Thumbs up! Now point at it! We're baaack..1/23-2/1

Yep yep yep! We're back! I actually kept notes like a good girl and have been true to form by procrastinating on writing this report. All my text is finished. I still have to proof read as I go. I'm still in the process of uploading photos and video. I ain't even gonna try to edit any of that. I'm just gonna plug it in and go with this thing. Yeah, it's gonna be a heck of a journey for you readers so get ready. It was a heck of a journey for us along the way.

If you missed my pre-trippie & are interested, here's the link for that:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=389610

Again, this is my 1st ever trip report. It may get a little wordy at times but bear with me. Here we go!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

1/22 Pre-Departure Day: "I ain't even packin' no jeans!"

Yeah. Famous quote from Tracey (DH) on our pre-departure day. The 10 day weather forecasts were giving us all upper 70’s & low 80’s for temperatures. Okaaaaay. What I want to know is when in the past 15+ years has this man packed his own suitcase?! So my dear husband proclaimed that he wasn’t even gonna pack ANY jeans to take with us…and then I proceeded to pack our usual assortment of short & long sleeves, sweatshirts, shorts, and of course JEANS. I guess technically he was right. He didn’t pack any jeans. I did. LOL!

I hit the ground running at 5 a.m. the day before our Disney Departure. I did laundry, packed suitcases for all 4 of us, cleaned house, prepared everything for our dear friends who were coming to dog/house sit, balanced the bank account registers, and paid the bills. Even with all that I did there was a lot left undone. And even with all that I did manage to do, apparently Cinderella was draggin’ hiney because when evil step-mother…er…I mean darling husband...got home he was fussing about me not being ready to hit the road. Unlike Cinderella, I had a few not-so-magical words for him before I took off to the bank and nail salon. Late or not, I wasn’t leaving town without a manicure & pedicure. LOL!

We arrived at the LaQuinta Inn in Houston around 8 or 9. I know I didn’t end up getting to sleep until midnight-ish although I can’t remember for the life of me why. Oh! I know! Because sleep deprivation is my favorite thing! Yes! And Brian (DS11) wanted to pile into bed with Tracey & me which makes a full size bed feel more like a hammock. LOL!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

1/23 Departure Day: Someone rip the smoke alarm from the ceiling! The journey begins.

2:00 a.m. is not a good hour for the hotel smoke alarm to decide to chirp on 5 minute intervals. It’s especially not good when you didn’t get to sleep until midnight and had your alarm set to get up at 3:30 a.m. Sleep or no sleep our flight was leaving at 6:30. On with the day!

Here’s where my report title comes in. Every adventure has to have its own punch line, the reoccurring joke that keeps everyone giggling. Sleep deprivation has a way of bringing out the silly in people. Without telling the whole story of how it happened, Tracey enlightened us with his buddy’s universal sign for “I’m okay” at some point either on the way to Houston on our pre-departure road trip or while waiting to board the plane. It stuck. So everyone do it with me now: With one hand do the thumbs up. Good. Now with the other hand point at the thumb that’s up. Yep. Now you’re part of our fun!

Breakfast was a picnic of whatever we all scrounged up in the airport terminal. Thank merciful God, I found coffee. I didn’t have to bite anyone.
Flight was on-time. Jerry is a nervous flier so the “I’m okay” sign was in use frequently.

Magical Express. **sigh** Sing it with me now: This is the ride that juust won’t eeend ‘cause it goes on and on my friiiieeend… OMG! The driver we had was slower than my father-in-law’s driving, the stinkin’ video monitor nearest us wasn’t working, and we were the last of 4 resort drop-offs. On a good day I have the patience of a gnat. I really was considering jumping from the bus and flagging down a taxi.

Magical Express smiles:

We made it to the Contemporary around 11:45-ish – ya know, just prior to the boys sending out their college applications. Ha! Just kidding. Of course our room wasn’t yet ready. We were starving so our 1st stop after check-in was the Contempo Café. This was meal #2 where we had a good laugh at Jerry’s uncanny ability to order something and then learn that he chose poorly (1st instance was Chili’s on the road trip the night before). Next stop was Bay View Gifts. We had to get the boys’ gift cards charged up with their $300 souvenir funds. At the start of our trips we give them a gift card to spend wisely. The rule is they can’t ask us to buy them trinkets every 2 ½ minutes. They are better at choosing what they really want and, believe me, they don’t want as much when it’s their wallets that open up at the register. Also at BVG we had to get some hoodies for Tracey & me. Mr. I-Ain’t-Packin-No-Jeans lectured me about not needing a sweater or hoodie when we arrived because the high was supposed to be 70-ish. I jammed everything I could into the luggage that we checked with the airline. So without a room or our luggage we were buying hoodies because the temperature hadn’t even made 50 degrees when we arrived in Orlando. Thank goodness I anticipated the boys being chilly on the plane and insisted they wear their cool new Hollister hoodies they were so jazzed to get.

Anywho, got the hoodies and figured we’d go get our passes squared away at the Magic Kingdom Guest Relations. Since we were passing the front desk we checked on our room status and it was ready. WooHoo! We got the 10th floor right at the walkway to the elevator in room 4637. The view of the Magic Kingdom was awesome. Cinderella and her 4 favorite mice quickly unpacked the suitcases and put away our groceries. Storage at the Contemporary is quite limited so Jerry ended up being the step-child who got to live out of his suitcase.

With the work done it was time for some fun. We hiked over to the Magic Kingdom, got our passes (3 Florida Seasonals cost just over $300 after stripping the 1 day MYW tickets & applying the $200 gift card from our package – chaChing!), and made our way to Adventureland. Our 1st official attraction ride (because the Magical Express and hotel elevator do not count)…drumroll please…Jungle Cruise! Yaaaayyy!!! We only had about a 10 minute wait, too. The jokes are still corny as always and the scenery gives you a whole new appreciation for Kilamanjaro Safari but it’s a classic that can’t be missed.


Brian goofing between rides:

Next we set sail with our pirate buddies at Pirates of the Caribbean. This was Jerry’s 1st cruise with the politically correct scenery and Jack Sparrow additions. He seemed to enjoy it. After our pirate excursion we thought we’d make our way towards Big Thunder Mountain. The parade had juuust passed and the dispersing crowd made the que look like a mob scene (which coincidentally is not our scene) so we decided we’d head back to the resort. Our early morning was catching up with us old people.

Here's the view from our balcony just before dinner:

We had a bit of a rest before dinner at Chef Mickey’s. Our boys made a few discoveries during dinner, too. Brian found his “moves” during the Celebration song. The video speaks for itself. Chandler discovered the wisdom in the phrase “everything in moderation” after making himself sick from 3 tall glasses of chocolate milk. Wow. Mom & Dad weren’t being stupid nags when they kept saying, “You’re gonna make yourself sick.”
Chef Mick's Pics:

And Brian found his "moves"! You'll see more later in the trip (click the link. I can't figure out how to insert video):

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/1-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=ChefMicBrian.flv

I don't think this could have gone down better if it had been rehearsed:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/1-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=ChefMicPluto.flv

After an excellent dinner we hopped the monorail(s) over to Epcot. There we went for some spins on Test Track and Mission:Space.

A waiting for Test Track pic:

Next we did what any hard-up Soarin’ fan would do and actually stood in the long standby line for a taste of the glorious heaven that we can never get enough of. After our first flight of many during this trip we walked onto Living with the Land. Jerry agreed (Yes. Mom & Dad, write it down, we agreed!) that the recorded narration doesn’t even come close to the coolness of the ride with a live tour guide.

What’s the last ride of the day? The monorail(s) back home, of course! I made it to bed at 11:30. What a day!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

1/24 Day 1-That tickled my....!!!

The day started with me oversleeping by 14 minutes. Isn’t it amazing how 14 little old minutes can make you feel like you have completely blown the entire day?! We still made it out the door by 7:55 so I guess all wasn’t lost.

When we boarded the monorail the boys wanted to sit in front with the pilot. There’s only room for 4 and there’s 5 of us. I told the big guys to go ride with the kids. Jerry stepped up and wasn’t going to let his poor little sister ride all alone in that first cabin. He opted to go with me. When I sat down by the window I pulled out my cell phone to check the time. Jerry lit up and excitedly said, “Oh! You’re checking your email! I’ll go with the guys!” He sounded like a little kid who discovered he was off the hook. Before I had a chance to say a word he was back out the door running for the cockpit. So in true big-brother form Jerry watched after his little sister only as long as it took to be released from his duty. Then I was on my own. Abandoned. Helpless. Vulnerable. Yeah, right! It was a wonderful, peaceful, relaxing ride I wouldn’t have traded for the cockpit view if I could have.

The guys in the cockpit:

All by my lonesome & some early approach pics:

We walked through the Epcot turnstiles around 8:15. I tell ya, being inside a park prior to opening soooo rocks. I love it and make sure I get ADRs inside the park restaurants early in the morning every trip.

Here's some early pics:

We had our Akershus Princess Breakfast which was super-yummy and lots of fun. The strawberries were huge, juicy, and sweet. We had to remind Chandler again “everything in moderation”. He would’ve been sick again.

Yummy strawberries:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 1: continued...

As each princess/character approached the tables before ours the grown-up boys would comment on the outfit, physique, etc. with their typical man-comments.

Here's our peanut gallery:

Most fabulous most definitely went to Jasmine. The fact that Brian’s cheeks flushed when she spoke to him says it all. He couldn’t even look at her much less speak. It was so cute. Jasmine had the whole package going on, too, because she was by far the most outgoing and fun of all the visits we had.

And the others:

I almost forgot the Belle of the ball!

We rolled out of breakfast at about 9:15. The boys and I hauled booty back to the front of the park to put our breakfast pictures and sweatshirts in a locker while Jerry and Tracey high-tailed it over to Soarin’ to get fastpasses. We took a quick flight while the standby line was still pretty short.

Here's Chandler goofing around in line for Soarin':
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/2-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=SoarinLine.flv

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 1: continued some more!

Next we headed over to Imagination. The scent lab had a timing issue because we got skunked before the Figment-as-a-Skunk reels ever spun. Booooo! Jerry was pretty disappointed and somewhat aggravated with all the changes since the original glory of this attraction was stripped away. He misses Dreamfinder and his awesome dirigible. Then, of course, who can forget the complete awesomeness of the original Imageworks???

What better way to follow up an Imagination bubble-burst than to take poor Jerry over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends? First of all, there was a line for the ride. I haven’t seen that before. Next, the ripple lighting that’s around the pier and the “butt” weren’t working. That totally kills a lot of that underwater feel. Grrrr! The ride itself was neat, as usual. It was the visit to the old Sea Base Alpha that broke my poor brother’s heart. Ya gotta understand, here’s a guy that visited “The Living Seas” the month that it originally opened. He used to spend hours pouring over every last inch of the exhibits. He would sit for what felt like an eternity in the observation deck area gazing out at the sea life in the over-the-top aquariums. The retheming and scaling back added up to a big butcher knife to the heart for him. He only wandered around a few minutes in the various areas then walked out the door. As with the current version of Imagination, I think his memories of the former glory are a much happier place to be. So sad!


I love how the expression matches for both characters here:

What better way to turn a frown upside down then to use some Fastpass awesomeness for another flight on Soarin’??? Off we go!

Let’s see…according to my notes next we spent some time in Mousegear, took a ride on Maelstrom, grabbed a quick snack at the American Adventure pavilion, and Brian & I got our mendi in Morocco. Mine meant "kind" and his meant "cool". I’ve always thought the art of Mendi is gorgeous so it totally rocked being able to have even a little done. FYI, mine remained visible for close to 7 days. I can't wait to do it again next trip!

We headed back to Future World to use the Fastpasses we got for Test Track back before we shopped at Mousegear. Remember, our family was 5 people so we always had a single rider tagging along for our Test Track rides. Apparently, my darling hubby who was sitting in the front seat with the boys didn’t remember this. The audio in our test vehicle wasn’t working so Tracey started reciting all the commentary/narration you’d normally hear mimicking the inflections and everything. Our single rider was a guy who looked to be our age and obviously had a good sense of humor. We crashed through the barrier test and headed outside for our high speed loops. Just as we were coming back inside to cool down my hubby, in all his comedic glory, giggled and announced “That tickled my (5 letter word that begins with a ‘p’ & refers to a male anatomy part)!” I could’ve died! Thank goodness our single rider guy was cool. He busted out laughing along with Jerry and me. That’s when Tracey turned around and realized we even had a single rider. We all erupted into a 2nd round of laughter. Good times, I tell ya. Good times!

Brian and I wanted to go check out the Art of Disney while the other guys attempted a ride on Mission:Space. Yes, I said ‘attempted’ because the standby wait for the orange team was at 140 minutes. For some odd reason the guys decided a frozen lemonade and a rest while we finished up shopping was more appealing than a 2+hour line. Go figure. LOL!

We hit Spaceship Earth while we were in the area. I’m almost afraid to admit it, but within a minute of taking the picture during the accent I went to sleep. I woke up when our video of our future started to play. Well, it was more Brian’s video since he’s the one who made all the selections. LOL! The boys wanted to play some of the games after the ride but everything was kind of full. Plus, after Tracey watched a kid standing at a game pee on himself then walk off leaving a big puddle behind we just sorta got grosed out and felt the need to move on.

We made a quick run by the locker for our sweatshirts and made a stop at Ice Station Cool so we could let Jerry sample all the drinks…including the Beverly. The video sums it up well. I laughed and laughed. You can laugh with me:

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/2-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=JerryBeverly.flv


Next we walked over to Mexico for a cruise with our buddies The Three Cabaleros.

Here's a few random pics from before dinner:

I want this!

It was getting closer to our ADR time for Biergarten so we decided to make our way over a little early. This turned out to be a good choice because the line just to check in took 20 minutes. Yikes! Biergarten never disappoints. It’s a family favorite for us. We also love the seating and the opportunity to meet other people.

Here's Chandler's favorite dessert:

After dinner it was time to start scoping out a spot for Illuminations. I heart Illuminations. It’s just such a beautiful show.

Soooo pretty!

Waiting for the monorail...Are you sleepy, Chandler?!

We were home around 10:00. Being in a monorail resort is so wonderful.

 

[HollyBelle]

YAY :sohappy:!!!! You've finally got your report up... it's definitely been so worth the wait. I'm loving it and feel like I'm right there with you.

All your talk about taking the monorail back to the room and walking to the MK really takes me back to our September trip! Can't wait to read and see more.

 

[eagles]

yay another trip report! more, more.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 2-1/25: Gettin' Wild Dino Style!

I slept in…until 7:30. This was not a vacation for a non-morning person like me.

We were off to Animal Kingdom for our late 10:15 ADR at Tusker House. This is another of our favorite places to eat. Please note, we love the totally rockin’ Photopass guy here. We have pics with him and his autograph from December 2007, too. The boys think he looks like Chris Farley. I think he’s just a whole lot of fun. We’ll be looking for him again the next time we’re there, too!

We like to goof around with the camera while waiting for stuff so here's our pre-breakfast contributions:

My mom's family name is Kilroy. Here's our 'Kilroy Was Here' pic:

Brian's okay but he thinks the elephant's hiney isn't:

They're really hungry but still okay!

The characters at breakfast:

Daisy's my girl!

Matching temperaments:

Matching expressions:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 2..continued..

Our favorite Tusker House Photopass guy:

After stuffin’ our bellies full we were off to use our Fastpasses at Kilamanjaro Safaris (we sent Jerry to fetch them before breakfast). This is Brian’s favorite Walt Disney World attraction. I guess you can’t tell by the backpack, hat, pins, etc. We had a fun guide for our 2 week excursion. Gotta love it.

Ready for the 2 week trip:

Brian soaks up his favoritest attraction:

Next we thought we’d grab some more Fastpasses for Expedition Everest before going in search of a little dino-fun-age. First, we wanted to ride Dinosaur but the standby time was ridiculously long. I think the time was posted at 30 minutes but the 3 tour groups we watched walk into the que while we waited for Brian to get done in the bathroom made it look more like an hour minimum. No way. We went to check out Primeval Whirl but the posted standby was at 40 minutes with both sides running. We’ve never even seen both sides running before.


Here's Chandler catchin' a beat on the Harambe drums:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/3-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=AnKingDrums.flv

My mother-in-law says kids are like raptors and I agree:

Pretty reflection:

It was at this point we decided the park was too crowded for our comfort. We gave away our Fastpasses and exited the park at 1:00 or so. We had a bus all to ourselves back to the resort. I think we were all still behind on our rest so we took a little nap before heading off towards Downtown Disney.

The private bus ride back to our resort:

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 2...continues some more...

Downtown Disney Time!

We browsed some of our favorite shops killing time before our 5:45 dinner reservations at TRex. We walked up at 5:30 and were seated immediately. Let me just say that Brian died and went to Dino-Heaven. He was speechless when we walked up. He’s our long-time dino-lover. When we 1st heard of the TRex project a while back we knew it was right up his alley…and we were right!

Brian finds heaven!

We sat in the Sequoia Room just outside the Ice Cave. The atmosphere and décor has a lot of similarities to Rainforest Café but the dinosaurs add enough of something new to make it a different experience. The food was wonderful and plentiful which is good considering it’s on the pricey side. Brian had an accident and dumped his entire bowl of hot buttered noodles in his lap. The staff were all very helpful in getting him cleaned up. Naturally management came over to make sure the poor guy hadn’t completely cooked his cahones. Poor kid. He was actually very embarrassed but was a real sport through it all. Our waiter, Max, was the very best we have ever had at any restaurant anywhere, not just at Disney. This guy was on top of his game, really hustled, and never missed a beat. We had a manager come back over so we could sing our praises for Max-da-Man. We filled out a comment card for him, too. He totally rocked!

Dinner pics:

Max rocks!

Dino-rific!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 2...continued even MORE!

After dinner we let both boys Build-A-Dino. Brian got a TRex named Alan Grant (of Jurassic Park fame) and Chandler got a Raptor named Nitro. We were amazed at how little the total was at the check-out for the dinos. Generally Build-A-Bear sets us back about $75+ each trip. Later on in the evening when I read over our receipts I realized why. We didn’t get charged for Brian’s TRex. Oops!

The Build-A-Dinos Before pic:

Introducing Alan Grant the Tyranosaurus Rex!

Introducing Nitro the Velociraptor!

Bringing the caged beasties home:

We hurried on back to the resort so we could watch Wishes from our balcony. We were able to play the soundtrack through the resort info channel on the television. I love it! Afterwards we all went downstairs for some dessert and some shopping in the gift shops. The day ended with washing my hair and hitting the hay at a decent time so we could start our next adventure bright and early in the morning.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 3-1/26: Lions, Tigers, & Cinderella..Oh MY!

It’s another anti-morning-person’s dream…up at 5:30 a.m. Well, if I’m going to be up that early I can’t think of a better reason, really. We were out the door just after 7:00. Why on earth would we do such a thing? Morning Extra Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom, of course!

Yes, I actually saw a rope drop. I think I was most entertained at the herd of wild tourists thundering towards the safari. Jerry went with me to take the boys for an early safari while Tracey made a bee-line for Expedition Everest Fastpasses. We were on the 2nd safari vehicle to pull out of Harambe. Wow! It was cold, too.

Brian lovin' his safari fix:

I love love love the theming in Animal Kingdom. It's just done soooo well!

Next we moved our booties on over to Dinosaur which was walk-on. For all you other pitiful people like us who love the Dinosaur ride but the extra loud audio gives us headaches here’s a tip: bring hearing protection! The roar at the photo snap in the ride is by far the loudest single sound I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I can, however, enjoy the ride if I wear earplugs.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 3..continued..
At 9:00 exactly we walked onto Primeval Whirl. Fun fun fun!

Here's my Primeval Whirl ride-thru:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/4-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=PrimevalWhirl.flv

We made it onto Expedition Everest with a 15 minute standby wait before riding it a 2nd time with our Fastpasses. We walked into Nemo the Musical show with maybe 10 minutes to go before the show start and got great seats 2 rows back from the center walkway. There were several audio issues during the show with the microphones for the different actors cutting in and out. It was a great show but the problems were noticeable.

The kids wanted Pizzafari for lunch so we got that going for them. The big guys walked back to Flame Tree and brought BBQ over for us. After lunch Jerry took the boys for their 1st ever ride on Kali River Rapids. They all came off pretty dry, too. While we had a few moments alone Tracey and I got the Photopass pics with Everest in the distant background. That’s one of my favorites to get. After we all got back together we walked the Maharaja Jungle Trek which was a first for us.

We're all "Mmmm..in the luuuuuv.."

Brian's dream pet..don't worry, I explained I'd have to move out:

Monkeys!

Next we waited by the entrance of Flights of Wonder for seating to begin for the 1:00 show. We sat in the 2nd row center. Brian was so wanting to get chosen to be in the show like Chandler was during our 2006 trip. It didn’t work out and he was really disappointed. When I got chosen to be in the show and sit on the stage while the gigantic bird flies directly at you he was really upset. He cried. Poor guy. But I did get a killer bit of video footage. I didn’t realize how big that bird was until I saw the video because when I was on the stage I wasn’t really looking at the bird. I was looking at my camera. LOL!

Supah-Staaaaahhh!!!

Here's the video:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/sweetpee_1993/4-DISNEY JAN 09/?action=view&current=FlightsofWonder.flv

So then we were all getting a little tired so we thought we’d start making our way back towards Discovery Island. We went ahead and stopped for the next showing of It’s Tough to be a Bug. Without giving you our family history with this show that Jerry was quite anxious to see, I was proud to have gotten through the entire thing with no melt-downs, no crying, and both boys survived the attack of the gigantic-spiders-from-he-double-hockey-sticks!

At 2:15 we were on our way back out to the resort for a short rest before our dinnertime adventures.

At about 6:00 we walked over to the Magic Kingdom. We hit a few Photopass ops and Tracey took the boys for a whirl on the teacups. A bad guy tried to cut the line in front of my fellas but Tracey would have none of it. Grrrr! Good Papa Bear! We checked into Cinderella’s Royal Table, had our photos with the castle’s namesake, and were seated at 7:05. We enjoyed the different perspective of Wishes from inside the castle.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Day 3..still continued..

When dinner was over it was time for Evening Extra Magic Hours to begin. First we hit Haunted Mansion followed by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Buzz Lightyear. Space Mountain had a 30 minute standby so we let the boys escort us through a lap at the speedway. We walked right back over to Space Mountain and took a ride with only a 15 minute wait. Afterwards we went back to Buzz Lightyear’s Spaceranger Spin and hit TTA riiiight before park closing.

This is just funny!

I'm not worried. Zurg would give them back:

Guess who's turn it was to play "Fifth Wheel" for this ride:

We headed out for the night just after 11:00.

Last thing I did before falling asleep was look at the clock. 12:30. What a day!

 

[eagles]

great report. i especially loved your video on primevil whirl. :ROFLOL:

 

[rshell68]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! The Photopass guy does look like Chris Farley!! Love your t-shirts! Did you make those yourself?

 

[mouselvrmom]

I love your trip report! Thumbs up, then point at it!

 

[HollyBelle]

Ooh I love the Daisy Duck pictures!! Keep it coming:sohappy:.

And I especially like all the silly pictures you take throughout your trip. I can just see how much fun everyone is having!

 

[TakeMeThere81]

Great report so far! I'll be watching to see what happens next!
Cool t-shirts! Tour groups suck for jumping in front of you...too cool about your little dino-lover/safari-lover...I had no idea you could watch Wishes and play the soundtrack on Resort TV...love the "thumbs-up and point at it" bathroom pic!...and I also love the Animal Kindgom theming!!