Magic in a Winter Wonder World with 1,648 pictures

[disney<333]

Checking in real quickly. The day started out with a 9 AM softball game. The team tied but Amy made some nice plays at third base and Emily did a great job pitching. Somehow, the team they were playing has a pitcher who is 16. She is way to old for the division! So the other teams hardly stand a chance hitting of this girl!! Amy is at batting cage practice and Emily is at a birthday party now. I have tomorrow night's dinner cooking.
Later on we're going to Sawgrass mall. So, that means Disney parks outlet store. Charlefours- I'll finally be able to get the Kookie pens for you. If anybody else wants any let me know. I'll check the DIS before we leave. Mitch has a gift card for Cheesecake Factory so we're going there for dinner.
Have a superb Sunday.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Hey! Barbara
fun update...what a beautiful day you guys had to share with your family.
I like the park bag the girls got! I'm still trying to decide what I want to carry in the park...last year I did an old wallet on a string and I was thinking of getting the mini hipster from VB but had changed my mind. I will have a backpack for Ashton and his beach bag for ponchos. So, I really need to think about what I want to carry (I'd love to not have one but I need something for tickets and such.

Love the new car...Danny and I are planning on getting something in another 1.5--2 yrs. we are waiting for Dayne and Gwendolyn to be out of our checkbook...anyway the only car I was thinking was the Altima or an Avaitor/Navigator.

Hope you have a fun day at the mall!
Connie

 

[disney<333]

After the lights the kids posed with a Christmas Carol.

I lied, make that one kid posed.
Anybody know anything about this? Is it just a decoration. There is space for a show. I don't think a ride would fit.

We had I think three TSM FPs left. These were from early that morning. The ones we all used after the parade were FPs Mitch got when he put the bag in the locker, I *think.*
Mitch wanted to ride TOT (his favorite) so he asked the kids if they wanted to ride. We got a real quick "no thank you." They're scared for life after what happened on it last May. So, Mitch flew solo to Tower of Terror and the girls and I rode TSM with FPs. I think stand-by was 60 minutes? There was no one in the FP line we walked right up to where you join the regular line.
Oy, my free spirited child in action.

I like this picture.

I thought twice about riding again after what happened earlier in the day but this time I did fine. I think it was because earlier I rode it right after eating.
Mitch's line was 25 minutes so after TSM the girls and I had some time to kill.

There was a mickey on the floor and...

we had time to pose with it.

Amy wanted a picture with it looking like she was wearing the hat.

I couldn't really get it.
Emily wanted one too.

The finale show of AEI experience was taking place and they have a TV outside where you can see the show live. Many people were camped out on the floor watching. We just stopped for a minute. There was a 14 year old boy singing and he had an amazing voice. I took singing lessons when I was a kid so I knew about pitch and all that jazz. The kid was hitting everything perfect. It was like hurry up and get a record deal for this kid. I'm not sure if he won but he was AMAZING.

Hmmm, what are 3 girls going to want to do? I know.... shop!

Amy got two of these drawing books and she loves them.

Isn't this cute?

On our arrival night Amy found a bracelet that she wanted I think it was Mitch told her we'll get it later. Well, they forgot what gift shop it was in and it wasn't something that is in every single store. Oh, and this kid could not live another day with out having this bracelet. She had looked at almost every gift shop our other days and no luck.

So now lucky us was on mission: find the bracelet or else.
We tried EVERY gift shop on the right side... No luck for Amy but I got a mug and Emily got a Disney bear that she just had to have.
Then we searched on the left side of the street and...

SWEET PIXIE DUST!
They were about 3 dollars each so I think she got 2 or 3. Amy was on cloud 9 and no more searching the world for these bracelets. Of course she doesn't wear them anymore.

We met up with Mitch and left DHS.

Except we didn't got to the busses. Oh, no no no. We went here.

Some ducks

Some decorations

 

[disney<333]

Some more tree

The pretty Boardwalk. I just have yacht Club to stay at and then I've stayed at all 5. Yesterday, at the outlet store they had Saratoga and YC keychains for 49 cents!! Sorry, no Kookie pens for I think Charlefours wanted them. If you want I could get them at Disney in May.

We got off at the YC/BC stop. My home in May.

Across the lake

I'd like to participate in a BC activity in May.

We went into Epcot via my special entrance. Oh wait, not without a problem with the tickets. Oh, no no no.
My ticket and I think either Amy or Emily's too wouldn't work. I just got all 3 re-printed that morning and they were already de-magnetized. Ughh, over to the ticket desk we go. The CM there had a huge attitude issue. Like an 'ughh, you expect me to work at work?' He typed in the info asked for the address and all that jazz. He is about to print the tickets and the computer shuts down. Ughhhh! So, all over with the information and questions. Finally we have new tickets. Mitch was in the park and I think he was going to get a fireworks spot. So, I am holding my new ticket in my hand and the girls are holding theirs far away from the phone and anything magnetic. The girls get through and I put mine through the machine: demagnetized! What?!?! Am I a robot or something? The same CM that told me to re-print it the first time told me to re-print it AGAIN. Another CM comes over and tells the other one "The park is closing soon, let her in."
It was 8:10 and we went over to Japan to meet Mitch at our fireworks spot. We still had 50 minutes to go and no one wanted to wait that long everyone wanted to go on rides. So, we said goodbye to out spot and went on Spaceship Earth. I think it had a 15 minute wait. At the part when you go down we stopped for 10 minutes. By the time we got off it was 8:45. the fireworks started and the park closed in 15 minutes. We debated about whether to go see Illuminations or beat park closing/fireworks crowd to the busses. We were all very tired and the bus option won.

A bus came with in 10 minutes and we were on our way back home. This is what is going on in my mind on the bus. "Tomorrow is our last day in the parks. We haven't been to Animal Kingdom, we need to go Magic Kingdom, and we still want to do a few favorite rides again at Epcot, we got almost nothing done today at DHS. Oh my, that is 4 parks. Can and how will we do 4 parks in 1 day? I had finished reading MeMom's 4 park day so I knew we could do it. Let's see we'll open at AK, bus to AKL and have lunch, bus to DHS, boat to Epcot, and monorail (like how that is a verb, hugh?) to MK! Perfect. MK all day plans are out the window" I said out loud "I know what we're doing tomorrow." (The kids were both asleep.) Mitch- "What?" I told him my 4 park raid plan. His response? "Are you crazy" Me- "I guess so"
Do we end up visiting all 4 parks the next day? Yes! How does this work out?
Forgot to share Emily took a picture of her new friend

 

[MeMom]

I said out loud "I know what we're doing tomorrow." (The kids were both asleep.) Mitch- "What?" I told him my 4 park raid plan. His response? "Are you crazy" Me- "I guess so"
Do we end up visiting all 4 parks the next day? Yes! How does this work out?

Four parks in one day! Yay!
We love crazies!

We don't dare to go on SSE whenever we have a time we need to be somewhere else. We've gotten stuck on it too many times.

Congratulations on a new car, too!
I am hoping mine holds out for many years, and then I'll get a new one right before I retire. That one can last me the rest of my life.

 

[All7OfUs]

Why is it when you're in a hurry, you always get ticket issues?? UGH!!

I'm anxious to see how your 4 park plan plays out!

 

[disney<333]

Hey! Barbara
fun update...what a beautiful day you guys had to share with your family.
I like the park bag the girls got! I'm still trying to decide what I want to carry in the park...last year I did an old wallet on a string and I was thinking of getting the mini hipster from VB but had changed my mind. I will have a backpack for Ashton and his beach bag for ponchos. So, I really need to think about what I want to carry (I'd love to not have one but I need something for tickets and such.

Love the new car...Danny and I are planning on getting something in another 1.5--2 yrs. we are waiting for Dayne and Gwendolyn to be out of our checkbook...anyway the only car I was thinking was the Altima or an Avaitor/Navigator.

Hope you have a fun day at the mall!
Connie

We had a nice time with the cousins. My sister lives in Canada and everyone else is in NJ so we don't see the family that much except for when we go to NJ every summer.
For the 4 of us we usually go in with two draw strings or totebags and my vera. This time I'd like to cut down the vera and just have the girls' tan Mickey bag and a backpack for me. In the winter we have another backpack with warm jackets that goes in a locker.
I would of liked to go until the ned of the year to get the new car but the old one just wasn't going to make it to the summer and there was a big sale going on.
I don't know much about the Avaitor but I was deciding between the Altima and the Accord. The seats weren't too comfy in the accord and it just had all this extra junk that you HAD to pay extra for. The Altima was cheaper and it is a well-made car. You don't even have to take the keys out of your bag to use it. The accord had a bigger trunk but the Altima had more room in the car.
The mall was like Christmas at Disney but we got most of what we needed and we had a nice dinner.

Four parks in one day! Yay!
We love crazies!

We don't dare to go on SSE whenever we have a time we need to be somewhere else. We've gotten stuck on it too many times.

Congratulations on a new car, too!
I am hoping mine holds out for many years, and then I'll get a new one right before I retire. That one can last me the rest of my life.

I can tell you love crazy people from the video of Trent in NYE!
I never had an issue on SSE that I can remember and I don't read a lot of reports with issues with the ride. Now I know to stay away if I have something to do soon.
I was hoping mine would last until the 2010 cars go on clearance but when it needed a 2000$ repair I just decided to get the car now.

Why is it when you're in a hurry, you always get ticket issues?? UGH!!

I'm anxious to see how your 4 park plan plays out!

The tickets know when you have an ADR or when you're trying to beat crowds or make RD. I don't know how they know but they do.
I'm excited to report about the 4 park day but I need to delete some pictures from the computer (have to figure out how), delete some from the camera, and then upload to the computer, then on PB. I'm tired of just thinking about it. I only have exactly 6 weeks to finish. I'll probably do a PTR update or two before. A lot has changed with the May trip.

 

[disney<333]

O.K, so for May we have 1 definite Epcot day planned but we may skip DHS this trip and spend 2 days at Epcot. The deciding factors will be what we are in the mood for this day and how much we get done on Epcot: day 1.
So, this fist day at Epcot is Friday, May 14th. Making rope drop is a necessity. This is the only park that we have not seen the rope drop and I heard Epcot is home to the best opening show out of the 4 parks. I would love to be at the boat dock by 8. We'll get off at the YC/BC stop and walk the rest like always. I'll enjoy and take pictures of a nice pretty WS while the rest of the crews speeds up to where the rope is at. I have a question, where do the people coming from the Epcot resort area wait for the rope to drop? is is someplace else then people coming from the busses/monorails?
When the rope drops we'll high tail it over to Character Connection. We wanted to do it in November but the line was too long and the last May the camera was broken. I love the idea of meeting all of the fab in the same place and plus you can't beat the cute backrounds. I really want to be the first one there because then you get pictures with the whole gang together. We'll be out of here by 9:15 and then we'll go join our thousands of friends at Soarin'. Is stand-by usually ridiculous by 9:20? If it is under 25 minutes then we'll do stand-by and grab FPs after if the line is insane we'll just stick with FPs. After Soarin' I'll send the rest of the crew to be Guinea pigs on TT and I'll probably get a some B-fast at Sunshine Seasons and just walk around taking in the pretty sights of the Flower and Garden Festival. I'll meet the crash dummies at Innovations and we'll do a few things there, hopefully with low crowds. Amy LOVED Sum of All Thrills so Emily and Mitch well probably do it with her a few times as long as the wait time is low. I won't do this because, um.... I don't do small little boxes where apparently, there is no room for your ears. Oh, and I did I mention the box goes upside down? Not my cup of tea. I will watch and possibly help, if I'm allowed the making of the roller coaster. After SoAT we'll get tickets for Kim Possible. Then I will scream if one of those little peaces of paper has the nerve to say 'Norway.' Next, we'll visit our past and future on Spaceship Earth. I think it will 10:15-10:30ish. I'm hopping the line will be under 10 minutes. After we'll do Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (new for us), Figment, Turtle talk, and Nemo. Not sure the order. I don't think any of those things will have a line. We'll let the times board guide us to which attraction we do in what order. By this time, our tummies will probably be singing, crying for some Sunshine Seasons. I think we'll be pretty happy to give the tummies their desire. We'll probably order our normal: Two adult chickens and a slice of chocolate cake. My mouth is watering now thinking of this. After, we'll raid the WS. Starting out in Mexico. We'll help Donald's friends find Donald. Disney sells Epcot passports but I've seen disers make them. I was going to have a disigner make them for the girls but I decided to try it myself. I started these one night in February and I never continued. After trying to figure out how to upload a word document to PB for 20 minutes, I give up. I'll have to take pictures.
To be continued tomorrow. I have to save this and get the laptop charging.

 

[All7OfUs]

HI Barbara~

I'm not sure where you heard that EPCOT has the best "show" for RD, but when we were there in 2008, they didn't do much of anything. There really wassn't a show at all in fact. A few characters come out, then basically, CMs march everyone to Soarin'- that's it!

As far as your plan goes, I could spend days, no weeks in EPCOT and still be happy! Esp. during F&G!!! You're going to LOVE IT!!!

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Barbara sounds like a well planned day! I never thought to try and do character connection first...I think we can send Danny to get out FP's for Soarin' and Ashton and I can go straight to CC. Thanks! for the great idea!!

 

[disney<333]

HI Barbara~

I'm not sure where you heard that EPCOT has the best "show" for RD, but when we were there in 2008, they didn't do much of anything. There really wassn't a show at all in fact. A few characters come out, then basically, CMs march everyone to Soarin'- that's it!

As far as your plan goes, I could spend days, no weeks in EPCOT and still be happy! Esp. during F&G!!! You're going to LOVE IT!!!

Hey Liesa,
I'm not sure where I read it. The characters don't dance and talk or anything? I still want to get there early so we can get pictures the fab 5 together.
I think I could spend a month in each park and be very happy.
Last year F&G was amazing. I heard they had some new stuff this year but they cut back some.

Barbara sounds like a well planned day! I never thought to try and do character connection first...I think we can send Danny to get out FP's for Soarin' and Ashton and I can go straight to CC. Thanks! for the great idea!!

If you're one of the first people there then you get a picture with the fab 5 together and then they go to their cute little areas and you get to see them individually. I think Mitch will come to CC with us so we can get family shots. We'll still get FPs and we'll be there at night too so it won't matter what time they are for. the line probably will be doable during EMH too so I'm not worried about not being at Soarin' first.

 

[disney<333]

Hello everyone!
We just got back last night from Marco Island. We used hotel points for a studio and it worked out great I was able to make frozen things for dinner and make sandwiches for lunch. We got back last night and did Goofy's Candy co. for our 40 day disney night. Now we're at 39 days! My sister is in Florida at my mom's house so the girls and I are going to her house for a night or two today. I have pictures uploaded on PB so I'll start the 4 park day tonight.
Have a good day and happy early Easter.

 

[disney<333]

I wanted to be on the DIS by 8:30 so I can do an update and then catch up on other reports. Well, it's 10:00 now! The girls go back to school tomorrow so we have an early morning and a long night. I also start my new job a week from today, however, I have to go in a few days this week to see how the old Art teacher does things.
Back to the report. Today we were opening at Animal Kingdom. If you want to make RD at this hotel then you need to be on the 8 AM bus. I got up at 6:45 and opened the blinds to feel the window. (When I can't just easily open the door to see the weather I touch the window because the weather man on TV tends to lie by at least 5 degrees.) It was NOT a nice day for AK. Heck, it wasn't a nice day for any park and we had plans to hit all 4. The sky was gray and it was really foggy. Not just a little foggy. Foggy like I-can't- see-my-kid-5-feet away foggy.We packed up the ponchos and umbrellas, had breakfast in the room, and got ready for the day. We were at the bus stop by 5 to 8 the bus came at 8:10 and we were heading to Epcot before AK. I think the AK bus was having issues and the driver said it would be quicker to just get on this bus so we did. We make our little pit stop at Epcot to drop off guests and then we are going to AK. Well at least we're supposed to. Next thing I know we're pulling up to DHS!! (I was in my own world talking Disney talk to a new friend.) Mitch went up to the bus driver and asked if we're going to AK. The bus driver made a bo-bo and went to DHS instead. Sigh. How I miss my Disney resorts. We got the show on the road and were at AK by 12 to 8. (have to be exact.) I had never been to an AK opening so I didn't know they let you so far into the park.

See how yucky it is?

The tree

Some friends

First park of the day was:

We caught the end of the opening show. Here are blurry pictures of it.

It was FOGGY!!

We were headed:

It looks like hundreds of our closest friends were too but only a handful were. We usually go to the safari first but I thought starting out in Dinoland would be better. It was! They have FPs for the safari all day vs. in Dinoland the kids like to ride Dinosaur way more then once and then the coaster and dino dumbo. (past my bedtime so no names.) We'll do that again in May and then head to take on the Yeti.
Under the bridge

A nice place to eat.

Crowds

First ride was

I haven't ridden any thrill rides in years because i used to get sick on them all. This trip I tried Splash, TSM, and Soarin' and did good so I was going to try Dinosaur.

We were thanked by the CMs for coming to ride. That's a first being thanked by a CM for riding a popular ride.

I saw the pre-show and I was getting nervous.

At the last minute I chickened out. I went into the gift shop to wait for the ride pictures. I know the girls rode twice and I think Mitch rode the first time with the girls and then hung with me while they rode again. This is the only ride picture I have. The boy hiding behind his dad in the yellow is too funny. I think I would of been like that.

When we got outside it was a lot worse. I could tell it was going to rain any minute. Well, Amy had been talking for months about her strong desire to ride Primeval Whirl. It only had a 10 minute wait and Amy NEEDED to ride it in the next 20 minutes or she would die. Emily didn't want to ride because she felt funny last time she rode so Mitch was the lucky man that got to ride. Emily and took their belongings, including Mitch's phone since last time some guy lost his blackberry on it. Emily and I were going to ride the dumbo like ride. It had no wait but at the last minute the CM closed it due to the weather. So, I think we went in the gift shop. It was beginning to drizzle so we went took out the umbrellas and went to go wait at the ride exit since we had Mitch and Amy's umbrellas. 20 minutes had gone by and they were no where. I had all the phones so I couldn't call. Our only option was to wait at the exit. Finally half an hour after we sent them off they came out. I think the ride was having issues but they waited it out. It was still raining at this point. We went in Dumbo since it had no wait. At the end it started raining hard. It felt like rocks was coming down. We got off and bundled up in ponchos.
Random pictures of Dinoland.

Do we go back to the hotel? Head to park number 2? Or just battle the weather?

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Oh! Marco island sounds like a nice get away...hope you had a great visit with your sister and mom

e www what a morning! at least the girls were able to ride Dinosaur, twice. and Emily was able to PW...
anxious to hear how you guys handled the rest of the day,,,

 

[All7OfUs]

Yay! for AK !! It WAS really foggy! I've never seen Orlando foggy- only rainy or blazing hot sunny!

 

[disney<333]

Oh! Marco island sounds like a nice get away...hope you had a great visit with your sister and mom

e www what a morning! at least the girls were able to ride Dinosaur, twice. and Emily was able to PW...
anxious to hear how you guys handled the rest of the day,,,

Marco Island was a lot of fun, it's really pretty there! And it works out great the trip is pretty much free. We stay at a Marriot on the beach with reward points and cook our own food in the room.
I wasn't able to see my sister and mom. My sister has 2 sick kids so they she didn't come down in the end. Her DH works for an airline company so they were just going to the airport and wait for a flight or something.
It was a nasty morning. Did I say Emily rode PW? I meant to say Amy rode.

Yay! for AK !! It WAS really foggy! I've never seen Orlando foggy- only rainy or blazing hot sunny!

It was just such a gross day. Not the kind of weather you want for Disney. I lived in Orlando for 10 years and have seen all different kinds of weather. Orlando is VERY unpredictable when it comes to weather!! One day it's blazing with a low of 88 and 36 hours later I'm waiting with the kids for the school bus to come and it's 30 degrees!

 

[Charlefours]

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.

 

[MeMom]

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.

 

[disney<333]

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.

 

[BippityBoo]

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