Halloween Weekend with our Favorite Disney CM...new PTR LINK p. 16

[disneygeeks]

I have never been at christmas but have always wanted to...looks so beautiful

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love all the Christmas decorations...the parks look very festive. It makes me want to plan a trip for that time as well!

I'm glad you were finally able to meet up with your sister.

Love the AK and giraffe pics. Oh no on not being as lucky with the lions but maybe on a future trip...

 

[meeko_33785]

Hey Sarah. Just got caught up with your new TR. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

I always like hearing that you guys had Chic-Fil-A. I can't imagine not living in an area without them. Then again, I can't remember the last time I've eaten there.

I think this is my favorite of your photos so far. Nice shot.

 

[onelilspark]

Joining in! Excited to see the rest of your trip!

 

[Caretames1]

[ Our driver gave us three important rules for our journey:

1. Remain seated
2. No standing
3. Remain seated

]

I just shared this with my DH and we both just said "We miss Disney"!

What a nice recap of the safari and extra treat of going thought the CM entrance!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Oh my goodness....your pictures of Lilly are precious...she is beyond cute!! Great shots overall at AK...that park is continuing to grow on me....we end up staying longer and longer each visit

 

[marDgreen88]

LOVE the Let the Memories Begin campaign! So cute.
So I guess your Safari Driver wanted yall to sit?
I don't think I've ever seen the lions... they always hide or something when I go on the safari ha!
The elephants are too cute but where is baby? Weird...
Lily! How adorable. Good thing there is nothing wrong with her.
Looking forward to your next post!

P.S. Love the Christmas pictures! AHHH can't wait to see those in person.

 

[Goofy22]

Oh, then SSR would be perfect for you! I was just thinking on this last trip that maybe they should have some REAL horses there. That would be kind of fun. haha



Welcome!



Yay! Thanks for joining in Shannon!



It is amazing!



I know, I am so jealous that she is doing the program. If only I would have done it-but atleast I get to live vicariously through her. And yes, she doesn't come home until January so you might see her when you're at the Studios!

We have only done a late flight once and it wasn't by choice! Our early morning flight was cancelled and we had to go on a later one. We stayed at SSR that trip too and didn't get there until midnight when we should've been there around noon.

Sarah,
Im jealous of your Sister too! LOl At least you get to live through her! I hope I see her I will be saying Hi! So glad you got to spend time with Emma!
I dont know if Im looking foward to the night flights but we shall see maybe I will love it who knows! LOL That picture you have of baby LILY is great! She's such a cutie

 

[wdwgirl03]

Aw you got such a cute picture of baby Lilly! When I saw her she was smooshed against the glass with her mom so I didn't get a good picture.

Glad you finally got reunited with Emily. Matt and I had a similar experience at Epcot meeting up. Sigh... our CMs, right?

Bummer you didn't get a good shot of Lilly. We've had pretty good luck seeing her lately.

LOL, you would think it would be common sense to NOT stand up during the safari, but there's always one person! On the trams too!

I want to do that Africa Trek SO bad someday! Maybe on our anniversary trip! I definitely want to do something special, I was thinking either that or the Epcot Segway Tour, but I'm afraid I'll fall off a Segway and kill myself!

Great pics of the animals, especially the giraffes!

You would think, but apparently some people are lacking in the common sense department.

You should do a tour! My dad and I are hopefully going to do the Keys to the Kingdom one in April. Atleast he mentioned it once. I'd love to do it.

I'm here!!! I think Danielle and I had the same safari guide last weekend because we got the same directions!!! haha. Glad to see you all made it in one piece and got chick fil a too!! You'd be sick to know that my kids at school can get catered lunches of chick fil a twice a week!!! lol.

Was your sister at MVMCP on Wed??? That's when I was there and the crowd was great..unlike both MNSSHP parties I went to in Sept!!

haha, nice. Was it a younger guy? He was a good safari guide. WOW catered CFA lunches. That would be awesome.

No, I don't think she has gone to any of the Christmas parties yet-just the cast preview. Glad the crowd was good though.

Yay for being reunited with Emma

I love the "Let the Memories Begin" signs at all the parks (except Epcot ) I think they're so cute!

Looks like you had a good safari! I always get my hopes up to see the lions too...you've have some excellent luck over the years!!

Baby Lilly is adorable!!

Yes, it was a happy reunion.

I do too-I wonder why they didn't put one at Epcot. Unless I'm just completely clueless and missed it (but I don't think that's the case!).

Well...when you go on your honeymoon next year you'll be there long enough to do the safari a couple times. Maybe you'll see them then.

Aww, animals! And Christmas decorations!

I used to do that 'don't come here, we'll go there' mix up all the time with my parents. I'm not sure why, it seems like such a family thing.

I went back and look at your old trip reports - wow! Those lion pictures were amazing. How lucky you were that they came out (at least in that trip, sad that it didn't work out that way this time).

I love animals with blankets. Have you seen the video of the dog who carries his blanket while playing fetch? Adorable.

I really love the Christmas decorations-hopefully I'll be able to see them next year!

We were SO lucky to see the lions two times in one trip. I guess when you go so many times you're bound to have some good luck eventually (sort of like we had bad luck with the weather that trip).

I have not seen that video. That sounds really cute!

Ooooh getting in free because you have CM family....I wish I could check that off my list!

haha, atleast you live in Florida so you can go as often as you want. But yes, it was nice getting in free!

 

[wdwgirl03]

I have never been at christmas but have always wanted to...looks so beautiful

If you ever get the chance to go at Christmas go! All the decorations are amazing. It's hard to not get into the Christmas spirit!

Love all the Christmas decorations...the parks look very festive. It makes me want to plan a trip for that time as well!

I'm glad you were finally able to meet up with your sister.

Love the AK and giraffe pics. Oh no on not being as lucky with the lions but maybe on a future trip...

The parks (and resorts!) are very festive for the holidays. I just love it.

It's OK, atleast we saw the lions once. Can't see them all the time. haha

Hey Sarah. Just got caught up with your new TR. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

I always like hearing that you guys had Chic-Fil-A. I can't imagine not living in an area without them. Then again, I can't remember the last time I've eaten there.

I think this is my favorite of your photos so far. Nice shot.

Hi Meeko. Glad you're joining in again.

Yeah, I bet I'd feel a little differently about getting it all the time if we had it around here. But we don't, so I'll keep going there!

Joining in! Excited to see the rest of your trip!

Welcome!

I just shared this with my DH and we both just said "We miss Disney"!

What a nice recap of the safari and extra treat of going thought the CM entrance!

haha, don't we all miss Disney?

Oh my goodness....your pictures of Lilly are precious...she is beyond cute!! Great shots overall at AK...that park is continuing to grow on me....we end up staying longer and longer each visit

She is super cute. I wish my camera would've worked when I tried to take a video of her playing with the blanket. We got such a kick out of her.

LOVE the Let the Memories Begin campaign! So cute.
So I guess your Safari Driver wanted yall to sit?
I don't think I've ever seen the lions... they always hide or something when I go on the safari ha!
The elephants are too cute but where is baby? Weird...
Lily! How adorable. Good thing there is nothing wrong with her.
Looking forward to your next post!

P.S. Love the Christmas pictures! AHHH can't wait to see those in person.

Yes, I don't think he wanted to lose any of his passengers. haha

The lions do usually seem to be hiding so it wasn't a huge surprise we didn't see them.

I was so bummed the baby elephant wasn't out.

SO jealous you're going to see the decorations. Ahh I want to see them.

Sarah,
Im jealous of your Sister too! LOl At least you get to live through her! I hope I see her I will be saying Hi! So glad you got to spend time with Emma!
I dont know if Im looking foward to the night flights but we shall see maybe I will love it who knows! LOL That picture you have of baby LILY is great! She's such a cutie

That is true but it sort of makes me even more jealous. But I'm glad she is having a good time. I don't know how she's going to survive when she comes home. Life will be so boring without Disney. LOL.

Are you taking the Magical Express after your flight? That was another thing I didn't like about getting there so late. We made it in time to still take the bus but we had to wait atleast half an hour because there was hardly anyone there. Not to mention we didn't get our luggage until 4 am (but I think they stop luggage service after a certain time).

 

[wdwgirl03]

Friday, October 28, 2011 cont'd (part 4)

After wandering around in Africa, it was time to hit up the other two major attractions at the Animal Kingdom. First up was of course Expedition Everest! We headed over toward Asia and we quickly stopped to get another photopass picture. Emma also asked the photographer to take one with her camera.

You can't see it in the picture but you know that shrine that's right there at that spot? Dad told Mom how each of the points in the shrine match up with the peaks of the mountains on Everest (one of the fun facts we've learned from all our Disney books!). I don't think she believed us though.

Since Mom wasn't going to ride, we had her hold on to all our stuff (nice, right?) so we wouldn't have to worry about it. Then Dad, Emma, and I went to go ride. I don't think the standby line was all that long but the single riders line was even shorter so we chose to do that.

(I took my camera with me hoping to get some more shots from the ride but because it was cloudy I didn't think I'd get any decent pictures. But I did get one of the little Yeti museum!)

There were only a few people in front of us so we were on the ride within five minutes or so. Emma and I ended up on the same train and Dad was on the next one. As usual we enjoyed the ride...always a thrill!

When we met up with Mom we crossed over the bridge to Dinoland so we could ride Dinosaur. As we were walking it started to sprinkle a little bit. It is always amusing to see everyone pull out their ponchos at the first little drop of rain (including our mom...). But, it was barely raining so we were able to manage. If you remember from my PTR, I briefly mentioned how it might just be Dad and me riding Dinosaur. Emma had told us she didn't want to; however, as we got closer she decided that she'd go with us. YEAH! I heard a great comment as we were walking inside. One guy asked the CM what the ride was like and the CM described the ride to him. I didn't hear exactly what the CM said but the guy was pretty enthusiastic and said something like "Dark and bumpy is always fun." I am curious to know what he thought of the ride afterward...hehe

Soon we were in the preshow area meeting with good old Dr. Grant Seeker.

Sorry the picture's blurry, but you know what Dr. Seeker says: "Flash photography? I wouldn't. It alters the homing signal and that's not good." hehe Once we were in, it was time to board our time rover. Right away I knew it was going to be a funny ride-the group in front of us (two younger girls and their parents) seemed pretty scared. The two girls were covering their ears from the very beginning tunnel. And then later on in the ride the father was and they were all hiding. I don't know what it is about this ride-maybe it's all the bouncing/loud noises/Dr. Seeker yelling "WE'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!" but it's pretty intense. At the final dinosaur I tried not to scream but I couldn't help it (though I sort of did it on purpose...). It may be a tad scary but still a whole lot of fun. Here's our ride photo where you can see the family in front of us looking terrified. We're in the middle row. My fellow Wisconsinites/Brewers fans might notice that we decided to do "Beast Mode". For those of you who are thinking what the heck is beast mode, let me briefly explain because it does have a little Disney connection to it. Towards the end of the regular season, the Brewers started doing that little gesture every time they made a good play. I guess Prince Fielder got the idea when he was watching Monsters Inc. with his kids.

Pretty soon the whole team adopted it:

So, we thought it would make an entertaining ride photo:

(can I just say I miss the Brewers? )

Now that we had done the three major rides, we decided to go over to Camp Minnie Mickey to see if we could meet any characters. There was probably a Festival of the Lion King show going on because the area wasn't that crowded, which made it a great time to visit with the characters! I noticed that Goofy didn't have anybody waiting in line so we went to see him first. It sounds dorky but I always feel bad when characters have nobody waiting to see them. We would have to change that.

^^This is what happens when you have two people trying to take a picture at the same time. Everyone's looking in different directions. Oh well.

Next up was Mickey and Minnie. The line for them was a little bit longer. Surprise surprise. Right as we got to the front of the line, the character attendant said that it was "time for Mickey and Minnie to go take a call from Bob Iger." He then asked us if we knew who Bob Iger was. Yes, we do. He said that some people just look at him with confused expressions. Clearly they aren't the Disney buffs that we all are. Soon enough Mickey and Minnie returned! Since it was still drizzling, they were escorted with umbrellas which I thought was adorable.

We all gave our two favorite mice hugs before taking our picture.

Look at Mickey...is he not the cutest thing?! I love the way he's posing. Even Dad said as we were leaving that Mickey is so cute. LOL. OK, Minnie's pretty cute too.

There were still two more gazebos to visit so next up we went to the trail marked "Forest Friends." Here we discovered a rather unusual mix of characters: Pocahontas, Thumper, and King Louie. I'm not sure why they were all together but it was cool getting to see 3 characters in one spot.

And last but not least, we saw Donald! As soon as we got to him, Donald did not approve of Dad's Mickey Mouse t-shirt. He decided that he had to pose us for the picture and strategically placed Emma in front of Dad so we couldn't see his shirt. haha!

I will say that my sister has learned one thing during her CP and that is how to kiss up to characters. One of her roomies is "friends with Donald" so after Donald disapproved of Dad's t-shirt, Emma decided to make it up and declare "Donald's # 1!" which he of course loved. I thought I'd try that on our way out so as we were leaving, I also shouted, "Donald's #1!" But I guess Emma still wanted to be his favorite because she immediately ratted me out and said, "But she has Mickey on her shirt too!" My bratty little sister. LOL. But we had a fun time visiting with Donald. Keep that in mind though, next time you're in WDW and want to suck up to him, make sure you tell him he's number 1!

up next: An evening at Downtown Disney

 

[Caretames1]

I'm so just walking along with you guys as you go through AK! We haven't done Dinosaur yet, but next time, I will, even if it means I have to do it alone!

Brewers were so close, but at least we got the 9-0 Packers Baby!!!

I had a Chipmunks shirt on in AK in Jan and they loved it! They pushed everyone esle out of the pic and got one with just me!

 

[cbg1027]

When we met up with Mom we crossed over the bridge to Dinoland so we could ride Dinosaur. As we were walking it started to sprinkle a little bit. It is always amusing to see everyone pull out their ponchos at the first little drop of rain (including our mom...).

Sarah, I think we can officially declare you an honorary Floridian now! Too bad Disney won't give you the FL resident discounts for that.

That was odd to see Pocahontas with Thumper...that's a rare photo you have now!

 

[BerrysGirl]

What a fun AK day!

Although Pocahontas, King Louie, and Thumper is a very strange combination of characters

If Emma's roommate shares any more ways to suck up to characters please share! It's so fun to interact with them :

 

[Pinkocto]

You gave me such a chuckle with the poncho comment!

Disney really picks the best CMs to be characters, to funny that Donald blocked your dad's shirt! I agree with you on when there's no one in line, I get sad for them. but then when there's a line I just wish there were less people, I guess I can not be pleased, ha!

I'm glad Emma decided to go on Dinosaur with you guys. Try as I might I can't help but scream on that ride, even though I know what's coming it still catches me off guard. I just love it!

 

[xoktenox]

love EE!!

I'm glad Emma gave Dinosaur another try! I ride it every time but I plug my ears and don't look at the big dino at the end...I need to cut it out and act my age

Awww, you got some adorable pictures with the characters! Mickey's pose in the one shot really is so cute!

 

[meeko_33785]

When it's raining, they usually have to double-up on characters at the Greeting Trails so all the characters are under cover, which is why Mickey and Minnie were together and Pocahontas, Thumper and King Louie were as well. I love weird character pairings so I would have loved to see Thumper and Pocahontas.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay on getting on EE in 5 minutes!

Lol at the two girls on Dinosaur covering their ears from the very beginning. Great hand gestures and thanks for explaining the story behind it.

Love all the character shots and agree that it is adorable that Mickey and Minnie were escorted by an umbrella to protect them from the rain.

 

[IheartDDuck]

D'oh! I missed this because I was gone when you started! Going back to read now.

Okay, I agree with Megan, and I do believe that we had the same Safari guide. He was a younger guy. How funny!

They did build a Chick Fil-A apparently in Schaumburg. A little far for you, but at least it's here. lol

 

[marDgreen88]

EVEREST.
I'm not gonna lie, Dinosaur legitimately scares me. I have only ridden it once and I had my head buried in my chest pretty much the whole time. What a great view... hahah.

Beast Mode! That's awesome, and even more awesome that it's Disney inspired.

Aww, Camp Minnie-Mickey is so much fun. I know what you mean. I always feel sad for the characters with no line. That happened to me last year with Meeko, which I was puzzled about because I LOVE MEEKO. Anyways... Mickey and Minnie with their umbrellas is seriously the cutest thing.
I'm sorry... Pocahontas, Thumper, and King Louie?! That's just odd. Where were their normal companions Meeko, Mrs. Bunny, and Baloo? Very weird!

OK! So your Donald story reminded me of my last trip again. My group and I were at the character spot in Epcot meeting Donald, and he's actually my favorite, so in the picture we all held up our fingers like a #1. Well the next night we were at MVMCP watching the parade and when Donald and Daisy came by, Donald held up his finger #1 at us! And we were like... wait a minute... either this is totally normal for 'friends of Donald' to do, or this is the exact same one at a different park. It was funny though.

Sorry about this super long comment! Looking forward to hearing about DTD!