Our Short but Sweet, Sizzling HOT Summer Trip to the World! Updated 12/3...Finally!!!

[Angies1274]

Loved your update! Parade photos ... woot! I liked the one with Minnie on the balloon in front of Mickey... its like they're side by side!

The Jungle Cruise is always a favorite, but I've yet to ride it at night. I heard its completely different..... ?

Are you guys putting together an album or photo collage or something similar for your parents? .... because you have some great shots so far of them with your family. Ooo! Make it a Christmas gift!

Pfft! What's not to like about Mickey's Philharmagic? Of course he'll love it!

I've heard that riding the Jungle Cruise at night is really cool!! Well...along with BTMRR, Splash Mountain etc.,etc. We always seem to be staking out a spot for the parade and fireworks during this time. We hope to do some night riding next visit.

When we were at Disney, they bought a big photo album and had their pictures developed and organized the day after we came back. I'm still working on mine. I did get them a nice frame for Christmas and I'm going to put in all my favorite pics of everyone.

My Mom and I went on Aladdin back in February. I don't think the cammels were working, either that or we somehow managed to avoid them without knowing it! I had no idea they spit at you until I came back and read it on here

The boys love trying to get me wet on Aladdin. On our first trip, we rode and I didn't notice it either. It wasn't until we rode it again in April, that I kept getting wet as we were flying around and it wasn't raining. I finally figured out where it was coming from.

 

[Angies1274]

Angie,

You got some really good parade pictures. We missed the parade because we were waiting to be seated at the Crystal Palace. Isn't it neat that the family got to boogy down in the Magic Kingdom!

Love the Jungle Cruise boat captain's comment to your Dad.

Hope that you have a great day,

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Thanks. I just kept snapping away. I love that the parade stops and gets everyone involved. We all had so much fun dancing in the street!

We're still laughing about the Jungle Cruise comment. What they were most surprised at, is that the boat captain had actually seen their anniversary pins since we were sitting in the very back of the boat.

Hope you have a great day too!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Oh great, now I am going to have that Hannah Montana song stuck in my head again! Whenever someone mentions the Move it shake it Celebrate it parade I keep hearing "HEEEEEY GET UUUUUUUUP GET LOUUUUUUUD..." You got some great pictures too. I love how it's so colorful and festive.

That's so cute about what the skipper said on the JC.

 

[Angies1274]

Oh great, now I am going to have that Hannah Montana song stuck in my head again! Whenever someone mentions the Move it shake it Celebrate it parade I keep hearing "HEEEEEY GET UUUUUUUUP GET LOUUUUUUUD..." You got some great pictures too. I love how it's so colorful and festive.

That's so cute about what the skipper said on the JC.

too funny!! Your right though....every time I look at those pictures that song pops in my head and then I find myself singing it for days and days.....I just can't seem to get it out of my head.

 

[Angies1274]

So, we had just had a great dinner, watched a fun parade, danced in the streets, went on an anniversary cruise, and tried to avoid getting spit on by a camel. Next on our agenda was to make our way over to Fantasyland, because with the exception of riding Pooh and Mad Tea Party, we pretty much skipped Fantasyland this morning. As you could tell from my earlier pictures in Toontown, my brother wasn't too impressed with this side of the park. Remember he's into thrill rides, the faster and the more they throw you upside down the better. We were already in the 3rd day of our trip and would be leaving tomorrow. I knew he enjoyed Epcot but so far he had been quiet about Magic Kingdom, well....with the exception of our dinner which he loved. I decided it was finally time to show him a little Disney magic......

Where were we heading? Hmm....if you guessed Mickey's Philharmagic!!! You would be right!!! Although, he seemed to be having a good time. I wasn't sure if Disney had made the impression on him that I had hoped it would. So, off we went in the direction of Fantasyland. We decided to head over thru Liberty Square. I took a quick picture walking by the Haunted Mansion, because I didn't get any earlier. I was hoping since DH had the camera that he would take a few, but I guess he was busy with the boys and forgot.

Awww.... you can barely see it....but I had to at least get one picture.

Since we were going by anyway and there was hardly any wait we decided to ride IASW first.

We boarded our boats and were on our way. Everyone really enjoyed our boat ride through Mexico in the WS. So, I was hoping they would like this as well.
Here are a couple pictures that came out--( My pictures never seem to come out good on this ride.....)

My parent's enjoyed the ride, especially my mom. Lee? Hmmm....I think so, but I'm not sure. I could tell he was anxious to get over to Mickey's Philharmagic. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my last TR, but the boys are not too fond of 3D shows. They like them now much better than they did on our first visit. But the whole idea of something popping out at them made them a little nervous. Thankfully now, it seems most of the movies coming out are in 3D so they are getting used to it. So, I was looking forward to my parent's and brother watching the show but also hoping the boys would enjoy it as well again.(I was pretty sure they would though.) We grabbed our 3D glasses on the way in and waited....and waited for them to open the doors. Finally it was time....YAY!! I was hoping we would be somewhere around the middle but of course when we went in, we heard the usual spiel about moving, moving all the way over. As we were making our way down the row, wouldn't you know it there was quite a few people that had parked themselves directly in the middle and refused to move to the end. Despite, the constant...please move all the way down, that we kept hearing. Now,I realize that everyone wants the best seats but I just think it's inconsiderate because we literally almost had to climb over them to get down the aisle, which of course ended up putting my parent's at the very end. So, we decided to rearrange seats and we moved to the very end and they moved a little closer to the center but still really far off to the right hand side. The sad part is that as I looked over after we were seated and the show was about to begin, I noticed the theater was not even half full....oh well.

So the lights dimmed and the music began.....It was a wonderful show as always. I love how you can smell a fresh baked pie, get spritzed with water and take a journey on a magic carpet. When the show was finished, I couldn't wait to hear their reactions. They were all laughing and my brother actually said it was his favorite thing so far on the trip. YAY!!! He had actually discovered some Disney magic!! I was so happy!!

We decided after the show to make our way over to ride the Carousel as requested by the boys and my mom. I thought it was just going to be the four of us again, like Aladdin but my brother must have been feeling the magic....because he decided to join us. I took a few pictures on our spin around. (the quality's not the greatest, I must have had it on the wrong setting from when I was taking pictures on IASW)

As we were getting down off our horses. Noah tried to get down before everyone and ended up hitting his head on the front of the horse...really hard. He started to cry as we made our way off the carousel. I felt so bad for him, first the escalator incident the day before and now bumping his head. Luckily, there was no bump and he recovered quickly. Nick wanted his picture taken with the sword because he didn't get to on our last visit.

We decided to make our way through the castle, starting to think about a spot for Wishes. Here is a picture before we went in....

As we were walking through.....

As we made it to the other side....a picture courtesy of my father--

A few pictures as we were walking down the pathway.

We realized that we still had those fastpasses from Crystal Palace. Our original plan was to ride BTMRR but we didn't want to walk all the way back. My mom was starting to get tired as were the boys. Since we had decided to watch the fireworks from the Tomorrowland bridge, we figured we would head back over and use them for Buzz Lightyear again since DH didn't get to ride this morning.

The stand-by line was about 30 minutes so we handed our fastpasses over and away we went. This time I was on a mission.....to score higher than my brother......Did I do it?....well...of course I did!!!! and I rubbed it in his face all the way back through Tomorrowland. I know...bad sister but I couldn't resist!!

We finally decided on a spot off to the left of the Tomorrowland bridge. (I don't what's it called.) Anyways, it was starting to rain so out came the ponchos again. Lee remembered his...YAY!!! So there we stood, the boys munching on popcorn and the rest of us enjoying our ice cream treats. I had some time on my hands so I decided to take some pictures of the castle... as purple

as red

as blue

as green

Waiting for the fireworks to begin--

Finally....we heard "Starlight, Star bright, First star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight. Make a wish and do as dreamers do.....

I love Wishes....it's so magical. I wish I had gotten better pictures but here are a couple I got-- (I videotaped it last year, so this year I just wanted to take it all in and enjoy)

I had wanted to view Wishes from Main Street. But if you read my last TR you would know that my DH does not like big crowds. They must make him claustrophobic because it's like he panics a little and then gets really grouchy. He just wants to get out of there. Last trip, we watched the fireworks close to the train station and made a quick exit. But this time he promised we could watch them a little closer as long as we stayed off Main Street. Now, I knew it was going to be jam-packed with people EVERYWHERE anyway on the way out so I thought if we hung out in one of the gift shops and tried to wait until the crowd thinned, it would be better for DH. Wrong!! It was a bad, bad idea. The shop even bothered me because you couldn't get around anywhere. We finally decided our best bet was to just head out to the bus stop.
OMG!! When we arrived it was crazy. There wasn't enough buses and people were complaining. We waited for awhile, I'm not sure how long but it had to be close to 45 minutes. Honestly, when another Pop bus finally arrived people started clapping and cheering. We were lucky enough to get a seat toward the back and so happy that we were on our way back to Pop.

It had been a great day starting off with a wonderful opening show and it ended with a fabulous fireworks display, not to mention all the magical and exciting things that had happened along the way. We definitely were not going to let a little bus situation cloud our day. It was to be expected, especially since the park was closed. So, where were we off to the next day....well I'll give you hint...Disney's largest theme park......Yes! Animal Kingdom! But first we had a yummy breakfast to look forward to!!

Next up---Boma...baby!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am soooo glad that you were able to give your brother some Disney spirit. There's simply no better way to do it than Mickey's Philarmagic. I mean, how can anybody go to that show and not come away "feeling" Disney? You got some really great castle pictures!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Before I forget to say it....your pics of the castle are really beautiful! I love it all lit up at night!

I'm so glad your brother enjoyed Mickey's PhilharMagic. It's hands-down our favorite 3D movie at Disney! What better place to get in the "Disney mood"!

Poor Noah with all his accidents! It's a good thing he's a tough boy and bounces back quickly.

Good for you for beating your brother on Buzz! I can't beat anyone on that ride....But I LOVE it anyway!

Ahhhh...WISHES. **sigh**

Can't wait to hear about Boma. It's a place we'd love to try!

 

[eandesmom]

YAY for Philarmagic!

We didn't see it last time and it's a must do this trip.

I love "seeing" people get Disney magic

 

[MouseKTeer]

"(I videotaped it last year, so this year I just wanted to take it all in and enjoy)"

There's definitely something to be said for that!

Love your photos of Dumbo and Mickey's Philharmagic taken from the Carousel! Cool vantage point! Great update!

 

[dismagiclover]

Loved the update! I'm so glad your brother felt the magic at Philharmagic. That is one of my favorite things in the MK as well And I love the shots of the park at night. That is such a great time! Can't wait to hear about your AK day

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Oh I teared up a bit reading your "Starlight, starbright..." start to Wishes! I really, really super miss that.

Yay to PhilharMagic working its... well, magic on your brother! It is the best! I'm sorry Noah smacked his noggin on the Carousel but good for him.... he bounced back.

Aren't those tile scenes in the castle just beautiful? We only got to see them once this past trip... it seemed every time we were around the castle a show was going on so it was blocked off.

Love the picture of your Mom and Nick in front of the castle!

 

[Angies1274]

I am soooo glad that you were able to give your brother some Disney spirit. There's simply no better way to do it than Mickey's Philarmagic. I mean, how can anybody go to that show and not come away "feeling" Disney? You got some really great castle pictures!

I know....me too!! I was getting a little worried for a minute that he wasn't going to see how special and magical Disney really is!! I'm glad Mickey's Philharmagic worked!!

Before I forget to say it....your pics of the castle are really beautiful! I love it all lit up at night!

I'm so glad your brother enjoyed Mickey's PhilharMagic. It's hands-down our favorite 3D movie at Disney! What better place to get in the "Disney mood"!

Poor Noah with all his accidents! It's a good thing he's a tough boy and bounces back quickly.

Good for you for beating your brother on Buzz! I can't beat anyone on that ride....But I LOVE it anyway!

Ahhhh...WISHES. **sigh**

Can't wait to hear about Boma. It's a place we'd love to try!

I was so happy with all my castle pictures, especially the close-up one. I have a very similar picture that I took in April. I think the castle was even the same color.

Poor Noah....I was so relieved that he bounced back so quickly!!! Unfortunately, it's not the last thing that happens to him on this vacation.

My brother and I are so competitive with each other and it seems like he always wins. It was nice to get the higher score at something for a change

YAY for Philarmagic!

We didn't see it last time and it's a must do this trip.

I love "seeing" people get Disney magic

Mickey's Philharmagic is so much fun!!!! So glad that my brother was finally able to "get" a little bit of the Disney magic!!! It was about time!!

 

[Angies1274]

"(I videotaped it last year, so this year I just wanted to take it all in and enjoy)"

There's definitely something to be said for that!

Love your photos of Dumbo and Mickey's Philharmagic taken from the Carousel! Cool vantage point! Great update!

I love Wishes. It was so nice this time to just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Loved the update! I'm so glad your brother felt the magic at Philharmagic. That is one of my favorite things in the MK as well And I love the shots of the park at night. That is such a great time! Can't wait to hear about your AK day

We love Mickey's Philharmagic too!! Well....now that the boys are more comfortable with it. Last year, it seems we spent alot of the show telling them "just take off your glasses if you're scared." This year was much, much better. I'm glad my brother finally felt the magic too!!

Oh I teared up a bit reading your "Starlight, starbright..." start to Wishes! I really, really super miss that.

Yay to PhilharMagic working its... well, magic on your brother! It is the best! I'm sorry Noah smacked his noggin on the Carousel but good for him.... he bounced back.

Aren't those tile scenes in the castle just beautiful? We only got to see them once this past trip... it seemed every time we were around the castle a show was going on so it was blocked off.

Love the picture of your Mom and Nick in front of the castle!

How can anyone not love Wishes? It's so magical. We were watching it on You Tube last week and Nick said "I miss Disney, Mom." It brought a tear to my eye because I know exactly how he feels.

I know...it's official Mickey's Philharmagic really works!!! (even for the doubtful Disney goers.)

I love walking through the castle especially at night. We discovered this last visit. The tile scenes are amazing!! We didn't have much time to spend though because the CM's were starting to block it off and were ushering us through but we were still so happy we got to see it. It's so beautiful inside.

 

[ellajeansmom]

I got a little behind but all caught up now! What a wonderful day you had I said something recently to my girls about us having missed the opening show at MK because they were so slow getting going in the morning and Ella said "well I didn't know there was a show, we'll have to see it next time!" Anyways good for you guys getting there to see it!

You did so much in one day, including a rest in the afternoon! Glad the pool was more refreshing this day We loved CP, the food was delicious and we found the character interactions great - Tigger seemed to have a constant little bounce even when standing still!

The anniversary cruise comment on JC is too funny! We never saw Philharmagic, its at the top of my MK list for next time, but I'm so glad that your brother enjoyed it and got some Disney magic

All the evening shots in Fantasyland and of the castle are wonderful, they look so pretty and magical!

Interested to hear what you thought of Boma, I haven't really heard a lot about it one way or the other.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Sounds like you had a fun evening! I really like Wishes and PhilharMagic too. I have a funny story from Philharmagic but you'll have to wait to read it in my TR.

I love that one picture of the castle you got with the green lighting. So cool!

 

[Angies1274]

I got a little behind but all caught up now! What a wonderful day you had I said something recently to my girls about us having missed the opening show at MK because they were so slow getting going in the morning and Ella said "well I didn't know there was a show, we'll have to see it next time!" Anyways good for you guys getting there to see it!

You did so much in one day, including a rest in the afternoon! Glad the pool was more refreshing this day We loved CP, the food was delicious and we found the character interactions great - Tigger seemed to have a constant little bounce even when standing still!

The anniversary cruise comment on JC is too funny! We never saw Philharmagic, its at the top of my MK list for next time, but I'm so glad that your brother enjoyed it and got some Disney magic

All the evening shots in Fantasyland and of the castle are wonderful, they look so pretty and magical!

Interested to hear what you thought of Boma, I haven't really heard a lot about it one way or the other.

Hi!!

We love the opening show at MK!! It's a such a magical way to start the day!! You definitely have to try and make it next trip.

Aww...CP was such a nice surprise for us, especially after our not so pleasant first visit. I'm so glad we gave it another try, it was such a fun time!!--and I think you're right!! Tigger definitely had a little bounce to his step.

Mickey's Philharmagic is such a wonderful show!! Your girls would love it!!! I was so happy that my brother enjoyed it as much as he did.

There's nothing like seeing the castle all lit up at night. It was actually one of the things that my father was looking most forward to seeing on the trip. (I thought I took alot of pictures of the castle--you should see his.)

Sounds like you had a fun evening! I really like Wishes and PhilharMagic too. I have a funny story from Philharmagic but you'll have to wait to read it in my TR.

I love that one picture of the castle you got with the green lighting. So cool!

Can't wait to hear your funny story from Philharmagic!!!! But...it really is a great show, isn't it!!

That's one of my favorite pictures that I took of the castle. Awww.... I love MK all lit up at night...it's so beautiful!!!

 

[Sue88]

I have enjoyed your trip report this weekend! It is so nice to read about a family enjoying each other and making some really wonderful memories. I'm so glad for you that your parents were brave and got onto that airplane!
Thank you fro shareing the magic.

 

[Angies1274]

I have enjoyed your trip report this weekend! It is so nice to read about a family enjoying each other and making some really wonderful memories. I'm so glad for you that your parents were brave and got onto that airplane!
Thank you fro shareing the magic.

and thank you!! So glad that you're enjoying it. We had such a wonderful time!! I'm very happy that they were brave too!! But, trust me it took alot of convincing on my part. They were soooo nervous. Thankfully, they loved it and they're even ready to go back!!

 

[Angies1274]

Well, I knew it was coming....the very last day of our trip. I tried not to think about it because we were having such a great time. But....4 days just goes by way too fast. It seems like we had just walked through the doors of Pop Century and now here we were packing up the suitcases to leave.

It was around 7:30am when we headed down to leave our bags and catch the Animal Kingdom bus. We were excited to head over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge because we had never been there before. Boma was actually a last minute change in our plans. We had originally decided on breakfast at Ohana's but with it being our last day, and the fact that we were heading to Animal Kingdom, we figured it would be too time consuming to have to head up to MK, take the monorail, then head back to AK. It just made more sense to try and get somewhere closer to Animal Kingdom. We tried to get in to the Tusker House but it was completely booked. I was sad at first that we had to change our ADR because we LOVE Ohana's breakfast but.....we were also very excited to try someplace new and the fact that it wasn't a character breakfast meant it wouldn't take as long and we would be on our way to Animal Kingdom. We only had a few hours after all.........

So, on with the day. It wasn't long after getting in line, that a bus pulled up and soon we were at AK and while everyone else was heading toward the entrance, we took a quick left and headed back to the bus stop. I thought at first we were going to be the only ones, but soon a few other families got in line with us to wait...and wait. A bus pulled up....we got excited...and then it left. Hmmm....I was starting to get a little nervous. We had left early enough but I wasn't sure how long it was going to take. We had never taken a bus back to a resort in the morning before. YAY!! Finally a bus pulled up and we hopped aboard for our quick trip to the the lodge.

Since this was a last minute ADR, for some reason I didn't think to research where exactly Boma is at AKL. I guess I just thought it was like every other resort we have eaten at, you walk in and it's straight ahead or there is usually a sign showing you the way. Hmmm....well the bus stopped and we got off as did every other family on the bus. But we had no idea where to go. Everyone looked to me and I had no idea. I couldn't believe it with all the research I had done before this trip on the DIS, I had forgotten. Oh well...when in doubt follow the family in front of you. The were heading toward the entrance and figured that would be a good place to start. Unfortunately, once we got up there we were told that we were supposed to stay on the bus and take it to the next stop which was the Jambo House. So, back we headed to the bus stop, we were also told we could just get on any bus because they would all stop there first. A few minutes later, a bus to MK pulled up and us along with the other families climbed inside. At least I didn't feel so bad since nobody else seemed to know where to go either.

When we finally arrived, it was just as beautiful as I had read about....

We had to head downstairs...I'm not sure how I knew this? Maybe there was a sign...I can't really remember or maybe we just followed the other people in front of us again.

My father did not like this at all!! He is terrified of heights. (maybe you remember his resistance to riding Soarin'.)
Once we arrived, we were given a pager and sat down on the bench. Despite all the confusion with the buses, we were only about 5 minutes late...not bad. We were led to our table, which was very close to the buffet I might add. Our server explained what was in the juice and asked us if we wanted coffee. She was great by the way, very friendly and always coming back to see what we needed. I didn't get any pictures...again. Mostly, because it was just your usual breakfast fare, eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, breads,pastries, fresh fruit such as watermelon, pineapples and cereals and much, much more. It was huge buffet!! But, I have to say my favorites were the scrambled eggs with chives and goat cheese and the Brioche, which was like french toast. OMG they were sooooo yummy!!Everyone was extremely happy with their breakfast!!

As you can tell.

Noah and his yummy juice!!!MMMMmmmmm.......

I would have taken one of the guys but every time I got out the camera they always seemed to be back up at the buffet. See, I told you they liked it!!
One of the buffet area--

After about an hour our bellies were full and we knew that it was time to say good-bye to the lovely Animal Kingdom Lodge. The food was delicious the atmosphere and our server were wonderful. I would definitely recommend it. The only thing that would have made it better, is if we had our own car instead of relying on Disney transportation because it wasn't the most convenient. But, we got there and once we knew where we were going it was fine.
A few more pictures on the way out....the gift shop looked nice but...we didn't take the time to go in.

I tried to take a picture of the wall on the way out while I was walking and talking....hmmm..not a good idea obviously.

Another one on the way out--

Finally, it was time to visit our very last park.....and we couldn't wait!!!

Up Next: Animal Kingdom here we come!!!

 

[eandesmom]

what a lovely morning!