YES, We really are going to Disney AGAIN!!!!

[PNO4TE]

It was time for our fastpasses so we headed back to Pixar Place to ride Toy Story,

It was more fun than a Barrel of Monkeys,

(sorry I couldn't resist the pun)

I am looking forward to riding this next month! I love the Barrel of Monkeys pun, Debbie. At our house those things are called "Patecta Monkeys." When Kristin was about 3 she hung those little monkeys all over the house and when we asked why, her response was that they were going to "patect" us from stuff.

Needless to say we still use that term and the monkeys are still hanging in various locations in the house. One of them found its way into Kathrin's suitcases when she went to college and when she moved to Boston. When I travel on business there is always one in there when I open my suitcase.

(sorry... didn't mean to hijack your TR!)

 

[PNO4TE]

The manager came back and let me know that he was unable to find the e-mail so there would be no menu, needless to say I was quite disappointed, not only about the menu but also that the "surprise" was spoiled.
I did check my email when I got home, the email with the pictures was in the sent file, but when I tried to resend it my virus protection software scanned the files and wouldn't send it so I'm thinking that's what happened and they had never received the pictures.

I am so sorry that you weren't able to get that personalized menu for the birthday boy, Debbie. The diver sign was very cool though.

 

[MrsHeg]

Friday Morning, our last full day,
The worst part about a trip finally arriving is that it is over so quickly.

Grumpy was feeling pretty good this morning and we headed out for the Magic Kingdom, Opening Ceremonies were hosted by the Fire Chief this morning,

But it wouldn't be complete without the head mouse,

What I don't understand is where was Minnie, this was the second rope drop we had done at Magic Kingdom and both times she was MIA?

 

[MrsHeg]

This is where Santa visits with the kids during the party, they move his bench during the day but it's still a great picture spot, Grumpy took this one and was quite proud of it,

I just love pictures of the castle with hardly anyone in them,

 

[MrsHeg]

Since Grumpy was feeling better it was time for one of our MK traditions, we love Splash and Thunder so we like to take advantage of park opening to do a Mountain marathon, we grab fastpasses for Thunder and then get in line for Splash,after Splash we head over to Thunder, as soon as we can we grab fastpasses for Splash, that way we have fastpasses for both that we can use later in the day when the lines start to build up,

Here's a couple of pictures we took on our way over,

 

[MrsHeg]

Goofy was over by Splash greeting people, but since there were so few people around he had plenty of time just to be "Goofy", here he is laughing at us as we went by on Splash,

I'm sure lots of people have already seen it but this was the first time I noticed this hidden Mickey so I made sure to get a picture of it,

 

[MrsHeg]

Here goes another Redneck ride photo, I think the family in front were first timers,

 

[MrsHeg]

And here's an example as to why rope drop is a must,

First thing in the am,

Around noon,

Actually the second picture isn't very bad, but it gives you an idea why sleeping in is completely overrated, nap in the afternoon if you must!

 

[MrsHeg]

I am looking forward to riding this next month! I love the Barrel of Monkeys pun, Debbie. At our house those things are called "Patecta Monkeys." When Kristin was about 3 she hung those little monkeys all over the house and when we asked why, her response was that they were going to "patect" us from stuff.

Needless to say we still use that term and the monkeys are still hanging in various locations in the house. One of them found its way into Kathrin's suitcases when she went to college and when she moved to Boston. When I travel on business there is always one in there when I open my suitcase.

(sorry... didn't mean to hijack your TR!)

Don't you just love the way little ones mispronounce words sometimes, around our house we still have "underbrellas" and "shinypoo"

 

[MrsHeg]

The weather was perfect, it was one of those days that I just enjoyed wandering around and soaking in the atmosphere,

Here's my namesake,

And since there was no Grumpy statue I'll throw in Goofy,

 

[MrsHeg]

We had a counter service lunch at Cosmic Rays, I feel like this is the best value for your CS credits in the MK, and the selection is varied enough so that everyone can find something. I had the Club Salad and Grumpy had the Chicken and Rib combo, my salad was really good and Grumpy cleaned his plate.

While we were having lunch Grumpy mentioned that he would like to head back over to the Studios and ride TOT again, normally we would spend our last morning there but there was no way I was going to try and fight the Super Soap Weekend Crowd so our last morning was moved to AK with breakfast at Tusker House. So after lunch we took the monorail over to the TTC and took the bus to the Studios.

 

[MrsHeg]

When we arrived at the Studios I put everything in a locker again, and went empty handed again, so there are no pictures from this segment.

Grumpy didn't want to risk RNR so it was off to the TOT for us, by now you've probably figured out that we are HUGE TOT fans, our record for consecutive rides is 5, we did that at rope drop one trip. When we got to TOT the posted wait time was 20 minutes so we grabbed fast passes and got in line, well there was no line, we didn't stop until we were in the library.

So as soon as we got off we went through the line again, no stopping until the library once again. This continued until we had tied our record and we still had fastpasses, so what the heck, we went for it, SIX times in a row, I told Grumpy that I was through, my stomach couldn't take anymore or I'm not sure how many times we would have went.

I'm not sure exactly how long it took, but it was between an hour and an hour and a half, not too shabby.

This means that we are going to have to go for seven next time.

 

[MrsHeg]

Dinner was at OHana, we've been ther for breakfast and really enjoyed it so we wanted to give dinner there a try.

They start out with a salad with honey lime vinagrette, I can't have the honey so we asked about another dressing, our first server told us that there was no other option but our second said she could do an olive oil, we said that would be good, I was thinking oil and vinegar, but she came out with a bowl of greens with just olive oil, YUCK! I didn't complain though, she went through extra effort so we just did without salad.

We're not very adventurous so we really didn't care for any of the dipping sauces, the wings were honey coated so they were out for me, as were the noodles. The vegetables were good, and the meats were also. The sugar free dessert was great.

For us we won't be returning, but that is only because of our personal tastes in food, not anything to do with the food or service.

It was just after six and I really wanted to get a look at the castle all lit up once more so we hopped on the monorail over to the MK. It was around 6:20 when we got there and all the people were gathered in front of the castle waiting for the show, we decided to head back over and try to ride our Splash or Thunder, both rides were deserted so we headed to Splash first, we rode twice without getting off, and headed across to Thunder, the posted time was 30 minutes, well there was no line and we were told to sit anywhere we wanted, of course we sat in the back seat. We made it back on one more time before seven, and headed back to Main Street to see this,

 

[MrsHeg]

On our way out there was a CM drawing a picture in the street with a broom and water, I think she did a great job.

We headed back to the resort so that we could get things packed up for the morning, we had parked at HH that morning when we headed out because I wanted to stop and pay our bill so that they wouldn't put it on our CC.

On our way back to the resort we got a glimpse of the Space shuttle as it went up even though it was raining by then.

By the time we got back to the resort it was raining pretty hard, (not a good thing for the party goers that night) so I was glad that we had the truck at HH and didn't have to make the walk to the room in the rain.

I had my concerns about OKW before this trip, one being I had heard about horrible bus service, the most we waited for any bus was 20 minutes, and in both of those cases one was pulling out as we were walking to the bus stop, one night there was a woman who got on and was very upset, she told the driver that they had been waiting for 85 minutes, I guess we were lucky?

The other was that the beds were very uncomfortable, ours were great, I didn't have any trouble sleeping, except for the night that Grumpy kept me up. The resort is beautiful, and except for our balcony view i give it a !

 

[my3princes]

On our way out there was a CM drawing a picture in the street with a broom and water, I think she did a great job.

We headed back to the resort so that we could get things packed up for the morning, we had parked at HH that morning when we headed out because I wanted to stop and pay our bill so that they wouldn't put it on our CC.

On our way back to the resort we got a glimpse of the Space shuttle as it went up even though it was raining by then.

By the time we got back to the resort it was raining pretty hard, (not a good thing for the party goers that night) so I was glad that we had the truck at HH and didn't have to make the walk to the room in the rain.

I had my concerns about OKW before this trip, one being I had heard about horrible bus service, the most we waited for any bus was 20 minutes, and in both of those cases one was pulling out as we were walking to the bus stop, one night there was a woman who got on and was very upset, she told the driver that they had been waiting for 85 minutes, I guess we were lucky?

The other was that the beds were very uncomfortable, ours were great, I didn't have any trouble sleeping, except for the night that Grumpy kept me up. The resort is beautiful, and except for our balcony view i give it a !

I'm glad you had a wonderful trip even with the neck issue. OKW is our favorite resort, it's so tranquil and the accomodations are very spacious

 

[MrsHeg]

Well it's here, the end of another trip. We got up very early and loaded up the truck before heading to AK for an 8:10 am breakfast at Tusker House.
Here's a bit of information for anyone who has as early ADR at AK and is driving, they do not let you into the parking lot until 7:45 am so we ended up waiting to get into the lot.

We still made it in plenty of time,

Here's my favorite mouse again,

The breakfast at Tusker was great, if you leave there hungry it's probably your own fault. We went out the door and wre right at the rope before you get to Safari, we decided to give it a go since we were right there. They keep the rope up until the crowd gets there from the front and then they let you through, we still managed to be first in the line though.

 

[MrsHeg]

Our driver on this Safari was much better than the last, he actually slowed down so that we could see the animals,

These are hippos, it's kind of hard to tell with them all bunched up like that,

He said the baby was about three months old,

 

[MrsHeg]

The Rhinos politely posed for us,

and even the lions were awake,

 

[MrsHeg]

After the Safari we followed the Pangani trail in hopes of seeing the gorillas,
we weren't disappointed,

 

[MrsHeg]

I'm glad you had a wonderful trip even with the neck issue. OKW is our favorite resort, it's so tranquil and the accomodations are very spacious

Thanks, right now we have plans to stay there with Brandon in May, I'm getting a little nervous about our reservation, but hopefully it's nothing and everything will work out.