"One Step Ahead of the Slowpokes!"- A Dec '10/Jan '11 Trip Report! FINISHED 3/9 pg 38

[mom2mek]

Brrr....oh man, that sounds cold! Thunder Mountain in the cold air is enough for me, thank you very much. I could never do Astro Orbiter! You poor thing!

I can't wait to hear about the dessert party!

Sara

 

[Tracy161]

Your castle pictures are amazing!!! I'm cold just thinking about you and John up there on the Astro Orbiter though, brrr! I've never done that ride myself but will definitely try for the first time when the temperature is 80 or above!

Can't wait to hear about the Wishes dessert party!

 

[Nermel9]

I love your castle pics! And your photopass pictures are beautiful, I don't know what you're talking about, you look great in all of them, you don't look tired at all! I really like the one with the decorations on Main Street, we did that picture too, and it's one of the ones that I actually like from the trip!

OMG, we had the same experience on the Astro Orbiter! Isn't it the worst ride ever!!!! I was cold too, when I went on it, and it was pretty nice the night I went on it, I can only imagine how frozen you guys were!

Can't wait to hear about the Wishes dessert party! It seems like so long ago that I went to mine.

 

[Cat0727]

Your castle pictures came out so lovely!

Haha omg at you calling Astro Orbiter's ride vehicle a torture device! I totally agree. I didn't know prior to riding that the rocket ships were built to tilt at an angle. For some reason I thought my boyfriend was making it tilt over by moving the stick and I was screaming at him the whole time to stop and that if he didn't I was going to kill him I can't imagine how frozen you guys were afterward...do you guys laugh about your experience now?

 

[Parla]

Woohoo! Caught up.

Love the Patrick Swayze reference in your shirt!

I love that picture. Glad John was a good sport. Most people that don't like to smile for pictures get annoyed easily when you try to make them.

As soon as I saw that picture I was wondering where the thumbs were. What a bad design. Glad you were able to find something. I wonder if Disney makes more selling ponchos all year or selling jackets, gloves, scarves and such during the winter months.

I saw in the mall a pair of gloves that apparently allowed you to use your touch screen, but they were like thirty dollars!

When I was thinking of getting an iphone I read about those. I thought about ordering them. I ended up deciding not to switch to AT&T and forgot about them. We got droids with Verizon. Of course they have iphones now. Only regret is some companies only have iphone apps and not both iphone and droid apps.

I always love Haunted Mansion SO much! This is going to sound weird because it's supposed to be a haunted house, but I always feel so cozy riding in my "doom buggy" with John!

I don't think that sounds weird. I remember feeling that way when we rode on our Honeymoon. Unfortunately the kids have never gotten to ride it. DS was too scared on his first trip and it was closed for refurbishment on our last trip. I plan on riding it as much as possible in October.

I got so excited about santa. I was like Buddy the Elf. I kept saying to John, "SANTA! I KNOW him!"

That's one of our favorite movies! TMI but we also love to yell, "Did you hear that?" if someone burps.

They had a little boy who obviously had a pretty bad cold. His nose was running so bad it was dripping down the front of his coat, and he had a horrible cough. He was crying nonstop and kept laying down on the ground and not moving forward, and his parents would just move forward in line and leave him lying there!

That makes me so sad. That little boy was obviously sick and would have had a much better day with some chicken soup while cuddled up at the hotel watching the Disney Channel.

On a side note (excluded all the Toon Town stuff from your quote already) I've never been to Toon Town. We meant to stop by on our last two trips but we had so much character dining on the first one that we didn't want to take the time. Now I'm sad. Glad I never had to deal with the crowds there though.

Let me start by saying there is nothing wrong with John's jacket. I wouldn't have a problem with my son or husband wearing the same thing. But... am I the only one that finds it absolutely hilarious that he is wearing that in front of the castle on a picture that says Happy Holidays?

There was a really nice family of adults next to us and we talked to them a little. One of the ladies complimented me on my Dooney & Bourke bag, and then one of the men realized that he had lost his bag somewhere. They started searching frantically and left in a rush. I felt really bad for them, because I know how stressful it is when you realize you've lost something. That is one reason why I love the crossbody D&B bag so much. I never have to take it off, so I always know it's right there with me. Plus the bag zips up, so I don't have to worry about anything falling out on a ride.

I know that lost something feeling entirely too well.

Can't wait for more. You're still on day one!!! Nice detail work, gotta commend you on that.

 

[saralexander97]

The castle looks so amazing all light up. I cannot wait to see that in December, WOW what an experience. I sure hope the dessert party is inside, because you look soooooooo cold. What was the temperature? I sure hope you had some warm days. Cant wait to hear more, you have me hooked.

 

[laashley]

Oh, no to Astrorbitor. No fun in the cold.

Yum! Columbia Harbour House. Good idea not getting too stuffed. Gotta enjoy those treats at the dessert party.

 

[therussells08]

I completely agree about the castle! You just really can't describe or capture how beautiful it is. Everyone should see it once!

I think everyone has an Astro Orbiter horror story! I just hate how uncomfortable the thing is. There really should be more room in the "spaceships". Sadly, Miguel loves this attraction. I was successful of steering him away from it on our recent trip but I have a feeling we'll be riding on the Disneymoon.

I can't wait to hear about the dessert party! I just made our reservation for one today!

Yes, everyone definitely needs to see the castle at Christmas at least once! It's gorgeous!

Astro Orbiter was not my favorite ride of this trip, to say the least! I'm glad to hear you avoided it on your last trip! I hope you can avoid it on your Disneymoon as well!

Love the castle pics!! They look soo good!

Think the Photopass pics came out ok considering how cold you were...my fav is the one with the hanging decorations

Am glad you managed to warm up at CHH - hope that person found his bag

Have just read another Astro Orbitor horror story recently on these boards so after reading yours as well think we will stay away from that ride

Thank you! I really loved those pictures too, especially the one where I was looking up at the castle.

Thanks! I really didn't like this set of pics, but there are some that more than make up for these later in the trip!

CHH was so nice! That was such a relaxing part of the day. I hope he found his bag too! I felt really bad for him.

I think Astro Orbiter wouldn't be that bad if we had ridden it when it was warmer out. If you do choose to ride it make sure you ride it at night, because the rest of the park looks really pretty.

Just finished reading your PTR. Didn't want to post there (always amazed how long those things are left open) so here goes.

I love Ratatouille. But only when I'm watching it. It's a really good movie and I don't understand why it isn't one everyone thinks of as a good movie. But even I don't remember how much I like it until the kids put it in or it comes on the Disney Channel.

Love that you went with DxDP. We also love to sit and relax for our dinners rather than fight for tables and condiments. Plus, so many great restaurants to choose from.

That Abu is an ugly little squishy. Can't wait to see pictures of him around the world though. Love that you re-discovered him while going through your sister's DVDs looking for DMR codes. Shhhh... I use to put movies on hold at the library to get them but then they changed their policy and you couldn't put movies on hold in advance anymore.

Also, thanks for the idea to do all of your posts in a different color of ink. It was much easier to go through and skip all the guesses on the waiting game.

Now on the the TR.

I can't believe you read me entire PTR! That is so cool! Thank you!!

I'm not sure why I don't love Ratatouille. It has all the makings of a movie I should really like, but it's just never been one of my favorites. I would still pick it over any non-Disney movie, though!

We were so happy with the DxDP! I don't think it's something we will do every trip, but it was perfect for this trip because it gave us so many nice breaks from the hustle and bustle of the holiday crowds...and the cold!

Abu ended up missing out on quite a bit of this trip. I think I left him the car most of the time! I was at the video store last night, and I realized that all of the Disney movies for rent there still had their DMC codes in them! I really wanted to take them all, but I was scared I might get in trouble!

I'm glad you like the different color posts! Now I've started adding the table of contents with this TR, which makes it even easier!

Brrr....oh man, that sounds cold! Thunder Mountain in the cold air is enough for me, thank you very much. I could never do Astro Orbiter! You poor thing!

I can't wait to hear about the dessert party!

Sara

Astro Orbiter + cold air = misery. That is a formula I will remember the rest of my life!

Dessert Party update coming VERY soon! Stay tuned!

Your castle pictures are amazing!!! I'm cold just thinking about you and John up there on the Astro Orbiter though, brrr! I've never done that ride myself but will definitely try for the first time when the temperature is 80 or above!

Can't wait to hear about the Wishes dessert party!

Thank you! I'm glad you liked them! I don't think Astro Orbiter will be bad at all as long as you try it in warm weather. The view was actually really pretty!

I'm getting ready to post the Dessert Party update!

I love your castle pics! And your photopass pictures are beautiful, I don't know what you're talking about, you look great in all of them, you don't look tired at all! I really like the one with the decorations on Main Street, we did that picture too, and it's one of the ones that I actually like from the trip!

OMG, we had the same experience on the Astro Orbiter! Isn't it the worst ride ever!!!! I was cold too, when I went on it, and it was pretty nice the night I went on it, I can only imagine how frozen you guys were!

Can't wait to hear about the Wishes dessert party! It seems like so long ago that I went to mine.

Thank you! Your comments made me feel better. I felt like I looked so haggard in those pictures. I have a lot more PP pictures from the rest of the trip that I like waaaaay more!

I cracked up when I read your post about the astro orbiter, because we really did have the exact same experience!

I was reminiscing about the Dessert Party this morning and it seems like an eternity since ours too!

 

[therussells08]

Your castle pictures came out so lovely!

Haha omg at you calling Astro Orbiter's ride vehicle a torture device! I totally agree. I didn't know prior to riding that the rocket ships were built to tilt at an angle. For some reason I thought my boyfriend was making it tilt over by moving the stick and I was screaming at him the whole time to stop and that if he didn't I was going to kill him I can't imagine how frozen you guys were afterward...do you guys laugh about your experience now?

Thank you!

You story about your experience on the ride had me cracking up! That is definitely something I could see myself doing! It is a lot easier to laugh about that experience now, especially that I can feel my fingers and toes again!

Woohoo! Caught up.



Love the Patrick Swayze reference in your shirt!



I love that picture. Glad John was a good sport. Most people that don't like to smile for pictures get annoyed easily when you try to make them.



As soon as I saw that picture I was wondering where the thumbs were. What a bad design. Glad you were able to find something. I wonder if Disney makes more selling ponchos all year or selling jackets, gloves, scarves and such during the winter months.



When I was thinking of getting an iphone I read about those. I thought about ordering them. I ended up deciding not to switch to AT&T and forgot about them. We got droids with Verizon. Of course they have iphones now. Only regret is some companies only have iphone apps and not both iphone and droid apps.



I don't think that sounds weird. I remember feeling that way when we rode on our Honeymoon. Unfortunately the kids have never gotten to ride it. DS was too scared on his first trip and it was closed for refurbishment on our last trip. I plan on riding it as much as possible in October.



That's one of our favorite movies! TMI but we also love to yell, "Did you hear that?" if someone burps.



That makes me so sad. That little boy was obviously sick and would have had a much better day with some chicken soup while cuddled up at the hotel watching the Disney Channel.

On a side note (excluded all the Toon Town stuff from your quote already) I've never been to Toon Town. We meant to stop by on our last two trips but we had so much character dining on the first one that we didn't want to take the time. Now I'm sad. Glad I never had to deal with the crowds there though.



Let me start by saying there is nothing wrong with John's jacket. I wouldn't have a problem with my son or husband wearing the same thing. But... am I the only one that finds it absolutely hilarious that he is wearing that in front of the castle on a picture that says Happy Holidays?



I know that lost something feeling entirely too well.

Can't wait for more. You're still on day one!!! Nice detail work, gotta commend you on that.

You are so awesome! Thank you so much for reading all of my ramblings!

Yay! You noticed my shirt! We actually live about an hour and a half away from Lake Lure, which is where they filmed the lake scene of Dirty Dancing, along with the scenes in the employees cabins and the employee club. They had this Dirty Dancing festival there last year and John took me. The festival itself was not very great, but I loved going around and seeing the spots where Patrick Swayze filmed!

John was such a great sport in that picture! I'm so lucky to have him, because he truly loves Disney and has a blast on all of our vacations there! I always send a little thanks up when I hear others complaining that their DHs don't want to go to Disney. I can't imagine that!

Yeah, I definitely didn't like the thumbless design. I bet that usually Disney makes more money selling ponchos, but definitely not last year with that FREEZING cold winter! I think I could have bought about twenty ponchos with what I spent on that jacket and those gloves!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has felt that way about HM! I love it so much! I hope you get to ride it a whole bunch in October!

AHHH! We do the "Did you HEAR that?" thing when we burp too! That is so funny!

I felt really bad for that little boy too. What's the point in being at Disney if your child is miserable?

I'm glad we went to Toon Town for that one last look, but the crowds there made it pretty unpleasant. I am sad it's gone, but I can't wait to see the new Fantasyland additions!

Trust me, you are not the only one who finds John's jacket in these pictures hilarious. Let me tell you the background story: I wanted John and I to BOTH get cute Disney clothes for Christmas that we could wear on the trip. Well, I got a lot of great stuff, and John got a really nice Space Mountain shirt, but he also got THAT hoodie. I wanted to shake my mom and say "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Because, just as I expected, he wore that thing the ENTIRE trip. So almost everyone of my beautiful PP pictures have that giant gleaming skull from some video game in them!

I am definitely taking a loooong time with this TR! I need to hurry up, because I need to start a PTR soon!

The castle looks so amazing all light up. I cannot wait to see that in December, WOW what an experience. I sure hope the dessert party is inside, because you look soooooooo cold. What was the temperature? I sure hope you had some warm days. Cant wait to hear more, you have me hooked.

You are going to love the castle! Unfortunately, the Dessert Party was not inside. I think it was hovering around 30 that night. We had a few warm days, but they waited until the end of the trip!

I'm so glad you are enjoying my TR! Thank you!

Oh, no to Astrorbitor. No fun in the cold.

Yum! Columbia Harbour House. Good idea not getting too stuffed. Gotta enjoy those treats at the dessert party.

DEFINITELY no fun in the cold!

Ohhh yes, had to save some room, and I was glad I did!

 

[therussells08]

After our fabulous (yeah right) experience on Astro Orbiter, it was finally almost 9 o'clock and time to head over to the Wishes Dessert Party! I was so excited about this experience! I have never really had a great view of Wishes in our past trips, so I was really glad that we would have VIP seating, and some tasty treats to go along with it!

We headed over to Tomorrowland Terrace to check in. There was a line of about twenty people. Before we knew it a few guys started coming around and checking our names off. They gave us a wristband and we were on our way!

Here is a picture of the check in podium.

A nice lady lead us to our reserved table, which was in the VERY front! We were so excited! Our view of the castle was absolutely perfect!

Here is the view from our table.

As soon as we were seated it was time to go get that dessert! The buffet was set up behind us, and there was several rows of delicious looking treats. John and I headed over together and commenced to filling our plates. I was REALLY excited when I saw that they had giant containers of piping hot coffee and hot chocolate! After we sat down with our plates John went back and got us both a hot chocolate.

Here is my plate.

I tried to make that picture pretty, with our place card and the napkin placed just so. Then I tried to take a really artsy picture, with the castle behind my plate.

I'm not really good with artistic shots, but it shows you how close we were to the castle!

Okay, I am going to try to list everything on my plate, and then give a little rating of whether or not I liked it. I'm sorry, I can't remember the "real" name for everything.

Mango Shooter (bottom left, yellow cup)- This was really yummy! It was almost like a mini-smoothie.

Chocolate pudding thing with chocolate crumbs (bottom front)- This was chocolate on chocolate, so of course I loved it!

Cannoli (next to pudding cup)- I thought this was okay, but it wasn't my favorite. John loved it, and finished mine and his.

Strawberry Berry Tart (under the cannoli)- This was pretty good. I ended up picking the fresh fruit out and eating that and leaving the sticky glazed cup it was in. I really love blackberries though, so I was happy with it.

Tiramisu- (behind the pudding cup with the striped wafer)- I don't know why I got this, because I hate tiramisu. I think it was just because it was so pretty. I tasted a little bit, but John ate the rest for me.

Banana Cream Tartlet (behind the tiramisu)- This was really good! It was like a little banana pudding cup. I loved it, and so did John!

Kiwi Mandarin Orange Tartlet (next to the banana tartlet)- This was kind of like the berry tart. I ate the kiwi and the orange, but left the stuff it was sitting in.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry (behind the mango shooter)- Delicious, of course! I mean, it was a chocolate covered strawberry!

Pistachio Creme Brulee (tiny cup next to the hot chocolate)- This was something I had never tried before, and I actually liked it. I only ate a little bit, but it was pretty good!

That was all the desserts I tried. Overall I was really happy with the selection. I'm glad they had some things I had never tried before, but they also had a few favorites that I knew I would love. It was a great dessert experience!

While we were eating our desserts I got really excited when I saw that we had a pretty good view of the Electrical Parade! I snapped a picture of the beginning.

The picture didn't come out great, but we could see the parade perfectly. We sat and enjoyed that while I drank about five cups of hot chocolate to keep warm.

After the parade we still had about twenty five minutes before Holiday Wishes started. The desserts had been eaten, so there was nothing left to do but wait. This was when the cold really started to set in. I had been pretty cold the entire day, but nothing compared to how cold I was now. I just sat there shivering and shivering, and the wait seemed like an eternity. I took my old jacket that I had warn into the park out of the bag and stuck it down the front of my new jacket so I could use the hood to cover my face. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but it helped me warm up some!

I was really starting to stress out at this point because I remembered reading Jen's (Nermel9) TR about the Wishes Dessert Party and how everyone stood up before the fireworks started. I really didn't want anyone to stand up, because we had a perfect view and I was trying to stay warm by sitting down in my little jacket cocoon. Luckily I guess I wasn't the only one who felt that way, because when the show started everyone stayed seated. It was great!

Finally, it was time for Wishes to start! I am really excited about the treat I have for you all. I videotaped the show on my brand new HD video camera that my mother -in-law had gotten me for Christmas. I hope you enjoy the video. It is pretty long, but I got the ENTIRE Holiday Wishes, including a great shot of Tink flying over the crowd! I posted it on YouTube, so I will post the link below!

Holiday Wishes in High Definition!

The show really gets going around 2:05 in the video.

Once that show started all of my feelings of cold melted away! It was so magical, as you can see by the video! I absolutely loved it. I still think that the MNSSHP fireworks show is my favorite, but this one was a close second!

When the show ended it was time to head out of the park and get some sleep. I was so exhausted and freezing cold, all I wanted to do was collapse into bed. We started heading with the masses toward the exit. On our way, however, we started noticing that a lot of people were covering themselves up with these really pretty throw blankets that had a huge pictures on them of the castle with the Christmas lights on. I really wanted one, so John and I went into the Emporium to see if we could sniff them out.

It only took us a few minutes to find them, and I got really upset when I realized they were one of those promotional items that you can get for a really cheap price (I think they were $15) if you spent $40 in the store. I hadn't seen these earlier when I bought my $50 jacket!

I convinced John to go show our receipt from earlier to the cashier to see if we could get the blanket. The cashier was really nice and she understood exactly what we wanted to do before we even asked. She let us have the blanket for the promotional price, and we left happy!

On our way out of the park I noticed a little area that I hadn't noticed earlier that day. I think it was called the Candy Cane Village. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess this is where you could go to meet Santa Claus. I took a picture because it was really cute and there was a sign that said "365 days til Christmas".

After a seemingly long monorail journey, tram ride back to our car, and drive to the resort, we finally made it to POP. We had been texted our room number earlier in the day, and when we had checked in that morning we were told which building we would be in, so we knew exactly where we needed to go.

I think I was half asleep as we dragged our luggage to the room. We had a pool view room, so I had to take a second to look at the Hippy Dippy pool with steam rising off it in the cold air. Our room was on the top floor of the 60s building, in the very corner next to the giant Mowgli and Baloo.

This turned out to be a perfect room location. We loved it! More on that later.

I was excited to discover that we had a flat screen TV in our room. I guess all of the preferred rooms at POP have been refurbished now, but I was still happy to get a refurb room.

I didn't manage to get a picture of the room before we had dumped all of our stuff on the beds, so excuse the mess!

We got settled in as quickly as possible, and the first thing I did was take a scalding hot bath! It was so nice to finally be warm. After my bath I crawled into bed and turned the TV to Stacey. I think I was asleep before I heard her say "must do" three times.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of our first WONDERFUL day at Disney World!

Up Next: John and I head to Disney's Hollywood Studios!

 

[Nermel9]

Yay, Wishes Dessert Party! I think we had the same table, it's nice only having 2 people, because that's where the small tables are, right in the front! I keep thinking I should do it again on my next trip, if they offer it, but I don't think it would be a good idea, since I can barely fit in all the ADR's I want and my itinerary is a mess! I wanted my next trip to be relaxed and it's already stressing me out! I'll save that for my PTR though...

I can't believe everyone sat for the fireworks! It was probably because it was cold, I was kind of annoyed that I had to stand! I can't wait to see Hallowishes, I can't imagine it being better than Holiday Wishes!

I'm glad you got to get the blanket with the castle on it! I got one the year before and I use it every night still!

Love the room at Pop!

 

[Tracy161]

The desserts look SOOO yummy!!! I also appreciated that you provided a list of the ones that you tried, makes it easier to envision myself there! What a shame it was so darned cold though! I hope the rest of your trip warmed up a bit. Glad you were able to get the promotional blanket with your receipt!

Looking forward to reading about your day at DHS!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Wow what a day!!! Despite the freezing temps, it sounds like you had the perfect start to a Disney vacation. I am so glad to hear you liked the dessert party! Most of what I have read seems to be "we liked it, but not enough to do it again" so I was glad to hear a really positive review. I'm glad to hear people stayed seated too - I would definitely want to sit down after a day of walking in the park!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the view from your table and all the desserts on your plate!

Thanks for the descriptions - they all sound like a treat but my favourites would be the chocolate ones (especially the one with chocolate on chocolate...how good does that sound )!

Yay on getting the promotional blanket and love the room pics

 

[therussells08]

Yay, Wishes Dessert Party! I think we had the same table, it's nice only having 2 people, because that's where the small tables are, right in the front! I keep thinking I should do it again on my next trip, if they offer it, but I don't think it would be a good idea, since I can barely fit in all the ADR's I want and my itinerary is a mess! I wanted my next trip to be relaxed and it's already stressing me out! I'll save that for my PTR though...

I can't believe everyone sat for the fireworks! It was probably because it was cold, I was kind of annoyed that I had to stand! I can't wait to see Hallowishes, I can't imagine it being better than Holiday Wishes!

I'm glad you got to get the blanket with the castle on it! I got one the year before and I use it every night still!

Love the room at Pop!

That table was so great! I want to do it again our next trip too. I think we might, just so we don't have to spend a ton of time stressing about finding a good spot for Wishes! I can't wait to hear about your ADR's and itinerary!

I was really glad everyone sat. I really expected them to stand after I read your TR, but I'm sooo happy they didn't. I think you're right- everyone was too cold!

Hallowishes was my alltime favorite fireworks show! I can't wait to see if you like it as much as I did!

That blanket is so cute! I made myself put it away so I can save it for next Christmas, but I'm dying to get it out and snuggle with it on these cool nights!

Thanks! We were really happy with our room!

The desserts look SOOO yummy!!! I also appreciated that you provided a list of the ones that you tried, makes it easier to envision myself there! What a shame it was so darned cold though! I hope the rest of your trip warmed up a bit. Glad you were able to get the promotional blanket with your receipt!

Looking forward to reading about your day at DHS!

The desserts were great! I'm glad you enjoyed the list!

The cold did but a bit of a damper on things, but it was still nice!

Wow what a day!!! Despite the freezing temps, it sounds like you had the perfect start to a Disney vacation. I am so glad to hear you liked the dessert party! Most of what I have read seems to be "we liked it, but not enough to do it again" so I was glad to hear a really positive review. I'm glad to hear people stayed seated too - I would definitely want to sit down after a day of walking in the park!

It was definitely a great day despite the cold!

I would absolutely do the dessert party again! The view alone was worth the money in my opinion, so the yummy treats were just the icing on the cake!

Love the view from your table and all the desserts on your plate!

Thanks for the descriptions - they all sound like a treat but my favourites would be the chocolate ones (especially the one with chocolate on chocolate...how good does that sound )!

Yay on getting the promotional blanket and love the room pics

The views and the desserts were fabulous!

I'm glad you liked the descriptions. I'm like you- anything chocolate is my favorite!

We were so excited about the blanket and the room too!

 

[therussells08]

We woke up the next morning around 7:00-ish. I was definitely feeling my long day of walking from the day before, and I could still feel that head cold trying to make itself known, so I wasn't feeling my best when I got out of bed. I perked up pretty quickly though, because we were heading to our favorite park: Disney's Hollywood Studios!

I hopped in the shower and got ready as quickly as I could while John went to the food court and filled up our resort mugs with some sodas for the drive to DHS. I made sure I wore my new jacket and brought my gloves, and it's a good thing I did. When we stepped outside the room at about 7:50 it felt almost as cold as it had been the night before! I put my gloves on quickly and managed to snap a few pictures before we got on the elevator.

The Hippy Dippy pool! This was our view of the pool from our balcony.

This was another shot directly from outside our room. These are the buildings that were across from us on the other side of the pool.

This is the last shot I took from the balcony. Baloo's big ol' head was right next to our room!

We went down the elevator and when we got to the bottom I took a few more pictures to commemorate our awesome room location.

Look for the bear necessities!

Our room is the one directly behind the peace sign at the top!

Such a pretty pool! Unfortunately it was waaaay too cold for a swim on this trip! (At least for me. We did see some nutty people swimming later on in the week!)

As we walked to the parking lot I took a few last pictures of POP.

A nice bowling pin in the distance. I guess those are the 50's rooms, but I'm not sure!

This is the pretty path that led to the parking lot. I loved this at first, because it seemed so peaceful. However, it became less enjoyable as the week progressed because people started littering along the way and it never got picked up! This was the first time I had ever seen a littering problem at Disney.

Before 8:00am we were in the car with the heat blasting on our way to DHS! I was so excited, so I didn't even notice my incredibly stuffy nose or the fact that I was already freezing cold. I love DHS so much. I'm not sure why it's my favorite, there's something about the atmosphere there that I just can't get enough of. Plus, Rock'n Roller Coaster is there, which is my absolute favorite ride!

Anyway, within just a few minutes we were pulling into DHS and parking out car in the Television lot.

As we were heading through the gates of the park we got a little surprise that we had never experienced before.

A surprise Fast Pass for Lights, Motors, Action! I had never even heard of these surprise Fast Passes before, but I read from someone on the DIS that they are really smart forms of crowd control. The FPs were for 9:20 to 9:45. That show is cool, but it's not at the top of our "must do" list at DHS, but we decided to hold onto the FPs just in case we wanted to use them.

As we entered the park I took a picture of the amazing Christmas tree outside of the gates.

I love the film reel at the bottom! It's so cool!

When we got into the actual park I had to snap a few pictures of some of my favorite Disney views!

This used to be the background on my phone!

Look at those palm trees! They are so deceiving! You would think it was 90 degrees in this picture, if it wasn't for the people all bundled up!

John and I had one thing and one thing only on our minds: Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania! Unfortunately, the journey from our car into the park had left me about to freeze to death, so I decided to go into one of the gift shops right at the entrance while John went to grab Fast Passes for us. It worked out better that way, because he has really long legs and can "walk with purpose" a lot faster than I can!

While I waited for John I entertained myself by taking some pictures in the practically empty gift shop.

This picture came our really blurry, but I loved the bride and groom pins! I wish they had had those on my Disneymoon, because I definitely would have bought them!

I really liked this two-tone bag, so I decided to keep this deal in mind in case I decided to buy any souvenirs at DHS that day.

I loved this keychain with John's name on it. I have never been able to find anything personalized with my name on it, except at this one store in Myrtle Beach called the Gay Dolphin. Place always have "Joan" or "Jon," but never "Joni". I was tempted to buy this for John, but I knew he wouldn't use it. He's really weird about keychains. He won't use anything that is the least bit heavy, because he says it will mess his truck up to have it dangling from the ignition. He's probably right, but I have no clue about that stuff!

I loved all of these miniature figurines in this display case. I thought it would be fun to buy the mystery bags and see what you get. I always love buying mystery sets of pins. It's so fun to open up the package and see what's inside, but it's also really frustrating when you realize it's something you already have. I could never collect these little figurines, though. I would end up losing all of them and sucking them up in the vacuum!

It was about this time that John got back with the Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania. Our return time was for 12:20-1:20. We decided it was time to hit one of both of our all time favorites!

Tower of Terror!

Up Next: We ride a few of our absolute favorite rides, and I experience something brand new on Rock'n Roller Coaster! Stay tuned!

 

[stephielela]

Wow, I cannot even imagine riding Astro Orbiters in weather that cold! It was rough enough riding Dumbo when we were there!

I'm glad you enjoyed the dessert party! I loved it too, but we have to skip it this next trip.

Yay for your great room location!!!

We got one of those FP's for LMA too, but we didn't get to use it...

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

 

[Parla]

Yay! You noticed my shirt! We actually live about an hour and a half away from Lake Lure, which is where they filmed the lake scene of Dirty Dancing, along with the scenes in the employees cabins and the employee club. They had this Dirty Dancing festival there last year and John took me. The festival itself was not very great, but I loved going around and seeing the spots where Patrick Swayze filmed!

That is really cool!

John was such a great sport in that picture! I'm so lucky to have him, because he truly loves Disney and has a blast on all of our vacations there! I always send a little thanks up when I hear others complaining that their DHs don't want to go to Disney. I can't imagine that!

I know what you mean. DH and I have always loved Disney but didn't have the best time on our Honeymoon in 1993. We just didn't know all the details. I really should have read the guides more. After our trip in 2006 though we were both hooked. He just kept wondering around and telling me how much better it was knowing what we were doing and thanking me for finding the DIS.

Trust me, you are not the only one who finds John's jacket in these pictures hilarious. Let me tell you the background story: I wanted John and I to BOTH get cute Disney clothes for Christmas that we could wear on the trip. Well, I got a lot of great stuff, and John got a really nice Space Mountain shirt, but he also got THAT hoodie. I wanted to shake my mom and say "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Because, just as I expected, he wore that thing the ENTIRE trip. So almost everyone of my beautiful PP pictures have that giant gleaming skull from some video game in them!

Oh my. Your poor mom probably feels terrible after seeing all the pictures. At least you have a great back story.

I tried to make that picture pretty, with our place card and the napkin placed just so. Then I tried to take a really artsy picture, with the castle behind my plate.

You are so funny. Your little video camera did a good job. Now someone needs to get you an awesome still camera. You love taking pictures so much I know you would get some use out of it.

I subscribed on youtube in case you post anymore Disney stuff. I can't ever seem to get enough when trip planning.

The desserts look so yummy. I would love to do something like that. I really worry about that kind of stuff though with DD's diabetes. It's one thing to guess on things you have some idea about but guessing the carbs in all those desserts would definitely not give us a blood sugar in range. That's not something I especially like guessing at just before bed or a long walk.

I really liked this two-tone bag, so I decided to keep this deal in mind in case I decided to buy any souvenirs at DHS that day.

Almost forgot about your blanket. I missed a bag on our first trip when you spent $40 in the resort shops. Got it on our second. I should have just shown them the receipt but hated doing stuff like that back then. Now that I work customer service and see what we are willing to do for people I have no problem returning things or asking after the fact. So, which two tone color do you pick?

 

[TanzUnited99]

Love the pictures of Pop! What a great room location! That pathway does look peaceful but on it being littered. Hope it is better maintained in September.

Yay on getting the surprise fastpass! Them palm trees sure look deceiving - it's only when you look at all the coats you realise how cold it actually is!

I have seen the Tote bag in another TR and sure hope they keep that deal running as would love to be able to but it in the promotional offer. Look forward to hearing about your new experience on RnR Coaster

 

[Nermel9]

Pop is so cute! Ugh, I can't believe that path had litter on it! Disney is usually so good about cleaning, but I guess it gets hard to keep up with in the busy times!

Yay, I LOVE DHS! I liked how you waited in a shop while John went to get the Toy Story FP's, good strategy! I might have to try that in October!

I love the Christmas tree at DHS, it's so pretty!