Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me...a December 2012 TR

Welcome to my TR. Let me cover some of the basics first in case you haven't read my PTR. I am Amy, a 39 year old veterinarian. This trip was planned last minute (about 60 days out) and the dates were Dec. 9-14, 2012. We stayed at CBR in a pirate room. We being me, my mom, and my 4 (almost 5) year old son, Owen.

Our flight left Dayton at 11:16am. We arrived at the airport at 9:30am and quickly made it through security. We stopped at the coffee shop for some OJ and potato chips for Owen. He had already eaten a good breakfast before leaving home, I promise! We had a little time at the gate before we had to gate check our stroller and were able to check our carry-on luggage after attaching our DME tags to it.

We loaded on the plane and were quickly pulling away from the gate. Owen was so excited to be flying again.

We had an uneventful flight. The flight attendants were very playful that day. They had a prize available for the person with the oldest penny, they had Christmas trivia questions for the kids, and they had someone sing the Oscar Mayer song for a prize. It was enjoyable and helped pass the time.
We landed in Orlando a few minutes early, and quickly made our way to DME. We were shown to this line:

We waited about 10 minutes for our bus, which was a cruise line bus. Owen was excited to watch everything that was going on outside.

Then he just crashed.

A few pictures on the way to CBR:

And then we were there!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Love the pirate room at CBR! The pool also looks great as well!

Jealous! You got so many pics that would be awesome for holiday cards. I had to laugh a little though when Owen started turning his back on the camera. I have soooo been there!

Starring Rolls treats also look AWESOME! Just when I didn't think I wanted a snack

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for reading! The room and the pool were awesome.

Later that day, Owen then turned into the biggest ham and was wanting me to take pictures of him everywhere!

I got hungry also just looking at that cupcake as I was posting the picture.

 

[TheMouseFan]

After our delicious snack, Owen wanted to see Voyage of The Little Mermaid, so my mom took him. I went in the other direction to take in this beauty:

There were a group of college age kids behind me in line and I could hear them giggling and making fun of the amount of pictures I was taking! Oh well, I wasn't bothering them any, so who cares what they think.
After riding, I stopped in the gift shop and purchased a Hollywood Tower Hotel t-shirt for myself, then headed over to the Animation Courtyard to meet my mom and Owen.

 

[okw2006]

After our delicious snack, Owen wanted to see Voyage of The Little Mermaid, so my mom took him. I went in the other direction to take in this beauty:

There were a group of college age kids behind me in line and I could hear them giggling and making fun of the amount of pictures I was taking! Oh well, I wasn't bothering them any, so who cares what they think.
After riding, I stopped in the gift shop and purchased a Hollywood Tower Hotel t-shirt for myself, then headed over to the Animation Courtyard to meet my mom and Owen.

Looks like you had a great trip! We were there at the same time and enjoyed the low crowds and all of the Christmas decorations.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Looks like you had a great trip! We were there at the same time and enjoyed the low crowds and all of the Christmas decorations.

We did have a great trip! Thanks for reading! Hope you had an awesome trip too!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Your Tower pics are great!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Your Tower pics are great!

Thank you! I enjoyed trying to get some different ones this trip.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Tower is my favorite!!!!

 

[Cassie S.]

Yay! I'm so excited to see you started your TR. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and I am looking forward to the next installment.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Tower is my favorite!!!!

I know it is and figured you would like the pictures!!

Yay! I'm so excited to see you started your TR. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and I am looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks so much for reading! We had a great Christmas. I hope you did too! I'm going to try to get the rest of our DHS day up later tonight.

 

[TheMouseFan]

After riding my most favorite ride ever, I met my mom and Owen in the Animation Courtyard. Then we were on to meet Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope. We stopped to get this pic on the way:

Then we saw The Incredibles, but Owen wasn't interested in meeting them, so we moved on and got in line for Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope. Owen entertained himself while I held our place in line.

Then it was finally our turn.

Owen had a great time meeting them. Scorcerer Mickey was right next to them, but Owen decided he didn't want to meet him. I, however, did want to meet him, so we got in line and Owen pouted and complained the entire time. Now, does this look like a little boy who doesn't want to meet Mickey?

He certainly had a change of heart as soon as it was our turn!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Next we had an ADR to make.

Once again, Owen whined and complained that he didn't want to eat here! And once again, does this look like a little boy who is having the most awful time?

He absolutely loved eating here and didn't want to leave! He had macaroni and cheese and a salad for lunch. My mom and I shared onion rings and spinach and artichoke dip. We were still full from our snack! We all enjoyed what we had and I can't wait to bring the other two kids here on our next trip!
Then it was time for us to use our FP for TSMM. Apparently, I forgot to get any pics along the way or in line.
Next up was the most important part of our day.

I took Owen to check in and my mom went to save a spot near the stage while waiting for us. It started to sprinkle a little while we were in the waiting area and I started to get worried that they would cancel the show Owen was supposed to participate in. Luckily, it cleared off and the show went on.
Here is my young padawan looking normal:

And here he is after someone else decided that their hood needed to be up. Of course, Owen had to follow suit. The problem was, he got the hood caught behind one ear and wouldn't let me fix it. It stayed that way for the entire show.

And it begins:

Then they are all warding off the dark side:

Then they all got their diplomas:

Every day after that, Owen asked when he could do the Jedi Training Academy again! I think he really enjoyed it!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then we had to go check out the speeder bike.

Owen had been saying that he didn't want to ride Star Tours, but at this point he had a change of heart.

Luckily, he enjoyed it more this year than he did last year. We had Darth Vader at the beginning, then we went to Hoth which Owen thoroughly enjoyed because he loves the AT-AT walkers, and then I can't remember where we ended.
On the way out, we stopped to make droids and my mom went to get the stroller. Right after she returned, it started to pour and the store filled up very quickly. It made it very difficult for me to make my purchases, but at least we weren't getting wet!
Then we all headed to:

And stopped in the store after. Animal is my husband's favorite Muppet, so I took this picture for him:

Then we split up again and my mom took Owen to see:

And I was able to ride my very favorite ride one more time.

Then I hopped in the single rider line for:

Unfortunately, someone in the limo before ours lost their lunch right as they were exiting into the shop and the smell was horrendous!
I was then comtemplating whether I had time for one more ride on TOT, when I saw my mom and Owen walking down the street toward me. Apparently, Owen wasn't enjoying Indiana Jones and wanted to leave before the show was over. Bye bye TOT for now!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Owen was then begging to go on The Great Movie Ride again. I told him we could ride it, but only if he would get his picture taken a few times on the way over! He wasn't very happy about it, but he complied.

Then it was on to The Great Movie Ride. We got the gangster version both times we rode today.
After exiting, Owen decided we would have one of these for dinner:

It worked for me since I was still pretty full from lunch!
By then it was almost time for the Osborne Lights to start, so we made our way over to the Santa Goofy line. Once again, Owen wasn't happy to wait in line.

Our experience in this line was horrible. We patiently waited while Goofy turned the lights on. Then he came over and greeted a few people. I was thinking what a great experience this was going to be because he was spending quite a bit of time with each group and dancing with them, etc. Then he took a break after about 15 minutes. He came back out fairly quickly and greeted one more party. Then he left again! And he didn't come back, and didn't come back, and didn't come back. All they would tell us was that he was tending to his reindeer. Owen was not a happy camper by this time! He finally fell asleep in his stroller and I had to get out of line before Goofy ever came back. I can only guess that he was sick and they were waiting for a replacement!?! I did get some pics while we were waiting in line.

The lady behind me in line and I were discussing how half of the lights were out on the top of the building. Not very good show!

 

[TheMouseFan]

So after leaving the Santa Goofy line, my mom and I just strolled along the street taking in all the lights.

I wish we would have been able to get some PhotoPass pics, but because Owen was asleep, we didn't stop for any.

 

[TheMouseFan]

A few more pics on the way out:

We didn't get to see Fantasmic, but we accomplished everything else we wanted to and it was a great day.
Up next...EMH at Epcot

 

[Zipadeelady]

Love your report. Thanks for sharing!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Love your report. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for reading!

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

I haven't seen Owen's Lego Star Wars shirt before. I was sure we owned all ever sold. Cute!

 

[TheMouseFan]

I haven't seen Owen's Lego Star Wars shirt before. I was sure we owned all ever sold. Cute!

I'm pretty sure that one was a hand me down from my now 10 year old son.

 

[jenluvswdw]

What a great day at DHS!! Except for the Goofy thing there are a lot of good memories!! Last time I was in DHS my son was too scared to go on the Tower. I should have been like you and went on by myself. Good for you!! Can't wait to read more.