Disney Holiday Firsts At Last! - Final Thoughts Finally!

[jecskc]

Getting all caught up !! Loving all of your great photos. Bean has got some great shots, too!!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Our intrepid acrobat tries 6 bowls again and this time its goooooooodddd!

And while still balancing the bowls he has his assistant add a cup to the mix

Up it comes

Score!

The whole group comes out for a pose with our guy up front

Take a bow!

Looking back at the activities I see that the Singing Ladies in Red are going to start soon in the Italy Pavilion. We stop off in the Africa booths to look for that Indiana Jones hat but again no luck. We skip past the Germany pavilion, seeing Snow White greeting a decent sized queue.

We rolled into the Italy pavilion and found the ladies in full swing!

They finished with a grand crescendo and then gathered to talk about their next endeavor

Time for a song!

Play that accordion!

Next was a contest  a contest to find a good man. The first lady looked for a good candidate

It was a tough decision for lady number two

And low and behold, I find myself one of the chosen!

Time to play dress-up

Time to pose

I was just happy I wasnt stuck as the reverse superman guy

The ladies conspired some more

&and said we had to show some machismo so off I went!

I had an effect on the lady in red behind me, but Im not sure it was a good one

She then gave me a stylin roman crown

We finished up our bit and the next was to do a human canvas. Both Bean and PumpkinGirl were called up for this one!

Next up more Italy fun, a run past America on our way to Le Cellier, and an evening stroll to Japan


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 3 Part 8 - Half a World goes by, We eat a Great Dinner, and end our day in Japan

 

[mnmrmustard]

Getting all caught up !! Loving all of your great photos. Bean has got some great shots, too!!

Thank you and I've passed everyone's praise on to her and she's very smiley and thankful

 

[mnmrmustard]

The girls were getting set for their pose while another girl was brought up to join in

You can see the canvas to the right in this pic, the girls were two of the three dancing ladies

Before they were all in their pose I decided to switch to video mode on the camera and messed up the record/don’t record and ended up filming my feet for a few second and missing the girls completely :-[ They were very good though, really brought the art to life!

It was just shy of 4pm and we had early dinner reses at Le Cellier for 4:15pm so we were off for a rapid tour of the right side of the WS arc. As we came up on the American pavilion I saw that people were already lining up for the Candlelight Processional with Whoopi Goldberg doing the Story of Christmas.

We had decided to not do the dinner package/try to see the processional. We just didn’t want to spend that much time in a line. We did stop real quick to look at the American pavilion’s Christmas decorations

We zoomed past the other pavilions and made the entrance of Le Cellier right at 4pm

We checked in and were seated pretty quickly in the corner on the left in a booth. This was the girl’s first experience there so we tried not to make a big deal about it while making a big deal about it. Bean asked if it was expensive and I told her that the tip we were going to leave was more than the cost of our lunch at the Electric Umbrella.

Overall the girls liked the experience despite not having access to chicken nuggets or pizza. And we had a bonus in that we were seated next to a couple that were huge Stitch fans and had some cool Stitch merch. Bean and I talked to them and found that the husband, who was in the Navy, would send his wife Stitch stuff all the time when he was traveling and it became a thing for them. They apparently have a whole room full of Stitch stuff. He gave me his e-mail address to see if there was anything they may want to sell. Still have to drop them a line.

When dinner was over we headed out and Bean saw a bunny and had to have a pic of it

It was around 6pm and the sun had just gone down and the lights were coming up

Not much going on down the side street in the UK pavilion

But around the corner we find the crowds and why they are there. Alice was just finishing up a meet and greet session and was heading out. I was lucky enough that she walked right past me

I love that I was able to catch her around all that activity – she looked like the calm center of a storm.

We moved up to the PP spot in front of the France pavilion for a nice family shot

I gave the camera to Bean and she wanted to get a pic of the topiary on the waterway and the waterway itself

We breezed past France and Morocco as both girls had been chomping at the bit to explore the Japan pavilion. They are both heavily into Manga/Anime/Cosplay stuff. When we walked up the drummers were going at it

They finished up and Bean and I walked up the path behind the Yakitori House to hit the restrooms while Roxy and PumpkinGirl got spots for the Daruma Doll seller for her story of celebrating the New Year. We came back down just as the seller came out. It was a fun and interesting story of using the dolls to come up with new year’s wishes and their fulfillment embodied in painting the face of the doll.

When the story was done PumpkinGirl went up for a pic with her

It was a beautiful night and the lagoon had quite the view looking back towards Future World

We then spent the next hour shopping. The girls of course picked up some stuff for themselves, but they also picked up some merch for both of their best friends. Mostly Anime stuff. After over a solid hour of shopping Bean and I were tired and ready to go but PumpkinGirl was literally going isle by isle and if you’ve ever been in there it is several connected stores that go on forever.

Roxy volunteered to stay with PumpkinGirl and Bean and I headed out. I didn’t want to walk all the way to the front of the park, then all the way to the POP bus stop (farthest one out there) so I suggested that we take a boat ride. Bean and I walked back past Morocco, France, and took the left turn after the bridge and right before UK and found a launch getting ready to depart.

We took the quick tour of the resorts (sorry no pics, we were on an inside isle and there was just no way to get good pics) and headed on to DHS. From there it was a relatively quick walk to the POP bus stop and back to the resort. We saw ye ole POP sign at about 8:10pm

I was pretty tired but we had been promising Bean she could swim and she still had just enough energy to do so. So I texted Roxy that we were going to be down at the pool. We swam in the bowling pin pool for about 30 minutes and then headed back to the room.

When we got back there the ladies had just arrived and PumpkinGirl was grabbing a shower. We did the shower rotation thing and I got out the next day’s mad money out of the safe and we refilled our lanyards. Tomorrow was going to be our AK day followed by MVMCP – a big adventure indeed!

What would tomorrow bring? I can guarantee you I wasn’t ready for the way things went! Tune in next time to see what misadventures are in store for us!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 3 - EPCOT Extra!

 

[Trentmom]

Looks like a lot of fun shows going on in World Showcase. I really need to check them out on our next trip. I have seen the acrobats, but that is pretty much it

How cool you and girls both got to be in shows. They both looked like a lot of fun

glad the girls liked LeCellier.

World Showcase really is gorgeous at night. Great photos

Sounds like a great day


Little nervous to see what next day brings. Your foreshadowing does not sound good

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

You are an updating marvel...

I like your nature show... of the bird eating the lizards.... David would have been SO into that...

You guys look like you have a blast in World Showcase... you saw a really nice selection of entertainers/storytellers...

(We didn't do the Perry mission in Norway... We'll have to try that one next time... I feel we don't spend enough time there... other than the Maelstrom...)

Bean's photos did come out quite well...

We also didn't see the Chinese acrobats this last time but I do think they always but on a good show...

I totally missed those Singing Ladies in Red... I didn't even know they existed... ... that looked pretty funny... so did your girls get lots of good bribery material there...? (nice toga and laurel leaf crown... It looks like you were a very good sport about it...

No Le Cellier Photos?

Hmmm...sounds like there may be rough waters ahead...

 

[mnmrmustard]

Looks like a lot of fun shows going on in World Showcase. I really need to check them out on our next trip. I have seen the acrobats, but that is pretty much it

How cool you and girls both got to be in shows. They both looked like a lot of fun

glad the girls liked LeCellier.

World Showcase really is gorgeous at night. Great photos

Sounds like a great day


Little nervous to see what next day brings. Your foreshadowing does not sound good

Yes, some interesting performances to see for sure, we really enjoyed them. And we had a blast being in the shows - I highly recommend getting into the act when you can

The girls thought Le Cellier was pretty good, I was worried they wouldn't like the offerings.

Thank you on the WS night pictures. Night shots are my favorite.

It was a fun day, but long - and as the foreshadowing stated, we paid for it the next day

You are an updating marvel...

I like your nature show... of the bird eating the lizards.... David would have been SO into that...

You guys look like you have a blast in World Showcase... you saw a really nice selection of entertainers/storytellers...

(We didn't do the Perry mission in Norway... We'll have to try that one next time... I feel we don't spend enough time there... other than the Maelstrom...)

Bean's photos did come out quite well...

We also didn't see the Chinese acrobats this last time but I do think they always but on a good show...

I totally missed those Singing Ladies in Red... I didn't even know they existed... ... that looked pretty funny... so did your girls get lots of good bribery material there...? (nice toga and laurel leaf crown... It looks like you were a very good sport about it...

No Le Cellier Photos?

Hmmm...sounds like there may be rough waters ahead...

I hadn't been able to update regularly so I felt the need to finish that day at least! And I just finished editing the AK/MK pics so there will be at least one more post this eveing

Yeah, the girls were fascinated with that lizard eating bird - more captivated by him than with Figment

WS was a lot of fun, and I've heard good things about all the Perry missions. For those who like to chase clues it is a nice addition to an EPCOT day.

Bean is good with that camera and as far as the acrobats it was our first time seeing them - good show for sure.

The Ladies in Red were good fun and I am a natural ham so I had no problem getting up there and being part of it. No bribery material for the girls on that one.

No, no Le Cellier pics, I'm not one to take pics of food and I didn't want to disturb the atmosphere there by popping off shots with the flash on.

Some rough waters ahead but still some good times in there too. Just about to get Day 4 started!

 

[mnmrmustard]

We had three 12hr days in a row, travel day, DHS day, and EPCOT day. So what do I have planned for today? What I hoped to be a short AK day followed by some rest and then MVMCP. Even though I wanted the pace to be slower it was going to be yet another long day no matter how you slice it. So as you may have guessed this is where my oops in planning bites us in the butt.

The alarm was set for 7am but Roxy and I found ourselves awake to Bean with a really bad stomach ache at 6:30am. Roxy and I did what we could for her but we knew the symptoms well enough. They were from her overdoing it and not keeping hydrated. When we get to this point we usually do lots of Gatorade and rest until she gets over it.

I got dressed and brought back some Powerade for Bean and other stuff for Roxy and Kyra. Then I went back to the food court and transferred pics from the camera to my Duo netbook and ate. We got ourselves together and were at the bus stop for AK sometime after 11am.

The bus took a bit to get there and we found ourselves at AK around 11:45am. Bean was still a mess but didn’t want to miss out so Roxy gave her a lift from the bus stop to the front of the park.

PumpkinGirl and I followed and cruised by the tree and the front gate

We knew that Bean couldn’t cope with walking so my first stop was the wheelchair rental. We got her set up and headed up the trail on the right. I gave Bean the camera and the first shot she took was of this little guy

Luckily PumpkinGirl was in pretty good spirits

We crossed the bridge and came to the first PP spot

Once we got to the Tree of Life the girls wanted to see It’s Tough to be a Bug. Roxy decided to skip it and make a run for EE FPs on her ECV. We headed down the path and PumpkinGirl volunteered to drive Bean and I took over the camera work.

I like that it transitions from large animals down to bugs as you head down

But of course they have some monkeys close to the entrance

Bean and PumpkinGirl wanted a pic with this one

Hello Mr. Bear!

We headed in to the wait queue and then filed in with 3-D glasses in hand. Unfortunately when we went into the theater Bean started to feel nauseous from the dampness and smell in there. I told PumpkinGirl to stay and watch the show and got Bean back out into the fresh air.

When the show was over PumpkinGirl came out and we walked our way up and out and met up with Roxy. We decided to split up since PumpkinGirl wanted to ride EE and Bean was barely up for handling the bumpy paths in the wheelchair. We decided to head to Africa and go through the gift shops checking out CM’s pins. I also was going to look for that Indiana Jones hat.

We stopped on the bridge and I took a quick pic of the boats at the dock

After hitting the shops and stands she saw the sign for the train to Rafiki’s Planetwatch and wanted to give it a try. We rolled down and got into the wheelchair area. But just sitting there she started to feel worse again and we left. I got in contact with Roxy and said we would meet her in the EE gift shop.

We rolled back that way and came across DiVine

After watching her for a bit we headed to that path’s Tree of Life photo spot

Next up we trek our way to Everest and then PumpkinGirl and I take on Dinosaurs!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 4 Part 2 - Everest, a Change of Shifts, and Dinosaurs!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Some more PP shots at the Tree of Life

Bean was trying to put on a brave face but she was feeling pretty bad

Look, Tinkerbell!

We moved on and saw that Flights of Wonder was getting ready to start. Bean took a couple of pictures of the owl they had out there

I asked her if she would be up for just going in an watching the show and she said she wasn’t feeling up to it. Now Bean is a SERIOUS animal lover, so to hear that let me know exactly how bad she was feeling. I had her keep nursing the Powerade but she still wasn’t up for anything to eat.

We rolled up to the shrine and Bean was up for a couple of pics there

As I took this shot of Everest PumpkinGirl and Roxy were almost on board for their ride.

Soon enough they were zooming through the mountain!

Bean and I made it to the gift shop and checked out pins there. Pins were one area that Bean was doing well in, she probably found 4 more Stitch pins in the park which is pretty good. When Roxy and PumpkinGirl came off the ride we talked for a bit. Bean was done and wanted to go back to the resort. PumpkinGirl wanted some dad time and Roxy was fine with that since she wanted to go back and grab a nap before this evening.

She took Bean on her ECV so we still had the wheelchair. So I somehow ended up chauffeuring PumpkinGirl around on it the rest of the afternoon. We got in line for EE with the FPs and made our way in sight of the train when the ride broke down. We got return passes and we headed over to Dinosaur.

It was only a 10 minute wait but we went ahead and picked up FPs and got in the stand by line. One into the queue – look at that big boy!

And the rest of the bony crew

The big guy has quite a smile

On into the video presentation

We took our first ride and had front row, as you can see they weren’t even filling the cars

We rolled through and then headed over to Triceratops Spin. It is a cute ride and did a good job killing time until the FPs kicked in so soon enough were on Dinosaur again. This time I made sure to ham it up when the big guy came at us

All the riding made us hungry so we hit Restaurantosaurus. Once we finished eating I talked to her about what she wanted to do. She wanted shows so I looked at the schedule and saw that we could make Lion King.

Up next we take in the Festival!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 4 Part 3 - Festival of the Lion King

 

[Trentmom]

Poor Bean. She looked so pale and you could tell she was not feeling well

What a trooper for at least giving it a try at the parks. I liked the photopass pics with tinkerbell in her hand. They were cute

Cool Owl Shots too

Nice hamming it up in Dinosaur

Good call on Bean's part for asking to go back to hotel. I hope a nap does her good and she feels well enough for the MVMCP that night

 

[mnmrmustard]

Poor Bean. She looked so pale and you could tell she was not feeling well

What a trooper for at least giving it a try at the parks. I liked the photopass pics with tinkerbell in her hand. They were cute

Cool Owl Shots too

Nice hamming it up in Dinosaur

Good call on Bean's part for asking to go back to hotel. I hope a nap does her good and she feels well enough for the MVMCP that night

Yes, she was feeling really bad but kept trying, not wanting to miss out on the fun. The tink pics were cute

And yes, she was very patient in waiting for the owl to turn around to get those shots.

Thank you on the Dinosaur shot - I should have brought Kyra in on the joke though so we both were doing it. Wait until the Daddy/Daughter day with Bean though, we really ham it up!

Going back to the resort was the right call for both Bean and Roxy. It didn't fully fix Bean's stomach but it made MVMCP do-able for her.

 

[mnmrmustard]

We headed out of Restaurantosaurus and I wheeled PumpkinGirl back past the Tree of Life and down to Camp Minnie Mickey. The line wasn’t bad but it was pretty warm by then. Thank goodness for the shade and those fans they have set up in the queue. Soon we were through the doors and sitting for the show. This is one that Roxy and I saw in 2011 but that the girls missed out on during our 2008 trip so PumpkinGirl was enthused to see it.

I think we were seated in the Giraffe area, I remember making sheep sounds – lol Soon enough the show started with dancing and singing

They were followed by Timon and his posse and Pumba of course

The guys on the stilts are cool

Our mascot

And the big guy himself

Timon and his crew were up first with some acrobatics

Not much luck getting clear shots of them so I just watched them have their fun. The ominous music then came up and the bad guys took the stage from Timon, he was not amused

The bad guy did a pretty good job with Scar’s number

Then it was time for some fire work

I liked the way the camera caught the fire dancing off of the torch ends

Hot foot!

The whole thing created quite the atmosphere

Fire donut!

The next sequence was the graceful dancing/flying birds. Unfortunately the lighting was way too low and they were too far away for flash so this was the best I got of it

Next up the big finale, a meeting with some furry friends, and a trek back to Everest!


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 4 Part 4 - Finales, Furry Friends, and Forward to Everest!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Here comes the big finale! We had dancers right up front

And a bunch more in the background dancing and doing acrobatics

I hadn’t seen Timon’s antics before, he was being quite the drama queen

Up front it looked like these two had a ‘moment’ – lol

More singing wrapped things up.

It is a fun show, I just wish there was some interaction with the performers afterwards. Coming out it was a quick bathroom break followed by a quick look around. I liked the little Christmas touches in this area

We took a scan of the characters out at the time. The classics were of course in their cabanas, but PumpkinGirl was a lot more interested in saying ‘hi’ to Baloo and Louie.

I love the way Baloo took her by the arm :-]

Big Smiles!

Then I had to get in on the action

After our little interaction PumpkinGirl was ready for some action and wanted to take advantage of those return passes to EE. On our way across the bridge we saw a massive flock of birds in the trees

I pushed PumpkinGirl back across the park and used our passes to avoid the stand by, which was at about 25 minutes at that point. We chose to get in the first row line and had a great view coming out.

Waterfall!

Craggy peaks

A couple of quick turns and the temple comes into view

There be monsters up here!

Clackity-clack up the big climb

PumpkinGirl was having a great time :-]

Almost there!

Next up we finish taking on Everest and say ‘hello’ to Nemo and Friends


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 4 Part 5 - From The Mountaintops to the Bottom of the Sea!

 

[mnmrmustard]

Hey All,

I realized that I forgot to include a couple of pics from Roxy's Phone on our EPCOT day. While Bean and I were doing the Perry Norway adventure the ladies had finished watching the Christmas story of the Three Kings in front of the Mexico pavilion and moved past Norway to China, where they ran into the Monkey King.

He was quite the character and after performing stopped for some photos, which PumpkinGirl jumped at!

It was a fun interaction for her


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 4 Part 1 - Bugs and Bugs start our AK Day

 

[Trentmom]

Looks like you and pumpkin girl had a good time.

Lion King show looks fun. I missed it again this year. One of these days, I will make it there

Cool pic of Pumpkin girl and Monkey King

 

[mnmrmustard]

Looks like you and pumpkin girl had a good time.

Lion King show looks fun. I missed it again this year. One of these days, I will make it there

Cool pic of Pumpkin girl and Monkey King

Thank you Kelly!

We were having a good time and seeing a lot of cool stuff. Lion King is one to see at least once for the music and spectacle of it. I'm sure you'll make it there!

She really enjoyed meeting that Monkey King, she's a quiet girl but there is a lot of mischief going on in that head of hers

 

[mnmrmustard]

Back on EE we see faraway destinations in the distance

Down the first turn

Coming up through the tunnel

Oh no!

Something you can only really catch from the first car  some BIG footprints in the snow!

PumpkinGirl points out the hair ties in the snow  there was actually a whole pile of them there

Away we go!

Through the tunnels, down the drops, and on to the shadow of the Yeti!

And down the big drop!

We came off of the ride and scanned in our PP+ pic and were out the door with me semi-racing PumpkinGirl across the bridge and over to Nemo, which would be starting in a few minutes. We ended up in a good section, to the right of center and right in front of one of the walkways where I knew performers would be doing there thing.

After about 10 minutes the placed finished filling up and the show started up!

The show starts with Nemo and Marlin coming out of the coral and talking about that first day of school

On to the school meet-up

Couldnt get a clear shot of it, but there we have Nemo and the kids looking at the butt

Nemo is captured and Marlin comes out into the audience searching for him

Marlin meets Dori

Next up we continue our adventures with Marlin, Dori, Nemo and the rest of the crew


Click here for the next Chapter: Day 4 Part 6 - Nemo Live!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

thanks for the everest pics, i have not been on that ride since our honeymoon trip.

neat catch on the hair ties.


and i like the kids expressions behind you in hte picture.

 

[mnmrmustard]

thanks for the everest pics, i have not been on that ride since our honeymoon trip.

neat catch on the hair ties.


and i like the kids expressions behind you in hte picture.

No problem, gotta get those young'uns a bit bigger to take on that ride. Yeah, I had never noticed the hair ties but PumpkinGirl spotted them right away. There had to be a hundred of them!

I know, they were doing the 'Fonzie' look, the girl's expression was especially good. Bean and I get up to some ride pic foolishness later on in the trip and give those kids a run for their money

 

[Trentmom]

That is funny about the hair ties

Great pics on Everest