"Our TR - Now with 100 % less POFQ!" - Nov 10th-20th(3/5-Last Day & Final Thoughts!)

[skier_pete]

I've always wondered how those cruises worked as far as cost and such .. and you're right .. unless you can share it, that's a LOT of money to pay for one family. I feel the same about the character meals .. as much fun as it all seems, I can't justify paying so much for a meal. We sort of just nibble our way around the parks.

Hope you have a nice visit to MA ! I, personally, am LOVING no snow ! We practically live at the bottom of Wachusett Mountain ski area but really only go there a couple of times a year so the boys can snowboard. This is usually a huge week for them .. lucky for them they have snow makers.

I grew up near Springfield. Don't know if you remember Mt. Tom Ski Area. My dad ran the Ski Shop and my uncle and aunt ran the Ski School. I don't know what it's been like there in NE, but here our local mountain just opened with 2 trails and 2 lifts. Still charging $50 a head. No thanks! Supposed to get some snow overnight finally.

The character meals are stupid expensive, but since we mostly do go on Free Dining, and we all know how to eat, the price doesn't bother us so much.

 

[skier_pete]

Sorry -meant to add this with the previous posts...here's the snowglobe that we got from DTD:

 

[khertz]

Cute snowglobe!!

The Illuminations cruise sounds awesome. But that pricetag... Sound like a share would be the way to go. I bet the ladies loved your surprise!

The dinner at Garden Grill sounds like a good option...we might have to give that one a try when DS is a little older.

 

[FosterA]

Merry Christmas! I love your cute little Charlie Brown tree.

anyhoo...nice updates! I personally really really like Living with the land for some reason. Wanted to do the tour but never got around to it though.
As far as Circle of Life film, have no idea what that is all about. Is it 3-D or anything cool like that?

That's really neat how you arranged that cruise. I think I'd really like to try that one day too though not at full price! yikes So did your mom seem to be enjoying Disney so far? She looks pretty happy in the photo on the boat

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice update Pete. Glad you enjoyed Illuminations cruise. Which way was the wind blowing?

We did it last year and the wind blow the smoke straight at us. I enjoyed watching Illuminations from under the IG; but didn't enjoy the smoke and soot falling all over us much.

LOVE that snowglobe.

 

[skier_pete]

Cute snowglobe!!

The Illuminations cruise sounds awesome. But that pricetag... Sound like a share would be the way to go. I bet the ladies loved your surprise!

The dinner at Garden Grill sounds like a good option...we might have to give that one a try when DS is a little older.

They did love the surprise. DW and DM were both thrilled, and even DD enjoyed herself - and it wasn't exactly a kid-friendly voyage.

GG is fun, but expensive. Better when you are on the DDP!

Merry Christmas! I love your cute little Charlie Brown tree.

anyhoo...nice updates! I personally really really like Living with the land for some reason. Wanted to do the tour but never got around to it though.
As far as Circle of Life film, have no idea what that is all about. Is it 3-D or anything cool like that?

That's really neat how you arranged that cruise. I think I'd really like to try that one day too though not at full price! yikes So did your mom seem to be enjoying Disney so far? She looks pretty happy in the photo on the boat

Re: the tree: Thanks, we were on the plane to Disney when I saw it in the Skymall catalog and told my wife "That's what I want for Christmas!"

The Circle of Life movie is not 3-D, just a big-screen movie showing the evils of man versus the environment. DD likes it because it shows lots of animals as well as Timon and Pumbaa. I wouldn't go out of your way to catch it.

Nice update Pete. Glad you enjoyed Illuminations cruise. Which way was the wind blowing?

We did it last year and the wind blow the smoke straight at us. I enjoyed watching Illuminations from under the IG; but didn't enjoy the smoke and soot falling all over us much.

LOVE that snowglobe.

The weather was actually pretty good. We were a little nervous after the Wishes Debacle, but it was very mild and calm that evening, and a light jacket was more than enough to keep away the chill. The wind was blowing slightly towards us, so we did get some ash coming down around us, but not really much of the smoke, at least not to a degree that it was bothersome. I could see where it could be pretty bad under the right conditions.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Sorry -meant to add this with the previous posts...here's the snowglobe that we got from DTD:

I missed this pic ! Yup .. we have that same one. My dd love all things Alice.

 

[Chicago Mo]

Awesome report!!! i also have the charlie brown tree!!! it's smack in the middle of my bay window!!
the cruise looked awesome! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!!!
Glad you had a great Christmas!!!

 

[ClareH37]

I've just sat and read your report so far Peter, you guys really had a great time didn't you and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all on the cruise

I agree re. a group for the cruise, it's definitely the way to go as I just couldn't even comprehend having paying full price for a cruise, that is way too frightening a thought

I love everything to do with Alice in Wonderland and adore the snow globe you purchased, wish I'd seen that myself lol

 

[skier_pete]

I missed this pic ! Yup .. we have that same one. My dd love all things Alice.

We still haven't seen Alice in Wonderland, but she did get it for Christmas. It's a great snow globe, in that you just spin the teacup to shake it up rather than having to pick it up and shake.

Awesome report!!! i also have the charlie brown tree!!! it's smack in the middle of my bay window!!
the cruise looked awesome! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!!!
Glad you had a great Christmas!!!

Thank you so much. Another update hopefully before the day is out. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you too!

I've just sat and read your report so far Peter, you guys really had a great time didn't you and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all on the cruise

I agree re. a group for the cruise, it's definitely the way to go as I just couldn't even comprehend having paying full price for a cruise, that is way too frightening a thought

I love everything to do with Alice in Wonderland and adore the snow globe you purchased, wish I'd seen that myself lol

Hello Claire! Happy Christmas as they say over there, and thank you again for sharing your cruise with us! We had such a wonderful time. I still haven't been able to get a hold of James re. the pictures though - tried e-mailing twice. If you are in contact at all, perhaps you could mention to him? I would still love to at least get a shot of the whole group.

Oh...if I had only known about the snowglobe, I would have picked up one for you! They do seem to change-over the snowglobes fairly quickly, but hopefully your next trip back they will still have them...or else you could mail order...not inexpensive I would think! I've gotten one for DD every trip so far, and this is my favorite to date.

 

[skier_pete]

We are up to Tuesday the 15th of November, the half way point of the trip (at the end of the day) and what was probably the warmest day of the trip. We were hoping that the heat wouldn’t turn out so bad as we were going to spend a lot of times indoors watching shows. I was a bit concerned with getting everything done we wanted to get done as this is the one park we gave ourselves only one day for. Normally with the 3 of us this isn’t an issue, but we wanted to try and fit in the things we thought my mom would like that we wouldn’t necessarily care about. We knew this was going to be one of our fullest days yet.

The good news – the park was really, really slow for the most part. We really didn’t have to stress over the crowds. And we did manage to cram in everything we wanted, though it really meant going from opening to closing.

So, of all the rope drops, this is the one that we always try and get to the front of, so we leave ourselves plenty of time to get there early. I also have a special “trick” which generally allows us to get to the front of the rope drop without being at the gate an hour ahead of time. This is my one secret I won’t share, so don’t ask. Suffice it to say I break no rules in doing this.

Anyways, they started letting people in the park unusually early, like 8:40 AM. So, we stood at the rope for a good 15-20 minutes. We had some nice conversations with the TSM cast members, as well as a park manager who was hanging out in the area. All were very friendly and nice with a good sense of humor about their job. They had a large stage set up in front of the hat – not the normal stage, and I was quizzing them about what it was there for. The manager person indicated that they were having some sort of ceremony around the 40th anniversary, honoring CMs that have been there since the park opened in 1971. She was telling about the woman who trained her, who was one of them but she never knew it. I thought I took some pictures here, but when I went back to look, apparently not.

No rope drop show anymore, so they just announce and drop. The nice thing about being in the front is since the CM are leading the charge, no-one is trying to shove by you to get further up. Our strategy is I keep up with the front and get the FP – while the rest of the family head for the queue. Since we were so close to the front they got a little ahead of me. I don’t like skipping by people in the queue, but I did cut about 20 people to catch up with them. (Let it be known I felt guilty doing it!) We rode the ride and really enjoyed it as usual. DM liked it too. No pix again, though. A lot of times we get a second FP when eligible, but I decided I wanted to FP Star Tours this time.

So, after TSM we headed to Star Tours. This is the first time riding it since the re-furb, and the truth is, I loved it! The refurb was excellent, much sharper picture and sound, love the use of C3PO (even though it makes little sense in the “Star Wars” universe) love the 3-D being less about “in your face” than immersive, love the changing story-lines (we got mostly different segments on the 2nd ride-through). Made it feel so much more current technology than the older version. Nice job imagineers!

First Photo Op of the day:

After finishing that up, I pulled some FP and DD and I headed to the “Ant Playground” while DM and DW went to see the Muppetvision 3-D. DW likes this a lot, probably more than I do even though I’m a big fan of the muppets. DD doesn’t like the 3-D movies, so decided this was a good compromise. DD got tired of the ant playground fairly quickly for some reason. I don’t know if its that she is starting to grow out of it, because she never got tired of the boneyard, but I did start to think we wouldn’t be spending too much time here in the future. We got the standard ANT picture – which we’ve gotten for many years now:

When leaving, DW called to say that she was in line for Phineas and Ferb, so we boogied over there for some shots. DD again didn’t want to see the characters. I asked Phineas “Where’s Perry?” and he started running around looking. I love these guys!

Then we went over to see Mike and Sully from Monster’s Inc. DD had drawn a picture of Mike, Sully and Boo and wanted to give it to them. Unfortunately, Mike was on break so we just got Sully. DD didn’t want to meet him, but we told her she had to come if she wanted to give him the picture.

It was now time for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, but first DD really, really wanted a Mickey Ice Cream bar, and we were all hot so we each got one. DD didn’t actually finish hers, as it got too melty too quickly. On the way we saw Stitch out by the hat with no one in line. Now, believe it or not, we have never, ever gotten Stitch’s picture and autograph, even last year with our “50 Character extravaganza”. His line is always too long. So we went for it.

We had fun with Stitch…I tried to give him Rabbit ears – but he somehow figured me out and gave ‘em right back!

We went into the theater and I asked the CM where the best place to sit to volunteer. We got a seat low down (3rd row) on the left on the end. I wanted DW to have a chance to try it out. She got picked in the first round of volunteers, so she just had to pretend she was falling into a pit of snakes. She later told me she really didn’t understand why I was so insistent that she volunteer, but once she did it she understood. I did this a few years ago, and it is a great way to see the show from a whole new angle. I wouldn’t do it the first time ever watching it, but it’s great for returning guests. A lot of people complain about this show, but we never get sick of it. (Having seen it at least 9 times now!)

Shaking hands with Indy:

Preparing for her big scene:

There’s panic in Cairo!

Readying to watch a stuntman take a fall:

The most impressive thing of this show is that when you see it from the extra perspective you notice they don’t even come CLOSE to hitting eachother.

We did a little shopping at the store, where DD wanted an Indiana Jones comic book. (She a huge fan, even though she’s never seen the movies. She likes “adventure” stuff, like Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, Star Wars, etc.) DM picked up a shirt for DSD (step-dad)After the show it wasn’t quite time for our ADRs, so we decided to go back and do Star Tours with our FP. DM sat it out, as it was a bit too jarring for her, but DD liked it enough to go again, even with the dreaded 3-D!

Spare Astromech Droids (yup I’m a geek)

I also took a picture of REX – the pilot from version 1.0 which is sitting in the Droid repair area…but it didn’t come out very well. We came out and they were just starting a Jedi Training Academy. I have to say, this show seems better to be in it than to watch. Rather boring really, but would be awesome to be a little kid and get to fight Darth Vader. I asked DD if she wanted to do the show, but even though she likes Star Wars and bought a 2nd lightsaber this trip, she didn’t want to join in the fun.

We didn’t stay for the whole show, as we had an ADR for lunch at ‘50s Prime Time Café.

The rest of the day will likely have to wait until after New Year's to wrap up...but since there has been so much interest in it, I'll leave you with one last present for the 2011....

Purple Cat!

See you next year!

 

[ClareH37]

Hello Claire! Happy Christmas as they say over there, and thank you again for sharing your cruise with us! We had such a wonderful time. I still haven't been able to get a hold of James re. the pictures though - tried e-mailing twice. If you are in contact at all, perhaps you could mention to him? I would still love to at least get a shot of the whole group.

Oh...if I had only known about the snowglobe, I would have picked up one for you! They do seem to change-over the snowglobes fairly quickly, but hopefully your next trip back they will still have them...or else you could mail order...not inexpensive I would think! I've gotten one for DD every trip so far, and this is my favorite to date.

Happy Christmas to you guys too I haven't heard anything from James for a while, I think he may be away for the christmas/new year holidays, but I've just had a look at the link and have retyped it hopefully in such a way that you'll be able to get access to the photos.

I bet your DD's room is really magical with all those gorgeous snowglobes

 

[skier_pete]

Happy Christmas to you guys too I haven't heard anything from James for a while, I think he may be away for the christmas/new year holidays, but I've just had a look at the link and have retyped it hopefully in such a way that you'll be able to get access to the photos.

I bet your DD's room is really magical with all those gorgeous snowglobes

I sent you a PM, but I was able to access the pictures. Thanks! I won't be posting any of them here though - as I don't feel as they are mine to post. But I will definitely download them and add them to my files

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice pics of HS morning. It's been a while since we went to that playground but I love that its pretty cool'ish on a hot day.

You got great pics of your DD today.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Happy Christmas to you guys too I haven't heard anything from James for a while, I think he may be away for the christmas/new year holidays, but I've just had a look at the link and have retyped it hopefully in such a way that you'll be able to get access to the photos.

I bet your DD's room is really magical with all those gorgeous snowglobes

Hello Clare! Fancy bumping into you here. Nice to 'see' you. Are you doing a TR? Let me know...I'd like to sub in.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

[FosterA]

This is an exciting update since it's Nov 15 (you wrote Dec. but I think you meant Nov right?) and Nov 15 is the day we arrived. NOw I can start looking for my family in the background of any of your photos

I just love that ant photo. As usual, we never even saw that!! I would love to have a pic of my kids on that thing.

Also...love that your DW got to be in the show, how cool is that!

very very interesting that you have a secret ace in the hole on how to get into HS so quickly at rope drop. I can't imagine what trick you have up your sleeve Good job though!

 

[skier_pete]

Nice pics of HS morning. It's been a while since we went to that playground but I love that its pretty cool'ish on a hot day.

You got great pics of your DD today.

Thanks...I really purposefully tried to get more pictures of the family this trip. We've seen all the "stuff" so we don't need more pictures of the front of TSM.

Hello Clare! Fancy bumping into you here. Nice to 'see' you. Are you doing a TR? Let me know...I'd like to sub in.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

SkierPete's TR - bringing old friends together since 2011.

This is an exciting update since it's Nov 15 (you wrote Dec. but I think you meant Nov right?) and Nov 15 is the day we arrived. NOw I can start looking for my family in the background of any of your photos

I just love that ant photo. As usual, we never even saw that!! I would love to have a pic of my kids on that thing.

Also...love that your DW got to be in the show, how cool is that!

very very interesting that you have a secret ace in the hole on how to get into HS so quickly at rope drop. I can't imagine what trick you have up your sleeve Good job though!

Fixed the date - thanks! That's right you were over at MK that day for MVMCP, right? That is part of the fun reading same time TR - "Where was I right then?" We are up to about 12:45 PM in the story so far! Just settling into your hotel, right?

The "ant playground" is too young for your kids, but they might get a slight kick out of climbing around in there/some of the photo ops. I like the giant dog nose way up in the back myself!

I forget, did you guys get to see that show on your trip? When you go back, you should go again, and when they ask for volunteers, just around like a madwoman...they'd never expect you to do it! Of course with your pokey family you'll probably be sitting way in the back.

And the only way to ever get this secret out of me is to be at DHS rope drop with me...or buy me a few drinks would probably do the trick.

 

[FosterA]

I forget, did you guys get to see that show on your trip? When you go back, you should go again, and when they ask for volunteers, just around like a madwoman...they'd never expect you to do it! Of course with your pokey family you'll probably be sitting way in the back.

And the only way to ever get this secret out of me is to be at DHS rope drop with me...or buy me a few drinks would probably do the trick. [/QUOTE]



NO, we never did see the Indiana Show and I so wanted to! Just ran out of time. And you are so right...we would be sitting in the far back

Maybe you can auction off your secret on how to tackle HS and Toy Story to the highest bidder

 

[DisMomAmy]

We love the Indy show! We didn't make it there in November & the kids commented about it so we'll be sure to hit it in April.

We're going to head to Jedi Training sign up right at rope drop in April too. I hear you have to get on the list first thing. Seems like a pain but a much better way to do it in my opinion, especially as the mom of TWO boys. They wouldn't be very happy if one got chosen & the other didn't.

Happy New Year!

 

[skier_pete]

NO, we never did see the Indiana Show and I so wanted to! Just ran out of time. And you are so right...we would be sitting in the far back

Maybe you can auction off your secret on how to tackle HS and Toy Story to the highest bidder

Nope...no auction. The only way to get the secret from me is to meet us for rope drop. Let's pencil it in: November 16th, 2013, 8:30 AM!

We love the Indy show! We didn't make it there in November & the kids commented about it so we'll be sure to hit it in April.

We're going to head to Jedi Training sign up right at rope drop in April too. I hear you have to get on the list first thing. Seems like a pain but a much better way to do it in my opinion, especially as the mom of TWO boys. They wouldn't be very happy if one got chosen & the other didn't.

Happy New Year!

From what I hear that's the way to get the Jedi Training. Sign up at rope drop. DD doesn't seem to want to do it, though, so we've never bothered to try. She has TWO lightsabers now...so you think she'd have the interest. Oh well.

Almost back in the swing of things, hopefully I'll squeeze an update in this week.