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

[khertz]

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!!

Thrilled does not even describe it!! I'm hopefully going to the Saints Victory Parade in NOLA tomorrow...keeping my fingers crossed it works out!!

Thanks for the compliments on the pics. The next few posts (which I'll hopefully get to at the end of the week) will be jam-packed with MVMCP goodness!!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Today I am finally getting caught up on all my reading. Another great update We watched the Super Bowl on the plane on the way home from Disney....we were very happy the Saints won!! With all that the state has been through, it was wonderful to see them win!!!

 

[khertz]

Today I am finally getting caught up on all my reading. Another great update We watched the Super Bowl on the plane on the way home from Disney....we were very happy the Saints won!! With all that the state has been through, it was wonderful to see them win!!!

How awesome that they showed the Super Bowl on the plane!! And I agree, this has been a long time coming for Louisiana. I saw someone (an Indianapolis fan) post on facebook that maybe now with the Saints winning, the people of New Orleans can "get over Katrina." Oooh, stuff like that burns me up!! But I'm still happy over the win, and froze my booty off Tuesday night at the Saints Victory Parade (aka Lombardi Gras!!) in NOLA! It was great welcoming our boys back home and seeing Sean Payton fist pumping the trophy for all the fans to see!!

 

[khertz]

After the four of us had stuffed ourselves with some yummy pizza from Pinocchio's, we decided to head to Tomorrowland to check on the wait time for Space Mountain and do the other rides there. On our way, we passed Donald's Tree Farm and saw $crooge McDuck, so we stopped for an autograph and a picture with Donald's famous Uncle!

They made an announcement while we were in line that Donald would be coming out soon, and I asked DH if he wanted to wait in line again to meet him, but he said we could get to the rides and check back for Donald later. So we continued on our way to Tomorrowland!

The wait for Space was something ridiculous like 40 or 50 minutes, so we decided to help defend the galaxy from the evil Emperor Zurg with Buzz Lightyear instead.

After DH beat the crud out of me in points (I can never see where I am shooting! ), we relaxed on a turn around the Carousel of Progress! I know some people think this is a boring attraction, but it's a MUST DO for me! I love it, especially the song! I don't mind having it stuck in my head, unlike another Disney staple song, but we're not there yet.

Next, we took a leisurely spin on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and I, like most, missed the old commentary from the ride before the refurb. But it was still nice to continue being off our feet after a long morning at AK. While on the TTA, we noticed the wait time for Space Mountain had decreased dramatically since our last check. I think it had probably been down prior to that 40 minute wait time we had seen earlier. So we made that our next stop. The wait said 20 minutes I think, but we waited maybe 10. We got to see the new games and stuff they put in the queue, but didn't take time to stop and check them out. We wanted to get on the ride!

I didn't notice much different about the "new" Space Mountain except that the seats were more cushioned and they took our picture...And maybe it was a little darker? I have always loved this ride anyway, so it was still FUN!

At that point, my parents called and said they were in the park, so DH and I went to the bridge to the hub from Tomorrowland to meet up with them while DMIL and DFIL went on Stitch's Great Escape (love Stitch, but NEVER feel the need to do that attraction again!).

Once the 6 of us were together again, we decided to take on Fantasyland, since it was now officially party time and the crowds had gone down. First order of business was The Mad Tea Party, one of DH's favorites.

(I got these on a later day which is why it looks sunny!)

I agreed to ride with DH in his teacup only if he didn't spin excessively, which he is notorious for...just check out the intensity!

After a few seconds of crazy spinning, I told him he'd better relax or I'd be reliving my pizza from earlier in a most unpleasant way.

Luckily, he listened! After that, the ride wasn't so bad, and DH was obviously still enjoying himself...

The Kathys were not brave enough to ride in the same teacup as DH, so they opted for their own, while the dads sat out entirely.

I love this shot!

After getting our heads back on straight following all that spinning, we decided to visit our Hundred Acre Wood friends again.

We decided we were ready for some cookies & cocoa, so we made a stop into Pinocchio's again for our free treats.

The cookies were really good! I ate mine, and one of Kathy's since her and Jamie had gotten 2 each for their anniversary pins. The cocoa was good too, but it would have been better on one of our cold nights.

After enjoying our treats, we went to Mickey's PhilharMagic! This is definitely my FAVORITE 3-D show in Disney! I love the songs, and the scenes from all the different movies that I grew up on. And of course, DH likes that it's all about his favorite duck, Donald!

We stopped in the gift shop to try and find DH a good Donald shirt, but they didn't have much of a selection. All we ended up getting there was a couple pictures.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

After finishing up at PhilharMagic, we decided to go on It's a Small World. My dad tried to sit out, because he really HATES this ride, but through our powers of persuasion, my mom and I convinced him that one time on the ride wouldn't kill him, and we wouldn't have to ride again. So off we went on the happiest cruise that ever sailed!

I was begging DH to take pictures with the low light lens, but he refused after a couple, saying he in no way wanted to relive this ride ever. lol So my mom decided to take some pictures for me, but she went a little overboard! I present to you, an ENTIRE POST of It's a Small World!

(Love those Fleur de Lis! WHO DAT!!)

My heritage, the Italians!

Just as we were nearing the end of the ride...our boat bumped into the one in front of us. Then the one behind us bumped into the back of us. And just like that...we were STUCK!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

At this point, I whipped out my phone to update my facebook status with "my dad's worst nightmare just came true...we're stuck on it's a small world! lol"

Then he said he was going to kill my mom for convincing him to go this godforsaken ride!

(DH is at a class in Houston, so we are chatting right now while he's at lunch...when I told him about the Small World post, he said I was going to lose all my readers with a post like that! No love for Small World!!)

Luckily, we made it off the boat with no real injuries! It was an experience, I'll say that.

We still had time before I wanted to grab a spot on Main Street for Holiday Wishes and the second parade, so we went over to Liberty Square for a ride on the Haunted Mansion. I love riding this at night! I'll admit, it still creeps me out a little, though!

We headed down to Main Street to stake out our spot for Holiday Wishes!! I was about to burst with excitement at this point, especially when this is what you round a corner to see:

We got our spot in front of Casey's, and it was still pretty crowded from people who had stayed on Main Street after the first parade for Wishes, but there were actually quite a bit of people streaming out of the park as well!

Finally, the icicle lights went off, and the music started...

Then came Tink!

(She's the green speck! lol)

DH got some REALLY great shots of the Holiday Wishes show, so I'll shut up now and let the pictures do the talking.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

WISHES was AMAZING!! I got choked up at that point, because I love love love Wishes, but the Holiday version with the Christmas music was just beautiful. At the conclusion of the fireworks, the Dream Lights popped back on, and it was the most gorgeous thing I think I've ever seen!

I'll leave you with that image for now.

UP NEXT: Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade

 

[exwdwcm]

Holy cow girl, you got some AMAZING photos of WISHES. I so 'wish' (no pun intended) i was as good of a photographer, of course i would need a good camera for that. I might have to borrow my dad's nikon for our Dec 10 trip!

LOL at small world- such cute pics. My DH refused to even ride it- lol- he went and got coffee instead.

Looks like an awesome time at MVMCP so far, can't wait to hear more! Sounds like you guys got so much done. Did you find it very crowded? Did you do the second parade? that is what we did.

 

[Queenofallthings]

We missed seeing Wishes this past trip and I still can't believe it!!! Your pictures are beautiful....I love the castle with those lights...I think it's absolutely beautiful!!!

 

[BippityBoo]

Who Dat!!?? I am from Louisiana as well

I am all caught up on your TR! I love it I was on the fence about holiday wishes and if it was worth it (thought it might be similar to regular wishes) but your pictures and comments have convinced me to schedule it in on our upcoming Christmas trip 2010!! SO pretty. They played Christmas music during it?? I would love that!

Again, great job. Looking forward to more

 

[ladybugmom]

Sorry I've been MIA--busy, busy week! But I'm all caught up now! I love your pics from MVMCP! And your pics of Holiday Wishes--absolutely incredible!!! WOW!!

 

[khertz]

Holy cow girl, you got some AMAZING photos of WISHES. I so 'wish' (no pun intended) i was as good of a photographer, of course i would need a good camera for that. I might have to borrow my dad's nikon for our Dec 10 trip!

LOL at small world- such cute pics. My DH refused to even ride it- lol- he went and got coffee instead.

Looks like an awesome time at MVMCP so far, can't wait to hear more! Sounds like you guys got so much done. Did you find it very crowded? Did you do the second parade? that is what we did.

DH was the photographer for almost everything, so I was SO PROUD of him for getting such amazing shots of Holiday Wishes!! I would definitely take the Nikon if your dad will loan it out to you. We took my dad's Canon Rebel on our Hawaii vacation, and loved it so much that we bought our own. We even brought our point & shoot with us this trip, but didn't use it at all. Everything came out so much better on our Rebel!

We did the second parade, and I found it pretty uncrowded, definitely not nearly as crowded as people made me think it was going to be here on the boards! We rode everything we set out to with minimal wait, had a great spot for the fireworks and parade, and didn't feel like we were fighting through people to get places. People were pouring out of the park in droves after the first parade, and then even more after the fireworks!

We missed seeing Wishes this past trip and I still can't believe it!!! Your pictures are beautiful....I love the castle with those lights...I think it's absolutely beautiful!!!

It was beautiful to see in person!! And I'm happy my DH was able to get such amazing pics. We had a code for some free 8x10s from an online site, and got a couple with the fireworks. It was hard to choose from them, because they are pretty much all great!

Who Dat!!?? I am from Louisiana as well

I am all caught up on your TR! I love it I was on the fence about holiday wishes and if it was worth it (thought it might be similar to regular wishes) but your pictures and comments have convinced me to schedule it in on our upcoming Christmas trip 2010!! SO pretty. They played Christmas music during it?? I would love that!

Again, great job. Looking forward to more

WHO DAT!! Where in LA? We are south of Lafayette right now, but we're both originally from the New Orleans area.

I absolutely LOVE Wishes, so I was even more excited about Holiday Wishes! The music is all Christmas/holiday themed, and there are different fireworks sequences than regular Wishes. Definitely an entirely different experience! I would say it's a must do for your upcoming trip!!

Sorry I've been MIA--busy, busy week! But I'm all caught up now! I love your pics from MVMCP! And your pics of Holiday Wishes--absolutely incredible!!! WOW!!

I understand, it has been a crazy couple of weeks myself, between Mardi Gras and my cousin's wedding that I stood in. I'm hoping to squeeze an update in soon!

Thanks! I have DH to thank for almost all of the really great pictures we got this trip!!

 

[BippityBoo]

Hi! Very funny b/c we live by New Orleans now and I use to live by Lafayette!

I want to know what camera you have. The fireworks pics are awesome!!

 

[praisehisname]

All caught up again. Your shots of Holiday Wishes are AMAZING!!! We had a craptastic spot and missed out on most of them, so I especially enjoyed seeing your pics!

 

[khertz]

Hi! Very funny b/c we live by New Orleans now and I use to live by Lafayette!

I want to know what camera you have. The fireworks pics are awesome!!

That is pretty random! I miss NOLA like crazy, but I have adjusted to Lafayette easily. And it's not THAT far of a drive, so I try to get home when I can.

Our camera is a Canon Rebel XSi.

All caught up again. Your shots of Holiday Wishes are AMAZING!!! We had a craptastic spot and missed out on most of them, so I especially enjoyed seeing your pics!

Thank you! Like I have said before, I have to give DH all the credit for those shots. He did all his research to get great shots in different lighting.

 

[khertz]

I have been totally lacking in updates lately, but I promise, it's not out of laziness! The past few weeks have been absolutely nuts. Usually, I do not have nearly as many things going on in my life! So I'm going to share just a few pics as proof before the real update.

First, I went to New Orleans for the Saints Victory Parade, and froze my buns off, but had a great time! My uncle David and his wife Jessica were nice enough to let me come with them and their girls and stay with them in their hotel on the parade route since my DH was out of town for work. It was a crazy day, and we didn't have the best spot for the parade, but it was fun seeing our boys back home!

Next time I was off, it was time for Mardi Gras! The supervisor let me off work early the Sunday of the Bacchus parade so I could try and make it there in time to see Drew Brees, but didn't make it. DH was there with his dad, and got me some good pictures.

Drew and his wife Brittany

We stayed with my mom Sunday night and Monday night, then came home Mardi Gras evening. Monday night, DH and I went to the New Orleans parades, Proteus and Orpheus. Another freezing cold night on the parade route, hence our appearance in this next picture...The wind was insane!

I got smacked in the face with a bead, which was unpleasant to say the least. But we saw Harry Connick Jr., The Imagination Movers:

...And the back of Sean Payton:

On Mardi Gras day, I decided I was parade-d out, so DH spent the day with his dad at parades, and I spent the morning at home with my mom watching Harry Potter. I went home early in the afternoon, and DH came home that evening. After working a couple days, then it was time for my older cousin Christopher's wedding, and I was a bridesmaid!

Me & DH (he was an usher)

Luckily, they paired me with my cousin Levon so I didn't have to walk with someone I didn't know!

The bride Lori & my cousin Christopher

My favorite picture from the day

The wedding was last weekend, but after working a couple days, I got sick! Hence, no updates then either. But as you can see, I really was very busy! But now it's back to normal, so back to updates!

 

[khertz]

After Holiday Wishes was over, DH and I decided we wanted to stay in our spot for the 10:30 parade. I think our parents left to go ride something, but I don't really remember what exactly they did.

There were people pouring out of the park by this time, mostly parents pushing small kids in strollers. The snow continued to come down on Main Street, which had now started to lose its appeal since it was getting all over everything and making it sticky! Little did we know, if we had moved up the street towards the castle a few feet, we would have been out of the soap blizzard. Oh well!

While we waited, DH and I shared some chocolate & vanilla ice cream, which we managed to keep the "snow" mostly out of! It definitely hit the spot as far as snacks go, because it was a pretty warm night.

Finally, the lights dimmed, the music started, and we could see the parade coming towards us! These pictures probably don't need much commentary, so I'll let them do the talking. But any big spots in front of the lens are "snow" because it continued to come down during the entire parade! DH was not happy about that, because he was so worried about the camera, but all was well.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

I love how when these floats passed, it smelled like gingerbread!

The gingerbread men are my favorite!

I REALLY loved the parade!! The gingerbread men were my favorite, but the toy soldiers were really amazing. I enjoyed them a lot. Plus, the reindeer are fun because they are still the same ones from the Christmas Disney Sing a Long Songs tape my sister and I used to watch!

After the parade was over, even more people started heading for the exit, so DH and I had a bit of a fight on our hands to go against the flow and back into the park. We still had an hour of party time left, and we weren't going to waste it! Since we were so short on time, we put the camera away for the night.

Our first ride was Splash Mountain, which took a bit of convincing on my part since it's my all time favorite Disney World ride, and I love it even more at night, but DH hates getting wet! We zoomed right through the line with no wait, and I don't think we ended up getting very wet at all this time.

To dry off, we got ourselves whipped around on Big Thunder Mountain, which only had a 5 minute wait. This put DH in a better mood after Splash, because this is his favorite ride. We didn't know if we'd have enough time to do it, but I was determined to ride Peter Pan without having to wait in line forever and a day. So after our train ride, we hauled butt over to Fantasyland, and still had a good 10 minute wait or so, even though it was almost midnight. But I got to ride Peter Pan, so it was all good! That's another of my favorites, and always a must do.

Once we left Neverland, it was time to go home. It seemed like the party had just flown by! But we had gotten a lot accomplished, so it was definitely a successful night. We left the park and took the monorail to the TTC parking lot. By the time we got back to Bonnet Creek, it was quarter to 1 in the morning, and we all still needed to shower before bed! It had definitely been a long night, and it didn't take long for me pass out until morning.

Continued in next post...

 

[stacikristine]

Oh my. I've missed so much over the past million years that I haven't been on the DIS! SO SORRY!!!

Let's see if I can remember all I wanted to comment on (I took some notes!).

First of all, WOO-HOO for being first on TSM! How cool is that?! And isn't it awesome to be first in line at the entrance? We loved that. The ToT CM does look creepy. That has to be one of the best jobs!

Oh goodness. The MK decorations are just gorgeous! I really, really, really want to go someday when it's all decked out for Christmas. The story of the little boy crawling through your legs is hilarious. Kids are just so funny! And I loved the Spectro picture where you could see the Castle in the background. Tell Dustin his pics are good!

I LOVE all of the character pics at AK!! So cute. Their Christmas clothes are adorable, and the character trees are so fun. Only Disney...

That is too funny that you all got stuck on IASW!! Your dad's and Dustin's reactions crack me up! That serves them right for hating it! The Holiday Wishes pictures are just gorgeous. It looks like an amazing show. And the parade looks like lots of fun too!! What an incredible day.

I'm glad I'm finally caught up, and hopefully I'll actually stay on top of things now!

 

[khertz]

DAY 6: Wednesday December 9th

After having such a late night the night before after the MVMCP, we let Wednesday be our sleep-in day. We didn't really have any alarm clocks set, and we just got up and moving when we felt like it. After a quick breakfast, we headed out the door and arrived at Universal Studios around 10:20 am.

Since we had missed Rip Ride Rockit last time, that was supposed to be our very first stop of the morning. However, things don't always go as planned, right?! As we were going through the turnstiles, there was a sign overhead that said RRR was down. AHH!! We were not happy about this news, especially when the girl letting us in said she didn't think it would be up all day. Say it isn't so!!

But we still had other things we wanted to do, so we kept trucking even though we were all very disappointed in this turn of events. The park was all but deserted though, even though it was already pretty late in the day.

The first thing we did was the Terminator 2 3-D show, which I have done many times before, but this was the first time I actually understood what was going on! Haha If you followed my PTR, you might remember that DH and I came up with a list of movies that had rides or shows based on them in the Disney and Universal parks, and attempted to watch them all. We didn't quite succeed, but most of the ones we didn't watch are ones we had already seen. DH had of course seen the Terminator movies before, but I hadn't so I watched 1 and 2 before going to the parks. For the first time ever, I could actually follow the story line of the show and know what was happening!

Since we had accomplished so much ride-wise already on our first day, we decided on another show my parents have never done, and I had only done for the first time on our honeymoon, the Horror Make Up Show.

I had never been interested in this before, but DH had convinced me to give it a try and it ended up one of the funniest shows I have ever seen in a theme park! So we did the same this year for my parents, who loved it just as much. It is really quite hysterical. I don't want to give anything away, but if you ever go to Universal, DO NOT skip this show!!

After exiting the show, my mom got stopped by one of those survey people, who wanted her to sample some yogurt. lol That is one thing I really dislike about the Universal parks, is all those dang survey people!

Right after snapping that pic of my mom declining to try the yogurt, the Blues Brothers drove by...

Since the crowds were so low, we made our way to E.T's Adventure, which had had a long wait the first day we had come. As we approached the ride, there was a very cute dancing and singing show going on in front of it, with Curious George & the Man with the Yellow Hat, Scooby & Shaggy, and Woody Woodpecker & his girlfriend. It was a VERY cute little show, but I felt kind of bad for the performers because it was such a hot day, and since the park was so empty, they barely had an audience. But you would never know it, they danced their hearts out!

The characters stayed out for a meet & greet after the show. Of course, almost all of the kids that had been watching the show lined up for Scooby & Shaggy, so we decided to give the other characters some love instead.

We got in line for E.T. without a long wait ahead of us.

While we were waiting in the outside line before you go inside and find out how you are going to save E.T. there was a little kid having a meltdown on the ground. The dad made us all laugh because the kid was laying on the ground screaming his head off while the dad stood there and waited out the tantrum, then the dad says, "And don't forget to kick your legs!" I hope I remember that one when we have kids.

By that time, we were starting to get a bit hungry, so we headed back up Hollywood Blvd to our favorite place to eat in Universal, Mel's Drive In!

My dad loves taking pictures with the cars.

Came out kind of dark, but a picture of the wreath they had hanging inside.

I think we all got burgers for lunch, which were very good. And their seasoned fries are so good!

After lunch, we headed to the back of the park for another spin on Men In Black Alien Attack.

Continued in next post...