Trials, Treats & Meet'nGreets of 15th Disney BDay: May 09 * THANK YOU! 8/18/09!

[MyMuse]

OMG u lost Dom like 500 tomes! OY!

I know! It was getting so

But I was in the magical land, so I tried to not let it get to me. Deep breaths here!

 

[shebaxric]

Good morning! I found your trip report from Jeseib's, and I have enjoyed every single post! You are a fantastic Aunt for giving your niece this once in a lifetime experience! I also appreciate the post on the Christmas Carol Train Tour! It's coming to a location about 90 minutes from me on a weekend, so I'm thinking of heading down for a day! My DH and father would love this!

 

[jenseib]

Loving the report. The pictures are faboulous. I love that parade too, and it's so neat how they clean up right away.

I forget what that Cindy stautue shows. Some one posted it in my trip report. I know you kneel in front and it shows something about money. It's called the Rags to Riches fountain. I'll have to go back and re read what it was.
Dom would drive me nuts. I've been with people like that and I swear I've been so tempted to leave them. And now in the day of cellphones (and he being an adult) I probably would. Well I kind did somewhat with DH when he was lagging behind. LOL!

 

[jenseib]

Oh, and that train sounds super cool and comes about an hour from me, so I might see about it too. I think it comes in Sept.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

there's always an annoying one on the trip but looks like you dealt well with him sounds great so far!

 

[MyMuse]

Great start! I love those little statues around the walt and mickey one!!! It's rough to go with people who don't always "get it" huh? Believe me , i know!

I made sure I took pics of them this time. I didn't even notice them in March! For some reason, I just have Dumbo. I have to make sure I take more next time.

Yeah, this was a rough trip for me as I wanted them to experience the Magic, but I had to pull myself back because this particular trip was about Jenna. And Jenna was mostly about Uncle Dom.

Good morning! I found your trip report from Jeseib's, and I have enjoyed every single post! You are a fantastic Aunt for giving your niece this once in a lifetime experience! I also appreciate the post on the Christmas Carol Train Tour! It's coming to a location about 90 minutes from me on a weekend, so I'm thinking of heading down for a day! My DH and father would love this!

Thanks and WELCOME!!

The Christmas Carol Train tour looks awesome, doesn't it? It can't come soon enough!

Loving the report. The pictures are faboulous. I love that parade too, and it's so neat how they clean up right away.

I forget what that Cindy stautue shows. Some one posted it in my trip report. I know you kneel in front and it shows something about money. It's called the Rags to Riches fountain. I'll have to go back and re read what it was.
Dom would drive me nuts. I've been with people like that and I swear I've been so tempted to leave them. And now in the day of cellphones (and he being an adult) I probably would. Well I kind did somewhat with DH when he was lagging behind. LOL!

Thanks, Jennifer!!

Dom did drive me nuts. I was trying to put it all aside for Jenna's sake (& Disney magic's), but oh, he was aggravating! A trip with him will never happen again.

Oh, and that train sounds super cool and comes about an hour from me, so I might see about it too. I think it comes in Sept.

Can't wait for it!

there's always an annoying one on the trip but looks like you dealt well with him sounds great so far!

I was trying! Really. Really. Hard. *breathe in, breathe out* LOL!!

This was me most of the time:



Thank you all for joining me on this trippie report!
I will be updating again soon!


I'm also thinking I'm going back in December, as I usually visit FL in December (not every year, but most years) for my family. I'm thinking to swing by Orlando for a few days. I'll fully decide during the summer and definitely by September since that is the 90 day window. The only down side is that I will be off-site.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

A trip in December sounds amazing! The parks are all decorated for the holidays and it's beautiful!

Side note... I remember you got cupcakes before your trip and it just reminded me. have you ever been to Mr. Cupcakes in Clifton?! OMG they're fabulous. We just ran there during our lunch so I can bring some with me when I go to Tampa this weekend. I just inhaled a pumpkin one and am slightly on a sugar high..haha

 

[MyMuse]

A trip in December sounds amazing! The parks are all decorated for the holidays and it's beautiful!

Side note... I remember you got cupcakes before your trip and it just reminded me. have you ever been to Mr. Cupcakes in Clifton?! OMG they're fabulous. We just ran there during our lunch so I can bring some with me when I go to Tampa this weekend. I just inhaled a pumpkin one and am slightly on a sugar high..haha

I'm thinking Candleight Processional.

No, I know nothing of this Mr Cupcake! I LOVE PUMPKIN! I must have this cupcake! I'm googling dirty finger it now.

Sorry for the lack of an update. I was exhausted yesterday and literally slept for 14 hours! I should be posting one in a few.

 

[dawnbu40]

I'm thinking Candleight Processional.

The Candlelight Processional is absolutely beautiful! We saw it this past Christmas and loved it! Christmas is a great time to go! The parks are just gorgeous!

 

[MyMuse]

Day 2, Part 4 - Hollywood Studios!

So, we are currently heading out of MK to park hop to HS to make our 3:50 ADR at Hollywood & Vine. So, we hop a ferryboat to the Ticket & Transportation Center (TTC) as there is no park transportation direct from MK and then take a bus to HS.

The Polynesian Resort from the ferryboat:

We even see this guy at the TTC:

We enter and see the 20th celebration signs. I think we missed the celebrations by a day or two.

We see a Photopass CM, take a few pics (I wish I had my Photopass CD!) and check-in at Hollywood & Vine for the Fantasmic Dining package.

This is the one I took:

This is one of Jenna’s surprises, to be able to watch the Fantasmic show later on at 8:30pm. I was able to get a package through the Disney boards as I was not able to get it on my own; very difficult to get and we now have reserved seats, so we don’t have to wait hours in line. The original ADR was only for a party of 2 and I thought I would take a shot and ask the front desk whether I was could add Dom to our reservation right there & then. Done, no problem! I had called several times prior to our going and nothing was available. YAY! Happy times.

The themeing was very cute and the food decent; it was a buffet after all. Our waitress was good and was always on top of things. We finish around 4:30pm and I get the coveted yellow F! seating vouchers for all 3 of us. And Dom pays. Whoo-hoo!

Inside HW & V:

Outside:

D&J go off to ToT and I shop a bit. I was looking for autograph book for Jenna since she could not find hers at home, but I wanted one that had a big 2009 on it. I spot 2009 merchandise at Mickeys of Hollywood and ask about the autograph books since they had other things with 2009, but not autograph books. I saw a comparable one (and cheaper!) and pick that up for Jenna. While I was there I picked up another pair of sunglasses (the ones I had weren’t working for me anymore) and I see a messenger type bag that would work better than the one I currently had. My receipt says it is now 4:45pm.

New messenger bag:

I walk around Sunset Blvd, take in some Streetomsphere characters, take pics and generally wander around a bit. I saw some of High School Musical 3 too. It was nice to have a bit of a break. ToT has a standby time of 13 minutes and RnRC had 40 minutes.

HM3 float:

The cute balloons:

Streetomsphere character:

Sunset Blvd with ToT in background:

ToT standby was 13 minutes:

Scene pic:

RnRC entranceway:

I meet up with D&J and head to RnRC and standby is down to 35 minutes. I gird myself and went on this ride. I heard the pre-show was great, but I didn’t think much of it. I was determined to do this ride since it had shoulder harness, so I would feel secure and it was less than 2 minutes long.

OMFG!!! The darn thing went upside down and I screamed my head off. The ride photo was priceless but I wasn’t able to get my camera out fast enough and wasn’t about to buy it. I was also not feeling so hot after this ride, so it took some time before I could go on. Besides, you know what Dom had to do. Again.

This time, it was fine since I didn’t want to go anywhere as of yet. The shop was called Rock Around the Shop and I bought the penny holder, J got rainbow drumsticks and Dom added a T-shirt. My receipt says it is now 5:53pm. I make Dom carry all our purchases in his backpack.

We head off to the Narnia attraction since both D&J loved the movie. I explain all the reviews say it is not worth going to, it is not a ride but a collection of movie memorabilia, but they want to go anyway. Apparentely, I am not to be believed. Sigh.

So, we go and we wait FOREVER in line. The character meeting part is not available. It was so not impressive and both of them don’t like it. Told ya. It is completely not worth it unless you want to meet Prince Caspian.

Dom wants to go through where TSM is and see where we can cut through the back to get to Streets of America. Thankfully, no one wanted to go on TSM. Ok, Lead on, MacDuff! I’m not about to say anything. Oh, and One Man's Dream was closed! The injustice.

Was closed!!!

This pic cracks me up!

We stroll toward the Streets of America and I’m guessing at this point, the Backlot Tour was vetoed. I’ll go on it next time. We take pics of scenes and with Jenna under the umbrella. My mom posed under the umbrella in 1999 and I have that pic, so I wanted Jenna to do the same. She was so into it and I just wanted to cry.

Jenna:

My Mom in 1999:

You can see the background changed a bit in 10 years!

Youse Guuuuuys!

San Fran:

Con'd next post.....

 

[MyMuse]

Due to picture limitation....

I veto the stunt shows and we swing to Star Tours. It was a 10 minute standby and I don’t think we even waited that long. I do like this ride, though the CMs were better this time around. I was able to take pics of the queue line this time.

Going under the enemy ship to enter:

There are coming!

Queue line:

Standby:

We walk back through Commisionary Lane and see where Sci-Fi Dine-In is for tomorrow. This is not a surprise for Jenna, since this is one of the restaurants she picked for this trip.

Gotta love the ABC Commissionary:

We stop at Sweet Smells (or Beverly Sunset as the receipts says) for some snacks and drinks for the F! show. I find my mickey rice krispie and J finally has her candy apple & chocolate strawberries. She’s been longing for one. My receipt says is it now 7:24pm, so we head off to Hollywood Hills Amphitheater.

We take our seats (to the most left we can get), rest, relax. We have our snacks and drinks. I journal and D&J are playing around with their cell phones, which is also driving me a little crazy.

Snack-a-polloza:

Jenna and her darn pose, that's Dom trying to get in it:

Waiting for Fantasmic!:

8:30pm rolls round and F! starts. It’s a great show, the water feature is just awesome, though the characters were little ants since the stage was so far away. I do really like this show and now seeing it twice, I think I can skip it next time.

Scenes from F!:

Fire, Water & Mickey:

Yay! He does it:

Tink:

Scoerer Mickey!

We finish and let out for the long way back down to Sunset Blvd. The line was for 10pm show seemed quite long! I thought it was easy street for the second showing. At Sunset Blvd, I wanted a Photopass pic in front of ToT, since my pics of the Hotel never come out.

See? Never comes out:

Up Next: The Night is Not Over!!!!

 

[jenseib]

Yay! You rode RNRC. Isn't that take off something. I can't beleive the speed of that.

How did you like H&V? I actually had that booked for our trip and then heard bad reviews so I changed it and I actually ended up going to MK that day anways once I got my plans all set.

That Narnia thing is so dumb. I love the movies, but was so disappointed iwth it. The attraction just basically shows clips of the movie and then the walk through is more like don't blink or you will miss it all. LOL! Prince Caspian was the best part for sure.

You got alot of great pictures.. I am still amazed you have already gone back and come home again since the March trip. LOL!

Isn;t it amazing al lthe stuff you learn about the parks and disney itself from what rip to another. I thought I knew alot in years past when I took my older two, and that was 10 years ago since they last went. And then in 2007 I studied the boards and learned so much, and then the next year knew so much more, and this year again, I knew so much more, but still have learned new stuff since I've been back. LOL!

 

[KatGarcia]

I am just laughing at why they don't listen to you! And how Dom gets sucked into the dump shops every time! So funny. Thats a great pic of Tink through the water at fantasmic!

 

[MyMuse]

You may have noticed that I changed the title of the trip report since it seemed more fitting.

The Candlelight Processional is absolutely beautiful! We saw it this past Christmas and loved it! Christmas is a great time to go! The parks are just gorgeous!

I can't wait to see it. If I do go, then my 90 day day, is early September. A whole summer of wishing to do!

Yay! You rode RNRC. Isn't that take off something. I can't beleive the speed of that.

How did you like H&V? I actually had that booked for our trip and then heard bad reviews so I changed it and I actually ended up going to MK that day anways once I got my plans all set.

That Narnia thing is so dumb. I love the movies, but was so disappointed iwth it. The attraction just basically shows clips of the movie and then the walk through is more like don't blink or you will miss it all. LOL! Prince Caspian was the best part for sure.

You got alot of great pictures.. I am still amazed you have already gone back and come home again since the March trip. LOL!

Isn;t it amazing al lthe stuff you learn about the parks and disney itself from what rip to another. I thought I knew alot in years past when I took my older two, and that was 10 years ago since they last went. And then in 2007 I studied the boards and learned so much, and then the next year knew so much more, and this year again, I knew so much more, but still have learned new stuff since I've been back. LOL!

The RnRC take-off was ok; it was the corkscrew, almost upside down part that was hairy. I'm shocked my bag didn't fall out!

I thought HW&V was good. I did see the reviews too, that's why I choose Mama Melrose in March. But Mama Melrose wasn't so hot either.
I really wanted Jenna to see F! and the person on the board had it at HW&V, so that's where we went. Our waitress was awesome. The front check-in CM was great too and even got Dom in as well. I thought the food was alright; it was a buffet after all. The place was not a mad house, the service was fast and everyone was really nice. So, it was all good by me.

Narnia was dumb, I should have gone off and did something else. I can't believe they call it an attraction. Without Prince Caspian, they should just close it or leave it as a walk-through.

The pics came out better than I thought. I went to my sister's grad party (she got her Master's) and my family was there commenting that my pictures were quite high in number! and I'm still not finished!

You are absolutely right about learning more. In the past, I thought one trip to the parks was enough. As I was doing research for my solo trip this past March, I found a whole new world! I had no idea that Disney has so much more to offer. It was the act of finally staying on property that got me going. I can't believe how much I missed in the last years. I go down to Florida at least 2x a year for family, so now I'm going to add it some Disney days and make up for lost time!

I am just laughing at why they don't listen to you! And how Dom gets sucked into the dump shops every time! So funny. Thats a great pic of Tink through the water at fantasmic!

It was so frustrating! I'm just glad there was no hysteronics about not going to stunt shows or TSM.

I'm impressed that my camera actually caught the pic of Tink.

I hope to put up another update soon!!! I hope all had a wonderful holiday weekend.

 

[MyMuse]

We ended at the conculsion of the Fantasmic! show and getting a Photopass in front of ToT......and we are off to MK to see Wishes!

If we can make it!!

So, in a rare moment of total agreement, we book it out of HS and head back to MK to see Wishes. It is EMH late night as well.

We make it with minutes to spare and literally Dom knocked old ladies out of the way (I kid you not!). We end up fairly close to the Castle, hanging on to Dom’s backpack as he treks through the crowd. I have never seen Wishes from inside the park before, so this is quite a thrill.

It was lovely and I took a bunch of pics and video. I hope to take the Wishes cruise next time.

The Wishes Pictures:

See the stars & moon on the Castle?

After Wishes, we head to Fantasyland to finally get on Peter Pan. The crowds were horrid! We could not get through at all. There was some sort of stoppage in the entrance to Liberty Square and the cut through to Fantasyland was roped off. Argh.

We finally make it through and Peter Pan is at 40 minutes; so we go on a hunt for food and walk around back & forth, back & forth. Most places around that area were closed or closing. The place was super busy and this is really the first time we had to endure crowds. I highly doubt whether all these people are resort guests for EMH. There was never a CM who asked for my Key to the World card to get on a ride.

We finally give up a bit and go on Peter Pan Flight, which is now at 35 minutes. This ride is so very cute and I can tell I’ll be going on this one again in the future. Jenna did not want to repeat anything, so we head for Tomorrowland.

Peter Pan's Flight:

Supposed to be London below, the light thing is Big Ben:

We find that Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café is open (& had I researched it, I would have known what was open and what was not, avoiding the almost-meltdowns for food). I order chicken nuggets and an iced cappuccino. Ahh, it hit the spot. My receipt says it is now 11:10pm. I wish I would have known an 11pm Spectro parade was taking place, I would have tried to schedule that in somehow.

Cosmic Ray's entertainment: it was funny!

We finish and head for Indy Speedway, but J does not want to go on but neglects to tell me since I am waiting on the grandstand area to watch them. Argh.

I take a pic anyway:

So, we start to head out. We take another Photopass pics at the Tomorrowland side of the Castle. I take pics as well, but Im sure the Photopass ones will have better ones. We wait a minute while they change Photopass CMs. I stop to take a pic of floral Mickey & Minnie. We are walking out of MK and I take night pics all the way down Main St.

Jenna:

Nighttime floral Mickey & Minnie:

Nighttime pics on the way out:

Main Street:

This one is the crowd before Wishes started...

I remembered to get a direct bus to our resort this time (unlike last time, where I accidentily went to TTC). It comes within minutes. D&J are lying on the ground, ahhh, young ‘uns. I'm the one still standing. It’s probably around 12:30am by now.

The exhausted ones, waiting for the bus, but still have enough strength to play with the cell phone LOL!:

We get to the resort and D&J go swimming, texting and laptopping by the pool area. I take a shower & prepare everyone for tomorrow (my new bag, remember snacks, etc). I also take care of my eyes a bit since I’ve worn my contacts a bit too long today.

D&J come back around 2:20am and I finish journaling at 3am. This thereby concludes our first VERY full day!

 

[KatGarcia]

That sure was a full day!!! At least things seemed to get better towards the end of the day in terms of everyone being on the same page. Can't wait for more!

 

[jenseib]

You guys did soooo much. I bet Dom was all tuckered out from all that shopping. LOL!

 

[MyMuse]

That sure was a full day!!! At least things seemed to get better towards the end of the day in terms of everyone being on the same page. Can't wait for more!

Oh, yes, indeedy it was.....
There was a food meltdown back at MK after Wishes, but I was trying to downplay it.

You guys did soooo much. I bet Dom was all tuckered out from all that shopping. LOL!

You betcha! But they still went to the pool afterwards to text and download pics to Dom's Facebook page. Probably why she didn't want to do anything else in MK.

It was fine by me since I got some time to myself and was able to get ready for the next day. My eyes were freakin' killing me!

 

[MyMuse]

I forgot to mention and realized after looking at the end night photos from MK that one of Dom's purchases was - besides the 8 he brought down with him - was to buy another hat! You can see it pictures when he was lying down on the crowd waiting for the bus after MK.

I thought he bought it in Animal Kingdom, since it was a safari-type hat, but he actually bought it in Adventureland during our day portion trip to MK on Day 2 above on one of his many shopping expeditions.

During this particular shopping trip, I did make him buy me a insulated black lunchbag with a green Mickey head (as a birthday present) and he did carry it with him all day.

La Lunchbag:

So, he does have his useful times.

And he never did wear the other 8 hats. Boys!

 

[MyMuse]

I totally forgot to share.....





..... that I......






........bought into a .......






.....D23 membership! I am now a charter member!




What sold me is seeing a sign at HS at One Man's Dream and that they will have some NYC events.......