Disney Holiday Firsts At Last! - Final Thoughts Finally!

[Trentmom]

Sorry Pumpking girl and Roxy were sick. Hope they start to feel better as the days go on

Glad Bean got to get some swimming time as that slide looks like a lot of fun

Pumpkin looked thrilled with your singing in the Fakeorail

Great shots by Bean

Can't wait for more

 

[Trentmom]

I saw on the news that awful shooting at mall in Oregon and thought of you and your family

Is that anywhere near you?

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

keep up the good work, enjoying it.

did they offer any free snacks on the plan? usually you get at least a small snack bag.

 

[scottny]

Yeah you made it. Looking forward to hearing about it.

Nice pics so far.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Sorry Pumpking girl and Roxy were sick. Hope they start to feel better as the days go on

Glad Bean got to get some swimming time as that slide looks like a lot of fun

Pumpkin looked thrilled with your singing in the Fakeorail

Great shots by Bean

Can't wait for more

The ladies were unfortunately sick the whole trip and then some, but we made do.

Yes, Bean loved that slide. She enjoyed climbing up it just as much as sliding down it

Bean took some great shots throughout - I was very proud of her camera skills

I saw on the news that awful shooting at mall in Oregon and thought of you and your family

Is that anywhere near you?

The shooting happened up in the northern/metro area of Oregon. We are down in the rural southern area of the state. Thank you very much for you concern. Our prayers are with the victim's families along with those of the school shooting back east. So sad to have such things happen

keep up the good work, enjoying it.

did they offer any free snacks on the plan? usually you get at least a small snack bag.

Thank you Dan. Free snacks? Oh, on the plane? Yes, you had a choice of pretzels, cookies, or peanuts. On the trip back we cashed in QS credits so had all kinds of extra snacks on the return flight

Yeah you made it. Looking forward to hearing about it.

Nice pics so far.

Hey Scott! Yes, it was quite the adventure. I'm getting back in the saddle today to make some progress on it.


To any of you that have been following along, my apologies for starting up and then disappearing. I caught either a more severe version of what DW/DD1 had or I caught something different on the return flight. We got in on Saturday and by Monday morning I was starting to feel bad. By Tuesday I was in bed with a fever/body aches, sinus issues, and a cough.

I was down for the count and missed work all week. During that same timeframe DD1's cold got worse with a chronic cough and DD2, who had caught a small cold, relapsed and was out a couple of days herself

It was a double bummer for DW as she was in charge of her work's Christmas party, which was yesterday evening. Usually the whole family helps with it but we were all in quarantine. Fortunately the party was a great success due to great planning on her part including a great Santa, a wonderful face painter, who painted this on Roxy

...and a balloon animal maker who really kicked butt. Roxy brought us home some chocolate cake and Bean got a dragon balloon animal and PumpkinGirl got a black cat. She even surprised me with this cool Mickey!

We are all finally feeling better and all of us should be back to work/school tomorrow. And I finally have the energy and focus to sort and upload the pics we took and to go through the photopass pics. I can tell you that for us

PhotoPass+ was SOOOO WORTH IT!!!

Just in ride photos if we had just gone with the $14.95 digital downloads it would have cost us $464. That's right, we came away with 31 ride photos boys and girls! We had over PP 160 pics total, which I am going through and adding borders to.

I'll get the next batch of our own pics uploaded now and get on with this TR!!!!!

 

[Trentmom]

So sorry you all have been so sick

Hope you are all on the mend now

What cool balloon animals

 

[mnmrmustard]

When we left off we had just left AoA on the ME bus and were rolling around hourglass lake to our home resort, POP Century! The front gate had a nice holiday wreath on it

Right around the corner was the resort main entrance just as sunlight was fading from the sky.

There was a CM outside to greet us with bubbles!

We headed in the door and immediately saw more Christmas theming

Registration wasn't too busy

And to make things easier I had done the online check-in so it was a quick trip through the reserved line for that I soon had our packet in hand. I had done 50s preferred which gave us a 1st floor room that unfortunately did not have a pool view, but was literally in sight of the front entrance. Heading out for food and transportation was a snap the whole trip :-]

I had reserved an ECV for Roxy from Apple Scooter Rentals. This is the 2nd time we've used them and I highly recommend their company. They even waved the delivery charge since we were a returning customer. It was right around the corner from the luggage area and on the way to our room. It was a brand new one, a real sweet ride.

We settled into our room, unloading our carry-ons and setting up who was using what drawers and sleeping arrangements. As had been discussed Roxy and PumpkinGirl were sick, so they took one bed and Bean and I had the other. They also had half of the dresser-top for meds and other sundries.

We then talked about what we wanted to do. We had enough days of park tickets to take in a couple of hours at one of the parks. And that included EPCOT and the Candlelight Processional hosted by NPH that evening. We decided to go get dinner at the POP food court while we figured out our next move.

We came in just in time to see the Hustle put on by the CMs and a few brave guests. I took a video of them with my Canon Rebel, but looking back at it the file size was just over half a gig so I need to edit it down to make it viewable on the web.

For dinner I had a favorite of mine, the meatball sub and salad. Dessert was the tye-die cheesecake which I had missed having on our last visit. It was a fine meal. Bean and Roxy had bacon cheeseburgers with fries, PumpkinGirl had soup and crackers.

Roxy and PumpkinGirl were just too wiped out from the trip/their colds to do anything other than head back to the room. Bean and I didn't want to go to a park without them so we decided to just walk around POP and AoA.

Here was our first night-time look at part of AoA, taken from the bridge that connects the two resorts

Coming off the bridge the first thing you see is the Nemo area with a 4 story hunk of coral

There were cool fish lining the walls as we walked forward towards the hub of the resort.

As you may have heard, everything you interact with is set to a scale as if you were Nemo's size. The first thing we came across was a cute little play structure.

Bean really liked the feel of the ground of the play area. It felt amazingly like oversaturated beach sand and almost squished under your feet

Squirt said 'hi' from the top of the structure

Bean tried the slide

...and laughed at how small it was - she barely fit down it.

Off to the side was the giant Crush

The next area was the pool, which started off with some jellyfish

I loved that they had the goggles there

When we got to the hub we turned right and saw 'them'

Mine?

Beyond them was a cool montage of Dori

The next area was the Lion King! Rafiki gave us a lively welcome :-]

He was standing on the back side of Pride Rock with Mufasa on the other end

Next was the 3 friends practicing a little Hakuna Motata

Next up we'll finishe our journey thru the Pridelands and take a journey Under the Sea with some mermaid friends!



Click here for the next chapter: Day 1 Part 3 - A Walk thru 3 Memorable Movies at AoA

 

[mnmrmustard]

So sorry you all have been so sick

Hope you are all on the mend now

What cool balloon animals

Thank you Kelly!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey Mike,

Sick on vacation... is not fun... I hope it wasn't too terrible for them...

Sorry you were sick too...I think something is just going around everywhere... DD had a respiratory thing last week... still lingering... DS had a stomach thing... DH & I caught the variety pak from them... so I can empathasize with your plight...

Hopefully everyone is healthy for Christmas...

Anyhow... I think being closer to the front of POP was probably better than the pool because I think it was kind of cold to swim although DS is crazy for the water...he swam & loved it...

You got some great photos of AoA-the Nemo section is very cute... it's over the top Disney at its best... That whole area now with POP and AoA combined...must be really photogenic

Really can't wait to read about your CP experience...... ours went a little differently than planned so I hope that you had the traditional CP experience...

 

[Trentmom]

Sounds like you got perfect room location

Sorry roxy and pumpkingirl were under weather still, but looks like you and Bean had some fun exploring AOA

Great pics

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hey Mike,

Sick on vacation... is not fun... I hope it wasn't too terrible for them...

Sorry you were sick too...I think something is just going around everywhere... DD had a respiratory thing last week... still lingering... DS had a stomach thing... DH & I caught the variety pak from them... so I can empathasize with your plight...

Hopefully everyone is healthy for Christmas...

Anyhow... I think being closer to the front of POP was probably better than the pool because I think it was kind of cold to swim although DS is crazy for the water...he swam & loved it...

You got some great photos of AoA-the Nemo section is very cute... it's over the top Disney at its best... That whole area now with POP and AoA combined...must be really photogenic

Really can't wait to read about your CP experience...... ours went a little differently than planned so I hope that you had the traditional CP experience...

It did put a damper on things, but Roxy and PumpkinGirl were real troopers and got as much enjoyment as they could considering they were on cold meds the whole time

Yes, we got a whole mixed bag of stuff here at home. I'm at work but still not over it and Roxy & PumpkinGirl are at urgent care to try and figure out what to to with her chronic cough. I hope you all are feeling better or get there soon! Heathy before Christmas is certainly the goal!

Yes, I was a bit unhappy at first about the location not having a view. But it was darned convenient. And Bean got me into the pool despite it not being hot out - she love the water too.

Thank you on the Nemo photos, more on the way. And I agree, the whole AoA/POP theming is really fun! Next time I hope we are able to stay at AoA itself.

I've gotten all of the photos loaded onto my computer from the trip. Now I have to go through them and edit/resize and such. LOTS more pics to come! And as far as CP, we did a change-up and ended up doing 1900 Park Fare instead so we had no CP experience at all. I'll have to get over to your TR and read how yours went!

Sounds like you got perfect room location

Sorry roxy and pumpkingirl were under weather still, but looks like you and Bean had some fun exploring AOA

Great pics

Yes, it was really convenient - out the door and off we would go!

Roxy and PumpkinGirl got rest whenever they could and still managed to have a good time. But it was nice exploring with Bean

 

[mnmrmustard]

Bean and I continued our adventure thru the Pridelands at AoA. One thing I forgot to mention, the nightly movies that they show outdoors at the resort are shown right under Mufasa at Pride Rock. They were just wrapping it up as we walked thru there.

Our next stop brought us to the Elephant Graveyard! Bean started exploring along with a couple of other cubs

As you can see from Bean perching on it, those tusks were sizable!

Banzai, Shenzi, and Ed were watching over the yard

And a bit farther along on his own outcropping was a favorite of mine, Scar

On the other side of Scar's perch we find Zazu. Bean struck a good pose with him

We exited the Pridelands and waded into the ocean, quickly finding ourselves Under the Sea. Our first find was the coveted Dinglehopper!

A pipe, some treasure, and a larger than life beer stein followed

Closer to the pool we find Eric's statue sitting proudly

King Triton made for an imposing 4 story figure

Between him and his nemesis we find Sebastian striking up the orchestra

And then we find the evil Ursula dominating the buildings across from Triton. Do you think Bean liked the pose?

Across the pool from the two towering foes we find Ariel and Flounder

The rest of the area had some dancing fish and good ocean theming.

Now since we were at the far end of the resort we had to trek back out of Mermaid, back across the Pridelands, past the hub & Nemo, and finally on to Cars Land.

The first thing that caught Bean and my attention that we expected the Cars characters to be the same size as regular cars. I guess they made them smaller so the wee ones could not feel like they were too big to be around.

First we saw the Sheriff

Then the Mayor

Flo was next

Followed by Ramone and his low profile wheels

The whole pool area was themed as the Cozy Cone Motel with a full facade as you walked up

I liked the cone shade areas around the pool. I'm sure they'd be very popular when it got hot outside.

Next up we finish up our trip thru Cars land and make our way back to POP and the 50s to see how the other half of the family was doing.


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 1 Part 4 - Finishing up a Long Day

 

[mnmrmustard]

Beside the Cozy Cone pool we find Luigi's shop

Him and Guido were very cute

Across from them we find Mater's Tow Yard

Bean noticed that someone had already chipped one of Mater's teeth

There we lots of little bits of theming if you were paying attention. Stuff like the Radiator Springs Chamber of Commerce logo on the pool fence

At the far end of the pool area we find Sarge's setup with Sarge standing guard

The far building was themed as the Wheel Well Motel complete with gas tanks and our two main characters

The last character we came across was good ole Fillmore

We walked back to hourglass lake and followed a path back to the bridge. Both Bean and I tried to take pictures of POP reflecting on the lake but neither of us could keep the camera steady enough to get a decent shot and I was too tired to look for a place to set the camera down to get one.

My overall impresson of the Art of Animation Resort was that it would be a very cool place to stay once the prices come down a bit more. The food court had some unique offerings although we never ate a meal there we heard good things about it. One thing that struck me about it in comparison to all other Value Resorts was that you lose the direct entry onto balconies/sidewalks from your room. You have to travel down corridors to get to exit points and only have windows to look out on the resort. Not a huge deal but it does make it a bit harder for those putting up window displays to have their Disney statements seen.

By this time we got back to our room in the 50s area it was just after 10pm. We had been up and moving for just shy of 15 hours and were ready to be done. Roxy and PumpkinGirl were both asleep so I had Bean go in and take a shower while I picked out clothes and got things together for our first day in the parks. Bean went to bed and I grabbed a quick shower and was asleep before 11pm.

Tomorrow would bring us to DHS early for an 8:05am reservation at Hollywood & Vine. I was already regretting setting a morning ADR the day after our travel day. I wouldn't be doing that one again


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 2 Part 1 - Early DHS Entry Brings Full Tummies and TSM

 

[Trentmom]

Rest of AOA looks great. Bean cracked me up with all her posing

Hope getting up next morning was not too hard for everyone after your day of travel

 

[bellaally]

Great report.... what kind of camera did you use

 

[heaven2dc]

Love all the fun shots of AoA! I also noticed that there didn't seem to be walkways outside the rooms like at POP - just windows. I haven't stayed at a Value Resort yet but if I did, I'd like to stay at AoA esp with my grandson who is 5 yrs old. Your daughter is so cute in the pics - love that she is uninhibited and likes having her pic taken. You both make a great team!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Rest of AOA looks great. Bean cracked me up with all her posing

Hope getting up next morning was not too hard for everyone after your day of travel

It is a really visually interesting place to see. I still need to go back there when its daylight to see what it looks like then. And yes, I loved how much fun Bean had with the posing.

The next morning was a bit rough but we pulled through ...afer all, we were at 'the World'!!!!

Great report.... what kind of camera did you use

Thank you!

It is just the entry level Canon Digital Rebel T3 with the standard EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS type II Lens. You can get a new one with lens and standard accessories for about $450 on Amazon.

This may be more info than you're asking for but I like the camera a lot. The battery lasts for 2 days even with heavy shooting and the 32GB SD card I picked up for it can hold more pics & movies than I've been able to fill it with.

I also really like the standard lens for general shooting, especially since it has image stabalization built in. The only time I took that lens off was when I shot the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. We were at the top of the stands and there is so much action in such varied light that I switched to my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Aspherical lens (faster and better zoom). You'll see those pictures early on in Day 2 of my TR

Love all the fun shots of AoA! I also noticed that there didn't seem to be walkways outside the rooms like at POP - just windows. I haven't stayed at a Value Resort yet but if I did, I'd like to stay at AoA esp with my grandson who is 5 yrs old. Your daughter is so cute in the pics - love that she is uninhibited and likes having her pic taken. You both make a great team!

Thank you, we had fun taking them I agree as far as staying at a Value, AoA is our next stop for sure! I know a 5yr old would love the place - he'd be running around like crazy trying to take it all in. Bean is a camera ham like me, and she took some great pics herself on the trip. You'll see some of her stuff in Day 2's TR. I'm doing the picture edits right now and should be able to start posting tomorrow or Thursday at the latest.

 

[mnmrmustard]

We all struggled into wakefulness on our first park day at 7am. I had gotten about 8hrs of sleep, Bean maybe a half hour more, and Roxy and PumpkinGirl were somewhere in the 9 1/2hr neighborhood. So not too bad as far as hours go but still a struggle given the long day we had the day before, and that our west coast brains were trying to tell us it was 4am instead of 7am, and two of us being sick.

Speaking of sickies, or ironically not speaking of ...well, let me rephrase. PumpkinGirl woke up with no voice at all. The cold had brought on a case of laryngitis. This was to continue for the rest of the trip. We thought about how to deal with it and the cold meds were keeping her symptoms at bay and she could walk and such, just no voice. So we ended up taking her luggage tag and flipping over the paper inside. On the paper we wrote Sorry, I have lost my voice with a smiley face. She wore it on her wrist and showed it to anyone we were interacting with and we did a sort of pigeon sign language for most communications. It made for some colorful experiences, especially with characters!

We had all taken showers the night before and had set out clothes and such so it was just a matter of getting dressed and getting everyone out the door. We were out of the room by 7:30am and after a quick stop thru the gift shop to check the CM's lanyards for pins; we were at the stop for DHS with a bus just pulling up.

Here we are in our early morning glory

It was a beautiful sunny morning and after a short drive we were at the entrance to DHS and saw their wonderful tree

We got in the ADR line for Hollywood and Vine and were let in just before 8am. We had 8:05am reservations so our names were called very quickly and were seated at a table right next to the beginning of the right-hand buffet line. We were there for the food and the early entry, not so much the characters. They made their rounds and we waved to them and they waved back and moved on. I did get a couple of pics of Jake the Pirate while he was doing a song and dance with a couple of the CMs

The food was great, especially the cheezy spuds and the ham. The service was very good despite how hectic it was in there. We all ate our fill and were out the door by about 8:45am. We joined the flood of people that had just been lead in and made our way to TSM. I picked up FPs for it and we got in the stand-by line. It was at a 10 minute wait when we walked thru the entrance.

Bean took over photography duty for the ride queue:

As you can see some of the queue areas werent even being used yet

Who here wanted to knock over those dominos?

I loved that you could see scenes from Peter Pan thru the ViewMaster disk. I had one of those when I was a kid!

Yay, Tomorrowland!

Kewl

Watch out, its a shark!

Andy was quite the artist

Hi Roxy!

I love the board game theming on the ceiling

The monkeys broke out of their barrel!

I think Ive seen that hombre somewhere

I love the Pixar lamp reference

Bean found a hidden Mickey!

I see hand cactus

Faithful Bullseye

We were on the wheelchair side so we bypassed the upstairs queue and came out to a great view of Andys bed

At the foot of the bed is the Meeting Agenda from TS1  I thought that was very cool

Here is the scene as we waited our turn to board. There are only certain cars that have built in accommodation so we had some time to soak up the scene.

I rode with Bean, which was generally the rule. Roxy and PumpkinGirl stayed together with their sickie-ickies and Bean and I rode in the well but slightly crazy car. Bean was winning the whole way through but I managed to barely beat her out in the bonus round. She was not amused  lol

Next up we take a trip to the movies on the GMR!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 2 Part 2 - On to the Movies!

 

[Trentmom]

That was a great idea with luggage tag. I bet it sure was interesting conversing with others that way

Bean captured some great pics in the que area. I never noticed that hand cactus before.

Trent beat me in TSM for first 3 rounds and then I took him out at the end...Mean Mom, I know

 

[mnmrmustard]

That was a great idea with luggage tag. I bet it sure was interesting conversing with others that way

Bean captured some great pics in the que area. I never noticed that hand cactus before.

Trent beat me in TSM for first 3 rounds and then I took him out at the end...Mean Mom, I know

It did make for some interesting interactions and it acually worked in an unexpected way by taking a girl who is normally very shy and making her more outgoing and interactive despite not being able to talk.

We hadn't been to TSM at WDW before so it was all new to us. And as far as scoring goes Bean came back and beat me soundly the next time we rode it