Adventures of a DisneyWORLDholic! Updated1/24 I was an unofficial WDW tour guide.

[jmskinner]

I was going to skip over the Circus photos because we've always boycotted circuses due to the abuse of animals and workers...but it is history and I love history, so decided to read along promising myself not to conjure up images of the reality. Amazing! The Disney connections are kind of creepy (I'm weird b/c all I can think of is the abuse).

The train is incredible..but that Mansion... and how about that view?? Did the dining room remind anyone else of the Haunted Mansion? The organ looked like the one in HM dining room could be a duplicate.

My favorite pics though, are of Jacob over the AC vent!

Thanks, Melissa! What fun!
p.s Imagine a personal Art Museum...pretty incredible. Thanks!
I am so excited to see pics from this coming weekend and MNSSHP!

Glad to see you out here! I hadn't heard of abuse to the workers, but I'm sure they worked themselves to death with what was involved in moving from city to city overnight. But, they left behind a legacy and the Ringling Museum really represented their talent.

I hope to go back and see the other half of the art museum and spend some more time seeing what we have already seen.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

It really does look interesting - if we are ever down there long enough, it would be worth seeing.

Are you feeling better??? Excited for tomorrow night?

Will you go again before the end of October?

 

[jmskinner]

Tomorrow we leave for MNSSHP, but I thought I would do a quick update with 3 mini TR's and then I will be all caught up with all of our WDW adventures.

So, the first one was August 4. Can't remember why we went that day unless I was just going through my usual withdrawals. If you remember I had taken the camera in for repairs, so I only have my phone, so this will be a phone report.

Had to take a pic of the train station, think I do that every time


And of course the castle


My child jumping in front of the camera to ruin my shot


We had headed over to Buzz to get FP's, but I looked at the line and saw it wasn't long at all. I remember Jacob complaining, but the line didn't even go through all of the queue. Think we were on in 5 minutes.



This was the only time I beat Jacob. He seemed to think his gun was broke. My score


His score


I will say, he normally maxes out the score on Buzz, so something must have been wrong with the gun.

He loves to pose with Zurg


From there we headed over to HM for a quick ride. I remember it stopped on us right in the staircase area. There was a CM riding ahead of us by himself and two CM's walked in and spoke to him and then left. It was really odd.

After that Jacob found another photo op:


As long as the boy has his DS, his happy!

Jacob was getting hungry, but it wasn't even 10:30am yet, so I said we needed to wait a little longer for lunch. Tried to get him on Splash Mountain or BTMRR, but he decided to do this


Totally surprised me. Here are a few horrible pics with my phone




Now, Jacob wanted to go to his new favorite place to eat at MK, actually all the parks. Columbia Harbor House


I ordered the fish and chicken platter. Jacob got mad because he said he wanted more chicken, but I knew he needed to leave room for something else.
The park was still a little empty


Then the people came


Remember I said Jacob should leave room for something else. We stopped for ice cream. He didn't even have enough room for it, I ended up having to finish it. Jacob decided he was ready to leave and I was ok with that. This is the nice thing about those AP's. Go for a few rides and head home.

Now, if you remember on 8/23 we attended the YES program. We were going to learn about Energy and Sound. We left our house at 7:15am since we had to be there at 9:00am. I was very surprised Jacob got moving that morning. We made it with plenty of time to spare and I got to do something I had never been able to do. ROPE DROP!!!!

I figured a lot of people would be there, standing shoulder to shoulder, but actually there weren't. There was lots of room to move around. Now we were suppose to meet our CM instructor at the Mickey Head there at the train station. I looked around and didn't see anyone and then thought they probably don't show up until after park opening so it won't be crowded.

I noticed another lady with the same paperwork as I had looking around as lost as I was. I tapped her on the shoulder and told her we were there for the same thing. She looked relieved to see someone else waiting for the same thing, which I was relieved to.

But first, some pics of rope drop.












I really enjoyed the rope drop, so glad I finally caught one. As soon as the crowd dispersed, a group of CM's came forward and we figured out they were the YES Program.

 

[jmskinner]

They had a very large class, so they decided to break us into two groups. I'm sorry, but I didn't take a lot of pictures. There were 3 other families with us. Our CM was wonderful. He had been a Drum Corp Director. I love Drum Corps. We first stopped there by the Main Street Hat Store for a little lesson. We learned about waves. He gave us each a card to draw what we thought were waves. There was everything from an ocean wave to a sound wave which Jacob drew. I was impressed he was the only one to draw a sound wave.

From there we traveled to the Noodle Station for another quick lesson on vibrations and sounds. You may wonder why Noodle Station, but the CM was finding out of the way places we could hear what he said. From there it was on to Stitch. I had warned Jacob that we would riding this ride because I know how he hates this ride. He had seen it on the Planning Video and it looked really cool, so when he finally rode it he thought there must be another ride somewhere else in the park.

I did take this horrible shot


After Stitch we walked around to Liberty Square and had another lesson. I don't want to go into detail on this one because this is where we learned how some of the effects in the HM work. Especially the Hitchhiking Ghosts. In fact, when the CM was demonstrating it, one of the boys said "That's how they do the Hitchhiking Ghosts!" He was a teenager but still impressive that he realized what was up.

From there we rode HM. And after that we stopped at CHH for another quick lesson. Now, I was getting a little frustrated. I thought that the literature said we would go behind the scenes of the HM, why weren't we doing that. That's when the CM said he had a surprise for us. We headed down the little pathway between IASW and the old Sky Ride area. We stopped at the gate and he told us not to touch anything, to stay together, and of course, no pictures. In fact he asked me to put my camera in my bag, which I was glad to do so. Don't want to upset Mickey as we say around here.

We went down an alley where we saw some of the Dumbo cars and a couple of the Carousel horses. Then door #7. We were told to walk through the door and follow the pathway to another door, which we did. This was the room with all the computer equipment running the ride. Once at the next door he told us we would step inside and then wait for our eyes to adjust to the darkness and we would then move on to a taped off area. We were to stay in the taped in area and not touch the railing. Jacob ended up ahead of me, which had me in a total panic. He is a toucher! But, he was good and didn't touch anything, or at least nothing I know about. I don't want to post what we saw because I will never view HM the same way again. It wasn't anything like I thought it was. I'll be happy to answer any questions if you want to PM me though.

We were all really impressed and excited after that. We then had another little listen and went on to Mickey's Philharmagic. Now, the CM had said we should take our glasses off during Ariel's scene with the big Ruby. Don't know why he decided on that scene. I did, but I already knew what a 3D movie looked like without the glasses.

Once we were out, he said goodbye to us and we headed out of the park because we had to get back in time for Jacob's therapy appointment. But on the way around the castle we saw Sleeping Beauty (or at least that is who I thought it was) and she passed us just as a lady in front of us took a bite out of an apple. "I hope you made sure that apple was safe!" I thought it was one of the those great Disney moments.

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Great mini TR's! The pics are still good...and Jacob is still so darn cute. I like to be at rope drop almost every park, and we usually always are there early, but esp MK. AK was really cute one year too. Because we are morning people (well, I am anyway), don't usually see the Kiss Goodnight...think I've only seen it once.

Can't wait hear all about tomorrow's visit! Have fun!

 

[jmskinner]

Jonas and I decided we should make a trip to WDW to take Jacob on his last ride to Endor. Star Tours is Jacob's favorite ride in the parks. I also had something else I wanted to do, but more on that later. Now my plan was to take lots of pictures of the ride. Well, stupid me forgets the camera. I remembered once we were on the Interstate, but it was already late in the morning, I didn't want to go back. This will be another phone pic report.

We got to the park

And I was having a frizzy hair day, even with the ponytail, so I decided I wanted a hat. We went through all the stores there on the main street, but couldn't find anything I liked.

Finally, to Jacob's relief, we headed to Star Tours. This is Jacob looking sad about it being his last ride.


After our ride Jacob wanted to ride again, so Jonas took him around to do it again and I went off in search of a hat. Went in the shop by the Muppets, where we had previously purchased Kara a hat, but all they had were little kid hats. Then I remembered a PoTC ornament someone had posted in their TR I wanted, so I walked over to the Christmas store. Found my ornament and was on my way. I found some others I may go back for also. More on the ornament later.

I wandered around the park some more by myself, which I have always been to scared to do a solo trip. This was like a little solo test run for me. I had a great time. Finally my boys came looking for me


My Dis friend Sha was at WDW with her mother. They were with us on the scurry bike that day. I texted her, and they came over and met us. We had a quick lunch there at the CS place next to Star Tours. Sha then invited us to join them on some rides since they had the Ultimate FP. Sha's mother uses a wheelchair for the parks, so they had the GAC. They wanted to do Star Tours. Jacob had no complaints, especially once he realized we would get to go in the area we always see people in, but have never seen before.



Of all the times to forget my camera. We spent about 5 minutes up there taking photos. We even let people go around us so we could take more photos.



While waiting for the ride I started wondering how the CM's felt about the ride closing for refurbishment. Thought it must be sad. Soon we were on and just as the CM was going to close the doors, this little boy asked "Is this where we see Michael Jackson do the Moonwalk?" The poor CM tried to keep a straight face and just told the boy "No, not this trip." Of course we were all laughing and the poor boy just looked confused. I told him he would see that at Captain EO over in Epcot. Sha told me that as the boy walked out after the ride, he said he didn't see Michael Jackson.

From there we went to Toy Story.







It ended up being a long wait, but we had a great time visiting. Even met a guy in line that designs Star Wars costumes. We had seen his wife at the Star Wars Celebration (need to look to see if I have a picture.)

Jacob was having fun playing with all of the 3D glasses


I really like that picture because it looks like you need 3D glasses on.



I won


I had the highest score of any of us. I love TSMM!!!

After this Jonas mentioned TGMR, which surprised me. We had a nice ride up front


After that we said our goodbyes to Sha and her Mother and headed out. But first, remember I said I had something else to do. I was picking up those MNSSHP tickets. And I was smart about it, went to the Guest Relations there inside DHS where it is air conditioned. Took the CM a while to find the military tickets, but so glad he did, what I saved on those tickets paid for the Oct 22 night.

And I said there would be more about the Mickey Christmas ornament. Jonas asked why I bought it since it didn't really fit with our tree. Well, I want to put up another tree for Disney ornaments. Jonas was not happy with me. See, every year I already put up 3 trees. Our family one, my Boyd bear one in our bedroom and then Jacob has one because I didn't care for the ornaments he picked out. I know, bad mom. We have all of these Hallmark Disney ornaments, so I want to put a Disney tree up too. Oh, and Jonas loved it when I mentioned putting up a little one on our plant shelf for Snoopy ornaments. I have a lot of animated Snoopys I put up there each year and have all these Snoopys Hallmark ornaments we never use, so why not. Jonas just said he wasn't talking about it anymore. Like he can stop me.

Once in the car, Jacob passed out


And that was our last ride three rides to Endor. Can't wait for the new ride to open.

Next up, MNSSHP!!! Our plan tomorrow is to get on the road, stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch. Get to ASSports. Let Jacob swim while we drink and rest. We have all been sick this week. Jonas has my cold from earlier in the week, plus he had to go to the doctor last weekend for kidney stones, that haven't passed yet. May be a very interesting MNSSHP.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

 

[jmskinner]

Great mini TR's! The pics are still good...and Jacob is still so darn cute. I like to be at rope drop almost every park, and we usually always are there early, but esp MK. AK was really cute one year too. Because we are morning people (well, I am anyway), don't usually see the Kiss Goodnight...think I've only seen it once.

Can't wait hear all about tomorrow's visit! Have fun!

You posted as I was doing one last mini TR. Glad you enjoyed them. We have caught DHS' rope drop several times, but never AK or Epcot. Guess we aren't really morning people. I have a feeling at the January trip we will be making some rope drops since the kiddo won't be with us.

You have a great day tomorrow on your adventure!

 

[natebenma]

Thanks for sharing the mini-trips with us! Great updates!

I have to say that the pic of Jacob in the stockades with his DS is one of the best poses I have seen. I am totally stealing that idea!!!

Glad you got a few last rides to Endor. Have fun at the party!

Dee

 

[dismagiclover]

Fun mini updates! Love the details from behind the scenes. I've run through backstage areas during the half marathon. Always interesting (though not as interesting as your backstage experience.) And I know exactly what ornament you bought Hurray for Disney trees! I can't wait to hear about the MNSSHP.

 

[jmskinner]

We are back from the party. Had a great time! Uploading the pics now, so I will probably start the TR on it tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing the mini-trips with us! Great updates!

I have to say that the pic of Jacob in the stockades with his DS is one of the best poses I have seen. I am totally stealing that idea!!!

Glad you got a few last rides to Endor. Have fun at the party!

Dee

Glad you liked the stockade photo. He had it in his hand and was trying to figure out what to do with it when I realized it would make a cute photo. That was part of the reason I wanted to do that little TR. And happy you enjoyed the Mini TR's. It feels good to be able to come home and be all caught up. I can get the "party" started.

Fun mini updates! Love the details from behind the scenes. I've run through backstage areas during the half marathon. Always interesting (though not as interesting as your backstage experience.) And I know exactly what ornament you bought Hurray for Disney trees! I can't wait to hear about the MNSSHP.

I thought you were the one that showed me that ornament. They really are cute. I remember your pics of running backstage, I would still love to do that, but just don't see it happening unless I get my heel pain figured out. One of my neighbors wants to start running, so we plan on walking 4 days a week, with two of those days including a little running. Have another neighbor joining us who doesn't like to run, so it works well. Oh, and in Lakeland they are having a Donut Run. If you stop and have a donut while running you get time taken off of your run. That sounds like my kind! See why I can't run a marathon, I love food way to much and not the healthy kind.

It really does look interesting - if we are ever down there long enough, it would be worth seeing.

Are you feeling better??? Excited for tomorrow night?

Will you go again before the end of October?

None of us are really feeling better. And I am going to the party again Oct 22 with the Duck, Sha, and Rebecca and a bunch of other Dis'ers. Can't wait!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

My gosh, seems like you've all been under the weather for so long. Hope thus week is much better.

Looking forward to the TR.

I'm not sure if it would be harder to go for just a night...not able to relaly settle in...or if it's great to be able to go for short times and not the cost of at least 5 ngts each visit. I'm betting it is great to run over whenever you feel the urge, yes?

 

[SimmerBaggins]

I'd like to ask you sometime about the HM effects! I think I saw a little of it on TV once. I know how some of the sound effects of the outside of HM are little dials that they turn on & up (the howling dog, etc).

What I'd like to see is where that little path was that you took! And then, I saw some old pictures of WDW when they had the overhead tram -- I need to look for those old stations.

I liked the pictures you took of that museum, too. I LOVE going into an art museum...actually went by myself to the one in that park in Montgomery, AL -- really nice.

 

[jmskinner]

My gosh, seems like you've all been under the weather for so long. Hope thus week is much better.

Looking forward to the TR.

I'm not sure if it would be harder to go for just a night...not able to relaly settle in...or if it's great to be able to go for short times and not the cost of at least 5 ngts each visit. I'm betting it is great to run over whenever you feel the urge, yes?

I'm feeling much better. A two hour nap today helped. Hopefully I'll still be able to sleep tonight.

It is nice to be able to run over for a few hours, ride a few things and know you can come back. But, to me, the magic really isn't there unless I stay on property and ride the buses. We didn't use the buses this weekend and I feel like I missed out on something.

I'd like to ask you sometime about the HM effects! I think I saw a little of it on TV once. I know how some of the sound effects of the outside of HM are little dials that they turn on & up (the howling dog, etc).

What I'd like to see is where that little path was that you took! And then, I saw some old pictures of WDW when they had the overhead tram -- I need to look for those old stations.

I liked the pictures you took of that museum, too. I LOVE going into an art museum...actually went by myself to the one in that park in Montgomery, AL -- really nice.

I can tell you the secrets in February. Now we have something to talk about that weekend.

I had forgotten about that park and the museum. I want to take Jacob to the museum here. They just reopened it and it is suppose to be amazing.

 

[jmskinner]

Now, if you read my previous post that our plan was to get up, head to All Star Sports and lounge by the pool while Jacob swam. Well, Jonas woke up feeling horrible. So we took our time getting out of the house. We ended up leaving about 11:00am. Dropped Bubblegum off at the kennel, poor girl didn't want to go. She likes to stay with her Momma.

Got on interstate, but first had to swing back by the house because Jonas thought he forgot the cough drops. Plus he was wanting to check the mail one more time for a package. We turn into our little neighborhood and see the mail truck. I run in the house to look for the coughdrops, couldn't find them. They were in the suitcase. But at least we had the package.

What was in the package? Jonas had ordered Jacob a new video game for doing so well in school. We barely heard a peep out of Jacob the whole way to WDW.

Got back on the road and stopped at the first Cracker Barrel we came to. We were starving. Had a nice lunch and were on our way. Got to All Star Sports about 2:00, after a wrong turn. I can never find the All Star resorts. Jonas commented that we will have to remember where it is for our January trip. He had the big smile on his face that I can always tell he isn't telling me the truth.

Now I know I took a pic of the front of the resort, but now I can't find it on Smugmug. I'll post it later. But here are my boys exploring the lobby while I check in..well, that pic isn't there either.

But I do have this one which was actually taken on the way out.


Ok, on to the TR then, I got in the online checkin line and patiently waited. Watched one CM finish with a guest and then leave. Finally a very nice CM walked all the way from the other side of checkin and got my attention, so I walked on down to the regular checkin line with him. At this point Jonas walks up, he couldn't find me since I wasn't where he left me. Here is Jacob patiently waiting


Is that a look of patience? The boy has none.

We got instructions on how to get to our room, which is very important to us. The last time we stayed at All Star we were in Music. We completely missed that turn to the right after the lobby and ended up in Movies looking for our room. It wasn't until after an embarassing phone call to the front desk and noticing I was staring at Herbie that I realized we were at the wrong resort.

On the way out to the car, a CM was practicing his ability to draw Mickey



He commented that it wasn't very good, didn't seem to thrilled I was taking a pic, but I told him it was much better than I could ever do.

We got in our car and found the room.

We were 3rd from the parking lot, which we thought was great. We had decided to drive to MK this day since Jonas wasn't feeling well, so this will be really great since we planned on getting back late.

And our room 4152



Jacob had messed up the Mickey Head before I could get a pic.









And this is how close we were to the parking lot, we wouldn't be happy about it later.


Next update, the kiddo gets some pool time.

 

[dismagiclover]

I'm sorry Jonas wasn't feeling well. I hope he makes it through the party OK. How fun to just pop down for a weekend without having to get on (and pay) for a plane ticket.

 

[TinksThree]

I loved the mini-TRs....must be nice to go for a quick little trip!

The picture you took at MK during the opening ceremony wuith the confetti in front of the train station was !!! I loved that one! and the one in the stockards was priceless!

Interested in how you liked ASSports. We stayed there at Spring Break 09 and I hated it! But I think that was more a factor of the other guests and not so much the resort itself. But it definitely left a bad taste for that resort! We couldn't enjoy the pool, food court or the room....at 1am! (It was dance and cheer competitions that week if it clues you in any! ).

I hope that Jonas feels better because that is no fun to be sick and at the happiest place on earth!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Melissa!

Great updates! Love to see other things to do in Florida, other than just the parks! Clearwater looks lovely, and the aquarium really interesting. We're hoping to fit in a beach visit if we come back in 2012 and Clearwater looks beautiful.

'The Greatest Show On Earth!' is one of my favourite movies! It looks really interesting and the models were so detailed.

Di x

 

[natebenma]

Nice start to your report. I hope Jonas is able to feel OK enough to enjoy himself. I'm excited to hear about it!

So, Jacob has had a good start to Middle School? What are the grades in his school, 6-8?

 

[jmskinner]

I'm sorry Jonas wasn't feeling well. I hope he makes it through the party OK. How fun to just pop down for a weekend without having to get on (and pay) for a plane ticket.

on Jonas and the party. It really is nice and with this being my last year to do so I plan on making the most of it. Many Dismeets in my future.

I loved the mini-TRs....must be nice to go for a quick little trip!

The picture you took at MK during the opening ceremony wuith the confetti in front of the train station was !!! I loved that one! and the one in the stockards was priceless!

Interested in how you liked ASSports. We stayed there at Spring Break 09 and I hated it! But I think that was more a factor of the other guests and not so much the resort itself. But it definitely left a bad taste for that resort! We couldn't enjoy the pool, food court or the room....at 1am! (It was dance and cheer competitions that week if it clues you in any! ).

I hope that Jonas feels better because that is no fun to be sick and at the happiest place on earth!

Ooooh, cheer week. I've heard a lot of horror stories. Read a bunch at POR so guess you aren't safe from them anywhere. As a parent I wouldn't allow the kids to do that sort of thing, just wish other parents felt that way.

I did enjoy ASSports but we were only there one night. Any longer who knows what I would think.

And thank you about the train station photo, it is one of my favorites also.

Hi Melissa!

Great updates! Love to see other things to do in Florida, other than just the parks! Clearwater looks lovely, and the aquarium really interesting. We're hoping to fit in a beach visit if we come back in 2012 and Clearwater looks beautiful.

'The Greatest Show On Earth!' is one of my favourite movies! It looks really interesting and the models were so detailed.

Di x

Glad I could share some details about your favorite movie. They had the model train cars that were used for the big train crash scene, but I didn't get a good picture of them.

Part of the reason I wanted to start another TR is to show other things to do in the area, plus share my trips to WDW with others. There are lots of nice beaches in the area. On the way to Sarasota is Anne Marie Island which is suppose to be another great one.

Nice start to your report. I hope Jonas is able to feel OK enough to enjoy himself. I'm excited to hear about it!

So, Jacob has had a good start to Middle School? What are the grades in his school, 6-8?

You are correct 6-8, sounds like more school districts are going to middle school like this. When I was growing up, 6th was still in elementary. But even my hometown has changed and 6th is now in middle school.

 

[jmskinner]

Once we were settled into our room Jonas decided to take a nap and I took Jacob to the pool.

Jacob wasn't happy that I didn't go swimming, but I didn't want to do my hair afterwards, plus I could take pics of him. But first, a few of the resort.

This one is for someone special










Lots of towel animals in the room windows








Some football fans were staying in this area


This is the laundry room by the pool






And my skinny boy








After letting Jacob swim for about an hour we headed into the little shop for something to drink




And then headed back to the room












Next up, MNSSHP, but first we get Jacob's haircut and face some not so nice people.