Disney Holiday Firsts At Last! - Final Thoughts Finally!

[Trentmom]

Sounds like Pumkin girl and Roxy had a great day and night at Epcot. Looked very leisurely. Loved all the character pics. Glad She finally got to meet Mulan

You are right, Alice looked so teeny

Never seen the Juggling Sergio before, He looks like a lot of fun

Love those sugar art animals. In the first set, that first animal really looks like Perry the Playtpus

When they were in Mexico, did they take a spin on the Gran Fiesta Boat Ride? Love that ride

 

[mnmrmustard]

Sounds like Pumkin girl and Roxy had a great day and night at Epcot. Looked very leisurely. Loved all the character pics. Glad She finally got to meet Mulan

You are right, Alice looked so teeny

Never seen the Juggling Sergio before, He looks like a lot of fun

Love those sugar art animals. In the first set, that first animal really looks like Perry the Playtpus

When they were in Mexico, did they take a spin on the Gran Fiesta Boat Ride? Love that ride

Yes, they had a great time - lots of fun and smiles without it being overtaxing on them. It was cool that she got to see Mulan finally. It was funny, last trip she had a BUNCH of character interactions. This time it was only the four and only Donald was a repeat.

Tiny Alice!

The Italian juggler was good, as were the Ladies in Red a few days prior. Italy has some good street entertainment for sure

That could be Perry

I don't think they rode the boat ride in Mexico that time, but they had just a few days before.

Thanks for checking in - on to Bean and my big day!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Bean and I were up at 7am sharp and were out the door pretty quickly. We ate breakfast at the POP food court, did some pin trading, and headed out to the busses. As you may remember Bean had a really bad day at AK and didnt really get to do anything other than pin trading before Roxy and her went back to the resort and slept through the afternoon.

So it was off to AK we went! We were there when the gates opened and on our way in. Bean was feeling pretty tired but wanted to do as much as possible in the day. I volunteered to rent a wheelchair so she could sit and I wouldnt have to carry the backpack. I gave her the camera and up the trail we went. Oh, and you should consider that every CM we ran into wearing a lanyard got hit up by us.

Her first shot was of the boar she had taken a picture of a few days prior. He wasnt feeling photogenic and Bean didnt feel like standing up so this was as good as it got.

We moved up to the parrots and Bean snapped a couple of pictures of them

I asked her what she wanted to do first and she said SAFARI! We headed straight that way and were soon going through the building/queue line. She liked the African art

She was in charge of the camera on the safari; again she showed what a steady hand and good eye she had

Here comes a bevy of birds and hippos

Some deer-like creatures

..and back to birds and hippos!

One of these things is not like the others!

We then moved on to the croc enclosure. There was a bird taking in the scenery and flapping quite a bit. Behind him you can see the walking bridge you take if you do the special/expensive safari adventure thing. I looked into it for our fam when I heard there was a zip line element. But then found out it was only the line you see above the bridge to make sure you dont fall into the croc pit - lol

On to the crocs!

After that our safari moved on to the savannah

Next up our safari adventure continues!



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 8 Part 5 - More Safari!

 

[Trentmom]

Yay, you started your next day.

Good move to rent a wheelchair so she can keep her energy and have a good day

She has a great eye and took some great shots on the safari

 

[mnmrmustard]

Yay, you started your next day.

Good move to rent a wheelchair so she can keep her energy and have a good day

She has a great eye and took some great shots on the safari

Yup, I'm unstoppable! I have a bunch more ready to post.

The wheelchair was really good for her, I paid for it the next day though

Her and her sister both are naturals with that camera for sure.

 

[mnmrmustard]

On with the show - Bean found a flower she liked

She was a bit frustrated that the giraffe was so far away, but I let her know wed be swinging closer to them in just a minute

Nice termite mound

And here comes that giraffe

There was a truckload of special guests tooling around that kept shadowing out route. Luckily this was the only pic where they actually got in the way

All clear!

More termite mounds

Some of our four-legged friends were being bashful

But more of them were ready for their photo ops

Theres that truck again

And we came around so Bean was able to snap a pic of the formerly bashful group

Oh yes, and there were giraffes!

Then it was on to the elephant area, smile big guy

Hello monkeys

Bean loved the big baobab trees

I love this one with the reflection in the water

Here there be flamingos!

The mother and baby elephant were being bashful this morning but Bean still managed to snap a shot of them

More safari on the way!



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 8 Part 6 - Finishing our trek on Kilimanjaro

 

[wiigirl]

Loving you TR and pics!

 

[mnmrmustard]

On to the rhino!

He’s a big boy

The cheetahs were lounging in the distance but Bean still managed a couple of shots of them

Big horned thing

The lioness was hiding out in a nook of pride rock

Big daddy was dead asleep

Pumba and friends

On to ostrich country

This guy was right up next to the road

The obligatory egg shot

Another horned beast showing us his best side

Bean really liked the zebras

From there we survived the poachers camp and said hi to the little elephant and were back at the loading dock.


Next up we take a train ride and meet Rafiki and some more animal friends



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 8 Part 7 - Time to Visit Rafiki and Friends!

 

[Trentmom]

Those Termite mounds look so cool

Great shot of the Lioness

Really enjoying her pics

 

[mnmrmustard]

Loving you TR and pics!

Thank you very much - we're happy to share our Disney fun!

Those Termite mounds look so cool

Great shot of the Lioness

Really enjoying her pics

They are pretty cool looking, very prehistoric. Bean caught her good and just kept snapping. Thank you Kelly!

 

[mnmrmustard]

I asked Bean what she wanted to do now and she wanted to head to Rafiki’s Planetwatch. This was one of the things she tried to do the previous Sunday and wasn’t up to the train ride. It was a bonus that it was an area of AK that neither of us had every explored before.

Here comes the train!

We boarded and were soon on our way. We passed some of the animal pens. Some rhinos were kicking back

Quite the elephant enclosure but no elephants to be found

Planetwatch from a distance

We disembarked at Rafiki’s station and were greeted by some happy baby elephants

And of course Rafiki himself

They had a display of some of the smallest monkeys we had ever seen

We followed the trail and were soon at the Conservation Station itself

There was a mural inside the door and Bean spotted a hidden Mickey!

Inside we ran into Rafiki himself

Then it was on to the exhibits – lizards were up first

Nice Christmas tree

Hidden Mickey of scale samples

Turtles!

This lizard was being bashful

Eels or something

More lizards

Click here for the next Chapter: Day 8 Part 8 - From Furry Friends to Dinos!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Happy toads

More slimy things

We moved on to the veterinary observation room. They were working on a lemur, pretty interesting stuff. But behind us an older gentleman passed out, just fell like a tree. He was pretty out of it but there were CMs there in a flash taking care of him. And even out in Planetwatch there was access to quick medical help because EMTs were there in no time.

He was in good hands so we headed out to the petting zoo

Quite the play center

Bean liked this little pig

We finished up in there and started heading back. On the way we heard the train pulling in so I told Bean to hold on and laid on the gas and zoomed back to the station. It was fun maneuvering her through the other pedestrians, zipping back and forth between the two trails. We made the train and off we went back to Africa. On the way we came across some native huts

Upon disembarking Bean was ready for some thrills so EE was our destination. On our way we stopped for a minute to watch the monkeys swinging around

From there it was a fast trip to EE. No ride queue pictures today, we were focused on conquering that sucker and rode it three times in a row – front seat every time!

As you can see we had a good time :-D

By then it was after noon and we were HUNGRY! We decided that Yak & Yeti QS was the way to go and it was the right choice. I had the sandwich and Bean had the sweet and sour chicken. Both were fantastic and the drinks they do there are HUGE! Neither of us could finish ours.

Where to now? I asked her if she was interested in any of the shows and she said she’d rather ride rides. So off to Dinoland USA we went. When we got there Bean took some time to match the dinosaur bones

After that she decided to check out the dino trail

These kids did not want to get off of the dino

Bean wanted a pic of it by itself so we walked on and caught another one

By the time we had circled back Bean was able to get her pic

Click here for the next Chapter: Day 8 Part 9 - Finishing our time at AK with Thrills and Stitch!

 

[mnmrmustard]

But now it was time for Dinosaur!

We stopped off at the FP booth and picked up FPs for later, then headed in. Bean liked the murals

And selected skeletons

We caught a great lull and actually got a car to ourselves

We came back around and it still wasnt busy so they asked if we wanted to go around again SCORE!

We came out and there was 10 minutes until our FPs kicked in so we just found a spot of shade and relaxed. Then it was back through the queue and on again. No car to ourselves but we still got first row.

That just looks odd

Bean wanted to do some park hopping but just couldnt resist one more ride on EE before we left. Off we go again!

This one was CRAZY! The entire train except Bean and I in the front car were cheerleaders from Chicago or somewhere close to there. They were very nice and let us to the front of their group since we came up to the entrance as they were getting in line and ended up in the middle of them. They were SO LOUD just in the queue. On the train they were freaking out as it was there first time. Screams galore. It made for quite the experience.

We headed out from there, stopping off to only for more pin trading and for a couple of PP opportunities

Bean was happy to hold Simba and everything but she just had to ask any Stitch photo ops? Well of course said the PP photographer!

He also clued us in on the Stitch present photo op by the tree at the entrance

We both really like AKs tree

Next time we take a roundabout journey to our next park!



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 8 Part 10 - On to our next Park!

 

[Trentmom]

We discovered Rafiki's Planet Watch last year and had a lot of fun there. Anything with trains, Trent likes

Love all your ride photos and poses you and Bean would do.

I love how in the 2nd pic at EE, the whole car looks bored except you and Bean

That is a shame about the man passing out. Glad he was able to get help quickly

Score on the empty car twice on Dinosaur

Can't wait to hear where you go next

 

[mnmrmustard]

We discovered Rafiki's Planet Watch last year and had a lot of fun there. Anything with trains, Trent likes

Love all your ride photos and poses you and Bean would do.

I love how in the 2nd pic at EE, the whole car looks bored except you and Bean

That is a shame about the man passing out. Glad he was able to get help quickly

Score on the empty car twice on Dinosaur

Can't wait to hear where you go next

Trans rock for sure, I love 'em. We had a good time over there - Bean loves those animals!

We do tend ot ham it up on the rides I hadn't noticed the bored group behind us. But it did remind me about the group we were wil ..well the whole train to be exact. ROWDY bunch of inner city cheerleaders with us in the front car. I added that bit in to the TR, thank you for rattling my brain on it.

Empty car was very cool, as was the two trips in a row. I'll be posting the rest of our day right now. And I have the pictures almost done for our last day so I'm going to keep rolling on with it

 

[mnmrmustard]

So now we were on our way out – where did Bean want to go? Why DHS of course! We spent our entire Daddy/Daughter day there in 2008 and she wasn’t going to miss out on reprising some of that fun. Since there was no way to get directly to DHS from AK I decided that we would take the bus to any of the EPCOT resorts and ride the boat to the DHS entrance.

The Beach Club bus came first so off we went! And soon enough we were there and stopped in the lobby for a minute to take in their Christmas cheer

I loved the little details

Cool ship

Then out we went, only stopping momentarily to snap a shot of Stormalong Bay. One day we’ll stay here and enjoy that pool!

..then we were on to the lighthouse-themed dock

You can see from Bean’s hat that she had been pretty successful in getting Stitch pins.

We had some time to kill while we waited for the launch to arrive so it was panorama time!

I thought those two parkgoers fit the scene very well

Hello lighthouse!

Bean liked the little black ducks swimming around

Our launch pulled up and after a couple of more resort stops was motoring its way to DHS. On the way Bean snapped a shot of some more wildlife

Total time from the front of AK to the front of DHS, one hour. Not bad considering and it was a very leisurely hour for us.

So 4pm found us in DHS heading towards the thrill rides!

Ooooo, scary!

Hi Chip!

Mrs. Potts thinks it’s a nice picture too

We hit RnRC first and rode two times, first row of course. We were struggling with inventive things to do for the pictures – how do you think we did?

Next up we hit ToT and move on to a family favorite



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 8 Part 11 - From ToT to GMR!

 

[mnmrmustard]

From there we had to take at least one plunge on ToT. A blast from the past on that one was when we were there for our Daddy/Daughter day in 2008. Bean approached one of the bellhops and asked him why they never smiled. The CM was so great, he kneeled down and told her that it wasn’t that they never smile, it was that they are only given so many of them and had to be very careful who they gave them out to. She of course got one :-D

As for our ride, no sweet stopover or conversation for Bean, we zoomed through the queue and were soon taking our plunge

I think we ate some QS food at the market but I’m honestly not sure and forgot to write anything down in my notes on it. Either way, from there we walked up to the hub and found Mulch, Sweat, and Shears putting on a show

We listened for a minute and then moved around the sorcerer’s cap

..to our destination, TGMR!

Believe it or not Bean chose it – it is certainly a family favorite.

For the first time ever we got front row. Every time we’ve ridden it we’ve been towards the back so being so close to the action was nice.

On we go!

The tour guide was very fun and had lots of energy even though it was getting late and the boat was mostly empty

On to the big show

Siiiinnnnggggiinnnn in the raaaaiiaaiaaaiaiaiaiiiiiinnnnnnn!

Mary and Bert

Our gangster friend in ghostly form

So no cowboy scene again for us – bring on the gangsters

She looks mildly concerned

The shootout commences

..followed of course by the hijacking

Bean didn’t get as lucky with Clint this time

But did good with the Duke

We went into the Alien area and Bean was so stoked by this capture – the Alien literally popped out right above us and she was ready!

On to Raiders

GMR Continues and we end our Daddy/Daughter day



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 8 Part 12 - The End of our Daddy/Daughter Day

 

[mnmrmustard]

The greedy gangster getting his just reward

Happy mummies

She also did a pretty good job of capturing Tarzan

Hi Jane

Bogie says goodbye

Mickey makes some mischief

On to Oz

We had a good spot for the witch

Off they go to see that wizard guy

On we went to the montage; she decided that Chaplin was a good one to capture

We came out and did some minor shopping/pin trading as we headed back down main street and were soon heading out past the ticket booths

We of course stopped for the Christmas tree photo ops – Bean wanted to be tall for the first one

We literally left the park at the same time the ladies left theirs. We went to the bus stop and texted back and forth with them and made it back to the resort within minutes of each other. We snacked and prepared for the next day, our last one at WDW. Showers and such and we were in bed somewhere around 9:30pm.

It had been a wonderful day of one-on-one time with Bean, reprising a tradition that means so much for both parents and daughters. And I was doubly happy since I technically got to do over half a day with PumpkinGirl at AK earlier in the week. Double daddy/daughter days – score!

Tomorrow would be our last day in the parks. Where would we go/what would we do? Tune in next time to see!



Click here for the next Chapter: Day 9 Part 1 - How Many Ways Are There to 1900 Park Fare?

 

[Trentmom]

Sounds like rest of your day was great.

Good pics on RNRC

That was a cute flashback pic with bean and the Bellhop

Love the GMR. Such a nostlagic film. I love the film montage at end. That is the best

Bean got some good shots in the GMR, the alien one was awesome

 

[mnmrmustard]

Sounds like rest of your day was great.

Good pics on RNRC

That was a cute flashback pic with bean and the Bellhop

Love the GMR. Such a nostlagic film. I love the film montage at end. That is the best

Bean got some good shots in the GMR, the alien one was awesome

It was a lot of fun. Thank you on the ride pic, we were being pretty silly

Yes, I love that bellhop story and enjoyed the chance to share it again

She did! What a great photobug she is.


I've finished going through the pics from our last park day and am currently in the process of writing up the story to go with them. I might have an update posted today on it