The Greatest Hits: A Trip Like This Needs a Soundtrack!-A July 2012 TR Upd. 5/5!

I am bummed that Be Our Guest opens right after I leave WDW, but I'm happy you got an ADR! :)

Mulan is awesome, she may not be as popular as the other Princesses but I love her, I mean, she did save the whole of China lol
 
Great update and loved the pics with Mulan! Never seen the border with all the different countries before-Very Kool!
 


Love the Mulan song choice - I'll Make A Man Out of You has become an unofficial theme song for the age group I work with at summer camp. We even have a sweet choreographed dance.

All that to say, I am incredibly jealous of your Mulan pictures. It just seems to never work out for me to have a chance to meet her. Those are great photos, though! I love that she wanted you to hold hands!
 
Be gentle with yourself while you get used to life while waiting. I'm sure some days will be easier than others :hug: Glad you have another trip to plan for too!
The face you made was totally giggleworthy! :rotfl: Love every bit of your trip report sweetie!
 


FABULOUS SONG CHOICE....
Can't you see him singing that... I would love to!!! Your pictures with Mulan are Priceless. John looks like a solder with thoses sunglasses on...
How are things on the home front???
I hope good. School great??
We're hanging on here just waiting for more updates...:lmao: Take your time.
Sending lots of pixiedust: your way...
By the way 1 year from today I'll be in Disney!!!! :cool1::cool1::cool1:
Have a great day!!!
Pixie dust to you
Carolyn


 
I can't even imagine how hard it must be for you two to be apart for so long! You're both so brave. Like I said before, if you ever need to talk, I'm 100000% here for you and I mean that! :hug:

http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae20/therussells08/July 2012 Disney/DisneyTripSummer2012176.jpg Please frame this and put it on display in your home because it is a thing of beauty.

Wait wait. Nope. This one: http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae20/therussells08/July 2012 Disney/DisneyTripSummer2012178.jpg Yours and John's difference in expressions is just too much. I'm cracking up.

The watermelon soda is my favorite too! I can't believe I will be drinking that 3 weeks from now. Ahh!!!!! I can't decide whether or not I will trick my friend Lee-Anne into drinking the Beverly or not... we'll have to see how mischievous I feel on the day!

Lmao @ "the bitter CM's accusing gaze." YES. I always feel bad skipping the movie. I just want to run out of there being like "I'M SORRY SORRY I'M SURE YOUR COUNTRY IS AMAZING BUT I ONLY HAVE SO MUCH TIME IN DISNEY AND I JUST REALLY WANNA GO MEET SOME FRENCH BOYS SORRY BYE"

I can't wait to finally try School Bread!!! I hope it lives up to the hype.

Oh my God, Mulan calling your pins "war medals". That is so cute.

Great pictures in front of the fountain! You're right, it's always too crowded.

I love the little unibrow man. You can find so many funny little things if you really look around the WS shops, it's so much fun!!

I can't wait for more!!! Bring em on! I need something to hold me over until my trip. 3 weeks feels like so far away!
 
As always great updates Joni! Thanks for reminding me of the school bread I have to try in a few weeks. Almost forgot about it.

Loved the pix on SSE. I never think about making faces until it is too late.

Great pictuer with Mulan and that is one of my all time favorite Disney songs (of course I think I have like ten favorites, but it is so hard to pick).

It was hard to leave my family for a month, so I kind of know how you feel on a much smaller scale about being away from your husband. We do appreciate your sacrifice and all he is doing for our country.

Congrats on the Be Our Guest ADR. I can't wait to read what people think about this restaurant. We just tend to be stuck on Crystal Palace as we lover the Pooh characters.

Looking forward to reading more, especially your mother's reaction to Beverly.
 
Congrats on the Be Our Guest ressie! That is so exciting, I can't wait to hear all about it!

You are so funny with your photobombing! I do that all the time. In the most random spots. Too funny. I would love to see all the times you photobomb in your school's yearbook! Hilarious. :lmao:

Oh man, I never stay for the Norway movie! And I do always feel guilty! But...I just don't want to! Sorry CM's!!

Mulan is so fun to meet! Whenever I meet her, I like to put whoever I'm with on the spot and be like "Why don't you show our new friend Mulan your AWESOME warrior pose?" I'm pretty fun to go with. :upsidedow Love the Mean Girls reference too! AHHH so classic.

Great pictures at the fountain in Italy! I love that place so much!

Wish I could give you a squeeze! You are so strong and will be back with your love before you know it! You're an amazing woman for being so strong through it all! I know it's hard, but you will get through it!
 
Yeah, all caught up! Anyways, I'm loving all the selections you are making for the music, Joni! I think I've mentioned that earlier and how awesome I think it is to have a playlist to listen to whilst reading, but whatever I'll say it again. So excited to hear more and hope all is well! :mickeyjum
 
I got a good laugh out of your frumpy Spaceship Earth face, so thanks!!

In your stink face picture you look strangely familiar, but not familiar in the way that I've seen your picture on trip reports... so I'm gonna go pretend that I've met you before without knowing it. I mean, you and my roommate are practically next door neighbors, right? COOL! Although if I did meet you and you gave me a stink face, then I don't know what to think...

Why didn't I know there was a food called a troll horn?

Let's buy some twin unibrow Japanese men on our twin trip. :thumbsup2

Poor Mary! That is not practically perfect! The good news is I saw her (ish...) weeks later feeling much better. :laughing:

Maybe we ran into each other in a Wal Mart once, and I was having a bad shopping experience, so I inadvertently gave you the stink face that I was intending for the rest of the world, and you were so offended by it that it's now permanently engrained into your memory? Just a theory.

Girl, troll horns are like cream horns on crack.

YES! We definitely will! LESS THAN ONE YEAR, BTW OMGAHHH.

I'm glad she got to feeling better. She looked like she was practically dehydrated when I met her.

It's absolutely normal for you to be depressed when John gets deployed. It's fine to stay away from the DIS for that. I can imagine adjusting is a little hard at first. I'm glad that you're feeling better. :)

YOU GOT THE ADR FOR BE OUR GUEST?! I'm so insanely jealous. I can't wait to hear what you think about it. We're only going to get to eat there for CS lunch. I could not get a dinner reservation for November for the life of me.

I love your SE picture. Hilarious.

There is no shame in getting free beverages. I think that would qualify everyone as a redneck then. LOL.

Rope drop at the Maelstrom. That's some good times there. Hahaha.

I'm in love with Viking Donald. But then, I'm just in love with Donald in general, so I'm pretty bias.

My brother loves the Stave Church! He took me in there last time we went and was trying to get me interested in it and the whole "listen, it's music from the Lord of the Rings!!!" Not interested. LOL.

I love both of the treats that you got from Kringla! My favorites.

None for Mulan Weiners? Who doesn't love a good Mean Girls reference? Hahaha.

I would be sad if I couldn't have Nutella gelato! It's amazing stuff.

Little Unibrow Man? I must find him and he must be mine!

Thank you so much! :hug: It's an uphill battle, and I'm still trying to piece things back together!

YESS! I'm so excited for Be Our Guest!! I can't believe I actually got an ADR!

Hahaha it sounds like your brother and John would get along great! They can chill in the Stave church while we stuff our faces with schoolbread!

I'm glad you liked my Mean Girls line! I can't resist! ;)

I am so glad to hear you are feeling better! I could not imagine how hard this is for you, you are a VERY strong woman!

I love the unibrow man, that is my quest now...MUST HAVE!!!

Mary Poppins is the one character I have never met, I hope to see her in March :)

Looking forward to more updates :thumbsup2

Thank you so much! You're very kind!

He was so cute! I think all of us DISers should get one as our mascot!

She's so fun to meet! Wait until you read about my mom's interaction with her! It's adorable! :goodvibes

Oh.my.goodness. your Spaceship Earth picture! I was cracking up so loud that my boyfriend kept asking what was so funny and I couldn't stop laughing to tell him!:rotfl2:

Nicely done with hitting up Norway as soon as it opened. I love it there and I can almost never resist schoolbread, especially when it's mid-morning snack time.

Those pictures with Mulan and Mary Poppins are adorable! It's so great how the characters will take the time to ask you about yourself and I can tell they really care.

On another note, I am so jealous of your Be Our Guest ADR. I'm there in November just before the "sneak preview" and am so upset that I'm just missing all the new Fantasyland glorious-ness!

I'm glad you liked my weird picture!

Yeah, the WS in general early in the day is AMAZING!

Thank you so much! I love the characters. They're so fun to meet!

I'm sorry you're just missing the Fantasyland stuff! But the bright side is, YOU'LL BE IN DISNEY NEXT MONTH!!

War medals? Haha, oh Mulan, you're so cute!

I love that shirt with the World Showcase foods on it!

Poor Mary... but what a trooper! I imagine all of those layers have to be warm!

I know, I thought that was so clever!

Isn't that cute? I need it!

Yeah she had a lot of frills and lace going on there.

So fun that y'all got to meet Mulan!

And I love Japan, too! I might have to get one of those fans if it's too hot next week.

I love that Mary Poppins stayed in character even though she was about to pass out. :rotfl:

Mulan was the best! I loved her!

I hope you had a great trip, and I hope you didn't get too hot! :)

Haha yeah she was a champ!

Joni! I had no idea you had started a new TR...a couple months ago...:( I'm so sorry it took me so long to find it! I'm off now to get caught up! :goodvibes

That's okay, you've got good reason to be preoccupied! ;) Don't apologize! How are you? I hope everything is going well!

Aww the Mulan picture is so sweet! :goodvibes

BTW, I love your song choice! My DBF's second favorite Disney movie (behind Lion King) is Mulan, and that is his favorite part!

I love that food shirt so much! I'm going to get it someday!

Oh, poor Mary Poppins! I'm sure she's not the first to feel faint in costume that heat! :faint: I couldn't imagine!

Thanks! :)

I'm glad you liked the song! Donny Osmond is the man!

You totally should!

Haha yeah she was not doing well.

I have lurked on all your past TRs and decided to finally comment on this one. It sounds like you and John always have the best time together.

We are going again in a year and are praying for Be Our Guest ADRs so I will have to watch for your next TR to get a preview of it.

Keep the laughs coming! :rotfl:

:welcome: Thank you so much for reading all of my TRs and for coming out of lurkdom to comment! I really appreciate you being here!

I hope you get a Be Our Guest ADR! I will keep my fingers crossed for you! :)
 
I am bummed that Be Our Guest opens right after I leave WDW, but I'm happy you got an ADR! :)

Mulan is awesome, she may not be as popular as the other Princesses but I love her, I mean, she did save the whole of China lol

Thank you! I hope you get to eat there on your next trip! :)

I love her too! Haha yeah, she deserves some credit for that!

Great update and pics.

Thanks! :)

That is a really cool World Showcase border with all the countries. I have never seen that before.

I know, that was new this year and I was so excited about it! Isn't it awesome?

Great update and loved the pics with Mulan! Never seen the border with all the different countries before-Very Kool!

Thanks! I was really excited about that border! I think I used it again on more pictures later!

Oh poor Mary Poppins! I hope she was all right. That dress has got to be very hot! I can't imagine standing around in it!

Haha yeah she was not doing too well! I think they took her back in pretty soon so she wouldn't get sick!

Love the Mulan song choice - I'll Make A Man Out of You has become an unofficial theme song for the age group I work with at summer camp. We even have a sweet choreographed dance.

All that to say, I am incredibly jealous of your Mulan pictures. It just seems to never work out for me to have a chance to meet her. Those are great photos, though! I love that she wanted you to hold hands!

That's awesome! I would love to see this dance! YOUTUBE! ;)

Thank you so much! It really was total chance that we got to meet her! I was so excited!

Be gentle with yourself while you get used to life while waiting. I'm sure some days will be easier than others :hug: Glad you have another trip to plan for too!
The face you made was totally giggleworthy! :rotfl: Love every bit of your trip report sweetie!

Thank you so much! Your kind words meant so much to me! :hug:

Haha thanks! I'm so glad you enjoy my report!

FABULOUS SONG CHOICE....
Can't you see him singing that... I would love to!!! Your pictures with Mulan are Priceless. John looks like a solder with thoses sunglasses on...
How are things on the home front???
I hope good. School great??
We're hanging on here just waiting for more updates...:lmao: Take your time.
Sending lots of pixiedust: your way...
By the way 1 year from today I'll be in Disney!!!! :cool1::cool1::cool1:
Have a great day!!!
Pixie dust to you
Carolyn

Donny Osmond is so cool! My mom is obsessed with him! Haha yeah those are John's military sunglasses. He looks like a beast in them!

Things are going pretty good, considering. John has settled in to his routine so we're getting to chat online pretty regularly! Now it's just counting down the days!

I'm getting ready to update right now! YAY!

That's so exciting that your trip is getting closer! I'm so happy for you! :hug:
 
I can't even imagine how hard it must be for you two to be apart for so long! You're both so brave. Like I said before, if you ever need to talk, I'm 100000% here for you and I mean that! :hug:

http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae20/therussells08/July 2012 Disney/DisneyTripSummer2012176.jpg Please frame this and put it on display in your home because it is a thing of beauty.

Wait wait. Nope. This one: http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae20/therussells08/July 2012 Disney/DisneyTripSummer2012178.jpg Yours and John's difference in expressions is just too much. I'm cracking up.

The watermelon soda is my favorite too! I can't believe I will be drinking that 3 weeks from now. Ahh!!!!! I can't decide whether or not I will trick my friend Lee-Anne into drinking the Beverly or not... we'll have to see how mischievous I feel on the day!

Lmao @ "the bitter CM's accusing gaze." YES. I always feel bad skipping the movie. I just want to run out of there being like "I'M SORRY SORRY I'M SURE YOUR COUNTRY IS AMAZING BUT I ONLY HAVE SO MUCH TIME IN DISNEY AND I JUST REALLY WANNA GO MEET SOME FRENCH BOYS SORRY BYE"

I can't wait to finally try School Bread!!! I hope it lives up to the hype.

Oh my God, Mulan calling your pins "war medals". That is so cute.

Great pictures in front of the fountain! You're right, it's always too crowded.

I love the little unibrow man. You can find so many funny little things if you really look around the WS shops, it's so much fun!!

I can't wait for more!!! Bring em on! I need something to hold me over until my trip. 3 weeks feels like so far away!

Thank you so much Lia! You are such a great friend, and I really appreciate all of your support! :hug:

HAHA I think both of those pictures will definitely be showing up on our Christmas card this year! MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FUTURE. BAZINGA.

LIA. I cannot believe your trip is so close! That is so amazing, and I am so happy for you! YAY!!!!! :hyper:

Yeah that Norwegian CM was deeply offended. I just wanted schoolbread!

As always great updates Joni! Thanks for reminding me of the school bread I have to try in a few weeks. Almost forgot about it.

Loved the pix on SSE. I never think about making faces until it is too late.

Great pictuer with Mulan and that is one of my all time favorite Disney songs (of course I think I have like ten favorites, but it is so hard to pick).

It was hard to leave my family for a month, so I kind of know how you feel on a much smaller scale about being away from your husband. We do appreciate your sacrifice and all he is doing for our country.

Congrats on the Be Our Guest ADR. I can't wait to read what people think about this restaurant. We just tend to be stuck on Crystal Palace as we lover the Pooh characters.

Looking forward to reading more, especially your mother's reaction to Beverly.

Thank you! I hope you enjoyed the schoolbread!

Haha I know, it is definitely one of the best!

Thank you so much! You're very kind!

I'm SO EXCITED about that ADR! I can't wait to share it with you guys!

OMG!!! What did you think of Dexter!? Did you watch it yet? I am soo uneasy about this season!

AHHH I don't know what I think yet. I'm torn. I'm more intrigued with the storyline with the dude who made the video game (I can't forget his name) than I am with the whole Dexter/Deb thing. I dunno, I'm feeling like this could be the last season...

Congrats on the Be Our Guest ressie! That is so exciting, I can't wait to hear all about it!

You are so funny with your photobombing! I do that all the time. In the most random spots. Too funny. I would love to see all the times you photobomb in your school's yearbook! Hilarious. :lmao:

Oh man, I never stay for the Norway movie! And I do always feel guilty! But...I just don't want to! Sorry CM's!!

Mulan is so fun to meet! Whenever I meet her, I like to put whoever I'm with on the spot and be like "Why don't you show our new friend Mulan your AWESOME warrior pose?" I'm pretty fun to go with. :upsidedow Love the Mean Girls reference too! AHHH so classic.

Great pictures at the fountain in Italy! I love that place so much!

Wish I could give you a squeeze! You are so strong and will be back with your love before you know it! You're an amazing woman for being so strong through it all! I know it's hard, but you will get through it!

Thanks! I am so excited about eating there and sharing my experience with everyone!

HAHA I wish I could share my yearbook with you! It's ridiculous!

Haha poor Norway! Nobody wants to watch their movie!

OMG I would love to meet Mulan with you! That's hilarious!

Thanks! I love it too!

Thank you so much! You are so sweet, and that really means a lot to me!

Yeah, all caught up! Anyways, I'm loving all the selections you are making for the music, Joni! I think I've mentioned that earlier and how awesome I think it is to have a playlist to listen to whilst reading, but whatever I'll say it again. So excited to hear more and hope all is well! :mickeyjum

Hi Timmy! Welcome back! :) I'm doing pretty well, I hope you are too!
 


July 8, 2012

Pour some sugar on me
Ooh, in the name of love

Before we left the WS we spent a little more time in the UK so I could take some pictures in the telephone booth!

DisneyTripSummer2012211_zpsa1d19795.jpg


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The pictures aren’t very enthralling, but the experience was something else. There was this weird kid who kept running back and forth between John holding the camera and me in the telephone booth, and every time he would run by he would do this weird crab walk think that was like a mixture between someone failing horribly at doing the limbo and the chick from the Exorcist doing that spider walk. :confused: I guess he was trying to be polite and stay out of the picture, but really he could have just gone behind John. Either way, it’s irrelevant, because it was super funny and John and I spent the rest of the day trying to recreate his walk.

Anyway, it was time to head back out of the World Showcase for a little while, so we made our way over to The Sea! On the way there we passed a group of very excited teenage girls who literally screamed “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!” at us as we walked by. I thought it was sweet, but my tolerance for bubbly fourteen year old is a little higher than John’s, so he just looked slightly frightened and perturbed.

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They were doing some work on the queue outside Nemo, so I took a picture of a dream builders sign.

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We had a nice ride, found Nemo, and made our way back out into EPCOT. I kept wanting to get a picture of the monorail going by Spaceship Earth, but I wasn’t patient enough to wait for it so I settled for the tracks.

DisneyTripSummer2012215_zps4235d0ab.jpg


That’s me, alright- lowering my expectations since 1987. Aww yeah. ;)

By this time is was almost time to use our Soarin’ FPs, so we went back into The Land to wait. John was feeling snacky, so he suggested we grab something at Sunshine Seasons to hold us over. Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a nice snack as much as the next person, but I need a little bit of savory to balance out the sweet, ya dig? I can’t eat sweets all day without something wholesome on my belly. You know, something fatty and cheesy and dark brown. But alas, I’m a good wife, so I consented to more sweets. I know, I know. It’s a hardship.

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I wanted something that would at least seem lighter, so I went with the strawberry shortcake while John had the chocolate mousse cake.

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I ended up eating about two bites of my snack, and John was more than happy to kill both desserts for me. I caught him in action, mid-chew.

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Fun fact about my husband: he NEVER takes small bites of food. Like, ever. If that man is eating, then you can bet that his cheeks are going to be stuffed like a chipmunk.

Even though I barely ate my snack, you know what this means- it's still time for a DINING REVIEW!

Service: Um..well, the service really wasn't anything to speak of. You know how Sunshine Seasons is; it's kind of like a college cafeteria. However there was a really friendly CM wandering around cleaning garbage off the tables, and he smiled at me.

Atmosphere: Usually I really like the atmosphere of Sunshine Seasons because I enjoy escaping the hustle and bustle of the Land and relaxing a little, but this time we were stuck at a small table in the middle of a bunch of people, so it wasn't exactly ideal.

Food Quality: Maybe it was because I was over sweet stuff for the morning, but my strawberry shortcake was not the best I've ever had. John, however, seemed happy with both desserts.

Overall Dining Experience: Eh. It was just eh. I really didn't want the snack to begin with, and John rushed through his so we could get on Soarin', so it really wasn't anything special.

Overall, this snack receives the following rating:

Category 2- Emile

emile.jpg


Not bad, but not my favorite. I definitely credit most of my ill feelings to the fact that I really didn't want another snack (have I mentioned that yet?) so I'm not going to blame it on Sunshine Seasons. Still, not the best.

John finished his second snack of the day, and it was time for Soarin’!

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Without flash:

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With flash:

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He’s a cutie. :lovestruc

Let me remind you, we had FastPasses for Soarin’. Meaning we expected to wait five, ten minutes tops. HA. Yeah right. Apparently Lucifer decided to drop in and poop out some more tour groups, because there were TWO SETS of them in the FP line in front of us. How did they even manage that?! We ended up waiting over half an hour in the FP line so they could all go through. DOUBLE UGHHH. :furious: (That smiley is called "furious," by the way, which I find slightly appropriate but slightly dramatic.)

Anyway, eventually we did get to ride, and it was amazing, as usual. I remember sitting there with the “wind” in my face, smelling the lovely orange grove, and just soaking up that first day in Disney feeling. It was so magical!

After Soarin’ we decided it was a good time to head back and get settled into the resort a little more before dinner. It was only early afternoon, but we had been going hard all morning and I could tell John was ready for a power nap. I couldn’t resist taking one more picture of the gorgeous day in Epcot before we left!

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We cut back through the WS, and within ten minutes we were staring at this beautiful sight! When we made it back I looked at my phone and it wasn't even 2:00!

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I took a picture of the resort and texted it to my mom so she could see just how gorgeous it really is. Then we headed inside and back to our room. On the way, of course, I snapped a few more pictures for my light fixture obsession!

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Up Next: Exploring the resort some more, and I FINALLY get some savory in my belly at Cape May Café! Stay tuned!
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LOL @ the crab walking kid!!! What on earth. That is too funny. I've never taken pictures in the phone booth, that will have to change when I'm there in 7 DAYS!!! I can't believe my trip is so close either. I am totally on the verge of losing it. AHHHHH.

I am totally with you... I need to eat in a sweet, savory, sweet, savory pattern or I feel sick and suddenly have a distaste for everything. I've heard that Strawberry Shortcake is amazing though, so I really wanna try it! After eating something savory, of course.

Ahh the Beach Club really is so stunning. I can't wait to stay there someday!!!
 
Love the update!!! That kid sounds hilarious!! My husband and I would giggle about that all day as well.
I'm down to 27days for my trip and this trip report just gets me more excited!!
 
Great update...as usual. I LOVE Beach Club, especially decorated for Christmas. At least crab-kid was trying to get out of the way of your picture taking. Most people don't care and walk right in front of you regardless! Looking forward to more of your TR.
 

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