I'm BAACK!! Moms dream vacation a success! Trippie is COMPLETE tons of pics... 1/21

I didn't see any DIS'ers either!! :( Although I will say I was a slacker and didn't wear the alien green Mickey's towards the end of the trip. We kept losing them along the way! :( And I was definitely on the look out for them too! Glad you had an amazing time as well! Can't wait to read your trippie!!

I'll post a pic of the birds at Animal Kingdom as well. There was at LEAST 100 of them at AK. Everyone kept stopping and talking about them!
 
Love your trippie so far! The pics of you and your mom on your first trip are so cute! How did you like POP? Did you think the beds were hard like concrete? I have heard that they were and I booked a trip there but thinking of switching to ASMU. Waiting for more popcorn:: .
 
Love your trippie so far! The pics of you and your mom on your first trip are so cute! How did you like POP? Did you think the beds were hard like concrete? I have heard that they were and I booked a trip there but thinking of switching to ASMU. Waiting for more popcorn:: .

Thanks! :) We really liked Pop!! I don't think the beds were too hard at all! I slept great every night until my mom decided to wake up and start getting ready! Then she would just make way too much noise and I could never go back to sleep. :confused3
 
Wow....What a great start!!!

That ice looks a little scary on the window, but glad you flight was only half hr behind...That is awesome!!!

83 sounds nice right about now...Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr....


You take great pics. You and you mom are so cute together. I love your silly pics.....You reminde me of myself and my mom.....silly and goofy, always having a good time:cool1:

Kona cafe looks yummy. I have to put that on my list for my next trip:thumbsup2

That Picture box in Pop had all the stuff from my childhood too....80s Rocked:cool1:


I loved your Electrical Water Pageant Pics....That looks so pretty. Would love to see that sometime...

Can't wait to read what is next:goodvibes
 


Hey, fellow Jersey Girl! I'm loving your trippie! We missed MVMCP by 2 days (bummer) so I hope you ended up going.

Your pix of the parade are awesome! And dinner at Kona sounds yummy--I'll have to remember that next trip.

Can't wait to hear more!

BTW, I'm jealous of you "kids" whose childhoods were in the 80s. Heck, I was out of college in 82...
 
Whoa, those pictures are amazing. You have a great eye!

(And ditto on the childhood flashback in that collage!)
 


Hi Disneygirlinnj, I too am a NJ girl, well I was born and raised there and have been in Louisiana the past 3 years and I miss Nj terribly! This warm weather, 80 degrees today, is nice but just not normal at the holidays!

I just love that you are taking your Mom on this trip. You are a great daughter. I too am like BFF with my DD, Sharky, subscribed to your thread also. We are going next October and I can't wait, though the rest of our families will be there as well I'm just happy to be with them and enjoy my DGS in Disney!!!

Great report so far!!!! Keep it up!
 
So little by little I'm getting there... just printed these out at work for mousekeeping (sorry for the fuzzy pic...it's from my cameraphone!)

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The printers here can't print on envelopes so I'll just stick em on and try to make them pretty tomorrow.

Heading to the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting today so that'll start getting me in the Christmas mood! Can't wait! :) Then after today it's all out Disney packing! YAY!

I love those for your envelopes for Mousekeeping, what a great idea! Don't forget to buy post card stamps, easier than trying to buy them at WDW, plus print out address stickers to those you are sending post cards to and take them with you!
 
Ok guys... crashed and burned on the mousekeeping envelopes!!! But we're still going to use them.. :( I glued them on with Elmers (we ran out of the glue sticks I would usually use) and placed a book on top of all the envelopes so they can dry flat. WELLLLLL.... I guess my 1st grade experience was too long ago to remember but since the glue was wet...the water part of the glue seeped through to the envelope seal.... so when we took the book off...the envelopes were halfway sealed already! AHHH!! :scared1:

Oh well... no harm done really. I pulled them apart as carefully as possible (I only ripped um....half of them? :rotfl: ) and I'll be taping them shut. They're probably going to throw the envelopes right out anyways! :confused3

I'll still take a pic of them though later to show the damage!

Oh and the covert operation to successfully 'acquire' alien green mickey heads went on without a hitch! There were only 13 though so I got all 13. :) No one was even around. I looked in the cabinet underneath and there was nothing there! BOOO!!!!

I've started the process of pulling clothes out of the closet. Yikes! Everything from the closet is piled on my bed as well as all necessary electrical objects (phone charger, ipod cable for my laptop, camera charger, camera USB, etc). All toiletries are out of the cabinets and drawers and just sitting on the bathroom floor. I still have to go through my dressers and pull out all those clothes but I'm getting there little by little. The jewelry I'm gonna take is out on the dresser (only the cheap stuff..haha!) and I might also have to go downstairs to storage and get the extra suitcase. Up here (we live in a condo) we have a big one and one that can be used as a carry on (but it'll be checked). I doubt both our clothes will fit in there so we might have to ditch the carry on and get the bigger one. The last thing I'll pack up is my laptop and the cord and I'll be set!

Oh...and print out my bible of information I've been accumulating since I started planning! :)

oh! njdisneyfreak... I got the templates for mousekeeping here... http://www.arwolff.com/heidi/ I had to resize them a little but they look good! And thanks for all the Pop advice!!! :thumbsup2

Less than 48 hours!! YAYYYYYY!!!! In 2 days I'll be sitting down right now (hopefully) at Kona!

Oh... and can we all PLEASE PRAY that the snow that is supposed to hit NJ on Sunday morning either holds off until after 12pm or is light enough that there will be NOOOO delays?! GEEZ! :santa:

I prob already missed you, I haven't been paying attn to the dates of the posts but if not, just a little packing tip!!! Put half your clothes and half your Mom's in one piece of luggage and then the other half of yours and the other half of your mother's in the other piece. That way if a piece of your luggage gets lost you both have a few items to hold you over, happened to me last year and didn't find my luggage for over a month, had to buy everything new on vacation!
 
Great trip report so far Disneygirl. I'm loving your pictures and your report. I love you and your Mom together and hearing about the great time you are having together. That is so nice.Can't wait to read more!!!!
 
Wow....What a great start!!!

That ice looks a little scary on the window, but glad you flight was only half hr behind...That is awesome!!!

83 sounds nice right about now...Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr....


You take great pics. You and you mom are so cute together. I love your silly pics.....You reminde me of myself and my mom.....silly and goofy, always having a good time:cool1:

Kona cafe looks yummy. I have to put that on my list for my next trip:thumbsup2

That Picture box in Pop had all the stuff from my childhood too....80s Rocked:cool1:


I loved your Electrical Water Pageant Pics....That looks so pretty. Would love to see that sometime...

Can't wait to read what is next:goodvibes

Thanks! :) I wish it was 83 back here in Jersey too... this cold weather STINKS!

ahhhh...gotta love the 80s :) I swear I just stared at the box and it brought back SO MANY memories! You definitely should get over to see the Water Pageant! It's short and sweet but I love it! I don't really know why! :confused3

Hey, fellow Jersey Girl! I'm loving your trippie! We missed MVMCP by 2 days (bummer) so I hope you ended up going.

Your pix of the parade are awesome! And dinner at Kona sounds yummy--I'll have to remember that next trip.

Can't wait to hear more!

BTW, I'm jealous of you "kids" whose childhoods were in the 80s. Heck, I was out of college in 82...

Yay Jersey! :banana: MVMCP was pretty cool... I'll talk more about it when I get to it but I honestly don't know if you missed much. :( So don't worry! And hey...you got all that cool 70s stuff you can brag about! :)

Great TR so far, cant wait for more!

Thanks Nicole! :) Hopefully more tomorrow!

Whoa, those pictures are amazing. You have a great eye!

(And ditto on the childhood flashback in that collage!)

Thanks! There's a MILLION more pics after all those! I'm going to try putting as many in here as possible...even if it means making like 10 posts per day! (well maybe not THAT many...lol)

Hi Disneygirlinnj, I too am a NJ girl, well I was born and raised there and have been in Louisiana the past 3 years and I miss Nj terribly! This warm weather, 80 degrees today, is nice but just not normal at the holidays!

I just love that you are taking your Mom on this trip. You are a great daughter. I too am like BFF with my DD, Sharky, subscribed to your thread also. We are going next October and I can't wait, though the rest of our families will be there as well I'm just happy to be with them and enjoy my DGS in Disney!!!

Great report so far!!!! Keep it up! Great trip report so far Disneygirl. I'm loving your pictures and your report. I love you and your Mom together and hearing about the great time you are having together. That is so nice.Can't wait to read more!!!!


Thanks! :) I'm sad to be back! This cold weather stinks! And big trips with the whole fam are awesome! You guys are going to have an amazing time in October!


OK guys....so I finished uploading all of my Day 2 pics (150 made the final cut! yikes!). I'll try to start writing the report for it tonight or tomorrow when I get a chance!
 
Thanks! :) I wish it was 83 back here in Jersey too... this cold weather STINKS!

ahhhh...gotta love the 80s :) I swear I just stared at the box and it brought back SO MANY memories! You definitely should get over to see the Water Pageant! It's short and sweet but I love it! I don't really know why! :confused3



Yay Jersey! :banana: MVMCP was pretty cool... I'll talk more about it when I get to it but I honestly don't know if you missed much. :( So don't worry! And hey...you got all that cool 70s stuff you can brag about! :)



Thanks Nicole! :) Hopefully more tomorrow!



Thanks! There's a MILLION more pics after all those! I'm going to try putting as many in here as possible...even if it means making like 10 posts per day! (well maybe not THAT many...lol)



Thanks! :) I'm sad to be back! This cold weather stinks! And big trips with the whole fam are awesome! You guys are going to have an amazing time in October!


OK guys....so I finished uploading all of my Day 2 pics (150 made the final cut! yikes!). I'll try to start writing the report for it tonight or tomorrow when I get a chance!

I love the 80s....atari, Cabbage Patch..ahhhhhh...those were the days:love:

You are moving right along with your report!!

Keep it up:cool1: :cool1:
 
Ok everyone... please go pop a bowl of popcorn or grab some chips and dip and sit back, relax, and enjoy Day 2! This is definitely going to be a multi post b/c well.... I have 150 pics from that day and like a lot of em...hehehehe

Ahh...I last left off with Evan and I leaving Pleasure Island at midnight-ish and that we stumbled upon a bunch of birds passed out in a tree... well here they are!

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We quickly jumped on a bus back to Pop and I was in bed and passed out within probably 10 minutes.

So... the next morning started out pretty uneventful...woke up around 7-ish and remembered that I never asked for a Mickey wakeup call! Sadly I'd forget every single other day this week too except for our very last morning! ha!
Headed to the cafeteria around 8am and wandered around to see what they have. Both mom and I had our eyes on the omelettes so we ordered em up!

I got cheese and ham, mom just got cheese and we ordered a few biscuits to go with it... biscuits were YUMMMMY!!! They became a staple breakfast food the rest of the week..mmmm! The omelette was really good too! Perfect amount of filling and not runny at all (I gag with runny eggs...bleh!). The potatoes it came with were very good too!

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Ah yes.. I almost forgot to mention the coffee situation. I had read on here that the Nescafe stuff they serve is pretty horrendous. Well? It was. Like BAD! I attempted a cup this morning but honestly couldn't get 1/4 of the way through without chucking it and just sticking to water. So sad.... I usually LOVE my coffee in the morning! <sniff!>

We finished up eating and headed outside to the buses and what do you know...there's a MK bus waiting for us! woot! woot! We jump on board and we're off to the happiest place on earth! Let the vacation officially begin!!!

Not the best pic of the railroad station but I loved how blue the sky looks! Perfect weather today!

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Oh I think I had mentioned in my pre-trip that we were going to get a wheelchair for mom cause of her heart problems. Yeah well... we attempted it and mom nixed that idea within like 5 minutes. Way too many people she said and she hated it. So we just took our time going through everything!
We saw a photopass photographer and stopped to take a pic with the castle. A little word of advice...DON'T go to the first photopass photographer you see on main street! There's a photorapher like every 20 feet all the way up to the Partners statue and that's where you'll get the best pics! The lines aren't even long when you get closer b/c no one knows they're there! So after taking a pic with the first guy (the pic came out crappy too so not even gonna post it!) we meandered our way down enjoying the Christmas decorations and window shopping a little bit. Some of the Main Street entertainment was out (I honestly don't know if they have an official name) so we stopped and watched for a bit).

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When we got pretty close to the castle we grabbed another photopass guy and had him snap a pic for us and that came out MUCH better! Also..take as MANY pics with them as possible b/c most of the time, I hate to say, but these guys aren't trained in photography and are just given a camera and told to shoot anything. So if you take a lot of pics with them...chances are you'll get some decent ones!

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We didn't really have a set schedule for the day. The only things we HAD to do was the Captain Jack Pirate Tutorial (I was on the lookout for the extremely good looking Jack..hehehe), Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and um.... honestly that's about the only requirements!!! Everything else we were going to just play by ear and see what happened.

For some reason the Captain Jack Tutorial wasn't on the times sheets that they give out at the entrances. We later found out the MK wanted to keep it somewhat of a 'secret' BUT yet... they put the times on the main time board?! The cast member standing there didn't get it either. I believe the first show was around 10:15 so we had a little bit of time to kill. Walked our way into Adventureland and looked around the Pirates store for a bit.

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Of course...when you're in the Pirate store...everyone MUST take the obligatory Pirate shot!

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Who's the guy you ask? Well? I honestly have NO clue! I was taking my solo photo and he just jumped in the pic with me! Him and his family were great though so maybe if he's on here...HIIIIIIIIII!!!!!

oops...forgot to hide my tag this time.. I'm a rent-a-pirate..lol
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Headed back outside at 10:15 to the little plaza area and there was a crowd forming. My mom spotted Mack making his way over and the show began! The guy that played Mack today was pretty hillarious. Jack was good too but after seeing it again later on the week...this Jack was definitely not as into it as some other guys. Maybe it was too early in the morning? Still a cute show... get ready for some pics everyone!

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haha..that last pic was hilarious... I honestly didn't even see Mack coming up to me and out of nowhere he popped up in my camera and was screaming 'hellooooo!??! anyone in there?!!?!? can you see me?!?!?!' I'm surprised they were in focus cause I was laughing so hard!

The kids they chose for the show were adorable. They were all so shy and timid and the comments that Mack and Jack were making had the whole crowd rolling.

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So after the show was over of course we headed to Pirates so I can see all the new changes they made...and we loved it! Shhhh.....don't tell anyone but I think I might be the only person on this planet that has not seen ANY of the Pirates movies! EEEK!!! I've now officially become a huge Jack Sparrow fan though so this weekend I'm having a marathon! I was even tempted to buy the DVD's in the store and watch them back in the room on my laptop.

The animatronic version of Jack...

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and another one of my fave parts of the ride..

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When we got off we saw there was a 50 minute wait for the Jungle cruise so we grabbed some fastpasses and then decided to suffer through the horribly annoying song at the Enchanted Tiki Room!

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I really don't remember what the original attraction was like since my father used to REFUSE to go on it. I remember the song, that's about it. The new version wasn't toooooo bad, but I'd only go on again if I was waiting for a fastpass time to come up!

We still had some more time so we wandered around adventureland a little more and saw a line forming and noticed that Aladdin and Jasmine were at the character spot! yayyyyyy!!! our first character meeting! Just waiting in line and watching them interact with all the little kids was sooo cute! Especially the little girls that were dressed like Jasmine!

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Then it was our turn! When we got up they started chatting with us and honestly my mom can BS through anything! Aladdin asked where we were from and then if NJ was anywhere near Agrabah. We all decided to visit each other when we were done with the vacation.

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After that we started walking but wait...what's that I smell?! Do I smell pineapples?!?! OHHHH I DOOOO!!!

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SO SO good! I could drink/eat these alllll day!

Finally it was time for the Jungle Cruise and we BREEEZED through the stand-by line and hardly even stopped to load the boats. I LOVE FASTPASS! hahaha!

I didn't really get that many great shots from the ride just b/c it was hard to take them and most of the good stuff was on the right side of the boat!

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There was a slight hold up towards the end of the ride and our skipper kept joking that they didn't give her enough corny jokes to hold us over. The two skippers in front of us though decided to start singing at the top of their lungs 'In the Jungle...the lion sleeps tonight!!!' or whatever the song is and had all the boats around them laughing! Our skipper refused to sing! AHHH! Oh well!

After leaving our boat and wandering some more, I spied with my little eye Captain Hook and Mr. Smee! Now we had said we're not waiting on any character lines that had more than like 5 or 6 people and actually lucked out most of the week!

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FINALLY we forced our way out of adventureland and straight into frontierland...

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We attempted to take a pic of mom in front of Splash Mountain but the mist got the best of her and she opted out of the pic! I kept joking she wasn't going to melt like the wicked witch... unless she forgot to tell me something and hides the green skin pretty well.

Ok...I think I've reached my 25 pic limit (geez! and we only did one land at the MK! YIKES!)! Up next?! Frontierland and Liberty Square!
 
Ok...so where did I leave off??? Ah yes... we had just headed into frontierland! So I had decided that since I was going to head back here for the evening extra magic hours with Evan and also attend the Very Merry Christmas Party with Sarah, I wouldn't do any of the rides that my mom can't do and waste precious time at the park! We skipped over Thunder and Splash and headed towards those lovable Country Bears.

On the way we saw the tail end of Woody's Cowboy Camp or whatever it's called..

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Oh...and have I mentioned that we've walked on to EVERY single ride so far?! NO WAIT....AT ALL!! yayyyy!!!

So I love the Country Bears...I really do. Even though it needs a serious makeover and it's just old and the same old show every year (I'm a little mad they didn't have the Christmas Country Bears this year! BOO!!!) so here's a little glimpse...

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After the Bears we realized we finished up with frontierland (at least with everything we wanted to see!) so headed towards Liberty Square. The smell of pizza caught our noses and since we weren't STARVING and had an early dinner at 4:30, we split a pizza just to hold us over. Pizza wasn't too bad! Definitely better than Dominoes!

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Glanced over at the Haunted Mansion and people were just walking right in so off we went! Ohhhhhh sooooo excited to see the changes!

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OK...I LOVED the changes!! LOVE LOVE LOVED them! The new bride room with the headless husbands was awesome, as were the upside down staircases. When you're in the stretching room definitely hang out in there until everyone leaves and listen... you'll hear all whispering voices telling you to 'getttt ouuuuutttttt!!!!', etc. Definitely cool! I could ride this all day!

After we got out, my mom spotted someone eating the Mickey ice cream bars so we decided to continue gorging ourselves and picked up an ice cream bar for mom (no pic..sorry!) and my all time favorite... a cookies n' cream Mickey sandwich!!! mmmm!! sorry... I had to take a bite before taking a pic...it was calling my name!

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Sat over by Hall of Presidents to gobble up the ice cream and yet again, must have timed it perfectly 'cause there was a show about to start just as we finished up!

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Now ever since I was a kid I was always pretty bored with the Presidents. Only recently I've actually been able to sit through it without falling asleep! Today wasn't too bad, I really didn't remember a whole LOT of it so it was nice to see it again! I think mom might have taken a little nap though!

After Presidents we wandered over to fantasyland and the back of the castle, which I really don't think I've EVER taken photos of before?!

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After a little photoshoot we headed over to Snow White's Scary Adventure. My mom was like 'Why is it called scary?! Should I not go on it?!' Ha...after reassuring her she'll be fine we jumped on after about a 15 minute wait.

Got off the ride and as I was snapping away some more pics of the castle I saw over in the corner Cinderella's wicked stepmother and stepsisters! RUNN!!!!!! Hurrryyyy before they leaveeeeee!!!!!

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They were AWESOME!! The wicked stepmother (who I later found out her name is Lady Tremaine?! seriously? you learn something new every day!) was great with the kids...snapping at them and everything. When we got up there she was like 'Do you want a picture?! Well get over here now then!'. I tried to give my best mean face but I couldn't hold in the smile.

After our meet n' greet we decided to hold off on the rest of the rides since the lines were really long and just wander around and finish the rest of the park the next time we were there. As we headed towards Main Street we saw a tiny piece of the parade and again...decided to watch it again later (which we never did! oh well... I'm not a HUGE parade person anyways!)

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Jumped into the first store on Main St and just started browsing... oh! can someone please tell me the whole deal with Crocs!? I tried them on and really? Wasn't that much of a fan! But they do make pretty Christmas wreaths! hahaha!

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Stopped by Roy and Minnie for a quick hello..

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Oh! If you notice in the pic..there's no big Christmas tree behind Roy!! When we came back the next time to the MK the tree was in it's right place. Apparently they moved it to tape the Christmas parade!

We still had some time before our dinner reservation at Tony's so we continued to browse a little more and look who we ran into...the Dapper Dan's!!!

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They were all so nice! There weren't too many people in the store when they were there so they came over and were talking to us for a bit. I had borrowed my fathers pretty nifty camera for the trip (thanks dad!!!) and one of the Dan's came over and was asking me about it.

Oh...and does anyone have $37,500 laying around they want to give me? Cause I want to buy this castle... WOWWWW!

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Almost time for dinner finally so we started towards Tony's and snapped some pics of the decorations on Main Street...

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Checked into Tony's a few mins early and bummed around for a bit until our table was called. ok ok....Who's ready for some food porn!?!? WOOHOOO!!!!! Oh... so I might be a little harsh on this food report section... my father is Italian and we're all preeettttyyyyy picky about the Italian food we eat! My mom on the other hand is Greek soooo... she's really not that picky when it comes to Italian food! hahahaha!!

First our waiter brought out the sun dried tomato, cheese, and pine nut (?) dip which I LOVED and ate almost all of...sorry..forgot to take a pic!!

Mom then started out with the spinach and artichoke dip... (is that Italian?! lo)

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She realllly liked it and couldn't get enough of it. I tried it and honestly? Wasn't that much of a fan!! There wasn't really any spinach in it and the cheese didn't have much flavor! It tasted like it was mostly heavy cream or something instead. So much for the three cheese blend they talked about on the menu!

I started off with the tomato and fresh mozzarella salad...yummy!

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I totally wasn't expecting grape tomatoes but it was good! The cheese was decent and the dressing and balsamic drizzle made it pretty darn tasty! I left the poor onions behind though.

For an entree mom ordered the eggplant rotini which she again liked a lot..

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(if you read my day 1 report... you'd know she was a picky eater so I was thankful she liked all this stuff! score!)
If you're wondering where all the sauce on the pasta is? I wondered the same thing so I ordered a size of marinara so I can pick at her pasta. I don't like eggplant so I can't tell you how it was! I think the pasta was a TAD overcooked but I like mine perfectly al dente. That's the Italian food snob in me coming out. The sauce wasn't bad though! It passed my test!

Onto my meal.... I ordered the chicken marsala..

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Totally didn't expect it to come out this way either but that didn't deter me from devouring the chicken. The chicken was cooked perfectly and the sauce had some nice flavor. I just wish they had cooked the chicken in the sauce to give it that extra kick. The mashed potatoes on the other hand were downright GROSS. They were thick and heavy and pastey. Bleh! And they had no flavor. I took one or two bites and stopped trying to like them. I also didn't really eat the asparagus so I was a little hungry (how? I don't know) still and picked at mom's pasta.

And now? drumroll please...... DESSERT! woohoooo! I've been eyeing the pistachio creme brulee on the menu since before we got to Florida so I was excited to try it. And I loved it! It wasn't too pistachio-ish and was just downright yummy.

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Mom had chocolate and cinnamon gelato (2 separate flavors) and she LOVED the chocolate and I LOVED the cinnamon! Totally forgot to take a pic of the gelato (either that or I just didn't want to waste time not eating my creme brulee) but I think I got a pic of it the 2nd time we ate at Tony's! Ohh..and I had a yummy cappuccino!

We finished up dinner and headed out back to Main St and saw that the train station was empty so we headed up there to grab a seat for the castle lighting. There were a few other people up there but we pretty much had it all to ourselves.

I had to do a little maneuvering around the huge flag pole in the middle of the street but I was able to snap a few decent shots of the castle. Although we didn't get to really see the show before the lighting, we heard it all..

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TADA!!!! All lit up and pretty!!

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The castle with the annoying flag pole in the way...

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hmm...I think I hit my limit again!!! On to part 3!!!
 
Ok...so back to our regularly scheduled programming...

We weren't that tired so we headed over to tomorrowland to see what we can jump on without a wait. And on the way couldn't help but snap more pics of the awesome castle..

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I knew Carousel of Progress wouldn't have a wait so we started in that direction. Right at the entrance I saw Buzz so we jumped in line and were luckily the last ones to get to see him.

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Quickly grabbed a pic with him and then into Carousel we went. I honestly still like this attraction too. I will say though I enjoyed the other song they used 'Now is the time...now is the best time!' It's the song I grew up with on the ride and although I KNOW it's not the original...it's still the one I like the best! But geez! It's time to update this thing!

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Headed to the TTA next and just relaxed for a little bit and enjoyed our tour of tomorrowland. Tried to take pics of space mountain but that failed miserably! Pretty sure we decided to call it a night after TTA (I couldn't stop calling it the Wedway People Mover though!) and yet again...had to stop by Cosmic Rays for some more pics of the castle...

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On the way back to the hotel (yet again...not a long wait for a bus!) I had been texting my friend Evan who was at Epcot that day and we decided to meet up in the lobby of Pop to head back over to the MK for evening extra magic hours until 1am.

Back at the Magic Kingdom I made Evan stop for yet some MORE pics of the castle..

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The park was honestly already empty by the time we got in around 10:30pm so we headed straight to the Haunted Mansion..

Is the room ACTUALLY stretching????

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We were both a little hungry so we stopped over at Pecos Bill's for some chili cheese fries and to discuss our gameplan for the rest of the night. Now.... on the bus we had decided that we would do Splash last since we MIGHT get wet. Umm...small problem...we were already in frontierland so THAT idea went out the window. We discussed and decided to go on it first instead of last. Why you ask? Well our reasoning was that the past like 10 times EACH that we've ridden the ride, neither of us have gotten wet... AT ALLLLL! So chances are, our 11th time riding Splash would yet again leave us high and dry...

Or so we thought.

We first jumped on Thunder Mountain and again...no wait and got in the back of the train. Yayyyy! I still love this ride! (no pics cause umm....I forgot I think!)

We then headed to Splash....
We jumped on with no wait and got in the front seat without even asking for it. Warning bells right there should have went off but nope! The 2nd little dip came and went and I thought all was well until the water around us started settling. Out of NOWHERE I see this HUGE wave of water come right over the side of my side of the boat and RIGHT INTO MY LAP! yes... no joke. I just sat there with my mouth open as the water seeped into every pore of my body and Evan just laughed at me. Secretly I was praying to the Splash Mountain water Gods that he'd pay for laughing at me. and woot! my prayers were answered! The big drop was finally approaching and at the very bottom we suddenly both decided to duck hoping the water would somehow fly over us. Well instead all that ended up happening was us banging foreheads, jumping back up and getting an even bigger wave of water in both our faces. UGH!!!!

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Probably the most unflattering picture of both of us but it demonstrates just how soaked we got.

Did I mention that this night was one of the COLDEST of the trip? And all I was wearing was a tank top and no sweatshirt!? I was FREEEEZING the rest of the day! And WHYYYYY does the MK not have those air hand dryers in the bathroom?! At least by Splash!? That would have solved allll my problems. Toilet paper and paper hand towels just don't do the trick! We were tempted to go into the store, use a towel, and quietly replace it on the rack!

In between shivers, we headed over to Pirates for a quick ride...and yayyyy more Jack Sparrow!

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Next up was tomorrowland! I think this is where we jumped in line for Buzz Lightyear... I think. haha...no pics but I know it was around here somewhere! Evan definitely kicked my butt...BUT the guy in front of us killed us both and got a score of 999,999!! no joke!! thats CRAZY! my poor thumb hurt too much from pressing the trigger! hahaha!

I hadn't done the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor yet so we got in line for that next. Now...remember that everything I owned was soaking wet? Well all would have been ok... my little camera I had with me was actually waterproof (thank GOD I didn't bring my fathers camera). My wallet was soaked, my checkbook dripping, everything! I seriously don't understand HOW the inside of my bag was so wet! Well after the ride I had put my cell phone in my back pocket. On line for Monsters, it started vibrating so I took it out to check who was calling. And NO ONE! seriously. nothing. And it wouldn't STOP vibrating! I showed it to Evan who suggested just turning it off. I did and? it was STILL vibrating even though it was off! Stupid Splash Mountatin shorted out my cell phone!! AHH!!! So I took the battery out of it hoping it would dry and continue working and was already freaking out on what I would do if my phone was totally dead on only the 2nd day of my trip! I kept attempting to put the battery back in but it was useless. The vibrating wouldn't stop. boooooo!!!!

OK...enough babbling about the phone... we headed into the comedy show and I thought it was really cute! They picked on this one poor guy sooo much and it was hilarious. He was luckily a good sport about it.

After the show was over (and after attempting to fix my phone which didn't work) we headed over to Space Mt. Now we had always heard that one side was better than the other and with no line AT ALLLLL.... we decided to put it to the test!! First we went on the right side and made sure to sit all the way in the back. Jumped off and ran to the left side and sat again all the way in the back. And honestly? Both sides are EXACTLY the same. Yup! They are!

Oh! Side note...popped the battery back in my phone after our 2nd trip on Space and it had stopped vibrating!! WOOT! it works again! strange!

We both agreed we wouldn't do Stich's Great Escape. We HATE that ride. Alien Encounter was at least decent and SCARY! Stich just sucks and I hate the smell of corndogs in my face. Bleh!

Astro Orbiter was also off our list b/c it just had way too long of a line. I don't understand how NOTHING had a line except Orbiter. weird!

Ok....by now it was a little past midnight and I ran out of pics for the official Day 2! I think I have 1 or 2 after midnight that I didn't upload yet so those will go into Day 3's report! :woohoo:
 
Oh, my Jersey friend, I am LOVING your pix!!

I notice that mom's blue and white sweater looks very familiar. Would that, by chance be the same Talbots sweater that I love so much? If so, great taste, if not, great taste anyway!

OK, I just have to say it here. Disney "pizza" is NOT real pizza!! And you, from Jersey, you should know from pizza! Now, you want REAL pizza, you go to the 'burg, in Trenton, for some ultra thin crust "tomato pie", or to any of the hundreds of mom & pop pizza joints in Monmouth County for a good old plain pie. THAT, my friend is pizza!!

The Mickey cookies and cream sandwich was a huge hit with my DS10. I think he'd have lived on them, given a chance!

I LOVED the pic of the Crocs wreath!! LOL, too cute! And I love my crocs--all 6 pair! I wasn't loving them at first, but they grow on you and now I live in mine.

That mozzarella and tomato salad looked YUMMY! Never saw it with grape tomatoes before either, but with the little balls of mozzarella, it works! I'll have to try that, since this time of year the only decent tomatoes are the grape tomatoes!

Keep up the great work!
 
Oh, my Jersey friend, I am LOVING your pix!!

I notice that mom's blue and white sweater looks very familiar. Would that, by chance be the same Talbots sweater that I love so much? If so, great taste, if not, great taste anyway!

OK, I just have to say it here. Disney "pizza" is NOT real pizza!! And you, from Jersey, you should know from pizza! Now, you want REAL pizza, you go to the 'burg, in Trenton, for some ultra thin crust "tomato pie", or to any of the hundreds of mom & pop pizza joints in Monmouth County for a good old plain pie. THAT, my friend is pizza!!

The Mickey cookies and cream sandwich was a huge hit with my DS10. I think he'd have lived on them, given a chance!

I LOVED the pic of the Crocs wreath!! LOL, too cute! And I love my crocs--all 6 pair! I wasn't loving them at first, but they grow on you and now I live in mine.

That mozzarella and tomato salad looked YUMMY! Never saw it with grape tomatoes before either, but with the little balls of mozzarella, it works! I'll have to try that, since this time of year the only decent tomatoes are the grape tomatoes!

Keep up the great work!

Thank you! Thank you! :) And yes..... moms sweater IS from Talbots... and if you keep up with the trip report, you'll see probably every other shirt she wears will be from there too! hahaha! she's a little crazy about it! :confused3

Ohhhhhh!!! I definitely will NEVER EVER EVER put Disney pizza in the same category as good ol NY/NJ pizza! mmmmmmmmm!!!!! I had some today for lunch b/c I was in withdrawal all last week! SO GOOD! It doesn't help much that my uncle owns a pizzeria down the street from me and it was voted one of the best pies in Bergen county! MMMMM!!!! I could go for some more right now! :woohoo:

Your son has great taste too! I could definitely live on those Mickey ice cream sandwiches... and good pizza of course! :)

Oh boy... are you suggesting that I might actually have to try a pair of these crocs for a day?!

Ohhhhh...GOOD POINT about the grape tomatoes being the only good tomatoes this season! I might have to try it at home too. The balsamic drizzle definitely made the dish!

I am so lovin your trip report. I can't wait to read more:woohoo:

Thank youuuuu!!! I'm uploading Day 3 pics as we speak so hopefully tomorrow you guys will get another installment (if i'm not swamped at work..shhhhhh!!!)
 

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