Chasing a Dream: September Trip Report Update 12/11 FINAL THOUGHTS/TRIP FAVORITES

[tmkinney]

I think my TR has died, everyone is tired of waiting on my updates! I will try to get another one out today, but in the meantime, I am so excited, I finally did a video with Windows Movie Maker. I think for my first try it turned out pretty good, it is of Rachel's BBB appointment. So I'm posting it for you guys, let me know what you think!! Now that I've messed with it, I may try to do a movie for our whole disney trip and stick it in with Dawn's Christmas present, kind of a video scrapbook, a whole lot quicker than trying a regular scrapbook (I still need to do my own!!)!

I don't think I can do the video thru photobucket, when I try to upload it says failed... So I had to do it thru youtube. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFqWyWya-5M

I posted earlier that I am in Christmas mode, put my tree up last weekend, took the kids to Breakfast with Santa..... and this week, I won tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert!! So my mom and I are going to that tonight. I can't wait! I have never been but heard it is an awesome show! Then in two weeks we head to Disney on Ice, so maybe that will help get our Disney fix for our post disney blues...

 

[tmkinney]

After our day at Epcot, we were all beat, so we went back to POP to rest. We had no dinner reservations this night so we planned to just kind of do what we wanted and not do commando style tonight.

After some long naps, we decided to head to MK while Dawn & Ray decided to go back to Epcot to take advantage of the FP's we had won earlier.

When we arrived at MK, it was around 6:00. We first headed to find something to eat and ended up at Columbia Harbor House. We all got the fish n chips, it was a pretty good meal. After we finished eating, we hit a few rides and pretty soon they were doing fireworks at 8:00 because this was a late hours night. So while everyone else was watching the fireworks we were very lucky to have walk on rides!! It was awesome! We hit a ton of rides. When we were coming out of POTC, the fireworks were going on and Rachel was terrified. She hates the loud noise of fireworks, so we only got to view them from afar...


But, shortly after the fireworks was over, MK became a mad house!! It was sooo crowded, and the lines for the rides started getting very long. We knew that we were coming back in the morning for our last day (notice all my sad faces!!) so we decided to call it a night, we just did not want to fight the crowds.

On our way out I took a nighttime pic of the castle

We also hit some stores on Main Street, and stopped at Le Chapeau (I think that was the name of it) to pick up some ears for Rachel's friend whose birthday party we missed since we were in Disney. While we were waiting for them to be embroidered, the kids and Alan had fun trying on hats:

And Rachel ended up taking these back home with her:

We met Ray & Dawn back at POP and just looked around the gift shop and got us a late night snack in the Food Court before we headed back up to rest up before our last (half day) in Disney....

At the gift shop I bought a 2008 Christmas Ornament, a 2008 Postcard to use in my scrapbook, and a 2008 Magnetic Frame for the refrigerator. Hunter also bought a Test Track Pin and a pin that has all 4 parks on it. Rachel got a Peter Pan figurine set to go with her Tinkerbell polly pocket that she had bought earlier...

Up Next:
Our Last Day @ Disney (with some early morning drama!)

 

[pmama]

I've been patiently awaiting your next post. I've always avoided EMH parks. Sounds like MK did get pretty crowded. That's great that you were able to take advantage of firework time to catch a bunch of attractions. We did that last year and have great memories from it.

 

[morgtroy]

I just got your update too. Love the night picture of the castle, it's so pretty at night.
Also love the hat pics. I was looking for them the other day when we talked about the hat store. I guess I had remembered them from your pictures and not the TR. Cute.

 

[pmama]

Oh, I just watched your video. Great JOB! Great song choice. I bet DD loves watching that over and over (if she's anything my my DD's). I remember you being worried about her bangs and they look just fine. My DH made a video of our entire trip. He just finished it a couple weeks ago. He spent a LONG time on it. I'm planning on uploading it and sharing it at the end of my TR. Was it pretty easy to upload to youtube?

 

[tmkinney]

I've been patiently awaiting your next post. I've always avoided EMH parks. Sounds like MK did get pretty crowded. That's great that you were able to take advantage of firework time to catch a bunch of attractions. We did that last year and have great memories from it.

Yes if I had it to do over, I definitely would not do the EMH at MK. We have done it both of our trips at Epcot, and it is tolerable there, I guess because it is so big it doesn't seem so crowded.

I just got your update too. Love the night picture of the castle, it's so pretty at night.
Also love the hat pics. I was looking for them the other day when we talked about the hat store. I guess I had remembered them from your pictures and not the TR. Cute.

Thanks, yes the castle is beautiful at night. I'm sure even more beautiful decorated for Christmas at night, can't wait to see your pics from that.

Oh, I just watched your video. Great JOB! Great song choice. I bet DD loves watching that over and over (if she's anything my my DD's). I remember you being worried about her bangs and they look just fine. My DH made a video of our entire trip. He just finished it a couple weeks ago. He spent a LONG time on it. I'm planning on uploading it and sharing it at the end of my TR. Was it pretty easy to upload to youtube?

Thanks! Rachel actually hasn't seen the video yet, I just put it together today at work... But I can't wait to show it to her! Great, I can't wait to see the video your DH put together! Maybe it will give me ideas, I'm trying to decide what songs to use on that one. It was VERY easy to upload to youtube!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Great update! Your BBB video turned out great!

 

[tmkinney]

Great update! Your BBB video turned out great!

Thanks, I was pleased with how it turned out!

 

[dddisrunner]

Great job on the video! I LOVE the nighttime picture of the castle, that is AWESOME!

 

[tmkinney]

So this was our last day and of course we wanted to spend it at MK

Our morning did not start out good though... We got up early, packed, called bell services and scheduled our luggage pick up. We then went to grab breakfast in the food court.

While we we eating I called my sister-in-law because she had wanted me to pick up a Pop Century pin and I called to tell her what they had. I was telling her all about our magic moments and dreams and then she tells me that she has won a dream herself.... Well, get ready for this..... She tells me she won 225 points to the DVC every year for 3 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe that?? So anyway, needless to say I was deep in conversation then and while in line for the bus, on the bus, etc.

So when we get to the park we get in line because we were hoping to catch the opening show, and we can't find DH's KTTW card! He had used his card at breakfast and apparently laid it on the breakfast tray and I was so involved with my phone call, didn't notice and it was thrown away!! I was so upset in line, about to cry, I mean, this was our last day... Well I was a little premature in my thinking because of course, we are at Disney, they take care of everything!!! We went over to Guest Relations and he was able to get a new card, fast with no problems!

Dawn and Ray had went on in so we met up with them and caught some of the show:

Then we walked in to this:

We headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear. After that, Alan took Hunter to ride some of the rides Rachel couldn't/didn't want to ride. So I took her over to Fantasyland and we rode Pooh's ride, then got in line to see Ariel. It seemed to take forever, and I didn't really want to waste time our last day in line, but she is Rachel's favorite princess. So after about 20 or 30 minutes, we see Ariel:

I'm glad kids are easily satisfied, because I was not impressed with this Ariel at all!! I guess compared to the one we saw last year it would be hard..

Afterwards we stopped for a photo op:

I called Alan to see where he and Hunter were so they came over and met up with us for a ride on the carousel:

Then Hunter tried again to pull the sword from the stone:

Then he enlisted help from Rachel:

Then dad came over to help too:

We then separated again so Hunter could ride some more rides and me and Rachel headed over to Toontown to get one more look inside Minnie's house before we had to leave:

Well at this point I kept calling Alan and couldn't get him. We were supposed to meet at Splash Mountain to head out of the parks. I kept calling and couldn't get him and then my phone went dead! I was really upset because I wanted to get a pic of Hunter in front of POTC like he was fighting Captain Hook. So since I couldn't get them Rachel and I took one (I would have rather not been in the pic but the lady said Rachel was probably too small to do the pic by herself):

We took one last ride on POTC and headed to the bus stop.....

On our way out we saw:

Luckily everyone was waiting for me and Rachel in the lobby when we got back. I was hoping that DH would be smart enough to come on back!

So this is the boys with their sad faces on the ME bus:

 

[tmkinney]

Thanks so much to everyone who has read my TR. I know I have been slack on updates but I have enjoyed reliving my trip and I am sooo sad it is over. Soon I will post my must do's and favorites of the trip.

A side note, I didn't go into much detail on my sister-in-law winning the DVC points, but I am INSANELY jealous but also happy for her. She is actually in Disney World as I type this enjoying her first stay at a deluxe resort for FREE!!! And she has many more trips to enjoy coming up! Did I mention I am jealous??? But anyway she has started a PTR/TR of her Christmas trip she is on right now, check it out if you get a chance:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1999369

I have enjoyed getting to "know" all of you and thank you so much for reading my report!!!! I'm happy that I can still read reports from many of my Dis Friends and live the magic through you.

 

[addicted2dizney]

awwww Tammy, its over!!! It was a great trip report and great getting to know you and your family. Thank you for sharing and thank you again for the great photopass swap! All the best to you and make sure you let me know when your next PTR will begin. Enjoy the holidays! Dana xoxo

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

That picture of the kiddos with the sword is adorable!

 

[pmama]

Great final day! HOW did your sister win DVC points? I am insanely jealous as well. I am also jealous that you got a picture fighting Captain Hook. We checked that spot at least 4-5 times over two different days trying to get that picture and there was never a photog. out.

So glad they were able to give DH a new KTTW card. I bet that was stressful but it's good to know they can rectify it so quickly.

I agree w/ you on Ariel. I wonder if we had the same Ariel last year. She was gorgeous. We bought a picture of the girls w/ her last year. I've really enjoyed reading your TR. Yours is one of the few I've followed way back since PTR.

 

[tmkinney]

Great job on the video! I LOVE the nighttime picture of the castle, that is AWESOME!

Thank you! Yes I love the night pic of the castle too.... Makes me want to be there now!

awwww Tammy, its over!!! It was a great trip report and great getting to know you and your family. Thank you for sharing and thank you again for the great photopass swap! All the best to you and make sure you let me know when your next PTR will begin. Enjoy the holidays! Dana xoxo

Thanks Dana! So glad you followed along. I wish I could say when I could even think about a new PTR, but unfortunately I think it will be a while....

That picture of the kiddos with the sword is adorable!

Thanks! Poor thing never did get that sword to move... He tried his hardest though!

Great final day! HOW did your sister win DVC points? I am insanely jealous as well. I am also jealous that you got a picture fighting Captain Hook. We checked that spot at least 4-5 times over two different days trying to get that picture and there was never a photog. out.

So glad they were able to give DH a new KTTW card. I bet that was stressful but it's good to know they can rectify it so quickly.

I agree w/ you on Ariel. I wonder if we had the same Ariel last year. She was gorgeous. We bought a picture of the girls w/ her last year. I've really enjoyed reading your TR. Yours is one of the few I've followed way back since PTR.

Thanks! I am really enjoying your TR as well. My sister-in-law won thru something she entered online. Plus they gave her a LOT of cash to pay taxes with! It is amazing, I thought the online contests were a hoax, I've never known anyone to win anything online, much less something that big! And 225 points is enough to do two trips a year, if not more... Did I mention I'm jealous? That is funny about the Captain Hook photo, I thought the same thing reading your TR, I was jealous of all the photopass pics you got, you almost got all of the unique ones, like the Haunted Mansion! The Ariel we had last year was gorgeous, I was soo disappointed with the one this year. Not just her looks, but her personality too.

Thanks for following along, it has been fun!

 

[morgtroy]

You've done a great job and had some great pictures. It was fun to read, maybe funnier for me, knowing how crazy Dawn is and knowing Ray and Alan.

Thanks for the plug, but don't expect much from my TR, it will be mostly pics if I ever get them all uploaded.

Rachel is such a princess, everything I have her for Christmas is princess related. The boys are the hard ones...

 

[dddisrunner]

Great last day!! I LOVED all the pictures of the opening show! The MK looks so cool all decorated for Halloween! We are thinking of going for Christmas in 2010 Thanks for a WONDERFUL TR! I really enjoyed following along with your family!

 

[timandlesley]

Great report, I enjoyed reading it. Awesome job on the video. Looks like you had a great last day at MK, thanks for sharing!
Lesley

 

[tmkinney]

You've done a great job and had some great pictures. It was fun to read, maybe funnier for me, knowing how crazy Dawn is and knowing Ray and Alan.

Thanks for the plug, but don't expect much from my TR, it will be mostly pics if I ever get them all uploaded.

Rachel is such a princess, everything I have her for Christmas is princess related. The boys are the hard ones...

Thanks, it was fun to re-live the trip this way, can't wait to see all your pics. Rachel will love that, she is all about the princess stuff. I know what you mean about the boys, I'm confused too...

Great last day!! I LOVED all the pictures of the opening show! The MK looks so cool all decorated for Halloween! We are thinking of going for Christmas in 2010 Thanks for a WONDERFUL TR! I really enjoyed following along with your family!

Thanks! So glad you followed along, can't wait to read about your trip!

Great report, I enjoyed reading it. Awesome job on the video. Looks like you had a great last day at MK, thanks for sharing!
Lesley

Thanks Lesley! I can't wait to read all about your upcoming trips!!

 

[kaysmommie]

Loved your updates and pics. The video of Rachel at BBB is so cute. Glad you enjoyed your last day in MK. Sad your trip report is coming to the end.