Slow down, you move to fast...you've got to make the memories last! TR Nov. 2012 - UPDATED 1/3 About This Page:

[Cam22]

Great start to your trip! Great picture of Main Street!

[chezp]

I love that photo of Town Square almost deserted - very neat!

[Colexis Mom]

Wow, what a day! Love all the pictures!

[MikeL]

Sorry to hear about your tummy troubles. Hopefully just the excitement of being back in the Bubble with an attractive companion. Love her watch BTW. Definately have to show my DW your pics so she has a good idea what she can expect to see next year

[MayraLR]

Great start to your trip! I love how MK looks with the Christmas decorations. I'm hoping I get to see them in person in the near future.

[Mystic6]

Originally Posted by Cam22

Great start to your trip! Great picture of Main Street!

Originally Posted by chezp

I love that photo of Town Square almost deserted - very neat!

Thanks! It was almost eerie being that empty.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Wow, what a day! Love all the pictures!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by MikeL

Sorry to hear about your tummy troubles. Hopefully just the excitement of being back in the Bubble with an attractive companion. Love her watch BTW. Definately have to show my DW your pics so she has a good idea what she can expect to see next year

I wish it was just that! But I was pretty much past it at this point. Just wait...the shopping had only just begun!

Originally Posted by MayraLR

Great start to your trip! I love how MK looks with the Christmas decorations. I'm hoping I get to see them in person in the near future.

I hope you can too! It was very special. For us being in the north, Christmas = cold & snow. It felt strange hearing Christmas music while walking around in shorts/t-shirts in bright sunshine and 80 degrees! But at night when it was cooler out it felt more in place.

[Mystic6]

I'm working on the next day's recap, but I have also been researching a problem with the pictures from my iPhone. Apparently when I rotate them and then put on my website, any Apple device knows how it was originally and does its own rotation. So they look ok on a Windows device but sideways on a Mac or iPad. I'm trying to figure out how to remove that Apple code and set the orientation permanently. I apologize if any of you have to tip your head to see them!

Also, last night I did something neat but I want to make sure I have permission to say it here before I post about it.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Mystic6

Also, last night I did something neat but I want to make sure I have permission to say it here before I post about it.

Oooh... now that sounds intriguing. I hope you're able to tell us about it...

[Mystic6]

Ok, first - I found a solution to the picture problem and reposted the ones in my previous posts so they should be the correct orientation for everyone.

Second, I got the ok to post about my Monday night. I figured it would be ok, I just didn't want to step on any toes. I recorded an upcoming episode of the Be Our Guest podcast with Mike Rahlmann on Monday! I sent him an email over the weekend and we arranged to record it then. It is basically a trip report, but we also talked a little about the differences between this trip being without our DD and previous trips. I was nervous but I think it should sound ok. Mike is such a great guy (much like everyone in the Disney community!) and we chatted for a bit afterwards. It will hit the 'Net on Dec. 30th, so if anyone here also listens to the BOGP you will already have read everything you hear! And I go into more detail here.

[JKnott17]

I'm glad that you felt better after a little food and rest, you still had a great day! You got some great pictures, I especially like the panoramic of Town Square!

[chezp]

Congrats on the podcast - very neat!

[Colexis Mom]

Congrats on the podcast!

[MikeL]

Congrats on Podcast and fixing photo problem

[Mystic6]

Sorry it took me all week to get this next day posted! I got an email yesterday from my web host and all of my webpages had been hacked. So I had to address that last night. Thanks for your patience!

[Mystic6]

Day 3, Sunday 11/11 – Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

Did you think the previous day was a slow start? Today we didn’t get up until almost 10:00am. Which sounds late, but it was only 6 hours’ sleep for me! Today was the first of two planned Room Service breakfasts. The Polynesian room service menu is essentially the Kona Café menu. Michelle had Tonga Toast for the first time. I had always figured she would like it, but she hasn’t eaten breakfast the days we have done Capt. Cook’s in the past. She said it was very good. I had the basic eggs & bacon. It is nice being able to eat breakfast while you are also getting ready in the room.

As we were heading out it was shaping up to be a warmer day. The sun was shining brightly and I realized that I had forgotten to pack my Disney bucket hat. Michelle said she had seen the exact same kind at the Boutiki shop so I grabbed another one on our way through the GCH. We caught a taxi to DHS, and arrived there around noon. It was very crowded. We had never experienced crowds like this before. I know there is no way we would enjoy WDW in the busy summer months! <Edit: Now that I’ve heard Sara’s description on the PassPorter Moms podcast this week of how crowded it was at DHS the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, it makes my definition of ‘crowded’ seem empty in comparison!>

The DHS Christmas tree.


One of the few non-PP pictures we have of the two of us.

Toy Story Midway Mania was at 150 minutes and FastPasses were all gone. We knew we would be skipping that today! It was quite hot in the sun but tolerable in the shade, and it was breezy which helped. We did Muppet*Vision 3D since we are huge Muppets fans, then spent time exploring One Man’s Dream which we had never done before. I was particularly looking forward to that. Since our first trip I have done a lot of reading on Walt Disney and the history of the Disney Co. and WDW, and I really enjoyed seeing all the items on display and the movie about Walt’s life. After the movie we just took our time walking around and shopped a bit. I bought this clock and some 3D Christmas placemats and had them shipped home.



We had a 2:35pm Fantasmic! dining package ADR at Mama Melrose, and we were seated right on time. This was our first time eating here and I can say that I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. We both selected the calamari appetizer which was very good. Michelle had the mushroom flatbread and loved it. I have a picture (one of the few food pics I took) but only because I was disgusted by it and wanted to show my family what I was forced to see while I was eating! I dislike mushrooms so much that I won’t even share a pizza with someone if they want mushrooms on their half! I chose the chicken parmesan because I was still trying not to subject my stomach to a lot of spices. It was tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary. We had great service from our waitress (who was about 8 months pregnant!) and I really liked the décor of MM.


After lunch it was time for -- more shopping! Michelle found the Dooney & Bourke purse she wanted. She had seen it at other shops but held out to find one where the pattern was to her liking. She picked this one because everything she wanted was on the front.

I think she had been looking forward to this purchase all year!

While we were doing this, they announced a second Fantasmic! show was being added at 8:00pm. That should be an indication of the crowd level. With the Backlot Tour and Lights, Motors, Action! both being closed, there just wasn’t enough for people to do so the streets were busy. Since we were near the front of the park we retrieved our bag out of the locker. This trip was the first time we felt the need to use a locker. I wanted to have pants & jackets to put on if it got cooler in the evening without having to carry them around all day. It worked out great, and now I would do it again even if just to bring a fresh shirt on hot days. From there we headed towards the Tower of Terror. The wait time had dropped to 30 minutes, so Michelle rode that while I people watched and checked fantasy football scores. I’ve never been back by the ToT gift shop before – that’s a nice place to sit and take a break. We walked down to Rn’R but Michelle didn’t feel like riding. So we headed back and decided to just go on in for Fantasmic! at 5:45pm.

We pretty much had our choice of seats in the reserved section, but chose to sit up at the top. We were just below the handicap rows, but right in front of the base of the light tower so we had something to lean against. My view of center stage was slightly obscured by the light pole, but nothing I couldn’t move my head to avoid when needed. We enjoyed the pre-show entertainment. I had read some negative comments about it, but it really made the time go by faster. I guess that’s just another reminder to myself to keep an open mind! It was a little louder than I thought necessary though. (Am I getting old or what?!) The crowd was filling in and by show time the stadium was full. I can see why the second show is recommended.


I tried to get a picture while we were doing the “light wave” which was impressive with all the cell phones lit up. But as Michelle pointed out, “Do you remember when all we had to do that with were Bic lighters?” LOL

The weather was now perfect – we did end up putting on our jackets because of the breeze, but I’d rather it was like this than deal with excessive heat! We sat next to a nice young couple from Jacksonville who were expecting their first baby. In between the entertainment we talked about what it’s like being ‘local’ and touring WDW. That is one of the things I love about being at Disney – people are much more willing to strike up conversations with strangers.

We loved Fantasmic! On our previous trips it was not being held on the nights we had scheduled for DHS so this was our first time seeing it. Being the type that can’t avoid watching online videos of all things Disney, I knew what to expect but I was still very impressed with the technology of the water projections. We left right as the show was ending because we wanted to beat the crowd to the Osborne Festival of Lights. We had a 9:15pm ‘Ohana dinner ADR we didn’t want to miss and this was our only night at DHS so it was our only chance to see them. The Streets of America area was very crowded. The Osborne Lights were amazing! I went in wondering if it might be gaudy or excessive, but I was blown away by how cool it looks. The snow was neat, but it wasn’t very thick and hardly noticeable down at street-level.










We lingered for a little while then headed out around 7:30pm and took a taxi back to the Poly. When we got to our room this little guy had been patiently waiting for us all day!



We had a few minutes to spare so we called home and freshened up, and then checked in at 'Ohana at 9:05pm. I was very happy to see that they moved the ‘Ohana check-in desk to the other side of the 2nd floor waiting area. That makes so much sense - I don’t know why they didn’t do it years ago! We were promptly buzzed right at 9:15. Dinner was great – I can see why this is one of the most in-demand ADRs! You certainly don’t leave hungry. Our service was a tad slow, and almost became a problem, but the food was delicious. We loved the appetizer dumplings and I could have made a meal of them alone but I wanted to save room for the meats. LOL The shrimp, beef, and chicken were all delicious. Michelle even got up with the rest of the birthday celebrants while we all sang for them.

After a nice, relaxing meal I stopped at the Tambu lounge bar for a Jameson’s on the rocks to go and we walked back to our room to watch the 4th quarter of the Bears game. I caught a glimpse on the TV in the lounge and had to call my dad back home to have him fill me in on what was happening. Unfortunately, that channel went out shortly after I turned it on! I got to see the last 6 minutes but wasn’t real happy with the outcome. Every time we visit WDW I wonder how you east coast people deal with the time difference. At home a Sunday night game would end around 10:30pm, which is hard enough for someone like me when the alarm goes off at 5:30am Monday morning. But here it doesn’t end until 11:30pm. That would KILL me! And I’m so used to prime time being from 7 – 10pm with the local news following. I don’t often watch that news at home, but I’d never get to see it if I lived in the Eastern time zone! I wrapped up the day by typing up my notes, surfing some on the iPad, and flipping channels. The alarm was set for 7:00am since we had a breakfast ressie at Chef Mickey’s in the morning.

So even though we got a late start and didn’t do much at DHS besides walking around and shopping we were having a good time. I think we were starting to realize that we didn’t need to rush from attraction to attraction and do “everything” in order to have fun. We were taking a more relaxed approach and enjoying everything in a different way.