A Mickey's Very Merry "Holy Crap It's Cold" Trip Report 12/9-12/16

[Tinkermom76]

ok what day was this because if you are going in order it is Sat the 11th and I was at MK that day and I couldn't find a ride with no wait at all.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Wow no waits on most of the rides at MK...that sounds good!

Looks like you all had a great day!

 

[BoBippity]

I love, love, love all the pictures! i think that old adage is true...a picture is worth a thousand words!

 

[Katie & Glen]

TinkerMom- all I can say is RideMax was awesome for this trip.

I also forgot to add that after dinner we went to the hat store by Tony's after dinner and Ethan made a pair of custom Mickey ears as seen in the last picture.

 

[Later_Mater2009]

I am loving your trip report
LOVE stitch too

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

I'm subbing. Man you are quick with the updates. I started my TR on Dec 24th, and didn't get the last entry in until Feb 5th.

We wake the dog/house sitters and tell them we are heading out and make our first stop of the morning: Wawa. Mmmmm…..coffee.

I'm surprised nobody has asked what a Wawa is.

We get to the bus area and a bus is already pulling up that has no one on it. Hey, I’ll take it.

Wow, you are so lucky. I swear when we were at AKL we were always going to the park that was apparently only running 1 bus that day. Every other park would have multiple busses stop before ours would arrive. I blame it on the pesky Vacation Gods, guess they like you better.

After the trail we hop on the train for the Conservation Station. As soon as we arrive and make our way into the building, we see Jiminy Cricket. OMG!!!

Stupid Vacation Gods We went to Rafiki's planet watch, and one of my main reasons was to see Jiminy Cricket, with Rafiki and Pocohontas being a bonus, and he wasn't there.

If we were not on the dining plan we would not have done it. I think our bill was close to $100. Really?!

Wait, you mean $100 for breakfast along with a recomendation to tip $20 at a buffet isn't normal???

So just in case your wondering why its taking me so long to get this TR updated, here is some photo evidence what happens when I sit down and try and type.

Must be a cat thing. My cat will keep nudging my elbow with her head so she can get on my lap.

 

[merbobear]

I'm in..just want to keep reading your updates!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

As we were making our way towards Big Thunder Mountain, we spotted Aladdin & Jasmine with a short line so we stopped here. Jasmine gave Ethan a big kiss on the cheek. We didn’t let him rub it off right away and her lipstick ended up staining his face. So for two days he walked around with a kiss mark on his cheek.

I knew there was something I wanted to comment on.
What the heck is in lipstick that would stain your face for two days???

 

[GaRain]

Good report so far - love all the pictures!
Love following along with someone who hasn't been there before - that's great!

 

[Katie & Glen]

Sorry its taking me so long to get the next segment out guys. Been really busy the past two weekends. I promise to get at least 2 more days out tomorrow since my work was nice enough to give us off fro Presidents Day.

 

[Tinkermom76]

as long as you finish before your next trip!!! lol

 

[Katie & Glen]

Ok, so I got sucked into babysitting for a few hours today so I did not have a chance to write anything. I will try and have Glen write some tomorrow morning.

 

[BridgetR3]

I'm in!! Enjoying your TR!

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hey Katie, we were at AKL for 12/3-12/11. How awesome is the lodge? I loved waking up every morning and seeing the animals from our balcony, but as your TR titles suggests, it was so cold that week I didn't get to enjoy my morning coffee out there as I anticipated. We are from Delaware County, and I too know my way around MCO better then PHL! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Katie & Glen]

Ok, so I know I am really late on getting these chapters out, but we’ve been pretty busy the past few weekends and also with planning our next trip.

So day 4 begins a little later since we were going to DTD to get Ethan his own custom race car from Ridemakerz at 10am. We originally had breakfast scheduled at Boma this morning but decided to just try Mara instead since we were jonesing for some Mickey waffles. Breakfast was ok, I don’t remember exactly what we got, but it was nothing memorable.

After breakfast we hopped on a bus to DTD. We knew they were calling for rain today so we made sure to pack our ponchos and extra clothes for later when it was supposed to get cooler. So we get to Ridemakerz and Ethan picks all of stuff, builds his car and we head out to take some pictures.

So we get a call that my friend Pat’s plane had landed and she was on her way to check in. We told her to meet us at Hollywood Studios. Well, on the way the skies started to darken more and more. By the time we got to the Studios it was raining. We met up with Pat, got Ethan a locker for his car and took a quick picture.

So we head in through the gates and the skies opened up. We found some cover and quickly got our ponchos on. We made our way up towards the Sorcerers Hat and got a nice rainy pic.

We decided to grab some lunch since it was pouring and wait for the rain to pass. We stopped in at the Commissary. Glen and Pat stood in line to get the food while Ethan and I found a table. The service here is really, really, REALLY slow and the food was not great (step below Burger King / McDonalds). Our original plan had been to grab food and head to Indiana Jones Stunt Show…. But, since it was raining, we didn’t want to get soaked going to the show, so we rearranged our plans a little bit.
So after lunch, we headed over to the Chinese Theatre for the Great Movie Ride. Now I was really excited because in all the times I’ve ridden this, I have only had the gangster scene and this time we got the cowboy. I didn’t want to let on about multiple scenes to the boys but Pat and I were whispering knowingly to each other. Ethan was a little creped out from the Alien scene but did ok. After this we went down the Streets of America and towards the Muppets… Glen really wanted to see Muppets 3D and, since it was still raining, we went in. I am not a huge Muppets fan, but Glen grew up watching the Muppet show – so I agreed. I didn’t think it was that great but it was amusing. Glen and Ethan laughed the whole way through.
Afterwards, we decided to wander around a little bit, since the rain was starting to let up. We stumbled across a Photo Pass person in front of Lightning McQueen and Mater – and NO LINE (well, it was still raining, after all and they were huddling under an umbrella). So we grabbed some quick shots.

So, after this we decided to head over to Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n Roller Coaster to check the lines and maybe grab some FP. RnRC had a VERY long line so we just grabbed some FP for later. We made our way over to ToT and it had a 10 min wait… so we jumped inline and went on. Pat opted out and held our bags for us. ToT is one of my FAVORITE rides at Disney!!!!! When I was there in ’97, my friend April and her younger sister and I rode soooo many times that the CMs were letting us bypass “the room” and go straight up to the queue in “the boiler room.” I think we rode it close to 100 times that day (scarily, that is not even close to the record) – but, hey we were 16.

Glen and Ethan LOVED the ride and Ethan wanted to go one more time. It was still less than a 10min wait so we went on again. We had some awesome drop sequences for both rides, but nothing like we would have later on in the trip.
After ToT I was really hungry since I barely ate my gross lunch so we stopped off in Backlot Express and I grabbed some nuggets (which were awesome!) and then made our way over to catch the last showing of Lights! Motors! Action! Thankfully it was done raining. We all loved this show. Even though I had seen it before and know all the tricks it’s still really cool to watch. We walked back through the Star Wars area and got some good pictures.

From here we made our way back across the park to see the Beauty and the Beast show and then to ride RnRC since our FP window had opened up. Pat opted out of this as well since she is not a thrill ride person, so again we saddled her with our bags. We all loved RnRC. This was even my first time riding since when I went in 2007 it was down for a refurb. When we came out the line was over 90 minute wait, but we happened upon a really nice lady who handed us 3 FP since her kids had accumulated them and they were going to dinner and then to head out themselves. We decided for one more quick trip on ToT before dinner. We had a great sequence again and this ride is that much scarier when its dark outside.

We then made our way over to Sci-Fi for our ressie. We got seated in a 6 seater car and they ended up putting Ethan in the drivers seat. We had two other guests join our car and it was a CM and her friend celebrating her birthday. We all ate and laughed. The food here is awesome and our server was great. We were really tired and just wanted to catch a glimpse of the Osborne Lights and then head out. We decided to give the CM a birthday present and handed her our RnRc FP’s. She thanked us and we made our way out and were astounded at the lights. We wandered around for a few minutes and it started snowing. At this point it was so cold people were actually speculating on whether or not it was actually snowing along with the fake stuff Disney uses.

After this we decided to call it a night since we felt like popsicles and were super tired. We got one last picture of the big tree and then grabbed Ethans car from the locker.

Next up, my Father in Law arrives and our next day at Animal Kingdom.

 

[Katie & Glen]

Hey Katie, we were at AKL for 12/3-12/11. How awesome is the lodge? I loved waking up every morning and seeing the animals from our balcony, but as your TR titles suggests, it was so cold that week I didn't get to enjoy my morning coffee out there as I anticipated. We are from Delaware County, and I too know my way around MCO better then PHL! Can't wait to hear more!

Glen was looking forward to sitting out with his coffee as well so he was really bummed. AKL is an awesome place. I would love to stay there again. We did not get a chance to do the Night Viewing of the animals or the story telling or get into the pool so those will be saved for another trip.

 

[Katie & Glen]

OK, so my father in law John arrived late on the 12th. He wanted to sleep in so Glen told him to meet us at Animal Kingdom Rain Forest Café for our 9:30am breakfast ressie. Pat wanted to sleep in as well, so she was going to meet us for breakfast also. This morning was SOOO COLD!!!!

We made our way to the bus stop and waited for maybe 5 minutes for the bus. This morning AK had AMEMH so we wanted to take advantage.

We stopped to take some pictures before heading in.

Once inside Glen and I needed coffee STAT! So we waited for the coffee to brew at the cart we stopped at and Ethan decided he wanted a hot chocolate also known as an Ethan coffee. From here we decided to take advantage of no one around at the bongo for some pictures.

After that we headed over to ride EE. Of course there was no wait since the park was still almost empty. We had to split up our rides because of our beverages so Ethan reaped the benefits of that and got to ride twice. First Ethan and I would ride. As we made our way through we noticed the cast of the Yeti’s footprint and the photo. We realized it was Josh Gates from ScyFy’s Destination Truth. I told Ethan to make sure he pointed that out to Glen when they rode. HOLY CRAP it was sooo cold and windy at the top and just running along the tracks. I was glad Glen had to do this too! Once the boys rode we made our way over to Dino-o-rama.

Ethan and I rode PrmevalHurl which was actually awesome. Glen doesn’t like spinny rides to he waited with all our stuff and Ethan ears. He tried to take many self portraits but they were so bad. I took a good one though.

From here we wandered around and took some more pictures.

We went into a shop so I could grab a Mickey Santa hat since we forgot my hat and gloves at home. (hence the Stitch gloves). Glen decided he would like one too so we got one. Ethan didn’t want anything so we headed out to take some more pictures and then head to breakfast.

We met up with Pat & John and we informed that Rain Forest Café does not accept the DDP. I was a little pissed because I called to confirm this with Disney Dining before we left and I called once again at home and was told that yes they do. So either we had a complete idiot or we were lied to by the server.

When we sat down, I looked around because I knew DaddyofPrincesses had a ressie this morning as well. We spotted them just as they finished up eating and were heading back into the park. DoP felt bad for the short encounter but I understood. Once we were done we just wanted to get out of there.

After breakfast we sent John, Glen & Ethan to go grab FP’s for the Safari and to find a potty. Pat and I hung around and we Saw Meeko from Pocahontas. I wanted to grab a picture but realized Glen had my camera oh well, I figured we would catch him later. Once the guys got back we headed into the Lion King theatre to see the show. It was amazing! We know we want to see that again.

So after the show we headed over to the trails to meet the characters.

From here we decided to head back to the resort since John wanted to put some longjohns on, But we decided on more pictures first.

Glen ran over to EE to grab some FP’s for all of us before heading out. Once at the resort we decided to just grab lunch at Mara. We stopped by the Photo Pass kiosk to see if we could print our Christmas Card pictures or at least order them. Found out no, we can’t do that.

So after lunch we headed back over to AK and went right over to the safari. John thought the animals were all animatronic. This was his reaction when we told him they were real.

After the great safari revelation, we headed over to ride EE. This is the one thrill ride Pat will go on.

From here, Pat and John talked Ethan into riding Dinosaur one more time since he knew what to expect now. Yeah, he hated more this time than before. So after we calmed him down we went back over to ride EE since that is a new favorite for him. And then we rode again, and again, and again. Did I mention there was no line? And we rode again. Finally we were all frozen so we decided to call it a day. But Ethan still had some goofiness to get out so here it is:

We finally made our way out of the park and got on a bus to DTD. We had a dinner reservation at Raglan Road. I was disappointed in the fact that where we were seated we could not see the dancers stage. Other than that, the food was awesome. We didn’t realize how long we were in there, but 2 hours had passed. I knew I had to grab the American Girl style dresses for my nieces. We had a request for Minnie Mouse and for Tinker Bell. I had been looking in all the big stores in the parks but couldn’t find them. I finally found them at DTD. The boys got antsy and decided they couldn’t wait for me and Pat so they went back to the resort. Pat and I finished shopping like 20 minutes after they left, so we headed down to catch our busses. Pat’s bus was there waiting and I had just missed mine so I had a really friggin cold 40 minute wait. I called Glen to let him know I was still waiting for a bus and he informs me that they had just gotten back to the room. Yeah, I was a little peeved because they could have waited for me. The bus finally got there as I was about to go search for a cab. An hour later I was back at the resort and still trying to defrost.

We talked about our plans for the next day since we were heading back to Magic Kingdom for MVMCP and the DIS meet the next day. We had ressies scheduled for Tusker House in the morning and we were supposed to go tour the monfail resorts to see the gingerbread decorations. Glen & Ethan decided they wanted another sleep in morning so we canceled Tusker House and went to bed.

Next up… Magic Kingdom and MVMCP.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

WHAT FUN!! I love the pictures on the teacups. I have always avoided that ride because spinning makes me sick but I might have to go now just to have those fun looking photos for myself . I am a photgrapher and I cannot believe I did not see that amazing opportunity for photos . Though I will have to take a motion sickness pill that day to go hey it worked on Mission Space last year, it will work for the tea cups... I hope .

Oh by the way I am in for the rest of the story

Your late start to a story sorta has me motivated to do a trippie form my September trip. Though with all my tickers at the bottom I would have no place for advertising for it

 

[Tinkermom76]

Awesome Updates!!! What day was DHS cause if that was Sunday then AGAIN we were at the same park and this is getting kinda creepy!!!!

I can't wait for your next update cause I think I may know some people in it!!!

 

[Katie & Glen]

Awesome Updates!!! What day was DHS cause if that was Sunday then AGAIN we were at the same park and this is getting kinda creepy!!!!

I can't wait for your next update cause I think I may know some people in it!!!

You are correct, it was Sunday.