Trip Report Oh, the Places We go, The People We See

Welcome to my newest Trip Report. For those who don’t know me, I am Jen.

That’s my Daughter Claire with me.



We just got back from an amazing vacation with several family members.

We traveled Nov. 1st thru the 15th, 2012. We rested our headed at 6 different places on this trip, and though it wasn’t always easy to keep moving from place to place, I am happy to have tried some new resorts out and stayed at some familiar ones as well.



This trip came about over a year ago. My Mom’s cousin Vicki wanted to take a trip with her and my Aunt Mary. Her Daughter Katie also wanted to come along.

After some talking and planning it became a group of 16 traveling. I was elected ring leader since I have quite a bit of Disney experience.

Plans were made, some were changed, and some were a little slower at making decisions than others.

My husband Skip is what is known in the Disney groups as a resistor and he decided NOT to come along. He was not so happy about the amount of time I was going to be gone.



The dates for the cruise were set first, Nov 4 through the 8th on the Disney Dream. We all planned to arrive a day early and stay at the Residence Inn near the port. Soon I decided that I must add a few Disney days, and so did everyone else eventually. I thin decide…heck lets add some more, and Claire and I ended up staying 3 more days after the rest left.

Then after doing some research and with a heads up from my good Dis-friend Carey, I was alerted to the fact that the last Halloween party was on Nov. 2nd. How could I pass that chance up? So Claire and I decided to fly in a day earlier than everyone else to hit that party. Claire and I also decided to fly out of Columbus. My family lives near the Toledo, OH area, and the best direct flights are out of Detroit. My youngest sister, who was not going on the cruise, lives in Columbus, and I was able to get a decent priced direct flight from there, so Claire and I drove down Nov. 1 and spent the night before our early flight.



Plans were finally all set in stone and we just had to wait for our time to arrive. Not an easy task, but we all managed.



Let me introduce you to the crew. This is a picture of a picture. My sister has the CD with the actual digital copy, but hasn’t yet loaded it to the computer, so I had to go with this for now till I can get a copy.

In the back row, left to right, we have my parents, Joe and Paula, next to them is my Uncle Geoff. Next to Geoff is cousin Vicki and her son in law Thad. Next to Thad is Pete, Vicki’s husband and then me. Aunt Mary is on the end, she is married to Uncle Geoff and my Mother’s sister.

Down towards the front, left to right, is my nieces Alexis and Abby with their parents Rob and Gail. Gail is my sister. Front and center is Claire. Behind Claire are Jude, and Katie. Katie is married to Thad and is Pete and Vicki’s Daughter. And then we have baby Luke in the stroller. He is only about 9 months old and what a cutie he is.



This trip had the usual ups and downs that most every family will have, but I have to admit things went much smoother than I planned. We never felt the need to kill each other for the most part. LOL

We had several cruise newbies and several Disney World newbies as well.



Please join me in reliving a very magical trip with all the places we traveled and all the people we met along the way!

 

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And here he is!!!!

















I guess Claire was taking a quick nap?








The whole area was so cute.

 

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








And back out to the park we went.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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And then we made our way to our dinner destination!










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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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It’s a Small World After All!

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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





Lumierre was amazing!







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.

 

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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!