Drama Queens in Disney - A Theatrical Journey with SOOZE and Friends! Update 5/6

[katt789]

I'm in!! And what a great start to the trip! I must admit, I'm drawn in even more by the drama-ness! (being a performer myself!) I'm super excited to read more!

 

[jecskc]

Joining in !!! I loved your other TR. It looks like this is a fun group and that you are having a blast. Looking forward to more.

 

[timandlesley]

Hi Susie,
what an AMAZING TR so far. LOVED all the theatre pics, I've seen some through facebook but to put them with names and stories was wonderful- no wonder this will be such a Magical trip all of you guys together.
Stinks about Shae's ears on the plane, that happens to Luke and it's just miserable, poor baby!
Kidani sure is beautiful and I'm glad you guys scored and got a savannah view when just paying for standard. Sorry about the transportation. We have had stays there were everything takes forever and others where the transportation whizzes by- sorry it's a bummer for you guys for now. I assume Boardwalk is still your favorite after this stay?
Can't wait to read more!
Lesley

 

[Native NYer]

That is a LONG bus ride! Glad you finally got to Epcot.
Gotta love no wait for SSE.

 

[PrincessV]

I'm here, I'm here! Thanks for letting me know - I haven't perused the TR section in ages.

Okay, first thoughts:

1. I can't believe how much Tyson and Shae have grown up since we first "met" on the DIS!

2. We really MUST do some Disneying together. I already adore you, and now I adore your friends, too.

3. I made it here just in time! Cant' wait to go to WWOHP...

 

[MissPrice]

Joining In, lovin' the report so far. -Amanda

 

[reelmom]

I can't wait for the next update. We are going to WWoHP in 97 days! I am so excited and looking forward to your report and pictures.

 

[Blueyed Girl]

50 MINUTES???!!!???

Aside from much time wasted on the bus, it seems as though you guys had a great start in the park! The girls are so cute!!!! And how cool is Tyson's snail?!!!? I've never seen one in WDW before. Many cool lizzards and insects, but no snail. We shall be on the lookout from now on!

 

[mermaid764]

Ugh 50 minutes on a bus does not sound like the funnest way to start your vacation, but yay for finally making it to Epcot!

The girls are so cute with how excited they were about those dolls, they look like a really good set, but I can imagine probably pretty pricey too.

I love the pictures in the Mexican pavilion, everyone looks like they were so happy to finally be together.

I can't wait to hear more

 

[RENThead09]

I am sitting here with goosebumps recalling "When You Wish" being played by that amazing corps that night at Lucas Oil Field. Minnesota Brass alum here. Star was and will always be one of the classiest acts ever to step on turf.

Love the report. Cant wait to read more.

 

[Sooze]

I'm in!! And what a great start to the trip! I must admit, I'm drawn in even more by the drama-ness! (being a performer myself!) I'm super excited to read more!

You can never have too many drama queens in one place! Welcome! Hope you enjoy!

Joining in !!! I loved your other TR. It looks like this is a fun group and that you are having a blast. Looking forward to more.

Thanks for coming back!! We were blessed with THREE group trips in 2011! It's so much fun to share Disney joy with good friends, isn't it?!

Hi Susie,
what an AMAZING TR so far. LOVED all the theatre pics, I've seen some through facebook but to put them with names and stories was wonderful- no wonder this will be such a Magical trip all of you guys together.
Stinks about Shae's ears on the plane, that happens to Luke and it's just miserable, poor baby!
Kidani sure is beautiful and I'm glad you guys scored and got a savannah view when just paying for standard. Sorry about the transportation. We have had stays there were everything takes forever and others where the transportation whizzes by- sorry it's a bummer for you guys for now. I assume Boardwalk is still your favorite after this stay?
Can't wait to read more!
Lesley

I have missed you, Lesley! Thanks for taking time to read... I know you are CUHRAZY busy!

Does that happen to Luke's ears on every flight!? How miserable!

I agree about transportation... and we try not to complain because most of the time, it is smooth and easy!

And yes... still a Boardwalk fan (even though many of their rooms are JUST as far away, right?!)

That is a LONG bus ride! Glad you finally got to Epcot.
Gotta love no wait for SSE.

Or a LONG bus SIT!!

It's so hard to wait in line for SSE when we have been so often with no wait. When we went back after Christmas, it was BRUTAL!

 

[Sooze]

I'm here, I'm here! Thanks for letting me know - I haven't perused the TR section in ages.

Yay! V!!!! Sorry for the pitiful begging, but I miss you on my TRs! Thanks for stopping by!

Okay, first thoughts:

1. I can't believe how much Tyson and Shae have grown up since we first "met" on the DIS!

I know, right? I do enjoy watching our DIS children grow, but it's SCARY how fast it's happening!

2. We really MUST do some Disneying together. I already adore you, and now I adore your friends, too.

TOTALLY agree!!! You gonna be around the first few days of April?

3. I made it here just in time! Cant' wait to go to WWOHP...

Me either! Let's go!

Joining In, lovin' the report so far. -Amanda

Thanks for jumping on board! Glad to have you along. Hope you enjoy!

I can't wait for the next update. We are going to WWoHP in 97 days! I am so excited and looking forward to your report and pictures.

Have you been to WWoHP before!? This was ALL of our first time... so it was crazy fun!

50 MINUTES???!!!???

Right!? You know we've all had many different kinds of bus experiences and this goes on my list of one of the worst!

Aside from much time wasted on the bus, it seems as though you guys had a great start in the park! The girls are so cute!!!! And how cool is Tyson's snail?!!!? I've never seen one in WDW before. Many cool lizzards and insects, but no snail. We shall be on the lookout from now on!

We did have a great start. We were all so full of adrenaline and disbelief that this trip had actually arrived! SO many months of planning and talking about it... sometimes it's hard to believe it's real!

Ugh 50 minutes on a bus does not sound like the funnest way to start your vacation, but yay for finally making it to Epcot!

It's funny how once you arrive at the park, you kinda forget all about those 50 miserable minutes. Darn that Disney magic!

The girls are so cute with how excited they were about those dolls, they look like a really good set, but I can imagine probably pretty pricey too.

They WERE a good purchase! Thinking about picking one up for Shae in the near future! But, yes... pricey as usual. :roll eyes:

I love the pictures in the Mexican pavilion, everyone looks like they were so happy to finally be together.

I can't wait to hear more

Oh my gosh, were they EVER?! And that euphoria didn't stop the entire trip!

I am sitting here with goosebumps recalling "When You Wish" being played by that amazing corps that night at Lucas Oil Field. Minnesota Brass alum here. Star was and will always be one of the classiest acts ever to step on turf.

Love the report. Cant wait to read more.

You get extra bananas for being a drum corps guy! How cool that you were in the stadium watching that show! Thanks for joining in on the report. So glad you're here!

 

[GatorMommy2007]

Never too late to join in, right? Loving this TR!

 

[Sooze]

Never too late to join in, right? Loving this TR!

Of COURSE not! Welcome aboard!!!

 

[ZFamily5]

Addy and Shae are so cute together!

I can totally relate to Tyson, I'm always the one being yelled at to walk a little slower.

Can't wait to read about WWoHP! I'm re-reading the books right now and all of these pictures are going to make me want to visit so badly!

 

[reelmom]

No, we have never been to WWoHP. Super excited to go.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Okay, love the serious conversation that the girls were having while they were waiting in line for Spaceship Earth. Very grown up there.

Who doesn't love to go into Mexico, put on big ol' hats and just act silly?

 

[Sooze]

Addy and Shae are so cute together!

I can totally relate to Tyson, I'm always the one being yelled at to walk a little slower.

Can't wait to read about WWoHP! I'm re-reading the books right now and all of these pictures are going to make me want to visit so badly!

Just wait... there are more adorable pictures yet to come!!

I'm glad SOMEONE relates to Tyson!

I think I've read the HP series 4 times!! Then I moved on to Twilight (I'm ashamed to admit... I loved those books and I think the movies absolutely ruined them!) Now I'm completely obsessed with The Hunger Games! How about you? Any other series that you enjoy? I'm always looking for something new!

No, we have never been to WWoHP. Super excited to go.

Oh good! You have much to look forward to! I hope my next episode gets you even more excited!

Okay, love the serious conversation that the girls were having while they were waiting in line for Spaceship Earth. Very grown up there.

Who doesn't love to go into Mexico, put on big ol' hats and just act silly?

Welcome!!!
I can't think of anyone who doesn't enjoy being crazy in Mexico! It was fun watching the kids let loose.

 

[Sooze]

We awoke this very special morning just as excited as we could be! A day full of new adventures lay ahead of us. To kick things off, we enjoyed a nice cup of coffee (well, as nice as you can get in a Disney resort… but I digress….) and Halloween Pop Tarts on our little terrace with the great view.

Shae greeted me this morning with a sweet message:

Soon, in the early morning light, we were at the bus stop, waiting once again for a bus:

Here’s the transportation story for the morning. Since we were newbies at this whole Universal thing, we had never had to deal with leaving Disney property before. So the day we checked in, I spent some time with the Concierge discussing the best, cheapest ways to get there. She recommended catching a bus to DTD, then getting a cab from there, as DTD is close to the interstate, so we’d save some cab fare this way.

So all of us agreed to meet at DTD at 8am. The problem? The buses from the resorts didn’t start running to DTD until 8:30… and we were at the bus stop at 7:30 trying to catch a bus. UGH!! Guess the Concierge forgot to mention the whole time thing. Or I forgot to ask. Whatever the case may be, I felt another painful wait at the bus stop coming.

But much to our surprise, a Cast Member was stationed at the bus stop this morning. He let the ‘powers-that-be’ know that we were trying to get to DTD, and within 20 minutes, we had ourselves a bus! YAY!

Here is Tyson on the bus, sporting the shirt that Jessica had made for him and Kelsen.

I really have no idea where the obsession with hobos came from. I think it’s just a pre-tween boy thing. They call everyone a hobo… so please don’t tell me I should tell my child to respect the homeless, because it’s not about that. It’s kind of a term of endearment that Kelsen and Tyson use … except they are just trying to be goofy, not endearing!

A blurry picture of Shae and me… on our way! You’ll get a better look at my shirt later. I made shirts for the adults because, as avid Harry Potter fans, we were all realizing a dream-come-true today!

We soon found ourselves at an empty Marketplace.

Our friends were not so lucky with the bus situation this morning, so we had some time to kill while waiting for them. Shae helped me scope out the taxi station on the DTD map.

And she found some time to pose and be beautiful!

Finally! Our friends arrived on their Disney Bus and after a lovely stroll through the Marketplace, we were quickly united with some Taxi Cabs. The girls were so excited as this was their very first Taxi ride ever!!

We elected to just take 2 separate cabs instead of waiting for a van, since the buses took longer than we wanted this morning, and we were already behind schedule.

After a quick ride up I4, we were ready for some WWoHP fun!!!

I was laughing at all of us having to use maps to get around! We NEVER use maps at Disney anymore… so this was funny and frustrating not knowing where we were going!

Sing along with the drama queens, will you?
“Weeeeeeeeee’re OFF to see the Wizard! The wonderful Wizard of Potter!!”

As you saw in the introductions (If you chose to read them), Jessica and I met in a production of Seussical: The Musical. A few years later, she, Tom, Kelsen, and Addison all performed in ANOTHER production of the same musical. It is one of our absolute favorites, so we were giddy with excitement when we passed through this fun-looking place:

“I just have to save them because, after all, a person’s a person, no matter how small!”

While this stuff looked kinda cool and kinda bizarre, we never did stop to see what any of this was about!

We’re coming!!!

Back of the boys’ matching shirts:

And suddenly…. After trekking across miles and miles of Universal nonsense…
THERE IT WAS!!!

(as you can tell, we couldn’t hold Bryan back!!!)

 

[Sooze]

Soon we were crossing the threshold into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

There to greet us was the Hogwarts Express.

Also there to greet us was the funky-tastic skyline of Hogsmead (as well as the crowds… check ‘em out!).

We paused at the train to say hello to the conductor, and to grab this fabulous group shot.

And Bryan got his turn alone.

Once we were in, we all had to pause… as Bryan was having a moment. Such a drama queen!

Our goal was to head right to Hogwarts to tackle the Forbidden Journey ride. We all walked the streets of Hogsmeade as a group and just figured we’d all ride the ride. For some reason, I was imagining it as a Spiderman-type ride. But we will get back to that!

This kinda took our breath away.

Even Hogwarts has hobos!

As we approached the ride queue, we just meandered in. We paid no attention to wait time as we really didn’t care. We had all heard wonderful things about this queue, and we were NOT disappointed. I can’t even tell you how long we waited. I’m pretty sure it was over an hour, but nobody cared!

First stop was the greenhouse area.

This was probably the longest wait, as there was a lot of zigzagging of the line. We took this as an opportunity to take pictures of each other.

Let’s start with this shot of the back of Jessica’s shirt. Each of us had a different spell on the back of our shirts. This is the one Jessica chose.

Here’s a picture with a great story. Bryan took this of me… but not really of me! See the lady behind me?! Oh, how I wish you could see her full outfit! It was a one-piece, strapless jumpsuit with Capri pants and the most hideous of patterns!! We are evil… and anyone in theater knows how terrible we can be. So of course, we had to get a picture of the jumpsuit!

Mandrakes anyone?

So, what do you get when you combine your gay best friend, and a man who is beyond fabulous to your children? You get a GUNKLE. And Bryan is the most amazing GUNKLE in the world! Here he is with some of his nephews:

The Gunkle and the Girls!

Me and my Bryan:

Tom and Bryan:

And finally, Jessica and Bryan:

Wow, we were totally feeling the Bryan love, there, weren’t we?