"But WHY did you do it?" Our Annual Disney Christmas trip PTR/TR Completed 10-17-11!!

[Roxychica7]

Originally Posted by MegansMom

Oh sweetie....that update made my mouth water and my stomach grumble!!!! I am feeling EVER so tempted to go add a Brown Derby ressie to our plans.....that steak looked AMAZING, and even though I have never tasted it, I am going to be dreaming about that Chocolate dessert in my sleep!!!

GREAT update, and I SO loved the champagne toast picture!!! SO cute!!! HOW appropriate too! Your ring is SO pretty!!! Congrats again my dear!!!

Thank you thank you Jen!! The picture was all Blake's idea, although the first shot we took all you could see was Blake's school ring, and we knew something wasn't right!
But oh my gosh, let me tell you, it's so hard sometimes to think that a dessert by looking at the description is going to taste amazing, but his dessert was seriously the absolute best dessert I have ever had!! I hope it's still on the menu and that you get a chance to eat there!!

[Roxychica7]

Originally Posted by Charleston Princess

Isn't Brown Derby just wonderful??? I am so glad LL got us all into going there!

Love that you had champagne and strawberries!

You have no idea! We talk about Brown Derby ALLLLL the time now! Totally a must do! Although I wish it wasn't 2 credits, but totally worth it nonetheless, thanks again to LL!! Woop woop!

[disneydusted]

Hi Jess! I wanted to tell you that DS had an incredible time down in Baja for spring break. He really enjoyed working with the marine biologists and is thinking that he might like to go in this direction for college (we have 3 years still to figure it out ) He was amazed at the different aspects of the job. His favorite part of the trip was swimming with sea lions at their rookery.

[Roxychica7]

Originally Posted by disneydusted

Hi Jess! I wanted to tell you that DS had an incredible time down in Baja for spring break. He really enjoyed working with the marine biologists and is thinking that he might like to go in this direction for college (we have 3 years still to figure it out ) He was amazed at the different aspects of the job. His favorite part of the trip was swimming with sea lions at their rookery.

Hey! Wow I am behind! Bear with me though, lots of life changes and the TR totally got abandoned! I am SO glad that DS had a great time on his Baha trup though! Marine biology is definitely different from the other marine fields. I got my bachelors in biology and marine science and my master's in environmental biology. It is GREAT to hear that he has taken a definite liking to biology, I hope he stays with it!

[Roxychica7]

Hi all! Bear with me, I can't believe I had left my TR abandoned for this long! You know how life gets away from you sometimes! Well, let's see, in the past 4 months since I last posted. Blake and I applied for a new job, at the same company that a few friends of mine from college work at. They were hiring multiple positions for biologists. Blake's dilemma was that as being contractual, they couldn't hold onto him much longer with budget cuts and my boss essentially gave me a raise and then cut my hours back from 80+ a week to around 55-60 a week. It wasn't cutting it. So, after weeks of searching, I get a facebook message from my friend from college saying her company is hiring. We took a stab for it in April and 6 weeks later, we hear back that we BOTH got the job!!!

So a better pay for both of us and benefits, we gave our 2 week notice at work and our lease break notice for our townhouse. Mine and Blake's last day of work was April 30th, with plans to take the next 2 weeks off. The 1st week to pack up our old place in Virginia Beach, VA, move on May 7th to the Eastern Shore of MD, then take the 2nd week off in our new place to unpack and get settled, thus starting our 1st day of work on May 16th.

On May 25th, I FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY graduated with my Master's degree. Thank the lord, it was a long time coming! Since then, we have been at our job for 2 months now and have finally settled in and are hanging out with people after work now. Something that we are both not used to doing.

So as I said, forgive me, as I will try and get this TR done in a timely manner from here on out!

[Roxychica7]

So what prompted this Disney update? I perhaps may have a Disney trip in the works and in order to make the Disney magic seem more real and last longer, I decided to dust off my old TR binder and see if I could give some respect back to my latest report!

So, quick recap, we had just finished eating the best meal EVER at Brown Derby and were off to finish our night at DHS.

We waited in line for Little Mermaid and finally got on. It was about 15 minutes of a wait, but Blake and I were stuffed and needed to let us food digest anyway before he headed to Rock and Roller Coaster.

Two of my favs from the show.




Blake and I have learned by now not to sit in the middle of the theatre, because you do get wet! I always forgot how much water they send down and at night, it gets me chilly!

After the show, we still had these babies in our hand.


And had waited to ride TSM ALLLL day! This ride is always so much fun!

And the scores were......


Judging by the facial expressions can you guess who won???


Heck yeah! BUT, even though I do kick his butt all the time TSM, he ALWAYS beats me at Buzz Lightyear, ok, I admit it!

Next up...Rock and Roller coaster


It was such a nice night. I always pick a nice spot on the concrete wall and normally have my chocolate covered banana, but I was too full still, so instead I just waited on my wall with my trip report and updated. Blake's "plan" was to ride Rock and Rollercoaster twice. Once with his FP and once with mine. Did the plan keep???

Nope.
He came back with a look and said "whoa..what a rush." Apparently he forgot about how fast it was and opted to only ride it once. We decided to give the other fastpass away. Blake and I are very particular about who we give our fastpass prizes too...we always take so long to decide

So he finally picked out a young teenager and the look on his face when Blake handed it to him, was like "REALLY? Are you SERIOUS!" So Blake was happy with his decision! And we headed off toward our favorite part of the evening....

The OSBOURNE FAMILY LIGHTS!!!


I can not tell you how beautiful this event is. We have seen it 5 times now and are blown away every time. I wish there were seats or something so you could leisurely sit and take it all in. The lights start up at 7:30 and go until park close. DEFINITE must see if you go in December.

Here are a few of our favorites.


They have fake snow (bubbles) falling, I love how this one you can see the "snow" against the black sky and the colors


Although they were a little carried away with the snow this year.
Case in point.






When the lights start dancing to the music, it is just the best thing ever! My favorite is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra dance.

We were ready to leave and try and beat the Fantasmic crowd, which was a success! But on our way out, this was the cutest window display!


We stopped into Pop on our bus ride back to grab some water and a banana, but realized we were both a little hungrier than that, so we looked at the menu:


And decided upon 1 CS meal. The Turkey Ciabatta sandwich which was excellent with spicy mayo served with chips, another bottle of water, an apple turnover and some grapes to share.


It was fantastic and hit the spot! I am always a sucker for a really great sandwich! We ate happily in our bed until we cleaned up and watched some tv, a little worried that the next day, our Magic Kingdom day!! Was expecting 60% showers all day.

Would the rain hold up or would we get soaked??

Stay tuned!

[Charleston Princess]

Hurray! You started your trip report back up! Looks like a great ending to your day at DHS -- love those Osborne lights! So, are you thinking about another Christmas trip?

[Lady Lallie]

I had to go back and read your Brown Derby review and I am so happy that you loved eating there!!! Your review is making me think I'm absolutely crazy for not having an ADR there in January....

So talk to me about this trip in the works!! When are you going? Where are you staying? Details lady!

[Roxychica7]

Originally Posted by Charleston Princess

Hurray! You started your trip report back up! Looks like a great ending to your day at DHS -- love those Osborne lights! So, are you thinking about another Christmas trip?

I did I did! The Osbourne lights..there's just no words for them!!
I am thinking about another Christmas trip, with a few extra vistors and a switch up resorts this time!

Originally Posted by Lady Lallie

I had to go back and read your Brown Derby review and I am so happy that you loved eating there!!! Your review is making me think I'm absolutely crazy for not having an ADR there in January....

So talk to me about this trip in the works!! When are you going? Where are you staying? Details lady!

Oh my gosh LL...we LOVED LOVED Brown Derby! It is a must for us now! I don't want to peer pressure you into not having an ADR..what are you thinking!!! But no seriously, it is totally up to you and I understand wanting to try new places too!

The only thing that's holding me back from starting a PTR is making sure we can get the days off. With being new at our company, we haven't fallen into the entire paid vacation yet, so it's going to be close if we can do it! But we are thinking about a moderate since my mom is coming with us this time, to even out the cost a little! But we can't decide on what on, I've only stayed at CBR so I need to research a little

[Lady Lallie]

Originally Posted by Roxychica7

Oh my gosh LL...we LOVED LOVED Brown Derby! It is a must for us now! I don't want to peer pressure you into not having an ADR..what are you thinking!!! But no seriously, it is totally up to you and I understand wanting to try new places too!

The only thing that's holding me back from starting a PTR is making sure we can get the days off. With being new at our company, we haven't fallen into the entire paid vacation yet, so it's going to be close if we can do it! But we are thinking about a moderate since my mom is coming with us this time, to even out the cost a little! But we can't decide on what on, I've only stayed at CBR so I need to research a little

I really really loved Riverside and French Quarter. They are so great, I love the atmosphere at both of them. I think the next time I stay at a moderate I want it go be French Quarter.

[jenjolt]

YAYAYAYAYAY I'm so glad you have started back up!!!!!! What great pictures of DHS at Christmastime!! I would so love to do the Osborne Lights someday!!!!!!

YAY for winning!! You rock!!! WOOT WOOT!!!

[Roxychica7]

Originally Posted by Lady Lallie

I really really loved Riverside and French Quarter. They are so great, I love the atmosphere at both of them. I think the next time I stay at a moderate I want it go be French Quarter.

You know all of our dreams are to have a chance to stay in all the resorts at least once! So, I want to stay at a moderate, 1) because my mom and I used to stay there and 2) we've tried all the values except All Star Movies. I really want to stay at CBR again b/c my mom and I used to stay there when I was little and I think it'd be cool for her, but I also have Riverside/French Quarter and Coronado high on the list cause they all just look so darn cool!

Originally Posted by jenjolt

YAYAYAYAYAY I'm so glad you have started back up!!!!!! What great pictures of DHS at Christmastime!! I would so love to do the Osborne Lights someday!!!!!!

YAY for winning!! You rock!!! WOOT WOOT!!!

I did start it back up! And I'm so excited too! I didn't want to disrespect the trip report..all reports deserve to be finished Oh Jen, you would LOVE LOVE LOVE Osbourne Lights..girls trip for 2012? Who's with me?!

[Roxychica7]

Hi all! I am determined to get this trip report finished because guess what...we have an upcoming trip in December!!

So, bare with me, we shall get through!

Ok, so when we last left off, we had a great meal at Brown Derby, then saw the amazingly wonderful Osbourne Family Lights. If you EVER get the change to visit WDW in December, make sure you check these out!!

My last comment in my trip book from the night before says, "...a little worried about the 60% chance of showers al day tomorrow on our MK day"

So, at least it wasnt a surprise, we knew it would probably rain. Blake and I woke up to the pelting of the rain on the windows and knew we'd need our rations. He rain to the gift shop and got $7 ponchos, because we forgot our walmart ones, but they were nice and said Disney on them, so they will definitely get some use. I put on jeans, tennis shoes, and my hat...knew it would be a bad hair day!! And layered it up.

This was the first glance when heading to breakfast.


It's ok..we knew it would be bad.

So, Blake and I headed inside to the Pop food court and grabbed our favorite meals of the trip.


Pop waffle with strawberry topping for me and the bounty platter for Blake. Mmm..although I did steal some of his potatoes..love those!

After we had our fill, we boarded the bus. I don't have any notes in my trip planner until dinner so bare with me!

This was our sight.


We're here!
Beautiful MK Christmas tree. Little wet ground, but we can manage!


Approaching the castle..I love all the wreaths strung across, especially the mickey shaped ones on the lamp posts!


And there she is! Castle, you look beautiful even in the rain!


So Blake and I decided to make the best of it. The park was pretty empty so we went to start knocking out the rides! We opted to go toward Frontier Land instead of our usual way to Tomorrowland.


And grabbed passes for Splash Mountain.

First up..of the triple mountain whammie...Thundermountain!


It was literally a WALK ON. You know how thundermountain is..you think you're good and then there's all that winding and weaving through the different rooms..but this time..around the corner and BOOM down the ramp. It was awesome.

I have no words for the picture other than you get the point.


We were laughing hysterically through this one because the rain kept pelting us in the face as we wiped around the turns. Great ride!



While we were close, I thought of Jen and headed to the Haunted Mansion! 10 minute wait!


They were redoing the graveyard so it was all blocked off and there was nothing to look at. So, I glanced down and Blake saw this!


Super freaky right?! Especially since in the haunted mansion wait line!
And the illegal taking of the photo in the HM for LL


Next up..more wet rides!

[Charleston Princess]

Hurray for an update, Jess, and a double hurray for another trip coming soon!

I agree -- even in the rain the sight of the castle and Main Street is beautiful!

That's one great thing about crummy weather -- people stay away from the parks!

Oh, and how I wish there was a Pop Century waffle for my breakfast this morning!

[Lady Lallie]

Okay, I was all set with January 2013 as the time for my trip but then you have to go and remind me of the Osborne Lights and all the pretty Christmas decorations!

It's a rainy yucky day here and oh how I wish I was at Disney right now. I would gladly wear a poncho!