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Same thing happened to us. On 12/30 I got an email that our Photopass photos were about to expire. We hadn't had any Photopass photos taken that I knew of. The photos show all 5 of us on both our rides on Buzz Lightyear on the night of 11/24 (standby line) and my 15 yr old son on Space Mountain that he rode by himself (standby line) later that night. Nothing else from the rest of our visit which covered 3 days and all 4 parks. It doesn't really bother me. In fact I was a little disappointed that there weren't more photos.

What was a little freaky was the promotional piece I got listing my kids' school vacations for the rest of the year and encouraging me to take a vacation those dates. But my kids go to public school, so it's not hard to find the vacation dates for our district.

Saw this trailer (we call them previews; maybe that won't confuse campers!) before Saving Mr Banks and we weren't impressed. Getting beyond that I'm a big Mad Men fan so it was weird seeing Don Draper as a baseball scout, it just looked awkward and not funny. I'm not familiar with the story, though.

When I filled out the lengthy survey they sent after our stay I noted how people were using the pool but not staying at FW and how that had a negative impact on my otherwise enjoyable vacation. In reality we didn't even get a chance to use the pool this trip. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to complain about it for others. I also suggested they put in a lazy river on the grass area near the pool. I'm sure that idea was filed in the round file too.

Love, love, love the Splash photos. Love all the different configurations of seating and enjoyment. They must have had a blast. Even though Splash is one of our favorite rides we didn't ride over Thanksgiving because it was too cold, especially at night.  Now I wish we had braved it.

When we were there Thanksgiving week one night the boat stopped at Wilderness Lodge first and the CM announced "Fort Wilderness Lodge."  We knew where we'd stopped so we stayed seated but a whole bunch of people stood up and were making their way to the door. Then he said "No, this is not the campground. The campground will be the next stop" and a whole bunch of people returned to their seats. I don't remember him telling any other stories but it was dark and rainy so we couldn't see anything anyway.

In the 1970s when I was growing up in NJ my family rode the Auto Train twice to Disney. Once round trip and once there and then we drove back. The first time we all were in the seats and the second time my parents and our dog rode in a roomette and left my 2 brothers and I to ourselves in the seats. I remember that one as being a particularly fun trip (not so sure for the other passengers.)  In the early 1990s I rode a train to DC from North Carolina and had a roomette to myself and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to keep traveling around the country in there.  However, I can't imagine sharing that small space with 2 other people, even if one is of the small variety.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

There's a ride at MK that's indoors and you ride in a boat and it's like you're traveling to a bunch of different countries and everyone is singing the same song. If you're lucky the ride will stop for a long while and you'll be dry and out of the rain for a long time.

And more seriously, I am also in favor of a good, breathable rain jacket that folds into a pouch for storage rather than a poncho. I like to wear a baseball cap with the rain hood over it because it keeps the rain out of my eyes. Shorts are better than long pants unless it's cold and waterproof shoes or light sneakers are best. And then just tour as usual. So many things are indoors or covered you can do a lot anyway.. As the rain isstopping go to the outdoor rides that were closed and be first in line.

Actually, eventually, anyone with a park ticket will be able to get a Magic Band to get FP+ for their park tickets, and as is that is part of the system, they didn't bother to turn it "off" for the test portion

I didn't realize that. I thought Magic Bands were always going to be for onsite guests. So eventually even if one has tickets from AAA or UT one will be able to get Magic Bands (pay for them? get them ahead of time?) and link them to their tickets even without an onsite reservation?  Why are people (ok, I sometimes read other boards) having a fit that people staying offsite will never have access to FP+?  

Oops. I liked it so much I posted it twice.

We have 8 day non-expiration passes from UT. Our Fort reservation was for 4 nights. I linked the tickets to the Magic Bands we received ahead of time and I could make FP+ reservations for up to 8 days any time. I tried making them for Xmas week just to see and I could even though I had no reservation for that time.

After we left the Fort we stayed at the Dolphin for 3 nights and could still use the FP+ reservations I'd set up ahead of time on our MBs for those days. I'm wondering if I had cancelled the Fort reservation after I set everything up if I could still have used the FP+ reservations linked to the bands. It seems likely. Totally wrong but someone needs to fix all the loopholes if they want FP+ to be only for resort guests, and they also need to consider these type of problems. If they care.. Especially with a family of more than 4 it is very expensive to stay anywhere on site especially at holidays. Even $100+ for a site added to price to stay offsite is less than staying in a room on site. I'm not sure what the solution is.

I've seen some posts on these things, but just out of curiosity, what do you do with old MB's?  I have seen where several families have several sets.  Do they expire?  Do they self-destruct, Mr Phelps?(old days TV)  Do you need to shred them?  Do they re-load?  Do they contain any information that could identify you or aid in ID Theft?  Can your pet swallow the chip and get into the Parks by himself?   :rofl2:

You can deactivate them on the My Disney Experience website and then reactivate them when you use them again (?not sure about that last part since it seems I've read that after the test they are going to/might issue new ones to everyone?). They read your MDE profile so when they are deactivated they can't do that and are just expensive wrist bands. That's what we did when my son thought he lost his between check out and home, esp. since we have non-expiration tickets still on our account.  You might want to do that if your pet seems to have a hankering to bond with Pluto or chase Mickey without your knowledge. You can also draw a clock face with a sharpie and pretend it's a watch, always set to 5:00 or something.  I'm keeping our two sets in the deluxe boxes they arrived in. It's like storing the holy grail. I'm thinking of building an altar.

We didn't have an issue with bugs last week EXCEPT the first night when my son tried to sleep in his hammock he came in the camper at 4 am because he was being bitten by mosquitos. He had bites all over his face and neck. It was by that smelly canal? in the 2000 loop though.

When we were at the Fort last week we had Magic Bands we got ahead of time. When we checked in the CM said we could use them for charging but gave us KTTW cards that she said were for the entry gate and comfort stations since the MB wouldn't work for those. Is there even a MB reader at the comfort station door? I don't remember seeing one (2000 loop). We liked them for park admission, although I'm not really sure it was any faster than using a paper ticket, and for charging. Mainly because usually I have to keep up with my 3 boys' KTTW cards so they wouldn't lose them (no pockets or shallow pockets). This time they each could get their own counter service meals and touch to pay so it made meal times go faster than when we all ordered and then I paid. We had no issues with using them for FP+ either although wesaw a lot of people who did.

Another question. Are the FP+s tied to the resort reservation or to the tickets. I have room only reservation with separate tickets. I can't make FP+ reservations until I link my tickets. I'm assuming once I link my tickets I can only make FP+ reservations for the dates of my resort reservation? If I cancel my resort reservation and stay off site, will my FP+ reservations still be tied to my tickets and therefore still valid? Or do they cancel with the resort reservation?

So, can someone explain this to me. I like to plan trips even though sometimes they don't happen. I know that I need the reservation before I even begin to try convincing DH to go or seeing if our final schedule will allow it or figure if it's going to be worthwhile to camp. So I made a reservation that includes the beginning of Thanksgiving week. Because of the ridiculous reservation system I kept adding days at the front end until I got a full hook up reservation that included the days I wanted plus a bunch of days I didn't want. I actually tried making a reservation over the phone and explained to the CM about adding days to the reservation and then taking them off, but she didn't seem to get it -- "why do you want to make a reservation for days you won't be there?" "Umm, because that's how your stupid system works.". After I made the online reservation I called and reduced the # of days to the days I (theoretically) wanted.

A week or so later I found there was now a cheaper tent/pop up site, which was what I really wanted, available if I added a bunch of days I didn't want.  So I booked that. I haven't gotten a chance to call and cancel the first reservation or shorten the second one yet. So, in the meantime, I've been selected for magicband testing for both reservations. One set is on its way and one set is being shipped soon. It's possible I won't even keep either of these reservations that I can cancel up to 5 days before the arrival date.

So apparently I got myself 10 souvenir wristbands (family of 5 x 2 overlapping reservations) if we don't make the trip and 5 extras even if we do?  Also, I can make dining reservations now, but I can't make FP+.  And I'm already worrying about FP+ if we do go after reading TCD's TR about how late FP times were even early in the morning probably because of people making FP+ reservations.   I have non-expiration paper tickets from Undercover Tourist that I bought last June.  Do I have to link those to make FP+ reservations? If I link the tickets, do I have to make sure to know which set of magicbands I link them to and make sure to keep up with those bands for any future trips?

I wonder what the projections are for the number of people not showing up for their FP+ time. I'm guessing it will be a lot more than with the paper FP.  I miss the paper FP with the non-enforced return time. I really do think that was the best system. 

My tween/teen sons and I watched it and thought it was a little weird, but then that became what we enjoyed about it. Now we've been quoting lines from it which has made us want to watch it again. We all agreed it's probably a little too weird for really young kids if that was the intended audience. We also missed some of the characters, like Hamm.

"And so it begins" - Mr. Pricklepants

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I had been thinking about this for my 3 DSs for Christmas a couple of weeks ago. Got as far as the checkout page but even with the Mousesavers discount, which you can use for each one, it just seemed like a lot to spend over the cost of the stock. You have to get a frame if the stock costs over $50. and the cheapest frame is $39.99. I decided to wait and think about it. Now this and I'm torn again.

Love your DS's smile. It says it all. But you know the actual dentist appointment is going to be HUGE disappointment from now on, right?.

So if the only site I could get was a "full hookup" site and I only wanted to put up 3 tents (one big tent and two pup tents) would I be able to -- both permission wise and also space wise?  

Wow! You made it 3 minutes and 45 seconds of that junk. I made it 3.45 seconds.

I told you so.

I knew about the video because my DS's middle school news program played a clip from it.  The story behind it is really pretty funny. Two Norwegian talk show hosts made it as a joke for their show, as an example of an epic fail video. And it went viral. And now they're making the rounds of talk shows, etc. 

Anyone a fan of Arrested Development? Reminded me of this:

Let me pause a moment on that photo.  The oldest TCD DD is 22 years old now.  She graduated from college in May and is hard at work on her Masters Degree at Auburn. She is a graduate assistant, and works long hours. She has achieved a lot and is going places in the world.  We don't get to see her too often lately.  She's kind of independent now. But look at that face.  I look at it and see the three year old that I used to bring to the MK before the twins were born.  People who don't understand always are surprised when they hear that we're going to Disney again.  Why would anyone want to go there as much as we do?  Well, look at that photo.  The place is magical.  That's why.  And that's the same answer I'll give to anyone asking if it's worth sixty bucks or so to go to one of these parties.  On paper, there's no way to defend the cost.  But, look at that photo.  To me, it's worth every penny.

Biggest Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww in the world here. And I know just what you mean.

So the parade is costumed characters (hope that doesn't offend anyone) wearing costumes! Love it. Wish I could see it in person. But since not, I'm enjoying your visit.

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