We're Doing WHAT For My Birthday??? - Final Thoughts

[mnmrmustard]

Love all of the Universal and HP pics!! We are heading there in June and I am stoked about going there!!! I haven't been there in like 18 years!!

Hello Rachel and welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying them and I know you'll have a blast there! So much to do and see and so much fun to have

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

We're missing the F&G by 6 lousy days! Oh well... a girl can't have everything, I suppose!

Very nice update! I love SE!

 

[Marshay]

Loving the F&G photos!!

 

[mnmrmustard]

We headed out of SE and had to have a little mini pow-wow. Roxy’s ankles had been swelling and by this morning had gotten pretty bad. We made the decision that it was time to get a scooter. I went down and picked one up and met her with it by the restrooms near SE. It was doubly nice in that she was able to rest her legs AND we had a basket to carry all of our stuff in!

We moved forward and ran straight into Daisy (getting the little pixie in front of her was just a bonus – she was sporting some very cute shades)

Roxy got her pic taken at a Disney picnic

Donald and I were very welcoming

We went hunting for Stitch next and came across these cool flowers

…and then found Stitch hiding in the bushes near Mission: Space

We had already decided that we weren’t going to do any of the Future World “thrill rides” and instead concentrate on World showcase. So we turned away from Mission: Space and Test Track. And yes, we even decided to skip Soarin’ this time. We rode it so many times on our 2009 trip to DLR that we were fine with that. So we looked back at the Topiary map and ended up backtracking a bit. Pretty day, aye?

The next set of topiaries were part of a Pixie Hollow theme. As we were walking (and rolling) towards the fairy area we saw our first butterflies

I thought the space age birds’ nests were pretty cool

Then it was time to say hello to the fairies – first Rosetta (and I should say at this point that Rosetta was the only one that I knew by name other than Tink so I had to cheat and look at their website to find out their names ;-] ).

Then Silvermist – she of course had a misty little pond to play in

Terence waved at us

Who was it that lived in a shoe?

Some of them wanted to take flight

The Hollow

Fawn was very playful

And of course the star of the show – Tinker bell

Another cute little house

The pixie tree

Such creative little fairies

Vidia waved at us

More topiaries to come!

Click here to view the next chapter: Day 3 Part 5 – Pooh says there are Flowers and Butterflies Here

 

[mnmrmustard]

We're missing the F&G by 6 lousy days! Oh well... a girl can't have everything, I suppose!

Very nice update! I love SE!

Well that bites! Hopefully they'll still have some of the stuff up for you. At least you can get a picture tour from me - I think I got all of them

Loving the F&G photos!!

Thankyee! Here comes the next batch

 

[mnmrmustard]

I caught a panorama of the lagoon looking towards the monorail track and World Showcase

Here is the big panorama for the lagoon

Iridessa was the last fairy we came across

I wonder if this was her house.

We then came into the plaza in front of the main walkway to World Showcase. A Photopass photographer had just set up so I got another pic with my sweetie

That area was taken up by Pooh characters. First we had the big guy himself

Then Eeyore and Piglet

Tigger

And finally Rabbit with his carrots

We wheeled towards the butterfly exhibit and caught a monorail heading towards Future World

Here is the big panorama that shot

I love this shot, such a cool mix of the colorful flowers and the modern architecture and monorail :-]

Then we were in the butterfly exhibit and were immediately greeted by Bambi, Thumper, and Flower

Butterflies hatching

A little black and yellow one

Aren’t they pretty?

Pre-butterflies

Empty chrysalis

We headed out the back of the tent and came across a choir performance. They were pretty good – I felt for them standing and performing in direct sunlight on such a hot day.

Last shot of Future World before heading to World Showcase

The first thing we saw as we headed towards the pavilions was this cool sand sculpture built to advertise the African Cats movie by Disney Nature

Amazing large view of the Sand Sculpture

One of the sides of it

From then we were in pavilion proper. We decided to start counter-clockwise and hit Canada first. We checked for our Le Cellier reservations with the CM outside but she didn’t have the list going far enough out to show us (we had a 1:30pm lunch scheduled there). We decided to skip O Candada! And just snapped a couple of pics as we walked

Next up we enter English country – did we see the prince and princess? No, but we did see some other British royalty.

Click here to view the next chapter: Day 3 Part 6 – Brits and Beauties

 

[kaoden39]

Oh I love it. I was starting to waver on going and now I am leaning back towards WDW. Thank you.

 

[Marshay]

Loving all th F&G photos!! I can't wait to see them in 12 days!!! I'm getting excited seeing all your photos!

michele -- if you ever can go to WDW, do it!!! WDW is so amazing. They only negative is that you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner and when you can go again.

 

[kaoden39]

Loving all th F&G photos!! I can't wait to see them in 12 days!!! I'm getting excited seeing all your photos!

michele -- if you ever can go to WDW, do it!!! WDW is so amazing. They only negative is that you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner and when you can go again.

It's just that it seems so daunting to plan it and all. I love Disneyland a lot so I at times waffle and want to go there.

 

[Trentmom]

What a great update

Loving all your pics

Topiaries are awesome

Have not been to F&G Festival since 2007 and think a trip back during May is in order in future

Hope the scooter helped Roxy's ankle to feel better

 

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Well that bites! Hopefully they'll still have some of the stuff up for you. At least you can get a picture tour from me - I think I got all of them

Yep, it sure does. But you are right... your pics are the next best thing!


I love the fairies! So pretty!

 

[mermaid764]

Wow the toparies are amazing! Disney does such a good job of putting them all together.

Can't wait to hear what you guys think of Le Cellier

 

[mnmrmustard]

Oh I love it. I was starting to waver on going and now I am leaning back towards WDW. Thank you.

Well by the time I'm done posting from my days here I'll have you completely sold!

Loving all th F&G photos!! I can't wait to see them in 12 days!!! I'm getting excited seeing all your photos!

michele -- if you ever can go to WDW, do it!!! WDW is so amazing. They only negative is that you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner and when you can go again.

Under two weeks, time is really zooming now isn't it? I'll get some more posted either tonight or in the morning.

And I agree with everything Marsha says

It's just that it seems so daunting to plan it and all. I love Disneyland a lot so I at times waffle and want to go there.

I love DLR and it is an easy decision for us west-coasters - it will always have that special bit of magic that comes with being Walt's first baby. But despite the extra time in planning and the expense to get you there, WDW is just amazing.

The total experience of being on property and being immersed in the resorts and parks and even the busses and boats and of course the longer monorail runs. Add in the water parks and an expanded DTD, shake in some special rides like RnRC and classic shows like the Country Bear Jamboree and you're knee deep in the magic

What a great update

Loving all your pics

Topiaries are awesome

Have not been to F&G Festival since 2007 and think a trip back during May is in order in future

Hope the scooter helped Roxy's ankle to feel better

Thank you so much Kelly! Are there a bunch of different topiaries from when you were there or are you seeing some of the same stuff?

Yes, the scooter made a huge difference. I can't imagine how bad off her ankles would have been if she had tried to walk it that day.

Yep, it sure does. But you are right... your pics are the next best thing!


I love the fairies! So pretty!

Wow the toparies are amazing! Disney does such a good job of putting them all together.

Can't wait to hear what you guys think of Le Cellier

They do an amazing job, I've seen topiaries before, but nothing even close to what they did with theirs. Just goes to show that no matter what the media, Disney hires the best when it comes to presenting their art.

Well I'm tuckered out so the next update will have to happen tomorrow - and yes, it will include my review of Le Cellier

 

[Leger13]

I'm here I'm here! Now to catch up!

 

[Leger13]

First post ~ omg about Roxy’s Mom going into the hospital just before y’all left! Yikes!!!! And I can’t believe she thought her and the girls could hold the fort down until y’all returned. Good thinking on y’alls part not believing her! I’m glad you still made it out though and at the end of the first post are safely at your hotel before your flight the next morning! Yay

Day 1 ~ yay for uneventful flights and YAY for finally making it to your resort! The CM that checked you in looks like fun. I love great CM’s!!! We stay in the 50’s section almost every time we stay at Pop. The showers are handicap accessable at Pop in ALL the rooms with King beds. Love it!!! I’m glad it seems like they were done working on that building while y’all were there. They were still working on it when we were there last July and they started banging and sawing EARLY in the morning! Being uncomfortable and pregnant at the time made for one unhappy lady LOL.

I LOVE DTD at night. Have you guys started collecting/trading pins? I need to look into getting a lot from eBay for Alex for our December trip.

That living statue looks kinda creepy!

Day 2 ~ for some reason your links past day 1 aren’t working for me. Arg!! I’m gonna have to scroll through and look for updates and I’ll be back with more comments.

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Hi Mike and Roxy,
We were at WDW at the same resort! DH and I were there 4/3 to 4/7, so we only overlapped for a day.

I love all of your Wizarding World photos! What a neat looking place! I would love to be able to get there someday. Sadly, DH is WDW focused while we are in Orlando!

Congrats on getting a surprise trip for your birthday! It makes me think of all the WDW commercials where kids are surprised the morning of with their trips and the reactions on their faces. Was your reaction slightly similar?

 

[kaoden39]

Country Bear Jamboree and the People Mover. Both rides are rides I would love to have back in Disneyland.

 

[mnmrmustard]

I'm here I'm here! Now to catch up!

Hooray!

First post ~ omg about Roxy’s Mom going into the hospital just before y’all left! Yikes!!!! And I can’t believe she thought her and the girls could hold the fort down until y’all returned. Good thinking on y’alls part not believing her! I’m glad you still made it out though and at the end of the first post are safely at your hotel before your flight the next morning! Yay

Yeah, it was pretty crazy. A lot of stress and just wondering what was going to happen. I had purchased trip insurance via AAA when we reserved and there were a couple of moments that I almost had to call and reschedule everything!

And I think this was a BIG wake-up call for MiL that she can't take care of herself now and that she needs adults around to help out and deal with issues that come up.

Yes, it was good to get there and make it to the hotel, but I still didn't feel like the trip was really happening until we were in the air.

Day 1 ~ yay for uneventful flights and YAY for finally making it to your resort! The CM that checked you in looks like fun. I love great CM’s!!! We stay in the 50’s section almost every time we stay at Pop. The showers are handicap accessable at Pop in ALL the rooms with King beds. Love it!!! I’m glad it seems like they were done working on that building while y’all were there. They were still working on it when we were there last July and they started banging and sawing EARLY in the morning! Being uncomfortable and pregnant at the time made for one unhappy lady LOL.

Amen! And the CM was a kick, lots of fun despite having a thick accent. That is so cool that all of the king rooms have accessable showers. Yikes, glad they had finished too - I wouldn't have liked to have woken up to hammers and saws I'm sure you were pretty p-o'd over that.

I LOVE DTD at night. Have you guys started collecting/trading pins? I need to look into getting a lot from eBay for Alex for our December trip.

That living statue looks kinda creepy!

Day 2 ~ for some reason your links past day 1 aren’t working for me. Arg!! I’m gonna have to scroll through and look for updates and I’ll be back with more comments.

DTD night was fun even though we were tired. Yes, we've been trading pins since the 2008 trip. But this was so last minute we didn't have time to order any. We looked through what we had and were able to stock up one lanyard with about 15 pins. We saved it for the EPCOT day, you can see me wearing it there. We pretty much only traded that one day. Next time we'll be ready!

Yes, living statue was a bit creepy and beautiful at the same time.

OOPS! Thank you for letting me know about the links. I had copy/pasted the code for each one and pasted in an error. All fixed now!

Hi Mike and Roxy,
We were at WDW at the same resort! DH and I were there 4/3 to 4/7, so we only overlapped for a day.

I love all of your Wizarding World photos! What a neat looking place! I would love to be able to get there someday. Sadly, DH is WDW focused while we are in Orlando!

Congrats on getting a surprise trip for your birthday! It makes me think of all the WDW commercials where kids are surprised the morning of with their trips and the reactions on their faces. Was your reaction slightly similar?

Hi there! That is so cool that you were there too! Which section were you in? We were in 50s, room 3303. Too bad we weren't able to plan a DISmeet.

Thank you on the Wizarding photos - show them to your hubby, maybe that will convince him to go

As far as the suprise, at first I thought she was yanking my chain. From there it was kind of a "WhooHoo!" followed immediately by "OMG, I have a lot to plan!!!". It was very fun and very exciting.

Country Bear Jamboree and the People Mover. Both rides are rides I would love to have back in Disneyland.

Agreed. I have heard rumors of them possibly bringing back the People Mover and DLR :-]

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Hi there! That is so cool that you were there too! Which section were you in? We were in 50s, room 3303. Too bad we weren't able to plan a DISmeet.
We were in the 70's building 10, near the Big Wheel. We stepped out our door and the giant foosball game was below us. I have to say that POP never disappoints!


Thank you on the Wizarding photos - show them to your hubby, maybe that will convince him to go
Like for Roxy, it would totally be for me. Maybe the thrill rides would get his attention though.

As far as the suprise, at first I thought she was yanking my chain. From there it was kind of a "WhooHoo!" followed immediately by "OMG, I have a lot to plan!!!". It was very fun and very exciting.

I hope DH doesn't have a heart attack when I surprise him next year. I'm still trying to decide how to do it.... any ideas, throw them my way!

 

[mnmrmustard]

We were in the 70's building 10, near the Big Wheel. We stepped out our door and the giant foosball game was below us. I have to say that POP never disappoints!

Like for Roxy, it would totally be for me. Maybe the thrill rides would get his attention though.


I hope DH doesn't have a heart attack when I surprise him next year. I'm still trying to decide how to do it.... any ideas, throw them my way!

Loved that Big Wheel - my last night there I rolled around and took night pics of all of the big stuff including the foosball court and Big Wheel. POP RULES!

I can understand you wanting to immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter, it was very cool. Look forward to a bunch more pics of it. And if he likes the thrill rides the Dueling Dragons and the Harry Potter ride are totally top notch. Add in the Jurassic Park ride, the Hulk coaster, and the Spiderman ride and he should be sold!

I'm sure he'll be suprised! Are you the planner of the family or is he?