Plans?! What Plans?!?! An Oct 2012 TR. 11/17 - Final Update!

[smile4stamps]

After filling our tummies a bit we mosied around to some of the countries.

England

His, why do you keep taking pictures of me and everything else face?!?!

My attempt at a self portrait.. I'm not so good at them.

The British Invasion was due to start playing soon so we found a spot to lean...

After the show we headed to France where they had their balancing act going on.

some pictures around France.

We decided we would get some pastries but I still wanted to get some more pictures so Hunter ended up ahead of me.

Um... I dunno?!?!

From France we headed to the American gardens pavilion where we got a spot for Air Supply.

He went through a lot of the crowd.

He was literally right in front of us here.

Tried to get a picture ourselves but he headed back to the stage.

The concert was a lot of fun! Great way to spend the evening before our dinner reservation.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I'm sorry to hear that your meal at Yachtsman was a disappointment!! What a strange way for them to split your steak!

Yay for F&W wanderings! Your choices look great! (We felt the same way about the Hawaii pork slider too - I had such high hopes for it!!)

 

[smile4stamps]

I'm sorry to hear that your meal at Yachtsman was a disappointment!! What a strange way for them to split your steak!

Yay for F&W wanderings! Your choices look great! (We felt the same way about the Hawaii pork slider too - I had such high hopes for it!!)

Yeah we thought that was very strange! It was still a good evening but not as nice as it could have been had we both gotten an appropriate split of the meat.

Yeah, that Pork slider was very disappointing. I had such high hopes for it but it sadly did not live up to them.

 

[smile4stamps]

Plugging along here!

All day I had been facebook messaging a fellow DIS'er. We had planned to meet up in Magic Kingdom the day before for coast-to-coast Castle pictures but I had completely spaced on that since Hunter hadn't been feeling well. Thankfully I remembered she would be in Epcot that day so I was messaging her to find out if we would be able to meet up. Most of the day we were on separate sides of the park but then finally after the concert she messaged that she was looking for me. So I sent her what I and Hunter were wearing and she actually found Hunter while I was roaming around trying to find her!

Since we were in the World Showcase we went to get pictures in Italy. Unfortunately I must have only had the Photopass ones taken as I don't see any taken on my regular camera. And I have not yet uploaded my Photopass pics so the photo evidence of DisMeet #2 will have to come later!

After we had some pics taken in Italy we went with her to meet the rest of her family. Her Twin Sister got married at WDW! Definitely a Disney loving family! Hunter and I didn't stick around long though as we didn't want to disturb them while they were trying to eat from the booths and we had dinner ADR's ourselves at Via Nappoli!

Throughout my PTR I had debated often about having dinner at Via Nappoli or Le Cellier, I had been able to grab an ADR for both and was troubled on which to keep. I finally decided on Via Nappoli and am really glad I did.

I was hoping to get some good pictures of the wood burning stoves but this was the best I could get.

While waiting for our food I began taking random pictures of my husband...

so he turned the camera back on me!!

Finally our food arrived so we stopped taking pictures of ourselves.

The food review is in my dining report but I will say I am very happy I kept this ADR!

It also gave me the chance for DisMeet #3!

Shannon from the October group was also going to be having dinner there and I happened to see her sitting a few tables back to the right.. We asked our server to go over and ask if her name was Shannon. Indeed it was and she came over. I think our husbands both thought we were nuts! LOL.

After the DisMeet we finished our meal and I am assuming headed back to the resort. I honestly have no recollection of what happened! (Could be due to all that Sangria you might have seen sitting on the table!)

 

[emmysmommy]

I had to laugh because your DH is so much like mine.... no breakfast ADR = sleeping in. When we gotta get moving, they take it literal - no stops for photos! You captured Hunter's expression perfectly in some of your photos.

Sorry that YSH was a bit disappointing. Not sure why they chose to split the steak that way... so odd. The truffle fries look wonderful!

The F&W booth food really looks delicious - especially the Canadian sausage and polenta.

 

[smile4stamps]

I will probably be able to cover all of today in one update... You will find out soon enough why that is!

This day began with us heading for the first time this trip to Disney's Hollywood Studios

Unfortunately I picked the wrong line for us to stand in and it took us forever to actually get inside. Once in it was the Mad Dash to Toy Story Mania! We walked as fast as we could and I grabbed Fast Passes while Hunter waited for me at the start of the line.

Of course we had some time for pictures in the queue...

I just love the Queue for Toy Story at WDW. The one in DL is very boring in comparison!

One on we had a great time!

Sorry, I forgot to turn my flash off! Hunter whipped my butt!

From Toy Story we went to ride our other favorite ride in DHS... Rock N' Roller Coaster! The wait was already at 30minutes at this point but it wasn't looking like it was going to get any better.

Some line pictures here as well!

After riding once we decided since it wasn't time to use our TSM FP's yet we woud ride again. This time we requested the front so we got to stand where this was on the wall.

After riding the second time we headed for to TSM to use our FP's. We got through the line very quickly this time.

I still lost!

But Hunter got Best in Vehicle!

After riding TSM for the second time it was almost time for our reservations at Hollywood Brown Derby. I had booked an early lunch since we hadn't had breakfast plans and would be having a second big meal for dinner.

On our way to lunch we saw a plane doing letters in the sky. We don't know the total message he was going to do but we liked what was in the sky at this time!

We took some pics of us showing the sky but they turned out really bad with the sun right there.

From there we headed to lunch and the restaurant wasn't quite open yet but I occupied myself with some pics of the lobby.

After eating I was trying to decide what to do next. It was hot out already and I was feeling it. Then I looked at my phone and saw that the Great Movie Ride had a 40minute wait and that was the shortest in DHS. At this point I literally broke down. I hate waiting in lines and had booked the trip for October as it was supposed to be a slower time period. These waits were not reflecting that and I was sad and upset and frustrated. I said lets just go back to the hotel.

My husband thought at this point I was angry at him because of my outburst but I assured him it wasn't him. It was that I had so many plans and nothing was going accordingly due to the higher crowds than I expected.

So we headed back to the resort for the afternoon. Not a clue what we did there though! I'm pretty sure we hung out at one of the bars or I simply took a nap to try and get out of my funk!

Our evening dinner plans were for Bluezoo.

After dinner we headed back to the resort and I know we did spend some time at the Laguna Bar. I believe there was a presidential debate on the TV so I left my husband to watch that while I went inside to figure out what was going on with our resort bill. I had checked the Credit Card and saw a payment for $800+ go through to it but I knew that couldn't be right as I had applied a lot of Gift Cards to the room to cover all the charges we were doing. Turned out they had applied a couple of my $500 gift cards incorrectly so they looked like charges instead of credits! It took awhile to get that all sorted out but my DH was content at the bar. When I got out there he had made a new friend. As he always does! Of course that usually involves him buying said friend(s) drinks! The bar actually closed while we sat there so from there we went back to the room and went to bed for the night. It was another early morning to come!

Overall the day ended on a high note but the time we spent at DHS had been pretty disappointing. I'm not sure if it was just the lack of DHS to handle crowds or if I had just picked the wrong park for that day but I knew it was way more crowded than either my DH or I could handle. It actually ended up being nice taking a break as the previous 2 days had been pretty long days.

 

[smile4stamps]

I had to laugh because your DH is so much like mine.... no breakfast ADR = sleeping in. When we gotta get moving, they take it literal - no stops for photos! You captured Hunter's expression perfectly in some of your photos.

Sorry that YSH was a bit disappointing. Not sure why they chose to split the steak that way... so odd. The truffle fries look wonderful!

The F&W booth food really looks delicious - especially the Canadian sausage and polenta.

Yeah, my DH needs to have my plans laid out explicitly for him or he thinks there aren't any! He is a more go with the flow type guy, take it wasy and relax and I'm a "I need plans" person. Int he end we balance but it can be frustrating at times as well.

I was sad YSH was disappointing again as well. The food wasn't bad and we had a good server, it just was weird how they split our meal so my husband wasn't satisfied by having enough meat. the truffle fries were delicious but I felt so bad being able to enjoy them while DH couldn't

These couple F&W booths were the best with the exception of Hawaii.

 

[smile4stamps]

Today again dawned pretty early. This was our fourth park day in a row but the first where we did have an ADR to get to in the morning. I had booked us a before park open for Tusker House.

Arriving to Animal Kingdom we were there a bit before they were even letting people in to get to the reservations so we stopped to get a few pictures.

He looks thrilled right?

But then its early and I don't look much better lol!

Once checked in for our breakfast we still had a bit of time before we were seated.

So a few pictures of the waiting area...

Picture with Donald means its time to eat!

After breakfast (where we had to endure a screaming kid the entire time!) we headed out for the Safari!

Waiting for our Safari truck

Not a clue what this is!

And away we go! Now I should mention I have literally about 1000 photos of the safari! I had my camera on fast shutter so it just kept clicking away! I will try and post only one from each scene lol.

Alligators I believe...

A little more close-up

Giraffe!

More Giraffes!

different angle of the Giraffes!

Another animal.

More Safari to come!!!

 

[smile4stamps]

Yet another Giraffe! (Or maybe one of the same?!?!)

Self portrait?!?

I wouldn't want to run into those horns!

And more Giraffes!

It seems most of my 1000 pictures are of Giraffes!

Something that is not a Giraffe!

Elephant!

Elephant Butt

Disney Ducks!

Its a Flamingo Island!

Rhino's!

The baby Rhino is just so cute!

then on to the Lions!

Antelope! (I think)

Lion again!

Antelope up close!

And Lion Again!

And even more Safari and more of the day to come!

 

[smile4stamps]

And the Antelope again...

Another African animal...

And another Rhino

Ostrich

And a waterfall to end the tour...

I just love the safari, getting to see so many animals is so fun!

Once we were done with the Safari we headed to Asia to see what the wait for Expedition Everest would be. We didn't get a chance to ride it on our 09 trip and I was determined that we would this time!

Turns out it was down! But we grabbed some Fast Passes in the hopes it would be up later.

From Asia we headed to Dinosaur land as I wanted to ride Dinosaur. However we never quite made it there. There was no wait on Primeval Whirl so we gave the neck twister a try. It was fun but definitely not one I have to ride again. When we were done with that Hunter said he was “crashing” and needed to sit down. What this means is he was probably hypoglycemic and was starting to sweat profusely and was starting to shake. This sent me on the hunt for something for him to eat that was not sugar based. (He thinks the episode was caused by the juice at Tusker House). I walked basically around the whole park looking for a simple pretzel to discover that none of those types of stands open until later and they didn't even have the product in the stands to sell me one early. I finally convinced someone I really needed a water so I brought Hunter the water and continued my search of something that would help him. I ended up going into Chester & Hesters and found some mixed nuts, chips, and pretzels not sure which he would want.

I brought them to him and he decided on the mixed nuts. With the water and nuts he was soon back to feeling like himself but a little drained from the episode.

I looked at my Times Guide and saw that it was almost time for one of the shows I wanted to see and it wasn't that far away!

So to Finding Nemo we went! This gave him the opportunity to sit and relax to feel better and I got to see something we missed last time.

And now for a bunch of pictures from Finding Nemo

After enjoying a peaceful break with Finding Nemo we went to check on EE. It was running! So we used our FP's and soon learned this would not be one we felt the need to repeat! The whole going backwards thing was not for us! I know everyone generally loves EE but us not so much.

From EE we went and took a River Raft ride on Kali River Rapids. We didn't get too wet the first time and having a line that wasn't that long I suggested we ride it again! Not such a great idea! The second time we ended up completely SOAKED! I have PhotoPass photos to prove it but unfortunately none on my regular camera.

Since we were completely drenched and I didn't want to hang onto anything like that I left my stuff in the free locker while we went to the Flights of Wonder show. Loved the show. It is entertaining and educational. Sad I didn't have my camera to take any pictures.

After the Flights of Wonder show we were still pretty soaked but it was time for our lunch reservation at Yak N' Yeti.

After lunch at Yak N' Yeti we were FREEZING! I DO NOT recommend riding Kali anywhere near an ADR for YnY as you will freeze your butt off! I had full intentions of getting the Wantons for dessert but that wish went unfulfilled when we were way to cold to stay a minute longer in the restaurant! As it was it took long enough to get our bill worked out and we were ready to be done there!

After lunch we headed to the Camp Minnie Mickey area... What was coming?!? Well Festival of the Lion King of course! It was our first time to see this as well!

Sorry my pictures are not great...

We were sitting right next to Pumba!

Loved the acrobatics!

Overall I LOVED the show. It was completely not what I expected! (I was thinking it would be more like a stage show like Finding Nemo or Beauty and the Beast but it was very fun and entertaining!)

 

[smile4stamps]

After Festival of the Lion King we decided we were pretty much done at AK for the day so we started to head towards the exit.

This guy decided he wanted his picture taken though.

And these guys!

I love the little habitat area in the front of the park so I took a bunch of pictures there.

We were wondering if she was nesting some eggs but the CM in the area said no, she was just resting there.

We finally had enough time watching the birds and made our exit out of the park. From Animal Kingdom we headed back to our resort where we decided to warm up by spending some time at the pool bar.

We had some Sangria's and Hunter decided he needed to have a little snack to get him to dinner so he ordered some French Fries.

Dinner tonight would be at California Grill.

There we had an outstanding meal and were able to enjoy Wishes from the rooftop.

It was certainly different seeing the fireworks from there but also kind of special as we didn't have to fight a million people for our spot and we got to simply go back inside and enjoy the rest of our meal.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Ack I'm so behind!!

Sorry to hear that the crowds were so frustrating!! It seems like they were better the next day which is good though! It's hard to resist taking a billion pictures on the safari - I love seeing all of the animals!

Yay for California Grill - we've never seen the fireworks from there though, that seems like it would be an awesome view!

 

[smile4stamps]

Ack I'm so behind!!

Sorry to hear that the crowds were so frustrating!! It seems like they were better the next day which is good though! It's hard to resist taking a billion pictures on the safari - I love seeing all of the animals!

Yay for California Grill - we've never seen the fireworks from there though, that seems like it would be an awesome view!

I'm behind on posting so no worries!

I think I need to ride the Safari twice. Once for pictures and once to just enjoy it!

The Cali Grill was awesome! The whole experience was definitely a highlight of the trip!

 

[smile4stamps]

Thursday, October 18th was a scheduled non-park day in the way that we would not have to use a day off my DH's PH, since the most days you could buy was 10 and we were there for 2 weeks we needed to have some off days. We had already had one, so this would be number 2.

We began the day by sleeping in. No alarms, nothing we had to get up for! Was so nice to just sleep even at Disney!

When we did wake up DH had a protein shake and I had a Starring Rolls Peanut butter cupcake that I had picked up a few days before and just hadn't been hungry for till now!

I ended up only eating a small portion of it as it was only half covered so it had gotten a little dried out.

I also ended up doing some laundry. Exciting! I hadn't planned to do laundry this day but my husband was not able to tolerate the smell of the Disney T-shirts I had purchased so since I wanted him to wear one tonight it was necessary for them to be washed!

While they were washing I was enjoying some sunshine at one of the quiet pools.

Then once they were in the dryer we decided to have some lunch at the Pepper Market. The review can be found here.

After lunch Hunter headed to the Pool Bar and I went to fold the laundry.

Once that was done I joined him at the Pool Bar where I enjoyed a Sangria.

And probably more than one! The time quickly went by and it was time to start getting ready for the real plans for the day!

We were going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

However, we both had to shower and get ready and since I take longer I went to get started. As I was getting dressed my DH was texting me that one of my DIS friends was at the pool bar. Having no clue who he could be talking about as I didn't think anyone I knew was also staying there at the time I hurried up and headed to the pool bar to say hi. (Even though we really didn't have time as Hunter was waiting for me there instead of already being back in the room to shower.)

At the pool bar there was indeed another DIS'r but not one I have ever talked to that I know of. I thought her DIS name was DisneyTattoo but I wasn't able to find it using the search feature so if this is you in the picture please let me know!

We talked for a short time while Hunter went to get ready.

When we was ready we were finally heading to the bus stop. A bit late which was stressing me out!

Regardless of being late we still stopped for a few pictures.

And made our way to...

I had wanted a quick meal before MNSSHP and this would fit the bill!

We ended up checking in 15 minutes late but they still allowed us to use our ADR. Whew! They were turning away walk-ups so I was happy!

Some pictures while we waited.

After not to long of a wait we were seated.

While waiting I took more pictures... He looks so happy no?

So he decided enough was enough and we was going to take a bunch of pictures of me!

Okay! Enough! Hand me the camera!

Finally our food arrived so we put the camera down to dig in... Well after I got pics of the food but that will be in the dining review.

At the end of the meal he again snagged the camera!

Now that you all really know what I look like lets move on!

We headed from dinner to a ride that was not going to be open during the party. Find out which one next!

 

[smile4stamps]

The Jungle Cruise! But it of course had a wait...

So another random picture of my DH..

And of us.

Our skipper for our jouney.

A waterfall.

Most of my pics didn't turn out as it was dusk time and with the moving boat is just didn't make for a good combination but here are a few that are “ok.”

Okay.. 2 lol!

After the jungle cruise I saw a line was forming for one of the MNSSHP special guests. I had us get in line as it was close to party starting and the line wasn't too long.

I thought that is would be a character Hunter would enjoy meeting but I guess he just doesn't get the whole character interaction thing!

From there we went to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean and then to do some Trick or Treating.

We also came across one of the Dance Parties.. I went inside just because I thought there would be candy there but then Hunter was acting weird and was like if you want to go in go Dance. Yeah, me? Not a dancer... I did snap a few pics though but I guess it was a little smokey in there as it is kind of hazy.

We walked around some more and did more Trick or Treating and then came across a spot that had CM's but not much else. I asked if there was going to be a character coming out and they said Princess Tiana and Naveen! With no wait!

We had a little conversation with them.

And then as we were leaving I said to Tiana that my husband was a Pastry Chef. She said “Oh, do you make beignets?” He said yes, she said well they probably are not better than mine! Lol

After we left them Hunter was all I have no clue who that was! I guess I need to get him to watch the Princess and the Frog!

After that we headed to Tomorrowland to catch a ride on Space Mountain with NO wait and then my first time on the People Mover!

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Paula! I'm now caught up. Yay for first time on People Mover. I love going through Space Mountain. So you only like 1/2 of EE, you just don't like the 1/2 that goes backwards... got it.

I think that you like sangria! Or maybe you just like a fruity refreshing drink.

So did the Dis'er at the pool recognize Hunter?? I'm a bad detective, give me a clue and I have no idea.

The view from Cali Grill of Wishes is like no other. You can see the entire landscape of fireworks without jockying for space.

 

[smile4stamps]

Hi Paula! I'm now caught up. Yay for first time on People Mover. I love going through Space Mountain. So you only like 1/2 of EE, you just don't like the 1/2 that goes backwards... got it.

I think that you like sangria! Or maybe you just like a fruity refreshing drink.

So did the Dis'er at the pool recognize Hunter?? I'm a bad detective, give me a clue and I have no idea.

The view from Cali Grill of Wishes is like no other. You can see the entire landscape of fireworks without jockying for space.

I LOVE Sangria! Want to join me at Via Napolli next month to share a pitcher?!?!

No. she didn't recognize Hunter. At least I don't think she did! I think they started talking because of all her Tattoo's!

 

[smile4stamps]

It was getting close to fireworks time and I did NOT want to miss them!

However it appeared we were too late as there wasn't a whole lot of places left to enjoy them and Hunter was getting mad at me because I kept walking around.

Finally he found a good spot! But also declared he was thirsty so I went to get some bottled waters and unfortunately for me the Fireworks started while I was in the impossibly slow moving line!

So therefor these are pictures from my line as I waited to get some waters...

Finally I had the waters and joined Hunter to enjoy the rest of the fireworks.

That is only some of the 300 pictures I took of the Fireworks lol. Of course many of them are identical to the ones you see above!

Up next more of MNSSHP!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Funny that Hunter found a Dis-er for you!!

The party's fireworks look really cool!!

 

[smile4stamps]

Just a quick post to say that there most likely will not be any updates here for about 3 weeks. My hubby is flying into CA today and will be here for a week and then we are flying back together to CO where I will get 2 weeks at HOME with him. I'll try and post a few more updates before heading back to WDW at the end of May!