Our Toy Story Midway Mania Christmas Vacation 12/26- 1/1/2010 with pics COMPLETED

[rentayenta]

I just love your report!!!

 

[tksbaskets]

I just love your report!!!

Thank you More coming tonight!

 

[tksbaskets]

Thursday December 3, 2009 New Years Eve
Woke up for Extra Magic Morning at 6 am much to DS1's dismay! We voted to park hop like mad today and he lost

We were at our gate #12 by 6:40 am. DH had his coffee and DSs stomach wasn't awake yet. DSs and I rode Space Mountain while DH got a jump start on our 5 spins on Buzz.

Remember to email the photos back to your home. It was really fun that they were waiting for us at home. Here is an example. Pretty good scores eh? Notice anyone missing?...my scores...not so good

We were in line at the rope into Adventureland by 7:50. Looked down Main Street for the non-EMM line. Wish we would have had starter blocks for our mad dash to Indy....on your mark...get set...go!

Snagged a fast pass!

Walked briskly over to Pirates and were among the first to ride

Aren't my guys great to pose whenever I ask??

Next up was the Haunted Mansion. NO LINE! We rode and then were able to wait 10 min. and snag a fast pass for later

We left DL at 8:40 and stopped at La Bria Bakery in Downtown Disney and picked up a most excellent breakfast to go! We found a cozy place to eat. Look familiar? We did have a CM who chatted with us (after saying the entrance didn't open for a while). Nice fella!

Yes, that's my family at the entrance to DCA at 9:15 am. Went through the turn style at 9:30 am and hung out with our favorite security CM.

By today we were savvy FPers and I took our tickets to score Soarin' FPs while the men folk kept our place in line.

The TSMM escort also recognized us and it was like seeing old friends. Today was the day before the Rose Bowl and we saw MANY Oregon Ducks in to cheer on their team. (As an aside they were much happier the day BEFORE the game) Not many Ohio State fans about.

Took our 3 morning spins with DS1 topping 300K and DH and DS2 right behind.

Do you see I could pack a scrapbook full of scores?? Last one for this trip report I promise I needed to show that my men were all the high scores (everyone will be kind and not point out that we were among the first 30 to ride!)

Off to see DS1 favorite movie - Muppet Vision 3-D!

Next up: Our final afternoon and DCA gets ready for NYE!

 

[tksbaskets]

Where are all the Photopass Cast Members???
On our way over to the Muppets my men indulged me by waiting in line for Santa Goofy. It was one of the few Photopass pictures I purchased. In June of 2008 DL and DCA was swarming with Photopass Photogs. This vacation I was lucky to get 30 Photopass pictures. Really not worth purchasing the CD. I was happy I was able to purchase a digital image for immediate download. Suitable for our annual Christmas letter!

DCA was SOOooo much less crowded than DL. I wonder if it is because of the much larger size?

Entrance to the Muppets:

A favorite fountain:

One of the NYE party stages set up in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot across from Monsters, Inc.

Picked up a FP for TOT for later and then time to hop to DL for lunch!

 

[tksbaskets]

Carnation Cafe Redeems Itself!

Remember our first full day disappointing breakfast? We didn't want to leave DL without savoring the Loaded Baked Potato Soup at the Carnation Cafe so I was happy to be able to swap some PS reservations around and go here for our final lunch.

YUMMMO!

We all ordered the soup and DH and I split an entree while DS2 enjoyed a plate of fruit.

There was a HUGE stage set up in front of the castle. We were shocked by the multitude of people who were camped out at noon on blankets with little ones. Another beautiful day in California.

Anyone keeping track of our FPs from the morning's hop?

Off we went to Indy! Magic Moment While going through the line there is an area where special needs guests feed into the line. DS2 struck up a conversation with one of the Indy Cast Members. She was a delightful young lady. My men moved ahead and she said what a lovely family I had and gifted me with two 'swap' passes. WOW. After our first ride we went right back into the FP return. Did you know there are different endings to Indy?

Next, our last ride on the NMBC Haunted Mansion. Off to Tomorrowland where the sons stood in the S/B line for Star Tours and DH and I people watched from a bench on Main Street by the Astro Orbitor. Little did we know it was a prime spot for parade watching until we were surrounded. Boy did we make a young family happy when we gave them our spots on the bench when the guys got out of Star Tours

Since we weren't in a hurry we stopped in front of the train station.

It was close to 3:30 and we wanted to be back in DCA for a good seat for the 5:40 showing of Aladdin. We were in line well over an hour before show time. Talking up the show to the other visitors in line. We scored excellent seats on the main floor. No one in front of us to block our view we settled in to be wildly amused and able to actually see the Genii and the other actors.

The curtain went up and we were grinning as we watched the street rat Aladdin run through the market place. No nose bleed today~

Toe tappin' along and then 'Oh no' we can't hear Aladdin's lines.... Not 5 minutes into the performance the curtain goes down and there is an announcement that they were experiencing 'technical difficulties'. Another 5 minutes passed and they announced that the show was canceled and please exit. WHAT?????

We sat there stunned and bummed. Our last day, the last performance, and poof...no Genii. Not a magical moment.

Do not dwell Disney fans we still have fast passes to use!

DH found another 2 FPs for Soarin' on a trash can outside of Taste Pilot's Grill where we all split two pretty darned good burgers. DSs enjoyed their extra trip on Soarin'. Aren't we nice folks to give them the find??

Now Disney was passing out noise makers and hats for the celebration.

Cute idea and fun to get. Not so fun when hundreds of youngsters were tooting away...

Back to Paradise Pier for our final rides on CS and TSMM.

OK - I can't help myself. We all did pretty well for our final spins:

DCA was CRAZY crowded and we were being serenaded by many noise makers. This is not what we enjoy about holidays at Disney. We were back in our room by 9:30 to pack up our belongings.

We heard the fireworks from our room. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

Next up...Breakfast at Storyteller's Cafe and an 'adventure' at LAX.

 

[tksbaskets]

Nowit's time to say goodbye

Up for breakfast at 7:30 am. Storyteller's has a character buffet for breakfast but you can also order off the menu. Buffet for us.

Our waiter was very good and brought us some Mikey waffles...they were delish

The characters didn't seem to be coming around to our table...Hey we want character interaction too! I gave my server a nudge (stopped short of saying I'm not leaving until the furry guys come by )

Boy was I glad I had requested the van to pick us up 3 1/2 hours early. The trip to LAX was uneventful. Once we got there - YIKES. We waited in line more than an hour to drop off our bags then had to go outside again to line up for security. Not so fun when there isn't a Disney ride at the end of a long wait.

Hope you enjoyed our Christmas trip to Disney Land. It was fun reliving the adventure.

Next up: WDW at Christmas.

 

[deejdigsdis]

So glad you came back and finished! You got a lot of great family pictures. I especially liked the one with Santa Goofy.

 

[tksbaskets]

So glad you came back and finished! You got a lot of great family pictures. I especially liked the one with Santa Goofy.

Me too Thanks for reading along. I was glad to finish my Christmas report before Memorial Day

 

[Canadian Traveler]

Wow!! your pictures are amazing!!! We are going this year Dec 20-27th !!

First time being away at Christmas!!

 

[tksbaskets]

Wow!! your pictures are amazing!!! We are going this year Dec 20-27th !!

First time being away at Christmas!!

You are going to have so much fun! I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures.

 

[Gidget]

Sounds like you had an amazing time. AWESOME TR!!! You have a lovely family and I loved all of your pics!!! We are hoping to get to Disneyland either Thanksgiving or around Christmas!!! Can't wait!!!

 

[tksbaskets]

Sounds like you had an amazing time. AWESOME TR!!! You have a lovely family and I loved all of your pics!!! We are hoping to get to Disneyland either Thanksgiving or around Christmas!!! Can't wait!!!

Thanks for the kind words Gidget! Glad you liked my TR.

I highly recommend going at the Christmas holidays. Have you visited the Disneyland at Christmas thread? Lots of pics and tips to get you excited.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Day 4 December 29, 2009
Spoiler alert...don't read if you don't want to know how to work as a team and unlock 'Easter Eggs for more points'
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Toy Story Midway Mania Fever! Day 4

We woke up with dreams of high scores dancing in our heads from our successful internet search the night before. It was better than story time when the boys were little as we all circled around my netbook and I read from our favorite new ebook "Guide by Patrick Seybert" I give him props because these really work! For the full scoop see his great post!

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=314883

It was great to find that you can earn many more points and have a lot of fun working as a team

First we needed to fortify ourselves with a tasty breakfast from White Water Snacks! LOVIN' the time difference as much as our teens as 8am in CA is the crack of 11 at home Three American Breakfasts and a breakfast burrito later we were prepared for our morning.

We were the very first in line at the security entrance from GCH to DCA. We happily chatted with the cast member manning the security table until 9:30 arrived and we were let through the turn styles. This time we didn't head to Soarin' first but stepped right up to the TSMM rope!

Michigan boys at what their bodies believe is 11:30 am

At about 9:45 one of the TSMM cast members walked us in a single file line back through the park. Now this is great! No running, no pushing, no strollers knocking into the back of my ankles

We slowed down a couple of times to make sure our line was still together and strolled leisurely by Ariel's Grotto and over to TSMM. Here we are #1 in line!!

Ride #1 of the day, time 9:50 am

We took turns who would be partners. My job was to NOT mess up the score of my son (whichever was riding with me). I am happy to report I held up my end with the kids and only had a breakdown in communication with the hubby - whoops.

Game one - Practice round
- I just kind of rest my hand and 'site' in my puller (like it makes a difference in my score!)

Game two - Ham and Eggs
- When you car pulls to a stop you are either on the side with the hen house in front of you (bottom left) or the barn (top right). I found it easiest to be on the hen house side. Hen house side: in the bottom corner a fox will pop out worth 500 points. Shoot it, and two hens will run out, worth 1,000 and 2,000 points respectively. Barn side: At the top of your half of the screen, you will see a barn. You will need to shoot all the targets in it, and it will flip. Also get the little mouse running up the side. Now, three mice targets, worth 2,000 points each will be in the barn. They are very small, and will hide from you. Shoot all three, and the entire screen will fill with 1,000 point targets for you and your teammate to hit.

Game three - Bo Peep's Baaa-loon Pop
- I love this one because it's easy to get the extra points Each person has 5 balloons on the top corners of their screen which are in a cloud, which, when shot, produce water. Each teammate should shoot exactly FOUR of these balloons. Then, when both people are done doing that, try and coordinate shooting your respective last water balloons at the same time! If done correctly, the screen will now rain with 2,000 point balloons. Shoot them as fast as you can.

What we did was shoot four of the five balloon and then ask your partner "OK?" if they haven't gotten four yet, shoot something else while they are getting them. When you both pop 4 of the 5 then say 'NOW' and after confirming shoot your fifth. The 2,000 balloons come down and along with a happy sound!

Game four - Green Army Men Shoot Camp
- honestly this one if pretty tough for me but I can do it! Coordinate with your teammate, because about 5 seconds into the game, each side of the screen will have a 2,000 point plate pop up into the air. If both sides hit theirs at the same time a tank will appear and shoot out 6 plates, each worth 5,000 points. In between the tank shooting, aim only for 1,000 and 2,000 point plates.

After I busted my plate for my partner I just broke whatever plates I could. My men were aiming at the plates on purpose - to each their own

Game 5 - Buzz Lightyear's Flying Tossers
- The secret in this game is deceptively easy, but if you mess up, it will be frustrating. There will be a rocket ship filled with 8 aliens worth 100 points each. They will re-spawn shortly after you hit them. Work with your teammate and ring them all before the re-spawn. The rocket ship will blast off, and the Easter egg unlocked.

The Easter egg is a robot's mouth that will open and close. When it's open, a point value will be shown, starting with 500, and eventually reaching 2.000. Throw as many rings into the box as possible when it is open.

When it is closed, stay on your side, and focus on these targets, in this order:
Jetpack 2000
planets 500
far away alien 5,000

Frankly I had trouble getting anything in the mouth of the robot so I happily ringed the other things above.

Game six, part 1 - Woody's Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gallery
- Get ready for your dominant arm to fall off! Time to work with your partner again! To start out, the screen should have 7 targets. When each target is shot, 3 to 5 new targets will pop out. The objective here is to shoot each target once! It is important to note that the targets will re-spawn. So, do not waste times shooting the same ones twice!

If you and your teammate have quickly cleared the screen of each bulls-eye, then each target will disappear, and the screen will explode full of new bulls-eyes worth only 2,000 and 1,000 points. The best strategy here is to rapidly fire at everything you can.

Game six, part 2
- Your car will begin moving along with the screen. This part is very short. Keep and eye out for the bigger targets. You should be able to hit at least three targets worth 2,000 here.

Game six, part 3
- There will be two mine carts traveling toward you. Alternate hitting them from left to right. After the first three, a bat will appear above worth 1,000. Quickly hit him, and go back to hitting mine carts. Another bat worth 5,000 will then appear. Tag that one too, and finish with the mine carts. If you've done this correctly, your two final mine carts will be worth 5,000 each.

Now you are done, grab your cell phone and capture your score (sans flash of course) for all of posterity. Once again, please note I'm always the low score.

Grumpy and me:

Our round - green means the score came from your car so it was Grumpy and Donald!

We said a quick 'thanks' to the cast member letting us out and did a pep-step up the stairs, toss the glasses in the bin, down the stairs, wave at the guy trying to sell the TSMM game for one of the game systems my boys have, into the entrance for TSMM. WHEW. Breathing a little heavy we boarded our cars for our second turn, time: 10:00 am. After this turn we headed over to get FP for California Screamin' and waited in the stand-by line for TS two more times.

We rode four times by 11 am along with baggin' the CS FPs. Our family was happy but our arms needed a rest!

DS was quite proud he was currently both the high scores. Now if he put that much pride into his college studies....

We headed back to the room to drop off our sweatshirts (you couldn't say that with ease at WDW) and headed over to DL for our Cafe Orleans lunch reservations.

Now you know all our secrets for TSMM. Go forth and have a blast!!
Next up: Holy cow where did all these people come from! Cafe Orleans.

First, I'm so glad you didn't ditch the WDW TR. Still looking forward to that one.

Second, I had to bump this particular post for my DS11. He and I are meeting my sister at DL next week for a very quick trip! (Very last minute thing... I was doing research for my sister. She wanted to go to DL and use her AP for the first time. I was checking hotels, park hours, closures, etc. for her. Her trip was planned, but she was worried she'd back out at the last minute. Wasn't too sure about the solo thing. Eventually she said, "You know, you could come with me... you still have your AP, I've already got the hotel covered since I'm going anyway. That leaves food and your flight. And I'll pay for half your flight." It seemed like a no-brainer, as it would cost me very little to go. But there was that little issue of leaving my kids behind yet again. My husband doesn't care either way. Anyway, it was decided that I would go and take DS11 with me. And my other 2 boys? They don't care. They are the 2 that wanted to stay at the hotel with dad during MM their one and only time of going to DL. I took them to the store to spend birthday money the other day. I split DS11's allowance this month between the 2 of them, and added it to their b-day money pot. On the way home from the store they were "Woo-Hoo" -ing all over the place. "If {DS11} wasn't going to Disneyland, we wouldn't be getting these Lego sets! This is the best day ever!" And since then it's been, "We can't wait 'til you guys go to Disneyland and we can play lots of Wii and eat lots of treats! How many more days 'til you go? We can't wait!!!") Anyway, back to bumping this post. Last night DS11 said, "Remember all those Toy Story tips and tricks you read about on Disboards a long time ago? Can you find them so I can read them again?" He remembered them from when I showed him nearly a year ago! I wonder if they're still "valid"? Wasn't there a new game when you went in Oct. relating to TS3? Anyway, just wanted to let you know that this post is still getting some mileage.

 

[tksbaskets]

First, I'm so glad you didn't ditch the WDW TR. Still looking forward to that one.

Second, I had to bump this particular post for my DS11. He and I are meeting my sister at DL next week for a very quick trip! (Very last minute thing... I was doing research for my sister. She wanted to go to DL and use her AP for the first time. I was checking hotels, park hours, closures, etc. for her. Her trip was planned, but she was worried she'd back out at the last minute. Wasn't too sure about the solo thing. Eventually she said, "You know, you could come with me... you still have your AP, I've already got the hotel covered since I'm going anyway. That leaves food and your flight. And I'll pay for half your flight." It seemed like a no-brainer, as it would cost me very little to go. But there was that little issue of leaving my kids behind yet again. My husband doesn't care either way. Anyway, it was decided that I would go and take DS11 with me. And my other 2 boys? They don't care. They are the 2 that wanted to stay at the hotel with dad during MM their one and only time of going to DL. I took them to the store to spend birthday money the other day. I split DS11's allowance this month between the 2 of them, and added it to their b-day money pot. On the way home from the store they were "Woo-Hoo" -ing all over the place. "If {DS11} wasn't going to Disneyland, we wouldn't be getting these Lego sets! This is the best day ever!" And since then it's been, "We can't wait 'til you guys go to Disneyland and we can play lots of Wii and eat lots of treats! How many more days 'til you go? We can't wait!!!") Anyway, back to bumping this post. Last night DS11 said, "Remember all those Toy Story tips and tricks you read about on Disboards a long time ago? Can you find them so I can read them again?" He remembered them from when I showed him nearly a year ago! I wonder if they're still "valid"? Wasn't there a new game when you went in Oct. relating to TS3? Anyway, just wanted to let you know that this post is still getting some mileage.

Here is the update you and your son need:
Bo Peep's balloon pop has been replaced by Rex and Trixie's Dino Darts. What you want to do is shoot the lava coming out of the volcano. They look like long skinny balloons. Then each side will have a meteor that you shoot three times as it falls from the outside of the screen towards the middle with increasing point values both sides. When you bag the meteors, many lava balloons come out of the volcano with pretty good points.

Of course shoot everything in site when you aren't doing the above

All the other tips are still valid!

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

Hey TK, its nice to see u back on the boards again. I was wondering how your trip to WDW last month was? Can't wait to read your TR from your WDW trip.

Also I cant believe I am going back to DL in just a few days. Hope u have the time to check out my TR for this weekend.

 

[tksbaskets]

Hey TK, its nice to see u back on the boards again. I was wondering how your trip to WDW last month was? Can't wait to read your TR from your WDW trip.

Also I cant believe I am going back to DL in just a few days. Hope u have the time to check out my TR for this weekend.

Hi Bret!
I'm keeping my eye on your trip report. Your trip is coming right up - Of course I'll be following along. Love the sign quest.

I'm waiting for my photopass CD to start my trip report. Hard to believe it was 18 days ago....

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

Hi Bret!
I'm keeping my eye on your trip report. Your trip is coming right up - Of course I'll be following along. Love the sign quest.

I'm waiting for my photopass CD to start my trip report. Hard to believe it was 18 days ago....

TK

I'm leaving tomorrow to my Grandmothers house in Livingston and leave early in the morning on Friday. Than I will leave DL to Bakersfield for a Anime Convention on Sunday.

The Sign Quest is going to be really hard than the Ride Vehicle Quest. Not only for all the rides, restaurants, bathrooms, etc. but it would be easier to do one of them, but I need to do something challenging. I might not be able to get them all, it will be fun to do. I am also looking forward to Kickin' Country Weekend in the back of Frontierland by BTR. After seeing Fiesta Disneyland last week, I am looking forward to it and also Pixar Pals show at DCA.

Just like you, I can't believe it was 33 days when I as WDW.