A No Snooze Bar Christmas, Harry & Mickey are Waiting..it is done

[momabaarjo]

I'm the cliffhanger this week? What an honor. Lol

Noelle

I think the honor was more of getting to meet you. It was so much fun and your daughters are precious!

Noelle... I cant for the life of me find the pictures we took together...I am wondering if Jeff deleted off his phone...do you happen to have any?

 

[hunterfaimly]

I'm sure I do. I have one in my photo album. I will have to search for the memory card that has those pictures on there and send it to you. I will work on that. I have one of Ab and Maddi too. Ab was so sweet to indulge her and not treat her like a "little kid" Really made Maddi feel special, she still talks about her when we look through the album. You just never know what is going to make an impression on someone.

Noelle

 

[momabaarjo]

Ahhh...that is so sweet! I would love you to share both pictures. I am pulling my hair out trying to find them! I thought I was doing such a good job at organizing pictures...Hmmmm...all I remember was my phone was dead so I was using Jeff's and I did not want to blind you with my flash on my camera!

 

[momabaarjo]

I know that I should be updating...but I left my journal in my work bag back at school...so how about a scrapbook page I was working on for a template challenge on mousescrappers...

 

[petals]

your scrap book pages are cool. Do you do them all online?

 

[momabaarjo]

First DISmet...Noelle & Family​

Disclaimer: I cannot for the life of me figure out where the pictures are from our met up! I remember that my phone was dead and I was using Jeff's phone, plus I did not want to blind Noelle and her family with the flash on my camera...hopefully she will post a few pictures for my TR!

As we leave the CP area at the American Pavilion I text Noelle to see where they are at and find that they have just finished dinner in France and are heading our direction. We decide that the perfect place to meet would be at the Pagoda in Japan, easy enough to find in the throng of crowds. Jeff is looking at me like I am totally crazy for meeting up with some stranger that I have never met, but I reassure him that I feel like I know Noelle and her family after 9 months of her following my PTR. I am both excited and very nervous about meeting her, but it will be so nice to finally put a person to all the posts we have shared planning our Christmas trips. Ab and I head towards Japan while Jeff and the boys decide to find a bathroom. At some point texting back and forth leads to call and before I know it there is Noelle standing in front of me with her darling 2 girls and husband. We instantly hug, and I know her husband has to think this is crazy too. We talk about our surprise reveals and how they went (they surprised their girls on Christmas, too), how the touring plans are going, and I am sure lots more. Ab and her oldest daughter hit it off and she is telling Ab all about the princesses she has met. Jeff and the boys appear and we introduce each other and Jeff and Bill begin talking about all things Disney, shock my husband seems to be bitten by the Disney mouse! Noelle is leaving in the morning but tells me that they have already booked another vacation this fall to WDW, I am so jealous of her but excited at the same time. The time is getting late, they have decided to pass off their tickets to the last showing of CP to a couple passing by and we are skipping Illuminations because I know what time AK opens in the morning. We take a few pictures, hug and depart ways! On our way back I decide that we need to stop in the BW Bakery and get our mugs, plus find that peppermint cupcake I keep hearing about on a Facebook planning group I belonged to.

I smile the entire way back to our room on the Boardwalk, met a DISfriend and scored the cupcake (but too full to eat, so I put it in the refrig for later...I must say the cupcake was even better for breakfast!). Back in our room I get everyone settled for our first night in the room and then lay out clothes for the morning before climbing into bed myself to journal our day’s events when a load noise outside disrupts my thoughts. All of us end up on a balcony (remember we have 4 of them) and there over the treetops is Illuminations!

I guess we did get a major sprinkling of pixie dust when we were assigned this room! After the show, it is back to bed because tomorrow is going to prove almost as early as our morning with Harry, but this time it is morning with the animals (and I don’t mean the bears the kids might be when I get them up early).

 

[momabaarjo]

your scrap book pages are cool. Do you do them all online?

I am doing them all on the computer with software...I have found some great templates and ideas to pull from using the mousescrapper website.

 

[BrerMama]

Love that view! So gorgeous!

 

[momabaarjo]

First the Bus is Missing, Then Dad​

Morning comes all to early to our room, AK is having EMH and is opening at 7 am, which I am bound and determined to make rope drop (although I am not too sure even Mickey is getting up this early). According to TP, AK is going to be the least crowded park today with a whooping 9.8 crowd level. I have decided to let everyone else have the other 3 parks on NYE as there is really no need for us to be jockeying for a place to view fireworks from beginning at rope drop. I know that Jeff could not handle the crowds, and quite frankly neither can I. It has been my plans to watch the fireworks from the boardwalk, but now with such a great room we can watch both Epcot and DHS NYE fireworks from our balcony and really avoid all people!

True to form I get up before everyone else, get myself around and check the clothes in the dryer that I put in before we went to bed last night, and they are still wet. While it was great to have a washer and dryer in the room, I soon discover that the dryer is not anything to brag about in my TR. It took about 3 complete cycles to dry 1 load of clothes. I reset the dryer for another cycle and get the family moving around and dressed, it is nearly 6:15 and we need to be at the bus stop in 15 minutes.

Yes, this picture was taken that morning at the bus stop...and yes it was still that dark our! Remember I am hard care commando mom in charge of Christmas!

True to my touring plan, we are out to the bus stop by 6:30…but someone should have told the bus driver that we were ready and waiting, and that AK is opening at 7:00 am. Fifteen minutes pass by and several buses have made their stops, but we remain seated as none of the buses are going to AK. The family is getting impatient (as well as vocal about being up so early) and I am getting frustrated watching the clock tick by and yet another touring plan go by the wayside. After 35 minutes of waiting, an AK bus finally arrives, just as I calculate rope drop is happening at AK. We get seated and I go over what is going to happen once we are inside AK. I go over the plan several times with Jeff, because it means that we are parting ways and I am not so sure he will get the kids where we need to go. The bus pulls up to AK,

we unload and quickly go through security with me leading the way when I look behind me and all I have are the 3 kids and no Jeff to be found anywhere! We are inside the gates, but where on earth is he?

 

[momabaarjo]

TR ALERT: Going through all my pictures of December 31st our Animal Kingdom day...I apparently forgot that I had a family and there are not a lot of family action pictures. In fact there are not a lot of good pictures of anything, what was up with me and the camera that day? I guess I was trying to hard to be ahead of the crowds that I forgot about pictures!

 

[petals]

luvin the update!

 

[natebenma]

Thank you for the pictures and descriptions from CP- looks wonderful!

on the DIS meet!!! A few people I "know" from the Beach Club board and trip reports are travelling to Disney next week while I am there for my son's class trip. Hoping I run into some of them to say "hello", but due to the nature of this trip, I was not able to set up any meets. On a related topic, I am currently doing a TR about Atlantis, and someone posted that she saw me there (she recognized me from my Disney TRs). She was going to say hello, but I was walking too fast. And she is going to be at Disney next week as well.

Can I just say... Best. Room. Ever!

 

[BrerMama]

This would so happen in my family!

 

[momabaarjo]

Mickey Bars for Breakfast​

After making it through security and the ticket stalls in record time, I turn around and find that Jeff is nowhere to be seen? How on earth did we get separated? There were very few other people going through the area at the same time we were. I try calling his cell phone, but he does not answer. I keep racking my mind trying to figure out what happened. He went on one side of security and I went on the other side and I just assumed he was following in behind us when we went through the ticket area, and yes he did have his own ticket in hand. We make our way back towards the ticket gate and I search what I can see of the area between the ticket gate and security check, but I do not see him anywhere so I try to make another call to his cell phone, and still no answer. I decide the best place is to stay put where I can see security and the ticket gates so the kids and I find a bench, meanwhile I keep calling the cell phone. Finally, I see him coming through the stall and towards us, not looking happy at all.

Apparently, he got stopped by security…they spotted something in his front pocket, his pocket knife. Ugh, the man carries one everywhere and for the last week had it in his pocket and no one picked up on it until NOW when we are already running behind schedule. Security gave him the option of either going back out and putting it in a locker or throwing it away. Parting a man and his pocket knife is not an easy thing to do. So he went back out and searched for a locker, then could not get it to work had to find a CM…well, you know why he is grumpy and then to top it all off we are accused of leaving him behind for which he gets one of my teacher glares right back at him. Reunited, we head into the Oasis and I warn the family that there would be lots of photo pass pictures again. We really do not stop and take in the sights of the Oasis, I just rushed everyone through until we found our first photographer and our first view of the Tree of Life.

Wow, pretty darn breathtaking. After pictures and gawking at the tree, I send Jeff and the kids off to Dinoland with the instructions to get Goo on Triceratops Spin and Boo on Primeval Whirl. He question was, why 2 different rides. Sheesh, I had already explained that waiting for the bus and on the bus, did you not listen? Goo is too little for Primeval Whirl and Boo is too old for Triceratops…they are right there together it will not be difficult. What about Ab? Let her take her pick as yell over my shoulder as I take off towards Asia to get fast passes for EE. The park is basically empty, would besides crazy commandos afraid of 9.8 crowd levels would be up at this hour anyway? As I make my way into Asia I stop to take some pictures, because only at WDW would it look like fog had been added to the theming to make the area even more captivating.

I find my way to the fast pass machine at EE and retrieve our 5 fast passes,

then I stop and admire the view for a few minutes before making my way over the bridge into Dinoland. When I reach Dinoland, I find it surprisingly empty also which makes it easy to find everyone doing exactly what I told them to do.

I head over to where Jeff is standing near Triceratops spin and watch Goo having a great time on the ride.

When the ride finishes we head over to Primeval Whirl, and begin our wait on Boo. Since the ride was so empty, the CM kept letting him ride over and over until finally we catch his attention some 10 minutes later and get him off.

He comes of smiling to a frowning mom who has a touring plan to stick to. Next up, is Dinosaur.

I have to say that I don’t remember much about this ride and no one in the family seemed impressed by it. We did see some cool fossils. Ab decides she wants to check out the gift shop

and the boys want to ride Triceratops and Primeval Whirl again, so Jeff takes them back over after making them swear it is only for 1 ride. By this time the boys are finished riding again, they come back whining they are hungry, and we notice that the food carts are starting to open up. So since we are on vacation, I decide breakfast can be a round of Mickey Bars for all, to which I am given the mother of the year (err, moment) award from my children.

As we depart Dinoland, Goo spots a hidden Mickey in the pavement.

I look at my touring plans and then my watch, only to discover that even the set back with the bus and Jeff’s pocket knife we are ahead of schedule, but will I slow down long enough for us to enjoy a few moments or will I keep pressing us on to stay in front of the crowds?

 

[momabaarjo]

Thank you for the pictures and descriptions from CP- looks wonderful!

on the DIS meet!!! A few people I "know" from the Beach Club board and trip reports are travelling to Disney next week while I am there for my son's class trip. Hoping I run into some of them to say "hello", but due to the nature of this trip, I was not able to set up any meets. On a related topic, I am currently doing a TR about Atlantis, and someone posted that she saw me there (she recognized me from my Disney TRs). She was going to say hello, but I was walking too fast. And she is going to be at Disney next week as well.

Atlantis...how cool! Goo wants to go there so bad! How cool someone recognized you, your famous! And that would be me walking too fast! I hope you can plan a couple of meets...I got to meet 2 people and were so jealous of a little group that we had been sharing PTRs...cause they all got to meet up!

Can I just say... Best. Room. Ever!

It was the best room ever...

This would so happen in my family!

 

[BrerMama]

Those photos of Everest are gorgeous... like blow them up huge and hang on my wall gorgeous. Sounds like a fun start to the morning!

 

[momabaarjo]

Those photos of Everest are gorgeous... like blow them up huge and hang on my wall gorgeous. Sounds like a fun start to the morning!

The fog that morning was incredible to take pictures with. I just wish I would have taken a little more time to line up a few more perfect shots without "things" in the way...but I was on a fast pass run

 

[taymaesmom]

We were there at rope drop the same morning. It was eerily empty and foggy. But we loved the no wait. We headed straight into Dinoland and did Primeval whirl multiple times and then headed to Dinosaur. We had to have crossed paths that morning!

We then headed over to EE and did it 5 times in a row with only a 5 min wait each time! It was an awesome day!

 

[momabaarjo]

We were there at rope drop the same morning. It was eerily empty and foggy. But we loved the no wait. We headed straight into Dinoland and did Primeval whirl multiple times and then headed to Dinosaur. We had to have crossed paths that morning!

We then headed over to EE and did it 5 times in a row with only a 5 min wait each time! It was an awesome day!

How cool is this...might have to compare pictures cause we might be in each others!!!! Sounds like we were on the same touring plan for the most part!

 

[lovethattink]

Great updates! I missed a few when I was away at SWW. Wow what an amazing room view!

Too bad you lost the first DIS meet pics.

I never saw AK so empty. Great family pic too!! But look who's not wearing sunglasses and who is! The fog made for VERY interesting pictures of Everest!!

(Did you know the kids are eating Mickey ice cream sandwiches, not Mickey bars? Those are better than a Mickey bar!! And are sometimes hard to find. Grumpy just loves them, but not every cart carries them.)