Raven66's Christmas trip report-better late then never :-)

Hi everyone! Let me just start by saying we had a great time. And I'm sorry it has taken so long to write this trip report. Our trip was Dec 10-Dec 16 2008.

Dec 10:
Well, the first part of the day is not very interesting at all but we will muddle thru. Our day started at 6:30 am even though our flight didn't leave from Memphis until 2:55 PM. I had a drs. appt at 8 am so we all got up and ready to go for that. We got to the office at 7:50 and Joe's (DH) cell rang. It was the office telling me that my appt was cancelled because the dr was snowed in in Chicago. Well that was just freaking fantastic. I know it wasn't the drs. fault but I think they sat in the office and waited for me to get there. I bet they were just all sitting around laughing. So we headed back home and on the way we noticed the vet was open. We have 2 dogs that we kennel when we are gone. I know some people think that is cruel but I'm thinking they needed a vacation from us too.

So we decided to take the dogs to the vet early so we could get more done. These dogs see leashes and they go nuts. I think I almost lost an eye. Jeez! We get them there and one is like don't let the door hit you on the way out, the other one was all sad faced. Keeley (DD) started crying so in turn I cried too. We were over it by the time we got home. So we loaded the bags into the car and basically we just sat around waiting for 11 am when we could leave. It take about an hour to get to Memphis from our house.

Ok so this is where the fun begins. Joe thought we should go early because he just knew that there would be a golden halo of Disney bliss around us and they would take one look at us and say "We have 3 seats left on a non stop flight to Orlando, we think you all should be on it" HA Instead what happen was our flight from Atlanta was 40 mins late. So by the time we boarded and such it was over an hour behind.

I think I've mentioned before that I am very afraid to fly. So I got some xanax for our flights. I had taken one and was feeling very good. Keeley said I was hanging in the aisle yelling weeeeeeeeee but I don't remember that. I'm sure that is good thing. So we are on our flight waiting to go.

So I wasn't sitting by the window but I took this picture anyway.

I'm pretty sure the drugs wore off when the landing gear came down and I wanted to hit the aisle and scream we are going to die. But luckily Keeley had a hold of my hand. Whew, crisis diverted.

We landed in Atlanta thinking we weren't going to make it to our connecting flight. So Joe left Keeley and I will all the luggage and ran to the other gate which I think was about 10 miles away. So K and I are lugging all the bags and the Atlanta airport is huge. My cell rings and Joe tells me to take my time because our connecting flight is behind.

Things finally start to work our way. We get on our flight and we had little tv's in the headrest so it kept my mind off being on the airplane. We land in Orlando!!!! So happy. We head down to the ME counter and while Joe checked us in I went to the little girls room. We had gotten our own luggage because we got in so late. It was about 10 or so. Joe was done at the counter by the time I was done. We made our way to the ME bus

Then we got nice and comfy for the trip to our resort.

This is the picture I took out the front window

We checked into our room and they were very nice and it very quick. We got into our room and this is what was on our bed

We dropped out bags off in our room and ran down to eat some dinner before it closed. We headed back to the room and went to sleep.

Day 2- MK coming shortly.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Nice start - will await the rest patiently

 

[Raven66]

Day 2 Magic Kingdom and the rain.

I guess I should have mentioned last time that we were staying at All Star Music. Our first full day started out loudly. We were asleep and I think the people before us thought it would be really funny to set the alarm. So since I was still asleep I'm not sure of the time it went off but I'm guessing it was about 5 am. Well the funny part was we had it set up for a wake up call and Keeley was going to answer it. The alarm goes off and Joe is yelling for her to answer the phone. And Keeley is yelling I am it won't stop ringing. And I from the other side of the room am yelling "it's the alarm". So a few expletives later, Joe gets it turned off. Amazingly we all went back to sleep to wait for the alarm.


The day started out warm, windy and overcast.

We hop on our bus and we are ready to go. It looks like rain but no way is it raining on our vacation.

It was early EMH, but we had to stop at Town Hall first to get my Happy Birthday button. Greatest thing ever! The CM that did the buttons was the nicest guy ever. His name was David and he told great stories and was just super friendly. Since Keeley's b-day is a week after Christmas she got a button too.

After we get our buttons we hightail it over to Fantasyland. Every where we go we tons of "Happy Birthday". Keeley didn't like the attention so she really didn't wear her button that much. The very first thing we did was Mickey's Philharmagic

We really enjoy this show and we saw it several times during this trip.

I don't have alot of pictures for this day, because it did finally start to rain, but it was the best thing ever. While everyone else was huddling inside, we were going from ride to ride. There were NO LINES. We could have done Magic Kingdom twice that day if the hours would have been longer.

We sat here waiting for Toon Town to open so we could go see the Fairies.

We finally got in to see them and it was really cute. One of them asked my daughter where she was from and she said Arkansas and she said Arkansauce. That sounds like something you eat with dinner. And then she told all the other fairies that Keeley was from Arkansauce. It was really cute.

And of course I made my family stand for some castle pictures that you have to have. It's mandatory.

And just a couple more thrown in for good measure.

 

[Raven66]

It rained all day which really was no big deal. We just enjoyed walking onto all the rides.

I don't want to bore you all with all the ride pictures, but we really did have a blast.

Joe was really bummed that HOP was closed. I think there my have been tears but he said it was rain drops.

We also found these I decided I needed these in the garage when Joe and Keeley needed punishment. I personally think it's a good idea.

The look on Joe's face says he doesn't like my idea. Big cry baby!

We saw just a few characters because of the rain

It stopped raining long enough for the parade which we were really happy about

 

[Raven66]

And of course we had to get our Mickey ice cream, it's a tradition.

Ok, I think I'm going to bring this wonderful day to a close with some Christmas decorations and castle pictures.

This brings us to the end of our first complete day. We were so in awe of the decorations. I hope I'm not boring you with all these pictures. I do have to say that with it raining all day and me wearing a white shirt, I'm pretty sure I was a member of the first ever Magic Kingdom wet T-shirt contest. Note to self-never wear white if you even think it's going to rain.

Next up day 3-Epcot with dinner at LTT.

 

[Raven66]

Day 3 Epcot and dinner at LTT

Thanks for sticking with me everyone. This is my first trip report so it may be a little long and windy. haha

We started our day here

We were waiting at the rope drop and all the CM's there with us happen to be from Soarin'. So they were talking it up a lot and people were just getting really excited to go that way. Well, we had decided before we got there that we were going to do the Nemo ride first because we had never done it.

We were walking behind some Nemo CM's and they turn around and are surprised to see us. One yelled out "Hey there are people" and another says "You know you can't get to Soarin from here". It was all pretty funny. So needless to say we were the first people on for the day. I thought it was a really cute ride and we made sure to ride it again before our trip was over. After it was done we hung around and did some of the activities while we waited for Turtle Talk.

And we saw this which was really cool. This CM has a pretty neat job.

So then by this time TT was open and we did that

While we were hanging out there Joe ran and got fast passes for Soarin. So by the time we walked over after seeing all the cool stuff in The Seas it was time for our fastpass. So we hit Soarin'. We just love this ride

After that we went on Living with the Land.

Believe it or not, this is one of Keeley's favorite things to do. She must have taken a hundred pictures just in there. Don't worry, I don't have hers, I only took a few.

Then we had lunch. Sorry I didn't take many food pictures. We ate it way too fast to take pictures of it. haha

 

[SamnDawn060304]

Nice report with pics thanks for sharing.

 

[Raven66]

We then went over to see Figment and HISTA. We really enjoy both things.

Then we braved Club Cool. I'm always afraid to taste any of those drinks and I don't trust Joe when he says "No it doesn't taste bad". We've been married to long for me to fall for that.

And I just took this picture of the fountain. It was so pretty.

I did forget to mention that Joe and Keeley went on Mission:Space and I sat on a bench and just people watched. I like to do that. It's a lot of fun to listen to what people say to each other. The best part is when this young girl walked by me, she was probably about 9. And she saw my birthday button and she just yelled Happy Birthday to me. I thought that was so sweet.

 

[Raven66]

We finished up our day back at Magic Kingdom for dinner at LTT.

We really enjoy this restaurant and all the characters. While we were there they had a little ceremony for a CM that had been there for 10 yrs. It was really nice and the CM's name was Michael. He was presented with a plaque and a ten yr pin. And I'm not sure who the man was that was presenting him with these things but he was trying really hard to hold back the tears. And then all the characters came out and Michael got his picture taken with them. Joe thought I should have taken a picture too like everyone else, but I just felt like I would have been intruding on his moment. It was very nice.

I got lots of hugs from the characters because of my b-day button and the food was really good as usual.

Chip and Dale are Keeley's favorite. They are always so playful

And who doesn't love Minnie?

The big Goof himself

And here I got a big birthday hug from Dale

And when Keeley sees this picture she is going to kill me but she really enjoyed her dinner.

Well, that's it for day 3. Stay tuned for Day 4, DHS and lunch at the SciFi.
Thanks for reading so far!!

 

[Raven66]

Nice start - will await the rest patiently

Thanks Captain!

 

[Raven66]

Nice report with pics thanks for sharing.

Thank you and you're welcome. :wave:

 

[HollyBelle]

I agree... better late than never :sohappy:! Thanks for sharing, I look forward to the rest.

 

[nibblesandbits]

Yay! You finally started it! Great report so far!!!

 

[Raven66]

Ok! I'm back for day 4 DHS with ending the evening at MK for Wishes.

This day was a little chilly. But we muddled thru. We had never ridden TSM since this was our first trip in 3 yrs. So we booked it over there only to find out the ride was down. So Joe got us fastpasses while I took pictures.

When we finally got a chance to ride it, it was enjoyable but I just don't think we would wait hours to ride it again.

Here is the picture everyone must take

We were just kind of all over the place at DHS, we usually have more of plan but this time it was just all willy nilly. I took this picture of ToT that I thought was really cool.

Here is the muppet balloon-very spiffy

And Buzz Lightyear

And my favorite muppet of all Rizzo the Rat

Ok it may not actually be Rizzo, but I chose to believe it's him. haha

We did watch Block Party Bash

It was really good. Everyone was dancing and the kids were just so cute dancing with characters. I couldn't see a lot because I'm a little on the short side so I gave the camera to Joe. I seem to make that mistake a lot. Last trip I left it with him at the restaurant in Marrakesh and I ended up with about 50 pics of a belly dancer. At least these pictures are ones I didn't mind looking at. But I won't bore you all with them. If you haven't seen it, give it a try.

Then we had lunch at Sci Fi.

This is one of my favorite places to eat at DHS.

I didn't get a picture of them but on this day Keeley decided to wear her birthday button so they brought us both Sundae's for our b-days. It was really nice and they were very tasty.

 

[Raven66]

We next decided to head towards ToT and RnRc.

And here are just a couple of inside shots that turned out pretty good.

We decided to head over to RnRC which is another one of those rides that I sit and people watch while Joe and Keeley ride it.

The standby time said 30 mins and that isn't a big deal, I can people watch for that long. But as soon as they were up there Joe calls to tell me the wait was actually 60 mins. But I tell you what, the wait actually seems more like 90 mins. A person can only sit so long and people watch before others think you are some sort of freak.
We also did the Great Movie Ride

and we saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid

As we were walking by we decided to say hi to the main duck, Donald!!

Before we left DHS we decided to take a few pictures of Christmas decorations.

 

[Raven66]

Keeley and I felt we needed a little rest before we headed back to MK to see Wishes. Joe didn't want to go back with us so he resort hopped. Keeley and then took pictures on our way back to our room

I don't believe my husband knows what rest means. To Keeley and I it was about an hour nap to refresh ourselves. Joe thought it meant 15 mins sitting on the bed with our shoes off. He was very wrong. But he called anyway to see what was taking so long. I'm like ummmmmmmm it's called sleeping. UGH!!

He was holding seats for us at MK by the noodle station and he said it was filling up quick. Well, we finally got there and I'll tell you what, it was freaking cold. Joe went and got us some hot chocolate

We were sitting by the water. I think our hot chocolate froze before we drank it. I wanted to leave and go back to the warm room. It didn't happen. Keeley and I would walk around waiting for the fireworks to start. We rode the TTA twice

We just took pictures of whatever we felt like.

And then it was time for the fireworks, thank goodness. Here are a few firework pictures.

After the fireworks we high tailed it out of there. I just wanted to walk fast so I could warm up. It was actually a really nice day. Join us tomorrow for our day at Animal Kingdom.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Great report! I love all the pictures. Lol about your nap time!:lol:

 

[Raven66]

Sorry it's taken awhile to come back, just been a little busy. Today our trip took us to Animal Kingdom. This is actually my favorite park. I love the atmosphere and the animals.

I took some many pictures that I just picked a few. Just some random ones. We went into Flights of Wonder and I got chosen to be one of the people that takes the picture of the owl.

Notice my feet don't touch the ground. I live with that everyday!!

And we just thought the CM with the eagle was cool.

And of course we went on rides.

And we saw It's A Bug's Life which is one of our favorites. Every time we go, Joe tries to get me to sit back so I will get "stung" by a bee. I don't want to get stung. What's that about anyway??

And here are just a couple of random shots that we thought were nice.

And last but not least, Santa Goofy!

 

[Raven66]

The last two days of our trip were just filled with park hopping. We went back to Animal Kingdom and we were chosen to be the first family to ride the safari for the day.

Then we went on the hunt for some characters and we had a lot of fun with them.

And I just wanted to add this one in because they were so darn cute.

Then we hopped on over to DHS for a couple more hours of fun.

My family went on RnRC while I people watched. If you look really close you can see Joe and Keeley right by bottom of the guitar standing in line.

And of course we had to go on ToT again.

Joe and Keeley decided to pose for me.

And of course we had to stay for the pretty Christmas lights.

After the lights we went back to our room to get ready to spend our last day at Epcot.

 

[Raven66]

This was our last day. I don't have a lot of pictures because as we are walking around I noticed that my camera battery was almost dead. So I will share a few with you.

We rode SSE and Test Track. SSE was pretty cool. I liked the screens. Keeley and I had fun doing it on our ride thru. The second time we rode I was alone. They gave me a man on the screen, to take on my trip with me, I think Joe was jealous. haha

It looks like someone took a bite out of my head.

And we went over to the Seas again. Saw some dolphins and sea turtles. And a big hidden Mickey.

And of course we had to hit Figment again.

And just a random Christmas tree picture.

For lunch we went to Teppan Edo. It was really good and very fun. We weren't even sure what it was but we wanted an adventure and that is what we got.

Keeley eating with chopsticks. She did really good with them too. I had the CM dummy my chopsticks down for me.

They brought me a chef's hat and a wonderful piece of ginger cake for my birthday. It was great. And the cake was so good.

Well, this brings us to the end of our trip. We had a wonderful time and everything was great. Thank you for sticking with me thru all of the pictures and boring stuff.

I only have two "bad" things to say. The first one is so our fault. We knew the hours were shortened but it just seem to go so fast during the day. We blinked and before we knew it the day was over. Eventhough the Christmas lights and decorations were beautiful, when we are able to go again we are going to go when the hours are long. The 2nd thing is really kind of silly, but the water pressure at All Star Music was awful. For Joe and I it didn't really matter, but Keeley has super long, super super thick hair. It took her 20 mins just to wash and condition it because it took forever to rinse. I know to some people that is a dumb complaint. It's not really a complaint, just a quibble. So no one take offense.

We can't wait to go back whenever that may be. We hope it's soon, but if it's not we will just save and dream about the next one. Thanks again for sticking with me!!