8 Texans Return to Neverland - Day 8, 12/10 "The Crazy Mob"

[exwdwcm]

Me- Michelle, 32, marketing manager, married to a non-disney guy, no kids (but trying now!), former cast member (wdwcp in 1996), the pefectionist/organizer/trip NAZI

Mom- "MawMaw", 50s, married 35 years, recently retired, the generous one! Had brain surgery (pitutary gland)last year that might slow her down a bit this trip as she gets tired more

Dad- "PawPaw", 50s, along for the ride, our driver and constantly pulling out his wallet to pay for stuff!

Great Aunt- Marion or "Auntie", 60s, first time ever to WDW! recently retired as well!

Sister- Mandy, "NeNe", 28, special ed teacher, not big into disney, but loves to go with us, calls her "schmoopy" (boyfriend for those that don't get the Seinfeld reference) every night

Sister- Wendy, 30, paralegal, married with 2 year old, huge Disney NUT and the comedian of the family

Bro in Law- Mike, turned 30 on the trip, married to Wendy, and another comedian and great dad to little Ally

Ally- Mike and Wendy's little angel, 2.4 years old (terrible twos!!!), the first grandkid in our family and completely SPOILED ROTTEN (we love it!)

Saturday, December 10th

Well today is our last day at the world. We leave tomorrow (Sunday) on a 9:30am flight, so we won’t have time to do anything tomorrow. Today is it! Wendy, Mike and Ally decided to stay in some this morning and just pack and rest.

The rest of us were heading to Animal Kingdom for our second time there. We had already spent one morning there, but still had lots to see. We arrive about 8:00 or so and decided to head to Dinoland. We knew we wanted to see the Lion King show, but the first one was not until 10am. So first we head to the Primeval Whirl, I love this thing……we all rode it and they loved it too. I would have ridden a second time, but by the time we got off, the line was over 20 minutes. So then we hit Dinosaur. I lost my sunglasses on this ride on a trip about 5 years ago, when it first opened. So this time- I take them off and put them in the bin with my backpack in front of me. What could go wrong, right? Well we ride and love it- I don’t remember it being so intense and scary last time though. We all had a ball. We get off the ride and as we are leaving Dinoland, I realize I left my sunglasses in the bin. They were just a cheap pair and would be hard to go back and find at this point, so I just let them go. Oh well- but dang my luck! Dino has gotten my sunglasses twice now!

We make it over to Lion King now and enjoy the first show of the day. It was great- I knew Mandy would love it- acrobats, dancers and awesome singers. It was an incredible show!

We are making good time so far. We consider seeing the bird show or Pochohantas, but all are at weird times, so we head to Kali River Rapids instead. We had gotten fast passes earlier, turns out we didn’t need them. There was zero line. It wasn’t cold out today either, not sure why there was no line. We ride with a single woman and then two kids that are on their own. Mandy and I don our ponchos, gotta protect the hair, ya know! We looked silly, but we stayed dry! The big drop---well Auntie and my parents got soaked. It was pretty funny. The two kids got quite a splash too, but they loved it.

A little wet?

After kali, we just took our time exploring some of the garden areas around the tree of life and took in some of nature and the animals. It was nice to just stroll and enjoy. It was after 11am now, but we had done almost everything we wanted to accomplish here, so we decided to head out. Bye Animal Kingdom……

We head back to the resort and are famished…..we are just doing lunch at the food court today. We all order pasta in some form or fashion. I have spaghetti and meatballs, Mandy has fetticuni alfredo etc. We really enjoyed our meal there, it was huge portions and good food. We just enjoyed our view by the window. Watching all the families just checking in (it was Saturday) and thinking how lucky they were to just be starting their vacation. That was us just a week ago- bright eyed and bushy tailed, now we were all just plain tired, but happy. We had seen a lot on this trip, so we couldn’t complain! We all headed back to the room to finish packing and getting organized and ready to head home. How sad! Auntie had felt bad the day before when the rest of us went shopping. So mom and I offered to go over there with her so she could do some shopping too. We took the van and headed to DTD. We only went in the World of Disney. Auntie had been wanting a nice poster or painting or drawing of Disney to hang on her wall at home to remember the trip- her first visit ever. We could never find one. Finally we saw World of Disney was offering a nice sized litho “Happiest Celebration on Earth” for $10 with a purchase of $75 or more (if I remember correctly). She spent more than that and got the litho. So we headed back to the room to catch up with everyone else.

Catching some Zs with dad

After a short break, we had to figure out what was next. The itinerary called for shopping at DTD, but we had changed plans and done that yesterday. We decided on MGM instead- everyone wanted to see the Osborne lights one last time and try and catch the Millionaire game. We missed it last time by being just a minute late! The last millionaire show of the day was at 5pm, so we planned to arrive at MGM no later than 4.

We arrive at MGM and head to TOT, for one last ride. Mike had decided to stay in the room this night- so Auntie sat out with Ally. NO way were we getting her on that ride again. My family and I enjoyed our last ride and drops! Next, we headed for Millionaire. Wendy decided to catch up with us later- so just Auntie, my parents, mandy and me went in. We had front row seats and really enjoyed this show. None of us scored on the board or high at all. Given a second time, I probably could have done a lot better once I figured out you just have to be fast before anything else. A few different moms got up there and did pretty well. They said they had given a cruise to a 5 year old a month ago! It was great fun and well worth the trip to MGM.

After our brush with TV stardom, we headed to the lights. We had already enjoyed the lights on one of our first nights at WDW and there were hardly any crowds that night. It was great, but tonight was a completely different story. It was a complete madhouse. You literally couldn’t move once you got in there. People were shuffling their feet to move and if you had a stroller or wheelchair, well just forget it, you were stuck and not going anywhere. Wall to wall people. It was scary actually. There was no traffic flow or direction one way or the other. So people are trying to get in and others out and pushing and shoving. We wanted to get out of there as fast as we could. We had enjoyed the lights before and were not enjoying them now. It was just too crowded. It took us a good 30 minutes to weave our way out, one shuffle at a time. We asked a CM why it was so bad----he said #1- it was the weekend (Saturday), so locals were here to see it- #2, the lights had been off the last two nights- due to rain and a private event, so guests were trying to see them tonight instead. Craziness. Sheer craziness. Never saw crowds as bad as that before. They really need to think of having a rope to divide the in and out traffic or something for nights like that.

So we decided to give up on MGM and head out. We get in the van and decide to try the MK. We always like to end our vacation there. We knew it would be crowded, it was a Sat night and MK was open til midnight that night. We thought we would check out the Contemporary shop first and then just monorail it to the MK. We never got to see it when we had our dinner there at Cali Grill the first night. I know there are always arguments on here about this and I won’t get into it. But if we plan to park at a resort, we usually are visiting that resort- either to check it out- tour the grounds or visit the shops there. Well they turned us away. I can see why- it was packed there- you could only go in if you had a confirmed ressie and they were checking. Totally understandable so that hotel guests would have parking. So we had to turn around and just head straight to the MK. No biggie, except you had to go all the way back out and around, back by POR to get looped back around to the MK entrance…..doh! What a pain. We learned our lesson for sure.

We finally get to the MK parking and are way out in the back. We see the parking CM flagging people along and there are 3 more spaces near the tram area, so we think we are lucky and won’t have to walk as far…..nope…..the CM tells us to go all the way down to the end and start a new row. Don’t know why….there were still 3 perfectly good spots there and they weren’t handicap or anything……so we dutifully obey and have to walk…..again, just our luck. We have a nice tram ride and take the monorail to MK.

Main Street is beautiful, still decked out for the holidays. We had no plans other than to try and see Hall of Presidents. We had missed it all trip due to show times- we would either just miss it, or have to wait 30 minutes and didn’t want to wait. We head straight there and have just missed the show- she says to come back in 30 minutes. So we run to Pecos Bill’s to grab some dinner while we wait. I haven’t been here since they refurbished it and what a great job they did. My old roommate, Kittie worked there when I was on the college program and it was small, cramped and she hated it. Of course she had to clean grease off the turkey leg racks and pans all day, so who could blame her? She would come home reaking of grease! Then my other roommate would come home and tell us how great her day was and that she was ‘good friends’ with Buzz in the Toy Story parade that day, hoisted up onto the main float….or how a blind kid felt her ‘friend’ Pluto’s face and the mom cried…..she had a great job, “Friends with the characters”….meanwhile my poor roomie Kittie was covered in grease and I came home wearing my hair net and panty hose looking like a cafeteria lady. Good times! Lol

Well back to my point- Pecos Bill was great. I had chili cheese fries, which were okay and also ordered the kids beans and franks. It just sounded good and it was. They had a great topping bar here too and my dad loved his salad with some kind of lime vinaigrette dressing. Good meal. We rushed get finished and hurry back to the Hall of Presidents. We get over there and have just missed the show by a minute-----AGAIN……This is the third time this trip. So we decide it is not meant to be. We don’t want to sit there and wait 30 minutes.

So we head towards Adventureland. We do one last ride on Pirates. Then head for a Dole Whip. It was me, mandy, my parents and Auntie. We found a table and just relaxed and enjoyed our treats. Most rides had long waits, so we decided to call it a night. We thought it would be nice to just stroll out and take our time. Spectromagic was starting, the 9pm show. We had not seen it all trip. But we didn’t want to stake out a spot an hour before. So we just went into the shops and peeked in and out and watched some of Spectro, about 3 people back or so, from Main street. So we still got to see most of it. It is one of my favorites. So it was a good way to end the night. We strolled through the shops and towards the exit. Good bye MK! We get on the monorail……the resort monorail. The line for the express monorail to the TTC is always long at the end of the night. Well the resort monorail ALSO goes to the TTC, it just stops at the Contemporary first. It’s worth it to us to endure that one stop, instead of waiting in a line that is 5x as long. So we always use the resort monorail- it’s a great tip. It even says it goes to the TTC, but most people don’t notice or know I guess.

We get back to the tram and are going out to the parking lot which takes forever, since we are way in the very back. The fireworks (WISHES) are starting to go off- so we saw them from the tram and from our van as we left. We stopped and got gas at the gas station there near the MK. Had to fill it up to return it tomorrow.

Well a great close to a good day and a great vacation. Tomorrow is our trip home and final thoughts.

Stay tuned for our last and final episode! Will we get all of our crap to fit in the van? Will we make our flight on time? Will we remember where we parked? Will we need a vacation from our vacation?

 

[BbearRosenfeld]

Today, Mike, Ally and I decided to take our time getting out the door and then headed over to MK. Ally said she wanted to got to Magi Kingom. We got on a bus and headed over. On our way down Main Street we thought about grabbing a quick breakfast somewhere on Main Street but it was already so busy we just kept moving. We first went to Teacups, a ride that Ally requested, then we did the Pooh's playground which Ally liked, until we saw the ground water fountains squirting up. So we quickly left and headed to Toon Town and saw that there was a huge Tent with shopping and characters to see. So we waited in the line to see Cinderella, Snow White and a surprise guest (Sleeping Beauty). We waited a whole hour. This was an unplanned visit to Cinderella, we didn't realize she was here and so Ally was not dressed the way we planned nor did we have our camera with us. After the whole primacare fiasco last night we hadn't had a chance to charge it or pack it. So we found our photo pass card and pulled it out and then I bought a cute shirt in the gift shop while we waited in line and got Ally all presentable while waiting for Cinderella. I didn't mind waiting in this line, it was our time to spend together and watch other families with their family doing their own vacation and thinking about how we wanted to do this again sometime but on our own. Not that we didn't love being with my family, but being our own family was so magical and so relaxed. We didn't have any worries about communicating our next move or worrying what the others were up to. Luckily we have a cool family that didn't mind us being on our own and didn't make a fuss when we had some time to ourselves. We decided while waiting in that line we will do this again once we are done having children and we also decided we will look into the DVC next time we return. Yay! So our hour goes by and we finally get in to see Cindy, Snow and Aurora. Snow White was wonderful. I think she was the one Princess that impressed me the most while on this vacation. Everywhere we went she shone brighter than any other princess and really worked the audience. As soon as we walked in the room there were three booths for the Princesses to sit in and music played in the area outside the booths of each of the Princesses movies. Someday my prince will come was playing and snow was dancing around the room and walked up to those waiting in line and offered to sign our autograph books while we waited for our photos. Ally was very excited. Sleeping Beauty was first and it was a nice visit. Then was the all important Cinderella. I was tearing up at this point. We promised this little 2 year old for so long that she would see cindy and here it is. She just stared at her amazed.

Wasn't she precious. The Snow White meeting was just as precious.
I'll continue our day in another link.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[fizz13]

Oh my gosh, that photo was jsut wonderful, so worth waiting for,

Claire xx

 

[BbearRosenfeld]

So to continue with our Saturday 12/10/05 in WDW. Mike, Ally and I had just waited an hour to see the Princesses in the Judge's tent and then decided that we would go have lunch somewhere in MK.

But before I go on, I had to add this photo of Snow White teaching Ally how to show the number two with her fingers to say how old she was.
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http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/40468Mickey_11.jpg

Believe it or not, she now remembers. She didn't remember when we taught her, but does for Snow White! :rotfl: LOL, we didn't mind, we were impressed that Snow took the time.
I had said I wanted to go to the Columbia Harbour House just once, because I thought it was located in a cool place and always smelled good. So we went there and Ally and I got a seat upstairs while Mike got our lunches. I got us a cool window overlooking Haunted Mansion. How cool is that? I was just people watching with Ally in my lap looking out the window in front of me. We ate and it was okay food, but the view and very less crowded atmosphere made up for the lack of taste, especially since it was Sat in the MK and was getting very crowded already. I guess the upstairs of Columbia Harbour House really is a secret! On our way out we decided to get a couple photos of us on Main Street via photo pass.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/40468Mickey_22.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/40468Mickey_28a.jpg

We were even able to get a photo with Tink in our hands!
[IMG]http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/40468Mickey_29.jpg

We decided we would head to EPCOT real quick to let Mike ride Test Track for the last time. On the way over via monorail, I asked if we could sit up front. There were only two spots left, so Mike and Ally rode up front and I sat in back with the stroller. Mike said he had a great monorail driver this time around and it was a great view for Ally. We got to EPCOT and Ally had a bit of a meltdown getting off the monorail, something she wanted and couldn't have and we knew she was getting tired. So our plan was to get to the first baby station inside and get her changed and get her a snack. Once we found the station we got her changed but she had wet her shorts in the process, so we changed her and washed out her shorts and instead of putting on pants (the only other thing I had in my bag) we just covered her bottom half with a blanket in the stroller and she passed out. Since she was asleep under the shade of the stroller and it was perfect weather outside, we decided we would take advantage of her sleep and stroll around the showcase while she napped and her shorts dried out in the sun. We first headed to Mexico and got a couple churros and cokes and strolled around. Mike and I had already done Mexico and Norway a couple days before, so we were just walking in and out of the stores in World Showcase looking at soccer shirts for Mike. It was such a peaceful time. We loved it. We both ended up getting a couple shirts in the showcase. By the time we got around to the other side we decided to go back to the hotel. As we were leaving, we got a few more photos with our photo pass.

We were taking our time and headed back to the bus stop and just as we arrived one arrived! What luck. We got back to the hotel and luckily I had packed my mug and so we went through the foodcourt and filled up and headed back on the path to our room. On the way we see my sisters. They were going to head to MGM and then MK for the night. So I decided to join them for MGM. Mike's feet were killing him after all the walking and new shoes - I told him not to do that! Luckily I brought my new tennis shoes and my old ones and believe it or not the new ones felt better and never blistered! So I headed out with Ally and the rest of the family to MGM. We got there and the first thing they did was Millionnaire. I didn't really care for this one much so I told them I would sit out and just enjoy the scenery. I was with Ally and the stroller and so I just strolled around and got us a pretzel and a drink to share and sat outside of Millionnaire and talked to a cast member there. I watched as she got all the people to come in for the last show of the night and then as they finished loading up for the night saw how all the people came running over out of breath hoping to still get in and sadly they were turned away. She said she hated that part of her job. Knowing it was some of these people's last time to go to millionnaire for whatever reason on their vacations and they would complain to her. We just talked all about disney and how many years she worked there. The whole while Ally is being an angel sitting in her stroller eating part of the pretzel and not bothering anyone. After my family came out, we decided to see the Osborne lights. We had already seen it before but wanted to one last time since we loved it so. Well that was a mistake. The Osborne lights were so crazy busy that night we barely could get through the crowds and especially with a stroller. There was 6 of us adults and one toddler in a stroller, so you could only imagine trying to get through the crowds of wall to wall people an dstay together. After about 30 minutes of just slowly stepping from one side of the street to the other we got over by Muppets and decided to leave. While walking out they were talking about going to MK to see Spectro and have a dole whip. While that sounded good, I had already had my fill of MK for the day with the crowds and just wanted to go back to the hotel and finish packing with Mike. So I told them to go on without me and I would take a bus back, as long as they would take the stroller for me, cause taking it with me and trying to fold it up on a buss withAlly in my hands would had been crazy. So they went to MK via the van and took my stroller with them. I strolled on the streets on the way out of MGM with Ally and we bought some souvenirs and then headed to the bus station. I couldn't remember where the bus station was, so I looked at the map on the way out and started walking towards them and realized that I was going in the wrong direction, after walking halfway around the bus stops, so I walked across the parking lot to the right one and see a bus coming, so I started to run, all the while I am holding a two year old and our souviners and my backpack. Then I realized that there was a huge line, so I wasn't getting on anyways, so I go to the end of the line about three rows back and wait. After a second bus we finally get on and luckily we get a seat. I had Ally sit on my lap to make room for others. After a couple stops and talking with some nice people we get to the resort. I called Mike from the lobby phone and told him to meet us in the foodcourt for dinner. We had a nice dinner together and then headed back to the room for packing. It was a relaxing evening for our last night. Oh, and you always can hear the fireworks from our hotel, so that was nice before we left.
Although we were tired and ready to go home, we were going to miss our time together in WDW. I will end my posts on here with some photos of our whole group that I just figured out how to get off of photos pass: