The 5 trips of My "Disney Free Year" - A Mermaid, A Buzz, A Boat and A Steak - 7/8

[norybell]

Absolutely not. While I may not watch Battlestar Gallactica, I have SEEN the Start Wars Holiday Special which is a clear sign of uber-nerd-dom dedication.

It also gives me the authority to say "Joanna... it's Blade Runner! Not bladerunner."
GEEZ. YOUR nerd status is revoked...

All right, all right, girls, no need to fight. Really, we're all nerds here. Clearly.

And the real question is: What are your thoughts on Dr. Who?

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

I loved holiday Wishes! Definitely puts you into the Christmas spirit

How fun that you got to spend some time in MK with just your DH!

I'll admit, I was like "yeah, okay hoilday Wishes, whatever" but now I'm peeved that we didn't go to Hallowishes when we were there in October and only went to Holiday Wishes once. Oh well - just means I have to go back right?

It was nice to break away from the family to be with just DH. Especially since he's much more snuggly than Panic on a cold night

P.S. How's the planning going?

Philharmagic is such a cute show, I love it!! (One of the things I love is that they tossed Peter Pan in the movie mix along with the new ones like Lion King. Gotta love the classics!)

I have like an inability to do well on the Buzz Lightyear ride. And I always try to psych out DBF when we're in line, like "you're going down..." And then I get a new high score of like 800 points. Not even kidding, I think my score last time was 802.

Needless to say, DBF doesn't exactly have to worry about coming in second place to my super-honed aiming skills.

PhilharMagic is just such a cute feel good show. I agree - I like that they throw in Peter Pan too so it's not all "new school" classics.

HAHA... we should go on Buzz together. I usually manage to hit something in the last room to get my score up to 10,000 , but just barely. I find Buzz much harder than TSM. But then again, I find TSM really hard too. Then again, I also find throwing kleenexes in the trash on the first try challenging

Nice pics of you and your DH. I someday want to go just me & my DH. although not when it's soooo cold. I get enough cold here

Adult-only trips are great. It's amazing what kinds of fun stuff there is to do without kids (though I'll admit the grass is always greener because I'm dying to go with a child so I can do some of the stuff I feel weird doing as an adult)

I hope you and your DH make it some day. I agree with you there's too much cold up here. When I go to FL I want warm - but then again when we went in September, I was complaining it was too hot, so maybe I'm just too hard to please

Great update. I've never seen the holiday version of Wishes but I hear it is awesome. Thanks for sharing.

I love Philharmagic. It just never seems to get old to me.

I'm not sure if it is the Holiday music, or the time of the year or what - but they really are more magical than regular Wishes.

I'm totally with you on PhilharMagic. It's on my "every time" list!

You'd better destroy those photos -- you don't want all this evidence floating around the internet! What if the Disney police find it?

Oh man - you're right... guess I next time I break the rules, I shouldn't post photographic proof of it on the internet. Isn't there a PSA for that?? I'd be the worst criminal ever!

Absolutely not. While I may not watch Battlestar Gallactica, I have SEEN the Start Wars Holiday Special which is a clear sign of uber-nerd-dom dedication.

It also gives me the authority to say "Joanna... it's Blade Runner! Not bladerunner."
GEEZ. YOUR nerd status is revoked...

All right, all right, girls, no need to fight. Really, we're all nerds here. Clearly.

And the real question is: What are your thoughts on Dr. Who?

How can you tell a nerd? They're the ones fighting on a message board about who's nerdier!

I'm gonna go out a limb and say we're all safe from the dreaded cool germ.

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

By this point, it was a little after midnight and we were tired and cold. We didn’t want to leave because that meant that then end of the trip was real – I mean the MK was open until 3 that night…. but after a quick inventory what else to do and how much we had left to pack, we gave in to our sleepy/cold selves and decided to head out. On our way, we stopped to (over) photograph the pretty castle!

The pictures don’t do it justice. It is just amazing.

Sparkly!

It was pretty empty, and it the castle was so beautiful. It was just really magical.

And cold. It was really cold.

Wow. We took a ton of pictures of the castle. Just to be sure you know where we were!

Epcot, obviously!

After the castle had been sufficiently photographed, we headed out…

The MSE parade was ending and we headed out, we paused to look back at the castle, and I’m so glad we did. I LOVE this picture!

Favorite!

Then we headed out for real.

It was the PERFECT end to an amazing trip, and an amazing year of trips.

It kind of brought a tear to my eyes. Knowing that this was the last time we’d be there for a while, and seeing how gorgeous it was and being with my DH, it was just sappy and emotional.

This was way too serious and emotional for me. I mean I’m the girl who had to look at the best man while saying our wedding vows because I had an uncontrollable urge to laugh loudly when I would look at DH…. But I couldn’t help it. I think I was too sleepy – but the sappiness was taking over….
Quick someone make a joke. Too much sappiness! (So much sappiness that apparently the only joke I could up with, I’m pretty sure I stole from Lamb Chop – sorry Sherry Lewis!)

How do you catch a squirrel?

Act like a nut!

Okay, sappiness aside. It was really magical!

And we really didn’t want to leave. We kept looking back.

Good bye MK. Hope to See you real soon.

So we headed back to the the hotel for our last night and to finish packing.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

HAHA... we should go on Buzz together. I usually manage to hit something in the last room to get my score up to 10,000 , but just barely. I find Buzz much harder than TSM. But then again, I find TSM really hard too. Then again, I also find throwing kleenexes in the trash on the first try challenging

You're on!! We'd be in the all-time low score spaceship or whatever they call those ride vehicles!

(And ironically right before reading your update, I did miss the trash can with my tissue on that first try...)

Wow. We took a ton of pictures of the castle. Just to be sure you know where we were!

Epcot, obviously!

What??? I was going to guess Animal Kingdom!!

Ugh the last Disney moments are ridiculously bittersweet, aren't they? Those same things that make you SO happy that first day are like an extra grain of salt in the wound. ("Area music!! ")

You're a bit more restrained during your sad moment than I would be, however. That would be when I'd declare the only thing that would make me happy is the $50 ginormous Mickey head rice krispy treat from the Main Street Bakery! (Has anyone ever purchased that? How awesome would that be to be gnawing on the ear of that thing on the flight home? Hmmm...)

 

[Caretames1]

Ah crap, now I'm sad I hate that feeling of "it's over" Not to wax poetic, but it's like your in another place ( well duh! DISNEY!) and then your real world barges back in.
Looks like an incredible last night. Love the sparkly castle pics!

 

[Caretames1]

Ah crap, now I'm sad I hate that feeling of "it's over" Not to wax poetic, but it's like your in another place ( well duh! DISNEY!) and then your real world barges back in.
Looks like an incredible last night. Love the sparkly castle pics!

 

[Princess_K]

You have such gorgeous castle photos! I can't blame you one bit for not wanting to leave that night!

I'll admit, I was like "yeah, okay hoilday Wishes, whatever" but now I'm peeved that we didn't go to Hallowishes when we were there in October and only went to Holiday Wishes once. Oh well - just means I have to go back right?

It was nice to break away from the family to be with just DH. Especially since he's much more snuggly than Panic on a cold night

P.S. How's the planning going?

The planning is going. We are thinking October 2012. I really wanted December, but after hearing how cold it was this last December, I changed my mind. We're trying to decide between the Whitehall Room & the Attic for the reception..couldn't be more different, right? But I just don't know. It's so hard without seeing them in person!

 

[tksbaskets]

After lunch we headed towards the MIB ride.
After ET, there was a little holiday show that totally wigged me out. Why on earth would Scooby, Shaggy, The man in the Yellow Hat and Woody the ‘Pecker be dancing together?

Oh yeah, the man in the yellow hat was rapping

It was like a train wreck, we couldn’t stop looking

But I was excited to see Woody the Pecker – my childhood fave.

For those of you that didn't read my PTR, When I was little - like 2 or 3 - I used to love Woody the Woodpecker, but I would call him Woody the Pecker and when I would see him I'd get excited and run around in circles yelling Woody the Pecker Woody the Pecker

I can’t describe on how many levels this show was wrong.

Just WTH?

By this point it was after 3, so we started walking towards the exit to head back to IOA.

After the Horror Make-up show, we decided to head back to IOA and hope the line for WWOHP was shorter.

LOVIN' your trip report! I have to keep my snickering down as I'm at work 'on a break' when I read your 'this is just so wrong on many levels' comment.

The lines looks LONG at IOA. I too would have been asking 'where is the fastpass distribution?'

Off to read more....

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

You're on!! We'd be in the all-time low score spaceship or whatever they call those ride vehicles!

(And ironically right before reading your update, I did miss the trash can with my tissue on that first try...)

What??? I was going to guess Animal Kingdom!!

Ugh the last Disney moments are ridiculously bittersweet, aren't they? Those same things that make you SO happy that first day are like an extra grain of salt in the wound. ("Area music!! ")

You're a bit more restrained during your sad moment than I would be, however. That would be when I'd declare the only thing that would make me happy is the $50 ginormous Mickey head rice krispy treat from the Main Street Bakery! (Has anyone ever purchased that? How awesome would that be to be gnawing on the ear of that thing on the flight home? Hmmm...)

I think we have a great idea...they have a score-board for the lowest score like they do for the highest score. Sounds like I'd have some fierce competition for that title

I totally agree with you. The little details always make me the saddest at the end. Though I will say freezing was helping us both be a little more okay with leaving.

Hmmm.... I like your Mickey Krispy idea. But I don't think that I would be able to sit on the plane for 3 hrs. after consuming that much sugar. I'm pretty sure I'd be able to run back to Milwaukee and beat the plane

Ah crap, now I'm sad I hate that feeling of "it's over" Not to wax poetic, but it's like your in another place ( well duh! DISNEY!) and then your real world barges back in.
Looks like an incredible last night. Love the sparkly castle pics!

Yeah, I hate even writing about the last day. That darn real world, why does it insist on interfering with our Disney time?? Now on the plus side, I have a bunch of "bonus" features, so at least the TR isn't quite over yet

You have such gorgeous castle photos! I can't blame you one bit for not wanting to leave that night!

The planning is going. We are thinking October 2012. I really wanted December, but after hearing how cold it was this last December, I changed my mind. We're trying to decide between the Whitehall Room & the Attic for the reception..couldn't be more different, right? But I just don't know. It's so hard without seeing them in person!

I seriously was so in awe of the castle. I felt like cat, distracted by the shiny things!

Yay for planning! Tough choice. Both rooms are really nice. I can't imagine having to make the choice without seeing the rooms. I did get a chance to see both of them during our site visit - I know it was like 3 years ago now, but if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to try and help. Good luck. I'm still going through planning withdrawal - pathetic, right?

LOVIN' your trip report! I have to keep my snickering down as I'm at work 'on a break' when I read your 'this is just so wrong on many levels' comment.

The lines looks LONG at IOA. I too would have been asking 'where is the fastpass distribution?'

Off to read more....

Haha. Hope I don't get you in trouble! I have gotten a few weird looks myself for laughing at the DIS while at work

Yeah, the IOA lines were crazy that day. I think it was a bit of a fluke due to the time of the year, but they so need a FP distribution!

 

[Caretames1]

Now on the plus side, I have a bunch of "bonus" features, so at least the TR isn't quite over yet

Oh, bonus features! is that from the special 2 DVD set!

 

[norybell]

Aw, it's your last night! What a bummer. You know, maybe I should stop complaining about my DH not joining me at Disney...because the fact that he (and the dog) aren't there are the only things that keep me from getting super bummed out on last Disney nights.

Real world, schmeal world.

 

[Panic Attack]

All right, all right, girls, no need to fight. Really, we're all nerds here. Clearly.

And the real question is: What are your thoughts on Dr. Who?

The 10th Doctor (David Tennant) was my first <3

 

[norybell]

The 10th Doctor (David Tennant) was my first <3

Oh yes, I love him too (sigh).

It honestly made things a bit awkward for me at work while DH and I were going through our all-five-new-season-in-a-few-months Dr Who binge, because I have this co-worker -- a really good friend of mine -- who looks so much like David Tennant it's kinda nuts. And for those weeks, I felt kinda uncomfortable around him, because all I could think about when I saw him was the Doctor!

(And yes, DH knows all about my Tennant-love! )

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Oh, bonus features! is that from the special 2 DVD set!

Yep, it's the director's cut with 3 never before scenes and loads of bonus features

Aw, it's your last night! What a bummer. You know, maybe I should stop complaining about my DH not joining me at Disney...because the fact that he (and the dog) aren't there are the only things that keep me from getting super bummed out on last Disney nights.

Real world, schmeal world.

Right? Who needs the real world with its bills and work and cold weather. Yeah okay, I guess Disney has that too... but still

This was the first time in a long time when we left and didn't know when we'd be back. It was a weird feeling.

However, now, I've already logic-ed my way into upgrading the 7 day pass we have left over into an annual pass on my next trip. That means we'll have to go back right

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

So this day totally made me remember why we always leave later in the day. Nothing worse than waking up early (like 5 am early!) after a wonderful night to finish packing and have to leave.

Panic had an earlier flight, and Grumpy was trying to get on our flight. There was a mix-up and they had actually been booked on the flight for the next day.

Oops. So Grumpy took the ME with Panic and Queenie, DH and I finished packing and took the later ME.

Sad luggage.

Boo

Sadly we had to leave our pretty roses from V&A’s sad because my rose from January lasted a really long time.

But oh well, a picture lasts longer!

We took one last look around the room

Then we headed out to the lobby to make sure we were there in plenty of time for the ME.

Wow, I was either really bored or really fascinated by these lights…

So we boarded the ME, still not having heard anything from Grumpy about their flight. We had an uneventful ride back to the airport. When we made it to the airport, we found Grumpy still at the ticket counter. Yep. He was talking to the same agent he’d been talking to for over an hour and a half!

Gold star for patients for both of them! Eventually, they were able to get on our flight and we all headed to our gate, and the trip was officially over.

The flight back was uneventful, and once we got to the airport DH went to get the car, and we went to pick up the luggage.

I will note that when we landed, it was 5 degrees colder in Milwaukee than it was in Orlando. Talk about chilly!

The only problem was that someone left the dome light in the car on, and it was dead. Like really really dead. So we had to get someone to jump it and tempers were rather high. Let’s just say it wasn’t the prettiest moment of the trip.

Finally we got the car started, and headed home. Saying goodbye to our wonderful year of Disney and our awesome Christmas vacation. It felt like this wonderful chapter in our life, being newlyweds and our year-log Disneymoon came to a close. I only hope that the next chapter is just as awesome (and Dinsey filled!)

 

[tksbaskets]

Your trip report was so fun to follow! You got some great pictures of the room and lobby at AK on your last day.

Always much more fun to board the ME from the airport to the resort than the other way.

When is your next Disney trip????

 

[Princess_K]

Oh no! So sad your TR is coming to an end. And even more sad that your year of Disney trips has come to an end. I hope you have another one planned

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Wow, I was either really bored or really fascinated by these lights…

This IS a pretty picture. I'd be slightly fascinated sitting there.

Oh noooooo I'm so sad your TR is over!!! I'm especially sad I came so late to your year-long Disney-fest! It's been fabulous reading! Hope you write another TR soon!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Your trip report was so fun to follow! You got some great pictures of the room and lobby at AK on your last day.

Always much more fun to board the ME from the airport to the resort than the other way.

When is your next Disney trip????

Thanks for following along. I do have a some "bonus features" in an effort to squeeze every last little itty bitty teeny drop out of this TR

Right? It's so not fair that the happiest ride is also always the saddest!

Oh no! So sad your TR is coming to an end. And even more sad that your year of Disney trips has come to an end. I hope you have another one planned

No worries... It's not over quite yet. I still have some bonus features. I can squeeze at least a few more installments outta this baby!

This IS a pretty picture. I'd be slightly fascinated sitting there.

Oh noooooo I'm so sad your TR is over!!! I'm especially sad I came so late to your year-long Disney-fest! It's been fabulous reading! Hope you write another TR soon!

Thanks for following along this trip. Don't leave me quite yet... there's more to come.... Promise!

 

[Caretames1]

Parting is such sweet sorrow But I feel you have something fun still to come

So, yeah, when's the next trip

Carey