"What I Did On My Summer Vacation" By: Heather K Age: 26

[rusafee1183]

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my Trip Report! party:

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. :goodvibes My name is Heather and this was my 4th trip to Disney! It is absolutely my most favorite place in the world :cloud9: I was lucky enough to marry a man who at first was a bit hesitant, but now shares in my great love of the magic of disney. :lovestruc His name is Bob. I am the planner, the obsesser, the Disney freak. He's is the mellow, fun-loving, doting husband who takes care of all the "business" while we are on vacation. He says it's because I did such a great job and "worked so hard" planning our trip. :laughing:

Yeah, it was real tough.

We got married last May (3rd) and celebrated our honeymoon with the Mouse for 12 days! :banana: It was such an amazing trip that we needed to do a repeat this year and hopefully every year after! We arrived at WDW on Friday May 8th this year and that is where we'll begin!

The TR will go a little something like this:

Friday May 8th - Arrival, Jiko
Saturday May 9th - AK, Tusker House, Artist Point
Sunday May 10th - MK, California Grill
Monday May 11th - Epcot, Yachtsman Steakhouse, MY BIRTHDAY! :wizard:
Tuesday May 12th - DHS, FAMILY OF THE DAY!!!!!! Flying Fish
Wednesday May 13th - Epcot, Le Cellier
Thursday May 14th - DHS, HBD, F!
Friday May 15th - AK, HDDR
Saturday May 16th - MK, O'hana, Spectro, Wishes
Sunday May 17th - Departure :sad1:

[mari360]

YAY you officially started your own thread.... I can't wait.....

[seacrestpromo]

Hey RF - I am here!

Great start!

Sea

[rusafee1183]

Yaaay! Hi guys! It might just be MAYers that show up to my 1st real life TR - but that's OK! :laughing:

The 1st installment may look a little familiar - but it'll get exciting soon! popcorn::

[rusafee1183]

OUR JOURNEY BEGINS!

We woke up for the airport, got showered, dressed and were on the road by about 7:30 for our 10:50 flight. Traffic on the way there was terrible! We sat on Route 28 for about 45 minutes, but still made it to the airport about 8:30 with plenty of time to spare. We made it thru security in no time, so we decided to visit the Crocs store to see if there was any that I couldn’t possibly live without. But, sadly found out that I already had most of them.. :laughing: Bob started to get little hungry, but I really wanted to save room to use some of our meal credits in WDW, so we each got something small at Au Bon Pain. A green tea and a corn muffin for me and a mocha latte and cinnamon bun for Bob.

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After breakfast we went back to the gate and realized that our flight was delayed 30 minutes, :rolleyes: so we watched Modern Marvels: Walt Disney World on our portable DVD player :goodvibes and on the plane we watched The Little Mermaid.

We landed at MCO safe and sound, but maybe a little queasy because of the major turbulence in our landing :sick:. And at about 1:30 after grabbing our luggage and a little confusion with our rental car – We were off to POP!

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We did the check in ahead of time and because of that, the check in was a breeze. :cool1: The cast member actually said that we were the 1st people in the “Online Check-In” line that had actually done it right and checked in online. :idea: We headed up to our room, found out that we only had 1 King size bed, rolled our eyes at each other and decided that it would have to be OK that were sleeping in the same bed for the week. :laughing:

We headed back down to the Classic Building and grabbed the toiletries that we had shipped down and grabbed a bite at the food court. I had an Asian Salad and Bob had a Reuben flatbread. Very good! We liked this food court choices much better than we liked POR last year.

After lunch we spent some time checking out the resort, unpacking, and watched some Stacey and the Must Do Disney :yay: and later on headed to Jiko for dinner. (P.S. – having a car at WDW ROCKS!! Life is so much easier)

(Writing it all down, it seems like we were already eating A LOT, but this day wasn’t sooo bad. LOL)

Jiko was a-w-e-s-o-m-e Definitely a MUST DO. I don’t want to bore you guys with the crazy dining details, and I may do a Dining Report – so we’ll skip ahead.

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We spent some time wandering around at the AKL, and it is beautiful! I loved the pool and the lobby was fantastic. I was taking some pictures when we get a phone call from my cousin Mike telling us that the Penguins are only in the 2nd period and that the game is tied 2-2. :eek: Obviously, we have to go to ESPN zone tonight and check it out for ourselves. :woohoo:

(Did I mention that having a car is AWESOME!)


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After the game was over and the Pens beat the Caps :banana: we took some pictures and saw an entertainer on the Boardwalk. Then we headed home, wrote in our travel journal and went to sleep to get ready for AK in the morning!

[lakehead92]

I'm here too.. and can't wait to read and live vicariously through you. :)

[trixiequilts]

RF! Look at you doing a real TR!! You go girl!!! :cheer2:

I may have mentioned this already, but I can't wait to hear all about it! :laughing:

[APB513]

Hi Heather -

I'm enjoying your TR! It was so great to meet you and Bob. I really enjoyed hanging out with you guys.

I hope to make my May trip an annual one as well. If so, we will have to plan to get together for dinner on our next trip!

[rusafee1183]

Thanks Angela! It was so fun meeting up with you guys too! We really want to go in May next year, but we might go in the winter 2010. As of now, it's still up in the air. But, if we go in May I will definately meet up with you for dinner. :woohoo: Or we could drink around the world because I missed it last time. :rolleyes:

i'll be updating tonight after work! :yay:

[earthfaries]

Hi! We were at the MK Spectro meet last week. I'm not sure if we actually met or not though :laughing:

Great start to your TR ~ sounds like you guys had a blast!

Can't wait to read more!

[PrincessBrideJo]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear more!

[Momof2Disneyboys]

YAY Heather started a trip report!! :cool1: How exciting! Can't wait for more!!

[mari360]

You see RF and you thought it would only be us MAYers here... you have fans.... YAY... can't wait to read more....

[sherabby]

Great start! I'm in and I'm also from Canonsburg so we are pretty close. I work in Dormont.

[feistygalkmc]

Yeah! I found you two! I can't wait to read more. I left you some links on the Spectro meet thread for castle pics.

[heaven2dc]

Fun time so far!! I agree- the AKL lobby is so beautiful. Belated congratulations on your wedding (I'm a year late but still happy for you!!)

Sounds like this is going to be one fun ride!!

[CleKait]

Hi Heather :wave2: I'll be reading along too

[rusafee1183]

Hey everyone! :welcome:

I'm glad to hear that you guys are interested in our trip! It's just the 2 of us, with no kids.

But we're 2 pretty big kids ourselves! :yay:

Hey, it was Walt Disney that said "Adults are just kids grown up anyways" ;)

Next up: Our 1st full day - Animal Kingdom!

[rusafee1183]

Our 1st Day!

We woke up at about 5:30 from some crazy sound that we later figured out was people cleaning the pool. We laid in bed for a little while longer, watched Stacey :yay: and then got showered and dressed and headed to AK!

We had an 8:00 am reservation at Tusker House for breakfast. After taking some pictures on the walk there, we arrived a little beforehand and were seated very quickly. The food there was excellent! We both agree that we will definitely go back here. I had a lot of this apple cherry cobbler thing that was awesome! The décor there was super cute and we really enjoyed the Jamba Juice. The character interaction is always a little weird for us :scared:(you know, because of the whole ‘there’s no kids at this table for us to pawn all the attention off to’) but we get used to it and start to ham it up as the week goes on. :banana:

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After TH, we made it to the RD and hustled over to EE, grabbed a FP and hopped in the standby line. The wait was super short, like 5 minutes or so. It was AWESOME! We were really excited that we were able to have EE be our 1st ride of the trip. What a way to kick it off!! We then went straight over to Dinosaur and rode with no wait at all. Every time I ride this, I get scared. I know it’s coming, I know what’s going to happen, but every time I see that T-Rex coming at me I flinch. There is no fake screaming in my photo op on that ride. :scared1:

After Dino, we went over to FP and ride Kali, and then checked out the monkeys before we headed over to ITTBAB. On our way there we ran right into D’Vine! This was the 1st time I had ever seen her and I was so happy because I was really hoping to this trip! I was very impressed with how well she blended in with the surroundings, because we didn’t even realize she was there until we were right near her! A guy standing near us with his wife made a comment about her… ummm… grooming habits that we found hilarious, but I won’t repeat here, because this is a PG rated show kids. ;) After strolling around for a bit, we grabbed a frozen Coke and sat in this private little covered gazebo and relaxed by the water. It was very quiet and romantic and definitely recommended if you get a few minutes of down time in your plan. :cloud9: Then we went straight over to FoTLK. (P.S. Those mister fans outside the theatre are just about the most glorious thing that you will find anywhere in Disney :thumbsup2) Anyways, this show is really becoming one of my favorite things to do at AK. I love it! I love the Tumble Monkeys part, and I swear the way they sing ‘’ Just Can’t Wait to be King” makes me cry every time.

Yeah, I cry like a little girl sometimes when I'm at Disney. And? You don't?


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After FoTLK we went to Flame Tree BBQ for lunch. It was OK, nothing special, so I am not sure if we will do this one again or not… And after we ate we went right back to EE to use up one of our FP’s for it. Awesome again! We rode Safari as our last thing and I am going to debunk the myth that you only see animals in the morning. There has never – ever – been a time where I have been disappointed in the safari. After some shenanigans with poachers cut our 2 week journey to about 17 minutes, we then decided that it was time to head back to the resort. So we found a cute little couple just getting into the park and gave them a set of FP’s for EE. I love spreading magic on our trips! :wizard:

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When we got back we rested, swam and explored the resort a bit more. We found the giant Mickey phone and the Mr and Mrs Potato Head, and the Computer pool but my camera was dead for that part so no pictures. It bums me out that my generation gets a computer as there big stereotype. The 60’s and 70’s had some sweet memorabilia and I grew up in the generation computers and Roger Rabbit. Lame…

After we get back to the room and another quick shower (I swear Disney makes me want to be the cleanest person ever) we went to the WL for a 6:10 ADR at Artist Point. The food was very good, but I don’t think we’ll go back to this one. I ordered the Venison potstickers, Buffalo Short Ribs and the Berry Cobbler. Bob ordered the Artisan cheese platter, Buffalo Short Ribs, and Butterscotch Crème Brulee. The deserts were the best part! MMMM! Mine was amazing. Oh and the champagne toast that I server brought out for us was super romantic and sweet.

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The WL was absolutely beautiful! I swear, if I have to sell my imaginary 1st born child, I will stay there at some point in my life. :rolleyes1 We strolled around the resort took some pictures, went down to the Geyser… stood there… and stood there….and stood there… We stood there until a kid that was about 5 years old walked past us with his family, looked at us like we were crazy and was like “If you’re waiting for that to go off you’ll be waiting forever” and walked away. :confused: Bob and I took a hint. :laughing: After dinner we went down to the ESPN zone again to watch the last bit of the hockey game (Yes there will be more trips to ESPN in this TR, so try to get comfortable there :rolleyes1) The Pens beat the Caps 4-3 in overtime! Bob and I celebrated all the way back to our room to go to sleep and get some rest before MK and the 1st time we planned to see the MK opening show! :banana:

[JoBird]

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

The Banana Brigade has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Love the report! You are funny!

I love WL too! I think it is sooooooo beautiful.

Good to see about Artist Point. Why won't you go back? Just curious- thinking of that one for the MAYer trip.

Love love love your HAIR!!!!!!!!!! OMG-- it looks awesome! And you're TAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo! Looking be-yoooou-ti-fullllll for the Mouse!!!!:rotfl:


Jo

[rusafee1183]

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

The Banana Brigade has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Love the report! You are funny!

I love WL too! I think it is sooooooo beautiful.

Good to see about Artist Point. Why won't you go back? Just curious- thinking of that one for the MAYer trip.

Love love love your HAIR!!!!!!!!!! OMG-- it looks awesome! And you're TAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo! Looking be-yoooou-ti-fullllll for the Mouse!!!!:rotfl:


Jo

Awww! Thanks Jo! :flower3: I usually regret chopping my hair off, but it's been short(ish) since the end of last summer and I don't miss it at all. And yes, I got soooo tan on this trip. Wait until you see me towards the end of it. :cool2:

We liked Artist Point, the food was good, our server was good, etc etc... But here's the thing. I am starting to realize just how much extra money being on the DxDP plan is... :scared: And for all that money (and then how much extra I need to leave in a tip afterward :eek:) the place better blow me away. KWIM? Artist Point was good, I'm glad that we went but I don't feel that "ohmygodineedtoeatthereagainsoooobad" thing.

[rusafee1183]

OUR 2ND DAY!

Well, since we are hockey junkies and went to ESPN again the night before to watch the game, :rolleyes1 we should have had of had a feeling that we weren’t going to make to our very early Chef Mickey’s ADR at 7:30. I feel pretty guilty that we didn’t call and cancel, usually I’m not that guy. Scouts Honor. I am pretty considerate and always try to help other people out. But this morning we could barely make it out of bed and into the bathroom let alone try to navigate the Disney reservation system at 6:30 am. P.S. - I don’t think that the drinks at ESPN helped our cause. P.P.S.: Do NOT get the Pomegranite Mojito there. It tasted like seltzer water had an epic battle with an entire bottle rum and the seltzer won... barely. You pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down? ;)

So, we decided that we should just head straight to MK! No breakfast needed. We found our way to the TTC and took the monorail over. We arrived about 50 minutes before RD, and that was the earliest that we had ever been to MK. It was great! RD is awesome! I don’t know how anyone still doubts the importance of RD. We got to take pictures of Main Street Station with NO ONE else in them and we got to sit and chat with a lot of different people. They were passing out flowers for mother’s day and I somehow ended up with one. (What is that phenomenon where you instantly feel the need to take something that someone is handing out, even if you have no business with it at all?) So, I found a cute little British woman and her son and we gave the flower to her. We had a great time chatting with them about our mutual loves for Disney and how we hope to make our anniversary trips a tradition. :lovestruc

Pretty soon it was time for the opening show! I had never seen it before and it was one of the things that we were really looking forward to this trip. I heard from sooo many people that it makes them cry every time, so I was at least a little prepared. It was incredible! I have had that song stuck in my head for the past 3 weeks now. Every time I say Good Morning to someone in my head I say “Good Morning, Good Mo-o-o-orning to you…” It’s pretty fantastic. LOL. :laughing:


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So, once we made it through the flood of people we went straight to Frontierland. I was a little nervous with SM being shut down that people would catch in to my start in Frontierland land ritual. Splash Mountain is our ALL TIME favorite ride and we always hit it up first. So, we did just that!!! We grabbed a FP for Splash, rode it 2 times in a row (walked on both times – BONUS!) and then went over to BTMRR. Note: Always try to ride in the back of BTMRR, it is soooo much better than in the front. Same goes for EE.

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After BTMRR, we went to Adventureland and rode Aladdin and Pirates of the Caribbean. We were on out way over to Small World when we got pulled into the middle of the Hokey Pokey with the Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit. Uh yeah, we were the only 2 people over the age of 6, but who cares! You’re in Disney!!! It’s the kind of a place that makes grown men wear mouse ears and dance in the street. And you know what? That’s just fine by me. :cloud9: A cast member grabbed my camera from my hand and took a bunch of pictures for us. Too cute!

We made it to Fantasyland and rode IASW with no wait at all, and then went over to my 2nd favorite ride at MK – The Haunted Mansion!!!! I love it there! Bob and I went to Zazzle.com and custom made 2 t-shirts for our trip. One said “1000th Happy Haunt” and the other said “It’s the truth, It’s actual” first of all because we’re corny and secondly because we love those 2 rides so much!!! Well - as you can see I was not chosen to fill that last spot in the mansion, so we decided that it was time for lunch! 11:30 was the time, Casey’s Corner was the destination, and corn nuggets were the mission. Oh, and yes - They were incredible. I will definitely be going back there every time we go to Disney!

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In the afternoon we rode Splash again, did Philharmagic, grabbed a DOLE WHIP :thumbsup2 and a FP for the Jungle Cruise. Cozied ourselves into a little spot on the Liberty Bell for a journey around Frontierland and then we figured it was about time to head home. And all of this done by about 1:30 or 2:00!!!! TGM rocks!

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We took a little break, napped, and watched some Stacey with “Must Do Disney” :yay: mixed in a little bit of Casey with DVC: Mysteries Revealed. :woohoo: And at about 5:15 we found ourselves at the Cali Grill. Mmmmm….

We had a great table right near the window and both loved what we ate! I started with Lobster Risotto :eek: OMG. Do it. That’s all I can say – DO IT. Soooooo good. Then I had the BBQ Beef Tenderloin, and finished with a DELICIOUS lemon blueberry tart thing that isn’t showing on Allears.net anywhere so I don’t know what exactly it was called. But it was like a lemon custard tart with fresh blueberries, blueberry sauce and lemon sorbet. It kinda makes your glands in the back of your mouth pucker up because it was so tart, but it was super refreshing. MMMM. One of the best desserts I had all week. Bob tried the Chicken with Gnocci and then the cashew cake for dessert. Both were really good. After another champagne toast to us, we were on the monorail for the 1st time this trip on our way back to MK for EMH’s!!!

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I didn’t have super high expectations to see a whole lot that night because of the EMH crowds. I mainly just went to take some pictures and stroll on Main Street, and basically just see the MK at night. We used up our FP’s for Splash (at the end of the day we rode 5 TIMES! And didn’t wait once. That’s a new record for us.)and BTMRR. We did BTMRR during Wishes and that was one of the coolest experiences that we had, it was awesome flying around the wildest ride in the wilderness watching the fireworks go off. Very cool. After using our last FP’s for Pooh, and riding Stitch (never again) we went back down main street. We spent some time in some of the shops and ran into our British friends from that morning, we decided that it was time to head home and get some sleep for Epcot the next day. And for my 26th birthday!:banana:

[lakehead92]

RF- We are loving your TR.
Can't wait to see what you do on day 3... :)

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Great update RF! :thumbsup2

Loving your Disney adventures and pictures! Can't wait for more! :yay:

[Oscee]

I'm in! Great pixs, you guys look so happy! Pixie Dust :wizard: and Love:lovestruc, it doesn't get any better!

[APB513]

Wow, it sounds like you guys had a great time on your second day!

BTW, I loved your shirts - they were soooo cute!

[rusafee1183]

I'm in! Great pixs, you guys look so happy! Pixie Dust :wizard: and Love:lovestruc, it doesn't get any better!

Thanks for reading! I should be doing another installment in the next few days. :goodvibes The Pens are in the running for the Stanley Cup, so I've been a bit distracted. :laughing:

Fun time so far!! I agree- the AKL lobby is so beautiful. Belated congratulations on your wedding (I'm a year late but still happy for you!!)

Sounds like this is going to be one fun ride!!

I don't know how I missed this before! Thanks so much for the congrats and for reading!!! :flower3:

[PrincessPeanut]

I just got caught up and I'm in! Looking forward to more. :)

[rusafee1183]

Hey guys! I just wanted to pop in to say that I'll be starting my birthday installment soon! It's been crazy busy around here lately!

Stupid work.... :rolleyes:


:goodvibes

[trixiequilts]

We'll be here! :goodvibes

popcorn::

[CleKait]

How about them Pens?! :cool1::woohoo::yay:

Love your trip report so far, Splash Mountain is my favorite ride too. I could sit on it all day!

[rusafee1183]

How about them Pens?! :cool1::woohoo::yay:

Love your trip report so far, Splash Mountain is my favorite ride too. I could sit on it all day!


I KNOW! I can't wait for the game tonight! I'm so excited.... and nervous. :scared:

[trixiequilts]

Go Redwings!


:duck:

[lakehead92]

Go Redwings!


:duck:

lol...how did I know you were going to post that!!!



Considering my location I should be cheering for them too.... but this time I'm going to have to side with RF - I'm cheering for the PENS tonight.. my hometown loyalties go with the Staal boys. :rotfl:

[rusafee1183]

lol...how did I know you were going to post that!!!



Considering my location I should be cheering for them too.... but this time I'm going to have to side with RF - I'm cheering for the PENS tonight.. my hometown loyalties go with the Staal boys. :rotfl:

Awwww. Lake! I thought for sure you'd side with the bad guys. :flower3:

Trix - :snooty: - - - - And not in the awesome MAYer way. In a we're not friends anymore way...

:laughing:

Just kidding :hug: