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

[jenseib]

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!

 

I have to admit I liked it better when it was a counter service place.

 

Edit...I am thinking tusker house when I wrote that. LOL

Got too much going on in my brain. Yes T-Rex is awesome. One of our new favorites

[jenseib]

Claire wanted to take another ride on EE.

 

 

The standby line wasn’t too long either and moved fairly fast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon it was our turn. I forgot to change the settings on the camera and took this picture. It was very weird looking and over exposed. But as I darkened it a bit it came out kind of neat looking.

 

 

 

 

We had another fun and exciting ride.

 

 

We had a late breakfast ADR at Tusker house today, so we slowly made our way back over in that direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did a little bit of browsing.

 

 

 

The line to check into Tusker House was SUPER long. It was unreal. So a little after 10 we got in line for our 10:30 ADR.

 

 

It took quite a while to get through. They had a couple people checking people in, but they seemed clueless. Let’s just say this process annoyed me so much that I doubt I’ll ever go back there.

Once we got checked in they told me to go back and wait for Donald. I told them I didn’t want to wait for Donald, we just wanted to eat, so they told me to take my ticket inside and give it to someone.

 

So that is what I did. Only the people inside told me I wasn’t called yet, I had to see Donald first to get another ticket. I don’t want to see Donald, we want to eat. By the Way Donald’s line was at least another 20 minute wait. We weren’t going to get the picture, so I wasn’t wasting the time and Claire didn’t want to wait in it either.

Finally someone points me to a podium and tells me to check with them. So I go there and tell them I am supposed to hand my ticket in so we can be on the list to be seated. They tell me, you need to see Donald first. UGH! I don’t want to see FREAKING Donald….we want to eat!

This guy was confused too but finally was able to make a ticket switch and get us on the list to get called in. Once that happened, it wasn’t too long. And as we went in, I saw the people who were in front of me in the original check in line….STILL in line for Donald and they had a ways to go.

 

 

We were taken to the back room.

 

 

We quickly went up to get some food as it was going to be a few minutes before any characters made their way to us.

 

 

 

 

We went for pretty normal items. The African food just wasn’t our thing and the few things I did end up trying I did not care for.

 

A little bit of dancing around.

 

 

 

 

And then Daisy made her way to our table.

 

 

 

 

Mickey wasn’t too far behind.

 

 

 

 

We went up to the buffet a couple of times, but for us, we really weren’t impressed with the selection. Like I said, the African selections just weren’t something we cared for, so we were sticking to the basics and that limited us a bit.

We were ready to go and had paid, and I let the waitress know that we still hadn’t seen Goofy, but we wanted to leave and wondered if there would be a way to see him shortly and she said yes. She pointed out a Cast Member and told me to talk to him, so I did. He told me where to stand and that he would direct Goofy over to us. Within a few minutes we got to visit with Goofy as well.

 

 

 

 

 

With that meet and greet done, we grabbed our things and headed out. I did take a few pictures before we left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you know my thoughts on Tusker House by now. It was way too much of a hassle to actually get checked in and seated. The food was good, but not enough variety for us who don’t want to get crazy with the African food. And the price is just too high to go for just the basics. I will really have to think long and hard before going back again….and if I do, it will be an early ADR, which will hopefully eliminate the long check in wait.

[jenseib]

When we exited Tusker House we took a few pictures out back before heading off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had picked up fastpasses for the safari before heading into Tusker House and the time to use them had arrived.

 

 

It wasn’t long and we were boarded in our truck.

 

 

We saw lots of animals out and about, but I had major issues with pictures. The people in front of me pretty much were in my view at all times. I don’t know if I had a bad angle or what, but I constantly had an arm, elbow, head, camera lens,….you name it…it was in my shot. I have tried to crop most of my pictures to get them out of the shots as much as possible, but at times I just couldn’t get them all out.

 

 

It looks like the birds are hungry for some Hippo …..

 

 

Seriously? Why are all these birds here?

 

 

 

 

We saw a lot of giraffes again on this trip.

 

 

 

Stretch just a little bit further and you’ll reach it.

 

 

I think he got a neck cramp.

 

 

 

 

 

This would’ve been a better shot, but I had to crop out a lot of the picture.

 

 

 

This guy is kind of camouflaged. It’s hard to see his head looking over the top of the branch. I thought it was pretty cool though.

 

 

 

Of course it’s not a safari without a little bit of giraffe butt.

 

 

Ah the elephants. I could’ve gotten some great shots of them…..if I didn’t have people in the row in front of me!

 

 

 

I had taken one right before this next one that would’ve been AWESOME…except the picture has major blockage and came out with a big blur in the middle of it. That blur would be my traveling companion’s camera lens.

 

 

How cute is this? They were pushing the baby up.

 

 

 

 

2 little guys playing.

 

 

Another shot that could’ve been awesome….but you can see even with cropping I couldn’t get all of the other person out of it.

 

 

The Lioness. This picture actually isn’t too bad looking. If you saw the original you would be amazed I got this. I had Claire’s head and my neighbors head in about 2/3’s of the picture and I cropped it way down and hoped it would be something worth saving, and it actually looks decent.

 

 

The ostriches had to check out the truck.

 

 

Just lazing around….taking a rest.

 

 

What you looking at?

 

 

 

 

After the safari we ran into a photopass photographer on the exit out. We stopped and got a few fun shots.

 

 

 

We are supposed to be pointing and looking at a wild animal in the distance. Do we look convincing?

 

 

And another wild animal.

 

[jenseib]

So sorry I have been MIA lately.

I had a very busy month early one with work and didn't work on my TR at all. then when things settled just a bit, my oldest daughter, Paige, was in a VERY bad car accident. It's a long story, but to shorten it, she was thrown from the truck along with another boy. The driver was killed. The 4th passenger had minor injuries and was able to call 911.

Paige was in the hospital for 6 days with broken ribs, partial collapsed lung and spleen injury. She is staying with me now while she recovers. Then this past Monday we went to go get Paige's new license plates for her car..it was hr first "big" outing since the accident and we got rear ended. My car went flying into the middle turn lane, but we were ok. I sent her to the ER to get checked to be sure nothing else happened or that she hadn't started bleeding internally again.

She checked out ok, but now my car is totaled and the guy who hit me had no insurance. Now I have the project of finding a new car on top off all of this.

 

I am taking a little me time this morning though!

[jenseib]

Now it was time to head to the front of the park. We had to make time for swimming today for Claire.

 

 

 

We stopped off for a few more photopass pics.

 

 

 

I like this one of us.

 

 

 

I think this is so dumb. Why the heck do they tell you to put your hand on your chin. I look like a dork.

 

 

They did take a couple with my camera too.

 

 

 

And off we go.

 

 

 

Goodbye Christmas tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TTFN

 

 

 

We headed back to AoA for a little swim time.

 

 

 

 

We made our way back to our room and Claire changed her clothes and I grabbed my mug to bring along.

 

 

I had given her the choice of which pool she wanted to swim in and she chose Big Blue.

 

 

Of course we had to circle the area first and check it out.

 

 

I can’t help but see McDonalds French fries every time I look at this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was given instructions on where to sit and Claire got in. She is sporting her new swimsuit she got on the cruise.

 

 

I still kept taking pictures though.

 

 

 

 

Would you like fries with that?

 

 

 

Is this ping pong?

 

 

I told Claire I was going to walk up to the bar and fill my mug. The nice thing they did here was add a refillable station right by the pool.

 

 

The bad thing….it’s a MAJOR bee magnet. Bees were all over and the area was very sticky. I hope they figure a way to keep this clean and the bees away.

 

 

[jenseib]

I then went back to my chair and pulled out the kindle for a while.

 

 

OK…I did still take random pictures.

 

 

 

 

Time flew by and after a short swim it was time to head back to the room to get changed and ready for our ADR.

 

This is so sad. So much of the greenery was turning brown.

 

 

 

I wonder if it came back to life or if they had to replant the whole area?

 

Hmmmm….Rafaki was getting some butt surgery.

 

 

Claire thought this was hilarious…..I might have snickered a bit too.

 

 

 

 

 

More brown leaves.

 

 

Claire had to take a run through the cave.

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if there is any hope for these plants.

 

 

Once back to the room we cleaned up and got dressed and our bag packed for the evening. Big happenings tonight baby!!!!

 

 

And then we headed off to the bus stop once again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come on you dang bus!!!!!

 

 

 

That dang bus finally came and we were off to the Magic Kingdom!

 

 

As we entered, the parade was going by, so we stopped and watched a bit of it.

 

 

We decided to slip in and see which princesses were meeting. Claire was hoping for Rapunzel, but she was not meeting at the time, but the line was short, so we went in anyways.

 

 

 

 

You can never see Cinderella too many times.

 

 

 

 

And the photopass photographer got a cheesy smile from me.

 

 

 

I love you Cindy!

 

 

 

Aurora was waiting next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not sure why she is making this face. They must’ve been talking about something funny.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire is all about hugging.

 

 

 

And they were the only 2 meeting right now, so we headed out.

[TBpony414]

I've been away on vacation for a few weeks and finally got a chance to check your updates only to see the news about Paige. I'm so sorry to hear about her accident - she must have had an angel with her at the time to survive such a bad wreck. And then your car got hit on her first outing, oh my!! Talk about bad luck. Glad everyone is ok and hopefully you are both able to do a bit of resting to recover from the physical and emotional events. Not sure where the "Hang in there" smiley is but... hang in there!

[jenseib]

I've been away on vacation for a few weeks and finally got a chance to check your updates only to see the news about Paige. I'm so sorry to hear about her accident - she must have had an angel with her at the time to survive such a bad wreck. And then your car got hit on her first outing, oh my!! Talk about bad luck. Glad everyone is ok and hopefully you are both able to do a bit of resting to recover from the physical and emotional events. Not sure where the "Hang in there" smiley is but... hang in there!

 

We agree. It's amazing that not only did she survive, but she had minimal injuries for that type of accident.

Now I am doing the car hunt with an uncooperative husband. Let me tell you how fun that is....NOT!!!!!!!!

[jenseib]

After we met the Princesses, we noticed that Mickey’s line was not very long at all either. Well we have never met him her in his special room, so we got in line there as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here he is!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess Claire was taking a quick nap?

 

 

 

The whole area was so cute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we walked out I just had to get a picture of my favorite costume.

 

 

 

And back out to the park we went.

 

We headed up main street next.

 

 

Oh No!!!! Someone lost their balloon!

 

 

 

We stopped for a few fun photopass pictures.

 

 

I surely didn’t want Claire to end up like that fly away balloon.

 

 

 

We had a little time till dinner so we roamed around a bit.

 

 

 

 

And some more photopass.

 

 

We spotted Tigger & Pooh on the move.

 

 

We then got in line for Barnstormer.

 

 

 

 

 

Checking the time on the new watch I had gotten on the cruise.

 

 

It wasn’t too long and we were making our fast and short zip along the tracks. Most of the pictures I took were the back of the head of the lady in front of me, so I don’t think you want to see those.

After the ride I took a few construction photos.

 

 

 

 

And then we made our way to our dinner destination!

 

[jenseib]

It was now close to our dinner time. We made an early dinner so we could enjoy the party later that evening. Our destination? The castle!

 

 

 

 

 

We got ourselves checked in and entered.

 

 

I had debated on doing this again. We have done it twice before and the first time we had excellent food and a great meet experience with Cinderella. We had one of the last reservations of the day and she came over and sat with Claire and visited for a bit. It was truly a magical moment. That was back when they did the show during dinner rather than character meets, but it was still the best experience we have had there. Last time, which was April of 2011, the food was not all that good and it just wasn’t as magical. We did have nice meet and greets, but it just wasn’t a highlight for me.

When Claire and I talked about where we planned to eat this trip, she mentioned that she must eat at CRT. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t budge, and luckily I was able to get a reservation at a decent time. This was also one of the reasons we upgraded to deluxe dining. We had a couple of 2 credit meals and it made sense to just have more credits.

 

The nice thing about this visit is that it had a few Christmas decorations out.

 

 

 

Soon we were called to get in line for Cinderella. I took pictures while we waited.

 

 

 

 

And our turn!

 

 

 

 

The photopass photographer asked if I wanted to be in the picture, and I said yes, but I also wanted one snapped of just Claire too. She said no, she could only take 1 picture as that was all that was included. I told her I knew that, but just wanted her to take a picture anyways. She refused and I gave up. I snapped a couple of Claire myself and bowed out of getting one with me.

 

 

 

 

 

Now when we got our picture later, I was NOT impressed. Cinderella looks like she is in pain with that smile. I almost was tempted to ask for a retake. Well I am glad I didn’t because after seeing my sisters pictures….and she had the same Cindy….and a few others posted on the boards with this same Cindy….I have found that is how she smiles. In real life she is pretty, but her smile is just not good. I am surprised Disney hasn’t either trained her to smile differently or taken her off to do something else. I am sorry if I sound mean, but I thought she looked awful.

 

 

After our pictures, we headed up to our table. We had a nice spot next to a window. This was a first for us.

 

 

Claire got herself all situated.

 

 

She started coloring and our rolls were then served.

 

 

 

 

 

We had made our orders and soon food started to come out.

I got the Rock Shrimp Cocktail - rock shrimp with tomato marmalade. It is pretty decent tasting. Not fabulous, but I think it tasted better this time around compared to the last time I had it.

 

 

Claire got the cheese and grapes. She really doesn’t eat plain cheese, so I nibbled at that. I should’ve just asked if she could have all grapes.

 

 

Claire chose chicken nuggets for her entrée ….big surprise there.

 

 

I believe I had the Roasted Beef Tenderloin - Sliced Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Duchess Potatoes, Asparagus, and a Chasseur Sauce. I am thinking I asked for no sauce, as last time I had it I found it pretty nasty.

 

 

The food was definitely better this time around, but still not as good as the first time we came. I wish they would bring that menu back. It was so much better.

 

Soon it was time for the wishing ceremony.

 

 

 

She really gets into this.

 

 

Close your eyes tight to be sure the wish sticks!

 

 

And Snow came twirling by then.

 

 

This is an attractive pose.

 

 

 

Time for dessert! Claire chose the decorate your cupcake.

 

 

I don’t remember exactly what mine was. I think it was a seasonal dessert and I think it was some sort of pumpkin cheesecake.

 

 

Claire really put a lot of time and effort in her cupcake decorating.

 

 

 

And knowing her, she probably only took one bite, or licked off the frosting.

 

So where are the characters? Yeah, we were wondering too. We actually were close to done eating before any made it to our table.

First up,…Snow White.

 

 

 

 

And then Jasmine.

 

 

 

 

I used to have a stomach like that. Claire ruined my body. I looked great after Michael, Paige took a toll, but I popped back decently…after Claire nothing has been the same. LOL.

 

 

 

[jenseib]

And then Aurora made her way to our table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one of Claire’s favorites!!!!! Ariel!

 

 

 

Again, I am being caddy, but I didn’t think she was a very pretty Ariel from the front.

 

 

 

And then we were done. We were full and happy and ready to head out to the park again. It was a better experience than last time, but nothing can top our first time there.

 

 

We headed back out into the sunshine again. I guess I felt the need to take this picture.

 

 

And then of course we had to make a stop to try the sword once again.

 

 

Each time she did this, she was sure she could feel it start to move and it would come out at any minute for her.

 

 

 

But once again, we did not have success.

Claire then requested we hit Small World.

 

 

The line was kind of long, but it kept moving at least. Soon we were on our boat.

 

 

I have yet to eat in Pinocchio’s at one of these tables.

 

 

This is my sneaky picture of the baby in front of us. He was a few people ahead of in line too and we just kept laughing because he looked hysterical and cute in this little hat. And he never fussed about having it on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a Small World After All!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had another fabulous trip around the world. The party time was now approaching so we got our wrist bands and then did one of our favorites ….a jungle cruise at night.

 

 

 

And now it was party time!

 

 

We made a stop in the bathrooms so Claire could change for the party.

 

And we found some Carolers out who were have a fun time.

 

 

And they graciously took a picture with Claire.

 

 

And then Claire showed off her flashing necklace, which didn’t show up with a flash picture and a non-flash picture was horrible.

 

 

We loved how they had red and green lights accenting on the buildings.

 

 

 

 

More water art.

 

[Coaster Cow]

Always love this thread, nice espresso shot of Disney to start my day off right.

[jenseib]

Always love this thread, nice espresso shot of Disney to start my day off right.

 

 

Thanks

[jenseib]

Again, I was not following the proper party rules where you need to do as many of the party activities as possible. We had something else on the agenda first…..The New Fantasyland! Yep, I wanted to get back there AGAIN!

We didn’t even have to ask this time, they just waved people back and off we went. This time we had something new to try, Enchanted Tales with Belle. They told us the wait was about 30 minutes and we thought it would be worth it so we got in line.

 

 

 

Beast’s castle off in the distance.

 

 

It wasn’t too long and we were let into the cottage. I know the wait was much less than they had predicted at that point.

 

 

It was so exciting and I just randomly kept snapping pictures so I could try to remember everything.

 

 

 

 

 

Claire was taller than Belle was at that age. Claire was measuring at 9 years old, and she was still 7 at the time.

 

 

They really did put quite a few people in that area, so I tried taking pictures without people in it, but at times it was just impossible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casts members would come in and out every so often, but I got the impression the group in front of us were taking longer than normal. Of course this was a testing phase, so they were still working out kinks.

After a while, we were then let into Maurice’s work shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While in there we got some stories about inventions and other facts about Belle and her father. We were then told from that point on we could take as many Non-flash pictures as we wanted. Now I prefer non-flash pictures, but sometimes you just need to use a flash because of lighting …and this was the case. The lighting was very poor and it was hard to get anything decent for the rest of the tour.

 

After we spent some time in the workshop, a Magical thing happened. The mirror opened into a doorway. Now I knew this was going to happen as I had watched a video of it before coming on the trip. But when I got in the workshop, I kept looking at it and I could not figure out how it would open because it just didn’t look like it could expand or that a doorway was hidden there. They really did use some Disney Magic for that trick.

It really was neat to see.

 

 

 

 

The next room we went in had the Armoire. We were then allowed to volunteer to be part of the show. I told Claire she had to if she wanted a picture with Belle. At that point in time I had read only those who were part of the show actually got a picture with Belle. I am not sure if this has changed or not. I heard there were quite a few complaints and it was talked about being changed, but I haven’t kept up on the issue much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly, Claire was not chosen as the Beast, but she was chosen to be Phillppe.

 

 

 

Adults could volunteer as well and after the main characters were given out, they asked if anyone wanted to be something and I said yes and became a picture frame. (sorry, there is no picture of me in all my glory!)

 

 

I believe we had to practice a few things and then were led into the library.

 

 

I believe the story was that we were surprising Belle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we got settled in I took a lot of pictures of the room.

 

 

 

 

There are benches to sit on, but most of the kids got up front on the floor.

 

 

Lumierre was amazing!

 

 

[jenseib]

It was now time for Belle to arrive. And she was very surprised!

 

 

Again, I am going to be a bit caddy, but doesn’t Belle look like she could play one of the step sisters? Ok, this really is a bad picture of her and she wasn’t horrible, but in years past we just had some really beautiful princesses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe we then acted out Belles story. Soon it was time for Claire to make her move.

 

 

 

 

 

The nice thing is they have photopass in there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because with the no flash rule…..I wasn’t getting all that great of shots!

 

 

 

This little girl was the Beast.

 

 

 

And Chip!

 

 

 

Then we all paraded around the room!

 

 

And a quick hello with Belle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belle is so surprised to see me! She is probably wondering why I have a major eye squint going.

 

 

 

Beast says goodbye to Belle.

 

 

And then we got to pose with Belle for a picture, but from where I was standing I couldn’t get a good one of Claire.

 

 

Good thing photopass did.

 

 

 

Belle gave everyone a bookmark after the picture.

 

 

 

My turn ….squinty eye and all

 

 

 

Time for Belle to leave.

 

 

 

One last picture of the light fixture and then we headed out and they were passing photopass cards to everyone as we walked out.

 

 

This was a fun experience. I don’t think it will hold our interest for too long in the future though. As long as Claire wants to meet Belle, we’ll probably do it, but after another time or 2, I really don’t see this as being something that we can’t miss. Especially if lines are long.

[jenseib]

We exited Enchanted Tales with Belle and we noticed that they were taking walk ups for Be Our Guest. Well we did just eat not too long ago, but we really wanted to experience this as well, so we decided to go in for some dessert. I believe they said the wait was around 30 minutes and we got a beeper. This thing is pretty useless as you have to stay in the immediate area for it to work. I asked about going out to see Scrooge while we waited and she said it wouldn’t reach that far. So I asked about walking through the rest of New Fantasyland ….nope, it won’t reach that far either.

They suggested that I just stay in the area and explore and take pictures. Um…..there really isn’t much here and it’s PITCH black out.

Well we had a bit of time so we did wander over near Gaston’s.

 

 

And we took a couple of pictures of Beast’s Castle lit up.

 

 

 

See how dark it is? Not very good lighting for pictures.

 

 

I think this is the Little Mermaid ride from afar?

 

 

And we were afraid we would miss the buzzer, so we went back near Be Our Guest.

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to chance it and walk back over by the Little Mermaid ride quickly.

 

 

 

 

But we were too afraid we would miss our calling and went right back.

 

 

Right at about the 30 minute mark we did get called in!

 

 

We were so excited and I will tell you the pictures are not great. Lighting is horrible in there. Flash pictures don’t come out quite right, nor do non flash pictures. I need to go a few more times to hopefully get it right.

 

We were seated in the ballroom and they told us we could watch the snow falling out the window. They almost made it sound like it changed from day to day, but from what I have read from others, it is always snow falling.

 

We had a cute rose napkin on our plates.

 

 

Claire was super excited.

 

 

 

We made our orders. I decided on the French onion soup and the chocolate cream puff. Claire insisted she was very hungry and ordered the kids steak meal and the strawberry cream cheese cupcake.

 

We took a few pictures while we waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My pictures are super grainy. I just couldn’t get much of anything with the low lighting.

 

We took pictures of the West wing from where we sitting.

 

 

 

Rolls arrived.

 

 

We had a roll and then we set off to look in the West Wing. The dessert trolley was sitting right there.

 

 

 

I have heard this picture turns to beast, but we never saw it change while we were in there.

 

 

It was kind of hard to get a picture of the rose. You cannot get one if you use a flash.

 

 

 

See, this is a flash…no rose in there.

 

 

 

 

Back to the Ballroom

 

 

And the door to what I think is called the Rose room was closed, but we saw others going in, so we went in as well.

 

 

I believe this area is for the quick serve meals.

 

 

I really liked this room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, this room had better lighting, so I got quite a few more pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we headed back into the Ballroom again and we walked over by the falling snow window to have a better look.

 

 

 

This was a testing phase and service was VERY slow. I didn’t complain though, as I was happy to be able to have a chance to try it out and I knew they were trying to work the kinks out.

Food finally did arrive.

Claire’s steak.

 

 

And her fries.

 

 

The steak had good flavor, but it was a bit too thin and a little fatty. She loved it though. The fries were great and sadly I heard they did away with these and are now serving just basic fries.

 

My soup.

 

 

It was very good, but nothing over the top in the way of French Onion soup, but I enjoyed it.

 

Our waitress brought out the dessert trolley and we chose what we wanted.

 

Here is Claire’s Strawberry cream cheese cupcake.

 

 

And my chocolate cream puff.

 

 

 

Her cupcake was awesome, but she could only eat a little bit as she was so full. I couldn’t finish it off for her either sadly. My cream puff was good, but a bit too much. Very rich and I was good with just a few bites. Not to mention this was our 2nd meal of the evening and we were already making pigs of ourselves.

 

Our waitress kindly took a picture of us.

 

 

It did take a while to get the bill and I did get a little antsy about that. I was missing party time as it was and now that we had tried the place we were ready to leave and try some more new things.

 

Of course we had to make a bathroom stop on the way out.

 

 

And I took a picture of now what is referred to as the Prince with no pants. Seriously, look at it! It looks like he is naked from the waist down.

 

 

And back out to New Fantasyland we went. We had a mission of one other thing to do before we headed back to the party.

[jenseib]

Our next stop was the Little Mermaid ride once again. We had loved it so much a over week ago that we had to give it another try.

 

 

 

I probably got a lot of the same queue pictures, but I couldn’t remember what I took before and this time I tried a few more flash pictures too.

 

 

 

The line was walk through again and soon we were on our way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course we all know they fell in love.

 

 

 

 

 

That was another fun and fabulous ride. We really do like this one.

 

We exited and we had quite and exciting site.

 

 

The Holiday Wishes had started and watching them from the New Fantasyland was quite a treat.

 

 

 

We had fireworks virtually going off on all sides of us. We could turn around in a circle and see different things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one was a wrapped present….how cute is that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were VERY impressed with the fireworks and would love to see them from here again.

[jenseib]

We exited the New Fantasyland and went for a ride on Pooh.

 

 

 

 

 

I always love this store. Pooh stuff is just so darn cute.

 

 

We saw Scrooge was out, but we had to get a spot for the parade and couldn’t stop.

 

 

UGH!!!! This parade was super packed too. I had hoped going to the later one would be less crowded but both this one and the Halloween ones were jammed with people.

 

We were lucky and found a decent spot and some guys let Claire sit on the ground in front of them and I was back and could stand on a ledge. I found out that everyone around…all adults, were there for pictures too. I tried not to get my arms and elbows in the way of others as I shot pictures. I did a pretty poor job. It was so dark and my flash was not recharging correctly (I think it had a low battery). The best way to work it was to turn off the flash and camera and return them both back on to take the next picture. It was slow, but faster than waiting for the recharge. In the end, I am not happy with my pictures, but we LOVED this parade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just love Scrooge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chip and Dale were so cute. They were having a snowball fight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who doesn’t love the Dwarves?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn’t get Snow to look my way. She was too busy gazing into the eyes of the Prince.

 

 

[jenseib]

The Ponies were so cute.

 

 

 

Cindy gave me a big smile and wave though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here it is!!!!! That float that has been around for AT LEAST 15 years. I know it was there in the mid 90’s when I took my older two. They just keep adding a little something to it to make it look different. Sorry Disney…it’s not working, we all know it’s that same float…..and it needs to GO!!!!

 

 

 

They say Spectro isn’t coming back because the floats are falling apart ….why can’t this one fall apart too?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I hate about this float is it is not photographer friendly. Those Spires seem to always be in the way to catch a face in a shot.

 

 

Gotta Love Goofy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed these girls were all wearing wigs …and that got me thinking. Do they have a wig to match their natural hair color, or do they get any old color to wear?

 

 

 

 

 

 

And again …How cute are these Gingerbread guys?

 

 

 

They are flat on the back side from laying on the pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clarabelle is so much fun.

 

 

 

 

I am not sure why he has Nemo in his pocket?

 

 

 

 

The toys are coming!!

 

 

 

 

I think Woody is telling us it’s past our bedtime.

 

 

 

And the best part of the whole parade ….the Toy Soldiers. These guys are amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would go back to the party just to see them alone.

 

 

 

 

Have you ever seen this on Youtube. I just love this video of the toy soldier auditioning to be in the parade. If you get a chance, watch it. It’s so neat.

 

 

On with the parade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reindeers were pretty cool too.

 

 

 

 

Santa!!!!!!

 

 

 

Hey Santa! I want a trip to Disney for Christmas!!!

 

 

 

 

 

That was such an awesome parade. I really hope to get back there for the Holidays to see this again someday. I had hoped that maybe we could squeeze in a small trip this year, but I don’t think it’s going to work out for that to happen.

[jenseib]

After the parade we decided to get some hot chocolate and cookies. I think we got snickerdoodles. We sat down over near Aloha Isle and just relaxed for a while.

 

 

Either Amanda (my sister) called me or I noticed a missed call from her and called her back at that point. I had totally forgotten, but remember, she sent an email to Geoff while on the cruise saying I had a flat tire. UGH. So she asked me what to do about it. She was going to have AAA change it. There is a care center right around the corner from her house and I think she was going to drive it over there. She had been busy and hadn’t had time to do anything about it and that was ok, as I wasn’t due home for a few more days.

 

After nibbling on our cookies ….we were really still really full from our 2 dinners, so we didn’t eat much …..we got up and started moving again. We saw this little band playing music.

 

 

 

 

I am not sure if we rode anything or not, but we did go and find Uncle Scrooge.

 

 

This was another character I kind of made Claire meet for me. She wasn’t too thrilled, but I made a big deal about him being rare and she was more agreeable then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wandered around a bit more, and again, I don’t remember if we rode anything or not. If we did, I didn’t take any pictures. I know we sat down and just stared at the castle a few times. We just found this to be our happy place and we never wanted to leave. We probably also called Skip at some point in time.

 

We did get another photopass picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Honestly, I have never seen the park more beautiful than this night. The decorations and lights are just fabulous.

Sadly it was getting close to midnight and time to head back to AoA.

 

 

LOOK!!!!! It’s snowing!!!!

 

 

This just made it feel even more magical.

 

 

 

 

If I could have, I would’ve tried to get tickets for another party night. It just felt so magical, but sadly our trip was coming closer to an end and the next party would be held after we have left.

 

 

 

 

I am always trying to get a balloon shot, but never happy with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sigh!!!!!!!! Time to leave.

 

 

We headed out to the bus stop where I am sure we had to wait for a bus, but I don’t remember it being too bad.

 

We were pretty darn tired and got ready for bed. We had one more full day left and yet time seemed to be going so fast. We had so much more we wanted to do.

 

I had met up with Jennifer from my Facebook group this morning while waiting in line for the bus to AK. It was so funny that she recognized Claire and her dress. It was nice to meet her.

Oh the People We See!

We went to our very first Christmas party this evening and I really hope I can get to many more in the future.

Oh the Places We Go!

[jenseib]

Nov. 13, 2012, Tuesday ~ Day 13

 

Our last full day. How depressing! This trip just seemed to go so fast (even though I have been working the report for 10 months now).

 

I don’t remember how early I woke, but I am sure I was up by 7. I think I took a quick walk around the pool after I showered and let Claire sleep a little longer. I didn’t bring the camera with me for some reason though.

 

At some point in time I had to get Claire going. She is just not a morning person and the long trip was taking its toll …on both of us, as I noticed my eyes were getting more saggy and puffy each day …..but we had 1 more day of fun to be had.

 

While she got ready I took a few pictures around the room.

 

This was the bathroom tile.

 

 

The shower curtain. I think Claire was actually taking a shower then and was worried I was going to get her in the picture. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I finally took a picture of the new Disney Dooney I had purchased a few days earlier.

 

 

Finally Claire was fresh and clean and we headed out to the bus. But wait. She reminded me that she had not yet been over by the Ariel icon. I had walked around the pool in the morning and took pictures the day before, but she never did yet, so we went the long way around.

 

 

 

She was very chatty this morning and talked about all the fun she had been having and how she couldn’t wait to tell her friends at school about her trip. 2 of her best friends were going to be traveling to Disney in the next few weeks, so she had many tips to give them.

 

 

We arrived at Epcot around 9:45. Not a super early start, but not the worst either. Sadly we really short changed Epcot this trip and this day we still didn’t give it all our attention.

 

 

 

 

There was one ride that Claire insisted we ride right away this day. Figment! ...Journey into the Imagination. We had missed it the last trip together and she was disappointed that she hadn’t been on it in a while.

 

 

I figured it was best to tackle it right away and make her happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a nice ride, but we all know the old version was better!

 

 

 

We had to make another quick stop.

 

 

 

 

If we wanted any chance of riding Soarin’ later today we had to get some Fastpasses, so we collected those quickly. Well it’s never quick because I always get behind the family with like 15 tickets.

 

And Claire was a bit hungry at this point too. So I told her we would get something here that I always wanted to try.

 

 

The Strawberry Shortcake. MMM! It was pretty darn good and it was a nice treat to share to give us enough energy till lunch. Well actually at this point, with deluxe dining, I was almost full at all times of the day. LOL. But it still tasted good.

 

And then we headed back out after our tasty treat.

 

 

 

 

 

It looks crowded in the picture, but it was actually less crowded than it had been for our entire stay, but the crowds never did dwindle down much while we were there. I had heard that after we left it, so did everyone else. It was much quieter the rest of the week…darn it.

 

 

Isn’t this such a sweet picture. I wish I knew who the parents of these kids were and I would send them the picture.

 

 

I am thinking that I took this picture to get those flower arrangements, but people are in the way.

 

 

 

[jenseib]

I guess I tried to get those flowers again.

 

 

 

 

Looking at my pictures, it looks like we were taking some crazy kind of walk. I think we must’ve used a restroom in this area.

 

 

 

 

 

And then we headed to Spaceship Earth.

 

 

I remember the line being longer than I like, but it moved fast and we didn’t have much of a wait.

 

I didn’t take any pictures during most of the ride as I have taken so many in the past, that I just rested this time around.

 

Of course it’s always fun to take pictures of your video.

 

 

It looks like I have a heck of a lot of teeth is my picture.

 

 

And out back to the park we went.

 

 

And we I had a plan. We have NEVER gone in Club Cool before and we were going to remedy that now.

 

 

It was really neat inside and I loved all the holiday Décor.

 

 

 

Of course we had to try a few beverages.

 

 

Now I am not the mean Mom and didn’t play tricks on Claire. I told her that some would be better than others and some were supposed to be darn right nasty.

We tried them all and some were pretty good and even though I didn’t care for the Beverly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was drinkable. (that picture shows the Beverly as out of order, but other drink dispensers DID have it) Claire really liked some of the fruity tasting ones though and had a couple of cups full.

 

 

 

After we had our fill of Coke products from around the world, we headed back out to the park once again.

 

 

 

And we wanted to try something else new.

 

 

We had never done the Kim Possible adventure before, so this was a totally new experience for us.

 

 

 

We got signed up and were given some quick instructions.

 

Our mission was in Mexico, so off we went.

 

 

Well not without a few pictures of the tree first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved these trees. They were real too!

 

 

 

 

Hello Mexico!

 

 

We got right to work.

 

 

I am going to tell you upfront now. Claire LOVED this and I didn’t. I couldn’t hear much and Claire was hogging the phone so that I couldn’t play along, which was fine, except that she didn’t understand everything, so then I would have to try to figure out how to replay it so I could hear it and help …or at least guide her the right way.

 

 

As time went on though, she seemed to catch on more, but it seemed to be sooo long!

 

 

I took pictures as we walked around in there. Some of the pictures are of things happening, but looking at my pictures I really can’t tell which ones are just random shots and which are from the mission.

 

 

 

 

This one is from the mission. See the lighted numbers on the bottom of the piñata’s?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe there was a clue here, but I don’t remember what it was.

 

 

 

And this was a clue as well.

 

[TBpony414]

The Christmas decorations are all just beautiful and the castle is especially breathtaking. Do you think the next time you go to Disney it will be not as awesome to you since the decorations will be just normal? It's hard to believe the TR has been going on for 10 months and is almost to an end! I'm so sad. What's next? Williamsburg, please? (I've been waiting patiently all summer haha!) What else do you have planned for the future? Reading your TRs is so relaxing for me and I love how you put in random details and little stories about what happened along your day.

[jenseib]

The Christmas decorations are all just beautiful and the castle is especially breathtaking. Do you think the next time you go to Disney it will be not as awesome to you since the decorations will be just normal? It's hard to believe the TR has been going on for 10 months and is almost to an end! I'm so sad. What's next? Williamsburg, please? (I've been waiting patiently all summer haha!) What else do you have planned for the future? Reading your TRs is so relaxing for me and I love how you put in random details and little stories about what happened along your day.

 

 

I know...It has taken me forever. Everytime I get on a roll, something seems to come up.

I am close to done now. I almost have all the pictures edited and have gotten several things written up finally.

 

I do think it will be a bummer going back again and not see the lights and decorations, but I know I will still have a good time. But I think the Christmas decor is truly the best!

I will be writing Williamsburg. I actually have half of it written already and as soon as I get this one done, I will start posting that one.

 

Our next trip right now is offsite to Disney next year. We will stay at my Mom's Marriott time share. I will do a day at legoland as well, and maybe universal, but not sure yet on that. I am also looking at possibly adding a cruise to the end of that trip, something short, and probably not Disney as I want to try other ships.

 

I am also hoping we can do something before the end of the year, but I am not sure if we can fit it in. My Mom keeps saying she wants to do a cruise with Claire and I, but she has been busy with her job and a project that she thought would be done, isn't yet.

So we'll just wait and see.

[jenseib]

On with our Mexico mission……I believe this Skeleton did some sort of dance.

 

 

And I think the parrot talked to us.

 

 

One thing I did notice was that there were several others doing a mission here as well and they were not going in the same order was we were, so I am guessing each country has several different mission orders to keep people from bumping into each other too much.

 

We had a few people ask us what we were doing as well and we told them and many seemed interested in trying it out as well, but I did warn them that it was kind of long.

 

I don’t remember if our mission took us outside or if we just went out to decide what to do next.

 

 

But I did take several pictures while we were out there.

 

 

I think Claire was trying to convince me to do another mission, but I was telling her not right now, but maybe later and we put the communicator in my backpack.

 

 

 

The decision was then made to go back inside Mexico and ride the Gran Fiesta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We always enjoy this simple ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always try to take a picture here and it never turns out nice.

 

 

 

 

And I always try to take the ceiling fireworks, and again, I just can’t catch them right.

 

 

 

Once we got done with Gran Fiesta we headed back out once again.

 

 

We pretty much did a leisurely stroll around World Showcase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think I have never been in Karamell Kuche, so I believe we went inside quickly and took a look around. I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures. We didn’t buy anything either. (Maybe I went in on my solo trip in 2011?)

 

 

 

 

It was now close to our lunch time ADR and we headed that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Via Napoli!

 

 

I have read many reviews about this place. Some love it, some hate it, and some say it’s just OK. So I went in with an open mind, but I was kind of excited to eat here.

 

 

 

We didn’t have to wait too long to be seated, mostly it was due to a slower staff at the check in desk.

 

This place was MUCH bigger than I thought it was.

 

 

 

We checked out the menus.