Thankful for Disney - SOOZE's Thanksgiving TR FULL of PICTURES! NEW!! 6/5

[JenSop]

Love your Ferry fireworks shots!!

And I must respectfully disagree with you about the parade. I LOVE MSEP!!!! I'm such a dork - the music makes me cry a little. No nostalgic.

 

[micandminforever]

That last princess pose on the boat over to Magic Kingdom was perfect. Shealyn is a true princess at heart.

I will have to learn the tray dance before my next trip to Disney. You are right only at Disney are you inspired to start dancing at the food court with your tray.

The puppet pictures were great, maybe Tyson has found his calling as a puppeteer. I will keep your review of restaurant of Italy in mind.

I look forward to the finish of this trip report and the beginning of the new report on your grand gathering.

 

[Sooze]

Love your Ferry fireworks shots!!

And I must respectfully disagree with you about the parade. I LOVE MSEP!!!! I'm such a dork - the music makes me cry a little. No nostalgic.

I think it was just WHO we were with. If I had been with my own family, I think MSEP would've struck a different chord. We have so many family memories with that parade. My parents bought the LP and we wore it out playing it daily and haven our own MSEP around our house, waving our DisneyWorld pencils with flags on the top!

But since we were with our friends, and we had done Spectro so many times with them, and had some pretty fantastic memories, it just made me miss Spectro. So I respectfully accept your disagreement with my parade opinion!

That last princess pose on the boat over to Magic Kingdom was perfect. Shealyn is a true princess at heart.

I will have to learn the tray dance before my next trip to Disney. You are right only at Disney are you inspired to start dancing at the food court with your tray.

The puppet pictures were great, maybe Tyson has found his calling as a puppeteer. I will keep your review of restaurant of Italy in mind.

I look forward to the finish of this trip report and the beginning of the new report on your grand gathering.

Aw, thank you! She is such a little princess. I am absorbing every moment of this stage in her life. I know the day is coming when she will be OVER the princess thing... and I'm dreading it.

Study the video carefully, then you, too, can do the tray dance. I hope to see video documentation when you participate! It can be done in ANY Disney food court!

I WILL be wrapping this up very very soon. Only one more update to go. It seems like the only thing that gets me finishing my trip reports is the need to start another one! Guess I can't complain. Thanks again for hanging in there with me!

 

[Sooze]

It was the morning of our ‘leaving day’, and we were all starting to feel the sadness seeping into our attitudes… It’s such a difficult position, isn’t it? Trying to appreciate and enjoy that you were able to be here, but still being upset that you have to leave?

Well, we had EMH awaiting us at Epcot, which meant getting quickly onto a few rides, then topping off our trip with Voices of Liberty. All we had to do was check our luggage and be on our way.

Yeah.. all we had to do was check our luggage and be on our way… that’s it…

Then we walked into the POFQ lobby and saw a line that was 20 people deep. I chalked it up to this being a Moderate, and not our usual snobby DVC resort. I looked at Matt and said, “Let’s go check our luggage at the Boarwalk, since we are parking there anway.” He quickly agreed and we were soon at the Boardwalk. There was only one person at the check in counter. SWEET!!

But not-so-sweet. Long story short… the resorts were having a network issue and were unable to connect to the airline servers. Of course, they didn’t just SAY this when Matt finally got to the counter (15 minutes after standing there waiting for one person). They took our paperwork, documents, luggage… and spent 30 minutes trying to type things in, wait, shake their head, look at the screen, type in something else, wait, shake their head. NEVER did they just say, “We are having technical issues with online check in today, it may be faster if you just take your luggage to the airport.” Nope… Matt stood at that kiosk for almost an HOUR… while EMH were ticking away at Epcot. I have NEVER seen my husband so upset at Disney. He finally stomped away after the CM ‘gave up’. He hauled our suitcases back to the car and threw them in the trunk. Literally. We had wasted over an hour. Again, not mad at the situation, technology happens. Just mad that the CMs stood there for. Ever. And didn’t say anything to Matt. They made it appear that they were ‘working on it’. And they obviously weren’t. NOW we understood the long wait at POFQ!!

Here are the kids waiting in the car. We were slowly losing it, and seeing Daddy getting upset did not help!

“What is going ON!?!?!”

Unfortunately, our already-sunken spirits continued a downward spiral as we got into Epcot and realized, very quickly, that we missed out on our EMH opportunities. Matt sprinted to Soarin’ and grabbed FP’s that allowed us just enough time to get to the airport later!
Our #1 goal was to ride Test Track as a family. By the time we got there, it was an hour wait and FPs were stretching into the afternoon. (Which we couldn’t do since we had to leave to catch a flight, and now had to allow time to check luggage.) Another negative picture of Tyson, who was WAY over the fact that we were waiting and waiting and waiting for Test Track:

Shaelyn was able to recover much more quickly. She was just stoked about riding!

Tyson’s 5th time on Test Track this trip! No wonder he wasn’t so happy about waiting for it!

Shae started getting us out of our funk by acting all animalistic. She’s just so cute, you can’t help but get in a better mood:

FINALLY on board and ready to have fun, Ty’s smile returned:

Shae was snug next to Tyson while Matt I rode in back:

Daddy’s coming around!

Our time was limited at Epcot today, and we wanted to see VoL since they would be debuting their Christmas music! We made our way to WS and stopped for one more princess visit with:

There’s nothing like a hug from a Princess to make everything right!

And one more family shot with Snow White:

We arrived at the American Adventure with a few minutes to wait. Tyson entertained himself with an Epcot map, obviously having a boo-boo moment:

Shae entertained herself by taking self-pictures!

Soon our favorite vocal ensemble in the universe was in front of us in their fabulous Christmas attire:

They sang some gorgeous Christmas music. The kids were loving hearing the new tunes and getting in the holiday spirit.

As we were heading towards our last ride on Soarin’.. we noticed that Santa and Mrs. Claus were here! And the line was completely doable! We hopped in line and waited our turn. While we waited, we watched the REALLY REAL Santa and Mrs. Claus interacting with guests. What TRUE professionals!! We couldn’t wait til it was our turn! And soon it was!

Awesome interaction!

Look at Ty trying to smile when all he’s thinking about is having to go home soon:

Matt and I jumped in for an AWESOME family picture (too bad our Christmas cards had already been ordered!)

We made one last hike around the rest of WS to make our final ride on Soarin’. As melancholy as we were about leaving, this was a GREAT way to end our amazing Thanksgiving trip. Thankfully, we had those FPs, so the wait wasn’t too bad. We were actually in pretty good spirits, considering… Shae and her daddy even enjoyed some silly time in line!

We waited for the top, center section, as we always do, and then soaked in every last moment of this great ride!

Soon, we found ourselves walking back to the International Gateway.

And heading home to Indiana.

What a fabulous little getaway we were able to have! I kept trying to remind everyone that we weren’t even supposed to come to Disney until next JUNE!! The fact that we were able to squeeze in this trip was a miracle… a well-needed miracle!

Thankfully, we had a smooth trip to the airport, and an uneventful flight home. We were able to still enjoy the rest of the weekend before heading to school Monday morning.

We have so much to be thankful for… but our Disney memories are at the top of that list!! Thanks for reading, everyone!

I will be posting a link to a new adventure soon! We leave in 23 days for a Grand Gathering at the Boardwalk. 9 family members (including all of my in-laws!) Hope you join me!

 

[micandminforever]

A great way to end the trip with VOL and soar'in. I will looking for your grand gathering report.

 

[JenSop]

Great TR Sooze! I love that your last ride was Soarin' - so awesome.

And yeah - that Santa and Mrs. Claus were really good! You should use that pic for THIS year's Christmas cards - it would be perfect!

So sad that we'll be just missing you in June!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I am getting all caught up!!! I had missed several posts this past week.

Your trip has got me sooo excited about going back over Thanksgiving. We loved it so much in 2008 and I know it will be wonderful this year. I just love all the decorations and the cast members decked out in their Christmas finest.

I will definitely have to check out the Voices of Liberty's Christmas songs. I never saw that in 2008.

Love the picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

What a bummer about the wait for checking your bags. I had a smiliar issue in 2009 but it wasn't about the bags. They had a hard time finding my mom's plane reservation to check her in. When they finally did, they had the wrong person!! It was the same first name, but wrong last one. I was glad I checked it carefully or that would have been a mess at the airport.

Can't wait for your summer trip. I hope to make an appearance in that one!!!

 

[Sooze]

A great way to end the trip with VOL and soar'in. I will looking for your grand gathering report.

Thank you, once again, for hanging in there with me! I'm glad you enjoyed the report!

Great TR Sooze! I love that your last ride was Soarin' - so awesome.

And yeah - that Santa and Mrs. Claus were really good! You should use that pic for THIS year's Christmas cards - it would be perfect!

So sad that we'll be just missing you in June!

Yes, it was a perfect way to end the trip!
This Christmas, we may send out LATE cards and use pictures from the CRUISE!!
Hope you and Brian have a wonderful trip. Someday we'll hook up again in Disney, I'm sure!

I am getting all caught up!!! I had missed several posts this past week.

Your trip has got me sooo excited about going back over Thanksgiving. We loved it so much in 2008 and I know it will be wonderful this year. I just love all the decorations and the cast members decked out in their Christmas finest.

You are going to have such an awesome time! It will totally get you in the holiday mood!

I will definitely have to check out the Voices of Liberty's Christmas songs. I never saw that in 2008.

Hope you're able to check it out this year! It is so beautiful!

Love the picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Thanks, me too!

What a bummer about the wait for checking your bags. I had a smiliar issue in 2009 but it wasn't about the bags. They had a hard time finding my mom's plane reservation to check her in. When they finally did, they had the wrong person!! It was the same first name, but wrong last one. I was glad I checked it carefully or that would have been a mess at the airport.

Wow.. sounds like a pretty big mistake for them to make. Glad you caught it!

Can't wait for your summer trip. I hope to make an appearance in that one!!!

Sending you a PM about this! Let's make sure we can at least say hi!

 

[mermaid764]

I finally got a chance to finish reading your TR

What a mess with the luggage fiasco, I can see why your husband was so annoyed, but luckily you guys still got some time at Epcot

I'm looking forward to hearing all about your next trip

 

[Sooze]

I finally got a chance to finish reading your TR

What a mess with the luggage fiasco, I can see why your husband was so annoyed, but luckily you guys still got some time at Epcot

I'm looking forward to hearing all about your next trip

Thanks for sticking with it! Hope to have a link to the new TR/PTR this week... since we will be there in TWO WEEKS!!!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

I just noticed your ticker! I didn't realize you were going back to Orlando between your cruise and summer trip! I bet you will have a blast at Universal and with your girlfriends will make it even better.