality and quantity, it was a great value and relatively painless.

 

[brookelizabeth]

We left off after completing our photo session at the Beach Club. Joe, Henry and I slowly made our way back to the Boardwalk so we could pack up our bags and take them to Bell Services -- it was time to sadly say good-bye to our beautiful villa.

On the way over to the Boardwalk we saw some filming going on, one dark haired chick in front of the camera -- I wondered out loud to Joe if it was Stacy.

There was no way I could tell, but if they start a new loop on the TVs and she's at the Boardwalk in a blue dress, this family is just to her right!

We actually saw quite a bit of filming going on that week, in the parks and all around the various resorts.

Anyway, back to the Boardwalk...

The view from the Boardwalk is equally as beautiful as the view from the Beach Club!

Attempting to soak up and capture last moments....

Back in the room Henry got some finally jumping in while Joe and I packed the bags.

Eventually we were packed.

The suitcases were zipped closed.

I stood in the doorway and sighed.

At that point I had no idea when we would be back.

Good-bye beautiful room.

(I'LL SEE YOU IN 18 DAYS! )

To the elevator bank we rolled and I continued to try and capture some of those details that make the Boardwalk what it is. I remember standing here, wishing it wasn't our last day, soaking in the entire atmosphere of the Boardwalk and wishing I could capture the essence of it all for you, including the fantastic music.

After we dropped our bags at Bell Services we boarded the bus for MK. Our plans today were to enjoy MK for a while, then head over to BLT for a DVC tour they do. After the tour we'd just do whatever until it was time for the ME.

So, onward to MK!

We walked in through the gates and the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It! parade was going on. We couldn't really go anywhere easily, and we didn't have much of an agenda, and I, unlike Joe, truly enjoy parades - so we watched it. They don't have a new parade out yet, do they? Hmmm...I wonder if they will this year?

Mr. Incredible in his Mardi Gras beads.

Pretty soon the parade was over and we continued on to see

Whew! MK was busy! Much busier than we had experienced any park all that week - and I checked the schedule, yep, there had been AM EMH, that's almost always a trigger for more crowds.

We turned left, into Adventureland.

All these buildings in Adventureland are very cool - I wonder if they have ever been used for anything?

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

On our walk we were deciding on where to get some lunch, we made a right and walked through the little hallway with the bathrooms thing and were soon in

Our destination

We ate here back in 2006, but not since then...I couldn't remember the menu at all, but figured we'd find something! And we did!

Joe chose

BBQ Pork Sandwich & fries - Joe said this was "just okay", but he did eat it all.

I chose

Taco salad. If you've never eaten here, the salad comes on your plate with just the shell and meat. You got to the toppings bar and choose what to add. I LOVED this. It was exactly perfect...which it should be, because I determined what went into it and how much.

And Henry

Fruity!

However, while we were ordering/waiting for our food...Henry fell asleep! So this meal never gotten eaten. Or, we saved the grapes or sandwich for later...something like that!

It was VERY busy in there, getting to a table with a stroller was a challenge, but we made it. We both ate very slowly, relaxed and just enjoyed being there, soaking in those last hours. While we ate I saw a BIG film crew outside, so of course, I was curious and had to go peek! It was something with about 10 kids, they looked like they were having a lot of fun!

At some point Henry did wake up - I cannot recall if we woke him so he'd eat, or if something else roused him out of sleep. Regardless, he didn't eat much, if any, of the meal and we soon headed back out into the heat.

By that time it was already getting close to time for us to go to the tour at BLT, so we decided to take a spin on the Railroad up to the front of the park.

We liked the birdhouses on the back of the ride signs.

The train arrived and it was PACKED!! I couldn't believe the difference of how busy the park was from just a few days prior when we had done most of our touring. I was so glad today was just a quick dip into MK!

We sandwiched ourselves and the stroller onto the train and away we went!

Choo-choo!

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

And before we knew it, Main Street came into view and it was time to get off.

The train station has tons of neat little details!

We exited the Magic Kingdom, certain we would return after the BLT Tour. Henry had been asking ALL WEEK to ride the monorail, and we had the time, so instead of walking the quick path to the CR, we went here instead!

We boarded and he went directly to the left and climbed in an open spot between two people.

Joe and I sat across from him.



He made friends quickly.

They were the nicest people and were very excited about Henry choosing that seat. This wasn't Henry's first monorail ride, but it was the first one he remembers! And he looooooved it. We have told him part of our next stay will be at a hotel on the monorail, but I don't think he's quite fully grasped that yet...it will be a fun surprise.

Very quickly we arrived at the CR

We waited around until the monorail left

And then made our way over to the Bay Lake Tower.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I love the Contemporary! It's so unique and just has a great vibe to it! I just love walking through that cavernous main tower.

We went across the little sky bridge and found a locked door. Doh.

I had forgotten about that. BLT is locked-up! Not sure why, but it is. You have to have a BLT room key to access it.

Thankfully a woman walked up from the other side, so we just swung in as she walked out!

View from the sky bridge

We had to take the elevator down to the lobby

We checked in at the lobby for the tour and then relaxed on the chairs.

Henry was tired. That made me nervous. He would either be a hyper, silly goofball during the presentation - or crying.

We shall see.

We had been in the lobby one other time, in December 2009 and while I thought it was nice, it didn't blow me away. We also had toured the model rooms back in 2008 when we purchased into DVC - and we chose AKL. Later Joe told me he would have chosen BLT, but didn't say anything. Too bad for him! Anyway, I wasn't all the impressed with the BLT rooms from the tour back then. They were nice, but they just didn't have any sort of extra touch to them that most of the Disney rooms do - something was missing from them...I don't know what, but it just didn't sit right with me. That, and also the fact that AKL was cheaper, made me lean in that direction and it's what we ultimately purchased into.

Now - the tour was about to start. We were being taken to the Top of the World Lounge to get some food, play a game, get some info, and then do the actual tour.

Would my opinion of BLT change? Would I regret buying into AKL?

Would Henry be a goofy loony-toon, or a crying whiny child?

Would "lightning" strike twice????