The Dream is over, but I don't want to wake up...Sailing into a New Year

[perfectmatch300]

Your daughter looked beautiful in her kimono! Thanks for sharing her pictures.

I haven't read your previous review from waaaay back in 2007, so I don't know the story. It sure does sound like a good story! I'd be willing to go back and read it if you would be kind enough to post a link for this slacker to go find it.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Your daughter looked beautiful in her kimono! Thanks for sharing her pictures.

I haven't read your previous review from waaaay back in 2007, so I don't know the story. It sure does sound like a good story! I'd be willing to go back and read it if you would be kind enough to post a link for this slacker to go find it.

Thank you. She thinks so too.

I read your old report too and don't quite remember the gorillas...I understand completely that you want to punish Drew, but at least give us the link so it doesn't take some of us a long time to find it again!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1569813

A link just for you since you requested it ad since we share the same birthday.
For a summary of what happened for the lazy folks....In 2007 the cruise was perfect, but prior to the cruise we did all the parks. Well there were two incidents that really upset me and to tell the truth I wasn't even going to go back to the parks because of them. One had to do with the EPCOT and CMs at Mexico . The other in the Nemo show had to do with a GORILLA guest threatening my wife and how the CM handled it. In the end with the help of a friend(who you will meet this TR) I contacted Disney. We recieved an apology letter, tickets for future use and a gift card.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

AHOY CREW!! DID YOU FORGET THAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING FOR WHOEVER STOLE ME FAVORITE MUSTACHE COMB. WELL I HAD SMEE CHECK ME DRESSING ROOM THAT I USE FOR THE VILLAINS SHOW ON THE DREAM. NO COMB, BUT HE FOUND WHITE FUR WHITE FUR WHICH HE SAID SMELLED LIKE A WET DOG. NOW GET BUSY FIND THE SCALAWAG SO I CAN MAKE THEM WALK THE PLANK.

 

[WickedDreamer]

Just started reading along, can't wait to hear about the cruise! I understand bout the flights costs too, flights from Australia can be really pricey, and are. Ormolu out biggest expense. We normally just stay off site or at a DTD hotel.

Post trip blues are the worst, it's been hard for us the past few weeks Fter coming back from a cruise and Disney World. We stayed for 6 weeks that trip nd still didn't get enough Disney! But that's why we book the next trip

Shannon

 

[DisneyZell]

AHOY CREW!! DID YOU FORGET THAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING FOR WHOEVER STOLE ME FAVORITE MUSTACHE COMB. WELL I HAD SMEE CHECK ME DRESSING ROOM THAT I USE FOR THE VILLAINS SHOW ON THE DREAM. NO COMB, BUT HE FOUND WHITE FUR WHITE FUR WHICH HE SAID SMELLED LIKE A WET DOG. NOW GET BUSY FIND THE SCALAWAG SO I CAN MAKE THEM WALK THE PLANK.

So I'll be honest...when I see this I hear in my head dark and foreboding music...Not sure how you do that Wally. But it's impressive.

As I only get one guess I'm going to remain on the sidelines...for now. muhahahaha!

 

[DisneyZell]

Thank you. She thinks so too.



http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1569813

A link just for you since you requested it ad since we share the same birthday.
For a summary of what happened for the lazy folks....In 2007 the cruise was perfect, but prior to the cruise we did all the parks. Well there were two incidents that really upset me and to tell the truth I wasn't even going to go back to the parks because of them. One had to do with the EPCOT and CMs at Mexico . The other in the Nemo show had to do with a GORILLA guest threatening my wife and how the CM handled it. In the end with the help of a friend(who you will meet this TR) I contacted Disney. We recieved an apology letter, tickets for future use and a gift card.

I found it...here is the link to the page:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1569813&page=15

It's about 1/2 way down.

To totally remember the glasses incident but not this one. Not sure why? Perhaps I was so traumatized by reading it I blocked it out?

Anyway, I do believe that encountering people like that make you appreciate the normal ones in life. I can tell you as a football coach it is amazing the number of kids with chips on their shoulders and who feel like they have to lash out at *any* attack on them, perceived or otherwise. I think it's sad because a lot of that comes down to how these kids are raised. Now I'm certainly not a perfect dad...but someone needs to set these people straight...but for most there is no such thing!

now back to our regular scheduled programming...no one wants to hear from me.

DZ

 

[pepe3penelope]

Oh my goodness! I totally read ur 2007 WDW TR and will start the Wonder TR later tonight! So sorry about Epcot Mexico and the Nemo Guerilla. soooooo happy ur family became grand Marshall's. Awesome experience!

 

[pepe3penelope]

Wow!!! I've just finished reading about your 2007 WDW TR & Disney Wonder TR! I couldn't stop and I even shared several stories with my DH! You were so great at describing your comings and goings. We live in southern califirnia. We are fortunate enough to have grown up here. I feel like we have Disney in our blood. We have a DD 6 years old and a DS 2 1/2 years old. We are disneyland passholders. Someday we hope to go to WDW. We went on our 1st DCL on Wonder October 2012 when it had a California coast cruise. We went June 2012 on Disney fantasy on a western caribbean itinerary. DCL is so magical. So many fond memories!! Your family is so beautiful. You're such a romantic and sentimental!!! I live how you wanted to make this such an amazing trip for them. They are so lucky to have you! Your life for your wife is so evident. By the way, would you mind explaining how the two of you met? Can't wait to hear the rest of your report!

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Just started reading along, can't wait to hear about the cruise! I understand bout the flights costs too, flights from Australia can be really pricey, and are. Ormolu out biggest expense. We normally just stay off site or at a DTD hotel.

Post trip blues are the worst, it's been hard for us the past few weeks Fter coming back from a cruise and Disney World. We stayed for 6 weeks that trip nd still didn't get enough Disney! But that's why we book the next trip

Shannon

I would love to be able to stay for 6 weeks, but I ca't take that much time off work.

I found it...here is the link to the page:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1569813&page=15

It's about 1/2 way down.

To totally remember the glasses incident but not this one. Not sure why? Perhaps I was so traumatized by reading it I blocked it out?

Anyway, I do believe that encountering people like that make you appreciate the normal ones in life. I can tell you as a football coach it is amazing the number of kids with chips on their shoulders and who feel like they have to lash out at *any* attack on them, perceived or otherwise. I think it's sad because a lot of that comes down to how these kids are raised. Now I'm certainly not a perfect dad...but someone needs to set these people straight...but for most there is no such thing!

now back to our regular scheduled programming...no one wants to hear from me.

DZ

What amazes me is after 15 years of living in Japan how much safer I feel here. I would be less nervous walking trough Tokyo at night than I do walking in Down Town Disney.

Wow!!! I've just finished reading about your 2007 WDW TR & Disney Wonder TR! I couldn't stop and I even shared several stories with my DH! You were so great at describing your comings and goings. We live in southern califirnia. We are fortunate enough to have grown up here. I feel like we have Disney in our blood. We have a DD 6 years old and a DS 2 1/2 years old. We are disneyland passholders. Someday we hope to go to WDW. We went on our 1st DCL on Wonder October 2012 when it had a California coast cruise. We went June 2012 on Disney fantasy on a western caribbean itinerary. DCL is so magical. So many fond memories!! Your family is so beautiful. You're such a romantic and sentimental!!! I live how you wanted to make this such an amazing trip for them. They are so lucky to have you! Your life for your wife is so evident. By the way, would you mind explaining how the two of you met? Can't wait to hear the rest of your report!

Well to make a long story short. I was a teacher and my wife was an adult student at the school I was teaching. I was going through a really hard time.... an ugly divorce from my first wife and just being diagnosed with CML. Kiyomi became my best friend who would listen over a simple lunch. With time and lot's of patience that friendship grew. Sometimes we forget how we started and then we need to take a step back and remember that we are still best friends.

 

[Linda67]

Just found your TR and am loving it so far
The kimono your daughter was wearing is just stunning
Very excited to read about the rest of your trip

 

[DisneyZell]

I would love to be able to stay for 6 weeks, but I ca't take that much time off work.



What amazes me is after 15 years of living in Japan how much safer I feel here. I would be less nervous walking trough Tokyo at night than I do walking in Down Town Disney.



Well to make a long story short. I was a teacher and my wife was an adult student at the school I was teaching. I was going through a really hard time.... an ugly divorce from my first wife and just being diagnosed with CML. Kiyomi became my best friend who would listen over a simple lunch. With time and lot's of patience that friendship grew. Sometimes we forget how we started and then we need to take a step back and remember that we are still best friends.

True words my friend. I think one of the reasons there are so many divorces is people don't recognize the #1 thing you have to have in a relationship. ..friendship. I'm lucky. ..my best friend? She lives with me and sleeps in the bed next to me. We don't always agree with each other but to have someone you can always count on? Priceless.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Ok this is not going to be a long update. I'm just going to get us inside the park and on our way to what was a nice day all around. This is the only day that the weather pretty much cooperated, although Florida being Florida we did have an afternoon shower.
Before ever leaving Japan I had set some very simple goals for the Animal Kingdom. The main goal was to make sure Kiyomi enjoyed her favorite park, but I did have sub goals of seeing Flights of Wonder bird presentation and making it to Raffikis planet preservation area....I had never seen either of these. Did i make it....well you will have to stay tuned as that part will not make this update.

As we entered the park I gave everyone a basic rundown of plans. I had to meet someone in Down Town Disney at 5:30 for some pin trading. Therefore I planned on leaving AK before 5:00.



Let our day begin...We entered the park and headed down the middle paths looking at the Tree of life where Bug's life is located. Before we got too deep into the park we saw a short line which CMs identified as the line to get fastpasses for the day. The new system let you book 3 fastpasses for the whole day without waiting in line at fast pass spots. Well we hopped in the line and everyone left the planning up to me. I will say that we got lucky since it was early and the system worked well for us, but later in the day as the park got crowded I saw alot of problems and disorganized areas.
I chose Kilamanjiro Safaris, Dinosaur and Expedition Everest as our fast passes. the system then let me choose from 4 time options. I chose option D which was perfect for us....9:30-10:30 Dinosaur...10:30-11:30 Everest and 12:15-1:15 Safaris. This worked great and except for the last FP we were on the attraction in a flash.
Ok back it up before we get there. It was still early....around 8:30 I believe, so we started for Bug's life.





This tree still amazes me and the craftmanship that went into it is incredible. Did you know its actual an old oil rig?

Ok life is pretty hectic at the moment so thats it for tonight.

 

[NickyKnack]

Syrup dipped bacon where have you been all my life?? I actually had permission to give it a try for this meal and it was a sweet, crispy sensation beyond description, atleast using family friendly Disney words that are allowed on disboards. I would have this wonderful new discovery several more times on vacation, but the wife doesn't know about how many times. Her words..."A heart attack waiting to happen."

You have to try a Bacon Sundae! Vanilla Ice Cream, Caramel Topping, Candied Pecans & Crumbled up Bacon. If you'd rather you can also sub the Caramel with Syrup. This is my favorite sundae on earth.

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Sounds like something that needs investigating. Next time the wife goes out with friends.

 

[DisneyZell]

Ok this is not going to be a long update. I'm just going to get us inside the park and on our way to what was a nice day all around. This is the only day that the weather pretty much cooperated, although Florida being Florida we did have an afternoon shower.
Before ever leaving Japan I had set some very simple goals for the Animal Kingdom. The main goal was to make sure Kiyomi enjoyed her favorite park, but I did have sub goals of seeing Flights of Wonder bird presentation and making it to Raffikis planet preservation area....I had never seen either of these. Did i make it....well you will have to stay tuned as that part will not make this update.

As we entered the park I gave everyone a basic rundown of plans. I had to meet someone in Down Town Disney at 5:30 for some pin trading. Therefore I planned on leaving AK before 5:00.



Let our day begin...We entered the park and headed down the middle paths looking at the Tree of life where Bug's life is located. Before we got too deep into the park we saw a short line which CMs identified as the line to get fastpasses for the day. The new system let you book 3 fastpasses for the whole day without waiting in line at fast pass spots. Well we hopped in the line and everyone left the planning up to me. I will say that we got lucky since it was early and the system worked well for us, but later in the day as the park got crowded I saw alot of problems and disorganized areas.
I chose Kilamanjiro Safaris, Dinosaur and Expedition Everest as our fast passes. the system then let me choose from 4 time options. I chose option D which was perfect for us....9:30-10:30 Dinosaur...10:30-11:30 Everest and 12:15-1:15 Safaris. This worked great and except for the last FP we were on the attraction in a flash.
Ok back it up before we get there. It was still early....around 8:30 I believe, so we started for Bug's life.





This tree still amazes me and the craftmanship that went into it is incredible. Did you know its actual an old oil rig?

Ok life is pretty hectic at the moment so thats it for tonight.

um...ack...uh...HEY, you can't do that! You are like an old fashioned serial writer...dribble a little at a time! I won't say it's a cliffhanger..and you *did* warn us that it was short but come on!

 

[mickeymac202]

You have to try a Bacon Sundae! Vanilla Ice Cream, Caramel Topping, Candied Pecans & Crumbled up Bacon. If you'd rather you can also sub the Caramel with Syrup. This is my favorite sundae on earth.

This makes me wanna run out to Baskin Robbins right now.

 

[kandeebunny]

*waves* HI WALLY!

 

[NickyKnack]

This makes me wanna run out to Baskin Robbins right now.

I had my first one ever at Denny's and it was awesome. That was back when it was still on the menu. Now our regular waitress makes me a caramel sundae with the candy pecans, and adds a 99 cent side of bacon.

 

[lilyheartsdance]

Great TR! Absolutely amazing!

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Sorry for the delay. It seems after every vacation life throws you a curve ball. O well let's get back to te good memories.

We left It's a Bug's Life with all the other honorary bugs. I really enjoyed the show even though I had seen it before. Tomo and Shu seemed to like it for their first attraction in WDW. As we exited I noticed a sign that said meet Mickey and Minnie and there was only a 15 minute wait. That short of a wait is unheard of in Tokyo Disney. On top of that I knew Maki's favorite character is Mickey. So we jumped in line and waited....and waited...and waited. It was only about 20 minutes but felt like forever. Going into the meeting room we saw Mickey and Minnie were wearing winter outfits. Maki and Hidemi were VERY excited...they went a little crazy and we had to take pictures with everybodys cameras and get autographs. To be honest I was a bit excited also. I wish it was Goofy, but to see te looks on my friends faces was priceless. I was thinking to myself..."How old are we?"



Minnie is looking at Shuichi's birthday badge. His birthday was 12/23 and mine was 12/29. I got us birthday badges and we wore them te first three days which REALLY paid off for us, but especially was good for him. The CMs were great at saying Happy Birthday and gave him a little extra attention that made him feel special. We also got more free cake than we could eat, but that's getting ahead of myself again.