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View Full Version : Dolphin Kisses, Rainy Day at Blizzard Beach and many Magical Memories - Jan 2012 TR


tifaas
02-14-2012, 12:19 PM
Hi everyone and welcome to our Jan trip report! We had such a wonderful trip that was filled with lots of magical moments.

Who:

Our group consisted of myself aka Tammy, my DH of 10 years Ian, my MIL Peggy and my FIL Eric.

When: We were there from Jan 22nd through Jan 29th of this year.

Where: We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort

Why: We were celebrating our wedding anniversary of ten years and my IL's of 46 years.

We came up with this title because we were able to go to Discovery Cove on this trip. I had always dreamed about going here since it first opened and was thrilled we could fit it into our schedule. The rainy day at Blizzard beach is pretty obvious. We had only one semi bad weather day while we were on our trip. It was mostly beautiful sunny skies, highs in the low 80's. We decided to add the water park fun and more option after we drove by Blizzard Beach. We had planned for the Friday of our trip to be spent as half day at Magic Kingdom, Half day at Animal Kingdom but since we pretty much did everything we wanted in the days before we thought it would be fun to go to Blizzard Beach and the Disney Quest that night. You will hear about this day more later on in the trip, but lets just say it was a rainy day. Would we make it to Blizzard beach after all. You will have to stay and read more to find out.
Finally the many Magical Memories comes from all the wonderful times we had while we were there. There were a lot of laughs, and some tears but they were good tears.

So sit back and relax and I will be back with tons of updates, photos galore and hopefully share some magic.

tifaas
02-14-2012, 03:07 PM
We woke up bright and early as it was finally the day we would be leaving for Disney World. We had some bagels, fruit and some coffee for breakfast. We weren't going to be leaving for the airport until around 11 AM as our flight wasn't until 2:45. It only takes about an hour to get to the airport in Austin from where we live in Georgetown. So once we hit the magic hour we loaded up the car and made our way to the lot we were parking in while we were going to be gone.

We made it through security pretty fast and found a quick bite for lunch before settling in at the gate. This is where we ran into a little bit of bad news. Our plan apparently needed to be changed out in Orlando due to maintenance so their flight was late leaving which meant ours would be late as well. However, I am glad they thought to take it out and give us a different plane if there were issues with it. I would much rather be safe than arrive on time. So we didn't actually take off until around 3:15 but they made up for it on our flight.

Here we are at the gate waiting patiently. My FIL took the picture and my MIL is the one reading the book.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip187.jpg?t=1329253495

We made it into Orlando only like 10 minutes later than what we should have been. I would check the flight map every so often and they would be going like 550 - 600 mph and flying at around 40k elevation. We could definitely feel it when we started the descent as the plane was slowing down and dropping around 2k each time.

We made it to the magical express check in area and since we had our stuff with us it was straight into a line and on a bus. We were the first to be dropped off so we were even more thankful for that. When we were getting checked in we had mentioned we were celebrating our ten year anniversary so they had pins for us and balloons and a card signed by Mickey as well. We felt special!

After finding out we were going to be put in the Ranchos section I was a little bummed because we were hoping for the Casitas but they were full due to the conventions. Bummer. However once we found out how close we were to Bus stop 4 and the Dig Site pool we were actually kind of happy. It wasn't a horrible walk either from the room to the El Centro either.

We had a bite to eat at the Pepper Market which was wonderful. We went back to the room after checking out the store and waited for our luggage to arrive so we could get unpacked as we had an early morning tomorrow to go swim with some dolphins at Discovery Cove.

ash-n-brensmom
02-14-2012, 05:19 PM
I'm here!! You're right, better safe than sorry! Glad they were able to make up the time, though. And nice surprise with the balloons!!

tifaas
02-14-2012, 06:26 PM
I'm here!! You're right, better safe than sorry! Glad they were able to make up the time, though. And nice surprise with the balloons!! :welcome: to the TR thread.

I was glad they were safe with us because let me tell you on the plane ride home I wasn't so sure about it, but more on that later. I checked mail and noticed we received our photo pass pictures today so busy uploading those and will be back with a ton of pictures to upload from those as well.

We just got back home from dinner at Salt Grass and it was wonderful. I'm sneaking some time in while the hubby showers and then we are going to settle in for a chick flick of my choice. He's such a good hubby to me. :love:

tifaas
02-14-2012, 11:12 PM
So we had arranged for a taxi van to pick us up at 7:45 AM and we had to make our way from the back of the resort in the Ranchos section to the front area. So our alarm was set for 6:30 AM as I am not a morning person and neither is the hubby. We knew we would be hitting the snooze quite a few times. We finally got ready and made our way to the front and waited patiently for the taxi to show up.

We made it to Discovery cove by 8:15 and were checked in. The lobby is beautiful here. We found out we were in the first group for a dolphin swim so was super excited for that. We got to swim with Lester and Alani or something like that.

Here are some beautiful pictures of the lobby and the Starfish Cabana that we had to meet up at for our orientation.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip015.jpg?t=1329282121

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip005.jpg

Once we had our orientation it was time to meet our dolphins. We had two wonderful trainers with us and for some reason I didn't think to write their names down. We got to learn about them and then did some fun hand tricks with them.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2dc35b3127cceff0961a5a02500000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2dc35b3127cceff097f64a0eb00000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

More to come in the next post.

tifaas
02-14-2012, 11:24 PM
So after we did some kissing with the dolphins we had the pull by Lester. He took off a lot faster than what I imagined he would. They tell you to hold on and I did but sheesh I thought he was going to leave me in the middle of the lagoon. LOL.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2dc35b3127cceff09d67ce03f00000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2dc35b3127cceff086d1b80d100000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I had some tears in my eyes as this was something I had been dreaming about for years. That is where the happy teams come into play from my first post.

So after our dolphin swim we decided we wanted to go hit up the bird aviary to check it out. We picked up a cup of food to feed and pretty much right away had birds landing on us.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2dc35b3127cceff080cfdc09f00000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip2012050.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip2012043.jpg?t=1329283268

Once we were done in the aviary we were needing something to drink and snack on as it had been a few hours since the breakfast. So we grabbed some pina coladas, beer for the boys and some pretzels.

It was quite a nice refreshing snack to top us off for the time being. We decided it was time to finally hit up the Grand Reef. So my inlaws went to change and put on some sunscreen because it was getting really sunny and warm and definitely turning a little pink on the cheeks and nose.

More to come in the next post!

tifaas
02-14-2012, 11:38 PM
So we were off to the Grand Reef. They had recently done an expansion on this area and it was amazing. I have snorkeled with sting rays in Grand Cayman before but in the Grand Reef it was different. Plus they had huge schools of fish and when you are in the open ocean they tend to hide from you.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2dc35b3127cceff0939efa04300000050O29BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D2/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/


This was of the shark area. They are behind glass so not in the water with you but the way they have it angled it seemed like they were right below you.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2dc35b3127cceff08d95401f400000040O29BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D2/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2dc35b3127cceff0847f6802900000040O29BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D2/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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We spent a lot of time in the grand reef. They also have a lazy river that winds under the aviary which was awesome. The water on that was heated to around 80 or so. It was varying depths so they have noodles you can use as it takes you around the park.

Needless to say we had an amazing day here. We left for the resort around 4pm as we had dining reservations for the Maya Grill at 6PM and I wanted to get a shower before it.

ash-n-brensmom
02-15-2012, 08:22 AM
Looks like you guys had a wonderful experience here!

tifaas
02-15-2012, 06:44 PM
Looks like you guys had a wonderful experience here!

It was awesome! I didn't want to leave and would love to go back one day and do the trainer for a day. I would have probably signed up for that this time but my IL's only wanted to pay for the entrance fee for themselves and I knew if we signed up for that we would be apart a majority of the day. So it gives me a good excuse to come back and do this.

Update coming up!

tifaas
02-15-2012, 07:03 PM
So after a busy but fun filled day at Discovery Cove we were ready to begin the fun at Disney. We set the alarm for 7:30 AM so we could be out for the bus by 8:30 at the latest. We were actually up and at the bus stop by 8AM as we were ready for some fun at Hollywood Studios.

I had been reading on the Dis about the park opening around 8:30 AM but I think the CM's were still asleep because we didn't even get to start going through the turnstiles until 8:50 AM. Where did we head first I bet you are asking yourselves? I bet you would say Toy Story Mania but alas you would be wrong. We went to Starring Rolls for some breakfast. We all decided to be good and had an ET bagel with cream cheese. It was pretty delicious and was fun to just people watch.

Once we were done with breakfast we decided to slowly make our way to that crazy upside down ride Rock N Roller coaster. We of course saw a photo pass person on our way and we got some good shots with Tower of Terror in the background. Since we had our anniversary buttons on they wanted us to kiss.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0006FourBySix-Copy.jpg?t=1329353664

Then of course the obligatory scared shot

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0003FourBySix-Copy.jpg?t=1329353728

So we found our way to the ride and the IL's decided it was not for them after we told them it would go upside down. So we got a quick picture of the entrance and left the camera with them.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6e4f28736c00000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I wish I would have taken our camera to get the redneck shot of the ride photo. We both look scared and excited. We were put in the front car of the last car on the limo. Needless to say what a first ride ever on it. We loved it and would have probably ridden it again had we not see a huge tour group just enter the queue chanting. That was the one and only time we actually ran into them at all on this entire trip if you could believe it.

So after riding that and finding the IL's we decided to make our way over towards Beauty and the Beast to see when the first show was. Sadly it was still over an hour away so we weren't going to sit around and wait for it.

We saw the motorcade coming of the street performers so got a few pictures of them.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6ee567737600000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f3ace136400000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

So we started to make our way to the Animation area because we really wanted to do a drawing class. However we realized they had just started one and it would be another 30 mintues to the next one and saw the Voyage of the Littler Mermaid was about to begin so got in line for that. What a waste of time for us. I really thought it would be better than what it was and was a little disappointed.

Going to continue in the next post.

tifaas
02-15-2012, 07:11 PM
We were walking around trying to figure out what we were going to do next when Ian spotted a photo pass person so we took another photo.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0007FourBySix.jpg?t=1329354270

My inlaws wanted to to the backlot tour as they figured it would be fun. I had not been on this ride since I was a kid and it was very different. It seemed much shorter to me and didn't show as much as they did before. We got some kind of cool pictures I will share though.

Water about to hit the guy!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6fb5c2d28700000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6e4fb5f2c100000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I loved the movie "Flight of the Navigator" as a kid and thought this reminded me of the ship.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f9d09536800000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

The hubby being a ham

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6e3152f21900000040O19BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D1/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I want to say when we finished that we had a snack and did some people watching before making our way to ride the new Star Tours. We went on it when we came in July and loved it. We weren't sure how the IL's would do but they really liked it. I think we went on it a few more times because it was literally a walk on.

Part 3 coming up next!

tifaas
02-15-2012, 07:21 PM
After our tours to the galaxy we decided to try the Great Movie Ride out. I had never been on this and while it was interesting I don't think we would do it again unless we were just wanting to get off our feet for a few minutes. After we got out of the movie ride, we decided to shop some as we had some time to kill before the parade. We bought a Jedi Mickey picture as the hubby loves anything Star Wars.

My IL's had no desire to watch the parade so they found a comfy table under some shade near the commissary building. While Ian and I went just up the path a little and watched the parade.

We didn't have a front row seat but we could see fine where we were.

Mr Incredible leading the way!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f076c534000000040O19BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D1/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f7184d2a300000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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I just adore Sully!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6effd073cc00000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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After the parade it was time to make our way to the Sci Fi Diner as we had a dining reservation set for 4 PM. We were a little early but they were able to get us seated pretty quick with no problem. I tried to remember to take food pictures but I'm horrible about remembering. LOL.

Some fun pictures..

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6e679673c600000040O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

The MIL was supposed to act surprised but my FIL didn't get a good picture of her acting surprised.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6fb41e92c300000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

After we had dinner we decided to call it a day as we were pretty tired from going since 8 AM. We hit the dig site pool for a little time in the hot tub and then the IL's left us to go back to their room. Ian and I stayed and got some margaritas at the pool bar and relaxed. We crashed probably around 10 PM which was ok because we had an early morning ADR for Crystal Palace in the morning.

jenny105
02-21-2012, 10:47 AM
I'm here!

How amazing is Discovery Cove? I went there in 2010 as part of a TA group and loved it. It doesn't even feel like you're in Orlando. It's like you're on a tropical island somewhere. So relaxing and fun!

I love all the pictures from DHS! Cute :)

tifaas
02-21-2012, 07:07 PM
I'm here!

How amazing is Discovery Cove? I went there in 2010 as part of a TA group and loved it. It doesn't even feel like you're in Orlando. It's like you're on a tropical island somewhere. So relaxing and fun!

I love all the pictures from DHS! Cute :)

We absolutely loved Discovery Cove. I had no idea you could feel so far away from where you really were before. I really thought we had went on a cruise and were on an island at this neat place. They do an amazing job with their theming.

tifaas
02-21-2012, 07:19 PM
We woke up bright and early as we had a breakfast ADR set for Crystal Palace. I had never imagined that I would book a character dining experience as an adult only trip but we were determined to meet some characters this trip. I have been a big fan of Pooh since I was a little girl so when I read about Crystal Palace I knew it would need to be in our trip plans. Our ADR was set for 8:15 so we could get into the park before it opened. I wanted to get some fun pictures of the castle with lesser crowds. We arrived at 8 AM and they let us right in. My sister had a request for us as well for my oldest nieces 1st grade class. They had just read about Flat Stanley so we had him shipped to us and my niece wanted a picture of him with the castle in the background. So what better time to get it.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f257ed27300000050O19BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D1/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0011FourBySix-Copy.jpg?t=1329873334

So we check in for the ADR and they start announcing family names and we were like the 5th one in. We were sat on the right when you first walk in and were seated where the characters first start coming around. So we were excited. I of course had heard all about the Poohs puffed french toast and knew it was on the kidding buffet so that was my first stop. That stuff was so yummy. I of course got some eggs, sausage, and fruit. I am horrible about taking food pictures so nothing was taken regarding that. I hope to be better on the next trip, especially with the food and wine festival.

So the characters start coming around and we got some good ones with them so pictures up next.

tifaas
02-21-2012, 07:24 PM
Pooh was around first and for some reason I'm not finding the picture of me with Pooh but I love this one of my MIL and Pooh.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6e7054b2a700000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D60/ry%3D60/

I was so excited to meet Eeyore as he is my 2nd favorite and he snuck up on me.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6ed6e5b24500000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D60/ry%3D60/

He also poked his nose in between the IL's. My FIL is usually shy about getting his picture taken but he was right there and loving it so it was neat to see him like that.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6fd58b53ce00000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

We then had Piglet come around for some fun pictures.

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Then last but not least was Tigger. My hubby wanted in this picture finally as that is his favorite. He was bouncing and Tigger bounced with him. It was too cute. We got video of it but no pictures.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f60e1136600000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

After Tigger it was time to head out on our full day at the park.

tifaas
02-21-2012, 07:39 PM
I don't know why those first two pictures came out so small. Oh well. So we headed out and decided that we would go left first to Adventureland. We were walking towards the sign and Ian spotted a photo pass person so we of course had to get some pictures to mark this occasion.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0022FourBySix.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0024FourBySix-Copy.jpg

We noticed the meet and greet with the fairies so we checked on the wait and it was only like 5 minutes so heck yeah. My nieces love the fairies and we wanted to meet them. So my In-laws waited for us by shopping of course.

We lucked out as both Tink and Terrence were in there. Terrence was telling us about how Tink loves to draw treasure maps and that she likes shiny things so if we threw something shiny she would go for it.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0026FourBySix.jpg?t=1329874478

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0027FourBySix.jpg?t=1329874572

Here we are discussing that Texas only has the one star and how are we going to find Neverland if we only have one star. She was also telling us about how they found all the treasure on the shore and needed to draw a new treasure map. She was a lot of fun to interact with.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0032FourBySix-1.jpg?t=1329874673

tifaas
02-21-2012, 07:50 PM
So after our adventures with the fairies we headed for the Jungle cruise. It was only like a 10 min wait and the line moved faster than that. After a quick spin we had to go see the pirates of course. Pirate goofy was out for picture ops but we just snapped a quick one.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6fd9c4d2b700000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

We didn't take any pictures while on the ride as my camera without the flash would make the pictures very blurry. It was a walk on of course and we all really enjoyed it. We made our way for Splash mountain next. Only Ian and I were going to ride as the IL's didn't want to get wet. I had been telling them oh you won't get wet unless you are put in the front row. Well after our fast walk through the queue as this was another walk on, we were put in the front row. We of course got pretty wet and I didn't hear the end of it for a while. Meanwhile I made sure they all knew I said we would only get wet if we were in the front and that is where we were put.

My FIL tried to get a picture of us going down but you never know when you will come out but he did get one of us coming around the corner from the bridge.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6fbda153d000000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

That was our first time on the ride and it was a blast. I can now see why a lot of people like it so much. We would have went on Big Thunder next but it was down for renovation. Hopefully it will be back up and rolling for Oct as that was my favorite as a kid.

So after Pirates we started to make our way for the Haunted Mansion. I hadn't been on it since they had done the new queue so we walked through it. It would have been another walk on had we chosen to do that but it was still only about 10 mins and that was because we were going slow through the queue.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f307c92e300000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I thought I had more pictures of the queue but I guess it was more video than anything else.

tifaas
02-21-2012, 08:01 PM
So after the Haunted Mansion we went on the riverboat as that was my MIL's request. I thought it was actually supposed to be down for refurbishment already so was surprised to see it open. After a quick trip on it, we were off for Fantasyland. We only went on "It's a Small World" as the lines for Peter Pan was at like 50 mins. I was in disbelief as everything had been a walk on or was 10 mins. We were pretty thirsty at this point so we found a quiet place to sit and get a few bottles of water. It was getting closer to our dunch ADR at Tony's Town Square.

Yes, I called it dunch because it was set for 2:15 and it was going to be our last meal of the day as we had reservations for the Wish's Dessert Party. We wanted to have plenty of room for those lovely dessert's. I want to say around 2 we made our way for the restaurant and were taken right in. We had a great waitress that we made sure to leave a comment card for. I was a little worried as I had heard mixed reviews and we originally had a dinner reservation set for Kona but I was worried it would be too much with the dessert party. We were pleasently surprised. It wasn't our best meal here, but the food came out hot, and tasty. I know my MIL and hubby had the baked ziti, my FIL had the meatball sliders and I had spaghetti with meatballs and sausage. The only thing I didn't like was the bread that came with my meal. It was a little hard. We passed on dessert because we had a big buffet of them to come.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6ecb32733400000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

So after our wonderful meal the parade was making it's way around and we watched the tail end of it from the steps on the restaurant.

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My favorite princess
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tifaas
02-21-2012, 08:10 PM
So after dunch we made our way up Main Street to do some shopping. I ended up finding a really nice watch at the watch shop. I can't remember the name of it for the life of me. It's a simple silver band but in between the bands is a mickey head linking the two bands together. It has a light blue face and at the 12 is a mickey head as well. I love it. After a bunch of shopping it was time to head for Tomorrowland as we still had some things to get done over there before the 7pm dessert party. It was now like 3:30 or so.

Our first stop was the Monster's Inc laugh floor as the wait was like 5 minutes. We ended up sitting in like the third row on the right side by where you enter at. My DH was put up on the screen with the "Are we there yet" caption and my FIL ended up being picked as "THAT GUY". Yep..I was in between the two. There was a kid next to my MIL that was chosen for the joke telling at the end so our row was in the show quite a bit. It's kind of funny too because now my FIL signs all his emails to us as "That guy". We are trying to think of a funny shirt or coffee cup with that caption and a picture we got of him in the parks that just incorporates it.

Back to the story...so after Monster's Inc we had to go save the galaxy of course and headed for Buzz. It was only about a 15 min wait so why not. My hubby kicked my butt. I don't even remember the scores now but I want to say I only got around 75k and his was in the triple digits. We did grab some redneck shots of the photos thought.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6e8ea1b22d00000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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So up next was the people mover. Yes I still call it that because that is what it is to me.

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tifaas
02-21-2012, 08:17 PM
Ian and I headed for Space Mountain next as it only had a 10 minute wait and it was the last thing we wanted to get accomplished before the dessert party. It was quite the wild ride still. I remember as a kid I wanted to ride this so bad. Then after I got off of it, I was like oh yeah, this ride really whips you around. It was fun but I think it's now a once each trip type of ride and not a multiple ride one.

So after we got off the ride we met up with his parents and walked over to Tomorrowland Terrace to check in for the dessert buffet.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f2eb1922100000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

We of course did not get any pictures of the food, but it was the same dessert as you see in everyone else's pictures that has been here. The chocolate covered strawberries were my favorite. They were huge and so good! The fruit tarts were pretty tasty too. My hubbies favorites were the build your own ice cream sundaes and the strawberries as well. He really liked peanut butter and chocolate tart too. While we couldn't see the pictures on the castle very well for the MM&Y show, you could see the effects pretty well. We didn't have anyone get in front of us either for the fireworks. Everyone was sitting in their chairs. On the right side people were up against the rail though. It was not very crowded the night we went either. Over half the tables were empty.

Some of my favorite pictures coming in the next post from this.

tifaas
02-21-2012, 08:21 PM
There was a photo pass person there for the dessert party and they took some amazing pictures.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0046FourBySix.jpg?t=1329877123

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0045FourBySix.jpg


This is my new desktop at work!
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0039FourBySix.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0043FourBySix.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0041FourBySix.jpg

tifaas
02-21-2012, 08:26 PM
So the MM&Y show started and these are some pictures from that.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f3f60535000000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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Then it was time for Wishes! I remember looking at my hubby at one point and just getting really emotional being there with him celebrating ten years of marriage together. It was truly a magical day!
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tifaas
02-21-2012, 08:30 PM
We will have Animal Kingdom and Epcot up next but I must get going for now. I promised the hubby I would meet him up at our local karoke bar tonight. He was going to head there after work as it's closer to work so it doesn't pay for him to come pick me up. We have some friends meeting up with us there as well so it should be fun. I will be back tomorrow with the next part of the trip. I promise.

jenny105
02-22-2012, 11:04 AM
Belle is my favorite princess too :)

We're going to Crystal Palace on our upcoming trip. I love Winnie the Pooh! I've never been there and I'm really looking forward to it :)

tifaas
02-22-2012, 02:23 PM
Belle is my favorite princess too :)

We're going to Crystal Palace on our upcoming trip. I love Winnie the Pooh! I've never been there and I'm really looking forward to it :)

You are going to have such a good time at Crystal Palace. I think I read you are having breakfast and if you are, try that Pooh's Puffed french toast. It was so good!

tifaas
04-25-2012, 01:20 PM
It was another early morning for us as we had a breakfast reservation set up for Tusker House at 8:15 am. We were out at the bust stop by 7:15ish and in no time at all a bus showed up and whisked us away to Animal Kingdom.

We made our way through the park and in no time at all arrived at the check in. We had just a small wait to get our picture with the head honcho himself Donald. I was just looking through my pictures and I guess I never scanned this picture in on the computer. I do have some good ones though with the various characters that dropped in. We had Daisy Duck, Goofy, Mickey Mouse at our breakfast.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip2012230.jpg?t=1335377157

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip2012233.jpg?t=1335377212

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip2012234.jpg?t=1335377249

After a yummy breakfast we made our way over to ride the safari first thing. We knew it was going to get warm today and the animals would be active first thing and then again towards the end of the evening.

I won't post safari pictures because we didn't see anything out of the ordinary and everyone has seen pictures from this before.

After the safari we decided it would be time to head over to Asia as we had a mountain calling our name. The wait was only like 10 minutes so Ian, myself and his dad went for it while his mom shopped. She's not big on thrill rides. I was actually surprised Ian's dad wanted to ride it. I let them sit together and went by myself. Since there was no one in the single rider line, I literally got to sit by myself. When we got off, we saw the wait had went down to 5 minutes so Ian and I jumped back in line while Eric went to find his wife.

Once we had our fill on the ride we decided it was time for a show. So we headed over to the Lion King. They had just finished filling up the theatre so we decided to wait in line as we definitely wanted to see the show. We were chatty with the host and just chit chatting. Next thing we know he's on his walkie talkie telling someone strange person he was sending over a group of four that were celebrating anniversaries. We were like is he talking about us and what's going on. He then tells us to walk around to where the show exits because he was putting us in some VIP seats for the next show and to give them our name. Yay some pixie dust for us.

The show was wonderful and it was really cool as the actors would give us high fives as they danced by us. Next up some pictures from the front row.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a1d909b3127ccefdecf292e9cb00000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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tifaas
04-25-2012, 01:27 PM
After we left the show were getting pretty tired so decided to head back to the hotel for a nap before heading to Epcot that evening. We had a dinner reservation set up for Le Cellier and we were really excited about this meal.

We left the resort around 4:30 as our dinner was for 5:30 and I knew we would probably be walking at a slower pace as the walking was finally catching up with my inlaws. I was actually surprised by all the energy Ian and I had as we were pooped pretty fast when we went the previous July. Then again I know the heat and humidity probably played a factor in it.

Back to the review...we made it to the Canada pavilion by 5:15 and they were able to seat us a little early. Woo Hoo! We really enjoyed this meal. We ate slow and really enjoyed it. No pictures unfortunately. I was really bad about the pictures of the food. LOL. We did some walking around after wards but called it an early night. We had thought about watching Illuminations but it was still like 2.5 hours away and we had an early breakfast adr at Kona so we called it an early night. We knew we would be spending all day on Sat at Epcot so we were ok with leaving early.

We got some pictures by the globe at night by one of the photo pass cast members.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/Photo0059FourBySix.jpg?t=1335378593

tifaas
04-25-2012, 01:39 PM
So when we got back to the resort that evening we were talking about the plans for the next day. We were supposed to be spending the morning at Magic Kingdom after breakfast and then the evening at Hollywood studios before going to Downtown Disney at night.

Well we decided that we had accomplished pretty much everything we wanted at both parks so decided to change it up somewhat. We decided it would be fun to hit up Blizzard Beach since it had been so warm all week and it would be something different. So the plan was to go to breakfast and then relax at the hotel until noon and head over to Blizzard Beach for a few hours.

We woke up this morning and discovered it would not be as pretty and warm as it had been. It was going to be a rainy day and cooler than it had been all week. We were a little worried about our plans but we had breakfast to get to. This was one of the ones I had been looking forward to as I had heard so much about this yummy Tonga Toast and pressed pot coffee.

We made it a little early but they were able to squeeze us in. We all ordered the tonga toast and shared a pressed pot of coffee with my mil.

Here are some pictures of breakfast.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip124.jpg?t=1335379010

Jumping on the resort monorail
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6e782133e600000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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We actually got a picture of the anniversary cupcakes they brought out.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j30/tifaas/Disney%20Trip%20-%202012/DisneyTrip146.jpg

tifaas
04-25-2012, 01:48 PM
So after breakfast we made it back to the resort as it was only 9ish. The inlaws decided to work on some laundry while we waited to see if the weather was going to possibly close Blizzard Beach.

Around noon it seemed like it was just going to be a drizzle kind of day, no lightning, so the park was open. We decided since we were going to be wet anyway might as well head over and check it out. There was literally maybe 10 other guests at the water park so we were in kind of for a treat with it being as slow as it was. We went to get lockers and they were like since ya'll are celebrating your anniversaries with us on this wonderful day we are going to set you up with a set of chairs and umbrella and lockers. Yay for more pixie dust.

So we followed the cast member to where our chairs would be.

We were set up in the area right by the wave pool. The water was pretty warm so it felt good. My inlaws stayed for about an hour as it really started to rain a little hard for them. We stayed for probably two more hours after they left and decided to call it ourselves. Here are some pictures from the park showing how empty it was.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a2df08b3127cceff6f9ed8132000000030O09BbMWbNy1B7e fCQ/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

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We of course had to get some of those mini donuts on our way out. They were so yummy. I can see why everyone raves about them.