It's gonna take a lot to take me away from this view! 7/10 - Finished!

[eandesmom]

I love that your favorite thing from the parade was...

The ponies!



Cindy didn't look very nice in that picture though, I'm a little scared of her.

GOREGOUS fireworks shots but sorry it was so smushed. I have got to see the Castle show in May. Missed it entirely this past trip so the only one I've really ever seen is Hallowishes. That's messed up!

What, no picture of your FAVORITE sweater? Must see!!!

Anyway, we finally got back and here's what is written in my trip journal:

"Showers and sleep with the feeling that this vacation was killing us."

Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really hope you thaw out up there, it drains the soul when it drags on like that.

 

[PopArtGal]

Wonderful pictures of the party. It made me a bit "home sick".

 

[teekathepony]

What a wonderful update for the beginning of the work week.

Awww, thanks Kathy, I'm glad you liked it!

I'm sorry to hear about your snow/ice. It's the never ending winter.

I'm so over this winter, we got two and a half feet of snow since Sunday night.

You can NEVER have enough pictures of the Castle, the castle show, the Holiday Wishes or the Parade...especially not your pictures because they are all spectacular.

Ahh I agree, I guess that's why I take so many. And thanks again

Is the sweatshirt in your photopass pictures the one you bought?

Yep, that's the one! It's so soft and cozy!

I heard that the Jingle Cruise wasn't all that special after all the hype they made about it.

It was unfortunate. I was happy to see they'd done something a little extra for the holidays, but then felt they could have done so much more with very little extra effort.

I started reading again just in time - here's our meet!

Your ears must have been tingling

What's interesting is that the picture of mom and me was on my "photopass cd" - one that was compiled without my knowing and emailed to me, I guess because of my magic band. I wonder if they recognized it wasn't you guys and took it off thinking it was a mistake?

I bet you're right because if (as I first imagined) someone thought that was inappropriate they're quite the prude!

You got great pictures of the parade and fireworks. We missed the fireworks, even though I had my glow with the show ears on; we had gotten caught in a line at BTMR and decided to ride again instead of catch the show. We DID sit and have a funnel cake and watch the parade though.

Thanks! The fireworks were my top priority, that and the parade so we made sure to get a spot for them (even if it did mean missing out on some awesome ride times!)

We rode the Jingle Cruise while the fireworks were going on. It was cute, but nothing special!

I was a little disappointed, I thought they could have done a lot more with it without much additional effort.

Our last ride of the night was Peter Pan (truly 30 minutes to ride) and we got out of there a little after midnight I think. You guys were there late!

We were late, mostly we were busy taking photos all night!

Amazing pictures!!!!!

I love the one of the partners statue!

Thank you!

I agree with you on the Jingle Cruise! I thought the jokes would be Christmas themed or something I remember that the Ginger snaps one we tailored to Christmas but that was about it. I don't know why they would hype it up so much then not really provide a different experience.

Agreed! I think I remember two Christmas jokes total... they really could have done so much more with it.

Interested to see what happens after that journal entry!

Ominous, isn't it?

 

[teekathepony]

Yeah, I swore off Let it Go as well. That lasted about 2 minutes...

Haha me too. My internet wasn't working well in the ice storm so me and the dogs cuddled up and watched... Frozen! LOL I guess I figured maybe if I pay my dues the queen of ice will ease up on me?

Um, Wendy... You do know a DISmeet doesn't happen unless there are photos... right?? But getting back to the ride photo, seriously, THAT was deemed inappropriate????

I know, I know! I always feel so awkward asking for a picture! Hahaha
She's thinking that they might have thought it was a mistake, since they weren't in any of our other pictures. I guess we'll never really know!

Bugger... I totally missed out on that photo op with the soldiers. My first party I don't think they were set up due to the parade taping, but second party I have no excuse.

Ohhh that's too bad, it's my favourite from that night!

Oh Wendy, your photos of Celebrate the Magic and Merry ChristWishes are spectacular!!!!

Aww thanks Rob!

I so appreciate you sitting during the parade. I wish more would follow that example when in front. And once again, spectacular photos. Your location looked perfect.

I always sit when I'm in front (and if there are kids around who I notice don't have a view, I always try to squish over to get them a spot!) I think when I do it, it sets an example for others in the front because I often notice many following suit. It's like a little affirmation that it's ok to sit!
And thanks, it was a perfect spot!

All these pictures just make me miss the Halloween party So MUCH (sorry... couldn't resist )

Bahahaha, yes you deserve at least that dig, if not more!

Oh dear, that trip journal line is pretty ominous.

Oohh I know, I left you all hanging! Let's just say we changed some things pretty drastically for the next day!

Your MVMCP pics are gorgeous! Great photo of the "gingerbread" castle!!

Thank you! That gingerbread castle was the coolest thing ever, I love all the projections they do, but that one was just so realistic and detailed!

And no, no words are needed for the fireworks photos! Perfection!

Thanks, what a show that is. I could watch it every single night and never get tired of it.

Looks like a fun night! But, your teaser for tomorrow makes me curious.....

We had a great time, but we were just so exhausted when we got back! We made some major changes to our trip by that point!

Do you want to build a snowman????

NO! But for the record, I have enough snow to build approximately 13,587 Olafs. 2.5 - 3 feet of snow and 26 acres of it... The drifts and banks in some places in my yard are over 6 feet high. It's April.

Sorry, sorry!! LOL. I just can't help myself. But... we ARE looking at your Christmas pictures on the last day of March, so maybe it's not ALL Elsa's fault?? Hehe.

Haha maybe you're right, I'm inviting the snow by reminiscing about Christmas! WHERE ARE MY PALM TREE PICTURES!??

That gingerbread castle picture just made my entire life. I have no words!!!! And you are right, those ponies are wonderful!!! LOVE them.

Thank you! Oh those ponies, and so well behaved too! I'm right in love with all of them!

 

[teekathepony]

I love your fireworks pictures. They are absolutely the best ever! I'm glad you brought your camera with you and didn't leave it out of commission.

Aww thanks, Mary Ellen! That's so sweet of you Oh I couldn't leave the camera behind for the Christmas party, I would have been offering to buy the camera off every stranger who went by me!

Your shirts are so cute - they definitely have the Christmas theme!

They kinda do, completely unintentional! We both planned to buy Christmas party shirts while we were there and couldn't find any.

Nothing like starting off the party with Space Mountain and a DIS meet. Gotta love that.

It was a great way to kick off the night!

Yuck to the super long wait for the bus. I agree that Pop always has multiple buses which has to turn into better service.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice that! I've never had a complaint about the busses while staying at Pop, but this trip opened my eyes to why people complain about them!

Thank you so much ... your photos are wonderful, and I am truly enjoying your report!!

Thank you! I'm very glad you're enjoying it

LOVE your pictures!!! I'm so jealous!! Your photography skills are amazing!!

I loved how the parade floats piped a smell out that went with the float.

Thank you! That's very kind of you!
Omg I know, the smells were amazing too! (And made me hungry! )

Oh yeah, and I don't see anything remotely inappropriate about their photo. That is so weird!

No, I didn't either. I was guessing that's the reason, but she's thinking they thought it was added by mistake since there were only two people linked to my Magic+ account.

 

[teekathepony]

I love that your favorite thing from the parade was...

The ponies!

A horse, of course!

Cindy didn't look very nice in that picture though, I'm a little scared of her.

Agreed, not one of her better portraits.

GOREGOUS fireworks shots but sorry it was so smushed. I have got to see the Castle show in May. Missed it entirely this past trip so the only one I've really ever seen is Hallowishes. That's messed up!

Thank you! Yes, you really do have to see the castle show!

What, no picture of your FAVORITE sweater? Must see!!!

It's the one in my Photopass pictures

I really hope you thaw out up there, it drains the soul when it drags on like that.

Oh man, it's going to be another month before we thaw out. I've been stuck in my house since Sunday evening, the worst storm I've ever seen. And now we have two and a half feet of fresh snow to deal with.

Wonderful pictures of the party. It made me a bit "home sick".

Thanks, me too actually!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I can't get enough of your photos!! They are all so beautiful!

And I love your sweater - it really does look comfy!

 

[teekathepony]

I can't get enough of your photos!! They are all so beautiful!

And I love your sweater - it really does look comfy!

Thank you!
Oh it is, I just happen to be wearing it right now!

 

[emmysmommy]

Wendy your view for the parade and the fireworks was fantastic! I love the straight on angle for your parade photos. I was seated on the ground and my photos are looking up people's noses!

Your fireworks photos are stunning!!! You sure paid attention to those photography lessons! Seriously though, you didn't go overboard, I could have seen a dozen more and enjoyed them all the same. I have such special memories of the party we attended.

Glad your Dismeet worked out. Not sure what was inappropriate for their ride photo other than Disney may not like fake violence. (Yeah, wasn't Disney's Lone Ranger a little violent?)

Your sweatshirt is cute. It looks comfy.

 

[teekathepony]

Howdy folks!

What a week it's been. We got hit with a snow storm early in the week that stalled over my island. Started Sunday night and we had hurricane winds with ice pellets for two days, ending with 40+cm of snow (about 16 inches for you imperials) Some of our drifts were 3 feet high, and when we plowed the driveways we had banks over my head.

Welcome to Spring, Cape Breton.

Here's my Holly up on a bank:

Work was closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Luckily now we appear to be back on track. Today it's +5 and sunny, so we are melting... but it's going to be a while before we get anything that looks like spring.

I want to get moving with this report because as it turns out, I am not a fan of writing two at a time.

Friday, November 15th
"A Change of Plans"

I left off last time dropping into bed with this thought in my head:

"Showers and sleep with the feeling that this vacation was killing us."

Never a good sign.

We all know that Disney World is not a restful vacation. That's not why we go. That's not what I was expecting. But somehow, this one felt like it was dragging me down like never before. The previous night so many little things were bothering me that I should have been able to shrug off. We didn't feel like we enjoyed the party to its full potential because we were in slightly sour moods. In hindsight, I now know how sick I was getting which I'm sure contributed! I woke up at 7:00 that morning and felt I could not get out of bed. Did not want to leave the hotel. Could not handle a park right now. Never wanted to see a Disney bus ever again.

So what did we do?

Change of plans!

We got on our phones and into the My Disney Experience App. We changed all of our FP+ times from first thing after park opening to sometime after lunch. That was one really good thing about the app!

We sat on the balcony and watched the animals for a while before we went down to The Mara and got breakfast (btw, breakfast only comes with one drink now? Ugh, meal plan gets worse every trip!) We ate it on our balcony.

We sat and relaxed, chatted, charged our batteries (literally and figuratively) and then decided to get our bathing suits on, grabbed Johnny's waterproof camera, and head to the pool!

It was a little bit cool and wet out. Not raining, more like misty. The pool was, at first, empty as a result and we had a good time using the slide and swimming around.

Johnny on the slide:

And my turn!

We spent a lot of time just floating on our backs or gently paddling around the pool, enjoying the scenery.

When we were done, we soaked in the empty hot tub for a while.

When we were finished there, we dried off and did some shopping in the gift shop. We wanted some special things to remember our amazing AKL stay. Then we headed back to our room. Mousekeeping had been by while we were out and so we took some pictures of our temporary home.

I caught Johnny peeking around the corner taking pictures with his phone:

Let's take a nice picture of the whole room.

Heyy! Photobomber!

Taking some pictures to send to his travel agent aka mother:

So I photobombed him too:

Finally, when we felt rested and wonderfully recharged, we decided it was almost time for a park. We showered the pool chemicals off, dressed (in my new AKL sweater I bought!) and then armed with our cameras, we went back to The Mara for lunch.

Yummm Disney chicken nuggets! They really are the best!

Not to mention the desserts!

When we finished, we headed out to the bus stop and just as we sat down, our bus arrived. It was a brand new day, thanks to our restful morning, and we were once again anxious to get to a park!

Up next: What park did we go to and why it was the best day ever!

 

[teekathepony]

Wendy your view for the parade and the fireworks was fantastic! I love the straight on angle for your parade photos. I was seated on the ground and my photos are looking up people's noses!

We had a great view for the parade, it was nice being straight on! We got to see a lot more I think!

Your fireworks photos are stunning!!! You sure paid attention to those photography lessons! Seriously though, you didn't go overboard, I could have seen a dozen more and enjoyed them all the same. I have such special memories of the party we attended.

Aw thanks Brenda! I'm a good student, right? I never want to overload anyone with too many pictures, glad I didn't go that far.

Glad your Dismeet worked out. Not sure what was inappropriate for their ride photo other than Disney may not like fake violence. (Yeah, wasn't Disney's Lone Ranger a little violent?)

She was thinking that maybe they saw them nowhere else in our pictures and thought it was a mistake.. Hard to say really!

Your sweatshirt is cute. It looks comfy.

It's my favourite, I'm wearing it right now!

 

[BridgetR3]

Sometimes it's nice and needed to just cancel all of the plans and relax a little on a disney vacation!! Love your slow morning!

So you couldn't get refills with your breakfast? That's weird.

I hope it's warming up in Cape Breton!! Enjoy your day!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Love all of your pictures from the party! And in my book there can be no such thing as too many pictures or overload but you already knew that!

I continue to have this fear of setting up a tripod on Main Street or anywhere in and around the Hub area for MK fireworks which has prevented me from trying it so far. I keep thinking that the crowds will be too much and eventually knock my tripod over or someone will trip over the tripod.

Spending some leisure time at the resorts are awesome and so relaxing after a few days of park tours.

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Excellent seats at FoTLK! Sadly, I normally get bad seats, but it's mainly because I tend to walk in at the last minute.

I honestly would love to take a trip without taking many pictures at all. But now because we write our TR's, I feel like I can't do that!

They definitely won't lay out the pricing for you at the DVC booths. You have to actually go and talk to a DVC rep and do the tour, they won't lay out pricing otherwise, because it all varies depending on which resort you buy into.

I saw your Sanuks. How do you like that pair? I tried them on, but felt like they were going to fly off my feet in the back.

Oh yes, those seats at Nemo are insanely uncomfortable. Try having a 9 year old little on your lap.

Being hungry can certainly put a damper on enjoying certain things.

I would be excited for the cream cheese wontons too. No shame!

We're having similar issues here too. I just can't believe how long this spring is taking to get here.

Yay for your DISmeet!

Your change of plans looks like fun. Sometimes, you really have to slow down so the trip doesn't get the best of you.

 

[MEK]

You know I definitely have those mornings where I just feel so whooped and I always feel like I just have to "soldier" on. Glad you guys took some time to relax and really enjoy the resort. I do like that you can change your FP's on my disney experience. It really can be a blessing at times like that.

Your room is really pretty. I think its interesting how the regular inn rooms are always different from the DVC rooms in every resort. Sometimes I wish they were more similar and other times I think its cools that they are different. It's just a bummer that I will always be DVC so I will always have the one style of room. *sigh*

 

[Tracy161]

Wow, your photos are just simply too hard to beat!

 

[KatMark]

WOW....that is some snow!

We have found that a change of plans every once in awhile gets us feeling better again at the parks. I've now insisted on more "down" time so we can appreciate our time at the parks more.

I love that pool at AKL...so pretty. Your chicken nuggets look really good (I'll pass on the zebra domes though).

Nice room pictures (and photobombs).

I can't wait to hear what park you go to.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

YAY Spring.

You know, sometimes you just have to change plans Wendy. And with that lovely resort at your fingertips, it's not exactly like you're compromising anything.

HAHAHAHA, Johnny's selfie. Best selfie/photobomb ever? AHHHH you may have surpassed it!

Mmmm Disney Nugs!!!

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

Crazy weather! Hope you get some sort of spring soon!

Great pictures of the resort! Sometimes a little relaxation needs to be PLANNED in to a WDW trip