Winter Wonderland in Sunny Orlando Dec 2009 PTR~NEW 12/18 We're Back! TR Link Posted!

[stacikristine]

Not an update, just a little distressed post to get it off my chest. I lost the ring DH gave me while we were dating as the promise ring that someday he'd ask me to marry him. So if you remember, I said we'd been together 8 years, and I got the ring after about a year, so I've been wearing it every day for 7 years, and now it's just gone! I've torn the house apart looking for it, and said a prayer to St. Anthony, but no ring yet. So if any of y'all have a spare moment in your day and are the praying type, say a little prayer for me that I find that ring. It was only something like $100, but the sentimental value is priceless.

I'm sooo sorry. I'll say a prayer that you find it. I know that the sentimental value is what you'll miss. I'd help you look for it if I could!

And just so you know, your kick *** Disney binder inspired me, so I scrounged for supplies around the house and knocked out a pretty good chunk of stuff for mine! When I'm finished "decorating" it, I'll have to post pics.

I'm so glad I've inspired you to make a binder! YES--post pictures!!! I still need to take more pics of my new pages and post them up here...


Great job on the mini TR! I'm loving reading about your trip

 

[khertz]

I'm sooo sorry. I'll say a prayer that you find it. I know that the sentimental value is what you'll miss. I'd help you look for it if I could!

I found it!! It was in one of my dresser drawers. I must have taken the rings off and had them in my hands when I went to go grab something out of the drawer. I went into it a few days later, and grabbed a shirt, and the ring just came rolling across the bottom of the drawer. Such a relief!!

 

[khertz]

MONDAY OCTOBER 1st Part III: Magic Kingdom (pm EMH continued...)

We came out of Tomorrowland and went through Mickey’s house in Mickey’s Toontown Fair, but the line to meet Mickey was incredibly long, so we didn’t do that, but put in on our list to do another day. In all my trips to Disney World, I realized I had NEVER gotten a picture with Mickey Mouse, and that just didn't feel right!

We had dinner at Cosmic Ray’s, and I scored 2 free brownies because of our Just Married pins! Unfortunately, they tasted terrible and we ended up throwing them away, but it was fun getting all of the extra treatment!!

That night with the Extra Magic Hours, we were able to do pretty much everything we wanted to do in Magic Kingdom. As it started getting darker, we went over to Fantasyland and rode Mad Tea Party. I had never ridden this ride because spinning rides make me sick even to THINK about riding them. But it's DH's favorite, and we were on our honeymoon, so I decided to strap on my big girl panties and ride with him. But I made sure to tell him he wasn't allowed to spin it TOO FAST!

Then we rode Snow White’s Scary Adventures, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and “it’s a small world” while the SpectroMagic Parade was going on. We caught Wishes! from Fantasyland. It was very close to where the fireworks were going off, and it wasn’t the full effect because you had to look in so many different directions to see all of the fireworks. But it was still incredible.

Once the fireworks were over, we did some more in Fantasyland, like Mickey’s PhilharMagic, which DH had never done and he loved because it starred Donald Duck, his favorite Disney character. I really wanted to do Peter Pan’s Flight, but throughout the whole night, the wait for that was over 40 minutes, even though all the major attractions had less than 10 minute waits! We went to Liberty Square and rode the updated Haunted Mansion, which was very cool. We headed for Frontierland, only to find out that Splash Mountain was having technical difficulties and wasn’t running that night, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was closed for repairs! That kind of stunk. The last thing we did that night was go to Adventureland to ride the new Pirates of the Caribbean with Jack Sparrow in it. Very cool! But we decided to skip Jungle Cruise since it was so dark outside.

On our way out of the park, we started looking in some of the shops on Main Street to get an idea of what we’d like to buy for souvenirs, but didn’t buy anything. And then we headed back to the hotel and literally crashed because it had been SUCH a long day!

UP NEXT: am EMH at Epcot!

 

[mmmbop]

There's nothing like Disney at Christmas time!!

It'll be nice to be with all your family! And at least you'll get some time alone as well

 

[khertz]

There's nothing like Disney at Christmas time!!

It'll be nice to be with all your family! And at least you'll get some time alone as well

I'm soooooo excited to see the World dressed up for Christmas!!

As much as I'm looking forward to the trip with everyone, I kind of wish DH and I had planned more time for just the two of us. I'm still trying to convince him to add just ONE more day! But I don't think I'll be successful in that department. I'm just so happy that after all of this time planning, it really is starting to feel closer & closer!

 

[exwdwcm]

I'm soooooo excited to see the World dressed up for Christmas!!

As much as I'm looking forward to the trip with everyone, I kind of wish DH and I had planned more time for just the two of us. I'm still trying to convince him to add just ONE more day! But I don't think I'll be successful in that department. I'm just so happy that after all of this time planning, it really is starting to feel closer & closer!

it really will be here before you know it! I know we are counting down.

I've also considered adding more days, but I think DH would kill me......i thought about making our return flight later in the day (it is at 9:30am, which means an EARLY morning that last day), but he might kill me for htat too. how long are you guys staying again?

 

[khertz]

it really will be here before you know it! I know we are counting down.

I've also considered adding more days, but I think DH would kill me......i thought about making our return flight later in the day (it is at 9:30am, which means an EARLY morning that last day), but he might kill me for htat too. how long are you guys staying again?

We'll be arriving on the 4th, parks from the 5th-14th, and flying out late that night on the 14th...probably around 7:30-8ish. I'm trying to really maximize our time in the parks!!

I know what you mean about it being here before I know it...after all this time planning, I can't believe we're already down to less than 6 months! That alone has me really excited about it. Unfortunately, it feels even farther away though because the weather has been so excruciatingly HOT here...it feels like December will never come!

 

[cjackearl]

I'm in and going back to catch up.

 

[khertz]

I'm in and going back to catch up.

& thanks for joining!!

 

[cjackearl]

All caught up. I'm so jelous of your Hawaii trip. I'd love to go there someday.

Your wedding pictures are just darling. You and your husband make a gorgeous couple. I really liked the last photo with you and DH in color and everyone else in B & W.

Disney all dressed up for Christmas sounds heavenly. You're smart to take Disney trips at less crowded times before school schedules start to run your vacation plans.

 

[khertz]

TUESDAY OCTOBER 2nd - EPCOT (am EMH)
The next morning was an Extra Magic Hour in Epcot, so that’s where we went first. It was already raining that morning, and it rained for the first little bit that we were in the park, which wasn’t much fun. Just inside, we spotted our favorite thing...Photopass photographers!

We headed into Future World and went immediately to Mission Space, which was new to DH, but I had done it a couple years before on a trip with the family. And it was the first time I had been on it where they had a spinning and non-spinning version of the ride. But we are thrill junkies, so it was no question that we were riding Team Orange! While we were waiting to load into the "space shuttle" a dad and his son that were in the line with us to get in the pod chickened out last minute, so it was just DH and I in it and we did all the buttons for the different “jobs” they give you to do. It was fun to have our own personal ride into space!

We went on Test Track a couple of times, which was fun. I found my new ride while I was there too. Haha

We walked through some of the Innoventions stuff, but didn't spend a lot of time with anything since this was our only day in Epcot. I'd like to spend more time here next trip, which is why I'm allotting two days for Epcot!

Then we headed over to the Land and went on Soarin, which was new to both of us also and pretty cool. I liked it but didn't quite get all the hype over it. We also waited in line forever for The Seas with Nemo & Friends, which was cute, but probably not worth the wait. At least they’ve made Epcot a little more interesting over the years. I remember dreading our Epcot days on my trips as a kid because I thought it was so boring!

After riding Journey Into Imagination With Figment, anda quick lunch at Electric Umbrella, we went over to World Showcase and wandered a bit, but didn't really experience much...another thing I'd like to change on the next trip! I've never seen any of the movies in the countries, which is something I'd like to do. All of the photopass pictures in this batch were from the same photographer who followed us to a bunch of locations around Canada to take our pictures! She loved my rings and kept encouraging me to show them off. Haha. So I'll let the pictures tell our trip around the World Showcase.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

The only ride we did in WS was the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico, which was changed since the last I had been there. DH was excited because he LOVES Donald Duck! It was cheesy, but cute and relaxing. Unfortunately, Maelstrom was down, so we didn't get to ride that one. Bummer!

On our way out of the park, we hit up The Art of Disney store, and found out that Larry Dotson was there. We ended up buying an oil painting of Cinderella’s Castle, and he was going to personalize it with “Congratulations Kristy & Dustin” and our wedding date. We had to get it sent to the hotel so that he had time to personalize it, and so the store could frame it, but that turned out crappy. When we went to pick it up, he had spelled my name Kristi, so the lady at the store in the resort where we picked it up was very helpful. She called the store, and found out the artist wouldn’t be back till Monday, so we had to get it sent back so the artist could fix it, and then they had to ship it to our house. That was kind of disappointing, but it's now hanging in our living room with my name spelled CORRECTLY!

By this time, my Dramamine fatigue was starting to catch up with me, so we caught a bus back to POFQ for a nap before heading to MK for the evening!

 

[khertz]

All caught up. I'm so jelous of your Hawaii trip. I'd love to go there someday.

Your wedding pictures are just darling. You and your husband make a gorgeous couple. I really liked the last photo with you and DH in color and everyone else in B & W.

Disney all dressed up for Christmas sounds heavenly. You're smart to take Disney trips at less crowded times before school schedules start to run your vacation plans.

Hawaii was amazing, and definitely unexpected. DH works offshore, and they were slow for a long time, so the bosses started encouraging people to take vacation now while there weren't any jobs to send them out. Of course, my first suggestion was Disneyland for his birthday! But then we saw how affordable Hawaii was that time of year, and found availability at our timeshare resort in Waikiki Beach, and it all kind of fell into place! I hope you get to go someday. It's gorgeous.

Thanks...that's one of my favorite pictures too. Our wedding photographers were awesome!

 

[khertz]

We just booked our return flight!

I have been anxiously checking the Southwest website for the entire month of June, waiting for them to open dates beyond October 30th. We were only really checking Southwest because they are the ONLY airline we have found with direct flights from New Orleans to Orlando. Finally, on June 23rd, they had flights available through January 2010, so it was time to start booking. Luckily, we waited a few days and watched before buying. When they had first posted flights, all flights to and from Orlando were $96, which was great. But just waiting a few days really paid off, since we just booked our return flight for $73 each! Can't beat that!!

So we are officially booked on Southwest flight 2818 departing from Orlando (MCO) at 7:10 pm EST and arriving in New Orleans (MSY) at 8:00 pm CST!

We already know what flight we want to get to go to Orlando. It leaves from New Orleans at 8:00 am and arrives in Orlando at 10:40 am EST. It's still at $96, so we are going to watch it for a little while before buying to see if we get lucky and that one goes down in price too!

Progress...FINALLY!!

Today is exactly 5 months before we leave!!

 

[cjackearl]

Score on the airline tickets. And here's a dancing banana for 5 months until Disney. Your trip will be here before you know it.

 

[stacikristine]

YAY! Those prices are great! I've heard that if you book with Southwest, you can get money credited to you if the price goes down between your booking time and your departure. You might check into it!

 

[khertz]

Score on the airline tickets. And here's a dancing banana for 5 months until Disney. Your trip will be here before you know it.

Thanks for the dancing banana!! I'm giving myself two more because I'm sooo excited!!

YAY! Those prices are great! I've heard that if you book with Southwest, you can get money credited to you if the price goes down between your booking time and your departure. You might check into it!

Yeah, the prices aren't bad even if they don't go down anymore. $96/person is still pretty cheap with the way things are in the economy right now! I'll look into that Southwest thing, because that would be great if that were the case. Thanks for the tip!

 

[jewels1916]

Hey, I'm back! Yay for the plane tickets! I know finding those tickets is a huge weight off your shoulders! And aren't you glad that we are LESS THAN 5MONTHS TIL OUR TRIPS?

 

[khertz]

Hey, I'm back! Yay for the plane tickets! I know finding those tickets is a huge weight off your shoulders! And aren't you glad that we are LESS THAN 5MONTHS TIL OUR TRIPS?

Girl, I am SUPER PSYCHED that my counter starts out with 4 months!! We are already discussing a weekend for the 6 of us to get together and have a Disney planning session. Can't wait!!

 

[khertz]

DH and I went to my parents' last night for a great dinner and came home with a great idea! We are challenging ourselves to watch a (LONG!) list of movies related to all of the attractions featured in the parks. We got the idea from my parents, who have been getting some of the movies from the Universal attractions that they haven't seen in awhile or never seen at all. I decided to stretch that to include Disney movies too! So this morning, DH and I pulled up park maps online and compiled a list. I'm hoping to watch them ALL before we leave! DH won't be able to watch them all since he goes offshore for two weeks at a time, so in those weeks, I'll watch the movies he's not as interested in seeing. Here's our list!

Magic Kingdom

• Toy Story
• Cinderella
• Dumbo
• Alice In Wonderland
• Monsters Inc.
• Peter Pan
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
• Snow White
• Lilo & Stitch
• Aladdin
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Epcot

• Honey I Shrunk the Kids
• Finding Nemo

Hollywood Studios

• Beauty & the Beast
• Indiana Jones
• The Muppet Movie
• The Little Mermaid

Animal Kingdom

• Dinosaur
• The Lion King
• A Bug's Life

Universal Studios

• Shrek
• The Mummy
• Twister
• Terminator
• The Simpsons Movie
• Men In Black
• Jaws
• E.T.

Islands of Adventure

• Spiderman
• The Incredible Hulk
• Jurassic Park

I'm excited and up to the challenge!