"There's a phone call for you. It's MICKEY." American Idols and Anniversaries! DONE!

[ZeroToHero]

"There's a phone call for you. It's Mickey." American Idols and Anniversaries!

Hey everyone! Glad you could join me for a fantastic recap of our 8 days in the place where magic lives.

If you want to read what made this trip go, I suggest you check out my PTR here:
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2178888

It has chapter links, so you can read all the important (hah!) things without the fluff.

This is just a place holder, I promise you'll get all the good stuff soon!

Chapters:
Leaving home to "Welcome home!" (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33423878&postcount=12)
"Surprise!" video link "This seems a lot bigger than a studio..." (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33423931&postcount=13)
"Wait, 5 minutes? For real!?" - We enter the Magic Kingdom! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33437225&postcount=23)
Day 1 comes to an end... (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33438605&postcount=31)
Hey, you want some free soda? Day 2: Future World! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33442259&postcount=37)
No more soda!!!!!!! Pleaseeeee! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33457027&postcount=49)
American Idol Sneak Peeks: SPOILER!!!!
Post #1 (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33462343&postcount=51)
Post #2 (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33462354&postcount=52)
Post #3 (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33462367&postcount=53)
Post #4 (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33462375&postcount=54)
Post #5 (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33462450&postcount=55)
End of Sneak Peeks
And he just kept walking... until he was right in my face! Hollywood Studios, first day! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33483900&postcount=77)
"Yes, we'll volunteer! Let's go!" (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33485036&postcount=78)
You will get wet, you may get SOAKED!!!! - Animal Kingdom, Part 1 (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33543559&postcount=95)
Exactly how many pictures of ducks do we need? AK/Epcot day, part 2! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33633864&postcount=107)
Potatoes, Leeks, and Pretzel Bread! Part 3 and conclusion to our AK/Epcot day! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33646238&postcount=112)
The Audition Process!!!! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33669240&postcount=121)
The Preliminary Show... We Have a Winner!!!! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33708620&postcount=134)
Ending to American Idol Day - Still a Winner in My Eyes! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33796130&postcount=151)
Best of Magic Kingdom Photopass (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33810039&postcount=164)
Best of Epcot Photopass (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33810062&postcount=165)
Best of Animal Kingdom Photopass (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33810087&postcount=166)
Best of Hollywood Studios Photopass (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33810120&postcount=167)
Best of American Idol Photopass (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33810161&postcount=168)
Lou's Version of American Idol Day (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34108208&postcount=189)
The Laugh Floor - "Why is it suddenly brighter? Oh. That's me up there." (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34427424&postcount=193)
Tom Sawyer Island, & See Ya Real Soon! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34427430&postcount=194)
Our dinner at the castle... and the cake that came with it! (http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=34649816&postcount=211)
The Last Full Day Part 1- Test Track, Cologne, and Candy! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35327519&postcount=225)
End of Last Full Day - Chef Remy, An Unforgettable Phone Call, and a Very un-Disney Experience. (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35327757&postcount=226)
Our last day - 1 book, 2 parks, 3 expeditions... and the end. (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35713335&postcount=258)

[wdwgirl03]

Hey! I kind of lurked on your PTR and followed along with you guys on Tammy's group PTR. Thought I'd join in!

American Idols...can't wait to hear about that. We LOVED that attraction. :thumbsup2

[CharacterFan]

I look forward to reading about your trip.

[BelleBway]

I'm here! Very curious about how American Idol went.

[Mickey_Mom]

I'm here too! :woohoo:

[WDWRocksMySocks]

I'm joining in! I love reading all the late August TRs. Look forward to hear more. :goodvibes

[xoktenox]

Hey! Followed you over here from the big group PTR that was going on! Can't wait to hear all about your trip :goodvibes

[New England Eeyore]

Welcome home! I can't wait to read about all the details of the trip!!

[elphie101]

welcome back! I'm anxiously awaiting your TR!!!!

[jenseib]

You KNOW I'm here! :cool1:

[joy13]

I'm in - I can't wait to hear all about it!

[ZeroToHero]

:woohoo: Glad you all could make it!

And now, without further ado:

So I last left you all right before we went to sleep on the night of the 24th.

I forget if I mentioned this, but my boss had messed up my schedule (Foreshadowing: This isn’t the last time he does this). I was supposed to be working that night, but he had someone covering for me, so I worked for 2 hours, and then Lou’s parents picked me up from work. He was there with his bag, ready to go, so we went to my house to eat dinner and get ready.

We finished all the packing (which basically meant putting a few more things in our checked bag, like his American Idol clothes and sneakers) and were all set except for a few essential items, and then it was off to bed!

I slept in my room, and Lou had my brother’s bunk bed for the night. And by night, I mean until 5 am. Yep. I was woken up at 5 am by Lou rapping his knuckles on my doorframe. Not the best way to get woken up… in fact, I was scared out of my mind, because I was having a creepy dream… :eek:, but hey, we’re going to Disney!!!!!

We got dressed, brushed our teeth, and were ready and downstairs before 5:30, which is when I wanted to leave. We took some photos downstairs, and then it was time to go! We pulled out of the driveway at 5:33 am, and left for Logan Airport.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0496.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0500.jpg

Traffic was, of course, non-existent, so that was great. My dad went to park in the lot while we did self-check in and paid for our checked bag. After we finished that, my dad came back in, and walked the last 20 feet with us to security, which we breezed through.

I later realized I never had taken my liquids out of the bag, even though I had the little quart bag in there, all set to go…. Oops! Great job, Logan! :sad2:

So we left my dad, and headed over to our gate – it took a longgg time. We had to go to Terminal A, go under Terminal A, and then back up to the other part of Terminal A. But we still go there about 45 minutes before our flight. So Lou went back to a Dunkin Donuts we passed and got me a Boston Cream and a Vanilla Frosted (or was it Chocolate?) and himself a Breakfast Sandwich. We had just finished and got back from washing up when it was time to board!

We were Zone 4, so that meant we were last, but we got in line just in time before they called Zone 4. It’s good be to early – we didn’t have to wait as long, and were able to get our bags into a compartment. We had the exit row for the way down, so we had plenty of room to stretch out, which was nice. Too bad we weren’t able to sleep, we were too excited! Or in Lou’s case, nervous. I am not able to say the same about this woman though:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0509.jpg

Normally I never get scared while flying, but Lou kept saying “Most planes crash during take off and landing” so he kept freaking out, which got me a little worried – especially when we hit turbulence, which I usually love. And then we kept descending, which got Lou freaked out, but then the pilot came over the speaker and said they were trying to find a smooth pocket of air to fly in, since it was so turbulent.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0503.jpg

We got a little snack pack on the plane, and it had a Sudoku game in it, which was really fun, and I finished it right before we landed. Right after we touched down, I started watching for Southwest planes, to wave to Mickey_Mom. I only saw one, but waved furiously at it. Luckily we were in a two-person row, and I was on the window! :rotfl2:

After we got off our plane and got our bags, we took the tram over to the main part of the terminal
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0511.jpg

where we walked… and walked… and walked… and FINALLY saw the Magical Express area. We got our barcodes scanned, and the woman directed us to Bus C. So we started walking over to that line, and then we stopped. Bus C went to Pop! She had scanned the wrong barcode! So we went over to the other bus, whichever one went to Saratoga, and told that woman, who sent us through. We waited a few seconds, and then were directed right on to a bus.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0516.jpg
It was great! No waiting (which is a reoccurring theme in our trip!!) A few minutes later, we left, and were on our way! After a very cute movie, we saw a beautiful sight:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0521.jpg

And then we pulled into Saratoga Springs! Where we were the only ones to get off. Oops, sorry everyone else who had to wait for us! ;) I gave the bus driver the first of many tip envelopes – he didn’t appreciate it compared with other people.. oh well.

We went to check in at the Carriage House – Lou went and sat on a round poof in the middle of the room while I checked in – our person was very helpful, but unfortunately, not well versed in the Front Desk Manual – she had only been working 3 months, and told us we couldn’t do a room share with our credit cards. I told her to check the Front Desk Ops manual or ask her manager – she did the second, who also said no. At that point, I gave up, because she said our room was ready, and I wanted to go show Lou the surprise!

She gave us our packet of information (which I never really looked at), our room keys, our room number, and our Anniversary buttons (which we saved to wear until the 31st).

Oh, did I mention how there were only two buildings in the whole resort I didn’t want to stay in? They are the Carousel buildings. And guess where we were? Yep. The Carousel. At this point, I didn’t have high hopes for the trip. No key sharing, awful location, but at least the surprise wasn’t ruined yet. I figured that the guy who drove us there would say something to mess it up, but nope, he didn’t say a thing.

So as we took the tram over to our room, we started looking around. The resort is gorgeous – springs everywhere, really nice color palette, and even though it’s spread out, it’s nice. Then our tram driver points out a bus stop – and then our room, right next to it! We were on the second floor, room 7225. We literally just had to walk up a set of stairs to get to our room – it was right in the entrance to that building, which was awesome. And to get to the bus stop, we just walked across the street! So when we were going to our room straight from a bus it was okay. If we weren’t doing that, it was a pain, but we eventually figured out how the bus system works.

For all buses except the Downtown Disney bus, we were the second stop, and the main building was the last stop. For the Downtown Disney bus, we were the third stop, with the main building being first. So whenever we wanted to get to our room from the main building, we just had to wait for the Downtown Disney bus. Unfortunately, we didn’t learn this until later. But that’s for later!

So as the tram driver pulls up to our building, he points to our room, and since we only had two carry-ons, we took the stairs up.

And you know what? I’m feeling pretty tired. So I think I’ll end here for tonight, and tell more tomorrow!

;)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0525.jpg

[ZeroToHero]

Just kidding!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOE_crflgJ4

Good night everyone!

[joy13]

Great first installment and video!! I love it "Isn't this bigger than a studio?" Cute!

[SunnieRN]

What an awesome start!! You two are such a cute couple!! Can't wait to read more!!

[Mickey_Mom]

:lmao: Love the surprise video!

Our flight left right on time, so if yours arrived on time.... that Southwest flight HAD to be me! :banana: We did it! We had a not-so-really DIS meet! :woohoo:

[ZeroToHero]

Thank you everyone!

I apologize for my semi-singing at the end, I was just so excited about Lou finally seeing the surprise - until I realized, yet again, we had closed the door on all our stuff. :sad2:

But yeah, he was reading that piece of paper that said there were no wake-up calls, thinking that was the surprise. Which it most definitely was not.... I couldn't believe he just stopped there. Oh well.


And yes, we did have a mini-Dis meet!!!!

[CharacterFan]

That's great. I'm not a good flyer either.

The video is so funny. Great surprise though, and you didn't have to pay for it! :D

[lauren_elizabeth]

Joining along on this trip report! I love the surprise video - such a cute idea!

[wdwgirl03]

haha, cute video!

Can't wait for more. :)

[elphie101]

: I later realized I never had taken my liquids out of the bag, even though I had the little quart bag in there, all set to go…. Oops! Great job, Logan! :sad2:

Yeah, Logan airport isn't exactly known for it's security....my dad actually works there, if you guys were flying USAirways or even out of Terminal B at all I would've said something, but there'd be no chance you'd have seen him (or he'd have seen you; he likes to give first class upgrades when he can lol) But anyway, yes, I am very versed ion Logan Airport and flying.

Cute video! What camera are you using (looking into getting my dad a new one for Christmas, ours broke a couple years ago)? Can't wait for the next update! (Hope you can get most of it done before classes start next week, haha)

[ZeroToHero]

Ooo... that would have been neat! :rotfl: Oh well.. that's okay.

And my camera is a Kodak EasyShare C913 - my only complaint about it is that the macro function doesn't work that well.... it's very finicky. Other than that, it's great! And not a bad price on Amazon.

And I'm trying to get it done before classes! Or at least part of it. I figure this way, I can go through my pictures and write down everything that happened, so when I scrapbook it later in the coming months, I'll still remember everything that happened!

[ZeroToHero]

Day 1, continued

So I think it was pretty obvious that Lou loved the room! As I was unpacking things and taking photos, I saw that we had two towel animals greeting us in our entryway

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0532.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0533.jpg

(you could kind of see them in the video), and a bounceback offer on the table! I couldn’t call for it yet, since the information I needed to book my parent’s 25th anniversary was in our checked baggage.

So Lou was exploring the room, and was very impressed with the fact that the bed was as wide as he is tall.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0528.jpg

And it had a foot on me…. Yeesh! We could have slept sideways if we wanted to… except the sheets didn’t go that way, and I was cold in the room. I acclimated so fast to the weather down there – I’ve been cold ever since I came back, since it’s about 20 degrees cooler up here!

So after we got settled a little bit, we headed out to the bus stop to go to the Magic Kingdom!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0536.jpg

The bus came very quickly, and we were off! We got to the Magic Kingdom a little bit before 1, and were still in a state of shock. It hadn’t really settled in yet – we kept looking at each other and going “We’re here!” “We’re in Disney!”

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0541.jpg

So after going through the turnstiles, we were walking up Main Street, and I decided I wanted to get a silhouette done. I had told my mother I would get one, and I figured I would get it done right away. It was really awesome, the guy did it so well, and really fast. We got a few Photopass pictures done, and then we headed straight for….. can you guess? Adventureland! (I am smirking at this totem's choice of clothing - or lack thereof)
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0546.jpg

Meaning….. Aloha Isle! http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0548.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0549.jpg

After our Dole Whip (we split one) we decided to head to the Jungle Cruise to get a Fastpass for later, since I was expecting a 40 minute wait or so. Guess how long the wait was? 5 minutes! And it wasn’t even that, we basically just walked right onto the boat!

We had the best skipper, Jonathan. He was hilarious, and spoiled us for our skipper later in the trip.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0552.jpg

Lou kept swearing that he saw Jonathan in the parades, but I explained that everyone pretty much looks alike with gel in their hair. So of course, after our 5 minute wait on Jungle Cruise, we were pretty pumped. After that, we decided to go do Pirates of the Caribbean. And guess what the wait was? Yep, 5 minutes! And again, we just walked through the line and straight onto a boat.

We had gotten one of those little red wait-time things to take to the CM, and so we sped through and didn’t stop to take any pictures (I knew we had a chance later in the trip). After Pirates, we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was saying a 20 minute wait – it was maybe 10, 15 tops. They sent us into a new line, and when we got in, we were in the front car. The CM who was at the control panel was high-fiving the kids in front of us, so Lou stuck his hand out for a high-five as well – and the CM shut him down! He just shook his head at him. :rotfl:
This is also a reoccurring theme in our trip, as you will see… except next time it’s not Lou. :rolleyes1

After we did Big Thunder, we walked back to Adventureland and watched the end of the Pirate Tutorial – Lou was impressed with Captain Jack, and how good of an actor the guy was.

We walked over to the Enchanted Tiki Room, and saw that – great as always. We were the first ones to get up and like they tell you to – and then we went outside and took photos in the exact same spot as we had two years ago. Someone offered to take it for us this time, which was very nice of them.

Here they are side-by-side, 2009 on the left, the one from 2007 on the right:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0570.jpghttp://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/PreTripReport/IM000165-1.jpg

After that, we did the Swiss Family Treehouse, which I had never done before. It was pretty cool, nothing I felt bad about missing though. At this point, I think Lou was feeling a little hungry…. :laughing: (Don't worry, he was nowhere close to actually touching anything)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0575.jpg

Then we went over to Splash Mountain, which had said a 50 minute wait earlier… and now it said 10. We were like “WHATTTT?” But the line definitely didn’t look like a 10 minute wait, and so we got a Fastpass for later. After this, we were done with everything we wanted to do (or could do at the time) for today in Adventureland and Frontierland, so we headed over the Liberty Square for the Haunted Mansion. However, at this point, it was only 3 pm (we got a lot done in 2 hours!), and that means it was time for the parade! So we stopped, and I took a few photos.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0584.jpg
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http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0588.jpg

Wendy even waved to me and curtsied, but I was too busy taking a picture to do anything back before it was too late! :(

This was also when Garden Grocer called me to tell me they were at the resort, and I asked them to drop our food off with Bell Services, so we could get it later. I had to yell, and I was like “I’M SORRY! I AM AT THE MAGIC KINGDOM, AND THE PARADE IS GOING ON.” The guy laughed, and he said it was okay. I bet they get that a lot… :lmao:

We then continued on to the Haunted Mansion, which was showing a very short wait. 5 minutes, I think it was? Whatever it was, we basically walked on again. When they tell you to fill in all available space, I snuck up to the door, “taking photos of tombstones”. I really did though! See?

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0592.jpg

And then when we got in the stretching room, I remembered that the opening is right under the lady with the parasol, so we stood under her. We had really good luck with standing right by the openings for Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror later.

We rode that, and that was really fun, because Lou hadn’t ridden it since he was 6, because it was closed in 2007 when he went.

After the ride, we saw the first of many Jack Skellington things – this one was the cart right outside the ride, near the cemetery with Mr. Toad in it. And we saw the cutest little thing, it was a stuffed Baby Zero! I loveeee Zero so much!!!!! I have a thing about Zeros, I guess. :rotfl:

And no, I’m not talking about Lou! I can’t believe you would ever think that I meant that, Mickey_Mom, I can’t believe you! (Just kidding!)

Although I have to admit, Lou was a nerd. Still is. But he’s a hero in my eyes!

Ahem. Anyway! Here’s Baby Zero.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0593.jpg

And he is very cute. His price tag, however, not so much…. 17$ for a stuffed toy is a lot. And unfortunately, we saw him EVERYWHERE. And he is adorable…. very hard to resist temptation. But I will tell you this, I never bought him.

At this point, it was getting to be time for our reservation at the Plaza, so we headed over there, stopping by the Castle for some Photopass pictures. Hopefully I will have those for you guys eventually. For now, you'll have to content yourselves with this:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0597.jpg

Also, at some point today (I forget exactly when), we went into the Frontierland pin store, and Lou found a whole bunch of Jack Skellington pins that he loved, so we wrote them down to buy later. Luckily for him, they were all pretty cheap.

I’m going to pause here and upload photos, and will continue this day in yet another installment. I’m also really hoping that Lou will join the Dis just to comment on this and add anything he wants to. I doubt it though… oh well.

[joy13]

Love the Magic Kingdom fun! LOL at having to yell at the GG guy - I'm sure he does get that a lot :)

[jenseib]

I love your updates. You guys got so much done your first day there, and it's not even over!
I must say Lou has amazing blue eyes! he should wear contacts to show off those babies!
He looks exactly like this guy we know and in the video he even sounds like him and has the same mannerisms. Too funny. I don;t think ourfrined has those eyes though! :lovestruc
The room looks great. I can;t wait to hear more!

[ZeroToHero]

He really does have great eyes - his whole family has really blue eyes - I'm jealous.

And I've mentioned contacts to him before, but he hates putting things in his eyes - I tried to put eyeliner on him when he was a pirate once, and he just kept tearing up and having it run. :sad2:

And that's really funny about your friend - is he older, or around Lou's age?

And your family has really blue eyes too! Your daughter has gorgeous eyes - I was looking at the photos you posted recently, and they're great!

[BelleBway]

And I've mentioned contacts to him before, but he hates putting things in his eyes - I tried to put eyeliner on him when he was a pirate once, and he just kept tearing up and having it run. :sad2:


I have issues with things touching my eyes or wearing eyeliner... (and heaven forbid someone else touch my eyes! :scared1:) Yet I lurve my contacts. I guess I'm just a little vain that way. :lmao: Well, that and the fact that I get sick of feeling glasses on my face...

Loving your report! Although it reminds me that you can move so much faster when you aren't lugging 2 kids around... ;) It's all good though- I didn't do nearly as much as I'd ordinarily do but everything I did was rockingly special.

[Mickey_Mom]

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0570.jpghttp://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/PreTripReport/IM000165-1.jpg

Awwwwwwww!



I can’t believe you would ever think that I meant that, Mickey_Mom, I can’t believe you! (Just kidding!)

:lmao::rotfl2: Bwwwwaaaahaha !!:lmao::rotfl2:







http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0593.jpg

But I will tell you this, I never bought him.

I saw that coming.




http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0597.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0575.jpg

You two are just having waaaay too much fun! :rotfl:




I’m also really hoping that Lou will join the Dis just to comment on this and add anything he wants to. I doubt it though… oh well.

Come on Lou! You can do it!

[ZeroToHero]

I saw that coming

Whattt? Do you know something I don't know? :p

Or at least haven't said yet? :laughing:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/Photo35.jpg
(Just took this - just for you! And everyone else reading...)

The finale part of the day is coming now!

I'm uploading photos, and then I'll be done!

[Mickey_Mom]

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/Photo35.jpg

:lmao: I had to cover my mouth to stifle the belly laugh I let out seeing that! :rotfl:

[ZeroToHero]

Day 1, final installment:

We had tried to get onto it’s a small world before dinner, but realized we didn’t have the time, so we jumped out of line and said we would come back later that night. And so we found the Plaza, just where it should be (of course, I would hope it would be where it should be…) at the end of Main Street. We checked in, and didn’t have to wait too long until our buzzer went off. For some strange reason, they kept asking me if my reservation was under “David”. I wonder if multiple CMs misheard my last name, and we were just eating around the same time at the same restaurant as this guy and his family. It was weird. Anyway, we went in, and it was COLDDD. We were seated right by the kitchen, and so I had a set of mirrors behind me.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0598.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0599.jpg

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the food, except for the dessert, but Lou had the Chicken Strawberry Salad, which was HUGE, and I had a Cheeseburger (which was light on the cheese – just one slice on a big burger!). Then we split the Brownie Sundae, which was delicious, but at this point, we were stuffed, so we weren’t even able to finish this between us!

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After we “paid” we went off to use our Splash Mountain Fastpasses. You know how there’s that cannon that sometimes shoots off, every 3 logs or so? Well, guess who was under the cannon when it fired? Yep, us. And guess who got hit with the splash from the side when another boat went down? Yep, us. We got pretty wet, as you can see.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0601.jpg

And of course, we bought the photo of us as we were going down – I bought almost every ride photo, for my scrapbook. That set me back a bit, but I must say, they’re hilarious.

After this, I have an hour where I took no photos, and can’t remember anything, so I think we went to the Hall of Presidents! I know we saw this sometime today, so I think I can safely assume that it was right now. It wasn’t bad, better than the last time I saw it. Lou found this hilarious poster of all the presidents in the gift shop – I don’t think it was supposed to be funny, but Richard Nixon is being a creeper in the back, and so we were laughing about that.

And then it started to rain. And rain. And rain. So we went back to it’s a small world, where we again walked right on, and enjoyed our little magical cruise.

When we got out, it was still raining, so we headed over to Mickey’s Philharmagic. It was as cute as ever, and I still love the smell of the pie! After Mickey’s Philharmagic, we went over to get in line for the Dessert party. It was then that I realized I still hadn’t picked up my silhouette, and I wasn’t sure if they were going to close early because of the rain. So I left Lou in line and ran back to Main Street to get it. When I came back, they had just started letting people in, so I hopped back in line, and we were quickly shown to our section, and then left to find our own table.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0623.jpg

We did pretty quickly, and we had a great view – that is, if no one stood in front of us. They did though, so when the time got close to 9, we had to stand. Before that though, there were desserts to be had, and a mini-Dismeet to initiate. BelleBway and I met up here, along with her two nieces, Princesses J and M. It was Princess J’s birthday, so I brought her a card, along with pin lanyards with two tradable pins on them, and some scrapbook stuff for BelleBway that I had made.

Then it was time for Photopass pictures, now that the crane was gone, and then desserts!

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http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0632.jpg

And then it was time for fireworks! I don’t know if it was the location (feeling like I was indoors) or that I mostly watched the fireworks through my camera, but I didn’t get emotional like I usually do during Wishes. I might as well share some of my photos though, since I took them instead of watching!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0639.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0641.jpg
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After the fireworks were over, we headed back to the buses, and back to our resort. I remembered we needed to pick up our groceries, so I said we should get off at the Grandstand stop, since it was really close to the Springs (main building) stop, and get them. Unfortunately, in the dark, I couldn’t figure out the right way, and we got pretty lost in about 10 seconds. So we went back to the bus stop, and just got on the next bus and rode it all the way to the Springs. Lou wasn’t very happy with me, which was totally understandable – we were both tired and just wanted to sleep. Once there, we got our groceries (and saw a tree frog – it jumped onto the door, then just jumped off, and we don’t know where it went- it was cute though!) and a CM drove us back to our room. We unpacked the groceries and everything from the day, and then it was time for bed!

Lou told me once we were settled in that he really appreciated Disney so much more than when he was a kid – he said the intentions underneath all the money were good, and that so much work goes into maintaining the magic, he really loves it. I know he’s reading this, but I think we can successfully say I’ve made a Disney lover out of him. :love:

[ZeroToHero]

:lmao: I had to cover my mouth to stifle the belly laugh I let out seeing that! :rotfl:

:rotfl2:

I'm so tired right now, I'm just having fun being silly.

Isn't he cute though? I'm glad I ended up getting him - although how I got him will have to wait. I think every single day we were there we saw him.... it's like he was following me. :scared:

[BelleBway]

We did pretty quickly, and we had a great view – that is, if no one stood in front of us. They did though, so when the time got close to 9, we had to stand. Before that though, there were desserts to be had, and a mini-Dismeet to initiate. BelleBway and I met up here, along with her two nieces, Princesses J and M. It was Princess J’s birthday, so I brought her a card, along with pin lanyards with two tradable pins on them, and some scrapbook stuff for BelleBway that I had made.

Whee, my favorite part of the report... because I make a cameo! *takes a bow* :rotfl2: Everything you gave us rocked so much, I can't thank you enough! Although I didn't even get a moment to look at the scrapbook stuffs til I got home.

Lou told me once we were settled in that he really appreciated Disney so much more than when he was a kid – he said the intentions underneath all the money were good, and that so much work goes into maintaining the magic, he really loves it. I know he’s reading this, but I think we can successfully say I’ve made a Disney lover out of him. :love:

Yay!!! pixiedust:


Isn't he cute though? I'm glad I ended up getting him - although how I got him will have to wait. I think every single day we were there we saw him.... it's like he was following me. :scared:

OK, the first sentence of that paragraph? I somehow thought you were talking about Lou. So you can probably imagine my reaction to reading that you were glad you ended up getting him... I was all "that's an odd way to talk about a boyfriend..." Then the lightbulb went off. :lmao: What can I say... it's late and I took an insane # of epcot photos on day 7 that I am still trying to edit... really, did I meet to take 7 photos of Spaceship Earth within 5 minutes? (apparently yes... )

[ZeroToHero]

Whee, my favorite part of the report... because I make a cameo! *takes a bow* :rotfl2: Everything you gave us rocked so much, I can't thank you enough! Although I didn't even get a moment to look at the scrapbook stuffs til I got home.

Yay! I'm glad you liked everything. I have the picture of us, how would you like me to send it to you? I figured I wouldn't put it up here.


OK, the first sentence of that paragraph? I somehow thought you were talking about Lou. So you can probably imagine my reaction to reading that you were glad you ended up getting him... I was all "that's an odd way to talk about a boyfriend..." Then the lightbulb went off. :lmao: What can I say... it's late and I took an insane # of epcot photos on day 7 that I am still trying to edit... really, did I meet to take 7 photos of Spaceship Earth within 5 minutes? (apparently yes... )

:lmao: I can see how you were really confused.... and it seems like you and I did the same thing - I was sitting at the Italy pavilion, trying to get a straight shot of the ball behind a pot of flowers, and so I took about 10 shots, trying to get it - turns out the first shot was the only straight one. :headache:

[BelleBway]

Yay! I'm glad you liked everything. I have the picture of us, how would you like me to send it to you? I figured I wouldn't put it up here.

I can PM you my email when I get a chance... or you could PM me a link? Whichever. I have the one of us that Lou took on my site already, but I always love evaluating multiple shots to find the best. The one thing I don't like is that my shirt is wet in a weird way from going on Splash and then being caught in the downpour- oh well. :lmao:

Sorry again that the girls were so oblivious- considering how much they enjoyed pin trading, I wish they'd shown you more love. Kids! :P

:lmao: I can see how you were really confused.... and it seems like you and I did the same thing - I was sitting at the Italy pavilion, trying to get a straight shot of the ball behind a pot of flowers, and so I took about 10 shots, trying to get it - turns out the first shot was the only straight one. :headache:

Mine were all from various vantage points. I just love taking photos. As always, though, no matter how many photos I take, I end up wishing I'd taken more.

Also wish the girls had taken more of me... and that the ones they took were more in focus...:lmao:

But I guess the most important thing is that I tried to take a lot of candids and posed shots of the girls and got some really cute ones. :love: (I am sure you'll enjoy all the shots of them displaying their lanyards!)

Oh and I bought photos from most of the rides too- though only 1 per ride. (because that could have gotten seriously expensive, given that we went on some rides 5+ times!) Actually, now that I think about it, we just got ToT, Splash, and Everest- but will probably order the Test Track one from Photopass (didn't end up getting a whole lot of photopass pix taken- and I had them take duplicates of most of them on my camera- so it wouldn't pay to get the CD) I would have gotten RnRC but J & I did the single line so we weren't together. Buzz Lightyear would have meant 2 photos, so I also didn't get that. I love ride pix- and especially ones of all 3 of us!

[ZeroToHero]

Also wish the girls had taken more of me... and that the ones they took were more in focus...:lmao:

Oh and I bought photos from most of the rides too- though only 1 per ride. (because that could have gotten seriously expensive, given that we went on some rides 5+ times!) Actually, now that I think about it, we just got ToT, Splash, and Everest- but will probably order the Test Track one from Photopass (didn't end up getting a whole lot of photopass pix taken- and I had them take duplicates of most of them on my camera- so it wouldn't pay to get the CD) I would have gotten RnRC but J & I did the single line so we weren't together. Buzz Lightyear would have meant 2 photos, so I also didn't get that. I love ride pix- and especially ones of all 3 of us!

I wish the same thing! A lot of the shots of me are not entirely in focus :rolleyes1

But then again, when we gave our camera to other people to take a picture of us together, some of those weren't in focus either - arg, people! I tried to ask people with big SLR cameras, because I figured they knew what they were doing.

And we only did one photo per ride too - sometimes we got it the first time, sometimes we went on another day because the first ride wasn't very good of us. After we got the picture though, we'd just make hilarious faces on the future rides.... several times I had to leave the viewing area, because my face was so awful that I didn't want anyone seeing it and then seeing me. Lou would wait and see it though, and then come out laughing. :scared1:

PMing you now, by the way.

[ZeroToHero]

Day 2!

This morning, the alarm rang wayyyyy too early. After getting not too much sleep because we were so excited (and, you know, I had to take that shortcut from the Grandstand, which turned out not to be a shortcut after all….) we were up at 7, and eating breakfast.

After breakfast, we ran around like chickens without heads, trying to figure out everything we needed to take with us to Epcot for the day. But finally, we were out! And in matching shirts, nonetheless.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0737.jpg

At this point, Lou starts coughing. He is not feeling so hot…. Uh oh. We wanted to do American Idol on Saturday! We decide (make that I decide) to get Robitussin when we get back to the resort. So after an uneventful (as far as I can remember) bus ride, we were at Epcot! And whewwww – there was a line. We were pretty far back, but once they let us in so we could get to the rope, we made it to the front just by walking – more people were going to Soarin’ than Test Track, I guess.

However, we went too far to the left of the rope, and they didn’t open that part to walk through, so we had to get squished with a lot of people going to Test Track as well. That was fine though, because we still got there before there was a huge line. We never did get to see the Test Track video all the way through though, in those briefing rooms that they have. They just sent us through.

Test Track was really fun though, and after riding it and getting our Photopass picture (I love “free” ride photos!!!!), we went into the GM car area, where we took a few photos in our dream cars….

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And then it was off to be astronauts in Mission Space! I don’t think Lou was up for the job though…

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That was fun, and afterwards, we made our way over to Soarin’. But wait! What’s that? Club Cool, you say?

princess:“Hey Lou, let’s go get some free soda!”
pirate:“Is it really free?”
princess:“Yep!”
pirate:“Okay then!”

Little did he know, all free things come at a price. And this price has a name. And it is… Beverly.

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And yep, I got Lou’s Beverly face. I myself only had a sip, but that was enough. We liked the Chinese watermelon one, and agreed that one of them tasted like cough syrup – I think it was the Fanta from Costa Rica? Yuck. The German one was good too though – the Mezzo Mix. Here is pre, during, and post Beverly:

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Now, we’re really going to Soarin’! Wait, who are these guys?

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It's the Jammitors! Well, no one else was stopping, so of course we decided to stop and watch – and thus there was a pretty big crowd forming. It was a cute short show, and I got a sticker, so that made it worth it.

Now, guess what? We finally made it to Soarin’, and grabbed our Fastpasses. Woohoo! For some strange reason, I wanted to see the Circle of Life, but Lou said not now, later. That was fine, so we went off to Nemo & Friends at the Seas, pausing for a minute to take some photos with these birdbrains…

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Of course, there was no wait, just how long it took to walk through the reallyyyyyyy long lines they have set up. I have to admit, they really make you feel like you’re underwater. See?

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After this, we went to Turtle Talk with Crush… Lou didn’t want to do this, because he didn’t want to be talked to, but I explained it’s usually just kids who get picked, and I was right. We had a great time, it was a really good show, and I saw a segment I hadn’t seen before – where he pulls out a Buzz doll, and is like “I don’t know what this is, do you guys?” And everyone’s like “A Buzz!!!!” And he goes “Cooooollll. I can go tell everyone I have a buzz.” And the adults laughed. And the kids… didn’t get it. Oh, Disney… humor for all the ages.

After that, I wanted a photo with the Bruce in the one room, but since Turtle Talk had just let out, everyone was over there. So I figured I’d give it a bit, and we checked out the big tank, and the little tanks with the fish species from Nemo in them. But at this point, I start not feeling so well too, so I skipped out on the Bruce photo for today, because the line was still huge. I did take this one though, and after Lou took it, he started dying laughing… and I had no idea why – until we saw where the little green fish was. :fish:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0676.jpg

After this, I have over an hour’s gap in my photos and my spending, so I’m not sure what we did. I think this is where we went to Figment and/or Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Lou, again, didn’t want to do these, because he didn’t know Figment was a ride. And I have to agree with him on the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience one – not as good as I thought it was going to be. Although the woman next to me who was freaking out every time some air blew under her feet was hilarious. Figment was cute as always though – but I cheated and plugged my nose for the skunk smell – I still wasn’t feeling too well, and I didn’t want to spoil my appetite for lunch.

And now, it was time for lunch! We went to the Electric Umbrella, just because we didn’t want to walk all the way to the World Showcase for lunch, and then back for our Fastpasses for Soarin’. Lou didn’t want to do Sunshine Seasons, even though it smelled awesome – he didn’t want to eat healthy while we were at Disney… :rotfl:

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As you can see, we didn’t. I got the chicken fingers, and he got a Bacon Double Cheeseburger. And then I got a Chocolate Chip Cookie, and he got Strawberry Cheesecake. I also got a Fanta, which, combined with all the soda I had earlier at Club Cool, I think is probably what made me sick.

I really can’t drink soda that much – Lou stopped drinking it a year ago because he drank way more than was healthy (Hey – you know you did! But you stopped! :woohoo:) and so I stopped with him, and now I can’t have more than a can, otherwise I feel bleh. But it’s so good….. :sad2: Ahem.

And then, of course, there was dinner, which firmly set me in my resolve not to have soda anymore this trip… but that’s for later.

I’m going to break here, and finish this up later today. Enjoy your day, everyone!

[wdwgirl03]

Great update, I love the queue at Nemo. It really does make you feel like you're underwater!

[WDWRocksMySocks]

Love the updates! I'm day behind so...I had to comment on that stupid cannon on Splash. That thing got us EVERY single time we went on it. EVERY TIME! It didn't matter if we were in the log, we were drenched. The last time, we rode it with ponchos and this little kid told us how lame we were for having our ponchos on. :lmao:

Love his face w/ Beverly. That stuff is so gross!!

[jenseib]

He really does have great eyes - his whole family has really blue eyes - I'm jealous.

And I've mentioned contacts to him before, but he hates putting things in his eyes - I tried to put eyeliner on him when he was a pirate once, and he just kept tearing up and having it run. :sad2:

And that's really funny about your friend - is he older, or around Lou's age?

And your family has really blue eyes too! Your daughter has gorgeous eyes - I was looking at the photos you posted recently, and they're great!

Our friend is a few years older than you guys. I think early 20's?

Your trip is sounding so fun. I'm so hungry right now and all your food pics and talking about is making me more hungry. We are going to the fair tonight, so I'll be getting my fill of junk!

[joy13]

Great Beverly picture! DH can't wait to get SIL on our trip :)

[New England Eeyore]

Love the report so far!!

[ZeroToHero]

Hey everyone - we just went through our 1300+ pictures, and got rid of about 500 of them. That's the good news.

The bad news is that I am wayyyyy too tired to do an update now. So I will try to finish off Day 2 for everyone tomorrow....

[elphie101]

Loving the updates, can't wait for more!!!

Isn't getting sick on a vacation the worst? Especially when it's Disney! I remember in my sophmore year of high school, my family and I did Universal/IoA, and my dad had a cold, and I accidentally drank from his water bottle (it's a long story, but I can completely blame it on E.T. I hate that ride and I know I'm in the minority, but it smells really weird to me in there, and I just can't enjoy it. I think it's all the fog juice.) I was miserable for the rest of the trip, and it ended up turning into a chest cold and I was sick for two months! :sick:

Moral of the story: E.T. is a terrible ride ;)

[ZeroToHero]

Yuck - that's awful! I remember when I went on E.T., they would ask me my name, and I'd say it, and then at the end of the ride, when E.T said it, he wouldn't say it right... so we had to go on again and again, trying to get him to say it right. Oh well.

[SunnieRN]

I hope Lou's not feeling well doesn't keep him from AI tryouts! Loved the updates and oh my gosh to all those yummy desserts and the brownie sundae!!

[tinkerbell3747]

I am here too!

Great updates so far...lvoed the surprise vid...and photo's...I sure hope that soda didn't keep you feeling "bleh" for too long.....

Can't wiat for another update

[ZeroToHero]

I am here too!

Great updates so far...lvoed the surprise vid...and photo's...I sure hope that soda didn't keep you feeling "bleh" for too long.....

Can't wiat for another update

I wasn't so much worried about me as I was about Lou and his cough - I was worried it was something he may have caught on the plane, and that it would get worse. Luckily, I bought orange juice, and later Robitussin.

Update coming in the next few minutes!

[ZeroToHero]

Andddd we’re back! So, we finished our lunch at the Electric Umbrella, and headed off for…. Mousegear? Yeah. I don’t know why either! It was supposed to be Soarin’ time! But Lou wanted to go – he didn’t realize just how big Mousegear is. He did find a hat he liked, but didn’t get.

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I got a few Christmas presents here, and while I was in line, Lou found scrapbooking stuff in another part of the store, and bought me an album and a page kit, and then had it sent to the room. However, he then ruined the surprise by showing me the section of stuff… when we were leaving the park, it hit me that it was weird he showed me the stuff, so I asked him, and he’s an awful liar... so I ruined that surprise. But it was a very nice gift! They both say “2009” on them, and have lots of fun little pages and stuff included. We also looked in the jewelry section, and I was looking at watches…. Lou has bought me a watch for Christmas these past two years, and I either break them and blame it on my sister, :rolleyes1 or they run out of batteries, but I never get the batteries replaced. However, they had a bunch of nice watches (with price tags to match), and some of them had lifetime warranties – so Lou said he’d get me one if I wanted, and that would be my big gift. I said I’d think about it, and decide on Friday when we came back.

And nowwwwwww – guess what time it is?

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Woohoo! It was awesome! Glad we Fastpassed it – we didn’t have to wait in line that long, and then when we made it to the point where the lines combine, we waited all of 3 seconds, and then they asked for a party of 2, and we were the only ones, so we basically got to go right on! Lou loved it, and said he wanted to go on again the next time we were in Epcot.

And then we went and saw the Circle of Life movie. :faint:
I almost fell asleep. It was pretty bad. The pictures of the savanna they had were cool, and Timon and Pumbaa were funny, but other than that.. it was a drag. I felt bad walking by it after that, but I knew I could not go in again.

After that, we tried to go on Spaceship Earth, but I got pulled to do a survey on the food we ate today… after I finished that, then we went on Spaceship Earth – I don’t remember having ever gone on it, but it was pretty cool! Only problem (and I wish I had taken a photo of this), when they took the photo of me, the little video at the end had part of my head missing. I had my face and most of my hair, and then this huge gap, and then another little piece of my head. We were cracking up over that.

When we exited into the “Project Tomorrow” play area, we ran into Tammy and Sidney & kids! It was great to talk with them for a bit before they went on the ride. After they came off again, we were still there, so we talked some more before parting ways.

At this point, we weren’t sure if we wanted to head over to the World Showcase or finish up with Innoventions. We decided to do one side of Innoventions, but we breezed through that so quickly that we headed over to the other side, which was more fun. We did that game where you make your own videogame characters, and that was hilarious…

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We continued through, playing different exhibits – the “Where’s the Fire” one was pretty cool – we smoked our competition! They got about 8000 points, and I think Lou and I got at least 7000 on our own – our team had about 10,000, since the rest of our teammates were under the age of 10…. they weren’t much help.

It was fun though, and then we took pictures as firemen!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/WheresTheFire.jpg

And then it was time to explore the world! Off we went to Canada! We looked for Mickey_Mom and Tinkerbean, but couldn’t find them past all the moose. Or would that be meese? We wanted to come back for maple syrup, but never did. We did go see the O Canada movie, and I have to say, the new one with Martin Short is MUCH better than the old one.
Here’s some of our Canadian adventure… I think Lou would make a good Superman, don't you? :rotfl2:

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And then it was off to the UK! I pointed out the vertical sundial to Lou, and he thought it was pretty cool – too bad it was about to rain, so we couldn’t actually tell what time it was. If only I had a watch….. :rotfl: (There should be a foreshadowing smiley.. I don’t know what that would entail though.)

We went a’shopping at Twinings, where I always have to get tea – this year I got some Chai tea... usually I get the white tea, but I still have some left over from two years ago…… I bought two boxes last time, not knowing when I’d be back.

Lou freaked out over this giant football, which we quickly decided was actually a rugby ball. It’s bigger than his head!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0715.jpg

Oh, and this is his best “British” pose. If they ever start Monty Python up again, I know who they’ll be calling.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0719.jpg

Over the English Channel, and we are in Pareé! At what better to do there than eat Lemon Tarts, Chocolate Mousse (oh man, this stuff was awesome), and wear silly hats? Nothing!

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Then we continued on to Morocco, where we got hopelessly lost in all the windy streets and stores that all sell the same stuff…. after today, whenever we saw someone with one of those jingly scarf things, we were like “They went to Morocco.”

Here’s an arty shot that Lou took for me – sitting on my hands, since it had just finished raining.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0729.jpg

And then, off to Japan – where no one spoke English and would not take a photo for us – finally I got someone to, but she only took one and my eyes are closed! Everyone else took a second one, “just in case”, which we never needed, but it was nice of them. And the one time I needed a “just in case”, it failed. Oh well. So we won’t be sharing that photo….

So then we’re walking through the garden, and Lou decides, for some reason, that he has to spit. Right in the little river/pond that flows through the garden. So he does, and I’m going “What did you just do?!” when I see that someone else has seen. A woman in Japanese clothes, and I was like “Oh god. A CM just saw you defile Japan!” And he was like “Oops. Sorry.” But we would soon find out she wasn’t a CM. Oh no. Worse than that.

We decide that we want to go see the candy art show, and then we’ll go in the giant department store. So we make our way over to the cart that is set up, and we wait. It’s the last show of the day, so people quickly start filling in. And then Lou goes “Hey, remember that woman from earlier?”
Me: “Yeah?”
Him: “That’s her.”

I turn around – Lou had defiled Japan IN FRONT OF MIYUKI. Oh man, I was so embarrassed. And I think she saw, because she smiled at me. Needless to say, we didn’t get picked. I was getting mad at kids though, because they were such jerks – putting their hands all up on her little work station, knocking over the barricade, etc. Throwing their hands up in the air and yelling – Lou and I nicely raised our hands the last two times, just to see, but she didn’t pick us, which was fine. Just watching her was awesome! I took photos without flash, so as not to disturb her, so I didn’t get too many good ones.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0766.jpghttp://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0773.jpghttp://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0778.jpg

Lou wanted a penguin, so if either of us got picked, we were going to ask for that. However, some other kid got picked who asked for one, so we got to see it made, and he let me take a picture of it when she gave it to him.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0790.jpg

After that, we went into the department store, and Lou was blown away! It was a lot bigger than he thought it was. The main reason we were there, though, was to get a pearl. He said he’d let me do two, but I only wanted one (for now…). So we got my ticket, and went up to do it. People were milling around, but no one was in line to do it. So I went up, gave her my receipt, and was told to pick an oyster. There was one that sort of stood out to me, so I picked that one. We did the little ceremony (I forgot to give Lou my camera to take pictures) and she opened it.

When did though, there was nothing there! She was like “Oh, it’s hiding…” so she dug around and then pulled it out. It was cute, but for some reason, I felt like that wasn’t it…. she washed it, and then went “wait a minute…” and revealed another one! I got twins! They were a nice color, and 6.5 mm. Everyone was like “Oooooo”, and this woman said that she had been coming for a decade, and never had gotten twins, and that she didn’t do just one per trip. I was like “Wow….” I couldn’t imagine getting that many pearls – they’re nice, but something I could see my jewelry box overflowing with. I didn’t get them set right away, I wanted to wait a bit and think about it. I pretty much knew I was getting earrings, I just didn’t know what type.

After all that excitement and drum beating, we headed to the American Adventure to look around a bit. It was too late to see the show, so we looked in the gallery, and then I snapped a few photos.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0792.jpg

Then we headed back to Future World to go to dinner at the Coral Reef! We didn’t have to wait too long in the infamous hallway, and then we were led in. I was hoping for one of the tables for two right by the tank, but we got stuck allllll the way in the corner, in the veryyyyy back. As in, I could only see the tank if I sat on my knees. The lady was like “And this is the ‘Honeymoon corner’…even though you’re not on your honeymoon!” I have a feeling she totally made that up…. :laughing: Oh well. At least Lou had a better view than I did.

The woman gave us menus, a fish guide, and a list of drinks, and wished us well. We looked at the drinks list like “Where are we going to put this?”, because she obviously thought us older than we are. A few seconds later, our waiter, V, came over, and was like “Hey kids!” and got rid of the drinks menu for us… we all started laughing. He told us his favorite item (the Mahi Mahi) and said that the number one ordered item is.. the New York Strip. We were like “jeez…. way to try new things.”

So I got a root beer (remember my no soda thing after today? You’ll see soon.) and Lou got a water, since he didn’t want anything else. He got the Mahi Mahi, and I got the Salmon. Everything was AWESOME, although the sauce that I had on my pasta was really hot, so I couldn’t eat too much of that.

Now, right after we started eating, I saw someone near us had a green drink that I remembered from the last time we went to Disney. It’s a “Sour Apple Freeze,” and is non-alcoholic and delicious. I wanted one, so I asked Lou if he could get it as his drink. He said sure, as long as it was on the DDP, which it was. So he got that for me, and I tried to finish my root beer as fast as I could so I could have the Sour Apple. I had just finished by root beer and was starting the sour apple freeze when V came by with a new root beer for me. Talk about service! I felt so bad that he had gotten me a new one that I tried to drink most of that one too, along with my Sour Apple.

And now you see why no more soda for me? That was sooooo much. :faint: For dessert, Lou got the Almond Gelato, which he said was great, and I got the Crème Brulee, which was also very good.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0800.jpg

Once we left, we were some of the last people in the Future World side of the park and maybe even the park in general. Our dinner started at 8:45, so we got out at about 9:50. That meant we had the Nemo statues to ourselves! Which meant… photo time! Unfortunately, since it was dark, they didn’t turn out as great as they could have. Oh well.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0803.jpg

After this, we headed back to the bus to go to our resort (Lou had to roll me like in Willy Wonka, because of all the soda….) to get medicine for his cough before going to our room.

This time we actually waited until the Springs stop to get off, and he got his medicine. We caught a tram back to our room, and went in to find that someone had stopped by to drop us off an “autographed” picture of Mickey and Minnie in front of the Castle, along with a Photopass card for us to use and a Photopass code.

We ooh’ed and ahh’ed over that for a bit, and then dropped off to bed, because tomorrow was going to be a late night.

End of Day 2.

[BelleBway]

I got a few Christmas presents here, and while I was in line, Lou found scrapbooking stuff in another part of the store, and bought me an album and a page kit, and then had it sent to the room. However, he then ruined the surprise by showing me the section of stuff… when we were leaving the park, it hit me that it was weird he showed me the stuff, so I asked him, and he’s an awful liar... so I ruined that surprise. But it was a very nice gift! They both say “2009” on them, and have lots of fun little pages and stuff included.

Oooh, I think I may have gotten the same scrapbooking kit for myself! I got it at DtD though. :lmao:

I also have lots of silly hat photos... ;)

We also looked in the jewelry section, and I was looking at watches…. Lou has bought me a watch for Christmas these past two years, and I either break them and blame it on my sister, :rolleyes1 or they run out of batteries, but I never get the batteries replaced.

Nice to know that I'm not the only one who doesn't get watch batteries replaced. I usually intend to... :rolleyes1


After that, we tried to go on Spaceship Earth, but I got pulled to do a survey on the food we ate today… after I finished that, then we went on Spaceship Earth – I don’t remember having ever gone on it, but it was pretty cool! Only problem (and I wish I had taken a photo of this), when they took the photo of me, the little video at the end had part of my head missing. I had my face and most of my hair, and then this huge gap, and then another little piece of my head. We were cracking up over that.

M and I were cracking up at our photos! They were actually really cute, & I would have definitely purchased a photo of them if it had been for sale. I think she called them "bobblehead M" and "bobblehead aunt BB" :rotfl:

I didn't get to do much of World Showcase this trip; the kids were always complaining about it being soooo hot and they didn't like how far everything was at Epcot. Wimps! :lmao: But we did lunches at 2 countries, and I made sure they did American Adventure (& Maelstrom). We didn't even get to do Kim Possible because they decided they'd rather go back to the hotel room. :confused3

[Goofy22]

OK! I'm here and I need to read four pages but in the mean time I'm going to post all AIE Pics that I took and you can save and delete them and repost when you get to that if you want! This may take a bit! Then I'm gonna read your TR! :goodvibes

American Idol Experience August 29th, 2009

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009087.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009088.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009089.jpg


http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009092.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009093.jpg

Some may not be that great it was my cheaper camera because my good camera decided to break before we left! But I'm gonna post them anyway even if they are somewhat blurry.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009094.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009095.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009096.jpg

[Goofy22]

AIE Pics Cont's

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009097.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009099.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009100.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009101.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009102.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009103.jpg

[Goofy22]

still contd

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009104.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009106.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009108.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009110.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009111.jpg

[Goofy22]

more AIE pics

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009114.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009120.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009119.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009124.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009127.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009131.jpg

[Goofy22]

I found a few more


http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009690.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009691.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj111/shaw_cjdb/Disney%202009/DisneyAugust2009693.jpg


After you copy and save these if you want me to delete them I will just tell me. Tammy's pics should be much better than mine w the blurriness.

[tinkerbell3747]

Yah a little AI Preview....

[wdwgirl03]

Cool AI pics, that is cool Lou got to do it!

[Goofy22]

Danica,
I hope it was k to put the pics here .I not very savy when it comes to photo bucket I'm still trying to figure it out. I still haven't figured out the bulk uploader I did these one by one. I know crazy. But I hope it's ok they are here.

[ZeroToHero]

That's fine! It's not like I've been keeping it hush-hush that he made it on. :p

I mean, read my title! :rotfl:

There are still a couple of surprises about it, so I can keep those under the hat.

And thank you for the pictures! I am going to use some of them, it's okay that they're a little blurry. I've already downloaded them.

Now though, I'm going to a Labor Day BBQ, so Colleen's posts will have to be my teaser update for the day! Thanks Colleen! :lmao:

[Mickey_Mom]

Man, I'm behind again! I'm not sure if I commented on those Wishes desserts but holy yummy goodness batman, they looked so good and that brownie sundae from the Plaza looked scrumptious! (can you tell I'm a bit hungry right now? :rotfl:)

I am so disappointed that we didn't get to Club Cool on our trip. And we went to Epcot twice!! Love the reaction shots and kudos to Lou for not spitting it back out!

Mine! Mine! Mine! Love those dumb birds.

Soarin is awesome isn't it? My boys did that video game thing in Innoventions too - so funny, they had a blast putting that together.

You didn't find me in the Canada Pavillion?! My hiding spot has worked well I see. I'm actually still there right now tapping into their wireless...... ;)

OMG Lou! You spit in the Japan pond?!? In front of Miyuki no less?! Have you noticed any unusual, unexplained events happening to you since then?

Ah the Coral Reef, too bad your view kinda sucked but it is a really cool place to eat. I think I may have had the New York :laughing: . Not a seafood person myself and isn't it kinda cruel to eat seafood in front of all those fish anyway? :lmao:

That's a really cool pic of Lou in front of the Nemo ride with the ball in the background. I couldn't get the colours to come out as pretty as that.

Waiting for more!popcorn::

[jenseib]

I love your update Danica! And thanks Colleen for the sneak peak!
I'm loving your food choices. I need top branch out next trip.
So that fireman photo...is tha one you have to buy there then too? It's really cute. I have never seen that one before. I can't beleive you didn't get a group shot when you met up with Tammy and family. Was Chimere with her? I would LOVE to meet her too.
When I was at Disney Tammy was there too, but even though we were at the same resort and at the same parks on some of the same days, we never ran into each other.

[Goofy22]

I love your update Danica! And thanks Colleen for the sneak peak!
I'm loving your food choices. I need top branch out next trip.
So that fireman photo...is tha one you have to buy there then too? It's really cute. I have never seen that one before. I can't beleive you didn't get a group shot when you met up with Tammy and family. Was Chimere with her? I would LOVE to meet her too.
When I was at Disney Tammy was there too, but even though we were at the same resort and at the same parks on some of the same days, we never ran into each other.

No Problem Jen the show was great! It is definitely something to experience it seems so much like the real thing. BTW I don't know if Chimere was not with Tammy at AIE but I'm not sure about the other time they crossed paths but she was there. I met her she is Hysterical! :)

[ZeroToHero]

You didn't find me in the Canada Pavillion?! My hiding spot has worked well I see. I'm actually still there right now tapping into their wireless...... ;)

I died laughing when I read this... :lmao: Are you in one of the totem poles? Is that your Base of Operations? Are you secretly Kim Possible? :eek:


OMG Lou! You spit in the Japan pond?!? In front of Miyuki no less?! Have you noticed any unusual, unexplained events happening to you since then?

He wants me to clarify, and I quote, "I didn't spit! I drank some water, and then emptied my mouth into the pond!"

Me: "Isn't that just like spitting... but distilled?"

And if we did notice unexplained events, they were all good. Maybe it's lucky to spit in there? If so, there will be a sharp increase in the water levels, I think.

Ah the Coral Reef, too bad your view kinda sucked but it is a really cool place to eat. I think I may have had the New York :laughing: . Not a seafood person myself and isn't it kinda cruel to eat seafood in front of all those fish anyway? :lmao:

:rotfl: It's a good thing they don't have salmon in that tank, otherwise I'd worry just how fresh my fish was. I'm not generally a seafood person, but I love salmon!

That's a really cool pic of Lou in front of the Nemo ride with the ball in the background. I couldn't get the colours to come out as pretty as that.

Waiting for more!popcorn::

Aww, thank you! I love your fireworks pictures - I'll Photoshop Ariana, Alex & Demetri into the that photo instead of Lou if you take fireworks photos for me! :lmao:

I love your update Danica! And thanks Colleen for the sneak peak!
I'm loving your food choices. I need top branch out next trip.
So that fireman photo...is tha one you have to buy there then too? It's really cute. I have never seen that one before. I can't beleive you didn't get a group shot when you met up with Tammy and family. Was Chimere with her? I would LOVE to meet her too.
When I was at Disney Tammy was there too, but even though we were at the same resort and at the same parks on some of the same days, we never ran into each other.

The fireman photo is actually free! There's a fire hydrant by the truck, and you press a button on it to take a photo, which you can then email to yourself! Then I just saved it from my email. It's sort of like the virtual postcard that you can send from Mission Space or Mexico.

And I can't believe I didn't either! Tammy texted me later, and I was like "oh mannnn!!!! I forgot!" I lost my head, I think. :confused3

And I didn't get to meet Chimere - she was having check-in issues the day I could have, and then the next time I saw Tammy, she was trying to get into the Hall of Presidents before they closed the doors on her, while the rest of her family was already in there. My fault, actually... I can't walk fast enough! :goodvibes

[Goofy22]

[QUOTE=ZeroToHero;33457027]Andddd we’re back! So, we finished our lunch at the Electric Umbrella, and headed off for…. Mousegear? Yeah. I don’t know why either! It was supposed to be Soarin’ time! But Lou wanted to go – he didn’t realize just how big Mousegear is. He did find a hat he liked, but didn’t get.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0681.jpg

Haha! My DD did the same thing with this Hat she loved it too! But guess what???? She didn't get it either!!! :sad2:

[Mickey_Mom]

Are you in one of the totem poles? Is that your Base of Operations? Are you secretly Kim Possible? :eek:

Totem pole? Nah, they found me there and I had to relocate. :ssst: Waterfalls sure are pretty eh? :rolleyes1

He wants me to clarify, and I quote, "I didn't spit! I drank some water, and then emptied my mouth into the pond!"

"emptied my mouth into the pond"?!? :lmao::rotfl2::rotfl:

Aww, thank you! I love your fireworks pictures - I'll Photoshop Ariana, Alex & Demetri into the that photo instead of Lou if you take fireworks photos for me! :lmao:

My photoshopping skills are a little lacking, but here's a few fireworks pics for you not in my TR -- an exclusive! ;)



http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/2009_0817pics0285.jpg

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/2009_0817pics0303.jpg

[ZeroToHero]

Ooooooo.

Ahhhhhhh.

Are you supposed to make those noises for the Indiana Jones show or something?

Very pretty though! Thank youuuu! :hug:

[Goofy22]

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/2009_0817pics0285.jpg

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/2009_0817pics0303.jpg

They are great pics!

[jenseib]

They have a place for photos in Mexico too, to email home. Wow. I only knew of spaceship earth one.

[tinkerbell3747]

They have a place for photos in Mexico too, to email home. Wow. I only knew of spaceship earth one.

I was amazed by that one too...had no idea and to think of all the times I went to Mexico......

I have some make up photos to do.....

[jimmiej]

Enjoying your TR. I read (most) of your PTR, but somehow missed where you switched from POP to SS. Gonna go back & try to find out what happened!

[DisneymoonJess07]

Loving reading your PTR so far! Thanks so much for sharing!

[ZeroToHero]

Thanks guys!

Jimmie, how could you have missed that? You didn't hear me screaming from Texas? I guess I wasn't as loud as I thought when I got that email... ;)

Update coming later today, hopefully! I start school Wednesday, so I'd like to get at least one more day done.

[SunnieRN]

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/2009_0817pics0285.jpg

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/2009_0817pics0303.jpg

ooooohhh ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I felt like I was there for a moment!! Great pictures!!

Loving your trip report, it just keeps getting better!!:goodvibes How funny that the japanese lady was Miyuki!! :lmao: Looking forward to more!

[jimmiej]

Thanks guys!

Jimmie, how could you have missed that? You didn't hear me screaming from Texas? I guess I wasn't as loud as I thought when I got that email... ;)

Update coming later today, hopefully! I start school Wednesday, so I'd like to get at least one more day done.

I found it! Lucky you!

BTW, my relatives up in Mass. did tell me about some really loud noise they heard a while back coming from the Boston area! :lmao:

[jenseib]

I was amazed by that one too...had no idea and to think of all the times I went to Mexico......

I have some make up photos to do.....

Where at in Mexico is it? I must find it.....LOL!

[ZeroToHero]

I don't know if it's still there, but it used to be tucked away in some back corner near the restaurant.... I wish I could be of more help, but it's been so long! I didn't go looking for it on this trip, because we didn't spend much time in this pavilion. Update coming up!

[ZeroToHero]

Day 3, and our first Hollywood Studios day! You know all know what that means!

Yep. American Idol is not today. :rotfl: That’s not until the second Hollywood Studios day!

Sorry everyone…. :hug:

So…. we got up, did our chickens-without-heads routine again, and were out the door on time again. However, today Mr. Robitussin was coming with us, and he would check in with Lou every four hours.

We got to Hollywood Studios around 8:30 or so, and were there when they brought out the “Audition Today” big poster so interested guests could go over and audition. And then we sat through announcement…. after announcement…. after announcement about it. Lou said that if he was feeling better and if he had warmed up, he would have done it today, but I told him if he made it, we would miss Fantasmic, and we might as well just wait for Saturday. Glad we did, too.

Finally we were let up to the rope, and we were able to get almost right up to the front, so we could head to Rock n’ Roller Coaster. It seemed like a lot of people were going for Toy Story Mania, so many, in fact, that even though we walked (and laughed at people who were doing this weird skip-walk-jog routine to Rock n’ Roller Coaster & TOT), we STILL made it on the very first car. The family of the day picked this ride, so technically, we were after them, but they don’t really count, because they got a ride there. The one thing I hate about doing rides at rope drop is that you never get to watch the movies – we had to go straight through the recording studio. Lou decided this was his favorite ride-attraction, with Toy Story Mania being his favorite attraction overall. I have to admit, it’s one of my favorites too. We bought our picture, and then it was off to the Hollywood Tower Hotel!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0810.jpg

We walked onto this one as well, and were the first ones to start a new library group, which was cool… gave me time to take a few photos. I got so leery of using flash that I ended up not using it when I could, and so not all of my photos turned out that well… oh well. I eventually realized.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0815.jpg

After the library, we headed down into the boiler room, where we met Mike. We were the first in a line after they loaded an elevator, so this CM comes over to me… and doesn’t stop. He gets all up in my grill (i.e – about 2 inches away from my face, if that) and goes “How many are checking in?” This guy was about as tall as me, so he was RIGHT THERE. I was trying pretty hard not to laugh, but I think I may have smiled as I was like “Just two.” He directs us over to our squares, and I figured that would be the last of it. But then I decided to take a photo of him so I could share it with all of you guys. He wasn’t looking at me when I took the first one, so then he goes “Did you get that?” and turns and just stares at me. So I took another one, and at this point, I’m dying laughing.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0816.jpghttp://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_0817.jpg

Then we start loading, and since we’re one of the front rows, we’re the last to load. As we’re getting on, he goes “You look EXACTLY like someone I know from New Jersey!” And I’m like “Oh yeah? Neat!”

ETA: Lou would like me to add that as the doors were closing, he waved and went "Bye Mike!!!" and everyone in the elevator laughed.

And now I thought that was the last I would see of Mike. Little did I know it wouldn’t be!

Lou liked the ride, but he said it wasn’t as good as he thought it would be. I hate the part that leads up to the actual drop, because it always freaks me out. I always feel like we’re going to fall off that little track the cars run along, and I always think they’ve added something in that’s going to jump out at you – just like those heads in the Haunted Mansion that pop out of the graves. Those things always make me jump… even when we’re broken down in front of one, like happened this trip. It kept popping up, and I kept jumping!

Oops, tangent. Sorry. Anyway! So the part that I was not looking forward to, but was at the same time, was that apparently, there are these “ominous blacklit figures of the five ghostly original riders” that sometimes appear during the ride. And I had never seen them before. I got a glimpse of them this first ride, but I would see much more of them later in the trip.

After this, we thought we were going to go to Toy Story Mania to get our Fastpasses, but I made the mistake of telling Lou about Villains in Vogue – the prime spot for Jack Skellington stuff. He didn’t buy anything here today, but he wanted EVERYTHING. Truth be told, I was eying some of the stuff too.

Does anyone watch the Colbert Report? Lou thinks I look like Stephen Colbert in this picture..

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I was more partial to this one though… don’t I look so happy to be in Disney?

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We made our way over to Toy Story Mania, and got our Fastpasses. It was only 10, but they weren’t good until after 2! I was amazed. When we went back to go use then, they were all sold out, but I was expecting that.

While we were getting our Fastpasses, I went over to see if I could find Joanna, a College Programmer who is working on TSM. And she was there! So I talked to her for a bit, but I knew she had to get back to work, since apparently Toy Story Mania wasn’t working so well. Lou really loved the theming of the area – I thought it was pretty cool, but I really wanted to see Luxo Jr…. I don’t think he’s working now though. Or if he is, we didn’t go at the right time.

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After that, it was off to one of my favorite rides, the Great Movie Ride! However, it really depends on who you get – and we definitely did not get the best guy. Lou was like “You.. like this ride?” Our guy was awful.. his microphone kept cutting out, he wasn’t funny or… good at acting at all… and not to mention, we were in the very back.

However, I did get to see the Wild West takeover for the first time! And I have to say, I like the gangster one much more. Maybe it’s because the gangsters remind me of Lou…. so Italian! :rotfl:

Did I mention I also like Tony Curtis?

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After the Great Movie Ride, we decided why not go check out the first show of American Idol? We were basically right there, so we ran over to it, and were some of the last people in. We still got pretty good seats, and were able to scope out the possible talent of competition. After it was over, I got pretty worried, because they were (in my tone deaf, can’t hit a note perspective) pretty good… uh oh! But Lou still seemed confident, and said that he was at least as good as them, if not better. He just had to get over being sick.

I have to say, I definitely enjoyed the show more than I thought I would, even through my chattering teeth and nerves! I started getting nervous even when he wasn’t performing in that show! The guy we wanted to win didn’t win, but the girl who did win was still pretty good!

After that, it was off to Star Tours, which said it had a 20-minute wait, but was really only 15. I think this might have been the longest we waited for an attraction too. Enjoyable as always, although I heard that they’re redoing it. Anyone know if that’s true?

At this point, we headed over to the Streets of America for some photo opportunities!

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And then it was off to find the Singin’ in the Rain umbrella! I knew it existed, but I didn’t know where! After we walked around for a bit, we got hungry, so we headed to Herbie's for some food. And lo and behold, there was the umbrella! Two birds with one stone – we used a snack credit for some nachos and cheese, and then we got to take photos with the umbrella!

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I’m not sure what we did after this, but I think we went to the Pizza Planet arcade for a bit? Where I totally creamed Lou in basketball, and then in air hockey. First time I ever won air hockey against him, actually. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of this, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. ;)

After that, it was time for Lights, Motors, Action! This is always a good show, and Lou really enjoyed it, even though it got off to a shaky start – the first sequence didn’t work, so they had to redo it. After that though, it was great.

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And I’m out of photos, so the end of the day will be along soon!

[ZeroToHero]

We left off at Lights, Motors, Action, which, as I said, was really good. It never lets me down. After that, we were a little hungry again, so we stopped by the Writer’s Stop to get something to eat.

Actually, that was a lie. I wanted ice cream, so we were on our way to find some, when we passed the Writer’s Stop. And the Writer’s Stop has scrapbooking supplies!!! So we went in, and while we were in there, I passed on scrapbooking stuff, but Lou got a cupcake with blue frosting, and I got a blue raspberry slushie. And because of those, our tongues then turned:

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While I was in line for these things, Lou actually met a guy who was doing American Idol that day! He was in the 4 pm show, and we would have gone if we didn’t have dinner at 3:45! As it was, we got there right when they were letting people out, and asked someone if he had won – but he hadn’t. :(

So Lou asked this guy about his audition process, etc, etc. And his wife thought we were married – that happened soooo much on this trip! I guess we look older than we are? :confused: I know we don’t act like it! :rotfl: (For proof, see any pictures of us that I’ve posted, especially the ones right above this.)

After this, we headed back over to Rock n’ Roller Coaster to grab some Fastpasses before going on Toy Story Midway Mania, and so we got them for 7:40. We thought “Perfect! We can go on Rock n’ Roller Coaster, and then we can go to the 8:30 Fantasmic Show!” Right? Any normal person would think that 30 minutes would be fine, right? Nope. You’ll see!

We headed back to Pixar Place to go on Toy Story Midway Mania, and it was pretty fun! My hand hurt a lot after it, I couldn’t figure out a good way to hold the little trigger thing. Lou creamed me in it, but don’t worry, he’ll get his ego deflated soon.

As I said, this was Lou’s favorite attraction, and I must admit, it was really awesomely themed! I actually felt like I was in a toybox, although I am sad I didn’t get to see Mr. Potato Head, since we did the Fastpass line.

After this, it was time for dinner at Hollywood & Vine. The whole diner theme was pretty cool, but the food wasn’t anything spectacular. It wasn’t as awful as I’ve heard people have say, but it was definitely our least favorite meal. Maybe it was because we found out that we had to get to Fantasmic no later than 7:15. That’s right. A full hour and 15 minutes before it starts! And we’re in the reserved section! That means no Rock n’ Roller Coaster before we go. Sigh.

After dinner (i.e. – our late lunch), we headed over to Muppet*Vision 3D! And right away, I had Lou look under the mat. He didn’t think we were allowed to… I was like “Just lift it up!!!! Excuse me, are we allowed to lift this? See? Told you!”

And then he didn’t lift it up enough, so he didn’t think there was a key under there. But yes, there was. I knew I was right.

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And I knew Lou would love this show, because there are penguins in it, so we sat right in the front, so he could see them. I also took a no flash photo of them with their cannon.

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After we went outside, I pointed out the Hidden Mickey in the fountain…

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And we headed off to.. somewhere I didn’t take photos! So I think it was the Indiana Jones show. That was pretty cool, but Lou didn’t think the guy who was a plant was a plant… I told him that guy wasn’t really an audience member.. he didn’t believe me!

Truth be told, I sort of forgot he was until about half-way through the show… :rolleyes1

After that, we headed over to the Backlot Express Tour. Lou didn’t want to do this, but I knew he’d enjoy it. He just got turned off by the word “walking tour”. When we got in line, we were right in the back, so we heard a Cast Member say “excuse me…” When we turned around, he was talking to the people next to us. They got picked to volunteer for the ‘Harbor Attack’ scene. I was like “argg!” cause I wanted to volunteer for that, and forgot to ask! At that point, I thought it was too late, so I gave up. But then, a few minutes later, that same guy came back, and said “Excuse me” to us, and so we turned around, and were like “Yes?”

So he gave us this little spiel about “Some of our actors haven’t shown up today..” and I cut him off and was like “Yes, we’ll do it! Let’s go!”

So we were the deck swabbers, and we got all dolled up in our fancy GIANT boots (did you know you keep your shoes on in those? My sandals stayed in them when took my feet out) and blue suits, and were sent out to wipe off the boat with wet towels. I really wish I had a movie of our acting, it was great. And if you didn’t catch the sarcasm in that, it was there. Dripping. Like we were after we got splashed with those torpedoes. I will say, actually, that we were much better than the people we watched – so maybe it’s all relative. (If you can't tell, Lou's head is SOAKED in this picture)

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We had to put our stuff in a locker while we were performing, and they said “Now, whoever is more responsible gets the key to the locker.” And we both pretty much were like “Yep, that would go to me/Danica.”

After that part, we went on the tram tour, which was good. I was just waiting for Catastrophe Canyon though – and I think this sums it up pretty well:

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After this, we walked back to Sunset Boulevard, to Fantasmic. We were not expecting just so many flies to be there there! Swarms of them, flying all around people. You would see people waving, and I thought they were just trying to start the wave again (it just kept going and going and going and going….) but then you’d realize – everyone was doing that… and then you’d see the flies. And by then, it was too late for you. Just kidding about that last part, actually. But it was a lot of flies. And it was the day I didn’t bring bug spray.

Fantasmic itself was awesome. I can’t believe I’ve never gone to see it before, although I can see why my family hasn’t attempted it – even though we got there an hour early, the theatre was almost all the way filled up. We had good seats though, since we arrived at the reserved section so early – pretty high up, not too far on the side, so we could see almost everything.

It was weird – when we sat down, it was bright out, and by the time the show started, it was dark. And of course, 10 minutes before the show started, it began pouring. Luckily we had our ponchos, so on those went, and we were nice and dry.

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After the show, I said we could stay and ride more rides, but Lou wanted to get over to Downtown Disney, so off we went to Saratoga Springs so Lou could go drop stuff off at our room, and I was sent on the mission to go pick things up from the main building that we had sent there.

After that, we caught the bus to Downtown Disney (it came right away). And guess which store we went in first on a whim? The Christmas store. And for a store I didn’t think we were going to spend any time in, guess what it had? An entire room of Jack Skellington stuff! Oops. I forgot who I was shopping with. Someone bought the following (all Nightmare Before Christmas related):

-A Football Jersey
- 2 Tee Shirts
- A fleece blanket
- A pajama set (Oh wait, this one was for me….)

Not to mention the two Jack pins he bought from Pin Traders while I was getting our food at the Earl of Sandwich.

We thought the stores were open until 11:30, but they were only open until 11, so we decided we’d have to come back another night to continue looking at more stores, since we only made it into two of them.

At Earl, we got an Original 1762 (mine) and an All American (his) along with a Cupcake Coronet (mine, and delicious for breakfast the next morning) and a brownie (his – delicious for breakfast a few mornings after that)

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We were really feeling tired after our sandwiches, so we saved our desserts and headed home, where I put on my new Nightmare pajamas, and we collapsed, once again, until 7 am the next morning.

End of Day 3.

Sorry I don't have many pictures for the end of day 3 - I don't know why I don't! It made it hard to remember what we did....

[elphie101]

I adore Fantasmic. I know for most people it's either Wishes or Illuminations, but for me, my favorite nighttime fireworks extravaganza is definitely Fantasmic.

Can't wait for more TR!!

[Goofy22]

Great update ! My DD wanted those PJ's also! lol! of course again I talked her out of them if she got all the jack stuff she wanted I'd be broke! That's cool that you met up with someone that was doing AIE! We all loved the toy story mania ride also! :thumbsup2 fantasmic looks great we missed it!


I guess I'll have to wait til tommorrow to find out how AIE went for LOU! :lmao: I love to torture ppl! ;)

[jenseib]

Great updates! Now I'm Hungry for EOS! YUM! I have yet to do Fantasmic! I need to go back several more times to fit in everything. LOL! I've seen the singing in the rain umbrella, be we have yet to take a picture there. So unlike me! LOL! You need to scan and post your ride pics too if possible! I'm loving your TR!

[jimmiej]

I adore Fantasmic. I know for most people it's either Wishes or Illuminations, but for me, my favorite nighttime fireworks extravaganza is definitely Fantasmic.

Can't wait for more TR!!

I'm with you on that. Fantasmic is pure Disney genius!

[BelleBway]

I'm with you on that. Fantasmic is pure Disney genius!

Add me to the Fantasmic lovers! I tear up just thinking about it- definitely Disney at its best!

[jimmiej]

Add me to the Fantasmic lovers! I tear up just thinking about it- definitely Disney at its best!

I bought the CD on our last visit. It plays the Disneyland version, the WDW version, & the post-show music. I've really enjoyed it.

[silverangel879]

I still can believe we were in the same hotel, and in the same day we went to HS and we didn't meet!!! We were also volunteers at the Harbor attack @ Blacklot tour!!!!! Creepy, uh?:scared1:

Enjoying your report so far!!!!

[ZeroToHero]

So I started school today - sorry guys, but no update for today.. maybe tomorrow, but definitely Friday!

[OneTreeHillAddict]

OMG this thing is at 6 pages already!? Dang. I've been editing my pictures and backing up discs of them so it's taken me forever! I just uploaded all of the PP stuff and there was a TON of AI stuff on that! You'll be happy! :goodvibes I got a few nice shots too. All will come in time. You better get to editing those pics girly! ;) I have to come back through and read but I love the pics so far and how cool to be one of the people in the show! :thumbsup2 It was a pleasure meeting you! I do wish we had taken a picture together. I took some with Colleen but nobody else. WTH was I thinking!? I always do this. You will see ME in pics this time though. Before that was rare!

[ZeroToHero]

I still can believe we were in the same hotel, and in the same day we went to HS and we didn't meet!!! We were also volunteers at the Harbor attack @ Blacklot tour!!!!! Creepy, uh?:scared1:

Enjoying your report so far!!!!

I know! We seriously must have passed each other at some point, and just been in such a pixie-dusted daze that we totally missed noticing!

OMG this thing is at 6 pages already!? Dang. I've been editing my pictures and backing up discs of them so it's taken me forever! I just uploaded all of the PP stuff and there was a TON of AI stuff on that! You'll be happy! :goodvibes I got a few nice shots too. All will come in time. You better get to editing those pics girly! ;) I have to come back through and read but I love the pics so far and how cool to be one of the people in the show! :thumbsup2 It was a pleasure meeting you! I do wish we had taken a picture together. I took some with Colleen but nobody else. WTH was I thinking!? I always do this. You will see ME in pics this time though. Before that was rare!

:rotfl: How many photos did you take just on your camera? I'm guessing easily over 1500, since I did 1300 and it was just the two of us.

I am trying to get on now, and I can't log in - the site is having technical issues for a little bit. I bet you crashed it with all of our photos! :rolleyes1

And I apologize to everyone who has to sit through 100+ photos of Lou when getting the CD..... I didn't know they were going to take that many. :eek:

I can't wait to see your pictures! And I agree, this is the first time I really have pictures of myself to include too (even if I had to take them by turning the camera around sometimes). :laughing:

[BelleBway]

And I agree, this is the first time I really have pictures of myself to include too (even if I had to take them by turning the camera around sometimes). :laughing:

I should have made the girls take more photos of me... even though lots of the ones they took were sorta out of focus. :lmao:

M took 2 disposable cameras and just got the film developed... the kid has a knack for taking photos of backsides- mine, her sister's, even animals! :rotfl2: I don't think I saw a single face, human or animal, in the entire 2 rolls. Obviously none of those are going online.

[ZeroToHero]

:lmao: Awww, not even the animal ones?

Or random people? That would be funny...

[BelleBway]

:lmao: Awww, not even the animal ones?


Even the animals were the backsides! (remember she only had 2 disposable cameras so she didn't always have them) :lmao:

As I was viewing her photos, I told everyone that I was glad I'd stepped up my treadmill runs for weeks before my trip so that at least my backside looked ok. :rotfl2:

To be fair, she did get some cute ones around the hotel room and such. I was so focused on capturing the girls- and rightfully so- that I didn't take as many shots around the hotel room as I usually do.

[ZeroToHero]

So I just went through all the Photopass pictures for the CD, and I have to say, there are a lot of really good American Idol ones! I can't wait to get it, so I can share them with you guys.

[jenseib]

Thats cool. So they do AI photos with photopass too. That is really awesome!

[ZeroToHero]

They even have special borders and things you can add to them! It's really neat!

Update coming today, I promise! I have everything set out to remind me what we did, now I just need to write it!

[ZeroToHero]

August 28th – Animal Kingdom Day!

Waking up at 7 am gets easier as you keep doing it, I realized…
At least for me, it was. :rotfl:

Off we went to Animal Kingdom! We got positioned at the rope (actually, we were kind of far back…) to enjoy the show! I think this is one of my favorite park openings… second to Magic Kingdom. Hollywood Studios just doesn’t do it for me, and I don’t think Epcot really has one.

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When the rope dropped (10 minutes early, no less!), we made our way over to Kilimanjaro Safaris, to help Wilson rescue the baby elephant! I knew that the safari was supposed to be better in the morning, but I didn’t think that meant there would be animals EVERYWHERE! We walked right on, which was great, and had giraffes walking right next to the car, which was also great! Unfortunately, I was in the middle of the car, so I didn’t get as good of shots as I think I could have, but that’s okay. I had other chances.

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Yeah, yeah, there were other animals than just giraffes on the safari. But I do only have 25 photos per post, and the rest just weren’t that great…

Then it was off to Asia, land of mystery. The first thing we did was get Fastpasses for Kali River Rapids. That was… a big mistake. Oh well.

We wanted to go on Everest, so we kept walking, but then I saw it! My shirt! My “Tigger, is that you?” shirt, that I had bought 2 years ago, then it shrunk, but I still wore it, and then it got stained, and I finally got rid of it. Well, now I have it in grey, to not show stains like the white did, and a medium instead of a small. I’m so happy! That was one of the things I wanted to do on this trip, was to get a replacement for that shirt. :woohoo:

We continued on, to Mount Everest, but first stopping to take this picture – you know that little temple on the way to Everest? Did you ever notice… this?

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It lines up perfectly (if I wasn’t off center, it would line up more), how neat is that?

So we went on Everest, had our run-in with Betty the Yeti, who unfortunately, was not moving, only had strobe lights on her. Apparently she scared Lou though, who wasn’t expecting her to be there. Hehehehe. (I have to admit, I get scared too, but only because I always think we’re going to hit her.)

Since we still had time before our Kali River Rapids Fastpasses, and we didn’t feel like heading to Dinoland, U.S.A for Dinosaur, we went to see Lou’s favorite show here, Flights of Wonder! I had never seen it before, and must say, it’s really cool, if no one has ever seen it. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I liked it!

We sat right in the front, so that I could get photos. Afterwards, they have a couple birds out that you can take photos of and ask questions about.

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This bird is an African Grey, and Lou’s family has one. Her (?) name is Ruby… and she’s not as smart as this bird.

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Now it’s time for Kali River Rapids, and we figured getting a little wet would be just the thing – it’s getting a little hot, and it would probably feel good. Right? Yeah. Well, you know those signs that say “You may get soaked?” Yeahhh. Should have listened to those.

Apparently, here’s how it goes: There are supposed to be 4 seats that get wet per raft. Two when it goes down the ramp (supposedly whoever is backwards at the top), and then two when it goes under this waterfall thing. Then the rest of the seats either get a little wet, sprayed, or dry. Now, this ride, those 4… were the same 2 seats.

Want to guess who was sitting in those seats?

Allow me to provide a pictorial hint.

Here is us before, in line:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1120.jpg

Here is us before, in the raft:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1126-1.jpg

Here is us after we got off the ride:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1127-1.jpg

Yeah. Those 2 seats were us. Everyone else BARELY got wet. Everyone was laughing at us when we started going up backwards… and then were laughing harder when we got hit a second time.

I figured, hey, this is why I wore light clothes, so they’ll dry fast! HAH. We figured we’d walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek to dry off a bit before lunch…

This guy was snoozing:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1131.jpg

This is Lou after he wrung his shorts out for about the 5th time:

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My shorts could not be wrung out - they weren’t stretchy like his. So I continued to suffer while we went to the bird sanctuary. I figure you guys have already seen enough pictures of birds, so I won’t include more pictures, but there was this really funny bird that kept going “WOOO!!!!” At first we thought it was a person being a jerk, but then we realized it was this giant bird – it was hilarious!

He looked kind of like a mix between a pheasant and a quail – probably about the size of a pheasant though.

With this, we were done our tour of Asia – and I know where I won’t be heading back anytime soon!

At this point, I realized I was not going to be able to spend the rest of the day in these shorts, and I needed to get new ones. And at ANY other park, this should have been easy. But you know what? Island Mercantile? Nothing. Disney Outfitters? Pajamas. Seriously?!?! I need SHORTS! I found a whollleee bunch of tops.. but no shorts. Finally, I found some capris. Close enough. Only thing is.. they were 40 dollars! But you know what? I was desperate. After trying them and a skirt I found on – and having to put my wet shorts on in between, I knew I couldn’t last in those wet shorts. I broke down and spent 40$ on a pair of capris! I don’t know if I’ve ever spent that much on a pair of pants before – EVER.

And then we couldn’t find a bathroom for me to change – we walked all the way back to Africa before we found one. Worst 10 minutes of my life. Once we did find one, I happily changed, and put my wet shorts in the bag to carry with me. By the way – I set those out flat when we got home that night, and they didn’t dry until Sunday! Wow. We got SOAKED.

As for my shirt, I wanted to go get my Tigger shirt to change into, but they had already picked it up for resort delivery, so I couldn’t do that. At least my shirt only took a few more HOURS to dry.

At this point, all I wanted to do was sit down, so we headed over to the Flame Tree Barbeque to get some lunch by the water. We both had the pulled pork sandwiches, Lou got Key Lime Pie, and I got a Chocolate Cake. I was dying for some sweet tea, but they said they were out, so I had to get regular. Blech!

We also made a new friend – this is Mister Duck! He was very nice, and wanted to eat with us, but unfortunately, we were so hungry we didn’t feel inclined to share – I didn’t even take pictures, we scarfed our food down so fast.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1181.jpg

I always love sitting at the Flame Tree Barbeque and eating – there’s this great pavilion that looks over the water, and it has a beautiful view of Everest and this set of steps with “laundry” on them. Maybe I should have put my shorts there to dry? :rotfl:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1189.jpghttp://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1194.jpg

And I’m out of room and very tired, so now I am going to sleep. I promised you an update, and I wanted to deliver! I will hopefully finish this day up sometime this weekend, when I’m not doing homework.

Goodnight everyone!

[Mickey_Mom]

I missed an update with my mini school hiatus! Seriously. You two = fun. I'm tired too so I'll get more in depth with my comments next time.

Kali River Rapids.... :rotfl: !!

[BelleBway]

We ended up at AK on 8/28, too. We also got soaked on Kali. And we did it a 2nd time a little later, because the first time the line was too short for FP. And you know what? We got just as soaked the 2nd time too! :scared1: And we hadn't even dried off from the first time yet.

I sorta felt sorry for the people next to us when they made us smoosh to the center at FotLK, since we'd left our seats a little wet... :rolleyes1

[ZeroToHero]

We ended up at AK on 8/28, too. We also got soaked on Kali. And we did it a 2nd time a little later, because the first time the line was too short for FP. And you know what? We got just as soaked the 2nd time too! :scared1: And we hadn't even dried off from the first time yet.

I sorta felt sorry for the people next to us when they made us smoosh to the center at FotLK, since we'd left our seats a little wet... :rolleyes1

:rotfl:

Ewwwwww.... we never made it to Lion King! But now I'm sort of glad, because I probably would have had to sit next to you! (And I mean that in the best way possible..) :lmao:

[jenseib]

Claire has the "is that you Tigger" sweatshirt. It was on clearance for $9.00 in 2007 so I got it. I got it big and it still fits her. I love it. Not everyone "gets" it though for some reason.
Claire and Skip must've been in the bad seats on Kali too. they came back soaked to the bone as well. I have no desire to ride stuff like that. I know some poeple love it, but I would need a change of clothes in order to do it.

[OneTreeHillAddict]

:rotfl: How many photos did you take just on your camera? I'm guessing easily over 1500, since I did 1300 and it was just the two of us.

I am trying to get on now, and I can't log in - the site is having technical issues for a little bit. I bet you crashed it with all of our photos! :rolleyes1

And I apologize to everyone who has to sit through 100+ photos of Lou when getting the CD..... I didn't know they were going to take that many. :eek:

I can't wait to see your pictures! And I agree, this is the first time I really have pictures of myself to include too (even if I had to take them by turning the camera around sometimes). :laughing:

I didn't count my pics yet. I deleted a lot this time. No need in keeping 12 shots of the same picture. I'm over that. I actually used the lil point n shoot way more than the D300. My photopass had @ 170 before edits I think. We had a photopass for a 2.5 week trip back in '06 and I had over 2000 pics before edits by myself!!! :eek: So 170 is awful! On a 10 day vaca I normally take about 7000 pics but not this time. I was all about having fun myself and saying to heck with showing off WDW. Been there done that, nothing has changed really. Most of these pics are of squirrels crawling up my sisters butt and things like that. :rotfl2:

BTW love the before and after pics from Kali! So cool! When we rode this time we got soaked!

[wdwgirl03]

OMGosh those Kali pictures are great! It really does seem to be hit or miss on that ride. Sometimes we've come off looking like you two did and other times we've stayed pretty dry!

[ZeroToHero]

Claire has the "is that you Tigger" sweatshirt. It was on clearance for $9.00 in 2007 so I got it. I got it big and it still fits her. I love it. Not everyone "gets" it though for some reason.
Claire and Skip must've been in the bad seats on Kali too. they came back soaked to the bone as well. I have no desire to ride stuff like that. I know some poeple love it, but I would need a change of clothes in order to do it.

You got it for clearance!?! Lucky you!!! Mine was 18... :sad2: And it wasn't even a sweatshirt.. that would have been better.

I can't believe people don't get it! I mean, I understand not getting the new ones they have "Eeyore, is that you?" with an elephant.. because Eeyore is definitely not an elephant.. but Tigger/Tiger is pretty easy... :confused3

Next time, I am bringing a complete change of clothes. It is worth the locker fee so that I don't have to spend money on new pants again. (Watch me not get wet though).

I didn't count my pics yet. I deleted a lot this time. No need in keeping 12 shots of the same picture. I'm over that. I actually used the lil point n shoot way more than the D300. My photopass had @ 170 before edits I think. We had a photopass for a 2.5 week trip back in '06 and I had over 2000 pics before edits by myself!!! :eek: So 170 is awful! On a 10 day vaca I normally take about 7000 pics but not this time. I was all about having fun myself and saying to heck with showing off WDW. Been there done that, nothing has changed really. Most of these pics are of squirrels crawling up my sisters butt and things like that. :rotfl2:

BTW love the before and after pics from Kali! So cool! When we rode this time we got soaked!

Wow! 2000 Photopass pictures? :eek: That's crazy! You definitely got your money's worth that time. And I love the photopass pictures you did get this time too - I really like the ones with the celebration balloons - your kids did the cutest poses.

How are the AIE photos coming? ;) Just kidding! Take your time.
I'm so excited for the Photopass CD too!

OMGosh those Kali pictures are great! It really does seem to be hit or miss on that ride. Sometimes we've come off looking like you two did and other times we've stayed pretty dry!

So we fell under the "hit" category this time? :lmao:

I shudder every time I look at the photos of me wet. I can still feel the water!!!!

[Mickey_Mom]

OK, time for a proper posting. I have never been to a single rope drop at any park on any trip! We just can't do it. :blush:

I'm jealous of your giraffe pics. I have none!

I love how that temple lines up with EE! I'm going to look for that next time.

Kali River ... still funny. :rotfl: I'm sorry the capri's cost you so much but are they at least a really good pair? Do you smile with the memories when you put them on? :laughing:

Ah Flame Tree... I'll get to you yet!

When's your next update? popcorn::

[ZeroToHero]

OK, time for a proper posting. I have never been to a single rope drop at any park on any trip! We just can't do it. :blush:

There were mornings I didn't want to get out for rope drop, but I dragged myself out anyway...:sad2:

I'm jealous of your giraffe pics. I have none!

Feel free to take mine.. there are ones I haven't even posted.... I took way too many... :rotfl:

I love how that temple lines up with EE! I'm going to look for that next time.

:woohoo:

Kali River ... still funny. :rotfl: I'm sorry the capri's cost you so much but are they at least a really good pair? Do you smile with the memories when you put them on? :laughing:

Yeah, they're not poorly made like I worried they'd be... :goodvibes
And yet, I grimace at the price that seems to be burned into my brain whenever I put them on...

Ah Flame Tree... I'll get to you yet!

It is soooo good!

When's your next update? popcorn::

As soon as I finish homework!!!! :teacher:

[joy13]

Phew - caught up! Colleen's sneak peaks for AI are making me really eager to read that update :) You really got soaked on Kali - glad you found capris to change into!

[elphie101]

popcorn::

Can't wait for more TR goodness!

[ZeroToHero]

Alright, alright. Mickey_Mom, joy, & elphie guilted me into doing an update….. :lmao:

Joy13- I want to get to AIE too!!!!! But I still have to wait for the Photopass.......... that's where all the good pictures are. I can always share the rednecked ones if I have to for that post though...

So I left off at the Flame Tree BBQ – after this, I think we headed over to Dinoland and did DINOSAUR. It was good – and oh man, Lou freaked out so much at some of the dinosaurs that pop out of nowhere – I really wish they took the picture at the last dinosaur instead of that one on the side… :sad2: it would have been so much funnier… oh well.

After this, it was time to catch the 2 pm Nemo show! I love this show, so much... only thing, I can’t take photos of it to save my life…

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1200.jpg


I think this is the only remotely good one – look at Marlin’s face!!! Haha.

After this, I was feeling in a Frozen Lemonade mood, so I got one, and gave Lou the camera. I came back to a bunch of pictures of... a lemur.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1212.jpg

This guy, right here. He didn’t do much… all the pictures look the same. ;)

There were also a few ducks in there too, but I’m sure you’ve had enough duck pictures to last you.

Tree of Life, and “It’s Tough to be a Bug!” time!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1225.jpg

Yeah, I was being silly… hmm... I swear I have a picture of Lou here too… where did it go? Oh, here it is.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1228.jpg

Hehehehehehehehehehe.

On our way over to the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, we smelled something deliciousssss! They were the cinnamon-glazed nuts! The choices were almonds or pecans, and I told Lou I’d probably eat pecans more, so he got almonds… :confused:

Either way, we had to put them away on the trail, which was fine. Other people got disciplined, but we were smart and put our food away before we went in! And then we took more photos of… birds. But I found the cutest things – they’re Pygmy Geese! And I want one!!!!!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1260.jpg

We also took a picture of a Mickey in the cockroach tank – but don’t worry, the cockroach is not in the picture. Phew. It was bigggg…

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1239.jpg

Speaking of big, this is “Biggums”. Lou named him. I think it fits very well… hahaha.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1267.jpg

Then it was on to the meerkats/prairie dogs! (I don’t remember what they were… if there is even a difference)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1283.jpghttp://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1290.jpg

Then we checked out the gorillas, and they checked us out too, when they weren’t… picking up poop. That was weird. I forget what happened after that, but it wasn’t anything good. I think I wiped it from my memory.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1302.jpg

Yep, that’s what he was doing in that picture.

When we came off the trail, the parade was going on. We skipped it though, after a few minutes, and walked onto the safari again.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1327.jpg




This time, I got the coolest picture of a rhino – it was RIGHT next to the truck! (And I wasn’t able to zoom out fast enough, but it’s still pretty cool)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1337.jpg


At this point, it was time to leave – I wanted to visit some Dis-scrapper friends who were at a crop (a big convention where everyone makes pages and talks… but mostly talks). First though, I had brought my 5x7 photo voucher, so I went to get a photo we had taken earlier in the day, of me holding baby simba in my arms. When I get the photopass CD, I’ll share it with you guys, but needless to say, it’s very cute. I liked it a lot, and because I was gone so long, Lou (who had the camera again) got to take lots of pictures of animals.

But mostly birds.

Never again will he get the camera where there are birds around! (Yeah, I really don’t stick to this…)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1371.jpghttp://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1378.jpg

So I finally got the photo (the line was awful!!!) and then I couldn’t find Lou! But I called him, and after he answered I saw him. So that didn’t work out that well, but that’s fine.

We headed over to the buses, where we were catching a bus to the Contemporary. I figured we’d go to the Contemporary, visit, and then take the monorail to the TTC and then Epcot. However, the Contemporary bus was not coming, and I was impatient. Finally, a Grand Floridian & Wilderness Lodge bus pulls up.

Me: “Hey, the Grand Floridian is on the monorail! We’ll go there, so you can see it, and then take the monorail to the Contemporary!”

Lou: *monotone* “If you say so.” (Just kidding about the monotone!)

So we get on. And what do you know, just as we’re pulling away, the Contemporary & Poly bus pulls up. Arggg! So I figure, hey, at least we’re going to the Grand Floridian first. Nope. Wilderness Lodge. And EVERYONE on the bus gets off there, except us.

So I figured I’d ask the bus driver the fastest way to get to the Contemporary from the Grand Floridian, to see if he would just drive us there, to be nice (maybe?) Nope. He told us the monorail. I was like “Okay.” I guess he then decided to tell us something else about transportation (I already knew what he was telling us, so I didn’t listen..)

It was at this point I realized I didn’t have the photo I just got printed. I looked all over, but wasn’t able to find it. I was really upset, because I really liked it, and I wanted the 5x7. Lou’s looking around, and he can’t find it either. So I resign myself to not getting it, but he keeps looking. And then he finds it – it fell between the seat and the wall, and got stuck there. So it wasn’t on the floor, and I couldn’t see it above the seat. Jeez. I finally got it extracted, and was very happy again!

We finally get to the Grand Floridian, where he drops us off on the median grass strip, instead of pulling up to the bus stop. Thanks dude. :headache:

We head in, and Lou is in awe. (I think. Were you? Did you think it was cool?)

So we head up the big staircase, trying to look like we fit in (this is after I almost walked into a planter and then the carriage outside… :rotfl:)

The monorail comes almost instantly, and we go to the Contemporary. I was like “hey, watch this” as we went into the building – I don’t know if he was expecting that or not, but again, I think he thought it was pretty cool. (This is why you need a DIS account! How am I supposed to know what you thought?!)

I left Lou to hang out in the arcade/gift shop area, while I tried to find the front desk. I couldn’t find elevators, so I took the outside stairs. Which led me to this weird area… I saw a hallway in that some guy was going in – and then I was about to go in the door as well when I realized it was just a white, bare hallway. Oops! Backstage! So I walk the other way, and find loading docks.

“Oh god,” I thought, “I’m lost at Disney.”

Then I see a red sidewalk, and walk towards it. I then found myself in the very front of the Contemporary! Wooo! It’s intimidating… yeesh!

So I went in, and walked over to the Concierge desk. I told her about the convention, and she gave me these weird directions, and sent me on my way. I texted one of the women, and said I was coming, so she and another Disser met me while I was looking lost in a hallway, among a bunch of scrappers who were sleeping on couches. (I guess some don’t go to their rooms, they just crash in the hall… :eek:)

I met a bunch of lovely women, some of whom live in Connecticut, and yet we had to go to Florida to meet. After hanging out with them for a while, I realized I needed to get back to Lou so we could get to dinner, since I wasted a lot of time being lost.

They show me the easiest way in the world to get back to the level Lou is on (all I had to do was take an escalator… wow.) So we meet back up, and then head back to catch the monorail to Epcot.

Alright, that should be good for tonight!

Enjoy everyone, and I’ll try to finish this day soon!

[Mickey_Mom]

Oooo, so much to talk about this update!

First, I made you feel guilty? Oh I didn't mean to do that ::yes:: I'm so sorry.

Nemo, ah Nemo. Such a good show. Marlin's face in your pick is :lmao:

The Tree of Life! Still bummed I didn't get to see it this trip. That picture of Lou was nicely framed there! Please extend our apologies to him for my children repeatedly sticking their fingers up his nose, we had no idea!

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/WDW047.jpg

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/2008_0826Disney20010.jpg

My sincerest thank you for not showing the cockroach! :scared: And Biggums certainly is a healthy specimen isn't he? Gorilla poop? 'nuff said.

Lou? You could have a really cool avatar if you join! :cool2: Your bird pics are pretty good!

I love the Grand Floridian. George and I went to dinner at our favorite restaurant a few years ago and we got to chatting with our waitress about our upcoming WDW trip to the ASMovies resort. She then tells us about her trip with her daughter they just came back from.... at the Grand Floridian! Sigh. I'm going to buy a lottery ticket today. :thumbsup2

Thank goodness you found your picture! That would have royally sucked.

Ok, off to get my morning coffee! :goodvibes Thanks for the fun read!

Can't wait for Epcot! popcorn::

[elphie101]

Who says guilt-tripping isn't an effective method? :thumbsup2

You're almost done with the day (maybe?.....) Can't wait for more!!

[jenseib]

Loved the update...We Want More!

[ZeroToHero]

The Tree of Life! Still bummed I didn't get to see it this trip. That picture of Lou was nicely framed there! Please extend our apologies to him for my children repeatedly sticking their fingers up his nose, we had no idea!

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/WDW047.jpg

http://i662.photobucket.com/albums/uu341/Mickey_Mom_photos/2008_0826Disney20010.jpg


:rotfl2: :rotfl2:

That's hilarious - I'll let him know. Don't know how he didn't notice - maybe he was asleep. :lmao:

[ZeroToHero]

And now for a quick finish to our Animal Kingdom/Epcot day.

We took the monorail to the TTC, and saw that the monorail for Epcot was in the station. We speedily made our way to it, not knowing if it was about to leave, but we had a little bit to spare.

We got in Epcot, and went to Mousegears first. I forget why – I know there was a reason. We ended up leaving with a watch though! Lou bought me one of the Skagen watches that they have, it has a mother of pearl face with a Swarovski crystal Mickey head. At least, I think so. It didn’t actually say. But it has a lifetime warranty, because I have issues with watches… :rolleyes1

Since Mousegears was getting ready to close, they didn’t know if it would be at the resort the next day, but that was fine with me, since I wasn’t planning on wearing it until I got home. I ended up getting one link out there, and at some point, am going to need to get another one out – I didn’t realize how tiny my wrist is. Or maybe they just come with a lot of links. :confused3

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_2124.jpg


We were doing great on time, we still had about 30 minutes before it was time for dinner. We made our way to the World Showcase, and then to Japan, so I could drop my pearls off to get set into earrings while we ate.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_2123.jpg


Ignore that necklace… that comes later. :rotfl:

We got to Germany, and there was a huge line to get in! Jeez. So we waited. And waited… and called home to check in… and waited. Finally we got our buzzer, and were able to get in a little bit after that.

The inside was AWESOME! It really looked like a cute little German village.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1392.jpg




And the food and entertainment was really great too!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1397.jpg


This was, above all, our favorite place to eat. We were sitting with a few other couples, but we mostly talked to the people right next to us – they were Patriots fans, so we talked a bit about that. I think they were from New York or Connecticut or something, I don’t remember if they ever said.

But I guess they planned the trip without dining reservations, and they had free dining – they were getting turned away everywhere. I felt so bad – I started telling them about different places to eat that might have room, and how they opened up some lunch table services, etc. When we were done, we said our goodbyes, and headed out.

Oh, our food!

Lou's first plate & soup: http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1395.jpg

My first plate & soup: http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1396.jpg




His is loaded compared to mine! I don't like my food touching... :rotfl:


It was great! And I loveeeee pretzel bread! And the pork schnitzel was delicious as well. Totally worth it, and we’re coming back here again. I don’t know why this one always has openings. :confused:

We got plates of desserts as well – the Bavarian Cheesecake was fantastic as well… Lou really liked that.

When we came out, Illuminations was going on. We stood and watched it, and had a great view, until these people started smoking next to us. I got mad, but couldn’t find a Cast Member to tell, so we just moved. They didn’t speak English, it seemed, so I didn’t know if they would just pretend to ignore/not understand me.

Sigh.

Oh well.

We went and picked up my earrings, and since it was an Extra Magic Hours night, we could have stayed until midnight, but we decided it would be better to just head back to the resort and go to sleep… because it’s a big day tomorrow!

And thus ends Day 4, and soon, what you’ve all been waiting for…. Day 5, and American Idol!

[Mickey_Mom]

Holy freeholy that's a lot of food! I think I would try that place on my own but its not anything my family would enjoy. The atmosphere sounds like fun and Bavarian cheesecake sounds amazing!

Your watch is so pretty! And those pearls (ignoring necklace) are lovely, I love that setting!

Smoking = blech! George has a funny way of dealing with people who pretend not to know english. In a whispered but still loud enough voice, without facial expression or pointing, he'll turn to me and say, "wow look at that huge spider on the back of the girl/guy in front of us... that's incredible!" :rotfl: Suddenly the english language is conquered! But yeah, it was probably easier to just move. :sick:

:yay: American Idol!!!

[Goofy22]

Danica,
I'm here been really slacking since we returned home from Disney! I've been trying to upload all my pics etc... If I can remember day 2 I'm going to post that on the TR today as I had left my book in work the other day I got it ready so I took it with me and I left it again! :eek: That picture of Lou is too much at AK! Lol! And kids sticking their fingers in his nose :rotfl2:. I'm glad you finally found your way at the contemporary! That place is definitely huge! Can't wait for the American Idol update! BTW love he pearl earrings and Necklace even though it comes later! :)

[BelleBway]

It was great! And I loveeeee pretzel bread! And the pork schnitzel was delicious as well. Totally worth it, and we’re coming back here again. I don’t know why this one always has openings. :confused:


Yay, an update!

I loved Biergarten, too, and can't believe I'd never even thought of eating there before!

[elphie101]

HOW can you tell us that the next day is American Idol day...........and not give it to us?!?!?! I know, I know lady honors student, you probably have homework (as do I, right now, that I'm blowing off) but still........way to master the cliffhanger!

[jenseib]

You big tease. Get at it already! LOL!

[ZeroToHero]

:rotfl:

Alright, alright. I'll bring my computer with me to school today so I can work on it, how's that? No promises if I'll get it done though, but I'll try! I'll at least post what I have done at the end of the day.

[elphie101]

:thumbsup2 Let me know if you'd like me to swing by with encouraging TR-finishing snacks! Hahahaha

[ZeroToHero]

If you're on the fourth floor, sure! I'm in the clubs office right now.....

[ZeroToHero]

Day 5!!!!!!!!!!! American Idol Day!

We got up and Lou went to take a shower and make himself pretty. He was warming up his voice in the shower, and remember how he was sick? Well... his voice kept cracking. I could hear it in the other room where I was eating breakfast, and when he came out, I told him that he didn’t have to do it if he didn’t want to. He said that he wanted to at least try for himself, and so I said that sounded good. We packed our bathing suits (for the ill-fated pool party), his fancy AIE clothes, and left. The bus took a while to come, and we were getting worried, but then it was okay, we got there a little after we had the first day.

However, when we were on the bus, I was watching this girl. And I had a feeling she was from New Jersey. Not that there is anything wrong with New Jersey (I love New Jersey, Colleen!!!!!), but the girl who won the show we saw was from there, and there seemed to be a lot of Jersians there that week. Is that a word? :rotfl:

Anyway, she seemed to be dressed a little too fancy for the park, and she was being very dramatic on the bus. I KNEW she was auditioning, and I was like “Oh man, I hope they’re not in the same show if she gets it too.” And I was right.

Let me back up a bit though. We got to the park, and went through the turnstiles. They were already having people audition, and I’m glad we made it when we did. The audition space was off to the side, and Lou went off to get a drink of water before doing it, so I went to drop stuff off in a locker, but then changed my mind. I stood by that stand in the center, where they have the key rentals, and watched as the AIE CMs tried to recruit singers. Most people didn’t do it, and I saw a guy coming towards me a couple times, but kept asking other people instead.

Lou finally came over, and we went over to that guy, and he goes, “You want to audition!?!” I was like, “ME?!? Ohhhh no. Him.” So the guy brought him over to these other AIE CMs, and they gave him an “I Auditioned For American Idol” button that they wrote “Lou” on. That’s what you get if you don’t make it any further, I guess.

He was waiting to go next, because there was a girl in front of him who was going. I was standing there, freaking out for him, while he seemed as cool as a cucumber. I asked if I could take pictures, and they said yeah, go for it! So while I was getting my camera out, I was watching the girl before him. She was singing, but I couldn’t even hear her. I was maybe 10-15 feet away, and I was like “Wow, I’m not even going to be able to hear him, it’s so loud. That’s not cool.”

Well, I was wrong. Because she didn’t make it. And I knew why after Lou got up there. He started singing, and he was LOUD. And his voice didn't crack!!!!!! He sounded AWESOME. I could hear him as well as if I was standing next to him. Everyone around me was like “Wow, why were you worrying?” As you can see, even the guy who he sang for was impressed – look at his jaw dropping!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1408-1.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1409.jpg

And yes, the girl on our bus made it too. They all got paper signs to pin on themselves, like in a marathon. So these 4 people (Lou was the last person they picked) and a selected member of their family (or in Lou’s case he had no choice but me), got to come with this great guy, Mike, and a couple other CMs to the AIE building.

First though, they pulled them aside to “film” them (I don’t know if they really did) saying “I’m the next American Idol!” and then getting all excited. Lou was kinda crap at that, but it’s okay. He made up for it later in talent…

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1413.jpg



So we were walking over to the building, and I contrived it so that Lou and I were up at the front with Mike, chatting them up. Well, mostly me. But I was making them laugh, or they were good actors, so I figured that really helped our chances. I’m a good PR person. And secretary. And pack mule. And we told them why we were there, and how our trip was so far, so we had fun while we were getting over there.

Once we got there, they showed them this little movie clip, and showed them into the “Coke Lounge.” I have a feeling that Coke sponsors this attraction just a bit….

No flash was allowed after this, so the pictures may be sort of blurry.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1414.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1417.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1418.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1420.jpg


So what happened was that they had iPods set up with all the different possible songs, and you had to pick two that you wanted to perform for the “producer”. They had noise-cancelling headphones, so you could sing out loud, and the other people right next to you wouldn’t hear you.

Lou was like “where are the bathrooms?” and they told him, and he was like “Can I go now?” So they laughed and told him yes, but he would only have about 10 minutes before he had to be ready for the producer. Which was fine with him. So I sat down and listened to some of the songs while I waited, and when he came back, he was listening to them, and then just started singing. Before this, no one else had sung, but after he started it, they did too. And I was getting nervous. No one was bad! Ahhh!!! But they all picked sort of lame songs… nothing really that showcased voices. More like safe songs.

Then Lou started singing “Your Song” by Elton John. Impersonating him. :cool:

So he was doing it all silly, but he still sounded really good. “It’s a LiitTTlle bit FuUnnNNnny, this feeling inSSIIDe, I’m not one of those who can easily hiiIIIddDDeee!” I wish I could have you all hear it, he was hilarious, having his voice vibrato all over. I was dying laughing, and one of the other family/friends who came to support another girl was laughing too. Mike the CM came over and was like “No laughing!” but he was kidding. Lou picked “Your Song” and then “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” because he wanted to show off his better song second, but then realized that they wanted the song you wanted to do first, so he switched it around quickly.

Now what happened was that the first person to pick both their songs went in, and then next, next, next. So this woman (Lauren?) went in first, and she made it onto the show. Her song was “I Will Survive.” Lou went in next, and I was allowed to go in with him. Basically, he stood there and sung into a microphone, with the words on a screen on the wall.

Karaoke with this dude staring at you.

And me taking pictures from behind him, since I wasn’t allowed to get off my chair. :lmao:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1421.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1423.jpg

He sang “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” in one key, and his voice cracked. And I cringed, and I bet he did too. So the producer dropped it down into the alternate key they had available, and he sang it again. And his voice cracked at the same point. At this point, I hadn’t given up hope, but I was worried. But the producer was saying good things, that he really wanted to show off his range, and since he had trouble on that note both times, might as well stick to the higher key. So he did it one more time, and I think he was okay that time, I don’t remember. Then Ryan Seacrest came on the TV screen and said he couldn’t tell Lou he was going to Hollywood, but he could tell him he was going on the show! :woohoo:

He got assigned to the 11 am show (the first one), so he had a limited amount of time until he had to be back (they had to be back an hour and 10 minutes before the show), and it was about 9:30 at this point, so we had 20 minutes.

He gave us Fastpasses to use for any ride in the next two days at DHS, since we would have our whole day eaten up (we didn’t know just how much of it at this point though). He also got a “Vote for Me!” sign for his neck. And off we went!

Turns out all four people made it, but Jersey girl made it into the 12 pm show, which made me feel better. I kept seeing her around the park though!!!! It was weird.

I texted everyone at Disney (Danielle, Faith, Colleen, & Tammy), Lou called his house, and I called my mom. Everyone was super excited, but we were bummed no one could come to the show, since it was so early.

Hmm, bet you’re wondering how Colleen had photos then, huh? ;)


Well, sorry, but I’m going to end this here! I need to get to sleep. But hey, he made it on the show!

I will share a few photos though, of before he left for prep.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1424.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1425.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1427.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1430-1.jpg

[Mickey_Mom]

Ahhh! Pins and needles! Edge of my seat!!! popcorn::

I :love: the smile on Lou's face in your last pictures! Good stuff!

[ZeroToHero]

:woohoo: I forgot to mention, he's going to do a "His side of the story" thing too, so when I'm done with this day, I'll post his version!

[jenseib]

How exciting! I can't wait to hear more.

OK, now I'm gonna complain. LOL! Can you put your pics on top of each otehr rhater than side by side. It makes it so long and I have to keep using my mouse to read the whole page. (does that make sense) The pages are really wide becuase of 3 pics side by side. Of course it may be only me, but I just get frustrated trying to read and move the page side to side. LOL! Or you can tell me to go to H E double hockey sticks!

[ZeroToHero]

How exciting! I can't wait to hear more.

OK, now I'm gonna complain. LOL! Can you put your pics on top of each otehr rhater than side by side. It makes it so long and I have to keep using my mouse to read the whole page. (does that make sense) The pages are really wide becuase of 3 pics side by side. Of course it may be only me, but I just get frustrated trying to read and move the page side to side. LOL! Or you can tell me to go to H E double hockey sticks!

Ooooo.... I didn't know it did that! :headache: It shows up right under each other on my computer. I will go fix the post now! Sorry!!!! Tell me if it's better! :hug:

[Mickey_Mom]

Yes! Much better! (Thanks jenseib! :thumbsup2)

Woo-hoo! A Lou-version! Sweet.

[jenseib]

Thanks so much. I hate being picky like that but it is so hard to scroll the page back and forth. LOL!

[ZeroToHero]

I will hopefully have an update tomorrow night everyone!

Thank you for being so patient!!! :hug:

[Goofy22]

DANICA!!! I Love CLIFF HANGERS!!! especially when I know the outcome more so!!! :laughing:but I do like them when I don't know to I like to try and figure it out! :thumbsup2
BTW Great update! I love the pics! ;)

[BelleBway]

:woohoo: I forgot to mention, he's going to do a "His side of the story" thing too, so when I'm done with this day, I'll post his version!

Oooh, awesome! Can't wait to read it! (& the ending of your side) :cool1:

[wdwgirl03]

However, when we were on the bus, I was watching this girl. And I had a feeling she was from New Jersey. Not that there is anything wrong with New Jersey (I love New Jersey, Colleen!!!!!), but the girl who won the show we saw was from there, and there seemed to be a lot of Jersians there that week. Is that a word? :rotfl:

haha, this comment made me laugh because we ended up going to one of the AI finales and I swear like every contestant was from New Jersey! :rotfl:

What a fun update. It's neat to hear what the audition process is like seeing as none of us will ever be doing that!

[Goofy22]

However, when we were on the bus, I was watching this girl. And I had a feeling she was from New Jersey. Not that there is anything wrong with New Jersey (I love New Jersey, Colleen!!!!!), but the girl who won the show we saw was from there, and there seemed to be a lot of Jersians there that week. Is that a word?




haha, this comment made me laugh because we ended up going to one of the AI finales and I swear like every contestant was from New Jersey! :rotfl:

What a fun update. It's neat to hear what the audition process is like seeing as none of us will ever be doing that!

OK! OK! Wait a second!!! :lmao: I was to tired last night to pay attention to this comment!!!!! ;) And what exactly does this mean you thought they were from jersey? Do we have some kind of slang? :rolleyes1 or is it the way we dress? :rolleyes1Our attitude? :rolleyes1 the way we sit? :rolleyes1 :confused:LOL! Just playing Haha:rotfl2: So really what made you think she was from Jersey?

[ZeroToHero]

I think it was the accent.... and the fact that I was worried that a Jersey person would win - and I felt like she was trying out! And I was right! (except she didn't win...)

:rotfl: I didn't mean anything bad by it!!!!!!

[ZeroToHero]

So I was planning on going to sleep, but decided to give you guys an update instead! Aren’t I nice? :teeth:

We left off with Lou making it on the show. Since we didn’t have much time, as I said, he got all dressed up, and made his way over to the check-in. After waiting around a bit, he went in, and I was left to my own devices for about a half hour.

What am I supposed to do without him? I’m lost! Oooo, wait, is that Rock’n’Roller Coaster? Lou’s favorite ride? Well… I guess I could go in the single rider line…

I snuck around so that I was nearest the doors and one of the first out of the preshow area, since I was running out of time. I told myself if I didn’t get on the ride by 20 after 10, I would bail at the chicken exit so I could get back over. I got on right before that, but I had to ride with this group of prepubescent boys… :eww:

There were three of them, and they were trying to figure out seats while I stood there, because they didn’t understand “two in row 12, one in row 11.” Eventually I just said “Look, whoever wants to ride with me, get in row 11.” So they all looked at each other like I was going to eat them a la Hansel & Gretel, and then one jumped in.

After that was over, I speed-walked back over to American Idol, and went to the ramp by those busts of famous people, which is where we were supposed to go. I saw the brothers of another contestant there, and they were waiting. Eventually a AIE CM came over to us and said the show was cancelled.

:scared: Whattttttt!?!?!?!!

Apparently there were technical difficulties, so they had to cancel it. Well... are they at least getting rescheduled?

She didn’t know.

WHATTTT?!?!?! :headache: I was so mad. Then she said where I could meet Lou, gave me the wrong directions, and sent me off on a wild goose chase. So it took me 10 minutes to get somewhere that could have only taken 2, and then he didn’t even come out where she said he would. And I had his phone. Gahhh!!!!!!

When we FINALLY found each other, he told me he had been rescheduled for the 4 o’clock show. Well.. we have some time now, don’t we? So we decided to go back to the resort. But first, Lou wanted to get some Jack Skellington stuff at Villians in Vogue.

And by some, I mean he cleared the store out.

He bought:
- Sketch of Jack & Zero
- Songbook of Nightmare songs
- Jack juice cup
- Shirt (for me!)
- Boxers (I didn’t know they made these!!! Weird. Am I allowed to say you bought these?)
- Bobblehead pens (to replace our old ones that are out of ink and the heads fall off)

NOW it was time to head back to the resort. So we went to the Saratoga line. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. We were the only people in line, and no bus was showing up.

And then we hear “Are you guys going to Old Key West?” We look up, and there’s this guy in a car. A nice car.

Me: “Nope, Saratoga.”

Then I see he has a CM badge.

He says, “Well, I’m heading over that way, would you like a ride?”

I think for a few seconds, decide that I have Lou with me, and he has a name badge (otherwise I wouldn’t have), and say “Sure!”

So we get in, and that’s how we met Mike, the Bus Manager. His job is to drive around and make sure all the routes are going well, etc. We talked about everything from his kid, his job, our jobs, Boston and historic landmarks, college, our majors, how our trip was going, American Idol. He told us good books for history majors, explained some of the Disney history, where he used to work at Disney, stories about his jobs, etc. He was awesome!!!!! And when we pulled into Saratoga, the guy at the gate didn’t even ask him for ID or anything, he just went “Hey Mike!” and waved him through.

And before you ask, no, it wasn’t Michael Eisner. That’s what I thought for a second when we got out, but he was wayyyy too young. I wish! That would have been even cooler than this guy, and he was pretty cool. We thanked him profusely, and he told us to have a great rest of our trip as he dropped us at the Springs, so Lou could get lunch, since he skipped breakfast. He got a Turkey Brie sandwich and cake from the Artist’s Palette while I picked up the packages we had shipped to the resort, including my watch!!!!

We got back to our room, where we just crashed for a bit. Lou ate his lunch while I called and booked the bounceback for next year for my family, and then I had some chips and dip, and Lou’s brownie from a few nights ago (I lied when I said I had it for breakfast – I forgot.) I knew we were having dinner soon, and I was feeling nervous again. We sat on our balcony and enjoyed relaxing and not having to rush anywhere, it was the first time we had really done both the whole vacation.

After a little bit, we got ready to go out again, and headed over to the bus stop, with Lou in one of his new Jack shirts. He was really excited about that shirt……

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1435.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1437.jpg


So we get back to the park with plenty of time to spare… which means it’s time for Tower of Terror again! We got on, and had great luck in basically walking on yet again. I was watching out for Mike (TOT Mike, not AIE Michael or Bus Manager Mike...), but I wasn’t seeing him, which was sad. We got on our elevator, and went for our ride – it was scary this time, because while dropping, it stopped at this balcony at one point, the balcony that has the black-lit figures on it, and they lit up – I freaked out right there. And then when we were getting off, guess who opened the doors to let us out?!

MIKEEEE!!!!!!! I said that too, and held my hand out for a high five.

And guess who got shut down? Yep. Me. He totally ignored me. I was like “Awwww, Mike…..”

But I guess I deserved that for laughing at Lou the first day.

Now it was time to head back, so I dropped him off again… except we had to wait forever for the rest of the people to show up. Finally they did, so I left him again, and went to just wait by the ramp, I didn’t feel like going anywhere. I had been texting Colleen and Tammy throughout the day, and they said they were coming to this show, so I was super excited!!!! I was keeping an eye out for them when I wasn’t dancing with the parade.

Finally the families got to go into the standing area, where I saw Colleen!!!! We chatted for a little bit before they made me go in and sit in the special VIP family section. They make you sit there because there’s a mounted camera that can focus in on your seats, probably so they can make quick transitions if needed.

At this point, the three performers got to do a “dress rehearsal” of their songs, and I was chattering with nerves… the rest of the supporters for the other performers seemed fine. When they brought Lou up, his name was spelled wrong on the screen, so they had to fix it. We were laughing over that, because it made his last name so silly.

I was sitting on the end, since Lou was the third singer, so when the rest of the people started filling in, I made friends with the couple next to me, and we were talking so that I wouldn’t shake as much. I saw Tammy and Colleen come in, so I waved to them from where I was, they were in the very front.

The guy came out to get the crowd pumped, and he was great. Lots of fun, so I was getting excited. (Is it even possible for me to be more excited at this point?)

They did all the pre-show stuff, and when “Ryan Seacrest” announced the names of the performers, when he said Lou, all you heard was “Lou, Lou, Lou, Lou, Lou!” I was like “Oh man!!!!” The host thought (or pretended) they were booing him, and was like “that’s not nice… ohhh! You’re saying ‘Lou,’ not ‘Boo!’”

The first two girls went, and they were pretty good. I was worried about the girl in pink from Colleen’s photos (don’t have the photopass ones yet), Lauren. She was good.

But then Lou came out, and his opening thing was that standing area shouting his name and everything, doing crazy things, and this little girl going “Lou, you’re my American Idol!” And blowing him a kiss.

He’s mine, little girl!!!!! Back off!!!! :furious:

Just kidding…. :teeth: It was very cute, and he thanked her by name, since she had a birthday pin on.

Then he pointed me out, and the camera panned on me, so I was super stupid and smiled and waved and didn’t know what else to do…. Yeesh. I bet that looked greattttt.

And then he started singing, and did AWESOME! He completely blew everyone away, I think, because the couple next to me seemed pretty amazed. The judges had nothing bad to say about his singing, just that his movement distracted from his voice, and to not move too much.

Oh, and “Simon” said he looked like he just came from playing World of Warcraft… I laughed at that. But everyone loved his voice, and that’s why… he won!!!!!!!!

Apparently the couple next to me had open seats next to them, so they punched in his number a few more times.. :rolleyes1 I didn’t tell them to, and didn’t know about it until afterwards…. And I have a feeling he won by a huge margin, so I didn’t feel that bad.

After the singing (before the vote though), they do this dancing thing, and I was dancing because I was so nervous, so when I saw a camera guy coming my way, I just tried to ignore him, smile, look like I wasn’t nervous, and stared at Lou. And sure enough, I heard the kids behind me “Look, there we are! You can see us!” So yeah, I think I was on the TVs again. I refused to look. :dancer:

Turns out some people from Lynn (a town near us) were sitting 2 rows behind me, and they said he did awesome. When he said he was from Massachusetts, there were quite a few “Wooo!” noises from the audience too, which was good.

I am very proud of him, and can’t wait to share the pictures with everyone! (And see Tammy’s pictures, which I bet will be worth waiting for!)

But wait! It’s not over yet, is it? Because he won.. that means he’s going on.. to the finale!!!!!

However, I think this post is long enough, so the finale and dinner will have to wait until later.

Thanks for reading everyone!!!!!

[Mickey_Mom]

Holy crap what an awesome day you guys have had!!! And its not done!!!

:rotfl: to sneaking on RnR!

Remind me to send Lou on a shopping trip for me..... :thumbsup2 good Jack Skellington stuff!

Are you guys destined to meet everyone by the name of Mike? :laughing: How cool to get a personal ride back! Boo to the ToT Mike shooting you down, but as you said..... you probably deserved it! :rotfl:

:lmao: Back off little girl! He's mine! :rotfl2:

Argh! More cliff hangers! Can't wait to hear and see pictures!!!

[wdwgirl03]

However, when we were on the bus, I was watching this girl. And I had a feeling she was from New Jersey. Not that there is anything wrong with New Jersey (I love New Jersey, Colleen!!!!!), but the girl who won the show we saw was from there, and there seemed to be a lot of Jersians there that week. Is that a word?






OK! OK! Wait a second!!! :lmao: I was to tired last night to pay attention to this comment!!!!! ;) And what exactly does this mean you thought they were from jersey? Do we have some kind of slang? :rolleyes1 or is it the way we dress? :rolleyes1Our attitude? :rolleyes1 the way we sit? :rolleyes1 :confused:LOL! Just playing Haha:rotfl2: So really what made you think she was from Jersey?

LOL, I know the people in the finale show were from Jersey because they'd always ask where they were from and atleast half of them said NJ. :laughing:

[BelleBway]

:cool1: that he won! When you didn't text me the rest of the day, I thought that maybe he didn't do so well so I didn't want to ask... :rolleyes1

It's all good though. It's probably more fun to read it here than it would have been to have read it in a text. :lmao:

[ZeroToHero]

:cool1: that he won! When you didn't text me the rest of the day, I thought that maybe he didn't do so well so I didn't want to ask... :rolleyes1

It's all good though. It's probably more fun to read it here than it would have been to have read it in a text. :lmao:

:eek: I didn't!?!?!?!?! I stopped texting you after a point, because I didn't want you to waste your day with your fingers on the keys, not enjoying the parks with your nieces... but I thought I texted you the results!!!!

I'm so sorry! Well, now you know...? :rotfl:

Sorry again!



I swear, everyone was named Mike, it was insane.


I'm sad I don't have more pictures of everything... when I was by myself, I didn't take any, and then we just kind of forgot while we were waiting between shows.

[jenseib]

YAY! I had a feeling he did pretty well!
That is awesome. How cool about the personal car service too. LOL!
I don't think Michael Eisner works for Disney anymore though.

[BelleBway]

:eek: I didn't!?!?!?!?! I stopped texting you after a point, because I didn't want you to waste your day with your fingers on the keys, not enjoying the parks with your nieces... but I thought I texted you the results!!!!

I'm so sorry! Well, now you know...? :rotfl:

Sorry again!

:lmao: No prob. I only remember getting 2 texts- first that he made it and then that the show was rescheduled. Oh, well!

If you check my twitter, you can see that I was merrily texting away the whole trip... mainly when in lines or when the girls just HAD to stop at another store to look at the pins... :rolleyes1 (as long as they were happy and the younger one wasn't complaining about her sister, I was good... ) I also texted their parents a lot. (especially if I thought the younger one was going to complain to them about her big sister and I wanted to make sure the parents knew that big sis hadn't actually misbehaved from my perspective)

Argh, that reminds me- I still need to finish my trip report... and am only on the start of day 3...

I swear, everyone was named Mike, it was insane.

We've had enough people named Mike working at our (very small) office over the years that I keep telling my bosses we can't even interview anyone with that name anymore. :lmao:

[ZeroToHero]

YAY! I had a feeling he did pretty well!
That is awesome. How cool about the personal car service too. LOL!
I don't think Michael Eisner works for Disney anymore though.

:lmao: That's true! And if he did, I doubt he'd be the bus manager after being the head of company.

Also, I doubt he would have picked us up... hahahaha.


BelleBway- That's true! I didn't know you could twitter-text... I am behind the times. I was reading it before I left, and then read a bit when I got back. I wish I had my laptop while I was down there, for photos, but I don't know if I ever would have had time to go on it otherwise.

[elphie101]

Ack! So exciting! I might have to try to get into an AIE show when I'm down there next summer (as an audience member.......not a performer!!!)

Your cliffhangers are nail-biting. More more more!

[BelleBway]

BelleBway- That's true! I didn't know you could twitter-text... I am behind the times. I was reading it before I left, and then read a bit when I got back. I wish I had my laptop while I was down there, for photos, but I don't know if I ever would have had time to go on it otherwise.

I used my laptop for editing and uploading photos; it was horrrrrribly slllloooooowww. Annoyingly so. But I wanted my mom and the girls' parents to see some of our pix. (along with any other friends/family who may have wanted to, of course)

One time when I was complaining a bit about my laptop being so painfully slow, my niece asked me why I didn't get a new laptop.

Uh, maybe because I was saving all my money to take 2 kids to WDW? :lmao:

I am totally getting a new laptop before my next trip. ;)

Anyway. It was neat being able to text live updates from the parks, and even upload some cell pix.

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Ooooh I wonder who "Big" Mike was!? :lmao: I have to go back and catch up a little, and work on my own TR here. Gosh I am awful. Love all the AI pics though. Getting to see behind the scenes is cool! I have some pics of him coming up too.

[Goofy22]

:woohoo: I forgot to mention, he's going to do a "His side of the story" thing too, so when I'm done with this day, I'll post his version!I can't wait for his side! :)

I think it was the accent.... and the fact that I was worried that a Jersey person would win - and I felt like she was trying out! And I was right! (except she didn't win...)

:rotfl: I didn't mean anything bad by it!!!!!!
Haha! I know I'm just messing with you! But I did notice to alot of PPL were from Jersey! I guess Disney got the word out with free dining! :rotfl:
So I was planning on going to sleep, but decided to give you guys an update instead! Aren’t I nice? :teeth:

We left off with Lou making it on the show. Since we didn’t have much time, as I said, he got all dressed up, and made his way over to the check-in. After waiting around a bit, he went in, and I was left to my own devices for about a half hour.

What am I supposed to do without him? I’m lost! Oooo, wait, is that Rock’n’Roller Coaster? Lou’s favorite ride? Well… I guess I could go in the single rider line…

I snuck around so that I was nearest the doors and one of the first out of the preshow area, since I was running out of time. I told myself if I didn’t get on the ride by 20 after 10, I would bail at the chicken exit so I could get back over. I got on right before that, but I had to ride with this group of prepubescent boys… :eww:

There were three of them, and they were trying to figure out seats while I stood there, because they didn’t understand “two in row 12, one in row 11.” Eventually I just said “Look, whoever wants to ride with me, get in row 11.” So they all looked at each other like I was going to eat them a la Hansel & Gretel, and then one jumped in.

After that was over, I speed-walked back over to American Idol, and went to the ramp by those busts of famous people, which is where we were supposed to go. I saw the brothers of another contestant there, and they were waiting. Eventually a AIE CM came over to us and said the show was cancelled.

:scared: Whattttttt!?!?!?!!

Apparently there were technical difficulties, so they had to cancel it. Well... are they at least getting rescheduled?

She didn’t know.

WHATTTT?!?!?! :headache: I was so mad. Then she said where I could meet Lou, gave me the wrong directions, and sent me off on a wild goose chase. So it took me 10 minutes to get somewhere that could have only taken 2, and then he didn’t even come out where she said he would. And I had his phone. Gahhh!!!!!!

When we FINALLY found each other, he told me he had been rescheduled for the 4 o’clock show. Well.. we have some time now, don’t we? So we decided to go back to the resort. But first, Lou wanted to get some Jack Skellington stuff at Villians in Vogue.

And by some, I mean he cleared the store out.

He bought:
- Sketch of Jack & Zero
- Songbook of Nightmare songs
- Jack juice cup
- Shirt (for me!)
- Boxers (I didn’t know they made these!!! Weird. Am I allowed to say you bought these?)
- Bobblehead pens (to replace our old ones that are out of ink and the heads fall off)

NOW it was time to head back to the resort. So we went to the Saratoga line. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. We were the only people in line, and no bus was showing up.

And then we hear “Are you guys going to Old Key West?” We look up, and there’s this guy in a car. A nice car.

Me: “Nope, Saratoga.”

Then I see he has a CM badge.

He says, “Well, I’m heading over that way, would you like a ride?”

I think for a few seconds, decide that I have Lou with me, and he has a name badge (otherwise I wouldn’t have), and say “Sure!”

So we get in, and that’s how we met Mike, the Bus Manager. His job is to drive around and make sure all the routes are going well, etc. We talked about everything from his kid, his job, our jobs, Boston and historic landmarks, college, our majors, how our trip was going, American Idol. He told us good books for history majors, explained some of the Disney history, where he used to work at Disney, stories about his jobs, etc. He was awesome!!!!! And when we pulled into Saratoga, the guy at the gate didn’t even ask him for ID or anything, he just went “Hey Mike!” and waved him through.

And before you ask, no, it wasn’t Michael Eisner. That’s what I thought for a second when we got out, but he was wayyyy too young. I wish! That would have been even cooler than this guy, and he was pretty cool. We thanked him profusely, and he told us to have a great rest of our trip as he dropped us at the Springs, so Lou could get lunch, since he skipped breakfast. He got a Turkey Brie sandwich and cake from the Artist’s Palette while I picked up the packages we had shipped to the resort, including my watch!!!!

We got back to our room, where we just crashed for a bit. Lou ate his lunch while I called and booked the bounceback for next year for my family, and then I had some chips and dip, and Lou’s brownie from a few nights ago (I lied when I said I had it for breakfast – I forgot.) I knew we were having dinner soon, and I was feeling nervous again. We sat on our balcony and enjoyed relaxing and not having to rush anywhere, it was the first time we had really done both the whole vacation.

After a little bit, we got ready to go out again, and headed over to the bus stop, with Lou in one of his new Jack shirts. He was really excited about that shirt……

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1435.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1437.jpg


So we get back to the park with plenty of time to spare… which means it’s time for Tower of Terror again! We got on, and had great luck in basically walking on yet again. I was watching out for Mike (TOT Mike, not AIE Michael or Bus Manager Mike...), but I wasn’t seeing him, which was sad. We got on our elevator, and went for our ride – it was scary this time, because while dropping, it stopped at this balcony at one point, the balcony that has the black-lit figures on it, and they lit up – I freaked out right there. And then when we were getting off, guess who opened the doors to let us out?!

MIKEEEE!!!!!!! I said that too, and held my hand out for a high five.

And guess who got shut down? Yep. Me. He totally ignored me. I was like “Awwww, Mike…..”


But I guess I deserved that for laughing at Lou the first day.

Now it was time to head back, so I dropped him off again… except we had to wait forever for the rest of the people to show up. Finally they did, so I left him again, and went to just wait by the ramp, I didn’t feel like going anywhere. I had been texting Colleen and Tammy throughout the day, and they said they were coming to this show, so I was super excited!!!! I was keeping an eye out for them when I wasn’t dancing with the parade.

Finally the families got to go into the standing area, where I saw Colleen!!!! We chatted for a little bit before they made me go in and sit in the special VIP family section. They make you sit there because there’s a mounted camera that can focus in on your seats, probably so they can make quick transitions if needed.

At this point, the three performers got to do a “dress rehearsal” of their songs, and I was chattering with nerves… the rest of the supporters for the other performers seemed fine. When they brought Lou up, his name was spelled wrong on the screen, so they had to fix it. We were laughing over that, because it made his last name so silly.

I was sitting on the end, since Lou was the third singer, so when the rest of the people started filling in, I made friends with the couple next to me, and we were talking so that I wouldn’t shake as much. I saw Tammy and Colleen come in, so I waved to them from where I was, they were in the very front.

The guy came out to get the crowd pumped, and he was great. Lots of fun, so I was getting excited. (Is it even possible for me to be more excited at this point?)

They did all the pre-show stuff, and when “Ryan Seacrest” announced the names of the performers, when he said Lou, all you heard was “Lou, Lou, Lou, Lou, Lou!” I was like “Oh man!!!!” The host thought (or pretended) they were booing him, and was like “that’s not nice… ohhh! You’re saying ‘Lou,’ not ‘Boo!’”

The first two girls went, and they were pretty good. I was worried about the girl in pink from Colleen’s photos (don’t have the photopass ones yet), Lauren. She was good.

But then Lou came out, and his opening thing was that standing area shouting his name and everything, doing crazy things, and this little girl going “Lou, you’re my American Idol!” And blowing him a kiss.

He’s mine, little girl!!!!! Back off!!!! :furious:

Just kidding…. :teeth: It was very cute, and he thanked her by name, since she had a birthday pin on.

Then he pointed me out, and the camera panned on me, so I was super stupid and smiled and waved and didn’t know what else to do…. Yeesh. I bet that looked greattttt.

And then he started singing, and did AWESOME! He completely blew everyone away, I think, because the couple next to me seemed pretty amazed. The judges had nothing bad to say about his singing, just that his movement distracted from his voice, and to not move too much.

Oh, and “Simon” said he looked like he just came from playing World of Warcraft… I laughed at that. But everyone loved his voice, and that’s why… he won!!!!!!!!

Apparently the couple next to me had open seats next to them, so they punched in his number a few more times.. :rolleyes1 I didn’t tell them to, and didn’t know about it until afterwards…. And I have a feeling he won by a huge margin, so I didn’t feel that bad.

After the singing (before the vote though), they do this dancing thing, and I was dancing because I was so nervous, so when I saw a camera guy coming my way, I just tried to ignore him, smile, look like I wasn’t nervous, and stared at Lou. And sure enough, I heard the kids behind me “Look, there we are! You can see us!” So yeah, I think I was on the TVs again. I refused to look. :dancer:

Turns out some people from Lynn (a town near us) were sitting 2 rows behind me, and they said he did awesome. When he said he was from Massachusetts, there were quite a few “Wooo!” noises from the audience too, which was good.

I am very proud of him, and can’t wait to share the pictures with everyone! (And see Tammy’s pictures, which I bet will be worth waiting for!)

But wait! It’s not over yet, is it? Because he won.. that means he’s going on.. to the finale!!!!!

However, I think this post is long enough, so the finale and dinner will have to wait until later.

Thanks for reading everyone!!!!!

LOL, I know the people in the finale show were from Jersey because they'd always ask where they were from and atleast half of them said NJ. :laughing:

I stayed at ASMU before and me and my DD were walking tho the MCd's down the road but there's really no sidewalk so we were kinda in the road well a guy just like Mike stopped us and picked us up he also had his CM badge etc.. and basically told us his job was the same as Mike's but he was a lil older. Also sorry I didn't think that girl in the pink (she also came across kina like she had it in the bag and I didn't like that either.) was that good she hit a few sour notes! and the younger girl did also and it stood out for both of them. Don't get me wrong she sang the song well but it just wasn't as good as Lou in my opinion! :thumbsup2 That Lil girl Katie was too cute she was right behind us out in the waiting area! The American Idol was a really fun experience and maybe it was a lil more fun because we kinda new someone in it. We all really enjoyed it! The boys and the lil ones were really loving Lou's singing ! DD did too but unfortunately she was more into the 14 yr old girl and I totally believe it was because she was her age because she was not that good. But for those of you who have not done this you definitely need to it's so neat! :thumbsup2 I say Lou totally blew those girls away! I did like the part where the one Judge said to LoU, I bet you sing on that boat you work on don't you?( I think it was Randy) :goodvibes

[ZeroToHero]

I say Lou totally blew those girls away! I did like the part where the one Judge said to LoU, I bet you sing on that boat you work on don't you?( I think it was Randy) :goodvibes


Did he say that? I didn't hear that! I just remember him saying "That was BANANAS!!!!!!" :rotfl:

I'm glad you actually liked him, and didn't just vote for him because I told you to! :lmao:

[Goofy22]

Did he say that? I didn't hear that! I just remember him saying "That was BANANAS!!!!!!" :rotfl:

I'm glad you actually liked him, and didn't just vote for him because I told you to! :lmao:

Yep! He definitely did it was in the very begining of when he started saying what he had to say. And Lou said Yes. LOL I thought that was funny because I wouldve never dreamed of saying that to someone who worked on a Boat! LOL here basically we have fishing boats and sightseeing boats but no singing going on on those! :goodvibes

Yes, We did really like him .:thumbsup2

[MiaBella05]

popcorn:: joining in popcorn::

[ZeroToHero]

Good to have you! Hopefully I'll have something for you to read soon.. Definitely not today, but if I have downtime, I'll write out bits and pieces - this one day is dragging on and on......... :rotfl:

[ZeroToHero]

Alright... we had a rough week, but I'm finally back! Good news: the photopass came in, so I should have those photos soon too.

I'm writing up the ending of the day now, and then I'll post it.

[ZeroToHero]

Welcome back!

I left you after Lou won his show! Well, the show is about 25 minutes long, and then we had to get out, so it was probably around 4:35 when we got out and had to high-tail it to 50s Prime Time Diner… but hey, do you hear that?

“Lou! Lou! Wait!”

We turn around, and there’s this little kid running after him with an autograph book. Oh my gosh!!! He was so cute. Lou signed his book for him. Here’s a picture of the two of them – so adorable!!!!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1439.jpg

So we head over, and check in. They tell us to wait in the living room (this was they only picture I got, we didn’t have to wait at all!)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1440.jpg

A couple of seconds pass, and then one of the guys who was at the check in desk comes over. “What is the Personal Triumph? We were trying to figure it out over there.”
I was like “Huh?”
He says “That’s what you said you were celebrating.”
Me: “Ohhh!!! Lou just won American Idol!”

Waiter: “Yeah – you put it on that fast?”

Me: “Nooo! I put it on before we left!”

Waiter: (laughing) “You were that sure he was going to win?”

Me: “No! (laugh) I did it because I was proud of him for even trying!”

He accepted that, and went back to tell all the other curious people at the desk.

Immediately our seater came over and took us through the maze of the rooms to our table. We were seated, introduced to our cousins (who have very bad habits :rotfl:), and given menus.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1443.jpg


Look at the Mickey!!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1446.jpg

I got the fried chicken and a milkshake (yayyyyy!!!), and Lou got the meatloaf and a smoothie.

They were delicious, but I had sooooo much food! And we had to get back to American Idol by six, so Lou could be ready for the seven o’clock show. Since we were late for our reservation, we had less time to eat, and I am a slow eater, so I didn’t even get to finish all my dinner.

And that means we didn’t get dessert… :( (I wanted the s’mores!)

That didn’t stop us from looking at them though!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1455.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1450.jpg

So we left our cousins and uncles and such, and made our way back over to American Idol. I now had another half-hour before I had to be back, but I wasn’t in the mood for trying to get to Rock’n’Roller Coaster again. Instead I went to the photo shop on Hollywood Boulevard and got Lou’s Photopass pictures from the first show combined with our card that I had the number written down for.

I went back to the show and went in. This time, it was only me - Colleen and Tammy had some small emergencies to attend to. That was fine – they came and got to see him earlier, like I had hoped, and it was great! :teeth:

Same routine as before, but this time there were 5 people – Lou was number 4, I think?

The first guy was really old, and he was amazing!!!!! He did “Unchained Melody,” and it was sooooo good.

The second girl was from Britain, and she was OUTSTANDING. Really, really good. She did “Last Dance.”

The third girl sang “Ever, Ever After,” and was okay.

Fifth was this girl who did “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” She was okay too.

Lou sang well, but his opening little bit with the host was pretty embarrassing to him…. I’m not gonna say it here, because he asked me not to, but he looked like a fool…

Basically, the host asked him what he would do if he won, and his answer wasn’t very well thought out or good. He says it was a bit impulsive. I was hoping he would say “Probably kiss my girlfriend” or something, but nooo…. too much to hope for. :lmao:

So he didn’t win, but the girl from Britain did, and he said that he was glad he lost to someone who was so good. :lovestruc

He was a good sport – we’re happy he made it so far! And he did soooo well. I should be able to post Photopass pictures later tonight or this weekend for you all!!!!! :teeth:

Here’s the stage, empty – I took these before the show started:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1462.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1463.jpg

We were supposed to go to a pool party at the Boardwalk tonight (which is within walking distance of DHS, so that’s why we planned on going to this one), but it got moved to Pop, which was harder to get to. We skipped going to the Yacht Club for ice cream (which I was looking forward to) because we were really tired, so we just headed back to Saratoga. I wish we could have gone to the pool party, but I feel like we would have just dragged it down! :sad2:

Next year, right guys? :)

We got back to our room, and decided to make some popcorn and watch Toy Story. I made the popcorn, we started watching it, and as soon as I finished the popcorn, I fell asleep on the couch. Lou was able to watch a little more of it before he started getting tired too, so we shut it off and went to bed after an outstanding day!
We went to bed around 10:30/11... earliest we had the whole trip!

Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom day!!!!! Hopefully I’ll have time to write up at least part of it this weekend, but no promises. :)

Thank you for waiting, everyone!!!

[Mickey_Mom]

Hey there! So cool to be asked for your autograph! :cool2:

We've never been to 50's Prime Time... whatever reason it hasn't yet been appealing to me :confused3 Too bad you missed the pool party but it sounds like you needed the night to crash and catch up on sleep.

Can't wait to hear about your MK day!

Hope you're OK after your rough week.... :thumbsup2

[BelleBway]

And that means we didn’t get dessert… :( (I wanted the s’mores!)

That didn’t stop us from looking at them though!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1455.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1450.jpg


?!?! We didn't get those Viewmasters when we ate there so I thought they must have stopped doing them. I think we/I just got boring old dessert menus. (I didn't see anyone else with the viewmasters, either) I feel slightly gypped.

But then again... I did get to have the S'mores... so maybe I wasn't so gypped after all... :lmao:

[ZeroToHero]

Our first viewmaster was broken... she had to get us a different one.. haha. And then we looked at the time, and went "oh no!"

[elphie101]

*GASP* An update?!?! How exciting!!!!!!

Can't believe Lou got to give away his autograph! Adorable!

I showed my roomie your dinner pics and she ADORED them; PTC is officially on our ADR list!!!

Also, I was in FYE pricing DVDs, and saw a cardboard Jack Skellington cut-out, and of course, thought of you and Lou!

[OneTreeHillAddict]

OMGosh that little boy is so adorable! :lovestruc I bet that made L's day! My drama was with Ashley & her crowd. When they come it's likes having MORE KIDS to tend to. :headache:

What dates did you BB for? I did the earliest BB date but I'm thinking of changing it to early October now. We got three free months added t our AP's so I thought I'd try out a different time of year.

[ZeroToHero]

*GASP* An update?!?! How exciting!!!!!!

Can't believe Lou got to give away his autograph! Adorable!

I showed my roomie your dinner pics and she ADORED them; PTC is officially on our ADR list!!!

Also, I was in FYE pricing DVDs, and saw a cardboard Jack Skellington cut-out, and of course, thought of you and Lou!
:rotfl:

It's so sad.... if we judge based on amount of stuff we have, he's wayyyy more into Disney than I am (all his Nightmare stuff).

From what I used to know of him, I would never have pegged him to be so into it.

I am working on shrinking Photopass pictures to share later today - they're all on photobucket now, but they're hugeeeee.

[ZeroToHero]

OMGosh that little boy is so adorable! :lovestruc I bet that made L's day! My drama was with Ashley & her crowd. When they come it's likes having MORE KIDS to tend to. :headache:

What dates did you BB for? I did the earliest BB date but I'm thinking of changing it to early October now. We got three free months added t our AP's so I thought I'd try out a different time of year.

I can't wait for you to update... this is where it starts getting really good!

And we're booked for the 18th to the 29th, I think. We have a room-only the first night, and then we switch over to the package, because you can only do 10 nights, and we have 11 nights. October is a good time to go too though, especially if you want to use up that extra time on your APs. :)

[elphie101]

Looks like our paths are going to cross! *points to shiny new ticker* We haven't booked anything yet (waiting for the FD to be released........waiting for awhile) but we're looking at doing 8 days, the 16th-24th. SO EXCITING!!!!

[joy13]

Great American Idol updates! How cool that he won his first show -that's awesome!!!!!!!!!! The photopass pictures should be great.

[ZeroToHero]

Looks like our paths are going to cross! *points to shiny new ticker* We haven't booked anything yet (waiting for the FD to be released........waiting for awhile) but we're looking at doing 8 days, the 16th-24th. SO EXCITING!!!!

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :banana:

[Goofy22]

Danica,
I'm back but I have to catch up later i've got alot going on here so I don't get on as often. But i'll definitely be back tonite to catch up and add an update to my TR.

[ZeroToHero]

That's fine Colleen!

I have uploaded about 30 pictures of our Photopass, so I'll post by park (and then have one post just for American Idol.)

We had a total of 282 Photopass pictures, but I wanted to just go through Photobucket instead of reuploading all of my edited & cropped ones, so I just picked the best ones that they took without me doing anything.

Enjoy!

[ZeroToHero]

Magic Kingdom:

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Magic%20Kingdom/7c60a9aa.jpg
^ I think this may have been the first picture we took!

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Magic%20Kingdom/22d50415.jpg
^ At the Wishes Dessert party

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Magic%20Kingdom/1f5d3f09.jpg
^ We had to wait a while for this shot

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Magic%20Kingdom/101f0008.jpg
^ I was trying to hide the crane.. :rotfl:

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Magic%20Kingdom/0e6cd348.jpg
^ Right before Wishes Dessert Party, I really like this picture, even with the ponchos.

[ZeroToHero]

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Epcot/03b5df78.jpg
^ Check out our faces!!! This was the second day we rode it, so we were just being silly. Do you see my hands on the wheel? :lmao:

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Epcot/aca38769.jpg
^ Expansion of same shot - check out that guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl2:

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Epcot/96a7c2a8.jpg
^ France, guy must have been at Les Vins De France beforehand.. all he took were crooked pictures.

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Epcot/6a5569ff.jpg
^ See? I guess it's arty....

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/Epcot/4dbd53c7.jpg
^ I love this picture though!

[ZeroToHero]

I guess Animal Kingdom didn't have that many good shots that were already well-exposed & stuff.. Oh well. I bet you guys are getting tired of seeing us...

:rolleyes1 (Are you? :sad1:)

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/AK/de088b9d.jpg
^ I think this is my favorite Animal Kingdom photo, or maybe second favorite.

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/AK/3c641aa4.jpg

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/AK/043e90bd.jpg
^ "Be scary! Bear Claws!"
"Uhmm.. okay... Rawrrrrr!"

As you can tell, I got into it more than Lou.

[ZeroToHero]

Hollywood Studios:

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/DHS/ee5031ec.jpg
^ I really wanted a picture of us scared outside the Tower, but no Photopass people told us to pose like that - I finally had to ask if they could do one like that. :faint: And then we didn't even look scared!

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/DHS/cbe88f8c.jpg
^ Yay! We're happppyyyy.

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/DHS/b38add19.jpg
^ Chew with your mouth closed!!!! I am aghast at the lack of manners!

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/DHS/acc9e0c5.jpg
^ I really like this one too, because the balloons look cool!

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/DHS/8f0b260b.jpg
^ We're so HAPPY! (This is my facebook profile picture, I love it! Except for the bra strap thing. :headache:)


http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/DHS/39028a18.jpg
^ YEAH! I got to hold the balloons!!!!!
It was funny, Photopass man told Lou to put his hands on my hips, and then my hand over his, and we didn't get it - he put them on his hips, then down at his sides, then I couldn't figure out how to hold my arm up - we finally got it. :rotfl:

[ZeroToHero]

American Idol:

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/24a8be6c.jpg
^ oooo, facing the judges...

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/272f2b7a.jpg

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/35092829.jpg
^ Do a little dance, get down tonight, uh-huh!

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/5e72df03.jpg
^ "Look ma, I'm on TVs!"

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/61cddebb.jpg
^ Yeesh - photos just sometimes capture really unfortunate faces.... sorry, but it's true!!!!!

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/7115d411.jpg
^ Belting it out, wow!

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/7bd5354f.jpg
^ They're both doing the same pose - and I don't know who they're pointing to....

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/7f548039.jpg
^ In this one, however, he is pointing to me... thankssssssssssss.....

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/8a7fcf3f.jpg
^ I love the borders they give you!

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/935dd77a.jpg
^ Close-up during rehearsal

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/b4dd655b.jpg
^ I have a lot of pictures of him in this pose... I guess it's true, white guys can't dance. :lmao:

http://i930.photobucket.com/albums/ad142/DanicaAndLou/TripReport/fc81ff64.jpg
^ Thank you, goodnight!!!!


No, literally. I'm going to bed now! ;) Night everyone!

[Goofy22]

Danica Love the updates! Those pics are great the borders are really neat!

I really like that pic of you and Lou the one where you pointed out the Bra strap I don't think I would have ever seen it had you not said it. :)

[Mickey_Mom]

ALL of those pictures are fantastic! You have a great chunk of memories there for sure. I had to look back for the bra strap too...didn't notice.

And of course we are NOT getting tired of seeing you guys! Silly you. :teeth:

[jenseib]

I love the pics. I just saw that balloon pose on someones facebook today and I HAVE to have one. It must be new. how cool you guys got 2. And the stitch one too. Where was that at (I know in HS, but where). Thanks for sharing. I'm loving them!

[ZeroToHero]

I love the pics. I just saw that balloon pose on someones facebook today and I HAVE to have one. It must be new. how cool you guys got 2. And the stitch one too. Where was that at (I know in HS, but where). Thanks for sharing. I'm loving them!

Stitch was on that main street just as you enter... Hollywood Boulevard, I think? The one that heads right to the hat. I thought they did one on a bench too, but I couldn't find it!

I love the balloon poses too! I saw a bunch of good ones - the first one we got, Lou thought it was a sword... they didn't tell us what it was. :rotfl:

We finally realized when we saw other people doing it.

[Goofy22]

Hey girl,
I started a entire new TR so that I can update it and everything since I wasn't the originator on the other one I couldn't do that the link is in my signature and I also put it on the old TR so those who wanted to come over could :goodvibes

[wdwgirl03]

Great photopass pictures!! The American Idol ones are awesome. :thumbsup2

[ZeroToHero]

Hey girl,
I started a entire new TR so that I can update it and everything since I wasn't the originator on the other one I couldn't do that the link is in my signature and I also put it on the old TR so those who wanted to come over could :goodvibes

I'm in!!!

Great photopass pictures!! The American Idol ones are awesome. :thumbsup2

Thank you (and thanks to everyone else who said so!)

I really like them, it was worth it, even if I had to edit a few of them myself... to be able to have pictures of both of us that aren't just our heads..... and to have all the pictures of American Idol. It makes me very happy. :teeth:

[Goofy22]

HI! I'm back I've been missing a lil as life is still busy here! But I'm actually glad to see that you have not updated so I don't have to catch up! :yay: :laughing: . I have so many TR's to catch up on! I was really happy to see you haven't updated. ;)
I have a request when you are done with your TR can you take a picture of your Scrap book or photo album whichever you are doing and post it so we can see just how thick it really is? :)
I'm betting it's going to be huge! You guys got some great pics!!! :)

[ZeroToHero]

HI! I'm back I've been missing a lil as life is still busy here! But I'm actually glad to see that you have not updated so I don't have to catch up! :yay: :laughing: . I have so many TR's to catch up on! I was really happy to see you haven't updated. ;)
I have a request when you are done with your TR can you take a picture of your Scrap book or photo album whichever you are doing and post it so we can see just how thick it really is? :)
I'm betting it's going to be huge! You guys got some great pics!!! :)

:rotfl: You're welcome! Life has been so crazy lately that I haven't had time to update - the next day was really fun too, so I need to get working!

And sure thing! It will probably be multiple books, so I'll take photos of all of them. :faint:

Off to do some homework!!! I got started on the scrapbook last night, so I want to do some homework and then get some more pages done!

[Goofy22]

:rotfl: You're welcome! Life has been so crazy lately that I haven't had time to update - the next day was really fun too, so I need to get working!

And sure thing! It will probably be multiple books, so I'll take photos of all of them. :faint:

Off to do some homework!!! I got started on the scrapbook last night, so I want to do some homework and then get some more pages done!

I definitely hear you on the life being busy part!
I can totally see it being Multiple books! ;)
I'll be here to read when your ready with your new update!

[ZeroToHero]

Alright, so Lou is coming over today to celebrate my birthday with my family, and I'm going to see if I can't get started on writing his version of the story with him. It might take a little while, but I want to work on that before I post the next day, so that everything's in order. :)

[ZeroToHero]

So it has been a while since I updated, I know.

Sorry about that! But Lou is working on his version right now, and that will be up in the next few days. I have some other news for you, however.

The other day, Lou and I are on the phone when he says he got some mail from Disney. Something about some 30% off the Values or something for dates ___ to ____. I was like "Are there numbers on it?" And he said no, but I knew what it was... a PIN code! So I explained how it's a special deal not available to the general public, and that's why it's so great.

I asked if I could sign on to his email to check it, and he said "It's not a PIN code, there's no special numbers or anything for me. And I got it in the mail."

At this point, I KNEW it was a PIN code, and I told him to look around and see if he could find the number, I knew it was there.

So he goes "No, there isn't any- Oh. Here it is." :lmao:

At first, he didn't think it was that great, but when I explained how it worked, he realized that it was pretty awesome, and started to think about if we'd be able to go. Unfortunately, after looking up prices of everything, and calling Disney to find out prices for the days we'd be able to go (in December, after classes get out) we figured we'd be able to afford to stay there - but we couldn't afford the airfare. :sad2:

I was really upset, since I loveeeeee Disney during the holidays, and even if we went for a weekend, that would have been awesome.

But it's true, that the airfare would have cost double what the hotel cost.... so no go. I'm still pretty upset, but I know there will be other chances to go.... I'm just so mad that he got a PIN code and we can't use it!

There really is no rhyme or reason to who gets PIN codes, is there?

[Mickey_Mom]

Argh! Isn't plane fare crazy!?!? Can you drive? That really does suck. What about last minute fares? Can you book it and wait and see? Can I pretend to be Lou? :rotfl2: Seriously, that sucks. :mad:

[jenseib]

I got one too, but it's goo for the latter part of Aptil and parts of may and June I think. I think it expires tomorrow, so we won't be able to use it.

[ZeroToHero]

Argh! Isn't plane fare crazy!?!? Can you drive? That really does suck. What about last minute fares? Can you book it and wait and see? Can I pretend to be Lou? :rotfl2: Seriously, that sucks. :mad:

Hahaha, if you think you can pull off the hair, you can be Lou. :lmao:

And it's awful! The cheapest I found today was 230$ roundtrip.... still too much, he says, even though that's 200 dollars cheaper than the other ones I was seeing.

Neither of us have licenses, unfortunately, otherwise I would be willing to make the drive! I wonder how long it takes to learn.... :rolleyes1

Sigh. I want to goooo!!!!!!!

And Jen - awww, that sucks.. Quick, book a trip for just you! Then disappear without telling anyone where you're going. ;)

[elphie101]

She livessssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got a pin code in the mail too, but I didn't pay attention to it once I saw that it didn't involve our dates in August......

I also got an e-mail from Disney confirming that I got my free vacation planning DVD - WHICH I DID NOT! :mad: Quite annoyed with that, as I was really looking forward to it and now, since they think I already have it, I don't know when I'll get it.

.......looks like we have pretty darn similar tickers ;)

[jenseib]

I've ordered 3 DVC disc and have yet to get a single one! LOL!

[ZeroToHero]

Hahaha - if you want, you can borrow mine, since I walk past your house every day on my way to class...... I think I have two. I bet your neighbors stole it!

Jen, I would offer the same, except I don't walk past your house every day on the way to class.... so it would be a little harder to get it to you. :lmao:

[elphie101]

Hahaha - if you want, you can borrow mine, since I walk past your house every day on my way to class...... I think I have two. I bet your neighbors stole it!

That WOULD make sense, considering there's a key broken off in our mailbox so technically, anyone can get into it. Although why someone would want to steal a Disney DVD that's FREE is beyond me.

I would completely love to borrow a DVD from you m'dear :goodvibes

[jenseib]

Oh, you can't make a detour through Northwest OHIO??? What a bummer! LOL! ;)

[ZeroToHero]

Here it is! The long-awaited Lou's Version of the tale! He said he left out some of the stuff I already covered, so he could have it ready before I leave (I'm going to a seminar for school for the rest of the week)

My comments are in parenthesis, after my name.

Enjoy!


Lou:
After waking up, I knew I wasn’t going to eat anything, so I decide to just start getting ready. I had to warm up somewhere before the audition, otherwise, there was no way I was going to sound good enough to make it. So, I got into the shower and started doing some warm-up drills.

I do not quite know how to describe them, but they are essentially scales and modified scales with different vowels. After doing scale warm-ups for over 5 minutes, I started to sing my audition song, “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain. The reason I chose this song is because it highlights my baritone range perfectly, especially during the chorus. There was only one problem, when I got to the chorus, my voice would crack!!!!! Apparently it was so loud, and bad, that Danica could hear it from the kitchen. Needless to say, I was a bit worried, what if I cracked during my audition??? Anyways, when I got out of the shower, Danica gave me a look which essentially let me know that she heard the cracks too, so I took some honey and cough medicine before we left.

We got there a little later than we did the first day we went to Hollywood Studios, so the American Idol audition station was already inside the park. When we entered the park, we went right over to the station and I was asked if I would like to audition. I said yes and had to wait for one other girl in front of me. The set-up was pretty simple, just the singer and one judge who stood there and listened to you. I assume the girl in front of me did not make it, because I did not see her the rest of the day. It was my turn now, I introduced myself to the judge, who I must say was a pretty nice guy, and told him where I was from and where I went to school. After that, it was go time. I was still nervous because I didn’t know what was going to happen when I sang the chorus, but it was too late now. I either looked away from the judge or shut my eyes for most of the audition (I find it more embarrassing to sing in front of a small number of people and easier to sing in front of a large group). Apparently I nailed it because I was going to the next round of auditions!!!

The walk over was pretty cool, the man leading us was telling everybody, “Make way, American Idols coming through.” We got to see the park before anybody else was allowed in and made our way to the Coca-Cola lounge. There, we were treated to a pre-recorded message (there were a lot of these) from Ryan Seacrest. Next, we were given karaoke iPods to practice the song(s) we were going to audition with. I knew I was going to do “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” by the Temptations, so I was joking around, singing “Your Song” by Elton John (which was my second choice) in a funny Elton John impersonation voice. Then I was called to audition in front of the producer. He asked me what song I was doing and I told him, so he set it up and I sang. The only problem, my voice cracked again!!! I was very afraid at this point that that one crack would cost me getting into the show. The producer then set up the lower key version of the song, which I didn’t particularly like as much as the original, and my voice cracked in the same place!!! I tried the original version one more time and the crack was less severe. The producer then told me he couldn’t say I was going to Hollywood, but, a pre-recorded message then told me I was going to be in a show!!! I was extremely relieved. The producer then gave Danica and me a Fastpass each for any ride and we were on our way.

After that, I was told to come back at a certain time for make-up, vocal coaching and dress rehearsal. I was to be in the first show of the day, so I needed to be back shortly after the audition. When I got back, I met the other two contestants, two girls (one very young, 14 or so and the other much older, 22 or so). The American Idol people then had each of us do one of three things which were designed to take 10 minutes each: vocal coaching, make-up or just chilling in the green room with the ability to practice our songs more if we wanted (they provided more karaoke iPods). I did my vocal coaching first and it went pretty well. The coach could tell I didn’t need to work on any of the vocal aspects of the performance, so we worked on the stage presence part of it. She told me not to close my eyes or rock back and forth as I was doing while singing, all very good tips. After vocal coaching, I got to relax and sit in the green room for a bit, then I did make-up. The make-up artist had a lot of make-up on (Danica: :rotfl: I started laughing when I read this) but she was very nice, because I was the only male contestant in that show, I didn’t need a lot of make-up. She also left my hair, which by this time was a full bouffant (Danica: Read: Really Poofy!), alone but thought it was very nice, good as it was.

After make-up, I sat in the green room when a producer told me the show had to be cancelled due to technical problems. I was a bit bummed out, but then I was told I would be in a later show and felt better. I was to be in the 4PM show, so once again, they told me to come back at a certain time for just make-up and dress rehearsal, we wouldn’t be getting a second round of vocal coaching. I eventually found Danica and we decided to just go back to our awesome room until I had to be back. But before we left, as those of you who have already read Danica’s version of this trip report know, we did a bit of shopping at Villains in Vogue, where I bought a lot of Jack Skellington merchandise. I figured this was my vacation too, so I would treat myself to some Jack stuff, and I did - I most certainly did.

After getting back to Hollywood Studios, I made my way back into the green room to await my second application of make-up (I had taken off the first one because as a MAN (Danica: :rotfl2:), I was not going to walk around all day with make-up on, just kidding, of course). I got re-make-up-ed and waited around for dress rehearsal. This is when I first spoke to the host of the American Idol Experience. He (cannot remember his name) is a really nice guy and does his job very well. I felt comfortable on the stage and worked out a pretty active routine for the actual performance (i.e. a lot of arm gestures, walking back and forth across the stage, etc.). Then came the actual performance. I was pretty pumped when I heard the crowd cheer “Loooooooooooou” when the guy who gets the crowd pumped for the show said my name. I was third out of the three performers and when I first got out there, I did a little interview with the host. I told them that I worked on a boat called Codzilla and then they played me a video of the crowd going wild for me, cheering my name and a little girl telling me she was my biggest fan. It was sweet. I did my performance and the crowd seemed to love it because they were going nuts after I finished. The judges essentially told me not to move around so much and that I had a lot of potential in my voice and to let it out during the song. After that, the other contestants were brought out and the crowd voted……. ME THE WINNER!!!!!!!!! I was so excited, I got another pre-recorded video from Ryan Seacrest and I got to go onto to final show!!! I also want to thank Danica’s friends who came to the show and supported me – I really appreciated it!

After the show, I was told to come back, once again, for make-up only, there would be no dress rehearsal. As Danica and I were walking away from the AIE building, we somebody shouting for me, and it turned out to be this kid who wanted my autograph. Needless to say, I was flattered, and I happy obliged. I returned well in time and performed for the second time. Unfortunately, I did not win the finale show, but I thought the girl who did (and the older man who came in second) certainly deserved it. It was an odd feeling to say the least, I had lost and probably came in 3rd or 4th place, but I was still very happy with and proud of myself. All-in-all, it was an incredible experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I encourage anybody who can sing, or thinks they can sing, to try this, you won’t be disappointed.

[Goofy22]

Here it is! The long-awaited Lou's Version of the tale! He said he left out some of the stuff I already covered, so he could have it ready before I leave (I'm going to a seminar for school for the rest of the week)

My comments are in parenthesis, after my name.

Enjoy!


Lou:
After waking up, I knew I wasn’t going to eat anything, so I decide to just start getting ready. I had to warm up somewhere before the audition, otherwise, there was no way I was going to sound good enough to make it. So, I got into the shower and started doing some warm-up drills.

I do not quite know how to describe them, but they are essentially scales and modified scales with different vowels. After doing scale warm-ups for over 5 minutes, I started to sing my audition song, “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain. The reason I chose this song is because it highlights my baritone range perfectly, especially during the chorus. There was only one problem, when I got to the chorus, my voice would crack!!!!! Apparently it was so loud, and bad, that Danica could hear it from the kitchen. Needless to say, I was a bit worried, what if I cracked during my audition??? Anyways, when I got out of the shower, Danica gave me a look which essentially let me know that she heard the cracks too, so I took some honey and cough medicine before we left.

We got there a little later than we did the first day we went to Hollywood Studios, so the American Idol audition station was already inside the park. When we entered the park, we went right over to the station and I was asked if I would like to audition. I said yes and had to wait for one other girl in front of me. The set-up was pretty simple, just the singer and one judge who stood there and listened to you. I assume the girl in front of me did not make it, because I did not see her the rest of the day. It was my turn now, I introduced myself to the judge, who I must say was a pretty nice guy, and told him where I was from and where I went to school. After that, it was go time. I was still nervous because I didn’t know what was going to happen when I sang the chorus, but it was too late now. I either looked away from the judge or shut my eyes for most of the audition (I find it more embarrassing to sing in front of a small number of people and easier to sing in front of a large group). Apparently I nailed it because I was going to the next round of auditions!!!

The walk over was pretty cool, the man leading us was telling everybody, “Make way, American Idols coming through.” We got to see the park before anybody else was allowed in and made our way to the Coca-Cola lounge. There, we were treated to a pre-recorded message (there were a lot of these) from Ryan Seacrest. Next, we were given karaoke iPods to practice the song(s) we were going to audition with. I knew I was going to do “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” by the Temptations, so I was joking around, singing “Your Song” by Elton John (which was my second choice) in a funny Elton John impersonation voice. Then I was called to audition in front of the producer. He asked me what song I was doing and I told him, so he set it up and I sang. The only problem, my voice cracked again!!! I was very afraid at this point that that one crack would cost me getting into the show. The producer then set up the lower key version of the song, which I didn’t particularly like as much as the original, and my voice cracked in the same place!!! I tried the original version one more time and the crack was less severe. The producer then told me he couldn’t say I was going to Hollywood, but, a pre-recorded message then told me I was going to be in a show!!! I was extremely relieved. The producer then gave Danica and me a Fastpass each for any ride and we were on our way.

After that, I was told to come back at a certain time for make-up, vocal coaching and dress rehearsal. I was to be in the first show of the day, so I needed to be back shortly after the audition. When I got back, I met the other two contestants, two girls (one very young, 14 or so and the other much older, 22 or so). The American Idol people then had each of us do one of three things which were designed to take 10 minutes each: vocal coaching, make-up or just chilling in the green room with the ability to practice our songs more if we wanted (they provided more karaoke iPods). I did my vocal coaching first and it went pretty well. The coach could tell I didn’t need to work on any of the vocal aspects of the performance, so we worked on the stage presence part of it. She told me not to close my eyes or rock back and forth as I was doing while singing, all very good tips. After vocal coaching, I got to relax and sit in the green room for a bit, then I did make-up. The make-up artist had a lot of make-up on (Danica: :rotfl: I started laughing when I read this) but she was very nice, because I was the only male contestant in that show, I didn’t need a lot of make-up. She also left my hair, which by this time was a full bouffant (Danica: Read: Really Poofy!), alone but thought it was very nice, good as it was.

After make-up, I sat in the green room when a producer told me the show had to be cancelled due to technical problems. I was a bit bummed out, but then I was told I would be in a later show and felt better. I was to be in the 4PM show, so once again, they told me to come back at a certain time for just make-up and dress rehearsal, we wouldn’t be getting a second round of vocal coaching. I eventually found Danica and we decided to just go back to our awesome room until I had to be back. But before we left, as those of you who have already read Danica’s version of this trip report know, we did a bit of shopping at Villains in Vogue, where I bought a lot of Jack Skellington merchandise. I figured this was my vacation too, so I would treat myself to some Jack stuff, and I did - I most certainly did.

After getting back to Hollywood Studios, I made my way back into the green room to await my second application of make-up (I had taken off the first one because as a MAN (Danica: :rotfl2:), I was not going to walk around all day with make-up on, just kidding, of course). I got re-make-up-ed and waited around for dress rehearsal. This is when I first spoke to the host of the American Idol Experience. He (cannot remember his name) is a really nice guy and does his job very well. I felt comfortable on the stage and worked out a pretty active routine for the actual performance (i.e. a lot of arm gestures, walking back and forth across the stage, etc.). Then came the actual performance. I was pretty pumped when I heard the crowd cheer “Loooooooooooou” when the guy who gets the crowd pumped for the show said my name. I was third out of the three performers and when I first got out there, I did a little interview with the host. I told them that I worked on a boat called Codzilla and then they played me a video of the crowd going wild for me, cheering my name and a little girl telling me she was my biggest fan. It was sweet. I did my performance and the crowd seemed to love it because they were going nuts after I finished. The judges essentially told me not to move around so much and that I had a lot of potential in my voice and to let it out during the song. After that, the other contestants were brought out and the crowd voted……. ME THE WINNER!!!!!!!!! I was so excited, I got another pre-recorded video from Ryan Seacrest and I got to go onto to final show!!! I also want to thank Danica’s friends who came to the show and supported me – I really appreciated it!

After the show, I was told to come back, once again, for make-up only, there would be no dress rehearsal. As Danica and I were walking away from the AIE building, we somebody shouting for me, and it turned out to be this kid who wanted my autograph. Needless to say, I was flattered, and I happy obliged. I returned well in time and performed for the second time. Unfortunately, I did not win the finale show, but I thought the girl who did (and the older man who came in second) certainly deserved it. It was an odd feeling to say the least, I had lost and probably came in 3rd or 4th place, but I was still very happy with and proud of myself. All-in-all, it was an incredible experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I encourage anybody who can sing, or thinks they can sing, to try this, you won’t be disappointed.

Awesome update Lou!!!!!!! It's great to see it from your perspective! I can't believe I'm just getting on here to see this now! Also I was one of those People at the show that you won and you were really great! :flower3: We had an awesome time and will probably do this again on our upcoming trip on december so my Mother n law who is coming can experience it! It was really fun for us to watch so I can't imagine how fun it was for those of you that actually got to participate! :thumbsup2
Once again great job and great update! :thumbsup2

[Mickey_Mom]

Man I coulda swore I commented on Lou's update but clearly it was all in my head! :rotfl2:

First of all, thank you Lou for adding your version to the TR. It was great hearing from you and congratulations on your AIE win! I like to pretend I'm a good singer.... my shower and car agree with me of course :rolleyes:.... but it takes more guts than I have to sing in front of a crowd let alone a crowd that is judging your every note! So huge kudos to you!

Love the behind the scenes viewpoint and your descriptions of your full bouffant and make up :rotfl2: is hilarious!

Hope to hear more from you!

[joy13]

All caught up! It was great hearing Lou's version of his experience - sounds like it was a wonderful day!

You got some really nice photopass pictures too!

[ZeroToHero]

So remember wayyy back on the first of October, when I said I’d try to have Magic Kingdom day updated soon? Yeah, well… life sort of got away from me.

But we’re good now! I’m going to try to get through all of the time we were at the Magic Kingdom, before we headed off to dinner.

So here we gooooo!

7:08 am - Lou is not very interested in waking up – I figure a few good camera flashes will help with that, right?

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1465.jpg

He doesn’t think so – the expression on his face tells all… yeesh!

So I run away to go have breakfast and get ready to go to… the Magic Kingdom! Our “full” day here! The plan was that we were going to spend the day there until we headed over to the Grand Floridian for dinner (with that surprise – remember that?) and then back to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours.

We’ll see how that works out…

Anyway, as I’m eating my poptarts/bagel/yogurt, Lou comes out and starts getting ready as well – about time! (Just kidding…)

We got all set and headed out, catching the bus so that we were at the Magic Kingdom about a half-hour before opening. I loveeeee the opening to the Magic Kingdom – after I got home I spent several days trying to find the opening song. I finally had success, and so now I have it on my computer! :)

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1483.jpg


After they opened, we headed straight for Fantasyland, and thus, the rides that had huge waits on Tuesday when we got there.

That’s right. We rode Dumbo!

Just kidding! We didn’t cut off any little kids who dream of riding Dumbo… we headed for Peter Pan, and only had a few minute wait. I love Peter Pan – it’s a great ride, except that whenever I get in the boat, I bump my head off of the sail. I was good this time, and remembered, so I was okay! But other times – ouch.

After Peter Pan, we found the Sword in the Stone, and tried our hand at pulling it out. Lou had some… trouble, shall we say.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1491.jpg

After determining neither of us was fit to rule England, we headed off to Snow White’s Scary Adventures - and guess which car we had? Yep, Dopey! I was happy, I love him and Grumpy. I pointed out the vultures that were similar to the ones in Star Tours and Splash Mountain – I never remember which ride the ones on Star Tours are based off of…

Then it was off to the Hundred Acre Woods, and my favorite Winnie the Pooh scene – the rainy day! I love how the words drip off the page, and all the “water” effects in the room. I didn’t shut up though, pointing out all those things, along with Mr. Toad giving the deed to Owl because of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride– I have a feeling Lou tuned me out right about there so he could just enjoy the ride.

After Winnie the Pooh, we decided to head over the Tomorrowland and do some rides there, since we hadn’t been yet. We started off with Buzz Lightyear – want to see our scores?

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1510.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1511.jpg

The first one is mine, the second is Lou’s. Hehehehe. I ALWAYS cream him at this.
We went on again after that, and those scores seem to have…. disappeared… :rolleyes1 (aka -He beat me that time… but then we went on again later… and you’ll see….) Since the line was getting long, we grabbed a Fastpass for a later ride.

Off we went to the Laugh Factory! I wanted Lou to be “that guy,” but I figured they usually pick a father, so I didn’t have high hopes.

It was reallyyyy empty though, so who knew. I didn’t think people were going to text in jokes, since it was so early, so I was racking my brain for one. Finally I came up with “What do you call a 300-pound monster with claws?” Answer: “Whatever he wants!” And then I signed it Danica. I should have, in hindsight, signed it Lou. Oh well. On with the show!

So we sit down, and they start doing those little funny things – the guy who had to get up and dance didn’t do it at first, but then he started going crazy, dancing in the aisle, and it was HILARIOUS. He looked like a biker… it was sooooo funny, I was dying laughing. And I think they spotted me because of that… because during Buddy Boil’s “mind-reading psycho” act, he decided he wanted to work with… moi!

Oh god… I had the microphone brought over to me, I said my name was Danica, and he closed his eyes and told me to pick a number, and say it out loud. After all, he couldn’t hear me, his eyes were closed. Then after he finally opened them, he had me concentrate on sending it to him, and then he told me to put my fingers on top of my head, wiggle them, and say this nonsense phrase. Lou said afterwards he didn’t think I’d do it, but I did, and after I was done laughing, I look up, and “Buddy” is standing there, jaw dropped, eyes wide. He said “You’ve done that before!!!” Oh man – I cracked up. “Yep!” I said.

So Buddy went off, and on came Mike’s nephew, Marty!

And Marty had some jokes sent in by you, the audience! First up – a joke from Danica! Wait.. didn’t we just see her? Spotlight’s back on me… and he said “Danica, why don’t you tell the punchline? Danica texted in, ‘What do you call a 300-pound monster with claws?'”

Me: (thinking “don’t mess up, don’t mess up”) “Whatever you want! Wait. No! Whatever HE wants! Oh man…” At this point, I just started nervously laughing and put my face in my hands…

So he goes to the next people and asked them if they knew the punchline to their joke – luckily they didn’t! So I didn’t look quite as bad… ish. Oh well… haha. It was a great memory - and I’m sure the actors laughed about it afterwards.

We were about to go to the Carousel of Progress, but it wasn’t working, so we decided to do the Astro Orbiter instead – I got a lot of great sideways shots of things… ugh. Lou just tried to keep the little rocket as high as he could while I snapped photos:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1521.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1529.jpg

At some point (it may have been now, but I don’t have photos), we did make it back to the Carousel of Progress, but it was so bad – they kept interrupting to tell people to sit down, and the people near me were taking flash photos – I was getting really mad, but finally he stopped.

We headed back to Fantasyland, where we got a Sweet Cream Pretzel from Scuttle’s Landing, and sat for a bit to enjoy that – it was good, but not as good as Dole Whips!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1533.jpg

We decided that since we were in Fantasyland still, and the only ride we hadn’t done that we’d like was the Mad Tea Party, we might as well do it. It didn’t have that long of a line at all, which was good. By the way – Lou learned that I love spinning the teacup fast – and he just wasn’t cutting it. So I took over – and was feeling a little sick afterwards, I will admit. But it was totally worth it!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1545.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1546.jpg

Our Fastpasses for Buzz were ready, so back we went to Tomorrowland… Lou should have just stopped while he was ahead. I CREAMED him!

Mine:http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1550.jpg

His:http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1551.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1553.jpg

See? Wicked excited. Haha!


http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1555.jpg

Since we had finished everything good in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, it was off to the other side of the park to play! And by play, I mean… learn historical facts in Liberty Square! I explained about the dates on the doors, and the shutters, and the urine trough in the middle of the road… fun, educational things like that!

Continued in next post!

[ZeroToHero]

Well – Lou wanted one thing. To play in the shooting range.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1560.jpg

And that’s what he did after we left the Trading Post pin store – where I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done! Yay! I got my sister the set of Club Penguin “Puffle” pins, my dad a Yacht Club pin, Lou got a Nightmare pin, and I got myself a Saratoga Springs Pin. We also got a Haunted Mansion bust hidden mickey pin for only a dollar – that was really cool! It was some promotion they had – and they only had one left – the rest were these triangle pins that weren’t as neat.

We went and got a Fastpass for Splash Mountain, since we figured we’d want to go on it later, since it was getting pretty hot. But first, we were rarin’ for sum good old grub from Cookie’s wagon! And by that, I mean we went to Pecos Bill’s for lunch! Lou got pulled pork, and I got the Taco Salad… and by Taco Salad… I mean… this.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1569.jpg

I went a littttttleeeeeeee overboard on the Cheese Sauce! But it was soooo good!

Even if it does look like throw up. Gross.

After lunch, it was time to go on Splash Mountain! The Standby time said 10 minutes, but that was sooooo a lie. I am glad we got the Fastpasses, even if the return time was 40 minutes from then. I would have rathered gotten lunch in those 40 minutes than wait in line. I did feel bad though – that was one of the few times I felt bad using Fastpass, because I wondered how many people thought the wait really was 10 minutes.

The boat kept stopping, so I was able to get a few good photos without flash for once:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1577.jpg

After Splash Mountain, we were in the adventurous mood, so we headed off to explore Tom Sawyer Island! Well. That’s a lie. I wanted to do Big Thunder Mountain, but didn’t want to wait, so we got Fastpasses and then decided to go to the island. This is a hidden gem, it really is. I love it, even if Aunt Polly’s is NEVER open, and the water fountains are gross.

We really take our time here – we sat down near the Haunted Mansion and took photos (get ready to laugh).

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1618.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1621.jpg

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http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1633.jpg


We explored every trail there is, along with all the caves, and then headed up to Lookout Point, where I look like Sam Eagle:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1650.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1651.jpg


After that, we headed over to the Fort, and played a nice, wholesome game of checkers. Well, that is, until I lost. If the board wasn’t on a barrel, I would have flipped it. I was winning right until the end!!!!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1661.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1662.jpg


After Lou went up to the towers and played with the fake guns a bit more, we headed back to the mainland. Turns out that Big Thunder Mountain wasn’t working. So I waited about 5 seconds, decided to give up on waiting for it to be fixed, since we had gone on it on Tuesday, and headed over to the Haunted Mansion. Again, I “took some photos of tombstones” to fill all available space, and I actually got photos of Madame Leota’s tombstone with the eyes open and closed:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1674.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1675.jpg


The ride was as creepy as ever (Did I mention how I HATE those heads popping out of the tombstones! But other than that, loveee it!), and the wait wasn’t bad at all. We never did get to go on the Liberty Belle, which I was pretty sad about. But we did get to go to the Hall of Presidents – and I actually paid attention this time! It was good, and I teared up a bit… and then we went to the gift shop! Lou had seen this Presidential Poster that he wanted – it has all the presidents on it, and one of the funniest parts is that Nixon is being a creeper in the background, with his hand on someone else’s shoulder, just smiling. That was worth the 15 bucks for Lou. I bet it’s still rolled up though…

After that, we headed over to Adventureland for… what else? Dole Whips!!! Well.. first we got a Dole Whip. And then Lou decided he wanted to try a Citrus Swirl. Don’t do it! It’s just a soft-serve Creamsicle, and totally not worth the snack credit…

After those, we were in a swashbucklin’ mood, so we headed back to Pirates!

And you know what? For once, this ride scared me. First, I was so mad, because people kept taking photos, even though the ride CM came over the speaker at least 3 times to tell them to stop. They didn’t. So I was not in a good mood… and then came the unloading part, where I got scared. This woman got off the boat in front of us, and then collapsed right into the wall by the trashcan. I don’t know if she fainted, or tripped, or what, but she went down. I wasn’t sure if we should go help her, but I knew that the CMs had it under control, and I didn’t want to get in the way and cause a scene… I really hope she was okay! :sad2:

I think we went back on the Jungle Cruise here – and had a reallyyyy lame skipper compared to Jonathan from the first day. I did not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed his, and neither did Lou. So we were like “meh” after that, and decided to walk through the giant stores on Main Street. We tried on hats, posed with statuettes, and just enjoyed outselves in the air conditioning – that was nice.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1681.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1683.jpg

And then I decided that I wanted Lou to get a Silhouette. I had gotten one earlier, and it was awesome, so I wanted one to put in the scrapbook – I should have gotten it done when I had mine done. I am glad it wasn’t that much, because JEEZ. He had a neck like a giraffe, (along with this little point sticking out) and a back like Quasimoto… don’t believe me about how terrible it is? Here:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/Photo39.jpg

Mine was amazing compared to this, and I already thought mine was pretty good…

It was nearing time to leave, so we finished looking around on Main Street (We went in Arribas Brothers – wow! Really neat, really expensive things there…), and headed out. Mickey had a message for us though:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1689.jpg

I was crying when we left :sad2: – looking back at that castle and knowing that’s the last time you’re going to see it that close for a while is a sad feeling.

But now we had a dinner with Cinderella to get to!

However… I think I’ll be stopping here. Does this reallyyyy long update suffice as an apology to everyone about how long I’ve been gone? I’m so sorry!!!!! :(

However, before I go, I do have news. Sunday night (last Sunday) I decided to try for the College Program again. I’m not going to be as crushed if I don’t get in this time – I won’t be getting a consolation trip again, haha. We’re just going to go see the Christmas Carol instead. We’re going to see it either way, actually. But this way makes sure.

I did the application and passed the web interview on Sunday, which allowed me to call and set up a phone interview. I called Monday and set up the interview for Tuesday. So that’s all done, and I think I did okay… now I just have to wait and see. I know I have so much at school, and I don’t know if I can drop everything if I get in, but I’d like to think that I have a chance this time.

We’ll see. I’ll report back when I find out! But either way, I’ll be going to Disney next year, whether it be for work or to be with my family. :teeth:

[Mickey_Mom]

Yowsers! What an incredible update! :cool1:

We haven't done a park opening in four trips but you got a lot done already in your morning in Fantasyland. Makes me almost want to consider a park opening..... almost. :rotfl:

Man I suck at Buzz... I'm still sticking with my car had something wrong with it, do do do... :rolleyes1

Your Laugh Factory experience was too funny! I love where you have to pick out a number and then to come back to your joke too... bwaaaahaaa :rotfl2:

I really like your Astro Orbiter pics, I'll have to try that!

Mmmmm cream cheese pretzel... can't wait to try that, salty cream cheese... mmmmmm....

Tea cups... barf!

Lou with Zurg... not a happy camper are we?

I'm super hungry right now and that taco salad-o-cheese looks devine! I loooooove cheese :worship:

Tom Sawyer Island! I've never been and I really wanted to in August. Pout. Argh! I really REALLY have to go now!

Four trips and I still haven't had a dole whip! So many new things left to do! Guess I'll have to go again! :laughing:

Yikes with the Pirates lady! You need a do-over ;)

Mmmm, Lou's silhouette is a tad unusual.. you'll have to get a profile pic of him the same and do a side by side!

We made an extra special purchase in Arribas Brothers in DTD... next up in my TR! :rolleyes:

Good luck with the college program!!!! Fingers and toes crossed! ....and wahoo to your next trip!

Excellent update!:banana:

[ZeroToHero]

Thank you!!!! And ooo.. you better get updating then, so I can find out what it is!!!!

[Goofy22]

Danica,

What a great update I think it suffices! :thumbsup2 I know what you mean about leaving the park for the last time! :sad1:. Can you believe I leave in 5 days to get on the road to Kindani Village it seems like it flew bye! I'm not even done my Aug/Sept TR I think I have 2 days left! I have to get that done I planned on doing some this weekend but got to busy to!!:guilty:
I really hope you get in to the College program that would be to cool!
Good luck with that and make sure you come back and let us know how you did! :flower3:

[jenseib]

I love your updates. Thanks! I was wondering what happened, but figured you got busy with school.

[ZeroToHero]

Yeah, school has been crazy these past few weeks - between finals and all these papers suddenly getting assigned, I haven't had time to write a few pages up about the trip.

By the way, I love the picture of Claire on the carousel!!! That's so cute!

[BelleBway]

I haven't even checked the disboards in forever so I can't believe my luck to check right after a new update! LOL

I'm actually working on posting my own trip report on my site... finally...

[ZeroToHero]

Yay!!! Let me know when it's up!

[New England Eeyore]

Good luck with the college program! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[jenseib]

Thanks!

[ZeroToHero]

Alright, so I got a letter from Disney yesterday!!!!!

I am........


Pending!!!!! :headache:

However, pending is way better than an outright "no," and it also means that I still have a shot - they might want me, but there's not room, maybe?

We'll see..... good news so far... just have to wait and see.

[jenseib]

Thats awesome!!!!!!! :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

pixiedust:pixiedust:pixiedust:pixiedust:pixiedust:

[joy13]

All caught up! Good luck on your "pending" application!

[Goofy22]

I'm back had an amazing stay at akv ! Congrats on your pending application I'm sending some pixie dust your way:wizard:
Hopefully I'll finish my old TR tommorrow and maybe not sure start an akv one .

[ZeroToHero]

Alright! Finals will be done on Wednesday, and then I can really work on this and finish it up!!!! I need to do this to work on Lou's Christmas present (it's a surprise, so I can't say any more here), because I need this done to help me finish it up.... I'll take photos of it to show you guys after I give it to him.

In other news - there is no news yet! I got an email telling me I'd hear by the 18th... so that's Friday. I will have an update for you all then, be it good or bad. :)

[Mickey_Mom]

Good luck on your exams and fingers are still crossed that you get GOOD news! (Hurry up Disney, its really tough to do a lot of things with your fingers crossed! :rolleyes:)

[ZeroToHero]

Hahahahaha - I'm amazed you typed so well then!

[ZeroToHero]

Welcome back, everyone!

We last saw Mickey telling us he’ll see us real soon, as we were walking out of the Magic Kingdom to catch the monorail to the Grand Floridian. When we got off, we had a lot of time, so we were able to walk around and explore the Grand Floridian, which was really fun! It’s very pretty – and has some cool shops, like Basin! We spent pretty much all of our time in there…

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1696.jpg

We ended up buying a few things, after smelling everything around. I got a bath bomb to put in the whirlpool tub (the best, most giant footbath I ever had later that night), and Lou got a soap to give to his sister. I guess she hasn’t used it yet, and he wants to – but it smells like candy, so he has quite a conundrum – he doesn’t want to smell like candy, he just likes the smell of it. :rotfl:

So after getting our purchases, we decided to go down the stairs to the lobby. I asked him to take a picture of me going down the stairs (I wanted a Scarlet O’Hara-like picture, but without the falling…), so what does he take? This.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1698.jpg

He then tried taking one of me from the bottom of the stairs, but it’s blurry. Sigh. Oh well. This is why I have the camera, I guess.

So we headed over to 1900 Park Fare (we got a little lost in the lobby, since they’re doing work, some parts were closed off – although I will say we found out by getting to a dead-end that they have really nice bathrooms…) and waited for our table. It really wasn’t a long wait at all – I asked about the cake, and they had our little receipt for it right there, which was great. I think we were the only ones that night who were getting one, because it was the only slip of paper I saw.

We got our photo taken in front of the mural on the wall, and when they called our name, headed in. After looking around, we didn’t see any characters who were close to our table, so we went up and got food really quick:

Lou’s food, with his strawberry soup, that he said was really good. I think it wasn’t bad… I dunno, I liked the real desserts better:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1705.jpg

My food – we both went back up, but I only got pictures of the first plates. They seemed to have this ethnic sort of thing, each part of the buffet was a different country’s cuisine. It was really good, I was able to find plenty that I liked! And each side is different, so you have to walk the whole length.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1706.jpg

And then it was time for characters!!!!!

Cinderella came by and checked to see if we were having a good time – we definitely were, and I got a photo with her – props to Lou for the best photos he’s taken - all these character pictures were good!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1707.jpg

And yes, by that rear end in the last photo, you can see who’s next: Prince Charming! Or… should I say.. Prince-not-so-Charming? “Why do you say that, Danica?” you’re asking? Well – remember all of your princes? Yeah. I would have taken any of them over this guy.





http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1708.jpg

See? Yeesh!!!!! He told Lou they must stand like gentlemen… complete with holding their stomachs in, I guess? Lou had said before this that he didn’t want a picture with the characters… so thank you for doing it for me! Now I have this hilarious memory documented.

The stepmother came by next, I think – but she didn’t stop for pictures. She just checked to see how everything was going. I think she didn’t want to hang out with teenagers… she was young herself, but maybe thought we were going to be jerks? I dunno… oh well. Definitely in character!

Then the stepsisters came by – they were fun! They were asking about my prince, and how we were liking it, and I said they needed to find one, and… I forget exactly what we talked about. I think I pointed some guy out. Haha. But Anastasia took a nice photo with me, and then I asked if we could do silly faces, and she was like “Of course!”

So here’s the nice one:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1709.jpg

And the silly one:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1710.jpg

Then Drizella came by, and I got a photo with her too, after talking to her – she asked Lou a few questions, talked to me… I really wish I remember what we talked about, but I was too anxious waiting for the cake to come, and hoping everything would be great… but here’s the picture of us!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1711.jpg

Around us, these little be-decked children (who had just come from BBB, I think) were getting free giant birthday cupcakes… and being brats about everything! They were not so princessey. So they were getting their cupcakes, and I was like “ooo, I can beat that…” and then it came out! I was watching for our cake… and then I saw our waitress bringing it. It was sooooo cute!

Now a few (….or so) cake pictures.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1712.jpg

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http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1728-1.jpg

It was delicious, and even the flowers were edible! (But I didn’t eat them… we just nibbled a little bit) And I found a Hidden Mickey! I almost ate it, but took a picture first! Definitely worth it, it was sooo good. A woman also came over and said “Congratulations” which was really nice of her. :)

And then Cinderella and Prince Charming danced – first with each other, and then they picked kids… except Cinderella’s “prince” bailed on her, so she ended up dancing with a little girl, it was cute.

These were taken from my seat, so you have an idea of where we were – we were on the perimeter of the main room, with the buffet to our left.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1731.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1733.jpg

Jeez, it looks like Prince Charming is smacking her in the last one – I think he was bringing her out of a spin.

So even though we were done, we had yet to get our photos, but I knew they wanted to get our table cleaned and ready for the next people, so we left. But before us, the people at the next table had left – and you know what? Their little princesses had gotten giant plates of desserts, and completely ignored their giant birthday cupcakes. I was shocked. But they had licked the icing, so it wasn’t like we could ask the waitstaff if we could take them, so the food wouldn’t be wasted… but we did steal some of the confetti that was around the plate. Hehehehehe. It was little golden carriages… they’ll look very nice on my scrapbook page about the cake.

So Lou and I left, and I asked as we were leaving about our photos… they were so sorry, and would bring them right out. Lou went outside to the Mary Poppins garden to call his family, and I waited in the desk area for the photos – they finally brought them, so I bought them, since they were pretty nice.

After that, we were supposed to head back to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours – but we had finished everything earlier in the day! So we decided to skip that, and go back to Downtown Disney, because Lou wanted to walk around more, and I didn’t remember everything. We went over to the bus stop, and the first bus to come by was the Downtown Disney bus, which was great.

After a short ride, we got off at Downtown Disney, and went shopping! We walked around Tren-D, World of Disney, Once Upon a Toy, Goofy’s Candy Co., the Christmas shop, the Art of Disney, etc, etc. A lot of our shopping for our families was done here… and for ourselves.

We got another Nightmare shirt (I think this one was for me), some Mickey earrings, shirts for his sister and mom, I think his Dad got a shirt too… I can’t tell from the receipts. And we also went to the Art of Disney and he got a statue of Jack, while I ordered a drawing of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. I was told I could pick it up tomorrow, so we had to come back tomorrow night, but that was fine… or so I thought.

While we were in the World of Disney, Lou was shopping for his family, so I went out to call my parents. And unbeknownst to me, while I was out there (for a while), Lou picked me out a Baby Zero and had it sent back to the resort! :teeth: That was a very nice surprise for the next night – and I needed it. Again, you will see why... the next night was… not a highlight.

Our shopping done, and our arms loaded down with purchases, we caught the bus back to our room, where we unpacked, and realized that tomorrow was our last full day, and we would need to pack tomorrow night. That was pretty sad, but we still had the whole day to get through first! So while he was organizing his gifts and watching some TV, I went and used my bath bomb from Basin – it smelled really good – I definitely will repeat that purchase in the future!

And then it was time for bed, because tomorrow we’re headed back to Epcot! And it’s our anniversary day!

Only two more days to finish up, and then I’m done!!!!! (I’m hoping to have this done by Christmas… that means it only will have taken me 4 months since leaving… yeesh).

Of course, you’ll still have to stick around, so I can show you all the scrapbook pages…

[joy13]

What a great evening! We liked Park Fare's food too (well Doug and my SIL did - I didn't eat much, but that's a story coming in my TR).

[jenseib]

Wonderful update.
I have eaten at 1900 twice for dinner and have never yet had the photographer out in the lobby to take pictures. We probably wouldn't buy one anyways, but have yet to see it even offered. You must post yours for us to see!

[ZeroToHero]

I will! I need to scan all the photos in at some point... tomorrow is my last final, and then I have a paper to turn in later this week, and I'm done!

[DisneysRedhead]

Just started reading your TR but I love it! That's so awesome about Lou getting to go American Idol! I wanted to do it on our trip, but since it was my DH's first time I didn't want our entire day consumed by it. Maybe next time, glad to get a feel for the process!

Also that cake looks adorable and delicious!

[ZeroToHero]

Thanks for coming by!

It's definitely an experience, and if you're already doing the photopass, you get amazing, amazing pictures (and a lot of them!). I agree though, for a first trip, it's not worth taking up the whole day. I love the phrase "next time" - there will always be a next time!

And the cake was super cute and delicious - if you want something small (and relatively inexpensive) I totally recommend it. And it doesn't take up any room in your suitcase coming home!

[OneTreeHillAddict]

I can't wait for you to update... this is where it starts getting really good!

And we're booked for the 18th to the 29th, I think. We have a room-only the first night, and then we switch over to the package, because you can only do 10 nights, and we have 11 nights. October is a good time to go too though, especially if you want to use up that extra time on your APs. :)

10 days!? I booked my FDBB for 14 nights! Two rooms! It used to be 10 but they changed it a couple of years ago. I just read all of the new updates. Your PP pics are really good. I didn't look at them on the disc...I just uploaded them as like a 4x4 pic so I never saw them full sized. GREAT shots. Love the Stitch/ice cream one. :goodvibes

[ZeroToHero]

10 days!? I booked my FDBB for 14 nights! Two rooms! It used to be 10 but they changed it a couple of years ago. I just read all of the new updates. Your PP pics are really good. I didn't look at them on the disc...I just uploaded them as like a 4x4 pic so I never saw them full sized. GREAT shots. Love the Stitch/ice cream one. :goodvibes

Oooo.... I didn't know that. Oops. Oh well. It wouldn't have changed how we booked, I think? I'll go tell my mom.

And yes, I love them! The Stitch ice cream one is funny, I can't believe the woman was like "ehhhh" when I asked if I could have it, since she had JUST done it for other people! Maybe it was my age. :sad2:

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Oooo.... I didn't know that. Oops. Oh well. It wouldn't have changed how we booked, I think? I'll go tell my mom.

And yes, I love them! The Stitch ice cream one is funny, I can't believe the woman was like "ehhhh" when I asked if I could have it, since she had JUST done it for other people! Maybe it was my age. :sad2:

So def change your rm only to FD too. You can always use extra meals if ya get in late. Do a dinner show or something. I had those pics made one time. The PP person acted annoyed then too. Said they could only do them from 2-3 or some mess like that. (But woo hoo I would get an exception....:rolleyes:) Stupid people! If its offered and someone asks for it they should do it happily!

[Goofy22]

Hey!Danica,
I haven't been on here for awhile but I wanted to see how you made out with the Disney College acceptance? Also I have my BB booked for 14nights the thing w/ 10 days is the park hopper you can book the FDP for the 14 days( Because you recieve free dining for the number of nights spent at the resort) but the most you can get a park hopper for is 10 days. So usually our first night we don't do anything so that's one night down and we plan on doing the halloween party thats why were doing the 14 days so that's 2 days then we have 2 days to spend w the cousins or do whatever we want.

[joy13]

Hey - how's it going? We miss you!

[ZeroToHero]

Hahaha - I'm so sorry! School is absolutely insane! I'll work on an update this weekend, and try to have it up in the next week. There are only two more days to go, and I already wrote up an outline, planning on getting this done.

[joy13]

Hahaha - I'm so sorry! School is absolutely insane! I'll work on an update this weekend, and try to have it up in the next week. There are only two more days to go, and I already wrote up an outline, planning on getting this done.

Dang school and real life getting in the way! :scared: ;) Don't stress yourself out - just glad all is well - that you're just busy!

[jenseib]

I too, wondered what happend to you!

[ZeroToHero]

I'm sorry! Life got in the way. But I'm back now, and I have an update! :) It just took a really long time - hopefully it's worth it.

Why, hello there! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

What’s happened since we last talked:
- I was pending for the College Program- well, I didn’t get in, because there was no room.
- Applications opened up for this Fall, so I applied again. People are already hearing back, so I’ll hear, either way, probably in the next week or so.
- Lou got another PIN code, so we booked a 6-day trip for May, for our actual 3-year anniversary. We’ll be eating at Yak & Yeti for our anniversary… not my idea of romantic, but hey. :rotfl:


So let’s begin again, shall we?

Monday, the 31st – Epcot!
And our “anniversary”! It was 2 years and 3 months today, but this was our belated anniversary present, so we donned our little red anniversary pins and headed to Epcot bright and early.

So early, in fact, that we were some of the first people in line. And guess what? When they came around to pick the Family of the Day, they picked….. the people right next to us! (Seeing their reaction was great, they were so surprised!)

When they let us in the park, Lou and I made it right up to the rope, so we could head to Test Track like we did the first day. And lo and behold, did you know they pick two families of the day? Yep! They do. And it was… the family next to us again! We must have been a lucky charm or something, it was hilarious.

When the characters came out to say good morning to everyone, I was taking photos, and when I was taking one of Minnie, she must have seen our pins, because she came over and gave us a hug. I was not prepared for that, so this is the picture I have:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1748.jpg


Wayyyy too close! Haha. But all the characters saw our pins and were shaking our hands or doing some sort of happy miming motion, so that was really neat! Pluto gave us a high five or waved, I can’t quite tell from the photo I have of him.

When the rope dropped, we headed straight for Test Track. We were so speedy (even though we were walking) that we got to be in the 3rd car. For some reason, the ride kept stopping, and that was really sad, because it wasn’t as good as it usually is. But when we got back to the enter/exit line, there was no line! It was weird. And so they asked if we wanted to go again. We were like “REALLY!?!?!? YES!”

So we got to ride again, and this ride was way better. I even got a picture of the crash-test dummy with the Goofy hat!
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1767.jpg

After that, we headed over to Mission Space, and performed excellently.

Then, we went to the Seas, but I don’t know what we did in here, if we just went in to look around, or if we did any attractions. At some point, we did Ellen’s Energy Adventure, which was way better than I expected – I was amazed at how many people it seats- that was crazy!

After the Seas (and possibly Ellen) we headed over to the Land, to go on Soarin’. It seems like we had gotten Fastpasses before going to the Seas & Ellen. Soarin’ was awesome like always – I love that ride. And I am now set in trying out Sunshine Seasons for lunch on a future trip, because it smells awesome!

At this point, we decided to head over to the World Showcase, because we were getting hungry, and we still had a lot of countries to go through. While we were in Future World, we had gotten a Kim Possible “Fastpass,” so we could do the World Showcase Adventure. It was really fun, and I definitely recommend it. Lou didn’t think he’d like it, but he actually did, and we did a few countries.

However, I’m getting ahead of myself. We started on the Mexico side of the World Showcase, and got lunch at La Cantina.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1807.jpg

Yum, churros!

After Mexico, we went to Norway, where we explored the Stave Church, and walked around. You know how they have that Viking exhibit in the church? Well, the figures are behind glass, and it’s really clear glass, and I almost didn’t notice it, but did at the last second. So while I’m looking at one of the displays, this woman comes over, and leans over to get a closer look, and SMACK, right into the glass! :rotfl:

I was trying so hard not to laugh, so I asked her if she was okay, and then moseyed out of there. Outside, I started laughing, and then the door to the church started opening. I expected it to be Lou, wondering where I went, but it wasn’t, it was that woman. So I quickly stopped laughing and turned, and started taking photos.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1819.jpg

See, isn’t this an awesome stove thing? Oh man, I felt so bad, but I couldn’t help it. After I went back in and told Lou, we left, and decided to go to the Kringla Bakery, to get some of this School Bread I heard everyone talking about. Yum, it wasn’t bad, for something with coconut on it! We then went and explored the Puffin’s Roost store, and tried on some hats. Do we make good blondes? :lmao:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1820.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1821.jpg

While there, they had these section that was all beauty products. We found this really nice cologne, “Geir,” that I liked wayyy better than Lou’s current cologne. So I said I’d get this for him as an early Christmas present if he would toss his old one, which he agreed to. Best 55$ I’ve ever spent. Haha. I even got a free sample of the Laila women’s perfume, which is really nice too!

So now he smells like Norway when he dresses up for work or fancy occasions. :rotfl:

We moved on to China, where we did our Kim Possible Mission #2 (having solved #1 in Norway). After wandering around, we went into the Golden Temple and tried that echo thing in the middle of the room – it worked! That was pretty cool.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1831.jpg

After China, we had a mission in Germany, so we headed there. Even though we had dinner at Germany a few nights before, we didn’t get to look around, so we wandered while doing our mission. I had a near-death experience when I sat down for a break, but don’t worry, I’m okay! :lmao:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1839.jpg

That will teach me to sit on the edge of a well!

After Germany came Italy, where we explored a bit more, since we had to rush the other nights to make dinner reservations. Lou bought his brother a shirt here, and showed me how to speak Italian:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1861.jpg

(Don’t worry, he is Italian, so I’m not making an insensitive comment! :lmao: )

We browsed through America, but didn’t find too much that was fun – we didn’t get to see the show, I forget why. It may have been that we wanted to make the candy show in Japan. While walking through America though, this Cast Member gave us some Mickey stickers to stick on near our pins – they were cute.

Speaking of Japan, this is where we headed next. Even though we had already been here, we wanted to explore some more, and I wanted to get some candy! We did the Kim Possible mission, and decided to stop here, so we deposited the Kimmunicator in its little drop-box, and went shopping! I got some socks with the toes (they’re very cute), and a lot of candy that we ate later that night, while packing. I also got a Pick-A-Pearl slip, to do after the candy show.

After shopping, I headed out to where Lou was holding a spot for us to watch the candy show. The show was great, and since I had a whole bunch of pictures from the first ones, I didn’t have my camera out this time. For her last candy animal, she pointed in our direction and said “What would you like?” This guy next to me (who was probably about our age, maybe a little younger) yelled “A Dragon!” And she was like “No, not you, the girl next to you.” And that was me! So I was like “Oh! Uhm! A…white tiger, please.” And she was like “Huh? An all white tiger?”

“Oh, no. Sorry. A white tiger with black stripes.” And so that’s what she made me! And I still have it! Although a few of its toes broke off on the way home, it’s still really cool!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1892.jpg

It almost time for dinner, but first I got another pearl, and had it set in a necklace to match my earrings. After that, it was time to head to dinner with our favorite chef, Remy!

[ZeroToHero]

We didn’t have too long of a wait to get into Chefs De France, and our waiter, Kevin, was very nice. I made the mistake of answering his question in French, and when he started actually speaking to me, I was like “Woah, no, sorry.. that was about all I could say.” I should brush up on it for next time.. haha.

For dinner, Lou got the duck, and I got the beef. It was all really good, but my only complaint was that I could taste the grill lines, which made a really good, tender piece of steak not as good as it could be.

Lou’s:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1898.jpg

Mine:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1899.jpg


For dessert, he got the Chocolate Cake, and I got a Crème Brulee.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1909.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1910.jpg


Between dinner and dessert, however, guess who came to visit?

That’s right! Remy!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1907.jpg

He was SUPER cute, and when “told” it was our anniversary, he did a little dance and went “Ta-daahhh!”

It was quite adorable.

After dinner, we were stuffed, but knew we had a couple snack coupons remaining – and decided to get that delicious chocolate mousse from France for the last time in a while. Yum yum yum.

We decided that it was time to head back to the resort, because we had to start packing, and we also wanted to go to Downtown Disney to pick up my Beast photo.

While walking back to Future World, we were headed through Canada when Lou willingly offered to take this photo:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1912.jpg

I think it turned out really cute! I was surprised he offered, Disney really is magical! It was our last full day, and it was almost over, which was pretty sad. But this was still a beautiful sight as we were leaving:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/faerietithe/TripReport/100_1915.jpg



While walking out, we walked past the Art of Disney store, and I decided to stop in and look at what they had. Lou waited outside while I got my parents a David Doss print called “Summer Magic,” which has buckets with the four Disney parks and the Cruise Line on them, sitting on the beach. It also has Hidden Mickeys.

I figured that would be a good anniversary present for them (they liked it a lot! It’s in our living room right now), since we’re going to Disney for their 25th anniversary in August.

When I was paying for it, the Cast Members at the desk asked me if I had been wished a Happy Anniversary by Mickey and Minnie yet today. I said that Minnie had hugged us, is that what they meant? Nope – they picked up the phone and called a number, and handed me the phone. Mickey and Minnie were on the line, and they sang this cute little song about having a great anniversary. It was really cute, and I asked if I brought Lou in, if they would play it again? They said yes, so I ran outside to where Lou was waiting, and said there’s someone on the phone for him. He was like “Huh?” I was like “There’s someone on the phone for you! Come on!” So he came in, and listened, and he thought it was really cool too! He was very puzzled at first, since he thought it was his family calling, and he couldn’t figure out how they knew where we were… hahaha.

After he hung up, the Cast Members gave us a Magical Moments certificate, which was really cool! I saved it, and will be scrapping it!

And that is where the title of this trip report comes from!


So we left Epcot, and headed home, for Saratoga Springs. Lou and I decided that I would go to Downtown Disney alone, to get my Beast photo, and he would go to the main building, to pick up anything we sent back to the room, so we could save time.

Of course, on the bus ride home, it started POURING. And I was like “Oh man, I don’t want to wait for the Downtown Disney bus in THIS!” I had my poncho, but I didn’t have it on yet. We were the only people on the bus, and the bus driver heard, and said “Oh, wait, there’s the Downtown Disney bus there!” So we followed it, and I jumped off at the next stop (since there are about 5 stops in Saratoga Springs), and tried to catch it. But even though the driver saw me, she still pulled away from the curb and drove off. She had JUST started closing the doors when I ran off my bus, so her later excuse of that she can’t stop after pulling away from the curb was a lie – she hadn’t moved yet.

So it was pouring rain, and I hopped back on my original bus soaking wet and disappointed… but our really nice bus driver was like “Wow, what a jerk! We’ll get her.” At the next stop, he pulled up so she couldn’t pull away this time, essentially blocking her in at the curb. I was prepared this time, with a poncho, and when I got on, she didn’t even say sorry, she just gave me that excuse about pulling away. I was like “Uh huh.” and sat down. All the people on the bus were like “We told her to wait, but she wouldn’t – we’re so sorry!” It was okay at that point though, I just wanted to get my picture and go back to the room.

I ran off the bus to grab the photo, thanked the artist, who was still there, because she had drawn a pretty purple border on it, and decided that I wanted to try to get something for Lou – there was a book he wanted, and we had only seen in one place – I went all over Downtown Disney looking for it, in the rain, but had no luck. Finally, someone at World of Disney gave me a number to call, and I ran back to catch the bus.

I made it, and called while on the bus. Turns out this book was only available in that one store at Hollywood Studios, and so I thanked them, and said if I couldn’t make it there tomorrow, I would call and order it to be shipped to my house.

While on the bus, there was this group of kids with a few parents who got on at the West Side/Pleasure Island (?) stop – whatever stop isn’t the Marketplace. They were SOOOOO loud! After they got off at the first stop at Saratoga, everyone breathed a sign of relief and started talking about them – they weren’t just excited-kid loud – they were shouting so loud that no one else could hear themselves talk. And then the parents, to no avail, were shouting over them to tell them to shut up.

But at least I had my picture!

After getting back to the room, soaking wet, eardrums blown out, and tired, Lou was there with a present for me! Baby Zero was mineeee!!!!! He still is on my bed every night, with my other Disney stuffed animals Lou has gotten me.

Now it was time to pack. As the night wore on, Lou got grumpy, and stopped packing, while I was doing load after load of laundry (after removing a previous guest’s underwear from the washer with the kitchen tongs – gross!) Around 1 am, we were all done, and collapsed after taking photos of the room. He finally apologized for being grumpy – I think we were both really tired of packing (I was trying to fit 5 bags worth of stuff into 4, and had to figure out what I wanted to throw out and what I wanted to keep), and we didn’t want to go home. But we had to… but we still have one more day left!

And so ended our last full day…. It was really fun, and a great almost-ending to our trip.

[jenseib]

Wonderful update. And how exciting that you are going back in May!!!!! I am jealous of course!
What a jerk of a bus driver! At least the other one was cool! :)
I hope school is going well for you. And I hope you make it into the fall program.

[joy13]

Great update!!! So many nice things - short of the crabby bus driver and loud kids! Sounds like you really got a lot done at Epcot that day - very nice!

[ZeroToHero]

We really did!

Thank you for kicking my butt to get this done - I kept wanting to work on it, but was too lazy to pull all my notes, receipts, and pictures together to figure out the day.

[Mickey_Mom]

Wow! What an update! You got so much done, you two are shopping fiends!

I sometimes think I want to have a meal with Remy but then I change my mind....

[ZeroToHero]

I liked it! All except the burnt steak. Ick.

I don't know if it's worth it if you just want to go for Remy though... you'd have to want to eat there to justify it... Lou said his duck was great though.

[Mickey_Mom]

I liked it! All except the burnt steak. Ick.

I don't know if it's worth it if you just want to go for Remy though... you'd have to want to eat there to justify it... Lou said his duck was great though.

Actually it's Remy that's holding me back. He's cute and all but it kinda creeps me out just a teensy bit. The food sounds great and I'm almost convinced but.... I don't know.

[ZeroToHero]

:rotfl: I seeeee. Well, he stops meeting at 6, so if you had a later dinner, would that work? And I feel like he may not meet on certain days of the week (Sundays?)

Did I mention before how Lou thought that when they brought you your food, Remy was sitting in it? I had to explain to him that no, it was a platter with fake food that they wheeled around... they wouldn't stick a robot in a real dish of food. :lmao:

[Goofy22]

Dropping bye to say HI! I have so much catching up to do been MIA!!! :scared1:

[ZeroToHero]

Good to see you back! I hope everything is going okay - life here is pretty normal.

Nothing from the College Program yet - people are hearing back, but I have yet to get anything. My four week mark is Friday, and they said it could take 4-6 weeks to hear back. Some people have heard back early though.

In other news, it is 100 days until our May Trip today! I was considering starting a pre-trip report, just like I did for this one on 100 days, but I realized that that's way too much time to fill, so I think I'll start it when we're closer.

[Goofy22]

Good to see you back! I hope everything is going okay - life here is pretty normal.

Nothing from the College Program yet - people are hearing back, but I have yet to get anything. My four week mark is Friday, and they said it could take 4-6 weeks to hear back. Some people have heard back early though.

In other news, it is 100 days until our May Trip today! I was considering starting a pre-trip report, just like I did for this one on 100 days, but I realized that that's way too much time to fill, so I think I'll start it when we're closer.

AWESOME! Your going back in May! Then August lucky You! :):thumbsup2

[jenseib]

You need to finish this one first!!! LOL! :lmao:

[ZeroToHero]

So I have great news! I'm going to Disney World!!!!

....to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, I got into the College Program! Finallyyyyyyyyyyy!

As of right now, I have the Attractions role, which means I could be working any of the shows or rides in the parks. I get to find out what park and then what ride(s) when I get down there.

I'll post more later, after I actually accept, but right now, I just know that I have achieved what I've always wanted to do!

[Mickey_Mom]

:cool1::goodvibes:banana::goodvibes:woohoo: :goodvibes:yay::goodvibes:dance3::goodvibes :cheer2::goodvibes

[thunderbird1]

Danica!!! I'm so thrilled for you--congratulations! We want ALL the details (when you come down off :cloud9:). Can't wait to visit you in the park!

[jenseib]

How exciting! I would love to hear about it, and what the qualifications are, and what it entails> I have two college age children...that could possibly be interested if they qualify.

[ZeroToHero]

Jen - The only qualifications are that you are enrolled in college when you interview (which is the semester before you would go down), that you have a certain GPA (which varies by school, but I think it's 2.5 or something like that? That's what it is for me), and that you're at least 18 when you arrive.

So you could go to school and then work for Disney if you wanted too! As long as you're over 18, you're good!


I'll post more information later, because right now I'm trying to get them to take my arrival date - I'm having issues with the drop-down menu.. it's not dropping! I had to email tech support, and am waiting for an answer.

[BelleBway]

Congrats! Disney is very lucky to have you. Can't wait to hear about your experiences.

[jenseib]

So do you go to school down there then?

[ZeroToHero]

You can take one or two classes down there, and I may do that, but I'm not sure... there is at least one class that I want to take though.

[jenseib]

So do you just do it in the summer then?

[ZeroToHero]

Do what? The program? I'll be there from August 30th to January 7th. I'm taking a leave of absence from school.

[jenseib]

Ok.

[ZeroToHero]

Now you have to convice Skip to come down again! :goodvibes:

I am really excited to go, but this arrival date thing is driving me crazy! It just took my housing payment twice, so now I have to tell them to cancel one of those transactions.... arg! And I still haven't been able to pick my date.

[DisneymoonJess07]

That is so amazing!!! I am so happy for you!! (and a lot jealous! DH won't talk about going back yet...:( )

But yay! And I am really enjoying catching up on your TR!