Up, down and all around...a trip we will NEVER forget - COMPLETE 1/19

[jessily]

Love the updates! The pictures from Henry's first haircut are so adorable and I'm glad to hear you were all finally feeling better. Your post about Bob brought a tear to my eye. I'm a big fan of the podcast and Bob's passing was quite a shock. I'm sure he would be thrilled to know that people are now enjoying dole whips in his honor. That podcast you mentioned was definitely one of the funniest moments ever on the show! Bob is missed

Can't wait for more updates

 

[kimmylaj]

love the haircut, too cute, my ds got his 1st hair cut there too. such a deal $14 with the ears gotta love it

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

Sigh ..

I wish I could go for christmas.

BUT I SHALL ... once I am 18 and can check-in to a hotel

ONLY 3 years to go!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I listen to the podcast too and was also so sad when Bawb passed. How nice that you remembered him with a Dole Whip. If you do Mousefest next year, I think you'll get such a kick out of meeting the podcast gang. It was like meeting celebrities!

I also loved the castle lighting ceremony and you're right, no pictures (and yours are gorgeous) can do it justice. Pure magic!

Lastly, love those three little words: "we'll be back!"

 

[troobabiee7]

Oh wow, the castle looks gorgeous all lit up for the holidays. I've only seen pictures and EVERYONE says that pictures don't do it justice. I'd love to see it someday! And I love all the smiles from Henry on the TTA So cute! I also never knew that the silhouettes were done by hand... that's INSANE. I thouht it was a tracing of a shadow or something. I have to check that out next time!

 

[CJsMom]

Happy Holidays Brookelizabeth!
I had to catch up on a few updates. Your photopass pics came out so great! Henry looks adorable with his first haircut ($14 - who knew that you could get such a bargain at WDW??). Sorry you missed your tea - but you will be back, so it's all good!

Your pictures of the castle lighting are great - will we get to see the other 380?

 

[jaycns]

LOVE the castle pictures. What a truly amazing sight! I cannot wait to see more! If I don't post again before NYE...Have a very happy and safe new year!

 

[julezdisney]

Hi Brooke! I'm Julia!

I mosied on over from...Christine's? Anyway- lovin' the report!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I have never seen this in person and it still brings tears to my eyes Can't wait for all 385 pictures

It really is very amazing - the whole crowd was in awe!

Well, I don't think you'll get all 385, BUT, you are going to get a LOT!

Two great updates, Brook!

So disappointing that you missed your Grand Flo tea, but with that DVC membership of yours, you will be back.

Henry is too cute behind bars!

We had the silhouettes done in June -- it's really amazing how talented they are, isn't it?

I have a serious craving for a Dole Whip now.

The castle is just so gorgeous with all those lights! I can't imagine how great it would be to see it in person!

Oh yes, we will be doing the tea in January! (as long as our flight is on time and we can make it over there!)

Those Dole Whips are awesome, aren't they?! They acutally have a booth each year of Dole Whips at the Minnesota State Fair. I resisted getting one last year because I wanted my first to be at MK, but, if we go this summer, I will be getting a taste of Disney at the Great Minnesota Get Together!!

The castle is just breathtaking. I want to post a few more pictures of it - larger size - in lame hopes it somewhat might do the event justice. I doubt it will, but it never hurts to post another picture of the castle, right?

We were planning on being at the park for rope drop and then, as DH says "Running like the crazy people do" to the barber shop! DS6 decided last night that he wants to get his haircut there too instead of getting a haircut before we go!

I love the update! Your castle pictures are stunning!!!

Run, run, run! I bet if you are there at RD you can get in line quick and not have a bad wait. I think they will do colored hair gel and other fun stuff for older kids too. When I was leaving there were two adult men (you can see them in my last pic) that said their wives love it when they get their haircut here, complete with pixie dust!

Love the updates! The pictures from Henry's first haircut are so adorable and I'm glad to hear you were all finally feeling better. Your post about Bob brought a tear to my eye. I'm a big fan of the podcast and Bob's passing was quite a shock. I'm sure he would be thrilled to know that people are now enjoying dole whips in his honor. That podcast you mentioned was definitely one of the funniest moments ever on the show! Bob is missed

Can't wait for more updates

Bob is very missed. Sometimes I'll have an old Podcast I haven't listened to in my list and it's a sweet moment hearing his voice again. I think it's wondeful that people are doing things in his memory! He would have just loved it. And think how many people are experiencing that wnder for the first time thanks to him!

love the haircut, too cute, my ds got his 1st hair cut there too. such a deal $14 with the ears gotta love it

I know! I hope Disney NEVER realizes the bargain! The low price made me tip the CM even more than average too!

Sigh ..

I wish I could go for christmas.

BUT I SHALL ... once I am 18 and can check-in to a hotel

ONLY 3 years to go!

Those 3 years will fly by! Until then you can live through TRs on the DIS. It's a good enabler. I can't wait to go back and see the World in it's full blown Christmas decor, and to experience the Osborne Lights! Ahhhhh!!!

I listen to the podcast too and was also so sad when Bawb passed. How nice that you remembered him with a Dole Whip. If you do Mousefest next year, I think you'll get such a kick out of meeting the podcast gang. It was like meeting celebrities!

I also loved the castle lighting ceremony and you're right, no pictures (and yours are gorgeous) can do it justice. Pure magic!

Lastly, love those three little words: "we'll be back!"

We do plan to make our dates line up with Mousefest! I can't wait! After reading about all those tours and stuff - soooooo cool. And meeting all these book writers, website owners, etc will be a total thrill for this geek girl! I hope the DIS does something like they did this year in renting out TSM too - that had to be so awesome!! You rode like 20 times right?

The castle lighting is breathtaking. I never imagined it to be that moving. I'm a bit of an easy crier, but did not expect a castle in lights to that to me. But it did!! I hope they keep that up every year!

Oh wow, the castle looks gorgeous all lit up for the holidays. I've only seen pictures and EVERYONE says that pictures don't do it justice. I'd love to see it someday! And I love all the smiles from Henry on the TTA So cute! I also never knew that the silhouettes were done by hand... that's INSANE. I thouht it was a tracing of a shadow or something. I have to check that out next time!

It really is awesome! You have to plan a trip sometime during the holidays - all the decor is so beautiful!

The shilhouette thing totally shocked me. When she whipped out her scissors and started in I said "Joe, Joe, dude, she's doing it with scissors! You have to get a picture of this!" and then he captured all those wondeful moments with that awesome CM. I will have a picture of her work at the end of the TR too - it was REALLY good!

Happy Holidays Brookelizabeth!
I had to catch up on a few updates. Your photopass pics came out so great! Henry looks adorable with his first haircut ($14 - who knew that you could get such a bargain at WDW??). Sorry you missed your tea - but you will be back, so it's all good!

Your pictures of the castle lighting are great - will we get to see the other 380?

Hello there! Thank you - and happy holidays to you as well! I can't believe it's NYE already!!

You won't get to see allllllllll the pictures (that would be over 15 posts of just pictures!), but there will be a LOT.

LOVE the castle pictures. What a truly amazing sight! I cannot wait to see more! If I don't post again before NYE...Have a very happy and safe new year!

It really is - so so pretty! I am looking forward to December to see it again!

I hope you and your family have a safe and fesitve (and warm!) trip over this holiday! Enjoy!

Hi Brooke! I'm Julia!

I mosied on over from...Christine's? Anyway- lovin' the report!

Hello and welcome! Thanks for joining in. I will have to check out your TR as well - I'm terrible at keeping up though, but I have to expect that when I'm subscribed to over 50 threads!

I hope to get another update in today...not many words in this next one...

 

[brookelizabeth]

When I left off we had just experienced the BREATHTAKING Castle lighting ceremony. The Castle stayed lit and would change colors-orange, purple, turquoise, etc. Every time I looked at it, it looked completely different.

Not a great picture - but you get the idea!

During the lighting ceremony it became very obvious that Henry was HUNGRY. Which I expected.

What I didn't realize was that Casey's was one of the only CS' close by. (Looking back, there was also the Bakery, but I didn't think of it at the time.)

Anyone that read my PTR might recall this:

I am not eating a hot dog on vacation!

Well...guess what we had for dinner?

Yep! Casey's!

Henry hot dogs.
It was close by.
He was very upset and hungry.
I was NOT wanting to miss even a second of Spectro.

Casey's sure sounded good at that moment!

So I darted over there as fast as I could only to find the placed MOBBED with people. The lines were out the door!

I scanned them and found the shortest line and happily joined it. After about 5 minutes of not moving one centimeter, I realized why it was the shortest line - everyone left it because it was so stinkin' slow!

I have no idea why it was so slow, was it the CM or huge orders, or a combo of both? The line next to me was over 7 people (mine was 5) and the woman behind me moved over to the 7 people line. She ordered THREE people before I did! She was well on her way out the door and enjoying her hot dog while I kept looking at the clock, praying Spectro wouldn't start without me.

Eventually I made it up to the counter and wanted to tell her "Give me whatever you have that I don't have to wait for!" but, I didn't - and ordered calmly. The food came pretty quickly and I grabbed 2 ketchups and practically ran back to our spot.

When I arrived back at our curb, I found we had been SURROUNDED with people. There was a family behind us that was looking for curb space for their little boy - Joe had to defend my spot. (Good job honey! I know how it is to have a small child and have to stand-but that is why we came so early to get this spot. If I was solo, or without kids, I probably would have given up my spot for him, but not with a hungry baby...) So instead the woman decided her five year old could STAND IN our stroller. (Henry was on our laps)

Really?

Thanks lady.

Ugh.

But whatever, I didn't care at the moment because Henry was crying hungry and I was a frantic mess, annoyed by the line at Casey's, hungry myself and Spectro was going to start ANY second.

I sat down on the curb and Henry and I shared the mini corn dogs and Joe had a hot dog. (No food pics, sorry, was WAY too preoccupied!) We also had fries, two waters and Cracker Jacks.




And, I have a confession to make...

The food was AWESOME. Soooo good! Was it because I was hungry, or distracted? Or that we were enjoying food again? Or does Casey's just plain rock? I am not certain, but I have been craving it almost everyday since we've been back! I told Joe we had to make it a tradition - eat Casey's and watch Spectro! I got an eye roll on that one, but I think he secretly agrees!



Back to Spectro...while we scarfed our food the parade started. I really don't know how I ate and took this many pictures, but I managed....and I managed to take 385 within the next hour. That is one picture approximately every 9 seconds. (Yes, I did the math!)

ENJOY!

I love this one with the smoke and the electricity bolt in the globe thing

His reaction almost the entire parade - jaw dropped! (I think mine was too!)

This is one of my favorites.

Continued in next post

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I'm not sure what is more astonishing: 385 pics in a hour or that she let her kid STAND IN YOUR STROLLER!

That is unbelievable. What is the matter with people?

Your pictures are gorgeous. Glad you made it out in time and enjoyed some fine cuisine. Sometimes the best laid PTR plans just aren't meant to be.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

I thought the bat was a bit weird. I'm not all up on every Disney story and character, so I'm sure he fits it better than it seemed to me - but it was like "happy float" "happy float" "happy float" "big scary bat with fangs and glowing eyes" With that said, it was REALLY cool how the wings opened!

I think this is my favorite Spectro picture - I love that the carriage is white and the Castle in the background - Cinderella, headed for her Castle.

I love the look on her face! Perfectly in character!

Between Spectro and Wishes the Castle continued to change colors...

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

Joe took over the camera for Wishes, I took over baby duty. The young boy from the family behind us continued his standing in our stroller throughout the fireworks. I also might add, he had QUITE the set of lungs on him...

Joe captured nearly every moment of Wishes. He did an AWESOME job! As I stood with Henry on my hip I could hear him behind me clicking away. It made me VERY happy that he took that many pictures!

Once again...ENJOY!

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

I think this is my favorite Wishes picture - I love the little kid on their parent's shoulders, the Castle all lit up and beautiful fireworks...

It was so cool when the Castle went dark

SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This show made me tear up too, it's incredibly powerful and beautiful!!! WE LOVED IT and it's become a "must do" for January. There will be far fewer pictures of it though because Joe just wants to enjoy and take it all in (which I don't blame him a bit!)

After the show the mob of people starting herding like cattle to the exit. Joe and I opted to relax and let the crowds pass. We were on a total high - feeling GOOD, just saw Spectro and Wishes for the first time, Henry was happy....ahhhhhh...this is what vacation is all about!

We stood around for a bit, just people watching and then I remembered I still had approximately 9,432 Mickey stickers left from Henry's haircut. So I started passing them out to kids. It was so much fun! I would see a kid coming up and stick my hand out with the sticker, they would give me a big "Holy cow! This is for me?!" look, smile and keep moving - all the while most parents were completely oblivious to it. I just love that a simple sticker can make a child's day.

We passed these out for a good while then joined the crowds and slowly started to exit...

We stopped for a bit (handed out more stickers) near the sitting area outside of Casey's and took a few more pictures. Trying to savor every last second of MK...

then as the crowds thinned out a bit, we said our farewell to MK and walked toward the WL boat launch.

The line was LONG at the boat launch, but I expected that - and we didn't mind. We were grinning ear to ear after such a fantastic day. Sure, I missed things that were on my "Must Do" list, things didn't go according to plan, but really-when do they ever?!

While waiting in line we stood behind a very nice family and chatted with them. The two young kids ADORED Henry, and Henry adored them! I gave them the rest of the Mickey stickers and they thought I was the coolest.

After 3 boats, we were able to board one and start on the ride back to the WL. I love that little boat ride, it's so pretty and enjoyable. Everyone on the boat was in the Disney magic groove, singing along to the music, laughing talking with each other. It was the perfect ending to such a lovely day.

And big bonus for this family - no major restroom stops!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we got back to our room we had turn down service again, with more chocolates...

We had another towel decoration

Henry's little baby toothbrush!

We unloaded our bags and stroller and pulled out Henry's ears again - he still wouldn't wear them for more than a second.

But, he sure looks cute refusing to wear his ears, doesn't he?

Momma and baby ears

Eventually we put him down for bed, Joe and I headed out to the balcony and we reminisced about our fantastic day at MK - and we talked about how we were SO glad we were finally feeling better. It was like our vacation truly finally started that day.

I believe this was the night we also threw away the last Pepto bottle.

SEE YA PEPTO!!!!!!

Up next: Duuuuuuuuuuude

 

[bawsmom]

i just have to come out of lurkdom to say that those pics were awesome!!!

what kind of camera did you use and what setting??? mine are always either blurry or dark...

i am so enjoying your report and can't wait for the ones in the future... since you are DVC owners!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm not sure what is more astonishing: 385 pics in a hour or that she let her kid STAND IN YOUR STROLLER!

That is unbelievable. What is the matter with people?

Your pictures are gorgeous. Glad you made it out in time and enjoyed some fine cuisine. Sometimes the best laid PTR plans just aren't meant to be.

I know - I was a bit shocked. When I saw that I looked directly at the Mother and she just kinda gave me a nervous smile. She knew it was wrong, but let her kid do it anyway. When I sat down and reported to Joe that the kid was in our stroller, he explained how he had to defend my spot from the Mother too. Some people come up seconds before showtime expecting a great seat and that just because they have a small child they can budge in front of anyone. I read about similar stories here on the DIS all the time. I just don't get it.

You are right about the plans! And I'm glad that I prepared myself to just "go with the flow" - it really made for a very nice, flexiable, vacation. And Casey's - yum. So glad I didn't skip that for years to come just because it's a hot dog place!

 

[brookelizabeth]

i just have to come out of lurkdom to say that those pics were awesome!!!

what kind of camera did you use and what setting??? mine are always either blurry or dark...

i am so enjoying your report and can't wait for the ones in the future... since you are DVC owners!!

Thank you!!!!
We have a Canon XSI. It's a digital SLR, so you can adjust the settings, which makes night photography of moving objects much easier. For Spectro, I turned the ISO up to 1600 and the shutter to about 60. I also opened up the apature (f-stop) as large as it would go. No flash. I learned this tip on the Photography Board here on the DIS.

I am not sure what setting(s) my DH used for the fireworks. He said he was messing around with them some during the show. I know he had it on a manual mode without flash - but not sure of the ISO, apature or shutter speed. Taking these pics with your flash off is vital. A flash will make them appear dark because the light from the flash cannot travel to the object (it's too far away) in the short time the shutter is open. Not sure if that helps any for you though...what kinda of camera do you have?

Spectro is VERY tricky to get good pictures of-there isn't much light and it's moving. Not an easy thing to photograph!


I'm so glad to hear you have been enjoying the report! And yes-there will be future TRs!!!!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Amazing photos! Did you use a tripod? I also love the one with the kid on someone's shoulders. Very cute. And how nice of you to share the sticker magic!

You had to wait for the 3rd boat, huh? Doesn't sound like you minded. Overall what did you think about the transportation to/from WL? I think I'm staying there next Dec... at least that is my dream!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Never say never, Brook!

I am still shaking my head over the room allowing her son to stand in another person's stroller!!! Did she even ask or say anything to you or Joe??? What is wrong with people! I am so aghast!

Beautiful pictures of the parade and fireworks. I believe the big scary bat with fangs is Chernobyg (I don't think that is close to being spelled correctly) from Fantasia. I could be wrong though.

That was so sweet of you to hand out stickers to the kids walking by!

I am so excited to be staying at a resort that does turndown service -- I have already written a note in my binder to remember to call about it.

 

[Donald is #1]

What awesome pictures!

385 pictures in 1 hours? I am impressed!


Did Joe use a tripod for the Wishes pictures?