"This is NOT the once in a lifetime trip I was hoping for!" - (Baby Simba - 12/18)

[katt789]

Ah!1 Love all the pictures of Beach Club! We went on a little adventure to Beaches and Cream last week and I'm pretty sure I fell in LOVE with the resort! It's so beautiful and amazing there, but I definitely understand the love for AoA more! It's more "Disney"! Love it!!

 

[ronnmel]

Wow....they usre loved that turkey leg.

I love your ears...those are absolutely adorable.

They sure did!

Thanks. The ears were amongst the new styles offered.

Wow, that turkey leg was decimated!!

I love the nighttime pics of the resorts as you walked to the park.

Those are my kind of Minnie ears!!

Otaku loves her meat!

It was such a nice walk, and with so many pretty things to look at.

I love the new styles of Minnie ears! Unfortunately, they are not as comfortable as they used to be.

OMG- How cute are those mickey earrs?? I LOVE THEM!

Beach Club looks soooooo beautiful, Maybe one day.....

I know, right? The new Minnie ears are so pretty!

Hopefully you get the chance to try BC one day.

Thank you for sharing, I have really enjoyed reading your trip report.

I'm glad you are enjoying it so far.

Hi Mel, hope work is going ok.


Great pictures of the turkey leg, kinda want one now!

Work is going fine, thanks for asking. The students have been so nice. I really have great groups this year, I'm lucky.

I'm sure Otaku would want one too.

Boy did that turkey leg get gobbled up! Gobbled up! Oh I crack myself up!

Very cute Mickey ears that you two had on! I love 'em!

You just made me chuckle.

Didn't Otaku just choose a perfect style for herself? It fits her so well! We somehow chose ears that matched our hair colors!

Those Minnie ears are cute! I've never seen any like those before. Did Peanut get a pair too?

Those Minnie ears are all new. They had several styles to choose from. I heard that 2013 was the year of the ears and that they would have new styles coming out every month, but I haven't seen anything for February or March.

You'll have to wait for our day 4 to see what Peanut got.

Ah!1 Love all the pictures of Beach Club! We went on a little adventure to Beaches and Cream last week and I'm pretty sure I fell in LOVE with the resort! It's so beautiful and amazing there, but I definitely understand the love for AoA more! It's more "Disney"! Love it!!

It's easy to fall in love with Beach Club! It's so fancy, but not stuffy, and so relaxing. I hope you get a chance to stay there one day. AoA is so much fun though!

 

[ronnmel]

Day 3 part 4  The One With The Dancing Lights


We had made the trip to Hollywood Studios for one main reason, to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.

I had heard from some of you that we might have to enter from the back, but on the night we went they were letting people in through any entrance. We arrived through the entrance near the Writers Stop. We got in line for almost every Photopass opportunities we saw. The first one was right at the entrance.

The rest of this update will be mostly pictures. I think its fair to say that we were blown away by the lights. Everybody who has ever said that pictures do not do them justice are right. Enjoy!

While in line for the Photopass in front of the giang tree and the Nutcrackers the music changed and the lights started to dance! It was so amazing!

Christmas is not the only holiday represented here.

We took our time walking around. There were plenty of hidden Mickeys everywhere, and Otaku & I were trying to find as many as we could.

Can you spot one here?

Theres even a hidden Minnie!

The lights danced a couple more times while we were there. On one of the streets there is literally this tunnel of lights. It was particularly spectacular to be in that tunnel while the lights were dancing.

Also while we were on that side street, it started snowing! Its the kind of snow that I like, and it certainly added to the atmosphere.

We saw Santa Goofy doing a meet & greet, but the line was too long.

Otaku and I searched everywhere for the purple cat. We even texted my TA to see if she knew where it was hidden this year, but no luck. We decided to just give up for this time, goggle it on my phone while at the resort, and come back another day. Then, just as we were about to leave the area, we found it!

It was on a little side alley between the Streets of America and Muppet Vision, right next to where we had started our tour of the Osborne Lights.

It was close to 10pm by then and the park was about to close, so we started walking out of the park. Ron had to stop around the Echo Lake area to feed a crying Peanut, so Otaku and I did a little shopping. Otaku found a cute little Mulan hat that she wanted to buy, but she wasnt sure yet. I knew Ron was probably getting impatient waiting for us, so I told her she could come back another day if she really wanted it. She never ended up buying it, though I think next time she might look for it instead of wearing Minnie Ears.

A PP photographer was at the Christmas tree, but no one wanted to take a picture with me so I went alone.

A Friendship boat was right there, but we werent sure wed make it in time without running, so we decided to walk instead. At some point during the walk Otaku decided to put her Minnie ears on her dad. He played along and we got these silly pictures out of it.

Once back at the resort we all went straight to bed. Again Claudia pretty much slept through the night, which we were so happy about. She was often fussy during the day though.

Disney Accomplishments Day 3
Seeing the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights
Checking in at Beach Club
Swimming in Stormalong Bay



Up Next, The Crowd Calendar Was WRONG!
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[ronnmel]

HELP PLEASE!

We took a few videos of the Osborne Lights. Anyone know the name of the song in this one? (Click on the picture to get the video)

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[SAT887]

Love your pictures of the Lights. That was one of our favorite parts on our trip. Your photopass pictures are awesome, and I really can't get over how adorable Claudia is! I hope in 2014 when we go in December we can get a good Osbourne Light picture for our Christmas card.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

How funny, I'll be posting my Osborne Lights update later today!!!

You got some great pictures, and the pictures of Ron in Otaku's ears made me literally

The Video song is "Winter Wonderland", arrangement by Dan Stamper. Here is a YouTube video of the whole thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbF7Nh7sK4U&playnext=1&list=PLC24D93AB2B64CF8A&feature=results_video

The part you have in the video is about halfway into the song

 

[gracer9977]

WOW!! The photos are amazing. I have never been at Christmas time and don't think I ever will, or at least not for a long time. Love seeing your pictures and really enjoying your TR. Hoping that by this time in your trip you are starting to feel much better!!!

 

[ronnmel]

Love your pictures of the Lights. That was one of our favorite parts on our trip. Your photopass pictures are awesome, and I really can't get over how adorable Claudia is! I hope in 2014 when we go in December we can get a good Osbourne Light picture for our Christmas card.

It was one of our favorite parts as well! I said my trip wasn't magical, but that part was! That is such a good idea to use an Osborne Lights picture for the Christmas card!

How funny, I'll be posting my Osborne Lights update later today!!!

You got some great pictures, and the pictures of Ron in Otaku's ears made me literally

The Video song is "Winter Wonderland", arrangement by Dan Stamper. Here is a YouTube video of the whole thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbF7Nh7sK4U&playnext=1&list=PLC24D93AB2B64CF8A&feature=results_video

The part you have in the video is about halfway into the song

Great timing!

Ron can be quite silly sometimes!

THANK YOU!!! That has been bugging me for the past 2 months. I had searched and searched on the internet and could not find it. Otaku and I had commented about how much we loved that song while we were there.

WOW!! The photos are amazing. I have never been at Christmas time and don't think I ever will, or at least not for a long time. Love seeing your pictures and really enjoying your TR. Hoping that by this time in your trip you are starting to feel much better!!!

Thanks. I never thought I would get the chance to go at Christmas time, yet we did. Never say never, who knows what will happen. I was able to eat most of that dinner (fries and nuggets) and was feeling better. I continued to improve the next day.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Great timing!

Ron can be quite silly sometimes!

THANK YOU!!! That has been bugging me for the past 2 months. I had searched and searched on the internet and could not find it. Otaku and I had commented about how much we loved that song while we were there.

You are very welcome! The Wikipedia page for Osborne lights has a list if all of the songs, and YouTube has videos for them all too

 

[ronnmel]

You are very welcome! The Wikipedia page for Osborne lights has a list if all of the songs, and YouTube has videos for them all too

I had not even thought of looking on Wikipedia. I had searched on Disney websites, like wdwmagic, but all I was able to find was the 2011 track list and that song is new for 2012 so it wasn't there.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yay you found the purple cat! And so many hidden Mickeys too! I would absolutely love to go back to Disney World to see the Christmas decorations. We went over Thanksgiving in 2000 and, back then, they didn't put the decorations up until the day after Thanksgiving.

 

[MrsDrewsky]

I think a post about packing/traveling with baby would be great!

I love the Minnie ears that you girls chose.

I had terrible morning sickness during our last trip to WDW so I kind of know how you feel. Being sick at WDW is not fun, and the food choices for an upset stomach are not the best.

Wow, the lights look absolutely incredible. Miss Claudia's face is too cute, she looks wide awake in the first picture.

 

[KatMark]

Great photos of the Osborne Lights, Mel. You got some really good shots. Weren't they just wonderful? They worth the trip in my eyes.

I love the photopass photos of all of you (and you alone); we were only able to do the one with Santa Goofy as the lines got too long, too fast.

Your hubby in his daughter's ears are very funny.

 

[monica23535]

I love the Osborne lights, your pictures are great.


I'm not sure when we'll be able to see them again as schools in England have a mid term break in October which means we just miss the lights and MVMCP. It was great before our DS started school as we could go to WDW when we wanted lol

Claudia looks so happy in the pictures, I especially love the one where she is reaching out to her sister

 

[ronnmel]

TO ALL MY DIS FRIENDS WHO USE PHOTOBUCKET

I have read from several of you how much of a pain the new Photobucket is. I was surfing around on the photobucket site today and was changed to the new site as well. I read a bit on their blog and help forum and found two things that I hope might be helpful to you in using the new Photobucket without wanting to use swear words.

For both of them you need to go into user settings, which is found on the top right side (when you click on your username).

EASY LINKING: You can choose which links you want (i.e. IMG for this site). Then you have to click the EASY LINKING button to turn it on.

Also on the same page (I believe) you can choose if you want the photos in your album to be uploaded alphabetically, newer first, or oldest first. I haven't uploaded anything new yet, but HOPEFULLY this will solve the problem some have been having about Photobucket not uploading your pictures in the correct order.

Let me know if these help, or if you find other useful tips!

 

[ronnmel]

Yay you found the purple cat! And so many hidden Mickeys too! I would absolutely love to go back to Disney World to see the Christmas decorations. We went over Thanksgiving in 2000 and, back then, they didn't put the decorations up until the day after Thanksgiving.

It was hard, but we were so happy to have found the purple cat!! Hidden Mickeys were a lot of fun to find as well.

That sucks that you missed the Christmas decorations in 2000, though in a way it made a bit of sense to wait until after Thanksgiving to put them up. I'm glad they don't anymore, that way a lot more people can see them and it spreads the crowds over more weeks.

I think a post about packing/traveling with baby would be great!

I love the Minnie ears that you girls chose.

I had terrible morning sickness during our last trip to WDW so I kind of know how you feel. Being sick at WDW is not fun, and the food choices for an upset stomach are not the best.

Wow, the lights look absolutely incredible. Miss Claudia's face is too cute, she looks wide awake in the first picture.

I just have to be good about copying/pasting all my baby tips into one Words document so I can post it easily when the time comes.

Thanks.

Morning sickness is the worse, especially when it last ALL DAY!! Poor you, having to deal with that at Disney. I agree, Disney has a lot of yummy food, but not a lot of bland stuff. Which most of the time is what you want, but not when you feel queasy.

She was very awake. Thankfully she only got fussy and over tired AFTER we were done looking at the lights.

Great photos of the Osborne Lights, Mel. You got some really good shots. Weren't they just wonderful? They worth the trip in my eyes.

I love the photopass photos of all of you (and you alone); we were only able to do the one with Santa Goofy as the lines got too long, too fast.

Your hubby in his daughter's ears are very funny.

The Osborne Lights are totally worth the trip! It sure helped make me feel better to have this AMAZING experience early on in the trip.

For us it was the opposite. Most photopass lines were okay (longer than usual photopass lines, but never more than 10-15 minutes), but Santa Goofy was way longer. Plus by the time we got to that part of the Osborne lights it was getting pretty late.

I love the Osborne lights, your pictures are great.


I'm not sure when we'll be able to see them again as schools in England have a mid term break in October which means we just miss the lights and MVMCP. It was great before our DS started school as we could go to WDW when we wanted lol

Claudia looks so happy in the pictures, I especially love the one where she is reaching out to her sister

Thank you!

At least you have a mid-term break in October, which means you can visit during Food & Wine and MNSSHP. For us we start end of August and don't have a real break (just days here and there) until Christmas. It must have been fun to go whenever you wanted. Since I'm a teacher, I'll never have that option, no matter if Claudia is not in school yet, or if I wouldn't mind pulling her out of school. Unless I have a super nice principal who lets me take days unpaid...

I love that picture of the two sisters looking at each other as well!

 

[FancyNancy]

I love love love your Osborne family pictures! Your girls are so cute/beautiful!

 

[ronnmel]

I love love love your Osborne family pictures! Your girls are so cute/beautiful!

Thanks. I can't take credit for Otaku though, she's all Ron.

 

[ronnmel]

Day 4 part 1  The One Where We Break All The Rules


The plan today was to wake up early and go to MK rope drop. However, when the alarm went off at 6am Ron said he had had a bad night sleep. Otaku also said she could use more sleep, so we turned off the alarm. Our talking had woken up Claudia. Ron fed her and luckily she went back to sleep until close to 8am, and so did we. I was finally feeling better that morning. We took our time getting ready, then left for MK.

We realized on the way there that it had had 7am EMH that morning (instead of 8am EMH like we thought), meaning even if we had gotten up at 6am we would have missed rope drop by almost an hour. We really were breaking all the common sense rules that trip: we were getting up late, showing up to park shortly before lunch AND going to the parks with morning EMH but not attending those. And boy did we pay for that! We got to MK around 10am and it was CROWDED! The Touring Plan crowd calendar had predicted a 5.6 for that day, but let me tell you, it felt more like a 9.5. Im getting ahead of myself though; we didnt know it was that bad... yet...

We stopped for several PP pics on Main Street. It was a pretty gray morning, but thankfully no rain.

We all had our ears on.

We asked the PP person to turn around and take a picture of us with the Christmas Tree.

Apparently stroller straps are very tasty.

I have no idea why but we veered towards Adventureland and walked in front of Crystal Palace. It was a good idea because we ran into a super fun PP photographer there.

After the traditional pose, he decided to have fun Otaku. We had to push her a lot, but eventually she followed the PPs instruction and posed like a princess. If youve read the intro, you know she is so NOT a princess, so it made it even funnier.

Now that we were all photopassed out, we went straight to Fantasyland (another common sense rule we broke). We got FP for Peter Pan for 1pm. Everything had a big wait, even Its A Small World was at 50 minutes. We were in Fantasyland for Claudias first ride ever. We chose the Carousel as Claudias first ride since it only had a 5 minutes wait (it was even less). She even got her own horse!

She seemed to enjoy it, and so did we.

We tried to check out New Fantasyland, but it was just too packed. It was only 11am and the line to eat at the Be Our Guest counter-service was crazy long. Instead we went back to Main Street and walked to Town Square to check Claudia in for her first haircut appointment at the Barber Shop.

We had to wait close to 30 minutes before it was her turn. I only took one picture while waiting.

Claudia did very well at first. She was fascinated by the Minnie Mouse spinning toy.

Maria was the CM who cut her hair. She was so sweet! I ended up writing an email to Guest Relation to praise her for her work.

Be prepared for lots of cute baby pictures. I took MANY!!

Mohawk

This is my favorite photo!

She was getting squirmy at the end, so we didnt do her bangs. They were not too long anyway.

Funniest Peanut face EVER!

We picked up her hair (which they placed in a little bag), her certificate and her ears. She wasnt very cooperative while we tried to take a picture of her with the ears on her head.

It was close to noon by the time we left. We went back outside of the park (well, just before you exit the through the gates) to rent a locker. It was now time for lunch (and breakfast...)!


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[KatMark]

50 minutes fit It's a Small World? I don't even want to wait 5 minutes.

That does it....Claudia is the absolutely cutest peanut I have ever seen! I love the haircut photos.

And great photopass pics too....especially the "princess".