A Very Merry, but also Painful and Nauseating Dec 2014 TR (4/7 - US and IoA)

[DisneyLifer87]

Oh geez- haha, my dad is king of the man cold so I know what you mean!!

LBT is great but its a shame it took you so long to be seated! Glad you had a good experience none-the-less!

We always go back to it regardless of the seating time! I think it's just one of the things about Disney you just learn to accept.

That is hysterical and true about the man cold And while it stinks that your DH was having feet issues, I feel for you too - because I've been there!

It was a big bummer and only just getting started our trip was almost lost!

Those parade pictures were great!

Thanks! I wish I knew how to make them bigger.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Two, Continued - The Parade that Never Was

Walking out of Liberty Tree Tavern, DH and I wandered over near the Haunted Mansion to pick up some hot cocoa. They were beginning to usher park guests towards the entrance and I could see that the castle was lighted in the distance. I made DH rush to the hub so I could view the sight I had been dying to see for many, many years. That is of course after he spilled his cocoa and we had to notify a CM, then pick up another one.

We made it to the hub and I was just in heaven. In awe! In amazement! I pulled out my phone, handed DH the camera, and was ready to snap away... when they shut the lights off. What poor timing to stumble upon the first stage show of the evening. So, instead of the magically lit castle, we got this:

Arguably still beautiful, but not what I wanted. But the night was young! We lingered to listen to the show (as the child on the shoulders of the individual ahead of me blocked all hopes to a view). I was more impressed with what was happening behind me, however.

Snow! On Main Street! Now, as a Minnesotan, I'm not stranger to snow.. in fact we had left a fair amount when we flew to Disney. But, it was still magical. DH and I hung around awhile longer because the area was packed for the first Frozen show of the night. I had intended on catching a later performance to avoid this sardine moment, but while we were stuck, we figured we'd make the most of it. The show itself was very cute, but I'm off of the Frozen bandwagon. Don't get me wrong, it is absolutely beautiful and I highly recommend catching a youtube video of the experience, but I feel like Frozen is just overdone and dominating the world right now. I would have loved Cindy to light her own castle. But I digress... here are some images (albeit poor due to our location) of the show:

After the show, we migrated over to Tomorrowland to tackle Space Mountain. I rode solo since DH was getting a little cranky and wanted to sit for a bit. The goal was to avoid the overcrowded first parade and catch the later one with a bit less intense crowding. For the Halloween party we had had success with this method, and I anticipated the same result tonight. I blissfully wandered off to my ride feeling confident that we were going to have a great time even if DH was grumpy.

After exiting the ride, we went on a short lived quest for the necklace of Christmas light bulbs that everyone was wearing. This was a futile quest that continued all week and I never did actually get them

Finally it was close to time for Wishes, so we headed back down Main Street. It started to sprinkle a little bit, but I wasn't too concerned - mini showers in Florida are common and this felt minor. We watched the projected show on the castle and DH took some awesome pictures:

And then.... it happened. The skies opened up and it began POURING. I mean monsoon style raining the likes of which I've only seen in, well, Florida. DH and I, along with everyone else, dodged into shops nearby. Wishes would always still go on regardless of weather, so we elected to purchase some ponchos in order to still view the fireworks - I wasn't about the miss out on the special event just because of some water! We stood on main street with a few other poncho wearing individuals and watched the fireworks as everyone began heading out of the park. We didn't get pictures due to the water, however it was pretty romantic to watch in the rain and dark like that

Until the fireworks were over and the rain hadn't let up. In my heart I knew... the second parade was canceled. We lingered for awhile to get confirmation, but I was absolutely heart broken. I had dreamt of this parade and now it was a bust. DH and I left the park and nothing he could say would lighten my mood. To add insult to injury, the rain had caused DH's shoes to shrink and his pain on the long haul to the bus was almost unbearable. Our vacation had just begun and Disney magic was simply not on our side. We hit the hotel room and DH's feet looked beyond repair. He was in agony and in a bad mood. We spent our late evening scanning for a solution, but nothing was coming to mind. I turned to Facebook and my December Disney group searching for solutions and the common one was to buy a pair of Crocs. DH detested the idea because he hates Crocs (only based on appearance). He wanted to go to Downtown Disney tomorrow night and abandon our day at Animal Kingdom. It was just a night of bad news.

I went to bed very wet, very heartbroken, and very worried that our trip was going to be a total flop.

 

[ursalita]

Oh, no! I'm sorry you guys were having such a rough time. I hope it looks up in the morning.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Real Life Interruption

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Trip Report to bring you this important announcement.

I have been waiting to share this information as I was not 100% certain it would follow through. However, no that I have confirmation I need to share it with my DISers. DH and I will officially heading back to our home November 8th - 15th!
... how did this come about when we are debt dumping in 2015 and vowed to make December 2014 our last hurrah for awhile?! Well....

I am a high school English teacher for an online Charter School in my state. Every year we attend a conference out of state called iNACOL (International Association for K-12 Online Learning) and send two of our employees funded within the budget. I do love my job for the opportunities in teacher development that they provide. Anyway, this year it was announced that the conference would be held November 8th - 11th at the Swan and Dolphin hotel. I was accepted as one of the staff members to travel there this year! My school covers my hotel from Nov 8th - 11th at the Swan/Dolphin and my plane ride out there.

I am also a PT Cast Member at the Disney Store in MN which means I'm entitled to some resort discounts, park admission, and discounts within the parks for souvenirs and food. DH will be staying with me and using frequent flier miles to cover most, if not all of his ticket. We have also elected to extend our stay from the 11th - 15th and return to either the AKL, or explore the Boardwalk resorts. Essentially we are only paying OOP for 4 nights of a hotel and whatever we purchase for food and souvenirs. Debt Dumping still on and a Disney trip in the works!

So, the question is: Do we return to AKL and take a savannah view.... or should we explore one of the Boardwalk resorts since we are already right there?

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Trying to adjust to the new board layout! Scary... but i like it!

Day Three: The Quest for Comfort

When last I left you, DH and I had been rained out of our MVMCP, missing the second parade and with a DH in major foot pains. He was determined to spend the morning on a quest for shoes. I woke up around 8:30am and hit up the Disney Facebook group I was in, asking for help. I had mentioned crocs to DH but he immediately put his foot down (pun intended? ) on that idea as he hated how they looked. I somehow knew that it would be the solution to our problems, so I headed to the AKL gift shop to see if they had any and in his size. Fortunately, they did even if the price was frightening! I went back to the room and woke my DH and encouraged him to just try them out. I offered to go to Animal Kingdom as planned and if he was in pain, we'd go back to the hotel and figure something else out. He obliged and off we went!

We hit the park around 10am which is also when I saw reports on Facebook of other MVMCP goes getting refunded tickets due to the rain. Apparently they had waited in line at guest services for about an hour. I was super bummed to have missed out, but told DH we should swing by the AK guest services and see what they'd do. Well wouldn't you know it, they offered us another day! We took Friday night as it fit best with our plans and I was pretty happy! After that drama, it was time for some pictures:

Those darn Frozen trolls! We moved on into the park and I was starting to feel pretty good because DH wasn't complaining about his feet (comfort or appearance). My first stop was a solo ride on Expedition Everest which DH still won't try. But that was fine with me as the single rider wait time was 5 min. I actually saw the Yeti move which was amazing!!!

And there was a magic making photopass happening right as we left, so here's a shot my DH hates showing off those miracle Crocs!

We wandered over to hit the safari with our FP+ that I managed to rearrange on the bus ride over. DH likes to man the camera on this and the weather was just so beautiful that I was starting to get very hopeful our vacation would be saved!

The animals were moderately active, but it was afternoon, so that was to be expected. Afterwards I insisted that we do some character greets and shopping before grabbing lunch at Yak and Yeti Quick Service. DH was more game for food first, characters later, so I let him win. He had high spirits, so who was I to complain?? Crowd levels were pretty low, so that was really encouraging. Our food at Yak and Yeti was chicken fried rice and some beef teriyaki. It was all pretty good, but nothing amazing. The weather was starting to cloud over, but I saw no rain on the radar (can you tell we were paranoid?). We enjoyed a quiet lunch and then headed towards DINOSAUR for a Daisy and Donal separate meet and greet and our second FP+ of the day. We also stumbled on Santa Goofy with Pluto... but a mishap occurred with Pluto's tongue and a very young child. Pluto needed to take a break Here are some of those images (and yes, DH is sometimes opposed to character interactions):

Our afternoon was winding down with only a few items left on the list. DH was smiling and laughing, I had my hope restored, and we had an evening of Cirque du Solei ahead. Stay tuned for more!

 

[MrsForeverEeyore]

Just started reading your trip report.
What a treat to go to the world around Christmas - that tree that greeted you at check-in was absolutely gorgeous!
And congrats on your teaching degree!
Can't wait to read more!

 

[MrsForeverEeyore]

And YEAY for being offered Friday - so glad that worked out for you!

 

[ariane37]

That's awesome about getting picked for the conference and yay to extending your stay!! My vote is trying an EPCOT resort this time. We've stayed at the BWV twice (and will be there again in 29 days ) and LOVE it.

Looks like the crocs saved the day!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Just started reading your trip report.
What a treat to go to the world around Christmas - that tree that greeted you at check-in was absolutely gorgeous!
And congrats on your teaching degree!
Can't wait to read more!

Thanks! Welcome aboard!

That's awesome about getting picked for the conference and yay to extending your stay!! My vote is trying an EPCOT resort this time. We've stayed at the BWV twice (and will be there again in 29 days ) and LOVE it.

Looks like the crocs saved the day!

I'm leaving towards BWV for convenience and it looks beautiful!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Goodness have I been slacking on this recently! I was bogged down with a lot of work related issues and it just got away from me! I promise you a new update is on the way tomorrow!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I'm enjoying your report!

What a crazy situation at the airport! My friends recently had a similar experience after their ski trip in Utah. Due to an early morning on the slopes one day, they managed to get "bomb" material on their coats due to the pre-avalanche blasting the ski park had done. It wasn't a very pleasant experience for them, either! I'm so glad you made it to your plane!

I LOVE the Animal Kingdom Lodge! We stayed there in 2012, and I agree - the lobby is breathtaking!

I'm glad you enjoyed MVMCP and even more glad that you got another opportunity to see the parade!

What a bummer about your husband's feet! You do so much walking at Disney that any kind of foot problem could quickly become unbearable. I'm glad you found a solution, even if it involved making an interesting fashion statement!

I hope you loved Cirque!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Three: A Cirque de Evening

DH and I had just finished some riding and character interaction. We needed to make a few more stops before a relaxing few hours in the hotel room before our Downtown Disney adventure. DH was still in good spirits, so he allowed me to track down some characters, but first up was Festival of the Lion King! We have done this show many times, but this was our first experience in the new theater - it's a very nice and large space for a great show. Prior to leaving for the day, DH let me do some character hunting, so first up was one I had never done before:

Pocahontas! So exciting! I always seem to miss her, so it was nice to finally catch her in Animal Kingdom. We then circled back to meet up with Dug and Russel, though I was super sad Carl has stopped meeting:

It was getting closer to 3pm, so we made our way to the exit. DH was insistent that I purchase one of the souvenirs that has the "Tigger, is that you?" image with Winnie the Pooh and a tiger (because it makes me laugh every single time), so we hit the gift shop just beyond the park entrance and I snagged a coffee mug - though it's more of a soup bowl in size!
---- pause for a few hours of rest and relaxation ----

We headed out to Downtown Disney around 6:00pm for a 7pm dinner reservation at Planet Hollywood. Being a good DISer, I gave us an hour thinking it would be plenty of time. Being a bad DISer, I forgot about the construction. It was absolutely HORRIBLE getting to DD ! We finally stopped and had to wait to unload, but it made us almost half an hour late for our reservation. Planet Hollywood still let us in, but I was just floored by what a mess DD is at this point in time. We wanted to shop around and even enjoy a few hours, however the construction walls and the intensely large amount of people crammed into one space made us avoid this area for the rest of the trip.
Planet Hollywood for dinner was pretty standard and I have little to really say about it. We started canceling reservations after this night because we were starting to feel controlled by them and with DH's earlier foot pains, we decided to lower the pace to ultimate relaxation.

Finally, at 8:30pm, we headed to Cirque du Solei! Oh my goodness what a fun and entertaining show! DH and I really enjoyed all of it, though we were a bit confused by some of the comedy... and I'm still not sure if there's a story to it that I just didn't get? Either way, I highly recommend putting money down to experience this show at least once. Totally worth it!

Day Three ended on a good note and we made it back to the hotel in one piece, though once more subject to the awful construction! Our next adventure took us out of the resort and into a magical, wizarding world!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Four: Wizarding World on the Darkside

After a very positive change of pace, DH and I were back on the train of enjoying our vacation. I was really starting to feel confident that things were going to change! We woke up on day four ready to head to the darker side of Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. DH and I like to go here simply because I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and I was dying to see Diagon Alley. We used Mears Transportation which is extremely easy and convenient if you don't want to rent a car. The only downside is that the shuttle got us to the park around 8:30, so we had a half hour of waiting for opening. Regardless, DH and I wee both pretty excited and made a beeline for Diagon Alley. On a quest to travel light today, we did not bring the camera but decided to rely on the cell phones, which is why you won't see too many pictures in this post. Sorry!

Diagon Alley was absolutely breathtaking. They did a fantastic job of completely immersing you in the location without any other park distractions visible. I was very impressed with the attention to detail that I used to think only Disney was capable of. DH and I headed towards Gringotts after getting a warming breath from the fiery dragon (such a nice effect). Admittedly, DH was terrified of this ride and was throughly convinced it would be a roller coaster and I was just lying to him. Initially, I thought that's what was going to happen because you do travel on a track and down a significant first drop... however it then becomes a moving simulator much like Forbidden Journey, so he did just fine. I'd actually argue that Gringotts is a better ride than Forbidden Journey! We didn't have too much of a wait and were done fairly early, but it's never too early for some lovely butterbeer:

I prefer the cold, non frozen kind and it was delicious. As we sat at the Hog's Head enjoying our drinks, I found fascination in watching the interactive wands being used by adults and kids alike. I told DH I desperately wanted one, but figured they'd be astronomical in price. DH is pretty frugal (see the PTR where I had to convince him to even take this trip), so I talked myself out of the wand the second I learned they were $45 scared. We instead elected to get a chocolate frog (my card was Rowena Ravenclaw - a house I'm destined for) before heading out and off to our next adventure. Prior to leaving, however, DH insisted we take a picture of Creeper the house elf peeking through the window. Such an awesome effect! I also wanted to stop and watch the knight bus conversation because the talking shrunken head is hilarious. While I stood there, DH told me he was going to find a bathroom so I was to not move in case he lost me. Seemed... unusual of him, so I had my suspicions. Sure enough, he came back with a long, thin black bag. Inside:

Hermione Granger's interactive wand. DH always makes fun of me claiming I'm such a lifelong learner that I'm a total Hermione. It was super sweet

We headed out to the Men in Black ride which had absolutely no line. DH loves this one, but mostly just because he loves beating me in every single shooting game there is to find. And yes, he did beat me. Afterwards we did take a for real bathroom pit stop (he was such a liar!) before heading over to The Simpsons. I have never been on this ride, but I do recall back to the future and miss it fondly. DH even noticed that they make reference to it in the cartoon loop that plays as you wait in line. We only had a 10 min wait posted, so the day was moving along really well. DH was starting to get hungry, but it was only 10 so I made him tough it out. We rode the ride and it was cheesy, but entertaining. I did finally cave at 11 for lunch which so conveniently we found in "Springfield" among other vacation-only activities. But that will have to wait until the next post!

 

[Nicholas430]

Your pictures are great!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Wow I'm a bad person for letting life get in my way of this Trip Report! I always do that and it's just awful!!!! I will be posting an update today - I'll get to work right now!!!

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Day Four, continued

DH and I were touring Universal Studios and had just finished up a ride through Springfield. We walked into the food court area here and decided to eat burgers and chicken tenders in Moe's Tavern (the food was from the court, but we sat in the tavern). As far as dining goes, the food was decent but not at all worth the price. My chicken tenders were very hard and DH's fries were ice cold. We got enough of a fill to satisfy us and DH decided that he needed to try a Duff Beer. It was 11:30am and DH wanted a beer? Well... it is vacation after all...

After the beer, we needed to grab a small sprinkled pink doughnut and enjoy it together. That was very delicious. The park was starting to get a little busier, but we were near Transformers which had only a 15 min posted wait, so we got in line. The wait was pretty accurate and the ride was enjoyable, but not too much different than the others. We left and debated meeting Optimus Prime, but decided against it before heading over to Despicable Me. Unfortunately, this ride was posting a 45 minute wait, so we decided to skip it and head over to the Islands via the Hogwarts Express.

Our train ride was almost a walk on and it was actually entertaining. The people we shared a car with missed out on the majority of the character interaction shadows that pass along the doors from the hallway of the train. The movement was a little disorienting at times, but a smooth ride otherwise. I wanted to get pictures in, but it was a difficult experience to capture. We arrived in Hogsmede and headed right into the Forbidden Journey with a 20 min wait. This was also accurate, but we loved this ride before and needed to relive it. Of course, a butterbeer stop was also mandatory before we headed into Jurassic Park.

Last year, DH was convinced to go on Jurassic Park with me and he absolutely hated it because we got drenched. There was no way he was letting me get him on it again this year. Instead, we simply bypassed the area and walked through to Marvel. The crowd was thinning as we neared the entrance to the park, but there was just so many people and it was getting extremely hot. This was our only day with such bright sunshine and absolutely no rain! We walked onto Spiderman and loved it. Then I cruised right into the single rider line and rode Hulk... twice! DH really doesn't know what he's missing!

It was 4pm and we were starting to wind down - hot, sweaty, and tired. We grabbed a few last minute souvenirs (Deadpool Marvel shirt for DH and a fluffy white unicorn for me), and then we headed to Margaritaville for a cool beverage. Those frozen margaritas are HUGE and we shared one in a take home "blender". While we sipped, I called Mears for a pick up and got us on the 5:30pm bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We headed back and had a dinner in the food court before calling it an early evening of swimming and lounging in the hotel.

 

[MickeyReeds]

I am enjoying your trip report. I'm a teacher as well (Kindergarten) but I'm unfortunately home sick. Sounds like your trip is back on track!