And at Last I See the Light...Or at Least the Tangled Bathrooms! **COMPLETED 2/8**

[WildernessExplorer04]

June 11th (Part One)-Traveling Through the Magical Gates at Last!​

This morning, we all got ready, ate a quick complimentary breakfast in the hotel lobby, packed up our stuff, and loaded the car! We checked out of the hotel and took off; no wasting time when we had somewhere incredible to be! My mom wanted to listen to peaceful music as we drove, so we listened to the Animal Kingdom CD. After about half and hour, Nick and I watched Mulan II. He told me that his favorite prince is the one in that movie who plays with the Chinese yoyo; oh, Nick. We quickly stopped at a rest stop and continued on while listening to disc one of the Four Parks, One World CD. As we kept driving, we saw these billboards promoting Jesus and God with phone numbers on them like, "1-800-I-WILL-BE-BACK." Then we CROSSED OVER TO FLORIDA.

We had a little one-minute celebration and then decided to watch Finding Nemo! About 25 minutes in, we stopped at a rest stop to eat lunch.

It was another not-so-scrumptious meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but that was okay, because we knew OUR NEXT MEAL WOULD TAKE PLACE ON DISNEY PROPERTY. After lunch, we continued driving and finished watching Finding Nemo. We stopped at a Florida Citrus center to get gas.

Right before we pulled out of there, it started POURING rain, but it only lasted about five minutes. Gotta love Florida weather, right? Then we spotted the first Disney billboard of the trip!

Yeah. I was getting excited. So, my mom was driving and all of a sudden she screamed, "LOOK AT THAT THING CROSSING THE ROAD!" It turned out to be an empty soda can...but she thought it was a mouse and was afraid we were going to hit it. Oh, mother. Her mind was on Mickey. We continued driving without any other mishaps like that.

It started raining...again. But then it stopped...again. We spotted palm trees and this lovely bird wall!

The further we drove, the more I hyperventilated and the more excited I became. We stopped at a toll booth, and then WE WERE OFFICIALLY IN ORLANDO. After a slight traffic jam, multiple Disney road signs, some intense excitement, and a few wrong name pronunciations (my father thought that Raglan Road was called Ragtime Lane; Nick thought that a road sign saying International Dr. mean International Doctor instead of International Drive), WE WERE GRACED WITH THE SIGHT OF THE BEAUTIFUL DISNEY WORLD GATES THAT I AM IMMENSLY IN LOVE WITH. We drove under them and officially arrived in Disney World (*cue the heavenly singing voices of angels*).

Just look at that perfection. Take it all in.

Anyways, we journeyed deeper and deeper into the glorious place that is my home and passed the entrance to Art of Animation!

Then we arrived at our resort: Pop Century!

Right before we turned into the resort, we encountered my second favorite form of transportation: the Disney bus!

We parked and walked into the amazingly Disney-esque lobby.

We did online check-in and the CM gave us a scavenger hunt!

We never ended up doing it, but I kept it as a souvenir! After we got our room information, we drove to a parking lot near the building we were in. We gathered our belongings and walked up to our room: building three, floor three, room number 3333. Easy to remember, right?

This was our view as we were walking:

This was our view from our room:

We opened the door and were greeted by this cute little guy!

This adorable poster was also hanging up in our room:

I ran for the television remote and turned on Stacey. It had been too long and we needed to be reunited. (I apologize for the blurriness of the photo.)

We all got situated and watched Stacey for a while. Then we left our room and headed to our next destination!

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[Goofy442]

Yay, you finally made. Can't wait to hear how it goes.

 

[FancyNancy]

That's a great view from your room! I love that POP Century has lakeview at no extra charge

 

[WildernessExplorer04]

June 11th (Part Two)-Our Art of Animation Adventure

On Sunday, I'm leaving to go to band camp for a week so I won't be able to post anything during that time. Therefore, I'm going to get this update in today and hopefully one more for y'all to read that week of my absence. That being said, enjoy this update!

After we left our room, we walked to Art of Animation using this cute bridge that connects it to Pop Century.

I tried taking a family picture (minus me), but it turned out blurry.

At the end of the bridge, we arrived at our destination: the Finding Nemo section!

This little guy was my absolute favorite:

My mom took this snazzy picture of my father.

While our parents were hanging back, Nick and I sped up to see the Big Blue Pool, because that was what I was most excited about. We took the time to get a picture of Nick with Mr. Ray first, though.

Then we found it. The glorious pool. Sigh. It was amazing. Plus, it was raining slightly and there wasn't anybody in it, so that provided an even better photo opportunity!

When we were gawking at the gigantic jellyfish in the pool, we came across a pair of pants just sitting on the pathway. It was really random and we probably laughed for about ten minutes about it. Like, there were just pants chilling there. Nobody was claiming them. How could you lose pants and forget about them?

Anyways, it started raining a bit harder, but we persevered and trekked on to the Cars section.

Dad had to get a picture with his favorite:

We walked all through that area and took plenty of pictures!

Nick wanted to pretend that Mater was eating his foot.

After thoroughly exploring, we decided we were hungry and went inside! That lobby was AMAZING. I can't even explain how beautifully Disney-themed it was. All of the sketches and EVERYTHING were FANTASTIC.

I really, REALLY liked this chandelier.

Close up!

This was my absolute favorite sketch, just because of how crazy Timon looks.

When we were finished taking in the lobby and it's perfection, we went through the Ink and Paint shop and headed to Landscape of Flavors for dinner!

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[FancyNancy]

Great AOA Pics!

 

[WildernessExplorer04]

June 11th (Part Three)-Our Art of Animation Adventure (continued)

By this point, we were all starving as it was around seven o'clock and our lunch hadn't been too tasty. So, we emerged into Landscape of Flavors and went food-crazy.

After spending a good amount of time standing around and deciding what we wanted to eat, we ordered, paid, and found a table.

I got the Pork Bahn Mi sandwich for my meal, chocolate milk to drink, and a Mickey Ganache for dessert.

The sandwich was very interesting--good interesting. It had mint leaves in it which was probably what gave it the unique flavor. The ganache was also amazing! So much chocolate; yum! When I was ordering, the CM who gave me my food told me that the chips that came with my sandwich would be the best I'd ever eat in my life. I have to admit, they were quite delicious.

Nick ordered the Tandoori Boneless Chicken Thighs with Basmati rice, acorn squash, and pickled vegetables, chocolate milk, and a chocolate éclair.

He didn't eat his squash or much of his vegetables (he's not very fond of veggies and is a picky eater), but he did LOVE the chicken, rice, and, of course, the éclair.

Mom also ordered the Tandoori Boneless Chicken Thighs, but got hers with multi-grain rice, acorn squash, and spinach. She also had some cranberry apple raspberry juice to drink.

She said she enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything special.

Dad went the unadventurous route and got a turkey & cheese sandwich, potato chips, yogurt, diet coke to drink, and a cookie for dessert.

While were eating, a small child at a table near us started picking his nose and Mom said, "He's REALLY getting up in there deep!" Oh, mother.

We finished eating and it was still raining outside, but we proceeded anyways! On our way out, we explored the Lion King and Little Mermaid sections. THEY WERE INCREDIBLE. Rafiki welcomed us!

So, we found the Elephant Graveyard, and Nick and I took cover from the rain inside of it for a bit.

Then our parents reminded us that they were still getting wet. Onwards!

Dad enjoyed out-roaring Scar.

Once we had gotten our Lion King fix, we journeyed under the sea!

DINGLEHOPPER!

SNARFBLAT!

My camera decided that it would be a good time for it to die while we were in the middle of the Little Mermaid section, so I don't have any other pictures from there. We walked to our car (because our parking lot shared a parking lot with the Little Mermaid parking lot) and once we were in there, I put new batteries in. MY CAMERA LIVES. We all buckled up and drove away to our next destination of the night!

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[sue_88]

I hope you don't mind if I come along on this report.
I am loving it so far and I will be staying at Pop this fall too.
I hope you have a nice time at band camp and then get back and do lots of report updates! (please, please. ).
I see why you like the Timon sketch! It is quite adorable.
I look forward to reading lots more!!

 

[rachel09985]

Great TR so far! Your family is funny!

 

[Goofy442]

Great pictures of AOA. I love when there is nobody in my pictures even if it's raining. I go there just for the chips, and build your own burger they are so good.

 

[WildernessExplorer04]

Great AOA Pics!

Thank you!

I hope you don't mind if I come along on this report.
I am loving it so far and I will be staying at Pop this fall too.
I hope you have a nice time at band camp and then get back and do lots of report updates! (please, please. ).
I see why you like the Timon sketch! It is quite adorable.
I look forward to reading lots more!!

Welcome! Thank you, band camp was a blast! I shall be updating as soon as possible and as much as possible.

Great TR so far! Your family is funny!

Thanks! They're definitely a unique group, alright, haha.

Great pictures of AOA. I love when there is nobody in my pictures even if it's raining. I go there just for the chips, and build your own burger they are so good.

I usually like when it's raining because there are barely any crowds and it's great for photo opportunities! Next time I'm there, I'll remember to try the build your own burger.

 

[WildernessExplorer04]

June 11th (Part Four)-Downtown Disney and Finishing Off the Night!

After I had revived my camera, we drove off to Downtown Disney! Nick was very excited.

We parked and entered between the Lego Store and World of Disney. Our first stop was the Lego Store because Nick has an unhealthy obsession with that place.

After much speculation, he bought a Lord of the Rings set and a Star Wars Lego set. He didn't regret his decision! Then we headed to the store of glorious heaven: World of Disney. I can't even explain my love for this place. It's just so huge and perfect and Disney and AHHHHHHASDLFJASNVA. I could literally spend my entire life in this store; there's just SO MUCH DISNEY.

I bought MaiLei this Art stuffed animal because he's her absolute favorite Monsters University character.

I also bought an autograph book; my mom bought a rolling pin and the Festival of the Lion King CD; Nick bought a Stars Wars Vinylmation, as well as an autograph book.

Then we reluctantly (in my case) left the beautiful World of Disney and came face to face with the stage.

On our band trip in April, we played on this stage and it was absolutely AMAZING. The experience was just so special and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to do that. It was phenomenal.

Anyways, our next stop was Basin.

My mom and I tried out some hand scrubs and let me tell you, THEY WORK WONDERS. AND THEY SMELL SO GOOD. But they're quite expensive, so no hand scrubs for us.

We journeyed into Arribas Bros. next and, as always when I go in that store, I wished I was a millionaire.

Just take in the jeweled beauty of this castle.

Yeah. I know.

After we had our fair share of gawking at everything in there, we moved on to Ghirardelli! YUM CHOCOLATE.

While Nick and Mom ordered, Dad and I found a nice table outside to sit at.

Mom and Nick found us after a few minutes and they brought us our DELICIOUS FOOD.

Nick and I split a Sea Cliff, which was incredible. It was comprised of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, chopped almonds, and a cherry all over a warm chocolate chip cookie. Yeah. It tasted like ice cream sundae heaven.

Mom got a Lemon Fizz, I think, which is made with lemon sorbet, club soda, and strawberries.

She loved it!

Our table was near the stage and there was someone doing fun activities over there so we listened to him while we ate. Then, all of a sudden, the Rainforest Café volcano started erupting. There was fire and lava and EVERYTHING. IT WAS CRAZY. I took a video of it, so I didn't get a solid picture, but here's a post-eruption photo!

Then we decided to head back to Pop Century and I got this wonderful picture as we were leaving:

The sky was stunning that night, so I tried to take a picture of it as we were driving, but it turned out a little grainy. You can definitely see the colors, though, and that's all that matters because it was just GORGEOUS. The colors were so vibrant. I didn't even know this was possible.

When we got back to our room, Nick opened up his Vinylmation and discovered that it was Darth Vader!

About ten minutes later, Illuminations started. And guess what? We could see the show from our balcony! It was incredible, even though we couldn't hear the music or see the lower fireworks.

The view of Art of Animation at night was also spectacular.

When the fireworks were over, Dad and I decided to go to check out the gift shop. I ended up buying red and black sparkly Minnie ears for myself and silver sparkly ears with the purple/green veil for Abe. In April, our whole group decided that we would buy ears and he didn't get his until the last day, so whenever we were in a store with ears, I'd tell him to get the ones with the veil and call it a day, but he never complied. So, I told him that I'd get them for him and I did! Mission accomplished (though I didn't get a picture of them for some reason). I also contemplated becoming a pin trader and decided that I might buy a starter set later on in the vacation. After checking out, we went through the 60's section of the resort.

I was wearing my new ears as we arrived back at the room. Mom, clearly being observant, asked me if we bought anything. I told her no and she asked what was in the bag I was carrying then. I asked her, "What's on my head?" Then she laughed at her unobservant-ness.

I then had a mini-photo shoot with my new ears.

We all got ready for bed because we had to wake up early the next day, I discovered this hidden Mickey in our carpet--

--and then we went to sleep.

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[ThisIsBrenn]

Joining in! I couldn't resist a Tangled titled trip report

 

[Goofy442]

Great update, Love World of Disney there is so much to look at. Those are cute Minnie ears.

 

[OhMari]

Hey,
I have a feeling you are from my neck of the woods.
My niece went to band camp too last week. And I went to band camp in Jr. High and once in high school.

Great pictures. Was that restaurant you ate at in the Food Court at Pop Century?

 

[sue_88]

yum! I want that lemon fizz / strawberry drink that your mom had!

I love it when the sky is extra beautiful! I'm glad you enjoyed it on your vacation.

 

[PrinceNotSoCharming]

I can't wait for the next update! It's almost like being back home again. P.S. I love your reasoning for giving me the ears

 

[WildernessExplorer04]

Joining in! I couldn't resist a Tangled titled trip report

Welcome! Tangled = LOVE.

Great update, Love World of Disney there is so much to look at. Those are cute Minnie ears.

World of Disney is AMAZING, isn't it? And thank you! I'd had my eye on them for forever and finally was able to buy them!

Hey,
I have a feeling you are from my neck of the woods.
My niece went to band camp too last week. And I went to band camp in Jr. High and once in high school.

Great pictures. Was that restaurant you ate at in the Food Court at Pop Century?

We might be! I hope your niece had a fabulous time at band camp; I know I did! That food court was at Art of Animation, not Pop Century.

yum! I want that lemon fizz / strawberry drink that your mom had!

I love it when the sky is extra beautiful! I'm glad you enjoyed it on your vacation.

Haha the drink was delicious (I tried some)! Beautiful skies at Disney > a sky anywhere else.

I can't wait for the next update! It's almost like being back home again. P.S. I love your reasoning for giving me the ears

The next update is in the works. I hope you enjoyed those ears!

 

[WildernessExplorer04]

June 12th (Part One)-"Haven't seen a dragon, have yeh?"

This morning, we were woken up by the one and only Mike Wazowski! The phone rang, I answered it, and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride music started playing; then Mike told us that we should wake up and enjoy this "monstrous summer day!" So obviously, we all woke up. We all got ready, watched Stacey, and ate some pop tarts. As soon as everybody was ready, we headed out of the room.

BUT not before Nick practiced his pirate pose:

So. Where were we going today? The Magic Kingdom? Epcot? Actually, we weren't going to any Disney-related place; we were headed to Universal's Islands of Adventure! Our reasoning for this was Nick and I's obsession with the Harry Potter series, so we had to pay our school a visit.

We drove there, parked in the parking garage, and took the moving ramp to the entrance. I love it.

We made it through the ticket gates in no time and our adventure began!

We walked through various parts of the park in order to make it to school on time, including the Dr. Seuss area.

It's so colorful!

AND THEN WE WERE THERE. RIGHT THERE. IN HOGSMEADE. And they kindly reminded us to respect the spell limits.

Unfortunately, I was stupid and wore my Azkaban shirt the day before, so I was Potter-apparel-less, but I still had my Deathly Hallows necklace so it was all good.

Seriously, ISN'T HOGSMEADE BEAUTIFUL?

Nick and I found it necessary to get a picture with the vehicle that takes us to school every year on September 1st.

Then we headed to the Forbidden Journey, which takes place in the second most spectacular castle ever created (Cinderella Castle being the best).

The wait time was 90 minutes long, but we went for it anyway, because this ride was a priority. We went here last year and it was raining then, so there was hardly any line and we flew right through three times, just like we were on our Firebolts. This time, however, there were quite a lot of people, so we had time to look around the queue and just take in all of the magic. I LOVED it.

It was also SUPER hot that day, so my mom had to capture us in all of our sweaty glory.

I was smiling the whole time in that queue despite the heat and the high population level, and I swear I was the only one there that looked like they were having fun. Everybody else looked crabby and bored. I didn't understand them.

Here's a picture of the line in the green house:

While waiting, Nick and I spotted a cloud that looked like a golden snitch, so a photo was a must. Can you see it?

As we ventured further, a castle photo-shoot was in order.

We reached the interior of Hogwarts and but all of our bags in a locker. I had to put my camera in there, too, so I didn't get any pictures inside. The ride was perfection, though! It's incredible what technology can do these days. We had a ton of fun flying with Hermione, Harry, Ron, and I especially enjoyed Draco's cameo because I love him. This ride is where the title of this update comes from; Hagrid shouts, "Hey, you lot! Haven't seen a dragon, have yeh?" and it basically sums up the ride right there. During the ride, Nick and I were shouting spells along with the characters and it was SO MUCH FUN. Our ride picture looked really awkward because of that, haha. Not to mention, Dad was closing his eyes because of the intensity level. He doesn't do wild rides. After the ride, we headed to the bathroom and it's so cool because YOU CAN HEAR MOANING MYRTLE TALKING WHILE YOU DO YOUR BUSINESS. IT'S AMAZING.

Once we had finished up there, we went to the Hog's Head for some Butterbeer!

Mom and I both got frozen Butterbeers and Nick got a liquid one. Those are the drinks of royalty, I promise. Dad decided to be unadventurous yet again and got some lemonade.

We were enjoying our drinks quite a bit, if you couldn't tell.

Nick then decided he wanted another Butterbeer and I couldn't pass up that opportunity! This time, we both got liquid ones.

Then Nick spotted a TON of fish in the water next to the outdoor seating area in which we were located at the time. It was CRAZY.

A kid threw a bit of food down there and the fish went insane; they all swam to the food and thrashed and fought over it. Then, of all things, we saw a black bird SWIMMING UNDER THE WATER by the fish. WHAT. BIRDS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT. I don't even know. Silly bird. I got it on video, but no pictures. After that episode of confusion, we finished our drinks and made our way to Ollivander's! The line was rather long, but we waited nonetheless. We didn't get the chance to do this last time, so I was NOT going to miss it. During the wait I wrote in my trip journal and Mom got a picture of me hard at work:

She also tried to get a family picture of us, but Nick's head decided it didn't want Dad in the picture.

After a long, sunny wait, we were inside!

It's a small dimly lit room with wand boxes EVERYWHERE. A child was chosen to receive a wand. The first wand caused drawers to violently open and close, the second one caused flowers to die, and the third was the right one for him! They had music and a spotlight and wind and everything. It was pretty incredible. We left Ollivander's after that and continued our magical adventure!

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[WildernessExplorer04]

June 12th (Part Two)-Flavorful Food, Colorful Candy, and a Jovial Joke Shop!

When we finished ogling all of the beautiful wands in Ollivander's, we exited through Dervish and Banges and went through the Owlery.

Obviously we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a picture with the wizarding world's most wanted criminal, Sirius Black (although there's a glare on the poster obscuring his face).

Then we headed to our destination: the Three Broomsticks!

Our stomachs were telling us that it was time for lunch. We ordered our food and found a nice table outside, because all of the tables inside were being used and we didn't want to wait for one to open up.

Dad got a turkey leg, which he said was excellent.

Mom got fish and chips, plus a side salad. Yay for being healthy!

Nick got the chicken platter with YET ANOTHER Butterbeer to drink.

I ordered the chicken platter as well, except I got pumpkin juice to drink.

The food was good and the juice was very refreshing. Fun fact: I tried making pumpkin juice on my own out of my Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook; let's just say it didn't go too well. The stuff they serve here is MUCH better and I'm grateful for that.

When we finished eating, we walked back inside and I took pictures of the restaurant.

Then we ventured over to Honeydukes!

I love that place so much. It's like sugary, pastel heaven.

Nick bought a chocolate frog and I bought this delectable sugar quill.

While Mom was paying for our candy creations of goodness, Nick and I looked around Zonko's Joke Shop.

I wish I had enough money to buy everything in that store. But, alas, it is not so. We went back into the hot Florida sunshine after that. The Hogwarts Express conductor was there, so I got a picture with him by the train.

He asked me what my name was and where I was from and we had a nice little chat about cheese curds. It was hilarious!

Sadly after that, it was time for us to leave school. I didn't like doing that. On the way out, I had to take a picture of one of Gilderoy Lockhart's famous books.

We walked over the bridge and saw a bunch of tourists taking pictures of the castle. Like, it was seriously crazy how crowded it was.

With one last, lingering look at Hogwarts, we parted ways with the mystical world of magic that was my childhood.

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[sue_88]

Nice updates!!
You took some views of the castle that are different from what I had seen.
I could go for a butterbeer or two myself!
I am a potter fan but I just haven't been able to leave Disney long enough to see Hogwarts. I haven't been to Universal since before the Wizarding World opened. I would like to go sometime. Maybe I will when the new expansion is finished.
I hope you and your family continued to have a great trip!