[Dana]

I was so happy to sign on and see this report posted. I have been anxious to read it. Welcome home. Thus far, this report is awesome and I know the more you post, the more exciting it's going to get. Can't wait to read on.

[The Goof Father]

THANKS! MORE-MORE-MORE!!!

[A Goofy Family]

Originally Posted by gingita

Wow, it sounds like we were at the MK at the same time on Sunday. I hung out there before it closed for MVMCP. It was pretty cold weather that day. Sorry you didn't get to see The Timekeeper. I caught it yesterday and I can see why they are doing away with it--it's definitely really outdated.

And I also saw the Christmas parade during the day (I was doing crowd control in Liberty Square on Wednesday) and it was so magical. I can't even imagine how cool it would be at night!

It sounds like you had a fantastic time--I can't wait to hear the rest! And hopefully see some pictures!

BDavis will have to help me with the pictures...
I didn't realize you were there...silly me! Maybe we can look you up when we're there in March!
Glad somebody got to see the Timekeeper. I may have in 1999, but everything was so new to me then that I can't pull it from my memory bank.
Oh well...

[A Goofy Family]

And here's day 2 of our trip:

Day 2 Monday December 19th

Since we got in so late last night we sleep in again today. The kids do SO much better when they have proper sleep and I didn’t want to risk them getting over tired and become sick, not to mention the attitude change you get with tired kids! So I think the 5 of us left the room around 10:30. Again, it was suppose to get cooler this evening & we’d need jackets tonight so we decided to drive ourselves. It’s really not that bad driving…in fact it was really convenient. Didn’t have to wait 15 minutes+ for a bus! When I suggested driving on Day 1, DH was NOT a big fan of it, but after doing it, I think he realized how convenient it made everything for our group. DinLaws left before us that morning, but arrived at MGM at about the same time as us. We entered the park, Took Pics w/Photopass, DD took traditional photo on the mechanical horse and went to ToT for FP’s, we also checked the line for RnR, but it was too long. We called inlaws to see where they were. They were just getting to the Animators Studio. Not sure if they did the tour, but when we caught up with them at the drawing room, they were just coming to line up to go in. We always sneek in through the gift shop and straight to the drawing room, but they’ve never done the tour & I assume they did today. We waited about 2 minutes and in we went, all 8 of us. This was another 1st for Mom, Inlaws & niece. We drew Donald, and we did quite well if I dare say so myself. DM had A LOT of 1st time things on this trip, even though it’s her 5th trip! We saw Chicken Little & The Ugly Duckling in the Studio too, we didn’t do the Meet & Greet, but I took pic’s between families.
Narnia was really cool!! Wish we had time to do it again—hopefully it’ll be there in March. Took pic’s inside & alos at the prop outside. So beautiful! We plan to see the movie on Friday with Bdavis!! Couldn’t find time to squeeze it in before our trip.
It was time for the girls’ FP’s at ToT, they told us there lunch order and we got food while they did the ride…oh DH ran to get FP’s for RnR too. By the time the girls returned, their lunch was being brought to the table. Perfect timing!! After we finished lunch, we shopped for awhile. DM headed to Beauty and Beast to grab seats while we were checking out in the store. Good thing…It filled up fast!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS SHOW!! I could watch it over and over again…..but it seems like they changed it just a bit…I didn’t get other’s opinions from our group, but it had parts I didn’t remember… It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen it though. We missed it this past summer and the time before that, they had to close the show within the first little bit due to the fact that an older gentleman in the audience was having what seemed to be a heart attack. I still wonder if he was OK…..
After the show, it was almost time for the Holly-Day Parade. So we go and find a place to stand up by the Drew Carey show. Since we have about 15 minutes until showtime, I ask the kids if they want ice cream…of course they say yes…I have them get me one too. They go over to Gertie and 5 minutes go by, then 10…then they announce the parade is coming. So I call them on the cell phone and tell them…4 minutes go by, still no kids…I want them to see the parade!!! So I call them again and they had just placed their order (guess they didn’t want to lose their place in line and then not be able to get icecream later) I don’t know why they do those things to me. I was getting anxious thinking they were going to miss it. They did miss most of Mickey and Minnie’s car, but saw the rest…I took pic’s and we have it on video…so it’s fine they said. Kids! Well they got their icecream but have to watch from the opposite side of the street…my wafflecone is melting, but they got a cup and turn the cone into it, it was so chilly outside that it hardly melted at all and I got to eat it after the parade. It’s such a great parade! I’ve never seen an entire MGM parade so this was pretty special!!

It’s time to use our RnR FP’s, so off we go, DH, Me, DD & Dniece….DS and parents head to the Great Movie Ride. We go straight thru the line and are on the ride in no time at all! We head back to The Hat to check out pins, etc and wait for the others. Then who do you think walks through the Hat and takes their places at the bottom of the steps?? Well it’s Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale!!! As soon as DD saw them, she made a beeline straight to the line!! They were taking pic’s as group, no autographs and DD wants to take a pic!!! I was about to have heart attack again…wouldn’t this be a Perfect Group Picture?? So DH calls his Dad, my Mom wouldn’t answer her phone. He asked where they were…on the GMR…and hangs up. I asked “where on the ride”…so he calls him back…Wizard of Oz….Oh Gosh…it’ll take forever!!! So we’re in line, getting closer and closer to the front of the line. I’ve NEVER seen a character line move this fast in my life!!! Can we slow it down somehow?? We’re 2nd in line, so we start letting folks by. I called Dfil again and told them not to mess around getting off the ride and get to the front of the Hat ASAP!! We start to allow one family at a time pass us by…they have already called for the end of the line so they are not adding anyone else to the line. We asked the CM if we could move to the end of the line and she said No…I told her we were waiting for Grandparents to get here & take pic’s, we weren’t adding to the line….just changing our place in line…she got special permission & we moved to the back. I kept watching the GMR exit doors and we were 3rd family from picture time and I see my MiL come out…I RAN to them and told them to RUN & follow me…as we get the to characters it’s our turn, everyone steps into place and PRESTO, we have the perfect character pictures. They took photopass AND offered pics with personal cameras too….so we got both!! I was SO excited we got all 8 of us and if they had been even 5 seconds later, we wouldn’t have gotten the photo!! I’m not sure if EVERYONE felt my excitement, but it was a wonderful moment for me!!! Whew!!
We then take a vote on what to do next and decide on Who Wants TBAM….DM, Dmil, DH & I are chosen for the Fast Fingers Seats!! How exciting is that??? The kids and Dfil get to sit 1st row directly behind us. We had to wait about 10-15 minutes for this, but it was really worth the wait. It was a lot of fun, even though none of us made it to the Hot Seat. We got to see 2 rounds since it was the last game of the day. DH made the top 10…coming in at #4 I believe.
When we came out of WMTBAM, it was getting dark, so we headed down to the Osborne Family Lights. What an awesome display!!! The snow, the gazillion lights, the creativity, the imagination!! It was So beautiful, colorful, wonderful!, the lights just go on and on! Again it was pretty chilly and gave such an atmosphere to the streets!!
We all decide it’s time to leave since we’ve seen what we wanted to and we want to check out a couple of the resorts. On our way out, we stop at the Star Tours gift shop and also had DS take his traditional pic on the Mechanical Horse (with a little persuasion that is), we stop and check out our group photo with the characters..which are great, but I decided to wait and order online when we get home. So off to the parking lot we go, jump on the tram and then into the Suburban and off we go to AKL. 7 of us had never been there before. Mom went w/Dsis a couple of years ago for dinner. It’s such a beautiful resort. We walk through the doors and the tree is in the middle of the lobby, so beautiful…in a huge woven basket. Across the lobby is a chimebell choir playing, It’s so welcoming and wonderful! We found the gingerbread display downstairs by the 1st restaurant, take pics and check out the restaurants, they smell absolutely yummy, but Dfil is a little picky so we choose to move on. We check out the pool area (folks are actually swimming!! ) The pools are so warm you can actually see the steam coming off of them. A swim would be nice, the walk to the room….not too appealing!

Wilderness Lodge is our next stop! It’s 8:00 and everyone is hungry. The resort is beautiful (we’ve all either have stayed or visited here before). I asked at Whispering Canyon how long for a party of 8…first they said 15-20 minutes, but our pager went off within about 2 minutes….everything seems to be clicking for us on this trip!

Our server gave DS such a hard time, kicked him out of his seat so she could sit down and take our orders. We gave her a hard time back too. Of course Grandma (my Mom) had eaten there before, so she tricked the kids in to asking for ketchup…it was so funny!! The twins did the stick horse race, got the opportunity to deliver ketchup to another table, got wooden nickels from “aunt Lisa” and we all ate way too much!! Oh and during dinner DM called Dsis (Bdavis) and got in trouble. Hehe While she was on the phone, the waitress walked by and saw her talking on the phone during dinner. She took Mom's phone and said "who is this?" into the phone...DSis told her, Heather. . She said "don't you know it's rude to call people during dinner?"...She told her that Mom had called her, she didn't call Mom! She said "oh, then I better put her in time out!!" hehehe! She then hollered around the entire restaurant and told everyone I was on the phone and got all the guests to yell "HOWDY HEATHER"!!!!! It was great!! Later we found out that Dsis had told the waitress to make Mom do the Stick Horse race instead of going to timeout…neither one happened, but it was pretty funny!!!
It was REALLY cold at this point, but we headed out the back doors of the lodge to find the geyser…it was about 10:30, so we didn’t get to see it take off. We did get to see the end of the water parade tho. We also walked over to the Villlas so DH could show his Dad the Train displays….the men in our family LOVE trains!!

As you can tell, we do LATE nights when we go to WDW. We just readjust our days in order to get enough sleep!! Looks like we’re sleeping in again tomorrow morning!



Side Note: There was suppose to be a Gingerbread Tower of Terror at The Brown Derby, but due to kids damaging it, it was removed for repairs. IF/when they repair it, it’ll be taken to Hollywood & Vine and placed in the glass case. Pretty sad when people tear things up…where were those parents???? And why didn’t they teach them how to respect things??

Also, a couple of times today we really “felt” the crowds…didn’t really hinder us in any way, but there were a lot of folks in this park!! Crowd Predictor said it would be a 7 & MGM/DS would be the best park to visit…wonder what the other parks looked like?

[A Goofy Family]

Originally Posted by Dana

I was so happy to sign on and see this report posted. I have been anxious to read it. Welcome home. Thus far, this report is awesome and I know the more you post, the more exciting it's going to get. Can't wait to read on.

Thank you! We had an awesome time and saw so many things. I've never Resort hopped before...it's kinda fun! Now I want to go and see the rest of them!

[A Goofy Family]

Originally Posted by tinkerbell

while you were at Magic Kingdom ..we other Texan's were over at MGM :) love it .. but sure wish our paths could have crossed ... chances are they did .. we just dont know it yet :)

I bet our paths did cross!! And right before we left for our trip I found my DC pin and packed in a very special place....so special I still haven't found it!! I'm going to have to do some searching before March. I watched for others wearing DC pins...but didn't find anyone.

[Princess Tessa]

wow! that was so cool to hear about the "Howdy Heather" story from you side, she of course told us on DC after it heppened What a great waitress, really part of the show!

[Maria]

Day 2 was just as wonderful as day 1, thank you I'm really loving your TR

[daisyd]

Excellent so far!! I just love it

I feel awful for the person/people that made the gingerbread ToT--all that work to have someone damage it

[A Goofy Family]

Originally Posted by daisyd

I feel awful for the person/people that made the gingerbread ToT--all that work to have someone damage it

My thoughts exactly....that was a work of art and someone vandalized it! I can see where accidents could happen, but the CM at the restaurant actually said that kids damaged it. Sounded intentional... How Rude!!

[tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by A Goofy Family

I bet our paths did cross!! And right before we left for our trip I found my DC pin and packed in a very special place....so special I still haven't found it!! I'm going to have to do some searching before March. I watched for others wearing DC pins...but didn't find anyone.

I had my DC pin on my hat the first day. The camera bag and then a lanyard on day two ..but it broke that day and fell off :( so I had to put it up.
can not wait till you get some pictures up !!!

[A Goofy Family]

The 3rd Day...our half-way point....

Day 3 Tuesday December 18th:

This was a very busy day for us. We covered a lot of territory and saw many new things. We drove again today; DiL’s decided to ride with us this morning. I guess we got to EPCOT about 10:00 or maybe a little later. Originally, this was our AK day but since there is so much Christmas stuff to see and do in EPCOT, we decided to start here this morning. After we got through the gates, DH gathered up all of our AP’s and went to get FP’s for Soarin’, we met up with him and headed towards The Living Seas, we wanted to see Turtle Talk. The next show started in about 10 minutes, so we jumped in line and let the kids go over to the kiddee room—they took pic’s inside of Bruce and we called them over when we were down to about 2 minutes ‘til showtime. The show was great…another 1st for DM. We then set out to find Robots (thanks Disney Teacher for the idea!) at Innoventions. We entered the West side and checked out of few things, the girls did the DDR room while DS took a bathroom break. He missed out on DDR, but we’ll do it in March. We then went over to the East side and found Robots. What a great attraction!! We carefully formed our teams. I talked DM & Dfil into be “single” teams (I thought we could only build one robot per team and we wanted a couple extra for Bdavis’ kids and DH’s other niece and nephew). We listened to the educational part of plastics and then on to the race. Hmmm, DM said she was NO WAY doing the race…and since I was the one that talked her into it, guess who had to do the race?? DmiL took Dfil’s place. It’s very physical, but very fun!! DN came in 2nd, DS came in 4th. DD & I placed high in the beauty category…beauty over brawn I always say! J Then they said WE ALL could build Robots and even take extras home for those who couldn’t come!! AWESOME!! So we all build our Robots and off we go to find a bag to carry them in…they really need to have a supply of bags there, MouseGear says they are hit up for bags ALL day long. This attraction became an Instant Favorite for my kids. They were already asking to do it again. Maybe tomorrow….
We then walked up to Mission Space; I bypassed it…just the kids went. We handed them a phone and told them to go through the singles line. Guess it took them about 15-20 minutes to get onto the ride. And they all got to ride together! The adults headed to Wonders of Life. We walked around, the place was pretty empty. Dmil & I rode Body Wars, while DH & DM went into see Cranium Command. Our ride finished 1st and while we were waiting for DH & DM, I saw I lady I knew from our school…Small world!! We chatted for awhile and she told me of 2 other families we know that were there too…
The kids called us and off to The Land we go to ride Soarin’. This is DM & Dfil’s 1st time to try it. We again had no wait with our FP’s and we rode 2nd row from the top on the left side. It was awesome, and even more so because the 1st timers loved it so much too!! We all agreed we needed to do it again if time permitted this trip. We all decide to Hop to AK since this really is our AK day and all… So off to the car we go, we swing by McDonalds by All Stars, eat in the car on the way to AK…we wanted to spare as much time as we could. We walked all the way to the Safari (Dfil/Dmil wanted to do it pretty badly) but we found the wait was 110 minutes…YIKES! We really came for the Jingle Jungle Parade and if we did the Safari, we’d miss the parade…so we skipped it. We caught a wonderful view of Everest, it looks SOOO cool! The cars were running and my DD got all excited thinking maybe we could do a soft opening. No such luck…they were still testing it. We ran into an Imagineer (that is working on it) who just got off work. He said they run it 18 hours a day and he has actually ridden it 6 times. Says it is pretty awesome. Takes an 80 degree drop at about 55mph….I was impressed that at 60+yo, he was still loving Roller Coasters, what an incentive!!
We went into the Birds of Flight show, another 1st for DM. It was great and then found our places for the Jingle Jungle Parade. We were right on the tape; such a great view and the kids got a lot of attention/interaction. We also went to Tarzan Rocks (this was one of my Dad’s favorite shows)…what a great show. The strength, the energy and voices/music just amaze me!! It’s about 5:10 when the show ends and we all agree if we’re going to try and make the 6:00 Tree Lighting Ceremony at EPCOT, we need to leave AK NOW! So ZOOM…off to the parking lot we go. DH, Dmil, DS & DN in the lead. DD & I hang back to walk with DM & Dfil. DH is 6’6” with LONG strides and DM is 5’2” and has to take twice as many steps as him…so it takes a little longer. We skip the tram and walk/run to the car way across the lot….We climb in and off we go….will we make it to EPCOT on time? This is our only night to see it, as we have PS’s at the Biergarten tomorrow night at 5:30. It’s 5:35 and we’re still driving, have to park, do bag check, enter the gates and get to the Showcase Plaza in the middle of the park. The pressure is on (again) so we drop Grandparents and kids (with video & digital cameras in hand) as close to the front as possible. DH & I find a place to park and RUN to the front gates. Kids handed fanny packs & bags to Dmil for bag check so they can run ahead. The clock is ticking!!! We see the Moms at the front gates and they said to go on they’d catch up, so we power walk to the Showcase Plaza. Whew!! We made it! But we have no clue where everyone is!! I called Mom and found her, Mil joined us too. We all got to see the entire Ceremony, YAY!! We found out later that Dfil didn’t have a great view, they made him go around back of the tree….but the kids had up close view…in fact so close DS couldn’t get the entire stage on video & DD could only get so much in a still photo…so we have some very creative photography. What can you expect from 11yo’s?? What they have is pretty fun tho! DN is 15 & I think her video turned out pretty good, so I think we’ll copy theirs. The show was really cute and we’re all so happy we got to see it!
We all found each other fairly quickly and decide to skip dinner at the GF, so we can check out the resorts near Epcot…we will just have to make time to visit the GF before we leave!
So off to Canada we go, The shop is closed, but we go in and see the Movie—excellent! Then we headed to the International Gateway to visit the Y&B Clubs. At the Yacht Club we found the life-sized Chocolate Carousel. The family had so much fun hunting all of the displays for the hidden Mickeys. The Carousel was just beautiful! Then off to the Beach Club where we found the Train and Village display. We then walked the loop over to the boardwalk. DS & I ran into the DVC model rooms—I just LOVE the 1 Bedroom units!! Wonder how many points that would take?? I’m going to have to check into it!! The DVC rep gave my son a cute little Christmas goodie bag w/Candy Canes and a metal Mickey bookmark (which he discovers when we are at the Boardwalk Resort Lobby) Down the boardwalk we go and we find the Lobby to the Boardwalk Resort. Up a flight of stairs, which overlooks an outside Christmas tree surrounded by Carolers. What a beautiful sight, I could have stayed in that very spot the rest of the night, but…we were here to see decorations so in we went. I think this was my most favorite resort!! It was so beautifully decorated!! I’d love to stay here any time of the year!! Their Gingerbread display was Santa’s Workshop, just awesome! I can’t believe all the details in these displays!! Now this is the point where DS is sitting on the sofa and opens the goodie bag…DD says, WOW Cool, I love the bookmark…I want one….so what’s a Mom to do?? I told DH to go ahead, back to EPCOT and DD & I will catch up. So we power walk back to DVC. Thought we were taking a shortcut….it wasn’t…but we got to see more of the resort & pool and had to come all the way back down the boardwalk to DVC. DD asked if she could have a bad and the lady remembered us from earlier and said you had another girl with you too..so we got one for my niece too. We power walk through the International Gates and met the group at the Gift Shop.
Over to America we go…found the Gingerbread Shop/Bakery, there was actually a girl working out of the shop selling cookies, etc…So CUTE! China was next for a light dinner and we found a place to watch Illuminations. It was so spectacular with the special Christmas ending & all. I guess we left the park at 10:15 or so and headed back to our rooms. I think we were actually in bed before midnight tonight! I think we were all ready for a good nights sleep after walking so much today.

[A Goofy Family]

I'm going to try to link our PhotoPass photos in so you can see a few pictures from our trip...

http://disneyphotopass.go.com/DPI/r.d?i=349293420

Somebody tell me if it works!!

[kizzmitt]

I'm just loving your TR! Someday I hope to go at
christmas time, it sounds so nice!

[kizzmitt]

Originally Posted by A Goofy Family

I'm going to try to link our PhotoPass photos in so you can see a few pictures from our trip...

http://disneyphotopass.go.com/DPI/r.d?i=349293420

Somebody tell me if it works!!

It works! I can see why you got so exicited about the group picture at MGM, Its great!