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]

Upon exiting, we decided we had time to walk through:

This little girl was very playful while we were there watching.

Then mama came over and she tried unsuccessfully to engage her in play.

So she went back to entertaining herself.

Owen was very amused and could have stood there watching for hours! Needless to say, we nudged him along and headed out.

 

[TheMouseFan]

We grabbed FP on our way past and headed toward Tusker House. It wasn't quite time for our ADR, but we decided to check in early. Unfortunately, they don't let you check in more than 15 minutes early. So I took the extra 5 minutes and got some of the pics I missed getting when we were rushing to KS!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then it started drizzling, so we made sure the stroller was covered and headed over to check in.

Then we got to wait in line to meet Donald.

Owen decided he wanted to be the only one in the picture with Donald.

We were seated immediately. Then Daisy was at our table within minutes.

Then Owen was getting silly while we waited on Mickey!

Then we were able to make our way to the yummy buffet. We absolutely love the food here! Then they brought Owen his birthday cupcake and card.

Owen left the table to be in the parade and I followed to try to get pics. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any really good ones. When we got back to the table, Goofy was sitting in my chair visiting with my mom. I couldn't get my camera ready fast enough to get a pic though!

No Pluto this year. But Daisy came around again for another pic.

 

[TheMouseFan]

When we exited, it had stopped raining and we were off on our next adventure. We headed back to KS to use our FP. We had another really great driver.

As we approached the lions, the driver commented that the two females and the male were all laying out on the rock together and pointed them out to us. As we came around the corner, one of the females swatted the male. He bit her and then turned his head away from her, so she swatted him again. He got up and we all thought he was going to walk away from her. This is the show we got instead!

The driver made a comment about how we can all feel the love tonight! Then she sped away because there were a few kids in the truck! Everyone got a good laugh out of this!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Next up was a brand new attraction for me, It's Tough to be a Bug. We've always been afraid at least one of the kids were too young to enjoy it before, so we've always skipped it. A few pics as we were making our way through the line.

The requisite bug eye pics:

Then Owen insisted on one without the glasses.

Owen loved this! Next time we will definitely be bringing everyone back to experience it. A few more pics on the way out.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then we decided to head toward:

My mom and Owen went to the Maharaja Jungle Trek where she apparently didn't feel the need to take pics! Oh well! I headed to Expedition Everest to use the single rider line.

Hello TOT!

I rode three times in a row, but only stood in line once for the picture.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Next was a visit with Santa Goofy since we were unable to see him at DHS. We made our way over to Dinoland.

We hopped in line just as they were taking a break, so I wandered around a bit taking in the Christmas decor.

Then back in line to wait:

The trees were of course dinosaur themed.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then it was our turn.

Then Owen spotted this and insisted we ride:

We had accomplished everything that Owen wanted to do, so we made our way over to find a bench for the parade.

After we got ourselves situated and made sure we would be able to sit there for the parade, Owen and I were off to find him a snack. This is what we came back with:

Then I headed back over to get onion rings for my mom and I.

I didn't get a pic, but they were delicious!
Then some pics I took while my mom and Owen were shopping.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Owen decided he wanted more pics, so we went exploring while my mom held our seats.

Owen was cold, so he decided this was the best way to stay warm!

Whatever keeps him still and quiet!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then it was parade time!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then we made our way out and back to CBR. The original plan was to go to AKL and see the Christmas decorations and catch a bus from there to DTD, but now we needed to get our boarding passes printed, so it was back to CBR first instead.

We didn't have any problem getting them printed, and I arranged to have Bell Services pick up our luggage in the morning. Then we headed back to our room to change into long pants and long sleeves because it was colder than we expected it to be. Then finally off to DTD.
We had dinner at Earl of Sandwich. I ordered the tomato soup.

It was yummy! My mom had some other type of soup and really enjoyed hers as well. Owen had PB&J.
Then we went to World of Disney for some last minute shopping.

We stopped to see Santa, but Owen didn't want to wait in line, so I got a pic of the trees indtead.

Then we walked over to see if the tree of lights was lit tonight. The first time we were here, there was some sort of concert set up in front of it and it was off. I was so disappointed! Thank goodness it was lit tonight!

Then back to pack our bags and get ready to leave tomorrow.

 

[DVC4bestvacations]

thanks for all of the pictures great trip report!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

thanks for all of the pictures great trip report!!

Thank you so much for reading!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Now it is time for our departure day. We were being picked up by DME at 11:55am, so we didn't really have time to go to a park. Instead, we planned to eat breakfast and tour the monorail resorts to see their Christmas decorations. We were up early because we had a 7:35am Bell Services appointment to pick up our carry-ons and store them at the Custom House for us. Owen had a grand time relaxing and eating a snack in bed while we were waiting.

Then we caught a bus to Magic Kingdom. A preview of what was to come:

Then we took the monorail from MK to the Contemporary. We were too early to check in for our ADR, so we wandered around and I got some pics if the Christmas decorations. I was kind of disappointed in the lack of decorations here.

That was about it for the decorations inside. Then I got a couple of views of the giant wreath.
From the inside:

From the walkway between BLT and Contemporary:

And from the MK overlook:

Also from that overlook:

Then I went outside to get a pic of their big Christmas tree.

Then a few non-Christmas pics inside:

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then it was finally time to check in at:

We walked right up for our picture.

Then were seated immediately. We were at the table right next to the doors that the characters came in and out of. It was quite interesting to watch the comings and goings!

We had time to get some food before any of the characters showed up at our table. The food was good. Nothing fantastic, but that is not why you eat at Chef Mickey's!

My mom was not happy that Donald put her in the picture!
Goofy was very playful and Owen loved it!

Then they brought Owen a birthday cupcake.

During the celebration song, Mickey and Minnie both came around and made a big deal of Owen. He doesn't look too excited in these pictures (in fact, he looks more interested in the cupcake), but he was eating it up!!!

The best interaction of the morning was with Pluto.

This was a great way to end the trip for Owen.
A few more pics on the way to catch the monorail.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Love where you were standing for Wishes. Maybe whenever we return...I will finally get that straight on spot for he castle. Just love how everything lined up. You also got great pics of the new projection show!

I just adore that last gorilla pic! Love gorillas! And the Contemporary pics =Happy...but yeah- their holiday decs aren't the greatest. Sad to see it winding down.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

OK, can I just say I just died laughing at the pics of the lions.... I was just thinking you saw some good lion stuff on the first safari... But it just doesn't compare to the second one!! hahaha... oh boy....

Getting the DME envelope is always the worst You're all set to go out and enjoy your last day and not think about leaving then BAM!!..... there's that envelope for the UNmagical express!!

 

[TWICKERS]

Great TR love pictures. What camera did you use?

 

[TheMouseFan]

Love where you were standing for Wishes. Maybe whenever we return...I will finally get that straight on spot for he castle. Just love how everything lined up. You also got great pics of the new projection show!

I just adore that last gorilla pic! Love gorillas! And the Contemporary pics =Happy...but yeah- their holiday decs aren't the greatest. Sad to see it winding down.

We always stand in the middle of MSUSA for Wishes. It started because we thought we would be able to exit a little more easily, then we decided we really liked the view! I was surprised that I was able to get some good pics of the projection show. Some of them almost look better on the camera than they did in person!
I'm sad to be winding down. I thought I would try to finish today, but we went shopping last night with birthday money and now I have a 380 piece Lego set to build this morning, so I don't think I'll be finishing just yet!

 

[TheMouseFan]

OK, can I just say I just died laughing at the pics of the lions.... I was just thinking you saw some good lion stuff on the first safari... But it just doesn't compare to the second one!! hahaha... oh boy....

Getting the DME envelope is always the worst You're all set to go out and enjoy your last day and not think about leaving then BAM!!..... there's that envelope for the UNmagical express!!

I know!! I was excited that all three of the lions were out on our first trip, but you're right, it just didn't compare at all to the second one!! Luckily Owen didn't ask about it, so I didn't have any explaining to do. The driver was awesome and just made it all the more funny!
Just getting the DME envelope was bad enough, but then to have to put some effort into getting the boarding passes and our pick up time. That really stunk!!