We held the surprise, but can we bear the weather?

[jason4024]

great update jason, hey, tigers on there feet? ususly there laying around. again, great pics.

Thanks!

Wonderful day so far. Had to chuckle at the picture of the kids wqith Pluto. Your DD with her arms in her swaetshirt and that look on her face at him with his paws around her was funny.

She is definitely a ham for pictures.

Newbie to reading your trip report!!!

You are not wasting any time with your TR.....I love that!!!! Was it cold? I am planning a quick getaway there at the end of Jan. I am afraid it will be too cold. YIKES!!!!

Thanks for reading! We did have two very cold days in the middle of the trip Monday and Tuesday. We were at the MVMCP on Tuesday night and that was VERY cold.

 

[jason4024]

Pics from DinoLand...

After DinoLand, we were hanging out waiting for the parade to start. The parade was pretty enjoyable. We did pick a poor spot though, because the sun was in our faces. But that did warm it up a little bit. Here are some pics from the parade.

After the parade, we headed back over to EE to use our FP's. Kory rode first with mommy while I spent some time trying to convince Kaylee to ride it. There were even some little girls hanging out trying to get her to go. She just wasnt having any of it. When DW and DS were done, I wanted to go one more time. Kory was kinda cold from his last ride, so he opted out. Here is a pic, Leslie was able to take while I was on it.

If you look closely, I am in the last row coming out of the mountain. I have my gray Phillies hoodie on. Today was the day after they signed Cliff Lee, so there was lots of "Go Phils!" flying throughout the day.

After EE, we were making our way out of the park, when we caught the last Nemo show for the day. This was our first time seeing it, and the kids definitely enjoyed it. On the bus, Leslie and I talked about our plans for the next day. We decided to add a day to our park passes and head back to DHS for the morning, because we had tickets to MVMCP for Tuesday night.

Stay tuned for MY biggest surprise of the entire trip!

 

[dvczerfs]

did someone say suprise??? nice update jason.

 

[luckylady]

Surprise ohh I can't wait to hear about that one. Nothing wrong with adding another day to the parks.

 

[Wherem I Now]

I think that we had to see the AK parade four times before I found a spot that I am happy with and not looking into the sun.

Glad that you got a picture of Santa Goofy! One day I hope to get my own.

 

[BigTex71]

So how is the Crystal Palace breakfast? I hadn't thought of going there that early, but I love the idea of seeing an empty MK in the morning!

The early ADRs before park opening are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Besides getting fantastic photo ops in the parks with no crowds around, you are not 'wasting' touring time while eating - since the park is not open yet anyway. You also get a head start on the rope drop crowds, since you are already well into the park. We have done the early ADRs at Crystal Palace (many times), Akershus, and Hollywood & Vine. This upcoming trip we are going to do the early ADR at Tusker House.

Oh, and CP breakfast is really good!

 

[jason4024]

Well, everyone else in my family got a surprise during our trip, so why not me? I will hold the suspense a little longer. When I left off we had decided to return to DHS this morning, for part of the day. We were going to MVMCP that night, but there was a few things left to see at DHS. And of course ride TSM again. So we hit the park at RD, and made our way over to TSM again with the rush. At RD, I met SueBeDo, when my DD pointed out her LGMH for the Dis! We chatted for a while in line and wished them a good day! If I remember correctly(ok I cheated) her family was heading over to the Jedi Training for her DS. My family got in line again for TSM, while I hit the fastpass line. With 4 FP's in hand, I met up with the family before they hit the stairs this time. After TSM, we hung out doing ToT and RnRC. We also made our way our to try and sign up for Jedi Training, but the time was too late in the day for us. So the kids got their pictures on the racer.

THEN IT HAPPENED! My DW saw a few character handlers mulling around and asked about what is going on. She found out that Darth Vader and the StormTroopers were coming out for a meet and greet. I WAS IN MY GLORY!!!!!! I have never seen Darth Vader anywhere but in the Jedi Training. I am a pretty big Star Wars guy, but can not justify fighting the crowds to go to SWW. We love going during off-peak times. I was very surprised that the kids went up, but to be honest I didnt care either way, I was waiting in line.

When I was standing there, Darth Vader turned and was staring down, so I did the same. Then he leaned in toward me, so I flipped the hat and leaned in further. I think it made for some good pics. After the interaction, I actually called my mom at work. I truly had my magical moment at DHS.

We hung out some more and went to meet Lightning & Mater.

We decided to have lunch at Pizza Planet, where I had a pretty good meatball sub, and the kids had pizza. I believe my DW had pizza also. I did pay out of pocket for this meal. Then we made our way back to TSM, to use our Fp's and then heading back for a nap. We had a party to attend tonight!

Up next - Our first MVMCP....

 

[reelmom]

I love the picture of you and Darth Vader. Awesome! We did SWW last year and had a blast. It was so hot but we didn't think it was that crowded. We went the first week in June, on the third weekend of SWW. We didn't do any meets with the actual actors but got a lot of character meet and greets. The parade is great. All the characters in one place. We went on a Sunday so not sure if that made a difference. We got to the turnstiles about 7:30 for a 9:00 opening. The preshow before ropedrop was excellent. Defintely worth it, even if you just go for the weekend.

 

[Wherem I Now]

Interesting to hear the story behind your new avatar!

 

[jason4024]

After naps, except everyone but DD, we got ready to head to the MVMCP. Kaylee actually chose to do some of her school reading instead of sleeping, which was fine with us. She was relaxing, so we let her go. We checked the weather again, and it was supposed to get VERY cold after the sun went down. So we bundled up and made our way to the bus terminal at Pop. Thie ride to MK was pretty uneventful, except for figuring out dinner plans. We decided to eat at Caseys, another first for us.

While we were finishing up at Caseys, we heard the Move it, Shake It, Celebrate it parade outside. Leslie and the kids finished up and went out to watch it. Since my surgery, I have to eat much slower, so I took my time finishing up.

We then went to the Hub to watch the show to light the castle. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this. I did take video on my flip though. They will all be posted at the end of my report. Leslie and I decided that we should get in line for the Rapunzel and Flynn M&G for right at 7PM. This line was very long all week, so when there was only 3 families in it, we jumped right in. We had to wait about 30 minutes and made our to meet these lovable folks.

After Flynn taught Kory the smolder, we made our way over to ToonTown. The kids were anxious to see Terrence and see Mickey and Minnie together. When we made our way into the County Bounty tent, the wait for fairies was 30 minutes, but we walked all the way to the chain. There was CM waiting there to let us right into the "shrinking room".

I am gonna stop here for now, and come back soon with some Princes?

 

[jason4024]

After visiting Pixie Hollow, we got back into line for the Princesses. My DD was pretty excited to meet some of the Princes at the party.

After that we made our way through Mickey's house and into the M&G area for him and Minnie. We had about a 20 minute wait to see them. If was definitely fun to see them together.

We then made our way over to meet the Dwarfs. We had about another 20 minute wait. While in line, we did some potty runs and of course the stop for hot chocolate and cookies.

Our next stop was at Woody's Round-Up Dance Party, where I will have to admit Bullseye does a mean Hoedown Throwdown. The kids tried to keep but just could not. We also ran into a few more characters on our way around the park.

We were able to catch the tail end of the fireworks, which was ok with us. My DD is not a big firework fan, so we tried to avoid any meltdowns, because they were doing really well on a long day. Our next adventure lead us back to TomorrowLand, for the show. As the show was about to start, they announced it was cancelled. We found out later that there was a fire backstage and the area was not safe for the effects. But they did send Buzz and Stitch out for an impromptu M&G.

.

I am going to leave off here, because our next stop was Main St. for the parade.

 

[dvczerfs]

love the pics jason, looks and sounds like you guys are having a great trip. i have a feeling you may have been looking into darths eyes but he may have been looking into your chest.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

The early ADRs before park opening are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Besides getting fantastic photo ops in the parks with no crowds around, you are not 'wasting' touring time while eating - since the park is not open yet anyway. You also get a head start on the rope drop crowds, since you are already well into the park. We have done the early ADRs at Crystal Palace (many times), Akershus, and Hollywood & Vine. This upcoming trip we are going to do the early ADR at Tusker House.

Oh, and CP breakfast is really good!

Well, I am definitely going to have to try this on the next trip. Thanks for the tips!

Jason: LOVE the picture with you and Darth Vader! That is awesome! What a cool meet and greet. You guys really scored seeing so many characters.

 

[jason4024]

So, the kids were starting to wear down, as was Leslie. We HAD to see the parade, because it was the last one of the night. So, here you go...

At this point, we made our way back to Pop for the night. We were all spent for the day. Our next day, we are heading back to Epcot.

 

[luckylady]

Great pictures.

 

[dvczerfs]

reat pics jason!!! is that real snow on main street this year??

 

[Tinkermom76]

Hey Jason, I followed you over from my TR!!!

I love the Birthday cake you got for your wife! Did Disney make it?

I agree with you on the vomit traps... oops I mean tea cups. I totally got out of riding this trip by running to get space mountain FP's

Looks li8ke we had the opposite weekend plans and you chose the better ones. We did MK on Sat and DHS on Sun, but you got a lot done in MK on Sun and we got nothing done on Sat

Can't wait to read more!

 

[jason4024]

Hey Jason, I followed you over from my TR!!!

I love the Birthday cake you got for your wife! Did Disney make it?

The cake was done through the cake hotline. I think it was $36 for a 8" cake with the top. There was so much cake there though, we ended up sharing with everyone around us.

 

[jason4024]

Sorry for the delay in between recent updates. It has been a hectic few days. Joining the gym, getting back there to work out, working, family visiting from out of town, some endulgence in some adult beverages, running ems calls, and oh yeah, back to work today, the updates have been slow to develop.

BACK TO THE REPORT!!!

So today was our unofficial sleep late day. We had been at the MVMCP last night, and did not really want to push the kids through another rope drop. They got up around 8ish, so we took our time getting ready, ate breakfast at Pop, and made our way back to Epcot for our last full day. This was going to be our last day in the parks, so we wanted to just relax.

We made our way into Epcot and headed over to grab some Soarin FP's. While I was over there, Leslie and the kids hung out near Spaceship Earth, and met Stitch and Daisy. Unfortunately, I had the camera, autograph books, and the PhotoPass card, so they just enjoyed the quick interaction. We then rode Spaceship Earth, which Kory had never ridden before. He did really enjoy it. After SE, we went over to Mission Space and Ellens Energy ride. We were about to get in line for Ellens, when i saw a sign that said it was a 45-minute ride, and I just knew the kids would NOT make it. So, we skipped it and headed over to Mission: Space. Both the kids LOVED it! We did the mellow side, because we didnt know how they would do with the spinning. This was also a first for Leslie and I.

After this, we decided to start touring the world, via the way of Canada. When we entered Canada, we took a few a pictures.

And ran, into the Country Bears.

We continued our way around the World and did some of the KP Mission. The kids loved doing these missions. Surprisingly, they weren't too bad for leslie and I either. They are a nice way to stop and see some of the small things, and places in Epcot, that you normally would not see. I used this time to just take some pictures also.

During this time, we also stopped and saw the American Adventure show, but just missed the singers. The kid enjoyed their naps, and for some reason, some details are a little sketchy to me as well from the show. While in Norway, I wanted to go grab some FP's for Test Track for after dinner. It was getting close to our reservation time at Akershaus. We had a dinner date with some princesses.

During diner, they brought our picture over to us, which we were probably not going to purchase, but then found out that it was gift from Belle. We never heard of this before. Is this a common occurence? After dinner we were making our way back to Test Track when Leslie and I decided it has gotten TOO cold to ride it tonight. We did not want to risk more chance of the kids getting sick before heading home the next day. After some thinking, we decided to make another family very happy with a four-pack of TT Fastpasses. And then we were off to Soarin'. The kids wanted to ride The Land also. So we did that, and then took flight again. After Soarin, we decided to head back to Pop for the night, because we wanted to try and pack for our trip home tomorrow. We did find it funny that Soarin' was our first and last ride of this trip.

Stay tuned, because there might be one more surprise coming up...

 

[Wherem I Now]

This was going to be our last day in the parks, so we wanted to just relax.

Last day? NOOOooooo!!!

I've never noticed this before, but I wonder why the labels are backwards for the connections...

After this, we decided to start touring the world, via the way of Canada. When we entered Canada, we took a few a pictures.

And ran, into the Country Bears.

The Country Bears were in Canada? They must have been lost. I'm sure that's not a Canadian accent.

Minions!

During diner, they brought our picture over to us, which we were probably not going to purchase, but then found out that it was gift from Belle. We never heard of this before. Is this a common occurence?

Your photo was a gift from Belle?

After dinner we were making our way back to Test Track when Leslie and I decided it has gotten TOO cold to ride it tonight. We did not want to risk more chance of the kids getting sick before heading home the next day. After some thinking, we decided to make another family very happy with a four-pack of TT Fastpasses.

Kudos to you for making another family's evening with Fast Passes! Paying it forward!

Stay tuned, because there might be one more surprise coming up...