1 crazy family+2 resorts+5 parks+1 snake+1 surprise=A Mickeystoontown report 4/3x2

[mickeystoontown]

I love your ride pics at DHS!

Jesse and Lacey's shirts look great

When we saw the gorillas a male was eating some kind of leafy green vegetable and the baby came up behind him and threw dirt on his food. He did it a couple times and finally the male got mad and turned around and grabbed her and bit her on the back. It only slowed her down for a minute.

Oh my word! Sounds like that baby ticked off the male big time!

Way, Way, Way, Way, WAY Behind!!!

But I'm going to start digging my way out

It's okay Dee, I keep my shovel with me at all times 'cause I'm always having to dig my way out.

Dust:

Apparently the Hollywood Hotel uses the same cleaning service as the owners of the Haunted Mansion.



You got some great pictures in the queue there. Love the one of the light fixture on the ceiling and of the lobby. We are usually moving through there pretty quickly, so my pictures are often blurry.

We use Fastpass a lot just so nobody can chicken out so I rarely see the details either.

Did I miss it? How did Hunter do?

He manned up and did great even though he hates drops.

Those Darth Chocolate cupcakes look incredible. I am usually not a huge cupcake fan, but Disney certainly knows what it is doing when it comes to this treat.

John thinks that "cupcakes are the dumbest things ever". Sounds real grown up doesn't it?

Gangsta/Alien:

It really is tough getting pictures on The Great Movie Ride! It's so dark and the movement of the tram does not help. Even still, great picture of the Alien (is that the one on the side?) and the pictures form the Wizard of Oz scenes are spectacular. Love the ones of Munchkinland and Emerald City.

I was actually pretty surprised that any of my Great Movie Ride pics came out. Yes, that was the alien that was coming from the ceiling (and was not centered in the pic)

The collection of movie clips at the end of the attraction is really well done. Always makes me smile.


Catastrophe:

That Little Mermaid picture IS beautiful!

I'm not a super girly girl but I loved that picture.

Bummer that the preshow to the Back Lot Tour was not operating. We love that part and because of lightning in the area, they weren't running it when we were there either.

Hunter was once chosen as the guy who had all the water dumped on him and we smile every time we see someone else going through the same experience.

The AFI props in the dump shop at the end of the ride are so interesting!

I wish that I had more time to really look around in there.

Tourist

No, I have not noticed the eyeballs in the light fixture in the Muppets queue. Thanks for pointing them out. Good eye, Lisa!

There are a lot of "funny" touches in the Muppetivision line to the right of the building.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sorry that I haven't posted much since my last onslaught of updates. We've been having a bit of medical issues on the homefront and, of course, the usual holiday rush. The bossman has court this afternoon and I'm hoping that I can get at least one installment written and posted.

 

[mickeystoontown]

You gotta elephant and I gotta rock! What a rip!

It was time to use our Kilimanjaro Safari Fastpasses so we hightailed it over and got in the line. We were soon settled in our safari vehicle and were on our two week safari. As usual, I gave Hunter a camera and I had one so that we could capture all of the sights around us. The following pictures are our combined pics:













It became apparent after a while, that I got the short end of the stick, or seat in this case. My pictures turned out quite crappy while Hunter’s were quite lovely.






My side:





Hunter’s side:



I got a pictures of behinds:



Hunter got full-on giraffe:



I got a picture of the side of the truck:



Hunter got an elephant:



I got a rickety bridge:



Hunter gets another elephant:



I get a rock:



**Continued in next post!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hunter gets a look at a cheetah:



AND He gets a picture of the lion:



I get another rock:



AND a rock with the backend of a lion:



Oh and let’s not forget the fabulous view that I had of a log:



Wait! We’re not done! Hunter gets a perfect shot of the rhinos:





I was able to get a picture of an ostrich:



This guy was right beside our vehicle, on Hunter’s side of course:





Don’t let my pictures fool ya. All of us really enjoyed the safari and the animals were really out and about that morning. Gotta love a morning safari. Kind of makes a person hungry!

**Up next: Pizza! Acid! & Stinky Farts

 

[lovethattink]

I hope the medical issues aren't anything serious. I think I missed part of your update.

 

[lovethattink]

Great Safari pictures. You remind me of Charlie Brown.

 

[GrammyJudy]

I love the safari and like it even more now that they removed the cheesy poached story and fake elephant.

 

[KatMark]

Lisa, I think I caught all of the updates.

I LOVE your Studio Photopass pictures...they are great.

The t-shirts Lacey made are really cute.

WOW...that is a lot of people. I hope that is NOT what I am going to see in May when we are there.

Great gorilla pictures.

And Hunter got some terrific safari pictures.

I hope whatever illness your family is facing is not serious.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Great Safari pictures. You remind me of Charlie Brown.

That's what I thought of immediately too! Poor Charlie Brown! Poor Lisa!

I love the safari and like it even more now that they removed the cheesy poached story and fake elephant.

Yeah, the storyline was a little cheesy, especially after hearing it so many times. Are you going to be doing a trip report? I'd love to see the pictures!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I hope the medical issues aren't anything serious. I think I missed part of your update.

We aren't sure yet but I'll share as soon as we know.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Lisa, I think I caught all of the updates.

I LOVE your Studio Photopass pictures...they are great.

The t-shirts Lacey made are really cute.

WOW...that is a lot of people. I hope that is NOT what I am going to see in May when we are there.

Great gorilla pictures.

And Hunter got some terrific safari pictures.

I hope whatever illness your family is facing is not serious.

Welcome back Kathy! Just think.....you still have a Disney countdown going!

I gotta warn ya, May can get pretty busy. I'm hoping that the new Fastpass+ system is easy to use since we've always done great with the regular Fastpasses.

Thanks! We hope to find out what's going on soon.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Pizza! Acid! & Stinky Farts

Once we were done with the safari, we ducked into one of the nearby shops to look around a little. There wasn’t anything specific that we were looking for. We just wanted to stop so we did. After a little window shopping, we realized that we were all hungry. I bet you can never ever guess where we went. Go ahead. Guess!

We saw these as we were walking to our destination:



Figure it out yet? No? Yes? Maybe? We were on our way to Pizzafari. Now, in Hunter’s defense, Pizzafari wasn’t solely his decision. It was on the way to our next attraction. It was air conditioned. It has a lot of seating. This was definitely a majority decision.

The guys told us what they wanted and we sent them off to find a table while we waited in line. No need to clog the line with more people than necessary. Our orders were placed and our food came out quickly. Soon, we were seated in the camo (I tried spelling camofl....camofl....camoflage...and spell check said it was wrong every single time) room.

Cheese pizza with caesar side salad, a drink and chocolate mousse dessert:



Jesse’s vegetable and pasta salad and a cheesecake in a glass with a citrus glaze on top:



John’s hot italian sandwich with chips:



I ordered a chicken caesar salad but I don’t see the pic in photobucket. I believe that Mama and Lacey ordered the same cheeze pizza with salad as Hunter did. (‘cept Hunter gave his salad and dessert to John)

Some of the paintings on the camo room walls:





There are numerous hidden Mickeys on the walls of the restaurant and we seem to find a different one each trip. After we were done, we made our way to our next attraction but, first, Lacey had to take a call from a co-worker who had just been hired before they left for Disney. She had told the girl to call her if she ran into any snags and she did. So, while Lacey was taking her call, I took pictures of some of the pretty flowers:





Do you spy what I spy?



Phone call completed, we entered the line for It’s Tough To Be A Bug which had just a 10 minute wait:



One of my custom backsacks making an appearance:



The carvings on the Tree of Life never cease to amaze me. There must have been hours and hours of work done to create such a beauty as the Tree.





Every since that darn limb fell out, there’s netting around the tree and it blocks your view:







We walked quite a ways before we encountered the end of the line and had to stop:

 

[mickeystoontown]

We didn’t have to stand in line for long though and were soon picking up our 3D glasses and moving into the theater where this little guy made an appearance:



Okay, so that was a crappy picture of Flik but it’s him introducing the show. I tried to take a few non-flash pictures during the show and most didn’t turn out very well but a few were decent:



No! No! No! Not the acid spitting terminator!



Look out! He’s gonna blow!





Hopper had to get in on the action as well:



Ahhhh, It’s Tough To Be A Bug is always fun to see! Who can get enough acorn throwing, acid spitting, stinky fart making bugs?

**Up next: Remember that time when his hair caught on fire? I do!

 

[KatMark]

We were there a few days of May last year and it was crowded, but not unbearably so. Obviously, I've not started my TR yet, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised how well our MB's and the FP+ worked for us.

We ate at Pizzafari on the first girls' trip. I am NOT a fan of Florida pizza, but this wasn't too bad.

We missed "It's Tough to be a Bug" in August and I'm not sure why???? And we don't do it on the girls' trips because the girls would not like it at all. I will be sure to see it in September.

 

[mickeystoontown]

We were there a few days of May last year and it was crowded, but not unbearably so. Obviously, I've not started my TR yet, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised how well our MB's and the FP+ worked for us.

We ate at Pizzafari on the first girls' trip. I am NOT a fan of Florida pizza, but this wasn't too bad.

We missed "It's Tough to be a Bug" in August and I'm not sure why???? And we don't do it on the girls' trips because the girls would not like it at all. I will be sure to see it in September.

I'm more than happy to hear that the magic bands worked out well for ya'll. I am anxious to hear about your experiences.

I'm not a big fan of Florida pizza either but Pizzafari will do in a pinch.

 

[Clarf]

Great updates! I'm sorry you got the short end of the stick on the safari, but Hunter got some great pics. And I love your Charlie Brown reference.

I love It's Tough to be a Bug. My kids? Not so much. They hated it and cried while my husband and I laughed hysterically at them. Great parenting, huh?

I hope whatever the medical issue you've been dealing with is turns out okay.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Remember that time when his hair caught on fire? I do!

The last time that Mama went to the Animal Kingdom with us, she got sick. It had rained on and off and it was steamy hot. We had put ponchos on and took ponchos off. When it came time to stand in line for Festival of the Lion King, it had stopped raining and the misters were still on and she got wet and ended up with a nasty cough. This time, we had lucked out and it hadn’t rained. Since we were not far from the Camp Minnie Mickey entrance and another Festival of the Lion King showing was just starting, we went that way. Apparently, I stopped long enough to take a picture of the Tree of Life:





And a flower:



It’s kind of sad that they never made the land of the mythical creatures but yet there are little touches of them here and there:



I don’t know if the line wasn’t open yet or if somebody made a pit stop (probably me and I handed the camera off to somebody else) but here’s a picture of the kiddos sitting around:



Moving towards the theater:



Instead of going into the theater the “normal” way, we were directed to the top of the theater and we were already halfway up the bleachers. The show started soon after we were seated and “move all the way down!” Gosh, if I had a nickle for every time a CM said that, I’d be a rich woman.

It was a packed house:





Picture taking from our vantage point was horrible. The lights would flash in our eyes and, of course, it always happened to be on or near me when I was trying to take a picture. These are the best that I could get:










Love me some tumble monkeys! Love ‘em!





Then the fire twirler guy came out:



Remember that time when his hair caught on fire? I do! Like we wouldn’t remember a Disney castmember who had a fire on his head? He was lying down on his back and swept his blazing baton thingamabob under him and his hair caught on fire! We must have been some of the only ones who saw it because there was no audible gasp in the theater and he put it out quickly. I’ll never forget that.



The singers in Festival of The Lion King are fantastic! We all love them! I say that but I must say that Mama said they were too loud. I swear, my Mama has the ears of a....the ears of a....what animal has good hearing? Well, whatever it is...Mama’s hearing is better than that animal. Loud noises and Mama don’t mix well.











Yet another spectacular performance of Festival of the Lion King! I hated to read that it will be closed during our May, 2014 trip but that’s just another reason to go back in 2015. Like we really need a reason?

**Up next: Nothing like a chunk of red meat to get the juices flowing!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Great updates! I'm sorry you got the short end of the stick on the safari, but Hunter got some great pics. And I love your Charlie Brown reference.

I love It's Tough to be a Bug. My kids? Not so much. They hated it and cried while my husband and I laughed hysterically at them. Great parenting, huh?

I hope whatever the medical issue you've been dealing with is turns out okay.

I gotta rock! Oh poor Charlie Brown!

Your parenting skills sound much like our's. Just this weekend, I put a garbage bag over Hunter's face while I was pestering him. Then, about an hour later (without John having a clue what I had done), John put a towel on Hunter's head. Hunter just laughed and said "Why are ya'll trying to smother me?" Ahhhhh, I love that kid!

I am hoping that we find out the results soon and I'll share as soon as we do.

 

[KatMark]

Seriously, I have other TR's to get caught up on.

I understand that NOT only will it be clsoed while we are there, that major changes and casting changes will be made.

I find it hard to get pictures in there no matter where I sit. For momma, the next time bring her some ear plugs. I see a lot of kids with those that cannot handle the loudness.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Seriously, I have other TR's to get caught up on.

I understand that NOT only will it be clsoed while we are there, that major changes and casting changes will be made.

I find it hard to get pictures in there no matter where I sit. For momma, the next time bring her some ear plugs. I see a lot of kids with those that cannot handle the loudness.

Hey, when the boss is in court, I gotta get to writing.

Casting change too? Oh no! Some of the performers have been there forever.

Mama's hearing is super sensitive. She can be in her house and hear a limb drop. I'm around John all of the time and he's hard of hearing because of working around machine all of his life. So, I'm used to talking loud and being around loud televisions and radios.