Trip #3 of our "tour of festivals 2013" and bottomless pit takes on holiday snacks!

[Chellymouse]

I'm confident that wet Squatch smell is certainly close to wet monkey smell. Stinky stinky stinky!

Glad your got you holiday sandwich in! I definitely think there should be am EOS closer to us.

Those football players certainly look larger in person. Just like me, I hope. Haha.

We actually might end up there at the same time!! We could get into lots of trouble. I'm in for F&W. I bet mom and dad will even give up my backpack for the night. . Hope the Squatch's boss lets him out for the week.

I'm calling Barbara's agent now. Great idea on royalties. I'll cut you in if it works out.

Wet squatch smell is like something rotting in a swamp in Florida in August with record heat....so yeah...just like wet monkey smell!

Those players are huge! What was really cool, although the pictures turned out lousy, was the player who was paralyzed last year was there with some of his teammates!

We would gladly take your backpack for the night! Mom and dad would probably appreciate it especially if you let you have unlimited Shock Top! I sent the squatch to work with a note---my preferred week with a smiley face and the words "happy wife" next to it, my "I'll take what I can get dates" with a frowning face and the words "not so happy wife". DH turned it in with his request and his manager is giving it very serious consideration, especially since we are only going once this year. They found the note rather entertaining. I was able to con someone into taking my call on my birthday weekend so we can go out, so I'm hoping the will continue!

We so need an EOS! I would even drive to get a sandwich! I was so excited to find EOS in Vegas last summer!

I'll send some pixie dust that Barbara's agent realizes where the brilliance hails from and sees fit to cut you in on the royalities!

 

[SSRmonkey]

Shock Top??? I'm totally there. I love the strategy with the note. One way to look at it is that it's pretty cool that the Squatch is so invaluable at his job. But I do hope that you get the week you want, not just because we will probably be there too and could finally find a real Squatch (we can split the prize money), but it sounds like the ideal time for you. Hope it all works out.

Thanks for putting in the good word with Babs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Chellymouse]

Shock Top??? I'm totally there. I love the strategy with the note. One way to look at it is that it's pretty cool that the Squatch is so invaluable at his job. But I do hope that you get the week you want, not just because we will probably be there too and could finally find a real Squatch (we can split the prize money), but it sounds like the ideal time for you. Hope it all works out.

Thanks for putting in the good word with Babs. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Sad thing is, it's not that the squatch is that invaluable, it's the fact he has no help and his boss is not a word a post on a family friendly sight. So far, he hasn't been told no, so we are still hopeful! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[Chellymouse]

It's Friday and somewhat sad knowing we only have 1 more full day before the great breakfast caper and the NME's arrival for our capture back to the frozen tundra! We had managed to pull FP+ for DHS for the am!
We had FP at 1pm for TSM and FGM decided she was going to spend the am resting so she'd meet us later. We (once again) had a horrible time getting a bus to DHS....someone please tell me why it's so difficult to get to DHS? We finally got there and went over to TOT. We had FP for TOT, TSM and ST2. We ran over to the legacy machine to grap a FP for RNR before TOT. TOT had no wait so we rode once with our FP then once through standby. By the time we were off the second time, it was time for RNR. I really thought I needed my eyes checked, but, we had about 5 minutes before we could pull a second FP that would enable us to basically ride twice in a row! SCORE! So, we pulled the second pass and rode twice! After riding, we decided to walk around a bit and Mike and Sully had a very humanely short line so we checked them out from their college days!

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It was nearing time for ST2 so we managed to grab a second FP to ride it twice in a row and FGM called and said she was in the park so we waited for her and all rode ST2. FGM waited while we rode a second time and then it was time for a snack (popcorn for the pit) and TSM! I'm still the undefeated TSM champ (DH still swears I cheat which is not possible) After TSM, I agreed to head home so we can pick up and start somewhat packing up (had to compromise to be able to get more park time on Sat) so we headed in, picked up the last of our shipped items (including my pants of the pajama variety!) and started packing up. A little after 3, we started getting ready for the party and headed up to catch the bus to MK. Wouldn't you know, the bus was taking forever and we were walking very fast to our BOG ressie! The restaurant did have a really pretty Christmas tree up!

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The French onion soup was just as good as it had been in Oct however, the steaks left something to be desired. Mine and DH's were well prepared, however, poor FGM steak came out barely seared. I like rare meat, but that was too rare even for me! I gave FGM my steak and waited for the refire so she could eat. The second steak came out done perfectly though. We had the gray stuff for dessert and it really is delicious! I still have no idea what it really is! We had planned to stop and thank the master for our meal, however, his line was out of the library and into the ballroom so we just waved and said thanks on our way out1 After dinner, we were going to see Santa because FGM had really wanted us to see Santa, however, due to the food snafu, Santa's line was cut and he would not be back out until the party. FGM was not staying for the party tonight so, we walked her to the gate, said good night and went and got in line to see the big guy! We were the 3rd family in line so we spent our non-party time waiting for Santa and we were back out at the party by 7:15!

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Since the line at Sleepy Hollow was humane, we stopped to feed the pit the gingerbread waffle with ice cream. While it was quite tasty, it was not as good as the pumpkin waffle from MNSSHP. After the snack, we headed over to Splash, where we got wetter than I'd have liked then jumped don BTMRR to dry off. this was about the end of short lines for the night. The lines were quite awful, no better than during the day and no FP. We didn't have too bad a wait for HM. We also saw the country bears and one of our friends said it looks like one of the bears was looking to eat my head while DH was laughing!

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We did wait for IASW as it had just opened for the first time and thankfully, the fireworks went off so we managed to get over to PP and finally got to ride it. After PP, we stopped for cookies and cocoa, the cocoa was pretty tasty, the pit was not pleased with the cookie offering! We rode Under the Sea and Dumbo and did manage to get on Space Mtn with a 15 minute wait. By the time we got off Space, the wait was back up to 45 minutes. We rode Buzz and DH, as usual, kicked my butt! We stopped for some popcorn for the pit! We also grabbed a couple of pics!

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The party was again sold out tonight and quite honestly, the next time we go in Dec, we will be saving our $$ or using for something else because the party was almost a waste! We decided to head in before midnight and at least we didn't have to wait forever for a bus! We made it home and cleaned up and went to bed! Up next, our last full day at MK!

 

[twinsouvenirs]

great photos and such a fun read--how did you add the fun photo wlements?

 

[SSRmonkey]

Glad you got to see Mike and Sulley in their college gear. I think Mike's retainer is my favorite part. Sounds like you had some good luck with FP.

So I've noticed a trend...is popcorn the Pit's favorite snack? I would guess that the Squatch likes something a little more natural...like beef jerky. Hahahaha.

We avoided Santa. I didn't want to hear first hand that I was on the naughty list. Glad to hear you didn't have that experience.

AHHHH!!!! The CBJ Bears! I'm surprised you survived that. He does look really close to your head. And those bears are very unpredictable.

I'm sad that you only have one day left, but am excited to hear the conclusion to your trip!

 

[Chellymouse]

great photos and such a fun read--how did you add the fun photo wlements?

Thank you! We still use the photopass pretty regularly and that is where the additions to the photos are found. If we weren't going in Oct where there are some really cool magic shots, I would probably lay off the photopass because our camera is awesome now, much better than our old one.

 

[Chellymouse]

Glad you got to see Mike and Sulley in their college gear. I think Mike's retainer is my favorite part. Sounds like you had some good luck with FP.

So I've noticed a trend...is popcorn the Pit's favorite snack? I would guess that the Squatch likes something a little more natural...like beef jerky. Hahahaha.

We avoided Santa. I didn't want to hear first hand that I was on the naughty list. Glad to hear you didn't have that experience.

AHHHH!!!! The CBJ Bears! I'm surprised you survived that. He does look really close to your head. And those bears are very unpredictable.

I'm sad that you only have one day left, but am excited to hear the conclusion to your trip!

We really enjoyed to "college look"...nice to have something new to see once in a while!

The Pit does have a hankering for popcorn, particularly Disney popcorn because it's one of the few Disney foods I have not been able to really replicate well at home. I just came across a recipe for Dole Whips (pit's next favorite snack, simply because it's not as readily available as popcorn) and that's on the bucket list to replicate at home....probably when it gets a little warmer because I don't like to eat cold stuff when it's cold outside...call me weird! The squatch does prefer jerky and I make a tasty batch of jerky! the squatch also likes summer sausage and when he's really frisky, he will slice the summer sausage and garnish his beer glass with it! Quite gross!

I usually don't care to hear first hand how naughty I was either, however, we promised FGM that we would see Santa and thankfully, Santa thought we had been pretty well behaved this year. I made a better choice of shirt this time...last time we saw Santa, I wore my Tink "I'll be good next year shirt" Santa stopped me, read my shirt and said "then I will deliver next year" The squatch found that quite funny! However, Santa did not care for his bah humbug shirt either!

those bears were quite scary and gross! they kept picking their teeth and noses. I will be staying far, far away from their jamboree! Kudos to you and Koala for braving that!

 

[Chellymouse]

It's Saturday and our last full day before we have to head home to the frozen tundra! All day we kept hearing about how much snow was falling at home and how cold it was, so we very kindly kept sending pics of us in the sun, wearing summer clothes....it was not terribly well received

We had a bit of a late start because we'd been out late the night before. We made it to MK by 10:30am after, wait for it....yep, Mickey waffles for breakfast. MK was unpleasantly crowded, to the point had it not been our last day, we'd have beaten it out of there. We did have our 3 FP+ attractions and we had our plastic AP's so we were able to pull a few more FP for the day. We decided to do some attractions we don't normally so we stopped into Monster's laugh floor. The jokes were quite corny and very entertaining. After we did our duty to help out the monster's we went over to watch Stitch escape after the sargent oils himself. Sorry, I know that attraction is bad, but I love Stitch! We also did TTA and CoP. we haven't done CoP for several years and while it's a bit of a cheese fest, it is a huge piece of Disney history. The park was so stinking busy that after we used our FP for Buzz (DH beat me soundly) we decided to take the train around the park. did get a couple of cool photos from the train station.

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after we arrived back on Main St, Duffy's line was REALLY short so we stopped to see Duffy under the MK tree

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After Duffy, we were hungry and lunch was a better choice than junk so we braved Pinnochio's village haus for lunch. The lines for QS everywhere were atrocious! The food actually wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. During lunch one of our friends had texted and realized we were still there and asked if we could play Santa and bring home some trader pins for their kids for Christmas. After lunch, mission was accomplished and we headed to the locker for fresh water. We went back and rode the carousel and finally it was time for our massive FP run. We went over and rode Space then DH talked me into the rotten, spinning barf cups (thankfully the pits food stayed put), then it was time for HM, Splash and BTMRR. By now, FGM had called and said she was heading to meet us, so we headed out to the gate. Stopped for a quick pic on the way out!

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We went over to the Contemporary for dinner at the Wave. DH and I have been there and it was pretty good, so we gave it another go. FGM also enjoyed her meal. After dinner, we wandered around the Contemporary to check out the gingerbread displays and the giant wreath.

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FGM decided she wasn't up for braving the crowds, so we dropped her off at the bus and we headed back into the madness. We had a FP+ for POTC so after the pit had dessert (Dole Whip) we went over to POTC. The line was actually humane for the first time all day, so DH (knowing the pouting was coming) said, why don't we go again? We rode again and said "c ya real soon" to our pirates then headed over to the confectionary for our "plane snacks" After we purchased our going home treats, we grabbed our gear from the locker and despite my best efforts, there was no talking DH into staying for Wishes. We grabbed this on the way out.

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All too soon, we were on the bus back to the resort and it was time to finish packing up and off to bed. Next up....the great breakfast caper and back to the frozen tundra!

 

[Chellymouse]

but I don't wanna go home.... despite my desperate attempts to stay another day, it was time to get ready to go. So, a few months back, DH has this great idea to get up before the sun, get our luggage checked and get over to the Beach club and Cape May's for breakfast then race back to SSR for the arrival of the NME (when the bus is going to the airport we call it the not so magical express). DFIL (may he RIP) side of the family is huge and we basically have to rent space for the family Christmas party, long story short, the party was today and at the restaurant next door to the airport so DH figured if we had a good breakfast, we would be able to go to the party after we landed. DH drug us out of bed at 6am....grrrr....and all too soon, we were cleaned up, packed up and calling bell services. Our bellman arrived and we headed up to get our bags checked and obtain our boarding passes and check our carry ons. As we were arriving, it started to absolutely pour complete with thunder and lightning! We grabbed a cab over to the BC and we arrived a full 30 minutes before our 7:30am ressie. REALLY?? I could have slept another half hour!! We were seated promptly at 7:30am and had a great breakfast. We even had a few friends drop by to wish us safe travels!

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So highlights from breakfast include Goofy inadvertently scaring the jeepers out of FGM, DH missing Goofy because he was at the buffet, Minnie completely ignored me and only visited with DH and FGM and FGM was at the buffet when Donald came by! We were finished with breakfast by 8:20am and we were heading back to SSR via cab. At least the rain storm had stopped and we went to pick up our carry on baggage and all too soon, the NME pulled in and much to my dismay (and DH prodding) onto the motorcoach we went and off to the airport. our flight was on time and after we hung out and checked out the shops it was time to head through security which we not so affectionately call the stinky feet corridor and the stupid TSA nearly crushed my gingerbread house, we grabbed some crack, I mean coffee from Starbucks and headed over to the gate. our plane was on time and soon we were in the air and off to the frozen tundra. We landed a little late due to the fact the pilot had to circle the airport twice and as we were coming beneath the clouds, all we saw was gray and white...yuck! DH and I really weren't in the mood to go to the family Christmas party so we after collecting our bags and thanks to Doc for bringing our Jeep and winter coats, we dropped FGM off at the party (it was at the restaurant next to the airport, we told the family we would wave as we were landing) and headed onto the interstate and the homestead!

Up next...final thoughts

 

[Chellymouse]

Final thoughts....it was somewhat of a weird trip this time. Overall, we were generally disappointed with the lack of decorations at the parks and resorts. Much has changed at the holidays in the past 5 years and not for the better. I doubt that if we go back for the holidays again, we will attend MVMCP. It turned out to be a colossal waste of money as the party was way overcrowded and we had shorter lines during the day than we did during the party. The food overall this trip left something to be desired also. Some of it was really good and some of it was really bad. Disney definitely needs to improve the quality at the TS spots. The quality of the chow is not worth the price of the chow! We had some really bright moments and memories and some really not so bright moments during this trip. Will we go back in Dec again? Most likely, however, it will not be for a long trip as we did this time and certainly not on a year that there is only 20 days between turkey day and Santa visiting. I was hoping to have a ticker up by the end of this TR, however, we are still anxiously awaiting DH's vacation to be approved so hopefully, I will have an update on that front soon. Since we are only going once in 2014, we are going to make it count! I've already saved enough $$ for PFTS!! We are in the early planning stages of planning our 15th anniversary trip (2015) and we need the points anyway....we are planning to spend 3-4 days at DCL then off to Aulani for 10-11 days! We did finally get over our the crud and made it out to see Frozen....which is pretty much what home looked like when we arrived! Thanks for tagging along! May all your wishes come true!

 

[SSRmonkey]

I'm glad you got a good breakfast before you had to come home. Even if you did have to get up really early to eat. Goofy's whiskers look like they could poke someone's eye out. I've never seen him up close like that. Hopefully you didn't get poked in the eye!

I'm glad you had a safe trip home, but it's too bad you had to come back to such cold temps. I don't think the temp has changed much since you got home. At least the lake is mostly frozen over now, so maybe that means we won't get a lot more snow.

Thanks for sharing your adventures. I really hope that the Squatch gets the vacation you want. And it sounds like I will have to figure out how to get into your suitcase in 2015.

 

[Chellymouse]

I'm glad you got a good breakfast before you had to come home. Even if you did have to get up really early to eat. Goofy's whiskers look like they could poke someone's eye out. I've never seen him up close like that. Hopefully you didn't get poked in the eye!

I'm glad you had a safe trip home, but it's too bad you had to come back to such cold temps. I don't think the temp has changed much since you got home. At least the lake is mostly frozen over now, so maybe that means we won't get a lot more snow.

Thanks for sharing your adventures. I really hope that the Squatch gets the vacation you want. And it sounds like I will have to figure out how to get into your suitcase in 2015.

Goofy's whiskers can definitely be a safety hazard!

The temps have been downright frigid since we've back....I keep trying to convince the squatch we need to move to a warmer climate...no such luck!

So far, we are leaning toward the smiley face....we are supposed to find out by the end of this week....we are keeping our paws crossed!

I wouldn't make you ride in the suitcase....we'd put you in the carry on with us! Would hate for the airlines to lose you! mom and dad would likely not be pleased!!

 

[SSRmonkey]

You're right! Carry on is the only way to go. Ever since Koala ended up in Minneapolis, we have avoided airlines all together.

 

[Chellymouse]

You're right! Carry on is the only way to go. Ever since Koala ended up in Minneapolis, we have avoided airlines all together.

You are better than us....there is NO WAY I could make that drive! Ok, I could, but there is no guarantee everyone will make it SSR alive!

 

[Chellymouse]

So, I can now, finally, end my TR. We finally got the word and our was approved!! So, we are heading down 10/10-10/19 with our ressie for SSR done! I would have a ticker up, however, both ticker sites are not working right now so I will put up my ticker as soon as they are working!

 

[Shazzasmd]

Enjoyed your report. Congrats on getting your Oct vacation days

 

[Chellymouse]

Enjoyed your report. Congrats on getting your Oct vacation days

Thank you!! We are very excited as we are only going once this year! At least we have 10 days for F&W!