"Everyone! Come see how handsome I am!" **FINISHED** 2/17

[dawnmichele]

We were going to buy our souvenirs this day. We knew Mouse Gear in Epcot was a big store and we figured we could find what we wanted in there. All week we had been getting coupons on the bottom of our QS receipts and we were planning to use that this day as well, but in the fuss of changing rooms, I had managed to forget the receipt with the coupon! We sent Hannah to a food card to get a snack and hopefully get another coupon on that receipt, but she didnt. We shopped anyway and chose what we wanted to buy. We were going to stop by on our last night and just grab those things. You know this was a bad idea, right? I dont know why we didnt realize this, but we did not even though we are old enough to know better. And spoiler alert: we never went back to Mouse Gear.

Theres a lot of good stuff in that store though. We spent a while looking around. And of course we all got lost from each other. It was one of the times I was so grateful for cell phones! Danny left the store first and texted us where to meet him.

After that we decided to head into the World Showcase, heading to the right since we always go left (because we are in a hurry to get to Mexico).

So it was heading into the afternoon. We had been up and around for a lot of hours, and I was starting to get really antsy that we hadnt ridden anything or done anything really at all. And by antsy I mean crabby. And then it started to rain. No problem, right? I had brought those 2 for a dollar rain ponchos at the Dollar Store, so I didnt have a care in the world.

Except those things are made out of something like saran wrap. And the hood part is not designed in any kind of way to cover your head. And the sides were wide open. And the humidity was about a thousand percent. And we were walking without any destination.

It didnt take long for all of us to realize it wasnt raining that hard, and wed all be happier without those things creating a hothouse effect. Luckily the rain tapered off and I had a baggie to keep my beloved camera safe in.

I was still kinda cranky though. So of course when we entered France and I saw the Grand Marnier slushie I had to get one.

Man it was tasty! I loved it! I plan on having that more than once on this next trip. It was fantastic. Danny must have been having a hard time this morning too because he kept talking about how it would be so nice to have a Diet Coke, but he never found one.

I took some some shots of the world around the lake:

At this point Hannah started feeling at the end of her rope as well. She was exhausted and didnt feel well. She decided she needed a monster, and I knew I had a note in my phone about where I could find one in the park. The World Traveler store. I asked around and no one seemed to know where it was -- and then I noticed it. Crazy - it was in view the whole time we were asking. I guess its tucked out of the way and easy to ignored.

We went back to the bench and just sat there for a while, relaxing and watching people walk by. We made friends with a super tame squirrel, watched people and waved at Mary Poppins as she was on her way out.

I think Ive already said how much I love to wave to a character on their way in or out. Like its something you see every day. Because at Disney, you do, and thats part of the magic.

By the time everyone felt like moving on, it was getting close to our ADR time. We headed that way. We thought maybe we could catch a view of the Canada movie, but we didnt quite have the time. Instead we headed here!

Hannah and I had eaten here on our 2010 trip and loved it. Hannah especially. So we were excited to see if Danny liked it as much as we did on this trip.

There was a really long wait, but we were entertained by the number of people who came in to see if they could get a table. I cant tell you how many times I heard Were booked through New Years day.

Tweet: Waiting to be seated at Le Cellier. Have I mentioned its kinda hot?​

I took pictures while we waited:

Eventually we were headed to a table with this view:

Lunch was delicious.

It started with some bread.

Hannah and I had the fillet with mushroom risotto.

Danny got some kind of steak.

We all cleaned our plates. We didnt get any stickers here - I think because everyone here always does! We didn't get any dessert because I was planning to get something tasty at Karmell Kuche later that night!

Up Next: Soarin' and Borin'

 

[dawnmichele]

We finished our delicious lunch, it was getting close to Danny’s fast pass time expiring. Of course Danny needed to make that, but he (we) wanted to see the Canada movie, too. Danny took off down the path toward the movie spot, while Hannah and I enjoyed the lovely scenery.

Danny came back right away to make sure he was looking in the right place because he couldn’t find the way. We pointed out the sign and he headed back while Hannah and I headed up the hill to wait.

It’s at this late point in the trip that Hannah and I finally discovered pin trading! We had brought a bag of pins and were looking forward to trying out trading, but we could never seem to remember to take them to the park! This morning we had remembered though! As we were waiting on Danny, we noticed a CM at a cart with a lanyard full of pins. We went over and each traded one - fun!

Danny came back and said the timing of the shows wouldn’t really work out, so we took off for the land pavillion. While Danny soared over California, Hannah and I were on the look out for more CMs to trade pins with. Just inside the front doors we found a really friendly CM who did a great job of giving us a Pin Trading 101 class. She was great. She also told us where to find other CMs with pins in the pavillion and we tracked them down. At the Lion King show, the CM with all the pins was missing, but the CMs at the desk by Soarin’ were fantastic. This is when I started to love pin trading. Sorry I don’t have any pictures or remember what I traded for - I’ll do better next time. By which I mean this time. Check in at AoA is in 27 days.

After that, we waited for Danny. And then waited for our overlapping FP time to tick up.

Hannah wanted to go back to the room and rest at this point (I don’t even know. We were at Disney World. There’s no resting at Disney!) On the other hand, Jodi Benson (voice of Ariel of course, but also one of her other favorites, Thumbelina) was the CP narrator that night. She decided to see Jodi Benson, but wasn’t sure when she should get in line and then decided she needed to be in line Right Then or she might die.

Which meant we race walked over to America to find out her timing was way off. The show was going on, so Hannah stood outside the theatre to watch. It was raining pretty seriously at this point. There wasn’t really anywhere to sit because everything was wet, and I didn’t have anywhere good to hide my camera and keep it dry. We ended up over the canopy at the American Adventure theatre (or whatever it’s called). I tried to sit on a little curb. When the show was over Hannah met came over and let us know she was going to head back to the room. She wanted to rest, but she also really wanted to check out our LM room!

It was just about time for the next show and it was still raining fairly seriously, so D and I decided to head in and see the show. Which was a horrible idea. First because it was FREEZING in there - especially since we were both a little damp. And second because that show was LONG and boring.

So I did what I usually do when I’m bored and I have my camera - I took too many pictures.

I’m usually a big history geek and all hooray for America, but this show was too slow and not interesting or informative. I will skip it next time, and every single time in the future.

Up Next: Cranky in Epcot

 

[sue_88]

I love your description of the aoa lights as glowing fruit stripe gum!!! I am gonna be thinking of that in a week when I am seeing it in person. (I am staying at Pop but plan to walk over and view all of the Art of Animation loveliness.
Your photos are such a delight. I want to meet Buzz Lightyear where you were dancing with him. I have never seen him in that location. I think I met him in front of Carousel of Progress once. I can't wait for character encounters!
I have never gone in and seen the show for the American Adventure. I sometimes think I would like to do all the things I have missed in the past but then I always decide to do my favorite "must do" things instead. I'm with you that this attraction is too time consuming and time is very valuable at Disney!
I'm glad you have another trip soon. Will you be doing another report? I would love to hear about your trip and see your photos!!

 

[dawnmichele]

I love your description of the aoa lights as glowing fruit stripe gum!!! I am gonna be thinking of that in a week when I am seeing it in person.

Thanks! And you so are! If you're of the age that you remember that gum, you can't help but think of it!

Your photos are such a delight.

Aww, thank you so, so much! I love to hear that

I want to meet Buzz Lightyear where you were dancing with him. I have never seen him in that location. I think I met him in front of Carousel of Progress once. I can't wait for character encounters!

It was there! just outside of Carousel of Progress. Maybe it's new because I don't remember him meeting there before, but his background is on the wall so he must meet there frequently. [/QUOTE]

I have never gone in and seen the show for the American Adventure. I sometimes think I would like to do all the things I have missed in the past but then I always decide to do my favorite "must do" things instead. I'm with you that this attraction is too time consuming and time is very valuable at Disney!

I totally understand that at Disney, everyone has their favorites and one person's least favorite is another one's favorite - but that thing is just not worth it. Save yourself .

I'm glad you have another trip soon. Will you be doing another report? I would love to hear about your trip and see your photos!!

Yes I will! And I promise #1 I will take better notes and #2 I will not take so long to get it done! I'd love it if you'd follow along and I'll be certain to link to it from here when it happens.

Thanks for saying hi!

 

[dawnmichele]

When we were finally able to escape from the American Adventure, it looked like the Candlelight Processional was just about to start, so I figured I’d hang around outside till I could get a picture of Jodi Benson for Hannah.

But it wasn’t really about to start, and it really wasn’t about time for Jodi to come out, there were just people in the theatre and crowds crowding around. The rain had removed all the tape indicating where people were and weren’t supposed to stand. This made the old lady CM really cranky and she kept being cross with people who were standing in the wrong spot. This was understandable, and I only mention she was an old lady because being half old myself, I have a very different reaction to cranks of different ages. Cranky people younger than me make me shrug and think “whatever, cranky”, but when the cranky people are older than I am I feel in trouble and it bothers me a little. Weird. But that’s me.

So anyway there were crazy crowds around the theatre, and the lady kept cranky, and the rain kept drizzling. The candle lights started to progress (if you’ve never seen it, all the singers walk single file to the stage holding a single candle) and that took forEver. Danny left for the restroom and I kept waiting. I turned at least as cranky as the CM, if not more.

{I really, really, can’t stress enough reallys, want to not let myself be so cranky on this next trip. Even for a minute. Why didn’t I just go sit down for a minute? I hope I’ve learned my lesson.}

Back at the resort, Hannah was having a little melt down of her own. She was texting me about how our was literally the furthest possible room from the front of the resort. Like the next room was the parking lot. And she did not like it. I was trying to text her back when she called (am I the only one who really hates that? If we're texting, we're texting. Don't call me). She was overly emotional so I was just like calm down, you’re at Disney World. It will be fine and I’ll call you back when I’m done trying to do you a favor.

{I wish I had someone to do this to me when I’m overly emotional since it’s really hard to do it for yourself. I need an app on my phone that will read my body chemistry or brain waves and send me a message to get a grip when I need it.}

Jodi Benson came out and then after another long while, she started to talk. And I took her picture.

We didn’t stay to hear the good part though. We decided to just head back and check out our resort. Danny hadn't seen it at all, and we were thinking we’d try dinner at the food court. I wanted out of the crowds and I wanted out fast, so I just kind of marched through, from the very back of the World Showcase, through Tomorrow World, the entrance, and the long walk to the bus stop, which was silly. Danny even reminded me at one point that I wanted some treat at Karamel Kuche but I was so cranky I didn’t even care about dessert, and that’s totally unreasonable.

As we waited for the bus, we decided if we ever stayed at Disney that long again (it was 8 days), we should definitely schedule in a break day. As we looked back over our day, we really didn't do many fun things. We decided if we were going to have a day where nothing really "happened", we'd rather pick it than let it pick us.

We had arrived at the bus stop just as an Art of Animation bus was pulling away. Like the bus driver held his hand up to us as we were walking to the door and told us there was a bus right behind him. A couple minutes later another bus pulled up. We loaded on and waited for the bus to fill up some. When the driver started out, there was a bad noise. Something was wrong with his brakes.

Big Groan.

We loaded off and there was some drama between the workers about what was going to happen next. After what seemed like Ever, a non Disney pulled up and drove us back to our hotation.

(I asked Danny to give me his best cranky look in this photo.)

Up Next: Landscape of Flavors and our Mermaid Room!!

 

[dawnmichele]

I had been texting with Hannah through the whole bus situation, and she decided to meet us at the food court for some dinner. We found her and wandered around a bit checking out all the options. It was loud and crazy and full of kids, but some of the food looked good.

Danny got a build your own burger which he Loved. I didn't get a picture.

Hannah got in line for some Mongolian Beef.

And I got in the build your own pasta line. It was kind of long and a CM came around with a little electronic gadget to take my order while I was still pretty far away from the counter. That sped things up a lot.

This chef was working hard.

My pasta was good,

But I thought Hannah's meal was better.

After dinner we checked out the gift shop. I liked that they had resort specific merchandise, but didnt buy anything for myself. I did get Hannah her bribe present from the day before - a Simba pillow pet. She was super grateful for it the whole time and loved it a lot, which I appreciated. She still loves it in fact. You can kind of see H and her Simba under the branch on the left side in this photo. (She wanted me to take her picture with it - so very rare! - but I only had my zoom lens).

In the very last room of the very last building of the Little Mermaid section at AoA. We could literally not be any further out. #decdis12​

Hannah was right. it was the last room in building 8. Our view was the parking lot and the trees beyond the hotel. Oh well, somebodys got to stay there, right? And it was only for 2 nights.

And our room was awesome - check it out!

The octopus holds our jackets. Thanks octopus!

The vanity area.

The bathroom. Dig that shower. When youre in it, its really easy to pretend you are under the sea in Ariels treasure grotto.

The shower curtain, which can be yours for the right price in the gift shop.

The whole vanity/bathroom area kind of closes off for a little bit of privacy.

The dresser. The fridge is behind a door on the left side. Drawers are on the right. We cluttered the top up every single day. I loved the way its shaped, though.

Hannah loved this and claimed the Ariel sticker.

I apologize for the mess. It was the end of a long, long day. But its a table, and a couple of sea themed chairs. The table has some sheet music on it and is very charming. Also, please appreciate that awesome sea shell light/mirror above the table.

We spent some time relaxing and enjoying our Mermaid room before we hit the sack. The next day would be our last full day at Disney .

Up next: Under the Sea in the daylight.

 

[dawnmichele]

So my next trip is in less than 3 weeks. When I was on about day 4 of this report I joked it would take me until our next trip to finish it. I was so close to right! But I will finish it and that’s something, right? And I will finish before we leave, so expect this day’s report to move right along.

I have hardly any notes on this day, so it's down to my camera and my memory.

It was dark when I got my first look at the Little Mermaid section of the resort. This morning I got a much better look around. It had already rained that morning but the time we headed out at 7am so things were a little wet, but that seemed fitting for the Mermaid section.

Our room number on a seashell.

We didn’t have Magic Bands, but we did have tap to enter which we used when Hannah remembered she forgot something.

Looking back at our room

At the end of the long sidewalk, you get a nice view of Ariel’s behind.

Up Next: More AoA

 

[dawnmichele]

Here's a map of the whole resort.

You can see the corner where our room was just above the clamshell with the number 8 in this picture.

I love the over the top-ness of this resort. I couldnt walk through the Lion King savannah without taking a few more pictures.

The Lion King makes Hannah 6 again.

Danny was hoping to get a made to order omelet at the food court, but they didnt start serving warm food until 8 and we didnt want to miss extra magic hours, so we just got some pastries. I had a cream cheese danish, which is my go-to breakfast at DW. I dont even remember what D & H ate.

After that we checked out the lobby some before we headed for the bus stop.

I loved this light fixture, and especially this drawing of Ariel. The drawing of Simba laughing in the face of danger is pretty cute, too.

Hannah watched the animator draw young Simba.

After we were done with the lobby, we headed out to the bus stop.

Up next: The Next Morning!

 

[sue_88]

Your mermaid room is cute! I know a family who is going for the first time in the spring and are going to stay in a mermaid room.
Very nice photos of all of art of animation. The snarfblatt and dinglehopper are so lifelike!
haha, I agree that being uninterested in a Disney dessert is not a good place to be while on vacation! But everyone gets tired and needs a break at some point.
I'm glad you are going back soon. It is so fun to have it to look forward to.
I am leaving for the airport very early tomorrow morning! I plan to stay at Magic Kingdom very late tomorrow night for extra magic hours!!! It doesn't seem real! I heard on the news that there is a chance for snow on Tuesday morning in KC and I am going to totally miss that and that makes me very happy.
I will look forward to more of your report for when I return!

 

[dawnmichele]

Your mermaid room is cute! I know a family who is going for the first time in the spring and are going to stay in a mermaid room.
Very nice photos of all of art of animation. The snarfblatt and dinglehopper are so lifelike!
haha, I agree that being uninterested in a Disney dessert is not a good place to be while on vacation! But everyone gets tired and needs a break at some point.
I'm glad you are going back soon. It is so fun to have it to look forward to.
I am leaving for the airport very early tomorrow morning! I plan to stay at Magic Kingdom very late tomorrow night for extra magic hours!!! It doesn't seem real! I heard on the news that there is a chance for snow on Tuesday morning in KC and I am going to totally miss that and that makes me very happy.
I will look forward to more of your report for when I return!

Thanks! I hope you're having a great time!! It's definitely too cold already here! Let me know how your trip went when you get back!

 

[Iowajes]

What a fabulous trip report! I would love to get to meet Gaston!

 

[dawnmichele]

What a fabulous trip report! I would love to get to meet Gaston!

Thanks so much!
Gaston was SO great. Really. I think he's becoming a super popular character because he just has so many opportunities to be funny.

Of course I think "my" Gaston is the best and always get excited when I see pictures of him in trip reports.

What? I mean there's only ONE Gaston. Ignore that last paragraph!

 

[sue_88]

Thanks! I hope you're having a great time!! It's definitely too cold already here! Let me know how your trip went when you get back!

I got back yesterday. I had a great time! But, I never did see Gaston.
But I did sit in his chair and admire the antlers.
I may do a report but I am going to wait until I get my photopass pics. Its gonna take me awhile to add borders and such to all of them.
We walked around Art of Animation two times and I really enjoyed seeing everything.

 

[dawnmichele]

I got back yesterday. I had a great time! But, I never did see Gaston.

Glad you had such a good time! But oh my goodness, I can't even imagine not meeting Gaston (now that I've done it - obviously I survived for plenty of years before)! I hadn't imagined such a possibility. I am going to have to stalk him to be sure I experience his handsomeness again![/QUOTE]

I may do a report but I am going to wait until I get my photopass pics. Its gonna take me awhile to add borders and such to all of them.

You're right about that! It seems like it took me forever last year, but I sure felt like I got my money's worth. This year I'll have even more days, and more photos since my brother and his girl will be with us. I have read some people have had some photos missing when they check online - hope all of yours were there waiting!

We walked around Art of Animation two times and I really enjoyed seeing everything.

It's certainly a lot to look at. I'm hoping I actually get to swim in the Nemo pool this time. I understand there's an underwater soundtrack in that pool and want to check it out for myself.

Were they already playing Christmas music when you visited? Their Christmas songs were my least favorite part of the resort!

 

[dawnmichele]

We were headed to AK on this last full day of our magical Disney trip. I know a lot of people are not big fans of this park, but I am not one of them. Hannah and I love it, and even though before he visited it for the first time Danny thought it sounded kind of lame, he loves it to. Since they were having extra magic hours that morning, thats where we headed.

We stopped outside the park for a couple PP+ pictures at the giant Christmas tree.

Oh yikes, its Stitch!

We stopped at two more PP+ just after we entered the park.

We were kind of wandering around without a plan. We were kind of headed toward Expedition Everest but mostly we were just enjoying the experience. Thats what makes AK so good. Everywhere you look its interesting.

You know I took some pictures.

Up Next: More pictures, of course!

 

[dawnmichele]

This area is maybe my favorite place to take photos in all of Disney World.

Danny decided he wanted to ride Expedition Everest with Hannah. I waited outside with the camera.

beware

In addition to taking photos, I was on the lookout to trade some pins! When I saw a cast member with some pins I had to check it out. The best pin trade I had probably happened then - a few CMs with dress shirts and ties were walking by so I stopped them. One of them had a pin I loved so I asked him for it. He was talking about how much he liked that pin and so I told him I was sorry to take it from him. And he was in serious Disney mode when he said The only thing that would make me sad is if you didnt trade me for that pin.

I love that.

I also made Disney friends with a lady waiting for someone on EE as well. We talked about all the times wed been trapped somewhere at Disney! Luckily we were both laughing about it. We went on telling eacho other about what we had done and what we liked best. When Danny came back to sit on his scooter, he joined in and we talked with our new friend some more while Hannah rode EE one more time.

Up Next: On our way to brunch.

 

[dawnmichele]

Whoops. These photos should have really gone with the last update, but theyre here instead.

From there, we headed to our favorite AK ride, Dinosaur! We all love that ride a lot.

We passed up this area. I have never even been in there! Im definitely going to wander through on this visit.

I wanted to get a photo of the pre ride movie, but its way more difficult than I thought.

We got a ride photo, but honestly I dont know if one of the 4 ride photos we got that day were from later or now. Im going to put them all together in a later post.

After Dinosaur!, we wandered around to the front of the park. I had an eye out for Russell and Dug, but they werent out. We checked out a couple stores. There was a jacket I had seen at Mouse Gear and I was on a hunt for it. It wasnt in either of the big stores at AK, so I asked a helpful CM if she knew where I could find it. She couldnt, but she really did above and beyond. She even gave me the sku number or whatever and a phone number to call to see which store I could find it in.

We didnt buy anything right then because Danny was worried about making our ADR at Tusker House. Turned out to be a silly decision because we showed up about 20 minutes early and had to wait a bit to be seated. We did got back right after our brunch though. I bought a pair of earrings I had been looking at. Danny bought a gift for one of our friends, and Hannah got something - Ive forgotten what.

Since we were leaving the next day, we couldnt have them send our purchases to our room, but we did have them send them to the front of the park. We were also able to stick our big photo from brunch in a bag as well which was great. Im half sure we would have banged that thing up as we walked around the park that day.

But back to our visit to Tusker House.

I really love this photo.

Their printer wasnt working so it was a little weird, but we were soon in line to have our picture with Donald and not long after they took us to a little room on the left.

The characters were on the way in, so we waited before we went up for some grub.

Grub:

Danny took this shot of us with Goofy. H saw it a little later and had a little melt down about Goofys head being cut off. I calmed her down a little by promising wed find him before we left and get another one.

Up next: After brunch, we head to the Safari.

 

[dawnmichele]

carby plate

mini mickey head waffle

The Goof never came back around, so when we were finished stuffing ourselves with food, we found his wrangler and got another picture.

Danny needed a stop after brunch.

We came across the street party. I like the idea and the music is always good, but it sucks for crowd navigation (especially the one in Asia).

We headed for the Safari. Its one of our favorites, and I had my zoom lens for this trip.

These birds were a little crazy that day. They were chasing each other - I couldn't really tell.

I think they hid something tasty in the tree stump.

Up next? More Safari photos, of course!

 

[dawnmichele]

Is it a big tease to put these where the lions can see them? Not really, because they dont go hungry. But still, it seems a little bit like a dirty trick to me.

Lions sleep a lot.

Not the ladies though, of course. They're busy cleaning.

Up next: Keeping an eye out for Tigers.

 

[murmkc]

Well done so far! This is an AWESOME trip report.

I will seeya in WDW in just a couple of weeks!