GREEN APPLE. A November Anniversary TR with too many photos! *update 12/19*

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Those pics of the savannah are beautiful!

Thanks!!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

Great start!

So! How did "We Suffered a Hurricane Jersey Week" affect your plans? I know a lot of families here had to cancel their trips - did you see that decreased number? I only know ONE family who just left and went anyway. Based on that very unscientific observation, I figured the parks might be more empty!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Great start!

So! How did "We Suffered a Hurricane Jersey Week" affect your plans? I know a lot of families here had to cancel their trips - did you see that decreased number? I only know ONE family who just left and went anyway. Based on that very unscientific observation, I figured the parks might be more empty!

LIZ! Well, before leaving, I saw many of my fellow November trip group say they were still going. I did know a few that actually left for their trips because the power was still out and some that returned to no power! I'm unsure if the crowds were normal as we have never gone during Jersey week, but I didn't notice Jersey "accents" like I thought I would and I thought the crowds were manageable. ALTHOUGH...I'm not a really good judge of this b/c we went on very few rides and every time a park would get crowded, we would just hop to another! You've been on my mind a lot!

Oh, but I did see one of my November group peeps post on FB today that Epcot lot was completely full today (record breaking) and they were re-routing to MK parking lot! I'm sure Jersey week/Last weekend of F&W/Marathon tonight/Veterans Day all converging this weekend did that though, so not sure if that was really impacted by Jersey week or not!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

But I didn't notice Jersey "accents" like I thought I would and I thought the crowds were manageable. ALTHOUGH...I'm not a really good judge of this b/c we went on very few rides and every time a park would get crowded, we would just hop to another! You've been on my mind a lot!

Oh, but I did see one of my November group peeps post on FB today that Epcot lot was completely full today (record breaking) and they were re-routing to MK parking lot! I'm sure Jersey week/Last weekend of F&W/Marathon tonight/Veterans Day all converging this weekend did that though, so not sure if that was really impacted by Jersey week or not!

Thank you - it's still so tough here. Lives changed forever.

I would love to see how the hurricane affected the tourism that week. So interesting.

Okay, i will tell you a secret. There isn't a "Jersey" accent - the TV shows, the trashy beach one and the trashy married women one, those are not NJ accents per se. They are barely from my state! North NJ maybe but they are really NYC accents - not Manhattan but the boroughs. Now, true New Jerseyians do say certain words certain ways but you won't spot them casually. Talking fast? Yes! Drawer said as "draw" oh yes.

You would spot us by the Giants/Jets/Rutgers/Yankees/Mets gear, and by talking fast and walking fast.

 

[DsnyMama]

YAY Amber! Glad you are here!! You are in the teens now, right?!?!?! You are going to die when you see the AKL photos I got! I was up at 3:30 and headed down to the totally empty lobby and got some gorgeous shots! (I think that's where you are staying, right?!?!?)

We'll be at 15 days in 30 minutes!!!!! I'm SO excited to see your AKL photos!! We are staying at Kidani the first 3 days and then moving to CSR our last 8 days. We may move to AoA LM though - I don't know. We'll see!

 

[Aussiesalad]

Count me in!

Your pictures are absolutely stunning! I can't wait to see the rest

 

[MissPrice]

Joining in! I've read you other trip reports -Amanda

 

[-Hope-]

Do you see all the people you have on the hook here?! Chop, chop woman!!

Liz, I'm a little disappointed to learn that about the NJ accent- when my daughter was little and learning to talk we used to joke about her "Joizy" accent.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Thank you - it's still so tough here. Lives changed forever.

I would love to see how the hurricane affected the tourism that week. So interesting.

Okay, i will tell you a secret. There isn't a "Jersey" accent - the TV shows, the trashy beach one and the trashy married women one, those are not NJ accents per se. They are barely from my state! North NJ maybe but they are really NYC accents - not Manhattan but the boroughs. Now, true New Jerseyians do say certain words certain ways but you won't spot them casually. Talking fast? Yes! Drawer said as "draw" oh yes.

You would spot us by the Giants/Jets/Rutgers/Yankees/Mets gear, and by talking fast and walking fast.

I will be watching the DIS to see what people thought about how tourism was affected that week b/c we really loved the weather and the dates worked well for us...so maybe another trip in the future!

I just cannot imagine and wish that people would not forget so easily after a tragedy like this. I think most people think that everything is fine and back to normal in Jersey already.

We'll be at 15 days in 30 minutes!!!!! I'm SO excited to see your AKL photos!! We are staying at Kidani the first 3 days and then moving to CSR our last 8 days. We may move to AoA LM though - I don't know. We'll see!

I have a few shots of Kidani as well, we ate at Sanaa our first day. Oh and you'll be set with the buses, one of my little annoyances is that they pick up and drop off at Kidani before Jambo house, every. time!

Count me in!

Your pictures are absolutely stunning! I can't wait to see the rest

WELCOME!!! and thank you!!

Joining in! I've read you other trip reports -Amanda

Welcome Amanda! If you have read my other reports, you know I tend to ramble, so at least we know you can get through it!

Do you see all the people you have on the hook here?! Chop, chop woman!!

Liz, I'm a little disappointed to learn that about the NJ accent- when my daughter was little and learning to talk we used to joke about her "Joizy" accent.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Coming right up!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

And so we begin! I kind of dislike the beginning of TR's, how about you? It's all about packing & traveling & airport food usually. I'm always hoping they will arrive quickly and the "real" TR will start! Well, nothing we can do about that b/c we must start at the beginning! AND, we had to take 2 planes and travel quite a bit, so if I have to suffer, so do you! (I also have to count my smileys and pics. They only allow 25 per post and I'm so bad about going over!)

I had a pretty busy weekend before our trip. Lots of last minute petsitting clients and then for some reason I thought it would be ok to schedule a photo shoot just 12 hours before we had to wake up and leave town??? It was Disney money though, how could I pass that up?!?! All went well with that, I dropped Savannah off at our good friend's house, and we finished up last minute stuff/hung out with the boys.

Then it was time to sleep. Right. We went to bed at 8:30 since we had to wake up a little before 3am and drive 2 hours to the airport. If you know me at all, you will know that I don't sleep much/well even on a normal night, but the night before Disney?!?!? Nope! I finally fell asleep at 9:30, only to wake at 12:30, and that was it for me. I tried and tried, but I was just too excited!!

Rey finally woke up at 2:45, grumbly, and we headed off to the airport! It was drizzly, but other than that, the drive was easypeasy. Arrived at longterm parking at 5:15 and Rey was more grumbly and saying we didn't have to get up at 2:45...until he saw the security line! Then he had to eat his words.

Ok, see...too much talky-talky...we need a picture! How about an AKL shot just to pacify those of you that are waiting for AKL shots! Just a little peek since these shots won't be posted for a while (I took them at 4am our first night!) I know, it's going to look strange to post this and then go back to airport photos, but it's my crazy TR, I can go out of order if I want! Ooooh, look at me, I'm a rebel!

Ok, so back to the airport. St. Louis security is a mess, they still have damage from a tornado a year ago (was it a year??) and the lines are just crazy. So we waited. and waited. You would think I would pull out the camera at this point, but I was just too excited and actually didn't take any shots until Chicago!

After getting through security, we were worried that it would take us too long to get to our gate at the end of the concourse, so we bypassed the huge Starbucks line and headed to our gate. I know, right? I've been up since 12:30 and I'm passing up Starbucks? What gives? Anywho, we made it to the gate and grabbed Dunkin Donuts instead, since it was right there. It wasn't too long before we boarded our small plane for the first leg of our trip! Off to Chicago! (the price you pay for a supercheap ticket!)

Ah, that that brings us to the "but we're together" quote. WAY back when I had found the tickets so cheap, Rey & I were discussing it and I was saying they were cheap, but it had an hour layover in Chicago and we had to take 2 planes. He was scoffing at that, saying that WE WOULD BE TOGETHER, and nothing else would matter. That became the theme of the trip whenever we had to wait for something. The first time I reminded him of that comment was in the long security line...and it continued throughout the trip!

I was a bit perplexed when they TAGGED my carryon and took it from me? They just said there wasn't enough room on the plane. I did figure out on my own that since it was a smaller plane, they were tagging and put it right on the plane there and then right at the gate when you get off, you get it back. I was slightly stressed about it though...not sure if we had time during the connection and if I had to check my bag anyway, why not just do it from the start and use Disney's bag check. I'm not really complaining, just mentioning it b/c it became an issue again later...

Oh and I almost forgot! (thank you Disney notes) Somehow our seats were wrong? We were sitting across each other in isle seats? I swear I didn't pick seats across from each other, but I wondered if it would be this way the whole time?!?!? It wasn't really a big deal since it was a small plane and a short flight.

So, we arrived in Chicago and sat on the runway a bit. I was starting to freak out a bit b/c I had been to Chicago when I was younger and it seemed confusing. Rey was cool as a cucumber, naturally. We finally got off the plane and found out we were on another terminal from where we were and we hustled! We actually passed up yet another Starbucks! Chicago has a super cool rainbow tunnel under the runway that takes you from Terminal C to B, I wanted to take pics, but we were afraid we would run out of time. Have no fear, when we arrived at the gate and realized we had a few minutes, I left Rey with the bag and went back to take a picture! I'm sure people thought I was nuts, but I'm used to that.

Yep, I finally had my camera out, so that means I started taking pictures!

While we were waiting to board (which took a while, it was a much bigger plane this time), I tried to snap a few pics of Rey & I and realized that I had made a huge error. I rented an ultrawide lens for the trip and thought it would be good to take "self pics" too. Well, it distorted everything, so we had funny looking faces. I ran into a number of problems with the lens, it's FANTASTIC for wide angle shots, but that's about it, and it has a big learning curve. Anyway, here's a bit of a distorted shot I took while waiting. Trust me, my head is bigger than Rey's usually.

When we got to the end of the huge line to get on the plane, they took our bags again! This time, they said there was no room and they were checking them, we could pick them up at baggage claim. Wait, what??! Why didn't I just check them then and have them magically arrive at our room?!?! I was annoyed by this, but we were together and headed to WDW, so off we went!

The flight is where our strange and confusing TR name came from. I was talking to him about it, saying I would call it "At Least We Are Together!" and he pulled a green apple blowpop out of his shirt pocket, popped it in his mouth, and pointed to GREEN APPLE on the wrapper. I seriously have NO clue where it even came from? Did he take it from Savannah's Halloween candy at home? I didn't see him with it going through security?? Whatever!

We watched House Hunters with no sound on the plane and both dozed for short periods during the 2 1/2 hour flight. Rey was dying of thirst, he has been drinking water like CRAZY at home, like over a gallon a day, easily, so he wasn't used to going this long without a drink (ya know, since they came down the isle and got him one)

Before we knew it, we were getting ready to land!!

So, when we arrived at the airport, Rey had to get a water before we even got on the mini-monorail!

and then we were off to baggage claim!!!!

Getting our baggage was super easy, actually. We went straight there, walked up, and our bags were coming out! Grabbed them and headed to ME! In fact, it was so easy, I was struggling with the camera trying to grab a shot of this sign and Rey walked right up and there was no line, they just directed us to our bus!

We were on our way!!!!!!!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I'm here!!!! Hahaha I had trouble coming up with a TR title this time around too!!! Sometimes a lollipop is the perfect answer!

Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm here!!!! Hahaha I had trouble coming up with a TR title this time around too!!! Sometimes a lollipop is the perfect answer!

Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Yay! I'm glad you are here! Hey, if it weren't for you and your TR, I wouldn't know what an Aglet is!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

MORE, MORE, MORE!!!! I wanna read it now!! I am loving this so far. Your picture from the plane when you are about to land is my favorite so far. Love it!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Who wants to play a game?!? I was going to wait to play this until farther along in the TR, but I realized that those of you who are friends with me on FB will be able to cheat in a bit here when all my photos are uploaded! (they are uploading now! Don't go look yet!)

So, Rey and I went on very few rides. I would have you guess that number, but it's so low, that's no fun! Instead, I'm going to have you guess which rides we rode! We only rode 3 rides the whole trip!!!!!! In order to be fair to those of you that don't know, Rey has a back inury, so no rollercoasters...

I will say that he proved to me that you can go to Disney and not go on tons of rides to have a fabulous time!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

I will be watching the DIS to see what people thought about how tourism was affected that week b/c we really loved the weather and the dates worked well for us...so maybe another trip in the future!

I just cannot imagine and wish that people would not forget so easily after a tragedy like this. I think most people think that everything is fine and back to normal in Jersey already.

PLEASE tell me, because I would love to go away that week - and since my kid in not in public school, I could leave her and go with N!

You are so right. People think it's over. It's not, and it's nowhere close to normal. I'm shocked by how few people on FB even commented or noticed - I figured my friends out of state might have a vested interest because they spent so much time here with me...

Look at St Louis. The airport - high priority - isn't "back".

Okay, off my soapbox! Back to you!!!!

That 4am lobby shot is gorgeous! I personally love the travel part of TRs. I like to see airports and hear about food. Those are the moments you are so careful and waiting and organized. I love those first moments of a trip. You are ON. Your notebook is still out! You analyze your travel companions moves! You are still dreaming of your vacation.

Plus the first monorail is just so exciting!

Hmm, well you went on the TTA. Does that count? And Small World. Because I think Rey is whimsical. And let's say Philharmagic.

Now I have to go check the pics on FB!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

That 4am lobby shot is gorgeous! I personally love the travel part of TRs. I like to see airports and hear about food. Those are the moments you are so careful and waiting and organized. I love those first moments of a trip. You are ON. Your notebook is still out! You analyze your travel companions moves! You are still dreaming of your vacation.

Plus the first monorail is just so exciting!

Hmm, well you went on the TTA. Does that count? And Small World. Because I think Rey is whimsical. And let's say Philharmagic.

Now I have to go check the pics on FB!

You described that before-trip feeling perfectly!!! I noticed that the flights didn't seem long either on the way there, but on the way back they dragged on forever!

The pics on FB are taking a bit. Who knew that 383 photos took a while to upload? AND, it threw out an error at 230, told me I couldn't upload more than that at a time. Doesn't FB understand me?!?!

 

[SeptemberGirl]

You described that before-trip feeling perfectly!!! I noticed that the flights didn't seem long either on the way there, but on the way back they dragged on forever!

The pics on FB are taking a bit. Who knew that 383 photos took a while to upload? AND, it threw out an error at 230, told me I couldn't upload more than that at a time. Doesn't FB understand me?!?!

Silly FB!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Ok, I'll try to play along.......DUMBO, PEOPLE MOVER and Philharmagic! And I'm going over to FB now.......

 

[MissPrice]

My guess: People Mover, Peter Pan, and SSE???

 

[-Hope-]

Uhhh... I looked at FB before I saw the challenge... pretty sure I would have guessed anyway though so it's probably more fair that I didn't play along.

I am in love with your pics and also how you guys are off to such a fun start- I love the little moments when Robbie and I are on a trip alone. When we're just relaxed and anticipating our time together, joking around with each other, etc.