Our Slo-Mo, Freezing Cold Thanksgiving Family Reunion 2012 - Updated 4/21/2013 - Complete!! - Page 10 - PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel
Our Slo-Mo, Freezing Cold Thanksgiving Family Reunion 2012 - Updated 4/21/2013 - Complete!!
About This Page: This is a discussion on Our Slo-Mo, Freezing Cold Thanksgiving Family Reunion 2012 - Updated 4/21/2013 - Complete!! within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Hi everyone! Thank you for the good vibes you sent - it was a great trip
We got back last ...
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Hi everyone! Thank you for the good vibes you sent - it was a great trip
We got back last night at 1:30am, got a good night's sleep, then it was back to reality: school, dishes, grocery shopping, karate practice and Chinese language club, dinner, etc. Whew! I need a vacation...
I have to consolidate pics from 3 different cameras, but before I dive into writing a trip report, here are the highlights:
The Osborne Festival of Lights
Seeing MiL's face lit up when she saw Cinderella's castle
Beaches and Cream (40 degrees outside!)
Holiday Illuminations
Jedi Training Academy
The Haunted Mansion with the whole family
'Ohana for breakfast with the gang
There were so many awesome moments, but the best was a surprise - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on the last night!
Our Slo-Mo, Freezing Cold Thanksgiving Family Reunion 2012
(I tried to do this yesterday, but Photobucket is really acting wonky!)
Ok! My son's and my pictures are now uploaded and sorted through so I think I can finally start this TR... I'll be relying heavily on my PassPorter pockets because, save for one day, I didn't take any notes! I was determined to go as light as possible - I even let Max take most of the pictures, leaving my big camera bag in the room most of the time or letting Dh take pics. As you can see from some of the highlights (see previous post), everyone had a great time, still hardpressed to come up with a favorite ride or attraction or part of the trip.
Tuesday, 11/20/12 4:15am
The alarm goes off, but we were (mostly) up anyway. This time, it was the 8 yo who couldn't sleep and who kept me up listening to him in thier room tossing and turning. After 4 hours of sleep, we got up and quickly got ready to go. I felt like we had enough time to get to Baltimore-Washington International airport by 5:30, but I was nervous about the Thanksgiving crowds getting through security. The car was mostly packed except for our carryons and I really mean packed. We managed to get everything in our poor stuffed Pacifica, checked the house and left at what I like to call oh-dark-thirty. It was cold! And I wouldn't warm up again until the very last day... I can't go on a vacation without forgetting something, and this time it was my silver and blue stone Mickey head earrings and my chapstick. One of these I would need all the time and very badly!
Dh dropped us off at the Southwest skycap and went to go park the car while we checked in the bags. Brrr! I'm glad I'd made the boys bring their jackets, but I only had a thin sweater. We already had our boarding passes so we went ahead through security. One of the TSA guys directed us downstairs where the line was definitely shorter. Mil (Grandma) was only a little nervous, having only flown once or twice before all the security changes. We got through with no problem and headed to the gate. While grandma and the kids got Auntie Annie's pretzels for breakfast, I got out the surprises.
First for Grandma: the Nikon pocket camera. She was so surprised and pleased! It's was her first real digital camera (that wasn't a piece of junk ) and she immediately started snapping pictures. I also got her some hard candies which made her happy too, lol. The next surprise was for Max: he got the same camera He didn't know he was getting a camera either and he was so surprised, and also immediately started snapping pics. (I had already charged the batteries and inserted the sd cards.) Titus got his surprise next: Max's old camera. He totally didn't care that it was used and was like 2 megapixels or something, and he started snapping away too. I also told the boys they got gift cards for spending money, which was also pretty exciting .
Dh showed up after getting through a longer security line and said, "yeah, everybody gets something but me." Then I hand him his envelope with the Exotic Driving info. His reaction was totally anticlimactic! He said thank you and put it in his bag. "Happy anniversary!", I said. "But it's not our anniversary.", he said. (October 21) Yes, my husband is very emotional. He needs to calm down! (He was happier about it as the week went on, then couldn't stop talking about it all weekend... )
Pretty soon, it was time to line up for boarding. Titus and I got the Mentos ready for the crew. I felt bad not giving one to the boarding pass guy, but he was really busy anyway . When we boarded, Titus gave each crew member one, and they were so thankful! He got to sit in the pilots seat and touch the wheel- yes! (Camera not ready - no! ) He wants to fly space ships when he grows up, so he was happy. At 6:45am, we finally settled in for a nice flight to Orlando.
On the way, Grandma learned to play Angry Birds and Jewel Craft on my iPad. Watching her try to slingshot the birds was pretty hilarious, but she didn't mind me laughing
We landed in fine style, at 9:05. It was a beautiful day, cool, 50s. Our whole trip would be that way, beautiful, sunny, cool in the mornings, low 70s during the days, cold nights, 40s-50s. We got through the airport and headed to Disney's Magical Express. It was a bit of a walk, but we finally got there. We didn't even have time to take the traditional DME sign pic to compare how tall they were getting before we were ushered onto our waiting coach.
Max is to the right of the sign, walking by it to the bus.
We were on the road soon and before we were dropped off at Kidani Village, we got to see Pop Century, Art of Animation, and Coronado Springs. All the resorts were already decorated for Christmas - I couldn't wait to get "home"!
By the time we got to AKL, I was just about to burst from excitement! Kidani was all decked out in Christmas finery and I'm so glad Max had his camera because I was literally too excited to take pictures!
We had done the online check in and everything was all ready for us, including our Anniversary pins and Grandma's 1st timer pin. Unfortunately, this would be the first time ever that our room wouldn't be ready, so we went out to look at the savannah and the animals that were out eating breakfast.
Eventually, we got hungry and headed over to the Mara at Jambo House by way of the AKL shuttle. It was slow going because between Grandma and Max, we stopped every 5 feet to take pictures We eventually got there around 11am and had a nice lunch. We had 2 bacon cheeseburgers, pepperoni flatbread, and it would be Titus' last cheese pizza kids meal - it was now too small. I had the felafel pita which was really good and really filling.
yummy felafel pita!
We wandered around for a little bit after eating, just taking pictures, really just hoping our room would be ready soon. After a while we decided it was time for some fun and headed back to Kidani to leave our stuff with bell services. Let's go to the Magic Kingdom!
About This Page: This is a discussion on Our Slo-Mo, Freezing Cold Thanksgiving Family Reunion 2012 - Updated 4/21/2013 - Complete!! within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Hi everyone! Thank you for the good vibes you sent - it was a great trip
We got back last ...
Home!!! Sounds like you had an amazing trip with the family. Can't wait to hear all about it!!
! Can't wait to hear all about it!
Can't wait to hear all about it!
I'm sorry, what part of the duck did you say we're going to eat? Find out in 
I was determined to go as light as possible - I even let Max take most of the pictures, leaving my big camera bag in the room most of the time or letting Dh take pics. As you can see from some of the highlights (see previous post), everyone had a great time, still hardpressed to come up with a favorite ride or attraction or part of the trip.
After 4 hours of sleep, we got up and quickly got ready to go. I felt like we had enough time to get to Baltimore-Washington International airport by 5:30, but I was nervous about the Thanksgiving crowds getting through security. The car was mostly packed except for our carryons and I really mean packed. We managed to get everything in our poor stuffed Pacifica, checked the house and left at what I like to call oh-dark-thirty. It was cold! And I wouldn't warm up again until the very last day... I can't go on a vacation without forgetting something, and this time it was my silver and blue stone Mickey head earrings and my chapstick. One of these I would need all the time and very badly!
) and she immediately started snapping pictures. I also got her some hard candies which made her happy too, lol. The next surprise was for Max: he got the same camera 
He didn't know he was getting a camera either and he was so surprised, and also immediately started snapping pics. (I had already charged the batteries and inserted the sd cards.) Titus got his surprise next: Max's old camera. He totally didn't care that it was used and was like 2 megapixels or something, and he started snapping away too. 
I also told the boys they got gift cards for spending money, which was also pretty exciting 
.
. When we boarded, Titus gave each crew member one, and they were so thankful! He got to sit in the pilots seat and touch the wheel- yes! (Camera not ready - no! 
) He wants to fly space ships when he grows up, so he was happy. At 6:45am, we finally settled in for a nice flight to Orlando.
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