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

[exwdwcm]

that vinylmation is SO cute! and the shirt too! once again, amazing pics - of the lights!

 

[khertz]

that vinylmation is SO cute! and the shirt too! once again, amazing pics - of the lights!

Thanks! The Osborne Lights were hands down my favorite holiday thing at Disney this trip! I can't wait to hopefully one day see them again.

 

[khertz]

It took forever because youtube kept deleting the audio every time I uploaded it, and photobucket kept stalling out at 60% and making me think it wasn't working when I had actually uploaded it 3 times!

But anyway, here is the video DH took on his iPhone of the lights dancing to one of my favorite Christmas songs on our night at DHS.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v...current=OsborneSpecticleofDancingLights-1.mp4

 

[skier_pete]

Great pics of the Osborne Lights. I agree wholeheartedly...my favorite secular thing too! (Like your phrasing on that one!) I usually don't go for over the top lights - but these are so far beyond over the top, they are just awesome.

 

[khertz]

Great pics of the Osborne Lights. I agree wholeheartedly...my favorite secular thing too! (Like your phrasing on that one!) I usually don't go for over the top lights - but these are so far beyond over the top, they are just awesome.

Thanks!

I love love love Christmas light displays! When we were younger, my mom would drive us down some of the streets that were know for going big with their lights so we could see them, or take us past Al Copeland's house (he owns a ton of restaurants & businesses in the New Orleans area & had one of the biggest houses with the biggest light displays in the area) to see all of the lights. The Osborne Lights were of course even BETTER! So beautiful, I could have just stayed all night if we didn't need to get back & pack for our move in the morning!

 

[stacikristine]

What a great update!! Gosh...your post makes me want to be at WDW SOOOOO bad right now! And I don't even know when we'll be back...

Anyway, DHS is our favorite--I'm so glad yall had a great night there! B&tB is just amazing. I started singing along with the pictures in my head! And I'm so happy that you tried the Animation Academy! Your pictures look great--aren't they fun keepsakes??

And OH. MY. WORD. I want to see the Osborne Lights!!! You and Dustin got some great pics--I think the last PP pic with the red behind you is my favorite! They just look incredible. I just texted Michael and told him that our next trip HAS TO be during December so we can see all of the great Christmas stuff--your TR just confirmed it!

 

[khertz]

What a great update!! Gosh...your post makes me want to be at WDW SOOOOO bad right now! And I don't even know when we'll be back...

I know what you mean, I'm so ready for another trip but I know it is YEARS away!

Anyway, DHS is our favorite--I'm so glad yall had a great night there! B&tB is just amazing. I started singing along with the pictures in my head! And I'm so happy that you tried the Animation Academy! Your pictures look great--aren't they fun keepsakes??

We really loved DHS this trip. I have never disliked it like other posters seem to, but this time I really fell hard for it once we decided to check out more of what it has to offer. The animation classes were a BLAST! And definitely a fun keepsake. We both really enjoyed them.

And OH. MY. WORD. I want to see the Osborne Lights!!! You and Dustin got some great pics--I think the last PP pic with the red behind you is my favorite! They just look incredible. I just texted Michael and told him that our next trip HAS TO be during December so we can see all of the great Christmas stuff--your TR just confirmed it!

Thanks! I like that one too!

You will LOVE it at Christmas time, there is nothing like it! I will always be up for going to WDW whenever it comes up, but as far as planning a trip, I never want to plan another one that is not around the holidays. It was amazing!

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Hey girl! I know I've been MIA but I just caught up on your report! I just loved your pictures of Wishes and I agree that the cookies at MVMCP were delish! And, I totally watched the Christmas sing-a-long tapes and heard many of the songs from that played throughout the night when we were there. I can't wait for more!! PS I don't remember if I told you or not but I got to go to the Super Bowl and was rooting for your Saints...even bought a Reggie jersey b/c I've loved him since his USC days. Congrats on the win, you guys deserved it!

 

[khertz]

Hey girl! I know I've been MIA but I just caught up on your report! I just loved your pictures of Wishes and I agree that the cookies at MVMCP were delish! And, I totally watched the Christmas sing-a-long tapes and heard many of the songs from that played throughout the night when we were there. I can't wait for more!! PS I don't remember if I told you or not but I got to go to the Super Bowl and was rooting for your Saints...even bought a Reggie jersey b/c I've loved him since his USC days. Congrats on the win, you guys deserved it!

Thanks! Glad you're back!! How awesome that you got to go to the Super Bowl! My aunt's season ticket group won tickets to the Super Bowl so she got to go too. I would love to even just go to a regular season Saints game, but this year will probably be impossible with how crazy the fans are going to be since winning!

 

[khertz]

DAY 8: Friday December 11th

Friday morning was kind of crazy! Not only did we have an 8:15 am ADR for Chef Mickey's, we also had to check out of our three-bedroom, and figure out what to do with all of our stuff until we could check into the one-bedroom DH and I would be staying in for the rest of our trip! We couldn't put everything into the van, because then we wouldn't all be able to fit in it to get to breakfast. We thought we'd have to bring everything down to luggage services in the lobby, but we decided to call and see what our options were. They said we could have everything packed and loaded onto luggage carts and leave it just inside the door of the three bedroom. When the one bedroom became available, they would come move it for us! So that's just what we did, and it worked out perfectly.

After checking around to make sure we weren't forgetting anything, we jumped in the van and headed to the Contemporary. We arrived and got up to Chef Mickey's to check in around 8:05.

We waited about 5 minutes for them to call our names. While we waited, I snapped a couple of pictures of the decorations.

After taking our group picture, we were taken to our table. Our waitress came to get our drink orders. I think everyone got orange juice but me & DH who got chocolate milk. Yum! Then we hit the buffet. My first round up, I got some tater tots, a Mickey waffle, a piece of French toast, some eggs, and a biscuit. I don't normally eat a lot for breakfast, so I didn't actually eat everything! I just wanted to try a little bit of each.

We didn't have to wait long for the characters to start coming! First up was none other than the top chef himself, Mickey!

Our next visitor was Donald Duck (I think this made the 4th time DH and I had gotten pictures with Donald!).

Next up was Minnie Mouse.

At this point, I got up and went back to the buffet for a few more things, but I decided to be good, and got some grapes and a hard boiled egg for my second plate. DH decided NOT to be good, and came back with this:

Then came Goofy and Pluto one right after the other.

Some pictures of the restaurant I took while waiting for the check...

For this being my very first character meal, I was very impressed! I had worried the characters might skip over us since we were all adults, but they were happy to pose for pictures from all 3 cameras, and we never felt rushed with them. They also came through quickly enough that we were not sitting around waiting for a character after we had finished eating. In fact, we were finished eating and had met all the characters by 9 am!

Against my protests, the parents decided to leave the van parked at the Contemporary so that we could just take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. What can I say, I'm a good DISer (& a nervous Nellie!). So with me hoping we wouldn't get towed away, we set off for one last day all together at the MK!

UP NEXT: Magic Kingdom morning

 

[skier_pete]

Hey, that was our arrival day...while you were munching with Mickey, we were flying into MCO! Haven't been to CM breakfast since 1997! (pre-kids) We've done the dinner...great character interaction, food is so-so.

You heading into the home stretch - keep those updates coming!

 

[BippityBoo]

Chef Mickey's looks so fun!! We need to try that one! Like the pic with your DH "double fisting" with sweets Ohhh I hope your car does not get towed!

 

[stacikristine]

I'm glad you all enjoyed your CM breakfast so much!! We didn't do any character meals this time, but I've done three in the past and really enjoyed them. I think I liked them more because there were little kids there, though. Well, except for CRT. I was SOOO excited to meet all of the princesses--and that was only 3.5 years ago! Oh--and I hope your van doesn't get towed away!!!

 

[khertz]

Hey, that was our arrival day...while you were munching with Mickey, we were flying into MCO! Haven't been to CM breakfast since 1997! (pre-kids) We've done the dinner...great character interaction, food is so-so.

You heading into the home stretch - keep those updates coming!

I had heard not so great things about the dinner food, so that's why we decided to go with breakfast. It was also a way to meet the Fab 5 without having to stand in line to see them, but that was useless for DH and I because we had already met all 5, some of them more than once! But it was good for our parents because none of them wanted to stand in line for characters. It was a fun breakfast, and a great way to start our last day together!

I haven't been feeling so hot lately, but I'm probably going to get an update in this afternoon.

Chef Mickey's looks so fun!! We need to try that one! Like the pic with your DH "double fisting" with sweets Ohhh I hope your car does not get towed!

DH was so annoyed that I posted that picture! I had to promise him I'd post an embarrassing one of myself in a future update.

I'm glad you all enjoyed your CM breakfast so much!! We didn't do any character meals this time, but I've done three in the past and really enjoyed them. I think I liked them more because there were little kids there, though. Well, except for CRT. I was SOOO excited to meet all of the princesses--and that was only 3.5 years ago! Oh--and I hope your van doesn't get towed away!!!

I do better with fur characters than with face, so I'm kinda hoping whenever DH and I have children we have some boys so I can avoid the princess meals. Although eating in the castle would be amazing. I would like to try it at least once! The lunch & dinner options are a little too adventurous for us, so we'd probably have to stick with breakfast.

We'll see about the van!

 

[khertz]

When I left off, we had just had a great breakfast at Chef Mickey's and taken the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom for our last day as a group of 6. We arrived around 10 am, and since we didn't necessarily have anything we HAD to do first, we decided to go shopping! All of the CS places had 20% off coupons attached to the receipts to be used from 9am to 12pm in certain stores at each park. So DH and I hit the Emporium since we hadn't bought much of anything yet besides what we had gotten the night before at DHS.

Here's what we ended up buying:

A scrapbook kit I'd had my eye on for awhile

A t-shirt for me

A long sleeved t-shirt for me

A magnet

We also bought a Christmas ornament with the castle in icicle lights that I forgot to get a picture of before we packed up our Christmas stuff this year. And we got a very cute Minnie Mouse onesie for my cousin Sawyer and an Aladdin and Jasmine playset for her big sister Skylar. Since we had gotten so much stuff, we also went ahead and got this:

The castle fleece throw. It's SO comfortable!!

We used the package delivery to the front of the park so we wouldn't have to carry so much stuff around, then off we went.

We had a little photoshoot on Main Street in front of the Castle and the Christmas tree.

Most of the pictures from this day are wandering pictures, because we did a lot of it! We had done pretty much everything in the Magic Kingdom we had wanted to do, so DH & I took time to explore and see all of the unique things we had missed earlier in the week rushing from ride to ride and show to show. One thing I absolutely loved was the window displays on Main Street! They were just incredible, especially the ones depicting scenes of Mickey's Christmas Carol. So hopefully you all don't find them too boring, but I'm going to share them!

Pretty Main Street U.S.A.

And a few more of the Castle...

I took a picture with Br'er Rabbit since Splash Mountain is my favorite WDW ride.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Love those side shots of the Castle!

By now it was almost noon, and we hadn't done anything yet! So DH and I headed first to Frontierland to grab some FastPasses for Big Thunder Mountain.

FPs in hand (or DH's pocket really) we crossed over into Adventureland for a trip around the world on the Jungle Cruise! It was one of my must-do attractions that we hadn't accomplished yet, and luckily it only had a 10 minute wait.

A pretty flower I spotted while waiting in line

A giant tarantula!

Our skipper was full of corny jokes, but her delivery was too dry and not in a good way. She just sounded like she was reciting the script. Not much personality in it, but it was still a relaxing ride through the jungle.

After the Jungle Cruise, we decided to stop by the Enchanted Tiki Room. While waiting in line, DH said something about how he didn't know why we always took the time to do the show anyway because he hates the updated version. I offered the leave the line with him, but he quickly said, "No! Because I love it!" So we sat through the Tiki Birds, then called our parents to see what they were up to. They were heading towards the Country Bear Jamboree, so we decided to meet them over there...

UP NEXT: Stopping to smell the roses!

 

[BippityBoo]

GREAT update!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Christmas Carol window displays Thank you so much for posting them. I hope they put them back up this December!

I love the days when you can just walk around and take it all in. I really want to check out that Deluxe Scrapbooking Kit. Great

You must have had the same girl doing our Jungle Cruise. We were not impressed at all!

What is the Tiki Room like? We wanted to stop last time, but never did. Do you think my kids (2&6) would like it??

We did the Country Bear Jamboree though. Want to see what you thought of it! Update soon

 

[stacikristine]

I do better with fur characters than with face, so I'm kinda hoping whenever DH and I have children we have some boys so I can avoid the princess meals. Although eating in the castle would be amazing. I would like to try it at least once! The lunch & dinner options are a little too adventurous for us, so we'd probably have to stick with breakfast.

Haha--I think I'm just not very good with any of the characters. I got a TON of character pics in 06, but I think that'll be it for a very long time. But I know our kids will want to get them someday. You really need to try CRT breakfast--we really liked it!!


Great update!! I love all of the pretty window displays. Thanks for sharing! That scrapbook kit looks incredible--have you started your scrapbook yet? I still haven't started ours...maybe this summer. All of your other purchases look great as well. And your PP pics turned out SOOO good!!

It looks like you had a super relaxing morning/early afternoon at the MK. The Jungle Cruise actually surprised us--we didn't think we'd like it as much as we did. Sorry your skipper wasn't very good. Aw, the Country Bears. My grandma always HAS TO see this, so we skipped it this time!

Can't wait for another update. I'm telling you, you're making me want to go in December SOOOOO bad!

 

[skier_pete]

Hi, more great pictures! Love the jungle cruise shots! Bet cha didn't know that spider came from the Haunted Mansion. It was re-moved in the refurb a few years ago. It moves occasionally. Scared the bejeebus out of DD!

Great shot of the savannah and the sandstone cliffs...though I hear many people take it for granite! (Bah dum bum!)

I've said this before...but you guys look soooo happy in your pictures! I don't think ours ever look that good. (I'm a lousy smiler, though.)

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Nice updates! I love character meals because I feel more out of place waiting in long lines in the park to take pictures with them than I do meeting them while I'm at a meal. I mean you need to eat, right? I just think it is so easy! I've never done breakfast at Chef Mickey's but I am glad you liked it. We always did the dinner and it used to be one of my favorites but lately it has been impossible to get an ADR there.

Love all the souvenirs!