Daughter, Daddy and Diva Do Disney!!! -- sep 2011

[Tink-erin-belle]

You are rocking and rolling on this TR, Ann! I love getting so many posts on your trip! I hope I can keep up a pace like this when I write my TR! You had fantastic crowd levels! That is exactly why I love Disney in the off season. Walk on rides and cars to yourself! I'm glad you got to eat in the upstairs room of CHH. That looked like a great view!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

September 11
EPCOT day #1

We started off the morning by lots and lots of news stories about 9/11 and how there may be an increased terror risk this day. It was kind of scary for Victoria as she doesn’t remember 9/11 and they just spent the last week learning about it in school, so she had tons of questions for us. Both Peter and I assured her that EPCOT would not be targeted and we should enjoy the day! Onto the Epcot bus we go.

Let me just tell you here that the bag check was EXTREMELY THOROUGH --- given the day and the bag checkers told us right out front that they are being especially careful today. I have never had such a thorough check of my backpack before. I don’t know about everyone else, but that made me feel secure. We had a nice lady from NY as our checker who stated that today was hard for her, since that was her hometown.

Today was Future World day and we were able to again walk onto everything. Even Soarin was only a 20 minute wait and it takes that long to get to the loading area. Ok, well maybe that was an exaggeration, but you know what I mean! I believe we rode Soarin a good 4 times or so and Test Track was ridden 5 or more.

Don’t even ask how many times Spaceship Earth was ridden --- too many to count! I don’t know why Victoria likes that ride so much. Maybe it’s the computer interaction at the end, I’m not sure. SE wait time was 0 minutes…..the sign actually said 0 minutes! I had never seen that!! Yes, 5 minutes, but never 0. That was pretty funny! Victoria and I did ride Mission Space – Orange a few times, too, although this time around we didn’t stay and play in the lab part. We’ve already done that in previous trips, so we didn’t feel the need. Then there was our annual trip to Club Kool and Peter’s favorite drink --- Beverly!! I’m serious, guys, he really does like it. Victoria is sooo mad at him for that. She wanted to trip him the first time he ever tried it. As for me, I got my frozen Coke fix and I was in Heaven!! I will be so upset if Disney ever loses its contract with Coca Cola!! We had a quick service lunch at Seasons in the Land pavilion in between all the rides and shows. Did I mention that I got to talk to crush??? Yep, I asked him if turtles kept the same mate for life and he said it depended on the turtle!! Too funny!

Doesn’t this fish look like he’s smiling at us???? He was in Mr. Ray’s Lagoon before you enter Turtle Talk with Crush

Of course we had to go to Living with the Land as well.

Last year I really wanted to pick up one of the Mickey’s Mini garden plants. So, guess what……I bought one this year. It’s really cool. I’m supposed to plant it, but I kind of like it in its “suspended animation” state.

Our dinner reservations at Garden Grill were for 6:30pm so we picked up a Fast Pass for Soarin and figured by the time we were done dinner, it would be time to ride again! We were seating fairly quickly --- as has happened with all of our reservations so far. The restaurant rotates as every else knew except me!! They state that by the time you are done your meal, you will have gone the entire circle. Oh, and did I mention this was a character dinner?? Yep, Mickey, Chip, Dale and Pluto (no, not Peter) were there! I love the characters!! We were seated on the lower level, closest to the edge so our view was fantastic! The scenery was the scenes from Living with the Land!! I did not know this! It was such a different perspective to see if from there! Disney sure does their details well, don’t they? The food was excellent!!! There were a lot of garnishments on the meat that we didn’t like, though. We just scraped it off and then were told by our server that we can order the meat without it. Now she tells us!!

We ended our meal, did Soarin, and headed back to the resort. When we got into the room there was a new towel animal for us. Call me crazy but I love those little things!!!!

I also wanted to show you all how I decorated our room window…..

 

[JDailey]

I am enjoying the trip report!! You all look like you are having such a great time!! Love the window decor too! Can't wait to hear more. ONE WEEK AND COUNTING!!!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

September 12th
EPCOT day #2

This was another Epcot day but this time the day was dedicated to the World Showcase. I made sure we did a lot of the shows, etc that were available and that I hadn’t done in a long time. We started at the Canadian pavilion and went around the world starting from left to right.

We watched O Canada with Martin Short. He was really funny and I was pleasantly surprised at how much we all liked it. Victoria is very much interested in Canada right now as her favorite show, Degrassi, tapes in Toronto, so she was very much into this country. She kept looking at all the cm’s name tags trying to find out where they were from. Then, when she found someone who knew about Degrassi, she kept talking, and talking, and talking…..who is this child??? I almost forgot to go to the Kids spot to get my country “stamp”. That was one of my goals --- to go around and get the stamp from each county.

Next it was onto the UK. Victoria, again, enjoyed talking with the various cms. She was trying to find someone who talked like her friend Bryan from Shetland. The closest accent seemed to be Scottish, but even then it wasn’t the same. She would tell anyone that wanted to listen about Bryan! At one of the shops she purchased an “I heart UK” shirt. She thought it was cool.

I did a lot of character photos (again, can’t wait for the photopass pics to come in) and the World Showcase was no different. We had our pictures taken with Marie, Belle & Beast, etc. Pin trading was a hot thing for us as well!! I made sure to come to Disney with 50 or so “trader” pins that we purchased off of ebay. Of course I bought a few new ones as well!! Even Peter was trading, but he only wanted “villains” to match his personality. (no, he’s not really a villain!!) I’ll have to make sure we do that again for next time, as it’s so much fun to see what you end up with.

It was then off to France. I had read about the wonderful croissants at Boulangerie Patisserie, so we decided to make this our lunch and use our snack credits. Both Peter and I had the ham & cheese one and would you believe Victoria tried the chocolate chip one and didn’t like it??!!! This is not my child. We ended up getting her a chocolate chip cookie. Oh my!

Morocco was next and all we did here was walk around the shops and take in the scenery. Japan was up next and Victoria loved the store with all the Pokemon in it!!! It’s the same place where you can pick a pearl, so she picked a Pokemon while I picked a pearl!! Mine was very nice and she liked her stuffed Pokemon, so all was good. I think I like the Pick a Pearl station at Downtown Disney better, though. First of all I couldn’t really understand what the cm was saying. Secondly they didn’t offer to put it in a setting so I could have at least worn it on the chain I had brought. Oh well…..Live and Learn!

The American Adventure…..all I can say is Wow! I don’t remember ever seeing this presentation, but I’m sure I must have at one time. First we were treated to a choral group who were singing in the foyer of the building. They were amazing! And their clothes were perfect period pieces. So beautiful! Then it was into the theater to watch the show. Both Peter and Victoria really enjoyed this one. I was so proud of Victoria as she really seemed to be taking it all in this year and not just wanting to skip to the rides. There was a lot of history to be learned and I think she did. Peter is such a history buff that he was practically drooling! It’s a very powerful presentation.

Italy was next on the agenda (and the next country you get to when walking)…..We saw a show with a mime and he threw the soccer ball at me, so I threw it back. His skit was pretty funny and boy, can he pick on people. I definitely recommend seeing him. I tried to and volunteered for everything I possibly could. I was bound and determined to enjoy my happy place! In every pavilion we made sure to walk in the shops and take in the surroundings. It was a much slower paced day than normal.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Onward to Germany!!!! We had supper reservations at Biergarten for 5pm.

We sat at the same table with another family as apparently that’s what they do in Germany….ok, fine. The Mom & Dad at our table had these HUGE mugs of beer!!! I mean HUGE!! I was thinking they were for the entire table. Oh no, they were individual sizes!! OMG! This was buffet style and while you are eating there is entertainment. There was a band (think POLKA!!! “IN HEAVEN THERE IS NO BEER…..”) and a bell ringer. I found it pretty interesting and I enjoyed trying different foods.

Peter and Victoria on the other hand didn’t like it all that much. I guess they don’t like German food. We will make a note of that for next time! After dinner we looked around at the cute little village they have set up.

Boy, I wish my Christmas village would look half as good!!! It’s so cute! This was another new thing I did….wow….the stuff I had not seen before was amazing! It was then time to go to China. Again, this was another village where we just walked around. We didn’t bother to go see the China show. I don’t think this is a country that any of my family wants to visit. Oh well.

Norway is just so charming in my opinion. Of course we rode the Maelstrom about 4 or 5 times. Don’t you just love trolls??? They are so cute afterall…hee hee! Perfect speed for a boat ride, according to Peter! It was then off to Mexico for another high speed boat ride (yeah, ok.) We had fun in the marketplace trying on hats and looking at various things. I love just looking around and taking time to do so. I think we did the boat ride about 3 times…..we just stayed on the same boat. Hey, it’s not like there was a waiting line…really…..there wasn’t!

We didn’t stay for Illuminations this time around. I just hate crowds and I didn’t want to spend one hour holding my viewing place. I think that’s just crazy! When I read on the boards that the show has changed, then I will stay and watch it. Oh, I should mention that the love bugs are just starting to come out now. Just a few here and there so Victoria was going all mental on me! Whew…….I think it was about 9:30pm by the time we got to the resort. Again, no problem whatsoever with waiting for the bus or having to stand. We got a seat almost every time we rode the busses!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Tuesday, September 13th
BREAK DAY!!!

So, this was our break day!!! Finally, a day to sleep in late and not worry about what we were missing. Peter and Victoria hit the pool and hot tub while I did laundry.

Hmmmm….didn’t I say it was break day? I guess it’s never a break day for me, huh? I only did two loads --- a dark and a light. It’s $2 per was per load and $2 per dry per load. Not too bad. After the laundry was done, folded and put away, we decided to take the water taxi to Riverside and eat in their food court. I must admit, Riverside does have a better choice of food. Peter and I shared a pizza and Victoria had the “Make Your Own Pasta” bowl with alfredo sauce and chicken.

It was back to the French Quarter to get ready for MNSSHP! OMG!!! I think we had more fun getting ready for the party than the actual party itself. Now, I didn’t have Peter try on his costume prior to today, but it was an extra large and that’s the size he wears, so I thought we were fine! THINK AGAIN!!! Victoria and Peter had matching costumes, and I made my own (as Wal-mart only had 2 remaining ones last year after Halloween!). Peter is such a good sport. His costume was (ahem) a bit snug on him, but he got dressed up anyways. His “goods” were um….poking out a tad…OMG!!!

I don’t know how many men would have done that just to please their wives! Unbelievable! Now I really wish I had the Photopass pictures to show you, as I utilized EVERY SINGLE ONE of them to get photographic evidence of the outfits. Victoria even made a video of Peter dancing in his costume, but I don’t think she’s loaded it to you tube yet. I’ll have to ask her.

It’s true that they allow you into the park at 4pm with the party tickets. I know there was lots of discussion about that. Again, I tried to do a lot of different things this time around. We walked onto almost every ride we wanted. We also got to do one of the Dance Parties with Stitch and we got to watch the Villians show.

I loved that show. It was so cool! We didn’t stay to meet them as the lines were just crazy! As for the Photopass cards, I wasn’t given a separate one for the party itself, so I thought that was kind of odd. I found the candy to be more mainstream this year with M&M’s and Reeses. That’s always good. We only got a couple of pieces per station, though, whereas last year, we got way more. We did have a great time, but I just found it to be really crowded. Not horribly so, but enough so that I didn’t seek out characters and photo ops as much as I did during the day. I’ve read on the boards how others have found the party a little disappointing this year. I’m not sure if we would do it again. It’s a lot of money for what it’s worth. ($60 per person).

This year I made sure we rode Haunted Mansion during the party, as we didn’t last year. There was the “ghost lady” on the lawn talking to people as they entered the queue. I liked that. We also met a cast member and her ghost dog “Fluffy” the chihuahua. He was on one of those bendable leashes that makes it look like there is an invisible dog on it. It was so funny. That cast member was really into her character and “Fluffy” enjoyed my patting her and licking my face. All the cast members at HM were really into their parts that night. I love that!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

OMG Peter is a SAINT! What a trooper he was! I'm glad you enjoyed the party (LOVE THAT CASTLE PIC!) I heard they have been more crowded this year as well, I wonder why??

We need a break day, but I can never seem to fit one in! The trip would have to be longer than 7 days and I can't ever figure out how to pull that off, so no breaks for us in January!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

September 14
Hollywood Studios Day!!

I TRIED OUT FOR AMERICAN IDOL!!!! Yep, I did it!!! Victoria wanted me to and really, I wanted to do it, too!!! I love to perform! I sang “Part of Your World” from the Little Mermaid. Apparently this was the wrong song for my voice. I was fine when I did it in the key I’m used to but then I did it in the key they have it in….yeah, not so much! Ugh! I guess it’s really about the song and your voice – they really have to match. That’s the first thing we did when we got to HS. There were some casting directors out front of the theater who pointed the way to the audition studio. So cool! I met with a casting director in Room 1 with Peter and Victoria in tow. I wish I could remember his name at this point, but I can’t. ---- OH, lookie there --- just checked my notes and his name is Gavin (good notetaking, Ann) He was also a cancer survivor, so he was really nice to talk with. I was surprisingly not very nervous at all and really had a good time. After I sang, Gavin stated that he could not cast me at this time. WHAT!!??? DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM??!!! The nerve!! (Just kidding!!) They gave me a button that stated “I tried out for American Idol Experience” and then of course, Victoria had to have one. You know you can go try out without having any intention of making it to the show?? I think that’s neat. Everyone kept commenting on our pins. I really felt special.

I was also chosen to be in the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular!! Yep, I was one of the customers in the marketplace! I had so much fun!! Good thing Victoria can use my camera so I now have proof of all this!! You guys just don’t know how much I love, love, love doing stuff like this!!! Us “extras” got to meet the stunt actors so that was a really nice treat. Sooooo magical!!

You want to know another magical thing that happened this day?? Well……on the Great Movie Ride we actually got the live action cowboy scene and not the gangster scene!!! OMG!! This has never happened before. I had read about this “alternate” course, but had never been on it. So special! I was so happy!! Did you guys know they have real fire in that scene? Yep! Disney, you never let me down! I’ve ridden this ride oodles and oodles of times and this was a first!

Time to meet my favorite character --- Mike from Monsters, Inc. I love that little green, one-eyed monster! I also got my picture taken with a green army man.

He was trying to hide behind a pole, but I just had to pounce on him. Loved it! Then, lucky us got to be one of the first ones in line for Phineas & Ferb. I wasn’t even planning on this one as I’ve heard how long their line usually is. They were awesome and very flirty!! They saw the AI pin and wanted me to sing for them….so I did! It was so cool! Poor Peter and Victoria…..I could have been there all by myself and had just as much fun! I figured this was my favorite park, it was going to be all about me this day! I was sad that the Backlot Studio Tour was closed for refurb, but that’s ok because Star Tours was open! It was closed last year during our vacation. It was cute, but I really didn’t notice too much difference since the last time I rode it. An obvious change was C3PO was our captain, not R2D2 and we went to a different place, but other than that, it was still a simulator and moved the same way. OH, that’s right – according to my notes, it’s now 3-D. I must not have been too impressed to have not remembered that detail. Oooops. My bad!

We had reservations for supper at Mama Melroses Italian restaurant. The food was good, although there wasn’t many choices on the menu. This will not be a redo for next visit. I don’t think any of us were too impressed. The scenery was nice, but I wasn’t too keen with our server either. Nothing wrong, but just slow service and not all that friendly. We decided not to stay for Fantasmic this time. We had seen it last year – and I can imagine the only change may have been adding Rapunzel, but I can’t confirm that. Anyways, by the time we finished our meal, they announced that it was standing room only. Nope, not interested enough to stand through the whole thing. Thanks anyways.

We also had more pixie dust this day… (I know, right??!! How many more wonderful things could happen to me, um, I mean us today!!) Victoria and I met this really nice cm named Ann in the gift shop outside of Rock n Roll Rollercoaster. She was awesome. We joked that we had the same name and hugged like we had known each other for years! She gave us 2 sets of fast passes for Tower of Terror! 2 Sets! Totally awesome!! More, more!!! What a wonderful day. I just love pixie dust!

 

[Parla]

Whoa, that was a lot of TR in two pages. Awesome! You had a great trip! I love how much you just go for having the best time. I'm always trying to convince my family that they need to choose to be happy and quit arguing over little stuff. DS gets upset and doesn't seem to enjoy entire days. I've got my fingers crossed this trip that they all chill out and at least let ME enjoy MY trip.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

What a magical day!!!! I LOVE the pics of you in Indian Jones! What fun! Tell Victoria that I looked JUST like that in RnRc too! You, however, look all cool and collected? I thought I was going to DIE on that takeoff!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

September 15th
Hollywood Studios Day 2

Basically this was another repeat of yesterday although I wasn’t in any shows…. Boo hoo! Victoria and I could do Rock n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror over and over and over again and we pretty much did this.

We met a new friend on TOT --- Kevin the bellhop. He is sooooooo into his character. We loved him so much. Victoria even got her picture taken with him. I just can’t say enough about him. He took time out and played right along with us. Love you Kevin!!

Both days we stayed for the finale of the American Idol Experience. Victoria enjoys seeing who gets the golden ticket. (yeah, and it’s not me – I apparently suck.) Tonight’s ADR was for the 50’s Prime Time Café.

This is by far the best dining experience we’ve had. Our server was Janice and she was awesome! Talk about another cm being into their character! OMG! She scolded us for not setting the table, for looking around at other tables and for not finishing the food on our plates. Victoria was cracking up the entire time! Especially since her parents were the ones getting in trouble! I thought the food was great, too. I think I had a sampler type dinner.

As we were walking out of the gate, I started to cry…..I was just so sad that this was our last day at HS for this time. This is my favorite park and we had such a magical time. I was sooo sad…..

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Friday, September 16th
Universal Studios day

I was so excited to be going back to Universal. It had been since December 2008 since I last visited. I had made arrangements the night before for the Mears shuttle to pick us up. I believe it costs $58 for the 3 of us round trip. A lot has changed since then and I was kind of disappointed. There is no late evening stunt show anymore. When I was there last time there was a waterskiing boat show and a wild west show. Then I read online that Fear Factor has taken over the Wild West show but even Fear Factor was closed this time. What the heck??
There is no more Jimmy Neutron ride and Twister was temporarily closed. There wasn’t a whole lot left to do. Some new things that they do have are MIB – Alien Attack, Terminator 3D and Revenge of the Mummy. Those were all good. I definitely recommend the Mummy if you get a back seat on it. That was the best. Oh, the do have a new coaster called the Rip Roaring Rocket. Yeah, not for this girl. It went straight up so that you’re on your back at a 90 degree angle. It also went up high, very, very high. Victoria even chickened out of this one.

They’ve updated the Beetlejuice Graveyard Review and it was AWESOME!!! So, so awesome!!! I took tonz of pictures! I was singing and butt dancing and just really enjoying myself! I think my family was a little embarrassed by me at this point. Oh well. I was having fun on my vacation!!!

Another fun thing I did was be chosen as an extra in the Disaster Movie show. Yep…… I played an evil scientist! Unfortunately I could not have any pictures taken of my playing the evil scientist as there was no photography in the theater. You can see how excited I was to be cast though, right?? It was so much fun!

We ate lunch at the International Food Festival restaurant and that was very good and priced cheap! Well, cheap in comparison to Disney. Yummy. I didn’t do a lot of food pics on this trip as I was too busy eating the food! I actually could eat and that was awesome! I have noticed that my stomach has shrunk as I can’t eat what I used to be able to. The scars from my surgery healed up nicely on this vacation. Maybe it was all that Disney magic, right? I’m very curious to see what my weight is after all that walking we did!( UPDATE FROM HOME ---- only up 2 lbs……) I know all the shorts I had to take in were still too big! That’s a good thing, right? Speaking of food, we brought back a whole bag of snacks. We had 14 snack credits we had to use up within one hour of leaving. I don’t know when we are going to eat all that candy! And all the candy from MNSSHP! Ugh!

Ok, went off on a tangent there….back to Universal…..we did everything we wanted to do and the part closed at 6pm, so we were at the resort at a reasonable time. We had arranged for the shuttle to pick us up at 7pm, so that gave us time to walk to the bus stop. Over all it was a fun day.

The Animal Actors show was sooo adorable!!! It made me miss my animals at home, though. They had a yellow lab that looked just like my Cutie dog. It's amazing how they can make those animals do the tricks that they do. How come I cannot train Cutie like that??

Another outstanding show was the Horror Makeup show. Wow!! The 2 hosts were so funny!! They are what made the show. It is facinating how they can make stuff look so gory!

Victoria has a new favorite show on tv now ---- Nancy Grace. Peter was watching it and apparently the subject caught Victoria’s attention. I can’t even remember what it was now. I was very proud of Victoria during this trip.
She was very interested in the various country histories in Epcot and she really seemed to enjoy the Hall of Presidents. She wanted to go watch it more than once. It was nice to watch her learn!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Just had to share.........



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[Victoriasmom98]

Saturday, September 17th
2nd Magic Kingdom Day

Can I just write “ditto” here?? We always tend to do our favorites and not really switch it up too much. Ok, I can’t really say that as on this day our first plan of attack was to ride the train around the kingdom. That’s a must do! We actually stopped and departed when we got to Frontierland, as we wanted to do BTMRR and Splash. We did find the little gift shop outside of Splash that had really nice rocking chairs….yep, rocked in those for a while…

You know what I really wish I could get a good picture of??? The hanging scene in the stretching room of the Haunted Mansion. It goes by too quickly and you only get one real shot at it. I don’t think I’ll ever get it. Hey Karen, photographer extraordinaire…..there’s a challenge for you!

Our lunch ressies were at the Liberty Tree Tavern. I thought it was so cute. My family --- not so much. I don’t know what is with them and these new experiences. I love the old colonial times. Maybe it was our server. She wasn’t bad, she just wasn’t as friendly and outgoing as most. Oh well. This is a picture of the lobby area taken from the bathroom area….

One interesting thing that did happen is we got stuck in Splash Mountain. I don’t know what happened but I think it was like 15 minutes in the meadow scene listening to the song over and over and over again. We texted Peter that we were stuck but guess what --- no cell service in Splash Mountain….I blame the Briar Fox’s fault!

While I was waiting in line for Ariel and Prince Eric, my 2 misfits decided to go harass Peter Pan so here’s evidence of that….

We ended the day by going on the Jungle Cruise. I love that classic! I still haven’t ridden it in the dark, though. Maybe next time.


Sunday, September 18
Our Extra Day…….

This was a free day where we had to pick which park we would return to as we have now hit them all. Which one was picked??? Anyone???




Any Guesses????




What’s Victoria’s favorite park??


EPCOT!!!!
(It was a close one with Hollywood Studios, but Epcot won.) The morning started out with our second trip to O’hana’s. This time I think I was more into it. Our waiter Romeo was fantastic. He was outgoing, funny and very friendly!

We took the monorail over from MK --- I think that’s is just the fastest, most convenient way to go. The character interaction was awesome, as usual!

Epcot was as wonderful as it always is! But I think the pace of the days were getting to Peter….what do you think?

We had 5:30pm ressies at Park Fare for our anniversary!......that’s up next!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

So, 1900 Park Fare……I really, really loved this experience last year and I even made up a special t-shirt for Victoria with Drusilla’s picture on it for this year as she is her favorite stepsister. I guess I just wasn’t in a wonderful mood this time around as I didn’t have pictures with me and anyone. First of all, it was really crowded where I was sitting and I was sitting on the bench and it was hard to get my fat butt up and around the table, so that just had me feeling fat and ugly. Also, by this time of the week I was tired of Peter not seeming to have fun. In his defense, he states he wasn’t feeling well at all by the end of the trip. What is it about being on vacation and sickness with that boy?? I did get some pictures….

Oh yeah…..nothing was done for our anniversary there at all…..not even a lousy cupcake!!! Happy Anniversary to me, right? Oh, I know…….it’s not a guarantee…..I was just wishing for Disney magic that night.



Monday, September 19th
The saddest day of the year…..

This is the day we are heading home….Boo!!! Hiss!!! Boo!!! Hiss!!!!

We headed to Chef Mickey’s for breakfast. I had never done this one before and boy was this a treat! The food choices were excellent and the character interaction was awesome. I had snapped out of my mood on this day (although I was sad, I still wanted to enjoy my last day!) It wasn’t our anniversary anymore, but we got some Pixie Dust here….

That was really nice! Here’s a few more pics from Chef Mickey’s….

Oh, and here is a picture of Victoria’s new bug friend. That little guy would not let go!!! Amazing!!

So, the un-Magical Express (as it’s known when you are leaving) picked us up about 3 hours prior to our flight and back to reality we were going. We did have 14 snack credits to use up so Victoria and I went into the gift shop to buy snacks…..14 of the darned things. We are still eating them one month later. Wow….I’ve been home for one month already. It doesn’t seem possible.

Good news is we did book the Bounceback offer for next year. This guarantees us to have the Free Dining package again without worrying about whether the package will be offered to the general public. It’s nice not to have to worry about if they will offer it or not. I read a good idea on the boards ---- to take a picture of the dining receipts and add them all up. That way you can see how much you are saving with this program. Disney is offering the refillable mug as part of the dining program in 2012. That will save me $15 per person! Those mugs certainly come in handy as we are all big soda drinkers. As much as I loved the French Quarter, we are going to be staying at the Carribean Beach Resort in 2012. It’s something different and Victoria wanted it to be her choice this time. Well, her choice would be the Polynesian, but that’s waaaaaaay out of the price range! Hopefully we will get to be in the Jamaica island as that’s an easy walk across the bridge to the Old Port Royale (where the main pool, food court, etc is). The resort is surrounding a lake, that of course you can’t swim in, but they have sand and hammocks. It looks really nice.

OH, I did get my Photopass pictures yesterday. In case you don’t remember, I took part in a photopass share where each of the participants paid $20 for their share and the organizer took care of it all. Those photopass cd’s are $150 per cd, so I thought this was awesome. It’s kind of nervewracking, though, as you send money to someone you don’t know and have to have faith that they will do everything correctly, send you your pictures and not run away with your money!! But, it was a wonderful experience. I will be sharing those pictures with you shortly. I will also be looking for another share for next year!

All in all it was a wonderful trip! Crowds were low, weather was awesome (albeit HOT!!) and it was just perfect. I will have to remember to put ponchos in the backpack because when it rained for a short time in Epcot guess where my ponchos were ---- in the hotel room!!! Good job, me! The minimum tip we left was $15, though, so instead of just making sure there was $10 in the tip envelopes, I will make sure there’s $15! I hated taking what was intended to be spending money and adding it to the tip envelope to make it the appropriate amount. I still think 18% for a family of 3 is a bit much, but I’m happy to pay it in Disney! I love having the envelopes ready prior to the trip!

So, that’s my report……ask me any questions you want as I’ll be happy to answer them!!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

ooops....double post

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Here they are……the Photopass photos…of course it’s not all of them, but some of my favorites….

 

[Victoriasmom98]

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Boo hoo, it's over! Your photopass pics are awesome! You got so many! I'm hoping to get more this time, I just kept forgetting last time. I'm in a photopass share, we did it last trip as well and it worked out just fine. TOTALLY worth it to save all that money!

I'm glad you guys had such a magical trip, now start planning next year! WOOT!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Yep, the trip report is officially over. So sad......I think we got about 234 Photopass photos, so it was definitely worth the $20! Now I'll have to get some of my favorites printed off for the scrapbook. I am going to an event tomorrow and I'll be working on the Disney scrapbook. (Big surprise there, eh?) I'm also organizing a scrapbook fundraiser for the school's French Club's trip to Quebec City in April. The trip is in April and I'm hoping to host the event in February. Lots to do. Wish me luck! I'm just so excited for Victoria to go to Quebec and learn some history about her ancestors. My mother will be working with her French so she can have a better understanding as to what is being said around her. Of course the holidays are right around the corner, so I will be busy enough. Gee, after planning how many trips to Disney, don't they just plan themselves now???