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

[praisehisname]

Love all the animal pictures you got, especially the sleeping flamingos!!!

Denise

 

[khertz]

Love all the animal pictures you got, especially the sleeping flamingos!!!

Denise

I need to remember to forward those pictures on to DH's grandmother in Seattle...she LOVES flamingos! We loves taking the time to sit and watch the animals this time. We kind of did on our honeymoon, but not as much.

 

[ladybugmom]

Love the Stitch PP pics!! CUTE!! And your pics of AK are wonderful!! We just love FOTLK!! It was one of my favorite shows! The singers are incredible--and the music is fabulous!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[khertz]

When I left off, we had just been let out of the Festival of the Lion King show in Camp Minnie-Mickey. We were hesitant to stay in the area to meet characters right after a show had ended because we thought it would be swarmed with people, but it actually turned out to not be a big rush of people at all! Just to be safe, we hopped into Mickey's line first, since I figured if anyone's line got long, it would be the line for the most famous Mouse in WDW!

Mickey's Tree

(I used this picture for our Christmas card this year!)

After Mickey, our next priority was Donald, since he's DH's favorite! I was disappointed that Donald wasn't in something more Christmas-y, but I was still excited to get another picture with him.

Donald's Tree

After taking a couple of shots, I leaned close to Donald and told him, "You know, you're my husband's favorite!" After some hand gesturing, I got came away with this picture, which is probably one of my favorite shots from the entire trip:

Up next, we decided to hop in line for Goofy.

Goofy's Tree

Unfortunately, Goofy wasn't so great. He had been very fun and playful with other families, but just as we got up for our turn, he went to the back for a treat and came back much more subdued.

Last but not least was the very pretty Minnie Mouse!

Minnie's Tree

The pretty decorations in Minnie's hut. My favorite color, PINK!

They had these hand sanitizer things (complete with Mickey hand!) at all the huts...DH thought they were funny.

Chip & Dale, and Thumper and his girlfriend (is her name really just Ms. Bunny??) were also out for meet & greets, but we decided not to get in their lines. Instead, we decided to wander around the area and snap pictures of the different character trees while trying to figure out whose they were. Most were easy, but a few had us stumped. Maybe some of y'all can figure them out?!

Lilo's Tree

Stitch's Tree

Not sure, although this one may just be a generic tree!

Continued in next post...

 

[ladybugmom]

GREAT character pics!! I LOVE how they are all dressed up for Christmas!! Adorable!! And their trees are sooo cute!!

 

[khertz]

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We were pretty sure this one was Mulan's tree until we saw...

...this one! Maybe one is Mulan & one is Mushu??

Another shot of Donald's tree

A Bug's Life Tree

Nemo Tree!

Yes, we had to "find Nemo" on the tree!

Simba's Tree

Not sure

Pluto's Tree

Chip & Dale's Tree

Once we finished poking around Camp Minnie-Mickey, we decided we were ready for some more "aminals." So we headed toward Discovery Island, then made a quick left to Africa.

How nice that Disney decided to move those continents to central Florida so that it's only a short walk away! lol

Pretty shot of Everest over there in Asia.

I made DH take a picture of the sign because I knew I'd never remember what these animals were called. I only remember the CM saying they were related to the giraffe and not to the zebra, they just borrowed the zebra's pants!

Now I remember, they are Okapi!

Some pretty green birdies up in the trees

As my mom would say, "FISH!" (Kind of a funny OT story that I hope she won't mind me telling...My dad brought home this motivational-how-to-work-as-a-team movie they had showed at work about the guys who work at the fish market in Seattle where they throw the fish. He made us all watch that movie about a dozen times! When the guys throw the fish, they yell out "Goin' to Montana!" One day in the grocery store, my mom picked up some fish to pretend she was going to throw it to my dad, only couldn't remember what they said, so she just yelled, "FISH!")

One of about a dozen more pictures of ducks that DH took!

Pretty waterfall. One of the many reasons I just love this park. It's so PRETTY!

Next we came up on the hippo pool. There were two hippos (and a TON of ducks!) in there going after each other for a good long time. I have no idea if they were fighting or mating, but it was pretty entertaining to watch. I'll let you be the judge.

Looks to me like they need to see a dentist!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Whatever those other hippos were doing, looks like this one lost!

Off to the next animal, and DH's favorite...the MEERKAT!

The meerkats' hidey-holes.

Some buzzards, I think

I think he caught DH's scent here.

Yep now he's scanning the crowd, looking for DH!

"Dustin, I missed you! Why haven't you visited me since 2007?! Is that wife of yours keeping you from me?!?!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what he was saying. lol

Poor Pumbaa...

Next we went over to the gorillas...

Apparently it was naptime for the lady gorillas.

1 sleepy gorilla...

...2 sleepy gorillas...

...3 sleepy gorillas!

Luckily the male gorillas were a little more active.

He looks like he doesn't want to be caught doing...well, whatever it is he's doing!

Hey look, another sign! In case you haven't noticed yet, I wanted pictures of almost every sign! lol

And one more not so sleepy gorilla...this one was actually pretty mischievous! I saw it snatch a little girl's hat and try to put it on, and it even grabbed the same little girl's autograph book and tried to scribble on it! Luckily, the little girl took it in stride and laughed.

UP NEXT: Looking for some tigers in Asia!

 

[khertz]

Love the Stitch PP pics!! CUTE!! And your pics of AK are wonderful!! We just love FOTLK!! It was one of my favorite shows! The singers are incredible--and the music is fabulous!! Can't wait to read more!

GREAT character pics!! I LOVE how they are all dressed up for Christmas!! Adorable!! And their trees are sooo cute!!

Thanks. I love FOTLK too! I'm a big Cirque du Soleil fan, and this show reminds me of that with all of the different acts going on. Plus, I just LOVE the music! Lion King ties with Little Mermaid for the Disney movie with the best songs for me!

We loved exploring Camp Minnie-Mickey for the holidays! The trees were just adorable, and we loved trying to figure out who each tree belonged too. Plus, meeting all the characters in their Christmas outfits was great!

 

[skier_pete]

Great pix!

I am going to say that your "unknown" tree in the last set is a tree for the "Country Bear Jamboree" The Washboard, moonshine jug, and fiddle are all instruments that are in that show. There also looks like a small bear on there.

 

[praisehisname]

Yeah, what was up with Donald's outfit??? Everyone else got Christmasy stuff, why didn't he?

Not sure

Could it be the Country Bears? The washboards are what make me think that.

Denise

 

[khertz]

Great pix!

I am going to say that your "unknown" tree in the last set is a tree for the "Country Bear Jamboree" The Washboard, moonshine jug, and fiddle are all instruments that are in that show. There also looks like a small bear on there.

Yeah, what was up with Donald's outfit??? Everyone else got Christmasy stuff, why didn't he?




Could it be the Country Bears? The washboards are what make me think that.

Denise

Good guess! It probably is the Country Bears. I think DH and I tossed that out as a guess, along with Brother Bear, but the washboards probably don't go with BB (never seen the movie).

I was disappointed in Donald's outfit. At first I thought he didn't have ANYTHING Christmas on, but then I noticed the little piece of garland wrapped around his hat. Lame!

 

[exwdwcm]

ok, i'll have to finish catching up thsi weekend, but just read all the HS day- you guys got SO MUCH accomplished!!!! love that you were first in line for TSM!!! that is so cool. can't wait to read the rest and loving all the great photos.

 

[khertz]

Oh man, it was an exciting night last night!!! I think I was in too much shock, but it's still true this morning...

THE SAINTS ARE SUPERBOWL CHAMPIONS!!!!

Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!??!?!

BLESS YOU BOYS!!





​

The only place I would rather be than New Orleans today is in the Magic Kingdom to see the Superbowl MVP DREW BREES in the parade!!!

Real post coming up later.

 

[exwdwcm]

loving all the updates- you got some amazing hippo pics! you guys also have so many great family pics and PP pics!

 

[khertz]

ok, i'll have to finish catching up thsi weekend, but just read all the HS day- you guys got SO MUCH accomplished!!!! love that you were first in line for TSM!!! that is so cool. can't wait to read the rest and loving all the great photos.

loving all the updates- you got some amazing hippo pics! you guys also have so many great family pics and PP pics!

Being first in line for TSM was probably the best moment of the whole trip! I had obsessed over strategies for riding/getting fastpasses, but being first in line never crossed my mind. It was amazing!

We were happy with the fact that we allotted so much time to be able to stay and watch the animals, not just snap a pic and keep going. I appreciated AK so much more on this trip than previous trips when we just rode the rides, saw a show, and moved on to another park.

 

[khertz]

Last post, we had just finished up on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and got our pictures taken with Terk. We left Africa, and crossed the park to Asia to check out the animals on the Maharajah Jungle Trek!

We stopped along the way to watch some monkeys playing on their giant jungle gym. It looked like they were having a great time!

Then it was time to enter the jungle on our hunt for some more animals.

First up was a Komodo Dragon catching some sun.

Then, my FAVORITE big cats, the Tigers!

Unfortunately, the tigers weren't all that active. They were mostly lounging or pacing in the shade. I don't blame them, it was a pretty warm day.

I like the other trail because it has SO many interesting animals, but I love the themeing of this trail with all of the ruins. So gorgeous!

Next up was a pool of ducks that DH really enjoyed! He spent a lot of time trying to get the perfect shot of this Mandarin duck.

More ducks!

By that point, it was time to start heading towards the front of the park to meet up with our parents and drive over to MK for the Christmas Party that night. But we still had some time, so we decided to check if there were any more character spots that we could hit up along the way, and found one! So we detoured off to spend some time with our friends from the Hundred Acre Wood.

The CM at the entrance said there was no wait to meet Pooh & Friends, so we hurried down the walkway. Normally, I'm not gung-ho over Winnie the Pooh, but I figured if we had time and they had no wait, why not? Plus, they were all in their cute Christmas gear.

Unfortunately, just as we got to the front of the line for our meet & greet, the characters had to go grab a quick "snack," so we ended up with a short wait anyway.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Finally, they came back out! First up was Winnie the Pooh.

Pooh Bear's Christmas Tree

Next was Eeyore.

And finally...Tigger!

Tigger's Christmas Tree

I'm sure Eeyore had a tree too, but I guess we missed getting a picture of that.

As we exited the Character greeting location, we ran smack into the end of the Jingle Jungle Parade. I was disappointed that we had missed it, but at least I got a pic of my favorite Mouse!

We got up to the front of the park and met up with our parents to get in the van and hop over to the Magic Kingdom for MVMCP! My parents ended up deciding to go back to the resort and nap before coming back to the park closer to party time so that they would be able to make it until the end of the party. So they dropped us off at the TTC and we made plans to meet up later. I had wanted to get into the park for 4 pm when they start letting in people with party tickets, but we ended up getting there closer to 5 pm. Still not bad. We had 7 hours of MVMCP time ahead of us!

The MVMCP sign at the TTC.

We were so excited to be getting in that we forgot to take pictures at the turnstiles! So these are from another night, which is why it's so dark outside in them.

We got our wristbands and headed into the park, passing under this as we made our way under the train station:

Once we stepped onto Main Street, I was VERY excited to see that the park had been transformed overnight! Since the night before, the Christmas Tree was now up, as were the garlands and wreaths across Main Street!

I think we must have stood on Main Street just taking pictures forever, taking it all in. I couldn't believe how different the park felt, finally seeing it how I had been picturing it all this time. <3

The first thing we wanted to do was get some food so that from then on out, we could focus on the rides, the parade, and Holiday Wishes without our tummies rumbling. DMIL decided she wanted pizza, and that sounded good to the rest of us, so we took the path from Liberty Square to Fantasyland towards Pinocchio's Village Haus.

I love this view of the Castle!

Cinderella's Fountain

We got inside, and all got pizzas for dinner. DMIL, DFIL, and DH all had pepperoni and I had cheese. They were very good, and really hit the spot. I snapped some pictures of the murals on the walls while we ate.

Now that our bellies were full, we pulled out our party maps to decide what to do first!

UP NEXT: More MVMCP

 

[disneybarbie]

Aww I love Pooh & friends' holiday outfits! We saw Pooh & Eeyore at MVMCP but they just had scarves on

Emma x

ps - we woke up this morning to find out that overnight the Saints won the Superbowl... you guys must be soooo happy!!! x

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY on the Saints win!! I know you must be thrilled!!

I just LOVE the Christmas outfits on Pooh & friends--sooo cute!! Your PP pics in MK are beautiful! Can't wait to hear about MVMCP!!

 

[khertz]

Aww I love Pooh & friends' holiday outfits! We saw Pooh & Eeyore at MVMCP but they just had scarves on

Emma x

ps - we woke up this morning to find out that overnight the Saints won the Superbowl... you guys must be soooo happy!!! x

We are ECSTATIC!!! I just switched around my work schedule so I can drive to New Orleans tomorrow night for the Saints Victory Parade!! My aunt was lucky enough to get to actually go to the game. Her group of season ticket holders won tickets to the Superbowl! Crazy!