Disney Bells and Pixie Dust! Our Practically Perfect Vacation!*Thanks for reading!

[mkluvsmickey]

We all throw lizards at the bus and Dave says he’s going to file a complaint against that bus driver!
[/QUOTE]

LOL! Throwing lizards? :confused3 I've never heard that one before! :lmao:


Great update and pics Monica! Your kids have the greatest smiles! :)

I can't believe after driving all night you guys headed straight to the park! You go girl!

 

[roxannensteve]

Great so far. POR looks nice.

That picture of the kids on the bed at POR - so cute- you have a mini-me!

I hope the mini van makes it out this vacation alright.

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

Love those pics! Can't wait until the next installment

 

[Poohtigeey]

Girl, you and Lynn were both at NO....and didn't hook up??

I know! We were like 30min behind her all day at Epcot!

Hi Monica. I'm joining a little late but I'm here now and I'm all caught up on the reading. I did love your story about missing the boat at POR. That place is huge.

Can't wait to hear about the Christmas party.

Hey Pakey! Welcome! We thought Caribbean Beach was big, but at least there you just follow the edge of the lake to get where you want to go!

So glad that you got a good room.

The buses do sound confusing. I would have been frustrated as well missing two buses in a row.

POR has 4 bus stops, but I forgot to mention that we were the first picked up so we never had to stand going to a park except that first night. Not sure where all of those people came from!

LOL! Throwing lizards? I've never heard that one before!

Great update and pics Monica! Your kids have the greatest smiles!

I can't believe after driving all night you guys headed straight to the park! You go girl!

I couldn't think of what else to throw! Well, we're paying for the crazy schedule. My feet are just now getting back to normal and Dave and I are still so tired!

Great so far. POR looks nice.

That picture of the kids on the bed at POR - so cute- you have a mini-me!

I hope the mini van makes it out this vacation alright.

Yes, Megan looks just like me! I should post a baby pic of me. My mom says its like having me all over again!

Lucky mini van got a week off before the crazies took over again!

Love those pics! Can't wait until the next installment

You are the next installment! Hopefully tonight. Then I'm gonna slow down!(Maybe....) It's taken me 3 installments just to get us to the park!

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

You are the next installment! Hopefully tonight. Then I'm gonna slow down!(Maybe....) It's taken me 3 installments just to get us to the park!

Yeah, I have never been an installment
I am worried about starting the cruise segments. We packed Sooooo much into everyday, I will end up with 5 installments for everyday.

 

[Poohtigeey]

Yeah, I have never been an installment
I am worried about starting the cruise segments. We packed Sooooo much into everyday, I will end up with 5 installments for everyday.

Don't worry about that. That's all interesting stuff. I've read reports that have a different installment for each Epcot country! I like those detailed reports! Can you tell? You guys really needed to know how many times we stopped to got to the bathroom and what animals we saw, huh?!

 

[scottny]

great update. loved the pics. I love POR. Yes the bus signs do share.
Funny that you walked around in a circle. Let's see if I get AB and get lost. The mansions were easy to navigate.
I wish we were going to a park the first day but time wise it was not possible. so it will be DTD.
Again great update and pics.

 

[OhioTony]

Girl, you and Lynn were both at NO....and didn't hook up??

Not only were we in the same resort and didn't connect but we were within yards of one another at Epcot and still didn't.

Hey Monica ...just what was going on that morning that you didn't make rope drop? Something fun I hope... Probably not with kids and Mom in the room though!

Oh well, we live about 30 minutes away from each other so if there is a real burning desire we could meet just about any time . We have our Dis meet scheduled in January so hopefully we find each other then!

 

[Poohtigeey]

Not only were we in the same resort and didn't connect but we were within yards of one another at Epcot and still didn't.

Hey Monica ...just what was going on that morning that you didn't make rope drop? Something fun I hope... Probably not with kids and Mom in the room though!

Oh well, we live about 30 minutes away from each other so if there is a real burning desire we could meet just about any time . We have our Dis meet scheduled in January so hopefully we find each other then!

You're so funny! None of that. Just trying to get 5 people out the door by 8:00! Remember, your kids can feed themselves and dress themselves! My family wanders around the room aimlessly until I tell them what to do!

 

[Pakey]

You're so funny! None of that. Just trying to get 5 people out the door by 8:00! Remember, your kids can feed themselves and dress themselves! My family wanders around the room aimlessly until I tell them what to do!

I'm not sure that being able to dress and feed self guarantees out the door on time. DS28 and DS26 never get ready on time; I have learned to never ever schedule an ADR before noon that includes them. But the good thing is that we can leave them behind if they don't move fast enough for me. I guess you can't do that with small children, huh?

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

I may have missed the WDW sign, but I got a GREAT picture of a rhino butt on the safari!

I got pictures of a pooping elephant and a peeing goat-type-thing! SUPER!

You're so funny! None of that. Just trying to get 5 people out the door by 8:00! Remember, your kids can feed themselves and dress themselves! My family wanders around the room aimlessly until I tell them what to do!

My kids can dress and feed themselves and they still wander around aimlessly unless otherwise directed by me!

I'm not sure that being able to dress and feed self guarantees out the door on time. DS28 and DS26 never get ready on time; I have learned to never ever schedule an ADR before noon that includes them. But the good thing is that we can leave them behind if they don't move fast enough for me. I guess you can't do that with small children, huh?

Not unless you wanna get arrested.


Great job Monica! Only... slow down! You are also making me look bad!!!

 

[disneyfanx3]

I am ready for more

 

[mom2mek]

OK, I'm here! I've subscribed and I'm ready to read, but SLOW DOWN ALREADY! You're making us procrastinators look bad!

Can't wait to get all caught up! Sorry I'm so late as usual!

Sara

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

Nicole pimped you, so I'm here. I'm all caught up, too! Can't wait to read more!

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Nicole pimped you, so I'm here. I'm all caught up, too! Can't wait to read more!

Good girl!

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

Good girl!

<--Me

 

[missamouse]

MONICA!!!! I love the TR so far! Can't wait for the next installment and the PICS!!!! I had so much fun running around with Hunter!

 

[Echo queen]

I am enjoying your report , great job .

 

[Echo queen]

I am enjoying your report , great job .

 

[Poohtigeey]

Goals:
-See the 1st Twas the Night Before Christmas show
-See the 8:00 parade
-Meet up with KimmyDisneyNerd and MissaMouse
-See the 9:30 Wishes Fireworks
-Ride some rides
-Get a good start on Photopass

Deep breathe. I’m so excited to be at the Magic Kingdom! It doesn’t matter that we’ve had no sleep, or if we drove in terrible weather or got lost once or twice (or five times!) We’re FINALLY here! We go through bag check. This first time Dave had the bags which consisted of 3 fanny packs, 1 big bag, my purse, and our bag of Christmas stuff! This quickly changed! I discovered the following day why this bothered him when I opened up my purse for bag check at MGM! Use you imagination as to what my purse was full of! OOPS! Sorry Dave! There were CM’s EVERYWHERE wearing their festive attire. They had on Christmas tree shirts with little red felt bow ties. Very cute! They greeted us as if we were the only ones there. Gave us our LIME GREEN bracelets. I let out a little DIS giggle! So we go through the ticket gate, and of course Hunter immediately spots the pin cart. He got a couple of pins for his birthday, and was ready to trade! He picked out a lanyard and a pin set to trade,then we spotted the mice. Here we go, Megan's 1st character encounter. She was apprehensive and wouldn't go up to them. I handed them her autograph book then posed with her for a picture. Um, where's my mom with the camera? "MOM!" She forgot she was supposed to take a picture of us posed! GRRRR!

We headed down Main Street. “Walkin right down the middle of Main Street USA!” WOO HOO!!!! See our 1st Photopass guy and grab some pics and a card. It didn’t feel very crowded. There seemed to be a lot of people leaving already. So as we approach the castle Megan was so excited. Not because of the beautiful castle that we’ve been showing her pictures of for months, but because of the seagulls! “Brd, brd!“ Glad I could help make my little girls dream come true! It was around 4:30 and the regular castle stage show was going on so we stopped to watch. It was cute, but I liked the old one better. The kids were in awe!

I don't know why Dave's back always hurts!

Oh look! Ducks!

After the show we decided to eat and get that out of the way. We stopped at Cosmic Rays. It was half empty with minimal wait. We hadn’t eaten here before so Hunter headed straight for Sonny Eclipse. Now I know that a lot of people on here think he’s annoying, but I can tell you my 6 year old would put him on his top 10 list! The kids LOVED him and of course, had to dance! They were the only ones dancing, but when we left they had started something because there was a full dance floor!

I was going to take food pics, but when we got it I know I’d seen it on here 100 times so I opted not to. Mom and I split the chicken and ribs and Dave ordered the chicken and ribs as well. It came with mashed potatoes and green beans. The chicken was very good, the ribs were dry, the potatoes were good, and the beans were, well, beans! Megan liked them. Hunter told me what he wanted, but when I got up there I had no idea what he wanted! I’ve developed a bad habit of tuning him out. He just talks so much! I don’t know where he got that! Anyways, I ordered him the chicken nuggets, grapes, fries. He didn’t eat much. Too excited I guess. We got the chocolate cake for desert. I didn’t like it, but I don’t like icing. I would definitely eat here again. BTW, we were on the dining plan and loved it.

After dinner we headed into Tommorrowland, but it was a little early to get in line for the ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas show. I saw that Carousel of Progress was open so I did a little jig, and we got in “line”. Line meaning we were the only ones waiting for the building to spin around to us! This is just a cute “ride” and such a great memory. While on the ride we could hear the 6:00 fireworks. The kids really liked this ride/show. It could just be because they liked the dog. As we would move out of each room Megan would yell, “Bye gog!” We left carousel and Hunter wanted to do it again! Not enough time. The crowds were piled up at the entrance to the theater. We hopped in line and I called KimmyDisneyNerd. We were supposed to meet up, and to be honest I was a little nervous! She didn’t answer and I thought she might be standing me up. I left a message. They had us packed into the roped off area and I was trying to keep track of the kids and our bags. We put on our Christmas shirts and hats while we waited. All of a sudden Dave yelled out. Megan had poked him in the eye! He was really hurting and his eye was really red and teary. (I think he was just trying to cover up the fact that he was so emotional to be at Disney!) They finally let us into the theater around 6:50. We got seats about half was back in the middle. While we waited Dave nursed his eye, I put Hunter’s pins on his lanyard and my mom tried to fix Megan’s dress. The Velcro on her sandals had caught on the gold trim of her Belle dress and pulled it half way off. Well, that dress lasted about 15 minutes. A new Megan record! Right as the show began my phone rang. It was Kimmy. I yelled that I would call her back after the show. I loved this show. So cute!
See Dave with his squinty eye?!

After the show I called Kimmy. No answer. My plan was to get through crowded Main Street and head over to Frontierland to watch the parade, but as I got my first taste of the crowd I was having my doubts that we would find a parade spot.

Next up: Is Kimmy a weirdo? Will we be swallowed up by the crowds?