*1/3 New Trip Report* Pole Dancing and Food Porn

[wigdoutdismom]

Shannon! They sure pixie dusted you bit time at the Poly, what a view! Amazing!!
Those have got to be the best pictures I have ever seen of the fireworks. I'll have to have you send me everything you take when we are on our cruise! I promise I'll give you credit!
The kids looked very cute for MNSSHP! You are such a planner, never thought of rolling and taping the outfits.....

 

[All7OfUs]

WOW! Those were some pretty amazing shots of Hallowishes!! Nice!

Don't ya just hate rude behavior?? Ugh!!

Great advice! Stay for the late parade and do attractions or characters earlier on. Think I'll do the same. But I agree there's probably not enough time to all the things they have to offer; so going with the attitude of whatever we DO get to do will be great!


Great update!!

 

[shannn]

Came to your trip report through your signature in another thread and I am loving it so far! Your kids are adorable.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. I didn't think my kids were so adorable when they were screaming at each other on the way to school today, but that's a whole 'nother story!

those were great pictures,and it gave me a great view of halloween at disney!
so awesome

Thanks. Halloween at Disney is so much fun!

Shann, I'm really enjoying your trip report. The Hallowishes pictures are AMAZING! Do you know what kind of camera your husband has and what setting he used?

I thought the Hallowishes pictures were great too. He has a Nikon D40 and he says he used a "wide open aperture" (whatever that means )
Funny story about his camera: when we were planning this trip he really wanted a new camera, but he just couldn't bring himself to pay $600 for a camera. We talked and talked about it, and I told him to just get one. The day after our long talk he came home with a bonus check from work. The amount? You guessed it. $600 -- it was meant to be!

AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME! What a perfect room with a perfect view! I know your little girl must have been overjoyed to open the curtains and see that! We have a 5 year old and her head probably would have spun off if she could have seen that from our room.

When we went to MNSSHP we did the same thing...waited to see the second parade and rode during the first parade. It was great!

Heathwood Hall Class of 1988 - we seem to have alot in common Shann!

And I am enjoying your trip report - thanks!!

It was an absolutely perfect room. I guess they figured that anyone who would be stupid enough to pay for 2 concierge rooms could have that view if it was available.

I was trying to think if I knew anyone that graduated from Heathwood, but I couldn't think of anyone. Oh well, '88 was a very good year. (We won't talk about what birthday that means we're celebrating next.)

Great photos!

The picture of Lily and the Evil Queen is great.

Thanks! I love that picture. The queen stayed in perfect character the whole time and Lily loved it!

Oh that view at the Poly brought a tear to my eye-AWESOME!! Great pics from MNSSHP! Sounds like such a fun night for all of you!

It was a great night once the rains decided move out!! Halloween at Disney is incredible!

 

[shannn]

Hello! I just found your trip report and got all caught up. I started reading because we are going to many of the same restaurants as you during our trip this Jan.

I totally understand about being a resort snob. We were actually originally going to stay at the Poly concierge too. That was when it was just going to be my husband, me, and our daughter. Then my husband's entire family decided to join and we are now staying at AKLV. I'm happy because I love them and we stayed at AKL last year...but I really will miss the Poly. I guess we'll have to wait until next time. I suppose next time the monorail will be even more important. My daughter will be 1 on our trip so she'll still be easy to tote around. haha (She is a very easy going little girl.)

Awesome picture of the Headless Horsemen. We have not gone to a Halloween Party but it is on my to do list for the next few years. Can't wait to read more!!!

There will be more dining reviews coming up. We were going to eat dinner OOP on Tuesday night, but we never did stop to eat. I think we ended up having Mickey bars and Doritos for dinner! Gotta love those snack credits!!

Sam wants to stay at AKL really badly. He is obsessed with the idea of seeing the animals from the balcony. I don't know if I can give up the monorail easily. We actually stayed at Beach Club when our kids were little, and we loved it too.

The Halloween party is so much fun, but we didn't do it until our kids were old enough to stay up pretty late.

Shannon! They sure pixie dusted you bit time at the Poly, what a view! Amazing!!
Those have got to be the best pictures I have ever seen of the fireworks. I'll have to have you send me everything you take when we are on our cruise! I promise I'll give you credit!
The kids looked very cute for MNSSHP! You are such a planner, never thought of rolling and taping the outfits.....

I have to admit that the room at the Poly was the room of my dreams!

I'm not the photographer in the family~ Sam is. But he swears he can teach me, and he's sending me with his camera in December. So I will give it my best.

Taping the outfits is the best. Now that Morgan can read (gotta tell you...just writing that gives me the chills! ) , he can find his outfits on his own and get himself dressed.

WOW! Those were some pretty amazing shots of Hallowishes!! Nice!

Don't ya just hate rude behavior?? Ugh!!

Great advice! Stay for the late parade and do attractions or characters earlier on. Think I'll do the same. But I agree there's probably not enough time to all the things they have to offer; so going with the attitude of whatever we DO get to do will be great!


Great update!!

Those people were so oblivious. I know people want to get a good shot, but they were right in the middle of all these parents & kids who had been patiently waiting and sitting on the ground.

The Halloween party plan really worked well. I know it's late, but I wouldn't pay for those tickets unless I could stay really late anyway. Yes, we missed things (no real character meetings and no trick or treating), but the experience was great anyway. We'll just have to go back!

 

[manntra]

WOW!! Those are great Hallowishes pictures! I was off to the side so I missed a lot of what was going on in front of the castle! I couldn't believe the end when the whole sky was lit up! Amazing!
You have THE BEST picture of the headless horseman! A friend of mine went a few weeks before me and I asked if there was anything they wanted or was there something they missed....he is an amazing photographer (he had taken over 2000 ) and the one thing he didn't get was a good picture of the HH. Well, I thought shouldn't be too hard a task for me I watched both parades and mine are blech! I have my sights on a Canon Rebel for May!
Love Lily's costume and Morgan's shirt was really cute!
I was at a PandP party in the rain once..with ponchos too!

Tracy

 

[princess_momma]

I followed you over from wigd's report!! All I can say is WOW WOW WOW, about EVERYTHING!! I'm being completely serious. If I had that awesome room with that perfect view, I think I would have to be DRAGGED out at the end of my vacation. No way I would EVER check out voluntarily!

Your pics of MNSSHP party are perfect! You got such great fireworks shots! You seriously had the perfect view!!

What is up with the evil queen's makeup? Wasn't she the fairest of them before Snow White came up? I just googled pics of her and her eye shadow is NOT that dramatic. Its really barely even noticeable! She looks like a clown there with that eye shadow!! Sounds like she was awesome though...don't you just love the villains? They are so in character but not mean!! Love them!!

Can't wait for more!!

 

[praisehisname]

I'm so glad I found your report! I'm loving it!

Great HalloWishes shots!!!

Denise

 

[ladybugmom]

Holy cow, my friend!! I'm gone for a few days and I've missed PAGES of updates!! I just read every one of them and loved it all!! I loved Lily's bows, Tink shirt, and Minnie dress & ears!! Sooo cute!! And that room at the Poly! WOW!!! Incredible!! I love reading about and seeing all the pics from the Halloween festivities! I want to go one year at Halloween!! It looks like so much fun!

 

[shannn]

WOW!! Those are great Hallowishes pictures! I was off to the side so I missed a lot of what was going on in front of the castle! I couldn't believe the end when the whole sky was lit up! Amazing!
You have THE BEST picture of the headless horseman! A friend of mine went a few weeks before me and I asked if there was anything they wanted or was there something they missed....he is an amazing photographer (he had taken over 2000 ) and the one thing he didn't get was a good picture of the HH. Well, I thought shouldn't be too hard a task for me I watched both parades and mine are blech! I have my sights on a Canon Rebel for May!
Love Lily's costume and Morgan's shirt was really cute!
I was at a PandP party in the rain once..with ponchos too!

Tracy

Hallowishes was amazingly beautiful. I wish I had room to show y'all all the fireworks shots he got. They go on and on. And I'll have some more later with shots of the castle at night. They're gorgeous too.

I told him that everybody had trouble getting pictures of the HH in the parade. He took that one and then shrugged at me. (smart***) I would be GLAD to share it with you. If you'll PM me your email address, I'll email it to you.

I followed you over from wigd's report!! All I can say is WOW WOW WOW, about EVERYTHING!! I'm being completely serious. If I had that awesome room with that perfect view, I think I would have to be DRAGGED out at the end of my vacation. No way I would EVER check out voluntarily!

Your pics of MNSSHP party are perfect! You got such great fireworks shots! You seriously had the perfect view!!

What is up with the evil queen's makeup? Wasn't she the fairest of them before Snow White came up? I just googled pics of her and her eye shadow is NOT that dramatic. Its really barely even noticeable! She looks like a clown there with that eye shadow!! Sounds like she was awesome though...don't you just love the villains? They are so in character but not mean!! Love them!!

Can't wait for more!!

I agree about the evil queen's makeup. She might have looked appropriate from the stage (at a long distance and all), but from closeup she is really rockin' a street walker look!!

It's so funny because Morgan really doesn't like the "bad guys" but Lily was all over it!

I'm so glad I found your report! I'm loving it!

Great HalloWishes shots!!!

Denise

I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Holy cow, my friend!! I'm gone for a few days and I've missed PAGES of updates!! I just read every one of them and loved it all!! I loved Lily's bows, Tink shirt, and Minnie dress & ears!! Sooo cute!! And that room at the Poly! WOW!!! Incredible!! I love reading about and seeing all the pics from the Halloween festivities! I want to go one year at Halloween!! It looks like so much fun!

Um...yea...I got on a roll this weekend. The outfits just keep on coming ~ keep reading! Let's just say that my ebay/etsy costs will not be on the final cost tally that I show Sam. He doesn't need to know! Halloween at Disney really is fun. It's my favorite time of year anyway. I would like to see the Flower Festival though. (and I'm looking forward to seeing Christmas!)

 

[bballdiva]

Joining in!!!!

 

[shannn]

Joining in!!!!

 

[manntra]

regarding your husband getting such a great shot of the HH! He did such a great job!
Can't wait to see your castle pictures too.....I feel that we missed a lot having watched both parades....but then I really liked the parade! If Space Mountain was open we would have even had less time looking around!!

I think this was the perfect time of year to go....extended summer and so many fun things going on....MNSSHP, F&W.....loved it!

Tracy

 

[shannn]

So, after our night at the Halloween party, I thought we'd have a hard time getting up the next morning, but it didn't happen that way at all! When I woke everyone up around 7:00 we were all raring to go and check out Hollywood Studios.

The kids' outfits this day were some of my favorites from the moment I saw them on etsy. As soon as Lily saw her new shirt, she wanted Princess Leia hair so I had to figure that out as well! I ended up putting her hair into 2 pigtails and then twirling them and putting them up with bobby pins. This picture was taken with my phone so it's not the greatest quality, but you can see how cute their shirts are.

We went and had our breakfast in the lounge and then headed out to the bus stop. We weren't sure where it was, and discovered that it would have been nearer if we hadn't gone through the Great Ceremonial House. (should have looked at the map better....) We eventually arrived at the bus stop and had to wait for the bus to DHS.

(My bag looks horrible hanging like that (I do know how to sit in polite company) but it felt safer like that to me!)

We got to DHS around 8:30. I was most nervous about this because I thought we would hurry to Toy Story Midway Mania and ride it first. Unfortunately, the place to rent ECVs was inside the park at DHS and Grammie couldn't get it until we got inside. They let us inside around 8:45 when the park looked like this.

But the grandmothers just happened to have gotten behind in line (I don't know how?) and I was so anxious waiting for them and watching the crowd at the rope get bigger and bigger. Finally, I made the decision that I would just go and run for fast passes instead of going straight to TSMM to ride. I told everyone else to go ride Star Tours and I'd meet them there.

Then I wormed myself as close to the front of the crowd as I could get. I was kind of at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard. I watched the rope drop ceremony (which I have to admit I think is the weakest of the ceremonies.) This crowd pictures were taken by Sam from close to the back of the crowd.

I was at the front of the crowd rushing toward TSMM while they were casually walking to ride Star Tours and taking these pictures:

Here's what was happening to me during this time. The crowd hurrying toward TSMM was amazing! I was toward the front part of the line and ended up about 10 back at one of the fast pass machines. My return time at that point was 9:50. As I worked my way by the front of TSMM to head to Star Tours, the line to get into TSMM was down the street to the giant Coke.

I headed over to Star Tours to meet them and browsed in the shop until they got finished. It was really hot this day and I was enjoyed the air conditioning along with picking up lots of things I wanted to buy! They enjoyed their trip and luckily returned back safely.

We headed off to Muppet Vision 3D, one of my very favorites! (I don't know why Sam didn't get any pictures of the fountain. ) I absolutely love the Muppets!! Behind MuppetVision we took a few pictures with good ol' Kermie.

The plan was to head over to the Little Mermaid show at this point, but in front of TSMM we ran into the Green Army Men. They were recruiting people for basic training and the kids jumped right in. They practiced marching, saluting, and those kind of things; but the CMs really made this great. They were fabulous actors and the kids loved it.

Morgan's comment: "That was SOOOOO cool!!"

When basic training was over, We headed to Toy Story Midway Mania. I was so excited to experience this. We jumped into the fast pass line. Grammie was so excited that she ran over Sam's foot on the way through. (I probably shouldn't have laughed but it was funny....)

When we got to the fast pass place, they sent us up another ramp because of ECV. We were the 2nd party in line so I thought this would be a short wait. Not so much. You actually have to wait for the car to come back that the last handicapped group was in.

OKAY, I have to tell you. I was told before we did this that we should ride and get fast passes. I really didn't believe that we would want to ride anything twice. Sorry for the shouting....THIS RIDE IS WORTH THE HYPE!!! We loved it. I've already decided to get the Wii game for the kids for Christmas. As soon as we left TSMM, we got more fast passes! Our return time was 2:50. (This changed my plan a bit, but it was soooo worth it.)

Continued in the next post.

 

[shannn]

I was excited to head over to the Magic of Disney Animation and see who we could meet. I didn't think my kids would be patient enough for the animation class so we just went in through the store and went into the character meet area. The kids ran to the coloring area and I went to stand in the line for Sorcerer Mickey (because he had just taken a break). We waited a few minutes until he came out and then to kids came and joined me in line.

I went and joined in.

We went next to meet the UP characters. We have a golden retriever named Maggie and when we saw UP we started calling her Dug. Here's our Maggie:

So my kids were excited to meet Dug.

We made our way toward the Indiana Jones show, which Morgan was so thrilled about~ he is completely in love with the IJ movies and couldn't wait to see it in person.

Morgan's comment says it all:
"That was the most awesome thing ever. Better than anything ever on TV~ except Star Wars~"

Coming up next: 50's Prime Time Cafe

 

[mom2meiko]

yay! great updates! love the awesome pics! keep 'em coming!

 

[MaryAz]

Great updates, I also graduated in 88.....
Sam is quite a photographer. I just bought the D60 and am learning...
I really want to go at Halloween now.

 

[misskate]

Those UP characters are adorable! Great update. Can't wait to hear about 50's Prime Time!

I'm also glad to read someone honestly say TSMM is worth the rush and the hype. I've been skeptical about the whole having the rush the FP line and try and beat everyone...Guess I'll be reconsidering!

 

[kate_wdw]

Shann, could you try to explain what makes TSMM so awesome? It doesn't sound like the sort of thing my party would be interested in riding more than once (all of us are adults and none of us are really into Toy Story or video games), but it's so popular that I'm wondering if I should incorporate it into my touring plan twice.

Thanks!

 

[ladybugmom]

LOVE the Star Wars shirts!! And what great character interactions!! We didn't ride TSMM on our trip--looks like we need to do it next time!!

 

[Dizneydawn]

(You can also see in this picture that my mom has ditched her "winter hair" (wig) and gone for the au naturale look.
You made it sound like she was molting!

My requests on my PIP sheet read as follows:

"We’d love love love a balcony, but the adjoining or (preferably) connecting room request is more important. My 5 year old daughter would love to be able to see “Cinderella’s house” out our window! "
Kay so I sound like a Dis virgin but WTHades is a PIP sheet?

Shann, could you try to explain what makes TSMM so awesome? It doesn't sound like the sort of thing my party would be interested in riding more than once (all of us are adults and none of us are really into Toy Story or video games), but it's so popular that I'm wondering if I should incorporate it into my touring plan twice.

Thanks!

I will hijack this and answer for you. If you hate the answer - ask someone else!

Toy Story is not about the movie or arcade games. It is a ride that makes you competitive even if you wear Mr. Rogers loafers and Mrs. Doubtfire bloomers.

You ride in car that places you in front of different scenes and you blast the Cr@p out of the bullseyes. You pull a trigger knob as fast as if it were attached to Osama bin Laden's life support system and pray you don't have the aim of the three blind mice.

You feel like you are in an arcade reality world - old school yet very modern. Not watching it from a distance but actually a part of it. Almost like you are in a cartoon of an carnival at a local county fair.

It is not easy to explain how it feels and maybe it will not be for you - but I don't know a person who does not love it. The graphics are amazing and the there is not a chance you will not laugh at yourself or others.


Hey girl! I got all caught up tonight and love to have a picture of the lady behind the name! You make me laugh and I love the way you write! Can't wait for more and I need to finish mine before I start the next one! Pressure!!!