SOOZE's Grand Gathering... it's so good, I have to bevel! Update! 2/3

[Sooze]

Since the girls were on a character high, we decided to head over to Future World to the Character Connection. On our way over, the rain started to slowly take over the sky. By the time we hit Club Cool, it was downpouring. We knew from watching the weather, that today was going to be a wet one, but you always tuck that hope away that the Disney Bubble will protect you. That was not to be the case.

We made a quick dash into Club Cool and decided to introduce Uncle Ben and Auntie Cindy to the Beverly. ((evil laughter))

Uncle Ben didn’t really enjoy his Beverly:

But Auntie Cindy…

She missed Uncle Ben’s warning reaction. Just look how innocent she is here. That “Why is your camera out? Why are you smiling at me?” face is just perfect, isn’t it? So what did she think of it?

And yes… there were a few gags involved!!

The girls settled for something more yummy:

Auntie Cindy was not bitter. She even bought the girls a box of some of those cute candies:

After being evil to our loved ones, we headed over to the Character Connection. As you can see from the above picture, we were falsely lulled into the belief that the rain might be over. Little did we know…

I have all of the Character Connection pictures on our Photopass, so you’ll see them later. But we had a great experience. A very short wait, followed by many hugs and squeals as we met the Fab 5. Here is Shae’s reaction to (yet another) autograph by Mickey Mouse:

We had heard earlier that Tinkerbell was in her ‘rain site’ today, which is in the hallway next to Club Cool. So we decided to head over there. To our surprise, Chip and Dale were just hanging out in there, with not a soul around them, so we jumped on that experience!

After meeting the REAL Chipmunks, we headed over to the Tinkerbell area. She had just wrapped up one meet and greet, and wasn’t due back for another 45 minutes. As we debated what to do, the heavens gave us the answer. BUCKETS and BUCKETS of rain started POURING. The wind got scary rough, and the lightning and thunder rolled in. Well…. I guess we shall wait for Tinkerbell.

Fortunately, we were toward the front of the line, so once our almost-an-hour wait was over, we were quick to see the famous Pixie.

I realize this was a rain site, and even a temporary placement at Epcot for Tink, but I am hoping they find a wonderful spot for her and her pixie friends back at Magic Kingdom soon.

At some point during our wait, we heard back from Mahna, Pahta, and Tyson. Things out at Cape Canaveral were AWFUL!! It had been pouring on them since the moment they arrived. They took a bus tour out to the launch pad but couldn’t see anything through the pouring rain. We felt so bad for them, as they had really been looking forward to this outing for a long time!!

And now that the rain from Cape Canaveral had spread on over to Lake Buena Vista, we realized our afternoon was about rained out. We had one more indoor place to explore, though! Innoventions!!

We decided to do the one activity that didn’t have a long wait. Innoventions was pretty crowded as the rain had herded everyone inside! The dads were super excited about this exhibit… can you tell?

The girls had a wonderful time with this exhibit and were SO good about taking turns and sharing. It was like watching a Disney commercial come to life!

Even Cindy got in on the fun!

We were pretty tuckered out. The rain was draining… and knowing the rest of our family was suffering in the monsoons brought us down a bit. We ponchoed up the girls, whipped out what umbrellas we could find, and trekked back to the Boardwalk. Here is Matt after the long haul.

Notice Shae is glowing! That’s because she didn’t step in a single puddle, or get a drop of rain on her. The rest of us? We were ready to dry off and hang out in our home for a while!

And that’s just what we did. Hot coffee, Disney cartoons, happy girls playing with their Disney goodies…. It was a wonderful afternoon! We waited for the rest of our gang and then decided what to do with the rest of this washed-out day!

And it wasn’t even in our plans!

 

[Sooze]

Soon after we arrived at our villa to relax and dry off, our poor Mahna, Pahta, and Tyson stumbled through the door. They were wet, tired, and cold, but were able to maintain a positive attitude about the whole thing. They did get to see some neat things in the museum, get a few pictures taken, and even get a cool new shirt for Tyson!

Soon we were trying to figure out how to best spend this soggy evening. We didn’t have plans for dinner and decided that it would be best to go out to eat, since none of us felt up to cooking. I got on the phone and tried to find a place at DTD. Not surprisingly, Portobello was wide open. So we made a reservation and got ourselves ready to head to DTD.

We decided it would be fastest to drive…. But our van wouldn’t fit all of us… safely. So leave it to Uncle Ben to volunteer to ride in the back. The WAY back of the van.

It didn’t matter. We were so happy to be dry and back together again, knowing a nice meal was ahead of us. Being stuck in the WAY back of the van was just another fun memory we were creating, although probably not the safest memory!

We parked, made our way into the Marketplace, and promptly had to stop for some photo ops.

Just look at these poses:

Portobello was empty and we were seated immediately. Matt and I had eaten here once before but only ate appetizers, so I was excited to see what a full meal would be like. Wow, we certainly were not disappointed. I don’t know why this place is always empty…. The food is fantastic!

We were all in excellent spirits, too. Which just added to the greatness of the meal.

Playing with ice cubes:

Tyson was seriously contemplating the menu:

Here are Uncle Ben and Auntie Cindy after eating some of the amazing food. They were pumped up for this meal!

The girlies loved their ‘sketties’:

After the perfect meal to get us back in Magical Mode, we were ready to hit the stores of the Marketplace. Here are just few pictures of merchandise and displays that I enjoyed that evening:

Ended up buying this one for Tyson, then when we got it home, I realized there was glitter in the lightning. So it has become a part of MY T-shirt collection!

I went to take the kids over to Goofy’s for some sweets. On the way over, Shae spied the face-painting kiosk. We have NEVER done this, mostly because neither of my kids seemed interested. Not tonight! Shae was relentless… she wanted a pretty face painting. What the heck? Why not?

Adding glitter:

Finished product. She LOVED it!

A few more cool displays:

We ended up getting some chocolate dipped pretzel rods at Goofy’s (our standby… these are SO yummy!!)

Watching the magic happen:

THANK YOU GOOFY’S CANDY COMPANY!!

It had been a very long day….. but were we done yet?! NOPE! We were itching for another ride on Soarin’. Come back to see how our rainy day came to a wonderful end!

 

[Sooze]

We decided to make sure this day ended in a positive way by heading back into Epcot. We drove back to BWV and walked into International Gateway. The rain had finally let up, thank goodness!

Matt and I took a moment for a rare photo of the two of us.

We headed straight to Soarin’ and just hopped in the standby line. It was the only thing we wanted to do that night, and ended up waiting less than 30 minutes.

Of course, we waited an extra round so we could have the top row, center section. Soon we were strapped in and ready for our flight. I love Uncle Ben’s face in this picture, don’t you?

So happy to be Soarin’!

I decided to take a few pictures of my feet during this ride. That way, I could picture exactly where I was when I got home. I still love looking at these, even though they are blurry!

We wrapped up the evening with Illuminations and our favorite leisurely walk back home. Tomorrow was going to be another wonderful (and much DRYER) day at Disney!

 

[Sooze]

Here are the Photopass Pictures from this day. Enjoy!

 

[micandminforever]

I enjoyed the photpass pictures, the girl's smile said it all. The pictures at Club Cool of the reactions were great.

 

[mreid1974]

Great updates!! So sorry to hear that it rained on you guys but you made the best of it!!

 

[glennbo123]

Holy mega-updates Batman!

for "introducing" Uncle Ben and Auntie Cindy to Beverly. Hee hee hee.

I can relate to that picture of the dads at Illuminations.

Bummer that Cape Canaveral was somewhat of a washout.

Huh, I'd always thought that Tinkebell's eyebrows were closer to her hair color.

I love that picture of Shae arriving back at the Boardwalk all dry. She looks like she had a great time while Dad got wet. You probably made some memories with that little jaunt.

Hey, the 'WAY Back'...that's what we call it too!

Nice picture of you and Matt.

Great photopass pictures. The girls are TOO CUTE!

 

[Sooze]

I enjoyed the photpass pictures, the girl's smile said it all. The pictures at Club Cool of the reactions were great.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!! That has been the most fun about bringing newbies to WDW... the Beverly!! :little angel:

Great updates!! So sorry to hear that it rained on you guys but you made the best of it!!

I think those of us in WDW faired better than those who went to Cape Canaveral. But we DID end the day with smiles all around! Rain on vacation is still better than rain any other time!

Holy mega-updates Batman!

I am SO behind, Glenn! I had to do something drastic!!

for "introducing" Uncle Ben and Auntie Cindy to Beverly. Hee hee hee.

I need to find a new victim now. It's SO deliciously fun!

I can relate to that picture of the dads at Illuminations.

I know, right? Just not the most fun for them...

Bummer that Cape Canaveral was somewhat of a washout.

I still feel bad about that whole thing. What can ya do?

Huh, I'd always thought that Tinkebell's eyebrows were closer to her hair color.

I love that picture of Shae arriving back at the Boardwalk all dry. She looks like she had a great time while Dad got wet. You probably made some memories with that little jaunt.

We love ALL of our walks from Epcot to BWV, but this one was particularly memorable!

Hey, the 'WAY Back'...that's what we call it too!

Nice picture of you and Matt.

Great photopass pictures. The girls are TOO CUTE!

Thanks for your comments, Glenn! And thanks for not giving up on me!

 

[Sooze]

Today was a very flexible day. We knew we wanted to finish at Animal Kingdom, so we could enjoy the EMH production of Festival of the Lion King! So what did we decided to do? Well, first.. we SLEPT IN! YES!! Then, we headed back to Hollywood Studios!

Up first, Mahna and I had a date with the animation class! We sent the ‘big boys’ off to ride big scary rides. Avabelle and Cindy did some shopping. Mahna, Shae, and I got in the waiting area for the class. While we were there, we got to observe some classic non-parenting. See the lady with the cell phone? She didn’t look up from that thing for a SECOND. Not even when her kids were ALL over the place in that cramped waiting area. Don’t get me wrong, I go into cell-phone-coma sometimes. But when you have people everywhere, and your kids are insane, I think it would be important to look up from your phone and correct your kids’ behavior. I busted out the teacher/mommy look on those kids a few times!!

I was worried how Shae would do in the class, since she didn’t want to draw, she just wanted to watch. It actually went very well! She had fun bouncing back and forth between Mahna and me. Here are some pictures from the experience:

Silly Mahna ready to draw:

Can you guess who we drew?

My finished Pluto:

Mahna hard at work:

Our instructor hard at work:

Our finished products:

Our instructor gave us a choice to have both ears down or one ear up. You can see Mahna and I each did our own thing! And didn’t Shae do a nice job of taking that picture?!

After class, we all regrouped and headed over to Toy Story Mania. We still had a FP left from my earlier American Idol Experience, so we all hopped into the FP line. Shae was excited to find a 5!! (Her age, of course!)

We were quickly getting our glasses:

And heading down the stairs to the ride:

We were soon loaded in:

And enjoyed another fabulous ride on TSM.

Afterwards, we were already heading back to the resort for a quick lunch. Then we were off to AK. I was bursting with excitement to show my in-laws my two favorite shows on Disney property! I couldn’t get to AK soon enough!!

 

[micandminforever]

Great fun at the Animation class. My DH and I did the class on our last visit and had a great time. We had fun drawing Mickey.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Wow, some great updates Sooze! Love the girls with the characters!

Too funny about the Beverly! I love those expressions.

I keep forgetting the drawing class at DHS. We never head that way and it slips my mind. Tom and Jeremy would both enjoy it. You did a great job!

Hope you have a great Christmas and wonderful time at Disney and on the cruise. I followed you along on FB. Will you do a report?

 

[IluvXU]

I too hope for a cruise report!

 

[Sooze]

Great fun at the Animation class. My DH and I did the class on our last visit and had a great time. We had fun drawing Mickey.

I think the animation class is one of my top 5 things to do at Disney!!!

Wow, some great updates Sooze! Love the girls with the characters!

Too funny about the Beverly! I love those expressions.

That was one of my favorite things about this trip... experiencing 'old favorites' like the Beverly with NEW VICTIMS!!

I keep forgetting the drawing class at DHS. We never head that way and it slips my mind. Tom and Jeremy would both enjoy it. You did a great job!

You have to promise me you'll go next time! Even with people who don't or can't draw very well, it's a GREAT experience!

Hope you have a great Christmas and wonderful time at Disney and on the cruise. I followed you along on FB. Will you do a report?

I will... I'm just not sure when that will happen! I have GOT to finish this one... then I have a Halloween report (that will be pictures mostly)... then I can rock out the cruise report!! So hang in there, like you always do for me!

I too hope for a cruise report!

Stay tuned.... it will be coming... but not until I get this one done. And you can see how quickly THAT is going...

THANKS TO ALL FOR STICKING WITH ME!! ANOTHER UPDATE EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND. Hoping to wrap it up!! ((fingers crossed))

 

[Sooze]

We eventually found ourselves at Animal Kingdom. This park has really grown on me each time we venture to Disney. There aren’t A LOT of attractions that we do here… basically Everest, Nemo musical, and Festival of the Lion King. But I think that’s why I enjoy being here so much. It’s a place where I can just take it all in and not feel like I’m missing a lot when I slow down.

Any way, we had a few things we wanted to share with our family. So we made our way into the park.

And were happy to see the large tour groups making their way OUT!

We stopped for a Mahna/Pahta/Tree of Life shot:

Then we headed into Dino Land. The skies were NOT looking friendly again…

Cindy, Avabelle, Shaelyn, and I decided to take a spin with the Triceratops. The rest of the family went to get FPs for Kilimanjaro Safari. Here we are enjoying our ride:

Check out that rash.. ugh!

Check out that sky… double ugh!

Fun story for this day… Both of the girls are HUGE Tangled fans. Auntie Cindy wanted NOTHING else on this trip except a stuffed Pascal (Rapunzel’s chameleon sidekick) for Avabelle. We stopped in store after store after store to try and find one, but there were NONE… ANYWHERE. Then, as we were heading back in line to ride Triceratops Spin again, Tyson came RUNNING up to us with TWO Pascals. We were elated and asked how on Earth he found them? Well, he didn’t find them… he WON them! They were prizes in one of the carnival game booths in Dinoland. He spent his money playing the games until he won two of them… one for Shae and one for Avabelle. Cindy was THRILLED! And so was Tyson!

A view from our dino ride:

The family gathered together again and headed into the theater to catch Finding Nemo: The Musical.

We had great seats right behind the walkway, so we had no heads in front of us, and a great view of some of the action that takes place there.

Everyone enjoyed the show SO much! We had an awesome cast, as usual and had a wonderful time singing along.

Up next was our safari ride… Doesn’t Mahna look thrilled?

I think Cindy was asking us if the animals could get into the truck here…

After making fun of Cindy for her concern… we were on our way!

Coming up… a bunch of Safari pictures… ENJOY!

Here’s Tyson’s reaction to seeing a giraffe let a load loose:

After a relaxing and enjoyable safari, we were off to camp Minnie Mickey for the greatest show on Disney property! We decided against the EMH show because tomorrow was leaving day, and we were wanting to head to bed early.

 

[Sooze]

We scored some excellent seats for Festival of the Lion King. We had hyped this show up to our family so much that even THEY were super excited to see it!

(Can you see Avabelle’s new Pascal on her lap?!)

Cindy is a dancer and her daughter is already growing up to become one as well… they enjoyed watching the amazing dancing that accompanies the fantastic singing in this show. Here are a few shots from the show:

Tumblemonkeys!!

Love watching these two:

Unfortunately, we witnessed a fall! Eeek! The male dancer was spinning the female out of a hold. We think he spun her a bit too hard and she lost her footing and fell. Of course, she got right back up and, in true professional fashion, went on as if nothing ever happened. That is the first time I’ve seen something like that happen. As a family of performers, we know that stuff happens all the time! This just happened to be OUR first time seeing it! Glad she was ok!

And, some video footage. This lady has lungs of STEEL! AMAZING!!!!


The show got excellent reviews all around and even got a few of us choked up. I’m a sucker for that show… tears every time!

We decided to take Avabelle back over to Dinoland so Shaelyn could show her the greatest playground ever… the Boneyard!

Cindy couldn’t resist….

After playing for quite a while, the family was ready to head back to our villa to begin packing and getting ready for an early night to bed. Tyson and I sent them on our way and headed to Everest to get our ride on!!

By now, it was EMH… and we stayed until we rode that thing 10 times!! By the end, we were walking right on. It was AWESOME!!! I. LOVE. THAT. RIDE!!!

I enjoyed spending time with my boy. We took our time making our way home, soaking up every last moment, knowing tomorrow was our last day….

 

[Sooze]

This is the ONLY Photo Pass picture from today! We clearly were not into pictures at Animal Kingdom, I guess! :roll eyes:

 

[glennbo123]

Tyson is THE MAN for winning those 2 Pascals.

Glad you got to spend some alone time with him, having fun riding EE. Making memories!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I just have to say, what a nice young man you have. It warmed my heart hearing that Tyson spent his money to win not one but two stuffed animals for two girls! How awesome is that! You should be very proud.

I agree, I love the AK because I never fell rushed there. We take our time and see what we want to see.

 

[shannon47142]

what a fun update!! Tyson is amazing to do that for the girls!! I love Everest too==glad you guys enjoyed the time together!

 

[Sooze]

Tyson is THE MAN for winning those 2 Pascals.

Glad you got to spend some alone time with him, having fun riding EE. Making memories!

We were SO excited that he found them. Believe me, he got GOBS of praise that whole day.. from all of us!!
I always love my Ty Ty Time!

I just have to say, what a nice young man you have. It warmed my heart hearing that Tyson spent his money to win not one but two stuffed animals for two girls! How awesome is that! You should be very proud.

I agree, I love the AK because I never fell rushed there. We take our time and see what we want to see.

Well, you know how it is with a son this age.... some days I just want to scream at his annoyingness and aloofness.... and other days... he is just an angel!! Of course, when we are in Disney, it is MOSTLY the latter.:little angel:

what a fun update!! Tyson is amazing to do that for the girls!! I love Everest too==glad you guys enjoyed the time together!

Thanks!! Tyson does love his sister and cousin.... it was nice to see it in action that day!