Now a Trip Report!!! Will We Stay or Will We Go? A Thanksgiving Pre-Trip/Trip Report

[jillyb]

(continued from prior post)

I’m not sure, but I think after PotC we got in the standby line for BTMRR. It was a long line and the first time I’d stood in a standby line with a 30 minute wait. Yeah…I won’t be doing that again! This was a first for me and Hannah and we both loved it! Riding it at night was pretty cool too! The details are a bit fuzzy but I think we may have gone to the Haunted Mansion after BTMRR. It was a walk on and we were on our way out of the stretching room and in to our doom buggy in no time. After Haunted Mansion, we headed to Tomorrowland to use our Space Mountain and Buzz fastpasses.

At Space Mountain, Clay, Hannah and Alison rode together and I ended up in a car with a woman and her young daughter. As you can see from the picture, the little girl was NOT liking this ride.

Clay, Hannah and Alison on the other hand:

When we walked out of Space Mountain, the dance party was in progress. The sound of the music was like a moth to the flame for Hannah so we headed that way.

This is where I got my favorite video/memory of the whole trip…watching my baby girl getting’ her groove on! Enjoy!



It just makes me laugh every time I watch it!

It was time to move on and off we went to fight the evil Zurg!

After successfully defeating Zurg, we got in the long standby line for Astro Orbiter. This is another awesome ride at night! Hannah and I were in one rocket and Clay and Alison were in another one. Right before our ride was about to end I heard the music for Wishes. We were thisclose to being on Astro Orbiter during Wishes!

As it was getting late and the park would be closing soon, we decided it was time to head back to Pop. Wishes started as we were walking out and Hannah was begging to stay and watch the fireworks. It was hard to resist, and I have to admit to turning around and looking a couple of times, but I told her we would see them on Thanksgiving night and to keep walking. Tough love! LOL Main Street really didn’t look all that crowded to me but there were CM’s directing people through a door that took you behind the scenes. I know some people have complained about this because it’s not “magical” but I think it’s a good idea when Main Street is packed with people and those who are trying to leave can hardly get out for all the people. I thought it was kind of cool to see behind the scenes and Clay thought it was the best thing ever. LOL

Good night Magic Kingdom!

It was almost 11:00 when we walked in to our room. This is what we found when we opened the door:

I think this was the last time we came back to our room with something like this.

The plan for tomorrow was rope drop at Hollywood Studios but after such a late night I didn’t see that happening. In the early stages of planning, I had mentioned to Alison about Downtown Disney. She asked what that was and when I told her it was a place to go shopping she really wanted to go there. I’d told her that I didn’t know if we’d have time to go but would try to go if we could. During the trip, she brought up going to Downtown Disney several times. Up to this point, other than the pick-a-pearl and a couple of other things in China, she hadn’t really used her gift card. She was getting to the point to where she was ready to spend some money so we decided that the next morning we’d head to Downtown Disney (another first!) for some shopping before heading to Hollywood Studios.

Next up: Shopping at Downtown Disney, Hollywood Studios and Osborne Family Lights!

 

[jillyb]

Downtown Disney – Wednesday, November 24

This morning we were heading to Downtown Disney for some shopping. Clay, Alison and I were up fairly early. Hannah, on the other hand:

We were finally ready and headed to the van about 9:00. For the past few days as we walked our usual path from our room to the parking lot we saw a black cat. Hannah was worried to death about this cat and wanted to keep it every time we saw it. She even gave it a name but I can’t remember now what she called it. Here’s Hannah and her feline friend:

OK…enough of playing with the cat…we’ve got places to go!

It was a very easy drive to Downtown Disney and at 9:15 we were at:

It was still early enough that the shops weren’t open and nobody was there yet. I scored a sweet parking space right up front.

First order of business was to get breakfast. Some sights along the way:

It was weird seeing Christmas trees as warm as it was! Course that didn’t stop me from taking pictures of them! LOL

We finally reached our breakfast destination:

Another first! And let me just say…..Y.U.M.M.Y!!!!!! I got the ham and cheese sandwich (can’t remember now what type bread?), an OJ and a strawberry yogurt, Hannah got a ham, egg and cheese sandwich, grapes and milk and I’m not sure what Clay and Alison got! LOL The receipt has 2 bacon, egg and cheese, 2 muffins and juices. I’m not sure if they both got the same thing or if Clay ate the two sandwiches and Alison ate the two muffins. With breakfast consumed, we were off to our first store.

We still had a couple of minutes before the LEGO store to open so, of course, I took more pictures!

(continued in next post)

 

[jillyb]

(continued from prior post)

Finally, it was time for Alison to get her shopping groove on!

She and Clay went towards the back wall while Hannah and I just puttered around.

Must be serious for such concentration!

Hannah eventually decided to look around and decided on building the 3 people (?) for $10.00.

Finding the right head for your body is serious business!

The choices were made and much happiness ensued.

With that life altering decision made it was time for some racin’!

You can see Alison and Clay in the background picking out Alison’s “people”.

Alison got a bucket a LEGOS and some “people” and was ready to move on.

We split up at this point and I don’t remember where Clay and Alison went. Once Upon a Toy maybe? Hannah and I hit the pin store.

I would have loved to get this pin set:

Cool lanyard medal:

Hannah got a Thanksgiving pin but I can’t remember it was this one or another one. She also got a Chip-n-Dale lanyard medal.

We met back up with Clay and Alison:

And not Hannah wanted to look around in Once Upon a Toy. She really wanted to stuff a box with Mr. Potato Head parts but when I told her it would wipe out the rest of her money she decided against it. It was very hard for me to not to buy it for her!

After an hour of shopping, Alison had everything she wanted and we were ready to head to Hollywood Studios. When it was all said and done she has .23 left on her gift card. That girl knows how to squeeze a penny! LOL

On the way out:

I had wanted to go in to Basin but it was not to be. This was a close as I got to going inside and looking around:

It was a good time to leave though because the crowds had picked up since we first got there. Getting out of the parking lot was an ordeal but we made it and were on our way to Hollywood Studios!

 

[mousescrapper]

Hey Jill,

I agree the castle lighting was amazing...I still have to watch our video of it. you had alot more of crowd than we experienced seeing it the Sunday before T-giving

I don't recall seeing this display must be coming in from parking vs the buses, huh? very cool

strange on the cat...something I have never seen or heard of before

Breakfast at EOS now that sounds yummy must try that!

Also I wrote in my tip book about the Lego people making, Nathan would just LOVE to do that and I love the pix of the girls w/ the giant Mr. Potato head

 

[Poolrat]

A great way to go with the flow.

I can just picture you, looking over your shoulder at the fireworks as you tried to get out of the park.
Hopefully you did not run into anyone.


Breakfast at Earl's - already on the must do list.

 

[jillyb]

Hey Jill,

I agree the castle lighting was amazing...I still have to watch our video of it. you had alot more of crowd than we experienced seeing it the Sunday before T-giving

I don't recall seeing this display must be coming in from parking vs the buses, huh? very cool

strange on the cat...something I have never seen or heard of before

Breakfast at EOS now that sounds yummy must try that!

Also I wrote in my tip book about the Lego people making, Nathan would just LOVE to do that and I love the pix of the girls w/ the giant Mr. Potato head

Yeah...the crowds were really starting to build by then. I don't think that night was near as bad as it was earlier that day. Even though there was alot of people around us we were scrunched up together like sardines.

Since we've never experienced the joys of using Disney transportation I'm not sure what you see when you take the bus there. Where we parked was just right there close so that's the first thing I took a picture of.

It was very strange seeing that cat there! It was always on that same path too. I don't think we saw it again after that morning. It definitely belonged to someone because it was obvious it was well taken care of. Wonder if someone brought their cat and it escaped?

Highly recommend breakfast at EoS! I'd like to have lunch there sometime as I hear lunch is very good too.

The LEGO people are pretty cool. There is a mall near us that has a LEGO store. Hannah and I have been in there a couple of times and she's always wanted to make the people but it seems like it's always when I'm broke! LOL May go over there sometime and let her make some more. 3 for $9.99 isn't bad for LEGOs.

I didn't remember until looking at the pic of the girls with Mr. Potatohead that Hannah was standing right under his hand. Then with that one leg up bent back behind her it looks like he's picking her up the the head.

A great way to go with the flow.

I can just picture you, looking over your shoulder at the fireworks as you tried to get out of the park.
Hopefully you did not run into anyone.

Breakfast at Earl's - already on the must do list.

It was really easy to go with the flow on this trip because of the GAD fastpass exchange cards. If it hadn't been for them I probably wouldn't have been so easy going!

I didn't run in to anybody that night. But I did later in the trip. And it was a doozy!!

You're gonna like Breakfast at EoS!

 

[jillyb]

Disney Hollywood Studios – Wednesday, November 24

We were walking up to the turnstiles at 11:30. I tried to get the girls to stand in front of the tree for a picture but they didn’t want to cooperate. I think they were getting pretty tired of all the picture taking by now. I’d picked DHS today because there was no F! tonight which, hopefully, would mean a manageable crowd. We were going to meet up with some TGM peeps to see Osborne Lights at 6:00 and then dinner at Hollywood Brown Derby.

We used another voucher today so our first stop was to Guest Relations for those wonderful GAD Fastpass Exchange Cards. With that taken care of, the plan of action was for me to go ahead to Toy Story Mania for FPs and Clay and the girls would meet me there.

When I got to TSM all the FP machines were covered. I heard later that all the FPs were gone by 10:30 that morning. Lucky for me I had those lovely GAD FP cards! I walked up to the machine and as I was getting ready to insert the first card a lady came up and asked if FPs were still available. I said “No. I’m able to get one because I have this card.” Her next question was “How do I get one of those”, to which I replied “You can’t. Disney had a promotion earlier in the year where you could volunteer and get vouchers for a free one day ticket or a card like this”. She walked away very disappointed. I walked away with two sets of Toy Story FPs.

As I started walking back the way I came to meet up with Clay and the girls, Clay called me to see where I was and asked me if I’d packed his knee brace. Uhhhh…no. He then tells me that he slipped on a wet step and hurt his knee. UGH!!! I suggested he try the First Aid Center but he declined so off we went to ride RockNRoller Coaster.

Clay had to stop and sit down so the girls and I went on. I checked the wait time for ToT on the way. I don’t think it was too bad but it was longer than I’d want to wait and I didn’t want to get a FP. I figured the wait wouldn’t be too bad later and they could do stand by so we kept on going.

I grabbed a set of FPs at RnR while we were waiting for Clay to catch up. I don’t remember what the stand by time was but it must have been longer than I was willing to wait. This is the picture I took but I have no idea what the time is! LOL

Clay arrived and we went through the FP line for our limo ride. I thought I scanned our ride picture but apparently I didn't. so I'll add it later.

This was a first for me and Hannah. I thought it was fun and I’d ride it again. In keeping with her new love of thrill rides, Hannah loved it. We checked out the gift shop and I think the girls might have gotten a pressed penny here. (They each had 31 pennies for this trip and used every one of them.)

It was about time for Beauty and the Beast. We’d never seen it before and I knew Hannah would like it. Clay and Alison had no interest in seeing it so they went to find a place to sit and wait for us. (I asked Clay what they did. They went over to Echo Lake and sat for a bit, went to Sounds Dangerous and checked out the gift shop at Indiana Jones.)

When this guy saw me taking pictures he started hamming it up for the camera. As I’m taking pictures I’m telling him “Work it! Work it! That’s it!” As I was walking away I told him I’d’ have my people call his people.

It was pretty warm this day…as my red face can attest!

(OK...this is a REALLY bad picture. )

See that mark on my forehead? I can’t remember now what I hit but I do remember that I was bending down, hit my head, said “Ow!”, bent down again, hit my head AGAIN in the same spot and said “Ow! . I didn’t realize until seeing this picture later that I had "injured" myself!

(continued in next post)

 

[jillyb]

(continued from prior post)

This show was awesome! Hannah and I both enjoyed it and this will be on our “to-do” list for future trips. I took TONS of pictures of the show. I won’t bore you with all of them but here’s a “few”!

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[jillyb]

(continued from prior post)

After the show, we waited for the crowd to thin out then headed to meet Clay and Alison for our lunch ADR at Sci-Fi.

The time was:

when we stopped to watch these guys:

OK…gotta get movin’!

Made it!

We currently have one of these:

We had a decent seat here. We were in the back but it was the front car of the second or third row…if that makes sense. All I know is we had a good view of the screen! LOL We really liked the old movie trailers and the girls (and Clay!) got a kick out of sitting in the car. Clay and Alison ordered onion rings as their appetizer, Hannah had a salad and I got the spinach artichoke dip. For lunch, I had a burger with cucumber salad and a Diet Coke, Clay had the Reuben with Cherry Coke, Alison got the rib plate with Cherry Coke and Hannah got the Kids Meal hot dog and Sprite. For dessert I had the cheesecake, Hannah had the Kids Meal Sundae, Clay had the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake and Alison got the Double Dip Ice Cream Sundae. I was disappointed with the cheesecake. It wasn’t very good. Everyone else enjoyed their dessert.

After lunch, Clay couldn’t take the pain in his knee any longer and decided to buy a knee brace. He left to go to Wal-Mart or somewhere and the girls wanted to go to HISTK playground. This isn’t how I would have liked to have spent that time but it was on Alison’s list of things she wanted to do so off we went. I wanted to see the next Indiana Jones show but it wasn’t going to start until 4:15 so this was as good a way to kill time as any.

I wanted to get a picture of the girls here but the sun was directly in their eyes so I settled for this.

The great thing about having an 8 year old and a 13 year old is you can let them go in a place like the playground and not worry about following them around. May be a false sense of security on my part but I went with it and found a spot to sit. While they ran around I took the opportunity to catch up on my trip notes. That was the last time I wrote in it.

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[mousescrapper]

sounds like a pretty good start to your DHS day. isn't the B&B show really good? got to see it again on my Spectrum Mom's trip last month, I just know the kids would like that too. so sorry to hear about Clay slipping and hurting his knee and then needing to leave. how stinky.

very fun about the streetguy and you taking his pictures...very cute...but as I was reading it, I didn't see the pix yet and was thinking you were snapping pix of some random guest

looking forward to more!

Oh I didn't write many notes this trip either...

 

[jillyb]

sounds like a pretty good start to your DHS day. isn't the B&B show really good? got to see it again on my Spectrum Mom's trip last month, I just know the kids would like that too. so sorry to hear about Clay slipping and hurting his knee and then needing to leave. how stinky.

very fun about the streetguy and you taking his pictures...very cute...but as I was reading it, I didn't see the pix yet and was thinking you were snapping pix of some random guest

looking forward to more!

Oh I didn't write many notes this trip either...

B&B really is a good show! I was glad Hannah and I got to see it. Clay re-joined us at the Indiana Jones show (next post! ) so it was all good.

You scared me for a minute...I thought I'd left the picture out! Aren't everybody's WDW trip pictures filled with random guests??!!

 

[Poolrat]

I forgot that Clay hurt his knee. I know you tried to convince him to go to First Aid but after I had to make a trip there myself, I will recommend to go there first before going any where else. But men being what they are, I know he did what was best for him.


I am glad you and Hannah liked BB. Nice to see the playground getting some use so you can rest a bit too.
Looking forward to IJ, I have not seen that show in person in a while. It needs to be cooler or else I melt in that theater. My last trips it was just too stinkin hot to do it.

 

[jillyb]

(continued from prior post)

The girls finally had their fill of the playground and, as it was getting close to time for us to get seats for Indy, we headed that way. We caught the tail end of the Block Party Bash parade. It was very hard to get pictures because the sun was shining directly in to my eyes.

Ouch!!!

We got really good seats down front on the front row directly behind the guys who run all the controls for the show. They were just to my right. Clay called to see where we were and he joined us not long before the show started. I really enjoyed the show but started getting a bit antsy towards the end. I think the girls enjoyed it too. Clay, of course, loved it. I took several pictures pre-show but this is the only one uploaded in my Photobucket account. I know some of them were pretty bad and I just deleted them. This may be the only one that survived. I'll check Clay's laptop later tonight and see if there are any more.

After Indy, Clay and the girls were ready for ToT. I don't recall the wait time but it wasn't too bad. I did what I always do when waiting for them...took pictures!

Didn't get this picture earlier so had to go back and get one!

I wandered around to the back of ToT and went in to the gift shop to wait for them to exit.

Shopping!!

I saw Clay and the girls as they were coming out and they were all pretty wound up and laughing. I had been a bit worried about Hannah and how well she'd do. Turns out I needn't have worried. She loved it!

By now it was getting late and we still had 2 sets of FPs for Toy Story to use!

The FP line was really long! The date stamp on this first picture is 5:31. We had to meet the TGM peeps at 6:00. Yeah...we're gonna be late. I had no service on my phone while in line so I couldn't even call and let anybody know until we were outside.

(continued in next post)

 

[jillyb]

(continued from prior post)

I beat Clay!

After trouncing Clay, we hoofed it over Sci-Fi Dine in where we were meeting up with everyone. As soon as I got outside I called Anna, the November Vacation Club Moderator on TGM and had to leave a voicemail. She called me right back and told me where she and her girls were standing. Nobody else was there yet and it was very close to time for them to cut on the lights. As we were waiting for others to arrive, the lights were cut on. We waited for just a little bit longer and finally decided that we were it so we headed "in" to see the lights. Yeah....us and a billion other people!

To be continued......

 

[jillyb]

I forgot that Clay hurt his knee. I know you tried to convince him to go to First Aid but after I had to make a trip there myself, I will recommend to go there first before going any where else. But men being what they are, I know he did what was best for him.


I am glad you and Hannah liked BB. Nice to see the playground getting some use so you can rest a bit too.
Looking forward to IJ, I have not seen that show in person in a while. It needs to be cooler or else I melt in that theater. My last trips it was just too stinkin hot to do it.

Afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed with IJ pics. I only got one!!

I just went back through my texts to you and remembered you were trying to get me to go on ToT. They were already on the ride and I was in the gift shop texting you!

 

[Poolrat]

That is funny you only had one picture. I have the same trouble with dark moving place, all I get is a blur.

You chickened out of ToT You need to try it once. I love it.

I know you have some pictures of theose lights right?

 

[jillyb]

That is funny you only had one picture. I have the same trouble with dark moving place, all I get is a blur.

You chickened out of ToT You need to try it once. I love it.

I know you have some pictures of theose lights right?

Woman! I've already told you I have issues with free falling elevators!

I think I might have 3 or four pictures of the lights.

 

[Poolrat]

Woman! I've already told you I have issues with free falling elevators!

I think I might have 3 or four pictures of the lights.

Perfectly safe- You have a seat, a seat belt that fastens from left to right and left to right only, and even a place to hold on if you have to and a chance to feel weightless. Who could want more?

 

[jillyb]

Perfectly safe- You have a seat, a seat belt that fastens from left to right and left to right only, and even a place to hold on if you have to and a chance to feel weightless. Who could want more?

I'm not buyin' it! LOL

 

[jillyb]

Just to backtrack a bit, here's our ride photo from RnRC:

I checked Clay's laptop and there are no other photos from Indy. Gonna have to do better next time! OK...on with the show!

Osborne Lights

WOW! The Osborne Lights are beautiful beyond description! All the pictures and videos I’d seen prior to our trip just don’t do them justice. I love me some Christmas lights! The Streets of America were slam packed with people. You didn’t walk…it was more of a shuffle. Seems like we had just walked in when Anna told me they were leaving because one of her daughters needed a bathroom break. We forged ahead through the crowd when out of the blue I heard someone yelling my name. It was Kelli, another TGM peep and her daughter! Funny part…it’s not because she saw me and recognized me…it was because Hannah was leading the way with Clay behind her and she recognized them! LOL We chatted briefly and went our separate ways. Without further ado, I give you the Osborne Lights!

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