8 Day Live Trip (& Pre-Trip) Report - Many Pics Starting 9/23

[Gdad]

Well we took off for Soarin' since our fast passes we good now-

Again- Disney was indicating the standby line was 50 Minutes but when we got into the ride there was all of 20 people in standby and they were in the same ride cycle as us.

And forget about the Barnstormer- Soarin' is now Lauren's official 'Best Ride'- she loved that thing and we had to promise to ride it again before we left just to get her off the thing.

After that we decided to head back over to World Showcase.

Caught some of the Off Kilter show on the way by- pretty cool.

Then we stopped by the bakery in France for Desert. Chocolate Mousse (them) and Cheesecake (me) - See a pattern here? I am the only non-chocolate-addict in the group.

After that it was time to stake out our spot for Illuminations We ended up finding a nice spot in front of Japan. Here are a few I took before the show...

Next up: Illuminations

The last time I saw this show there was a parade.

 

[Gdad]

Illuminations...

Later-

 

[crzy4mickey]

I checked out your web site...OMG...such great pictures! How do you take such clear shots at the soccer games. My son plays and I was taking great shots and now seems I can't get it together. I tried the sport mode and they seem to just come out blury. Oh well, i'll try again this weekend. P.S. You have 2 of the cutest girls! Can't wait to read more...it's keeping me going here at work!

 

[Jrabbit910]

Thanks Jeff... Looking forward to more!

 

[miler1600]

I think you took as many illuminations pictures as I did. My wife had to make me stop. I think I got the entire show.

Great trip report.

 

[YEKCIM]

I assured her it was no faster than Mommy drives.

Good thing Kelly is not a DIS-er!

Fabulous shots, Jeff. Be sure you get today's installment "up" before you go to bed tonight...

~EW

 

[scottny]

WOW again. The pics are just amazing. The Illumination pics are gorgeous.

 

[Stitches12]

What a great trip report this is - I'm going to miss it while I'm there !

And, for the record, I totally agree with Lauren - Soarin' is my absolutely most fav ride ever. Can't get me off the thing

 

[zipuzee]

Great so far Jeff! Keep it up. Glad the girls got a dream! They are just too cute.

 

[Gdad]

DAY: 4 - PART 1

Well first off- Thanks again to all who have subscribed and commented. I hope I can keep this interesting for you guys.

Not sure if anyone else ever notices this- maybe it’s just me- but it seems like every trip has at least one kind of off-day. Just one of those days where everyone is snipping at each other and things just can’t seem to work out as planned. I guess today was ours. The girls decided they were going to have a cranky day pretty much right out of the gate when they woke us up at 6:30. And it pretty much deteriorated from there- but hey- we are still at Disney and glad to report that tomorrow (today) is a new day.

So after fumbling around in the room for a while listening to the cranky little ones we grown-up ones decided we needed to decompress a little bit and scrapped our plan to do the morning at MGM. Instead we wandered over to the Mayan Grill and had a nice breakfast. From there we went on to Downtown Disney to just get away from crowds a bit. It was nice with a little breeze- not ‘cool’ but not stiflingly hot either. And thankfully beyond not-crowded to almost deserted around mid morning. The girls spent some of their money that has been burning a hole in their pockets and we just chilled out a little bit. A few new toys and a swing thru Goofy’s candy store and we were off back to the hotel- the plan being to rest, swim, grab a bite to eat and try to be at AK by around 2:00 to stay thru the EMH’s until 8:00. Getting some pictures inside AK at night has been on my to-do list for a while now.

So we got back and the kids took a nap- that was until housekeeping ignored the privacy sign on the door and woke them up. And it was raining by then so the pool idea got canned. This of course sent Camryn solidly back into her snit for the next two hours. We decided to go to Publix and get a couple sandwiches- which between the slow store, the traffic, and the gate to get back into the resort not working- it all managed to consume what seemed like an insane amount of time. (I swear Kelly swiped the key card at the gate at least 25 times with nothing- a CM comes up from the truck behind us- takes the card from her hand- swipes it once while saying- and I am not making this up or exaggerating one word here- ‘What are you doing lady?’ and it opens on the first try) Between housekeeping and the gate guy she is now STEAMING. When we finally got back to eat in the room housekeeping was still there but the rain had stopped so we ate at a table by the quiet pool. This of course spawned a new wave of ‘Why can’t we swim now?’ and by this time it was around 4:00 so we almost scrapped the entire day and said fine- but instead we pressed on to AK- whiners in tow.

We got to AK I think just as the wave of people who leave after the parade hit the gate on their way out. Considering the time we decided to go ahead and get our wristbands for the Extra Magic Hours before we got too involved. Not that I was really thinking too much about it- but when we did the EMH at the MK I just went up- showed them my key- and they gave the four of us the wrist bands. Simple enough- but AK seems to be a little more uptight about the regulations- as the first CM would only give us one wristband since we only had one room key- she summoned a supervisor who gave me a stern lecture on why I must always carry a room key for each person (I don’t even have one for Lauren ) and that she would let it slide just this once. All the while I am smiling and nodding listening to her explain this favor to me- in my head I am planning my escape route and how I will snatch my cranky children and run for cover when my wife who is listening to this over my shoulder goes completely berserk. But in the end and to her credit (Trust me here- she is not one to bite her tongue- ever.) she did not say a word and we got our wristbands and went on our way. Whew.

Taken a few minutes after our CM encounter.
You tell her she has to take the kids back to the hotel.

I did not take as many pictures but I will post a few in the mornin’

Later all-

 

[scottny]

this day was not so magical as the others have been but like you said you are at Disney.

If looks could through a picture we would all be dead. Oh she does not look happy at all.

I think i look forward to the rest of the night.

 

[Tink rules]

I think everyone poops out about day 3 or 4... you just can't push that hard or long and not crash...

Hope everyone got a good nights sleep and a fresh start!!!

 

[Becky521]

Our melt down was Epcot day also day 4 of our trip and we don't have little kids. When we did EMH at AK they gave us the wrong color wristbands!! A guy let us on EE,we walked on, we walked off, got back in line and the same guy said no, your wristband should be white. But you just let us on.....

A bad day at Disney is better than a good day at work...hope things go well today.

 

[YEKCIM]

Jeff,

It seems every vacation has one of those "snakebit" days. No matter what you do, nothing seems to go according to plan. On the bright side, though, it's usually only one day and now you have that day behind you!

I hope the rest of your stay is (to use an overused Disney term) MAGICAL! Thanks for the daily updates; it's almost like being there!

~Ed

 

[crzy4mickey]

Oh, I feel your pain! We were once in a rush to MK for our 8:10 CRT breakfast. This was in the middle of the trip and I can't tell you how many times I kept telling the kids "don't forget your wallets, water and whatever you want for the day, WE ARE NOT COMING BACK FOR ANYTHING!" Well...we got to the gate at MK and guess who forgot our tickets! It was now 8:00 and the rest of the party was itching to get to the castle and we couldn't get in. So a nice CM sent me to guest relations and they gave me temporary tickets for the day. They even let my 2 kids go in with the rest of the party to wait at the castle for me. When I got to the castle, sweaty, stressed and ready to cry another great cm sprinkled me with pixie dust (little mickey heads) and told me that the day would be better! And guess what...it was! I still have some of those mickey heads in my Mickey bag and it brings back great memories!

 

[Gdad]

Thanks all- I'm glad we are not the only ones.

One very nice thing I forgot to mention- When we went to Downtown Disney we went into the Pit Trading post there. Lauren wanter a Soarin' pin and Camryn wanted to pick something out. When we were leaving Camryn found a pin on the ground by the exit. She turned it in to the CM and she gave them both 'Year of a Million Dreams' pins for being so honest.

Thanks Disney!!

 

[Ratpack]

Great report so far, love the photos. Can't wait to see more.

And I guess I am in the minority with you as far as room keys go, we never carry one for each person. It is just a room key for us, nothing more, so why would I carry 4-5 of them around.

 

[Gdad]

DAY 4 PART 2

So we finally got on our first ride at AK a little before 5:00- forget the name of it but Lauren loves this one in Dinoland.

The girls playing with lovebugs in the queue – erk.

And on to the rides…

And the spinning one- Primeval Whirl- or Hurl- I hate this one but go on it for Camryn. I always feel like I got hit by a truck after riding the thing.

Then it was on to EE to try again for the Yeti.

Not the best but getting closer.

Next up: Rain

 

[Gdad]

DAY 4 PART 3

We have never really done the EMH's before- one thing that I was surprised at was how much stuff is closed. At MK Toon Town was closed- at AK any walks or rides with animals were closed- no shows we could find were running- Just an observation.

I was taking a few pictures of all the neat details that are all over AK...

When the rain came back. We had ponchos but decided to wait it out in a little hut by the bridge to Asia.

It was over by about 6:30 and we were looking for something to do until it got dark and I could take my pictures. So the girls played the drums...

The rain I guess made kind of a light fog rise up from the water- it looked very cool but seemed difficult to capture with the camera.

After that the girls needed Chocolate- so we headed to the Ice Cream stand.

 

[Gdad]

DAY 4 PART 4

Well we headed back to Asia to get Ice Cream but the place we had in mind was closed- so we cot something from the stand- they settled for the Nestles-Cookie-Ice-Cream-Sandwich-Thingys. I went on EE again while they ate those since the standby line was empty.

Here is my last go at the Yeti- I guess there will always be a next trip.

After Ice Cream and Everest we started walking back to Discovery Island area. The girls wanted to see 'It's Tuff to be a Bug' and then I could get set up for some night pictures. This time of year it does not even get dark until maybe 7:30 so I wanted to be in place and ready as I would only have about 30 minutes at best.

A few I snapped on the way.

All ready to go after the Bug Show- that is until we saw Lauren's favorite charactors- Lilo and Stitch. The line was long but how could you say no to this face? (Doing a happy dance and singing 'Oh yeah- Lilo- Oh Yeah')

And thanks to Dennis- the CM in the line who seemed to know everything there was to know about Disney and Disney movies. He kept the kids riveted and the adults entertained with his on the fly Disney trivia game.

Finally they made it to L&S