Very Merry D23 Holidaze Dec 2009 TR - 7 magical park days! updt 7/1

[MyMuse]

So, I was at the point where I met up with Mary & her hubby and we took PP pics at American pavilion.

We headed off to France & saw a few minutes of the Holiday Storyteller.

I continued to walk with them to The Land Pavilion. We parted here – me for my second Soarin’ and them to go back to Bay Lake Towers to change & go to the GF for their ADR.

Using my FP reaaaallly late!

No wait for FP & struck up an interesting convo with character in front of me. What a hoot! He thought I worked for Disney! LOL!

The HMs in Soarin’ are there. However, some listed in the book are not hidden mickeys, they are right out there in the open. In pre-show video, a man takes his mickey ears off. It’s part of the comedy in the video, so I don’t see how it’s “hidden”.

In any case, during the ride (obviously no photos), there is a HM when you soar over the golf course & the golf ball comes at you & rotates, there is a HM on the surface. I also saw when you soar over Disneyland, the burst of fireworks is a HM.

Ahhh…I love this ride. And spotting HMs just makes it more fun. There is a couple I didn’t catch, so it’s on the list for next time. Sometimes, I don’t pay attention as I am in the moment.

just did soarin' by fp for 2nd time today! off to find food..might try a walk up...
5:57 PM Dec 5th

After my second Soarin’, I headed to Japan to see about a walk-up for dinner. On the way there, I stopped for a PP on the bridge with Eiffel Tower in the background. Then I also stopped for a PP in front of the USA tree. PP CM recognized me from earlier! LOL!

Got to Japan & caught a few minutes of the Drums. Powerful stuff. I checked-in with Teppan Edo & no availability. The CM didn’t even check the book; it seemed it was a standard answer. There was quite a number of people waiting & it was Candlelight Processional.

Video of the Drums


Some night shots....overlooking water from Japan...

American pavilion...

Italy pavilion...

Walked over to Germany to see about Biergarten but got the same answer. So, I decided to do counter service at Sommerfest. I got Bratwurst & since I still had my water, I didn’t order any beverage. It came to $7.13 at 6:29pm.

teppan edo & biergarten a bust for walk-in, gave up & went to sommerfest.
6:32 PM Dec 5th

It was good food & luckily, a family was leaving & was able to get their table, which thankfully was partially inside & warm! I savored my meal & just relaxed. And I took a pic of the mural.

I finished and headed out & ran into the Candlelight Processional choir entering the theater. I also caught a few minutes of the Morocco belly dancer for a few minutes.

con'd due to space limitations....

 

[MyMuse]

con'd from previous post.....

I also stopped and took pics of the Epcot tree

...and more PP

..and I also took more night pics of the Epcot ball.

I visited MouseGears to see what they have & could not find the 2009 pink & white hoodie from March. I still have the 20% discount coupon but that is for AM hours.

I decided to go on Spaceship Earth. The line did look long-ish, but it goes very fast & no real wait. I also took an interesting pic as “where am i?” tweet.

where am i?
7:22 PM Dec 5th

I took pics inside Spaceship Earth & did a video on my future life this time. I got out in a hurry as I wanted to see me on the big board, but I missed it by milliseconds! I saw it but could not grab a pic before it disappeared. Those things go by fast!

"Future" Video


More Epcot pics

I took a final PP by the front entrance with Santa Mickey & Minnie. I had the CM also take a pic of me. She was impressed by the settings on my camera, which I thought was odd, but ok. She took about 6 pictures without realizing it. The setting I put it to does not flash for nighttime.

After this, I finally headed back out to my car, directly behind the handicap, very close to entrance. No tram needed here. Love the AAA Diamond parking pass! Frankly, I probably need it as I was there fairly early, but still. I found the car & clock showed 7:55pm. I got he GPS set up & was inside the condo by 8:05pm!

back at resort, had to call it a day at epcot. i need some rest. i may or may not be getting sick? it took 8.5 min to get to resort!
8:12 PM Dec 5th

At this point, I have been up 13 hours & opened the park. Once inside the condo, I made some calls and decided to relax for an hour before organizing tomorrow. I did fall asleep & got back up at 10:30pm. I quickly got myself ready for bed, organized & journaled a bit. I finally got to bed around 12:50am, another long, fantastic day done!


up Next: Kingdom of the Animals!

 

[dawnbu40]

What a great Epcot day! The evening PP shots are great! I hope you weren't gettick sick!

 

[If U Had Wings]

I love that you got to see some of the storytellers. I managed to somehow miss them completely.

 

[MyMuse]

What a great Epcot day! The evening PP shots are great! I hope you weren't gettick sick!

Thank you

I did a little sick, just the sniffly kind. Probably because I was in the cold for so long! It did slightly change my touring of Animal Kingdom the next day though.

I love that you got to see some of the storytellers. I managed to somehow miss them completely.

I don't know if there is a touring plan for them; it was mostly just catching them on the fly. I would have liked to stop for the France one (Father Noel?) but my friend & her hubby was on a speedracer tour through Epcot at the time.

Did we go to the same park the next day too?! Too funny!!! Heading over to read other TRs/PTRs today!

 

[ladybugmom]

WOW!! Your Epcot PP pics are beautiful!! You got so much done today!! I just love the idea of all of the storytellers--can't wait to see this in person!!

 

[disneyaddicted]

Wow you had a big day at Epcot, it was pretty crowded on my Epcot day, I so wanted to play in the Kodak aread after the figment ride, it was jam packed with people, next trip though, I will do it!

Germany is my favorite pavillion at WS, I guess cause I lived there, it is so close to the real thing, I absolutely love it.

The lion King in NYC sounds awesome, I have to catch the view for now so I can see some peeks of it.

Ty,

 

[jenseib]

Awesome updates. It's so funny as that Precious moments lady was in Frankenmuth , Michigan in Nov. signing . LOL! I wasn't all impressed with the dolls though, and they cost too much.
I so want to go around Christmas time some year. How was the temps? Did it drizzle alot?
I don;t want to have yuck weather, but I guess it's always iffy. LOL!

 

[MyMuse]

WOW!! Your Epcot PP pics are beautiful!! You got so much done today!! I just love the idea of all of the storytellers--can't wait to see this in person!!

Thank you

I did like the Storytellers, but usualy you stumble across one. There's no way to actually see them in order. You'll be running back and forth all day. LOL

Christmas time is different in Disney - the decor & all the extra stuff to do.

Wow you had a big day at Epcot, it was pretty crowded on my Epcot day, I so wanted to play in the Kodak aread after the figment ride, it was jam packed with people, next trip though, I will do it!

Germany is my favorite pavillion at WS, I guess cause I lived there, it is so close to the real thing, I absolutely love it.

The lion King in NYC sounds awesome, I have to catch the view for now so I can see some peeks of it.

Thankfully, it wasn't so crazy. I'm hoping there will be some YouTube action for the Lion King special from today on The View.

I did pack alot in my times and like you, my legs (ankle/feet) took a beating. My leg was swollen to and it was disgusting! But thankfully, it did not hurt, just swelled up. Damm cankles. LOL

Awesome updates. It's so funny as that Precious moments lady was in Frankenmuth , Michigan in Nov. signing . LOL! I wasn't all impressed with the dolls though, and they cost too much.
I so want to go around Christmas time some year. How was the temps? Did it drizzle alot?
I don;t want to have yuck weather, but I guess it's always iffy. LOL!

Nah, I don't like the dolls. But I think she heard me. I didn't realize she was so close. Oops! But I said something complimentary very quickly to make up for it. As a rule, I'm not into dolls.

The temps can vary. My first 2 days is was rainy & windy so it was cold. But it got nicer as the week went on. But it's definitely not shorts weather.

 

[disneyaddicted]

Thankfully, it wasn't so crazy. I'm hoping there will be some YouTube action for the Lion King special from today on The View.

I did pack alot in my times and like you, my legs (ankle/feet) took a beating. My leg was swollen to and it was disgusting! But thankfully, it did not hurt, just swelled up. Damm cankles. LOL

I took a nap and forgot to watch the view!!!!

Too bad cankles aren't considered sexy, I would of had it made on my trip. My leg still swells up nasty, the DR. gave me those super sexy granny compression stockings...they work, my leg hardly swells at work now, I wish I would have had them for my trip. But I guess you don't want to go sporting those when you're wearing shorts.

 

[kswm30b]

I've been following your trip report (I follow you on twitter ), but I think this is my first time posting in this thread. I just wanted to say how much I love reading it! Your Photopass pics came out great! I especially love the one in front of Paris (before the international gateway.) My pics in that area (day & night) this trip never looked great (and I took a lot there since we stayed at the boardwalk & walked there almost every day!)

I visited MouseGears to see what they have & could not find the 2009 pink & white hoodie from March.

One thing I was disappointed in was how little 2009 stuff there was available. One CM told me that it depends on the year. Some years they way over buy "year" merchandise & they have too much extra stuff left over for that year. Some years they don't buy that much, and then you can't find it at the end of the year because it's sold out. It's never in between! Thankfully we were there in March, and I got that hoodie I think you're talking about (I wore it just about every day in December!) I also bought a Happy Birthday shirt (since I was going on my bday ), and that's a good thing, since they also didn't have any shirts like that in December! So my tip is if you see something you like, buy it! Another thing happened with me that I saw holiday pins for the resorts our first day downtown and didn't buy it. And when I later went to buy them at a few resorts, they were sold out. I went back downtown, and they were all sold out there. I really kicked myself on that (found a few of them on ebay, but I'm still missing a few.)

 

[MyMuse]

I just did an update on my Lion King review (post #639) with some new pics of Whoopi on stage.

I think the backstage behind-the-scenes thing on The View has been moved to February 3? Not exactly sure.

 

[praisehisname]

Cool picture! We had sucky photopass photographers on our last trip. None of them offered to do the magic shots.

Great review of The Lion King! Looks like it was great! Someday I want to see a Broadway show.

Love the ornaments you got on sale! I wonder if my Hallmark store has any left...

Great updates and pictures about the rest of your Epcot day. I think Epcot at night is so beautiful!

 

[MyMuse]

I've been following your trip report (I follow you on twitter ), but I think this is my first time posting in this thread. I just wanted to say how much I love reading it! Your Photopass pics came out great! I especially love the one in front of Paris (before the international gateway.) My pics in that area (day & night) this trip never looked great (and I took a lot there since we stayed at the boardwalk & walked there almost every day!)

One thing I was disappointed in was how little 2009 stuff there was available.

Hi!

Am I following you? What is your twitter handle?

I'm happy with Photopass; though I wish the price was a bit lower. I'll never get those shot nor with me in any without them! LOL!

I'm not sure what was up with all the 2010 merchandise in early December.
I did see the 2009 hoodie in March, but they didn't have my size in stock. The one that I did buy, was not going to fit any time this century, so I gave it to my niece for Christmas. She had the corresponding T-shirt anyways.

I didn't see any hoodie that I actually liked enough to buy - they are expensive!!! and the one I did like, there was no way I was paying that much for it. So, the Hard Rock hoodie went back on.

Cool picture! We had sucky photopass photographers on our last trip. None of them offered to do the magic shots.

Great review of The Lion King! Looks like it was great! Someday I want to see a Broadway show.

Love the ornaments you got on sale! I wonder if my Hallmark store has any left...

Great updates and pictures about the rest of your Epcot day. I think Epcot at night is so beautiful!

Thanks! I really liked my magic shots. for the msot part, they did it automatically, but you can ask. The one time I was declined was that he could not do it because he was "earning his ears" and no access to magic shots. I wish it was a nice day, see how grey & cloudy it was?

I'll probably go back to see Lion King again. I was way too close; it is better seen further back, I think, and to the right.

I would check your Hallmark store, you never know!

Epcot at night was great. Especially, that day when it was so grey outside during the day.




I will try to get Day 3 up!

 

[MyMuse]

Sunday, Dec 6th: DAY 3 – ANIMAL KINGDOM

I woke up at 6:16am, but was able to fall back asleep until my 6:55am wake up time.

I got up, ready and in car by 8:08am. I got to AK by 8:20am and asked where Diamond parking was & he said this was closer, so I believed him. It was Unicorn 21-29, right behind cast member parking. At least, this was easier than yesterday.

morning! up & rested & out 20 min earlier than yesterday! let's hope i figure out where to park this time. lol
8:08 AM Dec 6th

Of course, I stopped at the tree. Just gorgeous; I seem to also have a thing for trees this trip as well.

I got to the entrance and did try to find the Rainforest Café entrance, but could not find the turnstiles there, so I waited back in the regular line. The CM did a thing before the turnstiles were opened but I really could not see nor hear. I did strike up a convo with a couple behind me and ended up seeing them a few times during the day.

please note that there is NOT an entrance into animal kingdom thru rain forest cafe...
8:40 AM Dec 6th

I went through the turnstiles and was able to view the Rope Drop ceremony from afar by Asia.

Let me put a complaint in here – people, if you have a backpack, realize how much bigger you are & the people around you! ARGH! You should be aware of this and the people around you should not suffer for it. Ok, rant over.

The RD was very cute & I really enjoyed it. No video because I was a bit too far back; pictures came out fairly decent. After RD ceremony, followed the gang through and went to get FP for Kilimanjaro Safari.

While waiting for the FP for the Safari to come through, I went to the Pagani Forest Trail. And to my horror, there was someone smoking! Ewww. It was a European type man and I assume he knew he wasn’t supposed to because he was trying to hide it & stay away from others. I passed a CM and told her. Sorry dude; shame on you!

While I in the first part of the Trail, I sent out a ‘where am i?’ tweet.

where am i?
9:14 AM Dec 6th

I really like this trail! The Okapi semi-confuses me so I took pics to always remember that they are neither giraffe nor zebra. My pics came out funny with the tree. Too cute.

Before Okapi, there are monkeys

How funny is this??

Okapi Johnstoni??? Oh, there's a joke in there somewhere....

A full body shot! LOL

A stop to see the little guys - yuck!

Off to the water animals!

 

[MyMuse]

I continued on to the hippo! Sent out a pic of the hippo. If you look closely, there are actually two hippos. I actually stayed awhile here. It was cool to watch.

hungry hippo? not!
9:24 AM Dec 6th

Then it was off for some more animal fun in the form of gorillas, meerkats and deer. So relaxing and gorgeous.

I could not find the HMs from the book on the Trail – a backpack sporting a small classic mickey on the left side & the 3D head of Jafar carved in the rock on the suspension bridge. Didn’t help that I didn’t remind exactly what Jafar looks like but I didn’t see anything but rock.

After this, it was time for my FP on Kilimanjaro Safari! I do love this ride – the animals, the spiel, the whole thing. I sat in 2nd row & thankfully, our driver was good!

If you set your camera on sports setting, your pic should come out well.

There is an HM in the flamingo pond in elephant country; tough to get a pic of it, but this is what I got.

And I was super-excited to actually get a pic of the lion! Whoo! There is also supposed to be a hidden Donald, but I didn’t even try to look for it.

Also gotta have a butt shot

The flamingo pond HM

After this, it was time for some breakfast!

 

[dawnbu40]

What a wonderful start to your Animal Kingdom adventure! Great pics too!

 

[jenseib]

Great update. I live near Toledo, OH, and our zoo was the first one to ever have an underwater veiwing of hippos. It seems so normal to me, but even now, people ooh and ahhh over it alot. LOL!
I was at RD for AK one year, by myself while DH and DD slept in. It was neat, but I was sooooo far back that I couldn't hear a thing and the pics I took have the characters looking microscopic.

Did you end up finding a photopass share anywhere? Or did you just buy the CD yourself?

 

[kswm30b]

Cool picture! We had sucky photopass photographers on our last trip. None of them offered to do the magic shots.

You should always ask the photographers if they can do magic shots. Sometimes they can't (they either haven't learned, or their thing isn't programed to do them), but many can. Sometimes even if they can't, they'll point out places/photographers who can (this happened to us in Epcot, the guy couldn't do any, but told us to wait for the woman photographer next to him, and she took several.) I think only twice our whole trip we were asked by the photographer to do a magic shot (tink), but I always asked & ended up with a ton. One photographer at DHS was awesome, he ended up taking every one under the sun, lol, and spent a ton of time with me.

Hi!

Am I following you? What is your twitter handle?

I think so. http://twitter.com/heatherw25

I'm not sure what was up with all the 2010 merchandise in early December.

When we first got there (the 9th), I did see some '09 stuff, but after a few days, almost everything was gone. They also had everything with '09 on it half off, but that wasn't advertised anywhere. You just had to know about it, lol.

 

[ladybugmom]

Yay!! I love the Safari!! You ended up getting some GREAT pics!!!