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

[ShannonMB]

Sorry for being such a slacker on my updates!!! My computer is messed up, and I have all my pics on there but haven't put them all in photobucket yet. I've just been using Lily's computer to check in on the DISboards, but I think I'm gonna need HP to fix my own -- hopefully I won't have to send it in. I guess I'll deal with it tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be on the phone for 4 hours. But I promise I'll update soon! We're looking at a slideshow of our trip pics on Wii right now. They are making me so happy, sad, and excited to get on with my report!

Found your TR this morning, and am all caught up! Love it so far, and can't wait for more.

Thanks, sorry you joined only to have me go MIA for so long! Glad you're enjoying!

I'm glad you haven't done that many updates because I had less to catch up now! I just got back and you are right - POFQ is amazing.
It really beats the values. I'm in trouble now!

Haha, I hear you!!! I'm glad you loved it, too. Let's just wait a while before we try a deluxe!

Yeah definatly a hold youre breath few days !!!
CAmeron is much better now Santa bought him a good dose of miracle recovery!!!
Thanks for reading my blog and thanks for the updates im all caught up with youre trippie now and as always cant wait for the next installment x x

I'm so glad you guys had a wonderful Christmas and I hope for nothing but more miracles with the New Year!

I think it's going to be a great year -- even though no Disney for us in 2010. Lily decided she doesn't want to miss a whole week of school next year, so we're going to do the semi-responsible thing and wait till MLK week in January, 2011, so she'll only miss 3 days. More time to save up! But longer to wait.

 

[ShannonMB]

I am sooo hungry now!

Okay, so with the new year coming, I'm going to embark (once again) on a healthier lifestyle with a balanced diet and plenty of exercise. 50s PTC fried chicken isn't on the plan -- especially not 1/2 a chicken! This is so hard for me, but I feel so crappy and sluggish all the time. I'm trying to tell myself to think of how much better I'll feel and how next year at Disney I'll be fairly skipping through the parks if I start now. Just need to focus and get off the couch!

So sorry, just went off on a tangent there for a sec!

This trip was our first time to see Fantasmic and we loved it, too!

I'm so glad you got a chance to see it!!! AWESOME, huh??!!!


Definitely better at night!

I gotta go check out your updates. I'm so out of the loop without my own computer!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Love all of your updates. I am caught up now. I have missed Fantasmic our last 4 trips and I swear, it is a must see in 2010.

I've never seen the lights but hope to be able to do so one day. We were there one year during the week before Christmas and New Year's and it was so insane we never got to see them. We actually came home 3 days early due to crowds.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[cbg1027]

Haha, I hear you!!! I'm glad you loved it, too. Let's just wait a while before we try a deluxe!

I won't if you won't! I'm thinking CSR for my next trip.....queen beds and room service...it's practically a deluxe!

 

[Kaler131]

I just found your TR and started reading....it's great!! Maybe one of these days I will attempt to write my own TR....but I am soooo unorganized!!

BTW..My family and I live here in Columbus too!!

 

[ShannonMB]

I won't if you won't! I'm thinking CSR for my next trip.....queen beds and room service...it's practically a deluxe!

I think Lily and I need to go back to POFQ one more time before we can move on. But yeah, lets wait at least 3 more trips till we try deluxe -- deal?

I just found your TR and started reading....it's great!! Maybe one of these days I will attempt to write my own TR....but I am soooo unorganized!!

BTW..My family and I live here in Columbus too!!

Awww, welcome to my TR, fellow Columbus-ite! Nice weather we've been having, no? Thanks for joining me, and now that my computer's back up, I'm going to get this thing going!

 

[ShannonMB]

Magic Kingdom!!!!!!!!!!! Day 4 -- Tues, 11/17/09

Finally, our first Magic Kingdom day!!! Ideally we would always go to MK first and last thing, but sometimes you have other things to plan around and you have to wait till day 4!!! to go to the MK!!!! It worked out fine for us, because we always knew on our trip that as much fun as we were having, the best was yet to come!!

So we were doing a great job on this trip not quite making it to rope drop and still doing anything and everything we wanted, with no waits. But this day it was IMPERATIVE that we be on our toes bright and early -- because we had breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace at 8:05am -- before park opening! I was super-duper excited for this breakfast, because I had always wanted to go in before opening and this would be the first time we have done this. Also, Crystal Palace breakfast always looks yum! on food porn.

The 6 of us all got to the bus stop at 7:15am. Good job, fam!!!!! The bus to the Magic Kingdom arrived shortly thereafter, and after about a 10 minute bus ride, we were there and ready to go in. We found the early-breakfast entrance...

They had us wait till about 7:50am to go through, then we were in the Magic Kingdom with just a few other people. How fun!!! I took some pics on the way to the Crystal Palace..

Then a very kind CM offered to take a pic of all of us in front of the castle with my camera.

OMG, any of you who are overweight will probably understand -- I can't believe how fat I am when I look at that pic. Plus, my face looks all drooped over like I just had a stroke or something! But as they say on the Biggest Loser, the next time you see me, America, I'm going to be half the woman I am today! At least I'm working on it. Anyway...

We made our way over to the Crystal Palace..

They brought all the cast members out on the steps to welcome everyone for the first seating of the day, which I thought was charming!

Then we took a few more pics while we waited for our name to be called.

Engagement photos!

 

[ShannonMB]

Magic Kingdom, cont...

When we arrived to our table, it had pixie dust sprinkled on it for Lily's B-day!

And Lily got an instant crush on our Australian waiter named Kip. He WAS charming, that's for sure. So sweet to her.

Here she is gazing up at him. I love this picture...

Here are a couple pictures of the food. It was really, really yummy!!

How cute and squishy is Piglet?

Here's my only pic with Tigger -- WTH??

Pooh was being so cute with Lily, I literally started bawling. He kept coming back for one more hug, and she was just having the best time. He squeezed her SO tight and pointed to his cheek for a kiss. Then he signed her autograph book "Happy Birthday Lily, Love Pooh". It was so sweet!!!

When Pooh started the parade, Lily wasn't going to do it, because she thinks she's a little old for that sort of thing, but since he was so sweet to her, she jumped in...

And at the end of our meal, Kip brought Lily a cupcake and a card signed by him and Pooh and the gang. It was cute, Kip drew a boomerang next to his name. Lily LOVED it!

Now you guys know I love Disney, right? I can't tell you how special that meal was. When people ask on the DIS if this or that meal is worth the money -- how do you put a price on that? I was really either in tears or close to it for the whole 2nd half of the meal. Magic!!

After breakfast, we walked out into the Magic Kingdom, which had just opened a couple minutes before. As we approached Main Street, we saw this group of CMs in their holiday finery, singing "Right in the Middle of Main Street, USA" in front of the trolley car.

There was this little old man CM standing in front of the trolley car, and he was singing along to himself while they were doing their show. I wish I took a picture of him. At that point, I really LOST it and I was seriously blubbering. I actually had to walk away for a minute because I couldn't take it. That is the most emotional I've ever gotten at Disney. Can't explain it!

 

[ShannonMB]

Magic Kingdom, cont...

After that lovely meal, being properly welcomed into the Magic Kingdom, and my crying scene, it was time to head to Fantasyland via the back of the castle past Cinderella's Wishing Well. On the way over, we ran into these ladies!...

Uncle Billy got a particular kick out of the Tremaines. We all were actually laughing it up with them, but I could tell Lily was nervous with them and couldn't wait to get out of there. As we were leaving, one of the stepsisters asked my mom what she was staring at, and Mom said, "I was just trying to get some make-up tips". To which the stepsister replied, "Oh, it's mostly natural". Too cute!

We made it to Fantasyland, and hit Peter Pan's Flight first. Walked on.

Next was Snow White's Scary Adventures. Walked on.

Then Winnie the Pooh. Walked on.

Toontown had opened at that point, and one of the *thrill rides* Lily had agreed to for this trip was Goofy's Barnstormer laughing, so that was our first stop.

Right about this point as we are walking in the empty queue, Billy freaks out and leaves the line. OMG, I was laughing. But, to each his own I guess. Lily was pretty proud, I think, that she braved it when her Uncle Billy wussed out. Whatever, people! Here's a pic I took during the ride...

Totally not in the plan, but we figured with these low crowds, we might as well see what the line for the fairies was (normally we don't even consider it because of the wait times). Imagine our surprise when it was a 20 minute wait to see Tink (at ~10:30am!!!!). Just weird, is all I can say!!!! Weird, and awesome!!

I was dying of thirst, so I got a frozen lemonade (my signature drink of the trip) while Mom, Janie and Andy took Lil through to see the fairies. Who knew that in addition to Jasmine, Andy is also totally into Tinkerbell? Their pics are really cute -- maybe Janie or my mom will share them here, because I don't have any. Billy and I had a relaxing seat near the teardrop and watched the train go by.

Normally I would be semi-opposed to walking through Mickey and Minnie's houses again because there's so much more to see and do. But what the heck, go ahead, Lil, there are no crowds!!!

I don't know what happened to my pic of Minnie's house, but I'm sure you've all seen it. It IS adorable, I know.

Okay, back through Fantasyland to hit a few more things there on the way through to Liberty Square. Ahh, the moment Mom has been waiting for -- the teacups. Anyone who read any of my pre-trip report will know that my mom was pretty much more excited for that than anything else planned for the trip. So this was her moment!!! I, on the other hand, no longer RIDE the teacups. So I was the official photographer of the teacups experience...

Philharmagic was next -- we all LOVE this show so much!!!! I think I love It's Tough to Be a Bug at AK a tiny bit more, but this really is Disney 3D at its best. Walked right into the lobby to wait for the next show.

Finally, It's a Small World. Walked on, of course!

Okay, next up Liberty Square and the Haunted Mansion, baby!! WooWoo!!!

 

[nania]

Yes, the short little CM was an older japanese fellow, I think, and he was in his own "Disney World". I can see his face now!

 

[cbg1027]

I think Lily and I need to go back to POFQ one more time before we can move on. But yeah, lets wait at least 3 more trips till we try deluxe -- deal?

I don't think you'll have to worry about me trying a deluxe anytime in the next 3 trips! Unless I win the lottery or something, I will take more frequent trips over staying deluxe any day! So, yes, deal!

I had an 8:05 CP on my last trip too. I'm so jealous of your pre-opening photos! When we got there at 8 it was too foggy to see the castle!

The food there is divine! I wanted to pull that puffed french toast out of the computer screen and eat it!

 

[ShannonMB]

Yes, the short little CM was an older japanese fellow, I think, and he was in his own "Disney World". I can see his face now!

So sweet!

 

[ShannonMB]

I don't think you'll have to worry about me trying a deluxe anytime in the next 3 trips! Unless I win the lottery or something, I will take more frequent trips over staying deluxe any day! So, yes, deal!

I had an 8:05 CP on my last trip too. I'm so jealous of your pre-opening photos! When we got there at 8 it was too foggy to see the castle!

The food there is divine! I wanted to pull that puffed french toast out of the computer screen and eat it!

Okay, so let's make another deal -- if one of us wins the lottery we will upgrade the other's next trip to deluxe! We don't have to shake on it or anything.

I know, those puffy french toasts remind me of those little greasy sugar dough balls you get at a chinese buffet. Ggggg (drool!). I also liked the breakfast pizza, and my Uncle Billy LOVED the corned beef hash.

 

[buzz for boys]

Yay you are back!!

Loved the update especially Crystal palace - we had a really rubbish experience there on our first trip and have never been back you have made me think it may be worth trying again.

Louise x

 

[ShannonMB]

Yay you are back!!

Loved the update especially Crystal palace - we had a really rubbish experience there on our first trip and have never been back you have made me think it may be worth trying again.

Louise x

Hi Louise! Definitely do give CP another try! I much preferred breakfast to their dinner (food-wise), and get yourself a reservation before the park opens. It makes for an early morning, but it's a fun and exciting way to start a day!

I've been reading Cam's blog. If you don't hear from the nurse specialist by tomorrow morning, call her back. Hang in there!

 

[mcdowelj]

Loving the trip report. It's so fun remembering MK day and Kip the waiter, etc... Oh and your blubbering over the CM singing - such a fun time!!! I believe our trip report has a picture of you crying at that moment. Ask Lily for the link to our photo bucket - you can use whatever pics you want. I don't even know how to get into it.

Speaking of fat... What is going on with ME? I look like a puffed-french- toast-face my own self. Geeze, I am need to get this under control. Thanks for posting those pics. Especially the one before breakfast - The one with castle in the background - me, Lily and Andy. If you look at it, Andy's hand appears to get stuck in the back fat/fluff on me. Good grief, I knew I was plump but it's a bit much!

 

[ShannonMB]

Loving the trip report. It's so fun remembering MK day and Kip the waiter, etc... Oh and your blubbering over the CM singing - such a fun time!!! I believe our trip report has a picture of you crying at that moment. Ask Lily for the link to our photo bucket - you can use whatever pics you want. I don't even know how to get into it.

Speaking of fat... What is going on with ME? I look like a puffed-french- toast-face my own self. Geeze, I am need to get this under control. Thanks for posting those pics. Especially the one before breakfast - The one with castle in the background - me, Lily and Andy. If you look at it, Andy's hand appears to get stuck in the back fat/fluff on me. Good grief, I knew I was plump but it's a bit much!

I'm LMAO! I do think your face looked a little puffy in those pics, but don't worry, you don't usually look like that -- maybe you were a little swollen from all the Disney eating, walking, and how early it was or something? Not sure about the back fat -- a bad angle, maybe?

 

[ShannonMB]

Magic Kingdom, cont.

When we left off, we had just ridden It's a Small World and were heading over to the Haunted Mansion. Took this on the way...

OH, Haunted Mansion is one of my very faves in all of WDW! Lily really loves it, too, although she was scared the first time she rode it when she was 6.

We waited about 10 minutes to ride, and it was totally, totally awesome as usual!!! Somehow I went that whole day without taking ONE picture of the mansion. But you know what it looks like...

Janie and Andy, in particular, wanted to see the Hall of Presidents on this trip, so we stopped in there. When we went in, we talked to one of the CMs who pretty much knew EVERYTHING about the history of America, and wanted to tell us all about it! It was very interesting, but we found out it was going to be another 13 minutes before the next show, and the show is 22 minutes long. Now, thinking on it, 13 minutes seems like nothing, but we were so used to just jumping from one thing to the next on this trip, I guess it seemed like too long at the time. None of us were sure what to do, since I pretty much had been guiding us so far, and I wasn't about to tell anyone they couldn't go to see the Presidents if they wanted!

Well, we ended up going back outside, and solving the problem with ice cream! How freakin' adorable is this picture?...

While eating ice cream, Andy, Janie, Lily and Billy decided they'd head back to the Presidents after all, and since Mom and I didn't care to see it, we said we'd head over to Splash Mtn and get fastpasses for that and Big Thunder Mountain. Since only Janie, Andy and me would be riding them, we had enough park tickets between all of us to get fastpasses for both at the same time!!!!

When Mom and I got over to Splash, we had a hard time finding the fast pass machines -- because they weren't open! The crowds were so low they weren't running them that day! They did have them for Big Thunder, so we snagged those, then rested the tootsies while we waited for the gang.

When the rest of the group arrived over to the Splash Mtn area, Mom and I found out that they had missed the Presidents show after all, but they were right there for Tiana's parade to the Showboat Jubilee. Lily got to see Tiana and Prince Naveen right up close, so they were excited about that!! And Uncle Billy really enjoyed the parade, being a former New Orleans-ian and all! I don't have any pics of the mini-parade to the boat, but here's one of the Showboat Jubilee over by where we were in Frontierland..

OKAY! Time for Splash and Big Thunder!!! We left Lily and Billy sitting on some rockin' chairs -

- and headed over...

We literally walked RIGHT onto a log!!! How awesome is that? At ~1:30 in the afternoon! We wore ponchos on it, because we are wimps about walking around wet, and they totally did the trick. We would have been SOAKED without them!

Now honestly, I can't remember if my mom rode Splash Mountain or not. But I know she rode Big Thunder Mountain, because she kept saying, "Oh, this is totally smooth. This is easier than that Goofy ride. Lily should really ride this. This is totally smooth!" I told Lily what her Nana said, but she still is not convinced.

 

[ShannonMB]

Magic Kingdom, cont.

After Splash and Thunder Mountain, we decided to just hang out in Frontierland to get a good spot for the parade. I think it was about 2pm by that point. I got practically my 500th frozen lemonade of the trip, and Andy was hungry, so he got a chicken sandwich from the Outpost right there across from Pecos Bills. I have had that chicken sandwich before, and it is REALLY good. But the one he had was on one of those new crumbly wheat buns. It still looked really good, though! Lily helped Andy with his fries.

We found a spot for the parade sitting on some flower boxes in front of Pecos Bills. SCORE -- finally a seat for a parade besides the ground or a curb. These 2 white birds perched in this tree facing the parade route. Me and Mom were joking that they were getting their spot for the parade.

Thanks to my wonderful friends on the DIS, I knew that the daytime parade had changed directions -- so I don't know WHAT I was thinking. I thought it was going to START in Frontierland, but it didn't, it ENDED in Frontierland (um, yeah, the OPPOSITE of what it did last year -- duh!). So we sat there for one HECK of a long time waiting (well over an hour). I personally don't even like this new parade, I much preferred the Dreams Come True parade they had before this one. But I did want to make sure no one missed it, and I, for one, needed the break, so it turned out okay. Here are some pics of the parade...

Lily got TONS of handshakes, and Burt from Mary Poppins, Snow White's Prince, and the Fairy Godmother all mouthed "Happy Birthday" to her. So I'm sure to her it was worth the wait!

 

[buzz for boys]

Hi Louise! Definitely do give CP another try! I much preferred breakfast to their dinner (food-wise), and get yourself a reservation before the park opens. It makes for an early morning, but it's a fun and exciting way to start a day!

I've been reading Cam's blog. If you don't hear from the nurse specialist by tomorrow morning, call her back. Hang in there!

Im ging to drive over there and stage a sit in if ive not heard by monday!! Im so frustrated at waiting for them to call and sitting watching Cam suffer its just wrong !! The childrens hospital is an hours drive aaway but im going to do it if I have too just to make a point if nothing else !!!

Loved your new update - waited ages and theres 3 at once Fantatsic cant wait to read more !!