More Fun Than Sitting at Home! Our Dec 2009 TR-UPDATE: 6/11 Final Thoughts & Big News

[BippityBoo]

I am all caught up!!!

I am so happy you decided to stay and tour alone. That must have been so strange, but so fun too! Your EPCOT photopass pics were wonderful! I especially love the one of you in front of the fountains in France

We may go to Universal in December. My SIL wants to go to the new Harry Potter theme park area. Is it hard to navigate? Just seems like we would be let down because we love Disney so much. We may skip it and let them go. What do you think? (my kids are 6 and 2).

Can't wait to read more

 

[khertz]

I am all caught up!!!

I am so happy you decided to stay and tour alone. That must have been so strange, but so fun too! Your EPCOT photopass pics were wonderful! I especially love the one of you in front of the fountains in France

We may go to Universal in December. My SIL wants to go to the new Harry Potter theme park area. Is it hard to navigate? Just seems like we would be let down because we love Disney so much. We may skip it and let them go. What do you think? (my kids are 6 and 2).

Can't wait to read more

It was definitely strange, but good. I got to experience the MK in a whole different way! The one at the France fountain is my favorite too.

The Universal parks aren't hard to navigate, especially not IoA because it goes in a circle. The only problem is there is no central "hub" like at the MK so if you are in the middle and want to go back to one of the lands at the beginning, it can be a hike. But both are pretty compact parks, so nothing is really too far. Universal doesn't have much of a "plan" that I can see to the navigating. It's kind of like DHS in that way.

I think there's still a lot that a 6 & 2 year old would enjoy! There's the Shrek 4-D movie, E.T., Woody Woodpecker coaster (similar to Barnstormer), Jimmy Neutron ride, and some very cute shows at Universal. IoA is a little more thrill ride oriented, but the Seuss Landing area is amazing! Their website has lots of info that might help you decide.

 

[exwdwcm]

It was a really great experience!! I'm glad I decided to do it instead of chickening out and spending a couple of hours just moving luggage around. Though, I have to say, I'm not sure how people take solo trips, because by the end of those couple hours, I was starting to get a little lonely!

Yes, Epcot is next! I'm about to start working on it now. I don't think we have a lot of pictures from that night because once it got dark, it was hard to get anything to come out. I don't remember seeing you in any of the pictures, but maybe you will spot yourself somewhere!!

loving the updates!!! and lol at the sign that inspired your TR name, i wondered where that came from, i thought it was very clever!

you know, i was the same way too- i wasn't much on doing stuff alone. but once i started travelling on business by myself about 10 years ago, now it is a breeze. i often will do a day at WDW solo if i am in town on busienss or something. it is awkward sometimes, in fact i was in line for soarin once by myself and this family kept looking at me and finally asked if i was alone, i said yes and they seemed impressed. lol. it is fun to go your own pace. although while watching WISHES, i got a bit lonely and had to call my sis to let her listen in. now that i have a toddler, i cherish those moments alone, you know where i can shop for a bit in a store on main st, without worrying about him trying to pull everything off the shelves.

 

[khertz]

loving the updates!!! and lol at the sign that inspired your TR name, i wondered where that came from, i thought it was very clever!

you know, i was the same way too- i wasn't much on doing stuff alone. but once i started travelling on business by myself about 10 years ago, now it is a breeze. i often will do a day at WDW solo if i am in town on busienss or something. it is awkward sometimes, in fact i was in line for soarin once by myself and this family kept looking at me and finally asked if i was alone, i said yes and they seemed impressed. lol. it is fun to go your own pace. although while watching WISHES, i got a bit lonely and had to call my sis to let her listen in. now that i have a toddler, i cherish those moments alone, you know where i can shop for a bit in a store on main st, without worrying about him trying to pull everything off the shelves.

I think my problem is that I like to talk, but I'm not one to strike up a conversation with strangers. So I went such a long time without talking to anyone that I was starting to go crazy! lol Although you are right, it's nice to go at your own pace for awhile and do what you want to do, even if that means riding the teacups until you puke. Oh my goodness, though, you are so right about shopping!! I don't have to have kids to know what a relief that must be to shop alone for awhile!!

 

[khertz]

I forgot to mention something when I was wrapping up Friday, the day our parents left Disney! Remember that my parents had left the van parked at the Contemporary parking lot and I was worried about it getting towed?? Although it did NOT get towed, my dad told DH to tell me that the reason it took so long for them to drop him off at the TTC to meet me was because the van had gotten towed and they had to go get it from the impound lot! So all was well, although I wouldn't recommend the stress of leaving your vehicle parked there and not knowing that it will be there when you get back!!

So when I left off, DH and I had just finished up our last day in Universal Orlando and gone to church, then had dinner at Chick-Fil-A and saw Pop Warner busses leaving. Now that our bellies were full, we hopped back in the PT Cruiser and started navigating our way to the Winter Summerland Miniature Golf course.

We both LOVE mini-golf, and I have always wanted to play in Disney, but we had never found the time. Even this time, I was saying we should just go back to the resort and go to sleep because I was so tired. But we pushed on, and I was very happy we did because we ended up having a BLAST!

We went up to the counter to pay for our round and get our golf balls and clubs. We decided to do the Snow Course verses the Sand even though the Sand side had less wait. I had originally wanted to do both, but let's face it, we were lucky if we made it through one side with how tired we were! lol Plus, the Snow course seemed more appropriate since we were there for all of the Christmas decorations.

This is going to be a mostly picture update because how much can I really tell you about us playing mini-golf?!

Your snacks pop up when your ball rolls under the ice chest!

Poor Santa...not a very good skier!

I love the Snow castle!! I wanted a picture of the Sand castle, but we couldn't get to a good spot to get one.

This guy got us both with water more than once!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

DH spotted Donald, so of course, we needed a picture!

You can see the water on my pants from that dang snowman!!

Our score card. We tied!! Check out DH's three Hole-In-One scores! It was the only way he was able to catch up with me...I was kicking his butt at first!

Our souvenir golf balls.

Before we left, I wanted my picture with Santa Claus.

But DH said it was boring just having me standing there in front of Santa. So...

...I posed. But DH still was not impressed.

So I tried to eat Santa's fish!

Then DH wanted HIS picture with Santa.

And he was just as boring as I had been.

So he gave Santa a high five!

One of just Santa

We started out the the car. By that time, it was about 9:15 pm. I spotted something moving in the bushes along the path. It was a cute little bunny!

We got in the car and made our way back to Bonnet Creek. I was so glad that DH had not listened to my whining and let us miss out on such a fun night. We laughed so much & had a great night together. While we were playing, I forgot how tired I was because I was having so much fun!

But I had NO trouble falling asleep when we got back to the resort, that's for sure. It caught up with me as soon as my head hit the pillow. That was okay though because we had an early morning ahead of us!!

UP NEXT: Keys to the Kingdom Tour

 

[disneybarbie]

looks like you had fun at Winter Summerland!

we went there last July - but it was in the afternoon, bright sunshine & about 95 degrees.. it made the holiday decorations & music seem a bit surreal!

Love Disney mini golf courses though - I only just 'discovered' them last year! nice way to spend an hour or so & I like the souvenir golf ball!


KTTK tomorrow!!

Emma x

 

[praisehisname]

That golf course looks really fun! I'll have to plan time to try it out next trip.

 

[skier_pete]

Those mini-golf courses look fun. Our family loves mini-golf...but we haven't been on a Disney Trip yet...I've avoided them because DD would want to go ALL the TIME...and they are so inconvienent to get to. Someday!

By the way...check out my new TR! Link is in my Signature! (I couldn't update the old one with it...the moderators locked my old TR!)

 

[ag98]

Well, I'm caught up with you now!

Love your TR! We are going a similar time this year 12/4-12/11.

I have a couple of questions thus far:

1. Where is this secret entrance to US from IOA? We too are going to spend a couple of days at Universal this trip.

2. Do you know the name of that app your DH has on his iphone for wait times? There are a few out there but I want to be sure to get a good one.

3. Do you think touring plans was worth it? Were they accurate? Do they also do Universal or just WDW?

4. I've heard frontier land is the best place (well in front of LTT) is the best place for parades, but I'd be afraid we would be too far away from the castle for fireworks. Did your parents say anything about this?

5. How early did you get to Main street to get your places for the parades and fireworks? We will have DD(5) and a stroller so we won't be as flexible as you two were about our space.

THANKS! Loving the TR!

 

[khertz]

looks like you had fun at Winter Summerland!

we went there last July - but it was in the afternoon, bright sunshine & about 95 degrees.. it made the holiday decorations & music seem a bit surreal!

Love Disney mini golf courses though - I only just 'discovered' them last year! nice way to spend an hour or so & I like the souvenir golf ball!


KTTK tomorrow!!

Emma x

We had a blast at mini-golf! I just wish we'd had more energy to do both courses because the Sand side looked fun too. Now that I have experienced it once, it won't be so easy for me to push it to the back burner in favor of something else!

I'm about to start working on the KTTK posts!

That golf course looks really fun! I'll have to plan time to try it out next trip.

Definitely give it a try! It's so cute, and lots of fun. And since we were there in a sort of off season and went later in the evening, it wasn't crowded at all. The only reason we ever really had to wait for the next hole was because the group in front of us was a group of 4 and it was just the 2 of us so of course we moved faster than they did. But that gave us plenty of time to take all those pictures!

Those mini-golf courses look fun. Our family loves mini-golf...but we haven't been on a Disney Trip yet...I've avoided them because DD would want to go ALL the TIME...and they are so inconvienent to get to. Someday!

By the way...check out my new TR! Link is in my Signature! (I couldn't update the old one with it...the moderators locked my old TR!)

I can see where you may want to wait a few years before giving it a try! I love mini-golf, so I can't blame your DD if she wanted to be there all day every day while in Disney!! We had no problems getting to it by car, but I can see where taking the busses would be a pain. Hopefully you get to try it out someday!

Well, I'm caught up with you now!

Love your TR! We are going a similar time this year 12/4-12/11.

It is SUCH a great time to go, you'll love it!!

I have a couple of questions thus far:

1. Where is this secret entrance to US from IOA? We too are going to spend a couple of days at Universal this trip.

It's not really a secret entrance, I guess, we are just silly and called it that because we had no idea it was there. But basically, if you are walking towards Universal from Islands of Adventure, there is a little path to your left at the point where you can see most of the Rip Ride Rockit. It doesn't look like there is anything down there, so I guess most people just walk on past it, but there is a little stand there where they can scan your park ticket and let you in.

2. Do you know the name of that app your DH has on his iphone for wait times? There are a few out there but I want to be sure to get a good one.

At the time, we used the Lines app by touringplans.com because it was free. However, we found it to be an excellent tool to help us navigate the parks and decide what to do next, so even though you now have to pay for it, I would still recommend it. Were we going again this year, we'd pay for the service in a heartbeat. Not only because you can see what is going on in the park you are in, but if you are planning to hop, you can check out the wait times at the other parks to give you an idea of the best place to go. And it gives you their crowd calendar for the next 10 days. Great app!

3. Do you think touring plans was worth it? Were they accurate? Do they also do Universal or just WDW?

We used a lot of what TP had to offer. I read the Unofficial Guide cover to cover, and their website had some great touring plans that you can print out to bring to the parks. Most days we found we didn't need to use it because their recommended Best Park almost always had low wait times. But it was a good tool to have regardless. I don't remember if they had Universal touring plans on their website, but there are definitely some in the book. Although at the time you are going, I doubt you will need them. We walked on to EVERYTHING at Universal (except Rip Ride Rockit).

4. I've heard frontier land is the best place (well in front of LTT) is the best place for parades, but I'd be afraid we would be too far away from the castle for fireworks. Did your parents say anything about this?

They enjoyed watching the parade from there, and said they had great viewing. But, it probably is not the best place to see Wishes. I would try to move to Main Street after the parade is over. It should not be too hard because you should be moving with the flow of people trying to leave the park after the parade.

5. How early did you get to Main street to get your places for the parades and fireworks? We will have DD(5) and a stroller so we won't be as flexible as you two were about our space.

DH and I found our spot 30 minutes before the parade was scheduled to start, and it took another 10 minutes for the parade to actually reach us. Then we just stayed on Main Street shopping until the fireworks so we wouldn't have a hard time getting back to a good spot. But if you have a stroller and all, you may want to consider getting a spot closer to an hour beforehand. We were lucky to walk up and find a spot behind a family that we could see over easily, but with a stroller it would be better for you to have a spot on the curb.

THANKS! Loving the TR!

Hope that helps!! Thanks for reading.

 

[khertz]

DAY 10: Sunday, December 13th

Our last full day in Disney World (*tear*) started bright and early. I was so excited about this day, not only because of the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, but also because we would be getting into the Magic Kingdom before opening! So after eating a quick breakfast in the room, we jumped into the car and left Bonnet Creek for 7:45 am. I think we had been hoping to leave a little earlier, but we were dragging a bit.

I was also a bit excited to be riding in the front seat, because I was finally able to snap this picture.

We parked the car and took the monorail to the MK entrance, and we were through the turnstiles and into the park by 8:15 am. Our tour was for 8:30, so at that point, I was getting a little huffy because I had hoped to have more time to wander Main Street. DH snapped these pictures while we made our way to City Hall to check in for the tour.

We got our pins and chose our lunch (we both picked the fish & chicken basket), and had a little less than ten minutes to run to the castle to get our pictures taken before we had to go back to meet the group.

There were PhotoPass photographers out in front of the castle, and the tree. We didn't have time to take pictures with both, so we opted for the ones in front of the castle. Which turned out to be good because the girl taking the pictures in front of the tree said something like, "Oh good, they're passing me up...they're New Orleans Saints fans!" lol We were all decked out in our Saints gear (as were a couple other people on the tour) because it was GAME DAY!

After taking our pictures, I started hustling back down Main Street and yelling at DH to hurry up or we'd be late. He was much more laid back about the whole thing, and just kept taking pictures (which at the time was making me more annoyed, but I'm now happy he did!).

We made it back to the tour garden to meet up with the group, and DH was continuing to annoy me by taking pictures of me snapping at him to stop taking my picture! I promised I'd post at least one. lol

I picked this one because there is disneybarbie & her sister behind me!

Turns out I could have stopped freaking out because it was another 5 minutes or so before the tour guide even came out get us started. So in the meantime DH got a few more pictures.

Our Guest passes

Around 8:35, our tour got started. Our tour guide was Evelyn, who gave us some background on herself before we started moving. She had started out at Disney as part of the international college program, met her husband there (he still works at Disney too!), got married, and has been working at Disney for 10 years.

The first part of our tour was on Main Street, where she gave us the back stories on the "credits" on the windows on the buildings, and some information on the structures.

Roy O. Disney's window

We stopped at one of the little side areas on Main Street where we were supposed to get a chance to sit, but the chairs were still wet from being hosed off that morning! Here Evelyn explained to us the 4 Keys to the Kingdom and some other information on the park and how it was designed.

Then we stopped to see Walt's Window!

At this point the park was open, so we were kind of smack in the middle of the mad rush to Dumbo and the mountains, but it was ok. We stopped at the hub for a bit and got some good pictures.

We crossed the bridge into Adventureland first where she pointed out a lot of little details and intricacies that were put into the park that I had NEVER noticed before! It was pretty cool, but I don't want to spoil too much.

We rode the Jungle Cruise without the spiel so that Evelyn could give us facts and secrets about the ride.

Kitty prints (and hopefully some chocolate?) in the cement!

Next we went to Frontierland, for our first trip backstage! On the way, we saw Woody & Jessie.

Backstage we saw the trash system, and the warehouse where the parade floats are stored. And we may have seen a certain cowboy without an important uppermost part of his anatomy!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

We went back onstage to Liberty Square which is just bursting with little hidden details!

After seeing Liberty Square in a whole new way, it was time to stop at Columbia Harbour House for lunch.

We had a section of the top floor roped off for just us with our own condiment station. Our lunches were already set out and ready for us, along with the pins we received as part of the tour. DH and I were actually at a table by ourselves.

Lunch was delicious! We had about 30 minutes to eat and relax before the tour resumed with my favorite part, riding Haunted Mansion! We got to enter through the Servant's Quarters, which was so cool! It's kind of crazy how much detail they have for an area that is hardly ever seen by guests! For this part, we had to turn our headsets off, so Evelyn had given us lots of tips and things to look for while going through the ride. I found so many new things, even though I have ridden this ride so many times!

After the ride, she gave us more trivia, and answered some questions I have wondered about for a LONG time! That ride is so much more complex than I thought!

The last part of the tour was going down into the utilidors, which was VERY cool, but a little less exciting than I thought it would be. We didn't see a whole lot under there, but it was cool nonetheless. While backstage, we also got some interesting information about Tinkerbell's flight before Wishes!

We finished up on Main Street with a tear-inducing story about Walt Disney, the Partners statue, and the Roy Disney & Minnie statue. It was a great way to end a great tour!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this tour! Even though a lot of the information is available on the Dis, and I knew a bit of the things Evelyn told us, there was just as much information that was totally new to me. It was great seeing two classic rides sort of "behind the scenes," and of course, going backstage was an awesome experience. DH and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, and I'd like to do it again someday.

The tour ended around 1:40, and our plan was to go to Animal Kingdom that afternoon for a last ride on Everest. But we decided since it wasn't too late, we'd stay in MK for awhile. As we were walking back up Main Street toward the hub trying to decide what to do first, a guy handed us two FPs for Space Mountain! We had been debating FP'ing that or Big Thunder, so we were able to have FPs for both! I love Pixie Dust.

After grabbing our FPs for Thunder Mountain, we went to Fantasyland to ride Snow White, because we hadn't ridden it yet, and I have to ride it at least once!

There were some sax players playing Disney songs for us while we waited in line, and they had the whole line of people singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! It was a great way to pass the time in an otherwise boring line.

After our Scary Adventure, we headed into Toontown to look around in their big store, but didn't see anything we wanted to buy. And we took one more walk through Mickey's house, since DH hadn't been with me a couple days before when I went through it. So sad that will be gone next time we go to Disney. :-(

We crossed the park to use our Big Thunder Mountain fastpasses, then backtracked to Tomorrowland and used our FPs for Space Mountain.

And then I guess because we enjoyed crisscrossing the park that day, we went back to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain, which had hardly any wait.

On the way, we caught a PP photographer at our favorite angle of the Castle, so of course we had to stop!

Look how blue that sky is!!

DH was satisfied with this ride on Splash, because he always gets soaked when the logs stop next to the big drop and the water cannons hit us, but they just BARELY missed us this time!!

We realized we could use our Disney Visa points at the Splash Mountain exit store, so I looked around for a good souvenir from my favorite ride, and ended up getting this shirt...

There was a PP photographer out on the bridge in front of Splash, so of course we had to stop...it's my favorite ride after all!!

After our wet ride on Splash Mountain, we were starting to get hungry after such an early lunch. We ate at Pecos Bill's around 4:30, which really hit the spot.

We decided to check out Donald's Tree Farm to see if we could catch Woodsman Donald out, since we had been seeing Scrooge all day when we passed.

He was out! So we hopped in line and hoped they wouldn't swap characters out before it was our turn for pictures. Luckily, he stayed out!

Donald absolutely LOVED DH's shirt! Of course, because it had Donald himself on it Donald made a heart symbol with his hands and pointed to himself on the shirt. It was so cute!!

It was getting so late, and we were having so much fun in MK that we decided to skip going to Animal Kingdom and just stay there for the rest of the day. The park was closing early because of a party, but we didn't really mind.

So after meeting Donald for the 5th and last time, we went back to the castle to watch the castle stage show, Dream Along With Mickey!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

The show was really cute! We were both a little thrown off by the characters' mouths and eyes moving, and it was weird getting pictures of the characters with their eyes closed! But we got used to it, and ended up really enjoying it. Of course, it didn't hurt that it was a lot of Donald Duck. lol

After the show, we went up to the Chapeau on Main Street to order a pair of Mickey ears for my Aunt Kelly's godson Austin that she had asked me to get.

I miss when they used to have a person actually moving the hat through the embroider machine to embroider the name instead of using a computer. But we ordered the ears and were told it'd be about 20 minutes. We stepped outside the hat shop just as the Move It Shake It Celebrate It Street Party was starting, so we caught a few minutes of that.

We looked around the Emporium one more time before it was time to pick up the finished ears, which came out so cute! We made our way after up to the hub to find a spot for the Castle Lighting Ceremony, and caught the end of MiSiCi again.

Then it was time to light the castle!

I was SO glad we had decided to stay in MK for our last night to see this!! It was so incredible to watch the Castle light up piece by piece with the characters helping. It was a beautiful sight, and one of my favorite things of the trip!!

After that, it was time to say goodbye to Magic Kingdom because the party was about to start...

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

But on the way out, we hit up every Photopass photographer we could find!

We hopped on the resort monorail, because I was determined that I was going to see the Grand Floridian! And since my plans had been foiled on the first day, this was really our last chance to check it out.

The gingerbread house was AMAZING!!

The tree was pretty incredible too, all lit up. Disney has some amazing Christmas trees!

We saw a Photopass photographer taking pictures in front of the tree, and thought maybe it was one of the photo sessions going on. But then the family that was taking their pictures grabbed their card and left, and the photographer was still standing there waiting. So we decided to get a couple of shots in front of the tree as well.

We caught the monorail back to the TTC and made our way to the car with heavy feet. Not only were we exhausted from a long day...it was time to pack!

UP NEXT: Last day. :-(

 

[praisehisname]

Great update! Question: Your title says "Saturday, December 13" but the 13th was Sunday. I'm asking because we were at DHS on Saturday and MK on Sunday. I looked for myself in your pics, but didn't see me...

I love, love, love the Splash shirt you got!!!

 

[disneybarbie]

Aww wow the KTTK Tour!!

Lol I look very thoughtful in the photo!!
It's cool to see the tour again in different photos

Your whole day looks wonderful - lovely to see MK as the sun was setting.

I just remembered that when we were backstage, we saw a couple of Jungle Cruise skippers dancing along to the MiSiCi parade, that was out on Main Street!

Emma x

 

[khertz]

Great update! Question: Your title says "Saturday, December 13" but the 13th was Sunday. I'm asking because we were at DHS on Saturday and MK on Sunday. I looked for myself in your pics, but didn't see me...

I love, love, love the Splash shirt you got!!!

You are SO right!! It was Sunday. I don't know why I keep getting those days mixed up!!

I had looked for myself in your pictures from this day and didn't see myself. Wasn't this the day you saw Penn Jillette?? I think we might have been on opposite sides of the park most of the day because of the tour.

I love the shirt too, and I usually don't find shirts that I like in Disney, but this year I found a bunch!!

Aww wow the KTTK Tour!!

Lol I look very thoughtful in the photo!!
It's cool to see the tour again in different photos

Your whole day looks wonderful - lovely to see MK as the sun was setting.

I just remembered that when we were backstage, we saw a couple of Jungle Cruise skippers dancing along to the MiSiCi parade, that was out on Main Street!

Emma x

I remember that! I had forgotten to put it in my notes, I guess because we were backstage and I couldn't take out the iPhone at the time. But that was such a great moment to see the CMs having a good time backstage!

 

[skier_pete]

Wow, what an awesome last day. It was so cool that you and DH got some alone time.

KTTK tour does sound pretty awesome. We will do that someday when DD is older. I like that you didn't really spoil too much in your notes...that would be my greatest worry taking the tour is that I would already know everything that they tell me.

We are going to do our first tour in October...but this will be the "Family Magic" Tour. I don't think it is particularly informative, but more about fun, almost like a scavenger hunt and more designed for the kids. DD is super into Peter Pan, and supposedly he comes out at the end and greets everyone, so that right there will be worth the cost of admission!

 

[dhertz]

We parked the car and took the monorail to the MK entrance, and we were through the turnstiles and into the park by 8:15 am. Our tour was for 8:30, so at that point, I was getting a little huffy because I had hoped to have more time to wander Main Street. DH snapped these pictures while we made our way to City Hall to check in for the tour.

A little huffy?! You weren't even talking to me when we were walking back from the castle except to tell me to hurry up.

I remember thinking when Evelyn walked out with her riding crop, "What the heck is going on here and what kind of tour did you sign us up for?"