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

[jillyb]

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This was my favorite part of the parade:

After the parade, it was a short walk back through the Castle for our last ride of the night….the Carousel.

Not sure why I don’t have a picture of Hannah on the Carousel. I think she was being ornery and didn’t want her picture taken. We then made our way back through the Castle and headed towards Main Street.

Main Street from in front of the Castle:

One last look at the Castle:

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[jillyb]

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My favorite picture from that night:

The girls were complaining about being cold so we went in the Emporium to get jackets and look around.

Hannah liked this bag and wanted me to buy it for her. I resisted. LOL

It’s a really cute bag though! LOL

Another cute bag!

Jackets were finally purchased and we continued out of the park.

Good night and good-bye Magic Kingdom!

Next up…Epcot and our last day.

 

[MeMom]

My favorite picture from that night:

Love it.

I am looking forward to seeing those pretty Magic Kingdom Christmas lights again this year. I really missed them last year.

 

[Poolrat]

Great afternoon and evening. Glad you enjoyed LTT.
Sorry you got wet on Splash, I always seem to be the only one in the log to get soaked.

 

[jillyb]

Love it.

I am looking forward to seeing those pretty Magic Kingdom Christmas lights again this year. I really missed them last year.

I was so excited about the picture and couldn't wait to show it to Clay. When he saw it he was like "eh". Men! LOL

I'm going to miss them this year! I look forward to seeing your pictures so I can live vicariously through you!

Great afternoon and evening. Glad you enjoyed LTT.
Sorry you got wet on Splash, I always seem to be the only one in the log to get soaked.

It didn't help that we were in the second row! I knew that meant we'd get wet. Fortunately it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Kali! I think it was just the back of my shorts.

 

[jillyb]

Here's our Splash Mountain pic:

 

[jillyb]

One thing I think I forgot to mention about our Magic Kingdom day. We used the last voucher for four GAD Fastpass Exchange Cards and we never even used them!

Epcot – Saturday, November 27

Today was our last day and we were spending it in Epcot. The Christmas Storytellers were starting today and I wanted to see as many of them as we could before we had to leave. I’d made the Holidays Around the World Passports for the girls and was looking forward to hearing the stories. Yeah…didn’t happen.

We did see a few of the Storytellers but I was only able to snap a few pictures here and there as we did a whirlwind tour of the World Showcase. Why were we doing this you ask? Well…remember Flat Stanley? The Flat Stanley I couldn’t find, along with my engagement ring (which was never found)? When getting ready for our final day I opened my Trip Binder and lo and behold there was Flat Stanley in the front pocket! Why was Flat Stanley in my Trip Binder? I put him there so he wouldn’t get lost. So, the plan for the day had to be scrapped so we could go around the World with Flat Stanley.

It was chillier today than it had been all week so we needed our jackets today. Clay handled check out while the girls and I headed to the food court. Since it was so late in the morning it was really crowded and it took a while to find a table. With breakfast done we headed to Epcot for our final day. Now my problem was I had nothing for the CMs to write on to tell something about their country. Clay suggested we buy a passport at a gift shop. Brilliant! I didn’t know he even knew about those! Passport purchased and we were off to Canada for our first Flat Stanley adventure.

This was really fun! It was interesting because you could tell some of the CMs sort of knew about Flat Stanley and then there were others, like in Morocco for example, I wasn’t sure they really understood the concept. They were all very gracious and were willing to have their picture taken with Flat Stanley and to write in Hannah's passport.

Hannah got the passport filled out in every country but there were a couple where I didn’t do the picture with Flat Stanley and the CM. The other cool thing was the CMs wrote something about their country in their own language. The not so cool part was Hannah couldn’t tell the teacher what they said! Here’s Flat Stanly touring the World Showcase:

These guys came out as Hannah and I were going to the Kidcot Station in the United Kingdom so we stopped to watch:

These guys were great and so funny!

UK:

On to France:

Pere Noel:

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[jillyb]

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Morocco:

Japan:

USA:

Kwanza:

Italy:

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[jillyb]

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Germany:

(She’s wearing the shirt I’d bought the day before at Everything Pop)

Loved this t-shirt…wish I’d bought it!

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[jillyb]

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It was getting close to our lunch at Coral Reef so we headed towards The Land:

We were seated right away. Our table was the very first table in front of the tank. They also recognized that Clay and I were celebrating our anniversary. The hostess offered to take our picture.

Would have been a great picture if I didn’t have my eyes closed! (I'm wearing the shirt I'd bought the day before at Everything Pop.)

This guy kept us company:

Alison had crab cakes for her appetizer, mahi mahi and the Chocolate ave for dessert. Clay and I both had the lobster soup for our appetizer, mahi mahi and the Bailey’s and Jack Daniel’s Mousse for dessert. Hannah got the kid’s chicken strips, green beans and ice cream sundae for dessert.

Hannah’s ice cream sundae:

They also brought out this for me and Clay:

It was very good but we were stuffed!

Service was good here and, once again, we really enjoyed our meal. This is one of our must-do meals.

We waddled out after lunch and headed to the Seas to Find Nemo and his friends. Catch the wave dude!!!

Hannah sportin’ her new jacket:

Mine! Mine! Mine!

As I was taking this picture (no flash!) the CM standing there reminded me “No flash photography!” No ma’am…no flash!

After we found Nemo we went to hang out with some of his friends:

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[jillyb]

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Alison sportin’ her new jacket:

(This is the shirt I bought for Alison)

Manatee:

We checked out the gift shop on our way out:

Back to World Showcase:

To be continued – Next stop: Mexico!

 

[MeMom]

I was so excited about the picture and couldn't wait to show it to Clay. When he saw it he was like "eh". Men! LOL

I'm going to miss them this year! I look forward to seeing your pictures so I can live vicariously through you!

Well, I think it was a precious picture, and I bet he will think so, too, when he his walking beside her down the wedding aisle one of these days.

I am so excited about the Christmas trip! I will pay you back with lots and lots of pictures. Thanks for the wonderful walk around World Showcase and the Coral Reef pictures.

 

[jillyb]

Well, I think it was a precious picture, and I bet he will think so, too, when he his walking beside her down the wedding aisle one of these days.

I am so excited about the Christmas trip! I will pay you back with lots and lots of pictures. Thanks for the wonderful walk around World Showcase and the Coral Reef pictures.

 

[Poolrat]

A great walk around World Showcase and Coral reef. I enjoyed my meal there too. Did Crush keep you company the whole time?

LOL that Flat Stanley made you scrap you plans. I cannot believe that your ring has not shown up !!!!

 

[jillyb]

A great walk around World Showcase and Coral reef. I enjoyed my meal there too. Did Crush keep you company the whole time?

LOL that Flat Stanley made you scrap you plans. I cannot believe that your ring has not shown up !!!!

There was actually two. When one would swim away the other would come take it's place. That one would hang around for a while then swim off and the first one would come back. I think they must be part of the Union and can only work so many minutes before taking a break.

I know...can you believe a piece of paper can make you do that???!!!! Oh...and Clay had something to do with it too. LOL

It's like that ring never existed. I did everything but unbolt everything from the floor looking for it in the room. I checked my bag, I checked suitcases...I looked everywhere...nada...zilch...zip. If you go back and look at the picture of me and Clay in front of the tree at AKL on Thanksgiving Day you can see that I have a ring on. I just can't tell if my engagement ring is on there.

I suppose it's possible I got distracted when putting on my rings that morning and only put on my wedding band but it's pretty unlikely as I'm in the habit of puttig them both on at the same time. I'm pretty sure I didn't take it off any time during the day to wash my hands and I really don't think housekeeping appropriated it. I have a theory about what happened to it but I'm not going to expound on it.

 

[Poolrat]

There was actually two. When one would swim away the other would come take it's place. That one would hang around for a while then swim off and the first one would come back. I think they must be part of the Union and can only work so many minutes before taking a break.

I know...can you believe a piece of paper can make you do that???!!!! Oh...and Clay had something to do with it too. LOL

It's like that ring never existed. I did everything but unbolt everything from the floor looking for it in the room. I checked my bag, I checked suitcases...I looked everywhere...nada...zilch...zip. If you go back and look at the picture of me and Clay in front of the tree at AKL on Thanksgiving Day you can see that I have a ring on. I just can't tell if my engagement ring is on there.

I hate that. You know things just can't disappear but yet it happened.

I suppose it's possible I got distracted when putting on my rings that morning and only put on my wedding band but it's pretty unlikely as I'm in the habit of puttig them both on at the same time. I'm pretty sure I didn't take it off any time during the day to wash my hands and I really don't think housekeeping appropriated it. I have a theory about what happened to it but I'm not going to expound on it.

I sincerely hope it just "turns up" one day. Just like the camera my DH "thought" TSA "aquired" and it came tumbling out of a bag in the closet a year or so later.




Hey it is THAT tme of year again. Ultra Swim - your parking lot is going to be a zoo. This year I will be over there Friday evening, Sat and Sun Morning since I do not have to work the weekend.

 

[disney<333]

So sorry to get so far behind! Things have just been crazy busy lately. I've never thought about doing AK on Thanksgiving day. We usually do MK on this day. Now I'm thinking AK would be better and then we could have dinner at Yak and Yeti and then go to AKL for stories around the campfire. Would you recommend this? How crowded was AK? Your day at MK looks like so much fun.
Your meal at Coral Reef sounds great. I'm putting it on my list to try. LOVE all the pictures.

 

[jillyb]

I know right???!!![/B]

I sincerely hope it just "turns up" one day. Just like the camera my DH "thought" TSA "aquired" and it came tumbling out of a bag in the closet a year or so later.

I've thought the same thing! One day I'll open up the suitcase and there it will be!

Hey it is THAT tme of year again. Ultra Swim - your parking lot is going to be a zoo. This year I will be over there Friday evening, Sat and Sun Morning since I do not have to work the weekend.

Oh boy...can't wait! NOT!! It was pretty packed Thursday and Friday last week. Not sure what was going on. One of my co-workers said she bet it would be awful when the Democratic National Convention is there next year. UGH!

Are you going to be there during the day or just at night?

So sorry to get so far behind! Things have just been crazy busy lately. I've never thought about doing AK on Thanksgiving day. We usually do MK on this day. Now I'm thinking AK would be better and then we could have dinner at Yak and Yeti and then go to AKL for stories around the campfire. Would you recommend this? How crowded was AK? Your day at MK looks like so much fun.
Your meal at Coral Reef sounds great. I'm putting it on my list to try. LOVE all the pictures.

No worries! Life was pretty busy for me for a while too. It finally slowed down enough for me to get some updates. I've got the final installments ready to go and will be posting those next.

Most defintely recommend the AK on Thanksgiving Day! It wasn't very crowded at all and it was just the perfect day for us. A day at the AK, dinner at Yak and Yeti and then stories around the campfire at AKL sounds like a wonderful way to spend the day!

I know a lot of people don't like Coral Reef but we've always enjoyed it. I hope your family will like it too!

 

[jillyb]

Mexico:

Scary!!!!

Searching for Donald:

On to Norway:

China:

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[jillyb]

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We went in to see the movie about China. This was awesome!

With all the countries completed it was time to head out.

We made one last stop at Mouse Gears to buy a few gifts and to use up our 32 snack credits. Do you know how hard it is to use 32 snack credits??!!! We managed to use them all up and it was now truly time to leave. It was almost 6:00 and I was secretly hoping Clay would suggest we just find a room off property and make the drive home in the morning. Didn't happen...and I didn't have the nerve to ask.

I drove for the first leg but I was getting tired so Clay took over. We stopped at the

in Ormond Beach about 9:00 for a late supper.

If you ever need

this is the place to go. It's right beside the Waffle House.

I believe this was the longest drive of my life. I think it was about 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning when we pulled in to the driveway. We had a great time at WDW but were all very glad to be home and to crawl in to our own beds.

Next up: the aftermath and souvenier pics