395 days of planning all lead up to this! Sept/Oct 2012

[luvdumbo]

HEATHERRRR! You never told me you had a trip report going or I would have been stalking this a long time ago! I guess I spend to much time on FB now! I will be following along now since I wa sthere the same time as you!

 

[HeatherLassell]

That's exactly how I felt, I've been avoiding looking at pics and videos so hopefully when DD and I get there it'll be really really new, where this past trip I did so much research, even though a lot was new , it would of been nice to be more surprised. So my advice stop looking lol, also nice to meet a fellow hockey/ Disney fan , if the realignment ever happens our teams will be division rivals ( Nashville )

I am glad I did as much research as I did since I feel it really helped the kids see and do almost everything we wanted. I had a pretty good idea of where everything was. lol And watching the ride videos was helpfull to get my daughter ON the rides. I couldn't help myself....and I've watched all the videos and pictures for New Fantasyland. It's like rubbing salt in a wound though. lol I pout throughout the whole experience.

If the NHLPA accepts the NHLs 'deal' then hockey will start again on my BIRTHDAY!!! November 2nd. That would be the best birthday present!!! I miss hockey!

HEATHERRRR! You never told me you had a trip report going or I would have been stalking this a long time ago! I guess I spend to much time on FB now! I will be following along now since I was there the same time as you!

Ahhhh sorry Mel!!! I do forget to tell people about DIS stuff when I talk to them on FB! Yay I'm glad you're here! I'm gonna work more on it on Sunday since I work the next few days! Once I get all my Photopass pics I can use them in my TR too!

 

[moose615]

I am glad I did as much research as I did since I feel it really helped the kids see and do almost everything we wanted. I had a pretty good idea of where everything was. lol And watching the ride videos was helpfull to get my daughter ON the rides. I couldn't help myself....and I've watched all the videos and pictures for New Fantasyland. It's like rubbing salt in a wound though. lol I pout throughout the whole experience.

If the NHLPA accepts the NHLs 'deal' then hockey will start again on my BIRTHDAY!!! November 2nd. That would be the best birthday present!!! I miss hockey!

!

All the pre planning and videos did help a lot, I wanted to make sure certain rides my daughter wanted to ride wasn't too scary for her like haunted mansion ( which she loved during MNSSHP ) an Tower of Terror (which she wanted to do sooooo bad , even though I wasn't sure about her doing) but we ended up having to sacrifice that for Toy Story and Fantasmic! , which I was happy to do to give her alittle time before she does that one.

That would be an awesome Birthday present! I hate not watching hockey, especially since this is the first year I bought a ticket package haha figures

 

[HeatherLassell]

All the pre planning and videos did help a lot, I wanted to make sure certain rides my daughter wanted to ride wasn't too scary for her like haunted mansion ( which she loved during MNSSHP ) an Tower of Terror (which she wanted to do sooooo bad , even though I wasn't sure about her doing) but we ended up having to sacrifice that for Toy Story and Fantasmic! , which I was happy to do to give her alittle time before she does that one.

That would be an awesome Birthday present! I hate not watching hockey, especially since this is the first year I bought a ticket package haha figures

It's going to be a LONG time before I can actually easily buy tickets to a Winnipeg Jets game. It's ridonkulous!

 

[mbvisitor]

What a great family picture to have...so cool you were able to get a log all to yourselves!

 

[mbvisitor]

I have to change my avatar...it's depressing

 

[HeatherLassell]

What a great family picture to have...so cool you were able to get a log all to yourselves!

Thanks! It was awesome! Totally unexpected too!

I have to change my avatar...it's depressing

*UGH* Don't even get me started! Huge step backwards so I'm thinking I'm not getting my birthday wish of hockey starting on November 2nd!

 

[the_green_machine]

Awesome TR so far...I'm in!! I've been away from the boards for a while and the other day I wondered if you guys had been to WDW yet...I was plesantly suprised to see that this had turned into a TR. I look forward to seeing all your great pictures. We're going back with friends in late Jan. 2014, it can't come fast enough! I guess your "the Queen of the TR" now!

 

[HeatherLassell]

2nd day part 2:

So after Splash Mountain I was feeling REALLY sick. Unfortunately I started to get a migraine . But we pushed on for a little while. We headed over to It's A Small World. Let me tell you RIGHT NOW that this is a horrible idea. It's horrible in general (imo) but worse with a headache. lol I felt like I was literally in hell.

Since I wasn't feeling good I didn't take very many pictures!

But we headed over to the Haunted Mansion which quickly became Ava's favourite ride in MK besides Splash Mountain.

This is my favorite picture of the entire trip!!!

Aren't they awesome?

We headed over to The Laugh Floor which was great because it is nice and air conditioned in there!

After this we decided to head back to the resort to rest a little and get ready for Mickeys Not So Scarey Halloween Party!

One last picture before we left the park:

 

[HeatherLassell]

MNSSHP:

First thing on the agenda was meeting the princesses because this is the one time you can meet them along with their prince.

While me and Ava waited in line Braden and Cole decided they wanted to go ride Splash Mountain.

First up was Rapunzel and Flynn Ava asked him what was in his satchel:

First he put it on her stomach, then her shoulder, then the side of her face (cause she kept saying "no no you put it on my head!" lol) before he finally put it on top of her head!

Next up was Snow White:

And then Cinderella:

All the princesses and their princes were very impressed with Ava's manners. She did a curtsey to each set as she met and left them! So freaking adorable. She really is a princess!

Braden and Cole got back just in time to join us in line to meet Mickey and Minnie. Poor boys because they ended up riding Big Thunder Mountain when it started POURING rain!!!

After we left there we saw Phinneas and Ferb!

It was so funny cause they were about to leave but the 'friends' said we could come up and they would go back to their backdrop for a picture. Well the decided to start being ZOMBIES!

This is especially funny cause in about 6 photos with them Ava didn't look back once. She stood in her curtsey and didn't even notice the zombies behind her. lol

And then they decided to start fighting over who should Braden should like the best. It was funny. I swear they spend over 5 minutes with us which was so nice and they really were a lot of fun!

HALLOWISHES

It was amazing!!!! I took so many pictures but as we all know fireworks pics are hard. The best ones I got came from my iPhone amazingly enough!

After the fireworks we went over to the bakery and found a great spot right on the corner to watch from! I love this pic:

 

[HeatherLassell]

We watched the "CALLING ALL THE MONSTERS" dance party. I didn't want to lose my spot for the parade so we didn't get up. But Ava mustered up enough courage to run up and do the running around part. (They kinda ran around in circles)

Time for the parade!

While we were watching the parade I hear "HEATHER!!!" and there was my friend Jody from Australia!! She somehow recognized me in the crowd from the back of my head! lol With how many people are in Disney World at one time we actually manage to cross paths like this more than 3 times during our trip!

After the parade we visited a few of the candy stations

And met BUZZ

We managed to go on some rides too! We stumbled upon the dance party with Jessie and Woody. It was really dark though so my pictures didn't turn out well. But since there was only 1 other kid in their Ava got to dance with Jessie for quite a while before we moved on!

One last pic near the front before we headed back for the night. We were there until the party ended!

I LOVED the lighting and the music that was in MK for the halloween party. It was so awesome! It really set the tone for the party.

And that's the end of day 2.

Day 3 is Epcots 30th anniversary.

 

[HeatherLassell]

POST THREE ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE OF MY PTR NOW HAS AN INDEX OF MY TRIP REPORT LINKS.

 

[Stan Solo]

Yea your back! How was you Christmas and New Years?

So sorry to hear that you were not feeling well and could not enjoy Splash Mountain it sounds like the rest back at your Royal room was all the meds you needed.

Looking back on it was the extra cost for the Halloween party worth it? It sure looks like it was from your pictures. Speaking of pictures I love the photo you took of the Mickey o Lantern with the castle in the background. Was that taken with your DSL or phone? Would it be all right if I add it to my DW screensaver?

The photo of your DCs at haunted mansion is also great.

 

[HeatherLassell]

Yea your back! How was you Christmas and New Years?

So sorry to hear that you were not feeling well and could not enjoy Splash Mountain it sounds like the rest back at your Royal room was all the meds you needed.

Looking back on it was the extra cost for the Halloween party worth it? It sure looks like it was from your pictures. Speaking of pictures I love the photo you took of the Mickey o Lantern with the castle in the background. Was that taken with your DSL or phone? Would it be all right if I add it to my DW screensaver?

The photo of your DCs at haunted mansion is also great.

Thanks! Christmas and new years were good.

I stopped at the First Aid place before we left MK. They gave me a syrup to help me stop feeling naseus and gave me a barf bag for the bus. When we got back to the resort I stopped at the store and bought motion sickness meds. lol I probably bought 12 packs of them!

I really enjoyed the Halloween party. I'd do it again for sure. And yes you can totally add the picture. It was just taken with my iPhone!

 

[HeatherLassell]

Here is our picture from SPLASH MOUNTAIN! (Our 2nd ever ride at Disney World...Big Thunder was first cause SM was down right at open)

They read our shirts and saw it was our first trip! The log started moving before I realised that they gave us a log all to ourselves!!!

That was pretty special!

 

[HeatherLassell]

The kids on Space Mountain ( my dad took them on as I hate this ride...he just ended up in the car ahead of them )

My mom and son on Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin or whatever it's called! lol And then Braden is with Ava...but she's so small you can't see her behind the gun!

And my dad catching flies

I'm not in the pictures because as I said I wasn't feeling good. So I was sitting on the ground in the shop at the end of the ride waiting for them. A very nice cast member came to talk to me to make sure I was ok and see if I needed medical attention. She was very nice. Even gave me a free bottle of water.

 

[HeatherLassell]

Day 3

Off to Epcot!! This was the 30th anniversary of Epcot so we made sure to all grab our buttons!

First thing we did was head over to Soarin'. We grabbed fast passes and then got in stand by. Ava LOVED this ride. It was her favorite. She was leaning over looking all around. She loved the orange smell and the part when the guy hits the golf ball right at you.

I got a text from my friend Jody (who I met through the disboards) and since we were at Seasons grabbing lunch she decided to come over there and meet up with us for a few minutes!

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We had a great lunch and then went on Soarin again with our fast passes. Then we decided to go over to see Under the Sea with Nemo and Friends.

It was really sunny outside! lol I tried this picture again the next Epcot day but I'll post it anyways!

It was so hot that the kids were just not enjoying the walk around the World Showcase. I think next trip I'll just do a solo afternoon/evening at WC and only take the kids to the Future World part.

But we did go to a few countries including the UK part because I wanted to find the store with Scottish stuff. Kinda disappointing though since 99% of the stuff made in the store was made in China. I did find a scarf actually made in Scotland but it was way too expensive and I don't even really wear scarfs anyways.

We stopped at one last ride before we had to go to Ohana for dinner! I didn't get a picture of the screen for Cole and Braden but here was mine and Avas.

lol My head isn't even on my neck but whateves.

We hopped on the resort monorail and headed over to the Poly for our dinner!

Everyone was happy to be in air conditioning for a while that we didn't care about the 30 minute wait to be seated.

Food was great in my opinion. It was kinda salty though. My mom found it very salty and didn't end up eating much.

Mmmmmmm.

Now I didn't take any more pictures that night but we did take the monorail back to MK for a little while. We walked around and decided we were tired so we went to the busses. HUGE line ups for POR. So we hopped on the bus for French Quarter.

Once we got off the bus we took a very short walk to the river only stopping to take a picture....

and were going to walk to POR....but TADA the boat was just arriving and there was no line. So we just hopped on and took a short boat ride to POR.


We got back to our room by 8:30 and this is what my oldest son was doing by 8:41!

 

[aljay]

I'm enjoying your trip report, Heather! I'm missing Disney already, and we were just there in August!
Next up is DL for us. I see you are heading back in a year, to WDW ... Nice!

 

[HeatherLassell]

I'm enjoying your trip report, Heather! I'm missing Disney already, and we were just there in August!
Next up is DL for us. I see you are heading back in a year, to WDW ... Nice!

Thanks! Sorry it's taken me so long. I think PTR was a lot more fun. Also wish I had brought a small notebook and wrote down what we did because it's kinda hard now. lol But I do have the pictures to remid me.

Yes I am planning to go again next January. I wanna stay at the POLY this time!!! BUT.....I'm also kinda wanting to maybe do a cruise. I'm showing the kids videos of all the stuff you can do on a cruise....but not sure they are too into the idea. They like the Aquaduck but I see wait times can be pretty horrendous at times so it's not like you can ride it constantly unless you wanna wait up to 45 minutes in line. But the kids clubs look cool. We'll see. I'm kinda thinking now that they would enjoy a WDW trip more.

Maybe I need to find a DIS buddy to go on a cruise with me? Maybe in Summer (I hear the cruises almost always sale full so I don't think the time of year makes a difference) since my kids are all gone in summer and I'm home alone! lol

I might be going to Scotland this July (again cause my kids are gone) as we were found be FAMILY just before Christmas!! It was exciting. SO I have relatives that live in Glasgow which is the city my mom was born and raised in! I just need money for the flight and spending money! I have 2 places to stay and they all have offered to feed me! lol

 

[HeatherLassell]

Oh lordy.....so I'm definitely the queen of the PTR but a major fail (jester) at the TR! LOL!

I will eventually try and finish this!

BUT,

I have a new trip booked for this January! Jan 6-15th! We're planning to stay at POR again but this time I've asked for a standard view in Alligator Bayou so that we get one of those banquette beds! Will be a perfect way to get my boys not to fight all night long!

So far I've made my ADRs (most of them) and decided what park for each day we're there!

JANUARY

6th
Arrival Day
'OHana Restaurant - Supper@7:05pm

7th
MK DAY
BE OUR GUEST RESTAURANT SUPPER - @5:10pm


8th
EPCOT DAY
Le Cellier @6pm


9th
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS DAY


10th
MK DAY
Chef Mickey's @ 5:30pm - Supper

11th
ANIMAL KINGDOM DAY
Tusker House Donald Safari Breakfast @8am


12th
MK DAY
Crystal Palace @ 8:10am

13th
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS DAY
Sci-fi Dine In Theatre @ 6pm


14th
MK DAY
BE OUR GUEST RESTAURANT - SUPPER @6PM


15th
DEPARTURE DAY


I just booked and paid for our flights! UGH So expensive!! $2988 for 4 round trip flights with West Jet. I picked West Jet because they are the ONLY airline from Winnipeg that does a direct flight. It wasn't so bad making a connection last time because my parents were with us to help...but this time it will just be me and the kids!

This trip is a SURPRISE for my youngest 2. My oldest will be in grade 11 and wanted to know when we were going so he can work ahead. He's promised not to say anything to his brother and sister. I'm still trying to figure out how to announce the surprise to them! One idea was renting a limo and picking them up from SCHOOL! Our flight is at 2 in the afternoon so this would be perfect! I will be taking a video of however I decide to tell them!