If we can DREAM it, we can do it! ..... another 30 day vacation Update 02/07

Wow I finally had some time to read and catch up !!!!
I always love looking at all f your pictures and now I am VERY hungry!!
 
Michelle I am sorry I missed getting to meet you and your family. I was so tired, it had been a long day and I was almost ready to fall asleep on the comfy couch at Karin and Tom's lovely home at OKW.
 
Hi Karin! I was only a couple of updates behind, but I'm sorry I haven't posted much here. I've done a little "skipping around" on the DIS lately - "SQUIRREL!" :rotfl2:

Tammie, I completely understand. :thumbsup2

Great score on the D&B! :thumbsup2
How cool that you got to ride EE so many times after the crazy crowds at MK two days before!:cool1:
It was so nice to see you got to have such a nice long DISmeet with Teresa and Mick!
Now that I am up to date here, I realize I haven't even started reading about your Italy trip yet, and your US trip is right around the corner~:lmao:

It was awesome to see the crowds thin out that much and then riding the rides is so much more fun, without an hour in line. ;)
Teresa and Mick are so nice. We just love spending time with them. :goodvibes
As for this year's trips ..... just hop on over to my Pre-trip report, I just started to post planning for our February trip. :woohoo:


What a fun day! The safari pictures are so good. Don't you love when the animals cooperate?

It also sounds like you had quite a great day with friends! And to enjoy a meal together is even more fun!!!

I didn't get to enjoy Olivias for dinner... but man, your pictures sure make me wish I did!!

We had so much fun with Teresa and Mick and Michelle and her family too! They are all wonderful people and we really hope that we soon get the opportunity to spend more time with them again. :cloud9:

I am sure one day you can fit in Olivia's for dinner. It really is a nice and relaxed place to eat. :goodvibes


Wow I finally had some time to read and catch up !!!!
I always love looking at all f your pictures and now I am VERY hungry!!

You had a lot on your mind lately, Michelle, so I don't blame you for not keeping up with me and my many reports. ;)
I hope Angie is feeling better soon. :hug:
 
Day 28, September 7

Goodbye and thank you very much! - Part 1

We got up around 7.30, got ready, had breakfast and were out the door shortly before 9am. Today we wanted to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We parked the car, walked to the tram and waited for a long time for it to get moving. Had we just walked we would have long been in the park. Finally it moved and all the masses moved towards back check, then towards the gates and finally it seemed everyone seemed to go towards Toy Story Mania.



The good thing was there were not a lot of people apart from the last tram load. Tom got in line to pick up a Fastpass and then we got in line. There had only been a ten minute wait posted outside, so we were pretty excited.





















And once inside we got even more excited, as we could actually walk up to the gate where you pick up your 3D glasses. In less than ten minutes we were seated and playing the games. Once we got off we had a look at the posted wait time and it was still ten minutes, so we got in line again.



It was just like the first time around and this time we were even faster, as they were looking for a party of two while we were on the steps down to the ride and we passed a lot of people. Two rides done in no time! Again, after the ride we checked the wait time and this time it said 20 minutes, but we tried anyway.



This time the wait was a little longer, really around the 20 minute mark, but nowhere near what we had already experienced here. We still had time until our Fastpass was to kick in, so we just wandered around for a bit and then got in the Fastpass line.



And after less than ten minutes we were on the ride again, having a lot of fun. Once the ride was over we headed over to Tower of Terror,



which had an advertised 13 minute wait, and we knew we were in for a very short wait indeed. There was actually literally no one in line



and they had to wait for quite a bit until they closed the library doors for the pre-show. Pre-show done we walked into the boiler room to find both lines open and three elevators running. We chose the line that went straight on and were promptly put on a spot and after a few minutes they went through the spiel, we were seated and off we went. Once we got off we looked around the shop, before we walked back to the entrance of the ride, we looked and could not believe it, NO one in line again.
We repeated the drill 4 more times,















with no more wait than 5 minutes. After 5 rides you could clearly notice that the crowds were getting thicker and we decided that that had been it and we were looking for some lunch. Good food is hard to come by at DHS, but there was something we wanted to try, and they offered it at the ABC Commissary.
So we headed over there, got in line and ordered, then picked up our order, stocked up on condiments and went to find a table.
Well, it was actually easy to find a table, but we were looking for a more quiet table. Table found and photos taken we started on trying our food. We had gotten Diet Cokes,



the Seafood Platter, which had battered shrimp and fish, served with fries and the



1/3 lb Angus Cheeseburger and Fried Shrimp, served with fries as well. We shared both and they were both really good. We were definitely surprised. It was a welcome break for us and we sat there for a while, enjoying our drinks and cooling down and talking about how great our day had been so far.

To be continued ............
 


Wow - you are my heroes - 3 rides on TSM followed by 5 rides on Tot! Darn! That's impressive. I'm happy if I make it on ToT once. I am such a chicken that's all I can handle.

I love that redneck ride photo - your car is empty! :thumbsup2

Great morning so far!
 
Wow - you are my heroes - 3 rides on TSM followed by 5 rides on Tot! Darn! That's impressive. I'm happy if I make it on ToT once. I am such a chicken that's all I can handle.

I love that redneck ride photo - your car is empty! :thumbsup2

Great morning so far!

I think I could ride ToT all day long. :rotfl2: We both love that ride. But TSM really got to me after the last ride - it really put a strain on my arm. :laughing:

It was our last full day that year. Such a fun week we had, but our vacation was coming to an end. :sad2:
 
I don't think I could do ToT that many times in a row. I know one year Paige did it like 8 times and we kept switching people to ride with her.

I do love TSM but you are right, your arm hurts so much that you can't do that many times in a row either.

Lunch looks much better than what I just ate!
 


I don't think I could do ToT that many times in a row. I know one year Paige did it like 8 times and we kept switching people to ride with her.

I do love TSM but you are right, your arm hurts so much that you can't do that many times in a row either.

Lunch looks much better than what I just ate!

ToT is one ride I don't mind riding over and over again. I think the fact that you walk all around and have to watch the video in the library lets my feet get back firmly on the ground. :rotfl2:
TSM I love, but it really starts to hurt my arm after a ride or two. ;)
 
Day 28, September 7

Goodbye and thank you very much! - Part 2

It was a welcome break for us and we sat there for a while, enjoying our drinks and cooling down and talking about how great our day had been so far. We had two more things we wanted to get done at the Studios and once we felt fit again we headed outside, made a pit stop at the Villains sweet shop to pick up a



Carrot Cake Cookie and then we headed to Guest Services. Like every summer we had booked a stay at Old Key West with the UK Disney Travel Company, which offered a nice 40% discount AND Free Dining for our stay. The only “downside” is that you need to buy a ticket with it. And the real downside is that the ticket expires. So every year we have to sweet talk a cast member to renew our Annual Passes more than two months in advance. So with that in mind we headed to Guest Services and explained our situation to the cast member.



She was really nice, but firmly told us that Annual Passes can only renewed 4 weeks in advance, but we would be able to use our ticket to buy a new one as unused tickets don’t expire. Okay, we were sure these tickets did expire. So she went to the back room to have it checked and came back stating that we were indeed right. She had another idea for us. She would exchange the ticket for a voucher, which we would then be able to use to renew. Now there’s the next catch. We would not be back in time to renew. And off she went to the back room again. It took quite some time and she returned and said she had learned that there indeed were some possibilities to overrule the system. Yeah, that is what we had been talking about. So she set out to do it for us when we reminded her that we wanted to renew our regular Annual Pass to a DVC Annual Pass. And off she went to the back room. A few minutes later she returned again, smiled and got to work. It took her a few minutes to renew both Annual Passes to DVC ones and then she presented us with the bill. It had usually always cost us a little over 400$ to renew our AP, but this time we paid under 100$ which was a HUGE bonus! We thanked her about a 1000 times, then said our goodbyes and felt like skipping out the door.
We exited, hopped onto the waiting tram and about three minutes later we went out to the parking lot to our waiting car. It was boiling hot in there, but we turned on the A/C full blast and it worked wonders. We were back at Old Key West in no time, put the Carrot Cake in the fridge and took out some cold beverages.



I put a load of laundry in and started packing again while Tom took another relaxing dip in the Jacuzzi. Once the laundry was done and Tom had emerged from the Jacuzzi again, we talked about what to do with the rest of the afternoon. It was beautiful outside and there was no doubt where we wanted to head. I just put the wet laundry in the dryer, then we put on our swimsuits, donned some beach wear and off we went to the quiet pool. There were very few people at the pool and we picked up a towel, put our stuff on a lounger and headed into the water.
We stayed inside for quite some time before we walked back to the loungers to sit and relax for a while. And after some time we went to take a dip in the hot tub. It was empty and it felt like the water was really hot, but it was nice sitting in there sitting in front of the hot water spouts. But it was too hot to sit in there for too long, so once we were halfway done, we got out, showered and headed for the regular pool, which felt like freezing, again.
We stayed for a little while longer, then dried off and headed back to our villa. And after we both had had showers, we got dressed to head out one more time and to do Extra Magic Hours for the last time this summer. But before we went to Epcot we headed somewhere else. Kissimmee and Krispy Kreme



were calling us. We picked up two dozen hot doughnuts



and a large



Diet Coke, found a table and inhaled some of those hot beauties.



Once we had sufficiently filled our sweet tooth we headed out the door and back to Old Key West.





We handed the full box of doughnuts to the security guard at the gate, who first could not believe that the doughnuts were for them, then thanked us happily. We dropped our doughnuts off in the room, had a sip of Coke and headed out again and over to Epcot.
We parked the car and soon had walked through the turnstiles. It was already getting dark and the rides in Future world had quite some lines, so we just walked over to World Showcase and did some exploring.
Germany had some fun new T-shirts





that we looked at and then we hotfooted it over to China for some dinner. The restaurant was pretty empty and we quickly ordered, received our food and sat down. We shared an order of



Potstickers and had both ordered the





Orange Chicken with Steamed Rice. While we were enjoying our dinner Illuminations started and we could just see a little bit from the restaurant. Once we were done we headed outside and walked towards Mexico, having one eye on the fireworks











and one on the walkway. And while we slowly made our way further around we ran into Mick and Teresa who were watching the fireworks as well. We stopped and watched the fireworks together. What a nice way to celebrate the end of our vacation.
Fireworks over we slowly strolled towards Futureworld, to fit in a ride or two. We ended up at Mission Space, where all of us picked up an orange ticket and got in line.

To be continued ............
 
I believe we had spent the day at DHS, took the boat to Epcot and had dinner at Via Napoli before meeting up with you during the fireworks.
 
I believe we had spent the day at DHS, took the boat to Epcot and had dinner at Via Napoli before meeting up with you during the fireworks.

Oh yes, I remember you telling us about the pizza at Via Napoli. :thumbsup2 Can you believe that this was a year and a half ago? :scared1:
 
Day 28, September 7

Goodbye and thank you very much! - Part 3

Fireworks over we slowly strolled towards Futureworld, to fit in a ride or two. We ended up at Mission Space, where all of us picked up an orange ticket and got in line.
It took a while until we made our way through the line and finally were divided into teams. Needless to say the four of us were one team. Once we were waiting to get into our cockpit



we noticed that it took considerably longer than usual. We saw the second run of the preshow and joked that the ride would be closed just before we could go on. Boy, were we right. They did close the ride. They went round and told everyone that they would not be able to restart tonight, but we all got a ticket good the next day. No use for us as we were to fly home the next day, but Mick and Teresa could use them.
We went to through the shop and had some fun playing with a few things.



Queuing up we had spent half of the Extra Magic Hours in a line that lead us nowhere, so we thought what else we could do. Everyone agreed that Spaceship Earth would be a good idea.



So we went over to the “giant” golfball and got in line. Since it was fairly short we were able to get onto the ride within a few minutes. All of us had a lot of fun travelling through history and then discovering our future.













But once the ride was over we all were tired and decided to head to our resorts. We got back to Old Key West shortly before midnight



and I finished packing before we finally grabbed a last beverage out of the fridge and then went to bed.

To be continued ............
 
We had a great time and a lot of laughs about breaking the Mission Space ride. I had forgotten about the pic with the Minnie ears, my kids will get a laugh out of that one. They always tease me about my supposed Disney addiction. Lol!
 
What a fun evening and how kind you are to share your Krispy Kremes with the guard. :thumbsup2 They are best when eaten right away! :rotfl2:

So - I'm a little confused about the ticket situation. Do you renew your AP and use the ticket you purchased from your package to off set the cost? I didn't know you could do that. And when you renew your AP early when does it become effective - at the original expiration date?

So many question. :laughing:

That really is a nice offer with the free dining during the summer and 40% off OKW.
 
We had a great time and a lot of laughs about breaking the Mission Space ride. I had forgotten about the pic with the Minnie ears, my kids will get a laugh out of that one. They always tease me about my supposed Disney addiction. Lol!

I remember a lot of laughs when that ride broke. :rotfl2:

It is such a cute photo of you! I am sure, when they are old enough, Lily and Otto will love it too! :goodvibes


What a fun evening and how kind you are to share your Krispy Kremes with the guard. :thumbsup2 They are best when eaten right away! :rotfl2:

It is one of our traditions to get some for the security people on one of our last nights. We have seen many astonished faces when we hand them over. But I think those super friendly security people, who welcome you home need a little recognition too. ;)

So - I'm a little confused about the ticket situation. Do you renew your AP and use the ticket you purchased from your package to off set the cost? I didn't know you could do that. And when you renew your AP early when does it become effective - at the original expiration date?

Well, it is a bit of a complicated thing to renew our APs. :lmao:
When we book the UK package we need to buy tickets with it. So I usually buy a 7 day ticket that includes hopper and water park. These tickets do expire though (even without using them).
So, we use that ticket to pay for a huge chunk of our AP. You can do that with any ticket you have - they will use the ticket value towards the AP, even if you have used a few days they will use the remaining value towards your AP.
And with that, the new AP goes into effect the old one expires, so you do not lose any days on it.
You usually can renew your AP 30 days prior until 30 days after your AP expires. A renewal AP is cheaper than buying a regular one and don't forget there are special discounts for DVC members! ;)
For us using the ticket, then renewing the AP to a DVC discounted AP saved A LOT of money. :cloud9:


So many question. :laughing:

That really is a nice offer with the free dining during the summer and 40% off OKW.

They have cut down a little on that offer and have not been offering it all summer last year, but in 2012 we were very lucky to snag OKW at a decent rate for a 1 bedroom AND get the free DDP on top of it. :love:
 
Day 29, September 8

It’s time to go home - Part 1

We were up quite early, used up the last of our leftovers for breakfast, then packed up the last of our stuff, went through the villa, checked all the drawers and finally started to haul our stuff downstairs, to be crammed into the car. Once everything was in there we took one final round through the villa before we headed to Bell Services to drop off our luggage and Owner’s Locker.
Luggage out of the way we were on our way over to the Magic Kingdom, always the last park of a trip. It didn’t take long and we were walking through the turnstiles. We heard some music and the Move it, Shake it parade was making it’s way down Main Street. We stopped and watched and took some pics,













then headed over to Big Thunder Mountain to pick up a Fastpass. Tom inserted his Annual Pass and the machine spit out a Fastpass. I did the same and it “ate” my pass. We flagged down a cast member and she “freed” my pass, then tried it at another machine and it still would not work. So she handed us an exchange ticket, only good for fastpass. She gave one to Tom too, so he would not feel left out, after she had pulled two Fastpasses from the machines. Then she went to try my Annual Pass again and it worked. The cast member told us to keep all our Fastpasses and the second set of tickets as well.
Our next stop was Pirates of the Caribbean, but we were pretty unlucky with it this time as it was down again. We had a bit of time to kill so we headed over to the Columbia Harbour House for some lunch.
There was quite a line up to the register, but it moved pretty fast and soon we had ordered and waited to pick up our lunch. It took quite a while until they brought over our tray and we headed upstairs to find a seat. We were lucky and got a table by the window where we sat, enjoying the view





and our food. Tom had gotten a



Lobster Roll, which was served with potato chips and I got one of my favourites, the



Anchors Aweigh Sandwich, white tuna with lettuce and tomato on toasted multigrain bun with potato chips. We again shared both and were very happy with our choice. Once we had cleared our plates we headed over towards the new Fantasyland to see if they were doing more dress rehearsals, but there was no activity and we felt pretty lucky to have already had the opportunity to look behind that fence.
We then headed back to Big Thunder Mountain



and before we got in line we picked up another Fast Pass. We now had three fast passes in hand



and the line only said 10 minutes – time to check it out. We got in line and it took less than 10 minutes to get on the ride. Tom asked for last row again and we were granted our wish.









Once we got off we just walked all the way around and got on the ride again.



Short wait again and it was a real lot of fun. For the next two rides we used our first two sets of Fastpasses,





then used the regular line again and finally it was time to use up the last one of our Fastpasses.











We were getting close to the time to leave, but we still had one more ride we wanted to ride, the Peoplemover.

To be continued ............
 
How sad this trip is coming to an end...but you are probably ready to be done writing it! ;)

I like that you get a little last dose of Mk before you leave!
 
Your morning in DHS was quite productive! I can't believe how many times you rode TSM and Tot!

I feel your pain on getting the renewal of your AP. I too have random tickets (although they don't expire) I was able to use one set to upgrade dh's tickets to an AP for hardly anything... but yeah... it took some doing. In the end though.... :cool1::cool1:

That is so nice of you to have brought the gate guards krispy kreme. I noticed how they must get kinda bored sitting there...especially late at night.

Love the illuminations pics!

What a fun last night! And that little critter... we had a visitor like that too. a wax frog. Just don't travel with a herpetologist...cause that little visitor will become a guest...and when they get nervous they secrete OH SO MUCH GOO.

What a score on the BTMRR fast passes!!
 
WOW I can not believe this report is coming to an end, thankfully we still have your other reports to read!!!
 
How sad this trip is coming to an end...but you are probably ready to be done writing it! ;)

I like that you get a little last dose of Mk before you leave!

As sad as it might be to see it come to an end, I am quite relieved. With a new TR looming in about two weeks time I better get that one finished off! :lmao:

We always visit MK on our last day and if the FP+ works out the way I hope it will, we should have a really fun last day in two weeks time. :thumbsup2


Your morning in DHS was quite productive! I can't believe how many times you rode TSM and Tot!

We could not believe how easy it was to get on again and again. It definitely was a lot of fun. :goodvibes

I feel your pain on getting the renewal of your AP. I too have random tickets (although they don't expire) I was able to use one set to upgrade dh's tickets to an AP for hardly anything... but yeah... it took some doing. In the end though.... :cool1::cool1:

I was glad I had done a lot of research and knew what they were able to do. It was awesome to see the tiny amount of money we had to pay to exchange our tickets for an AP! :woohoo:

That is so nice of you to have brought the gate guards krispy kreme. I noticed how they must get kinda bored sitting there...especially late at night.

It's a tradition to get them some doughnuts. And they seem to enjoy them a lot. ;)

Love the illuminations pics!

What a fun last night! And that little critter... we had a visitor like that too. a wax frog. Just don't travel with a herpetologist...cause that little visitor will become a guest...and when they get nervous they secrete OH SO MUCH GOO.

What a score on the BTMRR fast passes!!

It was fun to see those froggies again and again. Thankfully we never saw one of them get nervous. They were only enjoying the outside of our villa. :laughing:

Getting that many BTMRR fast passes was the icing on the cake on that last day! A real highlight. :goodvibes


WOW I can not believe this report is coming to an end, thankfully we still have your other reports to read!!!

I better finish that one off, Michelle. I see another one in my future VERY soon. :rotfl2:
 

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