A-Hoy Mateys, the Crew of the Black Pearl Heads to WDW!

[MrsKreamer]

I am getting so excited. We only have 2 weeks left.

 

[parkers*momma]

Woo Hoo!
Yes, I'm dancing! It feels like I've spent half my summer waiting for Sep 15!
Just got the 1wk replanned with cousin! Woo Hoo! She wants to go to MNNSHP (not in costume, but perhaps in Hallowe'en tshirt!)

She flies out of Bangor Maine mid afternoon, and doesn't arrive til 11pm-ish, so I'll prob check out various resorts or DTD for the afternoon evening.
Are POR's quiet pools open 24 hr?

On Sep 16 Wed. we hit Epcot until 5 or so, and then on to 'Ohana (Thanks Maddie!) for supper and Fireworks from the beach after.

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE!

On Sep 17 Thur, it will be Animal Kingdom (9-5), and CS lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. After that, we'll either hop to MK or check AKL/buffet supper at BOMA (been there already) OR DTD OR WDW minigolf (open til 11).......
.........MK Spectro & MK fireworks 8 &9pm & Epcot Illuminations 9pm may affect where we hop to.

WE ARE GOING TO BE AT MK JUST FOR THE SPECTRO AND WISHES TOO!

On Sep 18 Fri either Typhoon Lagoon OR AK til about 2pm (may head to back to POR to clean up or nap) AND THEN! MNSSHP shortly after 4pm

On Sep 19 Sat we'll pick up a rent-a-car, and after a morning swim, will go offsite for brekkie buffet, shopping, and supper offsite. maybe Pirates minigolf or WDW minigolf(if not done on Thurs or wanting to do again)

OCEAN HERE-DEPENDING ON WHERE THE STORMS AREN'T THAT DAY...LOL

On Sept 20 Sun cousin will attend church services. I might go to Blizzard Beach, or even see if she'll drop me off at IKEA. We'll spend the rest of the day exploring POR/POFQ or strolling DTD. Rent-a-car goes back tonight or Mon AM.

On Sept 21 Mon, we'll grace DHS with our presence, and have lunch at Brown Derby. This is her last full day, so we'll prob hop to Epcot or MK and/or hop back to DHS (PM EMH means DHS open til 10pm). Again, MK Spectro & MK fireworks 8 &9pm & Epcot Illuminations 9pm may affect where we hop to.

SEE YOU THERE! WE ARE AT DH ALL DAY UNTIL 5:30 FOR A POLY PHOTOSHOOT AND NARCOOSSEE FOR DINNER

On Sept 22 Tue Cousin wil take ME to airport around 10:30, so possibly we'll have 1-2-3 hours to explore Resort, swim, etc.

Next I'll re-plan out my 2nd week and see about rescheduling brekkie in the castle for that week, and Le Cellier lunch as well (she's like me: I didn't see the point in going there as much of the menu are things I prepare anyway! But I want to try a few things that are hyped!)

Here are the ADR's I'll be cancelling or passing on:
Sep 19 SAT:
.......DHS Brown Derby for 2 at 12:30
........'Ohana for 2 at 6:30 (other than 9 that was the ONLY opening I found. Kept it til now just in case cousin wouldn't be able to make the Wed one)
Sep 21 Mon
........Le Cellier for 2 at 2pm.
....The breakfast at CRT is for Sep 21 Mon, for 1 at 8am, but as that's paid on credit card, I think I need to just see if they can resched for me as opposed to trading it, or giving it away. I did book 1900 Park Fare for Sun Sep 27 brekkie, but may scrap that instead....I'd like to experience dining in the castle!

Woo Hoo! NOW IT IS NO LONGER TO EARLY TO START PACKING!!!!!!

hahaha I am packed and it is in the car waiting for the day to get here!

 

[parkers*momma]

Best Tip:
Take a picture of your name, address, phone number incase you lose your camera. Hopefully whoever finds it will turn it over to WDW and they look to see if there is identification. . I also take pictures of our Keys to the World, MNSSHP tickets, and photopass cards incase I lose them.

Best Kept Secret:
If a CM asks you if this is your first time to WDW, always answer yes! It can bring many surprises such as certificates, in parades, etc.. I learned this last year though I haven't got to try it out yet. A CM friend said when they ask ask guests, if the guest answers yes, they are suppose to make the trip memoriable.

Best Food:
Hard one! DD loves the Churros, Dh Loves the Dole Whips and me...anything I don't have to cook!

Our Plans have changed and grown since I first posted. I tweaked and tweaks until I can't tweak anymore!

9/15 Arriving late (come on Airtran cancel our flight so we can get out earlier!) Dining at Chef Mickeys

9/16 Cape May Cafe at 8:30, then horseback riding. Off to typhoon Lagoon until 4:00ish. I splurged and book Cat. 1 at Spirit of Aloha then off for a mimi meet with a new friend to watch Wishes on the beach.

9/17 MK for Rope drop, hitting haunted mansion with Liberty Tree Tavern for DD birthday---the Big NINE! Then watching Wishes and Spectro.

9/18 Boma for breakfast at 8:20--wahoo then off to Epcot to check out the lands for DD. She is studying several of them this year and wants to see the CMs in attire. Can't forget our Disney Visa Character meet and greet! Lastly a YUMMY meal at LeCelliers....my mouth is watering already!

9/19 Poly Photoshoot at 8:30AM, picking up our car and heading to the beach to collect shells. Then coming back to WDW for an Ohana dinner at 5:30. Probably do the Tahiti Beach for Wishes again.

9/20 HS for the day with Sci-Fi at noon. DD just LOVES this place! But what her and DH doesn't know, I booked us the pirate and pal firework cruise at 6:00 that night. I can't wait to share that with them once we get to the Contemp!

9/21 Opening Ak with a Donald breakfast at 8:00AM. Attending our first Jammin' Jungle Parade and riding EE for the first time. DD is FINALLY tall enough! Then Popping over to Grand Floridian for a photosession and off to Narcoossee's for a 7:35 dinner. Hoping to get by a window so we can watch Wishes from the restaurant.

9/22 SLEEPING IN! Then off to DTD for shopping, creating our own snacks, doing a pearl (tradition) and taking our first Hot Air Balloon ride! A 4:00pm dinner with the evil sisters at 1900 Parkfare then off to MNSSHP until they throw us out of MK!

9/23--A FIRST! We have 8:00AM ressies with Cinderella in the Castle. We have never been able to score this before the park opens and we finally did! Hitting our favorite rides, mid day lunch at CP with pooh and the gang, and attending the Wishes Desset Party. Look out strawberries here I come! After Wishes, we are meeting a few Dis friends by the Pop Pool (from my stroller swaps)

9/24--1900 Parkfare for a 9:00am breakfast and hoping for either a hurricane or AirTran cancels our outgoing flight and we get "stuck" at WDW another day. If not, we will be leaving our Pop home and heading to Ohio at Noon.

 

[WalkingintheFog]

A wee tweak to Parkers*Momma's tip:
My camera has a default setting whereby whenever it's turned on, a screen shot showing the camera make displays for a couple seconds. It can be a nuisance if you want to turn the camera on for a quick shot of something.
But the beauty is you can replace their shot with one of your own pics.

I took a pic of card saying "this camera and memory card belong to ***LAST NAME***"
and below it wrote my cell # and gmail address.
So IF I lose the camera, and someone turns it on, that's the first thing they will see!.
I did also use my handy dandy label maker and put label on camera, battery, memory card w/ gmail addr (must replace that w/ cell # now that I know I'll be taking it), and will put same on the photopass card & KTTK etc (and also take photo of photopass card etc.!)

My best WDW tip? EAT MICKEY MOUSE ICECREAM SANDWICHES FOR LUNCH!


Parkers*Momma: question re ADR swap..... do I need the last name for the ressie, or will they be okay with just the conf #?

Thanks again!

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

We're getting so close to our trips now that I can almost smell the Main Street Bakery! Can you? Close your eyes and think . . . fresh baked cookies, cinnamon rolls . . . there it is . . . it's coming . . . aaaah!! Now open your eyes . . . the balloon vendors are up on the corner and then, there they are! Our handy-dandy friends, the PhotoPass Photographers!!! Now, it's just you, your family, and the castle we all love so much!!

My challenge to you? Wear those photographers out!!! Why have two options of your much-desired castle photo? If there's not 18 families behind you waiting to do the same thing, ask them to take several different shots and poses. If there are tons of families around, move on to another photographer and start over! I know I would rather have a few good ones to choose from than to have to decide which is the least yucky! Keep in mind too that these photographers are not professionals. One may be better than the other. I had three different photographers near the castle take photos of us last year and I was so glad that I did! I didn't do that at EPCoT and I don't have any photos in front of SE because of it! The photog was new and lost everything she took! That's a mistake I won't repeat again, I assure you!!

The first member of our crew to head to WDW is disneyfan551 and family who get there on Friday (the lucky ducks!). parkers*momma and WalkingInTheFog are hot on their heels though, arriving next Tuesday. The rest of us topple like dominoes after that. I'm so excited to start packing I can hardly stand it! I wish I had enough clothes to pack now, but I'd be stuck with one pair of grungy shorts and a couple of t-shirts that I wore when I painted the bedroom to wear for a week and a half! Maybe that's not so bad . . .

 

[WalkingintheFog]

Reporting LIVE FROM DISNEY!

Woo Hoo!

It's hot. Really hot. and humid!

Here at POR. Just hooked up internet for the next 24 hrs to check in on emails/facebook/skype/disboards/hurricane tracking!


Parkers*Momma,
Sorry we missed you on Wed at the Poly beach! We were at Ohana's, and had not even had dessert at the point the fireworks started!
--it was a great window table, and a heckuva lot of meat! Loved the potstickers, steak, shrimp, wings, noodles, salad, BREAD!, and the bread pudding.
The turkey and pork was a bit too dry- I prob should have tried from a diff skewer, but there was more than enough food anyway!.


We were also at Universal on Sat (shopping for me today Sunday!)

DHS tomorrow! Look for 2 "girls" of a bit above average size (truly, just a bit, not more) who are yakking and laughing at each other- I'll be the one wearing the black disney fanny pack (they call them belly bags now!)

Oops! Cuz is ready to walk out the door!

Happy Sunday in Disney everyone!

 

[parkers*momma]

Reporting LIVE FROM DISNEY!

Woo Hoo!

It's hot. Really hot. and humid!

Here at POR. Just hooked up internet for the next 24 hrs to check in on emails/facebook/skype/disboards/hurricane tracking!


Parkers*Momma,
Sorry we missed you on Wed at the Poly beach! We were at Ohana's, and had not even had dessert at the point the fireworks started!
--it was a great window table, and a heckuva lot of meat! Loved the potstickers, steak, shrimp, wings, noodles, salad, BREAD!, and the bread pudding.
The turkey and pork was a bit too dry- I prob should have tried from a diff skewer, but there was more than enough food anyway!.


We were also at Universal on Sat (shopping for me today Sunday!)

DHS tomorrow! Look for 2 "girls" of a bit above average size (truly, just a bit, not more) who are yakking and laughing at each other- I'll be the one wearing the black disney fanny pack (they call them belly bags now!)

Oops! Cuz is ready to walk out the door!

Happy Sunday in Disney everyone!

That's ok

The fireworks were wonderful on the beach. We snagged a couple hammocks and truly enjoyed the show.

I did get to meet MrsKramer and Mrkramer. Their lil boys are so cute!! I met MrsKramer and her oldest one night just outside our room. A couple days later, I meet Mrkramer and the baby (who was snoozing soundly) near the pool. I just wish we would have spent more time together but it seemed as though we were both going the opposite direction each time.

 

[smacky1]

Hey everyone! Im not sure if everyone is back, but I hope you all had great trips! We had a fantastic time! Our best disney trip yet. We have been going in September for a while and we love the heat and low crowds. It does seem to get busier and busier every year though. The 9/22 Halloween party seemed much busier to me than the one I went to last year, although, we never waited for any rides. The character lines were pretty long, especially snow white! Did anyone notice the sea witch from Ariel missing from the parade? DH didnt remember seeing that float, but its possible we were talking and missed it. I love the Haunted Mansion float.
We have decided to go back next September so the new count down is on!!
I was looking through our photos and wanted to know where the pictures of pooh, eeyore, and tigger (or maybe it was pooh piglet and tigger?) were taken? It looks like somewhere in Epcot but Ive never seen them. DD would love to get her pic with all 3 at once. Thanks to everyone for doing the photopass share. Its actually neat to see all the things we missed. No one would believe with as many times as we go that we miss things, but we do! Theres just so much to do and see. I love all the special photos with the cartoon characters. So fun!

 

[parkers*momma]

HEY! We booked the bounceback for next September too! Right now it is 9/8to 9/22 but I think I am going to change it to 9/10-20 as the school is starting to get a lil snippy about DD missing school this year. I can only image how bad it will be next year.

Anywho, when are you going next year. I know photopass shares aren't allowed on Disboards anymore but I think I am going to just go ahead and order it in Jan. or Feb. and offer it to share it with a few DIS'ers.

Anyone from this swap who happens to be going next Spetember on the bounceback...and would like to be share mine....let me know and I'll put your names in my 2010 Vacation folder before I say anything on the boards in Feb

 

[smacky1]

We are still debating our dates as well. Its DD first year in Kindergarten so although she wont be missing anything important, Im not sure if having her go 3 days then pulling her out for a week is better then giving her more time to adjust and going a little later? We are thinking either 10-18 or 17-25. Keep me posted on the photo share. I would be interested in doing another share next year if it all works out. I realized after looking through all the photos that we missed a lot of cool pictures! Especially yours! How did you know about all those "special" ones! They are so fun. I really like the ones with your dd and the balloons. We did the photo shoot last year at the beach club and got some great family photos. This year I wanted to do it again, but my son is very anti-photo right now. He yells at when I try to take his picture. Your photo shoot came out great. I personally think its a great deal b/c you get all the photos on a CD to do what you want with. We made nice framed pictures as gifts last year that were a big hit. Where are you staying next year?

 

[parkers*momma]

We are still debating our dates as well. Its DD first year in Kindergarten so although she wont be missing anything important, Im not sure if having her go 3 days then pulling her out for a week is better then giving her more time to adjust and going a little later? We are thinking either 10-18 or 17-25. Keep me posted on the photo share. I would be interested in doing another share next year if it all works out. I realized after looking through all the photos that we missed a lot of cool pictures! Especially yours! How did you know about all those "special" ones! They are so fun. I really like the ones with your dd and the balloons. We did the photo shoot last year at the beach club and got some great family photos. This year I wanted to do it again, but my son is very anti-photo right now. He yells at when I try to take his picture. Your photo shoot came out great. I personally think its a great deal b/c you get all the photos on a CD to do what you want with. We made nice framed pictures as gifts last year that were a big hit. Where are you staying next year?

Right now we are at Pop but I think I might be changing that as Parker has now decided she really wants to go back to Movies.

The special ones? All you have to do is ask any photopass photographer as they do certain ones are certain parks. Last year, they did a neat one with an animated Capt. Hook they super imposed in the photo. It looked like your lil one was having a sword fight with him. The only one I forgot...which really upset me after standing for an hour was the fairy wings. While you are visiting the fairies in Pixie Hallow, you can ask the photopass photographer to take a special shot where your lil princess is standing near flowers and they put fairy wings on your child. BUT by the time we finally made it in to see they fairies, we were so awed by all the scenes, I completely forgot about it until we left. If the line would have been shorter we would would have went back through and had it taken.

I think my favorite of all the "specials" is where the three of us are together and DH is floating away with the balloons and we are holding him down to the ground. We had so much fun taking that one!

I had another photopass session planned but DH wasn't feeling well that day so we missed it. It was at the Poly-my favorite resort. I'm thinking of a weekend trip this December and trust me, if I do that is the first thing we are going!


Is anyone having any luck with the black and white feature? I simply can't get it to work.

 

[parkers*momma]

OK, who is the two pooh-sized ladies?

The one with the braids....you look familiar....I just don't remember where I met/saw you before and it is driving me CRAZY!

 

[WalkingintheFog]

Not us! My hair is too short for braids, and cuz will only do a pony tail (I have no idea how she could cope in that heat with it down! I've been steadily getting mine cut shorter and shorter!)

Still working on editing-- having some vision issues, so not able to do a lot each night.

I had a great trip, definitely loved POR, but was very disappointed with YC (will be sending a letter to the GM- in 4 days at YC I had dirty sinks & balcony furniture, cracked toilet handle [ouch!], doors that wouldn't lock, even outlets and AC not working -- I'll post the outcome in the YC thread).

Next trip, likely late Sep or early Oct 2011, I'd like to try AK savannah view.

 

[parkers*momma]

It's the very first picture on the photopass site. I just looked at it again...close up and it's not braids...its just the way the photo looks.

The castaway club shirt on?? Is that your cousin?

 

[WalkingintheFog]

nope, still not us....
Those other 2 ladies are much more photogenic than I am! I swear that I really do have both eyes shaped the same, but you'd never know it from photos of me!
We're the first ones in the AK set of pics tho! And currently I'm also the last in the AK set (posing w/ Chip& Dale, Mickey, then Donald)!

I thought AK's Camp MinniMickey was great for posing w/ character pictures -- there were virtually no lines (2-10 people ahead of me each one).