Christmas 2010 Trip to WDW: POR

[F1gment]

Hi Henry..... loving your report and photos!!! I was a part of an earlier group gathering before Christmas and some (won't mention names other than Amy, Boilerbabe, etc.,) haven't finished their trip reports, so getting my Disney on with you! Looking forward to the next installment..........

[mindflipper]

Like a fine wine, you need to let a trip report properly mature. Rushing it can ruin its flavor.

[wewantsdaredhead]

Love your wife's Beverly face! But you are right, her beer face looks happier
That was nice that you and your wife got a chance to do some wandering around without the kids.
The pic of your son with the CM from England is very nice. He looks kind of happy/scared/embarrassed all at the same time
You are doing an awesome job with your trip report...would you like to finish mine?!

Amy: It was heaven! We love our kids dearly and we do everything with them--but a nice break was perfect.
thanks for the compliments...as far as yours, take your time, we'll be here

Hey, H, if you want your wife to be Disney Park fan, then giving her a cup of Beverly is a step in the wrong direction. And BTW where's the picture of your Beverly face?

You know you are probably right--I also shouldn't have made her go on Splash Mtn in the cold December night either... --That's in the next installment...

[wewantsdaredhead]

Hi Henry..... loving your report and photos!!! I was a part of an earlier group gathering before Christmas and some (won't mention names other than Amy, Boilerbabe, etc.,) haven't finished their trip reports, so getting my Disney on with you! Looking forward to the next installment..........

F1gment: I have been following along on your adventures
And I am glad you are enjoying mine as well...

Please see what you can do about Amy errrr, unnamed people...to work on their reports...


And mindflipper: Yes, you are right, you cannot rush it, but dont wait toooooo long!!!!

[Amy]

Hi Henry..... loving your report and photos!!! I was a part of an earlier group gathering before Christmas and some (won't mention names other than Amy, Boilerbabe, etc.,) haven't finished their trip reports, so getting my Disney on with you! Looking forward to the next installment..........

Ha-ha-ha ~ very funny

Like a fine wine, you need to let a trip report properly mature. Rushing it can ruin its flavor.

All of our trips should have maximum flavor then!!

[wewantsdaredhead]

DAY FOUR: 12/22/2010
The Plan: DHS in the AM, MK in the PM with split ADRs: Mom and Son #1 Beach Club/Dad and Son #2 The Wave (More on that later)

Actual:
Cold cereal and pop-tarts again for breakfast for everyone except me. I had Son #2’s leftover bangers and mash—yummy!
The plan of attack for DHS this morning was for Dad (me) to get FP for TSMM while they all rode RnR again. We sprang into action and I got us 4 FP’s for 1:35. Wow---I could not believe how long the line was just for FP’s! It’s a madhouse over there.
We met up at ToT—there was no way I was waiting for them in that gift shop again. My boys are guitar players, so they really wanted to give the gift shop a once over for any kind of cool stuff. This actually worked out because of the long FP line. The kids did not want to do ToT with us, so after splitting a Danish, the wife and I stood in the 30 min line while the kids did their thing. It looked like “their thing” was going to be sitting on a bench by the Toluca Turkey Leg place, but we found out later that they went on the GMR.
Get this: They told me “Dad, did you know there is a Cowboy Version of the GMR?!” What the..??!!! In all my years and trips to MGM, errr DHS, I have never ever been on the Cowboy side. What a ripoff… I guess I am going to have to break down and ask for it. Ah, well, at least the kids got to see it.
Anyway…just as we were about to drop from the 13th floor, I announced: I hate this ride! My wife laughed and asked me why I go on it then? It’s the perfect attraction to me—not too much where I get all messed up (a la RnR and M:S) but it’s not too wimpy. Great queue and great all around theming—it’s one of my faves…but I hate it—those dang drops!
Here’s a shot of the scaffolding through the trees:

This is a shot of the “broken down” fountain. What’s so interesting about this? I heard someone in the queue say, “They really should fix that—it looks like crap.” DUH!


After that we went on the GMR as a family and that’s when it happened: We had our first screaming kid/parents don’t care incident. Now when I say this kid was screaming---he was SCREAMING. I can’t even begin to describe how blood-curdling it was. The parents acted like it was no big deal—business as usual. It was BAD. Now…it’s one thing to take your kid on a WDW bus screaming—you probably have to ride that bus to get back to your hotel, but it another to drag them screaming onto something optional like the GMR. Maybe it’s just me, but I see a difference. Anyway, he was about 10 people behind us screaming the whole time. We were in that movie trailer area and rapidly approaching the doors. It looked like we might get on just in time and the screamer would have to catch the next one. There was a party of three in front of us and he stopped all of us. Dangit! He waved the group ahead of us through: How many in your party, Sir? 4. Hmmm. He turns around. He looks back at us. “Are you willing to split two and two?” “YES!!!” I said before he can even finish. We got on and I was begging (OK I admit it-I was praying) that the doors would close behind us. They did not…Two more people trickled through and then they closed forever on the sassy, little screamer. I was never so happy to journey “into the movies.” (Gangster side again, BTW)

To avoid a repeat of yesterday’s crush of people at lunchtime, we decided to eat earlier and at a place I typically find deader than others: the ABC Commissary. We were in line at 11:20 and flew right through. Another round of burgers for everyone. I thought I had my wife talked into a salad, but no-go. I had a parfait as part of the DDP, which was very good. The burgers were the usual Disney burgers and the line was backed up as we left—suckers!

After that we walked out to a commotion in front of the much-maligned Sorcerer’s Hat. It was some Disney Channel Rocks thing and while I have no use for shows like this—my wife seemed to enjoy it, so we stayed there for a few. My wife was up to something I could tell, but I could not figure out what. I offered to go look for the leg lamp again while they did what they were plotting. I thought maybe she was going to buy the kids something that I did not approve of, but she went and bought yours truly a shirt that I spotted the other night. I love her!

No luck on the leg lamp. I know it was day and all, but I thought that if I took my time and was not overwhelmed by the “Spectacle” of lights that I could spot it. Nothing. I almost PM’d NaCler that night to find out where it was, but I didn’t.
Here’s a shot I took while on the leg-lamp mission:

The plan was for us all to meet up at TSMM for our FP’s. I wandered around a bit and ended up at One Man’s Dream. I noticed something that disturbed me---it was a picture of Walt sitting with Mickey and Mickey only had “regular” gloves on and not the oversized ones I am used to. It just sort of struck me as odd-looking. I took a picture of it.


As usual, OMD was awe-inspiring. I always like hearing Walt’s voice. It’s like an old Grandfather that you miss. It’s comforting, I think.

Figment!


We all met up, but a little earlier than our FP time, and my son complained of being thirsty, so we got him a drink just in time to get in line for TSMM. I cleaned house—sent `em all packing. I don’t remember my score, but it was just shy of the best of the day overall.

If you haven’t fallen asleep yet, you may recall that we had split ADRs today. Well, here’s the skinny on that… I wanted to do something different and maybe a little special for my wife so after looking at some dinner options for just her, I decided on the Cape May Café. She LOVES crab legs and I read that they had them there. All-you-can-eat, no less! But my younger son doesn’t like them, so I figured I would take him for his own special dinner with Dad. I picked The Wave really only because I had never been there and it was in the Contemporary. The menu wasn’t anything out of the ordinary—it seemed like regular “American” fare.
So after our usual afternoon siesta period, we split up and went our separate ways. Son #2 and I bussed over to MK and monorailed to the Contemporary. We were a little early and we were first seating, so it wasn’t like we could check in early or anything, so we wandered around the hotel. My wife took the camera on her adventures to the Beach Club, so no pics of my excursion. But here’s one she took of Son #1. I’m glad he wore his best jeans. Kids!


I started feeling a little run down and I was hoping I could make it all night—tonight was the night I had penciled in for Holiday Wishes. We placed our order and I felt even worse—maybe I was coming down with something. My son was talking away and asking me questions and it was all I could do to answer yes or no. It got so bad that I thought maybe I wouldn’t even be able to eat. Maybe I was dehydrated? Low blood sugar? I don’t know what it was, but I thought I was going down for the count. I ate a few bites and drank a few glasses of water and started feeling better. By the time we were done I felt fine—it was very weird. I don’t even remember what I ate! I told our waitress that I didn’t want the dessert and she tried and tried to get me to order one, but I passed. I watched my son enjoy his.
We walked to the MK and got a call as we were walking in that the other two were walking in also! Disney magic! We met them and did a few things, MiLF, TTA, Buzz (My wife LOVED Buzz and said it was better than TSMM!) HM, POTC (again) and then my older son wanted to leave, so he did.

Yes I shave on vacation sometimes!


He left and then we made a fateful decision: We went on Splash Mountain. We got back there and it said 10 mins—no brainer, right? WRONG. It was cold out, so I was worried about freezing until Wishes. My wife kept asking me “Am I going to get wet?” “You might…” lol (No, she’s never ridden this either—every time she comes its down for a rehab. Yes, I swear she’s been to WDW before!!)

She kept asking me if every little drop was the “big one” and I would tell her no, but she refused to believe me, so she was asking some boy that rode alone in the back. I heard him say to “watch for the crows.”
Well, she did not get a drop on her while Son #2 and I got soaked. Great! It was a long walk back to, well, to anywhere. We skirted around the parade and tried to see if SM had a decent stand-by time: 100 mins. Nope… We heard Buzz talking in the direction of the ill-fated Stitch attraction by CoP. We headed over there to see some Christmas show where Stitch was going to blow up Santa or something. I am not a fan of Stitch, so we didn’t stick around to see how it all worked out. Does anyone know?

My wife wanted a candy apple, so we headed to Main St for that and I couldn’t resist the smell of corn dog nuggets from Casey’s, so we chowed some of those. We wanted to see if POTC had a short line (it did) so we got me Dole Whip #2 and we sat down and had a little feast. Then we went on POTC. I got a good pic of the wife scarfing down her apple. She hates it and won’t let me post it, so here is one of Son #2 eating corn dog nuggets—lol.


And for verification purposes, here is Dole Whip #2:


Wishes was still about an hour away—we made another loop around the park and settled in a nice spot over by the bridge to the Crystal Palace. My son was fading fast—I thought he was going to fall asleep on that park bench, but he made it!
Waiting for Wishes:


Holiday Wishes was pretty cool. My favorite part was when they *spoiler alert* color the entire castle in that deep green and sing ‘O Tanenbaum’. *spoiler over*
I was going to suggest that we walk to opposite way and into Liberty Square to avoid the crush of people, but my son was so tired, I hollered “Follow me!” and got us out of there in no time. I went along front of the Crystal Palace and through Casey’s back area and down through all the stores. I think everyone else was out on Main St because we buzzed right through.

We got back to POR at just before 11 and fell asleep hard that night! No "Suite Life" for me…

Tomorrow: A well deserved day off and the search for the Spirit of the Marauders!

[mindflipper]

Ah, another Dole Whip. I did love the comment about the ToT fountain looking like "crap" LOL. It shows how good they made the place look dilapidated that people think it needs to be repaired! Love seeing figment et al from EPCOT at OMD. Great trip report so far, H! Keep it coming! And are you sons getting tall! It's going to be like my family - my father is shorter than his two tall grown sons!

[wewantsdaredhead]

Ah, another Dole Whip. I did love the comment about the ToT fountain looking like "crap" LOL. It shows how good they made the place look dilapidated that people think it needs to be repaired! Love seeing figment et al from EPCOT at OMD. Great trip report so far, H! Keep it coming! And are you sons getting tall! It's going to be like my family - my father is shorter than his two tall grown sons!

Thanks for the compliment and yes, my sons are growing like weeds. It amazes me that yesterday we were taking them home form the hospital and today they are as tall as me--crazy!
It's always pleasant to see Figment isn't it? I was almost starstruck when I saw him in there
Stay tuned--there's a few more Dole Whips to be had

[NaCler]

OK, I've been away TOO long and haven't had the chance to post on this awesome trip report yet. I apologize, Henry. Also, that is probably the last time I will call you that (unless I meet you in person), as I kind of like calling you WWTRH. I just wanted to prove that I had read everything.

Also, note to the Mods... Sorry, but I'm going to post back-to-back as I have to quote comment for each day to give WWTRH a proper critiquing of his trip!

You guys are the best.

Thanks, that's why it is great to have a site like this where we can share our experiences and help others with their trips.

We watched a few “Suite Life on Deck” episodes

Tell me the truth... you watched these because the boys like them, or is that a facade and it's really you that likes this show? (It's ok, I liked the Hannah Montana shows when we watched them with the kids... did I just type that? I may have just lost some street cred on here! haha...)

[NaCler]

We went into his house and I turned around to take a picture of Mickey’s Christmas tree (fake) when this alarm went off. I spun around to see my son leaning over “trying to see what was on Mickey’s TV set.” Freakin` kids!!! He didn’t scale the half wall but he was leaned so far over that he tripped some sensor. I thought: Great we’re going to get thrown out of WDW on our first day. But nothing happened, the alarm quit and we moved into see Mickey. He never mentioned the alarm when we were having our picture taken with him, but you could sense the tension. I tried to tell him that it wasn’t me, it was my son, but his handlers shooshed us away quickly.

HAHAHAHA... That is PRICELESS! You would have been elected Master Marauder or Grand Poobah of the Marauders if you had gotten kicked out of the park for this one! Awesome!

I thought, “Oh, so this is how it’s going down, huh. I knew they were tailing us since we left Mickey’s house.” I was waiting for her to say, “Please come with me, Sir” but she never did…

Nah, they are never that public with "problem people" in the parks. They usually just sneak into your room at night and go through your stuff to make sure you didn't take anything.

Then we walked by, but did not go on, Splash Mountain --no one was even willing to risk getting wet—it was too cold!

Awww, "Come On Man!" Nothing beats riding Splash Mountain in the cold... just ask Momma...

The wife and kids had something—I don’t remember what—I was in pineapple heaven!

This is definitely the best line ever! I had a Dole Whip... the wife and kids had something, wait were they even there? I don't know... man that Dole Whip was good.

It was at this point we witnessed some Disney Magic. A little girl about 7-8 told her Mom, “I still can’t believe we are at Disney World, Momma—it’s like a DREAM!” My wife and I smiled at each other and my commented on how awesome that was. I wish everybody to have a moment like that little girl.

I think M-Dude has touched on this a little bit with his kids reaction photos from his trip reports and I agree with you guys. I think it's why we all love the place so much. It really is magical. It makes grown men become bright-eyed little boys and grown women into little princesses to be. Now you've got me secretly planning another trip for my family...

My kids raved about Columbia Harbour House so my wife wanted to try it. (Honestly, I think they like the actual place more than the food—they get a kick out of the upstairs.) We had the usual fish and chicken with chocolate cake for dessert (Who eats dessert with lunch anyway? Only at Disney) It was dee-lish like usual.

This seems to be a popular tradition as we do the same in our family. Don't know why. The food is good but not spectacular. Glad to hear my family is not the only one!

My plan at this point was to take my wife to American Idol because she had never seen it. The boys and I went last time and, honestly, it wasn’t that bad. (Do I lose my man-card for that?)

I admitted to liking Hannah Montana, so join the club... Nice pick up on the Hidden Mickey!

I looked all over for the “leg lamp” from A Christmas Story that NaCler posted a pic of, but I could not find it. Then again, it’s easy to miss something in those lights.

I am so sorry man. I would have posted the location if I knew that there were other Christmas Story fans that would have really enjoyed seeing the "soft glow of electric s** gleaming in the window."

[NaCler]

This is a shot of the “broken down” fountain. What’s so interesting about this? I heard someone in the queue say, “They really should fix that—it looks like crap.” DUH!

That is very funny but sad as well. Imagineers work so hard to create the proper setting for their attractions and there are those who look at something and just see it not working or ugly and think that something is wrong with it. They don't stop and think about the theming of the attraction.

After that we went on the GMR as a family and that’s when it happened: We had our first screaming kid/parents don’t care incident. Now when I say this kid was screaming---he was SCREAMING. I can’t even begin to describe how blood-curdling it was. The parents acted like it was no big deal—business as usual. It was BAD. Now…it’s one thing to take your kid on a WDW bus screaming—you probably have to ride that bus to get back to your hotel, but it another to drag them screaming onto something optional like the GMR. Maybe it’s just me, but I see a difference.

It's not just you... there is a difference. This comes from someone who has a kid melt-down occasionally. If you are on a bus and your kid is tired and cranky, there is nothing that will appease them and no place to go. So, I will apologize to EVERYONE in advance, because it WILL happen. HOWEVER, if you are in line and they have a melt-down, you can always leave. Go somewhere outside where the crying/screaming won't be as audible to others. I try to do this whenever possible.

No luck on the leg lamp. I know it was day and all, but I thought that if I took my time and was not overwhelmed by the “Spectacle” of lights that I could spot it. Nothing. I almost PM’d NaCler that night to find out where it was, but I didn’t.

Again, I am sorry bud! If I had known I would have called you and walked you through to the right building. I HOPE you found it before you went home!

I wandered around a bit and ended up at One Man’s Dream. I noticed something that disturbed me---it was a picture of Walt sitting with Mickey and Mickey only had “regular” gloves on and not the oversized ones I am used to. It just sort of struck me as odd-looking. I took a picture of it.

SCARY... we are very much alike bud. I took this same shot because I noticed the same thing!

As usual, OMD was awe-inspiring. I always like hearing Walt’s voice. It’s like an old Grandfather that you miss. It’s comforting, I think.

I agree...

Yes I shave on vacation sometimes!

I'm the same way. I'm on vacation... Shaving is not high on my list of priorities!
Wait... I think I missed commenting on EPCOT, or YEAH, I'm FREE of the kids day... Oh well, I'll comment on THAT one tomorrow!

[Amy]

We watched a few “Suite Life on Deck” episodes

Tell me the truth... you watched these because the boys like them, or is that a facade and it's really you that likes this show? (It's ok, I liked the Hannah Montana shows when we watched them with the kids... did I just type that? I may have just lost some street cred on here! haha...)

shaking head sadly...I still like you buddy, but Hannah Montana?! really?! continues shaking head...muttering and walking away...

Figment!

I'm so sad I didn't get to go through One Man's Dream...well, I walked through it trying to find my Mom one day, but I didn't get to stop and look or take any photos...Figment had caught my eye when I was going through so I'm glad you got a good photo ~ I'll enjoy that one! Plus it has a little veggieveggie in it!! And a Horizon's 'bot? Or is that from World of Motion?
I hope that show is still there next year when we go!

That does it Henry, I am forwarding all my photos and trip notes to you...you may finish mine for me! And you clean up very nicely

[mindflipper]

It is the Horizons robot, not the World of Motion. I really didn't like that they rip off part of Figment's arms? Can that be considered sacrilege?

And NaCler, to me it must be a perfet sign that Imagineer has done there job when people have no idea of the fiction from the reality. If it doesn't come to them that the fountain was intentionally designed not to work, then they really believed for that moment the scene set for them by the Imagineers. In another topic, there are people who believe you're underground in the POTC queue. In reality, you're not, it's just people are buying into the scene set for them.

[Amy]

It is the Horizons robot, not the World of Motion. I really didn't like that they rip off part of Figment's arms? Can that be considered sacrilege?

And NaCler, to me it must be a perfet sign that Imagineer has done there job when people have no idea of the fiction from the reality. If it doesn't come to them that the fountain was intentionally designed not to work, then they really believed for that moment the scene set for them by the Imagineers. In another topic, there are people who believe you're underground in the POTC queue. In reality, you're not, it's just people are buying into the scene set for them.

Maybe they just removed part of Figment's arms so people could see what he is made of?

[NaCler]

Amy - I believe they said that the cleaning robot was from World of Motion, but I'm sure MadEye will set us straight if I am wrong. It's SOOO sad to see Figment like that and I don't think I ever saw Kitchen Kabaret, but I like the music and the Cha-cha-cha broccoli.

Yes, I admit I watched a few episodes of HM and liked a few of them... But not without the kids.