Magic in a Winter Wonder World with 1,648 pictures

[Charlefours]

Miss. Date Changer rang the doorbell yesterday and asked to come in for some tea (out of a disney container) and a talk. So, I let her in. Miss. DC told me about how in May the kids will be missing 3 days of school, I will be taking a day off from a new job, it's hot, and it's rainy. She told me I should change to June 8th; last day of school and Mitch's birthday. I told her I had to use the 4 day 99$ ticket before May, 25th. She told me to do my research and I did. I found that I can have my whole life to use 3 park admissions and 3 water park admissions for 184$. Not too shabby. I told her June is hotter then May and I would be paying 175$ for a 4 day ticket instead of 99. So, I kissed June goodbye. And thought about August, Amy's birthday week. I work that whole week goodbye. Then I was day dreaming while drinking my tea about Food and Wine at Epcot. I hopped on the computer and saw that it ends November 14th. Yes! Emily's birthday is the 15th so we can go that weekend and go to MVMCP. I didn't book that and I didn't even look at room rates. I didn't touch May either , I just left everything alone. I thanked Miss. Date Changer for her time. In addition, I told her to get lost and go to some other Diser's house.
We'll keep the May trip in a low radar for now and instead of telling the kids on Monday (our 30 day dance) we'll wait until 10 days out to do the reveal. If the crowd levels are predicted to be high and the weather isn't supposed to be to nice then I would just rather wait until November when crowds are low and go for about a week. Maybe we could do both and just do Epcot and MVMCP in November. I think I just need time to let things sizzle and see but I thought I should share what has been on my mind and what caused me to loose sleep last night.

LOVE it! I will be looking forward to reading what you decide. I have not been visited by Miss Date Changer but Resort-itis that seems to have several DISers as of late....this is the second bout with her so I am holding strong trying ignore what she is whispering in my ear...

 

[disney<333]

Hi Barbara--been off DIS the last few weeks doing other things. I am playing catch up the last few days reading here and there. Thank you so much for the suggestions for touring in DHS--such a hard park for me to plan. I hope, once I get downtime, to begin to start planning loose touring plans. We shall see. I just do not want to show up at a park without a general order in mind. :

The girls' park bag is really cute! Never seen that one. Great new car! I am debating between a back pack and a messenger style bag for our trip. I want one bag only so I think it will be either of those.

You are right, it was me asking about the Kookie pens. I am in NC for the week and heading off to visit a Disney store tomorrow morning. I may see if I can get one there tomorrow. Thank you for trying though.

Wow--all four parks in one day. I cannot wait to read about how that goes. It seems like it would be stressful. Rough start to the day with weather--I sure hope it gets better for you!

I cannot believe how quickly your next trip is coming up--it will be here so soon! In EP--our first stop is going to be the character connection. I am really looking forward to it.

Hello,
I've been the exact same. I have been having about 40 minutes of DIS times a week which does not allow me to keep up with all of these great PTR/TRs. I still haven't made it over to your PTR yet. Tomorrow I'll have a few hours to DIS so I can hopefully catch up with everything.
I have a lot of park experience and we usually use the same plan for each park and they never fail. Let me know if you need help planning anything.
Did you get any goodies at the Disney store, do tell! Emily wanted that bag in May and it was 30$. I think that is a bit nuts so I told her if she wanted it that badly she had to pay for it with her own money. Suddenly, she lost interest. Then a few months ago it was at the outlet store for about 10$ so she got it then.
This was our second time doing 4 parks in one day. It is a little crazy.O.K, it is very crazy but going in each park with a list of goals helped. We went into AK with 5 things we wanted to do and that helped a lot.

That's good that you did some 'thrill' rides without getting sick this time. I hope you will give Dinosaur a shot in the future, at least once. We did get stuck on it one time, and it was on a really bouncy part. We were sitting there bouncing for several minutes, and that could have made someone who is already kind of squeamish pretty sick, I guess. That was only one time in all the times we've ridden, though, so hopefully that's not a regular occurrence, as it seems to be with Spaceship Earth. We seem to break that ride on a consistent basis.

I was going to try it but I figured if I get sick it is early in the day and the whole day will be down the drain. I'll try it towards the end of the day. I can't do spinny, too fast, upside down, and sharp turns. Is it really bouncy? You're making me anxious now, MeMom!

Ewwww! The weather looks so gross! Sorry that it happened to you. I am so proud of your girls for being so brave to ride twice! Their Moms are not near as brave

Hope it doesn't rain too long on you

It was a really gross day! Yes, their mom is not brave and based on your ride picture either is your kids'.

LOVE it! I will be looking forward to reading what you decide. I have not been visited by Miss Date Changer but Resort-itis that seems to have several DISers as of late....this is the second bout with her so I am holding strong trying ignore what she is whispering in my ear...

I try. Ugh oh, Resort-itis can be deathly. I recommend an antibiotic of looking at pictures of your gorgeous resort and your resort only for 10 days.
Pretend she is a group of 12 year old boys ringing your door bell asking if they can mow your lawn.

 

[disney<333]

Forgot to mention in the last update, the kids and Mitch were in the first time rover of the day on Dinosaur. Continuing on with this yecky but fun morning at Animal Kingdom. We left Dinoland and walked with our ponchos and umbrellas and marched through a river to Kilimanjaro Safari.(The sewage system at Disney sucks!) As we were walking, wait not walking, swimming, to KS we swam past the entrance to Expedition Everest. (It was closed due to the weather.) I was swimming on the left and my crew was swimming to my right. About 2 meters to my left is another women with her family to the left of her. It was just us and them in the whole area. This woman, we'll call her, Flamingo, says rather loudly to her family "Watch where you're going because these people are not!" Maybe the ghosts from HM decided to take the day off and tour the Animal Kingdom because we were far from Flamingo and her ducklings. (Like how a Flamingo had ducklings, hugh?) On the way to KS everyone had to stop at the bathroom so we stopped by Tusker House and I stood outside with the umbrellas. It was really coming down! At last, we reached shore at our destination, KS! There was about a 5 minute wait.
This guy must of thought I wanted a picture of him. Really I would of been fine with just the sign behind him.

Everyone get in for the 2 week safari.

Hello, my name is Barbara and I'm going to be your tour guide for these next couple of weeks. Here are the animals we might see within the next 2 weeks.

We are:

As so you see it is rainy.

If you look at the screen you will see something blurry.

Go get your eyes checked.
Coming up we have a tree. You don't see these everyday.

I bet you're thinking 'Oh yes I do.' But you don't because you are in Disney.
This isn't the Jungle Cruise so you don't have to laugh at my jokes but I would like it. Since we'll be together for 2 more weeks I thing we should start things out on the right foot so...
Remember Flamingo from before? Well, this is her family coming up.

And here you have a hand.

Which reminds me, please keep all hands, arms, feet, husbands, and children in the jeep.
You will see an african animal coming up in the distance.

Here is a little closer

and even closer

He looks lonely.
Timon: Come in Barbara.
Me: This is Barbara, over.
Timon: Little Red is on the loose, over.
Me: I don't memorize my lines, over.
I bet you guys are thinking 'good thing I'm not in that car', right?

One of my favorite animals.

As you can see the rain is still coming down.

Some animals. Anybody know what kind?

Yes, you from the HM. You don't know? Alright. Go back to your ride, this is mine.
African elephants. Do you know how I know they are african? We are in Africa.
Straight ahead you will see his backside.

And here is his side shot.

 

[disney<333]

Some more Elephants:

Coming up straight ahead we have Flamingo's extended family.

Some more animals coming up.

Here lions like to hang out but not today. They like to hide.

It was nice getting to know you all but this safari is coming to an end. Let me speed things up a bit.
We're really 4 wheelin' now baby.

See how fast 2 weeks can go with me? I hope you enjoyed the 2 week safari through Africa. Now get out! Please.

 

[All7OfUs]

Morning, Barbara! I haven't taken a safari since like 2000! Yes, it's been THAT long. It sucked. But I'm willing to give it another chance this Sept. We'll see if any animals want to come out to play...

 

[Charlefours]

We did get a few goodies at the Disney Store. Some for DD and she picked out a birthday present for a friend who is apart of a Disney family. I did not get any of the Kookie pens, I may just wait until Disney and let her pick out a couple then. Thanks for the offer--I will be sure to ask for help when I am working on my touring plans. great antibiotic!!

Great updates on KS! I sure hope the rain gets better for the rest of your 4 parks in 1 day.

 

[kcandbella]

WOW 4 parks in one day! It looks like you had a great start to the day despite the yucky weather. Can't wait to read about the rest of your busy day!

 

[disney<333]

Morning, Barbara! I haven't taken a safari since like 2000! Yes, it's been THAT long. It sucked. But I'm willing to give it another chance this Sept. We'll see if any animals want to come out to play...

Good evening, Liesa!
Wow, that's a long time! I've had some really bad safaris and some really good ones. It just all depends. The safari isn't the Jungle Cruise. Disney has no control over the animals. The CM did say that not all the animals were out in November because of the rain. The ones that were outside wanted nothing to do with us, they were just miserable and wanted to be inside they're heated homes, I bet.
I would definitely give it another wham on your upcoming trip.

We did get a few goodies at the Disney Store. Some for DD and she picked out a birthday present for a friend who is apart of a Disney family. I did not get any of the Kookie pens, I may just wait until Disney and let her pick out a couple then. Thanks for the offer--I will be sure to ask for help when I am working on my touring plans. great antibiotic!!

Great updates on KS! I sure hope the rain gets better for the rest of your 4 parks in 1 day.

Ohh! There used to be only about 5 different Kookie pens but now there are about 50. Letting DD pick them out sounds like a good choice. The girls didn't pick out Kookie pens that had the characters they like on them, they picked out the 'cute' ones even if they didn't like the character on them.
I'll be glad to help on the planning with what ever you need help with.
The weather doesn't get much better, however, the yucky weather does turn out to be our friend by the evening.

WOW 4 parks in one day! It looks like you had a great start to the day despite the yucky weather. Can't wait to read about the rest of your busy day!

It was a great day! I just wish the weather would of been a little nicer.

 

[disney<333]

We got off KS and guess what! It was still pouring! We wandered towards Camp Minnie and Mickey along the way we saw Lilo and Stitch in a gift shop. There were about 3 parties there and they had already all gotten autographs so now Lilo and Stitch were dancing. We went inside the gift shop to investigate as soon as we got there L and S were leaving. None of our Safari friends were out anywhere from the rain so we went to It's Tough to be a bug. The last time we attempted this the girls were 8 and 5 and we had to leave with in the first 5 minutes. I heard that this show scared some big kids but I was hopeful that mine would make it through. We walked the path to the indoor wait area. It was really, really coming down!! I felt something trickling down my leg; it was the rain! My jeans felt like they were being gorilla glued to my legs! Finally we were inside but we were packed like sardines.
The girls waiting with their bug eyes.

About 10 minutes later we were let inside.

The kids didn't believe me when I told them we were in the big tree.
I had only seen 5 minutes of the show before so I was excited to see it. It started and so far the kids were doing great. Then the big scary bug came out and Amy's face went into her knees. As soon as he left everything was o.k. At the end of the show I told everyone to not sit on the back of their chairs. Amy was the only one who obeyed and the others were stung. Ha-ha!
When the show ended we were instructed a thousand times to drop off our bug eyes. I'm sorry but they really aren't that fashionable I don't think anybody will want to take them.
As far as I'm concerned, this is on the list for May.
After ITTBAB we left Animal Kingdom and headed for the busses.
Where were we going you ask? AKL, baby! I noticed the bus line for all 5 Epcot resorts (they always have to share.) backed up really far. Glad we weren't staying at the Dolphin! A bus for AKL came and people were stuffing themselves in their like a can of tuna. Their was an empty AKL bus right behind this AKL bus that was going to pull up as soon as this one pulled out. I told people that there was an empty AKL bus behind this one and they just looked at it and then piled themselves on this one! Whatever.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Fun safari in the rain! and the girls are so cute with their bug eyes...
I hope Ashton like IABL this year...he did fine last year and loved the big bug; so I really hope his idea of fun has not changed this year! can't wait to hear about AKL!

 

[disney<333]

Fun safari in the rain! and the girls are so cute with their bug eyes...
I hope Ashton like IABL this year...he did fine last year and loved the big bug; so I really hope his idea of fun has not changed this year! can't wait to hear about AKL!

Thanks Connie! I think they look pretty cute with those glasses too. Kids' opinions of what is scary change a lot. When we lived in Orlando we would take the kids to Disney every week to watch the fireworks because they loved it! A few months later we had to take them both inside during FWs!

 

[disney<333]

1 Month!!!!!!!!!
Today I started my new job. Everything was going great until a little bit before lunch with a 3rd grade class. So, I'm handing out supplies and a kid passes out! He was just in his seat I turn my back for a second and I hear a big thud. The ambulance came and took him to the hospital. He was released a few hours ago and everything is o.k. It sure was scary! I'm not sure if you heard or not but there is a crazy bill sitting on the governor's desk. Basically, what it is is it's trying to ruin the school system! Tomorrow is our county's day for the 'strike.' A lot of teachers are taking a personal day and are going downtown to fight this crazy-nes. 5 of Amy's 6 teachers are going and 4 of Emily's teachers are going. Luckily, I'm in a private school so none of this affects my job. Today the kids had their regional championship for Softball and it was about 35 minutes away. So we drive and then once everyone is their they decide it is too wet to play so the game was rained out!
Anyway, back to the trip report. As I was saying we were going to AKL. Everyone kept stuffing themselves into the 1st buswhen there was a 2nd AKL bus right behind. Same thing with CSR! I don't know why one of those busses couldn't switch to the Epcot resorts to get some of those people home. I hadn't planned to visit AKL so I didn't bother researching it. I knew there was a nice counter service that had Zebra Domes. So, that was where I wanted us to eat. At WL there the main building with the arcade, stores, and dining. Then there is the DVC building with mainly just the villas. I thought AKL was the same. I knew there was Kidani Village and Jumbo House. My logic was Jumbo= big-- that's the DVC building. Kidani is the main building. We got on the bus and the driver pulled away. We had the whole entire bus to ourselves.
I wasn't going to take a picture of just a bus so I made somebody get in the picture.

It was now

With the blink of an eye we were there. AKL is REALLY close to AK!!
We got off at Kidani because like I said I thought that was the main building.

The breath taking tree

Yes, I took a picture of the mat.

Our first stop was the gift shop since Amy managed to make a giant whole in her poncho so she needed a new one. I got a keychain and a magnet, both AKL. I *think* Emily might of gotten an Animal Kingdom pin. Next stop was to the Mara. We walked around to discover the Mara, along with just about everything thing else, was at Jumbo House!
Some activities we will take place in next year when we stay here.

Next time we'll go here

I didn't see any animals I think they like to hang out at Jambo house too. Oh, and there are no balloons allowed on AKL. To get to and from Jambo and Kidani you just hop on a theme park bus and it stops at the other building before continuing on to the park.
We were done at Kidani so we went outside to the bus stop.
Can I just say how gorgeous this place is?

While we were waiting for a bus we took a vote. The options were go to DHS right now, have lunch at Pizza Planet and do some attractions.
OR
Bus to Jambo House, have lunch, go to the arcade, and look for animals.
What won? Well, the bus made a pit stop at one of the water parks before. Who goes with this kind of weather?
Park numero dos!

Amy needed to say hello to her friend, Bo.

The weather was still really yecky!

Such a cute shop window!

What did we do? Any guesses?

 

[disney<333]

We got to DHS at 12:15 and the plans were to have a quick lunch at pizza planet and catch the 1:00 American Idol Experience.
On the way to Pizza Planet

The line to order your food at PP wasn't as bad as yesterday, it was about 6 people deep. The only issue was finding a table in the rain. Mitch and Emily went to go buy food and Amy and I went to go hunt upstairs for a table. Downstairs- nada. Upstairs' status-- people sitting on the floor eating!! I saw a family getting their garbage together so as I was walking to that table the woman told me that they were leaving in a minute and we can have the table. Score! Oh, wait the goalie blocked the ball. This beach ball, we'll call her that because this is a G rated forum runs to my table, knocking over the little boy's milk (at the table.) and puts her crap on my table and marks it her territory. The woman who told me I could have her table and I was standing there so this beach ball is not taking my table. That is incorrect she did and she looked like she would want to take it to the camera section of the parking lot if I argued. The woman apologized and I told her it wasn't her fault. Whatever, beach ball can have that table. A minute later I see a mom and son having lunch just the 2 of them. They were using one square table but had two other square tables with her umbrellas and junk spread out on them. I asked her if she minded if I took one and she said we can have both. Yes! Score!! No beach ball/goalie is blocking this table. A minute later Mitch and Em came with the food. We had a salad for yours truly, 2 adult pizzas, and 1 kids' pizza. Sorry no food pics. We only had 10 minutes to eat if we wanted a chance at catching AIE.

 

[BippityBoo]

Wow! I am so sorry for all of that rain YUCK! You seem to make the best of it though! AK looks SO pretty all dressed up for Christmas.

I am also sorry about the boy who fainted! I was teaching last week and a boy ALMOST fainted. He is a Senior in high school, so it was a little better because he knew why. He is diabetic and needed sugar b/c he did not eat that morning. Teaching is so much more than just textbooks

 

[longing2Batdisney]

sounds like I need to do some homework; didn't even think about it...I want to resort hop to AKL, WL, and Poly the Sat we get there!

 

[praisehisname]

You've been busy! Great updates! Can't wait to see how the rest of your 4Parks day goes!

 

[disney<333]

Wow! I am so sorry for all of that rain YUCK! You seem to make the best of it though! AK looks SO pretty all dressed up for Christmas.

I am also sorry about the boy who fainted! I was teaching last week and a boy ALMOST fainted. He is a Senior in high school, so it was a little better because he knew why. He is diabetic and needed sugar b/c he did not eat that morning. Teaching is so much more than just textbooks

Rain or shine we are always going and going at Disney. Disney is gorgeous at the holiday time, you're in for a treat this December.
Yikes! Non-teachers don't understand all of the things that go in to teaching. What subject do you teach?

sounds like I need to do some homework; didn't even think about it...I want to resort hop to AKL, WL, and Poly the Sat we get there!

That sounds fun! Be sure to take pictures. I would research the easiest way to get to and from the resorts and places to eat at the resorts. From POP you could bus to AK and then bus to AKL. Sometime at AK they have characters outside of the gates! WL and Poly- you could bus to Epcot or MK.

You've been busy! Great updates! Can't wait to see how the rest of your 4Parks day goes!

Hey Denise,
Good to have you back. How is everything? Yes, I have been busy. We had a busy weekend and Monday is my busiest day of the week!

 

[kcandbella]

Oh my goodness, that is so scary that the boy passed out! I am glad everything turned out ok. It is so hard not to panic in those situations.

I'm with you about water parks...I don't think I would go when it was that rainy. But I bet all the lines were really short!!

 

[MeMom]

There used to be only about 5 different Kookie pens but now there are about 50. Letting DD pick them out sounds like a good choice. The girls didn't pick out Kookie pens that had the characters they like on them, they picked out the 'cute' ones even if they didn't like the character on them.

Those things were everywhere, and most of them were half-price, back in December/January. I looked at them so many times, but ended up getting none.

Their was an empty AKL bus right behind this AKL bus that was going to pull up as soon as this one pulled out. I told people that there was an empty AKL bus behind this one and they just looked at it and then piled themselves on this one! Whatever.

I always love it when Pop rolls two buses in at a time, too.

Basically, what it is is it's trying to ruin the school system! Tomorrow is our county's day for the 'strike.' A lot of teachers are taking a personal day and are going downtown to fight this crazy-nes. 5 of Amy's 6 teachers are going and 4 of Emily's teachers are going. Luckily, I'm in a private school so none of this affects my job.

I hadn't planned to visit AKL so I didn't bother researching it. I knew there was a nice counter service that had Zebra Domes. With the blink of an eye we were there. AKL is REALLY close to AK!!
We got off at Kidani because like I said I thought that was the main building.

The weather was still really yecky!

These days, it seems that every school system in the country is not far away from being ruined.

We have not had time to explore Kidani yet, but we will be doing that this summer.

We've sure had some wet days much like what your pictures show. It's always nice to get back to the room, get a hot shower and dry clothes, and just chill out on the bed!

 

[All7OfUs]

Beach ball. Creative!!

Lots of good fun- and what's with the sheep and their busses??

Lots of rain too. I saw a sea of ponchos!