Who Knew Choking Each Other Would Earn Us Fastpasses? We were just kidding!

Hello there and welcome to my trip report.
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I guess I'll start out with the introductions of the cast and crew.

My name is Lisa (a/k/aTinkerbell as my boss likes to call me) and I am a 44 year old paralegal, wife to John and mother to Hunter and Lacey (who didn't join us on this trip 'cause she's attending missionary college). My husband, John, also 44, owns and operates a cabinet shop which is good because I can always talk his boss into letting him off work to go to Disney.
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John acts all nonchalant about going to Disney but when somebody asks him a question, he immediately starts chattering away.


Since I am still uploading pictures and can't seem to find a picture of John and I from this year's trip, I guess I'll just use a picture from last year's trip.

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Hunter is our son and he turned 13 just 3 days before we arrived in Disney. We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate becoming a teenager than by partying hard with Mickey and the gang. Hunter is a multi-talented little dude. He can play the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboard and viola. Magical illusions and cup stacking are his newest tricks and he's pretty darn good at both. When he's not playing an instrument or trying to trick you, he's playing football or singing in the honor choir. See....I told you he was multi-talented.

Also along for the ride this year was my Mama, Edna. She's 76 years old and dotes on John and Hunter like they were her little babies. Mama has been to Disney with us once at Thanksgiving, 2000. That was back in the day when we stayed offsite 'cause we didn't know any better.
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We were anxious to see how Mama would do with all the walking, heat, humidity, conveyor belts, etc.


Again, I don't have all of my pictures uploaded so I'll just use a picture of Hunter and Mama riding the clamshells into The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Not the best of pictures but a picture nevertheless:

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We are a pretty silly fun loving family that always seems to attract.......hum.......let's just say,we always seem to have an "incident" happen during each of our trips. Over the years:

1) We got stuck on Test Track in the cold section and I almost tinkled myself;

2) My tooth (temporary crown) fell out while eating lunch at the Electric Umbrella and I had to super glue it in;

3) John got his toe broken after being run over in a drive-by scooter incident;

4) Hunter boogied with every character we ran into;

5) My wonderful, beautiful, loving family pedaled off on the surrey bike without me when my shoe hit the pedal and flew over my shoulder;

6) Lacey and Hunter jumped for joy in front of the Epcot ball;

7) We laughed so much during the trips that I caught myself saying "stop making me laugh or......" every 30 minutes.

And so forth and so on. We love spending time together and there's no better place than Walt Disney World to act silly and have a good time. Our goofiness paid off during the trip and that same goofiness inspired the title of this report.

This was our 15th trip to Disney in 13 years and our 5th stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort. We spent 9 1/2 glorious days at Walt Disney World and I could have stayed longer had my boss not insisted that I return to "the real world".

I have people ask me all the time why we go to Disney World year after year after year. I've tried to explain it to them but, unless you are a Disney fan like myself, you just can't understand. Remember those old Lay's potato chips commercials? You know, the ones that said something like "Lay's potato chips...so good you can't eat just one!" I liken Disney to a Lay's potato chip....."Walt Disney World is so fun you can't go just once!"

Now that the introductions have been made, I guess I'll get busy working on the next installment.

Oh....I hope that everybody feels free to post replies/comments 'cause I really like chatting.
 

Soaringirl

Member
Hi! I've been reading your trip report along with everyone else and I'm having so much fun with you all, I really don't want it to end...
Just wanted to mention that we saw Miyuki (the candy lady) in November and she informed us that the candy is now brought to a local children's hospital and no longer given out to guests. I don't know if anything has changed since then.
Love all your pictures, all the great details of your trip and your beautiful family! :wave:
 

mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
I am still loving your report! I can't wait for the rest!!

Thanks! I hope to get more posted today as my boss has gone to a deposition. But, I also have a client coming to the office in about 30 minutes so I don't know how long the installment will be.

Hi! I've been reading your trip report along with everyone else and I'm having so much fun with you all, I really don't want it to end...
Just wanted to mention that we saw Miyuki (the candy lady) in November and she informed us that the candy is now brought to a local children's hospital and no longer given out to guests. I don't know if anything has changed since then.
Love all your pictures, all the great details of your trip and your beautiful family! :wave:

Glad that you are enjoying the report.

Thanks so much for the information on the candy lady. I had no idea that they were now giving the candy to a children's hospital. I thought I read somewhere that she couldn't give it out any more at all.
 

mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
You may remember that I said today was supposed to be a "down day"...one where we slept in and did a whole lot of nothing. But, you may also remember how I felt like we had done nothing but wander around our entire Hollywood Studios day.

Before we settled in for the night, an executive decision was made by us all that John, Hunter and I would get up and head to Hollywood Studios early and Mama would stay at the resort and rest up. She told us to take our own sweet time and that she'd be fine. She said she'd probably sleep-in, make a few phone calls to home and maybe even take a stroll around the resort.

This is where my memory gets a little fuzzy. I don't remember what time we left the resort but I do remember that we got to the park right as the turnstiles were opening for Extra Magic Hours. I think what happened was I got Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. The reason I am thinking this is because we rode it later on in the morning and I am betting you dollars to donuts we didn't just wait in line when we did ride it.

I do remember what we did next.......................we wandered. Yep! After an entire day of wandering at Hollywood Studios a couple of days before, doggone it, we were wandering again!
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We didn't really want to hoof it all the way over to the other side of the park and ride Rock 'n Rollercoaster because we were too lazy.
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We decided to do the Backlot Tour since we hadn't done it on our first Hollywood Studios day. However, when we got there, it wasn't open yet. John and Hunter started talking to the castmember standing at the entrance to the Tour and they said it would be opening in just a few minutes and we could wait if we wanted. Hunter had his magic cards in his pocket and started showing the castmember the trick while we waited. The castmember was amazed and called two other castmembers over so Hunter could dazzle them too. They all were oohing and aahing over the trick.

Soon it was time for the Backlot Tour to open and we were led to the waiting area. One of the castmembers looked at Hunter and said "You're 16 aren't you?" Hunter was like "Uh, no I'm 13." Then the other castmember said "No, you're 16 aren't you?" and he winked. That's when John caught on. John said yep Hunter was 16. Why would John say that our 13 year old was a 16 year old? Because you had to be 16 in order to be one of the volunteers in the part of the tour where you become part of the movie making magic! That's right! Hunter was to be an extra that day!

We were led into the first part of the tour along with a few other families. Hunter went backstage with the castmembers and was suited up in his wet suit. At this point in time, we had no idea what role Hunter had been chosen to play:

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Imagine our surprise when the show started and it was announced that Hunter would be the guy who was sitting in the little cabin and would be doused with hundreds of gallons of water! I videoed the entire thing but I can't find it on my CDs. Maybe it's on one of my memory cards. Because I was taking the video, I guess I didn't get any pictures. Once it was over, the castmember said to give everybody a big round of applause and when they said Hunter's name, the other guests were cheering really loudly. It was truly a magical moment. And, this, my friends, is when I was really happy that I had paid almost $30 for a deck of magic cards.
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After Hunter was back with us, we continued on the tour and boarded the tram where I took these pictures:


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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
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Once we were in the canyon portion of the tour, the recorded castmember (I always liked the "real" castmembers instead of the recorded one.) started the narrative and soon there were explosions and water everywhere!

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**Continued in next post
 

mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
The back of the canyon:

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More pictures I took while on the tour:

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The tram let us off at the same darn place where Boba's Bounty was located just a few days before. Here's Hunter acting like he was startled by Darth and about to take off running:

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Creepy!

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Piratey!

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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
I took a picture of these gold coins thinking that I would go back and see if there were any hidden Mickeys anywhere amongst them:

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We left the Villains building and I went in search of the nearest potty. Hunter and John, meanwhile, looked around in another shop:

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Don't cha just love those t-shirts? They were all so cute and I am not even a Star Wars fan.

***Up next, let's go play on the playground!
 

mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
I apologize for the delay in posting another installment. I don't know if I mentioned it before but my daughter is getting married in August. We live in Louisiana but the wedding will be in Georgia where she attended Master's Commission the last three years. We are having a reception immediately following the wedding, a reception in Tennessee the next day (where the groom lives) and then, the next Saturday, a reception in Louisiana (where Lacey lives).

The wedding planning is enough to cause chaos in our household but there has also been an unexpected death in Lacey's fiance's family, my aunt underwent surgery and John's neurologist closed her practice and we have been searching for another specialist.

Soooooooo, there are my reasons for the delay in posting. Now, let's get this ball rolling again.
 

mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
Thank goodness that I have pictures to help me remember things about our trip! :rolleyes: Now, that I found my other pictures, I can remember how things transpired the morning that we revisited Hollywood Studios.

While waiting on John and Hunter to grab their hats and sunglasses, I stepped outside and took a few pictures of the decorations I put on our resort window. I didn't do a whole lot because I didn't want to take away from the beauty of the resort.

Our window:

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Mama's window:

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Other pics:

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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
Look really closely at this picture and you can see the top of the bowling pins at Pop Century. I took this one standing in the circle where you can pull up and unload your luggage.

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These are all of the pictures I have until we got to Hollywood Studios. Once we were in the park, I had to stop and take pictures of the hat:

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Because I found my other set of pictures (It's nice to have two cameras while at Disney but afterwards it can be a bit confusing.
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), I can now confirm that we went straight to Toy Story Mania and I got Fastpasses for us to use later. After that, that's when the wandering began.
:rolleyes:

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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
Apparently, I forgot that I also went in search of a water fountain which I thought was near the bathrooms. Hunter took this picture of me:

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And he took these while waiting:

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When I met back up, John had the camera and I took control of it again. Poor John can't take a picture to save his life. Usually, the pictures are either sideways or the people don't have heads in them. Having said that, he's a little better at it since the age of digital cameras. He can actually have a look-see at the picture and retake it if need be.

I snapped a picture of Hunter standing at the Backlot Tour entrance:


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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
Walking up the ramp to the Backlot Tour:

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This is when Hunter got chosen as an extra in the movie scene. I tried taking a picture of Hunter in the changing area:

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The castmember was giving the extras instructions:

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After the instructions were given and all of the other guests were situated in the standing area/theater/whatever it's called, the main host castmember came out and introduced Hunter and explained what he would be doing:

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Hunter was put into his position and given further instructions:


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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
Action was called and Hunter started his acting. Soon, there was water everywhere:

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Ya'll already know how the rest of the show goes so I won't explain. Instead, I'll post pictures:

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Then, they called Hunter up and everybody gave him a big handclap:

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See how Hunter's a little hunched over in this picture? He said he was trying to keep water from going down his neck:


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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
Hunter changed his clothes and, as I said earlier, we continued on through the prop storage room towards the tram. Because we were behind one show and another was about to start, we had a little more time to enjoy looking at the various props without feeling like we were holding up the line:

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**Continued in next post
 

mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
Pictures that I took in the Villains building you tour after getting off the tram:

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And, before I move on to the next installment, here are more pictures that John and Hunter took in the store while waiting for me to take my bathroom break:

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**Up next: You're never to old to play on a playground!
 

mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
When Hunter was younger, there was no way that we could pass by the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground without stopping. Now that Hunter is older, we still don't pass it up.
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Okay, so I'll admit that it wasn't actually Hunter who suggested that we go to the playground. It was I. Yep, I wanted to go in for old times sake and I wanted to take some comparison pictures. You know the pictures you take to compare how big your kid was to something in the playground when they were 3 and then when they were 13. There were two comparison pictures that I wanted to take....one with Hunter near the sniffing dog nose and one on the ant.

We got to the entrance and I could see that, compared to other times we had visited the playground, there really weren't that many people in there. As soon as we stepped in, I started taking pictures:

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Since there was no one waiting to get on Antie, I told Hunter to hop on:

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I want a turn! I want a turn!
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John wouldn't take his turn. He was a party pooper and said I had to settle for the picture with him standing beside me while I was on Antie.

We ventured deeper into the playground so I could take more pictures and so we could climb up to where the dog nose was:


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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
We found it! I remember when Hunter could barely put his hand in to feel the sniffing effects:

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Picture taken, Hunter stuck his head into one of the tunnels to see what was in there:

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I took more pictures on our way down to the bottom of the playground again:

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We were all starting to get a little hot and stuffy in the playground so we decided we would leave the playground to the little kiddies to explore. But, not without one little slide by Hunter. I'll admit that I put him up to this picture:rolleyes:

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And more pictures by me:


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mickeystoontown

Member
Original Poster
We said goodbye to the playground for this year and the boys posed with the Tonka truck beside the exit:

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We cut through the little walkway out into the street and we heard GO! GO! POWER RANGERS!

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Hunter never did really get into the whole Power Rangers thing. He had a few but wasn't nuts over them like some of his friends were.

**Continued in next post
 

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