Just Pretend the Raindrops are Snowflakes!~A 12/11 TR! *Trip Wrap Up! Pg 21, 2/23!*

[Merida]

Aw, I'm sorry you weren't feeling well! Though I'm totally jealous of your medicine-taking ability - I always swear that next time I will take medicine, I never seem to actually do it. I hate swallowing pills so much! My preferred sore throat medicine is vanilla pudding.

My secret favorite activity is exploring resorts. I don't even know why! Maybe because they're quiet? Maybe I just really, really like native Floridian flora? Who knows! It's just so relaxing and you can usually pick up yummy treats somewhere along the way. AoA looks cute, but also kind of plasticy? If that's even a word! idk. Maybe Pop will empty out a little when AoA opens and I'll try there first (I'm always behind the times on trends ). Everyone's Pop pictures look really fun and there's trivia! BONUS.

Oh, those margaritas look so good! I've never actually had one - I'm a Long Island Iced Tea/sweet tea vodka + peach schnapps/syrup/lemonade girl. But they're blue (okay, I have had a blue Long Island, but it wasn't very good). And if the store is open, it's not too early for a drink!! That's my rule.

 

[Mrs T 2009]

HAHAHA I bet the coffee helped get him up without any problems

I LOVE that exit sign. EPIC!!! LOL

Fresh Air can do wonders can't it?

That Panini looked pretty big! I doubt I could eat it all either!

 

[Nermel9]

Aw, I'm sorry you weren't feeling well! Though I'm totally jealous of your medicine-taking ability - I always swear that next time I will take medicine, I never seem to actually do it. I hate swallowing pills so much! My preferred sore throat medicine is vanilla pudding.

My secret favorite activity is exploring resorts. I don't even know why! Maybe because they're quiet? Maybe I just really, really like native Floridian flora? Who knows! It's just so relaxing and you can usually pick up yummy treats somewhere along the way. AoA looks cute, but also kind of plasticy? If that's even a word! idk. Maybe Pop will empty out a little when AoA opens and I'll try there first (I'm always behind the times on trends ). Everyone's Pop pictures look really fun and there's trivia! BONUS.

Oh, those margaritas look so good! I've never actually had one - I'm a Long Island Iced Tea/sweet tea vodka + peach schnapps/syrup/lemonade girl. But they're blue (okay, I have had a blue Long Island, but it wasn't very good). And if the store is open, it's not too early for a drink!! That's my rule.

OMG I'm jealous of your non-medicine taking ability! I have headaches all the time, and when I do, I just pop some Excedrin. My stomach hurts, I take Pepto. I have heartburn, I take Zantac. I'm afraid I'm killing my poor kidneys or my liver with all this medication! When I go a few days without taking Excedrin or Ibuprofen, I'm actually proud of myself! I wish I could just not take anything. I wish I didn't have headaches all the time, it sucks!

I love exploring resorts too! I've been to all of the deluxes except for SSR and OKW, so I really want an excuse to explore them! Oh, and BLT. But I'm pretty sure you can't get in there unless you're an actual DVC member, right? Although, there is that walkway that connects it to the CR...hmmm...

AoA does look plasticy, you're absolutely right! But I'd still stay there! Pop is awesome, I hope it empties out a little so you can stay there! It's such a fun resort, it really makes you feel like you're in DISNEY, you know! Those giant icons are just so amazing!

You've never had a margarita??? I'd say go have one, but if you have made it this long without having one, just wait til your next Disney trip and have your first one at La Cava! They are the BEST ever!

A blue Long Island Iced Tea? That's so weird! I love the sweet tea vodka! I sometimes wish I drank more so I could drink these yummy things, but I seriously never freakin drink. I bought a tiny little bottle of toasted marshmallow vodka for new year's eve and it's still in my freezer.

HAHAHA I bet the coffee helped get him up without any problems

I LOVE that exit sign. EPIC!!! LOL

Fresh Air can do wonders can't it?

That Panini looked pretty big! I doubt I could eat it all either!

Haha, isn't that the best picture of an exit sign?

I'm so glad I just got out and went for a walk by myself, if I stayed in that room, I would have just woken Brandon up and I would have ended up feeling worse.

The panini was really good but it was SO filling! I'm really sticking to a danish next time we are at Sunshine Seasons!

 

[KatMark]

LOVE the "epic" exit sign. Perfect! Take that, Brandon.

 

[Nermel9]

LOVE the "epic" exit sign. Perfect! Take that, Brandon.

Haha, thank you! It is a pretty awesome picture, I'll have to tell Brandon that everyone else liked it!

 

[PirateKate]

I was really hoping that it wouldn't be rainy when you went to see the Spectacle of Lights. It rained on us there one year and the rain mixing with the snow was very non-magical. The pictures turned out great though!

I'm glad you stuck it out on Soarin'. That line always seems to take forever, but it's always worth it. It's always been a dream of ours to ride Soarin' over and over until we were tired of it, but so far, either the line was prohibitive, or we had the boys with us. Maybe next trip!

 

[smile4stamps]

Caught up here now too!

I guess according to La Cava 11:30 is TOO early for a margarita!! I'm not a margarita fan... Tequila doesn't like me! Which is a bummer cause I think I would like a lot of the flavors!

I take way too many meds for headaches as well! I was once told I needed to stop taking Ibuprofen because they were causing rebound headaches!!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I love your early morning Pop pictures! The pool looks like so much fun!

Ugh - sorry to hear you got stuck in the Soarin' line. I feel like it takes forever to get through it, even when you have a FP. Love the exit sign picture!

Your blue margarita looks yummy! For as much as Miguel loves margaritas, I can't believe we've never tried one from La Cava. We always just do the little stand outside, which I'm not a huge fan of. I bet the La Cava ones are much better!

 

[nidasbourne]

Snowflakes are conglomerations of frozen ice crystals which fall through the Earth's atmosphere. They begin as snow crystals which develop when microscopic supercooled cloud droplets freeze. Snowflakes come in a variety of sizes and shapes.

 

[Nermel9]

I was really hoping that it wouldn't be rainy when you went to see the Spectacle of Lights. It rained on us there one year and the rain mixing with the snow was very non-magical. The pictures turned out great though!

I'm glad you stuck it out on Soarin'. That line always seems to take forever, but it's always worth it. It's always been a dream of ours to ride Soarin' over and over until we were tired of it, but so far, either the line was prohibitive, or we had the boys with us. Maybe next trip!

Thanks! Yeah, I was hoping for no rain too, but at least we had a decent 30 minutes or so that were pretty dry! I would have liked to spend a little more time at the lights, but...there's always next year!

I would LOVE to ride Soarin' over and over! The line is never short enough for that, though! Tower of Terror, you can totally do that if the crowds are low enough, but Soarin'? Forget it! It's such a great ride!!

Caught up here now too!

I guess according to La Cava 11:30 is TOO early for a margarita!! I'm not a margarita fan... Tequila doesn't like me! Which is a bummer cause I think I would like a lot of the flavors!

I take way too many meds for headaches as well! I was once told I needed to stop taking Ibuprofen because they were causing rebound headaches!!

Yay!

Haha, I guess so! I don't think I could ever drink straight tequila, I'd probably puke...in fact, I don't think I've ever even done a shot of it in my life! But margaritas are awesome!

I've heard that about rebound headaches...so what are you supposed to do, just not take meds until you just don't get headaches anymore? Weird.

I love your early morning Pop pictures! The pool looks like so much fun!

Ugh - sorry to hear you got stuck in the Soarin' line. I feel like it takes forever to get through it, even when you have a FP. Love the exit sign picture!

Your blue margarita looks yummy! For as much as Miguel loves margaritas, I can't believe we've never tried one from La Cava. We always just do the little stand outside, which I'm not a huge fan of. I bet the La Cava ones are much better!

Thanks! The pool looked so nice, I'm sad we didn't go in it, but I'm sure we will someday!

The Soarin' line was awful that day! We just stood there, not moving! They didn't even have those games on the wall on yet! At least that makes the wait fun!

I can't believe you have never had a La Cava margarita! I've never had one from the stand, but I'm guessing those are made from some type of mix, and they are frozen, right? I don't really like frozen margaritas, I like them on the rocks, and that's how you get them at La Cava, and they are authentic! Please try one on your next trip, you will be thanking me for forcing you to go!

 

[Nermel9]

5 Minute Solo Trip!​

Monday December 12

Hi guys! So there are only 2 and a half weeks left of February, and my goal is to finish this TR up by Feb. 29! So I'll probably update here a lot, and maybe my October TR once or twice, just so I can get this one finished so I can start my PTR for my May trip! I just need to talk about it, and there's only so much I can say to Brandon, he loses interest pretty quickly!

We just left La Cava with our lovely margaritas, and were ready to circle the World Showcase. I was hoping to see more of the holiday storytellers, and yay, what do you know, there was one right outside of China!

We stopped to listen, but...it was kind of boring. I feel bad saying that, but I was having a tough time paying attention. I thought before our trip that I would love these storytellers, but ! I just wanted to move on!

We walked over to Germany, where we stopped to look at the little town with the train, and just like when it was decorated for the Food and Wine fest in October, it was decorated for the holidays! So cute!

We then went over to Italy for a few minutes, just to see the decorations, but they were pretty minimal.

Brandon just wanted to sit and rest for a minute and drink his margarita, so I tried to get a nice picture of him sitting at the table, but he just kept joking around, so all the pictures I got of him are ridiculous.

Dork!
​

We started walking again and I noticed these people sitting along the fence...

They were waiting for the 5:00 showing of the Candlelight Processional! It was maybe 12:30! Are they serious??? They're going to waste their whole entire Disney day sitting in line, just to see Neil Patrick Harris??? To each his own I guess, but wow, you want to see it that badly, just buy the dinner package!

As we approached Japan, Brandon mentioned how good the sushi was that he had at the new CS place, and wanted to get some again. I agreed, because I knew they had some kind of shrimp/noodle thing broth, and I thought maybe if ate some kind of soup, I'd feel a little better. So we went in, ordered our sushi and soup, and sat down to eat.

Brandon enjoyed his sushi again, and my noodles and soup were really good! I only ate a few of the noodles though, I really just wanted the broth for my throat, which was starting to bother me again. I'm not even sure if I ate the shrimp, I think I just gave it to Brandon. I'd like to get that again when I'm not feeling so horrible so I could eat more of it!

Since we were in Japan, after we were finished eating, we of course, had to go in our new favorite store, Mitsukoshi. We went into the back where I saw these Lucky Cats:

We thought they were so cute, and we could always use some luck! So I got a black one, which of course I got to protect me from illness, since I was sick, and I forget which one Brandon got, I want to say the white one? Of course, I'm sure he lost it by now!

We looked around a little more, and I fell in love with the cute little dishes and bowls they have there!

We left Japan and kept on walking, right on over to France!

​

I took a picture with Marie who was out and had no one waiting in line for her, but it is SO awful I'm not putting it up! I look so sick and terrible that I'm ashamed of myself for walking around Epcot looking like that that morning! Ever hear of make up, Jen? Ugh!

We were about ready to go, but we had to make one stop on the way out...we had to use our Soarin' FP's, of course! The wait wasn't too bad, maybe 10 minutes, which was nice, but they stuck us in the 3rd row. I'm not a big fan of the 3rd row of Soarin', but still, it was awesome! How much do I love Soarin'?? AHHHHH!!!

We went back to Pop and rested and showered and all that fun stuff, and headed back out around 5:30. We had dinner at Pop, we both had the Chicken Penne Alfredo

which was AWESOME!!! It was so good, I don't know what was so special about it, but I loved every single thing about that meal! The chicken especially, it was amazing!

For dessert, I finally got to have THIS:

Yep. And it was every bit as good as it looks in that picture. If I could have brought a whole cheesecake home with me, I would have!

Once we finished our delicious dinner, we hopped in the car and headed over to...the Magic Kingdom!

Of course, what is going on when we enter the park? The Main Street Electrical parade!!

I remember whining to Brandon about it, saying something like "there is no escape from this parade! I think it's following us or something!" Seriously, that parade makes me feel like I'm going crazy!

We ran over to Tomorrowland to escape the parade and in a few minutes, we were free, our sanity had returned in the comfort of the neon lights of Tomorrowland, and of course, the amazing Tomorrowland area music! I was ready to do something, go on Space Mountain, maybe see how long the wait for Buzz was...

"Uh, I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

"Seriously? We just got here!! Fine, then I'm going on the Peoplemover."

Brandon looked shocked when I said that. I know I talk about solo trips all the time, and yes, I'd love to take one...but I have yet to go on a ride alone. Until now, that is.

"Without me? But I wanted to go on it too."

"Well, just wait at the bottom for me and we'll go on again."

Brandon agreed to wait for me after my first solo ride on a Disney attraction. It was seriously SO exciting walking up that ramp alone...being asked how many and answering "one!" I felt so brave...like such a grown up!

I had the best time on the Peoplemover!!

Oops, I think I left the flash on for that one...
​

I wanted proof for myself that I went on the Peoplemover alone, so I tried to take a picture of myself with Tomorrowland behind me, and this is the best I could get:

(Sigh. This picture makes me miss my long hair! I just chopped like, 8 inches off and it seems so short!)
​

My first solo ride ever came to and end, and I got off and went down the ramp. Brandon was there waiting for me.

"So how was it?"

"Fun, but it will be better with you."

So up the ramp we went, for my second ride on the Peoplemover! We had only been in MK for a short time so far, and already I was having the best time!

Up next...more MK!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I love all of the fun things in Mitsukoshi! I hope the little lucky cat helped you feel better!

Your tie-dye cheesecake looks awesome! I SO want to try a piece someday!

Good for you on your first solo ride! I've never been on a ride at Disney alone, I'd imagine I'd be just as excited!

 

[Joyciemc]

Great update! I never thought about it, but I don't think I've been on a ride alone, either! I did go to the Frontierland Shootin Arcade once, though!

 

[marDgreen88]

THE MONKEY KING! Hahaha I tend to agree. In 2010 we listened to about 2 minutes of the Monkey King and then about 1 minute to the Canadian guy. This year the Canadian guy got about 30 seconds in passing.

That picture of Brandon.

I would have LOVED to see NPH, but last year it worked out that we just walked up to see Jodi Benson and stood in the back. I would have done that again for NPH had I been there a few days earlier, but I would never waste my whole precious Disney day to have a seat.

Wow, your food at Pop Century all looks SO GOOD!

Aww, I'm glad you enjoyed your solo PeopleMover adventure.

 

[MEK]

I have had that chicken penne pasta before and it IS really good! That brings back memories of going on a mother/son trip with Nick before he became a teen. Sigh!

You hair really was long! Wow! Did you donate it? I'm proud of you for riding alone. poor Brandon!

Great afternoon in Epcot. That sushi looks really good! You are also off to a great evening in MK.

What Brandon doesn't like to talk Disney 24/7? Go figure!

 

[dara00]

that sign about the cats made me laugh. why would anyone choose yellow for good fortune in finance when gold gives you good luck in finance AND your dreams will come true! If those weren't super expensive, they look like fun to buy. Let's see, I think I would choose silver. I need lots of patience!

oops I took a flash picture on the space mt. part of the people mover too! I don't think I realized I wasn't supposed to. heh. it was just of my kids though!

 

[Simba22]

ok first, that pic of you on the TTA is so pretty! you look gorgeous in that picture and I don't care what you say! So pretty! And I totally know what you mean about the long hair! Mine has ALWAYS been long and several years ago I got it cut super short and I hated it (and by super short i mean a tad past my shoulders) and I am so paranoid about over cutting it now!

Yay for doing a solo ride! It's so funny how we talk so much trash about doing things without our men and then when the time comes we're like "that sucked without you"

and OMG would you guys just FINISH those margaritas already?! I would drink a gallon size margarita right now.... We opted to go to dinner tonight for V-Day since everything will be packed tomorrow and my stupid self defaults to Friendly's every time, but I so should have picked a restaurant with margaritas!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Haha, look at you being all adult on going on your first ride by yourself!

You are right though, it's always better being with someone.

 

[Merida]

OMG I'm jealous of your non-medicine taking ability! I have headaches all the time, and when I do, I just pop some Excedrin. My stomach hurts, I take Pepto. I have heartburn, I take Zantac. I'm afraid I'm killing my poor kidneys or my liver with all this medication! When I go a few days without taking Excedrin or Ibuprofen, I'm actually proud of myself! I wish I could just not take anything. I wish I didn't have headaches all the time, it sucks!

I love exploring resorts too! I've been to all of the deluxes except for SSR and OKW, so I really want an excuse to explore them! Oh, and BLT. But I'm pretty sure you can't get in there unless you're an actual DVC member, right? Although, there is that walkway that connects it to the CR...hmmm...

AoA does look plasticy, you're absolutely right! But I'd still stay there! Pop is awesome, I hope it empties out a little so you can stay there! It's such a fun resort, it really makes you feel like you're in DISNEY, you know! Those giant icons are just so amazing!

You've never had a margarita??? I'd say go have one, but if you have made it this long without having one, just wait til your next Disney trip and have your first one at La Cava! They are the BEST ever!

A blue Long Island Iced Tea? That's so weird! I love the sweet tea vodka! I sometimes wish I drank more so I could drink these yummy things, but I seriously never freakin drink. I bought a tiny little bottle of toasted marshmallow vodka for new year's eve and it's still in my freezer.

Oh no! I'm sorry that you don't feel well so much; I kind of stopped taking medicine after having to take a lot of amoxicillin as a kid (it was pink! and bubblegum-y! Sooo good and nothing ever could compare). Also my grandmother would give us absolutely WRETCHED concoctions so we all kept quiet about being sick. And now that I'm living on a grad student budget, I always talk myself out of taking meds and just taking a nap instead. Cheap'n'easy!

I think the bridge between CR and BLT has a locked door (I think it was in some picture?). I really want to go to SSR and see the treehouses! I actually really like the look of SSR because PONIES. OKW on the other hand....

Yup, it had blueberry syrup in it! Ugh, I have like three bottles of sweet tea vodka in the freezer right now AND a vanilla rum (and some other things hidden behind the Haagen Dazs, I think). We seriously look like alcoholics but it's really because we keep getting them as presents and we never get around to drinking them. Was toasted marshmallow any good? I can't see it working with any of my normal mixers.

Honestly, I didn't really like the Norwegian Storyteller either (the only one we saw). He was trying really hard to be cool and it didn't really work. Like, I looove these sorts of things normally and I wish that they were simply telling Norwegian myths or traditions instead of putting in unnecessary pop culture references.

Disney has some of the best train villages and I think it's really nice that they decorate them as well! Something about miniature things is so cute.. and totally more exciting than the storytellers.

Mitsukoshi is the best store in Disney World. There's so many things to look at and it seems to go on forever. I always think we're in the last room and then - poof! - there's another one!

I have a secret love of the value cafeterias. I don't know what it is, maybe because my staying at the values tends to mean I'm spending long days at the parks and getting really hungry. I guess the food's probably really fresh since there's a lot of turnover? The Mickey waffles are definitely always tasty.

Yay for your first solo ride! And you got the one picture we were both dying to get (inside Space Mountain). That was SO COOL to go through. I feel like I notice more details and see more on a solo ride, but that's mostly because my boyfriend always tries to talk to me on rides.

 

[smile4stamps]

Yeah... They told me I had to go cold turkey on the Ibuprofen. I was given a prescription for migraines that got me through and now I am able to take Ibuprofen occasionally without a problem. It was a rough week getting off the Ibuprofen but in the end worth it as I have less headaches.... It also helped me to identify some of my triggers.... Not eating properly, not enough water, too much citrus, to much chocolate