1st Trip (of many!) as Mr. & Mrs.--the TR-- UPDATE 9/9: Life Update--We're Moving!!

[cdotla]

Great update!

I completely agree with you - it *does* look like they manipulated your hand (whether intentional or not) when they put Tink on there. Maybe they do it with children's hands and forgot to turn off that function with yours? Or maybe it is just the angle? But it is a cute picture though!

Now I am off to vote for Michael!

 

[sbprincess]

Okay, so I'll fess up - I've been "lurking" on your TR for a few weeks now but have never commented. I wanted to let you know I have really enjoyed how funny you and your husband are together. Your style of updating has really kept my interest too!

I just voted for your husband! I really like Jars of Clay too so I hope you guys win.

Anyways, keep the entertaining updates coming! I love 'em!

 

[princess_momma]

Hey Kimmy! Thanks so much!! They're so fun to write. Oh gosh--me too. I wish I was ANYWHERE in Disney World right now. Michael has said "I wish we were back at Disney World" soo many times lately. It's just great being there, without having to worry about real life, and just being kids and enjoying ourselves. Oh I know! It's not the most "thrilling" of the roller-coasters, but it definitely has the best theming ever! Haha--I'll tell him that. He had it as his FB profile pic for a long time. He's such a goof. YAY! I'd love to be friends with your youth pastor. Too bad we're forever away. Did I tell you that was one of the pics we framed when I finally put pictures in our frames last week? We love it. Aw, thanks! I don't think they're THAT good...but I appreciate it!

I wish you and Michael were going in August...that would be really fun!! It really is just such a great place!! You guys would love it here I'm sure...I hope you end up at least making it to Colorado sometime in the next few years!! That would really make me so happy!!

I just can't imagine how nice your house must look inside with all the stuff you've been putting up! I bet all the pictures look SO GOOD!!

Hi Junick! Thanks so much--and thank you for reading! YAY--I'm so excited that your family is going to be able to go. You will LOVE renting points. I actually just booked a reservation for my cousin, and she's renting DVC points for the first time too. It's just such a great deal! Thank you!

Staci, I'm so excited...when I go in December and am staying in the WL, it will be with lauren_elizabeth using rented points!! Renting points is officially the greatest thing EVER!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Oh and PS; I totally never replied to say that I had voted on Friday, too!

Good luck!

 

[BippityBoo]

I voted for him!!! Please let us know if he wins

GREAT update! Excited to see what your favorite show is? I LOVE LOVE your idea of carrying your lunch and eating it while waiting for Lion King. We had a problem with that b.c we had to wait so long and the kids were getting bored. I need to steal yet another tip from you (and they all seem food related ((bagel at the bus stop)) )

 

[pinkpixie0920]

Hi Stacy!

I wanted to let you know that we booked a trip October 16-23. I was a little bummed we tried to rent points again for Beach Club and the studios were booked that week along with Bay Lake and Boardwalk. I thought that was weird being 7 months out but I am thinking it is because of the food and wine festival. So we are staying at the Villa's at Wilderness Lodge. I am very excited. Are you planning another trip?

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Just wanted to post an FYI on here for anyone that's interested. I LOVE the VB hipster you had with you and I just saw on another thread that they're on sale today for $19 on Vera Bradley's website! Plus I used the code mcsave17 and saved 17% so it was $15 and some change. I was going to buy even more stuff to get the free shipping but I stopped myself . There's lots of different styles available (but I really like the Puccini).

Also can't wait to hear how the contest went! Yay for him even making it that far!

 

[stacikristine]

Great update!

I completely agree with you - it *does* look like they manipulated your hand (whether intentional or not) when they put Tink on there. Maybe they do it with children's hands and forgot to turn off that function with yours? Or maybe it is just the angle? But it is a cute picture though!

Now I am off to vote for Michael!

Thanks! I hope they manipulated it...otherwise it's horrible! I think that they might have been using a lens that does that. Have you ever seen a photo taken with a fish-eye lens? It distorts all but the center. Maybe the one they used stretches all but the center... Who knows... Thanks for voting for him!!

Okay, so I'll fess up - I've been "lurking" on your TR for a few weeks now but have never commented. I wanted to let you know I have really enjoyed how funny you and your husband are together. Your style of updating has really kept my interest too!

I just voted for your husband! I really like Jars of Clay too so I hope you guys win.

Anyways, keep the entertaining updates coming! I love 'em!

Hi! Thanks so much for reading--and for commenting!! Thanks--we have a ton of fun together. Thank you so much for voting for him! Aren't they just great? I'll have another update in the next few days.

I wish you and Michael were going in August...that would be really fun!! It really is just such a great place!! You guys would love it here I'm sure...I hope you end up at least making it to Colorado sometime in the next few years!! That would really make me so happy!!

I just can't imagine how nice your house must look inside with all the stuff you've been putting up! I bet all the pictures look SO GOOD!!



Staci, I'm so excited...when I go in December and am staying in the WL, it will be with lauren_elizabeth using rented points!! Renting points is officially the greatest thing EVER!

I wish we were too!! But I'm looking forward to San Antonio this summer too...it'll be good. I KNOW! I hope we make it up there! We're looking at next summer (not this coming one, but the next) going either to Colorado or to a beach in Florida. I'll keep you updated. It is so nice to look at our frames and actually see pictures instead of the "pictures" of the families, dogs, kids, etc. that come with the frames!

YAY!!! That's so exciting that you're renting points!!!! You will LOVE it! I just helped my cousin rent for the first time. It's the greatest ever. Haha--I just saw you wrote practically that same thing. I'll have to go over and check up on your PTR!

Oh and PS; I totally never replied to say that I had voted on Friday, too!

Good luck!

Thanks so much!!

I voted for him!!! Please let us know if he wins

GREAT update! Excited to see what your favorite show is? I LOVE LOVE your idea of carrying your lunch and eating it while waiting for Lion King. We had a problem with that b.c we had to wait so long and the kids were getting bored. I need to steal yet another tip from you (and they all seem food related ((bagel at the bus stop)) )

Thanks for voting! I'll update about the contest right after this. Thanks! I'll update about my favorite show (and the rest of AK) sometime this week. YAY! I'm glad you like that "tip". I didn't really plan for us to eat in line, but it ended up working really well. We're all about saving time, and eating in lines/while we wait definitely works!

Hi Stacy!

I wanted to let you know that we booked a trip October 16-23. I was a little bummed we tried to rent points again for Beach Club and the studios were booked that week along with Bay Lake and Boardwalk. I thought that was weird being 7 months out but I am thinking it is because of the food and wine festival. So we are staying at the Villa's at Wilderness Lodge. I am very excited. Are you planning another trip?

Hey Nancy! YAY!! That's so exciting! How awesome that you're going back. Are you going to have a PTR? That's so strange so many of them were booked. I bet it is for F&WF. You will absolutely love October. It's even better weather-wise than November. The only place that's crowded is Epcot. We went in Oct in 06. I would love to stay at WL sometime. No, we have no clue when we'll be back--probably not for years. There are so many places we want to go and things we want to see--so Disney will only be in-between all of those.

Just wanted to post an FYI on here for anyone that's interested. I LOVE the VB hipster you had with you and I just saw on another thread that they're on sale today for $19 on Vera Bradley's website! Plus I used the code mcsave17 and saved 17% so it was $15 and some change. I was going to buy even more stuff to get the free shipping but I stopped myself . There's lots of different styles available (but I really like the Puccini).

Also can't wait to hear how the contest went! Yay for him even making it that far!

Thanks so much for the info!!! What an incredible sale! I'll pass it on to my sister too. She just got her first VB mini hipster for Christmas. Thanks--we were excited that he was in the finals. It was so neat to see everyone supporting us/him!

 

[stacikristine]

Hi Everyone!

Thank you SOOO much for supporting Michael and me! It meant so much to see everyone voting. Honestly, that was the best part about even being in the finals.

Sadly, Michael didn't win. If you watched them, the guy with the little toddler dancing around won. He definitely had the "aw!" factor going for him! But since Michael made it to the finals, he gets a prize package--we don't know what it is...probably a CD and shirt or something. We're just excited that he made it this far!

Thank you again--you all are the greatest!!

Staci


PS. I've been sick (again!) since Sunday, so I haven't had a chance to update. But I promise I'll try my very hardest to get one for you in these next few days!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Aw man! I'm sorry to hear he didn't win, but like you said... he made it to the finals and that's so awesome!

I hope you start feeling better soon!

 

[jenny105]

Too bad Michael didn't win! It's great that he made the finals. Let us know what his prize is!

Feel better!

 

[BippityBoo]

I am so sorry he did not win Still really great that he gets prizes, though! That guy using his kids had an unfair advantage

I hope you feel better soon!!! I have been sick for a long time too. I can't stand this time of year

 

[stacikristine]

Aw man! I'm sorry to hear he didn't win, but like you said... he made it to the finals and that's so awesome!

I hope you start feeling better soon!

That's ok! We were still excited. Thanks--I'm feeling lots better today (finally!)

Too bad Michael didn't win! It's great that he made the finals. Let us know what his prize is!

Feel better!

I'll let you know for sure! Thanks--I do!!

I am so sorry he did not win Still really great that he gets prizes, though! That guy using his kids had an unfair advantage

I hope you feel better soon!!! I have been sick for a long time too. I can't stand this time of year

It's ok! We were still happy he made it that far. Haha--I know! Michael said, "Why don't we have kids?? Maybe I could win then!" Thanks--I'm lots better today. I was miserable earlier. Feel better!! And hopefully your kiddos won't get anything either. Oh--and let me just say that my allergies HATE hate HATE Louisiana in the spring! I was there a few years ago, and I literally thought I was going to die. It was awful. So I don't envy you at all right now. Stay away from whatever that horrible allergen is!

 

[stacikristine]

When I last left off, we had just finished eating our yummy Pizzafari lunch while we waited in line for Festival of the Lion King to start. I was SUPER excited to see this again, and I just knew that Michael would love it since The Lion King is tied with Toy Story for his favorite Disney Movie.




Soon after we finished our lunch, the CMs came out and told us that the doors would be opening soon. Yay! When we went in, we went to the first section on our left, and were able to sit on the first raised row (above the reserved section). They were great seats!



I love how the pre-show is so crowd-involving here! We found out that we were in the Giraffe section, and a cute little girl went to the front to teach us how to sound like a giraffe.

It was the cutest thing. She just stood there, speechless. But the CM was so great—she told her that she didn’t know what a giraffe sounded like either, so she looked it up, and it makes a bleating sound like a sheep. So then the little girl made the sound, and we all acted like giraffes.

After a while, it was time for the show to actually start!

Here’s our mascot!

And the king himself:

Oh—and sorry that the pictures aren’t the greatest! My camera does well in the dark if things aren’t moving, but since this show is all about high energy/moving around, not many came out well. But I’ll go ahead and share!




I just LOVE the monkeys!! Michael and I both agreed that my brother could definitely be one of these guys if he knew how to tumble. He does a GREAT monkey impersonation!

This guy had a fantastic voice—actually, all of them did! He was perfect for this part, though.

I’m so impressed with this guy! I’m terrified of fire!!! My dad and brother used to chase me around the house with camping lighters and act like they were going to catch my pants on fire. You could say I’m a little traumatized from it. And then I burned my arm pretty badly on the element of my aunt’s oven the summer after I graduated from HS, so I’m scared of ovens too. So needless to say, I would NOT be this guy!

Aaahhh. This is one of my favorite parts of the show. She is soooo graceful. I just love it.

Continued

 

[stacikristine]

Continued from previous




I love it when they all come out and everyone is so into it! This show is just so much fun!

YAY!!! I absolutely loved it! When we got out, I asked Michael what he thought, and he said, “Um, it was pretty cool. It’s just not what I was expecting…”


What?! Just pretty cool??? It’s amazing!!


He said that he was expecting it to be more like Beauty and the Beast—where they come out and put on a play of the Lion King. My mistake! I should have warned him… But he did like it, so I was at least happy with that!




On our way out, we saw these and couldn’t resist a few pictures!

Some people were watching us and laughing…that tended to happen quite a bit during our trip. What can I say…we love being goofy!!


I love this sign!

We were on our way back to Asia for another ride on Expedition Everest, but first, we had to snap a few pictures (and take some more PP pics!)

I love that at Animal Kingdom so many of the PP pictures don’t even look like you’re at Disney World! These turned out to be some of my favorites of the trip.

We framed this one too!

Haha—this photographer was great! She told me to act all ticked off that he was flirting with Tink!

Hi, Everest! We’re coming to visit!

I decided to keep my camera out this time…


Oh no—we’re so scared!!

I love how much you can see from up here!

Aaaaahhhhh!!!

Once again, we didn’t see the Yeti. But I did get this shot of “him”:

The girl in front of us was freaking out! See my camera?

It was another great ride!






Continued

 

[stacikristine]

Continued from previous





The only other thing on our list was to see Finding Nemo: The Musical, but we had a little time to spare, so we strolled through Dinoland, USA…

Took a few more pictures of the Tree of Life…

Saw a drum stand…

And some other random things…

And finally made our way to the Nemo area!

By this point, it was 1:15, and the show didn’t start until 2:00. We would have gotten in line, but there wasn’t one at this point, so we just sat on the little circle thing (is it a fountain or a flower bed or what? Can’t remember…) and talked with a lady who was there with her grandkids.



Before too long, some people started getting in line, so we did the same. We were just a few families from the front of the line. The people in front of us were from Maine, and they were renting DVC points too! There were two different families, and they were splitting a two bedroom villa. She said that they’ve rented points for their past 3 trips and have loved it every time. We both agreed that it’s truly the best kept secret of Disney World! The time passed SO quickly since we were visiting with them.

She told me that they actually got their points for $6pp!!!! That’s incredible! Ours were $10pp. She said that they book their ressie through Disney at a value or moderate, and then wait until the very last minute to try to buy points instead. A lot of people are so desperate to get rid of their points that they’ll sell them for super cheap. I don’t know if I’d be willing to wait this long (just because we want a studio, which goes a lot quicker than the 1 or 2 bedroom villas), but it’s a great tip to keep in mind for later!



Anyway, they’d seen the show before, so we asked them where the best seats were, and we ended up choosing the row behind them when we went in. We were in the bottom left section, about 7 rows up, right next to the little walkway coming out from the stage. They were great seats!


Michael and I had decided early on in our trip that we wanted to buy the Photopass CD since we knew we were getting so many great pics on it. But we weren’t super excited about the price… So I started talking to one of the moms from Maine, and I don’t remember how it all came up, but before long, we’d all agreed to do a Photopass Share! Woo-Hoo!!! Now we’d get all of our awesome pictures at 1/3 of the price! We swapped email addresses, and we decided that I’d be the one to collect the money and order the CD after we all put our pics on the same account. And in case I forget to write about it later, we ended up getting the free gallery CD when we ordered too! So that was fantastic. What a great little bonus!!




We’d just saved some money and made some new friends, and we couldn’t have been happier when the show started!

As soon as the actors/puppeteers came out, we were HOOKED. We were completely enthralled. We kept on looking at each other with huge smiles on our faces.

Continued

 

[stacikristine]

Continued




When Mr. Ray came out, I’m pretty sure I gasped out loud. Only Disney…

The fish tank was SOO neat too! It looked just like the movie.

Love these guys

And this was an awesome scene! They were so huge, and it was incredible how they bobbed up and down and everything…

The turtle scene was probably our favorite! HOW NEAT that they had Crush, who was so big that the actor had to ride on top of him, all the way down to the tiny little turtles that people were carrying around, to all sizes of turtles in between! What an amazing scene.

We didn’t want it to end! We were loving it so much!

Oh—and we were right next to the extended stage/aisle thing, so whenever they would run up and down it, they were RIGHT THERE. This picture isn’t very good, but it shows how close they were. She was kneeling down one or two rows in front of us, where the kids of the Maine families were sitting.

And the bubbles were a great finishing touch!

We told our new friends goodbye and walked out of there with jaws dropped. We couldn’t believe how fantastic that show was!!! I know that some people don’t really like it because of the whole actor/puppet “who do I look at” issue, but we both agreed that it was one of the most incredible shows either of us had ever seen. AMAZING. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture—we loved it!!




On our way to the park entrance, we stopped and listened to/filmed these guys for a little while. What a fun job!

We decided we needed a few more PP pics on our way out…

And did anyone else feel silly when they were doing these? I wonder what people thought when they saw us—especially if they didn’t know what a “Magic Shot” was!

We exited the park

At exactly 3:00

Not bad! We’d done so much in just those few hours! We waited around 15-20 minutes for a bus, and after stopping at Kidani Village first, we arrived at “home” around 3:40.



We relaxed in the room for a while, and then decided to go swimming/hot tubing! It was perfect weather for it! We stayed and relaxed for about 30 minutes, and came back up to start getting ready for dinner. It was a great break!






Up Next:

Dinner at Boma
DHS—again!
Our thoughts on Fantasmic
Really?! Where do we get a cab?

 

[Roxychica7]

Great update Stace!! LOVE the Lion King and Finding Nemo shows. The first time I ever saw the FOTLK, it was the year the AK first opened and the costumes for the Tumble Monkeys hadn't come yet, everyone else's had, so everytime I see that show, I always remember the silly red spandex they had on! And the other cool thing to is that all of the monkeys are retired Olympic Gymnasts, how awesome is that?! You get to still do what you love AND you're at disney!

Can't wait to see your dinner at Boma!

 

[khertz]

Another fantastic update!

I love love love Festival of the Lion King, although I can see what Michael is saying if you were expecting something like the Beauty & the Beast show. But I love the performances at FoLK because it reminds me of a Cirque du Soliel show. The monkeys are amazing!!

And I love your Everest pictures! I wish I was brave enough to keep the camera out, but if anyone was going to drop their camera off a Disney rollercoaster, it would so be me!

 

[haleofafamily]

Another great update!

For some reason FotLK and Finding Nemo always make me cry ~ no matter how many times I see them. Two of my favorites in all of WDW!

Our kids did the photo holding Simba and had no idea what the PP guy was telling them to do so they turned out hilarious. Y'alls pictures are always so good.