2 Disneymoons (Oct. and Dec. 2007) and 1 Anniversary Trip (Sept. 2008)--Updated 2/20

[TLC371]

I really liked the P&P parade and fireworks, DH even snagged a Crystal Palace dinner resv. at guest services. However, DH and I prefer MNSSHP Party, we went last year and it was fun! Any special event is good, I think.

We love the MNSSHP, that so far is our favorite after hours event. We were not overly impressed with MVMCP. I am hoping that I can talk my DH into going to the P&P party sometime. I told him we need to experience all 3 parties so that we can determine for sure which one is our favorite!

 

[TLC371]

So I am all alone in the office this afternoon, so I'm hoping that I can get a lot of my TR done today. I usually work on it in the late afternoons, when it's just me and one other guy left in the office, but he's been letting me go home early every day, so he's taking away my TR writing time!

Anyway, I left off after the Tree Lighting Ceremony...

When that was over, we knew we had to book it over to make sure we could get in for the Candlelight Processional before they opened up the seating for everyone else. So we walked about as fast as I have ever walked in my life! We were so focused on walking, that we didn't even realize that we passed the line to get in! It was a pretty long line, and I noticed it and was like 'Hey, we have to turn back around...this IS the line!" We were worried because the line was so long that we wouldn't be able to get in or something. But it moved fast and we got in pretty quickly. Since it was just the 2 of us, some CM told us that we could go pick a seat down front if we wanted, so we headed down and got seats in the front section, off to the side. The Candlelight Processional was so beautiful and I thought Steven Curtis Chapman did an amazing job. You could just tell it was something he was very passionate about.

I was pretty disappointed because I ran out of tape in the middle of it all and had to change tapes, so I missed some of it. Then the battery on my camera died and I had to change that too. It was a conspiracy! It was just really aggravating!

We didn't get any great pictures of the CP because it was so dark.

If you look closely in this picture, you can see Steven Curtis Chapman in the middle:

After the CP was over with, we really didn't have too much to do until Illuminations started, so we decided to wander around some of the different pavilions and look in some of the stores. While we were doing that we were able to get some pictures taken by a Photopass photographer at the fountain in Italy.

We made our way up towards the front, and I got the best pictures I could of the lights up front:

As you can see, they aren't all that great! I needed a better camera, or at least a tripod. Of course now I have a better camera and a monopod, so maybe if we ever go down at Christmas again, I can get better pictures!

 

[TLC371]

When we got up front, we decided to walk around Mouse Gears for a bit, since we both love that store. After a bit, we walked back through to go find a spot to watch Illuminations at and I wanted to get some pictures done by the Photopass photographers, since they had better equipment to capture the pretty lights!

At this point, we started walking around trying to find a spot for Illuminations, and realized that we may have waited too long to find a good spot. So we just wandered around until we found some place that we could at least see it pretty decently. Ended up being a good spot too, since the people there ended up moving themselves around and I got up right against the rail.

I love Illuminations and was going to record it and somehow the 2nd battery that I had for the camcorder was dead now too! I think it wasn't charged, I must have forgotten to charge it after we used that one up last. I was so disappointed, but oh well, not much I could do at that point. So I just tried to get some halfway decent pictures and promised myself that next time I would make sure I had plenty of life in my battery to record it when we get to see it again.

After Illuminations was over, we started making our way out of the park and saw that there was an Art of Disney store and had to make a quick stop in there. Back on the October trip, Roy's aunt had seen the Jedi Mickey and wanted to get that for her husband, but couldn't do it with him there, as she wanted it for his Christmas present. So she gave us the money and asked us if we could pick it up for her and have it shipped to her. Well, actually we had it shipped to our house and held on to it for her until Christmas. So we went in, found it and took care of everything for her. It's so funny because when we got home, we had a message on our answering machine from someone that lived on our street saying he got a package of ours. We were both curious what it was, because I didn't remember ordering anything. So the neighbor called again and said he would bring it down. It was the Jedi Mickey! It got home before we did! And we weren't even expecting it until just right before Christmas, I think they said it would take 2 weeks to get to us. So we were pretty impressed that it got there so quick!

Anyway, we got out of the park and got to our car in no time and headed back to the timeshare to relax. Again they were having their nightly entertainment, so it was loud, but since we weren't going to be getting up early the next morning, it wasn't too bad since I didn't have to go to sleep anytime soon. I think I ended up in the jacuzzi tub so I could soak my feet after all that walking!

Up next....MVMCP...

 

[TLC371]

December 11, 2007

We had our tickets for the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that night, as well as we had ADR's for Liberty Tree Tavern. So we decided it was a good morning to sleep in and then just spend the day relaxing. After we got up and got going, we decided to go for a ride down 192, the opposite direction that we went when we went down 192 to get to my friends house on Sunday. So we just went for a drive to see where it lead us. Nothing too exciting to see, and once it started looking like it was starting to be a not so great neighborhood, we turned back around! We decided to go to a Chili's that was near the timeshare for lunch. Roy had gotten a gift card for there for his birthday, which was in November, and now seemed like a good time to use it. After we ate lunch, we headed over to Target because we wanted to get the Harry Potter movie that had just come out on DVD and the 3rd season of Lost. After that, it was back to our timeshare so we could get some laundry done and just relax a little. I also used the time to do some looking around online and that was when I had found out that the party that night was a sold out one. We knew how crazy it was when we went to the sold out Halloween party, so we were nervous about the party now!

We decided, well more me that was doing the deciding, that since we could get in with just our party tickets at 4, that we needed to be there right at 4, so we didn't have to rush to get to Liberty Tree Tavern for our 4:30 ADR. We got to the parking lot in no time, and got right on a tram, no waiting. I guess it was then that I should have realized this was me, and something was going to go wrong!

We got up to the monorail, with one that was just leaving, and we had to wait for the next one. Problem was the one that just left was stuck right near the Contemporary Resort! Just great! We had thought about going and trying to get the boat over but that one just left and we figured that as soon as we walked over to catch the next one the monorail would start going and we'd have to wait longer to get there. Finally, after I don't even know how long waiting, I want to say 20 minutes, but you know how things seem much longer than they really are, I can't say for sure. All I know is that by the time we got to where we got our wrist bands and could go into the park, we only had about 10 minutes to get to LTT. So there went my plans of a nice walk up Main Street so I could take in the decorations and take pictures! As we were walking in, we had one of those survey people try to stop us, and normally I would have stopped, but we had to get to LTT, so I quickly apologized and felt bad for snubbing her. But she seemed like she understood.

Even though we were practically running up Main Street, I did manage to snap some pictures of the Castle. I mean, it's the Castle, how could I not?!

Roy's looking back at me, trying to get me to hurry along!

The most beautiful Castle in the world!

 

[TLC371]

We quickly made our way to Liberty Tree Tavern, only to come to a halt! There was a huge line to get in! Great! I could have walked a little slower! After waiting and waiting, we finally find out that their computer system was down and they couldn't check anyone in! They finally got started checking people in, I guess they got a printout of who had ADRs or something like that. We finally got checked in and were told to have a seat. Well, we sat and waited and waited and waited. I was getting so frustrated! They were calling people that checked in after us and had the same amount of people in their party as us and taking them to their tables. I had my evening all planned out perfectly and now it was all a mess! We wanted to eat and be by the castle to see the lighting ceremony and then Wishes. Now we weren't sure if we were going to make it or not!

Finally, they called us and took us to our table, and I was so happy to see what they had waiting for us....

So cute!

We took our seat, and Roy was disappointed that he couldn't choose what he wanted off the menu, I guess I must have forgotten to tell him it was family style dining, with a set menu. But we enjoyed the food anyway.

While we were waiting for our food, we had our first guest join us, and Chip sure thought it was funny to flip my veil on my ears over my face! He's so funny!

Next up came Pluto!

Then over came Dale:

And finally Minnie, who almost snubbed us with pictures! She started to walk away and I said "Can I get a picture with you?" and she turned back around. Roy didn't get a picture with her though.

We didn't want to take up too much time with the characters because we didn't have any kids with us. When the waitress brought out our dessert, we asked for the check too, we told her we wanted to catch the show. So she brought us our check right away, we paid and we were on our way.

On our way to the front of the Castle, we did have a quick minute to stop and get some Photopass pictures:

She said when they do training, they are instructed to make sure they always tell the newlyweds to kiss for pictures, and she said we probably had done enough of those, so she would spare us and told us to look at the Castle instead....this is one of my favorites!

 

[TLC371]

After our pictures, we headed over to catch the Castle lighting show! We loved that...so cute! And loved seeing the characters with the moving parts on their heads!

The Castle is just gorgeous when it's lit up! I mean, I saw the picture of it before we left and thought it was so pretty, but to see it in person, it is just breathtaking! I am so glad I got it on video tape! I think you can hear me gasping on the video, because it is just that beautiful!

The Castle at dusk...

Donald and Goofy:

Mickey and Minnie

The best picture I could get of the Castle lit up

After they lit the Castle, we heard the announcement that Wishes was going to start in 5 minutes. So I decided we needed to get to a spot to see it from. I had heard of this great spot to view them from, on a path just off the walkway to Tomorrowland, so that is where we headed. We found such a wonderful spot to view the fireworks from, and Tink flew right over our heads! Since I was videotaping it, we didn't get any pictures, because my DH didn't think they would turn out. Sometimes he is no fun, even when he's probably right!

After the fireworks, we were going to go and get in line for Mickey's Night Before Christmas show, and the line was already crazy long! It was half way through Tomorrowland. We knew there was no way we would get in so we just decided to pass on it, and went to do the Buzz Lightyear ride instead, since that is one of our favoites. After the ride, we decided to walk around, and we found where Belle and the Beast were going to be out doing pictures at. It was still 15 minutes before they were due out, but we figured the line was only going to get longer and so we decided to get in line. Belle and the Beast are my favorites, and Roy knew how much I wanted a picture with Belle in her Christmas dress! When we got in line, I noticed that the girl in front of me was a member of the Dis, she had a button on that said her user name and all that. But since I'm a shy person and don't know that many people, I didn't say anything to her, although she noticed my ears and our buttons and congratulated us on our wedding. Very nice! We ended up getting into a conversation with the family behind us, who were also very nice people. And only later, when I got home, did I find out that the mom was also a member of the Dis! So funny!

When it was our turn with Belle and the Beast, Belle asked where we were from. Roy told her "Virginia" and she said "One of my best friends is from Virginia". I figured she was talking about herself, but when Roy said "Really?" She answered "Yes, Pocahontas" I thought that was pretty cute!

When we left Belle and the Beast, we decided to head to Liberty Square and hit Adventureland. But on our way, we saw where the free hot chocolate and cookies were at and made a pit stop and got some! It was so good! We sipped our hot chocolate and munched on our cookies as we headed towards Adventureland and I noticed a large number of people already gathering for the first parade.

We got to Adventureland and saw that Prince Ali and Jasmine were out but their line was already closed, so we couldn't get a picture with them. We decided to do Pirates of the Caribbean instead. We had to stand outside and finish our hot cocoa first and we heard them saying that both sides of the line were open, to enter both sides. I guess no one was paying attention because they were all going in to the left and no one was going in to the right. So we walked in and went to the right and got right on a boat, no waiting at all. That was the best luck we had that night! We love that ride, so we were happy to go on it!

When we got off the ride, we went by and saw that the Genie and Abu were out, but Roy said he didn't want to stop and get a picture, since the Castle show was getting ready to start, so we headed that way. Well, between the Castle show and people waiting for the first parade, it was a huge mess right in front of the Castle! There was no place to stand! We looked at that mess and decided to just keep on walking! Insteqad we headed over towards Tomorrowland and decided to try out the Laugh Floor Comedy Club again! This time I was going to make sure I didn't end up a part of the show, so I took off my ears, we took off our buttons and we headed back to a seat in the back, doing everything we could to make sure we didn't get picked on. Thank goodness that worked!

When we left there, we knew the first parade was getting ready to start, so we figured it would be a great time to head towards ToonTown and get a picture with Mickey and Minnie. Yeah, right! The line said it was a 45 minute wait. But we REALLY wanted that picture, so we needed to get in line. We asked the girl who was running the lines if there was a better time to come back and she said that usually during the parades, but obviously not that night! It took forever, longer than 45 minutes. And we found out part of the reason why when we got in there...and this is one of the few vents I have about people who go to Disney. They take up so much time with the characters, I mean, there were people there doing what seemed like full on photoshoots with the characters, switching out the groupings of people in their family with the characters. So frustrating! And then the photographers camera stopped working!

Finally we got our turn with Mickey and Minnie and it ended up being a fun experience. Minnie came up to me and gave me a kiss, then Mickey came up and grabbed my hand so he could see my wedding rings, and then cover them so Minnie couldn't see them! She shooed his hands away and looked at my rings and I said "He did good, didn't he?" and she nodded then showed me her bare finger. So I said "So, Mickey, when are you going to marry Minnie?!" He went over to the Christmas tree and paointed and then did the "shhh" motion, like he was going to do it for Christmas and to not tell her. The photographers were giving Mickey a hard time, saying "There's nothing under that tree Mickey, come on now, you've kept Minnie waiting for 79 years now!" It was so funny!

We got our pictures taken and got another round of kisses from Minnie and Mickey and were on our way.

At that point, we ended up skipping Daisy Duck, which sucked, but we had met her before and we only had a few minutes to go find a spot for Holiday Wishes, which we both really wanted to see. We left ToonTown and practically ran to where we were at early for Wishes so we could see the holiday version. We didn't get quite as good a view as earlier, but still it was good. And Tink flew over us again, so we loved that!

 

[TLC371]

After the fireworks were over, we decided that we wanted to go find a spot for the second parade, since it showed no signs of getting any lighter there. So we just went up until we found a spot right on Main Street to sit down for the parade. Once we got our spot, Roy held it and I went to get a drink since I was dying of thirst! Then we just sat there until the parade started. It was just ridiculous the way people were while they were waiting. I have never seen so many people just being so rude to each other as they were "defending" their parade spot. People wanted to be able to cross through to either get on the sidewalk or get off the sidewalk into Main Street so they could leave or whatever, and people that were around us were just refusing to let people pass and just being rude about it. That kind of mentality just baffles me! We were always happy to let anyone pass by is, I mean, they were just trying to get by, not rob anyone of their spot to watch the parade! But I think that because the party was sold out, and I know we were frustrated with lines everywhere and not getting much done, so I am sure other people felt that way and were just acting out of frustration, but still, that is no excuse for that kind of behavior!

Anyway, we waited and waited and waited for the parade to start. I know it takes a while for the parade to get to Main Street, but this was just crazy! I think the parade just started really late, or hot hung up some place.

I loved the parade, and the smells that were piped out of some of the floats! It was really cute.

We actually had to wait for the last float with Santa and Mrs. Claus on it to come, it was like 5 minutes behind everything else, because it got stuck and they had to get it unstuck! By the time the parade ended, it was almost 11:15, and really, there was not much time else to really do anything else. I did want a picture in front of the Castle with the lights, so we went to stand in line for that, and right before it was our turn, they turned the lights on the Castle off for the show that was going on. So we ended up having to get pictures in front of the tree and wait for the lights to come back on to do those pictures. It was just so frustrating, because we didn't get to do half of what we wanted that night, and it seemed like all we did was hurry up and wait! We were so frustrated, and we both thought that for something that was only a limited amount of tickets sold, that it was way too crowded, way too many tickets sold! It was not the fun night I thought it was going to be, we ended up leaving there frustrated and miserable, and not in the holiday spirit like I thought we would be in!

When we left, we got our to our car and we FINALLY figured out how to leave the MK parking lot and get us back to 536, which we take to get us to 535. We always leave there, get lost, and end up all the way down on the other side of 192. Now we know to follow the signs to Epcot and Downtown Disney and it takes us back to where we need to be! We got back to the timeshare in no time! And since it was so late, we didn't have to worry about the noise at the pool bar, since it was already closed down for the night!

Up next, visiting the resorts!

 

[Wideout]

What an awesome trip report. You are your DH take great pics. Thanks for sharing your trips with us.

 

[TLC371]

What an awesome trip report. You are your DH take great pics. Thanks for sharing your trips with us.

Thank you so much for reading!

Hopefully I'll get some more of my trip report done tomorrow!

 

[buffy0214]

I love that picture of donald and daisy. Very cute

 

[OhMari]

Hey,
I hope you come back and finish. It has been well over 3 months.

I am going in Nov. and just the other day when I was changing some ADR's, the CM asked me if I wanted tickets for the Christmas Party. BaHumbug!!. I leaving WI to get away from winter already, I don't need no winter celebration. I am looking forward to seeing the castle though.

 

[TLC371]

Hey,
I hope you come back and finish. It has been well over 3 months.

I've been in a bit of a funk, but I think I am finally coming out of it. I will start back up with my TR soon, and I might even expand it to add our most recent trip last month!

 

[TLC371]

Ok....so I'm finally getting around to doing an update. It has been a hectic few months in my life and then we had our September trip that we went on and I was in post vacation depression after that. But I'm back and I'm going to finish this TR!

Let's see....when I last left you, we had gone to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and were very frustrated with the whole evening. It was just not what we wanted it to be and were so diappointed in the party. When we got home, I ended up emailing Disney's Guest Relations just to express my disappointment with the event, and with a situation that happened that frustrated me at Fantasmic, but I also made sure I pointed out some of the great things that happened on our trip, and mentioned our wonderful meal at Le Cellier and our great server too. I so wasn't expecting to hear back from them, but I got an email back asking for more information as well as a copy of my tickets for their investigation, as she put it. I was shocked when she ended up calling me, I didn't answer the phone because I didn't hear it ring, so she left me a message saying they were sending me 2 one day tickets to use on our next trip down to Disney to make up for our disappointments while we were there. I was shocked! To me that says so much about Disney and the quality of their customer service and going above and beyond to make sure they keep their guests happy. I was not expecting anything at all, and all I really wanted was to make my voice heard about what I thought were disappointments, so for them to take me seriously and try to do something to make it up to me, yeah, that was pretty awesome in my book!

Anyway...back to the TR....

Let's see, I think I was on Wednesday, December 12, 2007...

We had decided to make this a non-park day because of the late night at the Christmas party. It was so nice just to sleep in that morning and take it easy. This was also the day that we were going to go and see some of the decorations at a few of the Disney resorts, so I was excited about that, since I have never stepped a foot into any of them before and I so want to talk my DH into going to one of the resorts one day.

We got up, had a nice breakfast and got ready and headed out. I had my Passporter and my Birnbaum's Official Guide with me for the maps to figure out where we were going, as well as my notes that I got from here as to which resorts we wanted to go to. I knew we weren't going to be able to visit them all, so I had to pick and choose which ones we should go to.

We started off at the Boardwalk...and saw this pretty display:

Took a picture of how they make it, ya know, just in case I get the whim to whip one up on my own!

We spent some time looking for all the hidden Mickeys, which we did find all of them. We got to talking with someone that worked at the hotel and she didn't know where the last one was at either, so she was helping us find it and was glad when I finally spotted it.

A pretty Christmas tree, next to the display:

A family was there looking at the display as well, and they were taking pictures in front of it in various groupings, so we offered to take a picture for them, and they were nice enough to take one for us in return:

Tink, on top of the gazebo:

We walked out back so we could see the tree there too, as well as just look at the property, so I had to have Roy take a picture of me there:

We looked around a little more before heading out to our next destination...which I will update more on in a bit as I'm trying to stealth post while at work...

 

[TLC371]

How about that, I got left alone in the office, so now I can add some more to my TR before I head home for the day...

After we left the Boardwalk, we headed over to the Yacht Club...I thought they had a gingerbread display there as well, but it was just a regular display...but we had fun looking at it.

Tree when we walked in:

The display:

We left there and headed over to the Beach Club next. Loved the carousel they had there, it was so pretty. We also searched for the Hidden Mickey's on that one, which was hard to do since it was moving :rofl: Plus we think the guy that worked there that we were talking to was messing with us and told us there were more than there actually were, asked us if we found the extra ones. We got to talking to this lady that was there looking at the display too and she said he tells everyone that, just to mess with him. So before we left, he asked if we found all of them, even the extra ones, and we told him yes!

Pretty picture walking in:

How they made it...ya know, just in case...

The pretty carousel, with DH pointing out a Hidden Mickey he found:

Cinderella and her Castle

Yes, dreams do come true at Disney!

 

[TLC371]

We left the Beach Club and headed to the one place I REALLY wanted to go to, the Grand Floridian! My original plan was to park and take the monorail around to the resorts there, but it was getting late in the day, so we just did the Grand Floridian instead.

We got our guest parking pass, and headed over to park....and then had to walk all the way back over to get to the hotel...

The hotel sign as we were walking back:

And walking up to the hotel:

I was so excited to go there, after seeing it on tv shows, and all the countless times we have seen it from the monorail. I told my DH that one day we will go back and stay there, even if its for just one night.

We walked in and it was so pretty! We walked right over to the HUGE Christmas tree and had to take some pictures in front of it:

Then headed over to our real destination....the Gingerbread House! Ever since I saw it on the Travel Channel special, yeah, I knew I HAD to see it in person. I walked all around it, taking pictures. My DH had enough of smelling gingerbread every where we went, and got in line to buy a few shingles so he could have some. I also made him buy a chocolate chip cookie. That gingerbread house is pretty, but yeah, I wasn't so fond of the taste of the shingles, but DH loved them.

The recipe, of course:

 

[TLC371]

After we made our purchases, we decided to head upstairs to look around, and maybe find a quiet spot to sit down and try our goodies....and well, we wanted to get some pictures from up there as well...

We walked around, looked in the gift shop, found a spot to enjoy some of our goodies, and then saw the Photopass spot there. We had some pictures taken at Epcot that hadn't shown up on our Photopass, so I went over to ask them about it. They asked us a few questions....where we were at in the park, about what time, if we were with any characters, and in no time they found our pictures with Donald Duck and got them added to my Photopass card. Very cool!

We poked around there a little bit longer and finally decided it was time to go since we both were getting hungry. So we headed back out to the car and headed over to Downtown Disney to grab a quick and very late lunch at McDonalds and walk around for a little bit.

Some random pictures at Downtown Disney:

We finally left there, and I'm drawing a blank on what we did that night, so obviously it was not much at all. I am pretty sure that we went to the Olive Garden across the street from Star Island and had dinner, then headed back to relax at the timeshare. I think I went to soak my poor feet in the jacuzzi tub and we had another night of dealing with the loud people at the pool bar. They were doing karaoke that night and it was LOUD...not just the music, but the people hanging out there too, just loud and obnoxious. I kept telling my DH that we needed to call the front desk and complain. I'm not the type to try and ruin other people's good time, or complain for the heck of it, but when we could hear the noise over the jacuzzi tub noise and the tv on, and hear it all plain as day, yeah, that's a bit too loud. So I ended up calling and complaining...they tried to give me the old they will be done in an hour speech, but I told them I totally understood that and I was not asking them to stop, just turn it down a little bit, so they said they would see what they could do. I guess they sent security up there, because my DH heard someone say over the microphone that they needed to quiet down a little bit since they were getting complaints. It was still noisy after that, but nowhere near as bad as it was before hand, and they stopped at 11, so at least we didn't have to put up with it much longer.

Up next will be MGM....when it was still MGM...

 

[OhMari]

Another bump.
Thanks for continuing.
I loved the BC.
Hopefully I'll be able to get back in 2011.
So I am buggin you again, to post and finish.
Hope everything is okay.

 

[TLC371]

So I guess I should work more on my TR, huh? I haven’t been working on it, partly because of issues my husband and I have had while trying to get pregnant and my focusing on that. Also because of the fact that not that many people are replying to it after reading. I guess I’m just insecure a bit, and seeing all the views and not too many replies kind of discourages me. But I want to work on it for the fact that I can have it all in one place to go back on later and read, helps with the scrapbooking of the trip!

I decided to just add to this TR as well our trip in September 2008.

Of course with that said, I totally have misplaced me notes from our trip, so I am finishing this thing with looking at the pictures and trying to remember what we did when. Oops!

I finished last with our day touring the resorts, looking at the Christmas decorations.

Thursday, December 13, 2007, our day at MGM…cuz it was still called MGM at that time. And, well, to me it will always be MGM because that is what I am used to calling it!

We got up nice and early and got ourselves ready for the day, and headed out. Parked the car and got the tram up to go in. I was so happy to see my first Photopass opportunity on our way into the park, at the big Christmas tree just outside of the park gates!

Here we are at the tree:

After we took those pictures, we headed over to get my bag checked and head in. Got through bag check nice and easy…well at least I did, I’m sure that I had to stand behind someone that had waited until the last minute to open up all the different compartments in whatever bag they had. I still don’t get that, but whatever, everyone has their own way of doing things. I’m just saying it might be easier for yourself as well as a benefit to those behind you if you are ready with all parts of your bag open and ready to be checked before you get to the front of the line, especially since they are two sided, it wouldn’t be that hard to open everything while security is checking the bag on the other side of the line.

That’s my little tirade/public service announcement of the moment.

We got through the gate finally and a little store off to the side caught Roy’s attention. I can’t remember the name of it right now, but its to the left as you walk in, sells autographed items and props/wardrobe from movies and tv shows. Kind of like a mini Starbilia from Downtown Disney. I wanted to get going, do some more pictures, start going on rides and stuff and save shopping for later, but Roy insisted, so I just went with it. I guess I can’t make everyone do what I want to do all of the time, huh? It was his honeymoon too, so I should let him do what he wants.


Anyway, we looked around there for a little bit and then headed towards the big hat! And stopped to get some Photopass pictures.

Got the Stitch picture…always feel silly standing there and pointing at nothing on the ground!

We started on our merry way and the next Photopass photographer we passed said we had the wrong photographer, he could do better. We tried to politely decline, and he said “But I bet you didn’t get the Stitch picture.” We assured him that we did, then he asked if he could do one picture and he promised that it would look cool when we saw it. So we figured why not, and did his pose….which, upon looking at the picture, we aren’t quite sure why its supposed to look so cool? If anyone has any insight on why this is supposed to be so cool, please share!

 

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We were finally on our way again, although I can’t remember where we thought we were going to go first.

Pretty poinsettias:

And of course the big hat:

I’m pretty sure that we went to The Great Movie Ride first, because that always seems to be where we go first.

Then I believe we headed over to the Narnia exhibit, which we were not impressed with at all. All it seemed to us was it was a brief skit followed by a long trailer for the movie.

At that point, we decided to go catch Beauty and The Beast, we always seem to catch the last showing on that for the day and we thought we would be different and catch an early showing of it. Loved it, and oh my gosh, the Gaston in this one was fabulous! We LOVED him!

Walking down towards the theater for the show:

We made sure to make it to the preshow, because we love seeing Four For A Dollar….if we had only known that it was our last time seeing them, I would have taken more pictures, and probably taken some video of them. It was a sad day when I found out they would not be performing before Beauty and the Beast anymore!

Some Beauty and the Beast pictures:

I love that show! Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite Disney movie, and of course they played a part in when Roy proposed to me the year before, they will always be special to me!

 

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After we left there, we knew that Lightening McQueen and Mater were going to be out to do pictures and we had to head over that way. When we had seen them in October, it had only been Lightening McQueen, we really wanted to see Mater this time. So we hightailed it over to the Streets of America to go get in line to see them. The line was pretty long, and I think they closed it off soon after we got in the line, so I was really happy that we had made it in!

With Lightening McQueen:

And Mater!

After we left them, we decided that it might be time to go have some lunch. We had kind of early dinner reservations as part of the Fantasmic dining package that I had booked for us, so we wanted to eat kind of early.

But on our way to find something, we ran into Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. I love that cartoon and so we had to stop and see them. They were so cute, all excited for us that we were on our honeymoon, asking us about our wedding and stuff.

Me with them:

Roy wasn’t happy about it, but I made him take a picture with them too:

For the life of me, I can’t remember where we went and had lunch at. I want to say that we went to the Backlot Express to eat, but I can’t say for sure. I also can’t remember what we did after we had lunch. I know we had gone to see The Little Mermaid show at some point, and that might have been when we had done that. Seems right, because the next pictures I have are from the Animation tour and that is nearby.

On our October trip, with the Ratatouille characters, we had only seen Emile, so we were hoping that we’d get to see Remy this time too. We never do the Animation tour, we just sneak in the back way through the gift shop. One day we’ll do that Animation tour!

We went in and saw that Frozone was out! Cool…someone we hadn’t met yet. But the line was really short, so we were wondering if they had closed the line for him. Roy asked and they said no, so we got in line! I was so excited….we had met Mr. and Mrs. Incredible several times, I had been dying to meet Frozone!

Next we headed over to see Remy and Emile. I was so happy they were out together! We got in line and typical for us, right when it was our turn, they pulled them away for a quick break. Roy was complaining to me that of course they would get pulled away and when they came back it would be just our luck that it would only be Emile, since we had already met him. I told him to stop being negative. And a few moments later, both Remy and Emile came out.

This was one of my favorite character meetings from all of my trips to Disney! We walked up and I handed my book to Remy to get autographed.

While Emile was signing my book, Remy pointed to me, I guess he was asking if I had just gotten married, and I said that yes, I had just gotten married. Then he pointed to Roy and I said “Yep, to him”. Then Remy shook his head no and then pointed to himself. I said “Oh, I’m married to you now?” and he nodded yes. So I told Roy that sorry, but I guess I was married to Remy now and he’d have to stay with Emile, which Remy thought was an awesome idea. Emile and Roy were not quite as enthusiastic with that idea.

Me and my new husband:

We took a group shot:

Then Roy walked over to get our Photopass card and camera, while Remy proceeded to start walking off with me. I called over my shoulder to say goodbye to Roy, and Emile was looking like “What in the heck!”. So Roy said to Emile “I guess I’ll be taking over for Remy, next family please!” which Emile got a kick out of. Then the character handler got involved, brought Roy over and stopped Remy from walking away with me. She took my hand and asked Remy “Remy, look at this rock on her hand! Who do you think gave it to her?” Remy got all excited and pointed to himself. She said “no, try again”. He hung his head down and pointed to Roy. Then she asked him “Who do you think she is going to go home with” and with his head still hung low, he pointed at Roy gain. She said to him “Remy, you need to stop trying to steal all the married ladies from their husbands!”. He gave me a hug and then went back to where Emile was at.

I so wish we had that whole experience on video, it was so cute! One of my best character interactions ever! Putting it in words just doesn’t describe how cute and funny it was!