Murphy's Law with a Touch of Pixie Dust: A Nov/Dec 2010 TR - UPDATE 2/2 Autographs!

[KatMark]

Great updates. I love the pics with all the characters.

We always rent a car at CSR (actually wherever we stay at Disney we rent a car). The one time we took a bus it was a five minute wait going to the MK and a five minute waiting for a bus to go back to the CSR. I will say that a majority of the people have said the bus is some of the best (I know Aubrie who has stayed at all the moderates says the CSR is the best bus service of all the mods she has had. You are right on the CBR...there are seven bus stops at the CBR before heading to the parks.

P.S. I love the matching shirts!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Dec. 1 - Animal Kingdom
Hours: 9am - 5pm EMH 5pm - 8pm

We woke up, got ready, and walked over to El Centro to grab some breakfast. Sorry, there's no pictures because we walked to the bus stop as we ate. We didn't have to wait too long for a bus this morning. We made it to the park around 8:35am. First on the agenda was heading to the ticket counter to get our tickets upgraded to Annual Passes. I explained our situation to the CM and she said she didn't think she could make the change without us losing our dining plan credits. She talked with another CM and confirmed that we would have to wait until the end of our trip to ensure we didn't mess up our dining plan. HUH? What? But... Ok, Thanks anyway... I was kind of surprised since the people at Reservations had told me I'd be able to do it and we were hoping to use our discounts during the trip.

We proceeded over to the gate and waited in line for the park to open. They opened the gate around 8:50am, my mom went through the gate and then I put my ticket into the machine. Denied. I tried again. Denied. So the CM punched a couple buttons and through I went. They stopped us again right in front of the Oasis for the Welcome Ceremony. They used to have it in front of the Tree of Life and I'm not sure when they moved it but we watched it before being released into the park.

I took my mom and I's tickets and speed walked with everyone else towards Expedition Everest. I stopped briefly to help a lost kid then continued on my way.

I put my mom's ticket in for a Fast Pass then mine, Denied. It wouldn't let me have a fast Pass because my ticket hadn't been used as valid admission. There was no CM working so I walked over to ask the one by the Kiosk, who sent me to the one at the Entrance to the ride, who sent me back to the CM that had just arrived at the machines. She gave me three Fast Pass Key Cards (they work like your ticket but only in the Fast Pass machines). So, I used all of them and we ended up with 4 Fast passes to Everest . After that ordeal, we hopped in line to ride. There was no wait! Once we got off, we hopped back in line and rode again still with no wait! Then, we headed to Dinoland.

This is what Dinoland looks like at 9:30am. We headed towards Primeval Whirl first:

Once again there was no wait so we walked right on. Before heading to Dinsosaur:

There still wasn't a line so we walked right on. I always plug my ears on this ride because it is so LOUD. It was about 10:10am now so I checked the Times Guide and Finding Nemo - The Musical was starting at 10:30 so we headed there.

There was hardly anyone there yet so we got seats in the front row of upper middle section. The perfect seats in my opinion.

Continued Next Post...

 

[20thingamabobs]

We headed past these guys on our way towards Africa

On our way to Africa we stopped at the Character Greeting Trails where we met:

Flik

Terk

King Louie and Baloo AND...

Meeko
As we turned to leave, we ran into...

D'Vine!
We grabbed some Fast Passes for Kilimanjaro Safari before heading back towards Asia for our 1:00pm lunch reservation at Yak & Yeti. We had a little time so we stopped by It's Tough To Be A Bug on the way,
With our Honorary Bug Eyes on:

Then it was off to Yak & Yeti. We were a little early so we waited about 5 minutes before being seated.

My Mom and I both ordered the Sweet & Sour Chicken:

And for dessert we had the Fried Wontons:

We really like this restaurant and as usual, highly enjoyed our meals this day. We will definitely be back again.
Chris texted me while we were at lunch and said that he was heading over soon to meet up with us. So, we headed towards Camp Minnie-Mickey. On our way there, we randomly ran into Mickey_Mom and her family. My mom and I were just walking and I stopped short and said "I think I know them" right about the same time Mickey-Mom recognized me as well. We stopped briefly for a quick introduction and hello. We firmed up our plans to meet later that night before heading our separate ways again. My mom and I were hoping to see Festival of the Lion King but our timing was off so instead we headed to meet Thumper and Miss Bunny. We got in line and waited a few moments before they announced they'd be taking a few minutes break. When the break was over, only Miss Bunny came back out:

I asked when Thumper would be returning and they said 30 minutes so we headed over to meet:

Santa Goofy!
Then, we headed back towards Thumper's line. Miss Bunny was still out but my went to wait while I walked around and took pictures of everyones Christmas trees:

Mickey

Minnie

Goofy

Donald

Nemo

Lion King

Pluto

Chip & Dale

Lilo

And, Stitch.
Then it was time to see Thumper:

You can see a glimpse of the Brother Bear tree in the back but, I seem to have forgot to upload the pic of the whole tree.

Chris texted me again and I told him we were making our way out of Camp Minnie-Mickey and he snuck up behind us before we even made it to the exit. Must be nice to use all the CM back passage ways to avoid the crowds.

So, where were he heading next? Well, it was getting close to 3:15pm...

I hope you stay tuned!

 

[KatMark]

You guys did great with all the pictures with characters--I'm really impressed. I am determined to see Finding Nemo show next trip...I hear such great things about it.

 

[Nermel9]

I thought I subbed to this when you started, but I guess not! Anyway, I'm here, just a little late!

Love the TR so far! You met so many characters as the Christmas party! I wanted to but the lines were so long that I just didn't get to see as many as I would have liked...oh well! There's always next time!

Looks like you had a fun day in AK! Met lots of characters there too! Can't believe you saw Meeko, I love him, but I never see him! Yak and Yeti looks good, I think that's going to be on my must do list for my next trip!

 

[jenseib]

I'm pretty sure those Cm's were wrong. You could've had your tickets takein off your KTTW and then upgraded it to AP's. People do it all the time. I know of some who have done it...while using free dining.

I didn't realize there were character trails in Africa. Where exactly are they. We might have to check that out next trip.

 

[lexmas]

All caught up!

MVMCP looks amazing. I am so completely jealous that you went twice!

What great character meets! My kids are too little to have the stamina to stand in all those lines. It must have been so much fun being able to do that with your mom! What pixie dust to be able to see Snow White like that! (Well, pixie dust AND persistance...) Did you watch the parade? Or is that next time?

Those CMs were wrong about the APs. I know because we had free dining in October/November and upgraded to APs just fine. We just used our APs to get into the park and then our dining plan was tied to our room keys. So sorry you didn't get to use the discounts.

I love all the christmas decorations at AK! I never would have expected so many there! Very cute. And lots of great character meets too! I can't wait to read more. It seems like such a great trip! Now, when is that pesky Murphy with his law going to show up...?

 

[Shannon84]

Just tuning in and getting myself caught up!!!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Great updates. I love the pics with all the characters.

We always rent a car at CSR (actually wherever we stay at Disney we rent a car). The one time we took a bus it was a five minute wait going to the MK and a five minute waiting for a bus to go back to the CSR. I will say that a majority of the people have said the bus is some of the best (I know Aubrie who has stayed at all the moderates says the CSR is the best bus service of all the mods she has had. You are right on the CBR...there are seven bus stops at the CBR before heading to the parks.

P.S. I love the matching shirts!

I think we may have gotten an off week with our buses and I noticed later in the week that they had CMs at the bus stops logging all the buses that came in, the time they arrived and there destination. So, I'm not sure what was going on. I think we would rent a car next time though just because it's such a large resort in general.

You guys did great with all the pictures with characters--I'm really impressed. I am determined to see Finding Nemo show next trip...I hear such great things about it.

I love Finding Nemo, you should definitely see it next time. The first show is usually not very crowded so you can show up only about 15 minutes ahead of time and still get a good seat!

I thought I subbed to this when you started, but I guess not! Anyway, I'm here, just a little late!

Love the TR so far! You met so many characters as the Christmas party! I wanted to but the lines were so long that I just didn't get to see as many as I would have liked...oh well! There's always next time!

Looks like you had a fun day in AK! Met lots of characters there too! Can't believe you saw Meeko, I love him, but I never see him! Yak and Yeti looks good, I think that's going to be on my must do list for my next trip!

I was surprised to find Meeko too! I haven't really seen him out before. I know that characters in Africa are only out in the mornings because I kept telling me mom we had to see them before our lunch reservation because they wouldn't be there after. You should definitely try Yak & Yeti! It's one of our favorites and we almost always eat there!

I'm pretty sure those Cm's were wrong. You could've had your tickets takein off your KTTW and then upgraded it to AP's. People do it all the time. I know of some who have done it...while using free dining.

I didn't realize there were character trails in Africa. Where exactly are they. We might have to check that out next trip.

The CM was wrong, we'll figure that out later in the day.. stay tuned, that part is coming up! The trail is on the path between Asia and Africa. If you leave Asia, pass the Flights of Wonder, heading towards Africa, you'll run into them. There's a Character Greeting mark on the the Park Maps. Check the Times Guide though because when we were there, they were only out in the morning and were done around 1:30 or so.

All caught up!

MVMCP looks amazing. I am so completely jealous that you went twice!

What great character meets! My kids are too little to have the stamina to stand in all those lines. It must have been so much fun being able to do that with your mom! What pixie dust to be able to see Snow White like that! (Well, pixie dust AND persistance...) Did you watch the parade? Or is that next time?

Those CMs were wrong about the APs. I know because we had free dining in October/November and upgraded to APs just fine. We just used our APs to get into the park and then our dining plan was tied to our room keys. So sorry you didn't get to use the discounts.

I love all the christmas decorations at AK! I never would have expected so many there! Very cute. And lots of great character meets too! I can't wait to read more. It seems like such a great trip! Now, when is that pesky Murphy with his law going to show up...?

We did get a lot of pixie dust with getting to meet Snow White! It was a lot of fun to get to meet all those characters but it took a long of zig zagging and standing. The CM was wrong.. stay tuned, I'm getting to that part at the end of my AK update. I think the decorations at AK were some of my favorites, I loved all the character themed trees! I was glad we made the point of going to Camp Minnie-Mickey or else we would have missed them! Ah, Murphy's Law.. so far, we've had the late departure morning, bad buses, that pesky Snow White, marathon trying to get our tickets upgraded, a non-working ticket which led to non-working fast pass machines... But, that's where the pixie dust comes in.. most things had a way of magical turning out ok.. except maybe the buses.. those were just annoying. But, I assure there's much more Murphy's Law to come....

Just tuning in and getting myself caught up!!!

Hi! Thanks for coming! I hope you enjoy!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I could have sworn I commented here! Sorry I'm so late!

When I updated my park ticket to an AP, my dining credits were wiped out. I don't know what he did but they went poof. Another CM was able to get them back but it took a while.

You got so much done before lunch time! All those characters -- I wish we'd seen Flik, Ariana loves him!! And Divine! I'm soooo jealous, I still haven't seen her! Mmmmm, Yak & Yeti looks so tasty - I can't wait to try there on the Spectrum Mom's trip!

Wasn't our chance meeting so cool? Our first of many! I loved seeing all the different Christmas trees but I think I only actually investigated a few of them and I had no idea there were so many!

One day to your next trip --- HAVE FUN!!!!!

 

[oOJulieOo]

Joining in!

I've only gotten through the first page so far, but I had to stop to say that I love all the character photos you got at MVMCP!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Well DISers, it's that time again! My plane takes off in 3 hours, I have a short flight to Nashville, an even shorter layover (only 35 minutes), and I'll be at MCO by 10:35am. I can't believe Marathon Weekend is here already. It seems like we just started training yesterday (though it's been 4 months) and now it's time to go! Wish us luck, and I can't wait to tell you all about it when we return! Have a good weekend! I'll take lots of pictures of everything!

 

[jenseib]

Have fun!!

Also I keep meaning to ask you, what is the "thing" on the sides of your t-shirts holding it scrunched on your sides. I like the style and it lookes to be something cute. So what are they and where do you get them?

 

[20thingamabobs]

Have fun!!

Also I keep meaning to ask you, what is the "thing" on the sides of your t-shirts holding it scrunched on your sides. I like the style and it lookes to be something cute. So what are they and where do you get them?

They're hair ties with Mickey and Minnie on them. Our t-shirts were occasionally too big/long because they were unisex sizing so we used the hair ties to pull them to the side and tie them. We bought them in the Magic Kingdom at the store in Tomorrowland. I think it's called Merchant of Venus or it may be the store right next to that one? We bought them on our first Spring Break trip back in 2007 but I think they still sell them or at least something similar. It's a really simple cute way to tie up a slightly large t-shirt. Just bunch the t-shirt up on the side and wrap the hair tie around it.

 

[20thingamabobs]

We interrupt this regularly scheduled TR for an additional short TR. We had the time of our lives during a very quick trip for our very first Half Marathon. If you'd like, please be our quest during:

"Every Fiber of my being hurts, but this is SO cool"... Our 13.1 Mile Disney Journey

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=39490741&posted=1#post39490741

p.s. I promise to post more to this TR this week!! Please don't give up on me!

 

[2princesses2princes]

Getting anxious to hear more.

 

[20thingamabobs]

Joining in!

I've only gotten through the first page so far, but I had to stop to say that I love all the character photos you got at MVMCP!

Welcome! Thanks! Sorry for the delay as I went down to WDW again to run the half marathon and had some picture issues..

I could have sworn I commented here! Sorry I'm so late!

When I updated my park ticket to an AP, my dining credits were wiped out. I don't know what he did but they went poof. Another CM was able to get them back but it took a while.

You got so much done before lunch time! All those characters -- I wish we'd seen Flik, Ariana loves him!! And Divine! I'm soooo jealous, I still haven't seen her! Mmmmm, Yak & Yeti looks so tasty - I can't wait to try there on the Spectrum Mom's trip!

Wasn't our chance meeting so cool? Our first of many! I loved seeing all the different Christmas trees but I think I only actually investigated a few of them and I had no idea there were so many!

One day to your next trip --- HAVE FUN!!!!!

The AP process was a handful but luckily we didn't lose and have to find our dining credits That would be horrible! I love getting to the parks early, especially AK because you really can get so much done quickly in the morning. Flik was kind of down a little path and we almost missed him because you couldn't really see him but I happened to glance down the path and saw him so we made a beeline. We walked right up to him and there was no one behind us. I hope you love Yak & Yeti! It's one of our favorites.

Our chance meetings were so funny and crazy. I couldn't believe how many of them we had!

Getting anxious to hear more.

I know, I'm sorry about the delay. We were using both cameras to take pics (my moms and mine) so it's been hard to gather them all together in one place. Plus, I went back down last weekend for half marathon so I got behind. I promise to post more soon!

 

[20thingamabobs]

So, I know it's been awhile and I really hope I still have some readers! When I left off, we were at Animal Kingdom. It was about 3:00pm and we had just met up with my friend Chris, the Imagineer.

So, where were we heading? Towards a first timer for us. Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade! We've never seen this parade in it's normal Jammin Jungle version but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it at Christmas since I didn't know when I would get the chance again. We made our way from Camp Minnie-Mickey to Africa. We found a seat near the Dawa Bar. I sat down but my mom and Chris decided to stand, which turned out to be a good thing. As we were waiting, I made a phone call to 407-W-DISNEY to speak to reservations. I told them the whole issue with upgrading my ticket to an Annual Pass and they told me to visit Guest Relations at the theme park instead of the ticket window. So, we planned to do that on our way out that evening. Then, the parade started...

The parade was awesome and I was really enjoying it but there was a family that had sat down next to us and the little girl beside me kept getting closer and closer to me. I mean she was literally basically sitting on my lap by this point . This wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that they had also pulled another little girl up in a stroller right behind me. Well, this little was enjoying her ice cream cone a little too close to my head and a lot of it ended up in my hair... It was kind of gross but luckily I was able to wipe most of it out of my hair and with my hair being curly you couldn't really tell. But, needless to say, I scooted over as far as I could until I was practically sitting on my mom's feet. Then I enjoyed the rest of the parade:

I really loved this parade! The "floats" were amazingly well done and I think it may be one of my favorites! Once the parade was over, we figured since we were already in Africa that we would make use of our Fast Passes and enjoy a 2 week Safari. Now, I have never gone on Kilimanjaro Safari this late in the day (or in this chilly of weather) but I was hoping for the best. Nope. We saw barely any animals. But, come along with us on our (less than thrilling) ride through the savanna...

There wasn't a single giraffe out which I was really upset about because they're one of my favorites but we did get to see the elephants including the baby one!

Then we saw my LEAST favorite animal ever, Flamingos:

Long story why I hate them.. but, a couple years ago in Aruba I was attacked by one while trying to feed the iguanas... Anyway...

We did get an awesome view of this guy for once though...

Continued next post...

 

[20thingamabobs]

As we came up on the warthogs I was looking in all the little holes when I saw this "girl" go running by:

Who was being chase by these three cute little guys:

Then we chased down the poachers and had to exit our 2 weeks early. So, since we now had some extra time we decided to head to the Pagani forest trail. I hadn't been on this in awhile so it was fun to do again. I always love visiting Rufus's friends, the other Naked Mole Rats:

Then, we spent a lot of time watching this Hippo out of the water:

Before heading over to see the meerkats:

And finally checking out the gorillas who were about to go in for the night:

When we exited the trail I asked Chris what he wanted to do while we waited for it to get dark and he chose Dinosaur so we headed towards Dinoland, USA. On our way there, we walked past Everest and I snapped one of my absolute favorite pictures of the whole trip:

I just thought the lighting on it was awesome. On our way through Dinoland, we decided to stop and try something we'd never done before... the carnival games. I'm not really sure why but we did. We bought 5 tickets. Chris and I played Whack-A-Dino first:

Here we are rocking at it:

So, Chris and I were playing against probably about 3 other little kids and I ended up winning. I even beat Chris by 10 points so I did a little victory dance! But, I did feel really bad afterwards because of all the little kids. I won a little dragon and I let Chris have it. Next, Chris, my mom and I used the other three tickets to play a game where you roll balls up a small tabletop ramp for "walks", "trots" and "runs" to make your Triceratops run across the board. My mom actually one this time and she picked a cute pink turtle. These definitely aren't something we would do every trip but it was fun. Then we headed over to Dinosaur. I like this ride but it is SOO loud so I always hold my ears. Here's my nice pirated picture (sorry):

I had to take it because Chris was having his new red dragon/dino thingy "fight off" the Carnosaurous (spelling?).

Then, it was back over to Everest to ride in the dark. Mickey_Mom had messaged me to let me know that they were grabbing something to eat and would meet us at I wanna say 7:30pm? Please correct me if I'm wrong. I snapped this picture when we arrived:

Then, we went ahead and hopped in line so Chris could ride before he had to leave for work. (He was working on the honey wall in the line for Winnie the Pooh ride at MK, so they work at night while it's closed). Everest was AWESOME at night! It was such a different feel and I absolutely loved it! When we exited, we said our goodbyes to Chris and then my mom and I had a photopass picture taken in front of the Expedition Everest sign type area (I haven't gotten my CD yet because I waited to order it until I got back from my marathon trip so I could put them both on one CD) then we waited briefly for Mickey_Mom and her family to show up. When they got there, we said our hellos and then, at the suggestion of Mickey_Mom's DH, we got the Everest Photopass taken again as a group! I thought this was a really cool idea. And, it also led to a huge lifesaver later... Mickey_Mom and I had both handed our photopass cards to the CM and when I went to get them back, I had no idea which one was mine. Well, luckily she had thought ahead and had wrote on hers! . So, right after this, I decided to take a picture of the code on the back of my card since I didn't have a pen. This way, if it was lost or mixed up, I would still have the code to enter when I got home. Then, it was off to ride Everest! We used their GAC card to go through the Fast Pass line and were on the ride in no time. There wasn't really a line anyway but it was still nice. I sat with my mom and we zoomed through the dark with our arms held high! As we exited, we checked out our ride photos and decided we wanted to take another spin with the Yeti. This time, I rode with Mickey_Mom and my mom got to sit with her oldest son, whom she complimented highly as being "a very friendly young man". Now, after this turn, it was getting late. Mickey_Mom decided she was done riding for the night but her son, his g/f, her daughter, and her other son decided they wanted to go one more time! My mom and I debated but decided we had to ride when her youngest son said that he just had to sit with me on the Yeti ride. And, he was just to darn adorable to say no to. As we walked through the empty line, he held the cutest conversation with me and just talked a mile a minute about everything he'd done so far. I can't begin to tell you how cute he was. We took one last dip, turn, and drop with the Yeti and then it was time to call it a night. After we exited, we said our goodbyes and Demetri gave me the biggest hug! I told him that we would probably be seeing him at Epcot in 2 days and he told me he was excited because tomorrow it would be in only 1 day! Gotta love little kids! It was a really fun night and I was so excited to get to meet Mickey_Mom and her family! It really was such a neat experience and where else but Disney can you spend a whole night having fun with people you've only talked to on the internet?

The park was starting to close so my mom and I started to head out of the park. I stopped to snap this picture:

And we got a photopass picture taken in front of the Tree at night. Then we made our way to the front of the park. But, we weren't headed for the exit quite yet. We went to guest services, to whom, I once again explained our situation. The CM told me that we really would be best to wait until the end of our vacation but I explained to her that I was really hoping to use our discount and she said that she could in fact update our tickets without losing our credits but it would take a little longer. I told her that we had the time as long as she did. So, she very nicely upgraded our tickets. I received an Annual Pass with Goofy and my mom got Donald! She told us just to stop at the concierge desk at our hotel and have them check our dining credits just in case. So, we made our way out of the park, but stopped for a couple more pictures:
One of the Christmas Tree at the Entrance all lit up (I'll have to post it later) and one of the sign. We also got another photopass picture taken here!

Then, we hopped on our bus back to CSR. We had to wait about 35 minutes for a bus to even show up. Luckily, we got on the one that showed up but there were so many people waiting that a lot didn't and who knows how much longer it was going to be... I'm pretty sure almost every resort had at least two buses come before our one. We got off the bus at the main stop and went to check our dining credits. The CM was very helpful and said everything was fine with our credits so we headed to Pepper Market for some dinner! Sorry, I don't have pics but I got a cheeseburger that was very good and my mom got a made-to-order pizza that she said was also very good! The only real issue, was that it took forever for my mom's pizza to be made so mine got a little cold while we were waiting then to avoid the automatic gratuity, we got it all to go so we had to carry it back to our room. But, they food was VERY good. We ate our dinner while we watched Stacey and then it was off to bed. Tomorrow was SUPPOSE to be a relaxing resort hopping day but...

 

[jenseib]

Sounds like a fabulous day. How cool to ride Everest over and over. I am so sad that we won't make AK this trip now. But it will still be fun.
When do you go in March? I'm sure we'll miss you though. I think you are early March, and technically we won't be at WDW till April.