Babymoon Trip In Search of VINYLS! Jul/Aug TR - UPDATE 11/20 Rest of DHS-TR COMPLETE!

[heaven2dc]

You look so cute being pregnant! Now you can tell your little one when he/she gets older that their first visit to WDW was this trip

I love Donald! I got to draw him too but did it before I met him at the Character Meet & Greet at Epcot or I would have signed my pic too. Your DH did a great job drawing him (Donald did take my camera from me and snapped a pic of himself when I got his autograph - I love that picture!)

 

[khertz]

You look so cute being pregnant! Now you can tell your little one when he/she gets older that their first visit to WDW was this trip

I love Donald! I got to draw him too but did it before I met him at the Character Meet & Greet at Epcot or I would have signed my pic too. Your DH did a great job drawing him (Donald did take my camera from me and snapped a pic of himself when I got his autograph - I love that picture!)

Aw, thank you! That is the plan.

Donald is DH's favorite, so we always have to stop for him when we see him! I have to say, after stalking him all around WDW in December, I had a new fondness for Donald too. I got the cutest picture of DH & Donald last year after I told Donald that he was DH's favorite! That's too funny about him stealing your camera!!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

I enjoyed your December trip report and enjoying this one so far too. Congratulations on your upcoming arrival! I LOVE your idea of having Donald sign the artwork from the Animation Class. What a great way to decorate your nursery! I'm sure Baby Paxton will share your love of Disney

 

[wdwgirl03]

You had me when you mentioned vinyls. I am slightly addicted to them myself. I am kind of jealous you got the Nemo jr. And that "I am the chaser" t-shirt is pretty funny.

What an awesome idea to get the drawing from Animation Academy signed!

 

[khertz]

I enjoyed your December trip report and enjoying this one so far too. Congratulations on your upcoming arrival! I LOVE your idea of having Donald sign the artwork from the Animation Class. What a great way to decorate your nursery! I'm sure Baby Paxton will share your love of Disney

Thanks so much!! The artwork idea was actually DH's! We are doing the nursery in a jungle theme because we were just not impressed with any of the Mickey Mouse/Disney baby bedding, but we definitely wanted to put some Disney into the room anyway. So we are doing the signed animation, a white Vinylmation that DH splashed/splattered with the wall color paint, and we are going to frame the picture of me, DH, the "bump," and Mickey & Minnie that we got on the trip and put it on his shelf. I hope he loves Disney as much as we do, because if not, he will hate growing up with us!!

You had me when you mentioned vinyls. I am slightly addicted to them myself. I am kind of jealous you got the Nemo jr. And that "I am the chaser" t-shirt is pretty funny.

What an awesome idea to get the drawing from Animation Academy signed!

DH is starting to get me into the Vinyl collecting as well. He is already trying to convince me we should clear out our big 5 shelf bookcase full of DVD's so that he can display his Vinyls and other collectibles there!

Thanks for reading & commenting!

 

[dhertz]

You had me when you mentioned vinyls. I am slightly addicted to them myself. I am kind of jealous you got the Nemo jr. And that "I am the chaser" t-shirt is pretty funny.

What an awesome idea to get the drawing from Animation Academy signed!

Vinyls are amazing. I've become crazy obsessed with them after this trip.

I was stressing out the whole time before we left about how I was going to transport the picture around and not mess it up.

Thanks so much!! The artwork idea was actually DH's! We are doing the nursery in a jungle theme because we were just not impressed with any of the Mickey Mouse/Disney baby bedding, but we definitely wanted to put some Disney into the room anyway. So we are doing the signed animation, a white Vinylmation that DH splashed/splattered with the wall color paint, and we are going to frame the picture of me, DH, the "bump," and Mickey & Minnie that we got on the trip and put it on his shelf. I hope he loves Disney as much as we do, because if not, he will hate growing up with us!!



DH is starting to get me into the Vinyl collecting as well. He is already trying to convince me we should clear out our big 5 shelf bookcase full of DVD's so that he can display his Vinyls and other collectibles there!

Thanks for reading & commenting!

Hey, hey they are our Vinyls

 

[disneybarbie]

Just found your new TR! How exciting that you got to go for one quick weekend

nice to see how you're doing with the baby bump too did you find there was a lot of attractions you had to miss out on this trip?

and are those small Vinylmations keyrings? I might need to add one of those to my wdw shopping list! I only have one Vinyl so far - it's a turquoise green one with Ariel & Flounder on it.


Emma x

 

[khertz]

Just found your new TR! How exciting that you got to go for one quick weekend

nice to see how you're doing with the baby bump too did you find there was a lot of attractions you had to miss out on this trip?

and are those small Vinylmations keyrings? I might need to add one of those to my wdw shopping list! I only have one Vinyl so far - it's a turquoise green one with Ariel & Flounder on it.


Emma x

Yay! Happy to see you again! It was such a spur of the moment trip, but we are SO happy we were able to get there just one more time before baby!

I definitely don't feel like I missed out on a lot, especially since we had just been there in December thinking it was our last time before kids, so we rode all the big rides as many times as we could! The only 2 things I was disappointed in not being able to do was Splash Mountain just because it's my favorite ride, and the Nightastic Tower of Terror effects. From what DH described, it sounded so cool! The only rides he rode without me was Thunder Mountain, RNRC, and ToT, but I mostly found ways to occupy myself while he was riding. I even tried to convince him he could ride them a couple more times if he wanted, but he didn't feel the need.

The tiny Vinyls are keychains. I don't remember if we saw them everywhere they sold Vinyls, but I know for certain we got the Nemo one at D Street in DTD. I really want the Ariel & Flounder one for myself! Mostly I'm ok with just admiring them on his shelf, but I want the Ariel one, and the Minnie's Dress one from the Cutesters series for my own shelf.

Thanks for commenting! And I see you are going back this December, so I'll be on the lookout for your next TR!!

 

[khertz]

When I left off, we had just finished meeting Donald and having him sign DH's Animation Academy drawing.

Our next destination was to go further into Frontierland and get some FPs for Big Thunder Mountain so that DH could ride and I wouldn't have to wait long for him. This picture was taken at 9:45 am heading in that direction:

If that doesn't just scream how important it is to be at the parks for rope drop in the summer, then I don't know what will! lol

We passed in front of my all time favorite Disney ride, Splash Mountain. This was one of the only rides I was disappointed to miss out on being pregnant because I can never get enough of that drop!

It was still splashing from the water cannons at the bottom of the drop, but for some reason, the water stayed turned off all day. It was pretty weird.

DH grabbed his fastpasses, and then we headed over to Toontown for their "rope drop" so that we could get a picture with Mickey before the line got too long. This was tops on my list of must dos for the trip because I wanted a picture of me, DH, & the baby bump with Mickey Mouse to frame in Paxton's room so that he always has his "first picture" with Mickey to look at!

Toontown was already open even though it wasn't quite 10 am yet, so we quickly made our way over to Mickey's house and cut through the garage to the Judge's Tent to check out the line, which luckily wasn't very long at all.

Within 10 minutes, we were let into the actual meet & greet room, where we got a great surprise...Minnie was posing with Mickey also! There was THE cutest little boy of maybe 1 getting his picture taken with them when we walked in. The Photopass photographer kept having to call his name to get him to look at the camera because he couldn't stop looking at Mickey & Minnie in complete awe! Just thinking about it makes me so ready to bring Paxton on his first trip!!

Eventually, it was our turn to meet Mickey & Minnie.

After that picture was taken, DH and I felt like the day had already been a success since his main goal was meeting Donald, and mine was getting a picture with Mickey. The rest of the day would just be considered bonus!

Since we were on that side of the park, we decided to check out some of the wait times in Tomorrowland. We stopped first at Buzz Lightyear which didn't have a posted wait time, so we asked the CM who said about 10 minutes. We started to get in line, and he handed me one of the red tags they use to determine the wait time!

I was majorly geeked by this because I had wanted to get one on our December trip, and TWICE, the CM handed the card to the group ahead of or behind us and I was so disappointed! Another Disney "goal" I can check off of the list.

So we rode, and DH absolutely destroyed me on the score, as usual. I don't understand how he does it because I never even have a clue what I'm shooting at! I have no strategy whatsoever for that ride. lol

After he clobbered me, we decided to check out the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, which we had never done before.

I wanted to text in a joke so badly, but I was already over my texting limit for the month!

The show was so cute!! I can't believe we have skipped it completely the last two trips, because I just loved it! It's now on the must do list for me, but I don't think DH enjoyed it quite as much as I did. So funny though. I was laughing out loud the entire time!

By the time the show ended, it was about 11:15 am or so, and we were starting to get hungry since it had been so long since breakfast (and I'm always hungry anyway!). We stopped at one of our favorite CS places, Cosmic Ray's, for some good old burgers & fries. I had really wanted a chicken sandwich, but it was $8! That's just crazy for a piece of chicken on a bun!

We did good picking that time to go eat, because the place was practically empty, so we had no trouble hitting up the fixin's bar and finding a place to eat. As we ate, DH checked the receipt to see if they were still offering 20% off at certain stores from 9am-12pm and saw that they were! So as soon as we finished eating, we hustled over to the Emporium on Main Street to get the discount.

While we were there, I randomly saw a girl I know from the hospital that works in a different department, who had just arrived the day before for their week long trip! Small world. ;-)

We ended up buying DH a few Vinylmations, a t-shirt for me that I made sure had 2010 on it, because I wanted to buy something with the year since we had not planned on being back in 2010! We also bought a 2010 magnet, since we have started a tradition of buying a magnet on all of our vacations. We also got the purchase with purchase item, a pale blue windbreaker, for $10 since we had spent so much money. I didn't remember to get pictures of those yet, but I'll make sure I have pictures of everything by the wrap-up post.

DH traded a couple of Vinyls, then we left the store and took our time shopping & wandering up Main Street. First thing was to stop for a Photopass photographer to get some pictures in front of the Castle.

The photographer was really nice & friendly, but when he asked me how many months I had left and I said about 3, he replied, "Oh goodness, are you sure there is only 1 baby in there?!" I had to laugh, because everyone at work kept telling me I didn't even look pregnant when I was wearing my scrubs. lol

DH making a trade at the Art of Disney store.

The next thing we wanted to do was head to Adventureland to check out the wait time on the Jungle Cruise with a plan of riding if it was short enough or getting a FP for later if the wait was long.

The wait time was only 10 minutes so we got in line, but we did get FPs for later hoping we could ride again after dark, but we never ended up using them.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Our skipper, who wasn't all that exciting.

After Jungle Cruise, we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, which had a 10 minute wait, and was probably less than that. I was a little nervous about the drop, but it wasn't nearly as steep as I remember it being, and everything was fine.

Then, we headed back to Frontierland so DH could use one of his Thunder Mountain FPs, but the ride had JUST gone down! So instead, we took the little bridge over the water that leads to Liberty Square so we could ride the Haunted Mansion, which only had a 10 minute wait as well.

The scariest moment of the trip happened inside the Haunted Mansion, and it had nothing to do with the happy haunts! After the stretching room when they let you out into that free for all area that eventually funnels down to a single file line for you to get on the doom buggies, the guys behind me and DH almost came to blows! The one right behind us was I guess mad because the guy behind him was too close, so he started yelling at the guy behind him that he was too close and he was coming between him & his wife! I guess the heat and the crowds does that to people. I have read about stuff like that happening on the Dis, but never witnessed it myself.

Anyway, luckily they did not get into a fist fight, and the rest of the ride went smoothly!

The heat was starting to become unbearable, and I was starting to wear down, so we headed towards the front of the park. There was one more purchase we wanted to make before heading back to the resort for a break, and that was...

Paxton's first Mickey ears!

I snuck a picture of the CM putting the ears on the embroider machine. lol

The first set of ears got messed up by the machine, so we had to wait while they did a second pair. DH got restless, so he went back to the Emporium and Art of Disney to check and see if any of the Vinyls up for trade were ones he wanted. Finally, after the second try, the ears came out perfect! I can't wait to do his newborn shots with them!

We left the park and took the monorail to the TTC to get our car, which was of course sweltering by that point. But it didn't take long to cool down, and soon we were back at the Cypress Palms to check in to our room.

One thing I immediately didn't like compared to other Wyndham places we have visited was that the units opened from the outside instead of from internal hallways, and the master bedroom was right at the front of the unit! After a quick bath, I tried to lay down for a nap, but I was constantly hearing people talking as they walked in front of our room. That was pretty annoying, and I never actually fell asleep despite how tired and sleep deprived I was.

But the rest did me good, and so did the fact that we had a washer & dryer in our unit, so we were able to wash our clothes from the morning while we rested so that we could be wearing the same thing in our pictures, but we wouldn't be putting our sweat soaked clothes back on!

UP NEXT: First Taste of Summer Nightastic!

 

[wdwgirl03]

So what vinyls did you get this time? hehe I really had no idea those little cases were for trading. I saw those all over the place when we were there. I should've asked.

So exciting you got the baby mouse ears!

 

[RachelNinja]

Just caught up with all your updates! Found the link on stacikristine's completed TR. I joined in on your last TR all the way at the end!

Wow, what a great last minute trip! Love that you were able to drive there in 11 hours and know you still had time ahead of you to have some Disney fun! The 19+ hours from NY is too much to do on the way down to Florida. We get a little stir crazy and have to stop in North or South Carolina. On the way home, however, it's straight through! Don't know if DFi and I will ever be able to do that on our own though! This past trip it alternated between my dad, mom, and (at the time) DBF.

Love all the D Street photos! I know it's a new store, so yours is the first time I've seen it in a TR! WHOAAA, that table with all the different Vinylmations on it ... talk about sensory overload!!!

Also love that they allow you to open them right then and there. Once Upon a Toy has little characters, 3 per bag (forgot what they're called, but they're in the display cases there). When I bought one bag, they said I could open it there and if I wanted to, I could trade it at the register in the middle room. What a great idea! Very smart because it keeps people buying since they know they have the option of trading it if they don't like it!

How cuteee that you had Paxton try on some clothes at the World of Disney store!!!

Hehe, I thought it was funny how you had mainly the pineapple and strawberry from your fruit cup. I do the same thing, and then DFi or my mom eat the melon for me because they like it!

Did DH trade for those little Vinylmations too? I think that'd be cute to have (it's a keychain?), but I wouldn't want to blindly buy one of those without the ability to trade.

Cute baby bump pics! I like that you took them at an angle so that baby could be seen in the pics!

What a great idea to have Donald sign the drawing! Haha, and he puts #1!!! So funny!

Ooo, the empty Frontierland shows me that we really should head over there earlier! We were going towards SM and TM right after a period during spring break, so gosh, it was packed!

What a unique photo to have SM without the water running! And even though you were sad not to ride Splash, I'm sure baby Paxton appreciated it!

 

[khertz]

So what vinyls did you get this time? hehe I really had no idea those little cases were for trading. I saw those all over the place when we were there. I should've asked.

So exciting you got the baby mouse ears!

I cannot even begin to remember which Vinyls he traded for!! He made so many trades throughout the day, it's practically impossible. But we did occasionally remember to take pictures of his haul, so I'll have those in here as they come.

Just caught up with all your updates! Found the link on stacikristine's completed TR. I joined in on your last TR all the way at the end!

Wow, what a great last minute trip! Love that you were able to drive there in 11 hours and know you still had time ahead of you to have some Disney fun! The 19+ hours from NY is too much to do on the way down to Florida. We get a little stir crazy and have to stop in North or South Carolina. On the way home, however, it's straight through! Don't know if DFi and I will ever be able to do that on our own though! This past trip it alternated between my dad, mom, and (at the time) DBF.

19 hours is rough!! We drove from LA to Washington D.C., which was 17-18 hours and had to split it up into two days each time. We stopped in Tennessee both ways for a night. DH did ALL of the driving that trip, too! I have to say, though, I would NEVER do a long car ride like that again! I'm all for flying when it goes over 12-13 hours driving time!!

Love all the D Street photos! I know it's a new store, so yours is the first time I've seen it in a TR! WHOAAA, that table with all the different Vinylmations on it ... talk about sensory overload!!!


Also love that they allow you to open them right then and there. Once Upon a Toy has little characters, 3 per bag (forgot what they're called, but they're in the display cases there). When I bought one bag, they said I could open it there and if I wanted to, I could trade it at the register in the middle room. What a great idea! Very smart because it keeps people buying since they know they have the option of trading it if they don't like it!

That was the only store that asked him if he wanted to open them, I guess because it is mainly a Vinylmation store. It was really cool to check out though! We didn't know about it at first, but DH joined a Vinyls message board that had a lot of info about the store, so he was really excited to check it out. And it was an excuse for us to spend a bit of time at DTD since we kind of ignored it the last couple trips.

How cuteee that you had Paxton try on some clothes at the World of Disney store!!!

Now I just can't wait for him to try it on for real!!

Hehe, I thought it was funny how you had mainly the pineapple and strawberry from your fruit cup. I do the same thing, and then DFi or my mom eat the melon for me because they like it!

Did DH trade for those little Vinylmations too? I think that'd be cute to have (it's a keychain?), but I wouldn't want to blindly buy one of those without the ability to trade.

I don't think they had those out to trade in any of the stores that I remember, only the 3" ones. But DH has been using them in trades online because he had the Nemo one and another one that looks like an eyeball. Oh, and yes, they are keychains!

Cute baby bump pics! I like that you took them at an angle so that baby could be seen in the pics!

Thanks! I love taking pictures that show off the bump, especially in Disney so he can see the pictures and know he was "there"!

What a great idea to have Donald sign the drawing! Haha, and he puts #1!!! So funny!

Ooo, the empty Frontierland shows me that we really should head over there earlier! We were going towards SM and TM right after a period during spring break, so gosh, it was packed!

We definitely could see the difference in the two siders of the park. I guess it is true that most people go to the right first thing in the morning! There was practically no one in Frontierland/Adventureland untl later in the day.

What a unique photo to have SM without the water running! And even though you were sad not to ride Splash, I'm sure baby Paxton appreciated it!

I'm thinking you are right on with that one! I don't think he would have had as much fun on the drop as Mommy would have. lol

Going to check out your April TR now! Thanks for commenting.

 

[khertz]

When I left off, we had spent a very productive morning at Magic Kingdom before going back to the resort for a (much needed!) mid-afternoon break. The beginning of this post won't have many pictures because we didn't really take any until the nighttime events.

A little after 5, we got in the car and headed back to the TTC. This time, we had to take the tram to the front of the lot because we didn't feel like driving around looking for a closer spot. The trams are actually more convenient than I had realized from seeing them on previous trips! Of course, it is nicer to be dropped off by a Disney bus right at the MK entrance, but I don't mind taking the tram. Another short monorail ride later, we were walking into the MK in search of the most important thing on my mind at the moment. DINNER! Since I have been pregnant, food has become so very important! Not in the sense of eating all of the time, but in the sense of, once I get hungry, if I don't eat something NOW, I get almost a panicky feeling that is very unpleasant.

So we hustled through the park to Columbia Harbour House. We had eaten there for the very first time in December on our KTTK tour, so we decided to try it out again. Since it was only around 5:30 ish, it wasn't crowded at all. We ordered our food, and in no time, we were sitting upstairs at the same table we shared on our KTTK tour! And there was practically no one eating up there at all. We both got the chicken & fish baskets, which are just yummy.

Once we were full, we had a few things we still wanted to get done before the parade and fireworks. One of those was our favorite 3-D show, Mickey's PhilharMagic! How can you go wrong with Donald Duck going through some of the best scenes of the best Disney movies with the best music?!

After that, we decided to go over to Frontierland so DH could use his Thunder Mountain fastpasses.

When looking for a spot for me to sit and wait for him, there was a nice little shaded area off to the side overlooking the river that I started walking towards thinking it would be perfect. Until it turned out to be a DSA! Never mind! lol So I plopped down on the sidewalk and watched a squirrel run through the bushes while DH rode. I tried to tell him he could go ahead and use the second fastpass to ride again, but he said he had gotten it out of his system and he didn't like leaving me to sit on the ground waiting again, even though it had only taken him maybe 15 minutes total. Is he a great guy or what?

After that, we had just enough time to get in a ride on an old favorite, The Carousel of Progress, before we had to find a spot for the 9 pm parade. Main Street was of course packed because it was already 8:30 pm, but we were able to find a spot more than enough for the two of us within the rope in front of the Art of Disney store. We wouldn't have the best view for pictures, but it was better than nothing.

But there was a problem...lightening! It was off in the distance, but it wasn't looking good, and the CMs were saying they weren't sure if the parade was even still going to happen. 5 minutes before 9, they announced the 9 pm parade was cancelled. It sucked, but at the same time, at least we hadn't been waiting for it for over an hour only to find out it was cancelled. There were some less than happy guests after that announcement! But another plus...people started streaming out of the park in droves!

We debated leaving too, but I really really REALLY wanted to see the fireworks, so I wanted to stick it out and see if those would be cancelled too. I definitely didn't want to miss them if they weren't!

So we headed back to Tomorrowland for a relaxing ride around on the TTA. Then we used our Buzz Lightyear FPs to get in another ride. It was acting up the whole time we were in line and riding, and kept randomly stopped. But our guns were still working. It didn't do anything to help my pathetic score, but it did lead to DH completely maxing out the score!

Yes, that is his real score, not the board getting reset or something!

By then, we had wasted enough time that we decided to get back to Main Street and hope the fireworks were still going to happen. We ended up right in front of the ice cream shop on the first row behind the tape they put on the ground to form a walkway at the curbs. So no one could get directly in front of us! It was great! And while we were standing there, we got friendly with the family beside us. The mom was also pregnant with her second baby, and it was their older little girl's first time at WDW, though she was apparently at DL veteran at the ripe old age of 4. lol They were really nice, and the dad helped me out when someone did try to squeeze in front of me!

I will just say, I am a for sure lover of Wishes. But the Summer Nightastic fireworks were INCREDIBLE!!!!! I think I liked them even more than Wishes!!! Really really amazing, and of course DH took a ton of pictures. Paxton either loved or hated them, because he was moving ALL OVER during the whole show. I think all the loud booms may have been scaring him!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

So maybe it was a blessing in disguise that the first parade got cancelled, because since we were so close to the curb for the fireworks, we ended up with a curb spot for the second parade at 11 pm! Since we had some time to wait, DH decided to...well, I bet you can guess what he did! He ran into the stores to see if there were any good Vinyls to be traded! lol Unfortunately, I could not convince him to stand in the ridiculously long line at the ice cream parlor to get me some, but I probably didn't need it anyway. haha

While we were sitting, there was a really funny CM mouthing the annoucements in both English AND Spanish! That takes some dedication! And it kept us pretty entertained while we waited for the parade to start.

I'm not much of a parade person, and don't get overly excited about Spectro or anything, but this parade was very enjoyable! I liked that it wasn't so focused on the princesses, but more on old school Disney movies that you never really see represented in the parks anymore. DH also loves the music...he has had it on his mp3 player for years! So I'll let the pictures he took speak for themselves.

Like I said, great parade!

Of course, once it was over, there was the usual mad rush to get out of the parks. The Express Monorail looked packed, so we went over to the resort monorail side since we knew the TTC was the second stop. I don't know that it was any faster, but it sure felt like it. We made it onto the second monorail that pulled in after we got in line, but the resort side seemed to be having the monorails coming in less frequently than the other side, so who knows really.

I was worried we'd have a long wait for the tram as well, but we walked right out onto one, and were to the car in no time. I'm surprised I was still conscious at that point since I had not been sleeping well, wasn't able to nap that day, and am usually in bed by 9:30 at the latest at home, but I made it! We got back to Cypress Palms around 12:30 am, and still had to shower and get ready for bed, so it was close to 1:30 am before we got to sleep. That is crazy late for me! And we could not sleep in the next morning, because we had a rope drop to get to!

UP NEXT: DHS Mania!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

Thanks for another great update! I've read many people with similar comments that they love Wishes and didn't think it could be topped until they saw the Nightastic show. Sounds like you had a similar opinion.

It's great you got to see the 2nd parade. You're a dedicated parent already to make sure Paxton didn't miss out on anything.

I'm impressed you made it until 12:30am! Isn't it amazing how the Disney adreneline makes it possible to keep a schedule that would never work at home?

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi!
You take such amazing photos of fireworks and the night time parades!

I've heard great reviews of the summer nightastic fireworks; especially part where the pirates 'attack' the castle?! hehe
maybe it'll be shown again next summer... I do adore wishes too though!

Hope you and baby bump are doing well!


Emma x

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great pictures from both the fireworks and MSEP! I think the fireworks show was pretty cool too and I might be with you in that I like it better than Wishes (only because Wishes usually makes me start sobbing uncontrollably...). I first saw that show at the Pirate and Princess Party and was glad to see it again.

 

[RachelNinja]

I actually really like the tram too. Since I've never been on property, I've always felt like that's been part of the experience. This past trip, my dad dropped us off at MK and DHS. That was pretty cool to do because passenger drop-off is very close to the front! That's when I realized what people on the bus get to experience!

Yummy to Columbia Harbour House! When we ate there in April, we couldn't believe that we didn't know about it all this time!

I'm determined to one day max out my score on Buzz! I don't know if it'll ever happen, but I'd like to try! I'm one of the people who actually enjoy Buzz Lightyear a little more than Toy Story Mania. I mean, I love TSM and thought it was super fun, but there's something about Buzz that I like. Maybe I like the fact that it's difficult! Plus, I feel like I'm still living in the 80s or something with the crazy colors and the looks of some of those aliens!

Oh cool! I like Dopey driving the mine carts with all the diamonds! I've never seen that before! I should try to stay for Spectro one of these days; my dad's not into staying late so I always miss these things. I know DFi won't mind doing these things!

Oh cool, I just saw that you stayed at Cypress Palms. I came across that when searching RCI for a trip for this upcoming February. There's one 2 bedroom available, but we normally stay at Orange Lake (now called Hilton Inn Vacation Club - Orange Lake Resort) so I'm hoping that someone banks his/her week so I can get it! We are keeping Cypress Palms as an option though since it'd only cost the exchange fee. I saw a mix of good and and bad reviews of the place. What did you think of it?

 

[khertz]

Thanks for another great update! I've read many people with similar comments that they love Wishes and didn't think it could be topped until they saw the Nightastic show. Sounds like you had a similar opinion.

It's great you got to see the 2nd parade. You're a dedicated parent already to make sure Paxton didn't miss out on anything.

I'm impressed you made it until 12:30am! Isn't it amazing how the Disney adreneline makes it possible to keep a schedule that would never work at home?

SO right about the fireworks! I always tear up a little during Wishes, but the Nightastic fireworks just had me in awe. I was standing there with my mouth practically hanging open! It's hard to imagine a fireworks show being so drastically different, but it really was. I'm just so happy we were able to go to the parks while the Summer Nightastic was happening, because we certainly weren't planning on it!

I was pretty impressed with myself for making it up so late! You are definitely spot on with the Disney adrenaline, especially considering we were planning for rope drop the next morning!

Hi!
You take such amazing photos of fireworks and the night time parades!

I've heard great reviews of the summer nightastic fireworks; especially part where the pirates 'attack' the castle?! hehe
maybe it'll be shown again next summer... I do adore wishes too though!

Hope you and baby bump are doing well!


Emma x

Thanks, Emma, but those are all DH's doing! I'm so glad he doesn't mind seeing things through the camera lens while we are there.

The pirates attacking the castle was definitely the best part of the fireworks! That's the pics with all of the smoke & craziness coming out of the castle. They also had fireworks that looked like skulls! It was so incredible to see!

Me & baby bump are doing great! 30 weeks down, 10 more to go!

Great pictures from both the fireworks and MSEP! I think the fireworks show was pretty cool too and I might be with you in that I like it better than Wishes (only because Wishes usually makes me start sobbing uncontrollably...). I first saw that show at the Pirate and Princess Party and was glad to see it again.

Oh, wow, I didn't realize it was the same as the Pirate & Princess party fireworks! I have never been to one of those, and was looking forward to getting to one, and then they stopped having them. Just my luck! Don't worry, Wishes makes me cry too! You are right, that's probably why I enjoyed these more. They are so amazing, but I was staring at them in awe more than crying my eyes out.

I actually really like the tram too. Since I've never been on property, I've always felt like that's been part of the experience. This past trip, my dad dropped us off at MK and DHS. That was pretty cool to do because passenger drop-off is very close to the front! That's when I realized what people on the bus get to experience!

Yummy to Columbia Harbour House! When we ate there in April, we couldn't believe that we didn't know about it all this time!

I'm determined to one day max out my score on Buzz! I don't know if it'll ever happen, but I'd like to try! I'm one of the people who actually enjoy Buzz Lightyear a little more than Toy Story Mania. I mean, I love TSM and thought it was super fun, but there's something about Buzz that I like. Maybe I like the fact that it's difficult! Plus, I feel like I'm still living in the 80s or something with the crazy colors and the looks of some of those aliens!

Oh cool! I like Dopey driving the mine carts with all the diamonds! I've never seen that before! I should try to stay for Spectro one of these days; my dad's not into staying late so I always miss these things. I know DFi won't mind doing these things!

Oh cool, I just saw that you stayed at Cypress Palms. I came across that when searching RCI for a trip for this upcoming February. There's one 2 bedroom available, but we normally stay at Orange Lake (now called Hilton Inn Vacation Club - Orange Lake Resort) so I'm hoping that someone banks his/her week so I can get it! We are keeping Cypress Palms as an option though since it'd only cost the exchange fee. I saw a mix of good and and bad reviews of the place. What did you think of it?

I'm the same way about CHH! Always knew it was there, but never tried it. Same with Pecos Bill's actually. We tried both last trip, and really enjoyed them. It was kind of hard since we liked both of those & Cosmic Ray's to just be able to choose 2 this time!

Oh my gosh, I love Buzz Lightyear, but I am absolutely PATHETIC at it! I have no clue where I'm shooting, so I just hold the button down and move my gun around aimlessly. The 8 year old in the car in front of me was doing better than me! I'm definitely more of a TSM fan, because I can actually see what it is I'm shooting!

We had a nice stay at Cypress Palms. The only thing I was not impressed with, like I said in the TR, was how loud it was since the master bedroom was at the front of the unit on the walkway. Of course, we were on the first level too, so that may have made an impact as more people are walking there to get to the parking lot. That was really only a concern for midday naps though, at night it was fine. We got a 1 bedroom, so everything was pretty small (the stove was almost miniature! lol) but since we were only there 2 nights and were out at the parks pretty late, that didn't really affect us. The living room was adequate for our needs. We always love having a washer/dryer, especially on long trips. And it was a less than 10 minute drive to WDW property. Since we were there on a weekend, the traffic was light...I don't know how different it would be during the week. But it seems like most local traffic takes I-4, and the resort gave us maps to help us avoid I-4. The staff was great, and check-in was easy. It was definitely not as luxurious or convenient to the parks as Bonnet Creek was, but it was a very good alternative since BC was not an option this time. When are you going? We are Wyndham owners, so we may be able to help you out booking the room, depending on how many points it costs. We have a LOT left for this year, but next year we will no longer be considered VIP so we won't have as many to rent out.