So that's why you packed 10 pairs of underwear!!! A Surprise trip Nov. 13

[JulieODC]

Wow!! You guys seriously did at ALL at AK! No wonder you had no trouble falling asleep!

There are so many cool attractions at AK that get overlooked -- you guys really took advantage!

 

[BridgetR3]

Wow!! You guys seriously did at ALL at AK! No wonder you had no trouble falling asleep!

There are so many cool attractions at AK that get overlooked -- you guys really took advantage!

It is SOOOOO much easier to do all of it in the cool fall temperatures rather than the summer heat!! We weren't sure when our next fall trip would be so we wanted to see it all!

 

[bohemian74]

I'm a late joiner, I've actually never admitted to following a TR (and I've only lurked a couple times I swear!!). I'm in SE LA and headed there this Thanksgiving. It will be my boys first trip! I'm enjoying your TR!

 

[teekathepony]

Wow, what a wonderful, full day at AK!
Love the trees around camp Minnie Mickey, they're really nice. And Donald sounds like an absolute hoot! Fantastic character interaction!
YAY for your DS being picked for FOTLK! That's great! Really special too, last show, first row and he gets to lead the lions. Awesome!
Aww not zebra dome fans? Too bad! I jumped right I to the cult following when I tried them! Yum!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[mickeystoontown]

As I said over on my ptr, I have been getting caught up on your report this morning. Finally, did it! Now, I have promptly forgotten what I wanted to comment on. So...let's just say, I'm caught up!

 

[makochibi]

Following along. Just read the entire TR in a day and a half. Love your TR so far. I want to go to WDW at Christmas sometime. It looks beautiful! We went at the end of Sept./ beginning of Oct. last year for our daughter's 3rd birthday and she had a blast. She too loved FOTLK. She got picked by one of the guys to walk in the parade with him. We have the entire parade at the end filmed from her point of view as we had a GoPro harnessed on her. LOL

 

[BridgetR3]

I'm a late joiner, I've actually never admitted to following a TR (and I've only lurked a couple times I swear!!). I'm in SE LA and headed there this Thanksgiving. It will be my boys first trip! I'm enjoying your TR!

to my fellow Louisianian (?)!!!!
You will LOVE it!! The crowds will be slightly insane the closer you get to Thanksgiving. I have crowd pics I think if I ever get there in my report! Stick around and you will see some AMAZING decorations. We felt they were so amazing that we are going back this year!

Wow, what a wonderful, full day at AK!
Love the trees around camp Minnie Mickey, they're really nice. And Donald sounds like an absolute hoot! Fantastic character interaction!
YAY for your DS being picked for FOTLK! That's great! Really special too, last show, first row and he gets to lead the lions. Awesome!
Aww not zebra dome fans? Too bad! I jumped right I to the cult following when I tried them! Yum!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

We had some GREAT character interaction on this trip!! Actually we were pixie dusted in several ways. It was definitely a trip to remember!

Oh no, definitely not zebra dome fans!

As I said over on my ptr, I have been getting caught up on your report this morning. Finally, did it! Now, I have promptly forgotten what I wanted to comment on. So...let's just say, I'm caught up!

I completely understand! No worries! Hakuna Matata!

Following along. Just read the entire TR in a day and a half. Love your TR so far. I want to go to WDW at Christmas sometime. It looks beautiful! We went at the end of Sept./ beginning of Oct. last year for our daughter's 3rd birthday and she had a blast. She too loved FOTLK. She got picked by one of the guys to walk in the parade with him. We have the entire parade at the end filmed from her point of view as we had a GoPro harnessed on her. LOL

Good thing I'm short on words or it may have taken a little longer! I love reading other people's TRs! Christmastime is absolutely amazing BUT it was SO cold on this trip at times. I think they may have actually broke records for the cold. I do hope that this Thanksgiving trip is a little bit milder.

 

[BridgetR3]

Our next day was a sleep in day because we had a late night planned but honestly we don't really sleep too late so we were up and about in our room around 9. We made it out to the bus stop at 9:28 a.m. We saw buses at the covered area so we ran to see them. Nope, none for us. A few more came and still not the bus we were looking for. In all seven buses came and none were for the place we were headed to on this day. What place is that? Well Hollywood studios of course! At 9:40 a.m. I approached a CM to ask the status about a HS bus and was told that they were completely full after the pick up at Kidani so none of them were making it to our resort. WHAT??? Send one straight to us then. Finally we had a bus and we were off.

The ride was uneventful and soon we were being dropped off. DH and I were a little confused because honestly we have never been dropped off so far from HS in all of our stays and we really had no clue where to go. In fact, no one on our bus really knew which direction to go. Yes we knew that HS was "that way" but there was a long gated section between here and there and how exactly do you get there? We looked around and come to find out the bus driver had dropped us off where the "offsite but still on site DTD" buses drop off. That was WAY out there! As a group we started heading in one direction and then realized that we should have gone back the other way so we all turned around. It took us a good 5-10 to walk to the entrance and finally when we got there we saw........




the reason ALL the buses were full.........



That is the bag line my friends! Wow.....

So we did what all good DIS'ers do......we wasted more time by taking pictures of the tree.....



And then we went to get in the bag check line.



DH has come a long way since our first trip. If he had seen that crowd on our first trip he would have turned around and gotten back on the bus to head back to the resort. Today, however, his reply was, "Well it isn't hot, I'm not at work, and it's Disney. Life is good." Yep, I agree. Beside we were going to see the Osborne lights tonight for the first time ever!!

The bag check line was outrageous but there was no line for park entry so within minutes we were in and on our way to..........


Backlot Studios Tour??? Yep that would be our first "ride" today. We had missed it on our summer trip and DH didn't want to miss it again. I was sad that we were going to it on a Sunday so there would be no ladies sewing in the costume window but hey at least we were going to see it. Whoa, wait, they aren't acting out the show. I don't know if they don't typically have human actors for the first show in the fall/winter or if it was because it was too chilly but this surprised me. Whatever the reason, we were shown what it would look like if they really were doing it and within seconds we were on our way.

We took out the Hidden Mickey book and began to look for them on the ride.



Not a very good one with the hubcaps?



Cool one on the fridge.....



I think we are in trouble, Pete!



The show was catastrophic as usual. My boys were freaked out as usual. And we were off to see the rest of the tour.



The tour was great. I was right about no sewing ladies on Sunday but on the bright side, our HS day for our next trip is during the week.

We finished the tour and were looking in the last stop when DS7 found his hero.



He loves Batman!

Found this door at the Mike and Sully meet and greet as we were exiting. It's too funny!!



With about 15-20 minutes until we could check in for lunch we decided to play at the playground. While the kids were playing a CM approached DH and I (seeing the Hidden Mickey book) and asked if we had ever found the Hidden Mickey in the playground. We had not so we began to look. She assured us that we would not have to climb or slide in order to find it. As hard as we tried we had to go back and ask for help. She pointed us in a general direction and the boys ran with us to see who could find it first. DS11 found it.



Whew that's hard to see even in the picture.

And with that it was time for lunch! Where were our reservations? Would we enjoy it? Up next......

 

[BridgetR3]

So after finding the hidden mickey in the play area, we headed off to find our spot for lunch. I knew about where this restaurant was although I had honestly never really noticed it. I knew where it was on the map but I guess I never paid much attention when we would walk by it.

We headed down the Streets of America and soon found ourselves......



....at Sci Fi Dine In theater. DH and I have two totally different reviews of this restaurant and we ordered the same thing!! We both ordered the New York Strip. While I would enjoy going to Sci Fi again, he goes with the majority (that I know of) and says that once is enough. He will EASILY choose 50s Prime Time ANY DAY over Sci Fi. I like that Sci Fi had a steak and 50s doesn't. Anyways, we ate, we enjoyed the movies and the atmosphere. Then DS7 received our....




parking violation! DS7 thought this was hilarious! He laughed and laughed big belly laughs! He thought it was great that he was the driver and that he got a parking violation!

After lunch we walked around and looked at the area a bit.





At this point we went on Star Tours - well actually the boys went on Star Tours and I looked around the gift shop.



Look! It's a kid from Louisiana!



A hidden Mickey at the desk in the merchandise area after Star Tours



See, it's at that table.

Soon the boys were done and we ventured off in search of something to do.





The boys had never taken a photo on this ??? before so we decided to take a moment and fix that problem.

Next up - Great Movie Ride



Would we get gangster or cowboy? It was....



















Gangster! I remember asking on a previous trip for the cowboy side. We waited about 10 extra minutes for that side after waiting 30 minutes because it was a busy time. I thought we were getting a totally different ride. I had talked it up to my husband and his family. Ummmm......in cowboy you simply lose the driver in a different room. OOPS!! Boy did I look like a fool!


When the ride was over, we headed over to see about an animation class but a class has just gone in and there was already a full group for the next class so we decided to skip. In the meantime we walked out through the gift shop. Check out this sign I saw in there -



While in the gift shop, I saw a really cool Steamboat Willie figure. Remember this, it will show up later.

Finally it was time for our FP+ reservation for Toy Story. This is my favorite ride at HS and pretty close to being my favorite one at all of WDW.



I was so excited to ride it!





I love the details in the queue.



Yay! I won. Sadly I rode with DS7 who lost his little mind when he saw my score.

Up Next - a character we have never met