Oh the Places We Go, The People We See Photo TR

[jenseib]

Once we all had arrived, I went in and got the girls checked into BBB. You can see me in the background of Geoff’s pictures.

 

 

 

 

Little smarty pants.

 

 

Claire was not dressed yet, so they called us back to a dressing room and Gail waited for her girls to be called as well.

 

 

Abby had to check out the inventory ….as you know, she LOVES princess dresses.

 

 

Claire got dressed and I took a quick shot. This is not a Disney dress. We actually got it on clearance at Cracker Barrel the year before. We decided to call it Cinderella’s wedding dress and we brought along her crown from the previous year as well.

 

 

While we were back getting changed, Gail’s girls were called to their seats. Sadly we didn’t get seated near each other, but it was fine.

We made our way to our seat.

 

 

Claire got settled in with Paige. This made her day. My older daughter is named Paige as well, and this Paige was about the same age, so Claire told her all about her sister and they talked quite a bit.

 

 

 

I then went back to see my nieces.

 

 

To our surprise again, Abby was all for this …though she was having issues with her glass slipper …it kept falling off. LOL

 

 

Now I will warn you now. I have a TON of BBB pictures. I take a lot, Geoff and Mary took quite a few (and I don’t even have Gail’s at all) and of course photopass pictures as well. I will try to put them in some sort of an order, but I can’t guarantee it’s the exact order….. And believe it or not, but I am not posting all of them either. So just imagine how many we have. LOL

 

Claire is ready.

 

 

Alexis is started.

 

 

Abby is having issues. She does NOT want that stupid neck strip. And I don’t blame her. I hate those things with a passion. For those who don’t know, I am a licensed cosmetologist. I no longer practice, but I do keep my license up and do family and friends. Those neck strips are supposed to be for sanitary reasons. You put it around the neck and then the cape and it is to protect your skin from the cap, which is going around several peoples necks a day. The thing is, it’s worthless. 95% of the time the cape is still touching the neck. I never used them and went with a good old fashion towel around the neck. It covers more and if water or anything leaks, the towel catches it. So there is your cosmetology lesson for the day. LOL

 

 

She still has a nasty look on her face, but she is letting it happen.

 

 

Alexis is getting nice and gelled up.

 

 

Now the real test. Will Abby allow someone to brush her hair.

 

 

The answer is yes. Gail has complete shock on her face.

 

 

Claire is still getting settled in.

 

 

Abby loved this shield on her face. When Gail would move it away she would bring it back and she would rub her nose on it and breath on it to steam it up and she might have occasionally licked it. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This isn’t so bad.

 

 

 

Claire is getting started now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful nail polish.

 

 

Now there was some sort of communication going on between Alexis and Claire, because Claire was NOT picking things I would normally think she would, and they happened to be the same as Alexis for the most part, so they were definitely sending signals back and forth.

 

 

Time to pick out makeup.

 

 

 

I was shocked to see that Claire picked out green. She always picks pink. I didn’t mind, but it was just not her usual style.

 

 

 

Pucker up!

 

 

We were totally cracking up over the faces that Abby was making. We expected at any minute for her to jump off the chair and be done with it.

 

 

 

 

And here she is revealing a hint of a smile, letting us know she really does like it.

 

[TBpony414]

I can't believe how beautiful the Christmas decorations are! Everything is so perfect, it must really be a sight to see. I have a question about the BBB... How do they get their hair perfectly on top of their heads? It looks like they're using some sort of comb, not a brush, but I don't see any teeth on it and there are no bumps at all in their hair. Please, demystify this for me!! I wear my hair in a constant ponytail but it's a daily battle to have no bumps. My hair is fairly long and thick so I realize this would make it more challenging to put into a high bun but I'm sure you have some stylist secrets you can share

 

Abby's photos really remind me of when I was her age because we share the same facial expression. In almost every picture up until about age 8 I had the exact same temperamental scowl! It never fully goes away and when I'm tired or just stressed out people still think I look angry. Gail looks to be having a grand old time with Abby at the Boutique! Can't wait to see how the Princesses turn out.

[jenseib]

I can't believe how beautiful the Christmas decorations are! Everything is so perfect, it must really be a sight to see. I have a question about the BBB... How do they get their hair perfectly on top of their heads? It looks like they're using some sort of comb, not a brush, but I don't see any teeth on it and there are no bumps at all in their hair. Please, demystify this for me!! I wear my hair in a constant ponytail but it's a daily battle to have no bumps. My hair is fairly long and thick so I realize this would make it more challenging to put into a high bun but I'm sure you have some stylist secrets you can share

 

Abby's photos really remind me of when I was her age because we share the same facial expression. In almost every picture up until about age 8 I had the exact same temperamental scowl! It never fully goes away and when I'm tired or just stressed out people still think I look angry. Gail looks to be having a grand old time with Abby at the Boutique! Can't wait to see how the Princesses turn out.

 

 

Thats a good question......They do use rattail combs on the hair. They do no use brushes, but ask to have the ahir brushed before coming in. They gel the hair with some concrete type gel and just keep working it till it's smooth going in the direction they need it. Claire has bumps all the time, she gets that from me, but with BBB they just really work it with that gel. If i did that with her at home though she would be crispy all the time. LOL

They only have braiding license though so they cannot tease the hair in the traditional sense with a rattail comb. They can do very basic styling with braids basically or the bun out of a ponytail. So when they get that big pile of poof with the hair piece, they had tease with their fingers to get that and then they form it with their hands and spray. The hair piece is really kind of gross when it's all done. LOL

 

Gail was laughing so much. She just never expected Abby to go through with it.

[jenseib]

Alexis picked out the red extension because she wanted to look like Ariel with her mermaid dress on.

 

 

 

 

That scab on the side of her face is from her pirate tattoo. She kept picking at it till it came off which resulted in a scab as well.

 

 

 

 

I guess everyone was making a face at one point in time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess this must’ve hurt a bit.

 

 

Abby does love to get her nails painted.

 

 

 

The pain of beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire picked her hair color too. How ironic that it is the same as Alexis. Now for months before we traveled, Claire and I would take walks and during our walks we would talk about the trip. She had decided she was going to do a different hairstyle this time, the Pop princess. The one with the funky spikey colorful hair. I really don’t care which style she chooses because this is for her and I want her to be happy and have a good experience. So when she chose this style I did intervene a bit. I just wanted to be sure since she had talked about the other style for so long. But she insisted this is what she wanted and I said ok.

 

 

Paige gave Claire a few choices on how to wear her hair piece.

 

 

 

 

 

They settled for on top of the head.

 

 

Abby is still allowing them to work on her. For some reason they had issues with making her bun and it was redone a few times to get it right.

 

 

This jewel didn’t last long at all. I am pretty sure she picked it off not long afterwards. I don’t blame her. It would drive me nuts too.

 

 

Checking to see if her nails are dry. Abby does love to get her nails painted.

 

 

Alexis is making progress.

 

 

 

 

Still working on Abby’s bun.

 

 

 

Claire swore her choice of red had nothing to do with Alexis at all. She wanted to look like Merida.

 

 

 

 

Well look who is done. Alexis is waiting for some pixie dust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Getting close to the reveal. It’s so exhausting. It must be, because I think every year I have a yawning picture of Claire too.

 

 

 

 

A little bit of primping before the big moment.

 

 

 

Abby was hilarious. Gail would pull the shield away and she would push it back to her face.

 

 

At one point in time she pushed a little too hard and it went flying and crashed to the floor and broke. The Fairy Godmothers in training said not to worry as they had this happen about once a day.

 

We got a good laugh at how she would steam this baby up.

 

 

And now for the big reveal number 1.

 

 

I always crack up at these too because the kids always have a weird look on their faces. I think it’s because they look so different. It takes them a minute to see it and then the smiles come out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

See Aunt Mary clapping in the background. That’s something our family does about all sorts of things. Skip used to laugh about how we clapped for every little thing and now if we don’t clap he wonders what is wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alexis was very happy with her look.

 

 

Now Abby is close to being done. I can’t believe we made it this far. She got a sprinkling of pixie dust.

 

 

Steaming up the shield.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting her primped up with her sash.

 

 

She’s impressed with it.

 

 

 

Back to Claire before Abby’s big reveal.

 

 

 

 

Alexis had to be sure they were doing everything right for Claire.

 

 

Abby, are you ready to see yourself as a princess.

 

 

She was feeling a little shy about this.

 

 

And when she turned around, it kind of took her a minute to see herself.

 

 

She did look VERY different and at first I don’t think she really knew it was her.

 

I’m not so sure about this.

 

 

Hmmmm, maybe it’s not so bad.

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Ok! So, the final verdict? …… She DID like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now when you get a bag of goodies at the end ……. that makes it all worth it.

 

 

And a backpack too!

 

 

It can’t get any better.

 

 

Claire was the final one to be transformed into a beauty.

 

 

 

 

Ready for pixie dust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to get her sash in place.

 

 

 

Set the right pose.

 

 

Close your eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

Are you ready?

 

 

 

Claire is clearly impressed with herself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loooooook goooood!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire was very happy with her results.

 

Abby was very impressed with the backsack.

 

 

 

[TBpony414]

Thanks for the information on the combs used at BBB as well as them using large amounts of concrete gel (lol) and having to manually tease the hair. How long does BBB beauty the process take? I was going to guess about 20 minutes but maybe I'm way off. Abby looks so pleased. I noticed she had a pretty bun vs. additional colored hair. Is this because for younger girls who might pull their long locks out they just do a simpler hairdo? Glad they all had a great time!

[jenseib]

Thanks for the information on the combs used at BBB as well as them using large amounts of concrete gel (lol) and having to manually tease the hair. How long does BBB beauty the process take? I was going to guess about 20 minutes but maybe I'm way off. Abby looks so pleased. I noticed she had a pretty bun vs. additional colored hair. Is this because for younger girls who might pull their long locks out they just do a simpler hairdo? Glad they all had a great time!

 

 

The process is about 30-45 minutes. Sometimes faster, but thats they tell you to expect about 45 minutes.

They have 3 styles to choose from. The bun and then 2 different colored hair piece styles. I beleive the one Claire and Alexis go it called the Diva and you can choose several different colors. The other one is the Pop Princess and it has a multicolored hair piece that is spikey.

I am not sure if Gail chose the bun for Abby or if Abby picked it out herself. I am guess she did as it looks like Cinderella.

[jenseib]

Claire still had one more finishing touch needed. She had to have her crown that we brought along placed on her royal head.

 

 

Now she looks perfect.

 

 

And so does Princess Alexis.

 

 

Princess Abby, in true Cinderella fashion, kept losing her glass slipper.

 

 

 

Early on during the appointment, Aunt Mary had handed me a gift card. She said she still had money on it and was probably not going to use it, so we could use it to pay for the girls. She said she wasn’t sure what was left on it. Well I think she did and she was being sneaky. During the appointment a Fairy Godmother in Training came over to take my payment and I handed her the gift card. I figured I would find out how much was on it, use it on Claire and divide the amount by 3 and give Gail her portion in cash. Well it more than covered Claire’s amount and it still had a large amount left on it ….like $120 or more. I was shocked. I don’t know why Aunt Mary didn’t apply this to her shipboard account, but she is sneaky that way, always spoiling the girls. So I handed off the card to Gail. I told her how much was left, but I don’t think she understood me and she paid hers in cash. I then told her again how much was left. She said she would just have the girls buy something then for themselves later in the day. Well somehow Aunt Mary felt Claire didn’t get enough use out of the gift card. I told her it worked out perfectly and it basically worked out to an equal amount for each kid. She told me not to argue and gave me another $40 for Claire to spend. I am not quite sure how that math worked out at all. LOL.

 

We all gathered our belongings then and headed out.

 

 

 

Our next stop was to get a photo shoot for the girls at Castle Couture. We had to wait a bit as there were a few kids in front of us.

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was our turn. Abby wasn’t sure about this and at first said no pictures. We then played the game with her that always works.

“Abby, if you don’t want your picture, that’s ok. Uncle Geoff will go in and stand by the girls.” It’s so hilarious but it works every time. If she won’t do something, we tell her Geoff will do it instead and she runs quickly before he has a chance to get there and do it. It’s going to be funny some day when she doesn’t care and Geoff will be force to do whatever it is. LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abby did tire, so we did a few with just Alexis and Claire.

 

 

 

 

And then Alexis by herself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abby found something to occupy herself.

 

 

We coaxed Abby to get a few with Alexis then.

 

 

 

 

Claire’s turn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They then got the chaise out and all 3 girls came back.

 

 

 

She looks so innocent there.

 

 

 

 

“Hey Uncle Geoff! Don’t even think about sitting on this chair!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire got a turn on the chaise as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then Alexis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, getting the photopass CD was well worth it for us. We had a ton of pictures taken during the experience and after.

 

The girls did a little shopping afterwards.

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think we bought anything because I didn’t want to carry it around for the rest of the night. This was Gail’s last day so, so I am sure the girls found a few things they liked.

[jenseib]

After all the fun with BBB and the photoshoot, Claire and I hightailed it over to Pooh. We had pulled fastpasses earlier and I knew it would be cutting it close. We arrive and were about 10 minutes past the time. I asked the CM if we could still use them as we had been at BBB and he said sure thing and let us in.

 

 

Claire already started complaining about how itchy her dress was. In years past she never would say a word about any dress, even ones I knew had to be itchy. She would chose beauty over comfort. Not so anymore. I told her she needed to wear it longer, but she still kept complaining. I need to remember for future visits that she will need to wear a shirt under the dress to make it more comfortable.

 

After our ride on Pooh, we headed over to Dumbo to take a spin.

 

 

 

 

We then checked out Barnstormer but it was a bit too long of a wait for us at the time.

 

 

I finally gave in then. I was tired of hearing how itchy she was. I had hoped to at least get through dinner with the dress, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant if I made her wait so we headed to the bathroom and changed back into her skirt outfit.

We then walked over towards Space Mountain as I wanted to get fastpasses.

 

 

 

 

We grabbed fastpasses for several hours later that evening and then decided we needed a quick snack. It was around 4 and our dinner reservation was in about an hour, but we were to the point that we just couldn’t last quite that long. Claire got a frozen treat.

 

 

I got a pretzel and we sat down under the People Mover and ate them. We people watched and talked and laughed because we heard the spiel from the People Mover over and over and over again.

 

 

After I ate about half of my pretzel I realized I never took a picture.

 

 

While we sat there I looked over my receipts to see how many snack credits were left. Everything would have to be used by midnight the next day as we were checking out of the Beach Club Villas in the AM and switching resorts and dining packages. Claire’s receipt showed a certain amount but mine didn’t show anything. That’s odd. It also appeared my parents weren’t using the snack credits as well. There were quite a few left according to Claire’s receipt. I don’t think I mentioned this earlier, but they had a hard time understanding the dining plan. Each day my Mom would tell me that drinks and appetizers from dinner were charged to the room, which meant, charged to my credit card. She would give me money and I would go and pay it off each day. I even asked at the desk if they would take them off my credit card and the CM totally ignored me.

 

So I knew we would have to make sure they got some snacks or Claire and I would have to use up some more snacks before they expired.

 

After we finished our treats we decided we should head to the front and work our way over to the Poly for ‘Ohanas dinner.

 

 

We excited the park and took the monorail over. We were a little early so we slowly made our way to check in.

 

 

 

 

It was quite busy in there, but we did get checked in. They told us we could have our picture taken, which we declined. I don’t see this as a winner of a photo op. Now if I had purchase the photopass plus, then I would’ve done it, but without it being included in the meal, it’s not something we would want.

 

 

We had barely sat down and we were called in. Our ADR was for 5:05 and we got called in a few minutes before 5 with the first group being called in for the first dinner round. Cousin Joe led us to our table.

 

 

 

We had a window seat, but our view wasn’t really all that grand. Well we could SEE the Grand, but there were quite a few trees in the way.

 

 

It’s very dark in there and it was hard to get decent pictures.

 

 

 

Our bread.

 

 

Now I have heard people RAVE about this bread. I asked about this bread too ….. to many people. It is described as a pineapple coconut bread. I do NOT like coconut. Many people told me you cannot taste coconut at all and some didn’t even realize it had it in it. I am here to set the record straight. YES you can taste it!!!

My first bite….mmm this is pretty good, sweet and tasty, but after about 20 seconds I got the aftertaste of coconut. Darn it! I did keep eating it, hoping it was mind playing tricks, but it wasn’t and I gave up on it after a bit. I just couldn’t get that taste out of my mouth. Claire enjoyed it and did eat quite a bit, but she also mentioned it had a funny taste to it as well.

 

The salad was very good though. Claire wasn’t so much a fan, but she did eat some.

 

 

The sauces.

 

 

Again, I heard many people talk about how wonderful they were. I only liked one of the 3 and it was just OK. The others were not good at all. Claire didn’t like any of them.

 

 

The potstickers and chicken wings. This was the best part of the meal.

 

 

Both were good and we cleaned the plate (well Claire only at the chicken)

 

I slacked in picture taking after this. The veggies were good, but Claire wouldn’t touch them. The noodles …not our thing, we both took a bite or 2 and were not impressed.

The meat …good if it had no sauce on it. We did not like any of the sauces on them and Claire just stopped eating. Our first few bites of the steak were great, but again, after a minute the sauce taste came out and it was just off to us. Not our thing at all. We would’ve preferred to have sauce less meats.

 

 

Luckily we had enough of the chicken wings and potstickers to fill us up. And I had more salad and veggies.

The lady came out to entertain and called the kids up. Claire refused to go, but we enjoyed watching her sing. I tried for a photo, but not very good at all.

 

 

After a while she called up adults too and we had to do some dance or something. Claire said if I went up, she would go too and the only way to get a lei was to participate, so we went up and made fools of ourselves. It was fun though.

 

When we got back to the table the bread pudding had arrived.

 

 

Claire got a birthday treat as well.

 

 

 

The ice-cream was good, the bread pudding, just Ok. Again, it’s not a big thing for us. Actually I think it’s only the 2nd time I ever had it and probably Claire’s first. I do know the reason we liked it was the caramel sauce. If it didn’t have that, I probably would’ve taken 2 bites and pushed it aside.

 

We paid the bill with our dining credits and left a tip. Our server was decent, but not great. He didn’t do anything wrong really, he just had kind of a been there done that tone to everything. ….Just not energetic at all.

 

As we left I tried to get a few more pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

The whole meal was just ok to us. It wasn’t bad; it was just not to our tastes. I really don’t know if I will ever go back for dinner. I have heard since that the sauces have changed, so that is a reason to give it another try. I probably will only do so if Skip is with us so he can give it a try too. At least now I don’t have to worry about trying to get it right at the 180 day mark. I have looked at trying to dine here for a few years, but we are always so last minute with planning trips I just never had a chance. Now I know we are not really missing much at all.

 

I did have Claire stop and get a picture with the Tiki God.

 

 

And I took a few more pictures around the resort.

 

 

I hear good things about Kona too, so someday we will give that a try as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then hopped the monorail and headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

 

It was very exciting to see trees lit up.

 

 

And the whole reason to come to the Magic Kingdom during the holiday season!!!!!!

 

 

This is absolutely stunning. I love the castle this way and if I never saw it looking normal again, I would be ok with that. I fell in love with the icicle castle immediately.

 

 

 

 

The down side to this night ….it was so freaking crowded. I was just amazed at the amount of people here.

 

[jenseib]

I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the castle. It was just so beautiful.

 

 

 

 

I think the greenish blue colored castle is my favorite.

 

 

 

We headed over to the Laugh Floor. We have only done this a few times and decided it was time to give it a go again.

 

 

 

We had so much fun. We laughed so hard. I can’t remember all the details anymore, but we had a great group of people with us. One kid kept getting the camera on her but she was so clueless, and it was funny and then a nearby kid kept trying to get in the shot. We had some adults that were also not really with it and the answers they gave were hilarious. And even Mike was rolling his eye at times and making jokes about the slow responses he was getting. You could tell this was a crowd they don’t get normally and did a lot of improvising. Like I said, we have only done it a few times in the past, but this was by far the best time ever and it will be disappointing in the future because I know it will never live up to this one show.

Claire kept asking to go back all through the trip, but we never made it and I did tell her it just wouldn’t be as good as this time because of the people we had in there.

 

When we came out we texted the family. I can’t remember what they were doing. I know Rob and Alexis were in line for Space Mountain. I think only Gail, Rob, & kids and Uncle Geoff were left in the park at that time.

 

 

 

Geoff had gone to dinner with the other adults at the Contemporary and then Gail texted him that the girls wanted to spend more time with him so he came back while the rest headed back to their hotels.

While we had been having our dinner, Gail’s family had gone to CRT for dinner. Later on when I caught up with Gail I asked how it went. She said not so good. It started out well in the lobby, but then when they were called Abby lost her shoe on the step in true Cinderella fashion. I guess this triggered something and she started crying. I don’t remember the whole story, but I think she then did NOT want to be there and didn’t want to see the princesses. It was less than magical for them. Alexis enjoyed it, but it was sad her sister was in one of her moods. They did say the food was good, which I was glad to hear as the last time it was not very good at all.

 

 

 

This is not my favorite Cinderella at all. In person she looks normal, but in all her pictures she looks like she is in pain when she smiles.

 

 

Back to Claire and I.

 

We decided we needed to ride the People Mover, so we worked our way there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then walked up to the Carousel of Progress. I had gone on this for the first time in March of this year (2012). I went on alone as Skip and Claire were off doing something else. I was not so impressed and really thought I would never have a need to go on it again. BUT I also knew this would be something that Claire would enjoy, so I took her on it.

 

 

The park was crowded and we actually had to wait a cycle before we could get on it, so Claire stuck a pose or 2 for me.

 

 

 

 

Just as I feared ….errrr figured, Claire loved it. I believe this is when it got stuck. Not sure what happened, but we had an announcement to stay put and we would continue shortly, so we ended up seeing one scene twice while waiting.

 

As we were going through time on COP, Geoff, Gail and Abby were teacupping it away. Here are some of Geoff’s castle shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geoff rode with Abby as Gail doesn’t do too many rides. She gets sick. (she’s always been wimp. LOL)

 

 

Time to check the pictures.

 

 

Alexis and Rob arrived back and Alexis did not want her hair piece in anymore. It was killing her head.

 

 

 

While Gail took out the hair, Geoff too a few shots of princess Abby.

 

 

 

I am not sure why, but after Claire and I got out of COP we headed to Storybook Circus. I think that might have been where Gail was last text, but she had moved on.

 

 

 

 

Dumbo sure is pretty at night.

 

 

We made our way over to find Gail and Abby was happy Claire had arrived.

 

 

 

What’s on your shirt Claire? I love Princesses!

 

 

We actually got a ton of compliments on this outfit throughout the day. Another one that my wonderful friend Janet let us borrow.

 

 

 

Rob decided to leave at that point. He had a long day and still wasn’t feeling well.

 

The mad tea party was next on the agenda and I do not like it as well. Spinning rides like that do make me sick as well, so lucky Geoff got to ride with all the girls. They got in line and were let in, but they had issues finding a cup. Several kids ran in and all got their own cup. I don’t think the CM’s knew they were doing this and let too many people in. Finally Geoff led the girls in to a cup with another lady and her daughter. It was very crowded, but they survived.

 

 

Geoff was afraid that the other little girl was going to fly out as her mother let her stand the whole time.

 

 

[jenseib]

After the spin around on the cups, we headed over to Barnstormer. Gail had a fastpass for Abby. Geoff took Abby through the line and I took Claire and Alexis through the standby line.

 

 

 

It was every bit of the 20 minutes posted, but finally we were ready.

 

 

 

It was very exciting for them to be riding together too.

Our view from the top of the hill.

 

 

That was fun once again, but just way too short. We texted Geoff and he said they were over by Dumbo, so we made our way there.

 

 

Gail was in line with Abby.

 

 

 

 

While we waited Claire and Alexis got a few poses in.

 

 

 

Gail and Abby are now ready to fly.

 

 

 

 

 

Look how wild they are! I think Gail let Abby use the controls, which meant she didn’t know what to do and they didn’t go up very often.

 

 

While they were riding, my fastpass hour for Space Mountain had opened up. Claire did not want to go with me, but Alexis said she would. Well… we got ready to head over and then Alexis had second thoughts. I am not sure why, as she had just rode it, but I really think it had something to do with her possibly missing out on something while she was with me and Claire was left with Geoff and her mom. LOL!

 

That’s Ok, I am a big girl and I went and rode it by myself. I left Claire with them and headed off. They had planned to get a snack, so I left Claire’s KTTW card with Gail so she could get Claire some popcorn with a snack credit.

I do like Space Mountain., but it is so jerky. I always feel like I am going to fly out, or crush my spine, or a combination of the 2.

 

When I came out I texted Gail and Geoff to see where they were. No one answered. So I found a spot to sit down for a few minutes and waited.

 

 

 

After bit I got a text that there had been some major drama and they would tell me about when I got there. Gail also said I had no snack credits left. That was odd. Mom and Dad must’ve gone hog wild and used all the credits. So I texted them and asked what they got and of course no reply from them either.

I asked if I needed to pick up Claire popcorn and they said she was fine and they had plenty of popcorn.

They were actually very nearby and I met right up with them.

 

So I asked what was up when I found them. I noticed Abby’s beautiful princess do was no longer.

Claire said, “Wow you missed it. Abby turned into the Devil. She was possessed and went crazy. Her eyes were glowing and Uncle Geoff took a picture of it.”

So what happened, you may ask? I sure wanted to know as well.

Well they went for popcorn and ordered and of course Claire’s card is declined. I think Gail had ordered popcorn for Abby and Alexis to share and it went downhill from there. They said Abby all of a sudden just went wild and started crying. They assumed she wanted her own popcorn and got her one, I believe, but that was not the case either. They said she was just pure crazy and no one had a clue what she was saying. They mentioned her head spinning a few times, but I am pretty sure that didn’t actually happen. She did however just start ripping her hairstyle out then as well. Finally they figured it out. She wanted the Mickey Santa popcorn bucket. They ordered one of those then and of course they are out. They asked where another one was being sold and Geoff ran over and got one. He said he would’ve paid $100 for the display model if he had to.

She looked like a perfect angel sitting in her stroller by the time I arrived back. I did find out however that NO one was allowed to eat her popcorn and she said she was saving it forever. She would sit there and talk to Mickey and then look around pop the lid open take a quick bite and quickly shut the lid like no one had seen her do it.

Claire insisted Geoff show me the possessed Abby photo.

 

 

We all just laughed. It DOES look like she is possessed.

 

Gail was ready to call it a day. They had to get up early to fly out tomorrow, but she did want to see Wishes. We all went on the bridge to Tomorrowland and just stopped there. It was so incredibly crowded and we didn’t want to fight the crowds to find a better spot.

I took a few pictures while we waited.

 

 

 

 

Soon we saw Tinker bell coming.

 

 

Abby didn’t like the booms of the fireworks, so Gail was holding her and trying to cover her ears. I ended up holding one of my hands over one ear to help Gail out.

As you can see, firework shots one handed really don’t come out very well at all.

 

 

 

 

At one point I told Gail to just sit on the ground and hold her. It was the end of the day and who cares if you got dirty then, so she did scrunch down which made her a bit more comfortable holding Abby.

 

 

 

You can see in this next picture all the heads. It was crazy busy this night.

 

 

Here is PROOF that Abby was eating the forbidden popcorn. She would talk to Mickey’s head then pop it open, take a few bites and close it. It was almost like she was apologizing to him before eating it. LOL

 

 

 

The time had come …… Gail was going to head out and we most likely would not see them again till we were home. We said our good byes and we headed to Claire’s new favorite….. Carousel of Progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think we had Buzz fastpasses and headed over there next.

 

 

 

 

I don’t remember scores, but most likely I had a higher one, though sometimes Claire finds a high spot and kicks my butt.

 

[jenseib]

I forgot to post this, but I think after Gail left we took these photopass pictures as well.

 

 

 

 

We decided it was time to call Skip before it got too late. It was still massively crowded and I was starting to feel achy again and I just needed a rest. We went in search of a peaceful spot.

 

 

 

 

We found a spot and sat on the steps. We gave Skip a call. It was really magical sitting there. The view of the castle was amazing and the Main Street Electrical Parade was going by as well. We described the castle to Skip, but he just didn’t get it. After we got done talking to him we just sat there for a long time.

 

 

 

I was really starting to drag now. I was feeling achier, my throat was feeling sore and I just wasn’t sure how much longer I could make it. It was extra magical hours now and I REALLY wanted to take advantage of it, but the crowds didn’t seem to be going down at all. I then made a decision that I regret still. We decided to leave. Claire was OK with it, but I just hated doing it. I have heard that if I waited about 30 -60 minutes it did clear out quite a bit, but at the time it didn’t look like it would.

 

We headed towards the front then around 11:40.

 

 

 

 

We decided to duck into a few stores.

 

 

In just a weeks’ time the store was totally transformed from Halloween décor to Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good bye Magic Kingdom! We WILL be back to see more of you in the next few days!

 

 

If memory serves me well, we didn’t have much of an issue with getting a bus. I do remember it being full, but we had seats. It felt like a very long ride back. There was a race going on and traffic was heavy because of this. We did see many runners as we drove on.

 

We made it back to the Beach Club and made the trek to our room.

We could hear music blaring and lots of crowds. I assumed the race must be starting in Epcot.

We got settled into bed and even in our room we could still hear music blaring and loud crowds cheering. AND an announcer who NEVER shut up. I went to check our sliding door, as I swore it had to be open for as loud as it was, but nope, the door was shut tightly. I even double checked it later because it was just so loud. I was NOT happy about this. Had I known this, I would’ve stayed at MK. There was no sleep to be had with all this loud noise. My Mom even grumbled about it and said it had been going on for quite some time.

I don’t know what time I finally fell asleep, but I can tell you it took a long time and I was just not in a good mood. I had never heard of this being an issue before, but I now know if I go during a race time, to be sure not to stay anywhere near where the race is being held.

 

All in all it was a good day. I wasn’t feeling 100%, but I still accomplished a lot. We had visited 2 parks and had a wonderful ice-cream lunch ….Oh the Places We Go.

We met up once again with Carey and her family. Oh the People We See.

[jenseib]

Holy cow...I have fallen so behind in posting....I will try and remedy that today

[jenseib]

Nov. 11, 2013, Sunday ~ Day 11

 

Rise and Shine! I don’t remember how early I got up, but I know it was early. My Mom was up and about early too as they had to be packed and ready to head our fairly early as well.

We discussed the whole snack credit issue and she said they rarely used them, so she was not sure why I had none left. She said they never could figure out half the time how to use the plan and paid out of pocket half the time. She also said they had more charged to the room and gave me some money.

I went down to sort it all out.

The charges were already applied to my card ….isn’t that nice. But they did allow me to pay it off in cash and credit my card back. I asked about the whole credit issue and she said they had some system glitches the day before and she wasn’t aware of what, but maybe that was the problem. She printed up my credits left. Holy Cow! I had SEVERAL snack credits now showing. And clearly when I bought the pretzel yesterday it didn’t take that credit off. I asked about it, and she told me not to worry.

We also had several counter service credits to use up before midnight today as well. Oh gosh. We were going to be eating a lot today!

 

I then gathered the bags I had packed and took them to the van and drove over to Art of Animation. That was going to be our next resort stay. I figured it would be easier to get checked in and take as much of our stuff over first thing while I still had access to the van.

 

Claire was very excited to be staying in a Little Mermaid room at the AoA. Back in the Spring when I decided to extend my stay longer I really debated this. At first it was a no brainer, it would be Pop Century in a preferred Pool view room. Then I saw some preview pictures of AoA and it got me thinking. I still debated and it was also announced that the Little Mermaid rooms would be opening earlier than planned. When it came down to it, I just really wanted to check it out and also be in a brand new resort. I decided to book it and even decided I would stay there, even if there wasn’t a discount.

Luckily my wonderful friend Carey got a pin code for free dining and it included the Little Mermaid rooms as the time. I booked my room attached to her pin as well and was able to get free dining for this portion of the trip. I also decided to try out something else new …deluxe dining. I did the fuzzy math beforehand and I figured it would come out to close to the same amount as what I would pay for with regular dining. Well actually when applied it was even less, so I was a happy camper.

 

I proceeded over to AoA to get us checked in and drop off some of our bags. I texted Carey to let her know I was on my way as well. She had texted me the day before and told me they would give us their light up necklaces they had used during the Christmas party, so we planned to meet up one last time and I could get those and say good bye as well because she was heading home today.

 

I swore I took pictures of the lobby when I checked in, but if I did they have disappeared because I can’t find them. I thought I brought along my point and shoot, and maybe I did and just didn’t take any pictures.

I got myself checked in. Of course our room wasn’t ready but they promised to text me when it was. I let them know that I had little faith in that as this was my 3rd Disney resort and not one had texted me yet. They even gave me a card I could use to call in and check…Yep I lost that in some very secret safe place. LOL.

They were having a bit of an issue with my tickets and I told them I had picked them up already. Well they played around and told me they now were attached to my new KTTW card. Ok then, that’s nice to have.

I then made my way over to meet up with Carey. Carey was in the LM section as well and she said she was about as far back as you could get. They originally had a closer room but when they went inside it just had a king bed, which wouldn’t work for the 3 of them, so they were moved.

Kadence was in tow and a little disappointed that Claire wasn’t with me. I let her know she missed her, but I had to let her sleep in a bit as we have been so busy.

We chatted a bit and Carey gave me the lay of the land. It was really neat to see the resort in person and I planned to tour around later in the day.

 

We said our final good byes and I headed back to the Beach Club. Mom and Dad were ready to leave and I got Claire up and going as well. Today was our Downtown Disney day, with plans to go to DHS later in the day to see the Osborne Lights.

Well I decided that today was also going to be nap day. We had been going strong for over a week now and we really needed to have a little bit of mid-day rest.

After my parents left, we finished up with our packing and checking the room and had the rest of our luggage picked up to be transferred to AoA. We then headed out. I think we started our way to the bus stop around 9:40ish. Of course we had to make a stop and get a few pictures.

 

 

 

And off to the bus stop.

 

 

We had the bad bus mojo again and waited quite a long time for a bus. I think at least 20 minutes.

 

I took this picture from the bus stop, but I am not even sure what I was trying to get.

 

 

And a bush nearby.

 

 

Claire and I discussed our bad bus mojo and finally one came and we headed off.

I was excited to see the Décor all around here as well and I took several pictures of it.

 

 

 

 

We had to get a fun pose. I don’t think we ever took this shot before.

 

 

 

I submitted this next picture in a contest around Christmas time and it won! I won a Disney gift card.

 

 

 

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as the perfectly princess birthday party.

 

 

 

 

We had some shopping to take care of. Nothing special, but we still had to shop.

 

 

 

 

We did a lot of browsing. I don’t think we actually bought anything. There we several shirts I liked, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay the Disney prices for them.

 

 

 

I eyed the Dooney’s too. I REALLY liked the retro style pattern, but I wasn’t finding a style of purse I liked with that pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

After looking around some more I kept going back to the Dooney’s. I asked if another shop in DTD sold them as well and I was directed to Trend D I believe. I really wanted one and my excuse to get one was to make up for all the bad bus mojo I had had during the stay so far. Surely a new Disney Dooney would make me feel better, right?

 

We headed over and YES! I found a style I liked. I was so excited. I snatched it up. I think the lady was surprised at how easy the sale was. She went to grab another so I could look at placement (her suggestion, not mine) and I paid with my Disney Visa and got 10% off too! I was on a high leaving that store. Claire was even excited because she saw how excited I was as well and I guess it was contagious.

 

[jenseib]

After my wonderful new purchase, we headed out and we needed to take care of Claire’s shopping request of the day.

 

 

That would be the Lego Store. She had recently become more interested in Legos and she had been saving some of her money for this store. We looked around and she was in love with the Lego Friends series and she picked a few boxes out and we went to check out. We used Disney gift cards, but what I didn’t know was that the cashier had to go and swipe each on another machine and get the balance and then he would key that into his register. He was a very nice guy, but pretty darn slow. We had used several cards as I was trying to clear out some of the lower balanced/ half used cards. Had I known how the process worked I wouldn’t have done that.

Soon I had a very happy little girl walking by my side. We were 2 happy girls, me with my Dooney and Claire with her bag of Legos.

 

We had to stop and get a picture or 2.

 

 

 

And then it was time for lunch!

 

 

There was a very long line and we got in it. I asked the people around me if this is where I went to check in and they all thought so too, so we waited.

 

 

After a bit a lady approached the side of the podium and said she was there for her ADR and she was helped immediately. Well this caused a big ruckus. Almost every person in our line was there to check in for their ADR and this person was helped right away. What none of knew and there is no sign to tell you is that if you have an ADR you go to the side of the podium, if you don’t you stand in the other line to try and get in. They seemed to be having issues fitting people in, which I didn’t understand as once we were seated there were a ton of tables empty in there.

Anyways, some people got darn right nasty with the girls at the podium. I was disgusted, but I kept my mouth shut. They really need to have this explained better.

 

So Claire and I got out of line and headed over to the side of the podium to check in. They could not find our name. She acted like I was lying about having an ADR. After watching a few in front of me, I realized that they were not finding anyone’s ADR confirmations for that time period of the day. I don’t know if it had to do with the system glitch from the night before, or what the deal was, but luckily I had my confirmation number with me and pulled it out and showed her. After she saw that, she became sweet as pie and didn’t even search anymore and sent us back.

 

 

Instantly we liked this place. It was so colorful and fun.

 

 

 

 

 

We were seated right near the ice room.

 

 

The meteor shower was going to happen over our heads and then go into the ice room.

 

 

I forget how often it happens, but every so many minutes (maybe 10 or 15) the meteor shower starts.

 

 

Our table was right next to this cute little guy.

 

 

 

This was the view from my chair.

 

 

The meteor shower started.

 

 

And turned the ice cave red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cave then goes back to blue.

 

 

But it flickers quite a bit first.

 

 

 

We made our orders and then took a look around the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I LOVED the fish tank.

 

 

 

 

 

How cool is this bar?

 

 

 

And the Baby Mammoths were so adorable.

 

 

This was our little buddy right next to our table. The only down side was that many people come over to take his picture.

 

 

 

Help!!!! It’s melting!

 

 

[jenseib]

It wasn’t too long and our appetizers arrived. The nice thing with deluxe dining is the inclusion of appetizers. I loved when the old regular plan included that and the tip as well.

There were so many wonderful options to choose from. I had a hard time deciding, but when it came down to it, I knew I would be sharing with Claire. If I ate a whole appetizer myself, I was going to be beyond stuffed, which seemed to be the theme lately as it was.

I went with the one option on the menu that I knew Claire would like. The Melalosaurus Mozzarella - Seared Mozzarella with creamy marinara and Mozzarella fingers.

 

 

This bar far was not my favorite choice, but I do like mozzarella sticks. They just had a lot of other good options too, none of which Claire would probably eat or try.

Claire was more than happy with this and she gobbled down several. I enjoyed them too.

 

After we enjoyed out appetizer our main course arrived. Claire went with the Rocksy's Pasta - Tossed with Alfredo.

 

 

Claire LOVES alfredo and this was a hit with her.

 

You can see her Lego bag on the table behind her meal picture. She was talking nonstop about her new Lego sets. She could hardly wait to get back to the room and start playing.

I am having a hard time remembering what mine was called, but I believe I got the Tyrannosaurus T-Bone - Charbroiled certifed Angus Beef T-bone steak topped with steak butter and served with red skinned garlic mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. I don’t see veggies on my plate, but perhaps they are on the other side of my steak.

 

 

This was VERY good. I devoured the plate.

 

Soon it was time to decide on dessert. Claire’s decision was easy for her. She got the Saber-tooth Sundae - A chocolate chip cookie topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Though she really didn’t eat a lot of it and we took the cookie with us.

 

 

Nothing was jumping out at me. I was actually pretty full, but since dessert came with the meal, I was bound and determine to get something and take at least a few bites.

 

What I really wanted was the Chocolate Extinction - A gigantic portion of chocolate fudge cake served with ice cream, fresh whipped cream drizzled with fudge and caramel sauces and sprinkled with Butterfinger crumbs. BUT that serves 2 and only being one adult on the plan, we could not get that option without paying out of pocket.

So I just decided to get the Ice Age Indulgence - Layers of ice cream sandwiches, fudge sauce, whipped cream and Heath Bar Crunch. I don’t even know why I decided to order this as I really don’t like Heath at all, but I think the ice-cream and fudge parts were waving at me.

 

 

I took a bite…..mmmmmmmm. This was WONDERFUL!!!!!!

I think I ate close to every bite on the plate. There went the plan of only taking a bite or 2. And yes, now I was stuffed to the max.

 

We finished up and grabbed our bags and headed out. I will tell you this was one of our favorite meals of the whole trip. We plan to go back next year. I am thinking this would be a great place to go on our arrival day …… that is if we get decent flight times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had planned to head back to AoA pretty much right away after lunch, but while eating we got a message from Tim. He said he and the family were heading over to DTD now and we could meet up again. So Claire and I decided to hang out a little longer and wait and see if they made it.

 

The festival of the Masters was going on as well. This is basically an art type of festival. So we wandered around a bit and looked at some things.

 

 

I think this looks creepy. It’s advertising to make a princess with your child’s face. But the model ones were creepy looking in my opinion.

 

 

 

It’s amazing the talent these people have. These done with chalk (I think) on the sidewalks.

 

 

I liked this doll display, but didn’t get a very good picture of it.

 

 

 

We then headed over to the toy store. Claire decided she wanted to get more potato head parts so we filled a box up with many parts and accessories and paid for that.

 

I think about this time Tim let me know that they were circling the parking lot looking for a spot to park. I think Mel had gone shopping and he had the kids sleeping in the car with him, so he was just going to keep driving around.

We decided then to head out, but we had one more stop to make.

 

 

 

No, it wasn’t the Christmas tree or Earl of Sandwich.

 

 

But you know me; I like to take pictures as I walk along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We still had several snack credits that had to be used up by midnight today, so Goofy’s sounded like a good place to spend them.

 

 

 

We purchased several things, none of which I remember …I take that back. I know I got peanut butter cups and I think I brought them home with us and ate them within the next few days. I am not sure what else, but Claire picked a few things out too.

We headed towards the bus stop then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bus mojo was with us now! It must be the new purse bringing it on!

We didn’t wait long at all and soon were on our way to AoA.!

 

 

 

 

 

We got in line to see if our room was ready and if so, so we could get our number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lo and behold! It WAS ready and of course we never got that promised text!

 

We headed off and they told us our bags would be on their way.

 

 

 

 

Claire immediately liked the place.

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

We started the trek to the Little Mermaid section then.

 

 

You have to go through the Lion King Area and it’s bigger than I expected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally!!! The Little Mermaid section.

 

 

We had to stop for a few photo ops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t remember our room number at the moment, but we were on the left hand side of the pool, first floor like we request. Just a little ways down from King Triton.

 

We were excited to see out room!

 

 

OK, let’s fix the camera settings, so everyone can see the room……

 

 

 

We had a King bed.

 

 

We did not request this, but it didn’t matter to us one way or the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire was very happy with the room.

 

 

I thought the walls of the shower were really neat, but it did make the room a bit too dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I liked this headboard light.

 

 

 

We decided to go get our new mugs with this current dining plan and bring drinks back to the room.

 

 

A lot of the plant life had brown edges. I am not sure if they were being over watered, not enough water, or what the deal was, but they weren’t taking off like they should.

 

 

 

 

 

As we headed back to the food court we saw a guy with a cart and our luggage was on it. I asked if we needed to be in the room, and he told me no and we kept going then.

[jenseib]

We picked out our new mugs and then I used a counter service credit to pick up a sandwich with chips and a bottled beverage as well.

We were not hungry at all, but I wanted to use up the credits. I think we got the Buffalo-style Turkey Sandwich - sliced turkey, blue cheese, arugula, and buffalo sauce-mayonnaise on a multigrain bread served with house make chips.

Let’s just say I will never order it again. It was NOT tasty at all. The chips were good though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed back to the room and we did nibble on the chips. Those were pretty decent. I took a bite of the sandwich, and was not impressed and we put it all in our fridge then.

Claire then begged to play with Legos, so I let her open one set and she set to work at building it. I straighten up the room and organized our clothes.

I caught up with the outside world on my kindle for a bit then I insisted it was time for a nap. Claire thought that it would be OK if I took one and she continued to play, but I told her no, the nap was for her too.

We finally settled down and I set the alarm on my phone for about 40 minutes. I figured it would take us a few minutes to fall asleep and then we could get at least a 30 minute nap.

All too soon that alarm went off. It didn’t even feel like we had been sleeping long, but in reality, we did fall asleep immediately.

 

Claire, who said she was not tired at all was snoring away right next to me. I had to work at waking her up, but finally she did. I told her we needed to get ready to head out. Tonight we were going to see the Osborne Lights. She felt we should just skip it and stay in the room and play with Legos. UM…NO! One of the main reasons of going during the Holiday season was to see this. I have no clue if or when I will get to again and this was one thing I refused to miss.

 

She grumbled, but got ready and soon we were on our way to the bus stop.

 

 

 

 

We made a quick wander through the store.

 

 

 

 

And then waited for a bus. Again, we didn’t have the best bus mojo, but it was better than it had been at the BC.

 

Soon we arrived at DHS!

 

 

Isn’t this just beautiful?

 

 

We entered and searched for a photopass photographer.

 

 

Here’s one!

 

 

 

 

I forgot to mention earlier in the morning before leaving we did do some shopping in the Beach Club gift shop. Claire and I each got a Beach Club tee and she also bought some Mickey and Minnie plushies ….. The ones that sort of look black and white and old school.

I was now wearing my new tee!

 

We headed back towards the lights.

 

 

Mulch, Sweat, and Shears were playing and getting the crowd in the mood. Well everyone but Claire who was mad that we came. She wanted to just go back and play Legos.

 

Snow has started!!!!

 

 

So we stand and wait, and Claire is griping away about being here, and I get my camera ready and I keep telling her it will be worth it…and then it happened. The lights turned on! Claire was in mid-sentence and just GASP! I did too and I think I teared up a bit. This was STUNNING! I am a fan of gaudy Christmas lights and this was right up my alley. Pictures do not do this justice. You have to see it yourself.

 

 

 

I took a quick and not so great video.

 

 

More pictures of the lights!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we got in line for a photopass picture. He took several with my camera and I mentioned the flash wasn’t going off and he said they were fine. NOT. This was the best of the 3 and I had to work to lighten it up. They all were terrible.

 

 

At least the professional ones were good.

 

 

 

There will be picture overload as I just was obsessed with the lights.

 

 

 

 

 

We walked down to the other end of the street too to take a look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I either had a huge smile plastered on my face, or I had my mouth wide open as we walked around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

And more lights!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And another crappy video.

 

 

 

 

We saw Santa Goofy, but the line was long and Claire didn’t want to wait, so we just took a few pictures of him from afar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We REALLY enjoyed the lights, but it came time to move on. We then talked about what to do next. The MK was open fairly late tonight so I suggested we head over there. Claire wanted to check out TSM first though and ride that. I decided we would see what the wait time was and decide then.

Now I don’t remember the exact waiting time stated, but it wasn’t too bad. I am thinking it said 40 minutes. We hopped in line.

 

 

 

 

 

The line moved fairly fast till we got to Mr. Potato Head.

 

 

 

And then we waited and waited and waited. I grumbled a bit as did people around us. Claire did NOT want to leave the line though and was very patient. I believe it was over an hour wait. There were a few announcements made, but no one could understand a darn thing they said. It was muffled sounding and very loud in line. You would think people would stop talking when an announcement was being made, but that wasn’t the case.

 

We did have a great time, but I was not happy with how long we had to wait.

 

 

We then headed towards the front of the park to leave after our long wait but fun ride on TSM. Of course I had sore arms then too. I need some sort of better technique for shooting because I kill my arms every time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We picked the wrong time to leave. I “think” the park was closing now or at least close to closing time and we were walking with the masses.

 

 

 

We headed over to the bus to MK. Well this was the plan for many people and the line was just unreal.

So we headed over to the resort buses and figured we would catch a bus to a monorail resort. Those lines were long too, but not as bad. I don’t remember which line we got in, but it took forever for a bus to come. I know I did some complaining. Eventually our bus came and we got off at the Contemporary and walked over to MK. I think this is what 90% of the people on this bus did as we walked over with a huge crowd of people.

 

We finally made it over to the MK. It had taken close to an hour to get there.

 

 

We stopped for a photopass.

 

 

 

As you can see in the background of those pictures, it was still very crowded here tonight.

 

 

 

 

We still had 3 counter service meals that needed to be used up before midnight. We were not really super hungry, but we decided to use them (or lose them) and get a bite to eat. We headed to Cosmic Rays. I think Claire wanted nuggets and that’s why we went there.

 

 

It was crowded in there too and we had people going slow in front of us. I think my patience were wearing thin too, so little things were irritating me, but we finally did get our food and sat down.

 

 

 

We also used the 3rd and final credit for a crustable to take back with us.

 

 

We actually took the cookies and applesauce with us too. It all did eventually get eaten, I think some for breakfasts some mornings and some on our final day on the plane if I remember right. I do know the cookies got smashed, but they still were edible.

 

We then took off with no real plans.

 

 

 

 

The whole reason for coming here was just for the atmosphere of the castle and Christmas Décor.

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

While roaming the park, we had to make another attempt at pulling out the sword.

 

 

Again we had no success.

 

We headed off to It’s a Small World then at Claire’s request.

 

 

 

I wish this was a better picture. I loved how the new castles walls are lit up.

 

 

And then at my request, we headed off to Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

 

And the Jungle Boats had a very little line, so we got in line there. Claire loves to ride this at night….well I do too.

 

 

It was now about 11, closing time, so we had to make our way to the front once again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know I have said it several times now, but I just really LOVE the Christmas décor!

 

 

 

 

The shops windows were just adorable too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off to the bus stop then and they were doing a great job and getting buses in and out tonight. For as busy as the park was and the amount of people leaving, I think it only took us 30 minutes at the most to get back to AoA.

 

We made it safely back to Art of Animation and of course I took a few pictures on the way back to the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made it back to our room. Let me tell you, after spending a full day, the walk back to the Little Mermaid section is long. I think it’s psychologically longer because it’s made outside instead of indoors.

Probably 7-10 minutes. Probably 5 if you walk fairly fast. But by the time we made it back there we were dead on our feet.

We quickly went to bed, though Claire did spend a few minutes with her Legos while I got ready for bed.

Soon we drifted off to dream land once again.

 

We had another full and wonderful day. I met up with Carey and Kadence once again and almost had another meet with Tim.

Oh the People We See.

We moved to yet another resort today and slept in the 6th bed of the trip.

Oh the Places We Go!

[bert425]

I love reading this thread and seeing the pictures. . . I'm always exhausted just looking thru them, I can't imagine how tired you must be being on the trips (just reading about the hotel swaps makes my feet hurt)

 

so thanks for posting such great pics.

 

serious question tho. . . do you actually get to enjoy the trips?

 

It seems to me that you take so many pics, that you don't have much time to view the sights and take them in yourself (rather than thru the camera lens).

 

I'd have to assume that there are a lot of times when you get to, but just curious about it, as you take so many pics.

 

heck, when I'm hungry, I wouldn't dream of taking a pic of the food -- I dive right in! . . . LOL. . we just took an Alaskan cruise, and tho we have tons of pics of us at stops, not one of the food in the dining room. . I didn't even think of that! Next Time I'll remember to take the camera with us to dinner!

 

but really, thanks for posting your pics. . . .you are a very good photographer!

[jenseib]

I love reading this thread and seeing the pictures. . . I'm always exhausted just looking thru them, I can't imagine how tired you must be being on the trips (just reading about the hotel swaps makes my feet hurt)

 

so thanks for posting such great pics.

 

serious question tho. . . do you actually get to enjoy the trips?

 

It seems to me that you take so many pics, that you don't have much time to view the sights and take them in yourself (rather than thru the camera lens).

 

I'd have to assume that there are a lot of times when you get to, but just curious about it, as you take so many pics.

 

heck, when I'm hungry, I wouldn't dream of taking a pic of the food -- I dive right in! . . . LOL. . we just took an Alaskan cruise, and tho we have tons of pics of us at stops, not one of the food in the dining room. . I didn't even think of that! Next Time I'll remember to take the camera with us to dinner!

 

but really, thanks for posting your pics. . . .you are a very good photographer!

 

I totally enjoy the trips... And part of my enjoyment is taking pictures. It's not for everyone, I know....but I LOVE taking them. I actually feel weird at times if I am not taking any.

And the pictures bring back so many memories as well that I can't imagine not doing it.

Food is iffy. I do just dive in at times.

[jenseib]

Nov. 12, 2012, Monday, Day 12

 

 

 

I believe I actually slept in a little longer today than 6 AM. I guess I was getting worn down. I showered and got ready for the day and let Claire sleep. I think a bomb could’ve gone off in the room and she would’ve slept through it.

 

Since we had a poolside room, I decided to go out around 7:15 and take a few pictures of the area while Claire slept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to take a peak in the laundry room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about 15-20 minutes of walking around the pool I went back into the room and finished getting ready. It was then time to wake sleeping beauty. Slowly but surely she did get up and ready to start another big day.

 

We then made our way to the bus stop.

 

 

 

 

 

While waiting for the bus, the lady behind me asked if I was on the Nov. facebook group. I told her no….wait…yes I am. LOL! I don’t know what I was thinking when I said no. She told me her name, Jennifer, and I recognized it and we chatted a bit. She had recognized Claire’s top as I had posted it on the group back when I got it. I hadn’t been too active on it for a month or so prior to the trip though. I was busy writing my TR from the Sept cruise and honestly there were a couple of annoying people on there. Carey was on it was well and she can verify that we had a couple of whackos posting daily……like 70 times a day and with really dumb questions. Some people were changing ADRS EVERY SINGLE DAY, and adding in more just to have a snack and paying out of pocket to basically try as many restaurants as possible. And then there were other issues there too. And eventually there was a “fake” poster caught. Not sure what that was about ….why on earth would you make a fake name and pretend to be going to Disney?

Anyways, bus mojo was not with us this morning either. We had to wait quite a while for a AK bus to arrive. And we kept seeing buses that didn’t have park names on them. I think they were testing routes or drivers. Eventually I do believe we got on one of those buses because the wait was so long they directed one to take us over there.

 

 

We eventually made it over to AK.

 

 

We stopped for a few photopass pictures before we went in.

 

 

 

And I was sooooo excited to get this picture. It has been on my bucket list for quite some time.

 

 

 

 

We then headed towards the entrance with a few pictures on the way.

 

 

 

 

Once we got into the park we stopped for another photopass picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on we went again.

 

 

 

 

 

I think you have a pretty good idea where we were heading.

 

[TBpony414]

Restaurant T-Rex looks amazing!!! The food looks delicious and the decor is really amazing and is different than I imagined. The last time I was in Orlando we were so tired after park hopping all day that we grabbed something fast and crashed in the hotel every night except one, when we went to Planet Hollywood. Next time I'm definitely going to T-Rex!