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

Hello there and welcome to my trip report.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

 

[mickeystoontown]

You will remember that, when I last left off, we had eaten a wonderful meal at The Plaza and, since the Spectro Magic parade had started, we figured we might as well wait for the crowds to die down before trying to make our way out of the park. We hadn't planned on watching Wishes this night but, since there was a table there just waiting on us, we "copped a squat" and waited for the fireworks to begin.

As always, I took pictures while we waited:

Pesky trees blocked our view of the castle but we still had a good view of the fireworks when they began. I had brought along two cameras this trip and decided to video the fireworks with one and take pictures of the other.

Here's the video of Wishes:



Before the trip, I had bought a cheap tripod for the camera. There wasn't a place to set the camera up but I was able to hold the tripod still on the fence railing in front of me. I was constantly clicking the button and was able to capture some fairly decent Wishes pictures:

 

[mickeystoontown]

Look how bright the fireworks were in this one:

More:

We knew that there was no way we'd be able to leave the park since that's what thousands upon thousands of other people were doing. We stayed right where we were and people watched. After about 30 minutes or so, we decided to give it a shot. We were able to wiggle our way through the crowds and across Main Street. My goal was to go into one of the stores and continue our way down until we reached The Emporium. We were able to do that and emerged into a virtually empty spot in the hub.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Mama and I said we wanted to stop at the bathroom before getting on the bus back to the CBR. John and Hunter sat outside on a bench. When we came out, they were sitting on the sidewalk. A castmember had told them that the second Spectro Magic parade was about to begin and that this would be the perfect spot to watch. I didn't remember even seeing that there would be a second Spectro Magic that night. Sweet! We would be able to see each float come through the gates.

Am I the only one who thinks these guys look a little creepy?

**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

We kept hearing this hootin' and hollerin' across the street and lots and lots of really fast clapping. We kept trying to see what was going on but it was dark. Finally, we saw this tall guy dressed in bright print shorts, two different calf high socks and a weird orange beanie type hat. Every time a float would come out of the gate, he would start his fast clapping. When the float neared him, he would bend down and make hollering noises to what we guessed were the float drivers. He was superdy dupper enthusiastic!

Some of these pictures are out of order because I was using two cameras at the time. Sorry!

When the Queen of Hearts came out, I told John to shake his finger at her. He did and she came right over to him:

 

[mickeystoontown]

Pluto came over to give Hunter a handshake:

You can kind of see "Mr. Hootin' Hollerin' Orange Beanie" man standing across the street in this one:

If you want a really good parade viewing spot, this is a great one. There weren't a lot of people standing, pushing, jumping in front of you, etc. It was a nice spot. Plus, we were able to duck out of the entrance before a lot of the others.

Here's a picture I snapped of John and Hunter walking to the bus stop:

Our first day at the Magic Kingdom was a truly magical one. We had seen some characters that we hadn't seen in a while (The Tweedles) and some in costumes that we had never seen before (Chip & Dale in their space uniforms). We had seen some people wearing unusual things (remember the guy coming out of Buzz Lightyear with the tight shirt, Mickey ears and a purse?). We had survived being surrounded by the lost dwarfs (Stinky and Smelly). And, we had eaten some really good food (Pinocchio's and The Plaza).

***Up next: Our first experience at Star Wars Weekends!

 

[disneypearl]

You had a nice day at the Magic Kingdom! Seeing the pictures of Spectro make me miss it even more!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

You had a nice day at the Magic Kingdom! Seeing the pictures of Spectro make me miss it even more!!!

We had a wonderful day at the Magic Kingdom. I love seeing the nighttime parade. I get excited every time I see it.

 

[ABigBrassBand]

We had a wonderful day at the Magic Kingdom. I love seeing the nighttime parade. I get excited every time I see it.

Still loving this TR, it's very fun to read! The pictures of Spectromagic make me miss it as well, you don't know what you got until it's gone

 

[mickeystoontown]

Still loving this TR, it's very fun to read! The pictures of Spectromagic make me miss it as well, you don't know what you got until it's gone

I'm glad that you're enjoying the report. I try to add as many details and pictures as I can to make it seem as if I am back there. (Gotta do something about the Disney blues).

I have seen both Magic Kingdom nighttime parades and I think I like Spectro the best. But, I like them both.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Merry Christmas!

I hope everybody has a wonderful holiday. I hope to get another installment posted very soon.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Today was THE day. The first time we had ever experienced Star Wars Weekends! Hunter was estatic. I wasn't so estatic except for the fact that I knew Hunter was busting at the seams to see some of the Star Wars actors, creators, etc.

I had done a bit of research and knew that we needed to get to the park early. John, Mama and I discussed it and it was decided that Hunter and I would go to the park early and they would join us later.

Hunter had no problems, whatsoever, getting up this day. He was ready to get to Hollywood Studios and see what Star Wars Weekends was all about. I don't remember what time it was but I think we were out the door around 7:15 a.m. or so. We walked over to the bus stop and were a bit surprised to see that we had it all to ourselves.

After about 10 minutes, we started getting nervous and decided we'd better just drive to the park. From what little research I had done, I knew that we would have to be at the park at least an hour early in order to get in line for the Fastpasses that they give out to meet the Star Wars stars/creators/etc.

Hunter took a few pictures as we were driving to Hollywood Studios:

It took us all of about 5 minutes to drive to Hollywood Studios. Gotta love the fact that the CBR is close to both Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

We arrived and parked fairly close to the front of the park. Close enough that we just walked. A picture of the parking lot and of our row number:

 

[mickeystoontown]

And the sidewalk we took to get to the park:

One of Hunter and I at the end of that sidewalk:

You can already tell that it was hot and it was just a little after 8:00 a.m. Just look at the redness of my face already.

We made our way through security and then we saw the people already waiting in line to receive Fastpasses to see the different Star Wars people. (Okay, so they aren't just "Star Wars people" but I hate to keep saying actors, creators, etc.) I can't remember how many lines there were but I want to say 6. I could be wrong though.

I asked a castmember if I could stand in line for one and Hunter stand in line for another. I mean, I didn't give a hoot about seeing any of the people but I figured I could let Hunter have my Fastpass. They told me that I wouldn't be able to get in line to take pictures if I didn't have a Fastpasses. Well shoot!

So, Hunter had a difficult decision to make.....who did he want to meet the most? He chose the man who played Boba Fett. Forgive me for not knowing his name but I don't. I'll have it later in the report because I took a picture of the sign.

We stood out in the blazing sun and people watched. I'm going to apologize right now to all of you Star Wars fans out there. But some of you are weeeeeird! Well, ya'll are probably not weeeeeird but there were definitely some weeeeird guests standing in line with us that day. Let's just say that the people watching was kicked up a notch this day.

There wasn't anything really to do while standing in line except for taking pictures and talking:

See the guy in the robe in this picture? I have no idea how he was able to stand in the heat in that thing!

A couple of more people in their Star Wars costumes. There is, of course, the guy in the robe thingie but there's also the lady in black (wedged between other people). She was all decked out in black with lightsabers hanging from her belt. I know she had to be hot!

The lines started moving and it wasn't chaos but it was hard to keep track of which line was which since there were no ropes dividing the lines or anything. Hunter and I got our Fastpasses to see the Boba Fett guy and decided to see if we could loop back around and get more Fastpasses for someone else. Lorne Peterson's (I think that's his name) was moving pretty quickly so we hopped in it and scored two Fastpasses.

We figured by the time we looped back around, the Fastpasses for other Star Wars people would be handed out. When we looked back, they were. In less than 15 minutes, all Fastpasses were completely gone! Man, was I glad we got there early or we wouldn't have gotten Fastpasses at all.

Hunter was so excited. It made me happy to see how happy he was






.

 

[mickeystoontown]

As we approached the ticket gates, we noticed the Stormtroopers on top of the buildings. They were talking to the guests. Of course, I was taking pictures and one of them pointed to me and said something that I can't remember. I do remember that Hunter thought it was funny.

To be continued!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Once the turnstiles opened, we slipped our tickets in and headed down the main street (By the way, what's the main street at HS called?) And, as you can see by this picture, so were tons of other people:

We turned to the left as soon as we could and were stopped by a wall of people who were waiting for rope-drop. Our goal was to find Boba's Bounty but we really didn't know for sure where it was despite the fact that we had looked at the map 999 thousand times. Along the way, we thought we'd stop and see if we could pick up Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania.

As soon as the rope dropped, we followed the masses.....right to Toy Story Mania. And mania it was......the Fastpass line was way down the street. Ummm, we'll skip it for now. We did what any good Diser would do, go the opposite direction that everybody else was going.

Just in case you were doubting just how "uncrowded" some parts of the park was, look at this:

We were amazed that nobody else was around, not even castmembers. We just kept looking at each other and saying "Where is everybody?" I actually was hoping we would find a castmember so we could ask where in the world was Boba's Bounty. As we rounded the MuppetVision3D building, we finally found a castmember who told us how to get to Boba's Bounty. I felt like such a dumb bunny because we are park veterans and don't even use maps to navigate the parks any more.

More pictures along the way:

 

[mickeystoontown]

After we finally saw a castmember who pointed us in the right direction of Boba's Bounty, we started out again and I took pictures along the way:

We still felt like we had the park to ourselves until we finally met up with some people in the store just outside of the Honey I Shrunk the Audience playground. From what the castmember had told us, this sounded like it was Boba's Bounty. NOT! There was some Star Wars stuff being sold in there but not a lot so we knew this couldn't be what we were looking for. I told Hunter I needed to take a potty break so we went through the back of the store and BAAAAAM! our first Star Wars character encounter! Darth Vader!

Hunter quickly jumped in line and in just about 5 minutes, it was Hunter's turn to meet Darth himself:

Poor Darth....he must have asthma or the mask must make it hard to breathe because he was huffing and gasping for air! I was really worried about him.




























Okay, seriously, I'm not that much of a Star Wars idiot! I was just seeing if you thought I was serious.

I have Photopass pictures but I forgot to upload them. Let me get this installment posted and I'll see if I brought the Photopass CD with me to work. If I did, I'll upload them and post them before the next installment.

After our meeting with Darth, I made my pit stop and we continued on in search for Boba's Bounty. Now, if you are sick and tired of me talking about Boba's Bounty....Boba's Bounty......Boba's Bounty, it's okay 'cause I was sick of looking for it and I'm sick of typing about it. But, it's part of the report and I'm going to keep on searching for it.

I felt like a doggone chicken with it's head cut off about this time but, by golly, I was a mission to find (sorry, I've got to say it again) Boba's Bounty. We kept turning and looking and we ended up at The Animation building. We knew it wasn't in there but we were ready for a little air conditioning.

There were a few people standing around the outside of the building but nobody was going in. Hum? What's up with that? Don't know but we walked on past 'em. We got inside and there was no one there. I mean NO ONE! It was almost creepy. Like we weren't supposed to be there or something.

We snapped a few pictures while we walked. Remember when you used to actually watch people at their desks drawing?

Sorry for the reflection on the glass. Still, it's pictures and you know I'm going to throw them in so you'll at least see that I am really telling the truth about what we saw and did.

Some of the movie posters:

 

[mickeystoontown]

We spotted a castmember who said that the characters wouldn't be out for a while and the classes wouldn't start for a while either. But, we were welcome to spend as much time as we wanted with the interactive computer thingamabobs. Here's a video we shot of one of them:



**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

So, while ya'll are laughing at me being such a dorkarama for not knowing which buttons to push on the computer screen in the video, I'll be writing a little bit more.

Oh and the other noise you hear is Hunter doing a "book" right next to me. It sure wasn't noise from other people in the room 'cause there weren't any.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Once we had finished up playing on the computers, we made our way out of the still empty building. But, not before I snapped a picture of the evil queen:

By this time, we had figured "If we find Boba's Bounty, we find it. If we didn't then so be it." There was supposed to be exclusive Star Wars Weekends merchandise there and it was to be sold on a first-come/first serve basis. I knew it would go quickly too. So, like I said, if we found it, we found it, if we didn't, we didn't.

We went under the archway towards the Sorcerer's hat and in front of The Great Movie Ride. I think that we may have ridden The Great Movie Ride but I'm not sure. We were now in search of characters. We walked down by ABC Commissary and ended up meeting lines.....long lines. Lines for what? Heck if we knew. I heard somebody say that Chewbacca (Probably screwed up the spelling of that one. Should have Googled it. ) was doing Meet and Greet as were some other characters.

Don't you dare ask me the names of them because I wouldn't be able to tell you if you had a gun to my head. I'd give it the old college try but the most I'd be able to spit out is some lady with a red robe, somebody with horned thingies and that guy wearing a robe.

We popped a squat on the brick ledge and began what was to be a fairly long wait. In the meantime, I looked up and darn it if Chewy (I know that's spelled right..........isn't it? ) came walking by.

Well, if he's walking by us, then who were we in line to see? Honestly, Hunter didn't care who it was so long as it was somebody/something that had to do with Star Wars. I didn't care either so long as Hunter was happy.

We continued to sit and people watch. And, believe you me, there were some strange folks walking by. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. Now, I love me some Indiana Jones and Laura Croft Tombraider but you don't see me walking around in some leather suit and weilding a whip. Not that I'd look even as remotely good as her in the skin tight leather outfit or that I could pop a whip.....well, you know what I mean. I like movie characters but you won't see me dressed up like one in a theme park (well maybe during Mickey's Halloween Party.) .

Okay, shutting up about that now.

A picture of one of the Star Wars Weekend signs:

Lookie Lookie! It's a Wookie!

That is a Wookie isn't it?

If not, I just made a bad joke.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hey ya! Hey ya! It's Princess Leia!

Go insane! Go insane! It's some horned woman and I don't know her name!

I have no idea how long we had been in the line but it was long enough that the Wookie came back by. The castmember said he was taking a short break.

That same castmember came back alone and started talking to us and other guests. She said that Chewy and the Wookie would be signing autographs. The line would split into two a little further up and we would have the choice of which one we wanted to see. If we wanted to see Chewy, we'd stay on the left and if we wanted to see the Wookie, we'd go to the right. We chose Chewy.

Like I said, I have no idea how long we stayed in the line but it was quite some time. Finally, Hunter was able to meet Chewbacca:

**Again, I have Photopass pictures and will post them in the next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

Star Wars Weekend Photopass pics. The first three, of course, were some that came with the CD: