We took our Parents to Disney!! **Recap of AK 2/24 Did we meet our goals? Completed**

[rndmr2]

Last days are always sad

Yay on going shopping! Love the Christmas ornaments

Wow at having 10 Snack credits left - think we had used all ours pretty early on Hope you enjoyed all the yummy snacks.

I'm looking forward to the Fantasyland expansion being completed for our next trip as well.

I was glad to have the time to go to DTD. I never thought I could do a solo trip but that time alone made me think I could someday (maybe someday if DH decides he doesn't want to go...)

There were 6 of us on our dining package so it worked out to about 1-2 each leftover so to look at it that way it's not so bad. Last year we had CS credits left too. There were a few other snacks I wanted to try so I will make sure I do that next time.

 

[rndmr2]

Responses in purple

I just caught up on all your pictures and you are so many that are really great! Such beautiful vibrant pictures of all the parades. Really good!

I was so glad to get to see the parades this time, we never seemed to have time on other trips

I can't even remember everything I wanted to comment on.

I love the group shots. I think I am skipping photopass in December, but I still want the photographer to take my pic!

I love that the PP photographer will take pics with your camera, too, I definitely take advantage of that, we usually don't get enough pics to make the disc worth getting so this way we still get the pics.

The miniature golf course looks like fun. Maybe I will try that in December. I never want to try it went its hot out.

It was pretty hot that day, luckily we went right into the water park after we were done and cooled off

I never realized that the water lilies in LWTL are edible.

The show at the poly looks super cool and, again, you got some stellar pictures of that.

Food, glorious food porn. You had some really scrumptious meals!

It was funny, my family thought I was nutty for taking food pics but by the end they were tekling me to take them and offering their plates for pics! And yesterday my SIL posted a food pic on Facebook of sushi from a restaurant near her home! (maybe I converted her! LOL)

Fun TR. Looking forward to the recap!

Thanks for reading! Hope to get the Recaps up soon!

 

[rndmr2]

I have decided to do a little recap of our trip by going back to the PTR and finding the "to do" list for each park and see how well we did. I'll start with MK. I copy/pasted the list here--

Magic Kingdom

Hall of Presidents

Haunted Mansion (ok, they did this but the new special effects weren't there yet)

Swiss Family Treehouse
(she shows interest in seeing this, not sure if her knees can handle the steps or not, we'll see how she feels when she sees it)

Country Bears (we sometimes skip this but I think she would like it, and everyone should see it at least once IMO)

Jungle cruise and POTC she saw but will definitely be done, we won't get her on Splash or BTMR but the rest of us will go.

All of Fantasyland (granted SIL/BIL and her sister's family took the kids on arirval/EMH night and most likely saw those rides, so it's not like they didn't do them)
--she doesn't really need to see Dumbo or the Teacups

Carousel of Progress

Monster's Inc show

People Mover

--we won't get her on Space Mountain, and we have no desire to see Stitch

she did go on Buzz(a couple times) and really liked it!

--actually going through the list again she only saw 6 things at the MK!! and she says the lines weren't too bad so that's not why.

--I really would like to have my Dad do the Flag Retreat, I plan to try to make this happen, I really think he would like that. He is retired Army (20 years) and a Vietnam vet. If he can't do it, I would like to at least see it. I talked to MIL about it and she thinks it would be a great idea, too.

---------------------

We really only spent about 3/4 of a day here, we had to leave by about 5 that day to get to our ADR and didn't make it back as a group, although if you remember DH, my Dad and I did go for a few hours on our last day.

Rose Anne still didn't see the attractions in Fantasyland but DH, my Dad and I did get to see some of it on the partial day we spent there (IASW, Snow White, Philharmagic)

We did not do the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse or the Country Bears which doesn't surprise me but we actually did see Stitch, which we hadn't planned to see (and I don't feel the need to see it again). We did miss the Flag retreat, and that is probably the main thing that I am disappointed in (Besides Pooh and Peter Pan, LOL).

We did everything else on the list so I feel we did fairly well here and we had the bonus of seeing both Parades and the Dapper Dans, as well as Dave getting the opportunity to sing with them! .

 

[rndmr2]

Recap of EPCOT

We did well in Epcot, The first few days we were there the crowds were Very Low so we accomplished a lot in the first day at Epcot. Rose still hasn't seen Imagination or Ellen but we did go to Ellen, if you remember from the report, She and Amy opted out of Ellen after the preshow because Amy wasn't feeling well.

We did not do the "Behind the Seeds" tour but that was OK. She did mention that she was able to see a lot more of the displays in the Living Seas and didn't feel as rushed there as she did the last time. I finally got myself on Mission: Space (although it was the Green side, My next goal is to try the Orange side!)

We did great in World showcase. We got to see at least some of each country (spent the least amount of time in UK) and saw the Movies in China and Canada, shopped and/or took pics in the other countries. We saw the Drummers in Japan, although I would have liked to go into Mitsukoshi we didn't have time.

I did reach my personal goal of getting into the caramel shop in Germany!! next trip I need to try some of the Caramel corn!

I did learn that Dave's dad is a major thrill ride fan, he did a lot that I never expected him to want to do at all the parks.

 

[MEK]

It's always fun to see what we want to accomplish and what we actually do. I think I may need to put the caramel corn in Germany on my what list! Sounds delish!

 

[TanzUnited99]

It's nice to recap and see what you accomplished and what needs adding to a future list

I love that you got loads done at Epcot and got to visit each country. I still have to try that caramel corn as well!

 

[rndmr2]

Here's the list I had done for:
Hollywood Studios

They did very few things here, too.

They did get on TSM a couple times, they saw the Little Mermaid show, Indiana Jones, and Fantasmic and that's it.

Things we definitely need/want her to see:

-The Great Movie Ride-I know it gets a bum rap sometimes but I love it, it does need an update but I hope it stays around for a long time.

-Muppetvision 3D--LOVE this one

-I really would like to see Lights, Motors, Action, we missed this one last year and I really wanted to see it, I think everyone else will like it too. I never asked my dad if he ever saw it (hmmm, note to self...ask Dad about LMA show)

-One Man's dream, I liked this the first time I saw it, I know they refurbed it so I was curious if they added anything new.

-Magic of Animation--I really would like to try the Animation Academy

-Beauty and the Beast Show, I know she would love this (the rest of us do to)

- We do have plans to try to see Fantasmic, she really wants to see it again and thinks Raymond will like it too. (I should add that he is a newbie too so these all apply too him too)

-We may try the new Star tours if it is open when we are there (supposed to be the 20th but you never know, I don't think MIL (Rose Anne) will like this.

-I'm pretty sure Dave will probably want to do ToT and/or RnR. I, for one, have no desire to go on ToT (did once, never again). There is a Very small possibility I may consider RnR but that decision will be made at the last minute. I know DH (Tim) and Rose, and most likely Amy and Raymond won't go. I know my Dad won't go on ToT (same as me did once, and that was enough) but not sure about RnR.

-I would like to see the new Pixar parade if we have the time, but it's not a must-do.



We did fairly well here for really only coming one day and leaving at 4-5pm.

We did TSM x 2

We were able to see the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast

Most of us went on the Great Movie Ride

We saw the Muppets! (yay! )

We were even able to see the Pixar Parade!

Dave and his dad went on ToT and RnR

Some of us caught Fantasmic! (Dh and I and My Dad and Rose)

We missed:

One Man's Dream, Magic of Animation, Lights Motors, action!, and Star Tours but we did accomplish most of what I wanted to do here.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay on getting through most of your goals for DHS! I never got to visit One Man's Dream either but there's always next time

I have to admit Lights, Motors, Action wasn't the best show I witnessed so maybe it's a good thing you never got to see it.

 

[rndmr2]

Wow! It's been a long time!

I figured I better get this TR completed, I only have one more recap to do and that is AK. How did we do??

Animal Kingdom

Copied/edited from my PTR:

Must see list:

These are the attractions that my MIL did in March:

It's Tough to be a Bug,
the Safari (they even saw the lions up and walking around!!)
Kali River Rapids,
Nemo
The Boneyard while everyone else did Dinosaur

We will, of course, repeat these, but it looks like the only things they didn't see that are must see are:

-Festival of the Lion King--
-My Dad for some reason doesn't care for this but I will get him to see it with us anyway.

-the Maharajah Trek and Pangani Trail- I really hope to see these, especially for the Tigers and Gorillas (I really want to see that baby)

-Flights of Wonder show-- saw this a few years ago, usually skip it but I have heard they changed it some and I think MIL (and everyone else) would like it.

-Rafiki's Planet watch/Wildlife Express- I have always found this interesting, we don't spend a lot of time here but it's nice to see.

-I really want to go on EE this time. DH would have nothing to do with this ride last year and I didn't want to go by myself. They were building it when I was there in 2004, so this is my chance! I will have at least one person to go on it with me

-------------------------------------------
Wow, I thought we did well here but looking at this list we really didn't do much more than she did on March

We did see FOTLK (My Dad waited in line with us but left as we got seated, I don't know why he doesn't like it )

We did get to see ITTBAB, Nemo and the Safari (but we didn't see the lions )

We did not do either Trek/Trail

We did not get to Rafiki's

We actually were in line for Kali but it had technical difficulties and we had to get out of line.

We did not see Flights of Wonder

One thing on the list that I did accomplish was I FINALLY got on Everest!! I was so looking forward to it and I am glad I did it but I'm not sure I will be in any hurry to go back on it I probably will if others are going but I won't go by myself or try to talk anyone else into it if they are reluctant.

Well, if there is a reason for another trip, it is to accomplish the things that we missed on this one! I really hope to get to go back soon but it doesn't look like we will get back before 2014! We have tentative cruise plans on Celebrity in November and actual reservations for another cruise (with friends) on NCL in Nov 2013, and although I would do both in one year, Tim doesn't really want to.

I guess there's always hope I will win a OMDD trip, right??

Well, I think that's all for my 2011 TR! Thanks for reading along with me and hope to see you soon on the DIS!

 

[MEK]

Sounds like you have a great time in both HS and AK. So glad you got to ride EE! Isn't it great? Sorry you missed both the trails. We finally did both in December (thanks to the cooler weather) and they were so great.

Congrats on having not one, but two cruises booked! Nice!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Glad you got through some of the AK list - hope you get to do the others on a future trip

 

[rndmr2]

Sounds like you have a great time in both HS and AK. So glad you got to ride EE! Isn't it great? Sorry you missed both the trails. We finally did both in December (thanks to the cooler weather) and they were so great.

Congrats on having not one, but two cruises booked! Nice!

EE was fun! But a little scary too, it was a lot faster than I really thought it would be.

I can't wait! We are going from NY to San Juan, St Martin, St Thomas, and Samana, DR on the 2013 one, there will be a group of us, our friend and her family are going with a group (Kopeling Society, have you ever heard of it? I don't know too much) and she invited DH and I and our other friend to go. That is about a month after our 10 year anniv so we are using the trip to celebrate that.

The one this year is S. Caribbean and we are looking at a couple itineraries but we have every intention of booking soon.

Thanks for reading!

Glad you got through some of the AK list - hope you get to do the others on a future trip

I hope that future trip is sooner rather than later.
Thanks for reading!

 

[podsnel]

I just read through your completely entertaining TR- and WOW!! That Dave can sing!! That was just soooo cool, I had tears in my eyes- what a wonderful, magical memory. And thank goodness for video!

I love SSR- it is so peaceful and quiet- it was where I stayed on my first ever DVC trip, and I think I'm sentimental about it because of that. Maybe next year.....

Sorry you won't return to WDW for a few years, but it sounds like you have some great things planned in its place- when you go on Celebrity, will it be out of Bayonne? Which ship? That new one, Silhouette, looks amazing- I would love to go on it, but the cruises are a little too long to take without our kids. But someday....we will!

Ellen

 

[rndmr2]

I just read through your completely entertaining TR- and WOW!! That Dave can sing!! That was just soooo cool, I had tears in my eyes- what a wonderful, magical memory. And thank goodness for video!

I love SSR- it is so peaceful and quiet- it was where I stayed on my first ever DVC trip, and I think I'm sentimental about it because of that. Maybe next year.....

Sorry you won't return to WDW for a few years, but it sounds like you have some great things planned in its place- when you go on Celebrity, will it be out of Bayonne? Which ship? That new one, Silhouette, looks amazing- I would love to go on it, but the cruises are a little too long to take without our kids. But someday....we will!

Ellen

Thanks for reading!

That was awesome that he got to sing with the Dapper Dans! My dad still talks about it sometimes.

Yes he is quite the singer! He directs a church choir and Cantors at another church, I think he is a director of the Barbershop chorus he belongs to also. His family is very Musical, he and his dad would both just randomly burst into song at various times during the trip, it can be fun and a little weird too, LOL

I really enjoyed SSR. I would probably want to stay in The Springs next time, that was closer to the food court area. This was before the reg DP included the mugs but if we had them it wouldn't have been worth it because the food court area wasn't convenient to get to.

We were looking at the Summitt out of San Juan, although I definitely want to try one of the Solstice Class ships someday. We probably will be putting that one on hold though because Hubby and I have both been out of work on Worker's comp. I am back to work but was out 3/11 to 4/16 with a broken knuckle-I fell on the one patch of ice we had in March, LOL and he went out 3/28- (he broke his ankle at work) and is not back yet. So even though financially we can swing it, I can't see asking for vacation time at this point after missing so much time. I could get the time but I don't think he will be able to.

 

[MEK]

I just read through your completely entertaining TR- and WOW!! That Dave can sing!! That was just soooo cool, I had tears in my eyes- what a wonderful, magical memory. And thank goodness for video!

I have to go back and watch this because I can not see the link right now in my no picture zone!