"Mom, My Wish Came True!" Our best-trip-ever-week-before-Thanksgiving '09 TR!

[vassar36]

loving your TR...can't wait to hear more

 

[ShannonMB]

That most definitely sounds like the perfect Epcot day! Especially the eating and drinking around the World!

Right on!!!

 

[ShannonMB]

loving your TR...can't wait to hear more

Aww, thank you so much!!! Glad you're enjoying! Lots to come on our very best trip ever!

 

[buzz for boys]

Hi,
Im a stalker from the UK and im enjoying your report so much !! Lily is gorgeous x x x boy dont u pack loads into your days x x x
Cant wait to read some more x

 

[ShannonMB]

Hi,
Im a stalker from the UK and im enjoying your report so much !! Lily is gorgeous x x x boy dont u pack loads into your days x x x
Cant wait to read some more x

Wow, never had a British stalker before!!! Thank you for your kind words. I hope you will stay tuned! Off to check out the links in your sig...

 

[mcdowelj]

Found your report and now I'm all caught up. Enjoying it so far.

Love the photos of French Quarter, especially the shot of the Christmas decorations. I'll be there in a few weeks and it's my first time staying there at Christmastime so I'm looking forward to seeing all of them.

Wow, what an way to end the first day- with an engagement!

Max is quite the character find. Hope that he's out when I'm at EPCOT too. Haven't seen him in years!

Yes very true we found Mekko and raffeki
at animal kingdom looks like your a mekko fan Its Lily

 

[mcdowelj]

Hi,
Im a stalker from the UK and im enjoying your report so much !! Lily is gorgeous x x x boy dont u pack loads into your days x x x
Cant wait to read some more x

Its Lily you think i'm cute well thank you thats very kind

 

[ShannonMB]

DAY 3 -- HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS!! Mon, 11/16

OKAY! Sorry for the delay on this update. No good excuse except work, blah blah blah! But I finally got my HS pics on photobucket, so let's do this! I don't have to be at work till 3pm today.

Now being a good DISer, I certainly know that strategy #1 for Hollywood Studios is to arrive EARLY and get your fast passes for Toy Story Mania. BUT, after our wait-less day at EPCOT, I thought it would be okay for us to arrive a little later than rope drop and certainly still score FPs for Toy Story -- the return time wasn't much of an issue since we were planning on a full day at HS. I was thinking an arrival at the bus stop of 9:15am would work out well enough, so that was my plan for this morning.

Well, the best laid plans and all that! For one thing, I woke up with Montezuma's revenge!!! Was this a coincidence, or directly related to our meal in Mexico the night before? We will never know (no one else had it, so guess it coulda been anything. ). But luckily, I had bought out Target's pharmaceutical section pre-trip, so I had the necessary immodium on hand. Phew! After a couple doses and a leisurely morning for everyone else, we finally made it to the bus stop for Hollywood Studios at 10:53am!!!! WHAT would this do to our (my) plans?? Well, let's forge ahead and see what happens!!

The bus to Hollywood Studios was practically waiting for us when we got to the stop, and with a 10 minute ride, we probably got to HS at about 11:05am.

Since the night before had been chilly for the Illuminations watchers, we decided to get a locker at HS and put our jackets in it for the day, so we would have them for Fantasmic! later that evening. So we got the locker, and were ready to tackle the park! The locker was $10, but you could get $5 back at the end of the day if you turned in your key.

First thing, we had to go see what the situation was for Toy Story Midway Mania! So we headed up toward the hat. When we got to the center where the hat is, there were TONS of character lines all around -- ones that Lily wanted to see, too, especially Chip and Dale. Sadly, every line we jumped into was closed. Remember how I said this trip was just one of those trips for getting closed out of character lines? Still not enough to bum us out. Nana got a few pics of the characters heading back in, but I didn't get any. Our trip was still young, and I figured we had many character meets yet to come. So, we continued on to TSMM.

When we arrived in the Pixar area, it was 11:30am! So what do you think we found when we got to the ride? A 10 minute standby wait!!!! Wha?? (FYI, the FP return time was 3pm). I was pretty stunned, I must say!! Uncle Bee suggested I time it, so I did, and we were on the ride in 12 minutes. Amazing!

We all really enjoyed this. How can you not? SO much fun!!! I was in the car with my mom, and here were our scores. I think hers was the higher one. I'm quite sure she's proud of that!!!

I don't remember anyone else's scores, but I do remember that Janie's was higher than Andy's, which was a surprise, since Andy is the only gamer in the group. But ya know, you have to ride it a couple times before you can really get your groove on. But we had other stuff to do!!


After Toy Story, I had decided that we all needed to see "The Great Movie Ride". We never made it on that during our 2007 family trip, so only Lily, my mom and I had ridden it before.

Of course it was a walk-on. No one was really as impressed with this ride as I was, but I think everyone thought it was "okay". I will say that when Mom, Lily and I had ridden it in Feb, we were in the back car, and this time we were in the front one. I think it's much better from the back one, especially the Alien part. The alien didn't even pop out till we were past it! In Feb, the alien jumped right out next to me and gave me a squeal, which Lily enjoyed. This ride had been scary for Lily in Feb, but she was pretty brave with it this time.

Okay, so after the Movie Ride, we decided that those who were going to brave RockNRoller Coaster and Tower of Terror better head over to Sunset Blvd. That was going to be me, Andy, and Janie. Lily, Mom, and Billy headed over to the Animation building in hopes of meeting the characters from UP.

None of us had ever ridden RockNRoller Coaster, because it was down in 2007 when we were there. So I was excited to try a new thrill ride. Janie decided to give it a try as well, and remember, she had already promised Lily she would ride Tower of Terror since she talked Lily into the horrifying Test Track!!

We arrived at RockNRollerCoaster to find that the standby wait was 10 minutes. Score!!!

It was actually a walk-on into the pre-show. OMG, this ride is SOOO intense!!! I was actually shocked at how great it was. I screamed the whole time, starting right at that amazing take-off!!! WOW!!!!

Janie and Andy were together on the ride, and I was solo. So when I got off I was anxious to see their reactions. Andy was laughing and saying how awesome it was, and Janie was CRYING!! Literally tears streaming! She was saying "I d-d-don't kn-n-now why I'm c-c-crying, I just have to get it out!" Dang, I wish I got a pic of her coming off that ride!!!!

So we headed over to Tower of Terror, and Janie said after that, there was no way in HE** she was riding ToT. We figured Lily would give her a pass, after all, she DID just do a ride that made her cry!!!

Andy and I were un-phased and ready for the Tower!

We got there at about 12:30pm, and we just walked right into the pre-show. After the show, when you are in the boiler room, there was a line going straight, but we went to the right and there was an empty elevator just waiting for us to get on it. A few others followed us, and off we went. This ride is just the BEST!!! I was looking forward to riding this with Andy, because I knew he was going to have this really funny laugh he does the whole time, which he totally did. We laughed our butts off! I'm pretty sure we turned around and went right back on -- and laughed our butts off again!

After that, we met up with Lily, Mom, and Billy. We explained to Lily that Janie chickened out on ToT, but she was more than fine with it when she found out Janie cried after RnRC! Lily, Mom and Billy had indeed found Dug and Carl from UP! while we were doing our rides. Mom has some darling pics of that which I hope she will post for us here! Lily was thrilled, both of us LOVE that movie (even though it's SUCH a tearjerker!)

After exchanging stories, it was getting close to our lunch time, so we decided to head over in the direction of 50s Prime Time Cafe in hopes of finding a delicious meal waiting for us!

 

[ShannonMB]

Hi,
Im a stalker from the UK and im enjoying your report so much !! Lily is gorgeous x x x boy dont u pack loads into your days x x x
Cant wait to read some more x

Buzz for boys, I'm so sorry to read about your Cam's struggles on your blog. I commend you for doing your best to be strong for him. Most of us can't and don't even want to imagine going through something like that. I will keep you in my thoughts and hope that 2010 will be a better year for all of you.

 

[praisehisname]

Great update! I'm sorry you didn't feel well that morning, but that's awesome that you were still able to walk on so many rides!

 

[buzz for boys]

Buzz for boys, I'm so sorry to read about your Cam's struggles on your blog. I commend you for doing your best to be strong for him. Most of us can't and don't even want to imagine going through something like that. I will keep you in my thoughts and hope that 2010 will be a better year for all of you.

Hi,
Thank you so much for your kind words and definatly the hug - we need all of them we can get at the moment!!
My trip report is much happier read than my blog !!
Im loving the update and you are so much braver than me ToT twice in a row i would never be able to take that

Your friendly uk stalker Louise x

 

[ethansmommy]

I am loving your trip report!! You sure know how to make the most of your days, I am taking notes for my next trip! We just got back from disney last week and even though it was considered value season I thought during the end of our week it got crowded. We are planning on going back to disney Nov 13th - 20th next year and I am hoping that the crowds will be low like they seem to be so far in your trip. How was the weather during your trip??

 

[ShannonMB]

Great update! I'm sorry you didn't feel well that morning, but that's awesome that you were still able to walk on so many rides!

Thank you! Luckily I didn't have any "recurrences", and I'd rather have one yucky morning than the awful respiratory virus I had at the tail end of our last trip. All in all, that was the only sign of the sickies for ANY of us the whole trip, so we did great!!

Hi,
Thank you so much for your kind words and definatly the hug - we need all of them we can get at the moment!!
My trip report is much happier read than my blog !!
Im loving the update and you are so much braver than me ToT twice in a row i would never be able to take that

Your friendly uk stalker Louise x

Here's another.

I am loving your trip report!! You sure know how to make the most of your days, I am taking notes for my next trip! We just got back from disney last week and even though it was considered value season I thought during the end of our week it got crowded. We are planning on going back to disney Nov 13th - 20th next year and I am hoping that the crowds will be low like they seem to be so far in your trip. How was the weather during your trip??

Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying!!! I am planning the same week for next year -- it was just TOOO awesome all the way around. Low, low crowds the entire week. I'm hoping it'll be half as good next year. Maybe we'll see you there! As for the weather, I guess it can be a toss-up in Nov, but our week was low 80s, low humidity, and sunny during the day the entire week. The first 2 nights were jacket-chilly, but after that, we didn't even need jackets in the evenings! PERFECT!

 

[disney<333]

I'm here!
Lily is so cute!!
What a special engagement. Now they can take the kids back one day and say "Mommy and Daddy got engaged here!" Looks like a fun day at Epcot. Especially the WS.
So glad you got to ride TSM at RD that is my girls' favorite ride we rode at RD too. We went to Disney the day after you came back. (21st) The link to that is in my sig if you're interested.

 

[ShannonMB]

I'm here!
Lily is so cute!!
What a special engagement. Now they can take the kids back one day and say "Mommy and Daddy got engaged here!" Looks like a fun day at Epcot. Especially the WS.
So glad you got to ride TSM at RD that is my girls' favorite ride we rode at RD too. We went to Disney the day after you came back. (21st) The link to that is in my sig if you're interested.

Thanks for joining!!! I'll check out your TR, I'm curious to see what the crowds were like for you guys on Thanksgiving week!!!

 

[meeko_33785]

A 10 minute wait at Toy Story Mania? That's amazing! Glad to hear that the late start didn't prevent you from doing this.

And I agree with you- Tower of Terror is the best, hands down.

 

[mreid1974]

Great report!!! We also got engaged this past March in Disney!! Right in the MK in front of the castle before Wishes!! It was truly magical!

 

[ShannonMB]

A 10 minute wait at Toy Story Mania? That's amazing! Glad to hear that the late start didn't prevent you from doing this. TRULY amazing! But it was just a sign of how un-crowded our whole week was. I'm still just blown away by it -- I didn't think such a low crowd week could even exist!!!
And I agree with you- Tower of Terror is the best, hands down.

WooHOOOOO! They should have an emoticon of a smiley riding ToT -- how funny would that be!

BTW, LOVE your avatar! Beast is by far the hottest prince! I love him before AND after the transformation!! haha

 

[ShannonMB]

Great report!!! We also got engaged this past March in Disney!! Right in the MK in front of the castle before Wishes!! It was truly magical!

Thanks for coming along!!! AWWW, another Disney engagement! Yours sounds a little more glamorous than a room at POFQ but poor Andy was so nervous, he knew he'd never make it through another day!! We were glad he "got it over with" on the first night, so he could relax and have FUN on our trip -- especially since he was the only one who hadn't been since childhood! Disney proposals =

 

[mreid1974]

Thanks for coming along!!! AWWW, another Disney engagement! Yours sounds a little more glamorous than a room at POFQ but poor Andy was so nervous, he knew he'd never make it through another day!! We were glad he "got it over with" on the first night, so he could relax and have FUN on our trip -- especially since he was the only one who hadn't been since childhood! Disney proposals =

Yeah i definatly dont blame him!! It can be very nerve racking!!! I still cant believe you had a short wait time on Toy Story!! Wish i was that lucky in May!!