2 Friends & A Ninja Turtle ~ July 2011 Trip Report - Updated 3/26 - Photo Heavy!

[Amunet]

Hello! So, I'm FINALLY writing my trip report ... after, what? 6 months? :rolleyes1
Well, better late than never!

If you didn't catch my PTR, it's here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2739272

Brief Introductions

Me! (Kris) :eeyore:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/Me.jpg
I had just turned 24 for this trip :) I LOVE Disney and am the planner of the group ^_^
Favorite Character: Ariel & Eeyore
Favorite WDW Ride: Space Mountain
Favorite WDW Food: Dole Whip Float (we call it 'Pinapple Float')

Jon :donald:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/Jon.jpg
My Hubby! He was 25 at the time of this trip. He is a bit shy when showing the 'kid' side of him ... but I think we pulled it out of him!
Favorite Character: Stitch
Favorite WDW Ride: Splash Mountain
Favorite WDW Food: Dole Whip Float

Amanda ::MinnieMo
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/Amanda.jpg
A very good friend of the family. I have known Amanda since we were 7. She's 24 here.
This was her first ever vacation to anything Disney, as well as her first ever plane trip :goodvibes
Favorite Character: Belle
Favorite WDW Ride: Haunted Mansion
Favorite WDW Food: Dole Whip Float

This is my first ever Trip Report, so please hold tight! I have no idea how this will turn out!
But I do hope you enjoy reading of our adventures and that it will bring you those magical warm fuzzy feelings :)


Purpose of trip, dates & table of contents in next post :)

[Amunet]

The Who: Jon, Amanda & Me
The Where: Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter
The When: July 26th - 31st, 2011
The Why: DH's and I 3rd Year Anniversary + Graduation Celebration + Late Bday Present (for me!) + Amanda's First Ever Disney/Plane Experience




:boat: Navigation :boat:

Pre-Trip :genie:
And I was riding the back of the Ferry ... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43902295&postcount=3)

:car: Travel Day! Day 1
Friendly Pat-Down (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43902345&postcount=4)
ありがとう ございます! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43902369&postcount=5)
I Actually Remembered! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44135508&postcount=14)

princess: Magic Kingdom Day 2
Let the Magic Begin! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44353998&postcount=16)
Look Mommy! A Ninja Turtle! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44354111&postcount=17)
Third Time's a Charm (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44354196&postcount=18)
Honeycomb & Cheese, Who Knew? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44354311&postcount=19)

:wizard: Hollywood Studios Day 3
DVC & Hollywood (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44382371&postcount=24)
Lifegauards (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44382442&postcount=25)
From Cities to Under the Sea (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44382473&postcount=26)
Fire & Water (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44382519&postcount=27)

:sunny: Typhoon Lagoon Day 4
Lazy River (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44418234&postcount=32)

Animal Kingdom Day 5
Coming Soon

[Amunet]

While the planning of this trip started months before ... the REAL trip didn't start until Amanda drove down.
You know why this is the start? Because it was the first sleepless night of the trip! :rotfl:

On July 25th, Amanda drove down (with a friend) from Washington State to Utah. The night before I had the strangest dream! Which included me riding on the back of a Ferry to sneak her over the border.

Upon arrival, after micro naps for me and barely any sleep for Amanda, we bombarded her with the WDW planning DVD as well as how our meal plan will work. Needless to say, when we went to bed that night, she was the only one that actually got sound sleep! :laughing:

Next Up
Amanda's First Airplane Ride & Disney World! :woohoo:

[Amunet]

It's Disney TIME! WAKE UP!! :scared1:
That is what my brain was saying ALL NIGHT. So at 3am, I finally decided to wake up and just do some preparations.

Was it :laundy: ? Nope. Was it Packing? No. It was ... BREAKFAST! I woke Jon up (to be honest, his brain was telling him the same thing) and we drove over to McDonalds! I know, I know, not the best breakfast in the world, but we are addicted to the breakfast sandwiches!

Jon and I both ate our noms and saved the rest for Amanda, when she woke up. Because of the day prior, Amanda got (at most) 2 hours of sleep! So she was out like a light.

I did end up taking in a 1 hour nap prior to leaving ... but we got a late start because I had temporarily misplaced my ipod, and I NEED that ipod :music: It helps with flights and it helps me mellow out at night :)

FINALLY! at 8:05am we headed out to drop off our :cat: Luna :)
Normally her foster family watches her, but this time they couldn't. So it was our first time actually staying at a cageless kitty hotel. She looked scared in her carrier when we had to drop her off :(
We would have stayed longer to help her, but due to the late start, we kind of had to just drop her off and go. It was sad, but Disney Awaited!

:drive: We made it to the airport after some *eh hem* interpretive driving by me. It took FOREVER to find a parking spot. But we finally found it. I mostly remember being really excited at this point, partly because of keeping track of the time and the other part is cause we were at the airport ... on our way!

Upon check-in, we found that we were in fact, checked in (we had some issues prior to the trip) and ended up being in row 10! Whooh! One of the firsts to get off the plane! So then, we trudged over to security ...

~ Slight Backstory ~
Okay, so, Amanda has never been on a plane in her life. So, she has never been able to experience the joys of security. Her father listens to a lot of hooplah on the radio/news and this was the time when those new scanning machines were introduced. He didn't want her going through those (I don't blame him actually), but he also was paranoid about the normal metal detectors, saying that Amanda was going to be 'felt up' by security officers.
:rolleyes2
I know, I know. We told her MANY times that it doesn't happen that way. Surprisingly, he does have a reason to believe that she would set the alarms off while walking through, hence the 'friendly pat-down notion'. Amanda also had a heart condition and was operated on at a young age. I don't know the full details but she does have a device (not pace maker) in her chest that has metal on it.

Okay, back to the trip ...

... the security lines at the Salt Lake City airport can vary depending by day and time, thankfully, since it was a rather early flight, the line was very short. Amanda was nervous and we tried our best to let her know everything she had to do and not to worry.
Jon and I went first (shoes/bags/jewelry/fillings/nose hair/etc.) and went through the normal metal detectors.

WE WEREN'T TERRORISTS! :dance3:

But, was Amanda?



Up Next
The Flight & The Mouse

[Amunet]

.... Nope! Amanda made it through security with so much as a hiccup! :cool1:

She called up her dad and told him that it went smoothly ... he replied, "Well, just wait until you have to come back." :lmao:

Just past security was a Starbucks so Jon and I decided to get some tea for the morning :) The service was CRAZY slow, which resulted in a huge line that formed behind us. Thankfully, we made it to our gate just in time and started boarding.
BUT, something else had to happen, our seats changed! Apparently, on a Delta Boeing 737-800 Passenger, the 10th row is for wheelchair people only. AND there was an older fellow that needed the row. So we then got changed to row 32 ... WAAAAY in the back. I was a bit bummed but I was a bit more okay when I found out that they were able to keep us all in the same row :)

We were finally on the plane! Then, the small child in front of us had a rather nasty accident in (which spilled out of) their diaper. Oh goodness ... it was HORRIBLE smelling. At first we thought the child just wasn't changed and were kind of irritated, then we found out the poor baby was a tad sick :( We kind of felt guilty after that. But the stewardess was very understanding and helped get the mess cleaned up.

The plane was boarded by this time and all of us were happily chewing away on our bubble gum ... you know ... to help with the pressure ... yeah ... :rolleyes:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2439.jpg
Yes, this is Amanda's excited face. We had just taken off at this point. And were officially in the air.

While Amanda doesn't seem like UBER excited, she kept smiling the whole time and said that the feeling of taking off was a cool feeling.

The flight was rather uneventful after that (yay!) and we landed around 4:30pm in Orlando! Off the plane, to the mini monorail and to ... MAGICAL EXPRESS :wizard:

We got in line and waited for only about a minute until we were summoned to get on. Unfortunately the front row was reserved, so me and Jon hopped into the second row and Amanda sat across the aisle.
Unfortunately, we had to wait on the bus for a good 20 minutes until we left. In the mean time, more families boarded and by the time we left, we were probably just under halfway full.

In close to no time, we found ourselves in front of the most beautiful sights in the world:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2440.jpg
Yeah, get a load of that shot ... I leaned WAY into the aisle for that one :rotfl:

POFQ was the 3rd stop. We got ourselves to the checkin counter and had a guy from Japan check us in! I forgot his name, but I was geeking out because we went to Japan last year and I've been taking Japanese lessons, so I was half speaking with him in Japanese (VERY simple words though).
After the check-in process, we were about to leave but he told us to hold on. He popped back out with "Happy Anniversary" Balloons for me and Jon!
We were so excited! I even got to thank him in Japanese:

ありがとう ございます!

Off to the room!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2616.jpg

We ended up being in room ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2721.jpg

This is right next to the main building and across garden from the bus stop! Top floor too, which gave a really nice view.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/th_DSCF2720.jpg (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/?action=view&current=DSCF2720.mp4)
^ Video Tour of the Room ^ Click to view :)

We really liked the room, the colors were fun! Jon and I even popped into the room before Amanda to hang up a "Welcome Amanda" sign I made :)

Of course, we couldn't stay in the room ... we had to go show Amanda the awesomeness of Disney!!

But where to?

Up Next
Stepping Into the Disney Magic
+
More photos! I took a lot of photos, but hardly any on the first day for some reason :confused3

[miprender]

:wave: Followed you over from FB.

Great TR so farpopcorn::

[Amunet]

:wave: Followed you over from FB.

Great TR so farpopcorn::

Ah! :goodvibes Hey Michelle! :hug: It's really nice to see a friendly screen name :D

Thank you! I feel really bad for not having as many photos on the first day ... well, it's something to know for next time, right?

Next post will most likely be later in the day ... as I need to sleep.

Thanks for posting! :upsidedow

[Mrs. Sojourner]

You got a great shot on ME! I love that you were able to speak Japaneese with the CM; how cool is that! And, an extra bonus that he gave you anniv. balloons! :thumbsup2 (I am hoping I can talk with the Senagaleese drummer who does shows in AK and greet him in Wolof. It would make my whole trip.) I'm really enjoying your TR and can't wait to read more...thanks for sharing!

[Amunet]

You got a great shot on ME! I love that you were able to speak Japaneese with the CM; how cool is that! And, an extra bonus that he gave you anniv. balloons! :thumbsup2 (I am hoping I can talk with the Senagaleese drummer who does shows in AK and greet him in Wolof. It would make my whole trip.) I'm really enjoying your TR and can't wait to read more...thanks for sharing!

Thank you ^_^ Yeah, it makes you feel like 'oh, I know more than I thought I did' and at the same time 'I don't know too much!'. Lol but it's cool to be able to communicate and the shock on their faces are always worth it lol

Thank you! I hope to be able to update tonight :)

[tinkerbell60]

Ok - I found my way over from the July 11 FB page! Great job so far!!! You are inspiring me to write my trip report from last summer - which I have yet to do!

[Amunet]

Hey guys ^_^ Just wanted to let you know that I may not be able to update until Tuesday due to DH's birthday coming up on Monday! Family dinner Sunday and a fun party on Monday.

If I'm able to get on, I will be sure to update though! I have lots of photos to share ^_^


Ok - I found my way over from the July 11 FB page! Great job so far!!! You are inspiring me to write my trip report from last summer - which I have yet to do!
Thank you for coming over! :D Oh, I hope you do, I'll be sure to follow it :)

[Amunet]

Hey guys ^_^ A little real life update:

It's DH's Birthday! :bday:

I made him this cool cake:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/Jon26BdayCake.jpg
Cthulhu! :goodvibes

The cookies on it are from Sweet Creatures Bake Shop (http://sweetcreaturesbakeshop.com/).
She custom made these for me! I can totally see her being used for surprise Disney Cookies, can't you?

[Amunet]

Hey guys!

I'm sorry it's been a little bit since my last update, things have been a bit crazy.

I just wanted to share some EXCITING news for you ...

We will be going on our very first DISNEY CRUISE in April! :goodvibes *admires shiny new ticker*

So, because of that. I will be starting a new PTR AND I will be updating this TR :) I will update soon!

[Amunet]

Downtown Disney!

Yup! We were off to DTD! I did a lot of research prior to this trip :surfweb: and found that you could easily take a ferry ride from POFQ to DTD. I've never done that before so I was 'on board' (:laughing:) with the idea.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2441.jpg

It was a relatively small wait and then we were off!!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2442.jpg
First 'us' photo of the trip! Don't they just look THRILLED?

I also took a small video for our trip in the ferry (click the below image):
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/th_DSCF2443.jpg (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/?action=view&current=DSCF2443.mp4)
Find out WHY the water is so brown!

And guess what? The Characters were actually in Flight!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2444.jpg

I was rather surprised that it was up, considering we had such overcast.

We got off the ferry and was immediately slapped across the face with the Christmas Store. Well, I'm a huge Christmas fan and really wanted to check it out! We found some really cute things :) Didn't buy anything but did keep a mental list.

After our very merry browsing, our tummies let us know what we were missing ... FOOD!! We were rather hungry by this point, since we really didn't have a lot of food. So where did we stop?
Cooke's of Dublin! I remember seeing this place during our Honeymoon and was curious the last time, but it was always closed by the time we got to DTD. So, this trip, it was our FIRST stop on our Discovery of Disney's Quick Service Cuisine!

While I didn't take pictures of our food (I almost always forgot to do this before we started eating :lmao:), I can tell you what we had:
Jon: Fish & Chips (The Original One & One) + Pistachio Cupcake
Me & Amanda: Chicken Strips w/ Fries+ Pistachio (Amanda) & Raspberry (me) Cupcakes.

The Fish and Chips were amazingly good! It reminded me of when DH and I went to England :thumbsup2 However, the Chicken Strips were just kind of sub-par. They were okay but WAY too much meat for me (I'm picky with meat, as it is I don't eat red meat).
I highly recommend the Fish & Chips!
The cupcakes were okay. We all agreed that there was an uneven ratio of cupcake to frosting ... WAY too much frosting! My cupcake was a bit crumbly.

Jon and I also ordered a Doh-Bar (which does not come with the dining plan). I remember watching a travel show about Ireland and the show's host had a candy bar, dipped in batter, then deep fried. Well, that is exactly what a Doh-Bar is!
I got really excited at this point and convinced Jon to buy one (to share). We chose a snicker's bar.
YOU MUST TRY ONE OF THESE!! They are delish! Just don't think about how many calories is in it :rolleyes1

This was when we stumbled into our first bump on the Disney Road. Upon looking at our receipt, I noticed we had fewer number of meals then I originally planned! I kind of freaked out (internally). We talked to the manager, which, they called the resort, to find out the problem.
They were amazingly nice and the manager was very helpful!
As odd as this sounds, there was a small highlight of this little fiasco: I actually remembered our room number!
My memory is HORRIBLE (expecially with numbers) and I was able to rattle off our room number before Amanda and Jon were able to look for their room key!
Well ... it was exciting for me anyways :cool1:

While that was all being taken care of, we realized that we just wouldn't be able to eat our fries. So, we put the leftovers in one of the fry holders (you know, the paper ones that are like a mini boat?) and put another fry holder on top, then mummified it with napkins.
I then put that in my purse :rolleyes1 No one saw that ... right?

Finally, the manager came back over and explained that we need to go to the resort to work out the meal thing at guest services. No biggie :) We said thank you and tip toed out of there with our swag.

Our tummies full ... I had one objective: Locate and buy a Pin Lanyard and an Ariel Pin!
So of course, our first stop was:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2445.jpg
"Arr!" Says Pirate Stitch

Yeah, we just had to go in. While I did find my lanyard (http://www.pinpics.com/cgi-bin/pin.cgi?pin=37770&sid=4038.1330201413.v2), I didn't find an Ariel pin to my liking. But we still browsed around and kept mental notes of things we wanted to buy. As we were browsing, I realized that my purse was digging into my neck and was very uncomfortable. The purse was a multi-pack type purse that we got during our Honeymoon :lovestruc I thought it would be really fun to have it this time. But the strap was just too thick!
I ended up buying a Disney Nerd Purse :goodvibes not the one with outside pockets, but the one that's more square.
And I still use it today!

My neck feeling better (I wear it diagonally on my body), we explored a bit more of DTD.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2446.jpg
Rawr!!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2447.jpg
Just as I was taking this photo, that kid rushed up. I was kind of annoyed but ended up having the mentality of "to another generation of Harry Potter lovers"!

We went around to various shops (no more pictures) and just had a good time soaking up the Disney vibes.

On our way out, I realized I still didn't get my Ariel pin! So we hopped into Disney's Pin Traders. It took me FOREVER, but I finally found one I was happy with: Pin #49899 (http://www.pinpics.com/cgi-bin/pin.cgi?pin=49899&sid=4019.1330201327) ^_^

We hopped back onto the ferry and said goodbye to DTD ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2448.jpg

We arrived at our resort and went straight to ... guest services? I believe. We needed to straighten out this issue of our meals!
The CM kindly told me that how I thought the meals worked ... was wrong. Turns out that I was basing the amount of meals upon when DH and I had our honeymoon ... 3 Years ago!
Back then, we had a certain allotment of meals/snacks per DAY we were there and they expired at the end of the day.
Well, how it works now (as some of you may know) is that the allotment of meals/snacks now depend on the per NIGHT that you stay and they don't expire.
This kind of threw off my planning, but I understood that sometimes things need to be changed and I wasn't too upset by it. PLUS, the snacks/meals don't expire at the end of the day! :woohoo:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day1/DSCF2449.jpg
After my chat with guest services, Jon shooed me away to talk with them. So, I took a picture of the awesomely themed chandelier :)


We then trudged to our room and had a bit of re-arranging to do with our meals. After figuring out a plan, I made a little diagram/list for Amanda and Jon to put in their bags (in case they forget). Turns out that it came in handy :)

Amanda and Jon then promptly passed out while I took notes of the happenings of the day and eventually joined them in their slumbering sighs.

Up Next
First Park of the trip!

[Amunet]

Not sure if anyone is still reading this o.O

BUT if you are. Please accept my humble appologies for taking such a long time to write. Much has been going on and an upcoming Disney cruise as distracted me :o
Though, I really hope I can finish this TR before my cruise (april 22nd).

So, lets see how this turns out ...

[Amunet]

I must say, Disney beds are MADE of dreams. The bed is so comfy!!

We woke up promptly at 6:45am! Yes, yes, I know. Early for vacation, but doggonit, we must make rope drop! Today was mine and Jon's 3rd anniversary, so we just had to go to Magic Kingdom ^_^

We managed to get our breakfast and eat pretty quickly.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2451.jpg
This is Jon's, notice the energy drink?

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2450.jpg
Mine ^_^ For some reason, I didn't get a picture of Amanda's breakfast

This was not just any breakfast, this was the day my tastebuds woke and tapdanced ^_^ This was the first time I had Mickey Waffles! I have become addicted ever since. And I believe I had the Bounty Platter every morning lol.

Back to the room we groggily woke up, showers, getting ready and such so that we were out of the room at 8:05am. I believe we waited about 10min for the bus. We were at Magic Kingdom in no time and made it to rope drop.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2456.jpg

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2453.jpg
Hi Jon!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2452.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2459.jpg

Video of Rope Drop Welcome (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/?action=view&current=DSCF2458.mp4)


With that, we all bottle necked into the Magical Place on Earth ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2455.jpg

I tried to get a reaction out of Amanda, you know, her never experiencing anything like this, it's exciting ... right?

Amanda's Excitement Video (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/?action=view&current=DSCF2460.mp4)

Yeah, apparently not what I was expecting! But hey, I was excited enough for the both of us!
Of course, we were welcomed by an old friend ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2461.jpg

And then we turn quickly to the right and head straight to Space Mountain to grab our fastpasses ^_^ We chose to do this for multiple reasons: 1) I read that riding the mountains first thing would be best. 2) I have never rode Space Mountain before.
After picking up our fastpasses, we happily skipped (quite literally too) over to BTMRR and walked right on. This was also my first time riding this ride.

BTMRR Video (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/?action=view&current=DSCF2463.mp4)

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2465.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2466.jpg

It's a fun ride to do, but not my favorite. Still, a classic. Afterwards, we were able to walk onto Splash Mountain. Now THIS is an awesome ride. Haha, we were able to talk Amanda into riding in the front. I told her that she might not get as wet cause the water will go over her head.
Well, she got soaked. But she was a good sport about it lol. Plus, it was starting to get warm, so she enjoyed cooling off.

Then, a quick jaunt over to Haunted Mansion.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2467.jpg

There seemed to be no line, so we went through the new queue.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2468.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2471.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2473.jpg

We then went to Space Mountain, I can't tell you how excited I was to ride it!
On the way, we encountered that blasted parade. It's fun! But we kept running into it during the day lol

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2477.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2479.jpg


Groove Parade Video (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/?action=view&current=DSCF2481.mp4)

Since everyone was being entertained, we thought it would be a great photo opportunity with our friend ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2482.jpg

The parade finally ended so we were able to make our way to SPACE MOUNTAIN! Yay! :cool1:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2484.jpg


The queue was pretty awesome, but since we had fastpasses, we pretty much flew right through so I wasn't able to interact much with it. We got all the way to the man to take the fastpasses without any line! Once we merged with the standby line, we did have to wait ... which was the product of this photo:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2487.jpg

Yeah, no idea why it had that blur aspect to it, we were standing still. Lol odd, right?

Well, we finally got on and my gosh ... it was MAGNIFICENT! I have to say, this became my favorite ride. So much in fact ... we picked up another FP!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2485.jpg
Yeah, notice that time? We've done all that in an hour o.o

Then, off to ...

[Amunet]

... Fantasyland!

On our way, we stopped by the teacups. I really loved the theming of this ride. It makes me want to have a spot of tea ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2489.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2490.jpg
I would love this lantern ...

We arrived in fantasyland and made a b-line to ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2491.jpg
It's a Small World!

... yes, a completely oldie but goldie! Jon and I agreed ahead of time that we had to take Amanda on this ride. So far, she's liked all the ones we've been on before ^_^

This ride was also a walk-on.

So, I took A LOT of pictures in this ride, but I'll only post a few:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2493.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2498.jpg
I love this little lamby! So cute! ^_^
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2505.jpg
Silly penguins! XD
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2513.jpg
You cannot imagine how excited I was to see these Kiwi Birds! I love Kiwi Birds ^_^
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2519.jpg

It's a Small World Video (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/?action=view&current=DSCF2514.mp4)

Amanda didn't really get the ride. Well, she got what it was about, but she didn't get why me and Jon were so excited to show her it. She did say it was cute though ^_^

So, at this time, Amanda realized that she didn't have her water bottle (which we all carried around for hydration). The last time she had it was on BTMRR, she left it on the ride. So, we trudged back to the ride. Me and Jon sat down while Amanda went back inside to retrieve her bottle.

Now, THIS is where I got the title to my trip report. You see, Jon and I brought a bandana (Jon) and a thin towel (mine, slightly larger than a washcloth). This was to wipe off sweat that accumulates on our body as well as using them to cool us by soaking them in water and putting them on our heads.
Jon had an orange bandana wrapped around his forehead, since he tends to sweat a lot from there (and would have sweated into his eyes).
So, we were sitting there and a kid walks by and says, "Look, mommy! It's a Ninja Turtle!" while pointing at Jon.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2524.jpg
This was Jon's reaction, he loved it! He's a big fan of TMNT

Soon, Amanda came back with her water bottle in hand. We told her what happened and she found it rather amusing also. Now, everything with us, we headed off to our next ride ^_^
We were passing Splash Mountain and happened upon a Brazil tour group (or two?) and I thought I'd take a picture for those that don't really know what they look like:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2525.jpg
I didn't want to be a creeper so I pretended that I was taking a picture of Jon

Thankfully, during our trip, we didn't run into any of these groups except for this one time. They were just hanging out here, looks like they were just taking a break.

So, our next ride?

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2526.jpg
Arr Matey!

Pirates! I managed to take a few photos on this ride ^_^

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http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2541.jpg

Okay, so, we're a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but after riding it this time, it didn't seem the same. It was kind of disappointing. Perhaps we remembered more action? I don't quite know but we weren't a fan of it this time around.

We ventured around and I REALLY wanted to ride the Aladdin carpets, but Jon and Amanda weren't feeling it :( So I took a nice picture instead ...
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2543.jpg

Then, we saw ... Aladdin and Jasmine! We were debating on getting in line or not, but while we were doing that, they closed the line. So, I got another photo on something I had to skip.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2544.jpg
I just LOVE this photo. Jasmine's interaction with this little girl is priceless

At this point, I was getting kind of sad and we were in adventureland ... what better to perk me up (and cool all of us down) then ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2545.jpg
Dole Whip Float!

Oh yes, yum yum! ^_^ We discovered these on our Honeymoon and I fell in love. I really do not like pineapple, most of the time it is way too tart, if not all the time. But this, this is pure sweet, but not overly sweet.
Though, I've had this treat before, I discovered something new this time around. With the way that the dole whip spirals around within the cup, it leaves an empty space in the middle. As I was nomming off the top, I nearly choked on the juice! The soft serve and the space created a straw for the juice. It was really pleasant and rather fun!

I must add here that Amanda also really loved the Dole Whip Float! She said it was her favorite food in WDW ^_^ She kept talking about it. After, we checked out some carts selling various items but ultimately passed them by because we saw that it was time to use our fastpasses again!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2547.jpg

I loved it so much AGAIN that we got another FP for it for later! XD

According to the photos, Amanda went and ate lunch at Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant. I sadly forgot to document what she got, BUT I got this pretty photo:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2551.jpg
And got to watch a bit of the show. I wished we were able to really watch it, up close.

Afterwards, we went back to Fantasyland per Amanda's request to check out the castle ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2552.jpg
Of course, I got the iconic statue/castle

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2555.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2558.jpg

I really loved these mozaics ^_^ They're adorable. And might I add, I really love the fairy godmother's look.

Jon then disappeared for a bit while me and Amanda stepped outside of the castle and found something that I did not notice upon my last time here ...

[Amunet]

... the Cinderella Fountain ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2561.jpg

It's beautiful! I love it :) There were some kids playing around it and a nice lady that let me take that picture before she took a picture of her kids on it ^_^

Jon showed up again and we just wandered around the shops for a bit. I was REALLY digging the architecture here. I would LOVE to live in a village like this ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2559.jpg
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I believe this was in the shop right across from the castle, the princess shop

We finally figure out what we want to do next, Phillar Magic! Jon and I have never done this either and I didn't know what to expect.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2566.jpg
I imagine this is what it would have looked at when the curtain went up at the beginning of the movie ... if Ariel was in her shell instead of investigating a sunken ship
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2568.jpg
Jon really liked this poster
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2569.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2570.jpg

It was AMAZING! We loved the show! We are definately making it a must see when we go back again ^_^
Afterwards, we had a lot of fun looking through the dump shop, where I noticed this ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2571.jpg
Isn't that cool!?

This was also where one of us bought something for the first time since entering Magic Kingdom. Jon bought a cute plush donald duck, for babies! Lol, he fell in love with it though so we got it. As you may have read before, Jon really enjoys Donald.

We wandered around some more and I took some more photos of the shops

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2572.jpg
Found the giant!
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2573.jpg
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This was at the bottom of the wishing well and I thought it was hilarious

At this time, we were walking the path behind/to the side of the castle and we caught a glimpse of Rapunzel!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2546.jpg

We all would have loved to meet her, but the line was crazy long. So we decided to use our fastpasses again! WHOOH Space Mountain!! I convinced Jon and Amanda to ride the whole ride with their arms in the air, SO much more fun that way!
We got off the ride and, well ... Amanda discovered that her waterbottle was missing ... again! This time, we were just walking away from the vehicle when she noticed it, so we were able to talk to the guy about it. He told us that we would have to check City Hall at the end of the day to see if it could be retrieved, since they can't shut the ride down to just look for her bottle.
I felt really guilty about this and we bought Amanda a bottled water to use until we could check for her lost water bottle.

I wanted to ride Space Mountain again but, Amanda and Jon said that 3 times is enough for one day. So, we wandered around and lingered at the entrance for the People Mover. It was temporarily stopped due to a medical issue. I have no idea what happened but there was a gourny (however it's spelt).
We did eventually get in line and on the ride.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2578.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2581.jpg

It was SO relaxing! We really enjoyed the relaxation of the ride. It was nice to just sit and chat and rest our feet. When we got off the ride, we ventured over to the DVC stand that was there in Tomorrowland. We had a blast talking to these guys and decided to sign up for one of the appointments to find out what exactly DVC is.
During this time, it started to rain. Then, it started to DOWNPOUR! HOLY MOLY! It was like someone turned on a huge showerhead with big holes, cause the drops of water were huge.
Thankfully, we had prepared and bought some tough ponchos prior to our trip.

Since this was mine and Jon's anniversary, he booked a special reservation for dinner at CRT! He surprised me with this before we left for the trip. We were keeping a close eye on the time during the whole day and were actually headed back to Fantasyland when we got distracted by the DVC booth.
So, it was this time, when the rain was pouring its hardest, when we all had to hightail it back to the castle for the reservation.

Running back was an unplanned experience, but lemme tell you, it is something we will never forget. Here we were, running/jogging through the rain. While, it's not a huge way away, the bottom of my capris still got pretty soaked.
Thankfully, we made it to under the castle relatively dry (yay ponchos!). But now, another problem. You see, since this was our anniversary dinner, we brought extra clothes (and I brought some makeup) to dress up for the occasion. Unfortunately, the bathrooms where we were planning to get ready were all the way across the way and would not be able to get there, get ready, and back in time or in any better shape then before we left.

And so commenced the most public display of getting dressed and primped.
I chose to wore capris that could be let down to look more like pants, so I just unbuttoned those. However, I planned to wear a new shirt, so did Jon. What to do? Change in front of everyone of course!
Due to the downpour, many people were under the castle, taking shelter. So, we were in a room full of people. We changed our shirts by putting it on over our other shirt and took off the first shirt underneath the second shirt.
It worked! But we got many odd looks. By this time, people were noticing what we were doing so they started backing away to let us get ready.
Now, time to put on the makeup. I'm not really the girlygirl type, so I don't exactly carry a compact around with a mirror. Hrm, reflective surface?
Sunglasses! Amanda had her sunglasses on and she put them on while I used it to put on eyeliner. Then, just a bit of perfume (some cologne for Jon) and we were ready!

We explained earlier to Amanda about our plans and she completely understood. She did not have dinner with us, but used the time to explore on her own ^_^

For those of you that have not done CRT (Cinderella's Royal Table) or have not heard of it, it is the restaurant inside of the castle ^_^ I will also be a bit more detailed in this report because I know that when researching, it really helps to decide whether to plan a certain dinner or not ^_^

After getting ready, Jon and I checked in at the counter in the castle. Upon confirming our reservation, we were called into a room where Cinderella was waiting. There were a few families ahead of us and we got in line.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2584.jpg
Window in the room, pretty!

I was told that you do not have to do this interaction with Cinderella, but it is included in the price (as is the picture you get with her).

It was our time to meet Cinderella! She was quite pleasant and inquired if Jon was my prince (yes!). She didn't interact with us as much as the kids, but it was still nice and we were not disappointed.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/CRTPic.jpg

Afterwards, we were pointed to a staircase to ascend to get to the restaurant. There is also an elevator (lift) for those people in wheelchairs or may have difficulty with stairs.

Video Going up the stairs & view of Cindy's room (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/?action=view&current=DSCF2585.mp4)

There are restrooms more than halfway up the staircase, in case you wish to get ready after the picture with Cindy (or if you don't choose to have the photo).

We got to the top and were greeted by some hostesses who told us to wait while they made sure our table was ready. We noticed that the princesses were already doing their rounds (as this is a Character meal).

I was surprised to find that Jon had requested that we be seated by the window! And we were! It was so cute. There were also castle shaped confetti on the table, a really magical touch ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2587.jpg
View towards the center of the dining area of the ceiling
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2586.jpg
Jon looking dapper ^_^
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2588.jpg
Gasp! I see a princess!
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2599.jpg
I ordered a bottle of water. They gave me a glass, but I liked drinking out of the fancy evian bottle lol

Then the princesses came around! ^_^ I was totally geeking out, you know, 24 going on 3? ...

[Amunet]

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2589.jpg
Aurora, my sister's favorite princess. She was pleasant, suggested that Jon slay a dragon for me lol

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2590.jpg
Bell! She was our favorite BY FAR. Adorable ^_^ I commented on how I loved her dress and that it was my favorite. She really liked that and said that people always asked where her yellow dress is. She said that she wouldn't want to wear the yellow dress, it's too big and would knock plates over. We all laughed.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2591.jpg
ARIEL! My favorite! She was a lot of fun and I was completely geeking out and told her she was my favorite princess.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2593.jpg
Snow White was not all that fun. Very limited interaction with her. She didn't even have Jon stand up for the picture (as you see). But we figured that it was because she was on her way back to the powder room, because our food was just arriving.

We had fun with the princesses! It was after this encounter that I became more and more fond of Belle :)

Overall, the character interaction was very pleasant. With the exception of Snow White, we had ample time with each princess and they still stayed completely in character, even though we did not have kids and was just 2 adults.

WARNING
The below images may be too delicious for some to handle. Please make sure you keep a napkin near you in case you need to wipe your mouth from drool.
If children are present, you may want to have them look away, for this will be very graphically decadent.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2592.jpg
My appetizer

My appetizer was the 'A Royal Tasting of Cheese', which included Bri (left), Goat Cheese (middle) and Canada Mozzarella (right).
There was also a honeycomb on the top of the Bri, fresh honeycomb! I have never had this before and it was amazing. I sometimes have issues with my food touching (okay, all the time), so it bugged me a bit that the honey was on all the cheeses cause I wanted to savor each cheese with it's own taste. But I found out, that it was a nice combination.
I ate the cheeses with my bread (also pictured) and was wonderful! First time I had goat cheese and it was REALLY good! ^_^
I even ate the honeycomb!

Jon had the Rock Shrimp Cocktail, which he devoured before I got to take a picture. I didn't have a bit because there was pepper on it (like red pepper) and I really do not like that. But he said it was delicious.

Next up was our entrees ...

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Jon's. Roasted Beef Tenderloin, mashed/creamy potatoes, and asparagus.

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Mine. Fried Chicken with broccoli and a side of macaroni & cheese

Jon really liked his tenderloin but the potatoes were the star of his entree. Holy flying dumbo, I don't know what they put in those potatoes but my GOSH they are good! He had to move his plate far from me so I would stop eating them lol

Mine was rather good. I'm not really a fan of fried chicken, but it was the only thing on the menu that I would really be able to eat (I don't eat red meat, pork or lamb). Plus, it had mac and cheese ... which I am a huge fan of. And goodness, it did not let me down. I could have had a full entree that consisted of just the macaroni and cheese, it was DIVINE!
Lol I'm salavating just remembering. So good!

Then, a surprise came out ...

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http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2598.jpg

Yes, that's a chocolate shoe! The ring inside the shoe was a cute ring we bought when we were at Universal Studios the year before. I thought it was prettier than my wedding ring so he bought it for me and I wore it as my wedding ring, but it started to leave a mark so I had to take it off (you know, cheap metal?).

The shoe is made completely of Chocolate and sat upon an angel food cake, which was surrounded by strawberries and blueberries. These berries were VERY fresh and were very tasty!
I didn't dig in right away because we had our normal desserts coming up and I was looking forward to eating it. So I nibbled a bit on the berries while waiting for our 'real' dessert to come out.

Before dessert was served, we got to do the cute wishing ceremony! Each princess was given a wand and each prince was given a sword. It was a really cute thing that a lot of the kids really got into.

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My wand! When they were handing these out, they stopped by our table and asked if we wanted one. Jon and I glanced at each other and answered "yes!"

We didn't do the little movements for the wishes or anything, but it was still fun and we loved carrying these around later in the day.

Then, our desserts arrived!

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Jon's. Valrhona Chocolate Mousse with raspberry & chocolate sauce

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Mine. Chef's Dessert Trio.

Jon loved his mousse, he said it was very light and he particularly enjoyed dipping it into the raspberry sauce.
Mine was also rather decadent. It consisted of (from left to right) Almond Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse (same as Jon's), and a Lime Tart. I wasn't a fan of the mousse because I'm not really a fan of straight chocolate, but it was light. The cheesecake was rather good! The tart was amazingly good but VERY rich. I'm glad it was small.

We ate some more of the special shoe dessert but could not finish it all. I was really sad to see it go to waste. I asked the lady about what would happen to it, would they just throw it away? She said yes. When she saw how upset I was that so much would be wasted (we could only eat about half of it together), she said something that was our first 'pixie dust' of the trip. She said that she could box it up for us!!!! I did not think that CRT could do that, at all! I was so excited because I hate wasting food and what made it so magical was that we were able to give it to Amanda!
We missed having Amanda with us at CRT, we know she would have liked it, so I was so ecstatic that I was able to share some part of it (not just pictures) with Amanda.

With the dessert boxed up, we exited the dining room and made a short stop ...

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Jon is Lord of the Loo! *insert Mr. Furley laughing snort here*

We met Amanda outside the main room where we first entered (the entrance) and she told us how she wandered around and rode Haunted Mansion again. We surprised her with the leftover dessert and she kind of scarfed it down lol She also liked it!

By this time, the downpour had stopped and we decided that we wanted to go back to the resort. We told Amanda about Wishes but she wasn't all that interested. Jon and I were also a bit tired. So on our way out, we snapped a few photos ...

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Jon & Donald!
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Amanda likes Minnie

We weren't exactly in a hurry to exit the park, so we took our time looking in the various shops on the way out. I believe this is where we purchased a very nice display plate for my sister. It had princess aurora on it with her castle.
Amanda also bought something ... a beach towel!! Yes, a Disney Beach Towel is a total must. Jon and I bought a towel each on our honeymoon and Amanda really liked the idea, so she got one too.
She had it sent to the resort, along with our other items we bought that day (except the plate). I forgot to mention that we were a bit surprised to find out that the items no longer were delivered to the individual rooms, but dropped off at the guest services desk to be picked up.

Oh yes, we also had to stop by City Hall to inquire about Amanda's water bottle. No word of it. The cast member suggested we come back to check after the ride has been closed down for the night and cleaned, but we couldn't because this was our only day in MK. They took our information down (name, resort & room number) in case it showed up.
Sadly, Amanda's water bottle went to the big waterfall in the sky :(

Just as we were heading out of City Hall, we were stopped by another cast member to take a survey for the park. We all looked at each other and shrugged ... why not? It was an interesting survey, asked about what we did while in the park, what attractions we visited, shows we saw, etc. This was all done in a building on computers ... I think it was next to City Hall, just before exiting the park. It was a nice little experience and I suggest to do it if you have the time ... preferably if you do not have little ones with you ... as it would be boring to anyone NOT taking the survey.

THEN we were really exiting the park after we took the survey.

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Amanda asked me to take this photo

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2615.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2613.jpg
Goodbye Magic Kingdom, I'll see you again another day

Surprisingly, there was a bus right there and we walked right on. I remember the windows being fogged up from the AC inside and the humidity outside (it wasn't too bad this day actually). We came back to our room to find a little friend by the tv ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day2MK/DSCF2618.jpg
We all agreed that he was a turkey

I love the little animals mousekeeping makes!

Jon and I relaxed and watched TV while Amanda went to Planet Hollywood to use the voucher we got for reserving the resort package (with tickets and such). I think it was like a $15 voucher, so she was able to go eat dinner. There was only one voucher per reservation and we decided to give it to her since we already had dinner and she didn't. This was the only time during the trip when we didn't eat together (as well as when we had our CRT reservation).

I kind of passed out on the bed for a bit and woke up a bit hungry. So I bugged Jon to go get some Beignets. Oh my! I had read about these on the boards, everyone said that you must try these. I agree! If you're staying at Port Orleans (French Quarter or Riverside), you should really get some of these! They come 3 to a dish and are worth 1 snack credit (or $2.99 for 3 and $4.29 for 6. Only the 3 quantity are available on the dining plan).
We munched on these until Amanda got back from Planet Hollywood ... at 11pm!! It turns out that it was crazy busy and she had to wait a bit. I felt really sorry for her, but she enjoyed her experience and was full :)

Finally, we all went to sleep and dreamed of tomorrow.

Might I add that this day, Jon and I had TONS of 'Happy Anniversary' wishes because we wore our buttons (we did this every day), but MK is where we got the most wishes from CMs (mostly) and park guests.

This will be the end for tonight, but I hope my updates will keep you entertained for a few days!
If anyone is still reading?

[Amunet]

I'm curious, does anyone still read this?

Just give a friendly shout, it would be helpful ^_^

[Molyneuxd]

You need some of these for your next trip...

http://parksandresorts.wdpromedia.com/media/disneyparks/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/srr39674LARGE.jpg

[Amunet]

Haha that's awesome!! I love the dole whip float one ^_^

[Amunet]

Realized I don't have the photos for the next update uploaded to photobucket. SO I was planning another update today but that will have to wait for tomorrow ^_^

[Amunet]

Today was our appointment with DVC. We woke up around 8am and had breakfast. I didn't take photos but I did write down what we had ^_^
I, of course, had the Breakfast Platter (pictured in the MK post), Amanda had a big Mickey Waffle with Strawberries and Jon had Biscuits with Sausage Gravy.
Me and Amanda really enjoyed ours and Jon said his was okay.

We then were picked up at 8:40am and driven to Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. We went inside and were greeted warmly and offered drinks (coffee/hot chocolate/tea/water) and some muffins. We sat briefly until the lady greeted us.
She thought that we weren't serious ... as she spoke to us like we just after their fastpasses and ice cream.
I don't blame her, I mean, there are three 20somethings sitting in front of her that don't come to WDW often ... so why waste a morning?
WELL, we are serious. DH will be going to school to become a doctor soon and we are planning on purchasing DVC afterwards.
Once she heard this ... she kind of took us more seriously lol

It's a very lovely presentation and they are upfront with you about any question you ask (and even some you don't). If you're thinking about DVC, I highly suggest you plan some time in your vacation to do this tour ^_^

After all was said and done, we got a free scoop of ice cream (with topping) and gave us fastpasses good for any 3 rides (so 9 total since there were 3 of us). This was the reason we didn't mind 'wasting' our morning (instead of doing rope drop). But please, know that these only work if there are still fastpasses left in the machines for the ride(s) you're interested in. Okay, so I guess they gave us fastpass tickets to put into the machine to get a fastpass lol

Then, OFF TO HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS! Our first stop ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2619.jpg

Yup, Toy Story Mania! Though, we sent Amanda up ahead cause she's in *ahem* better shape then me and Jon. Yeah, since Jon and I have never been in the park before, we completely got lost lol. We decided to apply our sunblock while Amanda came back for us.
Okay THEN we all headed to Toy Story Mania and got FPs to use right away (from dvc) and then were able to use our normal tickets to get FPs for later that evening. It was around noon by this time and we couldn't come back until 8pm! Crazy huh?

And now ... photos!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2622.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2624.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2626.jpg
Jon and Amanda posing pretty ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2627.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2630.jpg
I rode by myself and this was my first ever score on this ride

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2632.jpg
Booyah!

I have to say, this is a really awesome ride. I can understand why this ride is so popular! It is amazing fun and I could ride it a few times in a row if I could. Jon and Amanda really enjoyed it as well ^_^

Then, we were determined to ride the other 2 big rides in this park ... and on the way, I took some photos ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2633.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2634.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2636.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2637.jpg
We saw some furry friends! But, we didn't stop ... we were on a mission!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2639.jpg
THIS is how crowded it was this day. Not only was it crowded, but it was extremely hot

I'm sure you have guessed by now that we are headed towards Tower of Terror ^_^ You are correct! We used the DVC fastpass tickets again.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2642.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2646.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2647.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2648.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2649.jpg
I'm the one in the farthest back row, to the left, with my hands up. That's right. Only way to ride.

ToT is rather fun. I think Amanda and Jon enjoyed it more than I did. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun ride, but I guess I expected more from all the hype. I do have to say that I LOVE queue for this ride, hence all the pictures above. I love the detail and it really keeps me occupied looking at all of the things ^_^

THEN off to Rockin Roller Coaster, using the last of our dvc fastpass tickets. We LOVED this ride. All of us. It's a much-needed thrill in Disney and a fantastic addition ^_^

We then had to stop by the restrooms to use the sinks. MY GOSH it was crazy hot out. There were some wispy clouds but nothing to cover the sun. To top it of, it was rather humid. We used the sinks to soak our bandanas/small towels to put them on our head. I highly recommend doing this if you go during the summer, it helps A LOT! I think this method (and drinking from our water bottles) we were able to stave off heat exhaustion.

After we felt well enough to venture out of the shade, we headed off to ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2650.jpg

This was a MUST for all of us, expecially Amanda. But, as you might see in that photo, it was full to the very back. So, instead, we decided to grab some lunch while we waited for this show to end and the next one to start.
Again, no pictures of lunch ( I think it was because we were crazy hungry), but I can report what we had!
We ate at Catalina Eddies, which is right across from the Beauty and the Beast stage. Amanda and I had personal cheese pizzas with a side caesar salad & cookie. Jon had a chicken caesar sandwich with carrot cake. We all enjoyed our entrees (and the side salads were rather good) but Jon said that the carrot cake was a bit too sweet and rich for him ... which then interested Amanda lol.

Jon finished eating lunch before me and Amanda did, so he went and used our regular tickets to ride RnR later. After that, we were just finishing up and it was just about time to get in line for Beauty and the Beast. By waiting for this next show, we were able to get astonishingly good seats right in the middle and near the front. Due to this ... there are many photos :p

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2652.jpg
Look how good our seats are!

Many Pictures from Beauty and the Beast show. Scroll really fast if you don't want spoilers



http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2655.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2657.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2658.jpg
I love these costumes

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2660.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2662.jpg
I love this shot! These girls were hilarious

More pictures in the next post ...

[Amunet]

BEAUTY & THE BEAST PHOTOS BELOW
Scroll really fast if you don't want spoilers
Or you can close your eyes and scroll too lol

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2663.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2668.jpg

Be Our Guest Video Clip (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/?action=view&current=DSCF2671.mp4)

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2673.jpg
Gasp, what's this?

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2675.jpg
Zomg! It's a floofy pink dress lady!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2683.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2685.jpg
"Well YOU need to control your temper!"

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2689.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2693.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2699.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2701.jpg
Oh NOES! He got stabbed!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2704.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2706.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2708.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2712.jpg
Awe ^_^

Beauty & the Beast Video Clip (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/?action=view&current=DSCF2713.mp4)

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2714.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2718.jpg

THE END OF SHOW PICTURES

Haha okay. Well I enjoyed this show very much. I think this is the best mini broadway show WDW has. Amazingly well done and put together. It was also nice to be in the shade. This was also Amanda's favorite.
By this time, it was too hot for us to stay, also the park was rather crowded, which didn't help. On our way out, we got this amazingly awesome photo done:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/HS001.jpg

We got back to our room and found THIS:
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2719.jpg
The stuffed animals we brought with us

It made us chuckle a bit to see our stuffed animals having a party while we were gone lol. So, according to the pictures, Amanda and Jon were off doing something, which I don't have written down. SO, I have some nice pictures of me goofing around in the room ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2722.jpg
Our pretty room ^_^ We really enjoy POFQ

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2724.jpg
Look! It's a dork!

They did come back and we relaxed a bit. Amanda and I decided we wanted to test out the pool. Jon found the TV a bit more interesting lol. So around 3:30pm, we headed out to the pool and enjoyed it. It was a nice pool, not crowded but some families were out.
What I found really interested was how the kids behaved on the pool's slide. Amanda didn't go on it, but I did. When I got to the top, there was a kid there who was kind of like playing those lifegaurds when you're at the waterpark. This kid watched the kid slide down before me and then let me know when it was okay to slide down myself. It was really cute! I'm thankful they were safe about this instead of doing anything dangerous.
I went on the slide a few times and about the 3rd time (there was a period of time between sliding), another kid was there at the top. Lol they did a switch out like real lifeguards! lol

We swam for about an hour and went back to the room, where we sent Jon out to get some beignets while Amanda and I took a shower (separately of course lol). After munching on our goodies and drying our hair, etc. We headed back to the bus stop. It was around 7pm and we were hoping to get back to Hollywood Studios soon. BUT the bus had other plans and went all around riverside before going to HS.

Finally got back to the park ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2727.jpg

... the sun was low so that we were able to keep cool in the shade of the buildings.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2728.jpg
Jon wanted to go to this (and I really wanted him to go too, I was excited for him), but never had the chance

We thought we'd stop by the Star Wars ride ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2730.jpg

... but it was getting a bit late and we wanted to grab a bit to eat and use our FPs, so we go and get a Star Wars FP to ride later ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2731.jpg
Yeah, if you read the earlier part, I got the Toy Story & RnR FPs way earlier. That's how backed up they were!

BUT! I didn't want to disappoint Jon again, so he at least got to ride one thing:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2732.jpg
Shoom!

I heard about the city area of HS, I mentioned it to Jon and Amanda and they decided it would be fun to wander around and perhaps find something to eat.
On the way, Amanda spotted something she HAD to get a picture with ...

[Amunet]

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2734.jpg
She's a big fan of Castle ^_^

Haha, THEN we were headed off to the city!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2735.jpg
I love this little travel agency. I want to be a travel agent very bad, so I'm geeking out about this little facade

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2736.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2740.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2741.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2743.jpg
Haha, I think he's hungry ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2744.jpg
I think the line of laundry is a cute touch of detail

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2745.jpg
I don't know what this little guy is from but he's ADORABLE!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2746.jpg
I wanted to eat here cause ... well, it's awesome. But we had pizza earlier and we weren't feeling it. So I took a picture!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2749.jpg
The left is the Travel Agency and the right is a cute Pharmacy. We took this picture to kind of symbolize me and Jon ^_^

Then, Jon took the camera and took a lot of photos of the Star Wars, I managed to narrow it down to one lol

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2748.jpg

Figuring out that the sun was going low, we went off in search of one last thing I had to do before it got too late: The Little Mermaid! On our way, I took ... surprise! ... more pictures ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2754.jpg
Save the monkey!!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2755.jpg
We saw Buzz! Quick picture ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2756.jpg
Look at that wait time o.o

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2759.jpg

And then we arrived! We waited in line for a little bit, but I was so excited, I didn't care!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2766.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2764.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2777.jpg
AND from here on out, the photos may be a tad blurry (sorry)

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2783.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2791.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2796.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2797.jpg

I love The Little Mermaid ^_^ Though, out of the shows we've been to, this is my least favorite. It's too short and the lady that played Ariel had so many flat notes, we were cringing. I hope it's only cause it was late (I think it was the last show) and her voice was sore. Though, I did find a plushie flounder! I bought it, I was so excited. Lol I got some weird looks.

Then ... OFF TO FILL OUR TUMMIES! ...

[Amunet]

After The Little Mermaid, we decided to cash in on our RnR FP ^_^ BUT then we remembered we were hungry. Believe it or not, the only place we could find open was Rosie's All American Cafe. I am happy to report, I remembered to take photos!!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2802.jpg
Mine. Half eaten Veggie Burger w/ fries & a cookie

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2803.jpg
Jon & Amanda's food of choice: Cheeseburger w/ onion fries

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2804.jpg
Amanda's Dessert. After Jon had one for lunch, she wanted to try it

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2805.jpg
Jon's Dessert. He said it was 'magical'

With our tummies happy, we tromped off to RnR!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2806.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2810.jpg

STILL AWESOME! Also, I bought the ride picture!
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/HS002.jpg

Can you see why? Great picture of all of us and that guy behind Jon just made the picture priceless lol

Noticing we had more time before the second showing of Fantasmic (oh yes!), we headed back to Toy Story to use that very late FP time of ours.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2811.jpg
I loved these toparies ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2816.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2817.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2820.jpg
So cute! Andy's Toys, Aka Staff.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2824.jpg
Jon said to make a funny face ... lol

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2825.jpg
Our ride, Mr. Potato Head

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2829.jpg
So, I beat Amanda in score, but she beat me in accuracy lol

Now it was time to go get in line for Fantasmic!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2868.jpg

I cannot express how excited we were about this. Hollywood Studios is a first for all of us and all of us were looking forward to this show. BUT nature had to call my name. I ignored it, cause I knew we were going to start herding in soon ... but then nature kind of yelled at me and I had to listen.
SO, here is a nice picture!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2830.jpg

Yeah *cough* Anyways, by the time I went back to meet up with them, everyone was herding through the the entrance.

For those of you not familiar with the entryway to Fantasmic (and if you are, enjoy a reminder), it is a bit of a walkway to get to the ampatheatre/stage. I'm not sure if they do it for all shows, but for ours, the walkway was roped off right down the middle so everyone was jammed to one side.
Well, I lost Amanda and Jon, so I called them and tried getting to them, through the throngs. It was hard and I didn't feel like climbing over children or stepping on grannies.
My next decision rewarded me with MANY evil eyes. I went to the side that was roped off and ran freely to meet up with Jon and Amanda, whom I instructed to get to the side of the rope so I could easily spot them. Once I found them, I quickly went back over to the roped off side.

Everyone made a b-line to the center/front, by the time we got to where the seating area is, most people were filling up the back of the seating area. I wanted to try and get a closer spot so we went near the front and astonishingly found seats near the center and close-ish to the front.

FANTASMIC PHOTO SPOILERS AHEAD
Scroll through if you don't wish to see ^_^

I'd like to warn those of you that wish to see the photos that ... well, they're kind of blurry, but I got the best ones I could. Not tons though. My camera isn't fancy but it works. So after a bit, I took some videos ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2832.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2840.jpg

Fantasmic Video 1 (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/?action=view&current=DSCF2845.mp4)
Fantasmic Video 2 (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/?action=view&current=DSCF2852.mp4)

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2860.jpg
The fire was pretty hot, you could feel it pretty intensely sometimes

Fantasmic Video 3 (http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/?action=view&current=DSCF2864.mp4)

The show was awesome! We all enjoyed it ^_^ I can see how it's one of those, see it once in a while shows. ^_^

AND ... I like to take pictures when I walk :p

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2871.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2873.jpg
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2874.jpg
Isn't this picture beautiful? ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day3HS/DSCF2875.jpg

And memories we did make ^_^ We were pretty wiped after the day. Though, it was really nice to get a reprieve from the sun in the afternoon.
By the time we got back to our room, it was 12am. We had okay bus karma getting back.

Before heading to bed, we had to take care of Amanda's blisters that she got from the day's ventures. Thankfully, I always bring moleskin, small scissors and medical tape on vacations ^_^ Otherwise, we wouldn't have popped them.
So, don't pop your blisters unless you have the supplies above.

We went to sleep a bit later ... all of us just passed out.

End of this update, until next time! Feel free to shout out if you're lurking :flower3:

[Amunet]

Okay, so my goal is to finish this trip report by the 1st of April ... Wonder if that will work?

I'm almost done. Got 2 more Disney Days and a travel day (which isn't very eventful) :p

[Mrs. Sojourner]

First, I LOVE the reason behind your TR title! Second, I am ridiculously jealous of your upcoming cruise!! Third, I am very much enjoying your TR- can't wait to hear about the rest. :)

[Amunet]

First, I LOVE the reason behind your TR title! Second, I am ridiculously jealous of your upcoming cruise!! Third, I am very much enjoying your TR- can't wait to hear about the rest. :)

Awe lol thank you ^_^ Well, I will be doing a TR for my cruise as well, which is why I'm trying to get this one done before we go :goodvibes

Yay! I'm glad someone is at least reading :banana:

[Amunet]

I believe I got all of my images resized so that I can post them on here without stretching the page ^_^

[Amunet]

Just wanted to give a little heads up that the pictures will be a bit different since I had to scan them in

Surprisingly, we slept in today ... until 9:30am! :lmao: Haha for me, that is NOT sleeping in, in fact, on vacation, I wake up earlier then I ever would at home. But compared to this trip, we slept in ^_^

We had breakfast, which I assume is the same that I've been eating all week (Breakfast Platter), but I'm not sure what Jon and Amanda ate. No food porn :(

We arrived at Typhoon Lagoon around 11:30am. It was VERY crowded and we noticed this as we were on the bus driving through the parking lot. It was very different from when Jon and I went on our honeymoon, at that time we arrived as everyone was leaving due to a thunderstorm warning. So, this was a very new experience.

Our tickets we bought at the gate because it was a better deal then adding the 'Waterpark & More' to our tickets. As soon as we were through, we got a locker to store our stuff in. We went to the gift shop, they also rent out the lockers ... and the line is usually a lot shorter then the one for the shop that says 'Locker Rentals'.
Then, we only had ONE thing on our mind: Shark Reef!!

Jon did not participate in this as his swimming isn't very good, so he watched us on the above water observation bridge ^_^
Me and Amanda picked up our snorkel gear, which you do when you enter. We walked through and met up with the end of the line. As we were waiting, we were putting on the mask and testing the tube in our mouth and such. This is when we found that the disinfectant they wipe or spray the equipment with is VERY strong and it stung my eyes, it did for Amanda too. The line didn't go quick but many people were lining up behind us, so I'm glad we hopped in line when we did. We used the time to get used to the disinfectant and such.

Finally we made it to the front and me and Amanda were so excited to swim with the fishies and sharks! I've never snorkled before, so I was a bit nervous. For those of you considering this and have never snorkled, don't fear! They give you some instructions and it's very easy. You basically just swim with your arms and glide along the top of the pool with your head in the water.

Well, that's what's suppose to happen anyways ...

We got into the water ... MY GOSH IT WAS COLD! There were trees around so there was some shade, so we weren't really hot, so the water was a bit of a shock (even though they warn you). I got used to it pretty easily though.

Okay, so ... you know how we were just suppose to swim with our arms and not kick with our legs? WELL, I have to say that I somewhat accomplished that with a waterproof camera! Yup, I totally took pictures while snorkeling ^_^

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/TL003.jpg
See the second picture? Yeah, I found Dory!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/TL004.jpg

Not only was I taking pictures but I was swimming AND the goggles kept filling up with salt water (since the pool is salt water) and stinging my eyes! It happened twice while I was doing this. Both times I had to stop and kind of almost tread water ... almost. I was so afraid of hitting a fish lol.
Don't worry though! The only reason why my goggles were flooding was because I kept my glasses on, so I could see what I was pointing the camera at.

I made it safe to the end ^_^ I was like the last one out lol But it was okay! There are showers you need to rinse off in after you get off. I had a great time and would still do it again! Though, I think I would wear contacts.

Afterwards all of us headed towards Jon's favorite activity at Typoon Lagoon ... Castaway Creek!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/TL001.jpg
Top - Amanda & Jon Having Fun
Middle - We left Amanda Behind!! Oh no! Lol and my foot
Bottom - Amanda caught up and stole the camera! Me & Jon with Amanda's knees

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/TL002.jpg
Top - Underwater Jon!
Middle - Haha doesn't it look like Jon's head is spouting water?
Bottom - Underwater Me! Jon took it, which is why half my face is cut off :rolleyes1

We call Castaway Creek the Lazy River ... which it pretty much is. But my gosh, it's so fun! We stayed in the river for about 2 hours! Afterwards, we wanted to get out and try some of the other fun stuff and decided upon the Wave Pool ^_^ THIS WAS FUN!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/TL005.jpg
Top - On our way out of the lazy river, we HAD to take this photo (Amanda & Jon)
Middle - I rode the wave and I took this photo of the shallow end of the wave pool
Bottom - Underwater Amanda!

As you may have gathered, Jon isn't a very strong swimmer (he's doing so much better since we met though!) so he stayed in the shallow end while Amanda and I swam out to the deep end to have fun with the waves.
We swam back to Jon and I noticed he didn't have his glasses on! I asked him what he did with them and he said he didn't even know they were off! He can see fine without his glasses, but they help with how he used to be cross-eyed. A wave took his glasses off and they were lost to us :(
I could see how glasses get ripped off though ... I had to hold onto mine while we rode the waves with Jon for a bit.
Amanda and I went back out to the deep end, came back and rode twice more ... then the waves stopped :confused3 We decided to get out at this point.

For the wave pool, if you can swim well, I highly suggest going out to the deeper end, it not as crowded. In the shallow end, there are mostly kids who swim in groups, which is totally fine! But man, those little feet and elbows hurt when they get smacked with a wave! They can't help it, none of us can, but it's nice to avoid it if you can ^_^

We wanted to go ride some of the waterslides and such, but as we were walking over to there, we discovered that the ground was crazy hot! So, doing some kind of fire dance back to our locker (which the sun was beating down on). We applied more sunblock, got our shoes and Jon put on a shirt ... since the sun was really beating down on us. We also decided to buy him a new hat so his *ahem* shiny head could be protected.

Okay, so I really wanted to take pictures of food porn but as I only had one underwater camera (disposable), I wanted to save the photos.
But I can tell you that we ate at Typhoon Tilly's at this point and got some food ^_^
Me & Jon = Chicken Wrap + Twist waffle cone & cheesecake (me) and Mickey bar & fruit cup (Jon). This took us 1 meal credit (quick service) each + 1 snack credit each.
Amanda = Nachos & Vanilla waffle cone. Both were 1 snack credit.

Putting back our KKTW cards, we decided that we were in some dire need of waterslides! Of course, we headed to Crush & Gusher!

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We rode the Coconut lane first, then the Pinapple Plunge lane. We enjoyed the Coconut one better ^_^

I'd like to add that we left our shoes by some CM's at the entrance of the ride. We asked if they could watch them and they said, "No, but you are welcome to put them in front of us." Something about not taking responsibility in case someone does steal and we could blame them. BUT shoes in front of them usually don't get stolen cause they are standing right there.

After, we headed on over to the family raft ride ... Gangplank Falls?

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Amanda hurt her knee on this ride :( Afterwards, we went on the two other tube rides. One of them I kind of got stuck on for a brief moment because there wasn't enough water on the slide (and perhaps because I'm a tad pooh sized :rolleyes1).
In my notes it says we rode the blue first (which is where I got stuck twice) and then the yellow.

Amanda's knee was still hurting so we decided to go back on the lazy river, where she didn't have to stand or be active with it. Only once around and she didn't feel well, at all so she got out and waited for us. Jon and I stayed on for one last lap and had A BLAST! Lol we kept twirling around together in the innnertubes and laughing like crazy. Other people joined in on the laughing lol

Then we got out and joined Amanda at the lockers where we started packing up our stuff ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/TL006.jpg
Top - Another picture from the wave pool from earlier in the day
Middle - Tired Amanda. Jon told her to drink a lot of water cause he thinks that she got heat exhaustion, which is why she felt ill.
Bottom - Tired Jon ... with no glasses :(

We left around 7:30pm ...

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/TL007.jpg
Taken on the way out ^_^

Yeah, we stayed for like 8 hours! It was so fun. If you're wondering, yes, we did get some mild sunburns. But none of ours were that bad at all.
I use SPF 100 :cool2:

Took about 30 minutes to get to the resort (have no idea why it took that long). We all went up and took showers (seperately!) and Amanda just passed out on the bed while Jon and myself went to eat some noms ^_^

Food Porn!

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/DSCF2877.jpg
Mine: Baked Chicken Alfredo with side salad.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/DSCF2878.jpg
Jon's: Jambalaya + Dirty rice & corn

The alfredo was TASTY! The side salad was a tad spicy but rather good ^_^ Jon says that his was 'yummy'.

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt219/Nindrah/4DIS/WDW2011/Day4TL/DSCF2880.jpg
Taken at the food court; Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory. I thought it was cool.

Then we headed on up to our room and passed out ourselves.

Next up ... the Wild Side ~_^

[Mrs. Sojourner]

Looks like it was a fun, but exhausting day. :cool1: I love the underwater shots!

[Amunet]

Looks like it was a fun, but exhausting day. :cool1: I love the underwater shots!

Thank you! Haha yeah, we had a lot of fun with those. I'm proud of Jon cause he used to have real issues putting his face completely underwater.

Lol looks like you're my only follower. I hope to update some more tomorrow! :goodvibes

[Amunet]

Well, I didn't get this TR done before april lol

BUT I have been distracted with a family emergency that will cause me to travel a week before the cruise! Crazyness.

Anywho, I do plan on finishing this up soon and hope to work on it within the next few days ^_^

[Amunet]

Wow, big things have happened.

My grandmother is very sick and has been given an expiration date :( I am also sick this week, which is why I cannot go up to visit her.

Our cruise is in 9 days and I got a call that is pretty much a job offer for United Airlines!

Lots of things! But, since I"m kind of stuck resting at home, I really hope to finish this up before the cruise. Just 1 more day to go!

[Amunet]

My apologies for being absent. Many things have happened.
My grammy died on mother's day :(
I got a new job working for United Airlines ^_^
And I took my first disney cruise

Well, not in that order but yeah.

I only have one more day to update and I'll try to do that this weekend :)