(3X Update & FINAL!! 3/24)*~*EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!*~*A Mother/Daughter Feb 2013 TR!

[danimaroo]

Haha I love how you did the same thing with the photographer when having them take your photo! Whenever I had one take our photo with my camera, I would tell them it was a prime lens so not to worry about getting everything in the photo. Some photographers totally understood, others looked baffled when they would look through to take the photo. One woman was like, all over the place taking our photo. It's nice when you get some photographers who know what they're doing, though!

Aw man, I love Puffed French Toast.. but sometimes a Mickey waffle just REALLY hits the spot! I also love the cheesy potatoes and the regular ones they have. Yum. We are BIG fans of CP before the park opens. We won't be doing the Dining Plan on our next trip, but we're thinking we love CP so much we'll still just pay for it OOP.

Love the photos with Savannah! So cute. I love those characters, they start off your day right!

Oh and in response to what you were saying before about writing speedy TRs.. I know what you mean! But now with my new job, I just don't have as much time to write TR updates, so they end up being more spread out. I know my DL TR got written very quickly towards the end... but I was just dying to start my WDW one!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I had no idea that you started your TR!!! Hahaha well I'm all caught up (for now!). Sounds like you guys were having a wonderful time! I can never sleep in Disney either, that's great that the food court was open so early for you to get your coffee!

Love Crystal Palace! I think your plate looks great even without the additional strawberries!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yay!!! Breakfast at Crystal Palace. Yummers! And yes, look at Savannah's smile! I'm hoping the Disney Magic will have the same effect on my baby girl! That's really cool to meet a PP photographer who can talk lenses with you! Yep, just give me my point and shoot. I mean, I try to be creative and sometimes I get lucky, but yeah...Fantasyland is coming up next!!! Do we really have to wait until tomorrow.........not that I'm enabling or anything.....

To be honest, sometimes the camera is a burden! I'm COMPELLED to get "the shots" and have to reign myself in sometimes and stop to enjoy. I actually just got a new phone (Galaxy s3) that has a pretty good camera on it and I'm excited to be able to just capture stuff easily and fast without having the camera hog all my time! Not sure I'll actually take it to the parks or anything, but it will be nice to have sometimes!

Awesome pics as always! I like them all, but the shot of just the Mickey bobblies is a cool, creative twist.

Impatiently waiting till tomorrow!

Thanks Nicole! Next update is comin' up!

Great report so far. I love the mommy daughter trips cant wait to do them with my daughter when she is a little older.
Your pictures are beautiful by the way

Thanks! I really loved it, I may have a hard time going back to a big family trip after having 2 trips with just 1 person!

Oh, breakfast at CP! One of our favorites! That is really sweet that Pooh and the gang got a few smiles out of Savannah! Coys at that age, too, where I have to BEG him to smile for pics Luckily True is always up for posing! Anyway, Im getting a little nervous to see the crowds that you were talking about! I hope that you were able to navigate through them and get a lot done!

LOL...True seems to always be posing for the camera! Enjoy that to the fullest! The crowds were tolerable IF you know where you are going, what you are doing and you EXPECT them.

I'm a little bit late, but I'm here! I loved your last report, and you always have amazing photos, so I'm excited to read this one.

That is a really tiny airport! I've never been in one that small.

Great photos around Pop - Taking pictures, exploring, and shopping are all great things to do when you can't sleep.

Glad you are here! It's never too late! It really was so small, I have never seen a small airport like that either. I was nervous at first, but they did everything exactly like a large airport would, security and everything...but seemed less grumpy about it!

The pictures of Savannah and the characters are so cute. I am sure that most kids her age are way too cool to have their picture with a character. Not THIS kid...I love pictures with characters!

Your food pics are making me crave Mickey Waffles...and I JUST finished dinner. I should NOT be hungry!

Whoa....HOLD ON! Where is the 2nd update for today?!?! You were totally on a roll! I guess I'll just sit and wait... popcorn:

Nope, total slacker yesterday, only did one! I'm actually a bit rushed this morning and considered not even updating, but I can't do that to my loyal readers!

All caught up! We are very similar- I am speeding through my TR too because I'm just anxious to share. I don't have many readers though...

Anywho, I love the bathing suit top- too cute. I also know what you mean about PoP just not being as magical when you go back. I felt the same way the second time we went... I just noticed things too... oh well, I still love it that my kids feel the magic too.

Love your shots on Main Street and at CP- you are making me want Mickey waffles!! So sorry you had to experience BTGs too- it was definitely crowded when we were there and definitely took away from the magic a bit. Still, we made the best of it!

Looking forward to hearing more!
Carla

I'm headed over to catch up on you TR Carla, I've been so busy trying to do that vacation catch-up since I got home, do you do that too? I still have not finished editing my shots, the house is a mess, and I just don't feel "settled" yet.

Haha I love how you did the same thing with the photographer when having them take your photo! Whenever I had one take our photo with my camera, I would tell them it was a prime lens so not to worry about getting everything in the photo. Some photographers totally understood, others looked baffled when they would look through to take the photo. One woman was like, all over the place taking our photo. It's nice when you get some photographers who know what they're doing, though!

OMG, this one Photog shook her head like she understood but just kept CRANKING her hand around the lens, trying to zoom! I thought she might break it! I also had one take the BEST shot of Savannah & I on our photopass (which naturally I cannot share yet b/c I don't have it) and then take the SAME shot with my camera and fail miserably. It was blurry and blown out. I get that they just point and shoot with the settings that Disney sets for them, but it's fun when you run across someone who is into photography as much as you!

Aw man, I love Puffed French Toast.. but sometimes a Mickey waffle just REALLY hits the spot! I also love the cheesy potatoes and the regular ones they have. Yum. We are BIG fans of CP before the park opens. We won't be doing the Dining Plan on our next trip, but we're thinking we love CP so much we'll still just pay for it OOP.

Do it! That's what Savannah & I did. It was 48$ I think, but I had set aside $60 for tax & tip and that was the perfect amount! Totally worth it, started our day off just right!

Love the photos with Savannah! So cute. I love those characters, they start off your day right!

Oh and in response to what you were saying before about writing speedy TRs.. I know what you mean! But now with my new job, I just don't have as much time to write TR updates, so they end up being more spread out. I know my DL TR got written very quickly towards the end... but I was just dying to start my WDW one!!

Well, I TRIED to slow down, but these TRIP REPORT PUSHERS keep telling me to update more!

I had no idea that you started your TR!!! Hahaha well I'm all caught up (for now!). Sounds like you guys were having a wonderful time! I can never sleep in Disney either, that's great that the food court was open so early for you to get your coffee!

Love Crystal Palace! I think your plate looks great even without the additional strawberries!

I'm glad I didn't have to waste any strawberries this time just to get a good shot! Glad you found me! I have to catch up on yours, I think, but I have been so crazy since I got home, I haven't kept up with anyone else! I'm sure I will once I'm done here with nothing to plan for a YEAR! I'll just have to follow your wedding!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Chapter 6: Even with the best laid plans...

something will go awry!

Ok, backtrack! First off, I totally forgot a little detail in the last update! It's you UPDATE-PUSHERS! You rushed me!

When we were enjoying our breakfast, a CM came up to us (not dressed like she worked at CP) and held out a card, asking if one of us ladies had lost our KTTW card!!! Savannah looked and sure enough hers was gone!! They found it outside on the ground! She immediately handed it to me with a smile and I was in charge of the cards from there on out! I guess the new bracelets would come in handy!

Ok, back to rope drop.

So, we walked out and saw lots of people running through the castle but I refuse to do that. Savannah does say that I speed up too much, so I took pictures b/c that slows me down! They had all the flowers in Valentines colors (or maybe they didn't do this on purpose, but it looked like it!)

Pretty horse as we came into the hub!

We headed up through the castle, I wanted to take some more time to get a good shot of the castle, but the ton of people heading into Fantastyland had me nervous, so I just took one shot.

Straight to Peter Pan was the plan, I notice many people were suggesting to other DISers to run to Belle and/or LM and grab a FP for Peter, so I decided since we were not going Belle that just walking on PP and saving my FP was a good plan.

WELL. That line looked long! It was posted 10 minutes though and popped up to 20, but I decided we really should do it now and get it done. It's one of my favorites! It wasn't even 10 minutes! I will say this though...this is what we do nearly every trip. In fact, other trips we hit Dumbo first and THEN PP and the line was still shorter then. It didn't effect (ack, affect?) anything b/c it was still a really short line, but I took note that it was longer than in the past and just MORE. BODIES. It made me nervous though, so when we came out we headed straight to the FP machine and grabbed a FP for LM.

It was on PP that I started to sense that Savannah was annoyed with me trying to take photos on the rides (no flash, of course!!) instead of just enjoying them. This could have totally been ME feeling it, but either way, I tried to curb it and cut down on the actual ride photos (which I'm driven to get b/c you don't see them often. It's hard to get a dark ride photo without a good lens and some tricks, so it's a challenge for me, but I digress...)

When I made the plan to grab the LM FPs, I didn't really think about return time. I figured it would be so early that it wouldn't be too late. Since I was rushing to get them, I didn't even look...and the return time was 1:15?!?!? WHA??? Well, as soon as we walked by FLE, I realized what had happened. They had a sign up that LM was closed until 1pm. I hadn't planned on staying until 1:15, but figured it could be the last thing we did before heading back to the resort for some pool time! Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to get anymore FP's for 2 hours! Ack. Well, even the best laid plans have some bumps! Guess we just had to see what we could do at RD with no FPs!

Off to the next ride we thought would get crazy without FP's...

I actually touched that interactive wall thingie! Of course, we slathered germ-x all over our hands immediately after that, but it was fun. The ride...was WALK ON!

Just so we are on the same page, for me, I consider it walk-on if it takes less than 5 minutes and you keep moving almost the whole time. No real stopping and standing.

ooop! Taking pics on rides again. I just cannot help myself! I was actually feeling pretty guilty about it that whole time, kind of trying to process the feelings of whether I wanted to get the shots or not have any.

After Pooh, we headed straight for some spinning fun! Another walkon!

I was pretty nervous about this and had taken some dramamine. I LOVE roller coasters, but spinning...ugh. I usually get in a different cup than Savannah and take pictures while she spins someone else crazy, but I was her only companion, so this time I had to spin! Luckily she didn't mind that I shot the WHOLE time...looking through the viewfinder and focusing just on her (which btw, was a pretty closeup shot b/c of the size of my lens) helped keep me from throwing up!

Bonus! I got some fantastic fun shots of Savannah. I know they might not be as fantastic to you guys b/c you don't know and love her, but I loved capturing the expressions on her face during this ride. Ready to see some fun?

I could barely stand when we stepped off! She said it was harder just spinning it herself and that she didn't get it to spin as much as it should...well thank goodness for that!

Up next...can this RD pixie dust continue?!?!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Hello. My name is Ann and I am an UPDATE-PUSHER!!!! Love your ride pixie dust! and those pictures of Savannah spinning and spinning are awesome! As always, I WANT MORE!!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Hello. My name is Ann and I am an UPDATE-PUSHER!!!! Love your ride pixie dust! and those pictures of Savannah spinning and spinning are awesome! As always, I WANT MORE!!!!

Hey Pusher! I'm sticking my tongue out at you now! (and yes, I took this on our AK day and you'll have to WAIT to see all the rest of them!

NEENER!

 

[Tinker326]

Oh man, those teacups make me sick too!

I always make my hubby take the girls on or they don't go!!

Also- question- does your camera take that sharp of pictures or do you sharpen them in photo editing? I mean, they are awesomely sharp..... and if it is the camera- is that a lens quality? Or the camera itself? Mine never, ever look like that.... (Like. Ever. In the words of Taylor Swift).

 

[luckylady]

Brave women for getting in that teacup,but look at the joy on her face, you just couldn't pass that up. Remember tho at sometime she owes you one oneday.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh man, those teacups make me sick too!

I always make my hubby take the girls on or they don't go!!

Also- question- does your camera take that sharp of pictures or do you sharpen them in photo editing? I mean, they are awesomely sharp..... and if it is the camera- is that a lens quality? Or the camera itself? Mine never, ever look like that.... (Like. Ever. In the words of Taylor Swift).

I have a Nikon D90, which produces pretty sharp pictures. I sharpen them a bit in post processing but most of that is the camera. My husband said he couldn't even tell the difference when he was looking at me sharpening, but I'm used to doing it b/c sometimes I shoot in raw and you HAVE to sharpen b/c the camera does not already sharpen raw shots.

Brave women for getting in that teacup,but look at the joy on her face, you just couldn't pass that up. Remember tho at sometime she owes you one oneday.

Yes! She owes me! I need to remember that!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

No update today folks! I got a new computer (or rather DS built me a new one) and he has to install some stuff and work on it this morning. It means MUCH faster editing for my photos when it's done though, I was working on an ancient computer before! Back tomorrow!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I always have the "should I take pictures now" question going on in my mind too! Lately my answer has been "no," just because they never turn out as good as I'd like for them too - you don't seem to have that problem though!!

Love your pictures of Savannah on the teacups! So sweet!

 

[PISCESANGEL]

I'm headed over to catch up on you TR Carla, I've been so busy trying to do that vacation catch-up since I got home, do you do that too? I still have not finished editing my shots, the house is a mess, and I just don't feel "settled" yet.

Yep, I still feel a little behind at work and at home. I haven't even unpacked toiletries! But I also went through something that could only be described as 'Post-Disney Depression.' I was so sad when we got home. I had been planning for months, and have no plans in the works. All I could think of is things I 'should-have' done. I'm doing much better now though- writing my TR seems to help to keep the magic going a little longer.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

YOU EVEN HAD A GIRAFFE STICK HIS TONGUE OUT AT ME???!!! Now that's a new low, Miss Karen!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I always have the "should I take pictures now" question going on in my mind too! Lately my answer has been "no," just because they never turn out as good as I'd like for them too - you don't seem to have that problem though!!

Love your pictures of Savannah on the teacups! So sweet!

Thanks! Ah, I still have lots of shots that I want to look a certain way but don't! I'm never 100% pleased with my work, I'm always picking it apart!

Yep, I still feel a little behind at work and at home. I haven't even unpacked toiletries! But I also went through something that could only be described as 'Post-Disney Depression.' I was so sad when we got home. I had been planning for months, and have no plans in the works. All I could think of is things I 'should-have' done. I'm doing much better now though- writing my TR seems to help to keep the magic going a little longer.

Oh I so understand! I actually just HAVE to plan another trip, I don't care how far off it is, not having one to plan has been disastrous in the past, so I just have found a way to plan another each time. I don't want to think about not having one to plan!

YOU EVEN HAD A GIRAFFE STICK HIS TONGUE OUT AT ME???!!! Now that's a new low, Miss Karen!!!

Don't you feel special?!?! I looked right at that giraffe and said "What do you think of Ann??? Remember her? She came through here last August!"

 

[jrar4ever]

Hello fellow Missourian! That is real commitment to read my earlier TR's! I get pretty long-winded! Where do you live? We're in St. James (outside of Rolla, MO)

I am originally from St. Louis, MO. But my husband is in the military so we are out near Warrensburg, MO (about 30 miles from Sedalia, MO) now. Your earlier TRs were just so much fun to read. I couldn't stop! And love your stories! Loving this one just as much!

 

[Txshadow]

I have a 15 yr old DD and she is having NOTHING to with posing for photos. Our last trip Sept 2012 the only non grumpy shot we got of her was at Narcoosee's while enjoying her cheesecake.

 

[Pixiedust530]

Loving the report so far. Since you are getting a new and improved, faster, updated computer I will cut you a little slack on not posting an update today. Although, there is a small part of me that is thinking this is totally a ploy to slow down this TR. I'm not ashamed to admit that I am one of those TRIP REPORT PUSHERS you spoke ill of! Get on with it lady....

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I am originally from St. Louis, MO. But my husband is in the military so we are out near Warrensburg, MO (about 30 miles from Sedalia, MO) now. Your earlier TRs were just so much fun to read. I couldn't stop! And love your stories! Loving this one just as much!

Haha, I'm from St. Louis too! What high school did you go to?!? (sorry folks, St. Louis joke!)

I have a 15 yr old DD and she is having NOTHING to with posing for photos. Our last trip Sept 2012 the only non grumpy shot we got of her was at Narcoosee's while enjoying her cheesecake.

She usually makes funny faces instead of smiling, which is fine, but most of them she wouldn't want me posting online, so I have to keep those to myself! Mmmm, cheesecake will make anyone smile!

Loving the report so far. Since you are getting a new and improved, faster, updated computer I will cut you a little slack on not posting an update today. Although, there is a small part of me that is thinking this is totally a ploy to slow down this TR. I'm not ashamed to admit that I am one of those TRIP REPORT PUSHERS you spoke ill of! Get on with it lady....

Gah, having issues with it! It's fine, I can still use the new components and my old hard drive, but it didn't speed up my editing like I hoped b/c I can't use the new hard drive...long story! Anyway, I should have an update tomorrow PUSHER!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Chapter 7: "Can you NOT take pictures?"

When we left off (because it was SOOOOOO long ago!LOL) we had just finished PP, Pooh, and the teacups at rope drop. I would have normally put a smiley above, but I have about 25 images for this update and it won't allow more than that, so I have to post with no smileys! I'm unsure if I can do that. (insert scared smiley here)

We considered the Speedway but decided that's more fun at night, so we headed to Dumbo. Now normally we would have gone to Dumbo first, we always did the Dumbo-dash, but it really doesn't make sense to do that now that they have moved and expanded it. Besides, everyone is running for Belle at RD. I wasn't sure I would like the circus theme (not a fan of the circus) but WOW!!!!! It's Gorgeous! The colors and theming are beautiful. We both loved it!

Walked.right.on. Yep! Oh how I love rope drop! In fact, there were so few people that they had the play area closed? I didn't even get to see in that part of the tent because they had curtains drawn. Love the inside queue that comes back outside. I didn't get any pictures inside because there was no line and we just walked through (with people behind us)

I was a little disappointed when the CM said we couldn't take a picture of anyone before getting in, that we could do that with the picture Dumbo out front (totally not the same!) but I'm a rule follower (well, most of the time!) and so I tried to take an artsy shot of her while sitting with her. It has to be artsy since my lens isn't wide enough for that close of a shot!

Awww, no dancing?!?!?

I took a quick picture of the new water area, it's cute. We didn't even go in any of the tents because we just wanted to take full advantage of how few people were there at this moment. I KNEW they were there after seeing them coming in the park at 9am, so I wanted to get as much done as we could...and WOW we got a lot done! Onward we went, we walked right on Barnstormer next!

I was ready to jump on the train and get to Big Thunder, but Savannah was saying she was scared and I wondered if our days of loving roller coasters had ended! But, after reminding her of all the times she has ridden these rides before, she was ready and we hoped the train for Frontierland!
There was one other person getting on, we had our pick of seats!

Ah, here they come! I always find a bit of pleasure jumping on the train and seeing all the people coming into the park when I've already done a ton of rides. I also get really nervous and want that train to hurry up and get to Frontierland!

We actually saw Clarabell Cow and Briar Rabbit while on the train! They were just near the tracks with some CM's, waving at the train. Does this happen often? Didn't even have time to get a pic!

Ah Big Thunder, how I love thee!

Wanna guess how long the wait was? That's right folks, another walk-on! It was posted at 10 minutes, but didn't take but 5! That's right! We hadn't waited for a ride yet but it's a funny feeling b/c there were so many people coming in, you think it's busy but no lines! This was the first of many rides this trip, but we only did this one and moved on, trying to make sure we got most of our favorites done on this amazing morning.

After BTMRR, we decided that we were having some amazing ride-pixie-dust and we wanted it to continue, so we headed towards another favorite...stopped to take a picture of Splash first, they were working pretty hard on it!

Any guesses?

Oh yeah, Pirates! I'm sure at this point you won't be surprised when I tell you we walked right on! Well, there was a small line, maybe 5 minutes. Front seat in the boat!
I liked the addition of mermaids.

Savannah looked at some jewelry in the gift shop for a while but didn't end up getting anything. We decided to start heading back in the direction of FLE but had to stop at one of Savannah's favorites!

5 minute wait again, but I started sensing that Savannah was getting annoyed with my camera (or my preoccupation with it) again. I tried not to take too many shots and NONE on the carpets.

We then headed to one of MY favorites! I looked at the time and it was 11am! WOW, we got a lot done in 2 hours! HM was no different, walked right on!!

When we got in the buggy and started on our way, Savannah said "Can you NOT take pictures???" and then I knew that what I was sensing was right, she was annoyed that I wasn't just enjoying the rides. I told her I wouldn't EXCEPT in my favorite room where I ALWAYS try to get a shot but never capture it quite how I want to. So, this is the ONE shot I took.

Foiled again! I think I need that wide lens from last trip that I rented and more time! Maybe I can get lucky and break down in that area! Hehehe

So, it was 11:15-20ish and we were headed back into FLE! Yep, that's where all the people were! Savannah looked up as we were headed out of HM and noticed Rapunzel's tower right away and asked about it.

It was time to get in line for Be Our Guest! I took one shot of FLE as we headed towards it. I will say, it's hard to get a good shot of what this area looks like. It's large, the castle walls get in the way, and since it's not done, the construction doesn't make for the best shot, but at least you can see what it looks like right now.

Up Next...Over the bridge and through the woods...for lunch?!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Nice update. I'm very anxious to see what you have to do to get into BOG, so please describe it in detail so I can do it correctly! Ok, that doesn't even sound right --- to ask you to describe it in detail. I mean really......do you ever not describe things in detail???