SOOZE's 12th Anniversary Yuletide Fun 2/6 LINK to NEW PTR!

[jordanyosh]

Wow. It's over already! Look forward to a full report when you get back!

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

And such a good sport about it, too....

This is SO my husband...he IS that dad...when he beats our two year olds in a race he does this same thing...

 

[praisehisname]

We battled a few crowds...

You've got me a little scared about our trip next week...

Christmas cups!

I've been battling some kind of cold ever since we left, too. Which has been a bit of an inconvenience. But with Cold-Eze and lots of Advil, I've been getting along fine!

Hope you're feeling better!

We were behind a family with small children, who let their kids do whatever they want! They spent a majority of the time on the wrong side of the bars, climbing on, touching, hiding behind, all of the set pieces. I couldn't believe a CM didn't come swooping in to correct the situation!

Can't wait to read about the rest of the trip!

 

[Sooze]

Well, my friends! We are back home in wet, cold, Indiana! I'm happy to be here safe and sound, and I really enjoyed the hugs of my children! Can't wait to go again during Spring Break and have their happy faces with us!

After I get the kiddos in bed, I'd like to try to update. Hoping to make it happen! If not, I hope you'll forgive me!

 

[Sooze]

Sounds like an awesome day at Epcot!

Isn't EVERY day at Epcot awesome?!?! But, yes, it sure was!!

Loved Loved Loved your latest installment. It made my day yesterday (just didn't have time to respond since I read it at WORK on my lunch hour). Looks like you guys are having an amazing time. Sorry you got schooled on Toy Story, Tim does that to me every time, I ALMOST had him (up until the last screen) this past summer, but he got me!!! Those kids in the line were crazy, I can't believe some parents!
Have a safe trip home! Can't wait to read more!
Lesley

Aw... you had to be at work! I'm so sorry! Yeah, I was over it... over. it. at the end of Toy Story. I'm telling you, my arm was going to fall off!! I tried SO hard.. and failed miserably.

So glad you guys are having a great time! Jordan had fun meeting you! Thanks for stopping by to see her! Have fun on your last day & safe travels home.

Oh my goodness, Michelle! It was so crazy seeing her in Epcot. It was like I was meeting an old friend, someone I already knew so well! She looked great working... wearing a CM costume... like she was just meant to be there! And she had special treats for us! Stay tuned and I'll post a picture! You have such a special daughter. We were glad to finally meet her! (One of you down, 4 to go!)

Wow. It's over already! Look forward to a full report when you get back!

Working on it!! Can't wait to share more goofy pictures of Matt. He is so crazy!

This is SO my husband...he IS that dad...when he beats our two year olds in a race he does this same thing...

I always wonder how that will affect our children as they grow and develop their own sense of competitiveness. Time will tell, right!?! I'm glad I'm not alone!

You've got me a little scared about our trip next week...

The crowds were MUCH worse than we ever imagined. Be prepared... I think the holiday rush began immediately after Thanksgiving.

Hope you're feeling better!

I'm doing much better... thank you!

 

[tinkgurl]

Glad to know you made it home alright!

 

[Sooze]

Sorry no update from the airport, but Matt and I decided to hop on an earlier flight.


Why would we EVER leave Disney early?!?! Well.. there was a big squall line headed to central FL, and it was due to arrive when we were supposed to leave.. around 8:15 at night. Secondly, our original flight had us landing at 10pm. Just not good when we have to be at school teaching tomorrow.

We actually squeezed in both of our favorites at AK this morning (FotLK and Nemo: The Musical) before heading to the airport. We caught a 3:45 flight and were home by 6pm. Much more convenient!

 

[jordanyosh]

Sorry no update from the airport, but Matt and I decided to hop on an earlier flight.


Why would we EVER leave Disney early?!?! Well.. there was a big squall line headed to central FL, and it was due to arrive when we were supposed to leave.. around 8:15 at night. Secondly, our original flight had us landing at 10pm. Just not good when we have to be at school teaching tomorrow.

We actually squeezed in both of our favorites at AK this morning (FotLK and Nemo: The Musical) before heading to the airport. We caught a 3:45 flight and were home by 6pm. Much more convenient!

I hope to hear about your trip more in depth...

 

[shannon47142]

Just found your report --in time for the full version

 

[Sooze]

Glad to know you made it home alright!

Thank you! I'm not the best flyer in the world, so when those airplane wheels hit the ground in Indy, I was quite thankful!!

I hope to hear about your trip more in depth...

I hope to share about my trip more in depth!

Just found your report --in time for the full version

Glad you made it! Don't forget to go check out the 1st two updates. I'll have some links in the 1st post by the end of the night!

 

[Sooze]

So I had just finished having my booty kicked on TSM and was trying not to pout too badly as we headed out. It was time for one of our many BENCH stops! This time, we were looking to hang out near the big hat. We noticed the crowd gathering for the HSM show. Then... we saw a nice, green, empty bench with an umbrella! SCORE!!

Well, as we started to walk over there, some CMs started panicking and telling us we couldn't go in that direction. The HSM float is coming!! We (nicely, of course) asked if we could just go to the bench. We weren't trying to get in the way! One of them said, "Sure... you just can't move from that spot!!!" Very urgently, I might add.

Not a problem, my dear cast member. We don't plan on moving for a while.

So, here they came. The red, white, and black-wearing, pom-pom waving, uber-smiling HSM clan:

The float passed us in about 15.4 seconds. The cast member told us we COULDN'T MOVE!! But it was for 15.4 seconds! Silly!

Here they go:

As the show started, I began to wonder how much longer they are going to be able to milk the HSM empire. I think it's already dying, since they made those poor singing kids graduate.

I took this time to make some phone calls home and to check on the kids. I also had some final plans to confirm regarding where Tyson was going to go after school (a detail I overlooked before we left)

Random picture.

Matt makes fun of me for taking these. My response to him is, "Oh.. would you like me to take ANOTHER picture of the HAT? " I mean, for real... I try to look for unique things... since we go to Disney so often, I try to look for other, different things to record on digital memory.

Anyone else have this problem? What do you do to keep your pictures 'fresh' when you go so often?


Next stop:

We were simply audience member this time around. Want to read about my own personal experience performing on the stage? Click here. Just be warned, it's a long story, with not a lot of photo documentation!

We had great seats, right in the middle of the stage:

The guy who warmed up the audience was a HOOT! Even better than the show itself, unfortunately. Yeah... this batch of singers was NOT the greatest. My favorite was a guy who sang "I like it, I love it, I want some more of it". He was totally hick-country and kept ogling the camera every time it went by.

Some young girl sang "Ever Ever After" from Enchanted. She was ok, but stood there looking like she had just eaten something really nasty. She won. HUH? I guess her tight shirt got her more votes than I thought!

Our next stop was more BENCH TIME and Streetmosphere. We enjoyed these lovely ladies for a while:

Check out that makeup!!

I took a lot of pictures of this one, because she made me laugh the most:

We moseyed on over to the Animation building for a little drawing class fun. When we got in there, the CM who was doing the instructing was telling us that two guests had already requested Stitch or Bolt. Then she asked if we had anything else in mind. Matt said, "Carl Fredrickson!" I died. Can you imagine drawing the old man from UP?! We voted, and Bolt one.

Here I am, ready to draw!! I just LOVE this class!

The empty slate:

And here is Matt during the lesson. He was a wee bit frustrated:

NO ERASER??!?!?!!

HIS NOSE GOES WHERE?!?!?!?!

I JUST CAN'T DO THIS!!!!!

Ok.. Just kidding! We staged all of these shots! He actually did a very good job! Check out our final pictures:

Mine:

Matt's:

We spent some time looking at the displays for the upcoming NEW Princess movie:

I love how I caught the words on the glass on this one!

After our drawing experience, we decided to catch a Beauty and the Beast show. Did our early morning and mad dash to DHS catch up with us? Well, this is Matt as we were waiting for the show to start:

um, yeah.... he's asleep!!

Stay tuned for TONS and TONS and GOBS and GOBS of pictures/video from the show! I went nuts!

 

[KatMark]

You guys are a hoot. I love the pics of your DH drawing his cartoon. Since DH and I don't travel with our kids anymore (they are both in college), we spend a lot of time "bench sitting" and just watching and observing.

 

[Sooze]

You guys are a hoot. I love the pics of your DH drawing his cartoon. Since DH and I don't travel with our kids anymore (they are both in college), we spend a lot of time "bench sitting" and just watching and observing.

Thanks! I still laugh when I look at those pictures! Humor is a big part of our relationship, for sure!

Matt and I see so many couples who are obviously traveling solo because they are retired, or their kids have grown up (or both!) Not that we want to rush our youth away, by any means, but we are so glad that we have that to look forward to: Just the two of us strolling slowly through Disney, stopping at benches along the way!

Thanks for your comments!

 

[KatMark]

Thanks! I still laugh when I look at those pictures! Humor is a big part of our relationship, for sure!

Matt and I see so many couples who are obviously traveling solo because they are retired, or their kids have grown up (or both!) Not that we want to rush our youth away, by any means, but we are so glad that we have that to look forward to: Just the two of us strolling slowly through Disney, stopping at benches along the way!

Thanks for your comments!

As much as we loved Disney with our kids, we love it just as much just the two of us in our 50's. It's amazing the things we pick up that we never noticed with the kids.

Take a peek at my TR which is in my signature if you get a chance.

 

[crissy1974]

Just found your trip report and am enjoying it! Real quick question - how is the weather right now? We leave on Saturday and am going crazy trying to figure out what to pack. I am watching the 10 day forecast, but we all know that the weatherman has the best job in the world -can be wrong and will still get paid! Anyhow, your pics show a lot of people in jeans!

Am also a little nervous about the crowds! We were told that this is the BEST time of the year because the crowds are low. Yikes! This is our first trip this time of year. We have a 4 yr old.

 

[JenSop]

Hi Sooze!

So jealous of your trip! I felt that with every facebook update you posted!

I totally feel ya about running out of interesting pictures to take - it's hard to find new angles of the same thing over and over.

FYI, Matt might have won on Toy Story Mania, but you totally kicked his *** in the animation class!!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[jordanyosh]

Love the sleeping pic!

 

[praisehisname]

You guys are so fun! I love the pics in the Animation Studio!

 

[timandlesley]

LOVED the update Sooze, can't believe you guys are home already, but happy you are home safe and sound.
I agree with you about the pictures, I have a hard time taking unique ones too, but I guess that's a problem I can live with .
You and Matt crack me up, Tim and him would have a BLAST together. Loved the drawing class frustration photo's.
Sorry your singers at American Idol weren't the greatest, I've heard they are having a TERRIBLE time getting people to audition, hope they are able to keep this attraction open - I'm sure that was something they didn't take into account.
GREAT pics in the drawing class, I'm impressed! I love how each of you signed your pieces of work, framable for sure : )
Can't wait for more of your trip! Thanks for sharing with us!
Lesley

 

[Sooze]

As much as we loved Disney with our kids, we love it just as much just the two of us in our 50's. It's amazing the things we pick up that we never noticed with the kids.

Take a peek at my TR which is in my signature if you get a chance.

I'll try to head over to your TR when I get some time! I'd love to hear about your adults-only adventures, too!

Just found your trip report and am enjoying it! Real quick question - how is the weather right now? We leave on Saturday and am going crazy trying to figure out what to pack. I am watching the 10 day forecast, but we all know that the weatherman has the best job in the world -can be wrong and will still get paid! Anyhow, your pics show a lot of people in jeans!

Am also a little nervous about the crowds! We were told that this is the BEST time of the year because the crowds are low. Yikes! This is our first trip this time of year. We have a 4 yr old.

The weather was GREAT!! Lots of people were in shorts and Ts during the day, but at night, and first thing in the morning, you definitely need more layers. At night, we would change into jeans and sweatshirts! Actually, I was pretty comfortable in jeans all day long!

As far as the crowds go, we were shocked at how crowded it was. We, too, were hoping for the "best time of the year" crowds, and didn't get that at all. We have friends that travel Thanksgiving week (Wed to Wed) every year. They said the crowd levels have worsened every year. To me, the new "best" time to go (well, maybe not NEW!) is late Jan/ early Feb or late Sept/ early Oct. Good luck with your trip! You will still have a wonderful time, because you'll be more prepared for crowds. And if it happens to empty out, you'll be pleasantly surprised! Your 4 year old will LOVE all of the Christmas stuff. It truly is magical!

Hi Sooze!

So jealous of your trip! I felt that with every facebook update you posted!

I totally feel ya about running out of interesting pictures to take - it's hard to find new angles of the same thing over and over.

FYI, Matt might have won on Toy Story Mania, but you totally kicked his *** in the animation class!!

Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks, Jen!! Glad you're here.. sorry about all of the FB updates... I just couldn't help myself!

Love the sleeping pic!

Thanks! I took another picture just for YOU! Stick around....

You guys are so fun! I love the pics in the Animation Studio!

Thanks!! We had such a blast taking our crazy pictures!

LOVED the update Sooze, can't believe you guys are home already, but happy you are home safe and sound.
I agree with you about the pictures, I have a hard time taking unique ones too, but I guess that's a problem I can live with .
You and Matt crack me up, Tim and him would have a BLAST together. Loved the drawing class frustration photo's.
Sorry your singers at American Idol weren't the greatest, I've heard they are having a TERRIBLE time getting people to audition, hope they are able to keep this attraction open - I'm sure that was something they didn't take into account.
GREAT pics in the drawing class, I'm impressed! I love how each of you signed your pieces of work, framable for sure : )
Can't wait for more of your trip! Thanks for sharing with us!
Lesley

I hadn't heard about them having difficulty getting people to audition! Yikes! But that can explain what I heard! When I was lucky enough to get on stage, I had to perform with two VERY good singers and performers. It was kind of a shock to hear the sub-par stuff! I hope they can make it work! And, of course, they will see me at auditions this Spring Break!!

I often think about Matt and Tim getting together in Disney. I imagine the two of them getting lots of looks from the crowds. I imagine our kids just cracking up at them. And then I imagine you and me walking about 20 ft. behind them, just shaking our heads!

Fun thoughts!!