Bippity Boppity Brr! My Very Meticulously Crafted Plans don't quite pan out.

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Wow you got a lot of characters. How fun. I have heard good Ol' Jiminy is back there too. We only went back there once and weren't too impressed, so I don't know if/when we wil lbe heading back that part again. How was the food at Rainforest?

It was pretty good, although dinner the night before was better. Maybe one day we will get to meet Jiminy. I agree with you though, the Planet Watch isn't really all that great, especially when it is really cold.

Caught up finally! I don't know how I missed that you had started your TR. We got suckered into the photo at the Ohana breakfast. For $30 I just couldn't turn it down, especially when they have the pictures already printed out for you when they come by the table. Oh well.

It was nice to see that your luck started turning around. I can't wait to read more!

Better late than never. I agree about it being hard to turn down the pictures, especially since Donald doesn't walk around in the restaurant. I do like watching the picture people looking at photos, then looking around trying to find the people.

Pocahontas wears Uggs???? LOL

That's it, she was wearing Uggs in the first picture, not in the second.

Glad you liked my recollection of our first meeting. As I was writing I was going to write that it was crazy cold out this day, speaking of crazy... As I was writing I couldn't figure out how to make it work. Of course, now I think of something.

Man you really scored on those autographs! Great pictures.

Yea, 8 autographs in about a half an hour is pretty cool. I haven't counted, but the one autograph book that holds pictures has 21, and then we got another one for the "B" list characters.

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

So, I ordered my photopass CD on Sunday. I figure it will make a nice Christmas gift when it finally gets here next Christmas.

 

[Tinkermom76]

wow I can't believe you got all those characters so quick way to go!!!

Is breakfast at rainforest good?

 

[eecteacher82]

GREAT update! I love the picture of you guys with Mickey! You all look wonderful and happy!

Great job with the characters. 8 in 30 minutes...impressive!

Sounds like you were almost a celebrity, with all your loyal followers spotting you! LOL!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

So, I ordered my photopass CD on Sunday. I figure it will make a nice Christmas gift when it finally gets here next Christmas.

I got the CD the day after I got my 5x7 print, a 5x7 frame, and my 2010 calendar.

Yes, that's right. for some reason the Photo Pass site still defaults to a Jan 2010 start date, and I never noticed.

wow I can't believe you got all those characters so quick way to go!!!

Is breakfast at rainforest good?

My wife and kids had the belgian waffles, and said they were good, I had the breakfast of bandits. It isn't anything spectacular, but it doesn't suck either. The nice thing is, it isn't expensive as dinner.

GREAT update! I love the picture of you guys with Mickey! You all look wonderful and happy!

Great job with the characters. 8 in 30 minutes...impressive!

Sounds like you were almost a celebrity, with all your loyal followers spotting you! LOL!

We were definitly happy, although a bit chilled. I had everyone take off their jackets for the pictures. Got very lucky with the characters. I'm still surprised people recognized me, I probably wouldn't have noticed my sister walking by me since I really wasn't paying too much attention to other people.

 

[exwdwcm]

Pocahontas wears Uggs???? LOL

LOL at the uggs!

love the new update. the pics are fantastic!!!! we missed Camp Minnie Mickey so it is on the list for October for sure. Sounds like a leisurely morning, but you still go a lot done. and so fun to run into Katie and PR within hours of each other!]

We saw Jimminy Crickett, he was over by the activity table the day we saw him there. He was all alone too, no line! The pochohantas we saw at conversation station was terrible- she looked nothing like her. it seems they have a hard finding a good resemblence on that one.

 

[Woth2982]

Finally caught up on your TR! I have yet to start mine! I have been so busy since getting home. Got a stress fracture in my foot from walking around Disney, as well as frost bite on my left hand! That is gonna be the name of my TR Frost bite and a broken foot lol. I see that Ally does the same thing I do with her sweat shirt! She hides her hands under the sleeves. Everyone makes fun of me for it, but at least my hands are warm! All your photos with the characters came out great! I don't know about you, but I found the crowds to be the lowest on those really cold days.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

LOL at the uggs!

love the new update. the pics are fantastic!!!! we missed Camp Minnie Mickey so it is on the list for October for sure. Sounds like a leisurely morning, but you still go a lot done. and so fun to run into Katie and PR within hours of each other!]

We saw Jimminy Crickett, he was over by the activity table the day we saw him there. He was all alone too, no line! The pochohantas we saw at conversation station was terrible- she looked nothing like her. it seems they have a hard finding a good resemblence on that one.

Jiminy Crickett was my main reason for heading up there since we already saw Pocohontas. Nothing will compare to 2007 when we went to the Pocohontas show and the lady in front of me was the characters real mother, and we got to hang out after the show for 10 minutes or so with Pocohontas. She went up to Olivia, who was only 9 months old at the time, and we cautioned her that Olivia likes to pull hair. She decided to spend more time with Ally after that. Here are some of the photos from then.
During the show

Meeting Olivia

Ally's first meeting with a Princess

Finally caught up on your TR! I have yet to start mine! I have been so busy since getting home. Got a stress fracture in my foot from walking around Disney, as well as frost bite on my left hand! That is gonna be the name of my TR Frost bite and a broken foot lol. I see that Ally does the same thing I do with her sweat shirt! She hides her hands under the sleeves. Everyone makes fun of me for it, but at least my hands are warm! All your photos with the characters came out great! I don't know about you, but I found the crowds to be the lowest on those really cold days.

Frost bite? Didn't you pack gloves? Reminds me of the guy I heard that morning while waiting for the bus. He said he refused to wear gloves in Florida just on principle. Plus you got a stress fracture, the way my feet felt at the end of the day sometimes I thought I might get one as well.

I agree, the cold kept the crowds away which was a big help. We came from cold weather so we didn't mind it as much, but this day was quite cold.

Hope your foot feels better, I will be working on an update for today.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Sorry for the delay in another update, caught a head cold that put me out of commission for a bit. I hate head colds, can’t breath, achy…

Oh well, enough about my health, I know you really want to know what happens after we leave Animal Kingdom.

So we head out to the bus area, and it isn’t long before a bus comes for Hollywood Studios. The Vacation Gods are definitely trying to make up for waking me up before the alarm each day, and who am I do complain.
So we set off to Hollywood Studios with only a few things to do. Watch Beauty and the Beast, See Muppets 3D, ride Rock n Roller Coaster, and eat at Pizza Planet. Ally is pretty excited about eating there, so what the heck.

We get off the bus and head towards Rock N Roller Coaster to get FP’s, as we are passing Beauty and the Beast we see that the next show starts in 5 minutes. Once again, what I planned to do gets messed up. We head in to see the show. We find some seats that have a good view for the kids, kind of surprising since we are getting in so late, but once again the Vacation Gods come through for us today.

We get out of the show and the kids need a potty break. This works well, Diane takes them in while I go see what the wait time is for RnR. When I get there it is close to an hour, and I don’t want to wait that long for a ride, the FP return time isn’t until 5:30, and we should be back at the resort by then to sit and relax. I can take or leave the ride, and leave it up to Ally. She doesn’t want to wait an hour for a ride either, and agrees we want to enjoy the resort some, so put RnR on the list of things that won’t be done on this trip. So we set off to see Muppets 3D. This is Diane’s favorite, she is really into the Muppets, and is looking forward to the new movie due out later this year.

On the way in I see that there is a height restriction.

Luckily we all fit underneath and can go in.

The nice thing about not going every year, we forget what the shows were like, and I like the Muppets show. We get right in since they are letting people in for the preshow show which has already started, so we won’t have a very long wait. Guess the cold is keeping people out of the parks, which is great for us.

After the show we decide to get our pics with Lightning McQueen and Mater. The line was pretty long the other day, but today there is only a few families waiting.

After getting the pictures we head into Pizza Planet, and the place is packed. I head upstairs and there aren’t any empty seats, and a pretty good size line to get food. Ugh, too cold to eat outside, so let’s try another place. Ally is fine with this. We start walking and run smack into the HS Parade. We hadn’t planned on seeing this, but since we couldn’t get through we had no choice but to sit and watch. And take some pictures of course.

I did have a chuckle while watching the parade. A guy walks up with his wife and kids, and wants to cross the street, and is arguing with the CM who isn't letting him cross. Not sure how he missed the fact there was a parade going on. Probably had dinner reservations somewhere and was late.

Parade over, we head on to find a place to eat. Of course the lines for places are pretty long , which is a bit odd since it’s only a little after 3, but I guess the people from the parades are now hungry. Ally has been wanting to eat at the Mara, so we decide as a family to just head back to the resort and eat there.

We exit HS to head back to the resort. We won’t be going back to AK or HS the rest of the trip. Out of the stuff we planned we didn’t get to ride RnR, the Toy Story Mania ride, Honey I shrunk the kids playground, and the Maharajah Jungle Trek, but the family is pretty tired, guess I’ve been walking them too much. We go towards the busses, and while we are still kind of far away I see the bus for our resort. Ugh, guess we are going to have to wait. As we keep going I see someone knock on the bus doors and the doors open and the person goes in. Looks like they are asking the driver some questions. They get off the bus, then another family runs up, and is able to get on. All of this extra activity gave us enough time to catch this bus, I send the family on, while I fold up the stroller. Thank you Vacation Gods.

So we head to the room to ditch the stroller and the bags. We head down to the Mara to eat. I don’t really remember what everyone got. I think the kids got the Macaroni and cheese. I was looking at the offerings, and notice African Stew. Sounds good, so I ask the guy what is in the African Stew. He looked at me like I was crazy and didn't answer, so I asked again. He still gave me an odd look, but then told me what was in it. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don’t know what is in African Stew! I’m thinking Zebra meat, but it is nothing that exotic, its just a stew with Beef, Pork, vegetables etc... I go ahead and get it. It was pretty good, but since the bread bowl is a crusty bread having a real knife would have been great. Those flimsy plastic knives they have do not do a good job of cutting the bread.

After dinner we head towards the lobby to relax a while. The other day the kids made an ornament, and they were asking for donations of $5, and you get one of the conservancy pins, so that cost me $10 since I insisted on giving $5 for each, but they didn’t require it. Today we had the kids go to the station that involved making plates. This was free, which was a bit of a surprise to me. While the kids did this, I went back and got the camera equipment.

Ally working on her plate.

Olivia and one of the 5,341 new friends she made in Disney.

They had a choir that sang Christmas songs in the lobby, and we were in a great spot to listen to them. It was a nice relaxing way to end our stay at AK.

While we were sitting around, I thought about checking with the Concierge at the front desk about dinner reservations for tomorrow night since our Luau was cancelled due to the cold. Once again the Vacation Gods smiled on us and we got reservations for 5:45 at the Kona Cafe at the Poly.
Tomorrow morning we would be checking out, sending the luggage to the Poly and heading off to the Poly. So that will be the next update.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Sucks that it was too cold for the luau, but at least you got Kona. Can't wait to hear how that was for dinner.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I was an update behind I love how in your AK character pics, you're family gets progressively bundled up against the cold. Brrr! Love that Donald shot. Our autograph book is actually a journal that has a Mickey watermark on each page. At Chef Mickey's one time he signed our autograph book but only after scribbling out Mickey's face.


You know, I never thought before that park hoppers were worth the cost but I'm liking more and more the ability to just go wherever, whenever. A day to just do the few things you missed before is smart.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Sucks that it was too cold for the luau, but at least you got Kona. Can't wait to hear how that was for dinner.

You won't have to wait long. I think I got our whole day in one entry. The time consuming part is adding the pictures. Hopefully I don't go over 25 or I will need to split them up in two.

I was an update behind I love how in your AK character pics, you're family gets progressively bundled up against the cold. Brrr! Love that Donald shot. Our autograph book is actually a journal that has a Mickey watermark on each page. At Chef Mickey's one time he signed our autograph book but only after scribbling out Mickey's face.


You know, I never thought before that park hoppers were worth the cost but I'm liking more and more the ability to just go wherever, whenever. A day to just do the few things you missed before is smart.

We loved the reaction from Donald, it is so much better than when they just sign and pose for pics. At Chef Mickey's there was a kid wearing a goofy hat, and when Goofy saw it he was all animated. Took the hat, got a sharpie, and signed it. Spent extra time with the kid too. Hope they got it on video.

This was the only day we did multiple parks, but it is worth getting the option just in case the park you are in is too crowded. We will always get this option.

 

[stephielela]

Looks like a productive day at AK! Sucks that the Luau was canceled! The weather was pretty screwy last month. Makes me ok with my decision to not go back for Christmas for a while!! I really like all your character pics, you got pretty lucky!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Tuesday, December 14th
Resort – Polynesian
Park(s) – EPCOT
Weather: high of 49 degrees, low of 28 degrees

OK, it is now Tuesday December 14th, and this is the day we move from AKL to the Poly, and hit EPCOT. Here is the information I put in my planner.
Check out of AKL
Head to Epcot.
Get FP for Test Track
Go ride Soarin
See Journey into Imagination
See Captain EO
Tour the Seas with Nemo and Friends
Start touring Countries or head back to resort to check in
Spirit of Aloha Luau at 8PM

So obviously that last entry is out since we got the call on Saturday that the Luau was cancelled due to the cold, luckily we got the reservations for Kona Café last night. Today is a light schedule anyway due to the moving. We head down to the Mara to get some breakfast. After that we go back to the room to collect the luggage. As we are heading out we stop for some last minute photos.

We take the luggage down to the Bell Services desk so they can ship it over to the Poly. We get a bit of a late start and head out to the bus stop. This morning was an EMH day for EPCOT so there should be plenty of busses. The Vacation Gods decide they were too nice yesterday and decide to make up for it. While we wait we see two AK busses, two HS busses, and a whole lot of MK busses. At one point there was an empty MK bus with two other MK busses right behind it, and yet, no EPCOT bus. Finally an EPCOT bus arrives, but it is pretty full, so only 4 families get on, then nobody else can get on. So we wait. The CM calls and lets us know that another one would be here in about 10 minutes. Since we have already been here for half an hour, I am not really that happy about another 10 minutes, but we got lucky yesterday, today not so much.

So off we go to EPCOT, a bit behind schedule, we finally arrive around 10 am. We are rethinking the whole Test Track thing today. I don’t think I want to be going 60 MPH when it is 30 degrees out, so we decide that can wait until Friday. Since I know Soarin is a pretty popular ride I head up to the Land to get some FP’s. Having never ridden it before, I have no idea where it is. I finally find it, and get FP’s return time 1:30. Then we head over to the Seas with Nemo. Stop for some pics outside first.

The ride for the Seas states 5 minutes, but it is practically walk on. We go through the queue pretty quick and try to grab some pics.

Olivia gets a little scared on the ride when it gets to the sharks, but she is ok soon enough. She didn’t seem to have a problem posing for a picture inside Bruces mouth though. Kids are strange.

Raise your hand if you don't have a picture like this one.

After looking at the stuff here we head over to Turtle Talk. There are people in the queue, but it is closed, so we will need to wait through another queue which didn’t seem like a big deal, but apparently my kids don’t like having to wait for stuff, and after seeing the fish and other stuff in the queue decide that it is a good time to annoy each other. I know part of this is them being tired, so luckily this will be a relatively short day for them since we need to check into the Poly. Finally after what seemed like hours, but was only 10 minutes we are headed into the show. Ally and Olivia sit down in the front while Diane and I grab a seat. The kids enjoy the show, but never raised there hands to ask a question. Ally was excited about talking to Crush, but apparently she thought it would be a one on one thing, so she was a little intimidated and couldn’t think of a question for him.

We then head over to see the aquariums and spot a Mickey Head.

First Hidden Mickey

A little later we spotted a better one.

We spend a good half hour checking out the fish. After the Seas we head over to see the Journey into Imagination show. No wait. Olivia see Figment and says it is just like my dragon at home. We got him on the 2007 trip. Afterwards the kids have fun pretending to be conductors, and jumping on the lit squares.

After Journey into the imagination we go see Captain EO since I haven’t seen it since my Senior class trip in 1988. Again, no wait, we walk right into the queue area. Olivia gets a bit spooked by the movie, but likes it by the end. We get a few pics around the Captain EO area. The chasing fountains aren’t on, guess it is too cold. A lot of the plants at the front of EPCOT were covered as well due to the cold so we didn’t stop for PP Pictures, we can get them on Friday.

It’s too early for our Soarin FP’s when we get back to the Land, and everyone is hungry, so we stop at get some grub at Season’s. After lunch we head into Soarin. The CM stops us to check Olivia’s height. She makes by more than an inch. We all had a good laugh when she went up to the measurement thing and ducked under it. Guess she didn’t quite know what she was doing, and got quite mad at us for laughing saying “IT’S NOT FUNNY!”. Man Soarin has a long queue that we need to walk through, they should have a much shorter walk for FP’s. We get to the front, and wait about a minute before being sent on our way. We end up in the third row, but everyone enjoyed the ride even though we were on the bottom. Ally wants to do it again, but FP’s are all out, I tell her we can ride it again on Friday.

After Soarin, we take a ride on Living with the Land. I had never done this before, so figured what the heck. There wasn’t a wait. Took some pics along the way.

Nine pound lemons!

Throughout the whole thing I try looking for hidden Mickey’s, and while we are going through the Aquacell Ally spots it.

At this point we have seen all we wanted for today other than Test Track. We still need to check into the Poly, get to our room, and get ready for dinner. We take the Monorail to TTC, then get on the Resort Monorail. I notice that we are pretty close to the Polynesian. As we ride, I see that the Polynesian actually connects to the TTC. We get off at our stop. Easy checkin this time, not like the long wait at AKL. We are place in Rapa Nui, which is probably about as far from the Great Ceremonial House as you can get. Lucky we have Bell Services delivering the luggage.

Off to the Kona Café, the food was pretty good. I had the Ginger Crusted Ribeye, Diane had the Pomegranate Barbequed Pork Chop, Ally had the Mickey head ravioll, Olivia got a hot dog and soup.

Olivias Hot Dog. Guess you have to ask for fries.

Diane’s desert was really cool.

Afterwards we hang out a bit in the Great Ceremonial House, and get some pics.

In the gift shop

Mickey heads in the carpet, can you see them?

The performers from the Luau are periodically performing, so at least we get to see some of what we missed. After hanging out for a while, we head back to the room to get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow we head off to MK, and breakfast with Pooh.

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Where were the performers practicing? That's cool that you got to see some of the show.

I love Diane's dessert! Cotton candy if a fave. Must be b/c "I like fluffy" (Stitch).

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

It was upstairs in the Ceremonial house the opposite side of where you catch the monorail. They also had singers singing Christmas carols.

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Raise your hand if you don't have a picture like this one.

No kidding eh?

I'm completely jealous that you've stayed at AKL and have now transferred to the Poly. Two dream resorts in one trip.

Nice relaxed day! Took me a while to find that first carpet Mickey.....

 

[luckylady]

Love the Poly. We changed resorts in May from CSR to Poly and loved it again. RN used to be my favorite lodge as it's really the close to the bus stop and the TTC. In May we were in the longhouse next to GCH and I really liked the location. Great pictures of Living Seas.Looks like a lot of new things have been added. Can't wait to read more about.

 

[jenseib]

I can't beleive how cold you all look. Maybe the vacation Gods looked after me when they decided to postpone our trip (I hope). We like Soarin too. It was a big hit with Claire and she didn't understand why we couldn't hopt right back into the short line (without another set of FP's) LOL!
I am so jealous you got to stay at AKL and Poly. I would like to stay at both someday...but untill the Lottery Gods smile at me. it looks like we will be staying Value. LOL!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

No kidding eh?

I'm completely jealous that you've stayed at AKL and have now transferred to the Poly. Two dream resorts in one trip.

Nice relaxed day! Took me a while to find that first carpet Mickey.....

I'm guessing you have a similar pic with Bruce.

Agree about the two dream resorts, thanks to a 40% off code I was able to do both. We stayed at the cheapest room at the Poly, and it still cost more per night than the Savannah view at AKL.

Love the Poly. We changed resorts in May from CSR to Poly and loved it again. RN used to be my favorite lodge as it's really the close to the bus stop and the TTC. In May we were in the longhouse next to GCH and I really liked the location. Great pictures of Living Seas.Looks like a lot of new things have been added. Can't wait to read more about.

We did walk to the TTC a few times. It's quicker than walking to the Great Ceremonial House, then riding the monorail all the way around to TTC.

I can't beleive how cold you all look. Maybe the vacation Gods looked after me when they decided to postpone our trip (I hope). We like Soarin too. It was a big hit with Claire and she didn't understand why we couldn't hopt right back into the short line (without another set of FP's) LOL!
I am so jealous you got to stay at AKL and Poly. I would like to stay at both someday...but untill the Lottery Gods smile at me. it looks like we will be staying Value. LOL!

The day before and this day were really cold, but after this day it starts warming up. Chilly in the morning, but nicer. The cold kept people out of the parks too, so that was a bonus.

I'm still waiting for the Lottery Gods to smile on me so I can buy one of the houses on Disney property.