You can never have too much of a good thing!"Turkey Day 2009" 11/09 - 12/09 TR w/Pics

[TheTXTaylors5]

Sunday, November 22, 2009 - Part IV
We walked into the Magic Kingdom just as the evening parade, SpectroMagic, was starting. We got a prime spot near the Train Station with no one in front of us. We’ve seen the parade before and hadn’t planned on catching it this evening. So, this was a nice treat. Once the parade ended, we made our way up Main Street via the sidewalk. We were actually walking next to the still on-going parade on Main Street. Somehow, we were beating the parade up Main Street. We wanted our first ride of the evening to be Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. It is Cole’s (DS4) favorite WDW attraction. However, we couldn’t cross Main Street yet to the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station short-cut because of the parade. So, we stopped near Casey’s Corner to wait for the parade to finish. That is when I noticed a pained look on Bill’s (DH) face. He was almost in tears. I knew before I even asked him what was wrong. He said his rib is hurting even worse than before. Walking past the air conditioned stores on Main Street put him into a coughing fit and he re-injured his healing rib. By this time, the parade had passed and there was a sea of people trying to exit. We had to pretty much push our way to the other side of the street and find a spot to let Bill sit and rest for a minute and figure out our game plan.

Bill really needed to head back to the room to rest. However, he didn’t want the rest of the family to miss out on the fun. So, he decided to ride Buzz with us once and then head back to the room. Before our trip, Bill purchased a rib band/brace in case he needed it on the trip. I put it into my backpack before heading out that evening. So, he went into the restroom near The Plaza Restaurant and put it on while we headed off to get in line for Buzz.

The line was snaked outside of the ride entrance. So, it gave Bill time to catch up with us while we were still outside the entrance. He arrived just as we were about four people from entering the inside queue. I asked if the brace helped, he said no. But, he still wanted to ride. Bill rode with Cole, I rode with Emily and Will rode in his own car. We had fun battling the evil Emperor Zurg.

Fun photo with Zurg.

There was no line for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and we thought it would be “mellow” enough for Bill. So, we hopped into a car. Boy were we wrong. You don’t notice every little bump and turn until you have a fractured rib. The TTA does a lot of sharp turns. I didn’t remember it being that jerky before. However, poor Bill was cringing with every turn. Once we got off, he decided to head back to the room. Even walking was hurting him at this point. Cole was starting to look tired and was happy he got to ride Buzz. So, Bill and Cole headed back to the room while Will, Emily and I took on Evening EMH at the MK.

TTA

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Sunday, November 22, 2009 - Part V
It was a holiday week. So, the park was still buzzing with people even at midnight. Our first mission was to ride the refurbished Space Mountain that just re-opened that day. However, the stand-by line was well over an hour and that was precious EMH riding time. So, we decided to stop back at the end of the evening to ride. Hopefully, it will be less busy by then.

We headed to Fantasyland past the Indy Speedway and came upon no wait at the Mad Tea Party (Tea Cups). The three of us hopped into a cup and spinned ourselves silly. I had to make sure I kept looking at Will and Emily to not get dizzy.

Taking a spin on the Mad Tea Party.

After the Tea Cups we made our way further into Fantasyland. However, everything else still had long lines. The only attraction without a line was It’s A Small World. So, we decided to give it another try. We rode it once a few years ago and I remember being underwhelmed. We rode IASW at Disneyland California this past March and love the addition of Disney characters to the attraction. Maybe, they can do that to the Orlando one too????? It needs “something”.

After IASM, we came upon The Haunted Mansion. This is one of Will’s favorite rides. He was excited to see no wait. We walked right into the stretching room. The kids recently saw The Haunted Mansion movie with Eddie Murphy. It was neat to see the ride scenes in the movie and vice versa.

When we exited HM, Liberty Square was like a ghost town (pun intended). We walked through LS to Frontierland on our way to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The posted time read 10 minutes. But, we walked all the way through the winding queue and waited only one carload of riders. Somehow, we ended up on the side with less people. The other line/loading area was busier than ours.

After BTMRR, we ventured into Adventureland. The CMs outside Pirates of the Caribbean were waving people in. We can never pass up a ride on PoTC, especially with no wait. So, we walked into the dark cold entrance without a soul in site. It was eerie. We boarded a waiting boat. We got to sit in the very front. If you ever get the chance, try for the front seat. This was my first time, since we normally have a party of five. You can see everything up there. It was a whole new experience for me. Great ride as usual.

After PoTC, we decided to ride another family favorite The Jungle Cruise. This attraction takes on a whole new vibe at night. Also, we like the corny puns. Our children have been on this ride so many times that when the Skipper asked if anyone knew what type of snake they were pointing at, my children shouted, “Plastic!” I love my Disney Kids!

After Jungle Cruise, Will and Emily appeased me and we rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. It’s the closest we were getting to a Dumbo-type ride that evening. It will be nice when they do the Fantasyland expansion and add another Dumbo. That attraction is ALWAYS busy.

We were making our way out of Adventureland when a counter-service caught my eye. Aloha Isle was still open with NO LINE. It was around 2:00 am at this point. Only at WDW will my children get ice cream at 2:00 in the morning. I had to have my “Dole Whip for Bob”. So, I took one for the team and forced that yummy treat down. Will got a rootbeer float. Emily tried the citrus swirl, but she didn’t like it. A CM walked by us and noticed she wasn’t eating her ice cream and brought her out a dish of vanilla ice cream. I thought that was nice of them. We found an empty area next to the stand to sit, eat and relax for a bit.

Our ice cream treats. They were colored red (vanilla) and green (pineapple) for the holidays. Yum! Yum!

After our late night treat, we decided to head over to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain before calling it a night. As we approached the Space Mountain queue entrance, I saw a rope up at the entrance with two CMs standing there as if on guard. As we got close they pretty much shouted out to us that the ride was down and they were not re-opening the queue. That was a bummer and not the way we wanted to end the night. So, we hopped onto an empty TTA. It was relaxing to sit back and take in the sites of The Magic Kingdom. You get a great view of Cinderella Castle up there.

After our TTA ride, we still had about ten minutes of Evening EMH left. So, we hopped into the queue for the Astro Orbiter and only had to wait for the elevator to come back down before we were on our way up to ride. This would be our last ride of the evening.

I wanted to make the most of the evening with Will and Emily in case we had to head home the next morning because of Bill’s re-injury. We would find out when we got back to the room.

We casually walked down Main Street with about a handful of other guests towards the exit. It was definitely a different scene than the chaos we encountered earlier. I hadn't taken any Main Street photos on our way in. The kids relaxed on the stairs leading up to the Train Station while I snapped some photos of the entrance decorations.

MK Main Street decorations.

Will and Emily patiently waiting for me.

Will was nice to pose out front before we headed for a bus back to The Boardwalk.

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

This Trip Report WILL include pictures too. I need to upload the pictures to my computer and will add them to the TR soon! Keep posted ...

Jennifer

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Sunday, November 22, 2009 (early Monday morning) - Part VI
We arrived back at the Boardwalk resort around 4 am. When we arrived earlier in the day, I noticed there was not an ounce of Christmas/holiday decorations up. Not a wreath, not a single light strung. Arriving back at the resort so "early", we caught the "Disney Elves" at work. We walked into the lobby and were smiling and commenting on the decorations. I saw the CMs working on the decorations look at us and smile. I am sure they appreciated the positive reaction to the decorations. They were decorating the Boardwalk resort inside and out. It was neat to see the little crane in the lobby area and the gingerbread display half assembled. Going from nothing to these elaborate decorations was amazing. They work pretty quickly. So, the guests that morning would awake to a holiday wonderland. Pure Disney magic at it's best.

We entered the room to a sleeping Cole and Bill. Bill woke up when I entered the bedroom. He was half-asleep and asked how the night went. I told him all that we did. But, I didn't want to sound like we had too much fun as he missed out. Will was concerned all night about his Daddy. I know he had fun on the rides. But, it just wasn't the same without the whole family together. Something was missing all night. Bill slowly fell back asleep. We would discuss his injury the next morning (our 13th Wedding Anniversary). Will and Emily got into their pajamas and didn't fight sleep. I hopped into the cozy bed and was catching z's within minutes of my head hitting the pillow.

Tomorrow, we plan to visit Epcot in the afternoon for a late lunch and some Anniversay fun. Would we make it or head home? Stay tuned ...

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

I've updated the Trip Report with some photos.

Jennifer

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Bill (DH) and I hop on a flight tomorrow with DS4 on our way back to WDW for DAP!

DS9 and DD7 will not be coming with us. They will stay back in Texas with friends due to school. Time has just gotten away from me. So much to do, so little time. I will continue this Trip Report when I get back. I promise!!!!!!

Until next Monday ...

Jennifer

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

We're back from an amazing time at DAP. If they do another one, we're definitely there!!!!!! DH and I even got to meet Marty Sklar (with photos to prove it! )

Here are some of our photos from DAP:

The Seminar

Lee Cockerell with DH and I.

DH with Marty Sklar.

Me with Marty Sklar.

Do y'all know who Tiara Todd? This is us with him at DAP.

Osborne Lights the night of the TSM Party.

Toy Story Mania Party crowd gathering.

John and Kevin (part of the Podcast Team) greeting DISers as they arrive to the party.

Our DAP and ABD friends.

Who knew Santa would be at the party. DS4 with "Santa".

Us with Woody and Buzz. There was a special Meet 'n Greet at the party.

Jennifer

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Okay, back to my Trip Report ...

 

[sskem96]

Can't wait to read the rest of your report! We were there Nov. 26-Dec. 2 at AKV. I wish I had known about the Disney's Holiday Blend coffee, that would have been a great stocking stuffer for DH!

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Monday, November 23, 2009 (Our 13th Anniversary)
We woke up around 10 am this morning to a rainy Florida sky. Booooooooooooo! We were dragging from our very late night and the gloomy day didn't help. My first thoughts were on Bill's health. Did a good night's sleep help? Sadly to say, no. Bill was VERY sore this morning. He could slowly walk, but was in pain. He called DVC to see if we could check-out to head home and get our points back for the rest of the week. However, it was too late to get the points back from our week one. If we left today, we would lose the points. So, Bill decided to suck it up and stay until our scheduled Thursday (Thanksgiving) departure day. He was able to cancel our week 2 (AKV). We have since rescheduled that week for the end of January/early February. We decided to take it easy the rest of the week.

Today, we relaxed and I did laundry. Being our Anniversary, we wanted to have a nice dinner. So, we headed off-property to the town of Celebration. I am originally from Massachusetts and read rave reviews about the Celebration Town Tavern. We typed the address into our GPS and off we were to the quaint town of Celebration.

Celebration Town Tavern

We arrived to a busy restaurant in downtown Celebration. I was very surprised since it was a Monday night. We were led into a quiet back section of the restaurant. Our server recommended the onion rings and clam chowder for appetizers. How could we resist? Bill and I shared a bowl of clam chowder and the whole table shared the onion rings. The clam chowder was delicious!!!!! It was thick and rich. Yum! Yum!

The "infamous" clam chowder.

The onion rings batter was very light. However, it had no flavor. For our main entrees, Bill got fried cod and I got fried scallops. Both had the same light coating as the onion rings. My scallops were just "okay". Bill's fish arrived as a full piece of cod which caught him off-guard. Like my scallops, it was just "okay". Both didn't have very much flavor. The seafood may have been from up north. However, they weren't cooked by New Englanders and it showed. Just my opinion. We'd go back for the clam chowder and to visit Celebration.

Pictures from dinner.

If you've never been to Celebration and want to get off Disney property for a bit, check it out. It is a really cute town. They really deck it out for the holidays. There's even an ice skating rink installed for the winter weekends. The town was developed by The Walt Disney Company. Disney Cruise Line even has it's offices located there.

After dinner, we decided to head to Downtown Disney. We spent some time in World of Disney. We did a little Christmas shopping and stocked-up on more Disney Holiday Blend coffee. Then, we headed back to the Boardwalk to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, my Dad and his girlfriend are meeting us at Epcot.

Downtown Disney

Before heading upstairs to our room, we enjoyed the newly decorated lobby. Our children loved the carousel and the holiday gingerbread display. The lobby smelled so good!

Pictures from the Boardwalk lobby.

more from the lobby ...

and one more ...

 

[Ms. Belle]

I'm loving your report! Great pictures!

My son and I were at DAP also. Did you do DATW?

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

I'm loving your report! Great pictures!

My son and I were at DAP also. Did you do DATW?

No, but we did do the Seminar and TSM Party. What a party! John outdid himself! Our DS4 had a blast!!!!! I know Podcast Cruise 2.0 is next year. Do you think they'll do a party in conjunction with the cruise like Mousefest used to do? I hope so. We're not on the cruise because DH and I are going on the Podcast ABD CA Trip in April $$$$$$$ But, we'd attend the party if they had one. I think every person we encountered asked if we were going on the cruise. It is going to be a boatload of chaos!

Thanks for reading my Trip Report. More to come ...

Jennifer