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

[exwdwcm]

yeah, you're back! love the New Orleans pics- those parades must be so cool!

lovely dress for the wedding too!

Wasn't the MVMCP parade so fun? you got some great shots with the castle in the background too. i love all the smells from the floats too- hot cocoa etc.

So did you guys enjoy Universal? I've done the one in LA before and I've done the main park ni FL when it was closed for a private party (work function) i was part of. I enjoyed it, but not sure I want to take a day away from disney for it- DH isn't big on thrill rides. But i might have to go just check out Harry Potter and Seuss landing (for my son). we'll see if we manage to give upa day for Universal or not in December.

 

[khertz]

We walked through Amity on our way to ride the Mummy again. After seeing Jaws before vacation, again for the first time, I could really appreciate how authentic this part of the park is. It feels like you are in the little beach town of the movie on 4th of July weekend.

While walking, we saw Beetlejuice and I guess the other people from his show, so DH and I stopped in line for a picture. Another funny moment here! The kid in line in front of us was probably about 10 or 11 years old. When he went up for his picture, he asked Beetlejuice if he could give him a hug, and Beetlejuice said sure. So the kid has his arms wrapped around Beetlejuice with a huge grin on his face, and Beetlejuice is cringing and looking scared of the kid. I wish we had been able to snap a picture of this, because his expression was so funny, but DH was still getting the camera ready for our picture.

Random picture of Rip Ride Rockit

Finally, we got to the Mummy, which had no wait.

While putting our stuff in the lockers, my mom popped across the street for a couple pictures of the Blues Brothers performing.

Our ride on the Mummy was thrilling, as always! SUCH a great roller coaster!

We started heading for the front of the park to check if RRR was open yet. We got some more pictures of the Christmas tree.

Then we saw that the next showing of Twister was coming up, so we got in line for that.

It's a fun attraction, but all of the videos they show while you are in line are just depressing! Seeing how much devastation a tornado can do in no time flat... But the effects during the attraction are really well done.

After Twister, we checked on RRR, but it was still closed. We decided to give up on it and head on over to Islands of Adventure, since we had skipped some rides because of the cold weather our first day there.

We stopped in the gift shop to check out the merchandise, and I found some really cute Christmas ornament displays! DH made fun of me for taking all of these pictures, but I liked them.

Random picture of the Incredible Hulk Coaster. I love the shape of it!

Our first destination once in the park was Seuss Landing.

We still wanted to ride the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train. Even though it's a total little kids ride, it's so fun to be so high above that part of the park and get a different perspective on things.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Some of the Whos down in Whoville

I liked seeing the garlands around pretty much everything in Seuss Landing. Aside from this area of the park, most of Islands of Adventure wasn't decorated for the holidays.

Anyway, we got in line for the Trolley Train Ride, which if you've never been to IoA, it's based off of the Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches and Other Stories. The Sneetches was one of my favorite stories as a kid. There are Sneetches with Stars on their bellies and some without stars, and the ones with stars think they are better than the ones without. So this guy comes to town...

Sylvester McMonkey McBean

...and he has a machine that can put a star on the belly of the Sneetches that don't have them for some $$ of course. But then the ones that originally had stars still want to be different so he tells them the machine can also remove stars, but of course they have to pay also. So basically the Sneetches are going back and forth getting stars put on and removed until they can't remember who had what originally, and McBean takes off with all their money. So then they are all friends and whatnot. It's a really cute little story, and the ride is themed like the Star Putting & Removing Machine.

This is the inside of the Circus McGerkus Cafe Stoo-Pendous from the ride.

Marvel Superhero Island from across the water while on the ride.

Another one of the Hulk from the Train

Seuss Landing from above and Rip Ride Rockit in the distance

After finishing our very quick train ride around Seuss Landing, we stopped in the Lost Continent for a ride on the Fire coaster of Dueling Dragons. None of us was up for a follow up on Ice. lol

Next we went on the Jurassic Park River Adventure, which I was pretty excited about, but scared! Those dinosaurs look SO REAL, especially the huge T-Rex at the end. I'm pretty afraid of him! But the drop is so fun! Random funny moment: a rather large guy who was getting in the front seat of our raft tried to take his shirt off when he sat down, and the TM at the loading ride had to yell, "Sir! SIR! You have to leave your shirt ON!" How nasty!! Thankfully, the man listened and kept his shirt on for the duration of the ride. lol

The only other water ride that anyone wanted to do was Dudley Do-Right's Rip Saw Falls in Toon Lagoon. And really, only my mom wanted to do it. But DH had worn his bathing suit as shorts because he was determined to do some of the water rides that we always skip, so he volunteered to ride with her.

We all stood on the bridge, my dad and I with our cameras ready, to watch them come down. The ride is a log flume ride like Splash Mountain, but you get SOAKED, not just a splash. The splash at the end literally covers you with water from head to toe.

Here they come!

Take note of the fact that not only does my mom have a poncho on, she has the hood completely closed around her face!

I found out when they got off that DH had cheated and put a poncho on too at the last minute!

We left Toon Lagoon, and while walking through Marvel Superhero Island, my mom decided she really wanted to do Dr. Doom's Fear Fall. She's the only person in our family that likes this ride, and DH's parents didn't seem interested at first, but she convinced DH's mom to ride with her. So while the two Kathys got in line, DH and I went to shop at the Marvel store to look for a Hulk shirt or something for DH. We didn't find anything we wanted, so we went back to the ride to wait for them just as they were getting on.

Our moms are on the left side of the picture, the ones closest to the front. You can see my mom's big white knee brace. Haha

Our last ride of the day was the Incredible Hulk Coaster before heading out of the park earlier than expected to get ready for dinner. We had planned to just go straight to the restaurant but we were pretty much done park wise for the day and had some time to kill before our reservation. So we headed back to Bonnet Creek to shower and change.

We got to the Melting Pot for dinner a little early for our reservation time, but they were able to seat us right away. It wasn't very busy in there, it seemed.

It took us forever to order because DH and I were the only ones that had ever been there, so it took some time to help the parents understand what was happening. My mom was a little freaked out by being served raw meat, I think! Almost everyone got the French Quarter, which is shrimp, filet mignon, chicken, and sausage with cajun spices, except my mom and I who got the Land & Sea, which was just chicken, shrimp, and sirloin. Once everyone got the hang of it, they really seemed to enjoy the food.

For dessert, DH and I wanted to get the same one we had gotten before, which was the Smores chocolate fondue. Our parents decided on the turtle chocolate fondue, which I tried, and was also very good. But we were all so stuffed, that we had plenty of leftover meat, vegetables, and some of the dessert selections like the strawberries and stuff to take back.

The Turtle fondue before it was mixed

The Smores fondue.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Lest our day be completely Disney-free, we got back to Bonnet Creek from dinner at the Melting Pot in time to watch IllumiNations from our balcony! DH took some pics, and most of them came out blurry since it's still pretty far away, but a couple came out ok.

After IllumiNations, DH got some pictures of the Osborne Lights over at DHS, which came out pretty good considering how far away it is. It was cool to see them dancing from the balcony.

All of DHS lit up

Epcot at night

UP NEXT: Animal Kingdom morning

 

[khertz]

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!

Being first on TSM was definitely one of the best memories of the trip. Also, for our first rope drop ever, we did pretty good to be right up against the rope! That was a very fun morning.

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!

Dustin said thanks. The decorations were so pretty. Now that I have been on back to back trips with the parks decorated (Halloween, then Christmas), I don't think I ever want to go when it's not decorated!

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.

Getting stuck on IASW was the highlight of my night, although my dad I'm sure would consider it the exact opposite! Their reactions were just so funny. When our boat ran into the one in front of us and we came to a stop, my dad's jaw just dropped like he couldn't believe something so heinous was happening in Disney World!

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

I'm glad you're back!!

yeah, you're back! love the New Orleans pics- those parades must be so cool!

lovely dress for the wedding too!

Wasn't the MVMCP parade so fun? you got some great shots with the castle in the background too. i love all the smells from the floats too- hot cocoa etc.

So did you guys enjoy Universal? I've done the one in LA before and I've done the main park ni FL when it was closed for a private party (work function) i was part of. I enjoyed it, but not sure I want to take a day away from disney for it- DH isn't big on thrill rides. But i might have to go just check out Harry Potter and Seuss landing (for my son). we'll see if we manage to give upa day for Universal or not in December.

I'm not a huge Mardi Gras fan like DH is, but I enjoy some of the New Orleans parades, especially when they have some good celebrities in them! This year it was all about which Saints players were going to be in the different parades. I don't think the city cared about anyone else!

The MVMCP parade was beautiful! I loved seeing all the characters dressed for Christmas and all the other little Christmas touches. It was one of the Christmas things I was looking forward to the most when planning.

We all love Universal. Of course, it's no Disney, but it's still a lot of fun and has a lot of the themeing touches that people who have never been there wouldn't realize were there. Growing up and going on trips with my parents, we always took a day or two for Universal parks. It's even better now that you can stay on property and get unlimited Express pass privileges with your room key. Luckily the crowds were so low when we went, we didn't really need that anyway.

If you aren't that into thrill rides, I would probably say you could do everything you wanted in a day, especially if you are going in December. Wizarding World of Harry Potter might still be crowded, but I think the only rides right now will be the Dueling Dragons, which y'all probably wouldn't ride, and a kiddie coaster than you might with Will. Just to walk through and explore everything though shouldn't be too bad. I can't wait to go back and see it when it's done. We are huge HP fans! And Will will love Seuss Landing. It's so fun and colorful, you feel like you just stepped into a Dr. Seuss book.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey there...great update...and you made me get my butt in gear and update my TR too! Hah hah.

I enjoy the Uni pics. I keep thinking I would love to go back there, but DD would NOT do almost anything there...though she would totally love Seuss Landing...we are huge Seuss fans in our family. (Dr. Suess lived in Springfield, MA, right near where I grew up.) But I don't think I can justify a visit to that park for a few more years.

The other thing I noticed is that the Curious George / Scooby / Woody stage show looks so...well...cheap compared to Disney's productions. (I'm thinking of the castle show, and in particular the castle christmas show.) And...ugh...I so hate what RRR did to the themeing of the original US park. "Hey look, we're like a old time movie studio - except there's a giant roller coaster slapped throughout the park!" Still, it's a bummer it was shut down for you.

Hope you can keep up the TR - we'll have to race to see who finishes first! (I will be starting Day 7 soon, once I get the pictures uploaded.) I also want to finish before our NEXT trip - which less than 7 weeks away!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

I think I just got caught up. It has been a while since I have had time to read trip reports. I love you Universal report and it is making me excited about planning my trip for 2011. I also loved you fireworks photo's from MVMCP. I scrolled down really fast and felt like I was there.
The parade pictures were great too.

 

[stacikristine]

Isn't the Melting Pot fantastic?? We went for New Years with my family and we loved it. It took a really long time (we were there over 2.5 hours!) but it was good. The s'mores one was our favorite too! SOOOOO good. Have you ever tried the cheeses? They were really good too. I think that we'll probably just get cheese and dessert next time.

 

[khertz]

Hey there...great update...and you made me get my butt in gear and update my TR too! Hah hah.

I enjoy the Uni pics. I keep thinking I would love to go back there, but DD would NOT do almost anything there...though she would totally love Seuss Landing...we are huge Seuss fans in our family. (Dr. Suess lived in Springfield, MA, right near where I grew up.) But I don't think I can justify a visit to that park for a few more years.

Yeah, unfortunately it's not all that great for kids. A lot of their kids stuff seems outdated, like Barney, etc. Does that even come on anymore?

The other thing I noticed is that the Curious George / Scooby / Woody stage show looks so...well...cheap compared to Disney's productions. (I'm thinking of the castle show, and in particular the castle christmas show.) And...ugh...I so hate what RRR did to the themeing of the original US park. "Hey look, we're like a old time movie studio - except there's a giant roller coaster slapped throughout the park!" Still, it's a bummer it was shut down for you.

I see what you mean, the show does look cheap compared to the Disney castle shows. But I try not to compare too much and just take Universal for what it is. I love their rides, and they have some very well themed areas, but it will never be Disney for me! I do still have a great time at the parks though because I love thrill rides!



Hope you can keep up the TR - we'll have to race to see who finishes first! (I will be starting Day 7 soon, once I get the pictures uploaded.) I also want to finish before our NEXT trip - which less than 7 weeks away!

I'm betting you will finish first...I still have 5 days and TONS of pictures left to go!!

I think I just got caught up. It has been a while since I have had time to read trip reports. I love you Universal report and it is making me excited about planning my trip for 2011. I also loved you fireworks photo's from MVMCP. I scrolled down really fast and felt like I was there.
The parade pictures were great too.

I do that with the Wishes pictures too! It does make me feel like I'm there, just the tiniest bit.

Have fun planning your 2011 trip! If you have never been to Universal/IoA before and have questions about anything in the midst of your planning, please let me know!

Isn't the Melting Pot fantastic?? We went for New Years with my family and we loved it. It took a really long time (we were there over 2.5 hours!) but it was good. The s'mores one was our favorite too! SOOOOO good. Have you ever tried the cheeses? They were really good too. I think that we'll probably just get cheese and dessert next time.

I LOVE the Melting Pot! It was only our second time eating there, but it is so delicious. We don't have one here in Lafayette, the closest one is in Baton Rouge. It is a VERY long meal, you're right! The first time we ate there, we were probably there about 2 hours ourselves. We have never gotten the cheese just because it hasn't worked out. But getting the cheese and the dessert sounds like a great idea. We might have to try that next time. There is no way we could eat all of the courses!

 

[khertz]

DAY 7: Thursday December 10th

When I left off, we had just finished our second full day at Universal Orlando, had a great dinner at Melting Pot, and finished off the night with a viewing of IllumiNations from the balcony.

We had had two sleep-in mornings so far, but it was now time to get back in the swing of things! We didn't make it to Animal Kingdom in time for rope drop. We actually arrived around 9:20 am, so not too bad. The top two rides we wanted to do were the Kilimanjaro Safari and Expedition Everest. The Safari had a 15 minute wait time posted, so we headed there first.

We snapped a few pictures on the way to the ride of Everest in the distance.

Finally, we made it to the safari!

Mom & I waiting in line

The line moved pretty quickly, and soon enough our safari vehicle pulled up.

We ended up all 6 in the very back row...let me just say it was VERY bumpy back there! There was one point where I came so far off my seat that I thought I might very well fly out of the back of the truck! It was a little unsettling, and didn't lend itself to great picture taking, which DH was disappointed about.

DH & I call this the dead rhino picture...I know, that's awful of us!

The family of hippos in the water

More hippos.

The cheetahs relaxing

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Some fake ostrich eggs

And a very REAL ostrich!

Check out this AMAZING picture of the lions that DH was able to get!!

...I lie, that's from our trip to the zoo near Seattle.

Here is the real lion pictures!

We saved Little Red from the poachers!

After returning from our 2 week safari (man, it felt like it just flew by!), we made our way to Asia to look for the Yeti on Expedition Everest. This is by far my favorite roller coaster in Disney!

We jumped in line, and only waited 10 minutes! The queue is so interesting, so of course, I made DH snap some pictures, especially of the signs!

DH and I rode in the very first row, and I'm pretty sure I screamed my head off the entire time!! Love that ride, but it was the first time I got really disoriented when doing the backwards part. So much so, that I didn't think I could ride again right away, so we got fastpasses for later instead. In the time it took to get the FPs, is suddenly started pouring! Our parents decided to take cover, but DH and I put on our ponchos and headed to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur (no pictures of this, we had our camera put away because of the rain).

I was terrified, as usual. DH and I had been bickering, I don't remember what about, on the way over to the ride, so when it came time to get into our ride vehicle, he refused to switch places with me when I ended up on the outside of the car! I know those dinosaurs are fake, but I'm still honestly terrified of that ride! Luckily, I only had to endure it once.

When we came out of the ride, it was still raining, so we hurried to It's Tough to Be a Bug so that we'd at least be inside.

I'm really not crazy about this attraction either and usually skip it, but it was fun to do again. I'm not scared of the dark, but I hate bugs and when I HEAR things, especially bugs, moving around in the dark, it freaks me out. But I leaned forward so I wouldn't get stung in the back, and it was all good. Haha


Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

DH and I were starting to get hungry, so we started heading in the direction of our favorite CS place in AK, Pizzafari. Along the way, we saw a couple of my favorite characters, Lilo & Stitch!

We got into Pizzafari around 11:45, and it was the absolute least crowded I have ever seen it. I got a cheese pizza, DH had pepperoni, and we shared a large Coke (with the weird paper straw!)

Now that our bellies were full and the rain seemed to be over for good, we decided to go back to check out the rest of Dinoland since we had hurried through earlier. We saw a lonely Photopass photographer hanging out by the Tree of Life, so we stopped for some shots.

I think we got turned around a couple of times, but we made it to Dinoland USA eventually.

Even the dinosaur skeleton was in the Christmas spirit!

I'm also not crazy about spinning mouse coasters, but DH likes them so I agreed to go on Primeval Whirl since the line was about 5 minutes.

Luckily I was able to keep my lunch down after all that spinning.

We searched for the character spot shown on the map, but it was just Goofy and Pluto, and we didn't feel like waiting to meet them again, so we didn't wait. Instead, we went back to Asia to use our FPs on Everest! It was time for us to be able to get some more, so we got a couple for the scrapbook. I felt bad doing it, but really, you didn't need FPs to ride it, the wait was always 15 minutes or less!

After another fearsome encounter with the Yeti, we spied another PP photographer getting shots with Everest, so we hopped in her line.

After taking our pictures, we stopped to watch the monkeys play for a little bit.

We were ready to leave AK and head over to DHS for the rest of the afternoon, but we decided to run over to Camp Minnie-Mickey to look for Chip & Dale since we had skipped them our last time in AK. But there were no characters out. So we headed for the exit.

At the park exit, we found some characters! So my disappointment was short lived. Baloo, Brer Bear, Rafiki, and Pluto were out for pictures, but we only stopped for Baloo and Rafiki.

We got in touch with our parents to see where they were, and if they were ready to leave. My parents had already taken the van over to DHS, but DH's parents decided to spend more time in AK to walk the animal trails since they hadn't done that when we had been there Tuesday, and they really enjoy that kind of stuff. So DH and I headed out to the bus to take us to Hollywood Studios!

UP NEXT: DHS and Osborne Lights!!

 

[exwdwcm]

WHat another great update! So you have a TON of character pics. We didn't do many. I want to next time- what was your strategy and did you wait long for them typically?

I didn't even notice the big dino skeleton was decked out in hoilday gear! i'll have to check it out this year. I missed taking DS to the boneyard, so that is on the list for this year!

 

[stacikristine]

Yay! What a great update! Oh my goodness. I laughed so hard at your pic of the lions. I was absolutely amazed that Dustin got that shot--especially from the back!!--until I saw it was a fake! I'm scared to death of Dinosaur too! Yum...I could go for a Pizzafari pizza right now. Actually, I could go for ANY food right now. Yall got some really great character pictures! So fun.

 

[khertz]

WHat another great update! So you have a TON of character pics. We didn't do many. I want to next time- what was your strategy and did you wait long for them typically?

I didn't even notice the big dino skeleton was decked out in hoilday gear! i'll have to check it out this year. I missed taking DS to the boneyard, so that is on the list for this year!

Thank you!!

With the characters, I gotta say, we didn't have much strategy. Most of our character interactions were unplanned. We just happened to be passing by and they didn't have much of a line. The only day we were really actively seeking characters was the morning in AK before the MVMCP night. Really, we didn't wait very long for ANY of the characters we got pictures with. The only ones I'd say we had an average wait for were Snow White and Scrooge McDuck; Snow White because we were killing time before our ADR anyway, and Scrooge because he was an exclusive MVMCP character. Otherwise, we skipped characters with long lines.

Hopefully y'all have more luck with the characters this year!!

Yay! What a great update! Oh my goodness. I laughed so hard at your pic of the lions. I was absolutely amazed that Dustin got that shot--especially from the back!!--until I saw it was a fake! I'm scared to death of Dinosaur too! Yum...I could go for a Pizzafari pizza right now. Actually, I could go for ANY food right now. Yall got some really great character pictures! So fun.

I couldn't help injecting a little humor. I love that picture of the lions from Seattle...I wish we could get a picture like that on the Safari! Maybe one day...

Thank you! We enjoyed meeting the characters this year, and met more than we ever have before without really meaning to. It just all kind of fell into place!

 

[skier_pete]

Just wanted to say, you inspired us to go to the local Melting Pot here in Buffalo, it's been open a few years, but we haven't been yet. (Been to the one in Myrtle Beach twice though.) They are having "restaurant week" here in Buffalo, and had a deal for the 4-course dinner for $29.50, we couldn't pass it up. It's funny, afterwards, I said to DW, next time we come, we should just get the cheese fondue and the desert fondue. The main meal is the least impressive part. "It's just boiled meat" I joked. And I was so stuffed by the end, skipping the entree portion would be plenty for me.

Continuing to enjoy your updates. I knew instantly that the picture of the Lions wasn't real, though DW did get a pretty good shot of one of the Lions last trip.

 

[khertz]

Just wanted to say, you inspired us to go to the local Melting Pot here in Buffalo, it's been open a few years, but we haven't been yet. (Been to the one in Myrtle Beach twice though.) They are having "restaurant week" here in Buffalo, and had a deal for the 4-course dinner for $29.50, we couldn't pass it up. It's funny, afterwards, I said to DW, next time we come, we should just get the cheese fondue and the desert fondue. The main meal is the least impressive part. "It's just boiled meat" I joked. And I was so stuffed by the end, skipping the entree portion would be plenty for me.

Continuing to enjoy your updates. I knew instantly that the picture of the Lions wasn't real, though DW did get a pretty good shot of one of the Lions last trip.

Oh my goodness, all 4 courses for $30?! That's awesome!! I probably couldn't ever eat it all, but I'd certainly make an attempt for that price. I always feel stuffed at the end, but it's better to me than a regular meal in a restaurant because I'm a very fast eater, so I get full quickly. Since the meal takes so long, I was able to try more food without getting stuffed immediately.

Oh well, I couldn't fool ya with my lions? The one your DW got is pretty impressive though! We have never gotten a good picture of the lions on the safari. Which bums me out because all of the big cats are my absolute favorite! I didn't even remember seeing any cheetahs when we were on the ride, but sure enough my dad had gotten a picture of them.

 

[khertz]

When I left off, DH and I had just caught a bus from AK to DHS for our afternoon there. We waited maybe 5 minutes for the bus, and it was a quick ride, so from the time stamps on my pictures, it shows we made it to DHS about 25 minutes after leaving AK. Not too bad!

A shot of the decorations

And one of the crowd. Not bad at all for 1:45 in the afternoon!

We went first over to Rock & Roller Coaster. The line was a little long, so DH and I did something I had never done before and rode using the Single Rider line! I usually would balk at the idea of doing this because I HATE doing things by myself, but I decided in the interest of time, I'd give it a try. And wouldn't you know, it was great! We waited 5 minutes and DH ended up on the limo right behind mine so we met up quickly after the ride was over and grabbed some FPs for later.

We caught a PP photographer outside of the Tower of Terror and had to stop for some shots, of course!

Normal...

...then SCARED! Or silly, I guess. lol

It was about 5 or 10 minutes to showtime for the next Beauty & the Beast show, and even though we hadn't planned on seeing it, we decided since we were right there and there was still plenty of seats to go and watch. Turns out when we texted my parents, they were in the same show at the front! So some of these pictures are ones they took which are very close up and some are DHs and mine from the back of the theater.

The four of us met up after the show, and decided to drop in on the Tower of Terror since there wasn't a long wait at all.

After a really great drop sequence (it stopped for a long pause to where we thought it was finished, then it shot us back up to the top and kept dropping us a few more times!!), we split up again. I don't know what my mom and dad decided to go do, but DH and I were set on going to the Magic of Disney Animation and doing the Animation Academy. We had never done it before, and after seeing it some TRs I was reading before the trip, we both really wanted to try even though we don't consider ourselves artists!

I had read that we could skip the movie and enter through the character greeting entrance or the gift shop, but we decided to watch the movie again anyway.

After watching the origins of Mushu, we exited into the gallery and immediately spotted Fantasia Mickey with a not-too-bad line, so we jumped in!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

After meeting Mickey, we went to the waiting area to wait for the next animation class.

We only had to wait a few minutes before we were let in and took our seats on our drawing stools.

I figured we needed a shot of the page before it was potentially massacred by our drawings. lol

DH and I were both nervous and a little disappointed when the animator said we'd be drawing Ray from Princess and the Frog. We had been looking forward to drawing some of the classic characters, and Ray looked HARD to draw! But we went into it with open minds and just give it our best try.

This is what we came up with, which surprisingly wasn't so bad!

After the class, DH went to ask the animator who he'd be drawing for the next class, but he said another animator would be coming in for the next class, but thought we'd be drawing Goofy. So we exited the class and got back in line for the next one!

Sure enough, we were drawing Goofy, which I had a much easier time with even though I made Goofy's snout a little short.

We debated going to a third class, but decided to move on to other things. By the time we left, it was about 5 and we were getting hungry. So we went over to the Backlot Express and got chicken nuggets and fries for dinner. When we finished eating, we called our parents and found out they had met up and were actually on the Backlot Tour in Catastrophe Canyon when we called.

DH and I decided at the last minute to go ahead and see the 6:30 pm showing of Fantasmic. I hadn't worked it into my itinerary because it's not a must do show for either of us. But since we had already ridden two of our favorite DHS rides, RNRC and ToT, and the wait for TSM was way too long, we decided to go get in line with the understanding that our parents would be meeting up with us there.

Somewhere along the way, DH's parents decided not to come to Fantasmic and to just go straight to the Osborne Lights instead. My mom and dad found us just before the show and we watched together. No pictures for some reason? But it was even better than I remembered it! Maybe it was the fact that I was choosing to see it myself and not being "forced" to by my parents. lol Sorry, Mom!

DH snapped this creepy shot of ToT at night before we headed to...

I was so excited about seeing the Osborne Lights in person!! It was so incredible to turn the corner and just be overwhelmed by the colors, the music, the atmosphere! Truly a beautiful sight. It ended up being my favorite secular Christmas activity in WDW (CP was my favorite traditional Christmas activity!), and I didn't really expect that. I didn't realize how impressive and amazing and spectacular of a sight it would be in person.

I have tons of pictures that DH took while we wandered around for over an hour, looking for Hidden Mickeys in the lights and just taking it all in, but I promise not to post them all. That would be way too many! But seeing it in pictures just doesn't do it justice at all. You have to see it in person to really appreciate how impressive it is!

We got in line for the first Photopass Photographer and it was almost our turn, but then the lights started dancing! We didn't mind watching the show until it was over to get our picture.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

During our walk around, DH and I stopped for two more Photopass photographers, and BOTH times, the music would start up just as it was our turn! We couldn't help but laugh at the luck. But it was definitely not a problem to stop and watch the lights dance in time to the music.

Before we left, we checked out the little merchandise area that was set up to buy some stuff. I really wanted the t-shirt I had been seeing people wear that was black with the lights on it and said Lighting Crew, but it was evidently from a previous year. :-( So instead, I got this longsleeved DHS t-shirt.

It was 50% off because it said 2009!

DH had been eying Vinylmations almost everywhere we went and kept saying he wanted to start collecting them, but this is most definitely not the hobby for him! Mostly because he only liked a few of the designs and would be super annoyed if he got ones he didn't like. This is a hobby for people who get the thrill of not knowing which one they are getting when they buy. And that is NOT DH! lol So he saw ones out that were for the Osborne Lights, and there was only 1 design, so he got that one.

The front

The back

Around 9 pm after watching the lights dance one more time to Feliz Navidad, we left the park and headed back to Bonnet Creek. We had some packing to do that night because we were moving in the morning to the one bedroom that DH and I would share for the last three nights. Which meant our parents were packing up, because the next day was their last one!

I have a video of the lights that is uploading to youtube right now, so I'll come back and post that when it's done. Otherwise...

UP NEXT: Breakfast with Chef Mickey & Magic Kingdom farewell