"Excuse me, your child can NOT go on stage with Mickey":Jan 2013 TR! updates x 3! 6/5

[lvcourtneyy]

More Illuminations pictures!


Still 23 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


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After Illuminations, it was EMH so Jen, Chris and I decided to head over to Test Track to see if the lines were any shorter than they had been all day. Rick didn't want to ride so he went off with Presley. When we got to the line, it said 60 minutes but we decided we'd wait anyway. We went to get in line and Chris and I had our KTTW cards but Jen didn't and they wouldn't let her in line. So she was trying to call Rick to have him bring it to her but he wasn't picking up. So we decided to go with her to look for him. When we finally got him on the phone, we found out he had somehow made it all the way to the Character spot with Presley.

We went over there and were deciding what to do next.


DSCN0379 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

Presley was fine until she realized we were near the line for MICKEY! She ran over to the line and started yelling "Mi-Mo" as loud as she could. I tried to talk her into coming back to where we were sitting but she had made up her mind. She saw Mickey and she was getting to him no matter what. When I picked her up to carry her away, she yelled "COURTNEY NOOOO" as loud and clear as possible. So it was decided. We would meet characters again.

Since Chris and I had just been there 2 hours ago, the CM managing the line remembered us and was trying to joke with Presley but she had a mission. Mickey or die.


Photo0212FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0216FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

She did not let go of his hand once during the M&G. Now we thought maybe we'd be able to move on. But nope. Pluto and Minnie had been spotted and we were going to meet them too!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Photo0219FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0221FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


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Photo0227FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

For some reason, there was no line for Pluto and a backup at Minnie. Cue temper tantrum from a very tired Presley. She wanted Minnie and she wanted Minnie NOW.

The CM tried to nicely explain to Presley that the first family would meet Minnie, then the next, then the next then Presley. However, being 2 and exhausted, see was having none of it. She crossed her arms, rolled her eyes and dropped to the ground.

Soon enough it was time to meet Minnie and all was right with the world again.


Photo0233FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0236FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0244FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0246FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

After this, we decided we'd wait for Test Track and Rick took Presley to the bathroom and I think they might have met the characters again.


Photo0255FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

Test Track was good and we enjoyed designing our own car and seeing how it fared in the different trials.

Afterwards, we left and headed out to the buses. There was a sizable line but two buses came after about 15 minutes and we were off back to Pop. Now, Rick was hungry. The food court was closed and he hadn't eaten all day at Epcot because he wanted pizza and after 30342332 explanations of ADRs falling on deaf ears, they got there and were surprised they couldn't walk in and eat. Then he decided to be stubborn and not eat all day. So we got back to Pop and they were going to go to DTD to eat even though we were waking up for EMH at DHS the next morning. I was tired and cranky. Chris was tired and cranky. We left them to figure it out. Turns out they ended up ordering Dominos. We got back to our room and collapsed with exhaustion.

So next time, Hollywood Studios! Will Jen and Rick be up for EMH? Stay tuned!

 

[cfw213]

I'm joining in your TR!! I have to catch up!

 

[t_daniels]

Aw! Cute, though I probably would have been RIGHT with Presley."What do you mean I just met him? Nonsense. Again!"

 

[Enchantress01]

Hi Courtney! Whew! All caught up. There's been way too much going on in Real Life Land lately. But, I'm here!

Your photopass pictures are amazing! You all photograph so well and you add the best effects to them. I know I'm digressing a little, but I love the pics you took in Christopher Robin's room in the UK. We didn't have time for that meet. I hope we catch it next time. And Presley's face with Chip and Dale is hilarious!

Thanks for the beautiful Epcot pics. The Illuminations photos are stunning. You can never take too many of those. It feels like being there.

I know you're very busy so thanks for sharing the updates and wonderful pictures.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I'm joining in your TR!! I have to catch up!

Glad to have you over here! We're not too far in yet!

Aw! Cute, though I probably would have been RIGHT with Presley."What do you mean I just met him? Nonsense. Again!"

Haha I don't blame Presley for that! There are never enough characters I'm glad though that she enjoyed the characters and wasn't afraid of them!

Hi Courtney! Whew! All caught up. There's been way too much going on in Real Life Land lately. But, I'm here!

Your photopass pictures are amazing! You all photograph so well and you add the best effects to them. I know I'm digressing a little, but I love the pics you took in Christopher Robin's room in the UK. We didn't have time for that meet. I hope we catch it next time. And Presley's face with Chip and Dale is hilarious!

Thanks for the beautiful Epcot pics. The Illuminations photos are stunning. You can never take too many of those. It feels like being there.

I know you're very busy so thanks for sharing the updates and wonderful pictures.

Real life definitely takes away from my Disney time! I'm sure you are much busier than I with your family so thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to join me!

Aw thank you. I love photopass. I think it's one of the best systems Disney designed. Christopher Robin's room is awesome. If it weren't for KennythePirate's Character Locator app I never would've even found it! The chipmunk picture is priceless!

Epcot and Illuminations are so so gorgeous!

Thank you so much for all your kind words!

 

[shan23877]

Such pretty Illuminations pictures! It's a nice show isn't it? We never watched it last trip because DD insisted that we could just watch from CBR pool (it's not her fave show).

I don't blame Presley at all. When characters are near you must meet them. Very simple.

UGGghhghh! Why won't people listen when you explain how WDW works? Even my MiL who goes to WDW all the time is shocked that I make ADRs so early. Does she really think we'd be going to the castle to eat with no reservations?

I hope the group made it up for EMH! (or did they not listen about riding TSMM either? )

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Such pretty Illuminations pictures! It's a nice show isn't it? We never watched it last trip because DD insisted that we could just watch from CBR pool (it's not her fave show).

I don't blame Presley at all. When characters are near you must meet them. Very simple.

UGGghhghh! Why won't people listen when you explain how WDW works? Even my MiL who goes to WDW all the time is shocked that I make ADRs so early. Does she really think we'd be going to the castle to eat with no reservations?

I hope the group made it up for EMH! (or did they not listen about riding TSMM either? )

Thank you! It is a beautiful show. I could see how the show is lost on kids though. If I hadn't known the storyline behind the opening of the globe and the projections, I'd have been lost hahaha.

Presley definitely had a point in her temper tantrum and not surprisingly, she won hahaha

Yeah I feel like my Disney talks seem to go in one ear and out the other sometimes. I think the main problem we ran into was they were pretty much following our plans but we didn't do more than a few ADRs this trip. When we got there, they wanted to do more sit down meals but because we didn't, they had no ADRs so they couldn't. I guess our different ways of touring really took over more than we thought they would lol!

DHS will have quite the story too lol! Thanks for reading!

 

[MickeyManda]

Finally all caught up- love the Illuminations pictures! That show is fantastic and the photos just bring me back hopefully within a few years Presley will be able to enjoy it too

Totally understand the demand to meet the characters- I might have done the same at least she had fun!

Arrrgh, must not have been fun for them to have nowhere to eat at that point I'm sure now they learned the importance of ADRs!

Excited to see more at DHS!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Finally all caught up- love the Illuminations pictures! That show is fantastic and the photos just bring me back hopefully within a few years Presley will be able to enjoy it too

Totally understand the demand to meet the characters- I might have done the same at least she had fun!

Arrrgh, must not have been fun for them to have nowhere to eat at that point I'm sure now they learned the importance of ADRs!

Excited to see more at DHS!

It is so awesome! I can't believe we missed it on our first trip. Yeah she definitely needs a few more years until fireworks don't bother her.

Haha very true, she made her case quite well.

Yeah I think we all learned a few things about how we will travel to WDW together in the future! Luckily we are all civilized people and no one left with hurt feelings!

Thank you so much for reading!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Sorry for the delay guys. I spent the last 2 days arguing with Verizon Fios that it is in fact not normal that my internet works for 30 seconds at a time and then the connection doesn't work.
**********
So it was Saturday January 5th. Today we were heading to Disney Hollywood Studios.

Today DHS had AM EMH from 8 am - 9 am and the park was open from 9-9.

We woke up and 6 am, got ready pretty quickly and headed to the POP food court. I have to say, I enjoyed the food court much more on the days we woke up for AM EMH because it was insanely emptier. We ate our usually breakfast and headed out to the bus.

We texted Jen while we were getting ready and didn't hear back until 9 am so it's a good thing we didn't wait for them! So no EMH for them.

We must've done this all pretty quickly because we were at the park by 7:15!


DSCN0382 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

It started out as a pretty dreary looking day.


DSCN0383 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

I love the Christmas trees at the parks and the theming of them. I'm so glad they stay up into January.


DSCN0386 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

At this point I'm pretty sure I was turning and saying "See! We're not the onlyyyyy ones here 45 minutes before EMH!! I'm not crazy" to DBF. Convincing? I don't think so.


DSCN0387 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

This was the main reason for making today our DHS day. The Osborne Lights were only up until the 6th. Last trip, we missed them and I was determined to see them this time!


DSCN0388 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

The lines weren't long when we got there but they got really long very quickly and DBF ALMOST admitted there was some reason to my insistence.

Until about 7:40, we had planned to do the RD TSMM dash with everyone else in the universe. However, as we were waiting at the turnstiles, I decided to ask DBF's input (ask him how rarely this happens! ) He said he'd rather do ToT and RnRC and didn't care if we took our chances with TSMM. So plans changed.

So at 7:51, we were headed down Sunset Boulevard.


DSCN0389 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

Our first destination: an Aerosmith concert! We grabbed FPs and headed on! We walked right on, watched the pre-show and then we were off!


Photo0256FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

Next up: an elevator ride from hell! DBF's favorite ride of all time!


Photo0257FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

I guess ToT and my hair don't get along all that well

By 8:30, we were on our way to:


DSCN0390 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

So on our first trip, we somehow missed this WHOLE AREA completely...... Please don't ask me how. I'm just as confused as everyone else. We had a map. I had a touring plan. Pixar Place didn't cross our radar.


DSCN0391 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

The barrel of monkeys are too cute! It was just a little crowded by this point...


DSCN0392 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0393 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

We grabbed FPs with a return time of I believe 2-3 pm. Then, we decided to head back towards Sunset Blvd as we had RnRC FPs from I think 9:20-10:20 and we figured we'd hit some smaller attractions on the way.

We did the PotC Jack Sparrow thing. I guess it would be cute if you were 6 but that's it. We were highly disappointed. We thought the whole show was a pre-show and we disappointed when we were escorted out the exit..

Back on Sunset Blvd, we stopped for some Photopass of course!


DSCN0395 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


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I have to say, I really wish I knew the man sitting behind us in this ride photo because his expression is PRICELESS! I really wish I could find out if it was intentional or if that was his reaction

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

That RnRC pic was great!!!

 

[katt789]

Yay for AM EMH!! Early starts at Disney are the best!

Yay for Rnr ToT, I’m so nervous and excited for RNR next trip, gonna be so scary!!

Hah! Lol to the Jack Sparrow thing! I didn’t bother with it in Nov, but I’m sure we’ll check it out in a few weeks! I do want to actually see what it’s all about! Oh god, that man\s face on RnR is hilarious!! Awesome ride pic!!

 

[MK2010]

I LOVE that Christmas tree at DHS! And tell me about the internet issue! I've been having problems too. Think our problems are related? haha! RnR is my favorite too! I'm not so wild about ToT.

 

[shan23877]

That guy's face is fantastic! What a great ride photo!

Sounds like you guys were having a great morning! I can't believe that TSMM's return time was already 2 pm!

You got some great photos around RNRC and ToT! Can't wait to see your Osbourne Lights photos.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

That RnRC pic was great!!!

Haha I definitely enjoyed it! The PP+ was great for things like this that we wouldn't have gotten to enjoy otherwise.

Yay for AM EMH!! Early starts at Disney are the best!

Yay for Rnr ToT, I’m so nervous and excited for RNR next trip, gonna be so scary!!

Hah! Lol to the Jack Sparrow thing! I didn’t bother with it in Nov, but I’m sure we’ll check it out in a few weeks! I do want to actually see what it’s all about! Oh god, that man\s face on RnR is hilarious!! Awesome ride pic!!

AM EMH make me much happier than PM EMH!

I'm not gonna lie, RnR is pretty scary when it takes off. And I ride ALL rollercoasters. But it's definitely enjoyable, just don't think too much about it

I expected so much more from the Jack Sparrow thing. I mean it was cute for what it was but I just have higher expectations for new Disney attractions lol. I hope you see it, can't wait to hear how you feel about it!

You probably won't see this before your trip but have an AMAZING time. I can't wait to hear about it when you get back!!

I LOVE that Christmas tree at DHS! And tell me about the internet issue! I've been having problems too. Think our problems are related? haha! RnR is my favorite too! I'm not so wild about ToT.

I adore the Christmas trees. I wish my Christmas tree looked that fantastic

Do you have Verizon for internet? Cause my working theory is my internet is slow cause they have that new Quantum internet that they want you to pay 10 dollars more a month for so they're messing with the regular internet to make people upgrade!

That guy's face is fantastic! What a great ride photo!

Sounds like you guys were having a great morning! I can't believe that TSMM's return time was already 2 pm!

You got some great photos around RNRC and ToT! Can't wait to see your Osbourne Lights photos.

That guy's face is pretty epic. I almost want to frame the picture for HIM not us

TSMM was insanely crowded! I expected it and I knew when we decided not to head there first that we wouldn't be able to ride standby. It's a cute ride and I enjoy it (and like that I actually can tell what I'm shooting at not like on Buzz) but I don't quite get why it's SO ridiculously hard to get on. I guess cause it's the biggest ride little kids can get on too?



Thanks everyone for being here!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

So when we left off at DHS, we had just ridden RnRC! After our thrill rides, it was time for a change of pace. So what else? Time to meet some characters! Off we went to the Animation Courtyard!


Photo0265FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0270FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

We got in line for Sorcerer Mickey before he came out for his first set starting at 10 AM.

At 10:15, here we were!


DSCN0402 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0404 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


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Sorcerer Mickey enjoyed giving DBF a "pound" and did so more than once during our interaction At the end when we were leaving Mickey wanted to give DBF a goodbye pound I suppose and DBF wasn't paying attention and Mickey was pretty upset.


Photo0276FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0277FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


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When we were done, we decided to go meet the Characters by the Sorcerer's Hat. I had no idea who would come out and where so we decided to just hang around and wait until they came out for their next set which started at 10:30!

It paid off because on the right side of the hat, we spotted Minnie coming out and were like the 2nd people in line to meet her. So at 10:31 AM, we were meeting her.


DSCN0405 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0406 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0286FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


Photo0289FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


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Photo0294FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

After we met Minnie, we headed to the left side of the hat to see who was out and we found Donald and Daisy together!

There was a line of a decent size but not too bad because we were meeting them at 10:39!


Photo0295FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr


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Photo0305FourBySix by RN Courtney, on Flickr

We saw Goofy and Pluto meeting together and Chip and Dale meeting together across the way from the hat but they had already closed their lines when we got there so we headed on!

 

[MK2010]

Score on all the character meets! I love meeting characters and Sorcerer Mickey is my favorite! I have a 14" plush Mickey that I got for $10 at an outlet store about a year ago. I sleep with him everyday. (We call him my little something on the side) Any whoo, I'm impressed by how much you were already able to get done!

On the internet issue, we have Clear wire which everyone else seems to have great luck with, so maybe we just live in a hole!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Score on all the character meets! I love meeting characters and Sorcerer Mickey is my favorite! I have a 14" plush Mickey that I got for $10 at an outlet store about a year ago. I sleep with him everyday. (We call him my little something on the side) Any whoo, I'm impressed by how much you were already able to get done!

On the internet issue, we have Clear wire which everyone else seems to have great luck with, so maybe we just live in a hole!

Hahaha I love meeting characters! Good score on the Sorcerer Mickey! I'm running out of room for new ones lolol

Hmmm I guess the Internet problems are widespread then ugh!

Thanks for reading!

 

[shan23877]

Wow! You guys got so much done that morning! I love all of the Hollywood outfits for the characters-that's one place we've never met them. The PP borders are really cute too! I haven't seen that Minnie one before.

Love that Mickey was fist bumping with your BF! That's the kind of stuff that you remember!