BuckeyeFortMama

You are too kind. I promise to hone my Trip Reporting Skills and do a better job next time. We'll wave on our way through in March. We only turn twice from Ohio to FL. So we are on autopilot until Columbia. No constructive criticism from the master? Planning the itineries I have to say is all BuckeyeFortFan. My planning is making sure the 5 of us stay on schedule, but he does the ADR's and crowd levels and runs for FP's most of the time. Don't get me wrong I've learned a lot and I help him sometimes talk through the "if we do this, this, and this then we should probably feel like doing

Lou.... you and I just might get along, yet. Your right! It should be best foot forward ALWAYS!!! I get annoyed when I feel that I know the character better than they do. And then there are times you get to meet a character that just embodies it. The first Gaston we met on this trip (the one at night) was great. I enjoyed watching him meet other guests. That's how you know you nailed the part in my book (if I can watch a character meet people I don't know). We have yet to meet a Peter Pan that wasn't just perfect!

Our Gaston's My favorite first His facial expressions were awesome. The best part was he only flashed a new face every time he wanted the photographer to take the picture. He was awesome! I know I said that already but he was. If you see this one ever! GET IN HIS LINE!!! This was the other guy. He was a little brawnier, if that's a word. The Photopass Photographer got the best Belle and Gaston pictures. She enjoyed this more than she wants to admit. She may have called him Gas-stink, but she was enjoying the attention. From one beast to the next. He asked the girls to dance with him.

I just opened the mail and the photopass CD was in it. Pictures are uploading now. I may just throw some bonus ones on the end of this trip report.

Lucky for you??? Are you crazy? I'll take fairies any day over the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana. Tinkerbell invents things out of junk and her fellow tinker fairies (Bobble and Clink) are the dorky but smart kids in class. None of the fairies represent the "cool kids." They are all in their own way quirky. No one is stuck up, well except for Vidia-she's sorta the Hannah Montana or Sharpay of the group. (P.S. If you get the chance to meet Vidia in the parks, do it. She's a cool character to meet.) And just to bring you up to speed, Periwinkle has white hair because she is a snow fairy

Thanks. We do. Isn't that half the fun of Disney? Figuring out just how to pack it all in and still be able to call it a vacation at the end of the week because you actually had a great time!

December 30, 2012 We slept in. NO ROPE DROP!!!! By 7am we were packing a week's worth of clothing, souvenirs, cabin decorations, Christmas presents and a stroller back into the Expedition in order to make it to the Contemporary for our last ADR. After getting packed, we watched some tv before getting in the truck. We stopped at the outpost and checked out. The sticker shock was horrible. I missed my camper. We drove to the Contemporary. We don't typically do the character breakfasts in the resorts, but our friends had a late flight that day and they had friends who swore that Chef Mic

EPCOT DAY #2 December 29, 2012 8am opening, so of course we are "on rope" at 7:10. We didn't have to wait long. By 7:15 they are letting us in. I assumed they were gonna hold us at the fountain, but they lead us (about 50 people or so that were at the turnstiles at 7:15) to the Land Pavilion. I was the only one in the group of 50 or so that took my stroller over to the official stroller parking that is to the right before you go up the hill the the Land Pavilion. There was a cast member parking strollers but I wanted to cover mine because there was rain in the forecast. So the 2yr old a

Thanks Stef! Belle is one of her favorites and she loves Belle reading her book not dancing with the prince. I love it! Well, here comes our last day in the park.

Just putting it out there! I'm looking forward to more.

I just keep thinking about walking through that slush. Look at the picture with the aliens. You know if it's on your shoes, it's getting dragged into theatres, gift shops, and restaurants. Don't get me wrong. I love living in Ohio where we get it frequently. I hate the slushie stuff and the wet melting snow.

Wait?!?!?!? What?!?!?! How did I not know about this until now? Time will tell, and so will trip reports. I'll be watching, always watching! So true! They hit the nail on the head with that song! We sing it endlessly (obviously). It's so contagious. Thanks for the compliment. I am taking notes on how not to write a trip report for sure!!! She is finally getting back to normal just now. I am so ready for spring (or at least our March trip).

Photobucket is driving me nuts! While I was posting on my trip report last night photobucket did a weird thing and the site just re-loaded without me asking it to do anything. Now the pictures I posted after that are coming up missing only occassionally when I get on or someone else does. Sometimes they are there and sometimes they aren't. I edited and re-linked them, just in case those links were corrupt somehow. Has anyone else encountered something like that?

I have pretty high standards when it comes to Disney. They are experts on creating authentic moments for their guests. I just feel this was all too rushed. I never mind waiting because when it's your turn it's great and minutes seem like hours. They can't be perfect all the time. I know this and maybe we caught Belle on a bad day. The park was super busy, but Disney usually does a much better job. I felt like she was just going through the motions.

I went back and relinked the pictures. They should all be there now. I have 2 more days to post and I am hoping to get to them tonight. Our family is still in the Disney afterglow. How do I know? I woke up to a chorus of little voices this morning singing "Go with the Flow"

I hit post and then they were gone. I hadn't done anything to photobucket so I was getting ready to edit and link them all again when they were suddenly back just like they suddenly disappeared. Weird, but they are back and I so I am not gonna question it anymore.

Then Drizella This is why we come to this crummy buffet. They are awesome The lighting sucks here. I never get great pictures in this room, but here's another. Prince Charming with our prince And with our girls Then Cinderella comes out. And years later our girls still love her. Here's another one. Notice our little guy who won't meet girl characters at all. He must love Cinderella too. Prince Charming came back for a dance. Ok, after dinner I took the sick one and little one and ran to pharmacy to pick up her antibiotic and some make her feel better things. While the rest of the cr

After Belle and the Councilman had their "interaction" on Main Street, the FortFan brought her over to rejoin the group in tomorrowland. There were a few of our gang that felt like starting the day off with some intense spinning induced nausea so the took the elevator to the Astro Orbiter while the sane part of our group walked on Buzz. In this picture, the 2yr old is finally brave enough to stand with Zurg for the traditional "I rode Buzz" picture. The wait on Space Mountain was only 10 minutes so the group split again. Mama (the non-rollercoaster rider) took the little kids over to Dumbo

You don't mess with our first born, even if you are famous among the fiends Bits Six isn't too bad. The new Dolly is worth checking out though. She's funny With enough Sangria does it really matter? It really is a great way to ensure a sphere of comfort. You and the girls would be more than welcome to enter the "sphere" and share our tablecloth if that chance meeting ever happened. I am sorry for you then, since those Wolverine fans can be so RUDE! See I knew you were in the know. Nevermind that other guy-you're welcome anytime! Seriously??? That would explain why it was free for my k

You and the Fort Fan see eye to eye on this one. I love them, but have only been given the chance to watch them a few times due to his dislike of them. I did not see them on the big stage over the holiday.

Thank you for the clarification. I would hate to think that was on purpose and the best they could do. I am not quite as cut throat over the rivalry as some (like my husband). For the most part I am happy to have such a strong rival because the games are so good to watch. I must say though, we lived in Michigan for a few years for work. That was a tough! You know surrounded by the enemy! I don't like Grand Marnier, but I love the slush. I like Peach Schnapps. I have to try this out. Next trip is in how many days? Where's my calendar??? Totally agree. So the list so far is Grand Mar

I am usually bummed when we aren't able to meet the fiends that are at the fort when we are, but I am so happy our crews didn't meet this trip. We would have had dueling Santa reports. Not having the camper and our friends were flying so there was no place to store gifts down and back, short of shipping them. We don't do Elf on the Shelf, but we do Randal Reindeer who brings naughty and nice reports in his messenger bag. The morning we left the kids found him in the truck ready with his reports. He disappeared while we were at the parks on Christmas Day like he always does and we didn't see

You don't have to be crazy to do the parks on Christmas you just have to get up early and be the first ones to the park. At least I don't think you have to be crazy. Well, maybe I am crazy....

I'm not much of a basketball fan, but honestly I caught that locker room speech by one of the Michigan coaches this afternoon. Really? "my ticket says nutcracker"? I can understand why Michigan lost if that's the best your coaches can come up with to pump their team up. The team was even like "dude that lame" when stood up to walk onto the court.

December 28, 2012 It's Friday morning and it's an early MK day for us. It's dark. We brought the boat over. Our friends are feeling like old pro's now and none of us are paying attention to the show. We are chatting about our day and what's happening at home as we hear the occassional familiar phrase. Step inside our storybook and imagine what's in store.... We're not taking pictures or trying to explain to our friends what is going to happen when the rope drops (Yes Lou.... I said when the rope drops because remember there is a small white cord that holds the throngs back at the MK). Mag