Brother & Sister, WL, AKL, and Parents on a Disney Cruise! We're off!!! 5/8!!

[FauntleroyFAN07]

i always go to the kiddy station and eat the mac and cheese and the dino nuggets

 

[troobabiee7]

Your plans look great! You'll have to let me know how Yak and Yeti is, I'm thinking of trying it this summer!

 

[Grybo]

i always go to the kiddy station and eat the mac and cheese and the dino nuggets

So do I. ^_^

No but this trip is gonna be awesome! I don't think I can wait much longer!

 

[Nicole786]

Your plans look great. sounds like another great trip in the making.

Thanks, scott, it should be fun!

Whew Ok then.

We are excited because we've never been able to get there for dinner! Only lunch!

i always go to the kiddy station and eat the mac and cheese and the dino nuggets

mmmmm dino nuggets

Your plans look great! You'll have to let me know how Yak and Yeti is, I'm thinking of trying it this summer!

Yeah im excited to try something new!!


I'm at work right now but when I get home I really want to share the pictures and a few comments of the 2 trips i've taken since I last had a TR. Even if it means im up all night

 

[Nicole786]

Sorry about not posting the start of the TR, but Im planning on doing it tonight! Hoping it will pull some out of lurkdom

 

[Nicole786]

So Mom and I had been waiting for this magical trip for a lot of months and we were so excited when the day finally arrived!! I couldn't wait to get there already! Mom hadn't been to WDW since 2006, and has only stayed on-site twice! (When i was a kid we never stayed on-site) She stayed at the Poly when she was 16 and we stayed at POR as a family in 2006! She was incredibly excited for Disney, the dining plan, and POP! I had my brand new Canon Rebel XSI (my first D-SLR!) my friend let me borrow an extra lens, what came of it was 1100 photos! So needless to say i've been dying to share!

When I made the ressie, I requested ground floor so I was really excited when we checked in, we had a ground floor room! It was a perfect location, right off the lake in the 60s! This was our view!

We didn't have too much time because we had ADR's at one of my fave disney restaurants Kona!! Here are some of the lobby decorations:

The plan was to wait for the MK bus and than head to the Poly, a place mom hasn't been inside of in years! Look how happy @ the bus!

It took a really long time for a MK bus, but an Epcot bus pulled up and we got on that and got to take a longer Monorail ride! Got off at the TTA and walked to Poly, can you sense moms excitement??

Hey mom, wait up!

We walked around the Poly soaking it in and looking at all the xmas decorations! Poly isn't as decorated as the others but still has its own charm!

It was time to sit down and we of course loved our meal! Mom really loved the DDP!!

We really wanted to go to the GF, so we hopped on the monorail and hopped right off! From the monorail station facing the Poly lobby:

I don't think mom has ever been inside the GF and she was amazed. We got some really nice pictures of the lobby and then there were some carolers playing with bells! This was such a great kick off and put us right into the christmas mood!!

She was astonished by the gingerbread house!! So was I!

With the night still young we decided to head over to Downtown Disney!!

There were carolers outside and this was just so warm and fuzzy!!

We shopped, I bought a gift card to track my purchases (I do this every time its wonderful) We walked in to Days of Christmas and it was MOBBED!!! But so so pretty!

I was so excited to get a personalized ornament, but we found out it wouldn't be done until December 30th! I was so heartbroken, I had been looking forward to this forever!! Mom bought my a beautiful ornament to make me feel better but I'll be honest, I was still really bummed

Back to POP to the short walk to our room, and a good nights rest for our early wake up call for Epcot tomorrow!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Your new camera takes such gorgeous pictures!!!

I love your mom's look of pure happiness and excitement!

That's a bummer about the ornament! Was it just because it was Christmastime and everyone was getting them? Could you get one in May?

 

[MeMom]

Hey, hey, hey! I know that place well! My home, Pop Century, that is. Wasn't my tree so pretty?!?!?

That's so cool that you got to hear bell ringers at the Grand Floridian on your mom's first trip there.

Downtown Disney was awesome dressed up for Christmas. You'll have to order your personalized ornament early this year.

I know you and your mom had a great time. Maybe one day on of your mother-daughter trips will overlap with one of ours and I can meet you and your mom.

 

[KatGarcia]

that camera takes GORGEOUS pics!!!! Your mom is so cute! How awesome you got to reacquaint her with WDW!

 

[anbouk]

Hey Nicole! Found your trippie again! So nice to take mom on a trip around the holidays, bet she loved it! Awesome pics, btw! I have been eyeing that camera that you purchased. How do you like it so far? I need to update my digital camera, too, and I want super quality in a point and shoot. We plan on being at WDW for the upcoming holiday so want some really nice pics. I always find with my past cameras had not been so great in the dark. All my pics of spectro were so=so. Did you end up purchasing the extra lense...think that adds on about another 100 bucks. Let me know of your thoughts.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

we really like the singers at DTD, and i wish i could have seen the bell ringers at GF they looked cool.

 

[Nicole786]

Your new camera takes such gorgeous pictures!!!

I love your mom's look of pure happiness and excitement!

That's a bummer about the ornament! Was it just because it was Christmastime and everyone was getting them? Could you get one in May?

Im going to make the pictures in the next chapter a little bigger because it did take some really nice pics! There's a happy ending to the ornament story!

Hey, hey, hey! I know that place well! My home, Pop Century, that is. Wasn't my tree so pretty?!?!?

That's so cool that you got to hear bell ringers at the Grand Floridian on your mom's first trip there.

Downtown Disney was awesome dressed up for Christmas. You'll have to order your personalized ornament early this year.

I know you and your mom had a great time. Maybe one day on of your mother-daughter trips will overlap with one of ours and I can meet you and your mom.

Thanks for letting us borrow your Pop! I hope our trips overlap one day, but i think im just going to take a day or 2 off next time you're here and just drive over like we were planning to do for thanksgiving

that camera takes GORGEOUS pics!!!! Your mom is so cute! How awesome you got to reacquaint her with WDW!

Yeah we had a really fun time! She just kept seeing "I can't believe i've never seen this...this trip is amazing...i am so lucky" It was worth it!

Hey Nicole! Found your trippie again! So nice to take mom on a trip around the holidays, bet she loved it! Awesome pics, btw! I have been eyeing that camera that you purchased. How do you like it so far? I need to update my digital camera, too, and I want super quality in a point and shoot. We plan on being at WDW for the upcoming holiday so want some really nice pics. I always find with my past cameras had not been so great in the dark. All my pics of spectro were so=so. Did you end up purchasing the extra lense...think that adds on about another 100 bucks. Let me know of your thoughts.

A lot of these pictures were taken with my friends 50mm lens that costs about $90 @ B&H Photo. I didn't end up buying it because (1) she lets me borrow it every trip and (2) I found that the lens it comes with takes outstanding pictures as well! The next trip Im going to talk about is a short one I took with my dad recently, and I only used the kit lens it came with for the most part on "automatic" or at least aperture priority (where it automatically fixes the other settings based on the aperture you set) and they came out really nice!! I would definitely recommend the camera, you can judge for yourself on the night shots, I do have those coming up too!

we really like the singers at DTD, and i wish i could have seen the bell ringers at GF they looked cool.

the bell ringers were really cool, very elegant, very grand floridian

 

[pooksma]

Great photos Nicole! Your mom looks so happy to be at the Poly.

 

[Nicole786]

Great photos Nicole! Your mom looks so happy to be at the Poly.

She was! I don't think she has been there in ages!

-----------------------------

So we were up bright an early this morning because I was determined to be at Epcot for rope drop! This has never happened. Once it happened but we were so far back and missed everything! So we got up fairly early and had breakfast at POP before heading out. The never ending grin was still present!

We headed out and got there at a good time, here was our view from the turnstiles:

Lucky for us we were surrounded by a bunch of nice people whom we chatted it up with! Mostly we talked about EE, a ride mom was hoping to conquer. But mom hasn't been on a roller coaster in years, claims she has a fear of them (where do you think david got it from??) last time she went on a "major" roller coaster was when she was 16 at Six Flags. Lightning Loops. She has swore to not go on roller coasters again, lets see if i can change that.....

This guy right here:

Was a hoot! He came and teased everyone in line before the turnstiles went! He joked about how 'cold' it was laughing at non-floridians for coming down to this weather. He was such a blast to watch, and than of course his antics continued after the rope drop, we were right up front I was so excited!

At rope drop! Off to soarin!! Normally, we'll high tail it to soarin, than go over to test track. I decided to switch it up this time and do the reverse. So I FP test track, than mom and I walked over to Soarin. Um, never again!

After riding soarin it was time for the character connection with hardly a wait! Don't you just love my mom?? She's like taking a 5 year old!

On the way out we spotted my favorite, Mary Poppins!! She was just walking around, not sure if she was lost what is she doing in FW? Oh well, we wanted a photo op! She made sure we were behaving and sent us on our way. Just afterwards, a CM from the character connection approached us after we had just had a conversation about pins and how I didn't have very many (I don't usually put them on a lanyard) she handed me a chip pin after I told her he was my favorite! Yay, a magical moment!

On our way over to the seas, we saw the Jammitors!

We went on the seas (no wait) and than Turtle talk something mom has never done. The show wasn't the funniest but she thought it was a hoot! She really loved it!

After that, the World Showcase was just about to open so we headed over in that direction. We stopped at Mouse Gears, because I wanted to get some minnie christmas ears. Mom said how cute they were and when she stepped out to talk on the phone, I grabbed a pair for her too. She was very excited. We instantly put them on, and they are in the new pictures!

Will mom every slap that silly grin off her face?

In to the world showcase, we had enough time for the Mexico pavillion and the ride (new for mom) before our ADR at Le Cellier

I love how the lights "sparkle" just like you see them in real life!

I bought mom a passport to teach her all about the true hidden treasure of the WS, she really loved going in each one, she just remembers walking around not actually going inside.

Next, we walked over to Canada and checked in for lunch! It never fails, every time Im here i overhear a CM turning away an angry guest because they are filled. This time a CM was able to grant pixie dust, and allowed the guest to stay 10 minutes standby! We were seated earlier than that, no wait at all!

Mom was excited because since she only drinks water, she could have a raspberry chocolate shake for her drink. We shared it and it was very good!

Of course lunch was amazing, mom loved it and was so happy to be on the DDP!

Our plan was to leave after le cellier and go back for a nap because of MVMCP that night, but mom wanted to walk around so we did. We ended up catching the world showcase players and I love them so i was really excited! they are so funny!

We walked far enough to the first boat launch and took it back to FW. We were both so exhausted so heading back to POP is just what we needed. But first, Photopass!

Nap time!

 

[Charleston Princess]

You're mom is still so happy -- I love it!

I think I just saw that same CM at MeMom's Epcot rope drop! He is getting to be almost as famous as a regular character.

That chocolate raspberry shake sounds yummy!

 

[MeMom]

You're mom is still so happy -- I love it!

I think I just saw that same CM at MeMom's Epcot rope drop! He is getting to be almost as famous as a regular character.

That chocolate raspberry shake sounds yummy!

What a great job!
Why wasn't I smart enough to think of having that as a career?
Wonder what his role is after opening? Have you seen him anywhere doing anything other than greeting?
Maybe I'll see him next Friday and tell him he's famous on the Disboards.

A chocolate raspberry shake does sound delicious, even this time of the morning.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

great tour of Epcot, soarin is always nuts unless you go first thing

 

[pooksma]

Just Poppin' (Mary is my fav character) in to say I LOVE the pic of your mom and Minnie dancing. It is too

 

[CanadianWDWfan]

Glad to see your DMom so happy, she does have a wide grin.

Cute ears, so festive.

It is my wish to one day have an SLR camera. You took beautiful pics.

Very cool that you were given a pin, how magical.

 

[Nicole786]

You're mom is still so happy -- I love it!

I think I just saw that same CM at MeMom's Epcot rope drop! He is getting to be almost as famous as a regular character.

That chocolate raspberry shake sounds yummy!

Yeah I saw him over on that TR too! The shake was really really good, the raspberry added a lot to the chocolate flavor!

What a great job!
Why wasn't I smart enough to think of having that as a career?
Wonder what his role is after opening? Have you seen him anywhere doing anything other than greeting?
Maybe I'll see him next Friday and tell him he's famous on the Disboards.

A chocolate raspberry shake does sound delicious, even this time of the morning.

When we were there he had a dream squad messenger bag so I guess he was on the dream squad? Now he's probably a customer service CM. You are going to have a blast next week!!

great tour of Epcot, soarin is always nuts unless you go first thing

Yeah we learned that the hard way!

Just Poppin' (Mary is my fav character) in to say I LOVE the pic of your mom and Minnie dancing. It is too

Haha thanks!

Glad to see your DMom so happy, she does have a wide grin.

Cute ears, so festive.

It is my wish to one day have an SLR camera. You took beautiful pics.

Very cool that you were given a pin, how magical.

Thanks for the comments on the pictures! The camera is really nice you lose some of the quality when uploading to photobucket though.