A cruise for New Year and a surprise trip to WDW - Update Post 103

[pooksma]

A better question might be- who did the most shopping this day!!!!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Never been when it's so cold that the face characters wear gloves! It just seems so wrong to see everyone bundled up on mainstreet USA. I keep thinking a christmas trip would be nice but when I picture a Christmas trip we're all in shorts and T-shirts.

 

[declansdad]

Great update! Declan has sure grown in the year since we saw you guys! Your pictures remind me of our Jan/Feb trip when it was really cool....today however, I would take that over the -40 we woke up too

Great pictures....I love the one of Declan and Buzz....that needs to be in a frame!!!

Can't wait for more

He hasn't stopped growing. He is drinking so much milk I think we need to buy a cow.

It looks like our trips are going to overlap again. We'll need to meet again.

I will guess you and Declan, but not Ma.
Or maybe just you.

Don't forget there was 5 of us on this trip and 2 were newbies.

Never been when it's so cold that the face characters wear gloves! It just seems so wrong to see everyone bundled up on mainstreet USA. I keep thinking a christmas trip would be nice but when I picture a Christmas trip we're all in shorts and T-shirts.

If it makes you feel better, we wore shorts on Christmas Day.



Hopefully I will post another update in a day or so. I'm away in our Nation's capital for some meetingS but I will post the next update when I get home.

 

[declansdad]

oK, let's recap.

We arrived at MK shortly after rope drop, rode all the biggies (including SM twice), watched Philharmagic, took a few pictures, wondered at where the crowd was, and met up with our travelling companions. All this by 11 am on Boxing Day.

So now on to part 2.

We decided that we would head to AK. The plan was to grab some lunch, watch FOTLK, take a safari and see if we could get the newbies on Everest.

We started with It's Tough to Be A Bug on our way to FP Everest. Enjoyed by all and a few squeels from the newbies.

On the walk to the FPs

We had a chilly lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ before heading to my favourite show, FOTLK.

MeMom, I think the seats we had were almost in the same place as yours were on your last trip.

We next headed for our two week safari with about a 25 minute wait. I think the cool weather made the animals a little more active. Even the cheetahs were running around (I don't think we have even seen them before this trip).

Continued in next post.

 

[declansdad]

Some more safari pics.

I am happy to report that we once again helped catch those awful poachers but we are starting to wonder if those ostrich eggs will ever hatch.

As we strolled over to Everest, we passed the parade (a parade that we have never seen before).

We didn't stop to watch because we didn't want the newbies to have too much time to think about their upcoming trip to see the Yeti.

Here is the ride picture from EE. pooksma and declan in the front and the newbies in the back.

At this point we decided to return to Pop and for two of us to get ready for an evening at the Studio.

Night all.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great update and great pictures! How nice that the crowds weren't horrid on Boxing Day!! Love the pic of Pooksma and Declan on EE!!!

 

[Poolrat]

I have never seen the monkeys do this before.

Sounds like you had a great afternoon at AK.

 

[declansdad]

Great update and great pictures! How nice that the crowds weren't horrid on Boxing Day!! Love the pic of Pooksma and Declan on EE!!!

We were pleasantly surprised on Boxing Day; we really expected to spend the day in order to get through MK.

Our newbie friends are just behind them. There were a couple of "Oh Poops!" on the ride, I think.

I have never seen the monkeys do this before.

Sounds like you had a great afternoon at AK.

It was a great visit,thanks. Looking forward to going back in August.

 

[MeMom]

I like Declan's blue Nike stocking cap.

What were your friends really enjoying most up to this point?

 

[declansdad]

I like Declan's blue Nike stocking cap.

What were your friends really enjoying most up to this point?

They did enjoy EE but we didn't tell them about the part where you go backwards. For the most part, they enjoyed just looking around and taking it all in. Of course George, being an engineer, really likes how everything was laid out and organized.

 

[declansdad]

OK, I guess I better get on with this. Leaving next Thursday for Canada Games and it will be hard to update from the Games.

We arrived back at Pop and I decided that I would need something warmer for the evening so I picked up a nice Disney fleece. It would help keep me warm as Declan and I toured DHS.

We spent some time at the resort, visited the arcade and had some supper. We headed over to the Studios around 7. We headed right to RnR with about a 20 minute wait. We were going to visit that hotel next door but Declan decided he wasn't ready for it at night. Instead he wanted to do the GMR.

Some pics from the first part of the evening.

We were stopped here for about 5 minutes with no audio.

Next we headed to see the Spectacle of Lights. This was why I wanted to come to DHS. If you have never seen this, it is amazing.

We finished the evening by visiting the Muppets and rode Toy Story Mania.

Next up EPCOT.

Night all.

 

[blue_river]

Loved your spectacle of lights shots!

 

[MeMom]

Love seeing the pictures of the Osborne Lights!

Good luck with your Canada Games activities.

Are you guys having a more severe than usual winter like so many others, or are you pretty normal for up there? I've seen so many snow pictures from DISers, and they just make me freeze to the bone looking at them. It's in the 20's here, and we're supposed to get about an inch of snow tonight. For us, getting anything from 1-4 inches is a big thing, and we've gotten that several times already this winter.

 

[declansdad]

Loved your spectacle of lights shots!

Thanks, I was so glad I had a DSLR for this. There are some spots were I just held down the shutter button and fired away. There are more on Photobucket if you are interested.

Love seeing the pictures of the Osborne Lights!

Good luck with your Canada Games activities.

Are you guys having a more severe than usual winter like so many others, or are you pretty normal for up there? I've seen so many snow pictures from DISers, and they just make me freeze to the bone looking at them. It's in the 20's here, and we're supposed to get about an inch of snow tonight. For us, getting anything from 1-4 inches is a big thing, and we've gotten that several times already this winter.

The Games will be different for me this time. First, it will be winter and not the summer games. Second, I won't be coaching but on the mission staff and third, I have to stay for the entire 17 days as opposed to the normal 8. Looking forward to it though (except for the being away from home for so long part).

Our winter has been fairly normal, in fact we didn't have any snow accumulation until after the first week of January. Drive an hour or so east of us and it is quite a bit different. They have been averagin one storm per week with no January thaw. It is starting to pile up for the eastern part of the province.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great pics of the lights!!! Hope you guys did ok during that last storm that passed through!

 

[declansdad]

Great pics of the lights!!! Hope you guys did ok during that last storm that passed through!

10 to 15 centimetre in in Fredericton, nothing at all. Moncton however has been averaging 30 to 40 centimetres a week for the last 5 weeks.

 

[blue_river]

Thanks, I was so glad I had a DSLR for this. There are some spots were I just held down the shutter button and fired away. There are more on Photobucket if you are interested.

I will definately check them out!

10 to 15 centimetre in in Fredericton, nothing at all. Moncton however has been averaging 30 to 40 centimetres a week for the last 5 weeks.

We've had hardly any snow all winter
The most we received was from that last storm and it was only 15 cm.

 

[pooksma]

During the boys outing to DHS, the newbies and I took the opportunity to rest up. We did meet for a warm up toddy and discuss plans for the following day. What made me crack up was to hear my friend, who had never been to WDW, say how much she LOVED MK, but that FOTLK at AK was the best show she had ever seen. Neither she nor her husband were willing to forgive Declan for not warning them about EE going backwards ( I had honestly forgotten) and they still bring it up when we get together.

Would they enjoy Epcot? I thought promises of many different types of beer and margaritas in Mexico might help.


Luckily for me, DH has been somewhat inspired by MeMom and Queen of all Things, and he did a bit of shopping that evening. What did he buy? and did the crowd levels stay low? Up next... Epcot, a dragon or two and a battle against Senor Senor.

 

[Queenofallthings]

10 to 15 centimetre in in Fredericton, nothing at all. Moncton however has been averaging 30 to 40 centimetres a week for the last 5 weeks.

Good to hear!!

 

[Queenofallthings]

During the boys outing to DHS, the newbies and I took the opportunity to rest up. We did meet for a warm up toddy and discuss plans for the following day. What made me crack up was to hear my friend, who had never been to WDW, say how much she LOVED MK, but that FOTLK at AK was the best show she had ever seen. Neither she nor her husband were willing to forgive Declan for not warning them about EE going backwards ( I had honestly forgotten) and they still bring it up when we get together.

Would they enjoy Epcot? I thought promises of many different types of beer and margaritas in Mexico might help.


Luckily for me, DH has been somewhat inspired by MeMom and Queen of all Things, and he did a bit of shopping that evening. What did he buy? and did the crowd levels stay low? Up next... Epcot, a dragon or two and a battle against Senor Senor.

I could go to AK and do nothing but watch FOTLK all day...Jasmine might have something to say about it but that sounds like a perfect day for me. I had a little bit of a fit on EE the first time when it went backwards and I yelled at Jasmine...why, I'm not sure, but I felt like I had to yell.

Can't wait to hear what Darcy bought!! I guess the hours should be out in the next little while for August....are we going to meet at Epcot again and have a GGS???