Thankful for Disney - SOOZE's Thanksgiving TR FULL of PICTURES! NEW!! 6/5

[Sooze]

Love this picture- I can totally see it!

We just got back from WDW and I am missing the Wishes fireworks the most!

Yes, we had a lot of time to stand there and make it perfect while the crowds thinned out! Thanks!

Welcome back... it's so hard to come home and miss those wonderful things at Disney, isn't it?

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Sooze:

Shae is just adorable! What a cute little shopper!

We will be staying at AKV and BLT when we are there this summer. There was no availability at the Boardwalk for a studio. We will definitely have to plan a dis meet sometime!

Can't wait to read more!

We are heading down over Thanksgiving week this year as well! Isn't it such a beautiful time to be there?

Erika

 

[Sooze]

Thanks for hanging with me, friends! I open a new show tonight... I'm playing Gladys Hotchkiss in The Pajama Game. It has been a wonderful process getting this show ready, but it has, obviously, kept me from the DIS. Hoping to have much more time to update... and Spring Break is two weeks away, and I will FINISH this during spring break....

For crying out loud, it's time to get my next PRE TRIPPIE up and going, so I will focus on getting this done!

Thanks again!!

 

[JenSop]

Thanks for hanging with me, friends! I open a new show tonight... I'm playing Gladys Hotchkiss in The Pajama Game. It has been a wonderful process getting this show ready, but it has, obviously, kept me from the DIS. Hoping to have much more time to update... and Spring Break is two weeks away, and I will FINISH this during spring break....

For crying out loud, it's time to get my next PRE TRIPPIE up and going, so I will focus on getting this done!

Thanks again!!

Still here! Hoping your show is going great!

 

[micandminforever]

Still here.

 

[Sooze]

Thanks you guys!! I'll be back soon!!

 

[Sooze]

Shae and I decided to hit up the Beauty and the Beast show (one of our favorite experiences!). On our way over, we realized the Block Party Bash was about ready to begin! We found a place to sit and soaked in the fun. Please enjoy the bajillion pictures I took. I just can't get enough of parade performers!!

I thought this one would make a great picture for a caption contest! Any takers?

The cast members were trying to get Shae involved but she was NOT feeling it today! I think all she wanted was to get over to the theatre to see the show. So we ended up leaving the parade halfway through. We found some seats in the theatre that were on the aisle, so Shae enjoyed some of her own 'dance' time.

I wish I would've video recorded this because she was just going to town!

I took no pictures of the show this time. I just enjoyed the production along with Shaelyn's sheer love of the whole experience. It was fabulous as usual!!
We also enjoyed watching the sound/light booth, as we had an excellent view of these hard-working CM's!

We made a few stops before heading over to the Osborne Lights (which we were SO excited to find out that they would be up and running!). 1st stop was past the dino-snack stand, where I found these neat details in the pavement that I had never noticed before:

Then we suffered through another lame ride on “The Great Movie Ride”:

Finally, we met back up with the boys and secured a nice spot for the Osborne Lights. We sat for a good 30 minutes, but it was a wonderful wait. We just chatted as a family, people watched, and built up the excitement for the upcoming spectacle!! At last, the moment arrived! And it was as beautiful as I remembered it being last year. It was such a joy to share the moment with our kids this time!

Enjoy the video of the kids’ amazement!


Due to the poor quality of my camera, and knowing that I would NEVER capture the beauty of this display, I only took a few pictures:

And a short video of the lights actually “Dancing”:



Well, believe it or not, the day did NOT end here! We still had PM EMH at AK and a visit with the Lion King waiting for us!!

 

[Sooze]

We left DHS very happy as we had just witnessed the Osborne Spectacle of Lights for the 1st time as a family. By the time we made it over to Animal Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours, our happiness had turned to hunger, and BOY were we ready to eat! Can you guess where?

Yes! My favorite counter service at AK… well, almost ANYWHERE! I love this place!

And we basically had the whole place to ourselves! While we waited for our food, Shaelyn took advantage of the wide-open spaces to enjoy some dancing time! Enjoy:

I LOVE this face:

We found a lovely spot on the water overlooking Expedition Everest and chowed down on that DELICIOUS pulled pork. YUM YUM YUM!! We took our time walking over to Camp Minnie Mickey for another of our favorites, Festival of the Lion King. I could watch this show every day and not tire of it. The performers are BEYOND talented… singing, dancing, tumbling, flying on a wire… you name it.. they are fabulous at it! Shae was still in a dancing mood while we waited for the show to begin, but this time, she was channeling her inner animal!



We rocked out to another wonderful show. I love turning and looking at my family during the big finale of that show. It’s like a commercial for the dentist’s office… big, wide, shining smiles from ear to ear. Next time, I need to capture that on film! (Or digitally, I guess…)

After the show, Matt and Ty were off to Expedition Everest, while Shae and I headed to Dino Land. There was no wait whatsoever for the Triceratops Spin, so I think we rode it about six times in a row!

Shae LOVIN’ it:

I guess I was lovin’ it too! You can never get too much mommy-daughter time on Triceratops Spin!

We eventually made our way to the Boneyard, which I knew would be the end of the line. We can NEVER get Shae to leave this place. She just has a ball in here. And, I admit, so do I! The slides are great!

Lots of climbing and sliding = Disney exhaustion!!

Happy little camper in her own special dig spot:

Eventually, Matt and Ty came and found us and we switched off. Matt relaxed in the Boneyard while Ty and I battled the Yeti, that still wasn’t working. I can never say enough about Expedition Everest. It is my ABSOLUTE favorite ride in all of Disney World. I just beam from head to toe when that train pulls me backwards in the dark. Awesome!!

When we had had our fill of Yetis and dinosaur bones, we made the long trek back to our resort. What a long, wonderful day!! Beautiful weather and LOTS of experiences to share. What would tomorrow bring?

PS. Here are two performer pictures I left out of my last update. Just in case you can’t get enough of those adorable Block Party Bash costumes. (I shall miss them so..)

 

[IluvXU]

Another great update.... I am sure you are ready for summer break and your next trip. I think splitting up is in our summer plans, do you set meeting times ahead or just call when you are ready to switch off again or get back together. I just wonder what people find to work best?

 

[Sooze]

Another great update.... I am sure you are ready for summer break and your next trip. I think splitting up is in our summer plans, do you set meeting times ahead or just call when you are ready to switch off again or get back together. I just wonder what people find to work best?

1st of all... thank you SO much for not giving up on me! I was prepared to finish this trip report alone! It has been a LONG end-of-winter!!

Secondly, when we split up, it is always 'played by ear'. We each usually have something we want to accomplish (ride Tower of Terror, or watch Lights Motor Action) and when we are done, we just call each other to see where we are and what we are doing. We are totally fine with this kind of vacation, but if you and your family are extensive planners, you might not like that! But we feel like we accomplish SO much more since we are willing to divide and conquer!!

When are you going this summer?

 

[micandminforever]

The parade pictures were fun. I also love Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. They are such fun show.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Yay!!! Sooze is back with 2 updates!!! Awesome!

Love the Block Party Bash pictures! We saw it for the first time last summer and Jeremy loved it. It was the one parade he would get up and dance to!! I have read mixed reviews about the current parade so I am anxious to see it.

We loved AK EMH's at night. I think it is too bad they don't offer them anymore. Did you feel like you were the only people in that park at times? We did!! It was sometimes creepy!

I started a pretrip for our summer trip. Check out my siggie. We are so excited about buying DVC. I can't thank you enough for letting use your name as a referral. We definitely have to plan a Dis meet sometime while we are there.

Can't wait to read more.

Erika

 

[Sooze]

The parade pictures were fun. I also love Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. They are such fun show.

I wonder if I'll EVER get tired of watching those shows... I'm thinking not! I also think I will miss Block Party Bash. From what I've heard, the replacement parade is nowhere NEAR as fun. Boo...

Thanks for sticking with me!!

Yay!!! Sooze is back with 2 updates!!! Awesome!

Love the Block Party Bash pictures! We saw it for the first time last summer and Jeremy loved it. It was the one parade he would get up and dance to!! I have read mixed reviews about the current parade so I am anxious to see it.

We loved AK EMH's at night. I think it is too bad they don't offer them anymore. Did you feel like you were the only people in that park at times? We did!! It was sometimes creepy!

I started a pretrip for our summer trip. Check out my siggie. We are so excited about buying DVC. I can't thank you enough for letting use your name as a referral. We definitely have to plan a Dis meet sometime while we are there.

Can't wait to read more.

Erika

I'm so glad there are some of you still hanging around.. it means a LOT to me.. thanks!!

I didn't know they are not offering EMH at AK anymore... that's what a few months away from the DIS will do to ya! How sad... Those were AWESOME!!

I visited your PTR... I sure am hoping to make an appearance in that trip report I will be traveling with my WHOLE family (including in-laws), so it may just be a drive-by DisMeet... but we MUST make it happen!!

 

[PrincessV]

1st stop was past the dino-snack stand, where I found these neat details in the pavement that I had never noticed before:

I've never noticed that, either! Wonder if they're new?

Finally, we met back up with the boys and secured a nice spot for the Osborne Lights. We sat for a good 30 minutes, but it was a wonderful wait. We just chatted as a family, people watched, and built up the excitement for the upcoming spectacle!!

BEST way to start the Lights show, for sure!

What a long, wonderful day!! Beautiful weather and LOTS of experiences to share.

What more could you ask, right?!

 

[Sooze]

Ah.. the start of day 3… and one of my most favorite experiences ever. Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom with just me and my girl. Heaven on Earth! The boys slept in and went to Epcot. You will not be hearing from them for a long while. Shae and I were off to ride all of her favorites, and to find as many princesses as we could..even if we had to wait for over an hour. Uh… yeeeeaaaahhhhh…. We did.

Now, don’t gasp, or fall out of your comfy computer chair, but our family has NEVER been to Magic Kingdom in time to see the opening show. For reals. But today…. Today was our day!

Just look at that sky!

Does anyone else wonder why Stitch is still such a big deal, and you can find him EVERYWHERE for character meet and greets, but they don’t have Phineas and Ferb anywhere? (Or other much more current characters?) Just a thought.

The lucky, chosen family!

Come on in, y’all!

Our first mission was to ride Dumbo.

The last time Shaelyn rode this, she was in my belly. I know… TMI. But, we have a picture of Ty and me on Dumbo when I was very very early in my pregnancy with Shae, and whenever we look at that picture, Shae points to my belly and says, “I was riding Dumbo, too!” We have never gotten back on because that line is just TORTURE!!! And for a ride that really isn’t about the RIDE, but more about the classic nature and historical importance, it’s just not worth the long wait for us. But since we were up at the crack of dawn, we didn’t have to wait at all!

Finally!!

Dumbo rear-end shot!

Ready to go:

So happy for this awesome day!

One of the BEST parts about riding Dumbo, was getting a bird’s eye view of the Fantasyland expansion construction. Of course, this was almost 6 MONTHS ago (My goodness, I am a terrible TR writer….), so when I go back in a month and a half, I’ll have to do this again and post the pictures right away! Anyway… here’s what the construction looked like a half a year ago….

And a view from our elephant:

Our next stop was Cinderella’s carousel (which I heard the prince has now taken over… shame….) and our mission was to find Cindy’s horse! Since there was NO ONE waiting, we asked the CM for help, and she helped us locate the special mare!

You all know that the horse has a gold ribbon on its tail. Well, just in case you’re wondering what that looks like (because I always did!), here it is.

We rode the carousel 3 times, without having to get off. Really. Nobody wanted to ride the carousel this morning. Fine with us!

After dizzying ourselves, it was time for some Pooh! I really had not kept up-to-date on the Pooh rehab, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the new queue. Here are those interactive honey walls everyone loves. Well, except maybe the germ-o-phobes… ick!!

Ready to bounce, float, and get Pooh-i-fied!

Just loving it!!

So, was Shae done with making me dizzy today? Oh… NO she wasn’t!!

 

[Sooze]

After enjoying Pooh’s ride, we ended up here:

Yes… the teacups. One of Shaelyn’s absolute favorites. And with the lack of crowds, I knew I was in for several of these in a row.

Aw, Mommy…. I wouldn’t do that to YOU…

And, surprisingly, she DIDN’T!! We rode it once, then embarked on our journey to find Rapunzel. Tangled was actually opening in theaters while we were on this trip. And while we hadn’t seen the movie yet, Shae was already obsessed with Disney’s latest princess. We got some information about where to find her and when, then continued on to Tomorrowland for some BLY.

Then some TTA

I got picture happy on TTA. So enjoy your tour of Tommorowland!

Now.. the fun begins. After exiting TTA, Shaelyn promptly announces that she needs to get her spin on … again…

2nd time….

…and the camera was busy!!

And after that?

Uh….. yeah…. Here we go again….

3rd time, Shae?

Yes, Mommy…. 3rd time!!

We wrapped up our EMH riding It’s a Small World…

Twice…

By now the crowds were here, and the princesses were available. So we spent the next several hours getting our princess on!! Come back for some great pictures!!

 

[JenSop]

Wow! That's a lot of teacup rides! My tummy could never take it, sadly. But I LOVED Shae's face before you guys rode - hilarious!

 

[Sooze]

Wow! That's a lot of teacup rides! My tummy could never take it, sadly. But I LOVED Shae's face before you guys rode - hilarious!

Thanks, Jen! She is becoming quite the expressive diva!

 

[mermaid764]

Yeah you updated

What a fun morning you and Shae must have had with those low crowds, but yikes for three times on the teacups in a row lol

Can't wait to see the princess pics

 

[micandminforever]

I was great the amount of rides you were able to accomplished before the crowd arrived. I look forward to the princess pictures.