wait, what? it's another trip to disney! Sept 2014 FINAL UPDATE 1-28

[missangelalexis]

It really is such an awesome parade, glad you enjoyed it. Sounds like a great meet with Jack Sparrow!

I too love the photo you got of the clock and mickey head, so awesome!

Nice relaxing morning! Glad the rain didn't ruin anything!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Great update! but as everyone knows if there isn't a picture it didn't happen!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
and have a great

 

[Marsheliz]

I absolutely loved the Boo to you Parade too! it is so great!

Love the pic you got of the clock striking midnight! I'm like you, on exit of the park, I am turning around taking pictures and trying to get one last vision in my head.

Man, all that rain in September! ((( Glad you had a go with the flow day! On our trip in Feb- we plan on taking some down time as well!

 

[Tinker326]

I love the Boo To You Parade too!

And fantastic pictures of the clock & balloons. I just love balloon pics!

I ,too, swoon over Jack Sparrow. Although I prefer the Jack Sparrow with the name J.Depp.

Down days are always fun, but I never seem to schedule them either. I get too into the 'Disney mode' and don't plan enough 'relax' mode.

Great update, looking forward to HS!

 

[RGirl]

Hi Lori! I hope you had a great Christmas.

Don't you just love the Boo to You parade? I think it's my favorite one.

Good call on sleeping in and doing some pool time day after the party. It's rough being out that late!

 

[RGirl]

Hi Lori! Willow and I wanted to stop by and wish you a ....

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All the best in 2015 to you, Rich and the girls.

 

[MissMaryQC]

Loving the parade photos! I've never been to MNSSHP so I adore seeing everyone's pictures! The final one of midnight and Mickey is great! I love it when I catch great shots like that, it's rare for me!

Resorts day after a late night sounds great to me! Those puddle pictures are so cute, and I love the silly faces at the table! Looks like a great start to the day.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Oh the party looks so awesome! I can not wait!
I love how much Hannah loves captain jack! It stinks it was rainy but it looks like it was really fun!

I love the pic of rich sleeping with the girls wide awake around him! typical!

I highly recommend more resort time on your trips! It really is nice to enjoy what the resort has to offer!

that girl was LOVING captain jack! she's never seen any of the movies, but she knows jack sparrow is her fave!

it really is typical. I don't know why he thinks he'll stay awake once he lays down...

What a nice relaxing morning!! And how fun that you got to stay so late at the party! I love late nights in the park!!

the parks at night are THE BEST! it's my favorite time to be there.

Haha I just type into Word as I read along and then copy and paste, that's how I remember

The parade looks so incredible! I didn't know Ralph & Venelope were in it....that makes me super happy! I was sad to learn that they had been replaced and I know my kids would love to see them.

So cute how much Hannah liked Captain Jack Sparrow. I love the photo where she is admiring the signature!

Ooh, I agree the photo with the clock striking midnight and Mickey all aglow...prefect!

That pic of your DH is awesome and would totally be something my DH would do. LOL.

I adore the puddle pictures! So true about them enjoying the simple things. One of my kids' favorite parts of our DL trip was the water slide at the hotel, like we could have saved a ton of money and just done a hotel closer

I didn't know ralph and vanellope were in the parade either, but I thought it might be because they got kicked out of HS for big hero 6 also. I love wreck it ralph!

Hannah and capt jack--love at first sight!

thanks--I loved that picture and was surprised it turned out. I never get that lucky taking a picture.

kids! I don't regret any of our vacations, but they really do just love the simple things, don't they?

The parade music is so catchy! Our MNSSHP was over 2 years ago and we still sing the song all the time. Boo to you and you and you and you... Happy Halloween! I think it's Derek's favorite parade! Love all your pictures of the parade, but especially your favorite picture!! Perfection!

Yay for pool time and for the stars aligning for you and Terri to both be in just the right spot at the right time! I've read about your park day from Terri's trip report, but can't wait to see your side of it!

I LOVE that parade music! I really want to buy the cd with the party music, but it's almost $45 or some crazy amount like that and I can't bring myself to spend that. maybe a birthday present to myself.....hhmmmmm

I was so excited to meet her finally and get to spend some time with her. and everyone got along so well--DIS people are the best!!

It really is such an awesome parade, glad you enjoyed it. Sounds like a great meet with Jack Sparrow!

I too love the photo you got of the clock and mickey head, so awesome!

Nice relaxing morning! Glad the rain didn't ruin anything!

we just loved everything about the party! I would so do it again!

nope, not gonna let the rain ruin Disney time. besides, we were wet already, right?

Great update! but as everyone knows if there isn't a picture it didn't happen!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
and have a great

I know, no picture, no proof! now we'll have to go back!

hope your holidays were great too!

I absolutely loved the Boo to you Parade too! it is so great!

Love the pic you got of the clock striking midnight! I'm like you, on exit of the park, I am turning around taking pictures and trying to get one last vision in my head.

Man, all that rain in September! ((( Glad you had a go with the flow day! On our trip in Feb- we plan on taking some down time as well!

that parade is awesome, isn't it? we've never been parade people, but this one I wouldn't miss!

I just couldn't tear myself away from main street at the party with all the different lights and decorations. it was so pretty and fun!

I'm so excited for you guys to get back in February!

I love the Boo To You Parade too!

And fantastic pictures of the clock & balloons. I just love balloon pics!

I ,too, swoon over Jack Sparrow. Although I prefer the Jack Sparrow with the name J.Depp.

Down days are always fun, but I never seem to schedule them either. I get too into the 'Disney mode' and don't plan enough 'relax' mode.

Great update, looking forward to HS!

balloon pics are my favorite! I can't believe I finally took a good one!

j. depp as jack is my fave too. he's the best!

I think the resort days are going to be a must for us on future trips. it was a great time!

Hi Lori! I hope you had a great Christmas.

Don't you just love the Boo to You parade? I think it's my favorite one.

Good call on sleeping in and doing some pool time day after the party. It's rough being out that late!

Hi Lori! Willow and I wanted to stop by and wish you a ....

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All the best in 2015 to you, Rich and the girls.

hope your new year was great also! cute pic!

I really do want to spend more time at our resorts from now on. they are so fun and well themed, it's sort of a shame to miss all that!

Loving the parade photos! I've never been to MNSSHP so I adore seeing everyone's pictures! The final one of midnight and Mickey is great! I love it when I catch great shots like that, it's rare for me!

Resorts day after a late night sounds great to me! Those puddle pictures are so cute, and I love the silly faces at the table! Looks like a great start to the day.

me too! i'm not the world's best photographer, so when I get a good one, i'm pretty ecstatic!

they were having so much fun in those puddles, I wondered if Disney did it on purpose! just some more fun they added, I could see that happening.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

one of the good things about getting into the park late.....no crowds!

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we even stopped for a pic with olaf

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our first stop was at star tours. i didn't get any pictures because with our fastpass, we walked straight on. well, we did get stopped to wait for the storm troopers to go onstage at the jedi training. the girls thought it was neat to see the storm troopers so close, but i'm pretty sure rich was drooling. they should really have a jedi training for grown ups. can you imagine all the grown men up there having light saber fights with darth vader? how priceless would that be?!? anyway, we had a great tour and got a scene we'd never done before. it was a lot of fun!

we headed over to magic of animation after that and got in line for a drawing class. we had to wait for quite awhile, so the girls and i got into line to meet frozone and mr incredible. of course, we were about 3 families back and the doors opened for the drawing class. we decided to get out of line and go into the class. i'm sort of bummed that we didn't just wait because we did NO autographs at HS.....no frozone, no mr incredible, no mickey in his fantasia hat, no mike, no sulley....just gonna have to go back, i guess!

the drawing class was very fun, but i don't think i'll need to do it again. rich loved it, of course, and the girls thought it was a lot of fun. i thought it was pretty cute to watch the girls concentrating so hard on their art!

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we drew dopey

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we looked around for a little bit and then decided to head over to use our fastpass for toy story mania. on the way over, we were struggling with the heat and humidity. we decided to stop for some water and mickey pretzels and found a place to sit down and enjoy them

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[STLMickeyMom]

believe it or not, we have never been on toy story mania before. i was pretty excited to finally get to try it!

we had a fast pass, but it was pretty crowded, even in that line. it wasn't a bad wait though, and we were having fun looking around at everything.

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another picture of maddie entertaining us all

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i didn't take any pictures on the ride, but i wish i would have gotten one of our scores. madison and i rode together. i got 128,000 and she had 16,000 which i thought was pretty good considering we'd never done it before and it took her a bit to figure out how to shoot at things. we really had a lot of fun and i get why the line gets long. i wouldn't do it without a fastpass though.

when we left toy story, we were heading over to meet terri and her crew for dinner. as we were walking through the pixar area, we found the funniest green army man ever! the girls were having so much fun following him around. he had pulled a leaf off a tree and was hiding behind it and trees and poles. it was so funny to watch the girls chase him around and try to explain to him that they could still see him!

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we finally convinced the girls to move on and made our way, slowly, with lots of breaks (did i mention it was HOT and HUMID and we were fading fast?), over to meet up with terri for our dinner ADR!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

we met up with terri and her crew at our favorite hollywood studios restaurant, 50's prime time cafe! we just love the food here, and the atmosphere is so fun! we had an ADR a few minutes before terri's, so we checked in and asked about them seating us together. i think we confused the first cast member a little, but he talked to a manager and she put us on the wait list with no problems. she even brought us waters and colors and paper for the kids while we were waiting. super nice!

the kids were hanging out, terri and i got to get a (blurry....thanks, babe.... ) picture together and the husbands were.....you know, i'm not sure what they were doing, but i was happy that they seemed to be getting along so well too!

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we had a bit of a wait, but nothing like the last time we went. i actually didn't even care. i was having fun talking to terri, looking at all the folks dressed for dapper day, and being in the air conditioning! finally we were called back to be seated. terri and i had been hoping for a fun waitress since we'd both had sort of blah ones on our last visits. and.....she was awesome!

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not only did she scold everyone for not finishing vegetables and give us trouble for asking for order changes, she was great with the kids! she even gave them her own bag of crayons or colored pencils because she said she felt bad that they only got one color to use and that it was more fun to color with more choices. how thoughtful was that? she totally made me laugh when at one point, i was her favorite at the table. then, i'm not sure what i asked for, but i was quickly demoted from favorite position. we were having so much fun!

rich and i both had the chicken, meatloaf, pot roast sampler. seriously....how delicious is that??!!??

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after we cleaned our plates (or came close), we had dessert. i had the apple cobbler with ice cream. sorry for the crazy picture. i had to scoop some plain ice cream off stat for madison. she was starting to pitch a fit because her sundae came out with chocolate sauce on it. complaining about chocolate? i know.....the kid is crazy!

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rich got this crazy sundae. i forget the name, but it pretty much had everything on it! i don't remember for sure, but i don't think rich could finish it!

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we finally decided we'd better head out. we were on our way over to fantasmic!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I love Hollywood Studios! So much fun!
Someday I will try the animation class, it really looks fun!

I was so excited for you and Terri to meet! I just love hearing all about it! Looks like a great dinner. What I wouldn't give for one of those sampler plates right now....umm preggo cravings!

 

[Marsheliz]

We have never done TSM either! It always has such a long line but I'm going to try and get a FP for it since I can't write RR or TOT this time.

I'm glad to see that you guys enjoyed 50's. I'm excited about trying it on our trip. I'm planning on getting to DHS late too- I'm thinking around lunchtime- as I think the afternoon and early evening is just enough for us!

Glad you got in a DIS meet too!

 

[ememtingle]

Hi Lori! I'm joining in! I can't wait to read all about your adventures.
Also, love your engagement picture!

 

[Sisa]

Ah, that Olaf is so awesome, cute picture!

Bummer for no autographs at DHS, but totally a valid reason for needing to go back!

Wow, your Dopey drawings turned out really good. I love that the kids were so focused.

Hooray for your first ride on TSMM, we rode that in DL and loved it and totally understand why it's so popular.

Oh my, the interaction your girls got from the green army man was superb! I love that he was trying to hide behind the leaf, I can just imagine how hilarious that is for kids.

50's Prime Time Cafe just looks like so much fun! How neat that you were able to eat with Terri. Sounds like you had a perfect waitress, that makes it much more fun I'm sure. That sampler looks SO yummy!

Great updates!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I love Hollywood Studios! So much fun!
Someday I will try the animation class, it really looks fun!

I was so excited for you and Terri to meet! I just love hearing all about it! Looks like a great dinner. What I wouldn't give for one of those sampler plates right now....umm preggo cravings!

the class was fun, but if I had to choose next time, i'd skip it and go meet characters. I'm glad to have tried it once, but I missed my mickey fix!

i'd go for one of those sampler plates too, and I don't even have an excuse!

We have never done TSM either! It always has such a long line but I'm going to try and get a FP for it since I can't write RR or TOT this time.

I'm glad to see that you guys enjoyed 50's. I'm excited about trying it on our trip. I'm planning on getting to DHS late too- I'm thinking around lunchtime- as I think the afternoon and early evening is just enough for us!

Glad you got in a DIS meet too!

tsm is a lot of fun. I wished we could have gone again because the girls really liked it too, but the wait was just too much.

this was our second time eating at 50's. we've loved it both times. in fact, my DH, who always leaves all the planning up to me and says he doesn't have an opinion on anything, specifically asked to go back there for dinner. it's just so fun and delicious!

Hi Lori! I'm joining in! I can't wait to read all about your adventures.
Also, love your engagement picture!

i'm always so excited to have new readers joining in! have fun reading along.

thanks--I love that picture too!

Ah, that Olaf is so awesome, cute picture!

Bummer for no autographs at DHS, but totally a valid reason for needing to go back!

Wow, your Dopey drawings turned out really good. I love that the kids were so focused.

Hooray for your first ride on TSMM, we rode that in DL and loved it and totally understand why it's so popular.

Oh my, the interaction your girls got from the green army man was superb! I love that he was trying to hide behind the leaf, I can just imagine how hilarious that is for kids.

50's Prime Time Cafe just looks like so much fun! How neat that you were able to eat with Terri. Sounds like you had a perfect waitress, that makes it much more fun I'm sure. That sampler looks SO yummy!

Great updates!

yeah, we've never done very well getting autographs at HS unless we did a character meal. we're going to have to try harder next time!

DH is an awesome artist! I love all the things he's ever drawn in the animation class. maybe I would have been more excited about it if we'd drawn another character. I was really hoping for ray from princess and the frog.

that green army man was too much! he was getting quite the crowd of kids following him around as we were leaving. they were all just cracking up at him. it was so cute!

oh, 50's.....we just love it so much! it's becoming our favorite place to eat at HS for sure!

 

[MissMaryQC]

What a great afternoon! I agree 110% that there should be an adult Jedi Training class! As much as I'd sign up to join (oh, yeah) I'd probably have a ball watching a class as well. I know many grown men who would enjoy an experience like that!

I've never been on TSMM either! Every time we've gone the line was crazy long and the legacy FPs were all gone when we got back there. Hoping for a FP+ For our trip in September.

I love a good character interaction! Looks like your girls found a great little toy soldier!

50sPT is one of my favorites! I saw a few photos on Terri's TR too. I always get the sampler platter when we go as well; too many yummy choices to pick just one meal!! I think the dessert is dad s sundae, but I could be wrong, looks more like a kitchen sink to me! :lol:

I love Fantasmic! My mama and sis have never seen it, so it's a must do for us!! Can't wait to see pics!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Hi! Checking in and Catching up! I got slammed hard with a cold right on Christmas and haven't been able to be on for a while.

I just can't get over how great that Jack Sparrow looked! It could have really been the real deal!!! (Of course I've been informed by dh that Johnny Depp has been known to do that kind of thing in the past so who knows!)

If we found ourselves settling into bed at 1:30 in the morning I would have canceled an 8am adr as well! I don't blame you for sleeping in.

Sounds like a fun afternoon and dinner at the Studios!

There... I think I'm all caught up now.

 

[missangelalexis]

How cool getting to draw Dopey at the drawing class!

I'm glad you enjoyed your first time on Toy Story!

Cute pics/interaction with the Green Army Man!!

Sounds like such a fun dinner

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Great updates Lori for your last day Lori!

Aw that's always the way, everyone is super-enthusiastic and up at the crack of dawn.. But as the week goes on you start getting up later and later

Seeing the Magic Band scanners empty is such a beautiful sight!!

Hahaha YES! Jamie would be right up there with Rich at Adult Jedi Training

I love the animation class, we did it twice on our recent trip I think it's a great free souvenir !

I'm glad you had a good waitress at 50s PT! We ate there in 2012 and it was a lot of fun And is that popcorn in Rich's sundae!?! Whaaat!

Excited to hear about Fantasmic - it's one of my favourites!