This is the dawning of the rest of our lives... AT DISNEY WORLD!!!! COMPLETED 1/6!!!!

[Joanna71985]

I hope GMR doesn't change (after working there for 2.5 years, I like it just the way it is).

Have you ever seen the Hidden R2-D2/C3P0? It's pretty cute

 

[__disneygirl]

I hope GMR doesn't change (after working there for 2.5 years, I like it just the way it is).

Have you ever seen the Hidden R2-D2/C3P0? It's pretty cute

That's SO awesome that you worked there. If I worked in Attractions it would definitely be at the top of my wish list! I met someone who worked at American Idol Experience and he loved it, but he said that he and all his friends would always look longingly at GMR, wishing they could work there. haha.

I don't think I have! I will check that out though, thanks!

 

[Joanna71985]

That's SO awesome that you worked there. If I worked in Attractions it would definitely be at the top of my wish list! I met someone who worked at American Idol Experience and he loved it, but he said that he and all his friends would always look longingly at GMR, wishing they could work there. haha.

I don't think I have! I will check that out though, thanks!

Yeah, I feel lucky to have gotten to work there. It's an awesome place to work

And it's in the same area as the Hidden Mickey/Donald, in the Raiders of the Lost Ark scene

 

[__disneygirl]

DECEMBER 13, 2012
Day 9, Part 3 In Which No One Says A Word About My Poor Etiquette

It was time for our 50's Prime Time Cafe ADR, which I hadn't told my mom about yet.

When I finally filled her in, she was thrilled. "OH MY GOD, that is PERFECT. That is exactly what I feel like today!"

Yep, great minds who love to Live It Up think alike, and so we made our way over to the Echo Lake area.

I wonder what it would take for Disney to actually let me live here. Like actually build a little apartment right up those steps. If I was a billionaire, would they take a certain amount of money? I guess in that case it would be publicized and weird... but I just wonder if someone was willing to pay tons of cash to live in a park, would they ever do it? Hmmm.... I'll call them when I make my first billion, you know, just to feel them out.

Oh, so guess what I, the supposed Disney expert, either completely forgot about or didn't know? That the Tune In Lounge exists. I think that's awesome that you can just go in there to chill and get a drink. Apparently you can order food at the bar too. That's great for solo travelers, or people who want to experience the ambiance without making an ADR!

We checked in and had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated. I didn't mind at all since I love it in here so much. It really feels like going home to a 50's household!

I love that brass...thing... on the wall. Definitely hits home. My great aunt Juney (who just turned NINETY) collects that stuff and has had them all over her kitchen for decades. Any time my mom sees something like that in an antique store or wherever, she always gets one for Juney!

We were seated and I began to peruse the menu, even though I already knew what I was ordering. I feel like very few Dissers actually look at the menus once we sit down at a Disney restaurant. It's just not necessary, being that we've practically memorized them all.

I thought it was cute that the alcohol was labeled "From Dad's Liquor Cabinet"

This is the TV that was at our table!

Walt's speech at the opening of Disneyland kept coming on. This is my favorite speech ever, next to Bobby Kennedy's famous "The Mindless Menace of Violence" speech. THAT'S how much I love it, that it compares to such a deeply meaningful and historic speech like Kennedy's! It's just so straight to the point and perfectly describes Disneyland.

This is the speech, literally written in stone. I've known it by heart for years, since I used to listen to it over and over because I am just that much of a Disney freak. I still can't believe I haven't been to Disneyland yet! When I go, I think I will just drop to my knees and bow while crying as soon as I enter Main Street.

When it was time to order, I told my mom I wanted the fried chicken, and she said that sounded good to her too. But knowing how huge the portions are here, we decided to order one to share and then get something else later if we were still hungry.

Wow, my stomach just literally let out a yearning growl as soon as I viewed this photo. LOL. It was truly delicious, of course, and we were relieved that we only ordered one because as I said, the portions are huge. It was the perfect amount of food for us to share. Also, as you can see, we substituted corn for green beans, as I am NOT a green bean type of girl and I knew I would get yelled at for not eating them.

I became more aware of myself in here - I realized that I usually DO put my elbows on the table! Oops. None of the staff seemed to notice, so I didn't get reprimanded.

For anyone who may not know, going along with the theme that you're eating in "Mom's Kitchen," you are expected to adhere to traditional values and manners. This includes but is not limited to: elbows off the table, eat all your vegetables, no talking on the phone/texting at the table, etc. The staff will yell at you (not in a mean way - it's all in good fun! Don't be scared to make an ADR here, it's so great) if you don't follow the rules, the same way your Mom would. They may even put you in the corner for a time out!

Surprisingly, we didn't experience much of the usual 50's Prime Time antics. Our waitress did call us family and all that, but not much more. Probably cause we totally cleaned our plate and are also very polite and lovely people, but still, I expected more of a show. I wasn't disappointed though, honestly it was kind of a relief. LOL.

Look what my mom found in the sugar dish!

Umm... I totally love whoever did that. How cute. Of course, we then continued the tradition and wrote "Hey from New Jersey!!!" on a sugar packet. I also drew a Mickey head. I wonder who found it, and if they did the same thing. Maybe this is an endless chain of drawing on sugar packets that started years ago! Hey, you never know.

I hate to disappoint you guys... but we did not order dessert!!! I know, I know, it's an outrage! It's a scandal!

I really wanted to get the S'mores, but want I wanted even MORE was dessert from Starring Rolls. I had been dreaming about eating another Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake and I knew I had to get one before we left and I would be cruelly ripped away from my beloved cupcake until the next trip.

Before we headed out, I asked the waitress if she could give me a to go cup, since I still had like half a cup of cherry soda left and did NOT want to leave that deliciousness behind. She said she would not just bring me an empty cup, she would fill it up! You know what's even better than the best soda ever? When it's free! I love Cast Members so much.

Off to Starring Rolls we went. I was just in the best mood. My almost having to leave Disney gloom was completely gone and I was just happy to be there in the moment. I often obsess over the future and past and have a lot of trouble appreciating the moment, so this was a big deal for me.

I ordered, of course, the Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake and my mom got a chocolate chip cookie, which she said was one of the best she's ever had.

As you can see, I was too focused on devouring the cupcake to remember to take a picture of it right away.

My mom and I were talking about how great the trip had been, and at some point she stopped and said, "....How did you get cupcake on your eyebrow?"

I was basically eating that cupcake the same way the Beast ate before he realized he should be more civilized around Belle. THAT'S HOW. I'm a mess and proud of it.

We just relaxed in the seating area of Starring Rolls for quite awhile.

This was one of my favorite moments of the entire trip. I did not feel the urgency I always feel on the last full day of our trips. I felt relaxed and at peace, content with just eating a cupcake and chatting with my mom while watching the comings and goings of Hollywood. It was absolutely lovely, and as if it couldn't get more perfect, the band playing near the hat started playing Beatles songs! I'm obsessed with the Beatles, so they really couldn't have picked better music to play. It was just wonderful.

I took this photo so you can see the awesome custodial CM that we met. He is the one bending over so I kind of caught him in an odd pose, but what I can I say, my paparazzi skills are not really up to par. What I can tell you about him is that he was very passionate about Disney and clearly did not mind having to pick up people's trash all day just due to the fact that he got to do it in Disney. He would overhear conversations guests were having and excuse himself into the convo to add a tip or some information. IT WAS SO CUTE. For instance, he overheard people talking about their tickets and told them they needed to get Park Hoppers. They didn't even know what that meant, and asked him why. He replied, "So you can hop from park to park." I cackled.

Up Next: Our last night of World Showcasing.​

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

I've just been catching up on this trip report (new here) and four for you for knowing Spieling Peter/Andrew! I adore him!

 

[cindianne320]

I must have that cupcake as soon as I enter DHS next time- well, after a ride or 2 on TSM!

 

[__disneygirl]

I've just been catching up on this trip report (new here) and four for you for knowing Spieling Peter/Andrew! I adore him!

Yay, thanks for joining in! Isn't he just the best?

I must have that cupcake as soon as I enter DHS next time- well, after a ride or 2 on TSM!

The cupcakes are a great way to refuel in between dominating people on TSM!!!

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

Yay, thanks for joining in! Isn't he just the best?

You're welcome! He is! Did you see he and Hali did a photo shoot for True Enchantment Entertainment, where he was Peter and Hali was Tink?

 

[__disneygirl]

I DID! That was amazing! I bet they could make a LOT of money doing children's parties if they aren't doing that already. What a great job, just being with your spouse, dressing up as characters, and playing around with kids all day. I mean... that's the life.

 

[JessicaFaye508]

It has been too long since I've been to 50's. and it has been too long since I've had a red velvet cupcake. AHHH IM SO HUNGRY

 

[__disneygirl]

It has been too long since I've been to 50's. and it has been too long since I've had a red velvet cupcake. AHHH IM SO HUNGRY

I know, right?? I seriously can't look at any of my food pictures without my stomach aching. Even if I've just eaten.

 

[Angebee]

Hey, got a hopper pass over to here after you mentioned 50's Prime Time in your newer TR! We're going there instead of the Drive-In for my dad's birthday and I think he's going to devour that whole fried chicken on his own. It's good to know that if we change our minds we can always pop into the Tune-In Lounge to get a quick peak at what might have been. We'll have to make sure we're a little rude to hopefully get some antics.

Once you do get to Disneyland I've got a feeling you're the kind of gal who will cry walking up to the castle. Get there at rope drop. They corralled us onto Main Street just before the hub; I was standing by the ice cream shop talking on the phone with my grampa when it officially opened for the day. Great experience. Hope you get there someday! Now excuse me while I go back and catch up on this trip as well because you're a fun storyteller.

 

[__disneygirl]

Yeah, it's great to have the Tune In Lounge there as an option! I wish more Disney restaurants had a bar like that.

I LOVE that you are planning to be a little rude to get some antics b/c I have always wanted to have horrifically bad manners just to see how they would react. I should do that sometime for real.

I will absolutely, no doubt, 100% be crying as I walk up to the castle and I'm sure during many other times. I mean, I cry in Disney World all the time and I've been there over and over, so I can't even imagine being in the place where it all began, where Walt actually was. It's unreal!

 

[marDgreen88]

It's hard to believe this trip was almost a year ago! You were at 50's just a few days before me! Mmmmm that chicken. So freakin good.

 

[flyergrad09]

I had no idea that the Tune-In Lounge even existed! This is why I love Disney... you can think you know a lot and then BOOM! you learn something new.

What are those gold things though? I feel like some elderly relatives of mine have them hanging on their walls, but I don't know why. I always thought that they were cake pans, but then why would you hang a cake pan on the wall?

I love that message on the sugar packets! I'll have to pay more attention to the sugar packets in the future.

 

[__disneygirl]

It's hard to believe this trip was almost a year ago! You were at 50's just a few days before me! Mmmmm that chicken. So freakin good.

I can't believe it either! This year has flown by even faster than usual. It's crazy. I feel like this trip just happened a few months ago.

I wish I could have that chicken right now! AHH.

I had no idea that the Tune-In Lounge even existed! This is why I love Disney... you can think you know a lot and then BOOM! you learn something new.

What are those gold things though? I feel like some elderly relatives of mine have them hanging on their walls, but I don't know why. I always thought that they were cake pans, but then why would you hang a cake pan on the wall?

I love that message on the sugar packets! I'll have to pay more attention to the sugar packets in the future.

Exactly! Just when ya think you know it all... you find out something new.

I think you're right about them being cake pans. IDK I think people probably just hung them on the wall bc they ran out of storage. Like when people have frying pans hanging above the stove or something. Just a guess.

haha I definitely pay more attention to sugar packets now!

 

[LifeIsDis]

The 50s is one of my all time favorite Disney restaurants. I just love the theming, the atmosphere, the CMs, and of course, THE FOOD.

And I basically cry every time Walt comes on the TV.

I need a red velvet cupcake right now. I am having withdrawals.

 

[__disneygirl]

The 50s is one of my all time favorite Disney restaurants. I just love the theming, the atmosphere, the CMs, and of course, THE FOOD.

And I basically cry every time Walt comes on the TV.

I need a red velvet cupcake right now. I am having withdrawals.

Agreed on ALL accounts

 

[__disneygirl]

DECEMBER 13, 2011
Day 9, Part 4 In Which This Is ALL THAT!

Happy December everybody!!

This trip was officially almost a year ago exactly. I really can't believe it. I feel like it was just a few months ago. Hey life, STOP DISAPPEARING BEFORE MY VERY EYES!!! SHEESH.

Do you think I can finish this TR by Dec 14, 2012? That will be a year to the day that we came home from this amazing trip! I'm gonna try!

After our relaxing time in Hollywood, we high tailed it over to Epcot! Which is the only appropriate way to go there, as per Stacey.

In actuality, we just went to go wait for the Epcot bus, which took really long to arrive. I can't remember why we didn't take the Friendship boats... it may have been because I wanted to walk into the park and see Spaceship Earth in front of me one last time before we went home. At the end of our trips, everything is about dramatically seeing/doing something "one last time". LOL.

Oh, what a beautiful sight.

I really wanted to go on Mission: Sinise, say it with me now.... one last time, so that's where we headed. Mom didn't feel like riding, so she waited on a bench nearby while I went on. Not a lot to report there - usually I get teamed with amazing/crazy/hilarious people, but this time it was just your average Mission to Mars.

After I said goodbye to Sinise, it was time to visit Ellen, who we hadn't seen in YEARS!

I used to love - LOVE this attraction. I was seriously the biggest Ellen fan. I still am. But I remember the whole thing with her coming out on TV and how amazing and brave she was, even though I was only 7 or 8 at the time. My aunt was gay so it was extremely relevant and powerful to me, even at that age. I used to watch her sitcom with my mom every single week, and so when I realized she was in a ride at my favorite place in the world, I was so thrilled.

On one trip, we actually went on this ride twice, and my dad was so mad because he wanted to spend more time in the World Showcase, and here I was forcing my parents to go on the longest ride ever a second time in one trip. What can I say, I love me some Ellen.

I also just loved how there were so many different elements to this attraction, so many different ways they presented all this information to you, so many different sections of the attraction, making it so much fun to learn all these facts about energy. Yeah, it's a little long but it is well done and Jamie Lee Curtis is there too with Einstein! It's just a quality attraction.

ANYWAY my point is... a lot of people skip it, and we hadn't been on it in awhile, but I love and appreciate EEE very much! I mean, it's no trip to Mars with Sinise, but it's still awesome.

I used to love these dinosaurs when I was a kid. I was seriously fascinated by this.

Also, I don't have a pic, but this attraction is home to the worst audio animatronic ever. It's Ellen, except that it looks nothing like her. It's truly remarkable how lifelike the Hall of Presidents animatronics are, so I really don't know why Ellen's looks so awful!

Here's a (bad) pic I found on Google:

LOL.

Our brains chock full of energy facts (Stupid Judy!!!!), we headed over to the World Showcase.

The main thing I wanted to do was the Kim Possible mission, which I had never done before but REALLY wanted to cause of all the great reviews I heard.

People on the DIS have always put disclaimers when writing about it in their TRs, saying not to read on if you haven't done it because it would spoil the surprises, so that only made me want to do it more. I needed to know what these surprises were!!!

We signed up for a mission and got a pass telling us to go check in at a certain time, so before helping Kim save the world, we killed some time hanging out in the UK.

I did what I always do while at the World Showcase, take pictures of candy that amuses me and flirt with boys. Duh.

I LOVED this Alice in Wonderland tea set:

Especially the rocking horse fly at the top!

I was actually going to buy it, but I was really concerned about getting it home safely so I decided to mull it over for awhile. I still haven't purchased it! I decided moving to Disney is the only option, that way I can just drive it on back to the apartment with no problem.

The flirting went OK, didn't pick up any husbands but I did have a convo with one of those super uppercrust types. I could tell by his accent, because in the UK the sharper and more perfect your accent, the higher status you are considered. Or something. I don't know, I've never been there but I read a lot so I know random things like this. He was VERY PROPER and I just knew he was Prince William's 14th cousin or something. We spoke about tea and I asked if American tea is generally as horrible as English people claim it is. He said he didn't know, he never tried it and probably never would, he brought his own tea over and makes it himself. LOL. OF COURSE. WHY HE EVEN TRY OUR SWILL? Honestly.

I wanted to see British Invasion, but they weren't there that night. Instead, there was a really good band playing songs by the Who, and they definitely had the rock and roll hair down too. Haha.

Loved them!

After the band finished, I went into the shop that has all the insanely amazing rock and roll merchandise... and I proceeded to have some kind of seizure. OMG.

I live for the Beatles, and they had so many fantastic Beatlethings. I was dying! It wasn't just your standard black and white shirts that say "the Beatles" or have the photo of them walking across Abbey Road. There was so much unique and beautiful merchandise, I was honestly in Heaven! Not to mention all the great Rolling Stones, Who, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, etc etc stuff they had. I really freaked out because I wanted to buy EVERYTHING and here it was almost the end of the trip, so I was kind of feeling like I had spent enough money. So I was like WHAT DO I BUY, WHAT DO I NOT BUY, WHAT DO I DO, WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE, IS THERE A GOD, etc.

It was quite the existential crisis.

I took like 30 pictures of various things I loved and wanted to buy, but I have some sad news. Most of my pictures from this part of the trip on are GONE.

My old laptop just decided to totally die one day and the place I backed up my files on only uploaded a random selection of photos instead of all the ones I added. So I lost a lot of stuff. When I get my old laptop fixed, whenever that is, hopefully I will be able to recover and share them in a future TR! Until then, you will just have to rely on my fabulous descriptions, because I have only a handful of pictures left to show you for our last two days. BOO.

I bought an I heart UK shirt... I liked it cause it was in a different style than most shirts like this that you see. Like I said, everything was pretty unique! I also bought a a Beatles change purse and a John Lennon shirt. I seriously could not wait to get back to this shop, but on my most recent trip I noticed that the merchandise is not as great as it was last year! Still awesome, just not as varied.

I posted on Twitter:
Just lost my mind in the UK shop that sells all the Beatles, Who, and Stones merch. Want to spend every dime I have.

I'm not a very materialistic person, but when you connect rock and roll with shopping... I go a little mad. AHH.

So it was at this point that we got to the time we were supposed to check in for our Kim Possible mission, and my mom was really not feeling it. She thought it was going to be super kiddie and didn't want to do it.

I got a little annoyed b/c I wanted to do it so bad and I was so excited and she was kind of putting a damper on that. She was all for me doing it and was like "Go ahead, have fun!" But I wanted to do it together. And she was just against it. I tried to explain how awesome I had heard it was, but she had made up her mind, apparently? I hate when people don't trust me about how amazing something Disney-related is going to be. It's like, IF I KNOW ABOUT ANYTHING IN THE WHOLE WORLD, it's Disney. Just trust me!!

I was just going to drop it but I really thought it would be fun to do together and NOT just for kids (I mean hello, there is a lot of stuff we do in Disney that could be considered more for children and we enjoy it just as much as a kid would). So after arguing for a bit, I just convinced her to at least follow along with me.

We got our Kimmunicator and found out our mission was in Germany. Now, you all know how I feel about Germany so I was very excited about that! So off to the land o'beer and pretzels we went!!

Ok so, even though the mission is no longer Kim Possible themed, I'm pretty sure it's the same concept so I don't want to give anything away. BUT GOOD LORD, this is pure Disney magic!

I'm so happy I didn't read any spoilers, because I was seriously shocked by what happened. I thought it was so cool, and I can not even imagine how blown away kids must be by this. If the Kim Possible mission had been around when I was a child, I would have FREAKED. It's just that next level kind of magic that only Disney can provide.

Even my mom was amazed by it. The first time something happened (again don't wanna give too much away) she froze and said, "You didn't just... make that happen, right?" And I was like YEAH I PRETTY MUCH DID AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN WANT TO DO THIS. So after that point, she was into it, which made me very happy! She said that she thought we were going to have to be on some kind of timed schedule and rushing around the entire World Showcase, and that's why she didn't want to do it originally. I was like GIRL, no. You need to make a Disboards username so you can be up on all the information! Sheesh, Mom. Sheesh.

I couldn't wait to get to the next part of the mission each time. It was so fun running around Germany, solving mysteries, crushing evil villains, and saving the world! The new theme is Phineas and Ferb, which I've never even seen, but I will still definitely be participating. It was so fun!

Our mission complete, I got one of my favorite Disney snacks: a Bavarian pretzel. You can actually get these exact same ones at Whole Foods, but it's way better when you're around the German CMs. Trust me.

While ordering, I almost knocked over one of the drinks they had on display during my attempt to to flirt with the German CM. I apologized and he said it was fine but was laughing at me. Another flirting mishap courtesy of Lia. You're welcome. (Don't worry, in my next TR, you'll learn that the whole flirting w/Germans thing went a lot smoother. )

Also... I noticed his name was STEFAN. I looked around for Damon, but he was nowhere to be found. Le sigh. Speaking of which, GO DELENA! Who saw the latest TVD episode in all its shirt-ripping glory? I did. Hales yes!

OK so, I then heard something amazing, and cracked up laughing.

I posted on Twitter:
A GROUP OF GIRLS ARE SINGING THE ALL THAT THEME SONG IN GERMANY RIGHT NOW.

OH it was so awesome.

Sit still cause we're comin' right atcha!!! OHHHHHHH UHHH OHHHHHHHHH THIS IS ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL THAT! THIS IS ALLLLLLLL THAAAAAT!!! YEAH YEAH!!

Ahhh, I was so happy. That was just the perfect thing to happen in that moment. And it wasn't even the last time I would hear a song from my childhood be randomly sung aloud in Disney... stay tuned during STUCK IN DISNEY for that one!

Up next: Loving Japan & our last TS meal of the trip! BOO!!!! (to. you. AHHHH!!!)​

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

That's hilarious how your mom instantly thought that the mission was awesome!!! I am determined to do one next year, I swear! DF always thinks it'll be silly, but they look fun!

Hahahahahahahaha that's amazing that they were randomly singing the All That theme song!!! You should have joined in with some other old-school TV theme songs...Legends of the Hidden Temple or Clarissa Explains It All, perhaps??