(Mostly?) Live! from WDW, it's my trip report....

Seems totally surreal that I'm about to start this trip report! My Grand Gathering Christmas 2010 report! :xmas:

First things first, and I must thank the person who made this trip possible, kept my sanity, survived nearly 18 months of emails with yours truly AND my immediate family.......... Marie from Kingdom Konsultants.

I can't say enough good things about Marie and all the help she has provided my family over the last year and a half. From the '500 days out room only reservation' to now, she has stuck with us through some very tedious changes. First we were a group of 12, then 14, then (sadly) 12 again. We got pin codes, promotional emails and bounceback offers - one at a time, Marie made all those changes with never any complaint.

Then came the Free Dining promotion, oh so close to our travel dates, but just not in our arrival range. It was Marie who pointed out that we could go for 10 days and still pay less than it would cost us to go for 7 days! :sohappy::sohappy: And it was Marie who manged to get us FIVE rooms at Pop DAYS after the promotion had been released (I thought she couldn't do it, but I now know never to doubt Marie! )

Anyway, I am sure that the other travel agents and support staff at Kingdom Konsultants helped out along the way too, so a big thank you to them as well. And my point is, if you have a Grand Gathering to plan, I HIGHLY recommend Marie (marie@kingdomkonsultant.com) and the Kingdom Konsultants! Thank you so much for making this planning process so easy!!

Up next: Roll Call

 

[becanya]

Sounds like our moms need to be friends...my mom is the same way. I can still remember her face when she came off Everest. You are making me homesick for disney.

 

[erstwo]

After Mexico, we moved on to Norway:

I don't know exactly what time of day this was, but I'm thinking around 12:30 or 1:00. Seemed like there were a lot of people in the World Showcase, but not a lot of people on the rides? :shrug: We saw a lot of different groups with custom "drinking around the world" tshirts. Lots of bachelor or bachelorette parties. :lol:

After a ride on Malestrom, we stopped off for a Kidcot coloring/ stamp. This troll kept staring at me:

Then we stopped off in China. I am almost 100% sure that I saw our very own Monty here in China! But it wasn't until after he'd passed us that it registered! Monty if that was you, I am SO sorry I didn't see you to say hi! :wave: Everyone in my group was pretty grumpy by this point and you probably didn't want to hang with us anyway, but it would have been so cool to meet you!

At this point it was around 3:00. None of us felt like walking all the way back to Future World and we were just trying to kill time and keep the kids happy until our 5:00 dinner reservations at Akershus. What we really wanted to do was take a nap. :lookaroun

I thought this red door would make an awesome photo shoot. It was great lighting. Too bad I'm not a better photographer! The kids came up with the "bowing" idea all on their own!

At the time, it was driving me crazy! I wanted them to all look at the camera. Only my sweet, oldest niece was paying attention to me. But it created some really great shots. I wish this one was more in focus.

 

[erstwo]

Oh no! LOL! The boys and I were gone for 3 weeks with just 10 of the nights being at WDW! We spent time at my Gramma's on the way and the week after Disney at my parent's house for Thanksgiving. LOL!

I've worked on typing text for my TR for about 15 hours today. Literally. I started typing at 11 yesterday morning. At 9:00 tonight the boys asked if I'd order them a pizza. Next time I looked up it was almost 2 a.m. Insane! And I'm not even half done!




Yes, it's just like being herded cattle when they walk you to Soarin'. I hate the stampede.

And, yes, the water garden thing is fairly new. I noticed it and was't sure so I asked our Behind the Seeds guide who confirmed it was. Pretty, isn't it?

Can't wait for more!!!!:wave:

I'm glad I'm not the only one! Mooooo!

Is your report on here already?! I haven't looked around yet. I'm going to look for it after I finish posting for the night.

Loving the TR and the clothes too The top with the smocking is adorable! Can't wait to read more! There's going to be another front coming through and it's supposed to cool down even more over the next few days...so stay warm. I saw they're expecting a low of 29 on Tuesday Wed nt has a low expected of 36- just can't wait for MSEP and Wishes in those temps. We'll be there on Tues- who knows- we may also run into each other. :wave:

Hope you survived the cold temps! Tuesday night we were at Hollywood Studios to see the Osborne Lights at 7:30. It was great! We thought it wasn't all that cold, but of course it could be all those people jammed into those tiny streets of America made it feel warmer! :xmas:
I looked for you every day! But never saw any girls with flowers in their hair. I figured you probably traded them in for winter hats!
That's what our girls did with their bows most days!

Sounds like our moms need to be friends...my mom is the same way. I can still remember her face when she came off Everest. You are making me homesick for disney.

I'm sorry to make you homesick! When's your next trip?

Glad my mom isn't alone! :lol:

 

[becanya]

I'm sorry to make you homesick! When's your next trip?

Glad my mom isn't alone! :lol:[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, not until Nov 11, 2011! Just booked yesterday. But in the meantime we are going to HHI disney resort in June.

 

[erstwo]

We decided to try for some character meet and greets to keep the kids (and adults! happy.

A little drumming along the way:

Aladdin & Jasmine in Morocco:

Marie in France:

We never made it over to Canada. One of the only sad parts of the whole trip for me was that no one in my family had any interest in watching any of the Circlevision films in the Worldshowcase. I've not seen any of them in 15 years and I was really looking forward to seeing them this trip, thinking my family would want to see them too.

We met up with Alice and Mary Poppins in the UK, but my husband and my son were off on a Kim Possible mission with my camera, so all I have are iPhone photos (which I haven't uploaded yet.)

My son's Kim Possible mission took him to France, so we traveled back over the bridge to France. All these people looked so cozy. I was jealous thinking they had probably just me Remy. I'm dying to meet him on his cute little cart!

All that people watching and world saving mission stuff made us hungry, so we stopped at the bakery.

I got the Creme Brulee. I thought it was super yummy. Not sure where it rates on the "foodie" chart though!

We made our way back toward Norway for dinner and visited Mexico to ride one more time before eating.
Finally it was time for dinner!

I thought dinner was very good. I had the chicken dish, while my husband had the Traditional Kjottkake (I copied and pasted that from allears! haha!) He loved it. My kids mostly ate things off the salad bar - cheese cubes, grapes, sliced deli meats.

The princesses were lovely. We didn't have much interaction, but that was all our fault not the characters. As I've said 20 times (sorry! ) as a group, we were grumpy...... some of us more than others....... so we weren't really putting off that "interact with us vibe." We got great pictures though!

After dinner we called it a night.

 

[erstwo]

The next day we were up bright and early for our Breakfast reservations at the Crystal Palace!

Our reservations were for 8:15 and my sister was super excited for pictures in front of the castle with no crowds. Unfortunately, our plans were foiled when Disney added EMH from 8:00 - 9:00! So we left Pop at 7:00 and ran through the gates to MK at 7:45! I didn't stop to take any pictures because we were on a mission to get to the Photopass Photographer at the end of Main Street!

Luckily, the line was short and we managed to take our pictures and check in at CP before the crowds were allowed in. We were seated quickly:

And shortly after that, the characters arrived!

This girl loves a pink pig!

Breakfast was perfect! But when we left the Crystal Palace it was raining...... more to come!

 

[erstwo]

So, when we left the Crystal Palace it was almost comical, because we were all Full Steam Ahead! Get to the Rides! Go, go, go! - and when we saw the rain we did an almost cartoon-ish halt on our heels - errrrrrrrrrk! We looked at each other, looked at our strollers parked across the way and said almost in unison "Ponchos!" And ran through the rain to get the strollers covered and ourselves suited up.

We bundled up the kids (this was a cold rain) and headed toward Pirates.

I wish my camera hadn't been in my bookbag, under the poncho, because Adventureland was a sight to see. There wasn't one person on the walkways with us! The CM's a Pirates said we could park our strollers under the Pirates covering -but warned us they would move them outside to stroller parking if it stopped raining- and we power walked all the way up the queue straight onto a boat.

Great ride, but after we got off Pirates my sister expressed her disappointment in the fact that Disney had "taken out a boat in the battle scene." ?? Evidently, she remembers (from our trip in 1995) there being 2 pirate ships locked in a battle in the first scene, instead of one ship attacking the fort/ city. I told her that I think it has always been that way, as the story is that the pirates are attacking a city, not the pirates attacking each other, but she holds fast to the memory of 2 boats. Can anyone help me out here? Were there ever 2 pirate ships in battle?

Anyway, after Pirates we ran to Frontierland to conquer at least one mountain, if not 2, before the crowds arrived after the rain. We decided on Splash first since we were already slightly wet and wearing our ponchos.

Now remember the "Test Track story?" Well this is where it comes in handy. My mom was talked into Splash Mountain. My 7 year old son said, "Grandma, they don't even have seat belts. It's not that scary." So onto Splash she went. All 10 of us managed to sit in one boat and I got to sit beside her. When we got to the drop, I tried to scream, "Somebody lied to me!!!!" But all I got out was "Somebody..." before I started laughing so hard I couldn't stop. Everyone knew what I meant though, and we were all laughing. Lucky for me my sweet husband captured most of the drop, and the laughing afterward on camera.

Here are some of my favorites:

Screaming on the way down:

Laughter

See, I'm laughing WITH you, not AT you

:lol: Sigh....... love those Disney moments!

 

[erstwo]

After Splash, we ran (the whole 50 feet) toward Thunder, but it was down. Does it always close when it rains? :shrug:

So we got Fastpasses and I told my sister that it might be a good idea to head to Fantasyland while the crowds were still low. Haunted Mansion was on our way, so we stopped off.

We walked right up to the doors. There was no wait. The walls were still up in the queue, but they looked different, almost better? than in October.

Maybe a different color paint.

Sweet moments in line:

After deciding not to be the 1,000th ghost, we headed toward Peter Pan. But it was a 30 minute wait (what is it with this ride?!) so we opted for It's a Small World (walk on) and then Philharmagic (walk in)

Then it was on the Carousel. Zero wait here too.

 

[erstwo]

After that, I think someone had to visit the restroom, because we somehow ended up on the edge of Fantasyland/ Tomorrowland and I have pictures of the kids in front of Cinderella's Wishing Well.

We decided to leave Tomorrowland for the next day, and headed back toward Fantasyland, of course passing the Teacups. It was less than a 5 minute wait, so we rode -

And then we hopped on Snow White, which had a ten minute wait. I really wanted my family to ride it since it might be gone before they make it back to WDW.

By then we were all starving and I took back my words about leaving all of Tomorrowland for the next day. I wanted some Starlight Cafe!

I had the 1/2 chicken with green beans and potatoes and my daughter had chicken nuggets and french fries with grapes.
(ETA - I think what is pictured here is the Chicken and ribs combo - which is what my husband had for lunch.

 

[becanya]

Ok seriously, where do you live? If we lived in the same town I think we would be best friends. How far are you from Nashville? I'm assuming to far to grab coffee with me and my friend Mindy! :ROFLOL:

 

[erstwo]

The place was busy - not as busy as it would be the next day, Monday - but still busy, so we didn't get seats where we could see Sonny. So the kids stopped by to watch the show before we left.

After lunch, we walked past Pooh - which had a 30 minute wait. I talked my family into waiting in line because of the awesome new queue. So glad we did it! It was amazing! The only part not open was the Tigger part, hidden behind these trees.

I was going to go back and take pictures of the Tigger area through the trees, but I ended up having so much fun playing with my kids in the rest of the queue I never made it back! Here's us having tons of fun!

Kids loved running in and out of the house and ringing the bell outside!

I guess they need to add a little more "glue" to the flooring. It was already coming apart:

My son pulling a gopher from his hole/ playing tug of war with gopher.

My daughter jumping up and down to make the gophers appear:

The only thing wrong with this part of the queue is that it is too good! Kids have to be drug from the playground area kicking and screaming! And one parent has to stay in line, while the other parent watches their kids until they round the curve into the "honey wall area." Which makes the line seem slower because you've got 7 parents in front of you, but they will be joined by 3 other people (on average) right when you make the turn into the honey wall area. (Because once you make that turn you can't get back in line without having to push past people.)

 

[erstwo]

The honey walls were awesome too!

Then finally, we were on the actual ride!

When we got to our strollers, we had some entertainment waiting for us!

Another one of those magical Disney moments!

Coming up next.... our ride on Dumbo and my "over the wall photos" Nothing new I'm sure, but I still took them for those of you who love to see the Mermaid/ Beauty and the Beast progress!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Awesome TR, can't wait to see the rest!

 

[erstwo]

Ok seriously, where do you live? If we lived in the same town I think we would be best friends. How far are you from Nashville? I'm assuming to far to grab coffee with me and my friend Mindy! :ROFLOL:

Actually, I don't live close, but I don't live too terribly far! I love to take my kids to the Nashville Zoo. It is my second favorite zoo, right behind Animal Kingdom. It reminds me of Animal Kingdom actually, because it is so clean and well maintained and the animals have plenty of space and seems so well cared for! I'll send you a PM tonight.

Awesome TR, can't wait to see the rest!

Thank you! I'll try to get back to updating tonight. I thought we were going to be snowed in this morning and I would have all day to update in between playing with the kids and laundry!
But it is all systems go here - and after almost 2 weeks away from home, there is a lot of 'going' to do!

 

[erstwo]

A quick addition to the TR:

So, after Pooh, we rode the carousel again (no wait) and then headed for the 30 minute line for Dumbo. I was the only one who wanted wait in the line. All of the kids wanted to ride, but the adults weren't convinced it was worth a 30 minute wait. I finally convinced them that - short of running straight to Dumbo at park opening - there would always be at least a 20 minute line for Dumbo, so we might as well knock it out of the way now.

When we got up in the air, I asked my son to keep us as high up as possible so I could take some pictures over the wall. Lucky for me, he loves to be up high!

I have no idea what I was looking at, short of it's Mermaid on the right and Beauty and the Beast on the left. What is that big concrete pad for in the foreground? I have more pictures if anyone wants to see them, I'll post them. But I figure they are old news by now!

After Dumbo, we finally redeemed our Fastpasses for Peter Pan

After Peter Pan, my daughter was getting pretty grumpy, so I decided to walk her around in the stroller and let her nap, while the rest of my family headed back to Advetureland/ Frontierland to do all the rides they missed much earlier in the day during the rain.

While my daughter napped, my family rode Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, and explored the Swiss Family Treehouse. They may have fit in one more, but I can't remember. It only took them about an hour and a half to do all 3!!!

I walked my daughter down to Main Street, but it was pretty crowded on the sidewalks (this may have been right before the 3:00 parade.)

So I took her down to the Rose Garden to let her sleep in a nice, quiet place. There was only myself and one other nursing mom down there. It was soooo peaceful!

Eventually she woke up!

And then it was time to check in for dinner!

 

[erstwo]

Dinner was at Cinderella's Royal Table and it was awesome! We were all in a much better mood today, for whatever reason, and the princesses took their time talking to us. Our waiter was very attentive and we loved our food!

My mom's shrimp appetizer:

My salad:

So good!!

My dinner:

It was good, but it tasted like it had been plated an hour before it came out to me. Lukewarm and crusty.

My daughter's dinner:

My daughter's dessert:

My dessert, Chef's Trio:

The park was closed (7 pm for MVMCP) by the time our dinner was over, so we stopped by a Photopass Photographer to have our picture taken in front of the Castle in lights and then headed out!

 

[erstwo]

Whew! Losing steam here! I'm only to the end of the third full day.

Monday, December 6

The next morning we were really tired. It had been a wonderful day at the MK, but we had done a lot! Our kids slept until 8:30 Eastern! That's almost 7:30 where we live, and an hour and a half after they usually get up. So we took it slow and took our time getting back to the Magic Kingdom.

My sister and her family were up & at 'em. So they headed straight for Tomorrowland at park opening with my parents. They rode Buzz Lightyear and Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor before we got there at around 10:15. They also rode Stich! :lookaroun Because I wasn't there to warn them...... they hated it.

When we got there, they had divided their Fastpasses between Space Mountain and Buzz, so we did the same and I headed straight for the ONE thing my daughter wanted to do more than anything else - meet Rapunzel.

When I got there around 10:45, I was the second person in line for the noon show! (Yes, that's right, I had to wait an hour and 15 minutes in line!) But I knew it would be worth it, since the awesome people on WDWmagic :sohappy: had told me that if my daughter was one of the first 10 or 15 in line, she would get to dance with Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder.

Sure enough:

First we colored:

See all those people behind the rope? (above) Those are the people who waited for about 30 minutes and didn't get to do the "interactive" color and dance part. The only got to line up for a meet and greet after the other kids were through dancing.

I thought my daughter was going to pass out when Rapunzel took her hand for the dancing. She LOVED it!

The Christmas decorations were nice here. No Belle in her Christmas outfit nice, but still nice!

One great thing about the experience was that they kept you in the same order for the Meet & Greet portion. So, since I was second in line to get into the experience, I was also second in line to meet & greet with the characters.

Overall, I give the experience an "A" for awesome! I hate that the wait is so long, but there was a 'captain' (is that right? captain?) of the Fantasyland characters who chatted us up while we were in line - Jason, I think was his name- who explained how the whole idea came to be and I think he had some valid points about how guest want to do more than just get an autograph and a photo with the characters.

Okay, so much more to come...... eventually!

 

[Alison1975]

Rapunzel is the only Princess my daughter likes.. we are SOOO waiting in line to do this!

 

[erstwo]

Rapunzel is the only Princess my daughter likes.. we are SOOO waiting in line to do this!

Totally worth the wait! And if you are traveling with another adult, you can wait in line and the kids can ride rides, etc. until about 15 minutes before you go in - so not as much wait time for the kiddos! I hope your daughter loves it!

 

[erstwo]

Okay, SO..........

after the Tangled Meet & Greet, everyone wanted to stay in Tomorrowland to use their Buzz Lightyear Fastpasses. We needed to kill some time so we went on:

It was my first time on the ride in 15 years. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. I do love that they keep it as sort of a tribute to Walt Disney. Our kids, 8,7, 4, &4, did okay. They got a little restless toward the end, but they were pretty much captivated the entire time. I don't think they wanted to ride it twice though.

After the COP was over, we still had some time left before our Fastpasses. I asked if anyone wanted to ride the Peoplemover, but they had ridden it twice while I was in line for Rapunzel. Astro Orbiter? They had ridden that too. So we got in line to meet Buzz Lightyear. My youngest niece is a HUGE Toy Story fan. She currently only has a Buzz Lightyear and the ONLY thing she has asked Santa for is a Woody. My sister says she gets up every morning and tells her Buzz, "Santa's going to bring your buddy soon, okay Buzz?"
Too cute!

The line for Buzz was pretty long - at least a half hour. The MK overall was much more crowded this day. We really never left Tomorrowland, so I can't say how the crowds were in other areas, but it was ten times busier than the day before. I guess it's true what they say about MK on a Sunday, vs. MK on a Monday. I've never had a crowded day at the MK on a Sunday.

Finally, it was time for our Fastpasses!

We're a pretty competitive family. We love to play sports with our kids (even the ones we're not good at!) And we love to joke around about out scoring each other, etc. We sometimes even have prizes on Family Game Night, but the biggest thing we like to win in our family is bragging rights. Sadly, I was beaten by my husband this round. BUT I was totally vindicated at TSMM! (Just had to be sure to clear that up! )

Ouch. My hubby claims it is because he hit the ship thingy in the "space tunnel" and it gave him 50,000 bonus points each time. I didn't know we were supposed to aim at anything in there? (or at least that's my excuse :lookaroun)

After we laughed at our on ride pictures, I found myself alone with my son outside of the Buzz Lightyear exit. I turned around to go inside and see what was going on, and found that my daughter had purchased a new friend. My husband was valiantly trying to free her from her toy box.

It was a ton of work to get her out of there. It took 3 adults and 2 pairs of scissors, but finally Jesse was free!

So worth it!