Chapter 101: Chef Mickey's and Going Home
January 2nd, 2012
We made it to 101 chapters between these two December trips. I can't believe I FINALLY finished writing about it all! This was a HUGE project. Between editing the pictures, catching up on comments, typing out the stories, and keeping it all organized... I would have to say I basically just wrote a trip report novel!
I hope you guys enjoy the very last update of Your Ultimate Survival Guide! Thanks for sticking with me throughout the entire thing!
I woke up and posted on twitter:
It's the last morning ): I'm sad but I had one of the most amazing trips of my entire life. #soblessed Enjoying my last few hours of magic!
This morning I slept in until about 8:30 am. Mom and Dad were up packing... and I had a reservation at Chef Mickeys and I really wanted to go! Thankfully I packed yesterday in the afternoon so all I had to do was get ready!
Nobody else wanted to go to breakfast with me, but then Dad came with me. Yay! I was not missing out on my last chance for Disney food!
We went over to the main Contemporary building and I saw that the pin board was out in the gift shop! Perfect! So I traded for a watermelon mickey pin and a Kermit mickey hat pin.
Then I went to check in at Chef Mickeys.
I traded for a Miss Piggy pin with the cast member who checked us in. Dad met me there, we got our picture taken, and we were seated within 5 minutes.
We sat in the room right near the buffet and basically went right up to get our food! YUM!
It was carb overload, like any other Disney buffet. But hey, thats the way I like it. Cinnamon Roll, Croissant, Breakfast Pizza, etc.
I posted on twitter:
Mickey waffles are absolutely magical. <3
Here's Dad's plate:
The food was really good, but by the end I just couldnt eat anymore. I reached my limit. I hit the wall. And let me tell you, I dont get full. Like I usually can eat like there's not tomorrow. But nope - not today. Even though I totally skipped dinner last night I was still SO FULL. I couldnt believe it.
I posted on twitter:
Okay it's official. I have reached my food limit.
We finished eating before any of the characters even got there! Goofy was first, Donald was second. There was this super cute family sitting at a table near us and the Mom took group pictures for us. She was a camera pro& it was fantastic. Finally someone knew what they were doing lol.
Jonathan came down because he had to bring us our TiW card.
Dad went back up to the room to pack. Jon stayed with me and took pictures of/with me and the characters! Minnie was next:
Mickey was after:
Pluto was last!
PLUTO IS MY FAVORITE!
None of the characters really had memorable experiences, they were just all in a row and filed through. It took them quite a while to get there in the first place. I didn't really mind.. I still loved meeting them no matter what!
I just wanted to go take pictures of the dessert cases at Contempo Cafe one last time. Sadness.
We finally finished and headed out. We got back to the room, picked up our final belongings, and brought down our checked bags. We stopped at the BLT desk to get our room card balance, and it was the same guy there that helped us with our lost and found slip yesterday!
We got our balance and went in line to check our bags. We weighed them and some of them were over. We had to readjust to make sure each suitcase was under the weight limit.
Once that was all set, we went up to the room, grabbed our carry-on stuff, and went back downstairs.
We were supposed to catch the Magical Express at 11:25 am, but we got there at 11:23 and it was gone. Awesome. So we had to wait for the next one.
Our new bus came at 11:50 am and our drivers name was Ronnie.
Everyone was so sad. I DIDN'T WANT TO GO HOME.
I posted on twitter:
I'm going to be running on four hours of sleep today. And I have to travel. I'm going to be so chipper it's not even funny. #justkidding
Before I knew it, we were leaving Disney property. I was SO exhausted. I only half watched the movie, I fell asleep, and then we were at the airport.
We went through security and everything was fine, and then we found out that we were dropped off at the wrong gate. It only went up to gate 60 and southwest's gates are in the hundreds. Ours was like 120 something.
We talked to a TSA and he sent us through the employee line so we would get through faster. So we had to go through security twice. What a pain.
I posted on twitter:
WHY DOESNT THE ANNOUNCER ON THE TRAM IN THE AIRPORT SAY "POR FAVOR MANTENGASE ALEJADO DE LAS PUERTAS?!?!?" ):
We took our seats at the gate and I went over to the leather chairs with the plugs in them so I could charge my laptop. I caught up on part of the trip journal by typing it (I was gettin lazy) and I called Kristen. I told her about my trip and a lot of the Disney facts that I learned& the people who were sitting around me probably thought I was psychotic because I was like "RE RE RE DISNEY!!!!" Typical frump behavior.
Suddenly it was time to board already! Our flight was at 2:20 and I think we left a little late. But we got home on time.
(This is a sad smile)
I posted on twitter:
- sigh - time to go home. oh wait. Disney is my home. So... My second home.
We sat in the second row on the left. I got the window seat. The whole time I literally typed out the last two days of trip notes because I got pretty far behind.
The flight was a lot smoother than the first one and we were suddenly home!
There was a light dusting of snow on the ground and it was FREEZING. Welcome home? Haha yeah not really. Blah.
I posted on twitter:
What is this "snow" business? And where's Mickey mouse?!?
Dad went to get the car and we got the suitcases. They took a while to come out but finally they did. They were all there. Hooray!
We packed up the car and drove home. And we ordered a pizza and chicken fingers for dinner! My body probably went into in serious shock the next day when I decreased the calorie count by a couple thousand.
I posted on twitter:
The thought of eating non Disney food disgusts me... But I'm hungry.
I think the span of 9:15 am to 6:15 pm is the longest time I've ever gone without eating. #STARVING
And at that point, the trip journaling ended. However, I have a few tweets that will fill in the blanks for the rest of my night:
I need to work at WDW. This trip has solidified it. Disney is my calling in life. like the nunhood for some 
LOL
Oh look at that! I have made my dream come true less than a year later.
catching up on the dis is literally going to be a full time job. #ohboy #letsgo
for the first time in my disboards history, i do not have an official ticker. #disgirlproblems but hopefully a new one will appear soon!
CAUGHT UP ON COMMENTS. omg that took almost 3 hours! okay so now i either do pictures, do an old update, or start the new TR. #decisions
SO MANY PICTURES. omg. i'm insane.
magic, memories, and you soundtrack. #crying omg i miss disney world. can i relive last night over and over and over again? ):
"believe in all you wish, believe in all you wish, believe that all you wish will come to you." <3
Sigh. How sad. Let the post-Disney depression begin! (I had a pretty bad case that time around!)
However, that was
THE MOST AMAZING TRIP OF MY LIFE!
Like I said, thank you SO MUCH for following along. Those of you who have made it to this last post, you all deserve a gold star! You are great and you are the ones who inspire me to keep writing! I can't thank you enough for your encouragement and kindness... it means a lot to me!
I hope you enjoyed reading about this trip. I don't think it will EVER be topped! I will always rank it as one of the best trips of my entire life. Every moment was just so special and magical! It was the first time I got to experience a Disney Christmas and I couldn't have asked for anything better! I'm so glad that I was able to document the whole entire thing.
Since this trip report is over, I wanted to invite you over to my newest trip report -
The Most MAGICAL Trip Of Them All! "EVERYTHING'S PERFECT!" Oct. 2012
It's all about my October 2012 trip to Walt Disney World! So time to switch gears from Christmas over to Halloween!
Also, I'll be posting my pre-DCP progress in that trip report for the time being.
Once again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. You're all wonderful.
I hope you have a magical night! Hope to see you on the new trip report!
You really do deserve the DCP so I am very happy for you. I can't wait to hear all about it and how much fun you are having. <3 *SEE YOU REAL SOON*
You could be the new Stacy!
Aww thank you so much! I can't wait to experience it! 
I envision you running the place by the end of your program. 
But I am sooooo excited for you and the DCP!! That is going to be an incredible experience!
. Well congrats again!
