Disney Holiday Firsts At Last! - Final Thoughts Finally!

[mnmrmustard]

Now we could finally make it back to my favorite – PoTC!

The wait was at 15 minutes so I gave Bean the camera and worked on TR notes covering the span from BTM to our arrival at PoTC

I wasn’t the only one she caught on electronics

She then started taking pics of the props in the queue

I don’t know what was going on with the shadows; either her hat or her finger was getting in the range of the flash

That’s better!

Onto our boat and into the caverns

I tried to get a shot of the mermaid without a flash – this was the best I managed

Hello Jack

Avast ye!

Hello again Jack

And of course him with his loot

Having survived our Pirate Adventure we spent a chunk of time in the gift shop, my favorite one of course. I ended up picking up the only purchase I made for myself – a Mickey Pirate t-shirt. It must be a pretty unique one since I can’t find a representation of it on Google Images.

PumpkinGirl also made a couple of purchase there and I think Bean did too. From there we went to one of Roxy’s favorites – the Enchanted Tiki Room. It was a fun, lively show as usual.

After the show Bean really wanted to go on a Mirror Adventure. PumpkinGirl wasn’t into that and my legs were pretty tired so Roxy volunteered to scoot around and follow Bean while PumpkinGirl and I took another trip on PoTC.

I only took one shot in the queue this time – TREASURE!

Next up a Peek at a Princess, a Haunted Journey, and a Musical 3D Adventure!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

a car all to yourself on dino...i would have said please wait till someone else comes.

less people for the dinos to choose from when they decide to eat someone in your car.



very nice indoor shots at pirates, they turned out great,

 

[mnmrmustard]

a car all to yourself on dino...i would have said please wait till someone else comes.

less people for the dinos to choose from when they decide to eat someone in your car.



very nice indoor shots at pirates, they turned out great,

Well that is true, we had to have out wits about us to keep from becoming dinner

Thank you on the Pirates pics - I probably didn't make any friends on my boat by using the flash. I'd really like to get a pic of Barbossa but he is just too far away

 

[Trentmom]

Looks like you all are having a great day at MK

Love eating at Tony's. Cute pic of the fountain, love that they have santa hats on

Forgot to mention earlier loved pic with Pumpkin girl hugging Woody


It was interesting how they had all characters mixed together in the afternoon parade

That must be so rewarding to be a MAW Volunteer

Merida looked like a real character. Love her hair

Sure I missed a ton more, but really enjoying this update

 

[mnmrmustard]

Looks like you all are having a great day at MK

Love eating at Tony's. Cute pic of the fountain, love that they have santa hats on

Forgot to mention earlier loved pic with Pumpkin girl hugging Woody


It was interesting how they had all characters mixed together in the afternoon parade

That must be so rewarding to be a MAW Volunteer

Merida looked like a real character. Love her hair

Sure I missed a ton more, but really enjoying this update

Yes, it was a great day! Tony's is my second-favorite behind Liberty Tree, and the santa hats were a very cute touch on those statues.

I think PumpkinGirl really enjoyed her interaction with Woody

Very odd mix in that parade I thought - it was like someone was in the utilidors and yelled "hey, who has a spare moment?"

Volunteering for MaW is very rewarding indeed. I highly recommend it if you have the time and energy.

Merida was a kick, she even pulled off the accent pretty well

 

[mnmrmustard]

While we were on PoTC Roxy was following Bean on her mirror adventure. And while going from mirror to mirror Roxy ran into Tiana

We finished our ride and met back up with them in Liberty Square and decided that Haunted Mansion would be our next destination

Ye ole ghostly carriage

The stretching room

And our host is hanging around doing nothing as usual

On to the queue!

The ride itself broke down three times, first in the hall with the blinking eyes

Next in what should have been a great one the mirror showing us the hitchhiking ghost! Sadly the ghost evaporated much too fast and we were stuck just sitting in front of a mirror with my camera out of focus

And then lastly just around the corner with the bride looking down on us

It eventually let us out and we wandered back up towards Fantasyland. We walked past Pan and IaSW and I took a quick snap of NF

But we werent exploring there, we wanted a place to sit comfortably for a few minutes. So we went to one of my favorites, Mickeys PhilharMagic!

Hiiii Mickey!

Hiiii Mickeys backside!

We fought our way through the crowds

..and I took pics of the show posters

We got good seats; center about 2/3 of the way back. Love the show Donald is so great and it is a lot of fun to see those new classic characters and songs.

Once finished Bean and Roxy set back off on her Mirror Adventure. Meanwhile PumpkinGirl and I headed back the way we came towards Liberty Square. On our way down I snapped a quick pic of the Rapunzel tower coming up between IaSW and HM

Next up a Big Meal, More Mirror Adventure, and MK at Night as we make our way out of the park



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 9 Part 15 - A Big Meal, More Mirror Adventure, and MK at Night

 

[mnmrmustard]

We were headed down to Liberty Square for our 5:30pm dinner reses at my favorite MK restaurant  Liberty Tree Tavern!

I checked us in and we had some time to kill so PumpkinGirl found a bench to relax on and I snapped some shots around the square

I love doing panoramas down here, so much to take in

While I was snapping those shots Roxy and Bean were zig-zagging around following her clues. One of their turns took them past the Castle, where the evening show was going on

I kept checking in with Roxy to make sure they were back in time. And they showed up right after I heard our name. Once inside we got a nice corner table at a window looking out on the Hall of Presidents. The girls had never eaten here (it was my birthday dinner in 2011) so they were hesitant about all the down home food. But after they learned the rolls (for PumpkinGirl) and mashed potatoes and gravy (for Bean) were all you could eat they were very happy. They actually ate a great meal, eating everything except the roast beef  which was fine by Roxy and I.

We finished and did our pit stops in the restaurant and I headed back to the lobby, which had cleared out from the 5:30pm crush.

Pleasantly full we headed out, with Roxy and PumpkinGirl doing some shopping  amazingly enough they got more food  popcorn in a commemorative Mickey Santa cup. While they did that I went with Bean to try and finish her Mirror Adventure. It was taking us back into Fantasyland, which worked for me since I got to get some great shots of the land at night!

While getting the wonderful pics I was still keeping up with Bean as she found her mirrors

We worked our way towards the castle  more pics!

She finished it right next to the castle  yay Bean!

She wanted to start another one but it was now 6:45pm on a MVMCP night, so no go for that. I took a quick shot of the Donald diorama outside one of the shops

..and then we headed down around the castle. I mean I had the postcard shot on the bridge during daylight, I had to get a shot of it at night!

It also gave me a great opportunity to get a panorama shot looking towards Tomorrowland

We joined the exiled masses that didnt have wristbands heading towards the front of the park. I think we stopped every single CM on our way to the flag pole looking for pins.

We made it to the front of Main Street and stopped off for a pit stop before leaving the park. I came back out quick and got some individual shots

This one is probably my favorite non-family shot of the trip. It just screams Disney Christmas!

Next up Panoramas and a Roundabout trip to DTD



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 9 Part 16 - Panoramas and a Roundabout trip to DTD

 

[mnmrmustard]

I followed that special Disney Christmas pic with more magical panoramas

When we were all back together we decided we wanted to check out DTD before we left the World again. Thats right; we were going to end out trip with another 12+ hour day!

The next question was how to get there? Our best bet was to get to a resort and take a bus from there to DTD. Now which one to go to?

We could take the monorail to the Contemporary and then head downstairs to the busses. But there was a large mass of people with that same idea so we scratched that one. We could trek directly to the Contemporary, but our feet were worn out and we wanted a rest. So in front of us we see the ferry pulling up. We had never been on it, and I had heard it was a pretty short walk from TTC to the Poly DTD bus stop, so it was All Aboard! for us!

Another bonus was that I had a great view to take some more pictures of my surroundings. First was a shot of the Contemporary

Then a shot of another launch passing us in the other direction with the Contemporary in the background

Back the way we had come the Train Station was aglow, but the Castle was positively radiant!

We pulled into the dock and waited for the mass of people to clear out, giving our feet the maximum amount of time to rest. Then off we went, with me stopping for a very quick picture of the Castle through the dockworks

We head up the ramp and say goodbye to the MK Ferryboat

I loved the theming on the fence they have at the TTC

Then it was on to the Poly

The sign for the Neverland Club looked cool

For those who like to know travel times, it took us about 35 minutes from the MK park entrance to get to the Poly DTD bus stop via the ferry. Once we got there we were doubly thankful that we didnt try the resort monorail. A lady showed up on an ECV with her family which had been trapped on it for about 45 minutes. There was apparently more than one breakdown on that track that evening.

We talked for a bit with her and her family and within 10 minutes we had a DTD bus. Unfortunately it was almost full with no spot for Roxys ECV :-[ Roxy insisted that we go on and that she would catch the next one. Plus she would get to talk to the other lady in the ECV some more. The girls and I hopped on and off we went. I was surprised at what a convoluted trip it was from the Poly to DTD. I almost wondered if the driver knew where he was going. But we got there eventually.

By about 8:20pm we were there and checking out the fountains

Youll notice the dad on the far right with the stroller  he did a banzai charge right through it, causing massive giggles from his wee ones.

Bean was having a good time with it too

We pretty much made a beeline for the Art of Disney, one of my favorite stores. I texted Roxy and let her know wed stay there until she made it. She texted back that she was already on a bus headed our way. She showed up not too long after that and found us still browsing. Or at least PumpkinGirl and I were browsing  Bean was keeping a Disney artist Paul Danwer company.

Heres a shot of Paul at work that I snagged off the web

Bean enjoyed watching him work and was very enamored with a particular work he had done  good ole Santa Stitch, same as seen in the topiary just before SE at EPCOT. She had to have it and it is now proudly displayed in her room amongst her Disney snow globes.

I wanted to buy some art but couldnt find one that really called to me that wasnt in the four-figure price range. So I went outside and found a place to sit, my feet were giving out on me after all of those long days. After a few minutes everyone came out and peeked into the Christmas store

And Once Upon a Toy

Then we were on to the Mecca of Merchandising  the Disney Store!

We walked up and gave Stitch a chance to spit on us ..

.. and then went inside. I promptly lost Bean and the rest of us spent the next 10 minutes trying to locate her. Finally finding her we realized we had lost PumpkinGirl. Eventually the family was reunited and we headed out. The only pic I snapped in there was of Genie in his Santa suit.

Next up we wrap up our time at DTD and make our way back to the resort to sigh pack for the trip home.



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 9 Part 17 - Finish to a Late Night at DTD and Back to POP to Pack

 

[mnmrmustard]

We were all pretty tired but had to take a look at the new Lego Store displays

Love that one

Our Lego mission complete we decided we were done, we were exhausted and were full to the brim with Disney/Christmas goodness. We headed back towards the busses with me stopping to take a last snap of Christmas Cheer in the form of the DTD Christmas Tree

Then we were out to the busses

It wasnt a bad wait so by 10pm we were able to collapse into seats and head back to POP. After the ride back we stumbled to the room and went through the ordeal of packing. We had an 8:25am ME pick-up in the morning so we knew we had to tackle it tonight. We were all done with showers and packing and in bed right at midnight. What a day! It had a lot of truly magical moments and many smiles. Would I recommend finishing your trip with a 15 hour day? Maybe not, but it worked for us - lol

Tomorrow we head home, which was an adventure unto itself stay tuned for travel fun and final thoughts!



Click here for the Last Chapter: Day 10 - Trip Home

 

[mnmrmustard]

I don't know exactly what time we got up, but after the long MK/DTD day getting us to bed around midnight I know it was way too early. I know we had to have our bags out front by 7:45am. Thank goodness our room was so close to the bag check area. We of course got there and two of the bags were overweight. After some fast strategic shuffling we managed to get all four checked bags under 50lbs w00t!

While I wrestled with that Roxy checked us out and her and the girls went down to the food court to use up the last of our credits on breakfast and snacks. The ME bus was on time and we were lined up at 8:25pm sharp along with a couple of other very tired families.

I turned around and snapped one last shot of the entrance before getting on board - BYE DISNEYWORLD!

I think we mostly dozed on the way to MCO. We made our way up and through security and so forth after a last quick stop at the Universal Studios gift shop. I browsed but still didn't find anything that I had to have. The girls made some minor purchases and on we went.

No happy monorail song for the ride out to the terminal.

I still think they should put a big pair of Mickey Ears on this tower

There's our terminal

We reached the gate after a pit stop and had a 30 minute wait before the flight. From the ME bus and forward every time Bean had an opportunity to sit she would pull out a sketch of Stitch she had been working on. She had been free-handing a full page representation of the Stitch on the Stitch starter pin set that was so well represented on her hat. She received several compliments on it at MCO and lots of people stopped to look over her shoulder as she sketched. Ill get a pic posted of it somewhere between here and final thoughts

Soon enough our group was called and we herded onto our plane, which had a 5hr flight time to SLC

The flight was a blur as we dozed through a chunk of it. It is so nice to be able to sleep through the long haul flights. We landed in SLC and were in for a 3 ½hr layover before our flight home. Knowing this ahead of time I had procured 4 1 day passes to Deltas Sky Lounge. No lousy terminal seats and loud noise for us. We spent the next 3+ hours in comfortable chairs with free wi-fi, a good selection of snacks, and an open bar!

I hadn't really done much drinking at the parks, but here I had several vodka w/cranberry & OJ that were oh so good and made the rest of the trip a breeze. Roxy stuck to coffee and soda and the girls started with hot cocoas and moved on to Shirley temples. I believe our dear Bean had 4 or 5 of them!

About an hour before flight time it started to snow

I checked at the desk up front and they said our flight was still set to leave on time so as the time drew near we left the comfort of the Sky Lounge and headed back into the hustle and bustle of the terminal. Luckily we were only one terminal over from where our flight was departing from so it was a pretty short walk to our gate.

Boarding went fine, but once we got in it still looked like this

It was still actively snowing when we pulled away from our gate ..and promptly stopped and sat for the next 1/2hr. There was a backlog at the deicing station that ended up delaying our takeoff by about 45 minutes

Ah well, we eventually got sprayed off and got into the air and the 1 1/2hr flight home was a breeze. Once on the ground I called the Super8 so they could send their shuttle to pick us up. Baggage claim seemed to take forever to get going but we were eventually outside and were greeted by our driver and a shuttle van. This was a relief to us since we had been dropped off in a little dodge station wagon thing that us and our bags only fit in after I used my military packing skills.

The hotel was only a mile away and he was able to park right next to our rig. A quick transfer of luggage, tipping of the driver, and warming up of the suburban and we were on our way to pick up the dogs from the sitters. We talked with the sitters (who are old friends of ours) for a little while and then hit the road for home a quick 30 minutes away.

Once home I unloaded the luggage and we all collapsed. The next day was Sunday so at least Roxy and the girls had that to rest before work and school came back at them. I had taken the upcoming Monday off to do laundry and put away the toiletries and such so Roxy wouldnt have to deal with it.

I can tell you it was a pretty low energy weekend. And by the time the weekend was over both Bean and I were sick with some cold/flu thing that was different from what Roxy and PumpkinGirl had been suffering from. We must have picked it up on the trip back. And PumpkinGirls head cold actually got worse with a chronic cough kicking in with her back in the cold, wet weather of Oregon in December. Thankfully Roxy was feeling better and was able to function at work. The girls and I spent the next week or so home sick. I am just thankful that it didn't hit Bean or I until we got back.

Thats about it; we always seem to come back from these things a mess - lol.

Next up Ill give my final thoughts on the whole crazy trip!



Click here for the next Chapter: Final Thoughts Part 1

 

[Trentmom]

Sounds like you all had a great last day

Glad the girls enjoy Liberty Tree Tavern. Such good comfort food

Looks like the mirror game is a lot of fun

That stinks HM broke down so much, did they offer you a FP to get right back on? When we were on there last, we were stuck for 45 mins, we got free passes for anyride in that park

Love all your panoramic shots. That last pick you got at MK was great with tree and Christmas balloons

Good call taking the ferry to DTD

The sketch that Bean got was so cute

I can't wait to see her drawing

Glad your flight home went mostly okay minus snow delay

Good call paying for pass for the lounge so you all could relax, as I am sure you all needed that.


Bummer you and Bean got sick and pumpkin got worst.

Will be waiting for your final thoughts

Souvenir pics would be nice too

 

[SAT887]

So just finishing up reading... So we were very close by you guys when we were leaving MK that day! We had left and I think that parade was on (it was like 12:30ish right?) I love the Lady & The Tramp shot - and can't blame Bean for loving the movie - I get pretty excited that I get to watch all these movies all over again with my kids.

Splash Mountain is so much fun. It is up there as far as favorite rides in WDW. The photopass pics looks great and fun! I am curious to how refreshed Splash Mountain is going to look after this 3 month long refurb.

The Jack Sparrow character - he looks so much like the movie character! I love it when Disney gets it spot on. It's like that guy was made to do that job!

I really enjoyed reading about your MaW moment, how great. Especially since you volunteer for the organization. I am hoping once our life gets a little more settled and we get into civilization to start volunteer work like that. It really puts life in perspective especially when you see (in this situation) the girl be all smiles. I feel so thankful for everything I have that I want to help.

MK is a great way to end the trip -so much of it is "classic" Disney to me. I really enjoyed all of your pictures - I wanted to take so many more this trip but wasn't able to. I have a question, how do you do the panoramic pictures? is it with you camera (like in camera editing) or with photoshop or lightroom? I have a old D70 and wouldn't be able to do something like that with out a tri pod. Your panoramas were really great.

Everyone looks so bummed on the last day. Completely understandable though!! I think we looked about the same. I swear I think everyone I talked to in December was sick - it was a crazy germ filled month. You guys did great pushing through it though.

I look forward to reading your final thoughts. I've really enjoyed your TR (and how picture heavy it is!)

 

[SAT887]

Wanted to add... Shrek... Extremely scary!!!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Sounds like you all had a great last day

Glad the girls enjoy Liberty Tree Tavern. Such good comfort food

Looks like the mirror game is a lot of fun

That stinks HM broke down so much, did they offer you a FP to get right back on? When we were on there last, we were stuck for 45 mins, we got free passes for anyride in that park

Love all your panoramic shots. That last pick you got at MK was great with tree and Christmas balloons

It was great. Tiring but great.

Me too about Liberty Tree, Roxy and my two favorites are Le Cellier and LTT. Le Cellier didn't go over really big with the girls which works for us as it can become our "date night" place for just the two of us. But I did want them to enjoy the tavern and they really did

Mirror game it a fun add-on for kids with a lot of energy - it really runs you around the park!

No, no offering of FPs or anything with HM, but each time it was only broke down for a couple of minutes.

Thank you on the panos, I love capturing them. And those I took in the town square were so cool, such a great Christmas feel to them

Good call taking the ferry to DTD

The sketch that Bean got was so cute

I can't wait to see her drawing

Glad your flight home went mostly okay minus snow delay

Good call paying for pass for the lounge so you all could relax, as I am sure you all needed that.


Bummer you and Bean got sick and pumpkin got worst.

Will be waiting for your final thoughts

Souvenir pics would be nice too

The ferry worked out really well.

Bean really likes the sketch, and yes - I have to get a picture of hers to add in to my final thoughts post.

Flight home was good overall, no really complaints. And yes, the sky lounge made a HUGE difference in how it all went.

Yeah, we were all pretty sick that next week except for Roxy. And she had to work and take care of us in the evening

Final thoughts will be coming in the next couple of days.

The souvenirs are scattered to the four winds and we really didn't get that much other than all of the anime stuff PumpkinGirl picked up. I'll see what I can pull together.

So just finishing up reading... So we were very close by you guys when we were leaving MK that day! We had left and I think that parade was on (it was like 12:30ish right?) I love the Lady & The Tramp shot - and can't blame Bean for loving the movie - I get pretty excited that I get to watch all these movies all over again with my kids.

Splash Mountain is so much fun. It is up there as far as favorite rides in WDW. The photopass pics looks great and fun! I am curious to how refreshed Splash Mountain is going to look after this 3 month long refurb.

Yes, we probably left right around the same time then - we were just to the right of the tree looking up the street at the parade about ten till one. Lady and the Tramp is a great classic and is one of the reasons that I like staying in the 50s section of POP with its giant representations of them.

Splash had some of the best theming of any ride and just the right mix of relaxation and thrills. It is certainly a fave of ours. I hadn't heard about the refurb, I hope they don't really change anything and just freshen it up.

The Jack Sparrow character - he looks so much like the movie character! I love it when Disney gets it spot on. It's like that guy was made to do that job!

I really enjoyed reading about your MaW moment, how great. Especially since you volunteer for the organization. I am hoping once our life gets a little more settled and we get into civilization to start volunteer work like that. It really puts life in perspective especially when you see (in this situation) the girl be all smiles. I feel so thankful for everything I have that I want to help.

He really does - I've seen some that are passable, but he was spot on from the look, the movements, and the voice. Great casting for sure

I'm glad you enjoyed the MaW part - it was so nice to see those little bits of magic happen. There are a couple of reasons that I got into volunteering for them and one of them happened on our 2008 family trip.

We were at Sea World and the day before I had picked up a pin for my backpack. I had been looking at a "2008" themed pin with the classic characters on it. It was in a rack with a whole row of them. I grabbed one and got it rang up with some other items in the gift shop tied to Mickey's PhilharMagic. But when I pulled it out of the bag to put it on I found that it was a 2008 pin with the princesses on it.

I was just outside the gift shop and could have easily exchanged it but something in my head told me to hang on to it. Back at Sea World we were at the stingray pool where you can feed them. At the time we were the only family there when a MaW family came up (easy to spot in their t-shirts). The wish girl was about 5 and was dressed up as Aurora despite being at Sea World.

I looked at the pin, which prominently featured Aurora and I just kind of went 'oh, that's why' in my head about not exchanging the pin. I pulled it off of my backpack and approached the parents and asked them if it was okay if I gave it to her. They were fine with it and I knelt down and presented her with the pin. She was VERY excited to get it and was so happy that she could find princesses here at Sea World too.

Between that experience and several other factors I decided to volunteer and by that next summer I was trained and going out on wishes. I have never regretted it. And as far as time my life is still very hectic, but MaW is very flexible - letting the volunteer teams work out their wishes within their own schedules and that of the wish family

MK is a great way to end the trip -so much of it is "classic" Disney to me. I really enjoyed all of your pictures - I wanted to take so many more this trip but wasn't able to. I have a question, how do you do the panoramic pictures? is it with you camera (like in camera editing) or with photoshop or lightroom? I have a old D70 and wouldn't be able to do something like that with out a tri pod. Your panoramas were really great.

Everyone looks so bummed on the last day. Completely understandable though!! I think we looked about the same. I swear I think everyone I talked to in December was sick - it was a crazy germ filled month. You guys did great pushing through it though.

I look forward to reading your final thoughts. I've really enjoyed your TR (and how picture heavy it is!)

I can't think of another park I would want to finish with ...maybe EPCOT, but no, not really. And I agree as far as the reason, that "classic" Disney feel.

The panoramas are all done up with the photomerge option in Photoshop. I have seen some modern cameras, even point and shoots, that process them within the camera. But for me it is all done as part of my post-production editing. And none of mine are done with tri-pod - I just use the AF sensors that show in the viewfinder as my line of reference for the horizon and start clicking and pivoting.

We were a good mix of sick and over-tired by that last day. I know we came out the other side with a LOT of rides rode and memories made, but that will be the last trip I do with so many long days. Yes, so many people got sick that month - it was pretty bad and hard to avoid germs.

Thank you for the compliments - I love sharing those pictures. Right now I'm sitting down with my MiL and a dual screen setup so I can show her the TR in her room at the assisted living place she is at. She is very much enjoying seeing all of the pictures and hearing about our adventures.

Final thoughts coming soon!

Wanted to add... Shrek... Extremely scary!!!

Yeah, that Shrek was freakish!

 

[scottny]

Great safari pics.
Raifiki is fun to do once in a while.
I love getting a car to myself on Dinosaur. Makes it more special. LOL
ROTF with the dino pic squatting.
I would have jumped off of EE with the cheerleaders.
I want a pic with Chip. That is really nice.
I just posted that we had the Cowboy scene on GMR. Nice pics you got.
Sounds like you all had great times.
I love the panoramic pics.
1900 is fun. Love all the characters that come out.
We saw Peter Pan also, what a great surprise it is when it happens.
Splash looked like fun. It was closed when we just went. :O(
POTC is my favorite ride. Great pics.
I have never seen Tiana there.
Nice pics in HM. Mine are always blurs.
DTD is fun but it can get so crowded there.
Too bad you both got sick at home but better than Disney.
Great report and really nice pics.

 

[heaven2dc]

Awww....I'm so sad your trip is over!! I had such a great time reading your TR and felt like I was along for the ride - great fun! So sorry to hear you and Bean got sick after you got back home and that PumpkinGirl was feeling worse Hope you are all on the road to recovery!

Loved the panoramic shots and the Christmas shot in Disneyland - it really does depict a Disney Christmas esp with the red and green balloons! Thanks for sharing your journey!

 

[Marsheliz]

I felt a pang of sadness as your trip wrapped up too!

Wonderful TR and cant wait to read your final thoughts!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Great safari pics.
Raifiki is fun to do once in a while.
I love getting a car to myself on Dinosaur. Makes it more special. LOL
ROTF with the dino pic squatting.

I will pass that on to Bean, she had a lot of fun trying to capture them all.

Rafiki was a pretty good “okay, we’ve done that now” one for me. The only reason I can see going back is if Bean gets a wild hair to do so. But we have a LOT more interactive animal offerings here in Oregon and although the conservation aspect is important, there’s just not that much to it

Getting a car to ourselves was a first for us, it was pretty cool – like we were off on a solo expedition back in time

Yeah, that dino squatting pic was one of those that I only noticed when I was editing pictures

I would have jumped off of EE with the cheerleaders.
I want a pic with Chip. That is really nice.
I just posted that we had the Cowboy scene on GMR. Nice pics you got.
Sounds like you all had great times.
I love the panoramic pics.

It was a very loud queue and an even louder ride. We just laughed and laughed on the ride while they screamed.

I had never seen characters in Frontierland so having them there was so unique and PumpkinGirl loved getting her pic with them

You got the cowboy scene! Whoohoo – very cool! We haven’t gotten it since 2008. Gotta get back over to your TR!

It was a lot of fun. And I do love those panoramas, I’m slowly getting better on perspective so I know where to stand to get better ones. If you ever want hi-res versions of them send me a message and I’ll post a link to download.

1900 is fun. Love all the characters that come out.
We saw Peter Pan also, what a great surprise it is when it happens.
Splash looked like fun. It was closed when we just went. :O(
POTC is my favorite ride. Great pics.
I have never seen Tiana there.

We had a good time at 1900, it was a fun way to start that last day.

Score on getting to see Peter Pan too – he did such a great job with the girls.

Oh, sorry you missed Splash – I didn’t even hear about the refurb of it until we got back home and I saw it on a TR. The only thing that we missed out on was TT at EPCOT, pretty much everything else was running.

PoTC is the best – just a classic. What MK’s version loses in not having the bayou or the drops they make up with at great theming of their ride queue

We saw Tiana and her prince at DLR in ’09 but that was a first catching her at MK.

Nice pics in HM. Mine are always blurs.
DTD is fun but it can get so crowded there.
Too bad you both got sick at home but better than Disney.
Great report and really nice pics.

99% of my HM pics are blurs also – dark ride + moving car = fuzzy blobs in general.

It was pretty crowded when we got down to DTD. I think we’ve been down there once when it wasn’t crowded.

Agreed, much better to be sick at home AFTER the trip!

Thank you Scott, thank you for your great comments

Awww....I'm so sad your trip is over!! I had such a great time reading your TR and felt like I was along for the ride - great fun! So sorry to hear you and Bean got sick after you got back home and that PumpkinGirl was feeling worse Hope you are all on the road to recovery!

Loved the panoramic shots and the Christmas shot in Disneyland - it really does depict a Disney Christmas esp with the red and green balloons! Thanks for sharing your journey!

Yeah, it had to end at some point *sigh* I so glad you enjoyed reading it. Yeah, it was a rough December with the sickies but we got past it and everyone was well by Christmas …except me. I actually ended up in urgent care with an ear infection on Christmas day I think I finally kicked it by New Year’s though

Thank you on those panoramas – I was so happy to be able to catch that Disney Christmas feel there. Loved those balloons!

You’re very welcome and thank you again for reading and commenting!

I felt a pang of sadness as your trip wrapped up too!

Wonderful TR and cant wait to read your final thoughts!

Yes, but closing the book on one Disney trip always triggers thoughts of the next one, right! Thank you for reading and final thoughts are coming up next!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hello All,

Sorry it has taken a bit to get back over here and post those final thoughts. You know the deal all that RL stuff gets in the way.

I took the finished product of the TR and copied it into a series of local webpages so I could put them on an USB stick and show them to MiL at her assisted living apartment. It has been great in that Ive been able to go back over the whole trip and keep it fresh in my mind.

Before I get into my thoughts I want to handle the requests from my dedicated TR readers:

Swag:

No, I didnt get any pictures of the swag it was honestly not very Christmassy anyways. Both girls pretty much focused on Anime/Manga stuff from the Japan pavilion. Other than that PumpkinGirl got a few pins and some earrings. Bean picked up a LOT of Stitch pins, the Stitch stuffy, and her dragons - which are showcased in the window pic towards the end of the TR. Roxy had picked up several items on our trip the year before so she didnt do any real shopping for herself, nothing really called out to her. I focused on random pins plus one Mickey Head Pirate Shirt, which I did find a small logo image of on Google shopping:

Bean Stitch Pic:

The next request was for the picture Bean drew of Stitch on the way back home:

She used one of her pins as the reference and I think she did a great job!


On with those Thoughts:


First off: Disney during the Holidays WOW!

It was pretty amazing and so very magical. From the decorations to the special events to the general feel Disney does a fantastic job of representing the holiday season. And I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the job that Universal did for their park. The difference between the two is that in 3 days I feel like I experienced everything that Universal had to offer in their parks for the season. But with our 5 days at Disney I feel like we barely scratched the surface!

For Resorts:

- We only checked out the Contemporary, the Grand Floridian, and the Yacht Club, along with our home resort POP and Art of Animation so LOTS more to see on that end.

For Events:

- We did MVMCP but as you read it wasnt the best experience so well certainly have to give that another go with a sleep in/restful resort day beforehand.
- We decided not to do the Candlelight Processional, which the girls didnt care about but I know it is something Roxy and I will see sometime down the road.
- Holidays Around the World in WS was very cool and is worth the time if you havent done it yet.
- The Osborne Lights were amazing and I know well want to experience that one again and again.
- Mickeys Jingle Jungle Parade didnt do it and nobody in the family seems to have missed it. I think Im the only one in the family who is truly into parades.
- The Festival of the Seasons at DTD just seemed to make the place more crowded the decorations were nice though
- I would also like to do the Carriage/Sleigh Ride through Fort Wilderness
- Im sure theres more but thats what I know of as a novice holiday DISer
- As an honorable mention I do think you should check out the Macys Holiday Parade at Universal and Grinchmas at Islands if you have the opportunity

Okay, I think that covers the Holiday-specific content other than answering the question would you want to come back and do it again at this time of year?

- That would be a BIG YES for me! The timeframe coming in at the end of November and staying through that first week of December was just perfect event/weather/crowd-wise. The weather was just fantastic, sticking between 75-80 degrees with basically zero precipitation and very low humidity. Crowds topped out around a 5 out of 10 (with the exception of DTD) and most times it was lower than a 5. I could see doing the exact same trip on the same days, except stretching it out a few more days


Best Moments of the trip:

- The Peter Pan and Aladdin/Jasmine interactions with the girls
- All of the SMILES!!!!
- Christmas lights on everything
- The girls and I being called out to participate in the Singing Ladies in Red routine in the Italy pavilion
- Bean doing the big aaaaahahahaaa! pose under Ursula at AoA
- The girls handling so much of the camera duties and doing such a GREAT JOB with it!
- Bean finally getting to ride the Jurassic Park River Adventure
- Getting the then and now shots of the girls at different spots at WDW/US
- PumpkinGirl finally meeting Mulan
- Snow on Main Street and the Streets of America
- Panoramas!
- Dinner at Le Cellier
- All of the great family PP pics!
- Walking through EPCOT for our Akershus reservation and feeling like we had the whole park to ourselves
- Bean going Stitch-crazy
- PumpkinGirls great interactions with the Princesses at Akershus
- The Norway Christmas Story
- Getting to spend quality one-on-one time with both of my daughters
- The girls finally getting to experience WWoHP
- Getting so completely soaked with my girls in Toon Lagoon
- The girls mostly getting along
- Characters, Characters, Characters!
- PumpkinGirl finally getting to ride Minion Mayhem
- PumpkinGirl and Roxy bonding over their enjoyment of The Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue
- Scaring the Whos with our Grinch shirts in Seuss Landing
- Bean being able to make up for her sick day by having such a good time at AK on our Daddy/Daughter day
- MaW moment at the Merida character meet

Worst Moments of the Trip:

- Roxy and PumpkinGirl suffering with head colds the whole trip and Bean getting sick on our AK/MVMCP day
- Not getting a date night with Roxy
- Missing Wishes and the parades during MVMCP
- WWoHP not having the Dancers/Acrobats/Singers anymore (other than for static posed shots)
- Realizing that I cant walk 30 miles through 8 straight days of theme-parking anymore without my feet basically saying stop or I wont carry you anymore
- Not a worst moment, just a regret &not pushing the No Muggles button on the elevator in Hogwarts
- Another regret not being able to do any DISmeets


As you can see the Best far outweighed the Worst so big YAY for that!!!!!


E Ticket Family Ride Stats:

- ToT 4 times
- RnRC 3 times
- Soarin 1 time
- HM 4 times
- PoTC 3 times
- BTMRR 2 times
- Splash 2 times
- EE 6 times
- Dinosaur 5 times


I can tell you that being a west-coaster, specifically coming from the northwest, makes any journey to WDW an involved one. Just the cost of flying 4 people coast to coast and coupling it with the 14+hrs involved in getting there or back makes one really think about making the trip. But even with the hiccups and roadblocks we always come away with more than enough new magical memories to make it worthwhile.

Im so happy that we decided to go when we did in the girls life. They were truly able to enjoy the parks with a bit of that kid-like wonder that they had when they were younger. By the time we do our next family trip (which will be to DLR) PumpkinGirl will be in college and Bean will be a sophomore in HS. By the time we make it back to WDW they will both be adults and who knows if they will even want to/be able to go. No matter what the future holds well be able to look back on this amazing trip and smile.

For specifics in our future here is my off the cuff thoughts:

2013 camping/pirate festivals
2014 PumpkinGirls HS Grad/Roxy & My 20th Wedding Anniversary/trip to San Fran
2015 DLR Trip
2016 camping/pirate festivals
2017 Beans HS Grad
2018 camping/pirate festivals
2019 Roxy & My 25th Wedding Anniversary/Disney Alaskan Cruise

Well see how it all comes together, but you see that currently our next shot at WDW isnt even on the radar. Sad but true.

Now as the last part of my final thoughts I usually do a top 10 (or so) favorite pictures from the trip in no particular order. This is a REALLY TOUGH ONE given that I have over 2,700 pictures in this TR. Sooooo, Im going to cheat. Im posting my top 20 non-family pics in this post and will immediately do a separate post of my top 25 of family-related pics!

TOP 20 PARK/CHARACTER PICS:

Tree and Balloons

Looking back towards the Hub at DHS from ToT

Big finale of IJSS

Merida's expression while talking to PumpkinGirl

Catching the air cannon going off during Harbor Attack on the Backlot Tour

EPCOT is Ours!

Toon Lagoon at Night

Castle at Night

PumpkinGirl's capture of Drac jumping during the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue

Osborne Lights

Indy and Marian falling from the rooftop during IJSS

Shot of Universals Nighttime Spectacular

Macys Tree at Universal

Main Street hub

Jack Sparrow saying Only you ..Can Be a Pirate!

Rivers of America

DHS Tree and ToT

Castle and Carousel

SE from the Japan Pavilion

Tomorrowland Terrace

Next up the Top 25 Family Pics and I wrap this thing up!



Click here for the Final Chapter: Final Thoughts Part 2

 

[mnmrmustard]

TOP 25 FAMILY PICS:

Roxy's Smile

Fam on Streets of America at DHS

Bean hamming it up with Ursula at AoA

MVMCP Snow on Main Street Shot

Bellhop Photobomb at elevators in ToT

Ariel discovering that Ursula has stolen PumpkinGirls voice!

Grinches with Santa Grinch

Cotton Candy!

The fam with Mickey and Minnie

Osborne Lights Pic

MVMCP Castle Shot

Ladies in front of Hogsmeade Village

Soaked at Toon Lagoon

Bean and I with Gru

PumpkinGirl with Mulan

Bean and I blowing a raspberry on RnRC

Bean and I going whaaaaat? on Dinosaur

Tigger about to surprise Bean

Girls with Snow White at Akershus

Bean kicking back and talking to Pan

PumpkinGirl doing the same

The fam at 1900

Girls with Aladdin & Jasmine

Roxy giving a smooch

Bean sipping yet another Shirley Temple on the trip home

There were MANY more but I had to stop myself from just re-posting the whole TRs worth of pictures.

I hope you have all enjoyed sharing our magical journey. Thank you for all who have posted and also to those who have silently read along. I appreciate all of the good Disney mojo that comes from making a TR and how it keeps the magic going long after we have pulled into our driveway from our Disney adventure!

Cheers and have a Disneytastic Day!