Disney Holiday Firsts At Last! - Final Thoughts Finally!

[mnmrmustard]

Disney Holiday Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to our family adventure to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando, our first trip during the holiday season

If you came over from my PTR, glad to see you've stuck with me through the weirdness of planning this one. If this is the first time you're reading, glad to have you along. If you want some background please feel free to check out the PTR that brought me and my fam here:

Disney Holiday Firsts at Last! ...The PTR!

I am currently sitting right where the pics in the PTR left off ...only it's 1 month shy of being 5 years later! This time around we sadly only have one brave soul in the pool. DW and DD1 are up in the room and hopefully asleep on cold meds. They both have head colds that came on two days ago DD1 is starting to feel better and hopefully tonight's sleep plus all of the zicam/airborne/sinus & cold meds will get them both to feeling better.

As for me I'm too tired and just too full from a big late meal at Abby's pizza, a chain here in the northwest. GOOOD pizza and very filling. So instead I'm sitting poolside, talking to DD2 while she swims and slides, and documenting our adventure I even used my DUO's camera (netbook laptop that converts into a tablet) to shoot video of Bean (DD2) going down the slide.

I'm letting her try and climb back up the 2 story enclosed slide one more time before we head upstairs to grab showers and try and sleep. Our wake-up is set for 4:30am and the shuttle takes us to the airport at 5am. Check-in should be pretty painless *crosses fingers* and then we're off for SLC, MCO, and POP!!!!

Tune in tomorrow when I thrill you with more exciting stories of our adventures!!!!!


UPDATE!!!!

Since my grand plans for doing a live report fell apart I'll post the chapters list here and restart our grand adventure with pics and more detail

Day 0:

Day 0 - Best Laid Plans



Day 1:

Day 1 Part 1 - In the Air, On the Ground, and a Peek at AoA

Day 1 Part 2 - Back home at POP and checking out AoA

Day 1 Part 3 - A Walk thru 3 Memorable Movies at AoA

Day 1 Part 4 - Finishing up a Long Day



Day 2:

Day 2 Part 1 - Early DHS Entry Brings Full Tummies and TSM

Day 2 Part 2 - On to the Movies!

Day 2 Part 3 - Movies, Star Wars, more TSM, and Indy!

Day 2 Part 4 - Indy's Adventures Continue!

Day 2 Part 5 - Indy Goes Up on the Rooftop!

Day 2 Part 6 - Flames and Falls

Day 2 Part 7 - The Grand Finale Begins!

Day 2 Part 8 - Indy goes out with a BANG!

Day 2 Part 9 - Muppets, Musical Mulch, Monochrome Monsters, and Movie extras!

Day 2 Part 10 - Backlot Bound!

Day 2 Part 11 - The Harbor Attack Continues!

Day 2 Part 12 - Rollin' on the Backlot

Day 2 Part 13 - The Canyon, The Boneyard, and a Monsterous Encounter

Day 2 Part 14 - Hittin' the DHS Thrill Rides!

Day 2 Part 15 - Joining up with Jack Sparrow

Day 2 Part 16 - Mr. Osborne's Dancing Lights

Day 2 Part 17 - End of our DHS Day



Day 3:


Day 3 Part 1 - Can we always have EPCOT to Ourselves?

Day 3 Part 2 - Princesses Take a Shine to PumpkinGirl!

Day 3 Part 3 - Seas, Land, Skies, Our Own Imagination, and Lunch!

Day 3 Part 4 - Mexico, Norway, and Mexico Again!

Day 3 Part 5 - Norwegians go Boop and the Chinese Show their Skills

Day 3 Part 6 - The Acrobat Show Continues!

Day 3 Part 7 - Chinese Acrobat Finale and Viva Italia!

Day 3 Part 8 - Half a World goes by, We eat a Great Dinner, and end our day in Japan

Day 3 - EPCOT Extra!



Day 4:


Day 4 Part 1 - Bugs and Bugs start our AK Day

Day 4 Part 2 - Everest, a Change of Shifts, and Dinosaurs!

Day 4 Part 3 - Festival of the Lion King

Day 4 Part 4 - Finales, Furry Friends, and Forward to Everest!

Day 4 Part 5 - From The Mountaintops to the Bottom of the Sea!

Day 4 Part 6 - Nemo Live!

Day 4 Part 7 - Finish of our AK day and making it to MVMCP!

Day 4 Part 8 - Here Comes MVMCP!

Day 4 Part 9 - Traveling from the Future to a World of Fantasy

Day 4 Part 10 - Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Day 4 Part 11 - From Fantasy to Hauntings to the Closing Time Shuffle

Day 4 Part 12 - The End of a Very Long Day



Universal 2002:


Stepping Back in Time at Universal Orlando!



Day 5:


Day 5 Part 1 - The Girls Return to Whoville after a Decade Away!

Day 5 Part 2 - More Seussian Fun and The Girls Meet a Playful Fountain

Day 5 Part 3 - The Girls Finally Experience TWWoHP!

Day 5 Part 4 - Welcome to Jurassic Park, LETS EAT

Day 5 Part 5 - A LOT More River Adventures!

Day 5 part 6 - Time to get REALLY WET!

Day 5 Part 7 - Our Universal Islands Day Comes to an End



Day 6:


Day 6 Part 1 - Making a Beeline for Gru's House

Day 6 Part 2 - Pic Intensive Minion Mayhem

Day 6 Part 3 - Moving on with the Minions

Day 6 Part 4 - Minions, Shrek, Rockit Riding, and a Monstrous Lunch

Day 6 Part 5 - From the Monster Cafe to Tornado Alley

Day 6 Part 6 - Tornados and Rockits!

Day 6 Part 7 - Rockits and Super Stars!

Day 6 Part 8 - The Parade Ends and We Go on Random Adventures

Day 6 Part 9 - Disasters and Musical Monsters!

Day 6 Part 10 - The Monstrous Show Continues!

Day 6 Part 11 - Music, Mummies, and MiB

Day 6 Part 12 - Simpsons, E.T., Dinner and a Show!

Day 6 Part 13 - Universal's Cinematic Spectacular Continues

Day 6 Part 14 - More Spectacular Cinematic Fun

Day 6 Part 15 - Heading Out of the Studios

Day 6 Part 16 - Heading Home from Universal



Day 7:


Day 7 Part 1 - Back to Universal One More Time!

Day 7 Part 2 - Hogwarts Here We Come!

Day 7 Part 3 - From Hogwarts to Whoville

Day 7 Part 4 - Whos, Cats, and the Universal Backlot

Day 7 Part 5 - Where Are You Christmas?

Day 7 Part 6 - The Grinchy Fun Continues!

Day 7 Part 7 - GrinchMas Musical Finale!

Day 7 Part 8 - The Family Splits up for More Universal Fun!

Day 7 Part 9 - Bring on the Minion Dancers!

Day 7 Part 10 - From Minions to Mummys!

Day 7 Part 11 - Introducing The Macy's Holiday Parade!

Day 7 Part 12 - Macy's Holiday Parade Continues!

Day 7 Part 13 - What, you want More Macy's???

Day 7 Part 14 - More Parade for a Change of Pace

Day 7 Part 15 - And Now a Word From our Sponsor - Macy's!

Day 7 Part 16 - Wrapping Up our Last Universal Day



Day 8:


Day 8 Part 1 - Mommy and Daughter head to EPCOT

Day 8 Part 2 - Juggling, Characters, Sweets, and Santa

Day 8 Part 3 - Dinner and a Show and a Leisurely End to the Mommy/Daughter Day

Day 8 Part 4 - Daddy/Daughter day Begins at AK!

Day 8 Part 5 - More Safari!

Day 8 Part 6 - Finishing our trek on Kilimanjaro

Day 8 Part 7 - Time to Visit Rafiki and Friends!

Day 8 Part 8 - From Furry Friends to Dinos!

Day 8 Part 9 - Finishing our time at AK with Thrills and Stitch!

Day 8 Part 10 - On to our next Park!

Day 8 Part 11 - From ToT to GMR!

Day 8 Part 12 - The End of our Daddy/Daughter Day



Day 9:


Day 9 Part 1 - How Many Ways Are There to 1900 Park Fare?

Day 9 Part 2 - More Character Fun!

Day 9 Part 3 - Main Street and a Character Meet!

Day 9 Part 4 - From Neverland to an Arabian Adventure!

Day 9 Part 5 - From Arabian Adventures to Frontier Fun!

Day 9 Part 6 - Anyone Up for some Thrill Rides?

Day 9 Part 7 - Let's Have Some Splashtastic Fun!

Day 9 Part 8 - What Say Ye Pirate Recruits?

Day 9 Part 9 - A Pastatastic Lunch, Dans with Bells, and a Bright Day on Main Street!

Day 9 Part 10 - More PP fun, Waiting for Merida, and a MaW moment

Day 9 Part 11 - From the Scottish Highlands to the African Jungle

Day 9 Part 12 - Not the Disney Cruise Line, but a Fun Cruise Nonetheless!

Day 9 Part 13 - Pirate Adventures, Tiki Room Fun, and the Fam Splits up Again

Day 9 Part 14 - A Peek at a Princess, a Haunted Journey, and a Musical 3D Adventure!

Day 9 Part 15 - A Big Meal, More Mirror Adventure, and MK at Night

Day 9 Part 16 - Panoramas and a Roundabout trip to DTD

Day 9 Part 17 - Finish to a Late Night at DTD and Back to POP to Pack



Day 10:


Day 10 - Trip Home



Final Thoughts:


Final Thoughts Part 1

Final Thoughts Part 2

 

[heaven2dc]

Sorry to hear your wife and DD1 are sick! Hopefully they feel better soon. I can't wait to read all about your trip!

 

[heartpooh]

Oh no...I am sorry wife and daughter are sick!!! Hopefully they recover quickly!! We have been at Disney since Sunday and a couple of the nights have been miserably cold!!! I hope you packed some jackets!! I know you all are excited to be here tomorrow!!!

Prayers for safe travels and also for your MIL!!!! We get to do do Hoop de doo Revue tomorrow night!!! Super excited

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

im here, didnt realize you were doing a live report...will the whole report be that way? or just bits and pieces while you are gone?

 

[Trentmom]

Am here

Sorry to hear your DW and DD1 are sick. Hope those cold meds kick in and some sleep on the plane will help them feel better soon

Can't wait to hear more

 

[reelmom]

Oh No, I can't believe they are sick. I hope they start feeling better soon. Have a great trip!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Sorry to hear your wife and DD1 are sick! Hopefully they feel better soon. I can't wait to read all about your trip!

They survived the trip and are slowly getting better. Hoping that another night of rest will help them.

Oh no...I am sorry wife and daughter are sick!!! Hopefully they recover quickly!! We have been at Disney since Sunday and a couple of the nights have been miserably cold!!! I hope you packed some jackets!! I know you all are excited to be here tomorrow!!!

Prayers for safe travels and also for your MIL!!!! We get to do do Hoop de doo Revue tomorrow night!!! Super excited

Yes, we have jackets and are dressing in layers. The trip went pretty good, thank you

im here, didnt realize you were doing a live report...will the whole report be that way? or just bits and pieces while you are gone?

Yup, I'll try to do a play-by-play on this one. Originally tried to post using the DISBoards app but it gave an error. May have been the spotty internet access here at POP

Am here

Sorry to hear your DW and DD1 are sick. Hope those cold meds kick in and some sleep on the plane will help them feel better soon

Can't wait to hear more

Lots of meds and good naps on the plane helped.

Oh No, I can't believe they are sick. I hope they start feeling better soon. Have a great trip!

Thank you for the good thoughts!!!

Here's what I tried to post via the app:

Thank you for the good wishes for my sick ladies, they survived the trip pretty well. And you got it Dan, I'm going to try and at least do some of this on the fly.

We did a 4:30 am wake-up and 5 am shuttle. The trip itself went pretty well other than Delta breaking the handle on one of Roxy's bags.

I took random pics on the way but this evening I'm posting from my phone so I'll have to add them in later. Our flight into MCO came in on time and ME went well with very little waiting before we headed out. Our bus hit AoA first so we caught a glimpse of it before being dropped at POP.

Check-in was quick since we had done the online check-in. We were hoping to get a pool view but was not to be. We do have 1st floor right next to the lobby entrance so we're really close to everything.

We grabbed our first quick service dinner at the POP food court and came in just in time to see them do the Hustle! I had the meatball sub with salad and the tie-dye cheesecake - yum! DW had the bbq bacon burger, DD1 had the chicken noodle soup, and DD2 had the bacon cheeseburger.

Tonight we're just going to stroll around the resort and AoA. Tomorrow we hit DHS! Next post should include pictures!

Edit on this, I've copied the pics from my phone but still need to tweak them and set them on my website before they can be added. We'll see how tomorrow evening goes for getting them posted.

Good night all!

 

[Trentmom]

Glad the flight went well minus roxy luggage handle. Southwest broke wheel off my suitcase and would not do crap as normal wear and tear

good call taking tonight nice and easy so girls can all be rested for tomorrow

Hope you have a great time tomorrow at DHS

 

[heartpooh]

Awwww....we are right across the lake from each other!!! Have a great time!!! We are doing Animal kingdom in the morning and then over to MK for MVMCPARTY!!! Wahoo!!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Glad you got there and hopefully the ladies start feeling good soon.......I seem to remember when your family went to Disneyland......there was a lot of illness in your group........you need to STOP THAT!!! Hope everyone stays healthy!! Enjoy your time there and will be looking for all your amazing photos!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Thank you for all of the comments, it is late so no big post today other than to say we had a pretty good day at DHS. Low crowds and TSM x2, ToT x3, RnRC x2, GMR, IJSS, Muppet 3D, Backlot, Jack Sparrow, and ended with Osborne lights. Oh and good breakfast at Hollywood n Vine and good lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In The ladies are still struggling with illness but are being real troopers. For my part I'm trying to make sure we don't do too much walking all at once.

Talk to you all tomorrow!!!!

 

[scottny]

Just found you and coming along for the ride. Too bad they both are not feeling well.

can't wait for more.

 

[Trentmom]

Sounds like a good day at DHS minus sickness

Hope girls are feeling better tomorrow

 

[mnmrmustard]

Glad the flight went well minus roxy luggage handle. Southwest broke wheel off my suitcase and would not do crap as normal wear and tear

good call taking tonight nice and easy so girls can all be rested for tomorrow

Hope you have a great time tomorrow at DHS

Yup, basically they will only pay for a ripped bag, which rarely happens. Nice setup on their part I guess.

I don't know if the ladies felt rested since I dragged them out of bed for that Hollywood & Vine breakfast rese

Awwww....we are right across the lake from each other!!! Have a great time!!! We are doing Animal kingdom in the morning and then over to MK for MVMCPARTY!!! Wahoo!!!

Very cool! I hope you had a great trip. Bean and I got some good pics of the areas of AoA, amazing place!

Glad you got there and hopefully the ladies start feeling good soon.......I seem to remember when your family went to Disneyland......there was a lot of illness in your group........you need to STOP THAT!!! Hope everyone stays healthy!! Enjoy your time there and will be looking for all your amazing photos!

They had good days and bad days and we tried to work in as much rest as we could while still doing full park days most of our trip. It is a hard balancing act for sure! Yes, I caught that bad flu bug that was going around in 2009 right before we left and ended up giving it to Roxy. Both of us lost a day of that vacation just laying in bed. Our 2011 WDW/US trip went off without any issues other than a minor sunburn on my part though

Photos coming soon, I was going to start downloading from the camera but the battery was dead so I have to wait an hour or so But it gives me time to get on Photopass and start playing with those pics!

Just found you and coming along for the ride. Too bad they both are not feeling well.

can't wait for more.

Hey Scott! Yeah, it was a real bummer - wait until you hear the full story!

Sounds like a good day at DHS minus sickness

Hope girls are feeling better tomorrow

Thank you Kelly - each day had its moments for sure but we had a very adventurous time overall




Okay all, as you may have noticed I fell off the posting every day bit very early in the game. Just too tired and too much of a drive to get showers and get to bed for the next day of fun while we were there. I do have the first couple of days worth of pics uploaded and numbered so I'll start the proper TR post haste

 

[Trentmom]

Welcome Home

Can't wait to hear all about it

 

[mnmrmustard]

It is Wednesday November 28th and the weather is starting to change from cool and clear to a bit blustery here in Southern Oregon. There is a storm moving in sometime early Thursday and I'm hoping our flight will get off the ground before it hits us.

My wife and daughters head off for one last day of work and school. My day was going to be pretty open. All of our bags are packed except for the toiletries that were used when everyone got up this morning. All reservations are made and the pre-trip checklist has checkmarks by everything except the stuff I can't do until the afternoon. I'm thinking I may even go get a haircut before I head out.

I just have to stop by the store and pick up more cold meds and some stuff for MiL and run by the bank to cash the checks I had been holding for our daily spending at the parks. However, MiL suddenly needs her nails done. Not a big imposition since she gets them done at a salon attached to Wal-Mart. So I shop while she gets them done.

She even comes along on my bank run. But then she starts dropping hints/doing the 'I wish you had more time' thing to eat lunch with her. I say no problem and we go back to the Suites where she lives and we sit down for a lunch which goes as fast as you would imagine it would when you're at a table with 3 older ladies eating a salad, entree, and dessert.

We finished and she had a couple of things that she needed help with in her apartment. I ended up calling Roxy to see if she could pick up the girls. Luckily she was going to leave at 3pm anyways and went straight to get them. I said my good-byes to MiL from all of us and got home and helped Roxy load the toiletries. I then made up our daily spending envelopes and did a couple of last minute things with timers for the lights (both Christmas and interior).

We finally loaded up and made our last stop at Beans (DD2s) friends house to drop off keys so she could stop in an take care of our cats. We made it to Medford and to our friends/dog sitters place sometime around 6pm. Then it was off to Abbys pizza for dinner. It was about 6:30pm by the time we started eating.

I pulled out my phone for some quick pics - Bean was happy because there were spuds

This theme actually repeated throughout the trip &spuds = happy Bean

PumpkinGirl was less enthused but we finally goaded a sarcastic smile out of her

Roxy was a good sport

And I used the forward facing cam to take a pic of myself, which Bean photobombed lol

After eating it was off to the Super 8 a few miles down the road!

Check-in was pretty painless but by the time we got bags unloaded and settled in it was almost 9pm. My original plan was to be here closer to 6pm and the girls had been promised pool time. But Roxy and PumpkinGirl were sick and exhausted and I was waayyy too full from dinner to get in the pool. Bean reeeeaaaaallllyyyyy wanted to swim though so I agreed to accompany her to the pool area. By that time of night it was empty so she had it to herself. I was posting my first update on this TR and took a little video. My apologies for the shaky camera and weird angles, I was using the Duo's built in webcam and filming while looking at the screen isn't an easy undertaking:

Bean gets some pool time

I let her swim for about 30 minutes, then it was back upstairs for quick showers and bed. The ladies were fast asleep with cold meds on board. They had maybe 7hrs sleep and Bean and I got about 6 before the 4:30am wake-up started the first real day of our adventure!

Tune in next time for Day 1 Traveling to MCO and getting a glimpse of AoA!



Click here for the next chapter: Day 1 Part 1 - In the Air, On the Ground, and a Peek at AoA

 

[mnmrmustard]

Welcome Home

Can't wait to hear all about it

First installment is up!

 

[mnmrmustard]

The day we had all been waiting for was finally here. The girls had been anticipating it for almost a month and I had been jonzing for it since May. 4:30am came mighty early and Roxy and PumpkinGirl were unfortunately not any better. As a matter of fact PumpkinGirls voice started to cut out

Still we got ourselves up and dressed and did all that wonderful bathroom stuff. We were downstairs a few minutes late for the shuttle but the driver was waiting for us. Unfortunately he was waiting in a compact station wagon for 4 of us plus 4 big bags to check and our carry-ons. He tried packing it and I finally had to ask him to let me give it a try and thanks to the packing skills taught to me by the Army I managed to get all of it and us into the rig. I was just thankful that it was only 2 miles down an empty road to the airport!

Bag check went fine other than that pinch you feel when you hand over a crisp $100 bill for Delta to get your bags to your destination. This is the first time that we got to use the WDW baggage tags to have them delivered to POP, so that was cool. Security was a breeze and the wait to board wasnt long.

We took off on time and were in the air before the sun

I had hoped to get a shot of the sunrise but our angle was bad and there was frost on the window so it turned out a bit fuzzy

We dozed a bit on the 1 1/2hr flight and arrived in SLC on a crisp morning around 9:05am and were walking down the gangway for our MCO flight at 9:28am

I was in a row with Bean and PumpkinGirl and Roxy was right across the isle for the 4 1/2hr trek to Orlando

The girls were still a bit tired but in a good mood overall. Roxy and PumpkinGirl had earplanes in to keep the sinus pressure from being an issue. That and a bunch of cold/sinus meds kept them going

They couldnt find the in-flight movie, which was good as it was some sort of RomCom that we hadnt heard of. Instead they played Mr. Poppers Penguins which the family likes. I had set aside cash to pay for food/snacks on the plane only to find out that they only do credit cards now  grrr. At least the Disney card was there for us. There was a lot of iPod and laptop game play and video watching to pass the time.

We were on the ground on time and were walking thru MCO by 4:15pm. They had a nice Christmas tree as you came out of the gate area

Beyond that was everyones favorite little monorail

I even stole a bit of the Simpsons monorail song to my familys mild embarrassment
MCO Monorail

Soon enough we were at the other end and passing thru the Hyatt and its tree

Elevator down and a quick jaunt to the ME area, I had my AAA paperwork in hand so we went straight to our line and were on a bus within minutes. As had been our luck in the past we got a cruise line bus again. They are cool to look at but much harder to take pictures from due to the smaller porthole-style windows.

Our driver was nice but we couldnt understand him very well.

It was a beautiful blue-sky day, with a temperature around 76 degrees and nearly no humidity  w00t! Bean was happy as she knew it was raining back in Oregon (it rained at home the whole time we were in Florida).

The on-ride movie hadnt changed since last year

Roxy took a shot of Bean and I

&and I took one of her and PumpkinGirl

After a bit we literally had signs of Disney!

We were half way back in the ME bus so this was the best shot I could muster of the entrance gate

Our bus had several stops, of which POP was second. The first was our new neighbor the Art of Animation Resort. I handed the camera over to Bean and let her take some shots. You should all know that Bean took quite a few of the pictures you will be seeing throughout the TR. Shes got a good eye, as does her sister. PumpkinGirl would have taken more pics but being sick we were trying to limit contact between the sick pair and the well pair.

Anyways, here a Beans pics of AoA starting with a Cast Member pulling off some Michael Jackson moves

Then on to the characters

We left the AoA zone and rolled on around the bend to POP, which is where well pick up next time!


Click here for the next chapter: Day 1 Part 2 - Back home at POP and checking out AoA

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Mike...

I"m in... and excited to read about your trip... (in somewhat real time) I don't know how I missed this...

Oh MY- I am really sorry about the illness... I really hope that Roxy and PumpkinGirl are starting to rally a bit at his point...


I'm with Bean on the potato thing... I haven't met too many that I haven't liked..

(So wait - where is SLC?) before you took your second flight?

I saw that tree in the Orlando Airport...

Ah... when you see that mini monorail you know that you're almost there...

I hope you're having fun....

 

[mnmrmustard]

Mike...

I"m in... and excited to read about your trip... (in somewhat real time) I don't know how I missed this...

Oh MY- I am really sorry about the illness... I really hope that Roxy and PumpkinGirl are starting to rally a bit at this point...


I'm with Bean on the potato thing... I haven't met too many that I haven't liked..

(So wait - where is SLC?) before you took your second flight?

I saw that tree in the Orlando Airport...

Ah... when you see that mini monorail you know that you're almost there...

I hope you're having fun....

No worries, time flies when we're having fun aye?

They had better days and worse days and even now they're both still sick and Bean is down with it too

Yup, spuds rock! She'll take them any way she can get them

SLC is Salt Lake City. There is no direct flight from Southern Oregon to MCO so it is either hop to SLC or San Fran or Portland. And at least hopping to SLC gets us going in the right direction. instead of following the west coast and then heading east

That was a nice tree in the airport, it was a good welcome to the Christmas season. Love the mini monorail on the way in and dread it on the way out as the last spark of the vacation fading out

We got home yesterday at about 9pm. Both Bean and I woke up before 6am after about 5hrs sleep because our brains thought it was almost 9am - lol. I have a start on the PhotoPass+ pics and am soooo happy I made that investment. Got so many ride pics